When you are the President of the United States with a first rate intelligence and oratorical skills unseen in years, but your leadership decisions continue to fail you at every turn, what do you do? You fall back on the one thing you know will change the hearts and minds of your constituents at most, and at the least, buy you time to get your agenda implemented. At a time when the nation was in near panic over impending doom of the economic crisis, Obama saw
an opportunity to bring about his socialist agenda. However, these plans were so radical, that even with a lack of "transparency", the American people have seen right through him.
So now the President wants you to believe that he has seen the light. He now wants us to believe that the nation is overwhelmed in fiscal debt, the likes of which we have never seen and he must take action to save us. By Executive Order, he has created a bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. He noted at the signing that "Without action, the accumulated weight of that structural deficit of ever-increasing debt will hobble our economy, it will cloud our future, and it will saddle every child in America with an intolerable burden." Well, I don't know about you, but I am as a citizen of this great nation, offended at the attitude and actions of this President.
I ask you where was this caution with his new budget for fiscal year 2010 that called for a freeze on discretionary spending that only effects 16% of the federal budget. A freeze that would by most experts produce only a 3% drop in debt over the next ten years as proposed. Mr. Obama stated yesterday that the "federal debt has exploded." Let me put this all in perspective:
When the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 the deficit was $160 billion.
Under the Pelosi-Reid Congress it "exploded" to $458 billion in 2008.
When Obama took office in 2009 it hit $1.4 trillion. For 2010 projected at $1.6 trillion.
An even more shocking fact is that the interest on the national debt this year alone is 18.75% of the total budget and amounts to $389 billion dollars. It is estimated that the largest item in he federal budget within 12 years will be the interest on the national debt. Try to imagine if the largest item in your family budget was the interest on all the money you borrowed. You should feel like an idiot and that is what we have collectively become.
I will not for a moment try to paint the picture that Republicans do not share blame for the exploding deficit. I just pointed out that in 2007 it was already $160 billion. Unfortunately, the mentality for decades has been that the federal government could exist with on-going deficits. It was wrong 30 years ago and wrong today as we approach a debt of 87% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
There is only a few steps to correct the situation. Wasting more taxpayer money on a commission that by the "Executive Order" has no authority is nothing but putting on a show. If President Obama is really serious there are honest common sense steps that the White House and Congress can do immediately. First and foremost is acknowledging there is a problem without the smoke and mirrors mentality. Secondly, freeze all spending and rescind unspent stimulus funds. Do not move forward the proposed Stimulus 2 (renamed "Jobs Bill") and stop the "pass anyway possible" health reform bill sitting in limbo between the House and Senate. Lastly, all proposed tax hikes should be set aside until unemployment falls below 7 percent.
Long term deficit issues and cuts in mandatory spending for entitlement programs must be put on the table. We can no longer sustain a "nanny state" mentality without surrendering to a European style government. Remember that Ben Franklin said we have a Republic..."as long as we can keep it".
Friday, February 19, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Who Is Running the Asylum?
It has been over a month since I last discussed terrorism from the viewpoint of the Obama Administration and the failure of the intelligence community to take appropriate action in the case of the Christmas Day bomber, often referred to as the Underwear Bomber. In this past month we have learned so much more which has the citizens of this great nation wondering who is really in charge and why we get the impression that the crazies are running the asylum.
The administration because of political and media pressure has revealed that after the Christmas Day bomber was taken into custody in Detroit, he was questioned by the FBI for a period of fifty (50) minutes. Keep in mind that surely, Mr. Abdulmutallab had to be in extreme pain as a result of the failed attempt and that brings into question the efforts and validity of anything learned during those minutes. We also know that after that short questioning, Mr. Abdulmutallab was advised of his Miranda rights and immediately clammed up. He has been under security watch at a hospital ever since.
When I question who is in charge, too much cow manure has been thrown around to let the issue go without commentary. On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, one week ago, Robert Gibbs, the Press Secretary for the White House appeared to dance around the question (TWICE) if the President knew about the decision to read the "CrotchBomber" his rights. Finally, after weeks of questioning by various media sources, the Attorney General Eric Holder
made the statement "I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government." But wait a second, that idea of "no objection and other relevant departments just doesn't ring true.
On January 20th, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Jeff Sessions asked who in the "upper echelons" were involved in the Mirandizing decision?
