Trump - Kasich 2016

I really don't expect this to be the Republican slate in 2016. I threw that out there to make a few points about our next Presidential election. 

Both of these men are smart and mature. Both have a long record of accomplishment. Both men love America and respect the Constitution. They also have carried the burden of management and done it well. 

Donald Trump, putting aside that he is a little flamboyant, is a solid business man who has gained success through excellence. Nothing in his business empire is shoddy or second class. He has a record of great success, while knowing when to cut his losses. He has shown the resiliency to bounce back from reverses.

Since Mr. Trump's business is worldwide, he is well known to foreign leaders. He has personally negotiated with them. They respect his tough, businesslike, take no prisoners style. He is a man who does not bow and grovel. As Yoda would say, "a good President he would make".

John Kasich is an experienced politician with business acumen gained in the financial industry. Having worked his way through the system, he currently sits as the Governor of Ohio, a job he won in 2010. While being a conservative, he has a record of being able to negotiate with the opposition. He has a reputation for honesty both in word and deed. He is self effacing and talks to people, not at people. In other words, he has a Presidential demeanor.

Actually, I am not trying to sell either or both of these men for high office. The point I wish to make is that people of this caliber are who we need in the White House. We need people who speak when they have something to say not just to revel in the sound of their own voice. People who understand trade and economics.  People who love the United States more than a world image that will never be. People who want the United States to be free, independent, and successful. We need the people that have the will to return to American greatness.

I want to thank my readers. My little blog just went over 50,000 hits from 97 countries.  I also want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. If you are traveling, please travel safely. Cranky will be back Monday morning.

Galilee, Rhode Island

A New Car Smell

The American people want a President with "a new car smell"? Really? No, I don't think so! We just want one that doesn't stink. The aroma coming from Washington has been an overpowering reek of excessive ego and too little competence. 

We want a President that is more interested in negotiating with the opposition than their vacation planner. We want a President who only speaks when there is something important to be conveyed not a person inclined to give a daily lecture for the edification of those poor ignorants in flyover country.

We want a President who understands that nothing real is created in Washington, DC. The real creativity in America is in that wide sweep of country west of the nations capital. That is where the truly smart people live. The scientists, engineers, researchers, programmers, all of those people who's work the people who would rule us will never understand. Out here live the carpenters and machinists and mechanics who can make anything and the farmers that feed the world.

The American people neither need nor want a President that looks down his nose at them with a smug grin, confident in his own brilliance. Brilliance doesn't often fail. And brilliance takes responsibility when failures do occur. Brilliance is able to look the voter in the eye and speak the truth. Brilliance neither obfuscates or equivocates. It doesn't have to.

No, we don't need a new car smell. We tried that recently and the results are tearing at this country. We need a good, comfortable, experienced hand at the wheel. Someone who is not bathed in the slime of what Washington politics has become. 

Yogi Berra once said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it". We did and we have become lost. We need to take a few steps back and find the other path. That is the one that will get us out of the woods and allow our country to be great once more.

The Honor Of The Court

The American court system is not perfect. On occasion guilty people go free. And on occasion innocent people get hauled off to jail. Those occasions are probably less frequent than we think. All in all, the system works. 

Being a convoluted and multi-tiered system, a person convicted of a crime gets numerous bites at the apple to win their freedom. If a prosecutor has any doubt or has a need to show fairness, he can go to the grand jury.

The people that serve on grand juries are volunteers. This relieves them of the pressure of job and family. They are free to take what time is needed to do the job. A presentation before a grand jury is not a trial. It is a hearing of the prosecutions evidence. They sit to judge that the prosecution has or has not a case to bring forward. If three quarters of them agree, they find a "true bill", and the case moves to trial.

In general, people who sit on juries take that responsibility very seriously. I was on a jury one time on a simple auto accident suit. When we went into the jury room, you would think we were deciding a life or death issue. I suspect that grand jurors carry an even heavier burden. I do not believe that old saw about a prosecutor being able to "indict a ham sandwich" is even close to true. People today are to skeptical.

I am particularly concerned with what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri. There have just been been too many loud mouths flapping in the breeze with a lot of attitude and little real information. From the President to the Attorney General to the New Black Panthers to Al Sharpton, they have lined up to create a modern day lynch mob. Their attitude: "the kid was black, the cop was white. It must be murder."

