Terrorism By Any Other Name Is Still Terrorism

If, on September 12, 2001, I were to tell you that in eight long years there would not be another single terrorist attack on America soil, you would have understandably told me that I was absolutely crazy.  Well, astoundingly, that is precisely what the Bush administration delivered to the American people.  Eight long years of peace and security within our borders.  Thank you, President Bush!  Now, within just one year of the Obama administration there have been two Islamic terrorist attacks in the American heartland.

On June 1, 2009, in a cold, calculated, pre-meditated act of terrorism, Abdulakim Margahid Muhammad drove up to a west Little Rock military recruiting station and indiscriminately opened fire killing one young American serviceman and severely injuring another.  Muhammad described this attack as a justified act of “Jihad” against America.  He was arrested and charged with one count of homicide and 15 counts of “terroristic threatening.”

On November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan calmly walked into a crowded personnel area of Ft. Hood, Texas armed with two hand guns, one a semi-automatic.  He reportedly yelled in Arabic: “Allah Akbar” (God is Great) and then proceeds to gun down 43 American servicemen and civilians, killing 13 and wounding 30.  Authorities quickly release preliminary information about Hasan, a Major in the U.S. military, showing that he had on numerous occasions expressed sympathy and support for various terrorist activities.  He is reported to be associated with various internet postings and blogs praising suicide bombers, among other activities.  After much of this information came out, approximately some four to five hours after the massacre, Obama made his first public comments at a Tribal Nations Conference of native Americans.  The president spent several minutes bantering with the crowd and even offered a light-hearted “shout out” to his pal, “Joe Medicine Crow” before addressing the terrorist attack.   

Obviously, neither of these horrific attacks were of the scope or scale of the terrorist attacks of 09/11, though for the innocent victims that makes absolutely no difference.  The fact remains, President Bush kept the American homeland safe from terrorist attack for eight long years; President Obama unfortunately, cannot say the same thing for even the first short year of his administration.  “Hope & Change?”  Well, when it comes to preventing terrorist attacks on American soil, all one can say of President Obama is: No He Can’t.

The Operation Was A Success, But The Patient DIED!

Nearly a year into the new era of “Hope & Change” and there is nary a sign of either.  Approximately 130,000 U.S. forces remain entrenched in Iraq; we just had our deadliest month ever in the eight-year long Afghan war; Iran continues undeterred in its ambition to develop nuclear weapons; and, Gitmo remains open for business in Cuba.  On the domestic front things are no better.  Unemployment is now over 10% and continues to inch higher; earnings, and even the Social Security Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), are frozen or decreasing; the national debt has ballooned to the point where every household in America now owes over half a million dollars to pay for our government’s incompetence; and, Washington is deadlocked in bitter partisan acrimony complete with special interest lobbyists and more opaque back-room wheeling and dealing than ever.  I can think of just one single campaign promise that the president has actually kept, and that was to acquire Bo as the new First Dog.  Woof-Woof: “Yes We Can.”

In light of the stunning failure of the first year of the Obama administration it is no wonder that Congress is determined to hand the president what it misguidedly sees as a victory in health care reform.  Unfortunately, the nearly 2,000 page bill may well prove to be not only a bitter pill for the American people, but a steak through the heart of the Obama administration.  This bill is an absolute prescription for disaster.  I’ll admit that like the vast majority of Americans, and perhaps Congressmen, I have not read the entire bill.  However, I do know that in order to succeed the bill must, by design, cut approximately $500 billion in medicaid to senior citizens, and, raise at least $500 billion in taxes.  No matter how you slice it, the combination of a huge cut in medicaid to seniors and a significant tax hike on the American people is a deadly combination.  Late last week the C.B.O. (Congressional Budget Office) projected that the bill would cost at least $1.05 trillion.  That’s already well over the maximum of $900 billion that the president has pledged to approve.  Not to worry, truth and transparency were two of the earliest casulties of the current regime, who cares about credibility anyway, right?  This is but one fatal flaw in this bureaucratic bungle of a bill.  Perhaps the biggest flaw of all is revealed in a September 2009 Gallup poll showing that an astonishing 80% of all Americans are satisfied with their current quality of medical care.  We’ve all heard horrific stories of doctors mistakenly removing the wrong organ, or amputating the wrong limb.  Well, better cover your eyes because the horror show unfolding on Capital Hill just might make “Friday the 13^th” look like “The Little Mermaid.”  I mean really, either Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi already makes Freddie Kruger look like Sponge Bob Square Pants. 

