Category Archives: Eight Decades of Insights

by Barry Kelly | December 5, 2012 · 11:36 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 29

President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2004 on October 1, 2003. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UTOPIA VS REALITY

Some things we can control for the better. Some we can’t. Deciding which we can and can not do is the essence of the struggle between liberals and conservatives.

Both sides want to improve the condition of the people. Neither faction is evil; it’s just that the fundamental belief system is different. The roots of liberal philosophy are imports from foreign thinkers. Utopian communes, kibbutzes, socialism, communism (to each according to need, from each according to capability), interpretations of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, ancient and modern age totalitarianism all emphasized the good of society over the individual.

Efforts to achieve these goals all had to, or strived to, centralize power. Centralized power is always required to channel and control individualism for the good of the whole society. The problem has been that those who end up in charge of centralized power are not capable of deciding or managing how to balance their judgement of the needs of the masses with the needs of the individual. Instead, centralized power, especially in totalitarian governments, is used to perpetuate the rule of the elite. And there is always an elite. Nowhere in the history of the known world has unfettered centralization been successful. Yet some humans still try to improve life by centralization in spite of the clear historical record of total failure.

As an example of this innate drive for people to see centralized control over every real or imagined problem is the liberal position on global warming. Is the Earth warming? Maybe, probably, absolutely, positively not. All those answers are possible. The record of the Earth is that it has warmed and cooled. Surely it is a question science can answer, if they avoid cherry picking data to prove strongly held environmental beliefs. At one time, I’m told, Chicago was covered by two miles of ice and much later, Vikings cultivated Greenland for a period of one hundred years or so until the Earth cooled. Surely Chicagoans did not cause Chicago to freeze over nor did Vikings cause Greenland to warm. Just maybe our heat source, the sun’s output, or slight changes in the Earth’s orbit are the cause. These are causes humans cannot control or change. Certainly prehistoric carbon emissions from man-made industries were not responsible.

Centralization has been used by both parties to “fix” problems. The conservatives tried with the organization of the Department of Homeland Security. But do you feel safer now that effective organizations have all been dumbed down to fit the limited scope of human management? Or how about the Director of National Intelligence‘s bloated staff? Do you feel like our president is better informed? I think, in fact I know, he is not. Benghazi talking points come to mind.

Utopia is not to be found in liberalism or conservatism. (See blog 6 for more on centralization.) Both parties have worshipped at the altar of centralization. Humans and our complex civilization need regulation. But it has to be as little as possible. Centralization is the fuel for the growth of government which is, then, itself a motivator of more centralization. (In blog 3 I state we are a great nation not because of what immigrants brought with them but what they left behind.) We did have some experiments with European utopian settlements in America. They all failed. Unfortunately, the roots of socialism and totalitarianism have now come again in the name of progressivism and have largely taken over the leadership of the Democratic Party. We now have a government trying to centralize and manage all aspects of life, individual and national.

http://www.factsandfictions.com By the author of the Jack Brandon thriller series.

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Filed under centralization, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, global warming, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Progressives, totalitarianism

Tagged as big government, Buddhism, Chicago, Christianity, Climate change, Earth, Greenland

by Barry Kelly | November 28, 2012 · 2:06 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 28

politics (Photo credit: Asoka G M)

LEADERSHIP, NOT NOW

The nation is in trouble. Trouble, that is not the fault of either political party. We are all to blame. The problem is identifying and fixing the tax code, Government spending, social programs, allocation of resources and regulations. The problem can be fixed. Beginning to correct what needs corrected is not hard. What is hard is finding the leaders who can move us toward the required results. Leadership is sometimes defined as a person who can influence a group of people toward a specific result. If you have found that kind of leadership in our political system, you are either very kind or a lot smarter than I am. I’m from the school that believes leaders and managers are not necessarily the same thing. Managers are born out of experience. Leaders are born. Governor Romney is an example of a very good manager. The people were looking for a leader and he didn’t convince them he was that person. President Obama is neither a leader nor a manager, except of campaigning. There have been few equals of the President when it comes to winning election against formidable odds. He wasn’t born a leader and he didn’t have the opportunities or desire to learn management skills. And they must be learned in a crucible where results and progress are harshly measured. My examples of Presidential leaders are Washington, Lincoln and Reagan. Every major American industry has produced scores of good managers. Even the Government has had a few.

Don’t blame the President for seeming like he is always campaigning. He has mastered that skill and with David Axelrod in his corner, he is a winner. One of my rules of life is that no matter what the problem, people do what they know how to do. Our President knows how to win elections. Don’t fault him for talking to the people. He won on a successful campaign of dividing the populace. Don’t expect him to now work to bring the people together to solve our common problem. He can’t and he won’t. Why change when you are winning? He promised to transform America and he is making progress. To transform anything you must destroy the existing system. Is he a champion of Capitalism, the free market, individual freedoms or the belief that economic growth is the answer to overall prosperity? Off the basketball court, I don’t believe he sees winners and those who don’t. His fair shot rhetoric means to lessen the gap between those who have too little material goods and those who have more than enough, by handicapping our best achievers.

