Tag Archives: United States

by Barry Kelly | November 19, 2013 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-89

TEA PARTY??

What? Where? Why? How? If we answer those classic questions, we should have a better understanding of the Tea Party. Almost all of the national media coverage of the Tea Party has been by those who are very negative about this upstart group. “It’s a redneck, racist, and radical extremist group that will destroy the Republican Party.” Both the Progressives and the long-term Republican politicians and theoretical pundits heap abuse on the Tea Party. With good cause because neither of these vocal opposition groups hold the core values of the Tea Party groups and I doubt any of them have ever been to a Tea Party meeting.

I have been to Tea Party meetings and have never seen signs nor heard speakers using racial innuendos. I live in a predominately white part of the South Carolina coast. Our area sent a Tea Party backed representative to the House and later to the Senate. I first heard this black candidate speak at a Tea Party rally in Georgetown, SC. The “radical” core values of Tea Party groups are smaller government, less interference by government in the lives and businesses of citizens, adherence to the Constitution, and restrained government spending. That’s radical? I think not.

The Tea Party Movement is a grass-roots American approach to “enough is enough.” They are astounded at the response of the elected Republican leaders to the excesses of the Obama Administration. How can the leaders of the Republican Party in the House, especially, and in the Senate sit quietly while President Obama trashes the Constitution and the historical checks and balances of the three branches of government? President Obama acts as if he makes, amends, and enforces the law. He even has a Supreme Court Chief Justice who rewrites legislation to enable the Court to proclaim Obamacare is a tax and, therefore, is judged to be Constitutional. Talk about an activist court! There are no checks and balances as long as timid go-along-to-get-along men and women hold Republican seats. Is it time for new leaders. Yes!

I believe only the Tea Party can bring the grass-roots folk of America to return their country to its historical Constitutional foundation. America has had enough of the radical change of Obama. We have seen it and its ugly. Nowhere in the world has the change Obama wants brought anything but tyranny, poverty, and hopelessness. Just look at where the Progressives (Socialists) won power. Which model do you prefer? The Soviet, Chinese, Iranian, Cuban, North Korean, Venezuelan, East Germany, Eastern European in Communist time, or one of the several failed utopian settlements in America? I am constantly amazed at how many educated Americans are willing to happily march like lemmings off the cliff into a Socialist sea. Where have they been? Can they possible believe the patter of their leader? Don’t they understand what’s behind the lies and socialist rhetoric?

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. This blog is solely the idea and analysis of the author. You are encouraged to pass all or part of it to friends and contacts. Comments are welcome and will be acknowledged or answered. Thank you. Continue reading →

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

Tagged as Barack Obama, checks and balances, Democrat, East Germany, Obama, Obamacare, party lines, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, politics, Republican, socialism, socialist, Tea Party, Tea Party Movement, United States

by Barry Kelly | November 15, 2013 · 7:45 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-88

HEALTH CARE CHANGE

I just heard John Boehner, Speaker of the House, and President Obama comment on health care within the same hour. Not a pretty sight. Both need to do something else. We would all be better off. When queried about the Republican approach to health care, the Speaker referred to an obscure (to most people) government website for the Republican approach to health care. He has been in government too long. What is wrong or hard about a clear statement of the Republican approach? I am a conservative voter and I could not tell anyone what the Republican position on health care is in any detail. The leadership of the Republican Party is sadly lacking in talking to the American people.

On the Progressive side, we have plenty of detail. Plus 10,000 pages and hundreds of executive regulations and changes to The Affordable Care Act. A fog of words, both written and spoken. Many spoken by a man who consistently lies to sell his radical change agenda. I don’t believe a word of what President Obama said in his press conference on November 14, 2013. His goal was clear, however, and that is to keep the Congress from passing any legislation on Obamacare by engaging in another unconditional executive decree. If Democrats and Republicans ever got together, they just might come up with reasonable changes to health care that would benefit all Americans.