Yes, the Obama administration is understandably desperate for some kind – any kind – of a policy victory.  But by rail-roading this huge bureaucratic partisan monstrosity down the American people’s throat the administration and Congress is heading down an extremely dangerous path.  If passed, the president and many members of Congress, may wake up on November 3, 2010 and 2012 and realize that: the operation was a success but the patient died.

News Media Found: GUILTY AS CHARGED!

Yes, the verdict is in and few Americans will be surprised that the News Media has been found guilty of rampant corruption and bias.  The verdict was handed down yesterday, Sept. 13, 2009 in an exhaustive ruling conducted by the Pew Research Center .  The Pew Research Center is considered the “highest court in the land” when it comes to all things Media related.  Pew is a non-media affiliated, independent, highly respected research organization considered by those in the Media industry itself to be the most credible organization of its kind out there.  Last October, just before the ’08 Presidential Election, Pew did a research study showing that there was an unprecedented level of Media bias.  That study showed that by a margin of 70% to 9% of all voters (Dem. Rep. and Independents) the Media was biased toward Barack Obama and against John McCain.  As incriminating as that study was, it proved to be a mere prelude to the most recent Pew finding.

Here are just a few shocking facts:  In 1985 a full 55% of all Americans believed that the Media “got the facts straight” compared to a disturbing 29% today.  In 1985, 34% of all Americans believed the Media “dealt fairly with all sides” compared to only 18% today.  The study concludes that the News Media today has the lowest level of credibility in more than two decades.  The study goes on to conclude that The New York Times, once the iconic standard of Media credibility, only has a current favorability rating of 29%, whereas FOX News has a current favorability rating of 55% of all Americans.  That’s right, FOX News has a higher favorability rating among all Americans than The New York Times by a margin of 26%!  I urge you to click on the link above and review the full study for yourself.

Now that the verdict is in, the public has already begun to pronounce sentencing.  It is a harsh punishment indeed.  The American people have sentenced the Main Stream News Media to “life in solitary confinement.”  The public are fleeing Main Stream News Media organizations in droves.  Where are they going?  Well, the statistics show that they are flocking to FOX News.  According to the Huffington Post, hardly a conservative-leaning news source, FOX News completely dominates cable news.  These findings, based on Nielsen Ratings, show that in the first quarter of 2009 FOX News had more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined.  It also showed that 9 of the top 10 cable news shows were all FOX News programs.  Not only that, but the top 9 of the top 10 news programs belonged to FOX News.  If it were not for “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” slipping into 10^th place FOX News would have a top 10 sweep.  Even the late night REPEAT of the number one cable news program (The O’Reilly Factor) handily beats MSNBC’s number ten “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”  Not a single CNN news program is even close to cracking the top ten list.  It appears that the result of a rampantly corrupt and biased News Media is an absolute boom for FOX News which now has complete and total domination of all cable news.  One might even say that there is a FOX in the hen… humm, make that the PEACOCK house.

Mr. President, “You LIE!”