* FBI Director Mueller testified he was not consulted.
* Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair testified that he was not consulted.
* Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano testified that she was not consulted.
* National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter testified that he was not consulted.
If none of these people were consulted, there is only one other person. As important as Erik Holder may think he is, he would not have done this on his own. The AG may be the fall guy in this decision but I am inclined to believe the President made the call.
This past Wednesday, Mr. Holder in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he took full responsibility for the decision and stated that "the wide-spread experience of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI is that many defendents will talk and cooperate once they have been advised of their right to remain silent".
We now have been told as if by magic that in fact, Mr. Abdulmutallab is telling all he knows and cooperating fully. In my opinion, this will give the White House justification for not turning him over to military authorities and I would make a further prediction that his "cooperation" will lead to a deal (a plea bargain) that will save him from the death penalty and perhaps even a
life sentence.
The administration because of political and media pressure has revealed that after the Christmas Day bomber was taken into custody in Detroit, he was questioned by the FBI for a period of fifty (50) minutes. Keep in mind that surely, Mr. Abdulmutallab had to be in extreme pain as a result of the failed attempt and that brings into question the efforts and validity of anything learned during those minutes. We also know that after that short questioning, Mr. Abdulmutallab was advised of his Miranda rights and immediately clammed up. He has been under security watch at a hospital ever since.
When I question who is in charge, too much cow manure has been thrown around to let the issue go without commentary. On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, one week ago, Robert Gibbs, the Press Secretary for the White House appeared to dance around the question (TWICE) if the President knew about the decision to read the "CrotchBomber" his rights. Finally, after weeks of questioning by various media sources, the Attorney General Eric Holder
made the statement "I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes, and to seek his detention in connection with those charges, with the knowledge of, and with no objection from, all other relevant departments of the government." But wait a second, that idea of "no objection and other relevant departments just doesn't ring true.
On January 20th, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Jeff Sessions asked who in the "upper echelons" were involved in the Mirandizing decision?
* FBI Director Mueller testified he was not consulted.
* Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair testified that he was not consulted.
* Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano testified that she was not consulted.
* National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter testified that he was not consulted.
If none of these people were consulted, there is only one other person. As important as Erik Holder may think he is, he would not have done this on his own. The AG may be the fall guy in this decision but I am inclined to believe the President made the call.
This past Wednesday, Mr. Holder in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he took full responsibility for the decision and stated that "the wide-spread experience of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI is that many defendents will talk and cooperate once they have been advised of their right to remain silent".
We now have been told as if by magic that in fact, Mr. Abdulmutallab is telling all he knows and cooperating fully. In my opinion, this will give the White House justification for not turning him over to military authorities and I would make a further prediction that his "cooperation" will lead to a deal (a plea bargain) that will save him from the death penalty and perhaps even a
life sentence.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Where Do We Go From Here?
You may have thought that I was not going to comment on the State of the Union Address by President Obama. Not the case at all. His address to the people and the Congress last Wednesday was in my opinion quite predicable. I purposely waited until all the political pundits in the media had their opportunity to evaluate and I was waiting a few days to evaluate the meeting on Friday between the President and the representatives of the Republican party. My evaluation of the Presidents first year in office was offered in my commentary last Friday, entitled "A Year of Broken Promises". I want to focus only on the reaction to his address and on areas where he had little or nothing to say.
To begin with, he stated "I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values." Are you kidding? This president gave during his first year 411 speeches or remarks on various topics, including 29 speeches on the Health Care reform still pending in Congress. And yet, he suggested the public didn't understand the
health care bill. The outcomes of Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts clearly rejected the health care legislation and other actions of this Presidency. During his speech he mentioned that "People are angry and they are frustrated...Not just because of what's happened in the past year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years." In other words, "I'll blame Bush. That always works!" Sorry Mr. President, it is time to take ownership of your Presidency.
I found his remarks un-presidential when he chided the Supreme Court for their recent decision in defense of the 1st Amendment. There in front of him sat the members of the Court while he castigated them to the extent that the liberal side of the aisle stood and applauded. He accused the Court of opening the door for foreign corporations' campaign contributions when in fact all legal rulings expressively forbid this.
The President tried very hard to defend his Jobs Stimulus by pointing out that 300,000 Americans are working as teachers and other education workers, tens of thousands are police officers, firefighters, correctional officers and first responders. In reality, these jobs are either government (federal, state and local) or connected in such a way that they would not exist but for government.
