Category Archives: Obama

Relabeling

Posted on by

What is relabeling? It means to change your outward appearance to more accurately reflect your organizations goals and purpose. That has lead to today’s leading story. The question you must ask yourselves, “Is this true? Or, is it about to be true?”

Headline from somewhere on the Internet…

Democrat Party to Relabel Itself

June 31st, 2015
OldDemSymbol

Old DNC Symbol

The DNC announced today that is was discontinuing the use of its century old icon, the Donkey, as its political symbol. After a complaint from PETA claiming the symbol was unfair to depict the party as a “beast of burden,” and after the party agreed that the symbol was inappropriate since many of its members haven’t held jobs nor worked for generations, the DNC announced it was adopting a new symbol more in line with its half century history and political goals.

NewDNCsymbol

New DNC LOGO

AltNewDNCSymbol

Alternate DNC LOGO for official vehicles

The DNC said the new symbol was adopted from the organization that has been closely aligned with the DNC since the 1960s, supporting the party and financing some leading democrat leaders. The DNC said it was finally time to openly display their aims and goals with their new symbol. The DNC included an alternate symbol in their announcement suitable for banners and bumper stickers, especially for official party vehicles.

Party leaders, activists across the the country and academia applauded the announcement.

Yes, I’m feeling snarky this morning.

***

Is the US and NATO acting to blunt Putin’s aggression? He thinks so. NATO troops and armored forces entered Poland for a well publicized military exercise. It is to be a show of force against Putin’s aggression in Crimea and the Ukraine.

Putin is not amused and threatened retaliation. The Cold War has returned at a time when Obama is desperate to have a legacy, any legacy, now that his major accomplishment, Obamacare, may be crippled if the Supreme Court blocks federal subsidies for Obamacare recipients. One pundit said, “You can end communism in Russia, but you can’t remove the KGB from the Russian.” The Russian in this case is Putin. He has reverted to his previous KGB mentality.

The NATO exercise is not impressing the world’s military organizations. NATO has relied too long on the US for their security. NATO and the EU has sacrificed their militaries to feed their socialist states. Now, when the Cold War has resumed and with the US military resources still tied to the Mideast, NATO is barely able to field any forces to repel Putin if he invades the rest of the Ukraine…and perhaps the former EastBloc countries.

Even if the US was not sill involved in the Mideast, the US has reduced it’s military to a century-old level. The US Navy has fewer ships than it did prior to World War I. Much of the US war stocks, built up in Europe during the earlier cold war, has been expended during Gulf Wars I and II. With the military reductions imposed by Obama and the democrats, those war stocks have not been replenished. In some cases during military actions in Iraq and elsewhere, the US Navy ran out of cruise and land attack missiles.

Those miliary stocks have been slowly replaced. If at all. Some of the tooling needed to build more missiles was destroyed by DoD orders when the contracts expired. Now, when more missiles are needed, those tools are gone and it will be expensive to remake them.

But Putin isn’t the only aggressor on the horizon, The PRC, Communist China to everyone but the socialists around the world, is building a military base in the territory claimed by several other nations.

China builds new island military bases in South China Sea

Posted: May 20, 2015 8:06 PM CDT Updated: May 27, 2015 8:06 PM CDT
 
The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

The new islands have been called unsinkable aircraft carriers. (Source: CNN)

SOUTH CHINA SEA (CNN) – It’s a tense confrontation between China’s military and an American spy plane monitoring disturbing developments in disputed waters hundreds of miles off the Chinese coast.

China’s activity in the South China Sea has peaked the interest of the U.S. military.

“Foreign military aircraft. This is the Chinese Navy. You are approaching our military alert zone.”

High above the South China Sea, the radio crackles with a stern warning.

“You go!”

The source of dispute appears on the horizon, seemingly out of nowhere.

Islands, manmade by China, located hundreds of miles from its coastline.

CNN got exclusive access to classified U.S. surveillance flights over the islands.

The first time journalists have been allowed on the operational mission by the state of the art P-8 Poseidon, America’s most advance surveillance and sub-hunting aircraft.

Three islands are the target of the mission. It’s the three islands that have been the focus of China’s building in the South China Sea over recent years.

China’s alarming creation of entirely new territory in the South China Sea is one part of a broader military push that some fear is to push U.S. dominance in the region.

Sailing its first aircraft carrier, equipping its nuclear missions with multiple warheads, developing missiles to destroy aircraft carriers, and now building military bases far from its shores.

For the U.S., the islands are a step too far. And the flight is a part of a new and old American military response that may soon include sailing U.S. warships close by as well.

