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Our Debt to Iraq and the Iraqi People

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

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Over the last two weeks, our military has supported the Kurdish Peshmarga’s fight against one of the most brutal regimes since the Khmer Rouge. Arguably, this group is one of the most brutal seen since the 14th century. The Peshmarga have fought hard to push ISIS from the Mosul Dam, and are working to push them from Tikrit, a city the US and its coalition partners cleared prior to President Obama’s decision to leave the country. The US Air Force have attacked targets of opportunity, clearing roads and sides of roads of ISIS terrorists. However, this is not enough.

The US has an obligation to bring US military forces back into Iraq, equip the Peshmarga forces with armor and weapons, and to push the ISIS terrorists and murderers out of Iraq. We have this obligation because we toppled Saddam Hussein and we promised we would help the fledgling democracy stand on its feet. Yes, we lost nearly 4,500 in Iraq, in eight years of fighting. In the same time frame, there were nearly 350,000 deaths from automobile accidents, and over 42,000 pedestrian deaths. The military’s role is place themselves in harm’s way to insure those who would do damage to us and our allies, don’t. This is the reason for a military. The military is the hard fist used when the velvet glove of diplomacy is ignored or thrown in the face of well-meaning peoples.

We have an obligation to those who were crucified, who were torn in half, who were beheaded, who were buried alive, weeping and pleading. We have an obligation to those left behind, crying over the loss of their loved ones, and their livelihoods, people we pledged to help, to stand by. There comes a time when political maneuvering is not enough. There comes a time when those who claim to speak for humanity, who claim to be offended by obscene acts of dehumanizing atrocities, must stand against the barbarians, whether they are at our gates, or at the gates of our friends and allies. It is not enough to send in aircraft that bomb. That is too indiscriminate, and cannot reach those who have hidden, like rats and snakes, in burrows that cannot be touched with attacks from planes and drones on high. It is not enough to send in “advisors” in small numbers, who, hampered by Rules of Engagements that the enemy ignore, must ask permission from others thousands of miles away before even moving forwarding one mile or more.

No, it is time, and past time, to send in large military presences, to establish or reestablish bases, to force the savages back or kill them in their burrows. It is time, and past time, to stand with and train the Iraqi military to become a true military force, able to stand when pressed, led by able officers and NCOs who look to taking care of their men, not profiting from the logistics supplied to keep those troops trained. Now is the time to work with the Iraqi people to rebuild, and rebuild strongly, their fledgling democracy attempts, to insure no one again can push their way in and rape and pillage their country. And now is the time to pursue them over the border into Syria and complete the decimation of ISIS, lend support to the moderates who would fight against Assad, and help to bring peace to that portion of the Middle East, before the Middle East explodes beyond repair.

Our president must send troops, combat troops, in division or better size, into Iraq, into the north, to help the Kurdish government their reassert control. He must send troops into and around Baghdad, not to besiege the country, but to assist in the rebuilding of the coalition of the groups into an inclusive government. We must do this, because, despite what some, or even many, politicians claim, it is in the US’ best interests to have a stable and democratic Iraq, supporting democracy, in the region. This allows the US to become part of the Middle East peace process, gives us a platform to monitor and oversee Iran’s denuclearization program, provides the US with a stable platform for launching support for piracy and other operations in the Indian and Southern Atlantic Oceans, as well as provide Iraq and its people with a strong ally to prevent other countries or terrorist nation-states from attempting the overthrow of Iraq.

We have a large debt to pay to Iraq and the Iraqi people. We should never have left Iraq without the needed stability to continue building their country into a shining model of democracy in the Middle East. Leaving Iraq was purely a political decision. Returning to Iraq is the correct, humanitarian, and proper thing to do.

Ferguson, Missouri, and the Failure of Black Leadership

21 Thursday Aug 2014

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Over the last several days, we have watched the horror unfolding as protestors face police, who are firing tear gas, smoke bombs, and rubber bullets. We’ve watched protestors defy a government-ordered curfew running through neighborhoods, attacking and throwing Molotov cocktails at the police. And all this is occurring, not in some third world country, not in the Gaza Strip, not in Lebanon or Tripoli. No, we see all of this happening in Ferguson, Missouri, a city that has a population that is 2/3’s black, but the police force only has three black officers. The rioting and the protests are all about the police shooting and killing of an unarmed black man. CNN has been running high-level coverage of this as if this were the sixties, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was heading there to fight for the civil rights of the slain young man. President Obama has interrupted his vacation to have high-level meetings, brief the press, and send Eric Holder, the Attorney General to investigate, as well as having 40 FBI agents question people on the issue.

