by | April 14, 2014 · 10:09 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 110

IS THIS A GAME?

Yes it is, and the Republicans have not learned the rules yet. Time is running out and our team is behind. We have no offense and the defense is out coached. Coach Obama knows what he is doing but only his inner team has the playbook. To win the title for the next several generations he has to change capitalism into socialism, reduce America’s military power, give up our technology position in space exploration, give over control of much of our communications to a world body, abandon NATO, under fund the defense contractors, control energy production, expand the number of people dependent on government assistance, turn the civil service into a force to control opposition, abandon free market concepts and abolish political opposition. How is he doing?

chess boardWe are dependent on the Russians to deliver people and supplies to the International Space Station. We no longer have the booster technology or the space vehicle to conduct space missions. We were once by far the world leader in space exploration. Now we are voluntarily taking a backseat to Russia and China.  Space dominance and military power are closely coupled. Our space capability depended on skilled teams of civilians and military personnel. That capability would take several years to reconstitute. Obama can take a victory lap.

He is reducing our military manpower to below World War II levels. He knows his word on the world power stage is weak and he is okay with that. NATO nations no longer trust the United States nor do the NATO leaning nations of Eastern Europe. Power comes from capability and will, not speeches. How about armored divisions to prevent Russia from over running Europe. How? The U.S. Army does not have a single battle tank in Europe. Remember Benghazi? Our once vaunted military could not rescue or even try to rescue the embattled Americans in the Benghazi Consulate. Another victory lap for the president.

Control of energy. Without the hindering regulations from the Obama administration, we would now be a dominant energy exporter. Putin would have to develop another source of funds for his reconstruction of the Soviet Empire. Obama’s work to wreck the energy industry in America can be seen in the incredible failure to approve the Canadian pipeline, the heavy funding of alternative energy technologies that are decades away, and regulations preventing additional offshore drilling or more exploration and drilling on federal lands. Fortunately, he could not prevent the energy boom in the Dakotas. But he will try. A half victory lap here.

The economy.  The recovery is very poor in job or gross national product terms. Real unemployment is above 12 percent. Money printing by the Keynesian Federal Reserve has kept the stock market sound but has increased the gap of wealth between those who can invest and those who need income from labor. Printing 75 billion or so each month does not help our workers. His first triumph, Obamacare, is not a failure. It is right on or ahead of schedule. It was never intended to improve health care in America, only to bring in socialized medicine. Obamacare is creating so much disruption in the health services that in a year or so, the single-payer system will come to the rescue. This has always been the plan. Another victory lap is awarded.

The civil service.  I always thought that the civil service was an unheralded check on either the executive or the legislature grabbing too much power. Wrong. President Obama has taken less than six years to turn the IRS, HHS, DOJ, EPA, DHS, DOE, and parts of the intelligence and military staffs into active supporters. Nothing Obama does can be investigated by the government or the media. Congress doesn’t even understand what’s happening. Yes, Speaker Boehner, it is a game and you are losing badly. Learn the rules and do what your job calls for. The president earns another victory lap here.

If you can clear your head and look at what is happening and has happened, it should be clear that President Obama’s train did not wreck. He just needs to pass on his mantle to another progressive Alinksy-ite to build on what he has done. Could that be Hillary?

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by | April 10, 2014 · 6:06 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 109

 BACK TO AMERICA

Let’s pretend it’s November 10th, 2016. Hopefully the American people elected Republican president. We do not want to hear any “them and us” rhetoric nor anything about “saving the middle class.” We want the government to get out of the way of the middle class so those people can help themselves, as they are fully capable of doing. We do not want to hear any speeches with a class warfare message. No “fair shots” or “leveling the playing field” or “income equality” or excuses for American excellence or military power. Nothing should be delegated to internationalism and no more whining about global warming nor cap and trade.

Here’s what needs and should be on his or her agenda for the first year of his or her presidency to get America back on the right track (or at least off the wrong track that Obama put us on for the past eight years):

— Focus on the economy, and part of that is dealing with Obamacare. Most of it has to be destroyed. The next president should want to make sure all Americans have access to medical care that offers things like no cancellations for pre-existing conditions and allows sons and daughters to remain on their parent’s policies until age 26. People should own their health insurance polices, so they can take them from job to job. The IRS should be removed from the health insurance field and so should HHS. Insurance companies will be allowed to trade across state lines. Tort reform will be part of the plan. States will have most of the responsibilities. Beyond a few necessary functions the national government will have no health insurance management responsibilities. The new health legislation will be series of bills passed and implemented on a step-by-step basis.

