What if??

History is full of second guessing.  Mistakes in the Super bowl, NASCAR, etc and all our major conflicts.  Currently most thinking people are critical over Obama’s handling of the ISIS crisis.  Our liberal journalists are outraged and demanding justice for the two reporters beheaded on UTube.  Lets first stop right there and ask, is this grounds for the US to declare war?  If so, does this mean the US government is now guaranteeing  the safety of all American journalists that enter war zones?  Is it tied to human rights and what the UN will rule on how people are treated?  If so then I think we will be limited to declaring war on Israel or ourselves.  Everyone else seems to get free passes for some reason.

Back to our history, did our media force the US to declare war on Spain?  I feel for the families of the reporters and agree it was/is horrible beyond words.  But so too were the thousands or tens of thousands raped, brutalized and killed by ISIS.  Is our reason for entering this conflict the reporters or to protect human rights?  How many other conflicts have we ignored?  Is it because ISIS has declared war on  America?  Didn’t the terrorists in Nigeria also declare war on us after kidnapping those school girls?

The latest outcry by FOX & the Repug’s is that Obama has had intelligence on ISIS for over a year.  Why has it taken him so long to act?  Might be a fair question, but if so, then when do the questioners think he should have acted and what is their justification?  A year ago they were rebels fighting the regime in Syria we would like to see overthrown.  It is possible we supplied them with weapons.  There are also reports the Saudi’s and other ME powers supported ISIS.  So a year ago, all the Obama critics would have supported his actions at that time.

Then they invaded Iraq.  Should we have immediately jumped back into that hornets nest?  I can agree with the critics that Obama did not try very hard if all to secure a balance of forces agreement which was part of the excuse for our pull-out of Iraq.  With the corrupt president they elected, is that a realistic expectation?  The military we rebuild has fallen apart due to blatant corruption of their democratically elected government.  At what point does it become our duty or right to step into this conflict.  And if we do, who’s side are we even on?  Obama took us into Libya.  A dictator was disposed and murdered.  No tears from me, but how are things in Libya today?  Ongoing civil war with militant Islamic’s   gaining enough power that Egypt had to step in with military strikes.

Slowly, oh so slowly, Obama finished his last vacation, got in the last golf games and has returned to deal with this crisis.  The world did not end while he was away.  Many innocents did die, but that doesn’t mean he could have saved them.  But now he’s acting.  And I find myself asking myself an unthinkable question, what if Obama was right?  Only on this, on responding to ISIS/ISIL.  He is meeting with NATO, bringing them in.  He is meeting with several Middle East powers that want us to act.  If the world wants us to enter this conflict, what are they committing to the conflict?  Before we put boots on that ground again, I want to see Jordan, the Saudi’s and other players put their people where their mouths are, in the front lines, in front of our troops.  And all these war mongering journalists, I’d like to see them right there with them…

Speaking the UnSpeakable

I do try to not make judgements on issues until the smoke clears & a clear picture emerges.  I mostly ignored the Zimmerman story for a couple of days.  I have tried to do so on Ferguson until enough facts emerged to form an intelligent opinion.  First fact, the MO Govern is a total tool & should be recalled, impeached or just shipped to Iraq to directly head negotiations with ISIS.  (OK, not a fact, just a strongly expressed opinion)

On Tuesday, August 19, Governor Jay Nixon (D-Mo.) called for the “vigorous prosecution” of Darren Wilson, the Missouri police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown last week. 

Despite the highly charged rhetoric by the state’s Democratic governor, NBC’s Today was the only network morning show to acknowledge Nixon’s comments, giving it a mere 41 seconds on its Wednesday morning broadcast.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz3B24u8XPJ

So what do you think?  Calling for vigorous prosecution before even determining if he committed a crime?  I have a different perspective.  Officer Darren Wilson should be awarded the highest awards available to a law enforcement officer for his actions.  By several accounts, Michael Brown & another male were walking down the middle of a city street, disrupting traffic.  (This was soon after the report of a robbery in that area.)  Officer Wilson yelled at them to get out of the street.  (this is a LEGAL order!  The ideal that this is a free country does not mean there are not laws such as those that restrict the streets to vehicles, not pedestrians.  Police also have the authority to enforce those laws thru tickets, arrest or whatever level of force is required)  Brown walking down the middle of the street after committing a strong arm robbery (battery) shows he was intent on violence, on provoking a confrontation. 

