Category Archives: Eight Decades of Insights

by Barry Kelly | June 17, 2014 · 7:49 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 120

IT’S TRANSFORMATION, DUMMY

If you watch the news long enough, you will see things that just make your head hurt. I remember Senator McCain pleading for the president to get a new national security staff because his current one was not serving the president well.

Where has the senator been?

Obama is not and never will be a fixer of issues. His only goal is transformation. After the progressives become the only political party and the opposition is gone, then, maybe, he will take on some issues. Until then, it is the issue is never the issue. Please, Senator McCain, write that down and study it.

The president has no interest in getting into a war among Muslims. His base wouldn’t stand for it. His interest is ending American interference with the sovereignty of other nations. He is after a weaker America that takes its proper role in the international order. I think without American boots on the ground and control of the air over Iraq and Syria, the entire area will separate into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish areas. Even then the Kurds will need support from us to hold off the ISIS.

The ISIS is a primarily Sunni organization and its doubtful if President Obama would destroy a Sunni-backed and financed organization. The blood and treasure we poured into Iraq, the remarkable defeat of Saddam Hussein’s vaunted military, the near destruction of al-Qaeda, and the birth of a struggling democracy faded away when for deep seated ideological reasons, Obama did not want a residual force agreement to allow American troops to remain in Iraq. A strong, tough negotiating stance on our part would have crafted an agreement allowing some strategically placed bases to remain in Iraq. That process is part of winning. With U.S. bases in Iraq, the current disaster in Iraq and the chaos in Syria would either have not occurred or would have been solvable. But that is not the Obama way.

Our president has his eye only on transformation and he has a personal flaw of believing the world is as he sees it. If he wants foreign policy change, he resorts to words and pretends his words are all that is needed. His lines are not straight and red. They are swirls and very pale. Not one of our former allies or enemies trusts our words or believes in our resolve. A new national security team would make no difference. It is not about issues and under Obama it never will be.

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 118

NEGOTIATOR-IN-CHIEF

The president has reached a new low in his role as our commander-in-chief. Maybe no one told him that even if he has the authority to make prisoner of war exchanges, the position of the United States government has been for several decades that we do not negotiate with terrorists. The terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay are not POWs. They are terrorists without the process afforded by the legalities associated with the holding and treatment of POWs. By negotiating with terrorists you encourage them to seize more hostages because you have raised the value of hostages. Exchanging one U.S. serviceman or woman for five top value Taliban commanders puts every American in Afghanistan at greater risk.

President Obama, photo by the New York Daily News.

The president’s motive for this exchange are not straightforward. The political spin is so fast the truth is blurred. Timing is nearly everything. He needed to change the debate from the failure of the U.S. government to take care of its veterans. He had nowhere to run. So spin out a tale of ending the war and rescue an American soldier captured on the field of battle defending America’s interests. Spin within spin. He also wants to close Guantanamo Bay by releasing all the prisoners into the custody of nations like Qatar. Even he surely can’t believe Qatar will keep an eye on prisoners released to its jurisdiction and prevent them from killing or planning to kill more Americans.

An additional motive is that president cares more about world opinion than he does of America’s opinion. No joke! Even our lukewarm friends in Europe would vote to close Guantanamo Bay in a heartbeat.

The reality is that the rescued army soldier is no hero. At best, he is a deserter. At worst, a collaborator. He wasn’t captured on the battlefield. He just walked away from his unit, leaving his weapon and body armor behind. How to set all this right? Call on Susan Rice. She doesn’t mind being called on to fall on her sword again. She is good at it. Surely she can’t believe what she said on all the Sunday TV shows. Unlike Benghazi, the truth here is not hidden. Just ask the soldiers who served with him or read the record.

But surely, you may say, the president knew he would be criticized by the Republicans. Yes, but he doesn’t care in the least about their criticism. He didn’t expect the followers of Harry Reid to chime in. The voters he doesn’t care about. He’s done running for office. It’s a good thing because I believe he could be elected again and so does he.