–Immigration will be dealt with in the same way. There are enough bipartisan votes to deal with immigration one piece at a time. First the border is fixed so thousands of people crossing the border illegally is stopped without being killed. Better leadership at the top level of border enforcement is a must and a new justice department is part of the fix. We will not deport millions of people who have been here for years nor are we going to break up families. However, those who break our laws, commit crimes, or belong to a violent gang are out of here.

–A new bipartisan tax structure should be ongoing in the first hundred days. The speaker and the majority leader should select a bipartisan committee of senators and representatives who are not from the no-compromise ideologue wings of either party. Spending needs to be put under control and a growth-friendly tax policy is a way to start. The tax policy will include everyone. It is not a healthy economy that has less than half of its citizens paying all the federal income tax load. Cutting out loopholes, phasing out subsidies, allowing U.S. companies to bring wealth home without penalty, abolishing death taxes, and a tax code the average citizen can understand must all be part of tax reform.

–The energy policy will get rid of the regulatory baggage that is killing the energy industry. Some oversight is required, but minimal. At the end of the president’s first term, America can be a significant energy exporter and thousands of well-paying jobs can be created.

–A bill should be introduced that prohibits bailouts of private industries. There is a process for that already and it is called bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve is one area that may need more regulation. It is essentially a system of private banks that function without sufficient oversight.

–Social welfare programs gradually need to be brought into a solid financial status. A number of incremental small changes will have enough bipartisan support to pass without a inter-party battle.

–The education system is broken but it is not the job of the federal government to manage education. That function is left to the states and localities. Charter schools or vouchers to parents will be encouraged.

–The military force needs emergency funding to build up the force level, provide new weaponry, take better care of veterans, and improve the ability now to move and support military power. Strength and peace are linked.The G.I. Bill that provides college tuition linked to years served should be reinstated. Many nations, like Putin’s Russia, respect only strength. No more wimpy rhetoric coming off teleprompters. There is a real war with terrorism going on, so we should call it that.

–Foreign policy should be a function of the people assigned to the Cabinet. It should support democracy everywhere and resist totalitarian governments of all kinds, including those run by extremist clerics. It should be clear that unless Muslim nations accept Israel as a nation, they can not count America as an ally.

–Environmental policies should be based on strong scientific evidence, not on the ideology of bureaucrats.

–A bipartisan group of politicians, industry people, and academics should be called upon to validate or cancel current regulations.

–Judges should be nominated to our national courts who have demonstrated they adhere to Constitutional and existing laws when making decisions.

What do you think?

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by | April 6, 2014 · 10:10 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 108

NUMBERSnumbers

Numbers. A seven-letter word that is more of a concept than a word. I believe numbers have been one of the first parts of human cognitive development for thousands of years. Numbers may have been one of the earliest record-keeping concepts of human or pre-human thought. We tend to  count everything. An accurate count is the prerequisite to evaluation and analysis. Take the sports world: everything is counted and recorded accurately. We have come to accept that numbers are the first level of truth. Numbers have to be trusted. Without nearly total trust, numbers are useless.

Politicians, business executives, sports managers, scientists, educators, government officials, all cannot perform their functions without good numbers. Yet numbers have long been used by managers of all kinds to make their work appear more successful than it actually is. This works only in the short-term, as we humans from our up close and personal relationship with numbers, just  know when numbers don’t add up. We have had a president who has been manipulating, abusing, and plain lying about numbers to make himself and his progressive policies appear to be far better than reality for the last five years.

You would think that even the most devoted progressive Obama supporter would wonder about the gap between the numbers the administration feeds the people and their own observations of ground truth. A few instances. Does anyone really believe the ‘real’ unemployment rate is 6.1 or 6.2 percent? Only if you failed to count the people who have tried for months to find a job without success, or the people who want full-time employment but can only find part-time work. If we count all the unemployed the number is over 12%. The president has lied about nearly every number he uses for a victory dance. The latest is the 7.1 million people who signed up for Obamacare. He knows that is a lie but will use it to shift the political dialogue away from Obamacare to the jobs issue. Many of his 7.1 million haven’t yet paid the required premium. Millions of others were forced off their policies by Obamacare requirements and needed insurance. New Medicaid covered people are most likely also included in the magical 7.1 million.

No thinking person should accept any of Obama’s numbers without verification. He uses numbers like issues to bash the opposition and not for accurately reporting facts. He uses numbers to paint the world he wants rather than reporting verified facts of the real world. His intention in the health field is to create a  situation so bad and so chaotic that he can send the ‘single payer’ riding to the rescue on a white horse. Those numbers will also be lies. Do the math.