The blaze was already lit in that town. It did not need "news makers" supplying extra gasoline just to prove their relevance. I am betting, at this point, the grand jury comes back with no true bill against Officer Wilson. 

I am also betting that if there is no true bill, our AG, who sees the world as racist, will convene a federal grand jury and most likely get an indictment because he will turn it into a civil rights issue. What is simply a local issue, which should be left local, will be turned into a federal issue for purely political reasons. This is the type of action that harms the honor of the court.

Bringing Down The House

They are not only bringing down the House, but also the Senate. Who, you may ask? It is the President of the United States and those of his party who march in lockstep with him. 

He has admitted in the past that he is not the emperor of America. He seemed to have meant it when he said it. If he really did mean it, why is he acting like a dictator now? What is so important that it would make our President flout the law and tear up the Constitution?

There are two reasons that tie together into a nice neat package from Barack Obama's point of view. First is the liberal self image and the influence of that image on their political actions. Liberals truly believe that they are smarter and more caring than the rest of us knuckle dragging neanderthals. But the problem with this mind set, as I have said before, is that they don't know that they don't know what they don't know. That may be a little to convoluted for the liberals out there, but it makes perfect sense.

But since they feel they are smarter and more caring, they also feel that they must lead. It is, in fact, their responsibility. You know, "the liberals burden". And best of all, it doesn't matter if they fail. The important thing is that they tried. The care. 

If it doesn't really matter if you fail, then you never really fail. Every attempt is, in their minds, a success. If some get hurt along the way, their sacrifice is needed to change the "system" to the ideals of liberalism. They have simple solutions to even complicated problems. Eliminate it, tax it, regulate it. But above all control it.

The second reason that Obama will flout the Constitution is that by turning six million illegals into legals, he feels he will bring an influx of new Democrat voters. He has a plan. If you believe nothing else, believe that. I do not believe anyone named Hillary is part of that plan.

If he grants amnesty now and uses his veto pen and his executive order pen for the next two years, he and the Republicans will be in constant turmoil. If he can vilify the Republicans and destroy Hillary's candidacy, he could continue Democrat control of the White House. While that would be tragic for the country, liberals care more about power than statesmanship. It is even remotely possible that he would try to continue his own presidency.

It is dangerous times. Conservatives must play heads up ball. They need to be aggressive and smart. That is the only way to keep the liberals from bringing down the house. 

It's The Melting Pot, Dude

There are no native Americans except for those we now call "Native Americans". The rest of us all came from someplace else. Generally we came in droves over a short period of time. Mostly with reason. Famine or political unrest were common reasons. 

The English, French, and the Dutch came over early to colonize. That is what the English, French, and Dutch did in those days. The Spanish and Portuguese went exploring, as they were want to do, and took the territory from South America through California. And to our historical shame, people of African descent were dragged here on British merchant ships and sold to provide cheap labor. Although the trade was stopped in 1808, the subjugation continued until 1863. And we had to fight a civil war to make it stick.

But from the time we became a country people looking for freedom and opportunity flocked to America. Early on the Germans, Poles, and Czechs helped to settle, feed, and build our country for us. Later the Irish and the Italians. They huddled together and created their own communities. Most had only their native language when they arrived. But they had the skills and talents that helped build a great nation.

Language is an awful barrier. People that cannot communicate tend not to trust. Life was harsh in those days. More harsh and rude than we can even imagine today. Over time, while the names kept their ethnic heritage the language changed. In most cases, by the third or fourth generation the mother tongue had disappeared and the accent of the grandparents had melded into the accent of the locality. The great American melting pot had worked and created people free from the burdens of their past.

Lately the polyglot nation of America has become even more polyglot. With the increase in popularity of the AK47 around the world, their seems to be an increase in popularity of passage to the United States. No one wants to live surrounded by armed crazies.

It would be nice if some of these countries could see the advantage of the American model. But, unfortunately, there are too many in the world with a Napoleonic drive for power and control. So those that line up, take their turn, and do it legally should be welcome. In the end, we will all be better for it. 

When these people come to America, they must understand, they cannot and will not change America into their home country. Most of us who live here or our ancestors before us, left behind an autocratic demanding government. We will not go back to that. We will not change our laws to your laws. We will not adopt your religion because you demand it. We will not change our manner of dress because you are shocked and offended. 