There was an injustice done. That this young black man was killed by the police is an inarguable fact. But another injustice is the way that the media has handled, and helped escalate, this issue. Of course, a young man was gunned down by the police in a horrible manner. Yes, this officer will be held accountable. But the outrage from the community is out of proportion, because this wasn’t an innocent victim of a crime. This was a young man, one who was supposed to be headed to college, acting as much a thug and hoodlum as those who committed crimes in Chicago, supposedly the president’s home city. Eyewitnesses say that Mr. Brown reached into the police officer’s car, a violation if ever I heard one. And surveillance video shows the same young man, only minutes prior to his confrontation with the police, strong-arming an old man in a convenience store, stealing cigars. Yes, this young man thought nothing of using his superior weight and strength against an unarmed, virtually defenseless, store manager, but where’s the outrage from the media, and more importantly, from the community and the leadership of the black community. Nothing can detract from what the officer did, killing the young man. But this attempt to martyr someone who preyed on the weak and helpless is not what the good Dr. King wanted.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, two prominent members of the black community, have done little or nothing to extinguish the flames in Ferguson. Barack Obama has caused even more anguish, and is causing even more disturbance, by injecting himself and the justice department into something that is essentially a local issue. Both the president and the attorney general, if they wish to take on something like this, should concentrate on the black-on-black crimes and homicide that are happening on a daily basis in Chicago, Detroit, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and yes, even Washington, DC. The confrontations taking place in Ferguson are local matters, and should be handled by local authorities. Local community leaders should have been taking the first steps, in the beginning, to diffuse the situation, corralling those hoodlums that have shanghaied the protests and turned the protests into the ugly confrontations, and worked with the local police to insure that the situation was resolved in a manner that supports the family and the community.

The Michael Brown killing is deplorable. According to eyewitnesses, Michael had been running, but turned around. At this point, the police officer should have held fire, should have followed procedures, and cuffed and arrested Michael. Instead, the officer inexplicably shot him down. This is incontrovertible. However, the actions by the community, and the public at large, have been as reprehensible as the actions of the police officer. The level of protests, the media coverage, turned what could have been an issue that was resolved quickly, with minimum fuss, to a disaster for the black community at large. Yes, there should be justice for Michael. But this does not help, more, it detracts, from attaining justice for Michael Brown. The lootings, the shootings, the rampant disregard for the community, period, is not, and will not, bring justice to Michael’s family, or resolution to the community. The protests have very little to do with justice, and more to do with people getting their faces on television. And the news media do not help. The amount of time that news outlets such as CNN spend on this isolated incident, and the little time they spend on actual areas where black-on-black crimes, shows a huge disparity in what the news media considers proper news. The real protests should be held in the poor neighborhoods of places like New York and Chicago, where there are daily shootings of young men, by other young men. Places like Los Angeles, where gangs routinely shoot up neighborhoods, to establish control or just for the fun of it. The president should be concentrating on real issues facing the US, issues such as the economy, the failure of the Affordable Care Act, the invasion and terrorism of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and the failure to insure there are jobs to allow Americans to live affordably, not just having to take part-time jobs to get by.

The failure of the black community leadership in Ferguson is the biggest serious issue in this problem. The black leadership in Ferguson has to step up and take responsibility to calm the protests, to work with the community to get everyone to sit down and talk, and to work with the leadership of Ferguson to get to the bottom of this issue. The grandstanding by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, as well as the maneuvering of the New Black Panthers and the non-stop coverage and posturing of the news media, are the reasons that this issue, which should have been handled and subsequently resolved to the point of having the officer arraigned by now, continues to percolate in this area. Eric Holder doesn’t have a true reason to be involved in this issue. But the attacks on the police, the lawlessness by the criminal element, and the lack of faith in the local police department and the local community to keep the citizens safe, pushed the governor to make this decision. The local community should be turning in the criminal element that has caused so much of the problems. And then, the local community should be sitting down with the local political leadership to work out how the issues that separate the community.