 

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts below and share with your friends to see what they think.

 

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by | April 2, 2014 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 107

OBAMA’S YARD SALE

Anyone have trouble with getting or using domain names on the Internet? I’m not much of a computer or Internet guru but I was always able to get a domain name and use it. I have a very simple and attractive webpage.  There is no problem with the Internet phone book now. President Obama can’t seem to fix any problem or issue. Now he has turned his remarkable management ability to deciding America should turn over control of the “Internet’s phone book” to the United Nations. Why does he think he even has the authority to turn over a large part of American communications to a group of United Nations members who don’t like America and like seeing our power reduced?Internet_globe

What is the upside? I can’t think of any, and he hasn’t told the people why he is even thinking of such an anti-freedom action.  He’s already shown he doesn’t like American power and is working  constantly to reduce it. Taking the military down to ridiculous numbers is just one of many actions  that demonstrate his intent  to reduce our power on the world stage. The list is long and includes:

  • paying the Russians to deliver supplies and crew to the space station
  • making a shambles of foreign policy in Iraq, Syria, Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea (to mention our enemies).
  • Our friends and allies no longer trust our commitment  and are rapidly losing respect.

Everyone knows that President Obama is a very far left politician. That’s why he flies the progressive banner. Part of the progressive ideology is working toward “one-world government.” Here everything that matters must be turned over to some international organization. An early first transfer is giving away the Internet by having its phone book, the management of domain names, given to the UN for no known benefit. The management of Internet domain names by the U.S.government is not broken. There have been no cries of complaints or abuses of phone book power.

But  there will be. Nations who get the responsibility for managing domain names will have the power to penalize enemy nations, limit access, and devise rules and regulations for the assigning and use of domain names. Might they also use their position on the Domain Name Committee to censure use of the Internet in their own nations? How Obama’s plan extends free speech and sets an example for allowing free speech in all nations is unknown.

The worst for last: Will we be able to get control/management of the Internet’s domain phone book back to America if Obama is successful in turning it over? I think not. This is not an inconsequential act. Just ask former President Clinton.

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by | March 17, 2014 · 2:12 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-106

HEY GOP, LISTEN UP

Remember the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) meetingjust last week? The message seemed very clear. These conservatives are tired of Republicans who turn to big government and unlimited spending to solve the nation’s problems. The Republican politicians who are too frightened to stand up for their principles and instead play the “go along to get along” game got their share of criticism. The message I heard was simple: control spending, limit the size and scope of government to what is necessary, maintain the strength of our armed forces, regain the lost respect  for American power on the international front, and most of all protect our Constitutional rights.

A clear message. But I doubt the Republican establishment heard the message and those who heard it won’t understand it. The people who make this country work and finance the government are fed up. They aren’t demanding much, just the chance to have and keep a job, raise their kids in a safe environment, send them to a school that gives them the opportunity to get a good education, be able to find and pay for good medical care, live in a nation that honors and takes care of its veterans, have leaders they respect to maintain American excellence and military power, and, where possible, encourage the growth of individual freedom everywhere. That’s what they want and expect to get. Save “change America and transformation” for the make-believe world where it comes from.

There is strong support for term limits for Congress that would encourage citizen politicians to serve their nation for four terms in the House and two terms in the Senate. Our professional politicians get so wrapped up in the quest to get elected and stay elected, they lose sight of why they are there. They are not there to serve themselves, but to serve the people who sent them to Washington or their state capitals. There are a few who are trying to save the nation from an alien transformation but they are often criticized and ridiculed by their own party leaders who are truly professionals whose main task is to get elected for yet another term.

These same Republican leaders think that the transformation of America will fall of its own weight and are taking a terrible chance with our way of life. Instead of keeping their powder dry they need to get in the fray, protect their Constitutional right to make laws, and give the nation another vision of the shining city on a hilltop. Tell us your plans for health care, military force levels, foreign policy, tax reform,  protection of social security, employment growth, and the reduction of the size and scope of a government that has outgrown its required role.

We don’t need or want class warfare, redistribution of wealth or any of the other parts of progressivism/socialism. We just need a common sense government that takes care of those who are too young, or too old, or too sick to work. We can work together. Government isn’t hard. Just listen to the people. Their voices can be heard.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels, a retired CIA agent and former advisor to President Reagan. You are encouraged to share this blog and leave comments.

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