The US is a great place to live. There is plenty of everything to go around. And we share well with others. We tolerate the idiosyncrasies of others and expect the same in return. 

An Alley In Ireland

You Cannot Appease A Bully!

The degenerates of the "Islamic State", are bullies. Never doubt it. They enjoy the sight of other peoples blood. Beheadings, stonings, there is nothing too brutal for them to do. Even to women and children. 

Supposedly, one of the tenets of Islam is that conversion to the Muslim faith makes you right with Allah and safe within the flock. But their latest public butchering of an aid worker, Pete Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, flies in the face of that belief. After being in the military, Mr. Kassig felt a calling to stay in Syria and help refugees. At some point he converted to Islam.

All of this meant nothing to the street butchers of ISIS. He was a white face from America. That was all they required. The fact that he was a humanitarian and a convert meant nothing to them. 

The only way to end bullying on this level is to destroy it. When it is allowed to succeed it only encourages others to take part. They will either join the group or to sneak around in the dark of night on their own as "lone wolves".

The monsters of ISIS claim that they will bring their violent jihad to the streets of America. I have no doubt that they will try. I also have no doubt that they will have some small successes. This will happen because our leaders are not strong enough to destroy them where they stand. We stand so much in fear of doing collateral damage, we have forgotten how to win a war.

As ISIS has, what they would consider, successes on the ground, some in the Muslim community become emboldened. For some reason, they see bloodshed as glorifying Allah. They admire those they see as strong and committed. So they become more confrontational and threatening because like a wild animal, they sense the weakness in their prey. 

They need to understand, the weakness is not in the American people. The weakness is in those that we have carelessly allowed to lead us. If they are foolish enough to try to bring there battle to the American streets, they will discover the truth of another of Admiral Yamamoto's quotes. "They will find a rifle behind every blade of grass."

Americans are tolerant and peaceful people. But they are not acquiescent and stupid. They understand bullies at all levels. They do not fear them. They have a point where they will no longer tolerate them. At that point they will rise up and crush them. They will do what is required and finish it forever. 

Things I Don't Understand

It was pretty obvious, right from the beginning, that Barack Obama was inexperienced, ultra-liberal, and intolerant of opposition. I will never understand why the senior Democrats, not only allowed, but supported his over reach. They could have exerted control. Even with back door support from some Republicans, if necessary. The country would have been better for it.

I do not understand why, with Islam getting more confrontational and bloody, both domestically and abroad, there continues to be so much tolerance and acceding to their demands. They are turning London and Paris into mini-third world countries. And if you believe that shariah law is not practiced in the United States, you are wrong. Just not in state courts.

I do not understand why reality shows have writers. And if some of the stunts they do are so dangerous, isn't it even more dangerous for the guy right beside them lugging a video camera?

I do not understand why, with all of the deadly serious problems that plague our country today, the Congress gets involved with the happenings in professional sports. There are venues for those problems and it isn't the Halls of Congress.

I don't understand why liberals think they are so darn smart when all of the evidence is to the contrary.

I do not understand why the management of printed media today cannot understand that it would be in their best interest to go back to hard news and investigative reporting. Selling their favorite candidates and undermining the opposition is not going well for them.

I don't understand how some can call "global warming" "settled science". No science is ever settled. And as best as I can tell, "global warming" is a computer model. That is not science. It is an estimate.

I do not understand why suddenly it is all right to attack Christianity. It has always been that Americans respected religion. We should try that again.

I don't understand why President Obama thinks that Iran will negotiate honestly. Their record says differently.

I don't understand why people are willing to burn their own neighborhood and destroy the businesses that try to serve them and call it a protest.

I, most certainly, don't understand how I ever doubted my New England Patriots.

Bleep America

When I came up with the title of this blog, I had a multiplicity of ideas. All of them rude. I do not like rudeness on my blog so I settled on "bleep". The reader is invited to select his or her choice of rude words to substitute.

But I fear that my title exemplifies the attitude Barack Obama and the Democrat party have about our beloved country. The election was almost a week past and everyone recognizes what happened in that election. Except Barack Obama and the Democrat party. 