Dr. King died to try and unite the black community and provide leadership. To quote the good doctor: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” Dr. King would be ashamed and dismayed at the turmoil in Ferguson. Dr. King would be at the forefront of calming the situation down, making the black leadership accountable, berating the criminal element, and making parents accountable for the children’s actions. Dr. King would also be working to bring to justice the slayer of Michael Brown, but he would not be making a martyr of someone who acted in such a manner. Dr. King would offer condolences to the bereaved family, but would also make sure that the community know young Brown was not a saint, and that Young Brown failed his community. Jesse Jackson is unable to attain the level of Dr. King, neither does Al Sharpton. Both have failed the black community, and failed black Americans nationwide. Now is the time to put this all behind us, to work on resolving the issues, and to bring justice to the family.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

The Despair In Iraq Continues…

16 Saturday Aug 2014

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This week, Obama authorized airlift support to help out the Yazidis that were and are huddled on the mountain Sinjar awaiting help. This small effort, for thousands of refugees, was at least a start. Then, on Wednesday, the day after a team of 130 troops visited the mountain to ascertain what support is needed, Admiral Kirby, spokesman for the Pentagon, immediately went on the air to announce that the Yazidis were not as numerous on the mountain as first thought, the ISIS terrorists were being beaten back, and so, the US didn’t need to do any more. Thus, based on a quick look, Obama has decided the siege has been broken and the airlift can cease. This is like having Operation Overlord start from Dover in England, the first troops land, move forward a foot, and then Eisenhower say “We’ve won the war and we can go home!”, while removing all Allied troops and troopships from the Channel, despite what Churchill thinks. Glad Obama wasn’t president during World War II. England, as well as most of Europe, would be speaking German as a first language.

We cannot determine what the state of anything is with one 12 hour trip to something as large as a mountain. Despite the so-called technological edge, there are thousands of people, in dire straits, who need our assistance. The siege isn’t broken on the mountain. In the last two days, hundreds have been captured or killed by ISIS. The Peshmarga, some of the hardest fighting military around, are hard put to shelter those who can make it to their lines. The Kurdish military have asked and asked for military aid, and Obama continually turns them down. His excuse is that the US is not authorized to provide military equipment to another member of a sovereign country. This didn’t stop him from sending weapons and other military equipment to Syria, Libya, and other countries as he saw fit.

We are the last true superpower. We have an obligation to help others. This is not just an altruistic notion. Our, the US, strategic policy used to be, support our allies, defend those who cannot defend themselves, fight injustice, help build democracy wherever we could, help support those governments that look out for their people, and defy those who would attempt to tear down civilization in the quest to dominate the planet. The US has had its issues. No country can claim a moral superiority to us, as all have their dark sides, their skeletons in their closets. The difference with the US is: We don’t hide our faults, we use them as learning lessons to improve ourselves, and to help improve others.

We have an obligation to those in Iraq we summarily left behind. The decision to leave was one reached jointly by Obama, and Hillary as the Secretary of State. We need to return to Iraq, in full force, with support from our Coalition partners, to bulwark Iraq, help build and train their military, provide security and stability for the country, until the country can truly stand on its own. And we need to remain there afterwards. We did not leave Europe after World War II. We did not desert South Korea in the ‘50s. We didn’t leave Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or the rest of the Middle East after Desert Storm. So why did we leave Iraq? The reason, the only reason, was for political expediency only. We must return and fulfill our obligations to restore and sustain Iraq, with its fledgling democracy. Iraq is only one of the very few secular countries in the Middle East. Iraq is home to the cradle of civilization. We owe it to Iraq, and to the Iraqi people, to help re-stabilize the country, help rebuild its military, and support an important ally for us in the Middle East.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

The Despair In Iraq

10 Sunday Aug 2014

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This past week, Obama finally decided to recognize there was an issue in Iraq. He has decided to do the “humanitarian” thing, and deliver aid to the poor Yazidis trapped in the mountains in Iraq. Obama has authorized bombing of ISIS targets if they threaten US citizens and consular staff. This sounds great. But it’s not; it is too little, way too late. Children are being beheaded, Christian as well as Muslim children, as well as their parents and grandparents, for any reason the ISIS terrorists can think of. Women have been stoned to death for “adultery”. And who determines adultery in ISIS? Well, if you’re the woman, forget about it.