Meanwhile, barely a paragraph was given to the war in Afghanistan and no recognition to the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies. The global war against Al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned and the top issue of voters in the United States -Terrorism received little attention. I found it rather convenient for him to fail to mention the mistakes at Fort Hood and most recently, the prosecution of the Christmas Day bomber in which we now have come to find out was only questioned for 50 minutes and then given his Miranda rights.
The President met with Republican leaders on Friday which was televised. I think it was a good start but served only as an opportunity for each side to point out failures. I believe the President did act somewhat like a stern father admonishing his children as he spoke to them in his well known arrogant and condescending fashion. Today on the Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the political guests of two democrats and two republicans continued to blame each other in very partisan manner for the failures of the present administration. The Republicans continued to hammer broken promises and lack of transparency while the democrats wanted to call the Republicans the "party of no" and blame Bush for the economic condition of the country, including the Medicare Prescription Program under Bush. As to transparency, I believe the public is beginning to see right through President Obama.
There has been much speculation this week over the results of the three state elections and whether President Obama would move at least to center left. Last Friday night after the address, the Fox panel did an early evaluation of the speech. What stuck out for me was the opinion of Charles Krauthammer, himself an MD in Psychiatry and degrees in Economics and Political Science. He stated that he believed that President Obama was in a state of "Clinical Denial". This afternoon on Fox News Sunday the regular panel evaluated again and three of the four where optimistic that President Obama would start to adjust his strategy towards the center. Dr. Krauthammer maintained his position in saying that the President would continue his left wing agenda. I agree with him but for the sake of our nation, I sincerely hope that I am wrong.
To begin with, he stated "I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values." Are you kidding? This president gave during his first year 411 speeches or remarks on various topics, including 29 speeches on the Health Care reform still pending in Congress. And yet, he suggested the public didn't understand the
health care bill. The outcomes of Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts clearly rejected the health care legislation and other actions of this Presidency. During his speech he mentioned that "People are angry and they are frustrated...Not just because of what's happened in the past year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years." In other words, "I'll blame Bush. That always works!" Sorry Mr. President, it is time to take ownership of your Presidency.
I found his remarks un-presidential when he chided the Supreme Court for their recent decision in defense of the 1st Amendment. There in front of him sat the members of the Court while he castigated them to the extent that the liberal side of the aisle stood and applauded. He accused the Court of opening the door for foreign corporations' campaign contributions when in fact all legal rulings expressively forbid this.
The President tried very hard to defend his Jobs Stimulus by pointing out that 300,000 Americans are working as teachers and other education workers, tens of thousands are police officers, firefighters, correctional officers and first responders. In reality, these jobs are either government (federal, state and local) or connected in such a way that they would not exist but for government.
Meanwhile, barely a paragraph was given to the war in Afghanistan and no recognition to the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies. The global war against Al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned and the top issue of voters in the United States -Terrorism received little attention. I found it rather convenient for him to fail to mention the mistakes at Fort Hood and most recently, the prosecution of the Christmas Day bomber in which we now have come to find out was only questioned for 50 minutes and then given his Miranda rights.
The President met with Republican leaders on Friday which was televised. I think it was a good start but served only as an opportunity for each side to point out failures. I believe the President did act somewhat like a stern father admonishing his children as he spoke to them in his well known arrogant and condescending fashion. Today on the Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the political guests of two democrats and two republicans continued to blame each other in very partisan manner for the failures of the present administration. The Republicans continued to hammer broken promises and lack of transparency while the democrats wanted to call the Republicans the "party of no" and blame Bush for the economic condition of the country, including the Medicare Prescription Program under Bush. As to transparency, I believe the public is beginning to see right through President Obama.
There has been much speculation this week over the results of the three state elections and whether President Obama would move at least to center left. Last Friday night after the address, the Fox panel did an early evaluation of the speech. What stuck out for me was the opinion of Charles Krauthammer, himself an MD in Psychiatry and degrees in Economics and Political Science. He stated that he believed that President Obama was in a state of "Clinical Denial". This afternoon on Fox News Sunday the regular panel evaluated again and three of the four where optimistic that President Obama would start to adjust his strategy towards the center. Dr. Krauthammer maintained his position in saying that the President would continue his left wing agenda. I agree with him but for the sake of our nation, I sincerely hope that I am wrong.