On the other side of our political spectrum are those who lost a political campaign when all odds were in their favor. Until they figure out who they are and that the goal of political life is more than getting re-elected, don’t expect much help from them. Fiscal cliff or not, go over it or not, is not the issue. Getting the Democrats to move back toward the center and the Republicans to move into the 21st century and both recognizing the crisis is at least half their fault, must come before a responsible solution is even remotely possible. Expect instead more kicking the oil drum down the street. Oil drums don’t kick very far, especially uphill.

http://www.factsandfictions.com By the Author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series.

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Filed under Alexrod, Capitalism, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, fiscal cliff, General, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics, Romney

Tagged as Barack Obama, government, Leadership, Mitt Romney, politics, Republican, United States

by Barry Kelly | November 22, 2012 · 2:00 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 27

English: The Pittsburgh City-County Building in Pittsburgh 40°26′17.8″N 79°59′48.4″W / °S °W / ; latd>90 (dms format) in latd latm lats longm longs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I hope to publish this novel early next year. It is more than half complete. Watch my web page for more information and thanks to all my readers who have inquired about the next Brandon story. Shadow’s backup is also introduced in this tale.

PROLOGUE FOR HARD JUSTICE (A new Jack Brandon thriller novel)

Jake was not bright, but he could shoot. His dad was a Vietnam war vet and a gun nut. When Jake was in his middle teens, his dad sent him to a shooting camp run by a former squad buddy who took special interest in Jake when he saw the raw talent the kid had. The first summer the instructor told Jake’s dad that his kid wasn’t even full grown yet, but he was a better shot than his dad ever was. Jake thought his dad would be angry but, instead, he gave Jake a rare hug and praise.

His dad was dead now. Jake liked to revisit the praises his dad gave him about his shooting skills. When he was honest, Jake would say he was very good at shots under 300 yards. After that his success dropped off sharply. But then, how many times had he had to make a kill beyond a couple of hundred yards. Not today. Exactly 125 yards. No wind. Good light. Doesn’t get any better. The police cruiser was in plain sight angled into the curb at a 7-Eleven just off Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh. Jake liked his hide. If you took the time to case your kill site, it was easy to find good targets and plenty of good shooting angles. He had found line-of-sight to the popular coffee stop place for cops from the top of a building further up the street. Two cruisers were pulled into the curb. The angle was better than he usually had. Picking the lock on the access door to the roof took less than a minute. No scratches left on the lock. His bogus fire inspector credentials were not needed.

Jake loved the rush of shooting from an ambush site. He was a God. He controlled the destinies of his targets. It was up to him. He could kill, select the severity of the wound or just scare them. The short term, five minutes after squeezing the trigger, was almost the same. Mass confusion, multiple responses, wailing sirens and scurrying pedestrians. Long term was different. Killing a cop was serious stuff. They would never forget and the search for the shooter was much more intense. Today, in the next minute, he would shoot to seriously wound two of the laughing cops leaning against a squad car.

Jake often wondered why the voice that called him on his cell paid him for shooting cops or firemen. The voice gave him a date, time and city. The rest was up to him. Never any complaints from the voice. His pay arrived in his P.O. Box on time. It was a good deal. He had never had so much money. Jake knew something this good couldn’t last. He hid the money in the log wall of his cabin near Big timber, Montana. When he needed the money there would be no time to mess with banks and leave a trail for the cops. They hadn’t I.D. Him yet. But the hunt was on for the City Sniper.

Jake glanced at his Timex watch. One more minute. The voice told him he did not have to be exact, just close. But he was a professional and one of the marks of a professional is being on time all the time. He was viewing the cops through an old 4X scope mounted on a vintage .22 bolt action Winchester rifle. If need be, he could leave the weapon behind. He bought it at a yard sale for cash. Cleaned up, sighted in and loaded with .22 long rifle hollow points, it was a lethal weapon within one hundred and fifty yards. Hollow points didn’t leave much for ballistics guys to find out.

Officer Sam Reilly was hit first as he was taking a sip of his heavily sugared coffee. The hollow point hit him in the left side of his jaw, blowing a large piece of his tongue and several teeth out of the exit wound. His partner pulled Sam to the ground but not before another hollow point hit him high on his right shoulder. Neither one remember hearing the shots. There was no panic on the street or in the coffee shop. By the time the first police and rescue vehicles, with their screaming sirens, arrived, Jake had cleaned up the shooting site, put the disassembled rifle in his tool box, picked the roof door lock closed and casually walked the short distance to his pickup truck. Another successful shooting and escape. He had planned to hit both cops but the one he hit first got in the way. His next act was a week later in Saint Paul, MN. He hated to leave the late spring weather in Pittsburgh for the uncertainty of the weather in Minnesota. It could be unbelievable cold waiting in a sniper hide. Only people who were strong and dumb could put up with only three weeks of warm weather. He wasn’t either.

http://www.factsandfictions.com

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Filed under Action thrillers, Books, bouviers, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Spy novels

Tagged as eight decades of Insights, Jack Brandon

by Barry Kelly | October 31, 2012 · 2:04 pm

Eight Decades of Insights 25

Before You Vote

Conservatives, Liberals, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Progressives please look over the following checklist before exercising your right to vote.