Since that probably won’t happen, as the Speaker seems to be comfortable with Obama doing his job, I’ll list the eight principles of health care that I think should guide fixing health care:

Help the people who do not have health care either because they can’t afford it or can’t qualify because of pre-existing conditions. After means testing, provide government subsidies to those who cannot purchase the coverage they need.
Do not include people who already have health care they have selected and like.
Allow insurance companies to sell their plans across state lines.
Pass tort reform legislation to limit the impact of lawyer profits from questionable malpractice law suits.
Allow children to be covered on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26.
Consider legislation to restore the doctor/patient relationship to control costs and improve patient control of their medical choices.
Allow policy holders to select what they want covered and the deductible they want.
People own their insurance coverage and it goes with them when changing employment or retiring.
Do not allow the executive departments of HHS and the IRS to be involved in the management of health care.

We have the best health care system in the world. Let’s fix only the things that are broken in a step-by-step approach.

Escape From ObamaCare (online.wsj.com)
Obama announces fix for canceled healthcare plans from Obamacare (nydailynews.com)

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Filed under Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Obamacare, Progressives

Tagged as affordable care act, Americans, Barack Obama, Democratic Party (United States), health care, Insurance, John Boehner, Obama, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republicans, solutions to health care, United States

by Barry Kelly | November 11, 2013 · 7:28 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-87

BLIND OR STUPID?

The Swift Boat hero of the Vietnam War and now Secretary of State, John Kerry, in response to questions about negotiating with Iran, commented, “we are neither blind nor stupid.” I believe him. This Administration is neither blind nor stupid.

It is inept, has no understanding of history and is sharply tilted to the Muslim side in all disputes. Those three characteristics accompany this Administration into all negotiations with the Muslim world.

Iran wants nuclear weapons. Iran has endured hardships to attain them. Its people have suffered under American-led sanctions. Iran is not an Arab nation. Arab States are mostly Sunni Muslims. Iran is a Shia Muslim State run by extremist clerics. It wants to dominate the Arab Middle East. The first step after the acquisition of nuclear weapons is the destruction of Israel. When Iran, the leading terrorist-supporting nation in the world, gets nuclear weapons, they will use them. Mutual Assured Destruction policies that have kept nuclear peace will not contain Iran.

By smiling and offering negotiations, the Iranians are simply buying time. They are close. Why would a nation proclaiming their nuclear industry is only interested in the peaceful use of nuclear energy have a crash program to develop ballistic missiles? Why isn’t that question being discussed in the open? Obama needs an agreement with Iran to bolster his eroding stature, home and abroad. His over-eagerness to embrace negotiations has tied the hands of the Israelis. How can they launch pre-emptive action in the midst of negotiations between Iran and the Western world? They won’t. Obama will never back the Israelis or use our own military power to stop the centrifuges in Iran. He simply doesn’t have what it takes to protect America and the world from a nuclear Iran. Just ask the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, or the Arab Gulf States. They are on the front lines and fear a nuclear Iran. The French ares carrying the ball for the West in negotiations with Iran. Who would ever have believed that?

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BRANDON NOVELS. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO PASS ON THESE ARTICLES. I CITE NO SOURCES. CONTENT IS STRICTLY MY BELIEFS AND ANALYSIS.

Kerry, No Deal in Hand, Defends Negotiating Strategy on Iran (nytimes.com)
Netanyahu: Failed nuke talks with Iran were leading to “a very bad deal” (cbsnews.com)
US ‘not stupid’ about Iran – Kerry (bbc.co.uk)
Hague: Iran nuclear deal can be done (bbc.co.uk)

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-84 THE ADVISOR

THREE MORE YEARS?

The Advisor had been pacing up and down his office for nearly an hour. He was truly troubled. He hadn’t seen the President for two weeks. Even worse, if the President did come down to see him, he had nothing to say to him. He sighed heavily and sat down to drink some coffee and collect his thoughts.

The problem between us is deeply rooted in the President’s ideology and a long series of political successes by following the wishes of the far left. Only now, the President has the power. He is the President of what some still think is the most powerful nation in world history. Any historian can tell you that winning power and exercising power are two very different processes. In the struggle to seize power, you are not expected to solve the kinds of problems all presidents face. Words of inspiration and hope, and promising voters a better world are the tools of the power seeker. It doesn’t matter much if the words are true or not because the end justifies the means. To someone trying to win power, every action is good as long as the end is the seizure of power from your opponents.