In just two years, China has expanded the islands by 2,000 acres. The equivalent of 1,500 football fields and counting, an engineering marvel in waters as deep as 300 feet.

An American commander talks about what he sees.

“It appears to be a buildup of military infrastructure and not to mention we were just challenged probably 30 minutes ago and the challenge came from the Chinese Navy. And I’m highly confident that it came from a shore on this facility,” said Capt. Mike Parker, commander in the U.S. Navy.

What used to be the fiery cross reef now has early warning radar and an airport tower and a runway long enough to handle every aircraft in the Chinese military.

Some are calling it China’s unsinkable aircraft carrier.

The videos of the island taken from the P-8 advanced surveillance cameras never before declassified.

In a sign of just how valuable that China views them, the new islands are already well protected.

“There’s obviously a lot of surface traffic down there… uhh… Chinese warships and Chinese coast guard ships,” said Lt. Commander Matt Newman, mission commander in the U.S. Navy.

And there is proof. The Chinese navy ordering the P-8 out of the airspace not one, not twice, but eight times on the mission.

“This is the Chinese Navy. This is the Chinese Navy. Please go away quickly.”

And like the surveillance video, the audio of these warnings never before shared with the public.

What is interesting is there are also civilian aircrafts, there was a Delta flight on that same frequency. And when it heard that challenge it piped into the frequency to say what’s going on?

The Chinese Navy then reassuring them but as the flight crew says that can be a very nerve wracking experience for civilian aircraft in the area.

And the more China builds the more frequently and aggressively it warns away U.S. aircraft.

The crucial issue facing American voters in the coming national election is who to choose to lead us in the coming troubled times? Some of the candidates are isolationists, although they refuse to acknowledge the label. If a military confrontation occurs in the Ukraine or in the South China Sea, will our next President refuse to act, claiming it is not our business, or will he defend our allies and national security?

As much as some libertarians deny the fact, we cannot sit isolated from the world. We are dependent on allies and, if we are to have allies, they must be able to depend on us. The US and India has entered into talks discussing areas of mutual interest…the South China Sea, being one. India has a common border with China and has had military border disputes with China before.

When we choose a new President, we must chose one who is unafraid to remain involved in the world because the world will not be afraid to be involved in us.

Facebook

Will it pass?

Posted on by

For a number of years now, ‘Pubs have filed Right-to-Work (RTW) bills in the legislature. This year is no different. If I’ve counted correctly, three bills have been filed that address RTW, one, a partial implementation, was filed by a St. Louis democrat.

RTW has failed in the past. Narrowly, each time and each year the margin narrows toward success. Will this be the year when Missouri finally passes a true, not some watered down ineffectual version, Right-to-Work bill?

Maybe.

All three bills have successfully passed out of committee. Speaker John Diehl has placed all three on the House calendar for a floor vote. The two bills sponsored by ‘Pubs are nearly identical. The democrat version limits RTW to the construction trades only.

The unions believe they have enough legislators in their pocket to block RTW again. They cite a number of ‘Pub union shills newly elected last November. I note most of them are from the eastern side of the state, primarily around St. Louis.

The unions have gone so far as to put at least one legislator, a democrat, on their payroll. I’d call that an ethics violation. Will the ethics committee? Doubtful. It cuts too close to home for many legislators on the eastern side of the state.

***

Obama’s feud with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu led him to send for partisan assistance to Bibi’s opponent in the upcoming Israeli election. The fued wasn’t just about Netanyahu’s upcoming speech before Congress. It’s a knife fight in a darkened room.

Israeli Election Update: U.S. Intervention Appears to Backfire

Likud takes its largest lead yet, shortly after news broke of the Obama administration trying to sandbag Netanyahu.

February 9, 2015 – 1:00 pm

Israeli polling published Friday seems to indicate that the Obama administration’s push to remove Binyamin Netanyahu from power and to replace him with the more pliable Yitzhak (“Buji”) Herzog is backfiring. The intervention was first reported by the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz just over a week ago.

This is how the numbers look as of Friday:

zarmi_israel_poll_numbers_2-9-15-1

This is the most significant lead either of the front-runners has had since this election cycle began. Previously, Likud or HaMachane haTziyoni had led the other by only one or two seats. If the final election results look like this, the most likely governing coalition will involve Likud, HaBayit haYehudi, Yahadut haTorah, Kulanu, Shas, and Yachad (64 seats out of a total 120).