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Year of Broken Promises
President Obama completed his first year in office this week and certainly the celebration was totally muted by a resounding roar from the voters in Massachusetts, the most liberal state, who unequivocally said "no more" to the socialist leanings of this administration. Just over a month ago, President Obama was eager to give himself a B+ for his first year. He even went so far as to leave the door open for an "A" if he got ObamaCare signed into law.
As we look back at his first year, there is an overwhelming feeling of broken promises and in my opinion an abandonment of common sense. The most obvious reflection is that he campaigned on the promise of total transparency, an end to entitlements and back room politics. Instead, we were deluged with czars like the radical socialist Sunstein and the pedophile loving Kevin Jennings. The appointment of a Treasury Secretary who admittedly failed to pay his taxes and a President who went on an apology tour of Europe telling of American arrogance.
When we look at the Obama Doctrine in dealing with terrorism we come away with the feeling that the President wanted to completely disarm our strategy by denying that terrorists are even at war with us and treating them like criminals. We were appalled by the idea that CIA agents would be open to prosecution by his attack dog, Attorney General Eric Holder. Amazingly, this week in testimony before Congress, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of Homeland Security both testified they had no idea that the so called "Underwear Bomber" would be turned over to civil authorities.
There is no question that the President inherited an economy in distress. However, his policy has been a complete failure. His $787 billion stimulus bill promised to keep unemployment below 8% and create tens of thousands of jobs in the private sector. In contrast, basically no jobs were created and unemployment rates have gone to over 10%. Through bank bailouts, and the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler coupled with "Cash for Clunkers" the national debt has skyrocketed to catastrophic heights placing our children and grandchildren in debt for decades. It has also placed the economy of the United States near collapse as we watch China begin to replace us as the largest economy in the world, the rest of the world holds our debt, and the dollar is in jeopardy of being replaced on the world market.
Until this past week in Massachusetts, President Obama was ready to ram ObamaCare down the throats of a nation which clearly was against the policy and would force people to buy health insurance backed by fines for individuals and penalties for businesses. His liberal led Congress enticed representatives to vote yes by offering "sweetheart" deals in places like Louisiana and Nebraska and all this done behind closed doors without input from the right side of the aisle. Now, President Obama says he has heard the people speak. His State of the Union address will be filled with more promises that jobs will be created and the national debt will be brought under control. Will these be more broken promises? He failed the people in the first year and deserves an D.
I offer this thought and my opinion. President Obama is a Progressive, an anti-capitalist to his core. I do not believe he has ever liked free enterprise. I believe he wants to take down our free market economy...to be replaced by a government-controlled economy. We have an opportunity that started in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts. The future lies in the hands of the voters and the people of this great nation. At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 a woman of Philadelphia came up to Benjamin Franklin and asked, "well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."
As we look back at his first year, there is an overwhelming feeling of broken promises and in my opinion an abandonment of common sense. The most obvious reflection is that he campaigned on the promise of total transparency, an end to entitlements and back room politics. Instead, we were deluged with czars like the radical socialist Sunstein and the pedophile loving Kevin Jennings. The appointment of a Treasury Secretary who admittedly failed to pay his taxes and a President who went on an apology tour of Europe telling of American arrogance.
When we look at the Obama Doctrine in dealing with terrorism we come away with the feeling that the President wanted to completely disarm our strategy by denying that terrorists are even at war with us and treating them like criminals. We were appalled by the idea that CIA agents would be open to prosecution by his attack dog, Attorney General Eric Holder. Amazingly, this week in testimony before Congress, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of Homeland Security both testified they had no idea that the so called "Underwear Bomber" would be turned over to civil authorities.
There is no question that the President inherited an economy in distress. However, his policy has been a complete failure. His $787 billion stimulus bill promised to keep unemployment below 8% and create tens of thousands of jobs in the private sector. In contrast, basically no jobs were created and unemployment rates have gone to over 10%. Through bank bailouts, and the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler coupled with "Cash for Clunkers" the national debt has skyrocketed to catastrophic heights placing our children and grandchildren in debt for decades. It has also placed the economy of the United States near collapse as we watch China begin to replace us as the largest economy in the world, the rest of the world holds our debt, and the dollar is in jeopardy of being replaced on the world market.