In a fit of utter delusion, President Obama claims to not only understand the intent of the one third of the population that voted, be he claims also the power to discern the intent of those that never showed up. Did our mystical magical President go into a trance to obtain this information or did he find it written in ancient runes in the bottom of his most recent sand trap.

As he seems to understand things, the results of the election were to show him that he merely hadn't done enough. If he had gone harder left, perhaps eliminating borders completely, maybe shutting down oil wells as well as coal mines, possibly even forcing Obamacare to become a single payer plan, the election would then have gone to the Democrats.

But that is not what happened. Republicans won in a tsunami of repudiation for the massive liberal power grab under Obama. Americans love their Constitution. They don't want a President who is willing to ignore it, in a reach for personal grandeur. They have seen the socialism of the left in Europe and Asia. They know it never works. 

Capitalism and freedom are what works and we will not have it taken away from us. The election gave the Republicans a mandate. That mandate is to govern responsibly. America is a conservative country. We may cling to our guns and our Bibles but we are smart, hard working people. We are innovative and inventive. We are willing to dig in and make things work. For the most part we dislike the effete dreamers of the left who find offence in everything and live for a goal of political correctness.

What we have no tolerance for is those who are willing to bleep America for power or profit. Those that are willing to bring our country down because they think we fly to close to the sun. To leaders that bow down to other country's leaders and shrink at our international obligations. Those that fear a self sufficient America and would rather see us under the thumb of those who would destroy us. To these pathetic people we say, bleep you. 

On Anger

I am normally a reasonably happy contented person. I enjoy a good joke or witty reparte' as much as anyone. But I am a blogger. More to the point, I am a political blogger. 

If you wish to be a political blogger, you must read the news. Lots and lots of news. If your source is CNN, you are not a blogger. You are an echo. My daily reading travels the globe. Truthfully, I don't read every article. There are not enough hours. I scan headlines and read what catches my eye. Some articles I scan. Some I dig into the details.

Lately, far too many leave me angry. The latest articles, about that arrogant fool Jonathan Gruber, made me livid. Not so much about him really. I have dealt with enough over educated thoughtless jerks in my life to be little affected by that lightweight. What I am most livid about is that the President of the United States partnered with frauds like this. He protected their sorry butts. Then openly with malice and aforethought lied often and continuously to the American people. That is pathetic and shameful.

What is even more pathetic and shameful is that the Democrats in Congress who were elected to serve their fellow citizens, their neighbors, joined in this lie. We don't need enemies abroad if these lowlifes are the power structure at home. They can ruin us without any outside intervention. Any one of them that supported this power grab should never again be allowed to serve.

But this is just the big fat cherry on the sundae. There has been a constant stream of scandals and lies from this administration that continue to produce anger in all decent Americans. Far and away, the worst is what the VA has done to veterans. That did not start with this administration. That is a scandal that belongs to every politician who has ever been in national office in the past four decades.

But Benghazi, the IRS scandal, Fast and Furious, ISIS, these are all debacles where we were lied to. We all should have righteous anger for the foul behavior of those that we have empowered. 

The last election proved that the American people get it. We are smarter than those that think themselves elite think we are. The next election must double down on that proof. Let our anger move us forward.

Random Thoughts - Forty-Eight

I find Lt. Col. Ralph Peters somewhat abrasive, but were I President, I would want him for my National Security Adviser. Smart, knowledgeable, and speaks his mind. I wish our current President appreciated people like that.

Speaking of our present President, I am getting tired of writing about him. But there is just so much that needs to be said. In truth, there is way too much that needs to be said.

I always felt that liberals thought the rest of us were stupid. Now one has the chutzpah to come right out and state it publicly. MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare has stated publicly the the stupidity of the American people is responsible for getting Obamacare passed. Let see. You sneak around doing everything in secret. Everyone in the administration lies about what is being done. Then you make it so convoluted that it is barely understandable. And we are stupid. Right. Actually it was the liberal politicians that pushed it through that were stupid. Most of the folks got it, hate it, and don't want it. 

Is there nothing that Obama can keep his meddling fingers off of? The internet is just fine. It needs no government interference. Obama, the Tsar of All the States of America. Bit by bit, piece by piece, they are stealing our freedom. If you are young you don't have the perspective to realize how much we have lost.

I don't mean to make a rush to judgement, but it appears that the only difference between our outgoing AG and the new nominee is that one of them wears a dress.