Officer Wilson ordered him out of the street.  Brown ignored him.  Officer Wilson started to exit his vehicle but was stopped by Brown & his accomplice, who shoved him back into the police car.  Brown then punched officer Wilson several times resulting in significant to severe injuries.  There are reports the struggled for Wilson’s gun.  Brown stepped away & Wilson exited the car.  Brown then taunted Wilson, “What you gonna do, shoot me”?  Brown then began an aggressive run at Wilson, who then shot Brown six times.

Reports indicate Wilson suffered a fractured eye socket from Browns attack.  A few days ago, I criticized Wilson’s marksmanship.  I was wrong.   While Brown was struck four times in the right arm, two went thru and struck the upper body.  Wilson was aiming center mass, exactly as police officers are trained.  That he was this accurate after a brutal beating, impaired vision and possible concussion or concussion like symptoms shows focus, restraint and professionalism of the highest order.  Brown had shown himself intent on violence and unwilling to submit to arrest.  Had Wilson allowed him to escape, who would have been his next victim?  Wilson, as a police officer, is entrusted with authority & powers not shared with the general public.  He is expected to protect the general public from violence.  Had Brown continued to walk away, Wilson would still be expected to stop Brown.  Compare that to you or I.  If we had been beaten & they walk away, we cannot legally shoot them or use lethal force.  Once the threat to our or others safety passes, we cannot legally engage even a violent criminal.  But in this encounter, we & officer Wilson have the clear right to self defense.  Brown reversed direction and began a fast approach toward Wilson.  He died an aggressor.  He died because he choose to attack others.  Wilson was injured doing his job stopping people like Brown.

And while I am happy to praise Officer Wilson, I think it should be contrasted with some criticism.  A few years back there was a shooting in Time Square.  I am still waiting for reports on what happened to the officers who shot innocent bystanders.  In California, during the Dorner manhunt, police twice fired on mistakenly identified vehicles, shooting one man & injuring two others.  Two separate incidents where two different police organizations violated the law & their legally recognized procedures.  If shoot on sight orders had been issued, they would have to have identified the suspect.  The first incident involved two women.  The second a small build white male.  Dorner was a large, black male.  NY could be excused, that they had to stop a threat to the public at large, even if it meant injuring innocent bystanders present at that time.  (I don’t agree with this, but acknowledge a case can be made)  But no such defense can be offered for the illegal actions in California.  One thing shared by both is the lack of accountability.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/justice/times-square-police-shooting/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/lapd-shooting-at-innocent-people_n_2638701.html

 

And like many, I share a distrust over the militarization of our police forces and that displayed in Ferguson, I also see a disconnect.  Violent rioters are nightly looting and attacking.  A large, civil disturbance that was the justification for acquiring such equipment.  The real question should be, why isn’t it being used?  Why are the violent people still one the streets?  Why haven’t they arrested dozens or hundreds?  Why aren’t they protecting the innocent citizens of Ferguson and their property?  It can only be politics.  The politics of Eric Holder, who ordered the Ferguson police to not release the video of Brown’s attacking a man in a store minutes before being shot.  The police chief defied Holder and obeyed the law, releasing the video as required by a freedom of information request.  And again, compare this to Zimmerman, where a firearm was used legally to defend against a violent attack.  Is this what Holder, Obama & the liberal press are trying to smear?  The right to self defense?

3AM? Where were you?

I have some friends that are/where Hillary girls.  Big fans who thought she could do no wrong.  There was this viral pic of her on a plane, wearing dark sunglasses checking out her Blackberry..  Funny that doesn’t make the rounds anymore.  Reality is it was a publicity campaign meant to build/enhance her image.

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/

And it worked well until reality caught up with the image.  Benghazi was her 3am moment & she showed herself to be what she accused Obama of, unprepared & unable to deal with a crisis in real time.   What difference does it make?  One difference is you have proven you are not able to take that phone call, no matter what the hour.  Has Obama kept control over foreign policy?  Who makes decisions like going after Osama Bin Laden?  Isn’t one of the rules of a conspiracy that you all stand together or will hang separately?

http://nypost.com/2014/08/13/hammering-obama-hillary-has-only-begun/

And now Hillz & Bama have “hugged it out”.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2014/08/13/big-three-provide-damage-control-following-clinton-obama-feud-insist-

Glad that went so well.  Seems like most of the nation is looking at a president & Sec of State that are complete incompetents.  He does his best work on the golf course ignoring other nations issues, lest he be tempted to “help”.

