Category Archives: Barry Kelly

by Barry Kelly | March 2, 2015 · 7:57 am

INSIGHTS 192 — The facts. Nothing but the facts.

Is America a divided nation? I think so. But it is not divided primarily over race, ethnicity, religion, or class. I believe the division we see today is over ideas. Political goals and objectives are what has always separated the liberals from the conservatives. Ideas are difficult to discuss in the abstract. Maybe if we agreed on a common set of facts, we could begin building bridges across the American divide. If we cannot agree on the facts there is not much of a foundation for bridge building. I’m speaking of hard facts and not the way these facts are interpreted. Interpretation falls into the arena of good debate and discussion.

I hope the simpler I present my list of facts, the easier it will be to get to the first level of agreement. Okay, let’s go!

America today is facing several very serious foreign threats to world peace:

Russia’s expansionism
Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons
radical Islam’s hot war to establish a Caliphate through the employment of terrorism and religious cleansing
North Korea, an intemperate and unpredictable developer of nuclear weapons
China’s expansionary world view and a growing hostility between the haves and have-nots of the world’s population

All these issues need serious and immediate attention by our leaders.

Domestically, we have several areas of critical importance to our economy, unemployment and under employment, the continuance of government founded on our Constitution, the rule of law, and the separation of powers doctrine. The economy needs an assured source of energy to compete in world commerce. We now have that possibility for the first time in decades. Our production of natural gas and oil are very close to making us energy self-sufficient. Fossil fuel is the only viable source of energy to fill our growing economic needs within the next two or three decades. On the job front we need to bring back oversees jobs and rapidly grow the economy. Our government needs a president who puts the needs of America over his or her personal visions of what would be or could be a more perfect world.

Two economic philosophies have built this nation: capitalism and the free-market system. Are they perfect? No. Do they need some regulation? Yes! The nation also needs a Congress and a president that recognize their respective Constitutional roles. Presidents are not kings and neither congressional house has presidential powers. They both need to stay within the America rule and practice of law.

National security first requires an ability to recognize what is required to protect our land and people and then to create and nurture those required elements. If we neglect our Armed Forces, we neglect America. Surely our short history has shown a strong military force is needed to assure our national survival. Peace has come through the military strength of democratic nations to balance and, if necessary, overwhelm the forces of totalitarian nations. Peace comes from the recognized power of democratic nations to back up their diplomatic efforts toward peaceful settlements. Confusion of national goals, a failure of leadership and will, and the neglect of military strength emboldens our enemies and discourages our allies.

Internally, corruption in government, a lack of transparency on the part of the party in power, and the deliberate falsification of information for political objectives will over a short time, destroy the faith the people have in the government of either party.

Can we all move toward the center and agree on a common set of facts?

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “ISIS,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out in March.

INSIGHTS 191 — RULE ONE

It is six years into Obama’s transformation of America and I finally really understand what he is doing and why. It took six years because I forgot to apply RULE ONE.

I have a number of rules I use help me understand what is going on. I learned or refined RULE ONE in Vietnam in 1968. One of my jobs was to travel around the five northern provinces in I Corps in Vietnam and decide if our province staffs were under a military threat sufficient to have them evacuated until the crises past. I soon realized that when I evaluated the various staffs of these exposed provinces, the officers in charge were running their province by following what they knew how to do, regardless of the mission.

Many of these men came from backgrounds of very different skill sets. Thrown into a new situation they fell back on doing what they knew how to do. It didn’t matter how the mission changed, doing what they knew how to do remained at their core. I since have seen that this management phenomena applied to life everywhere. Why it took me so long to apply RULE ONE, people do what they know how to do, to President Obama, was a serious oversight.

He was a community organizer. He trained to be a community organizer. His ideological mentor, Saul Alinsky, was a community organizer in Chicago long before Obama became a community organizer in Chicago. Obama taught Alinsky’s philosophy during his days as a university instructor. I suppose Barack Obama was a very good community organizer. He has all the skill sets. The ability to conduct endless negotiations, to switch positions when necessary, to make it look like his negotiations are going well when, in fact, they have failed long ago. Never mind, just keep negotiating.

Community organizers lead from behind. They give never-ending speeches to try and control the narrative and messaging. They use the same sayings over and over. “Everyone should have a fair shot. Level the playing field. Everyone should pay their fair share. The rich can pay more. Protect the middle class.”

In addition to these sound bites, they give speeches suggesting class warfare and racism is rampant in the land, that police treat minorities unfairly, heavy and constant government regulation is needed to offset the inequities of the free market and capitalism, a redistribution of wealth between people and nations must happen, and negotiations require compromise by the powerful when negotiating with weaker parties. Community organizers are always on the side of the underdog who is being oppressed by the ruling elite. The goal is to take power from the rulers and give it to the oppressed. If the oppressed are hard to find, the innovative community organizer will create them. Military and economic power are never to be used by the powerful against the less powerful. Goodness and evil are never part of this doctrine. America has sinned, and now it must be punished.