Obama has had the intelligence briefings. He has had briefings from his national security team. Obama has talked with Middle East leaders. He has gotten briefings from leaders of the rebels in Syria. Kurdish leaders have spent the last year pleading with him. And now, when people, thousands of people, have died, when everyone is demanding action, when the American public is demanding something be done, Obama gives a small token. People in Iraq are dying because of the president’s short-ranged myopic view, and an inadequate effort, for a Status Of Forces Agreement. Christians are forced to pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die, because of a political decision that had nothing to do with supporting a democracy, and more with appeasing a small group of political friends in the US. Obama has strived to ignore the genocide going on in Syria, and now in Iraq, until someone has forced him to do his duty. And now, with such a catastrophe hanging over the Middle East, he believes he has done enough, and so, off on vacation he doth flies.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or the “caliphate” as Baghdadi wants to call it, has one agenda: The complete subjugation of the entire planet. Baghdadi believes that his dream is the only dream worth speaking of, and Islamic extremists and terrorists are working hard to fill it. Obama refuses to believe that the terrorists in Syria and Iraq present a threat to the US. To be perfectly honest, those terrorists hiding under the flag of ISIS are a threat to the US, Russia, all of Africa, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, the Ukraine, you name it, ISIS plans on destroying the government and taking over the nation. This is the greatest strategic threat to the US, literally, since World War II, and Obama has allowed it to fester and boil, for no real reason. These terrorists are attacking Lebanon, supposedly on their side, taking down their military and security forces. Next will be the Gaza Strip, hammering Hamas, then, taking up the terror where Hamas feared to tread. Meanwhile, in Africa, Boko Haram will be taken over by the terrorist organization, making that terrorist organization into a facsimile of ISIS. The next step will be coordinating with the Taliban, then overcoming and usurping them, in Afghanistan. And Obama will not do anything.

Our US military is not a showcase for military weaponry and training. Our military is supposed to be used to protect our country from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And ISIS is currently the biggest threat, bar none, that the US, and the world, is currently facing: An enemy that is determined to destroy our way of life. Democrats and Republicans should be demanding, not urging, demanding, that the president send in ground troops, military forces, to stop this group. It is not too late, and the president can leave, yes, let’s call it what it should be, an occupying force to help properly train the Iraqi military and police force, maintain a vigil, and support democracy in the region, support stability in the region. We need to do so now, with or without the support of the UN or NATO. This is what happened in World War II: A leader of an organization that has decided the world should be set up in a particular manner, who doesn’t care about anyone that does not accept his vision, and who is willing to use any means necessary, political, militarily, psychologically, to achieve his dream. His dream is supposed to be a caliphate based on worship to a higher being, but his reality is enslaving the world and having everyone bow to his commands.

If we don’t do anything, if Putin doesn’t do anything, if Jinping doesn’t do anything, if Ban Ki Moon doesn’t do anything, we will have, as I have said before, a catastrophe we haven’t seen since 1938. Baghdadi, as can be seen from the videos strewn throughout the internet, and news shots by various news organizations, has no qualms, even less qualms than Hitler, in eliminating those he feels are infidels, and thus, inferior to Muslims. By allowing the spread of this “caliphate”, Obama has increased pressure on the Saudi, Kuwaiti, and Emirati royal families, at a time when those families have issues and are feeling the heat from their own radical Muslims. Where once those countries exported their troublemakers to elsewhere, assuaging their and their troublemakers’ consciences by making funds available “to live well” in another country, now the birds are returning to roost, and spread dissension at home. If those troublemakers coalesce under the ISIS umbrella, those countries will fall, and those royal families will be executed, down to babes in arms.

We, as Americans, have an obligation. We have shirked that obligation too long on the altar of political expediency. The result is total mess, a disaster of near-biblical proportions, in an area that is the birthplace of three of the world’s great religions. We must step up, regardless of what the world says, and stop this mad man, his genocidal behavior, and his perversion of Islam. If we delay any longer, if we believe the pinpricks we are delivering are sufficient to halt this, we are sadly disillusioning ourselves. We cannot allow this terrorist organization to proliferate, for, if we ignore it now, we will pay even more in the future, in blood, in personnel, in territory, in everything. As I said, our military is supposed to be used to defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. And this enemy is even more deadly, even more implacable, than Germany and Japan was in 1939.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Liberty, Not Just Democracy (Warning: A Rant on the Current Administration and Congress)

01 Friday Aug 2014

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“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. “- Benjamin Franklin

Liberty, like freedom, is a concept that is alien to many of those outside of our country. Liberty means more than just the freedom to spout on about the issues of the day. Liberty means also defending, not just your right to say what you want to say, but to also defend your opponent and their right of what they want to say. Liberty, like freedom, isn’t free.

America has a long history of those who have stood up for the rights of the people. America has a long history of those who have also stood up for the rights of the individual. It is a core value of our country, and we defend that value, and we treasure our rights as free men and women as jealously as a miser treasures his gold.

