Category Archives: Politics

by | September 1, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 147

A MAGIC TELEPROMPTER

Our president talks the talk better than any modern-age politician. But that is it. Walk the walk never follows.

He seems to believe words do not need to be followed up by actions. By some magic, the teleprompter follows up with more words that are delivered passionately with a choir of adoring acolytes standing behind him taking in every word. These people also believe President Obama’s words are complete in themselves. No action is required. Putin, the Ayatollahs, Syrian President Asad, ISIS, China, Iraqi Prime Ministers, all will fall in line once the King has spoken.

Maybe it worked that way a long time ago in make-believe land, but not in this cruel, hard, beautiful world we live in. It is incredible a two-term president who has a Harvard law degree can stand on his podium with a straight face and watch the words flow off the teleprompter believing he has handled whatever the crisis was. Does he believe he has a magic teleprompter that  converts words into actions?

When questioned about where is the presidential action, his puppets speak with one voice, with great patience, and in a condescending manner refer the rude questioner back to what the president said. It is wonderful to watch the expression on the questioner’s face — “Did I hear what I thought I heard?” — and so on until the next magical speech like the one he gave recently to the American Legion. Here, he promised a number of executive orders to improve the life of veterans needing assistance. There is nothing wrong with the executive orders, except, if he can do that with his pen why wait until now. Didn’t he know the Veterans Administration was in deep trouble over the deceitful ways it covered up its failure to help veterans? Don’t worry, the teleprompter will reach out and fix all wrongs. The imperial president has spoken.

The magical teleprompter won’t be able to fix the real problem of the president’s deliberate down-sizing of the Armed Forces. The teleprompter can’t do away with battalions of terrorists, or an increasingly aggressive China, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or Putin’s plan to re-constitute the Soviet Empire. At times it seems Putin also has a magic teleprompter. Probably built one with the information Snowden stole from NSA.

How can a sane person stand in front of a audience of veterans and cast out promises of a better life for warriors when he is firing them and sending them back to an economy that has no jobs for them when the world grows more dangerous by the day? The teleprompter, in its best voice, implied American soldiers were responsible for the world troubles we are facing today because of their long occupation of other countries. Maybe he never heard of America’s role in two world wars or the Marshall Plan to give the European economy a new start. A world without America would be very different and not for the better. Does leaving some U.S. force level in Iraq look like a bad option now?

President Obama is stuck with his teleprompter in a pro-Muslim, anti-American mindset where the only solution is to destroy American military and economic power so wealth can be shared with the third world nations we have prevented from equal development and prosperity. All words, but very dangerous words because his inaction and failure to maintain a strong military force level equipped with advanced weapons will lead to the destruction of this great Republic.  The only applause will be from radical Islamists.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. If you think this message is important, please share it.

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by | August 27, 2014 · 5:55 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 144

THE THREAT OF ISLAM

Fate and luck have often produced the leadership needed in times of crises. Unfortunately, neither fate nor luck have given America the leadership she needs to combat the virulent march of Islamic radicals across Syria and Iraq. We have a president who is ill-equipped to deal with real world crises. He leans toward the Muslim side in all foreign policy issues. The president has surrounded himself with inexperienced department heads who share his view of the world. Both the critical departments of State and Defense are under pedestrian leadership. Clinton, Kerry, Hagel, and Dempsey have been conducting foreign and defense policy designed to withdraw America from a super power role to one consistent with the goals of the United Nations, an organization that has no love for American power.

Our executive leadership is implementing a plan to bring American troop strength down to pre-World War II levels at a time when radical Islam is sweeping across the Middle East and Putin is moving to reconstitute the Soviet Empire.  (According to media reports, 900 army majors have been given termination notices, some while in combat areas. Majors and sergeants are the backbone of any army. It will take ten or twenty years to replace their knowledge and experience.)

But that is not the worst. A significant part of our population is increasingly anti-military and doesn’t recognize that all violence is not evil. All our personal freedoms and national security at times need violence to protect the nation and its citizens. The belief that we can control or positively influence enemies, current or potential, by our unilateral behavior is foolish to the point of suicidal. That unilateral disarmament on our part will lead other nations to act accordingly is a belief, not only naive and arrogant, but without any historical evidence. The president and his attorney general have often stated closing Guantanamo Bay will make it harder for radical Muslims to recruit new members. What deters enemies is strength and they will to use it.