If you have ever wondered about the president’s negotiations with Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba on the international front or his unwillingness to negotiate with the Republicans, look no further. It is because he is acting in total harmony with RULE ONE. He is a community organizer and will always be a community organizer. He is just doing what he knows how to do.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. A new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out by mid March.

1 Comment

Filed under Alinsky, Barry Kelly, class warfare, Conservative views, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Politics

by Barry Kelly | February 18, 2015 · 7:54 am

INSIGHTS 190 — THE DANGER TO AMERICA IS WITHIN

It is time to recognize the truth.

For the first time since the Revolution and the Civil War, I believe the greatest danger to our nation is coming from within. The outside threats to our way of life are formidable, but we can handle them once the danger from within is defeated.

This danger from within is the Obama administration. It has a drive to destroy the America so many of us have fought and worked for and died for.

It is hard to blame President Obama solely. He did tell us exactly what he was going to do. And it was clear. Obama’s transformation of America was nothing less than substituting a republic that encouraged the growth of a fledgling colony into a world power with a socialist, elite-led system of government.

People get the government they deserve. We are all to blame but not equally. Those of you who voted twice for the Obama progressive regime and who still are making excuses for his actions bear most of the blame.

We have a strong socialist percentage of citizens in America. These are the people who welcomed Obama as a transcendental leader who would cure all of America’s faults, starting with the transfer of wealth among citizens and also among nations. The core of the progressive philosophy is to share the wealth according to a long-held dream of Marxists. It makes no difference that this scheme has never worked on any scale.

Without wealth, nations can have no physical power. Obama is dedicated to making America just another nation in an international organization. I believe Obama intends to destroy our military power. He believes his words can bring about a much better world than we had before his rise to power. He’s had four secretaries of defense in six years. I believe he has wasted more American blood and wealth than any other president — and he isn’t done yet.

His weakness and failure to see the world as it is has brought us closer to global conflict than anytime since the end of WWII. Peace doesn’t come from weakness. It comes from strength and the principles that made us what we used to be. Obama and his progressive followers would have been right at home in England when Chamberlain returned from a meeting with Adolph Hitler, saying to great acclaim that he had assured “peace for our time.” Obama, I believe, has given us enough signals that he is approaching Iran with the same Chamberlain mentality. Hitler’s armies paid no more attention to the Chamberlain agreement than the Iranians will to any agreement with Obama when they get nuclear weapons and mate them with their developing ICBM missiles. Seeing the world as you believe it to be instead of what it actually is is only a great danger if you are the president of the United States.

President Obama’s dealings with Iran, ISIS, and Putin’s Russia can only result in more aggression and a greater threat of war. One thing is certain — we cannot survive a war with this president as our commander-in-chief. My belief that Obama is the greatest danger from within we have faced since the Civil War is based on more than just his international failures. He is corrupting the civil service, the military Joint Chiefs structure, abusing the Constitution, the separation of powers doctrine, and is deliberately handicapping economic recovery to further his divisive messaging of class warfare and racism. He cannot be impeached with nearly half the population still in favor of his presidency, a media that is friendly beyond reason to Obama’s progressivism, and a republican leadership that is no match for Obama’s messaging.

The next two years will be very hard. We need to do everything legally possible to delay Obama’s brand of transformation.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “Quiet Justice,” a new novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out by mid March.

6 Comments

Filed under Barry Kelly, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, global warming, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, Obama, Politics, Progressives, Putin, Russia

Tagged as America, danger, Obama

by Barry Kelly | February 13, 2015 · 7:33 am

INSIGHTS 189 — DANGEROUS, OR JUST AN EMBARRASSMENT?

It won’t get any better.

I believe we have a flawed president who brought a heavy load of baggage with him to the White House. He can’t escape from his personal beliefs about the guilt of American power; the socialist creed of Saul Alinsky that wealth needs to be spread equally to all individuals and nations; and leading from behind and from a place where words are the same as action.

Add those beliefs to his real-life experiences of attending a ‘hate America’ church for twenty years, his early childhood years attending a Muslim madrassa in Indonesia, his grandfather’s enduring of abuse by the British colonial authorities in Kenya, and his pre-presidential association with an unrepentant American terrorist, Mr. William Ayers, and you have a man who comes from a very different background than any of our other presidents. Don’t expect him to address the problems and issues that threaten America. He can only use those issues to attack his opposition. When the opposition is weakened, the way is open for a one-party rule by a progressive elite.

President Obama cannot turn loose the power of the free market to create jobs and wealth, for he believes in a managed economy. He can only use his power to spread the wealth and to give everyone “a fair shot.” He cannot preside over a transparent administration, for with transparency comes full disclosure. In this case all the documents requested under our Constitution and the practice of the ‘separation of powers’ by Congress would severely damage his socialist goals. Instead of a transparent Obama administration, the one he promised, we have an administration that is known for lying and delaying for years legitimate requests for information by both citizens and Congress.

