A Binnacle For Obama

I thought it might be good to go out and buy a binnacle. Actually two would be better. For those of you that might not be familiar with the term, on many older ships, standing in front of the wheel was a shiny brass tower about three and a half feet tall. It contained a compass floating in oil. The compass floated in oil so if the ship pitched fore to aft or rolled port to starboard, the compass was always level and accurate to steer by.

I would like to give one to the President to mount in front of his desk in the oval office and I thought one in the center of the rotunda in the Capitol Building would be helpful. I suggest this because our elected officials have clearly lost their way. They are in dire need of a compass to guide them. Many of them could use a moral compass too, but I don't know where to buy those.

At least twenty percent of those that would work cannot find jobs. Many of those that are working are employed in lower level jobs than they should have. On top of this, in a few months, there will be a new crop of high school and college graduates hitting the work force. Good luck to them. While the country needs jobs desperately, our elected officials are focusing on everything but.

Immigration is an important issue to many, but if we don't have jobs, it is less relevant. Can John Kerry pick up where Hillary left off? Is Chuck Hagel a suitable replacement for Leon Panetta? Should they open more hearings on the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. How can guns be further restricted so honest people can't protect themselves. Notice that Congress exempts themselves from any of these restrictions. And above all, make sure that they continue to squeeze more taxes out of the system to feed their uncontrolled spending habit.

Starting into his fifth year as President, Barack Obama still tries to blame George Bush or the Republicans in general. No more Mr. President. You own it. You have thrown up the road blocks. You have drained the economy. You are destroying the middle class. You and your regulators are standing square in the way of business and expansion. My only question is, are you inept or is this purposeful.

The GDP has once again gone into negative numbers. Another month of that and we will be officially into a double dip recession. The American people have hung on and some poor souls have actually believed. Believe this, we are not making progress. We have not, in the past few years, made progress. And unless there is a change, we will not make progress in the near future. Mr. President, you really need a new compass.

I Pledge Allegiance!

Many years ago when I was in grammar school, one of the first things that we learned was the "Pledge Of Allegiance". Every morning we stood by our desks, faced the flag, (there was one in every classroom), and recited as one the Pledge. None were harmed. We were taught to love our country in those days. The founding fathers were super heroes. They with a bunch of farmers wielding muskets wrested a tiny colony from the grip of the mightiest empire in the world. 

With only the power of their intellect they wrote a constitution that is the frame work of the greatest republic and the freest people that has ever existed in the history of the world. To pledge allegiance to that country was a moment of pride for all of us and it is a pride that I have never lost.

America has always been a country of dreams. No matter who you were, no matter where you came from, you could head for that "bright light on the hill" and know that your future was in your own hands. You may succeed or you might fail. There was never a guarantee of success. What there was was a guarantee of opportunity. And not just one opportunity. If you failed on your first try you could pick yourself up and start all over again. As many times as you wished.

That freedom of opportunity was and still is enough to bring people from all over the world to come here and take their chance at something better they could ever have hoped for in their homelands. They bring with them skills and ideas and sometimes a different way of seeing things that have made this country better and stronger.

We are at a point in history where that freedom of opportunity is threatened as it has never been before. We have a federal administration that sees equality of results as more important than the freedom to try. They are entranced with the ability to regulate and control. This over regulation precludes the little guy from trying to start a business as it makes it too expensive and complicated. Little kids can't even open a lemonade stand any more without some ham handed government yokel having his hand out for some ridiculous fee.

The people that control this behavior in Washington live in a bubble. They never hear the voices of the working people out in "flyover country". But we are fed up. People were sold on hope and change and all we got was hopeless change. But nothing is forever. Eventually we will get our country back. More hard times are coming because those in charge don't understand the problem. But I still pledge allegiance.

The Rights of the Right

Those on the left are taking away the rights of the Right. Those on the right side of the political fence, aka conservatives, tend to be traditionalists. They value the old traditions and the old institutions. They are not eager for the latest, hottest, soonest to be forgotten fad. Prime rib is great. Noveau cuisine, not so much. 