Makes me wonder about our phony media and the sheeple that embrace  illusion.  Two PR guys have a few drinks talking about how awesome is Hillary.  I don’t think I could ever get drunk enough to believe any of that bulldookey.

http://www.outsports.com/2012/4/11/4052930/texts-from-hillary-internet-meme-started-by-two-guys-in-a-gay-sports

 

When Are the Lies Enough?

What is it going to take in this country to see the Federal Government for what it is?   Benghazi, being bad enough, now the IRS targeting organizations based on political ideology.  Even as the IRS has admitted such, Obama still uses the word “IF” in his recent answers to the questions.   Is it time for the informed public to remove their consent of the Federal Government and dismiss them as criminal.  Demading the military remove them from office could be the next step in maintaining peace through the process.  Just some thoughts, feel free to post as an Open Mic and have a Great Day  🙂

Racism – The Dichotomy

BY:  D13

The very first thing one has to do is to define racism. So let us start there. Webster defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produces an inherent superiority of a particular race. Like the era of Hitler where he wanted a master race of blond haired, blue eyed behemoths. Pure blood, so to speak, and that any other race or ethnicity was not acceptable and, consequently, inferior. Many times racism and slavery are linked but history has shown that slavery and racism only share a small link. Slavery has existed since 800 BC and it was COLOR BLIND. Slavery usually was a by-product of war. History also shows that Caucasian and Asian slavery was more prevalent than black slavery prior to the 18th Century. It was not until the Europeans needed cheaper labor, that African slavery became prominent and this is when the racism began to appear. It was commonly thought among ALL PROGRESSIVE nations of the world in the 18th and 19th and 20th centuries that the native African population was considered not equal or substandard. Why? Simply because they lacked behind the rest of the world in development. Nothing more….nothing less…as it was cheap and easy labor sold into the slave trade by their own black brothers. It is often thought that the North American continent was the forerunner of slavery and racism when it was not. Over 90 percent of the slaves from Africa went to South and Central America, long before their introduction into the United States. Therefore, for the purposes of this article, slavery is only a small part of the issue of racism.

Sequestration Weekend Chat

It’s finally here! The formulated crisis known as Sequestration is to occur today at Midnight. I will be looking out the window waiting with bated breath, watching the sky fall! OH!, You mean it won’t fall? It was never really going to fall? Please don’t tell me that our illustrious President and members of his Administration have not been telling the truth! 

Penn State Proud…

OK. So several of you asked for my thoughts on the sanctions levied against the Penn State University Football program last week. I initially thought that it would be unwise for me to weigh in. It is certainly a subject that I am passionate about. One that I am emotionally attached to. My concern was that those who oppose my point of view would remain as callous as they have been in the past, that logic and thought would not be applied to the subject, and thus I would be doing nothing but setting myself up to get angry and to hold a grudge against some folks. I have given myself a week to settle down, really think about what has transpired, and try to look at different points of view. So I will offer my thoughts. Realistically, I don’t much care who does or doesn’t agree with me. These are, after all, only my opinions and thoughts. Take them for what they are worth…

Capitalism: A Hate Story, Part I

The discussions the last few days around the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd has resulted in some interesting thoughts coming out on all sides. A few weeks ago (months ago?) Mr. Stella claimed that I must know that Capitalism is a failed enterprise because I refused to answer Noam Chomsky’s claim that capitalism would not survive for five minutes without government. A claim that tonight I call nonsense. And I will tell you why, Mr. Stella. It is because in the first place, what Chomsky refers to as capitalism in most of his “intelligent” discussions is actually nothing more than a convenient manipulation of the definition of capitalism in order to fit his argument.

Let’s Not Forget Reality

With the news last week that President Obama intends to have all troops out of Iraq “by the holidays,” many of the major “news” outlets have begun a campaign to give the President an inordinate amount of credit for what many Americans feel have been foreign policy wins. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Even here at SUFA we had folks give him more credit than he deserved for foreign policy actions in the past. But before we start just handing out “Obama 2012: Tough on Terror”campaign buttons, we really should take a look at how we got to where we are before we start pretending that the President is somehow a foreign policy savant. Because the reality is that the media’s plan to paint Obama as having victories in the foreign policy realm are really nothing more than an attempt to pretend that the economic ineptitude of his administration isn’t a reason to not re-elect him….