It should be noted that such a coalition, incorporating not only the right-wing Bayit Yehudi but also the nationalistic Yachad, would be on a collision course with the EU and U.S. as the party platforms now stand.

Yachad in particular would tie Netanyahu’s hands and limit his flexibility in ways he would not find congenial. The Yachad party is comprised of three elements: loyalists of former Shas head Eli Yishai, who heads the list; religious Zionist elements disappointed with the secular nationalistic constitution forced upon Bayit Yehudi by Naftali Bennett, who in consequence left that party under Yoni Chetboun; and the radically national ‘Otzma Yehudit faction, who had not joined HaBayit haYehudi when Bennett created the current party out of two smaller, earlier ones because it was insufficiently nationalistic for them.

A split between the Yishai/Chetboun faction and ‘Otzma Yehudit under the strains of coalitionary negotiations appears likely, which would yield a smaller but more wieldy coalition for Netanyahu (probably 62 seats as of this writing).

Obama’s incompetency abounds. The Israeli Parliament has no two-party system. Like most similar governments, governance is by a coalition of small parties constantly in turmoil. Such a government has great difficulty getting anything done. On the other hand, it is much easier to remove a political leader who alienates the country. All-in-all, I still like our bicameral system better.

***

If the Obama and his pet chairman at the FCC have their way, the Internet, as we have know it for its free-wheeling ways, will soon be gone. Net-neutrality is coming via regulation. The dems have failed to pass Net-neutrality in Congress. Now, Obama will implement it via regulation.

Republican FCC Member Warns Net Neutrality Is Not Neutral

Chriss W. Street 9 Feb 2015
Ajit Pai, the sole Republican Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), inferred in a Tweet that President Barack Obama’s secret, 332-page “Net Neutrality” document is a scheme for federal micro-managing of the Internet to extract billions in new taxes from consumers and again enforce progressives’ idea of honest, equitable, and balanced content fairness.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently acknowledged that the two Democrats on the commission had decided to avoid Congressional input regarding the Internet by adopting President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1934 Communications Act to regulate the Internet with the same federal control as the old AT&T customer monopoly. To make sure that libertarian advocates would remain in the dark, Wheeler “embargoed” release of any of the specifics in the new administrative “policy” that will act as law.

The FCC legislation that was passed eighty-one years ago by the most leftist Congress in American history to ban companies from participating in “unjust or unreasonable discrimination” when providing phone services to customers.

But in 1949, the Democrat-dominated Commission implemented the “Fairness Doctrine” that required holders of media broadcast licenses to present “issues of public importance” in a manner that is “honest, equitable, and balanced” in the “Commission’s view. It would take 39 years before a conservative Congress could overturn a policy that hijacked the mainstream media to kowtow to liberals or face loss of their licenses.

If the Internet economy was a country, it would rank fifth, behind only the U.S., China, Japan, and India. Economic activity on the Internet totals $4.2 trillion, and almost half of the earth’s 7 billion people are already connected to the Web.

Ajit Pai’s description of “President Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet” sounds Orwellian. He tweeted a picture of himself holding the 332-page plan just below a picture of a smiling Barack Obama with a comment, “I wish the public could see what’s inside.” The implication depicted Obama as George Orwell’s “Big Brother.”

Pai also released a statement: “President Obama’s plan marks a monumental shift toward government control of the Internet. It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works,” he said. “The plan explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband… These new taxes will mean higher prices for consumers and more hidden fees that they have to pay.”

Pai had previously observed that he was concerned about the plan would hinder broadband investment, slow network speed and expansion, limit outgrowth to rural areas of the country, and reduce Internet service provider (ISP) competition.

“The plan saddles small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs with heavy-handed regulations that will push them out of the market,” Pai said. “As a result, Americans will have fewer broadband choices. This is no accident. Title II was designed to regulate a monopoly. If we impose that model on a vibrant broadband marketplace, a highly regulated monopoly is what we’ll get.”

Pai’s confrontational comments came after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler penned an op-ed in Wired Magazine detailing his spin on the core aspects of the Democrat’s desire to lump ISPs under the amended Title II of the 1996 Telecommunications Act — which was used to break-up the AT&T telephone monopoly into four regional Bell companies at the dawn of the digital age.

“Using this authority, I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC,” Wheeler wrote on Wednesday. “These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services.”

Pai responded that the “Courts have twice thrown out the FCC’s attempts at Internet regulation” during the Obama Administration. On January 14, 2014, the D.C. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals struck down most of the FCC’s November 2011 net neutrality rules. The Appellate Court vacated the FCC’s “anti-discrimination” and “anti-blocking” as essentially discriminatory and blocking in an attempt to again give the FCC political appointees the power to dictate what they believe is honest, equitable, and balanced.