The Advisor pulled out his journal and started to write:

To govern in a democracy or a republic, you must please the people by delivering security, economic progress, social services, and national pride. In a totalitarian government, force and fear are required tools of governing. In democracies, truth is important. In dictatorships, truth doesn’t matter. Mass murder and the abolishment of freedom is the usual formula for controlling the opposition. Our current President doesn’t seem to realize he is now the man-in-charge. He must now solve issues, not just use them to weaken the opposition. Americans want to trust the word of the President. President Obama is still in campaign mode during which he used untruths successfully to defeat political opponents. The constant blaming of others is not presidential. Holding back information that makes the Administration look bad is not presidential. I’m afraid people have lost faith in his word. Once that happens it is nearly impossible to reverse.

How can I advise a President whom the people no longer trust? What should I do for the next three years of his term? The nation is in some peril and President Obama is playing to the tune of “I didn’t know,” and “I will get to the bottom of this.” That might be right because I believe he has reached the bottom. He has used up the blaming of others. He needs to spend more time looking in the mirror. I doubt even his mirror image can trust his word.

All I can do is record my thoughts in the Journal for my successors to read. Truly, I would like to help him but when a President loses the trust of the people, his term is up. I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years. Except for the progressive lemmings in the Senate and the media, there would be calls for impeachment on the grounds that he has committed at least five Watergates. Ben Ghazi and the IRS scandals being the worst. Only he is already being punished — by the sentence of three years of late-night jokes.

The Advisor put down his pen. He took another sip of coffee and reread what he had just written. It hurt him to read “I have no idea what he or the nation should do for the next three years.” He meant it, and it meant trouble for the U.S.

This blog is written by the author of the Jack Brandon novels. The author has 27 years of government service, including two years serving Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to share this on Facebook and to click the “like” button below. Comments and dialogue are welcome.

When You’re The President, What Counts As Need To Know? (npr.org)
Eight Decades of Insights-77 the Advisor (factsandfictions.com)

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, General, Intelligence & Politics, Politics, Progressives, totalitarianism

Tagged as Barack Obama, BarackObama, democracy, history, Leadership, Obama, politics, President, Ronald Reagan, Senate, the end justifies the means, Totalitarianism, United States

by Barry Kelly | October 21, 2013 · 7:40 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-80

MORE OF THE SAME

Seal of the United States Department of State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s bad now. Can it get worse? It sure can. Just elect another Progressive Socialist Democrat to the White House. We had our experiment with their kind of change. It isn’t good. Let’s elect a real moderate Democrat or a true Conservative in 2016. And let’s pay attention to the primary process. No more nominating candidates without a resume or with an incredibly incompetent record. Remember, having won elections in the past is does not qualify anyone to stand for the presidency. Winning elections means you can raise money and are good at messaging, not much else.

I wonder how a candidate such as our disgraced former Secretary of State can even think about running for president. Benghazi and the cover up should be enough to disqualify anyone with a sense of honor and pride. Standing with the families of the murdered Americans at Ben Ghazi during the arrival of their remains at Andrews Air Force Base, our Secretary of State was recorded telling them a distasteful video was the cause and the maker of the video would be punished. Days before the dead heroes arrived at Andrews, the President, his Secretary of State and many other key officials knew it was an attack by al Qaeda affiliated terrorists who were responsible. That single incident is the most shameful thing I have ever witnessed in my years of serving in and following the U.S. Government. As shameful was the non- action of the timid Defense people who left Americans to die without even trying to rescue them. In the past, officials like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would resign rather than follow the political directions of the amateurs in the White House that resulted in leaving Americans behind without trying to save them. The morale of active duty soldiers and veterans can’t stand more tentative political maneuvers on the part of their leaders. It is an American tradition that we don’t leave people behind.

We also must not forget the The Secretary of State’s failed reset with Russia, the support for Assad in Syria as a reformer, and the abandoning of the Eastern European nations who were willing to let us establish a much-needed ballistic missile radar system to protect against Iranian missiles. How can the Democratic Party nominate anyone with such a shameful resume? Only if they continue to be under the control of the Progressives. We need to get back to a two-party system where one of them is not the Progressive Party in disguise.