Tag Archives: America

by Barry Kelly | July 12, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 126

WHEN TRUST FAILS

Forget for a moment about your biases, whether you’re pro- or anti-Israel, and look at the options the prime minister of Israel has in this growing conflict. He has no good options. He can’t count on the United States to keep the rest of the Arab countries out of the conflict. He must take action. He doesn’t have the luxury of doing nothing but talk. Rockets are falling on Israeli population centers. He knows, as everyone does, that the rockets are being fired from the Gaza Strip by Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization. It wasn’t very far in the past that Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip at urging from the West that has struggled, painfully and ineffectively, to establish peace in the Middle East. A peace that the respective combatants don’t believe is possible. Both sides present goals that the opponents are not willing to offer.

Israel wants its Arab neighbors to recognize its right to exist as a nation state, more or less with existing boundaries. The Muslims want Israel to retreat to borders prior to the 1967 war. President Obama has stated the 1967 boundaries should be the starting point for negotiations. Israel believes the resulting Israeli nation would be untenable militarily and economically. Hamas and its West Bank partner would accept those boundaries as a starting point but at the same time render the whole process meaningless by their refusal to formally recognize Israel’s right to exist, regardless of any border. The main player, barely behind the scenes, Iran, has stated repeatedly it intends to wipe Israel off the map. Iran, a Muslim Shia state, funds, arms, and supports Hamas and Hezbollah, even though Hamas is Sunni while Hezbollah is predominately a Shiite organization. Without the aid and support of Iran and formerly Syria, neither group could survive.

Okay, that is the back story. What has changed?

The relationship between the American president and Israel has changed dramatically. Israel heard President Obama’s pro-Arab bias loud and clear. His disrespect of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter’s visits to America was off the charts. Israel has realized it can no longer count on American support or the word of its leader.

When the trust of America that Israel could count on previously disappeared, their options became more limited. When Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah, who also heard our president speak, no longer believe America is a player on the world scene their options increased.

The might of the United States is off the both the field of arms and the negotiating table. If there is to be peace in the Middle East, it will have to come from the Sunni powers that do not want war and the economic disruption that comes with it. Let us hope that the next administration will revert to supporting our only democratic ally in the region.

2 Comments

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

Tagged as America, conflict, current-events, Iran, Islam, Israel, Middle East, Muslim, Netanyahu, Obama, shia, Shiite

Image

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 124

A MUST-READ

When Congressional leaders like John McCain and John Boehner do not understand Obama’s progressive transformation plan and continue to expect him to deal with issues facing the nation, we are in trouble.

That is why I wrote my first non-fiction book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” Every American who is concerned about their family’s future and the well-being of America needs to read this book. I believe the book’s message is so important, I sent proof copy books and letters to 20 leading conservative thinkers and leaders in the country. I need their support, and yours, to get the word out. The digital copy and hard copy versions are now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please help spread the word to your friends and neighbors.

When you start to read this book and begin the journey, try hard not to jump to the conclusion that I’m being too hard on President

President Obama, photo by the New York Daily News.

Obama. Once you understand his motivation and where that motivation comes from, his tracks are easy to follow. He is a very different type of American politician, one that we have not seen the likes of before.

My new book was written so every American could understand the progressive transformation. There may not be many more chances to derail the current rush toward a socialist nation. This book is a code-breaker for understanding your president and defeating progressives in the polling booth come November. I guarantee that after reading “INSIGHTS,” you will clearly see Obama’s transformation for what it is. In the progressives’ world, there is no room for conservatives, libertarians, moderate Democrats or independents. Look for these groups in the dust bin of history if the transformation process continues under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Five percent of profits from the sale of this book will go to a veteran cause. Your comments are welcome and needed. God Bless America.

1 Comment

by Barry Kelly | July 7, 2014 · 7:30 am

by Barry Kelly | February 19, 2014 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 100

EDUCATION: BETTER OR WORSE?

Teaching is a wonderful vocation. My mother taught in a small, rural school in Western Pennsylvania. My brother, his wife and two children taught in

the public school system. One is still teaching. All of them are wonderful people. With them the kids always came first. I believe the great majority of American teachers are good people, interested in educating the nation’s children. If that’s true, what then is the problem with the public schools? Something has to be. Probably more than one thing. A recent study I read made a convincing case that our kids compete well with children around the world up to the fourth grade. After four years in the public schools, American children rank lower every year after. The longer they attend public schools, the lower they rank on the international scale. No improvements are in sight.