Why is the Obama administration disarming the border patrol. With the cartels in Mexico, patrolling the border is dangerous enough. Now the government is taking away their M4 rifles under the pretext that they need repairs. Patrol agents are now sharing weapons. A shooters weapon is as personal as his underwear. M4s are made to be repaired in the field. If they actually find an M4 that is unservicable, the government owns enough rifles to give the agent a replacement. This is unnecessary and dangerous. One has to ask why?

Not to be redundant but my wife and I shop on line a lot. Clothes, books, miscellaneous stuff, and now food. In this process we deal with some big complicated commercial websites. Sites where one must open an account, arrange means of payment, select from a plethora of products, and arrange shipping. Each and every one of them works beautifully. It seems to me they had to really make an effort to screw up the Obamacare website that bad. Cronyism?


 Congratulations to the brilliant people at the European Space Agency. After a ten year flight into space their probe landed on a comet out there in the void. That is like picking up your thirty pound Barrett, shooting from the shoulder, hitting a dime at two thousand yards, with your eyes closed. Actually, it is probably harder than that. Great job by great engineers and scientists.

Cold weather is on the way so here is another of my day lilies to keep the summer.

Gore's Revenge

Gore's revenge is akin to Montezuma's Revenge. That is, the results are very much alike. But, you may ask, why does Mr. Gore want revenge? You see, Mr. Gore wanted to be President. He felt he deserved to be President after eight year under the erratic, erotic, and embarrassing ministrations of Bill and Hillary. He thought he was elected President. And suddenly all that was taken away from him. And he wanted revenge.

With time on his hands and no real need to earn, Mr. Gore took up the cudgel that was launched from East Anglia University in England. A modeling program with a built-in flight from reality "proved" that polar ice would disappear and islands would sink into the rising ocean. Our ex Vice President saw opportunity in the new religion of "Global Warming".

At the time Mr. Gore had a mere two million dollar fortune. But he invested wisely in over a dozen green energy companies. Companies that received 2.5 billion dollars in loans, grants, and tax breaks. Mr. Gore, the wise investor, now has a net worth of around one hundred million dollars. 

To help his investments along and to double down on his revenge, in 2006 he introduced his movie/book/lecture tour called "An Inconvenient Truth". Considering the amount of money he made, it actually seems pretty convenient for him. The liberals and the press (I realize that was kind of redundant) picked up the banner and joined the parade. They loved it. A chance to increase the size of government and spend more of other peoples money.

Then in 2008 something terrible happened. It stopped getting warmer. For a while, no one noticed. Then people realized that the ocean wasn't rising, the ice caps were coming back, and the polar bear population was happy and growing. Now we are into a series of Polar Vortices. Not to let a good thing get too far out of control, they quickly changed the theme to "climate change", and never missed a beat.

Who can deny climate change? We have warming trends and we have cooling trends. That is the nature of our planet and we are not going to change that any time soon. As soon as someone tells you that the science is settled on any subject, you can be very sure you are being conned. No science is ever settled. And if you are told that by a liberal, hold on to your wallet. 

Mr. Gore, you have had your revenge. You have created panic in the "Chicken Little" set. You have made more money than Croesus. Why don't you settle down now and take up a good cause like the "Wounded Veterans Project" or the like. It would help your image and give you something to really feel good about.

Fear Me!

First, congratulations and thank you, to all veterans, today. I wish you all a happy and peaceful Veteran's Day!


Fear me! I am the mighty Obama. There is none mightier. I am the Lord of all I survey. Bow down before me or feel the pain of my wrath. I am the "Second Coming". I am the "twelfth Imam". I am the manifestation of the "Eternal Power". All things wonderful are embodied in me.

So went the theme of the unifying lunch at the White House. The all powerful Obama laid down the ground rules. "Do what you wish, as long as it fits my agenda." This will not go well.

So lets take it in steps. The Obama agenda is amateurish and ill conceived. He shoots from the hip with no conception of the results of his fiats. He listens to no one but the echos of his own mind. For some reason he finds this adequate for the man who was, and is no longer, the most powerful man on the planet.

Obama's agenda does not allow things that would make the United States increasingly self sufficient. The Keystone XL pipeline has been studied to death. It is widely recognized that pipelines are a safer way to move oil that rail transport, but no approval there. Coal mines are being shut down driving people into poverty in areas where no other work exists. Fracking and drilling are doing well in areas outside of government control. If government controlled lands were opened up, we could be free of Middle Eastern oil. 