All of us should think twice before putting a person in the White House who:

* Has not shown he or she is willing and eager to undertake the difficult job of being a hands on President;

* Has not demonstrated an ability of working with political opponents;

* Does not believe in the doctrine of the separation of powers among the three equal branches of Government;

* Believes in growing the powers of the Federal Government over the Constitutional powers of the States;

* Does not believe there is a distinct difference between civil crimes committed by US citizens and acts of war/terrorism committed by foreign nationals;

*Does not believe Capitalism and the doctrine of Free Markets are the foundation of the American Economy;

* Believes Socialism, Government spending, and Government jobs are the path to an expanding economy;

* Believes in the cradle to grave care of a centralized Government over Individual initiative and personal responsibility;

* Does not believe in American Exceptionalism;

* Does not recognize that national strength is the road to peace;

* Speaks and acts as if the world is the way he believes it is and not the way it actually is;

* Uses the rhetoric of class warfare to govern America;

* Believes in government conducted in secrecy using Czars rather than Senate confirmed Cabinet members to govern;

* Believes an annual budget accepted and approved by Congress is unnecessary;

* Does not believe a balance budget is a good near term goal;

* Believes the role of the Attorney General is to protect the Administration from Congressional Inquiry;

* Does not believe the protection of Americans serving abroad is his responsibility;

* Favors Islamic nations over Israel in middle east disputes;

* Is afraid of regular press conferences to inform the American people;

*Conducts foreign policy negotiations with Russia through whispered messages to Putin via Medvedev; (caught by an open mike)

* Doesn’t accept that the President gets all credit for the good his administration accomplishes, but also the blame for all failures.

http://www.factsandfictions.com by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller series

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS #24

OBAMA’S WALL

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney exchange views during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. They interrupt each other, bicker and ignore the moderator. Romney poses his own questions and demands answers. Thats not true, Obama huffs over and over. This is presidential conduct? It was squirm-inducing for some viewers. But the candidates have little to lose by cranking up the heat in a tight face, where the focus is on persuading the undecided and firing up their fans.

Throughout history, totalitarian regimes have erected brick and mortar walls as well as more subtle barriers to the flow of information. Often the walls and barriers are to prevent those outside the walls from seeing what the regime does not have, more than to protect what they have, from prying eyes. The Soviet Union was certainly ultra-sensitive to protecting their shortcomings when they built walls to hide behind. Outside their missile program and other militarized areas, the Soviet Union was a wet paper tiger. What they did not have in the 1970s was truly astounding. I spent two years in the Soviet Union from 1973 to 1975. I left being convinced they were a dangerous enemy, not because of their strength, but because of their weakness. Fear of the growing power of the West might have influenced them to strike before the gap widened further.

President Obama, with his totalitarian approach to governing and arrogance that only he and his Chicago mafia know what is right for America, have erected walls to hide mistakes and weakness as well as denying anyone outside the walls to see what has not been done. The president’s fiscal policy is non-existent. His military strategy for an increasingly dangerous world is not even a work in progress. His plan for job creation, beyond hiring 100,000 more teachers, infrastructure improvements, and green energy jobs, has never been seen. Unemployment numbers are seriously flawed. His energy policy is beyond understanding. He is not a brilliant or even a bright man and must hide his deficiencies, at least those David Axelrod cannot fix. Now there is a brilliant political strategist struggling with a hard-to-manage pupil. I cannot believe Axelrod told the president to cover up the Benghazi fiasco. In my opinion, Obama doesn’t even realize the importance Americans place on the protection of its fellow citizens, especially those sent in harm’s way without the tools to work and survive.

The presidential debates are beginning to tear down the walls erected to hide the failed promises, fantastic accumulation of debt, inept foreign policy, ignorance of economic development, amateurish military strategy, and the extreme left-wing objectives. You see a debater who is far better at displaying arrogance, anger, petulance, denial, and how-dare-you question me than he is at presenting a rational defense of his record or a cogent plan for the next four years. Don’t expect things to improve, no matter where your political allegiance resides. What you see is what you have. If you are a voter, push past the words and carefully consider if you and the nation can stand another four years of government behind the walls. Pull the walls down. Let the daylight in.

www/factsandfictions.com The author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series.