Pai said that after a year of debates responding to the courts twice striking down FCC efforts to regulate the Internet, “There’s no reason to think that the third time will be the charm. Even a cursory look at the plan reveals glaring legal flaws that are sure to mire the agency in the muck of litigation for a long, long time.”

Pai promised he would make further comments as he reviews the plan himself in the next two weeks in the run-up to the FCC’s public vote on February 26. He has blamed the two Democrat Commissioners’ for their dismissal of any negotiations with Congressional Republicans in setting the “basic rules” governing Internet access.

As Breitbart has highlighted before, turning the Internet into a “telephone service” would “empower an intrusive public sector that thrives on high taxes, heavy-handed controls and the status quo.”

The real purpose for these regulation is to enable the FedGov to regulate content on the internet, i.e., to impose censorship. Do not be mislead by democrats, there is nothing ‘neutral’ about this. It’s nothing less than an attempt to nationalize internet access and censor content.

Many people are concerned about the intrusiveness of social media like Facebook. If these new FCC regulations are enabled, Facebook will the least of your privacy concerns.

Just as an FYI, you have to pay a tax in the UK to have access to the internet. In times past, you actually had to have a license to have a webserver, a website, or a phone in the UK. I ‘think’ the latter has loosened up a bit. Maybe.

When federal bureaucrats control our internet, internet access taxes and licensing will not be far behind.

Facebook

If you fail to understand history…

Posted on by

…you’re a target of any fool blathering nonsense that comes down the road. There’s more truth in that statement than many people realize.

Obama spoke at the National Prayer breakfast and made a fool of himself. That, in itself, is not surprising. What was surprising was his logic that gave a pass to the atrocities committed by ISIS.

What did Obama do? He compared the atrocities committed by ISIS to the Crusades, the last Crusade occurred around 700 years ago, and the Inquisition. The worst acts by the Inquisition occurred around 500 years ago, although the office of the Inquisition wasn’t abolished until after the Napoleonic Wars. The ISIS atrocities occur NOW!

Let’s take a look at the Crusades. There wasn’t just one. There were several, including one called “the Children’s Crusade.”

First.Crusade.Map

Map of Europe and the Mediterranean Lands, Circa 1097.

The first Crusade began around 1095 supposedly in response to a plea for help by the remnant of the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim Seljuk Turks had invaded the Byzantine Empire and the Empire was losing. The Empire lost the battle of Manzikirt in 1071. After that battle, the Turks proceeded to seize most of what is known today as Turkey.

The Catholic Church in Rome gave little thought to the Byzantine request. The “Eastern” Empire formed when the Roman Empire split. It also created a schism in the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church, under the Pope, remained in Rome. The Eastern Church, later known as the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church, resided in Byzantium, modern day Istanbul.

According to many historians of that period, the pleas from Byzantium were not the primary motivator of the West. After winning the battle of Manzikirt, the Seljuk Turks proceeded to consolidate their new territory. They did so by slaughtering any Christian, Pilgrim and Jew they found or forcing them to convert to Islam. They had done the same, previously, when the Seljuk Turks seized Jerusalem a few years earlier.

In 1065 the Seljuks began a campaign of persecution against Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land in which the Bishop of Bamberg and 12,000 pilgrims were massacred by the Muslims only two miles from Jerusalem. — Crisis Magazine.

News traveled slowly in those days. The massacre at Jerusalem was still fresh in the minds of the Cardinals and the Pope in Rome when the plea from Byzantine Emperor Alexius I arrived. By that time, the Church was already in the process of calling for a Crusade to free Jerusalem and resume the Pilgrimages.

In all, there were eight crusades from the first in 1095 until the last in 1279 with the Invasion of Tunisia by King St. Louis IX of France.