So those on the left take advantage of the worlds penchant for political correctness to take free speech away from those that take a more long term view of life and politics. The current frenzy over firearms is a good example. If you enjoy shooting sports, you are a gun "nut". I have spent some enjoyable hours among those that enjoy using firearms, mostly target shooters, but some hunters, and I have never run into a "nut". For the most part they have been quiet, cautious, friendly people that enjoy each others company.

I am against abortion. If you say that around a liberal you become part of the "war on women". Of course, that war was made up by liberals to take conservatives off the playing field. I grew up when abortions were illegal. I am well aware of the back alley abortionists and the havoc they created. There were and are some good reasons for abortion. These should be allowed. Birth control is not a good reason. The fact of the matter is I do not like to see the lives of babies ended before they even have a chance. I believe that those unborn babes have rights too.

I believe in marriage between a man and a woman. I would be called homophobic to destroy any valid argument that I may have. Marriage started out as a religious rite that has been taken over by civil authorities. They may have usurped control of marriage, but I do not feel that they have the right to redefine it. I have no problem with civil unions. Since we have the right to free speech and free thought, those that come together in such a union can call it what ever they wish. With religion comes a certain rigor. That is the strong backbone of faith. Once that fails religion becomes "the Church of Anything Goes".

So when one takes a position of conscience they had best be prepared to defend it loud and long. The opposition are master manipulators of words and of the press that reports those words. And if you should dare become a public figure with these thoughts, be prepared to have your whole life under a microscope and any misstep blown up to front page proportions. Your opposition will not hesitate to bring about your personal destruction for you are their mortal enemy.

Benghazi Third Update

Since I wrote my first article on the four Benghazi scandals, some things have happened. So I am posting this third update along with the original article and the first update, as I promised I would.

Third Update

Today Hillary testified. As I expected, she denied knowledge of any requests for additional security. She demanded "What difference does it make now?" The difference is, Madam Secretary, that American soil was once again attacked by Al Qaeda and four American heroes died. American have a right to know all the facts. And your are, to be polite, obfuscating. The malfeasance here is monumental and still they cover up. 

Second Update

The Benghazi review board has just come out with a report that is scathing to the State Department. Although it apparently didn't name Hillary Clinton, she is the Secretary of State and should have known what was going on. When questioned about the circumstances, President Obama attributed the death of four good American heroes to a little sloppiness. Really, Mr. President. A little sloppiness?

Update

Eric Boswell, Assistant Secretary of State for Security, has resigned his position. Three others have been relieved of their duties and placed on leave. Two of these employees are involved in security. So far, the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is incognito or something. A tough professional football player gets a concussion and goes to the hospital. Hillary get a concussion and goes missing. Just saying.

So we have seen some progress. Not nearly enough. The pressure must be sustained. They want this to just go away. My original article follows:

Remember Benghazi

The holidays are here and everyone is busy with their preparations. The newspaper, if they report at all, are reporting the crisis of the day. The president is heading to Hawaii in a week. Most politicians have lost interest in anything that matters. There are distractions galore. But through all this, we must remember Benghazi.

The administration, every person in it, hopes that the American people will just move on and call it done. Over. Old history. We must not do that. Benghazi is a big deal. Benghazi is not just one scandal. It is four separate scandals. Every one of them deserves our close attention.

The first scandal is that Ambassador Stevens called for more security and it was denied him. That is unheard of. An ambassador is the highest ranking American in any foreign country. He is the direct representative of the President. Normally when an ambassador makes a request it is granted without question. There are only two people in government with the power to deny an ambassador. That would be the Secretary of State and the President. So who made that decision and why? Was it made on political grounds? Was it made to appease someone in the Libyan government? After all this consulate had been attacked before. Weren't there enough warning flags up? Why was the Ambassador even there? Was he sent there secretly for a meeting? Why was he sent with insufficient personal security?