The breakdown of the family, the violence we tolerate in our inner-city schools, the emasculation of intra-school discipline, and the sweep of political correctness across America all contribute to the state of education as it exists today. A lack of money is not the problem. Washington, D.C., has one of the highest spending rates per student in the nation and its public school system does not serve its children well. I blame two major elements. The first is the growth and power of the teacher’s union. It is now near the top ranking of unions in the wielding of political power. Look at the recent conflict between Governor Scott Walker and the teachers’ union in Wisconsin.

The teacher’s union predominately supports Democratic candidates and policies. So what! That shouldn’t result in the failure of the public schools to serve the nation’s children. Education is the primary pathway to improving social and financial status. If the teacher’s union was primarily made up of Republicans would that improve our public schools? Certainly the failure of the public school system is not because of the political orientation of its membership.

More likely, the failure is the centralization of education and the management of the union that has put political bureaucrats in charge of the nation’s education. The union now exists to grow its power and protect its members. Its number one goal is not to educate our children nor to ensure that the best teachers get rewarded for their work. The states and local school boards are supposed to be in charge of the public schools in their respective states. Schools and universities should not be pushing a political viewpoint. The school’s job is to teach students how to think, not what to think. If, like the unions believe, our public schools are successfully educating our youth, why should they be so adamant against ‘school choice’ and charter schools? This country became great because it valued education and allowed the growth of great universities. Why won’t the Democrats and the union allow the best pre-college schools to flourish? Parents and the children will exercise their freedom to chose the best schools. The result will be the education system our children deserve.

Random thought: Wise people know there are more problems than solutions. http://t.co/ILipUL1jHb

— Barry Kelly (@factsfictions80) February 18, 2014

In the meantime, we have a Progressive administration led by a president who does not support school choice. The elite left never does. It goes against their basic ideology. The elite Progressive leadership knows better than you do what education your children should have. It’s a progressive nightmare to try and control a free market system of user’s choice in the field of education. School choice is not in the cards for those focused on transforming America into a socialist totalitarian society.

By the author of the Brandon novels. Like me on Facebook at facebook.com/factsandfictions.

1 Comment

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

Tagged as America, education, far left, politics, Progressive, schools, teaching

by Barry Kelly | April 25, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 47

IT IS WHAT IT IS

We are a great nation and we have the best law enforcement, intelligence collection, military, and counter-terrorist capabilities in the world. Unfortunately, we have a tentative president, who, for reasons no one who knows or is willing to talk about, thinks American influence in the world is too strong and America with the rest of Western world has much to be ashamed about. Only by diminishing our power through a socialist transformation can the world find equality and peace, he thinks.

The “black flag of jihad” as used by various Islamic terrorist organizations (since the late 1990s) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The president and his administration don’t want to acknowledge that Islamic Jihad in all its forms is a danger to our way of life. Islam and Christianity have a history. And it is not a peaceful one. The Crusades, the Muslim military sweep through North Africa, followed by the Muslim invasion of Western Europe, the fall of Cordoba, the last Islamic center in Spain are all part of this history. The war continues today and it is an Islamic war against Christian nations. All the Arabs who were dancing in the streets of Islamic countries when the twin towers fell were not all members of an organized terrorist group or active Jihadists but all were Muslims. It is what it is. Muslims do not like us. Moderate Muslims may not be active Jihadists but they condone it and support it. Billions of Saudi dollars have supported radical Islamic Wahabism schools throughout the world. Our president attended one.

He also attended a strident anti-American church for 20 years. He comes by his disapproval of America’s past history naturally. He has a right to hold those beliefs. Unfortunately, the attitude of the president permeates through the entire administration. How else can you explain their

View of Mosque 2 (Photo credit: TushyD)

efforts to cover up Jihadist actions like Ben Ghazi, the constant reluctance to use the word terrorism, or the term war on terror? This president who rushes to judgement at the drop of a hat on other issues, preaches the need to gather all the facts, wait until the investigation is complete, “there is no evidence a terrorist group was involved.” He often ends his preaching with “don’t blame an entire group of people.” Mr. President, Muslims have been involved in nearly all bombing terrorist acts for more than the last two decades. (Yes, I know about Oklahoma City.) Many, if not most, of the mosques in America and elsewhere preach a form of Jihadism. Directly or indirectly, Islamic mosques support radical Islamic fervor. What’s not to profile? Profiling is a common-sense approach to law enforcement and protection of citizens.

Like it or not, we are in a war that has deep Islamic roots. It is what it is.