Money wasted on a "green" agenda is just fine. Enormous solar fields built with huge government guaranteed loans, that have never produced the promised amount of energy and fry birds in flight in their focused beams, are now asking for government grants to pay off their loans. Just another Solyndra like project.

The promise of "no boots on the ground" is now, unabashedly, more boots on the ground. People are just beginning to realize what a con job Obamacare is. Those that thought they were getting something for nothing, now find they are getting nothing for a lot. Obamacare is nothing but welfare for health insurers. While the administration wants to control civilian health care, the situation at the VA keeps getting worse.

But in the face of huge Democrat losses, Obama stands defiant. He plans, with his pen and his telephone, to make five million illegals, legal. He is wrong to do this. It is illegal for him to do this. But the only way to stop him is impeachment. That will never happen.

The next two years are going to be a rough ride. But now Obama will have to do his own dirty work. He won't have his hit man, Harry Reid, to do it for him. He will have to veto Republican bills himself. No longer will he be able to bury them in the Senate without his fingerprints on the deed.

The country will survive. Probably pretty much intact, as long as we don't dive back down the liberal rabbit hole in 2016. We need some time of good old fashioned patriotism to bring back the love of country that should possess every American. There is no better time to start than now.

Loves Labors Lost

Woe be unto the man or woman who enters into a one sided love affair. The lengths that such a misguided person will go to, know no limits. They convince themselves that if they do or say just the right thing the object of their affection will suddenly realize that they have wronged this suitor in the harshest manner and return their affection wholeheartedly.

It is bad enough when any average Joe or Jane borders on becoming a stalker. When that affliction hits the President of the United States, it is worthy of some comment. Maybe even much comment.

It seems that Barack Obama has, for some time, been trying to get the Ayatollah Khamenei to be his pen pal. He has secretly written at least four letters to the Ayatollah. I wonder if he dots his i s with little hearts. But so far, it seems, Obama's man-crush has been spurned. Oh, the pain of it all.

It seems that President Obama felt that he and the Ayatollah could be good buddies if the Ayatollah would just have his troops go in and mix it up with the fighters of the Islamic State. Or as our delusional President calls them the non-Islamic ISIL. I use the word delusional because the letter I in ISIL stands for Islamic. Which Obama insists they are not. The L stands for Levant. That is Israel and Jordan. They have not taken that territory, and probably never will. So delusional applies. 

President Obama seems to think that because Iran is Shia and ISIS is Sunni, Iran would be willing to fight a war that Obama allowed. Why would they? Obama can't offer to back off on Iran's nuclear program. He's been ignoring that since he took office. He can't offer to take a hard stand against Israel. He's already played that card. He's a lame duck with no arrows left in his quiver. (Yes, I know it's a mixed metaphor.)

So friend Barack, your bromance is ill fated. Don't be a stalker. Move on. You have blown it in the Middle East. I'll bet you still have China's number in your little black book. Give them a call. Otherwise it's loves labors lost for you.

There Are Limits

Yes, there are limits. With countries, they are called borders. All countries have them. Almost all countries enforce them. Some violently. From both directions. You are just as likely to get shot sneaking into North Korea as out of. OK, that is the extreme. Well, there is Iran and a few others too.

The United States is ambivalent about it's borders. At least the President and his Democrat cohorts are. They seem to think no borders at all would be best. That way anybody could just walk in and go to the polls on election day and vote Democrat in thanks for their open border policy.

Most of us in the unwashed, uneducated, and unruly masses, who lean on "our God and our guns", prefer that our border laws be strictly enforced. It is not that we don't love all of mankind, it is just that we think that, with all the tax money the government spends, they could afford to run our country more like a hotel. When you arrive, you check in. When you leave, you check out.

Those with long term visas, like students and workers, need to be required to check in once a year. If they don't, they become fugitives.  Schools with foreign students must be required to report long term absence. The world is too dangerous today to not know who you, as a nation, are hosting.

Mexican President Nieto had quite a bit to say when Rick Perry shut down the Texas border. But try to cross into Mexico. Remember what happened to Andrew Tahmooressi. Eight months in jail for a mistake.