Impeach Obama? No Way!

This article was originally published in March 2011

Who made them God?

Not so fast my friends. “No way” could quickly become “way” if a couple of House of Representative members have their way. A few short days ago, under orders from President Obama, the U.S. military engaged in combat actions in the country of Libya. The purpose of these actions were to impose a no fly zone over Libya under authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011) of 26 February 2011. You can read the Resolution here:

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm

It seems that this UN Resolution was the sole authority for President Obama to dispatch our armed forces into conflict with a foreign nation. But there is another U.S. law called the Constitution that limits the ability of the President to do this. There is also the War Powers Act of 1973, of which many claim gives the President the authority to take such actions. With that in mind, let’s investigate President Obama’s actions to determine if his actions are Impeachable.

If Not Now…. When?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I watched the countdown to the potential government shutdown last week with a jaded eye. I can touch on what I wanted to happen in a bit, but what I was watching for was to see how much further we would watch the talking heads go in demonizing their opponents and using emotional rhetoric to sway public opinion. I must say, I was not disappointed. As was true with every major policy debate in the political spectrum over the last few years, each side spouted more nonsense than could be fathomed. It’s just proof to all of you: When you set the proper expectations for those in the political landscape, they are very capable of meeting or exceeding your expectations. And BF has the audacity to say that politicians can’t meet our expectations…

Nevada Seeks to Trample Rights to Increase Appeal?

As all of you have seen over the last week or two, we are beginning to see the changes at SUFA take shape. This week we had our first article that was actually published by someone else, in the form of G-Man’s article, which obviously stirred up a little bit of controversy and a good deal of discussion. One of the other changes that I have been pondering was the elimination of the “Open Mic Night” as we have done it in the past. To be honest we still have the ability to share articles and start conversations around them every day of the week, and that is exactly what was happening. So instead of the traditional open mic format I will be publishing some open mic type topics in their own articles. This will help focus the conversation and make it easier to follow while I decide what to change in the format. It simply isn’t as easy to follow a discussion in the new comments format, so this will help. And it allows me to publish more articles per week which means fresh content more often.

The Death of Honesty… and Hopefully NPR

So I have a confession to make. I am not a bigot. You know the kind of articles I have written here about idiotic Republicans. But I gotta tell you, when I go out into public and I see people with Obama T-shirts or bumper stickers or hats, I think to myself that they are identifying themselves first and foremost as liberals. I get worried, I get nervous. Now I remember listening to Rahm Emanuel talking about this and stating that the rise of a new, more fair, America is just beginning. That 2008 was just the first drop of blood. I don’t think there is any way to get away from these facts. But we have people who want to remind us that liberals are Americans too and this isn’t a war against liberals, it is a war against radical liberalism in the form of socialist or fascist policies. Alrighty then. Now that I have given my comedic version of Juan Williams remarks on O’Reilly’s program last week, we can simply laugh at how ridiculous it is that someone would have too strong a reaction to them. Yet the reaction from NPR was more than strong, it was conclusive and final. Juan Williams lost his job over what he said on Fox News. And that really bothers me. Maybe more than it should.

The Taxation Contradiction

I was reading through some different articles over the weekend, hoping to find something interesting to comment on, when I happened to stumble upon a series of several articles in a row dealing with taxation. The articles had nothing to do with one another. They just all happened to have taxation in some form or another as the main topic. Each taken on its own painted a picture in support of this plan or that. And all were, in general, the intentions or sales pitches from the Democrat point of view. But my random order of articles revealed to me a disturbing double standard in from the White House in their message. No, double standard isn’t correct. Contradiction fits better. Two articles that I read back to back in particular drew my attention to the contradiction, which I am ashamed to say that I never put together before. It seems that the White House, specifically the President, believes that we should reward the wealthy who conduct business in the US, while at the same time stating that those who are wealthy in America should be taxed higher than they are…