Crusade

Dates

Major Events

Major Characters
First 1096 –1102
  •   Liberation of Antioch
    – 1098
  • Liberation of Jerusalem
    – 1099
  • Godfrey of Bouillon
  • Raymond of Toulouse
  • Bohemond
  • Bishop Adhemar
Second 1147 – 1149
  •   Siege of Damascus (failed)
  •  Louis VII of France
  • Conrad III – Holy Roman Emperor (HRE)
Third 1189 – 1192
  •   Liberation of Acre
    – 1191
  • Treaty = Christian access to Jerusalem for 3 years
  • Saladin
  • HRE Frederick Barbarossa
  • Richard I – King of England
  • Philip II – King of France
Fourth 1201 – 1205
  • Sack of Constantinople
    – 1204
  • Pope Innocent III
  • Doge Enricho Dandolo – Venice
  • Alexius Angelus
  • Boniface of Montferrat
Fifth 1218 – 1221
  •   Invasion of Egypt
  • Cardinal Pelagius
  • St. FrancisAl-Kamil
Sixth (a.k.a. Crusade of Frederick II) 1228 – 1229
  •   Restoration of Jerusalem by treaty
  • HRE Frederick II
Seventh (First Crusade of St. Louis) 1248 – 1254
  •   Invasion of Egypt
  • King St. Louis IX of France
Eighth   (a.k.a Second   Crusade of St. Louis) 1269 – 1272
  •   Invasion of Tunisia
  • King St. Louis IX of France

The later Hapsburg-Ottoman Wars are thought by some to be a continuation of the Crusades by the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim invasions of Europe continued for another 300 years after the Eighth Crusade culminating with the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Remember that date—1683! It was just 100 years before the end of the American Revolution. Muslim aggression was more recent that many now realize.

Not only more recent, but also much earlier than many know. In fact, Muslim forces invaded Europe well before the first Crusade, seizing modern day Spain and marching deep into France.

The Crusades were the result of Muslim acts of atrocity and in response to Muslim invasions of Europe. How many know that today? Is it being taught anywhere? It was a fifteen-minute discussion when I took Western European History in college.

I had intended to include a history and background of the Inquisition but that will have to wait for another day. Just one bit of information, the Inquisition wasn’t just in Spain. It covered most of Europe and throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

If/When you listen to Obama’s pack of lies from the National Prayer Breakfast, read this and know the truth.

Facebook

Told ya so

Posted on by

During the runup to the general election last month, I wrote a number of blog post concerning the Kansas Senatorial race. Specifically, I took Greg Orman to task for being a democrat masquerading as an ‘independent.’ I said that he was a dem and would always be a dem. Orman never contradicted me, nor anyone else. In fact, he steadily refused to answer any questions on how he would vote as Senator or even which party he would join, or caucus, if elected.

I said he was a democrat and I was right. My opinion has been vindicated.

Yes, Dems did funnel money to ‘independent’ in Kansas Senate race

By Byron York | December 8, 2014 | 6:38 pm

Anyone who followed this year’s Senate race in Kansas — the one longtime GOP incumbent Pat Roberts appeared to be losing to Greg Orman, the businessman running as an independent — knows Orman and his supporters vigorously denied Roberts’ allegation that Orman was really a Democrat running to further the Democratic agenda.

“By word, by deed, by campaign contribution, this man is a liberal Democrat,” Roberts said of Orman during a debate in October. “A vote for Greg Orman is a vote to extend the Barack Obama/Harry Reid agenda.”

Not true, Orman answered. “The senator can say that over and over again, but it doesn’t make it so.”

What voters did not know was at that very moment, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid’s political action committee, the Senate Majority PAC, was preparing to pour more than a million dollars into the pro-Orman effort in Kansas. Reid was just waiting to make sure the donations came so late in the campaign that the public wouldn’t find out about them until after the election.

Note that a number of Kansas ‘moderates’, what real ‘Pubs call RINOs, supported Orman against Roberts.

***

I suppose this section of today’s blog could be titled, “Rampant Lawlessness.” Some information is coming to light about Obama’s Amnesty Executive Orders…there aren’t any, at least, not yet. Senator Jeff Sessions has been dogging Obama and discovered this bit of information.

Executive Amnesty Order? What Order?

Posted on December 8, 2014 by John Hinderaker

So much is happening on the immigration front that it is hard to keep up, but this story is worth at least a mention: it turns out that President Obama hasn’t issued an executive amnesty order after all:

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a leading opponent of President Obama’s move to provide amnesty for up to 5 million illegal immigrants, expressed astonishment Monday and ridiculed the administration for not carrying out the action through an executive order.

In remarks made at the Washington office of the government-watchdog group Judicial Watch, Sessions said: “I guess they just whispered in the ear of (DHS Director) Jeh Johnson over at Homeland Security, ‘Just put out a memo. That way we don’t have to enforce the law.’”

The news that Obama had not signed an executive order to carry out the policy he announced to the nation in a televised address Nov. 20 was broken by WND Senior Staff Writer Jerome Corsi last week.

As a result of the president’s use of a memo instead of an official order, the senator observed: “We don’t even have a really significant, direct, legal direction that we can ascertain, precisely what the president is doing. It’s a stunning event in my view.”