But with our liberty comes our obligations. The right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” comes with its own price. And America has always been willing to pay that price. Always. Two times against the British, once against the French, once against the Spanish through their surrogates, once against our own brothers on our own soil, twice against German imperialism and ambition, twice against communist aggression, twice against a sadistic madman hiding behind Muslim values, once against a terrorist regime that dared to strike against unarmed men and women. Each time, the Tree of Liberty’s roots have been watered with the blood of those who refuse to bow down to those who would cause terror and deny Liberty and Freedom.

Our government representatives are supposed to be as selfless as the nameless faces that go forth to protect, not just our way of life, but the lives and freedoms of countless others throughout the world. Our government representatives are supposed to be as fair and impartial as they can be, in governing our country, and in insuring our way of life is protected. Our government’s only role is to enact laws that allow our freedoms and liberties to be unencumbered with those ideals and activities that are diametrically opposed to the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the several Constitutional Amendments. Our judicial representatives are supposed to interpret the law such that there is nothing that superimposes itself upon our liberties and our freedoms, resulting in a loss of those freedoms. And our executive representatives are supposed to insure that the freedoms and liberties we have fought and died for are represented whenever our villages, our towns, our cities, our states, and our country need to be represented to the world.

Our government was formed of the people, for the people, by the people. It is, and always has been, incumbent upon our elected leaders, to insure that laws are passed that are not in direct violation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the several Amendments to the Constitution. And yet, in the last 20 years, many laws, Executive Acts, bills of attainder, et. al., have been produced, steadily eroding the rights and liberties we Americans hold dear. The right to bear arms, a formidable right, to insure that a well-trained militia would be available for support of our various state and federal forces, has had attempts to erode it, time and time again, without request for a Constitutional Amendment. An amendment is required as the right to bear arms is a sovereign right guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. An income tax is not part of the Constitution, and for good reason. It is, as laid out in the Constitution, incumbent upon the legislative arm of our government, to create a budget and pay for the government through taxes and levies against businesses and to extract customs and excise from the flow of trade through the US border. And yet, our legislative body would prefer to strain the tree of liberty for the lifeblood of the average American, to support causes that do not enhance the life and liberty of the common American.

It seems in the inescapable rush for the current administration and the current congress to force America to become a nation catering to every concept except that which made America the driving force it is today, the current dominant party has decided to ignore the mandates of their own main-stream constituents, as well as those of the other major as well as minor parties that constitute our political landscape.

Although America has been able to recover from the excesses of the various parties at different periods throughout its existence, in this current period, we are faced with a monumental issue of the congress abdicating its responsibilities as the representatives of its people, in favor of currying favor with special interests, unions, the great group of people who live off the handouts from the government and refuse to partake in finding worthwhile jobs ( as opposed to those who have no other option to take welfare, but are working hard to improve their lot in life), those who feel that everything except conservatives have a right to have their feelings and sensibilities considered, in short, all the groups that have been instrumental in holding back the progress of America, increasing Americans dependence on government support, and reducing the ability of the average American to pursue their hopes and dreams.

Liberals have waited 40 years to put into practice at a federal level, every plan that failed at a local or state level. If the 50 states couldn’t or didn’t make the ideas work, how is the federal government going to achieve this, except through mandatory actions, and use of the military to enforce the actions. Of course, the current government won’t call it that; it’ll be “for the good of the people.” How many dictatorial regimes have used the same phrasing to strangle and remove the rights of the people? How many of our civil liberties will we give up to allow the government to try the failed experiment of socialism that plagues Europe and Eastern Europe. When do we say “Enough, this far and no farther”?

America, land of the free, home of the brave. But we have those who feel that our way of life is wrong, our decision to defend what we hold dear to be wrong, our basic freedoms in this republican democracy is wrong. To those I say: Leave. I will pay your way to whatever country or nation you feel is much better than the US. I’ll send you first class, one way. If you cannot look at your country without shame, you don’t belong in this country. I won’t call you a traitor, unless you do something that hurts Americans, in the US or abroad. If you wish to succor the enemies of the US, please, feel free to join them wherever they are. But do not cry, when you find that the freedom to speak your mind, that you take for granted, is brutally repressed by those who don’t want to hear you. Don’t be surprised when you and your family are abused and all your wealth is confiscated, for the government’s pleasure, in the nation you decide to live in. However, don’t be surprised, and do be grateful, if you call to the US to help you go home, and the brave and selfless men and women of our great military risk life and limb to bring you and your family back to the US.

For then you will know what freedom means…

“For our so called politicians If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen. ” Samuel Adams

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Why Do We Need The United Nations?