I am amused by the national uproar over Rep. Joe Wilson’s obvious breach of decorum during the recent presidential address to Congress.  I’m not a big fan of heckling the President of the United States, but at least there were no shoes thrown.  Putting etiquette aside, what Joe Wilson said bears repeating: the President is indeed a LIAR.  Not just any run of the mill liar, but a really, really big liar.  So big a liar, that I cannot think of a single campaign promise that he has kept.  Here’s just an abbreviated list:

•  Campaign finance reform:  He made a unilateral pledge to campaign finance reform and broke that promise months before the election. 
• No lobbyists in his administration:  What a joke.  Take your pick… Eric Holder, Attorney General, lobbyist for Covington & Burling; Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary, lobbyist for the National Education Association; Ron Klain, Biden’s Chief of Staff, lobbyist at O’Melveny & Myers; David Hays, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, lobbyist for Latham & Watkins; and of course, William Lynn, Deputy Defense Secretary, lobbyist for Rayteon.
•  Withdrawal of troops from Iraq:  Obama waffled on this promise, first stating that he’d withdraw all forces from Iraq within one year, later he said he’d pull out all “combat forces” within six months.  He’s lied on both variations of this promise.
•  Transparency in governance:  Obama specifically promised to post all pending legislation on-line so that the American people would have ample time to read and debate.  If he had not lied about this too, maybe some congressmen would have actually read the stimulus bill before voting for it.
• Closing GITMO:  After some preliminary chatter about possibly opening a GITMO-type facility here in the U.S., the original Cuba version remains open for business and as popular as ever.
•  Bi-partisan cooperation:  I don’t believe that I’ve ever see the political climate in this country more poisoned, fragmented, and partisan than it is today.

 This is just a partial list of promises already broken in nine short months.  Stay tuned for those that appear likely to fall into the ‘bold faced lie’ category including my personal favorites:  Any health care reform will be ‘deficit neutral,’ and, the U.S. will do everything necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

 Rep. Wilson, you definitely got the county’s attention.  Some may not like the way you said it, but it is absolutely the truth:… President Obama, “YOU LIE!”

Obama’s Three Stooges

Do you remember “The Three Stooges” Moe, Larry and Curly?  Well, they’re back: “hello… hello… hello!”  And they are even more hysterical than ever!  The only real difference is that this time their slap-stick comedy routine comes right out of the White House spin room.  There is James “Curly” Carville, Paul “Larry” Begala, and, Rham “Moe” Emmanuel.  These guys are a riot.  “Curly” Carville looks like a cross between “Mr. Clean” and the character “Odd-Job” from the 007 James Bond movie series.  He’s a throw-back to a worn out, and largely forgotten political legacy, who’s tried feebly to adapt to a bloated wannabe throng of relevant corporate consultants.  His bumbling character is complemented perfectly by “Larry” Begala who plays the role of a tired old Media wonk, who’s persona and ego is very much reminiscent of the news anchor “Lou” from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show.  “Moe” Emmanuel plays the straight man of the comical trio, and as the President’s Chief of Staff, does all he can to keep Curly and Larry in line.  Keep tuned into the White House spin machine, and no matter how dire or serious our nation’s problems, you’ll see their zany and slap-stick routine bring comical relief to the most desperate of situations.

 

I don’t know about you, but I for one, am so happy that the Three Stooges are back!

 

A Media Crime Spree

 

As if stealing the presidential election was not bad enough (Pew Research Center), the Media has now stolen Iraq.  I mean really, where is it?  Up until the final days of the Bush administration it was plastered all over the Media.  Now you can’t find it anywhere.  The Media has taken it right off the map.  Perhaps it’s not all that surprising that the Media has shifted its focus from Iraq to domestic issues.  After all, the president does appear to be overwhelmed with monumental challenges at home, as well as, abroad.  His erratic economic policy, as epitomized by an unpopular partisan Democrat spending bill that is unprecedented in scope, is a prime example.  The embarrassing series of cabinet and high level administration appointment blunders is also noteworthy: Richardson, Geithner, Daschle, Lynn, Killefer, and now, Gregg, to name the most obvious.  All this leaves the Media in a very uncomfortable position.  They can either report honestly and objectively on the stunning failures of the president’s short domestic record, or turn to the foreign policy achievements of President Bush.  They are loathe to do either, but fortunately, President Bush’s record of accomplishment in Iraq is self evident, albeit largely ignored.