The fact is that there are people crossing our borders for bad reasons. Any reasonable thinking person knows that jihadists who are bent on doing our country harm are sneaking in from all sides. We have no idea what they are bringing with them. There are people sneaking into our country with communicable diseases like tuberculosis among others. This does not seem to bother our President at all. In fact it seem he would open the door wider.

People want to immigrate to the United States. They should be allowed to. We are still a melting pot. But there need to be firm rules. Firm, not harsh. But what we have now is loose as a goose insanity. The political power base just took a major shift. I hope we can use that power shift to regain control of our borders. After all, there are limits.

No picture yesterday because  I was running behind. I hope this colonial cottage makes up for it.

Stifle It!

I have been reading all of the opinions from various and sundry people who think themselves wise in the ways of politics and politicians. It has been a hoot. Some, like Charlie Rangel, are so mentally stuck in the bad old days that they still have KKK marches dancing through their heads and see Jim Crow signs at every turn. 

The ability of the human mind to find overt evidence for their most dearly held prejudices is unlimited. To the extreme unreality of one, over the hill Democrat operative, who has found steady work on TV as comic relief. He just sits there getting rudely angry acting like the Democrats actually have more power with fewer office holders.

So, I feel obliged to give my opinion as to why the Republicans were so successful. They had really good candidates who were attractive to the voters. At least the first time you run, you have to project an image of solid, pleasant, thoughtful intelligence. The Republican candidates did just that.

The Republicans avoided their old tradition of forming a "circular firing squad". None of the old guard came out ripping the newbies because they weren't the old guard. In other words, the Republicans made no stupid mistakes. And in one case, that I will leave unenumerated, they came together to help a candidate repair a serious flaw in his campaign. He won.

But the main reason that the Republican won in a wholesale slaughter is that Americans love their freedom. They cherish it above all things in the world. For the past six years, Barack Obama and his minions have done everything possible to stifle American freedom. The American people wouldn't stand for it any longer. 

Think about it. Attacks on the First Amendment. Attacks on the Second Amendment. Attacks on the Fourth Amendment. Obamacare controlling peoples healthcare options. The IRS attacking Obama's political opponents. An administration that laughs at Congress and the Freedom of Information Act. Lies about the economy.

People were fed up. They had had enough. They went to the polls and made their feeling known. We will now go through the most dangerous two years in my long lifetime. Obama's instincts are, I'm sure, to act like a trapped animal. If there are any adults left in the Democrat Party, perhaps they should visit the President and present an alternate reality to him. Two years is not that long and the American people are now paying attention.

The Three Legged Stool

First of all, congratulations to the Republicans. They ran a decent race against a badly damaged President. Don't misunderstand. It is just that Republicans, generally, try to run clean races and it hurts them against people with the "win at any cost" mindset.

But they now have the three legged stool of politics. And three legged stools don't wobble. They always sit firm. They have Governors. They have Representatives. And, glory hallelujah, they have Senators. They have power.

I understand, good old Harry Reid, hat in hand and tugging on his forelock, asked to have a more collegiate Senate for the next two years. Now that is irony. The man who destroyed the Senate in reputation and function, is now Mr. cooperation.

The next two years will be both dangerous and formative for Republicans. They can now send bills that matter to the White House rather than have them die in the Senate as they have been. I think there will be little cooperation from the President. Obstructionism may just move up one level. 

When the President uses the veto pen, Republicans must, absolutely must, take their case to the people. They have to put their best image forward and make sure the American people know what is happening in Congress. 

When the President goes extra-Constitutional, they must be out there explaining what Obama is doing and why it is wrong. Their case must be made to the public directly. The press won't do their job. They are, for the most part, liberal and are not about to change.

If the Republicans do these things and bring a fresh face into the next Presidential election, they stand a chance. No more old guard. Preferably, a governor who has actually run an organization and has leadership skills.

If the Republicans do not do these things, the Democrats will vilify everything they have done and we will end up with another liberal President. That is a price our country cannot afford to pay.   

The Obama Tar Pit

I didn't sleep well last night. When I don't sleep well, I sit in my big comfy recliner and let my mind roam. I don't pick the destination. Some little thing in my sub-conscious is my personal tour guide. Last night my mind traveled out to the La Brea Tar Pits.