It is indeed. The explanation, I assume, is that Obama thinks it will be harder to mount a legal challenge to his unconstitutional usurpation if there is no actual order that defines what he has done. There is no bottom to the depth of the Obama administration’s corruption.

Have we been lied to, again, by Obama, or is he taking his lawlessness to greater heights? That is a good question that I have no answer. Of course with this tactic it is DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson who is hanging in the breeze, not Obama.

Facebook

Now what?

Posted on by

The elections are over. The ‘Pubs have won and many of the new ‘Pubs at the state, local and federal level are new conservatives who subscribe to the same values as that of the various Tea Party groups.

We won and everything that we want will happen, right? No, unfortunately, they won’t…at least not immediately. Missouri had some significant wins. The Missouri House now numbers 118 ‘Pubs including a former dem, almost a DINO, who flipped parties after being re-elected unopposed. The ‘Pubs also maintained their possession of the Missouri Senate increasing their veto-proof numbers from 24 to 25. That’s bad news for Jay Nixon’s last two years in office.

Nixon’s will have more problems going forward due to the passage of Missouri Amendment #10. That amendment restricts Nixon’s ability to withhold funds allocated and approved by the legislature—like funds for Education. Nixon’s excuse is the need to have a balanced budget, another state constitutional requirement. However, Nixon’s authority to withhold funds has been a club, punishing some at the expense of others while shifting funds to other, ‘more praise-worthy’ agencies. He withheld education funds while other dems and the NEA claimed that Education was underfunded. The truth was that Education was well funded but Nixon refused to release the money.

It became apparent that Nixon’s refusal to release funds was a political ploy when, after the election, he released some of the funds he had withheld. Nixon continues to use the excuse of insufficient revenues. However, Nixon’s projections conflicts with the projections made by the legislature as part of their due-diligence when they created the budget. Missouri’s revenues continually reach higher levels that Nixon’s projections. I would suggest Nixon fire his economic advisers and hire the ones used by the legislature.

Getting back to today’s topic, the ‘Pubs have won. Now what?

That is a good question. All too many think change can be made immediately, overnight. Well, that isn’t going to happen. Missouri is much more likely to enact more change than the ‘Pubs in Washington. The Missouri ‘Pubs have veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature. In Washington, only the House has a veto-proof majority. The Senate ‘Pubs only have a simple majority.

The bare truth is the the ‘Pub majority in Congress cannot override Obama’s veto. They can cut short Obama’s political appointments. Thanks to Harry Reid’s use of the Nuclear Option, the ‘Pubs don’t require a 60-vote majority for passage. (There is a push by the dems and some RINOs to reinstate that Nuclear Option. There is also a ground-swell of opposition to maintain Reid’s change. What was good for the dems should now be good for the ‘Pubs.)

Regardless, immediate change won’t happen. Obamacare won’t be repealed. Obama will veto any bill to repeal it and there aren’t enough votes to override Obama’s veto.

Mitch McConnell has already surrendered Congress’ primary weapon, the power of the purse. In an interview after Tuesday’s election, he was asked by a lib reporter if the ‘Pubs were going to shut down the government again. Instead of saying the Congress was going to send Obama a budget, the first in six years, if Obama vetos that budget, it would be him, not the ‘Pubs who would be shutting down the government. Instead, McConnell said he would cave in to Obama and the dems. If McConnell won’t use the power of the purse to carve off chunks of Obamacare, he concedes power to the liberals. The power of the purse is the only real power Congress has over the Executive…and Judicial branches.

So, what can be done? The voters won’t have any leverage now until 2016 and the RNC fought hard against their base to maintain their control of the party in this last election.

The first thing is to nominate a conservative for President, like Ted Cruz, and get him elected as President—WHILE MAINTAINING THE ‘PUB MAJORITY IN CONGRESS. Then, like Obama’s first two years in office, the ‘Pubs can pass and/or repeal bills and have a President in office who will sign them. Remember, it was a democrat controlled Congress and a democrat President that passed Obamacare, Dodd-Franks, and expanded the regulatory reach of government agencies. It will take the same degree of control to reverse those acts.

We have made progress in regaining control from the liberals. The ‘Pubs control more statehouses and governorships than ever before. 

We need to take control of Washington and keep that control while removing the built-up tyranny of federal agencies and federal judgeships across the country. We see every day acts of lawfare by liberals using federal judges to make changes the libs cannot make by legislative action. It is those judges who must be removed, one by one, to reverse the liberal corruption of our nation and culture.