 

In order to fairly evaluate the U.S. intervention in Iraq, one must recall the historical record and premise to go to war.  There are three irrefutable facts to consider:

 

1.)  Saddam Hussein possessed and used weapons of mass destruction in the genocidal killing of thousands of Kurdish civilians in his own country.  In one horrific WMD attack, Hussein killed more civilians in a single day than all of the U.S. casualties over the six-year period of the war.  Hussein was also responsible for the deaths of between 1.0 – 1.5 million Iraqis and Iranians during the eight year Iran-Iraq War.

 

2.)  The United Nations passed 11 Security Council Resolutions authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein.  The final resolution, UNSCR 1441 was unanimously adopted.

 

3.)  The United States Congress, in broad bi-partisan support, authorized the use of force against the regime of Saddam Hussein.  The full congress voted 374-156 in favor of the Iraq War Resolution, a majority of all Democrat senators (29-21) voted for military action.

 

The accomplishments of U.S. intervention in Iraq are also startling.  Approximately 28 million people have been liberated from one of the most oppressive dictators on earth, saving countless lives.  Freedom and democracy have taken a foot-hold in the heart of the Middle-East, with among the fewest U.S. casualties of any other conflict in our nation’s history.  In fact, the number of Americans killed on our nation’s highways every six weeks exceeds the number of all U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq during the past six years! (U.S. auto fatalities)

 

Finally, the ultimate verdict as to whether our efforts to liberate Iraq were worthwhile or not, will not be determined by some pundit in the American Press, but rather by the Iraqi people themselves.  With Iraq emerging as a proud, free, democratic and affluent society, I imagine the assessment of the Iraqi people will both confound and shock many an American journalist.

 

They may not want to put it back on the map, but at some point the Media will have to recogize the new Iraq, and acknowledge that President Bush is its main architect.

 

A Government Mugging…

 

“Everybody down on the floor this is a STICK UP!”  Hey, I’ve heard that voice before… isn’t that….  “Nobody move, do exactly as the President says, and no one will get hurt.”  That’s right, it is the President of the United States and the U.S. congress stealing our money.  Hard to believe, but just as sure as a gun to the back of our head, the government is taking our hard earned dollars to pay for what they screwed up and can’t afford to fix.  If anyone else did that they would go to jail.  Did you tell the government that they must pressure banks and lenders to give mortgages to unqualified borrowers that would then default on their loans in massive numbers?  Of course not, you would never do anything that stupid.  They must have done this all on their own.  You can’t dial 911, or the local police, this is your own government screwing you over, after all.

 

O.K., so, we’ve been ripped off, but how bad can it be?  Can’t we just go back to the A.T.M. and get more money?  Unfortunately, this is not just any run-of-the-mill street mugging.  The government is taking nearly two trillion dollars: $2,000,000,000,000. (TARP & Bailout II) of money that does not even exist to cover its own ass(ets).  Forget about 2 trillion, just try to figure out what 1 trillion dollars is.

 

Since the founding of our nation till the early 1980’s, well over 200 years, we’ve spent a mountain of money.  The Louisiana Purchase, the Purchase of Alaska, two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Great Depression and the New Deal, etc…  All the deficit spending in this more than 200 year period finally hit the 1 trillion dollar mark in the early 1980’s.  Now, in a single day, with one single stroke of the pen, Pres. Obama is poised to double a 200 plus year deficit!  This is the scope of this travesty!  Any hope of recovery from the magnitude of this theft is gone - forever – just like your money.  This administration and this congress have not only mugged you, but your children and their children, and maybe even theirs as well.  Unfortunately, there is simply no law enforcement left to call.  Welcome to the new America of “hope & change.”