I have never been there, but I have read about them. It is a fascinating spot. Tar oozes up from deep inside the earth. In prehistoric times, animals would wander into the tar and get stuck. Predators would try to attack them and they would get stuck also. So over centuries millions of animals were sucked into the tar. From time to time some of these bones surface. They are removed, cleaned, and put in a museum. 

It occurred to me that this is not unlike the Obama Presidency in this election cycle. His far reaching plans and failed policies, have put him at the center of a political tar pit. As he sinks into the mire, those who have supported him seem to be sinking along with him.

So who are those that have been so unwise as to support his policies that have so harmed the poor, the middle class, and brought America low in the international scene? Well, just about every democrat out there. They have all been behind President Obama over ninety percent of the time.

Even more to the point, when the President ignored the Constitution and the laws of the nation, they stood mute. In this case, silence certainly did give consent. Were there any adults in the Democrat party that went to him and tried to explain the error of his ways? Did any of his group try to stop the release of five "mad dog" Islamists for one possible traitor? In spite of the fact that such a trade was illegal? The answer is no to all.

Some, like Mary Landrieu, try to pick up a verbal shovel and dig their way out of Obama tar. You can't do that. As Sen. Landrieu found out, digging just makes your personal hole in the tar a little deeper.

The thing that worries me is based on some conversations that I have had lately. There are way too many people out there that are scarily uninformed. All that they see is their six o'clock local news and they are satisfied. Since my wife and I are news junkies we lose sight of the habits of normal people. I just hope that enough of those who go to the polls will be informed enough to keep all the rest of us out of the tar pit.

A Tale Of Two Marines

The two marines referred to in the title are, of course, Bowe Bergdahl and Andrew Tahmooressi. The comparisons of these two stories is both bizarre and distressing. It forces us all to ask once more what motivates our President and why he does what he does and ignores what he wishes.

The President as Commander in Chief sits at the top of the military totem pole. A military that has a tradition of "no man left behind". When Bergdahl walked away from his post in Afghanistan, his fellow marines went looking for him. In spite of the fact that it was suspected that he went AWOL,  they risked their lives to try to bring him home. In fact six marines were killed while the search proceeded. 

Evidence started showing up that Bergdahl had deserted. It appeared that he had gone over and joined the Taliban. But President Obama wanted him back. Finally the President agreed, illegally, to release five vicious Islamic jihadists for the return of Bergdahl. This, in spite of a standing rule, that America does not negotiate with terrorists.

So Bergdahl was returned. He was nursed back to health and placed in a desk job on active duty at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. An investigation was started. Two weeks prior to tomorrow's election, the investigation was completed. The results were not released. They are to be released after the votes are counted. Once again we have politics over the promised transparency. No surprise there. But be assured, President Obama was the moving force behind Bergdahl's trade and recovery. 

In comparison, we have Andrew Tahmooressi. A marine with PTSD, who did not go over to the enemy. He simply made a wrong turn on the California-Mexico border. As I understand it, not an uncommon mistake. But instead of turning him around and sending him back the way we do, the Mexicans arrested him and threw him in jail. 

Now Mexico is supposed to be our friend. But they frequently spit in our eye. Obama could have cleared this up with a phone call. He opted not to. His excuse. He did not want to insult Mexico. Really? So Tahmooressi languished in a miserable Mexican prison cell for eight months. Much of that time they kept him in chains. His PTSD went untreated. 

I don't suppose we will ever know why the President threw his arms around a possible traitor and released five men that are an extreme danger to the United States and it's citizens, while ignoring a true American hero. It makes no sense in the real world. But I guess we all don't live in the real world.

Welcome Back, Andrew

Andrew Tahmooressi, welcome home. You have been missed. All right thinking Americans apologize to you for the ordeal that you suffered. It should never have happened. We all hope that you can get on with your life and work your way through the problems that this will undoubtedly create for you. Be strong, you are and always will be, a United States Marine. That puts you among the best of the best.

One piece of advice. Get a good agent, a good ghost writer, and a good book deal. The American people want to hear your story. I bet it will be a best seller. And if anyone ever deserved to profit from their troubles, it is you. An uncaring government left one of our own behind. 

We all wish you a great and good future life. You have earned and, I'm sure will get, the support of all Americans whatever path you take. I can just wish you good luck.