The second scandal is the attack on the consulate itself. This was an attack on sovereign American soil. When the consulate came under fire they called out for help. None was forthcoming. The people calling for help were experienced military. They had a drone overhead monitoring the situation. The battle lasted over seven hours. Help was available. Even a single C-130A sent from Italy could have been there in an hour. Four honorable Americans lost their lives while serving their country. Why? Was this also a political decision? Do we now sacrifice our people for political reasons? Who was monitoring the feed from the drone? Who did they report to? We need answers. We deserve answers. Whatever was or was not done occurred in our name.

The third scandal, of course, is the pack of lies that the administration put out to cover this debacle. The stories had not even a bit of truth to them. It was not about some movie upsetting a flash mob. Any person with more than two active brain cells knew they were lies. But for weeks after, coincidentally right through the presidential debates, the administration stuck with the story. Week after week, on the Sunday talk shows and in the news papers the media allowed this story when they must have known it was a fabrication. A man in California was jailed for his part in inciting a riot that never happened. In America? Please. That is just wrong. When did our country come to this?

The fourth scandal is a little more difficult for me.  I have a tendency to accept the military as straight forward and honorable under any and all pressure. As back in Caesar's day, they would fall on their sword rather than dishonor their uniform. General Petraeus initially mouthed the party line as to the cause of the attack on Benghazi. He reiterated the obvious lies that were played to protect the administration. It is my opinion, and mine alone, that he wanted to tell the truth. Again, my opinion, he was told that if he went public, his private misfeasance would be made public. Being an honorable man who made a mistake, he did the right thing and resigned. We, as American citizens, need his testimony as to what transpired throughout this whole mess.

I am writing this piece on the evening of December 9, 2012. I plan to publish it tomorrow. I feel it is so important that I will republish this essay periodically as a reminder to those that read my blog that the administration has not answered our questions, until we finally are told the truth or have a new administration.

Four Rough Ones Ahead

The swearing has been sworn, the parade has passed, the last dance has been danced. Inauguration day is over. It may be wrong to say, but I couldn't be happier. For over four years I have not been able to look at news on the TV without receiving a presidential lecture. Every day. Every single day. Now we have four more years of that to look forward to. I have watched Presidents through war and crisis since Truman. No TV for FDR but I remember him too. No President has ever had near the amount of face time with the American public that Obama has had.

But through all this I get the feeling that he really doesn't like us very much. I get the impression that he thinks himself better than us. I know he thinks himself smarter. Most liberals do anyway. It's their nature. But to have the chutzpah to go to foreign capitals and lecture foreign leaders as to how they should run their countries is a sign of over weaning selfness. 

Why with this huge dose of intellectual self-assuredness does he continue to focus on his ideological agenda rather than the huge problems that face our country on a day to day basis. I know that one problem is that he thinks of economics and success in general as a zero sum game. If you are hugely successful, you must be taking away from someone else. Not so. Never will be so. If I am successful, I spend more. Those that benefit from my spending get more successful and they spend more. Factories have to gear up and produce to our needs. That makes those businesses and those that work there more successful. As Reagan said "a rising tide floats all boats". I will never understand why our President has a problem with this.

Of course the other problem is spending. Obama sees it as a taxation problem. It is not. It is a spending problem. Obama as an avowed Keynesian feels that it is the government that should be spending. He is doing this at an insane rate. Increased rates of taxation and borrowing to support this spending can do nothing but drive the country into European style bankruptcy. "There are none so blind as they that will not see."

In his inauguration address the President stated the his targets for the next four years would be gun control, climate change, and immigration. Nothing on jobs. Nothing on spending. To do this, he will have to vilify the Republicans in the House. They are the only barrier to his excess and they are not the enemy, they are the loyal opposition. With his fellow Democrats and a liberal press corps he will have plenty of help. His program is a program that is just so wrong for the country but we will reap what we have sown.