Deja Vu All Over Again

 

You know, sometimes you just can’t see the forest through the trees.  The answer to our country’s economic crisis is so simple I’m amazed that our president and our congress haven’t seen it.  Massive government spending of money we don’t have will only balloon the national debt to unrecoverable levels.  The better approach is to stimulate private sector spending that will only drive up personal debt and not the national debt.  Congress could simply pass a bill that would require banks to issue credit cards to un-qualified lenders.  That’s right, basically a credit card to anyone who wanted one, the higher the spending limit the better.   They could pull a trick out of the Jimmy Carter playbook and call this bill something like the: “Consumer Reinvestment Act.”  This would really stimulate the economy.  Millions of people could then go out and buy, buy, buy.  They could buy whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, whether they needed it or not, or could afford it or not.  It would be much better to have private citizens do this rather than the government.  This would accomplish two of the president’s stated priorities, to “spread the wealth around,” and to jump start the economy.  Government would love it because it would create millions of happy constituents.  Manufacturers would love it because factories would just keep cranking out all kinds of stuff.  Banks and financial institutions would especially love it because they could collect extortion-like interest on these loans.  They could call them “sub-human prime loans.”

 

Sounds like a really great idea, doesn’t it?  I can’t think of anything that can go wrong, can you?  Government wouldn’t have to watch over this too closely since they created it.  In fact, the government could get in on a big chunk of the action and set up its own bank to profit from all this.  I know two bankers who are perfect for the job, a married couple actually, Freddie and Fannie M..  It would be great for business, as banks and financial institutions could bundle up lots of these loans and sell them to each other all over the U.S. and around the world, and even make more money than the straight interest on their “sub-human prime loans.”  This is awesome… it could stimulate the economy for years, even decades to come.

 

Of course, the only possible problem could be that eventually the good people holding these extortion-like loans couldn’t pay them back.  Not really a big problem because the government could just step in again and pass another bill.  They could simply buy back these dead-beat loans from any banks and financial institutions still holding them that haven’t already gone belly-up.  Unfortunately, they’d have to use the hard earned tax dollars of every American to do this, but not a big deal, because with any luck the government would get a few pennies back on every one of your dollars they spend.  They wouldn’t really be able to call this exactly what it was: a dead-beat government bail-out program of a dead-beat government program, so congress would have to make up a fancier, more acceptable sounding name, something like the “Troubled Asset Relief Program” or T.A.R.P.

 

Isn’t it really amazing that something that is obviously such a great idea hasn’t already been thought up and implemented by your government?

 

Time to Throw the Challenge Flag!

 

With the Super Bowl in the history books, football is once again on the shelf until next year.  One of the greatest innovations of the game has to be the challenge rule that permits the coach from either team to throw a red flag out on the field to challenge a ruling when they believe an official has made a bad call.  In the Super Bowl there were a couple challenge flags thrown, and I believe two were upheld over-ruling missed calls on the field.

 

So far during the Obama administration there have been any number of questionable, and outright, missed calls.  Three in particular have been glaring “personal fouls.”  The officials, or in this case, Media, have not only failed to make the correct calls, they haven’t even come out of the locker room onto the field.

 

The first infraction was a blatant “un-sportsman like conduct” penalty committed by Timothy Geithner, our new Treasury Secretary.  Geithner admitted that he failed to pay approximately $34,000 in personal income tax over a four year period from 2001-2004, even after being notified in writing by the IRS that he owed these back taxes.  Even with a serial tax evader admitting he stepped out of bounds, the officials simply refuse to even reach for the yellow flag.  Ref’s missed call number one.

 

The second penalty was an embarrassing “too many players on the field” mistake.  President Obama’s very first official act was to issue an executive order, signing a sweeping new ethics rule prohibiting lobbyists from working in the new administration for a period of two years from the time they stop functioning as lobbyists.  As it turns out, Mr. William Lynn, nominee for Deputy Defense Secretary, was a senior executive for defense contractor Raytheon and an active lobbyist.  Since this nomination clearly violated his own ethics rule, Obama didn’t even pretend it was not a personal foul, he simply asked the Office of Management and Budget to grant Lynn a waiver to his own rule.  The OMB acted swiftly granting the waiver saying that it was, “in the public interest…” to fudge on one of the president’s own new ethics rules.  Ref., make the call!  No such luck – no whistle and no instant replay on this one either.  The Media’s still huddling in the locker room.