Probably the most egregious cover-up is the use of the IRS to target conservative groups applying for legal tax-exempt status. President Obama may be planning to use the increasing power of the IRS to destroy any opposition. The president said he was shocked and angry about this illegal use of the IRS but now denies it ever happened and is stonewalling Congress’ requests for documents. At one point, the administration claimed the documents were permanently lost when all of the computers of the people of interest crashed.

On the foreign front, the president’s desperate effort to make a deal with Iran is even more dangerous than his inept dealings with Putin. Iran is developing nuclear weapons. It is their stated national objective. Why does the president believe the Iranians are developing and testing ICBM missiles? They are not necessary for a peaceful development of nuclear power. For some reason beyond me, President Obama has mortgaged our war with Islamic terrorism, our relationship with the Sunni nations, and Israel over his constant concessions to Iran. I believe he has not been sending arms to the Kurds due to Iranian desires to keep the Kurds from being able to defend their land and people from ISIS attacks. If any people ever deserved our help to fight for their freedom, it is the Kurds. President Obama has sent only words and token shipments of weapons directly to the Kurds. Arms to the Kurds sent via Baghdad will never get shipped on to the Kurds.

All we can do for the next two years is to fight hard to delay the president’s illegal and dangerous domestic and foreign policy whims. We must also avoid a major war. Imagine being at war with our present commander-in-chief in control. Would that the Republican leadership in Congress be smart and courageous enough to thwart the worst of his socialist hopes? Not much hope there. Just more tilting of windmills and internal fighting. The people have spoken but neither the president nor the Republican leadership are listening.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “Quiet Justice” a new novel dealing with ISIS in America will be out by mid March.

1 Comment

Filed under Alinsky, Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Israel, Kurds, Obama, Politics, Progressives, Sunni, Terrorism

Tagged as Iran, IRS, Obama, policies, politics, Progressives, White House

by Barry Kelly | February 10, 2015 · 7:32 am

INSIGHTS 188 — GET OUT OF THE IRAQI BOX

If we had a non-ideologue who was also competent in world affairs as a president and a Congress that could forget about itself and get on with passing legislation the nation needs, then the mess in the Middle East would not be so hard to solve.

The problem is that it requires thinking outside the box and that means hitting the reset button on traditional beliefs. For one, policymakers must forget about Iraq being a nation. It never really was. It is just what some Western diplomats called the space between the lines they drew when the Turkmen Empire fell after World War I. There are three very large groups of people in the space labeled Iraq. Sunni tribes, Shiite tribes, and the Kurdish people.

Their customs, language, and religious beliefs are different. For the only time he was ever right, in my estimate, Vice President Joe Biden was right when he suggested during the height of the Iraq war that there were really three different groups in Iraq and each should have their own territory/nation. Of course, his timing was way off. Iraq could have continued as a nation if American forces backed up the Shiite-dominated government, but that was only a temporary fix. Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds are never going to live in the same tent without some power forcing them to do so.

The solution to the ISIS problem is for America to recognize reality. That means paying no attention to the State Department or other so-called bookish Middle Eastern pundits. The Kurds have no use for ISIS. Send them the arms they need, which, despite the Obama talk, we have never done, and the Kurds will fight. They don’t need great numbers of America’s soldiers, just some Special Forces and air support. Kurdistan has been a Kurdish dream for more than 100 years. We aren’t sending them the arms they need and want because Iran wouldn’t like that. Obama wants a deal with Iran so badly, he is willing to let the foes of ISIS be denied the freedom of living under a government of their own people. Turkey also doesn’t want to see us arm the Kurds, but the establishment of Kurdistan would reduce Kurdish attacks on Turkish territory and may bring them around, especially if we really support the anti-Assad forces in Syria.

Many of the Sunni tribes in Iraq would break clear of any support to ISIS, if they were confident the end game would give them their own land and their own national identity. They, too, will fight. They supported our forces by siding with America against al-Qaeda. In simple terms, that takes care of Iraq from Baghdad north with a few adjustments. Different lines on the map.

Remember, there is a past history of lines drawn. This time the lines would coincide with linguistic, ethnicities, and religious beliefs. The Shiites would have the area south of Baghdad where the majority of their people and religious shrines abide. Distribution of oil revenues can be done but it will be a bit sticky and may require a multi-national solution.

Iran won’t like this approach and neither will the Obama administration. Israel would support this approach as long as the United States kept Iran’s ayatollahs from annexing part of current Iraq as Putin has done in Ukraine. The only hurdles standing in the way of such a comprehensive solution is Obama’s infatuation with the Iranians and old world thinking in the State Department and Pentagon. The big upside is that Muslims would be taking care of their radical Islamic extremists with a minimum of American blood and treasure.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “Quiet Justice” a new novel dealing with ISIS in America will be out by early March.