While young Muslim boys (girls don’t get to go to school in the world of Sharia law) are being taught to hate the West and to learn how to be soldiers, our children are being punished for pointing a pretend finger gun or engaging in any act that might be construed to represent Christianity. Recently the media reported a young school girl was disciplined when she said, “Bless you” to a classmate who had sneezed. The spirit that got us through two World Wars and several others, needs to be rekindled. The meek don’t inherit the earth; in the real world they get themselves or others killed.

Before we encourage the spread of Islam in America, the citizens should know Islam is not a religion of peace. The Koran has none of the forgiveness, love, gentleness, or acceptance of the people of other religions that is contained in the New Testament. Muslim teachings support forcible conversions of non-Muslims and the killings of those who don’t convert. The imposition of Sharia Law is the end game of radical Islam that is, today, being carried out by ISIS.  Occupation and domination is the plan. The end result of radical Islam is to impose a totalitarian rule run by an elite group. Funny how the progressive, socialist, communist, Islamic or fascist systems of governing all have the same end result, rule by an elite who make your choices for you. Individual freedom is not an issue. None of them believe in it.

Fortunately, we can see what the Islamization of Europe is doing. It is spreading fast and even imposing Sharia Law in some areas where the Muslim population is dominate. The United Kingdom now has more Muslim citizens fighting for ISIS than it has Muslims in its own armed forces. Muslim immigrants do not assimilate. They maintain their own language, culture, law, and education. Local mosques are the spearhead for the spread of Islam. It need not happen here. It must not.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.

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EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 142

WRONG PICTURE

What is wrong with the pictures coming out of Ferguson, Missouri?  Is that what middle America is? Are we a racist nation?

Last question first. No, America is not a racist nation. How can a nation be racist when the president, the attorney general, the national security adviser, and several other prominent officials are black? There are prominent blacks in every profession, stars in every professional sport and other entertainment areas. Blacks with military honors serve in every branch of the Armed Forces. Graduating students from our universities are black, as were some of their professors. No, we are not a racist nation nor are we a nations of cowards. In America, if you can walk the walk and talk the talk you can make it, no matter the color of your skin. While words are important, actions and real circumstances tell us more.

The words coming out of the president and attorney general do not help to calm the situation in Ferguson any more than the words coming out of the professional race manipulators who circle every possible injustice like a group of vultures swirling around the spot light of public attention. The shooting in Ferguson calls out for a real investigation of the facts, not  political speeches crying racism is the cause. Shouldn’t the rush to racist statements on the part of our president and attorney general wait for the investigations to be completed before making racist pronouncements.

Didn’t we learn anything from the Treyvon Martin case?  Too many bright young black teenagers, especially males, are being killed by senseless acts. The nation needs these young people. We need to give them time to live and contribute. Let the Ferguson situation play out, but deal severely with looters. Peaceful demonstrations must always be allowed but not street violence. Peaceful demonstrators of any color do not come to demonstrate with Molotov cocktails and guns. The police have a duty to protect the citizens of Ferguson from the violence of rioters and looters. And the attorney general and our president need to deal with the mass killing of young black teenagers by black on black violence.

Mr. President, tell your attorney general to go to Chicago with his legions of investigators. Give the young blacks of our inner cities a chance to live. Give them jobs and hope. So far you have done nothing to help them. Making them dependent on government money is not the answer. Give them real jobs, a chance to raise a family and give back to the community. Show them real justice is color blind. Your first step should be to remove your current attorney general who has said we are a nation of cowards when it comes to race. He is not an example that justice is color blind. We are not a nation of cowards and we are not, today, a racist nation. The pictures coming out of Ferguson fill the media’s appetite for sensational news but do not describe America.

 Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80

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by | August 24, 2014 · 7:15 am
by | August 22, 2014 · 12:09 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 143

DON’T TAKE A KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT

From all their pronouncements, it seems the Obama Holder dynamic duo plan to use their law and order weapon against ISIS. That is as foolish as taking a knife to a gun fight. ISIS Terrorism does not operate on a law and order field. They know and say they are in a war with the west.  Their weapons and tactics are from the manuals of warfare. During my time in the Reagan White House, as the point staff person for terrorism, we used the law and order approach. Even with the relatively  very small number of terrorists and terrorists organization active at that time, the law and order legal process was cumbersome and stretched nearly to its limit. The requirement to collect information that would stand up to the rules of evidence in our courts was a heavy burden. None of us were thinking enough outside the box of legalism. The military leadership, the intelligence sector, the Congressional committees, and, of course the State Department were all mired in the rules of our court system.

Looking back now, our efforts to fight international terrorism with the weapons of law and order were not equal to the task. To apply law and order restraints to the war against terrorism, yes it is a war, today is beyond reason. It is absurd. Our President and his Attorney General do not trust the military to capture, detain, question and try terrorist in a military court. They have an engrained ideological fear that some terrorist may have his or her civil rights violated. I think the roots of that thinking go deep into their guilt over American power being used in the colonial past. No matter what the issue, the President and his soul mate will ride the civil rights horse onto every battlefield. No, I can not square that legalistic approach with using drone strikes against terrorists even if they are American citizens. I can only guess that the law and order rules of engagement do not extend to drone strikes. Maybe it is because dead people have no civil rights, due process,  and no need to have Miranda rights read to them.

The law and order people do not seem to understand the need to obtain real-time intelligence from interrogating (not torturing) combatants captured on the battlefield. Intelligence wins wars, saves American lives, and treasure. The cumbersome time required for the law and order system to play out does not match the need to defeat terrorists before they can bring the war to our shores again. Imagine having a backlog of several hundred terrorist prisoners to move through our law and order procedures. Lastly our Constitution does not apply to foreign nationals who are trying to kill us. Nor should it apply to U.S. citizens fighting on the side of terrorists. The first step should be to strip them of their citizenship. That is an appropriate job for the law and order process.

Using law and order procedures as our Attorney General has in the past will ensure we lose the war against terrorism. Save the law and order rules for U.S. citizens or residents who commit terrorist acts inside the U.S. Due process is their right.

Read my non fiction book, INSIGHTS Transforming America. Is this what we fought for?

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by | August 20, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 141

KURDS AND ISIS

However he got there doesn’t matter. It is rare that President Obama gets policy and action together to do the right thing. So let’s give him credit for helping the Kurds rescue thousands of minority religious followers and begin pushing ISIS back into traditional Sunni tribal areas. Without U.S. airstrikes and weapons delivered to  the Kurds, the Mosel Dam and Christians and other minorities would still be in the hands of ISIS. There is absolutely no question that ISIS is capable of genocide against any people who do not believe in sharia law.

Unfortunately, this is not a short-term problem with a quick answer. The right thing is to support the Kurds. Their army, the Peshmerga, can and will fight to protect their homeland and people. All they need is an American commitment to supply needed weapons and some economic support. They can be a pillar of stability in the region and a military balance to the ISIS. The Kurds will not, unless forced, ever put their fate in the hands of a Baghdad Shiite or Sunni government. They have suffered under successive Baghdad regimes. The Kurds also have no love for Iran or Turkey.

Over the last five-plus years, the world has seen that our word cannot be taken at face value. Therefore, the problem for the Kurds is deciding whether they can trust our commitments. They are in a very dangerous position with few options. America will get another chance to show the world if our word means anything. The president has broad powers in foreign policy and armed conflict issues. But in this case it would help if he could involve Congress in long-term support for the Kurds. This is an issue he should not use to attack his opposition. There has to be some kind of a line between progressive political goals and something as serious as building a area of stability in the wreckage of Iraq that is friendly with America.

We can not expect the Kurds to trust us if we show intent of putting them back under a Baghdad regime. The president and Congress need to accept that the idea of a Shiite government ever being trusted by the Sunnis or the Kurds is gone. In fact, it was never a viable option. The borders of the Middle East have been changed de facto. A smart foreign policy would accept the change and move on. Please, Mr. President, keep Secretary of State,  John Kerry out of Kurdish policy issues. You and we cannot afford any more bumbling by your Department of State.

Read my non-fiction book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America –Is this what we fought for? “

 

 

 

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