President Obama counts on the ignorance and disinterest of most of America’s voters to the nuts and bolts of the political process. A few good speeches, a manufactured story about improvement in the economy, ending wars, raising the minimum wage, the war on women, health care, and a super get out the vote ground effort with a 95 percent black vote, and a growing Hispanic vote could put the progressives in the Oval Office again. Hilary Clinton is counting on the same factors.

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Filed under Afghanistan, Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Politics, Progressives, Terrorism

Tagged as afghanistan, bergdahl, gitmo, guantanamo bay, Obama, prisoner of war, release

by Barry Kelly | June 3, 2014 · 8:00 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 117

WHAT IS A PROGRESSIVE?

The first check is: did you vote twice for Obama?

The first vote I understand. We all wanted change and many were willing to take a chance.

The second time is different. After seeing the president’s actions and listening to his teleprompter for four years and if you still wanted a second term for him, you are more than a moderate Democrat. You, my friend, are a progressive. You don’t agree? Okay, let’s run through some indicators.

You believe growing the size and power of the federal government is a good thing. You knew Obama would continue growing the size of government and gathering more power into the executive branch, ignoring the fundamental Constitutional powers granted to Congress. You accept having non-elected government bureaucrats make decisions impacting our lives rather than the people elected to decide on economic and environmental issues. Did you want the president and his cabinet to decide which laws to enforce and which to ignore? Do you feel good about the politicalization of the civil service, especially the IRS discriminating against conservative groups? Do you believe President Obama is managing a transparent governing process? Have you recognized the cover ups in the cases of the “fast and furious” gun running to drug gangs, the Benghazi affair where Americans were refused help and left to die in a terrorist attack, the failure to improve care for veterans in the five years of the Obama Administration, the IRS unlawful acts?

All presidents make mistakes, but have you heard the president’s lies on Obamacare, Benghazi, the IRS, the VA scandal, on budget issues, clean energy, climate change caused by humans, foreign policy blunders and wire tapping of journalists? Do you recognize he is always waiting for his investigation to be completed but never accepts that he is the problem and never fixes anything? He is in charge. The buck is supposed to stop in the Oval Office. Not here. It just picks up speed on its way to someone else.

Here are some fundamental beliefs progressives hold dear:

Government spending is a primary cause of a growing economy;
High taxes and constant regulation do not hamper economic growth;
Increasing the minimum wage stimulates the economy;
An intelligent elite knows best what the people need;
Voter I.D. is discriminatory and discourages voter turnout;
Government bureaucrats are good managers of the VA, and will be good managers of Obamacare;
Redistribution of income is the primary purpose of big government;
Citizens have no rights to guns regardless of the Second Amendment;
If the cause is just, the ends justify the means.

The president has been depending on a highly partisan media and voter support that blindly follows his socialistic agenda to protect him. If you can’t agree with most of this, you are a progressive and that is your right. But don’t expect your individual freedom and rights to survive. They never do in any socialist, one-party political system where the socialist elites are always in power and the opposition is referred to as the rebels or terrorists.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Obamacare, Progressives

Tagged as Benghazi, Iran, Obama

by Barry Kelly | May 25, 2014 · 7:56 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 116

OBAMA AND THE VETERANS

Here we go again. In this administration, the buck stops nowhere. No one is ever accountable. No one gets ever gets fired. But there is a difference this time. The real democrats have added their considerable voice to the uproar while the socialists/progressives continue to protect and support their leader. General Shinsecki, regardless of his previous honorable record, has failed this time. He knew his mission five years ago and today the treatment of our veterans is worse than when he took office. A few more facts:

This is not a new problem and President Obama did not cause the problem. He has equally done nothing to fix it except make speeches about how as Commander-in-Chief he would make sure our vets were taken care of in the VA medical system. Instead after five years he is still studying the problem. The problem for the president and the progressives is that the VA is essentially a socialized medical system limited to veterans. The VA medical system is large but nowhere near the size of the Obamacare goal. The VA system, like all socialized medicine anywhere in the world, is run by the government. Government bureaucrats have an unblemished history of failure in every socialize medicine scheme ever tried. The government does some things very well, running a socialized medical care system for veterans is not one of them. If the government cannot run the VA medical system effectively, how will they ever be able to run the much larger Obamacare?