Robert Reich Lashes Out Falsely Again

Tonight I reach once again into the bowels of the Huffington Post for an article that I will systematically address, as I am sometimes prone to do. What caught my attention in the headline was the social darwinism part. As most of you know, I am not opposed to social darwinism. I think in many cases it is the proper thing. There are exceptions, but by and large, the survival of the species, according to evolutionary dictates (which I thought Democrats worshiped), demands that we allow the weak to be weeded out of the gene pool. Tonight’s target is Robert Reich. As many of you are aware, Reich served as the US Secretary of Labor and is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. I find him to be generally wrong on many things, and his partisan bias is evident in his economic advice. Because he is a strong believer in Keynes principles, I feel he is lost. But when he writes such drivel as below, I feel compelled to call him out on it. For the record, I think that it is authors such as Reich (along with Cesca and Johann Hari) that have rendered the Huffington Post somewhat damaged goods. For every good author and article there will be a clearly partisan and off base one like this.

The Reality Around Israel

I know as I begin to write this that I am opening a can worms that I will struggle to keep contained as the discussion unfolds. But the reality for me is that it is a can that I am simply unable to ignore. I watched the debates and discussions last week as we talked about the incident between the activists who were looking for trouble and the defiant country more than willing to play its part in providing some. I will talk a little bit about that below, but I am am more interested in simply having an honest discussion around Israel. These days, it has become one of two mindsets in America. There are those that despise Israel. And on the other side, those that consider it pure blasphemy to say anything negative about them. I am one of those folks that simply don’t fall into either of those two camps. I am not a giant fan of Israel, but I certainly don’t dislike them either. I see them as an ally, but one that continues to push the bounds of what is acceptable behavior. The question for me, and I think for a growing segment of Americans, is when do we simply say we have had enough?

Tuesday Night Open Mic for April 6, 2010

Another Tuesday night comes and with it the ever popular open mic! A lot of topics out there in the media this week, but there is little coming out of Congress since they are not in session at the moment. Of course, they will back in DC soon and giving us plenty of things to talk about. But for now, we will have to suffice with news from Dubai, some internet control issues, a controversial appointment to the crazy 9th Circuit in California, and a Pirate’s tirade against the US military. I also appreciate all the conversations the last couple of days around the unions and medical ethics. There were a lot of good comments and thoughts around them and I will continue to go back to those articles and read what anyone adds.

Quick Hit: Union Secret Ballots

After watching the National Championship game tonight (and along with it watching Duke once again show the country why the ACC is still the best basketball conference in America, I went to PSU before the military, and to the University of Maryland after I got out), I find myself with little time to write this evening. But I wanted to get the pulse on this subject. I mentioned it the other night when I was talking about the recess appointments that were made by Obama. The President appointed radical union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, and has it set up that there is a 3-1 Progressive majority on the board. Becker is a big supporter of the idea of eliminating the secret ballot for union voting (Card Check), along with the Employee Free Choice Act (yet another bill where the name is the opposite of what it does). It seems to me that the progressive camp is firmly in the elimination of the secret ballot camp. I warned folks that this would be a move that the progressives would make. I now see the move beginning to take shape, so I want to get some opinions.

Recess Appointments… or Circumvention?

I am not going to write a really long article about this particular topic (of course it won’t really be a short article either). But it really irks me so I am going to put it out there and watch to see how people either defend or repudiate this act. As you may or may not have noticed on Friday, the President decided that now that Congress is in recess he would use his authority within the Constitution to appoint members to top posts within the administration without waiting for approval from the Senate. In general, I don’t have an issue with this being done. However, I do have issue with one of the appointments specifically. And I refuse to allow the President, of all people to put a false spin on things or to fail to recognize some of the reasons that he is in the situation that he now finds himself. I had a different article planned for tonight, but I will run it tomorrow instead, as I am making a few adjustments to it and awaiting some feedback on it.

The Left’s Racism Fixation Lacks Critical Thought

As most of you probably caught in the conversations last week, I have spent a fair amount of time over the last two weeks attempting to hold coherent conversations with some of the folks over at the Huffington Post. I was once again drawn into that world when resident hack Bob Cesca wrote an article two weeks ago claiming that the Tea Party Movement was all about race. He followed that article up with a second article claiming the same thing, but with a itsy bitsy caveat last week. His caveat was that perhaps there were some who disagreed with Obama’s policies that are not racists. What that amounted to, in my opinion, was Cesca saying they are all racists 100 times and somewhere in the middle saying one time maybe some aren’t. Then he gets to claim he didn’t say they were all racists…. see there was this time that I clearly said that I don’t think they all are. You’ll have to do better than that Bob. So I am going to address this racism claim, from my own perspective of course. As for the pictures to accompany this article, I am going to stick to nothing but pictures of people of color at tea party rallies, since Bob’s supporters claim they don’t exist.