Thank You Barack

I have written before about how I feel that the Obama administration treats seniors with disdain. They cancelled Cost of Living Adjustments, COLAs, for the first two of his first four years even before the cost of living figures were in. The President stated unequivocally that the cost of living hadn't increased. Except that the price of fuel doubled, and food went up at least ten percent, and, of course, the cost of health care rose also. The things that effect seniors budgets most increased in price but no COLA. The President did see fit, however, to increase the pay of well paid government workers.

His third year saw a small increase. But, averaged over the previous three years, it is next to nothing. I know a couple who are both retired and collect social security. This year their total increase, after paying an increase in medicare, (for those that didn't know, medicare is not free) is twenty-nine dollars per month. After a rent increase of eighteen dollars per month they net eleven dollars per month. But well paid  federal employees were going to get another increase until Congress held it up. Mr. Obama, you are not our friend.

It troubles me when I go into a super market and see elderly people standing for hours by the cashier bagging. When you get to a certain point in life, your energy level flags, joints hurt, you lose muscle. You shouldn't be forced to work in retail for next to nothing to survive. That work is for young people just starting out and learning what earning a living is about.

Worse is yet to come for seniors. If my understanding of what I have read and heard about Obamacare is correct, it is going to be aimed at maintaining the health of those that the President sees as the most productive part of society. That would be those from about twenty to about fifty-five. Those outside of that range may get basic care, if there is a doctor available to them, but exceptional care will be harder to come by. A Medical Allocation Committee is to be formed to decide on best practices. These people may not be medical professionals. This will have a stifling effect on new and exotic cures. Price will be an overwhelming factor. Research and development costs money and requires imagination. Generally not the priorities of bureaucratic committees.

Life is not easy for anyone as they get older but for the indigent elderly, that don't have family to support them, it is not going to be good years. The golden years can turn quickly to fools gold.

An Important Memo to President Obama

Mr. President: I know that you are a very busy man, what with all the traveling and speeches and so forth. And all these crises that just take months of close attention and focus. I'll bet this latest one, straightening out the gun crisis, has barely left you time for meals. But, if I may, I do have a couple of modest suggestions that might be of more value than  discomfiting law abiding citizens that do no harm.

The people that do these mass shootings are clearly mentally disturbed. I cannot believe that  someplace along the line a person in authority wasn't made aware of something being not right. These suspicions whether from a teacher, another student, or a health care professional must be brought to a responsible party. Probably someone on the federal payroll to assure that the same standards nationally. It is impossible to stop all random acts of violence but this will surely be more effective than limiting magazine size.

Mr. President, it is a basic premise that criminals are criminals because they do not obey the law. If they want a gun they do not go to a gun shop and fill out the paperwork for a background check. They will steal a gun themselves, buy one from a gun thief, or buy one from a smuggler. So all these fancy new laws and initiatives will accomplish naught. I know it and I think you know it. 

The greatest source of gun violence on the streets today is gangs. So if you were serious about ending gun crime you would put the massive power of the United States government into a war on gangs. It is common knowledge that the areas with most gun violence are the country's larger cities.  New York, Chicago, Washington all have extremely stringent gun laws. But these laws mean nothing to criminals. They smuggle in  drugs. They smuggle in guns. There's no difference to them. If you took on that task, it would help against drugs, it would help against violence, and it would make the cities more livable.

All that having been said,  the reason that I wrote this memo is to remind you about jobs. What with guns, the war on women, Benghazi, "Fast and Furious", etc, you seem to have lost your focus on jobs. If focus you ever had. We've noticed, out here in flyover country, that you are starting your second term. Four full years and , truth be told, we are no better off. I know that your bean counters can rub numbers together and make it sound like progress. Two points. First; the GDP is around 1.3 %. That is abominable. Second; there are still fewer people working in this country than in the last thirty years. Worse than abominable. In my humble opinion you are starving your fellow countrymen for the sake of your ideology. Worse yet, you do this while treating yourself to seven million dollar vacations at our expense.