The answer is they cannot, and this is the reason for all the delays and cover ups of the systemic failure of VA care for veterans in the last five years. The American people, while they can be fooled by nice-sounding words from a ‘cool’ president, they will finally recognize the lack of any attempt to solve the VA problem. The truth is that the progressives are not and never have been in the market to fix problems. Instead all their effort is dedicated to gaining power in order to transform America into a one-party totalitarian socialist nation.

What is most vexing is that there is a solution. Give veterans a voucher to go to any medical facility of their choice. It is time to scrap the VA medical care establishment and stop the substandard medical care of our veterans. Socialized medicine in any form cannot be fixed. It can only be replaced. We have had since the end of the Civil War to study the effectiveness of the VA. That should be long enough even for this progressive administration.

This Memorial Day, remember those who fought and died and continue to fight and die for the freedoms of this nation, and honor them. Our president doesn’t seem to be doing so.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Obamacare

Tagged as health care, memorial day, Obama, Obamacare, Progressive, socialism, VA, veterans

by Barry Kelly | May 21, 2014 · 7:35 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 115

NOT JUST STORIES

I’m getting ready to publish my first non fiction book, “INSIGHTS — THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA” Is This What We Fought For?” The message in this book is clear. The transformation of America is happening now and most of our population doesn’t understand what is happening or what to do about it.

This book will make the process clear for anyone who reads it. Although my four action novels are mainly tales from a storyteller, they also contained a messages that help readers understand the law and order process and how terrorists and intelligence operatives go about their missions. This increased awareness will help readers recognize dangerous situations before they happen.

My first novel, Justice Beyond law, shows how a renegade KGB officer uses an abandoned network of KGB agents infiltrated into America years ago.

“Justice Beyond Law”

The method Yuri, the renegade KGB officer, uses to turn his network into a profit-making enterprise and to manage his diverse network with agents of different skills is more than plausible. The methods he uses strain the traditional law-and-order approach to terrorism. The traditional approach involves the collection of evidence that will stand up in a court system bound to provide the protections of our Constitution and the rules of due process to all residents, legal or illegal. The collection period is followed by an indictment, the issue of warrants, an arrest and finally a trial. An immense effort over a long period but a very important element of our individual rights. The heroes of this novel believe when dealing with terrorists who are in the country illegally, sometimes the safety of our people requires faster action then the law and order process allow.

The second novel, Justice Without Mercy, shows the process an extremist muslim group like al Qaeda might use to set up a series of

Justice without Mercy

terrorist acts in America to weaken the resolve of the people and lessen their trust in government to protect them. The plot in this novel is more probable than most people believe. Traditional law and order process is not capable of dealing with the fast-moving action of terrorism in the homeland. The law and order process pushed by the Obama administration, particularly by the attorney general, is more political than an effective counter-terrorist approach. There is a war brought by Islamic jihadists against us. It needs to be fought with a similar approach. Foreign jihadists don’t qualify for the protections of our constitution.

Shades of Justice deals with human trafficking that can be a profit-making business both for terrorist organizations and criminals. Readers of this novel will see how simple it is to set up a human trafficking business in nearly any large city. They will also come away with an understanding of how the traffickers operate their business from the spotting and selection of targets, to the capture, movement, holding, and marketing of the victims. The ‘good guys and gals’ in this novel understand and attack all aspects of the human-trafficking process. As you read this, note the challenge human trafficking poses to traditional law and order forces.

My latest novel, Run to Freedom, is the prequel to the Jack Brandon adventure series. In this story I rely heavily upon my knowledge of the old USSR

Barry Kelly’s fourth novel

and its KGB intelligence apparatus. The story starts in 1920 in Siberia, with a little known excursion of American troops, just as WWI was wrapping up. In this novel the readers will travel from Russia, to Poland, to Canada and several cities in America as Peter Brandon, Jack’s father, tries to escape the KGB in America. The forces the KGB deploys in America to capture or kill Peter are entirely within the capabilities of Russian intelligence in 1970’s America, as are the methods Peter uses to escape the dragnet.

All stories have some truth to them; within fiction lies reality. I hope you are able to read and understand, and take to heart, the messages in my fiction novels and will want to find out the message in my first non-fiction novel. Thanks for reading.