As I said once before, “Rot begins at the head, recovery begins from the bottom.” With control of the state legislatures, we can make change via a Convention of States, if necessary, that will curtail progressivism and socialism before they become fatal. That is a last resort. In the mean time, let’s make all the change we can with the political power we have. If that means McConnell must go as Senate Majority Leader, let’s make it so.

Facebook

Showdown!

Posted on by

Harry Reid, the Senate hand-puppet of Obama, refused to negotiate and voted down the last compromise on the CR.  The last few versions of that CR gave away all the gains, defunding Obamacare, and replaced defunding with some minuscule changes that really made no difference. But Obama Reid, refused to play and time ran out.

Good!

So what is the effect? Not all that much. I noticed my neighbor was home mowing his grass this morning. He’s a ‘secret squirrel’ working for the FAA. I don’t know if he has been furloughed or if it’s his day off. He’s on rotating shifts.

I saw a notice sent out by Whiteman AFB listing the functions that would continue and which ones were reduced or closed. Single enlisted Airmen were hit the worse. No Wi-Fi in the barrack’s common rooms and no cable-TV either. The base library is closed and the hours of the auto hobby shop have been reduced, but the Base Exchange is open as is all the usual military functions.

Whiteman AFB Status:

Available:
– Child Development Center and School Age Programs will operate as normal.
– Military Personnel Section (e.g. ID cards) will remain open; however, wait times may be affected.
– Base fire and emergency response services will operate as normal.
– Base Dining Facility will operate as normal.
– All emergency service calls (e.g. HVAC, plumbing, electricity, carpentry) will operate as normal, although response times may be affected.
– All law enforcement and security functions will operate as normal.
– All Non-appropriated (NAF) functions are exempted and will operate as normal including the Club, Golf Course, Lodging, Bowling Alley.
– All education and testing capability (PME/CDC testing, counseling and TA support) will be limited.
– Voicemail services will operate as normal.
– AAFES will remain open.
– Intramural sports games will continue; however, squadrons must provide volunteer officials

Unavailable:
– Airman and Family Readiness Center will have limited services.
– Dorm Residents postal delivery will cease. Residents will need to come to the Post Office to pick up their mail.
– Dorm common room internet services will cease.
– Cable TV service in military buildings will cease; family housing residents will not be affected.
– Grounds maintenance and litter patrol will cease; units must remove litter/debris from around their buildings and in common areas.
– Outdoor Recreation hours will be reduced to 20 hours/week; all trips/tours will be cancelled.
– Auto Hobby Hours will be reduced to 20 hours/week.
– Base Library will close.
– Community Activity Center will close.
– Information, Tickets and Tours (ITT) will close.
– Fitness Center exercise classes will be limited; a new schedule will be available at the Fitness Center.

I seem to remember when I was in the Air Force, Prez Nixon issued some wage and price freezes to control government costs and the runaway inflation created by Johnson’s Great Society and massive spending. I was assigned to Richards-Gebaur AFB and we had similar cutbacks. There was no internet, nor cable-TV then. The only noticeable impact was the closing of the base library, and the Airmen’s Club quit selling 3.2 beer. The NCO and O-clubs remained open as well as the commissary and BX. The on-base gas stations, run by the BX, kept the same hours, and no prices changed.  If you lived off-base, as I did, you really didn’t notice any change. The brunt of the impact was to the unmarried enlisted Airmen living on base.

But the real question is what will be the political impact. Obama Reid is counting on Boehner and the RINO-boys caving. That will probably happen. Boehner and his RINO buds have no spine. They don’t want to jeopardize their membership in the Ruling Class.

The column below appeared today in the National Journal. It mirrors the theme of my posts for the last several months. The writer and the publication aren’t conservative. They’re members of the liberal mainstream, but it is telling that they, too, see the dangers coming towards us.

The Beginning of the End for Washington

This impasse could be the breaking point for a political system that has gone from dysfunctional to nonfunctioning

Step back. Try for a moment to extrapolate what a government shutdown and discredited U.S. currency could do to the economy and the public’s faith in government. Think beyond next year’s congressional elections or even the 2016 presidential race. Factor in existing demographic and social trends. I did, and this is what I concluded:

1. The Republican Party is marginalizing itself to the brink of extinction.

2. President Obama can’t capitulate to GOP demands to unwind the fairly legislated and litigated Affordable Care Act. To do so would be political malpractice and a poor precedent for future presidents.

3. Despite the prior two points, Obama and his party won’t escape voters’ wrath. Democrats are less at fault but not blameless.