 

Still, early in the game, there is yet another outrageous personal foul, this one “taunting the taxpayer.”  There is another violation involving a first-string cabinet level player.  As if the Geithner fiasco was not bad enough, here comes Tom Daschle to fill in at the position of Director of Health and Human Services.  He stumbles onto the field and falls flat on his face, admitting to a flagrant tax evasion foul right in front of the replay camera, except this one is bigger – $140,000 in unpaid taxes!  Daschle gets to his feet dazed and confused and manges to get to the sideline just in time.  He’s joined on the bench by fellow players, Bill Richardson and Nancy Killefer, who took themselves out of the game earlier, also for a “taunting the taxpayer” violation.  In addition to the referees missing so many calls, it appears that the Obama Team is having serious problems with player eligibility issues.

 

Wow, has this game ever changed.  I remember that when the Bush Team was on the field, the official Media was right on top of every call.  If the officials are afraid to take the field, will somebody in the stands please throw a challenge flag!

Media Bias… It’s Kinda Like Pornography

 

There was a news story a number of years ago that has stuck in my mind because it was so bizarre.  Although I can’t quote the headline verbatim, it went something like this: “A body was discovered stuffed in the trunk of a car; the victim was stabbed in the back 32 times, blindfolded, gagged and bound with duct tape.  Authorities suspect foul play.”  Absurd?  Of course, because the evidence is so obvious, overwhelming and compelling, that to arrive at any other conclusion would be ludicrous.  Then there’s the famous quote by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Potter Stewart who, when unable to ascribe a legal definition to pornography, simply stated that: “I’ll know it when I see it.”  Some things just really are that obvious, right?

 

Well, apparently not when it comes to the Media.  Last week, in a fit of indignation, I wrote a letter to every faculty member of one of America’s premier Journalism Schools.  I relied on the results of a Pew Research Center study (that you’ll see extensively referenced throughout my blog) indicating that by a margin of 70% to 9% all registered voters claimed that the media was biased toward Barack Obama in the November presidential election.  The survey showed that 62% of all Democrat and Independent voters agreed that there was an Obama-leaning bias, and the 70% bias claim was a full 11% higher than any other claim of media bias in a presidential election going back to at least 1992.  I did not expect to receive any response from the faculty.  Boy, was I ever wrong.

 

Most of the professors that responded were incredibly cordial and kind to me as a novice blogger leveling a serious charge against their profession.  One professor indicated that I should direct my indignation toward: “the corrupt media structure which has, for years, placed profit above public service, or perhaps at the political and business elite who control the flow of information, which the (corporate) media establishment dutifully passes on.  (WMD’s in Iraq are but one example).  Or perhaps you should vent your ire against the media consumers who are, according to highly paid media consultants, more interested in the latest Brad and Angie diaper changing techniques than a detailed analysis of the Gaza situation…”  Wow, I didn’t even think of all that stuff that contributes to media bias, but point well taken.  I totally agree, don’t you?

 

The one thing that surprised me the most was that of all the responses I received, not one acknowledged that journalists themselves are in any way whatsoever responsible for media bias in this country.  Several did admit that the state of journalism in America is not “perfect.”  One said that: “I believe as fact that more so than not people drawn to journalism are now and have always been more likely to be liberal than conservative…”  When specifically addressing the substance of the Pew Research Center study, the professors responded that:  1.)  Polls are all inherently flawed and this poll simply has little if any meaningful significance, or, 2.)  The 70% who believed the media was biased (including the 62% Dems. and Independents who agree) in the last presidential election are simply wrong in their belief.

 

Well, after all this, maybe it’s just easier to describe media bias the same way Justice Stewart described pornography:  “I’ll know it when I see it.”