Part 2 of The Left’s Racism Fixation Lacks Critical Thought

Ok, now that we have dealt with Cesca’s unfounded and illogical claims of racism against the tea party movement and those that participate in it, we can talk about the inherent lack of critical thought that runs rampant in the comments section of his articles. As I stated, I was not happy with Cesca’s mischaracterizations and outright misleading conclusions around claims of racism. So I decided to participate in the discussions that followed. JAC also waded into the same conversations. What I found was discouraging. Not because people disagreed with me. You all know I have no problem with people saying I am wrong. What was troubling was a two-fold problem. The first was a complete lack of respect, an outright hostility towards anyone that dared to challenge what they believed. They literally lacked the ability to have a civil conversation. The second was a lack of critical thinking on levels that I have not seen in quite some time. The absolute inability to coherently follow logical steps in deduction was appalling. Instead of attempting to cherry pick a comment that fits my claim, as Cesca did, I will offer a multitude of examples, and all of them from the comments in just the two Cesca articles in play here.

Elitism Occurs on ALL Sides of the Aisle

About two weeks ago, Mathius posted an article from the Washington Post that was titled “Gerard Alexander: Why are liberals so condescending?” I found the article quite interesting, as it really did a good job of summing up the frustration that folks feel with liberal elitism. I promised him a response to this. He wondered what an article would look like that came from the other side. While this is not really that article, because I cannot think like a true conservative, I will offer my thoughts on the conservative movement as well. So what I am going to do is offer my thoughts on both liberals and conservatives. I will use those two terms loosely, because I do understand the difference between a progressive and a liberal. But I want to be more general, lest I end up spending all my time attempting to define who I am talking about. I also add the caveat that I do not necessarily apply these thoughts to ALL who fall into those categories. For example, I may say liberals kick puppies, but I am aware that not all liberals kick puppies. Only Mathius does that, and it is because when he wakes sweaty from that nightmare, he really does believe it is a Raptor.

GOP Wants to Deny Human Rights

We begin another week with me wondering what exactly is the path forward for the United States. There are so many wrongs and only a few rights lately. The tough part is that the wrongs are often being committed for the “right” reason. Just a quick look through the sites I frequent tonight show me the President looking to take action against financial institutions, which I understand, but it will have horrible consequences. I will be writing about this coming soon. Another article talked about using reconciliation to pass health care. Again, I have and will continue to write about this subject (The tough part here is that so few details are actually being offered by the administration or Congress, leaving the argument “there is no bill to criticize” on the table for all who want to avoid the debate). But I ran across this article last week. It didn’t get a lot of press that I saw. But I felt that it must be covered, because this is an instance where, in my opinion, we are wrong and for the wrong reasons. At what point to we become no better than those we denounce?

It Isn’t the Volume… It’s the Song

I have spent the better part of the last 15 months reveling in the sound of my own voice as I write a blog, hoping to change the world. Or at least the world of politics as we know it. Or at least the minds of a few people who can be reasoned with and who accept logic when it stares them in the face. For the record, I include all the readers of SUFA in that category. Not because we all agree and sing cumbayah together, obviously. But because we have come together, people of different points of view, and rationally discussed issues that matter to us. I believe that most Americans want the same things, albeit in different ways. Sure we have our moments of contention, but overall, I think the vibe here is good and we are making progress in understanding each other, and more importantly, in understanding Washington DC and the mess it has become. Don’t get me wrong, we have a long way to go in America. I need about 150 million reading SUFA to really make things change. Give me time…..

State of the Union? Same old Crap….