Until this past week in Massachusetts, President Obama was ready to ram ObamaCare down the throats of a nation which clearly was against the policy and would force people to buy health insurance backed by fines for individuals and penalties for businesses. His liberal led Congress enticed representatives to vote yes by offering "sweetheart" deals in places like Louisiana and Nebraska and all this done behind closed doors without input from the right side of the aisle. Now, President Obama says he has heard the people speak. His State of the Union address will be filled with more promises that jobs will be created and the national debt will be brought under control. Will these be more broken promises? He failed the people in the first year and deserves an D.
I offer this thought and my opinion. President Obama is a Progressive, an anti-capitalist to his core. I do not believe he has ever liked free enterprise. I believe he wants to take down our free market economy...to be replaced by a government-controlled economy. We have an opportunity that started in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts. The future lies in the hands of the voters and the people of this great nation. At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 a woman of Philadelphia came up to Benjamin Franklin and asked, "well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
BOHICA - Scammed Again!
The Christmas/New Years holidays are over with and certainly it can be said that the Congress is back in Washington and it is again, "politics as usual". I could never speak for everyone but I am fed up with a federal government that is hell bent on their liberal agenda and the public be damned. I know it sounds like a broken record but I have never seen leadership so willing to throw transparency out the window along with Robert's Rules of Order. I am talking about the determination of the liberal Congress to pass Health Care Reform at any cost, and believe me it is going to cost.
Back in August of 2008 Candidate Barack Obama spoke to a town hall meeting in Chester, Virginia about the desire to reform health care. He stated "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies...what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-Span, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents...And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."
Yesterday, after meeting behind closed doors, democratic representatives were asked about the transparency of the reconciliation meetings and the fact that Candidate Obama had promised transparency in his administration. Speaker of the House Pelosi replied "well the President made a lot of promises on the campaign trail." The public was advised in a news release two days ago that the compromise between the House and Senate versions of the health care bill would be a three-way negotiation involving top Democrats in the House and Senate and the White House. It was announced there would be no plans to appoint a formal House-Senate conference committee, the method Congress most often uses to reconcile differing bills. The conservative side of the aisle has been totally shut out of the process. So the plan is to reach a quick agreement and on the desk of the President for signing.
It has become quite obvious of the administrations plans on this bill. Obama broke his promise on transparency many months ago with backroom deals cut with drug companies, hospitals and the AARP. I previously reported this in my commentary "Scamming Our Citizens" on November 10, 2008. The old scout motto of "Be Prepared" could not ring more true than in this situation. The American people will see more federal debt, their health care costs will increase, their taxes will go up and their quality of care will go down. There is absolutely no way on this earth that you can provide coverage to 15 million more people and cut the Medicare costs by a half billion dollars with out the resulting costs to taxpayers. Just one question left...have you removed that Obama for President sticker from your car yet?
Back in August of 2008 Candidate Barack Obama spoke to a town hall meeting in Chester, Virginia about the desire to reform health care. He stated "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies...what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-Span, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents...And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."
Yesterday, after meeting behind closed doors, democratic representatives were asked about the transparency of the reconciliation meetings and the fact that Candidate Obama had promised transparency in his administration. Speaker of the House Pelosi replied "well the President made a lot of promises on the campaign trail." The public was advised in a news release two days ago that the compromise between the House and Senate versions of the health care bill would be a three-way negotiation involving top Democrats in the House and Senate and the White House. It was announced there would be no plans to appoint a formal House-Senate conference committee, the method Congress most often uses to reconcile differing bills. The conservative side of the aisle has been totally shut out of the process. So the plan is to reach a quick agreement and on the desk of the President for signing.
It has become quite obvious of the administrations plans on this bill. Obama broke his promise on transparency many months ago with backroom deals cut with drug companies, hospitals and the AARP. I previously reported this in my commentary "Scamming Our Citizens" on November 10, 2008. The old scout motto of "Be Prepared" could not ring more true than in this situation. The American people will see more federal debt, their health care costs will increase, their taxes will go up and their quality of care will go down. There is absolutely no way on this earth that you can provide coverage to 15 million more people and cut the Medicare costs by a half billion dollars with out the resulting costs to taxpayers. Just one question left...have you removed that Obama for President sticker from your car yet?
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