19 Saturday Jul 2014

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The world is stunned by the shoot down of MH17. The world is rocked by Israel’s invasion of the Gaza strip in order to protect itself from the cowardly terrorists that hide behind woman and children. The world is reeling from the ISIS’ invasion of Iraq, and its takeover of Syrian gas fields. The world is mourning the kidnapping of hundreds of young women and girls, and men and boys being butchered, by Boko Haram. The world is aghast at Iran’s attempt to get nuclear weapons. The world shudders every time North Korea launches more missiles.

There is one problem with this. With all the horror and terror going on around the world, where is the United Nations? The United Nations is supposed to be the authority to resolve all of these issues, so Israel doesn’t have to invade someone just to keep her citizens’ safe. The United Nations is supposed to be able to intercede when someone does something horrible, like shoot down a civilian jet with nearly 300 people on board. The United Nations is supposed to be the agency that steps in when a failed country can’t protect its citizens, by providing protection, so murderers and butchers can’t steal women and children and sell them into slavery.
The United Nations gets billions of dollars to perform services. Where does that money go to? The UN doesn’t pay for the land its buildings sit on. The buearacrats and the workers are all paid for either by their own countries, or siphoned off funds that are supposed to be used for humanitarian aid. The military assets that support the UN are drawn from partner nations, so the UN doesn’t pay for that. Medical support for various “charities” is paid for by other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), so the money doesn’t go there. The Secretary General can’t make anyone come to the table and settle their disputes. Anything that comes up to vote can be vetoed by any permanent member of the Security Council. So what good does bringing anything up for a vote matter? More issues get vetoed than ever get passed. What is the UN good for?

The UN is an anachronism, a worthless organization that does nothing for world peace and stability. Even when UN Peacekeepers go into somewhere, the Peacekeepers have more restrictions on them than an ordinary military force. The UN Peacekeepers have been butchered and no one is held responsible for the actions, and the Peacekeepers aren’t allowed to retaliate. The UN has to be “allowed” to investigate when a nation is breaking international laws, and the countries that are the worst offenders don’t let the UN into their borders. The UN observers have no real authority or power to do anything, and are even more subject to the “laws” od the offending country than the country’s own citizens. As a result, observers are routinely denied access to any sensitive areas which they are supposed to be investigating and observing. And forget about securing a democratic vote by the UN.
In this day and age, when we need someone to take a firm stand, and force recalcitrant countries to behave themselves, there is nothing. The UN, a grand idea like the League of Nations, was supposed to provide a bulwark against the barbarism of outlaw countries. There hasn’t been one instance where the UN has made a difference. And if you say Korea, there isn’t an armistice or a peace treaty there. We have a truce, which can be shattered at any time by North Korea. In Cyprus, there’s a demarcation point, but the UN didn’t achieve anything there. The UN was useless in the Balkans, and worthless for saving lives in Africa. The only thing the UN is, is a buearacracy that is fooling the world with smoke and mirrors.

We need a strong presence to held straighten out this mess of a planet we all reside on. The US must step up and takes its place, its role as the world’s prominent superpower. And this means that the president has to stand up and become the leader he is supposed to be, supporting Israel in her efforts for a peaceful existence, supporting the Ukraine in its fight to remain a free and independent country, and reclaiming the Crimean peninsula, sending troops and a stern message into Iraq, that ISIS is a terrorist organization and we will smash it, supporting the Syrian people who want to be free, and supporting the African continent by bringing to heel organizations like Boko Haram, and training and equipping African forces to help them support their countries.

Yes, America must stand up and be counted. The UN can be discounted, and discontinued, because it doesn’t do anything for world peace and stability. Only the US can, with help from our friends and allies. If we don’t stand up, we will be trod on. Our rights, our freedoms, and our liberties will be stomped on, all those which we have bought with our precious blood and treasure.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Civic Responsibility

17 Thursday Jul 2014

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America’s economy is the worst it has ever been, outside of the ’30s. The US economy is trillions in debt. Millions of people are out of work, not even looking for a job. We currently have the highest number of people on welfare, ever. People who are working have part-time jobs, or the jobs are paying lower than they should be. Taxes are higher that they have been in years, to support an entitlement structure that awards those who won’t work, by taking from those who do. Health care is abysmal, because it costs too much. The Affordable Health Care Act has resulted in those with decent health care plans, losing those plans. There are agencies in the US government that are abusing their powers. We have illegal aliens massing on, and crossing, our borders, and the administration wishes to provide them with a comfortable life. But, congress and the president are now taking their summer break, ostensibly because of all the hard work the two groups have put in over the last four to five months. And let’s not forget: China now owns 22 Billion dollars of US real estate. CitiGroup has been fined seven billion dollars for its part in the mortgage debacle. Yet not a penny will go to those who have lost their homes through the major banks’ fiddling with the system. But, congress and the president are going on their summer break.