So I have finished watching both the State of the Union and the Republican rebuttal. I thought both were weak. I thought both were full of bulldookey. I am not going to address every single thing that the President said tonight, but I am going to address some of the things that jumped out at me. Because in the end, I felt like he was right back in campaign mode, but more importantly, he was right back to claiming one thing while doing something completely different. I am sure that Black Flag will say “what did you expect?” I would answer that I expected exactly what I got. I am simply pointing out my disappointment that I was not surprised. And there are just so many things that I have to rebuke, if nothing else for the plethora of facebook posts from all manner of my friends saying how great Obama was and how awesome it is that he is on our side and how proud they are to be Democrats tonight. It literally almost drove me mad. Had I not had a few Raptor hybrids that D13 sent me to test out, I wouldn’t have had anything to kick and might have gone out and attempted to remove the pom poms and springs from Nancy Pelosi’s hindquarters. By the way D13, they really are as trainable as you promised.

Harry Reid: Racist or Window on America?

I Bet Spike Lee Thinks its Racist

There appears to be quite a flap over the comments that Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, made in reference to then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. I understand the remarks and I am not yet convinced that they were meant to be taken in the way that many in America will take them. But I guess the real question for me is whether the remarks make him a racist, at least in the form that the word is used today, or whether the comments that Reid made really are nothing more than a brief look into the true heart of the average Congressional member, or for that matter, into the heart of the average American citizen. Because while I don’t necessarily believe that the average American is a “racist” in the sense of the word as it is normally meant, but that does not mean that the average American has yet gotten to the point where they do not see color at all.

The Blame Game, Reversed

I return for this evening with a short article giving my thoughts on the recent terrorist attempt on Christmas day. I certainly appreciate everyone’s patience as I spend the holiday week with my son. Time with him these days is so very limited, so it is nice to be able to appreciate it while I can. Before I know it he will be married with a family of his own, and spending time with dad will become a secondary priority. It seems to me that the Republicans are too eager to jump on both the President and his administration, along with the security agencies, in respect to this failed attempt to bring down another plane. I am not sure that I can get on board with that assessment. I don’t blame the President for this breakdown. And I don’t think the calls for his head because he is on vacation are warranted. So I figured I would weigh in…

Open Thread for December 28, 2009

As I figured might be the case with my son home for the holidays, I have been spending all my free time hanging out with him. Tonight consisted of a long discussion on liberty and what things the government can do that thwarts liberty from both ends of the political spectrum. It is interesting to help him learn the world of politics. It is also difficult, because I am trying to teach him to think on the issues, find what he really believes, and let him make up his own mind and come to his own conclusions. A difficult task for someone as opinionated as I am. But these are important discussions to have. A generation of dependent citizens may be raised by today’s public education system, but my son will not be one of them. As promised, on the nights that I don’t write, I am offering a simple open thread so that whatever discussions people may like to have can be done without simply adding to whatever the last thread is.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for November 24, 2009

Well, the open mic comes as we prepare to take a couple days for Thanksgiving. I will be taking some time off the blog as well. There will be no post on the night of Thanksgiving and I will do a guest commentary if I have one on Friday night, but if I don’t have a guest commentary submitted that night I will do either an open mic or not have an article. As many of you know, Friday begins my season of madness that lasts through Christmas. I will post as often as I am able, but there may be some nights with very little. I appreciate everyone understanding, as the season really is pure madness for me. The last couple days have been good conversations, but I do have to say that I am missing JAC and BF (Hope you feel better my pirate friend), especially on that first post this week about the path forward. I may have to rehash that article again later so that they can participate. I think we need to begin formulating a plan for what we can do. Tonight’s open mic has some good stuff, so I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say.

Geithner… Just Another Crook Doing What Crooks Do

A night where I almost didn’t write. I have had a full day of travel, returning from travel this afternoon to a dog that had chewed the corner of the wall in the kitchen during the six hours he was alone, drywall and all. After cleaning the mess up, and setting up his new cage for sleeping in at night, I quickly showered and headed to work. And tonight I spent a good hour lying on my back in the cold watching the Leonid meteor shower. I can never pass up the opportunity to watch a meteor shower, I just love all forms of nature. But I decided that I hadn’t written while traveling last night (I literally didn’t get to a hotel room until 4:30 am) so I was kind of obligated to do so tonight. So I left the meteor shower and came in to write about something. I was determined to not write about the Fort Hood stuff tonight or the idiotic move to bring the 9/11 conspirators to NY for a civilian trial. So the night was as much me avoiding certain subjects as finding one… then I stumbled on to this article at the top of the Huffington Post home page.