We must do something about this. Our first step should be, to go to our representatives and senators offices, and demand accountability for their lack of action. We must demand the congressmen and women meet with their citizens, and explain their actions or inactions during this latest session of congress. We must give these people, our elected representatives, our demands, and force them to take us seriously, and force them to take action. We must call, write, email, our elected representatives, and show them we care that there has been no action on the things we hold congress accountable for.

Alas, I don’t think this will happen. I don’t think, as a matter of fact, I know, that civics, and civic duties, are not taught in schools as they used to be in the past. The young voters of today, those 18 to 27 or 28, have not been taught that it is a responsibility of citizenship of this country, to take part in the civic process, not just by voting, but by being involved in that which is happening in your neighborhood, your town or city, and your country. No, there will only be the vocal few, the ones that know they can get their own ways by being in front of the congress as much as possible. The rest will talk about how hard it is to get information (in the information age), how much time it takes (though most can find time to head for the beach, or the club) or that nothing they say will mean anything (of course, the same people will spend all day talking about what they would do if they could). Now is the time to stand up, for, if not, you lose your chance to speak, maybe forever.

The USA is a country where anyone can achieve anything. We are a country where we are not afraid to speak our minds, and this is enshrined in our constitution. Yet, if we don’t speak up, if we don’t make our representatives in congress listen to us, we will lose. We will lose our freedoms, our liberty, and our sense for justice for everyone. And there will be an elite, made up of those from both sides of the aisles, who will force us to become, that which we fear: A country no different than any other dictatorship anywhere else in the world. We cannot let our light dull, we must continue to be the beacon for the rest of the world.

Our country was built by people who fled persecution in other countries. Our country was, and is, built on the concept that all people who live here, live here in freedom. We have paid the price, in blood, sweat, and tears, burying those who have fought for our freedoms and liberties. By allowing congress to not do their work, to let congress have free passes, when we have those who have watered the tree of Liberty and Freedom with the blood of their bodies, makes a mockery of their sacrifices. We must barrage our elected representatives to do what we sent them to Washington to do: Represent us, and fight for our rights. For if we do not, we, the electors of our freedom, will have caused those who died for us, those who shed their blood and bodies for our freedoms, to have sacrificed in vain.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Why Impeachment Is Not A Bad Idea

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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As I watch the current administration constantly abuse the rights of US citizens, making amazingly arrogant decisions to open our borders to those who mean harm to our country, ignoring and abusing our allies’ trust in us, and leaving our allies to fend for themselves, I wonder why impeachment hasn’t been implemented. Then, I listen to the talking heads on television, read the comments of “wise speakers” from both sides of the aisle, and I realize the reason. The Republicans are scared that maybe the democrats will play the race card and scare the American public even more.

This president and / or his administration and cabinet, have caused an astounding amount of serious damage to the national security of the US, infringed on the civil liberties of the average US citizen, and agencies headed by personnel selected by the president have infringed, intruded, obstructed, and caused irreparable harm to the US, its citizens, and its allies. As the chief executive of the United States, as commander in chief of the armed forces, and leader of the cabinet of secretaries that perform the administration of the executive branch of the federal government, the president is the person who is responsible for any and all actions by all agencies his personnel lead.

President Harry S. Truman had a famous sign on his desk: The Buck Stops Here! Harry felt that anything that happened in his administration, was his responsibility. He never shirked from doing the right thing, no matter how painful, and he took responsibility if something happened on his watch. John Kennedy felt the same way, accepting his role in the days of October, as well as accepting his role in the Bay of Pigs disaster. Richard Nixon opened relations with China, helped to bring an end to the Vietnam war, thawed relations with the Soviet Union, but Nixon was about to be impeached due to actions performed by his re-election campaign and the missing 18 minutes of recording in his office. Nixon did the honorable thing, and resigned, to prevent the country from being embroiled in a nasty fight. The country had only recently left the harsh and damaging 60s behind. Because of William Clinton’s wandering eye, impeachment proceedings were begun against him. Clinton knew that he was supposed to adhere to a higher standard, but could not stop himself from skirt-chasing. Clinton was impeached, not because of his lecherous habits, but because he lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Impeachment of the president is the tool that is available and used by the legislative branch of the federal government to stop the abuses of the executive branch. To wit: Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution says, “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Also: In 1970, then Representative Gerald R. Ford defined impeachable offenses as “whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” This president has, based on the above definitions, committed numerous impeachable offense, both high crimes, and misdemeanors.

Impeachment of the president has to be done. With a logical, reasonable, straight look at the activities of the president and his cabinet, obama has performed the most egregious examples of overreach of any president in history. Congress has a duty, and a right, to vote out the Articles of Impeachment to stop the overreach of the executive branch of the United States. The Republicans cannot let the shrieking cries of the television talking heads, as well as the murmurs from their backers, to hold them back from this effort. The Republicans must not listen to the left scream about “racial hatred” and “criticism of the president is treason”. Impeachment of the president is one of the tools that congress has to rein in the power of the presidency. The House of Representatives must use their powers to help correct the abuses of this administration. The House and the Senate must do their duties, despite what the left screams about. The representatives and the senators were elected to legislate laws for the American people. The representatives and senators should not listen to naysayers who would try to make a case that consideration of impeachment plays into democrats hands. Impeachment plays into no one’s hands, but represents the legislative branch’s authority to hold accountable a president that has attempted to set himself and his cabinet above the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill of Rights, and the people of these United States of America.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

obama’s domestic policy…or lack thereof…

12 Saturday Jul 2014

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The current administration’s domestic policy seems to be to beggar the average American, enable illegal aliens to have access to programs the average middle-class American has to pay for, cripple the education system through common core, and, in general, bankrupt the US through ineptness and ignorance.

The administration’s policies have led to such catastrophes like the affordable care act. Instead of focusing on the reasons for unaffordable health care, such as hospital, patient care, and drug costs, and the health care industry’s use of administrative people to ratchet up costs at hospitals and health care providers, this administration has decided to punish those who have need for access to health care, the actual patients and consumers. Instead of concentrating on energy independence by supporting our environmentally-efficient coal and oil industries, this administration is concentrating on impeding those industries, while attempting to promote expensive and unproven technologies such as wind and solar energy. Instead of promoting good jobs in the US, this administration has been working on taxing to the ultimate those companies in the US, forcing the same companies to move overseas, taking their tax revenue and jobs elsewhere.

The latest disaster from this administration is the border crisis. Currently, there are thousands of children coming across the border illegally, getting access through a loophole in the current laws. Currently, Other Than Mexican (OTM) children are allowed to remain until a hearing has been held to determine the children’s status. This allows the children to come here, be “reunited” with family members, given a court date, and the family disappears, generally forever. This loophole is giving thousands of children a path to the US, through treacherous areas filled with sex slavers, rapists, thieves, and murderers, in the hopes of being able to live in the US. The reality is, whose is it to say those “family members” are really family? They could be more of the same, and this would be their way to have obama and his crew recruit young children to be able to pander the children.

barack obama has the capability to close this loophole, and to reinforce the border with National Guard and even active duty troops. Actually, putting US troops along the southern border doesn’t even require a presidential order or congressional acts. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, and as amended in 1981, prevents use of the military to enforce laws and act as law enforcement except in cases of violence and violations of citizens’ constitutional rights, within the US. Due to the nature of the border, because it is a border, the commander of NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM can detail units to patrol and defend the north and south borders, and prevent entry into the US. The Border Patrol’s mandate is to arrest those who cross the border, and to help reinforce and prevent border penetrations.

Congress can authorize the necessary funding to allow the US military to perform this duty, if necessary, from either emergency funding to the Defense Appropriations Act, or enable a Emergency Continuing Resolution to fund the patrolling of the border. If the military decides to use the patrolling as an opportunity for training and actual work, the funding actually comes from the Defense Appropriations Act without requiring additional funding, due to training.

It is actually NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM’s responsibility to enforce the border, and again, does not require congressional or presidential intervention. Since defending the border is an actual function of the US military, and a requirement of the duties of the US Department Of Defense. The US military should step in and do its job, and allow the politicians to work out the deportation of those who are illegally in this country. This will also prevent drug smugglers from entering the US through other than air and sea ports, where Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, as well as the DEA and Border Patrol, would be better situated to capture those people.
I believe this is a simple and a correct solution to ending the chaos at our southern border, and prevent others from exploiting children and juveniles from other countries for their own ends.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”

Should We Put US Troops On Our Southern Border?
(polls)