4. This may be the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. A rising generation of pragmatic, non-ideological voters is appalled by the dysfunctional leadership of their parents and grandparents. History may consider October 2013 their breaking point. There will come a time when Millennials aren’t just mad as hell; they won’t take it anymore.

At this point, the writer had to revert to his liberal bias. He applauds ‘Pub Senators like Cole (R-OK), who supported Cruz, and Coburn (R-OK), who supported Harry Reid, calling both “conservatives.” The writer villainizes Ted Cruz, Lee and their supporters as “extremists” who oppose governing(!?).

The Republican Party may be splitting apart. The divide is between conservatives who want to limit government and extremists who oppose governing.

The latter sect is represented by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who is misleading his supporters. He knows that the GOP can’t overturn Obamacare because Republicans only control one half of one branch of government. And yet, Cruz and other tea party Republicans pledge to do the impossible, presumably to build email lists, bank accounts, and fame.

…

The strange thing is that Obamacare could be a good issue for the GOP. It is an unpopular law freighted with complexity. Successful implementation requires precision from an Obama team that has proved itself weak on the nitty-gritty of governing. One could argue that the GOP is fighting Obamacare at its peak strength – prior to implementation. Why not wait for it to go into effect, seize on the flaws and, as Cole says, win some elections?

Obama can’t and won’t gut his bill. Even if you set aside his politics, capitulation would set a horrible precedent: The nation’s credit and the government itself cannot be taken hostage by the extreme wing of a minority party.

At the risk of being accused of “false equivalency” I need to state the obvious: Obama and his party won’t emerge from a shutdown or debt crisis unscathed. To suggest otherwise is a false purity. For starters, the president of the United States is the living symbol of our government and thus receives undue credit when things are going well and outsized blame when they’re not.

Second, voters want Obama to work with Republicans – or at least try. The president is seen by just half of Americans as trying to work with GOP lawmakers, according to the New York Times/CBS News poll. That is down from six of 10 Americans who said the same thing in January 2012 and three-quarters who said he would work with Republicans in 2010 and 2011.

Remember the central promise of Obama’s presidency: He will change the culture of Washington. What happened? Obama has not only been taken hostage by the worst of Washington, gridlock and pettiness, but he seems to be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. His criticism of the GOP last week was as petulant as any GOP talking point. While announcing historic negotiations with Iran, a regime that sponsors terrorism, Obama said he wouldn’t bargain with the GOP.

Reaching out to rivals doesn’t mean capitulating on Obamacare. It does mean swallowing his pride, listening and helping the GOP find a way out of the box they’ve built for themselves. If this was merely a leadership pageant, Obama would win by default because House Speaker John Boehner is performing so poorly. But it’s not. It’s about the country that Obama leads, and everybody gets hurt when he cloisters himself off from the dirty process.

Obama’s job approval numbers are already slipping. For the first time in months, more voters disapprove of his performance than approve. Two-thirds of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. The “wrong track” metric is one that often tracks the president’s popularity. A government cataclysm this month will heighten voters’ anxiety and Obama’s jeopardy.

The salt in voters’ wounds is that this fight does not directly address their biggest issue, jobs. It also not about the nation’s long-term, entitlement-fed debt, an existential issue both parties stopped trying to solve. — The National Journal.

The writer seems to place great faith in the “Millennials.” True, some are becoming politically active—as Tea Party members. Others, raised in the entitlement atmosphere of public education, are whining about the lack of “good paying” jobs, lack of diversity and the unfairness of their situation.

Some may come to realize that reality is not fair and become Tea Partiers. The remainder will be locked into a mold of waiting for Mom and Dad, or the government, to bail them out; not believing the days of bailouts are past.

Where does all this lead beyond the next election cycle or two? Nobody knows, but the best place to look for answers is within the Millennial Generation, the nation’s rising leaders and voters. Last month, in a lengthy essay on Millennials [ The Outsiders: How Can Millennials Change Washington If They Hate It?], I concluded that their revolutionary view of government and politics points toward two possible outcomes. One is that they might opt out of Washington, which leads us to some dark places. The second and more likely outcome is they will blow up Washington (“disruption” is the tech-inspired term they use), and build something better outside the current two-party dysfunction.

Millennials don’t fit neatly into either the Democratic or Republican parties. They are highly empowered, impatient, and disgusted with politics today.

“This tension – two parties thinking they are in the trenches dueling it out, and a burgeoning generation who reject trench warfare altogether – is, for me, the key,” said Michelle Diggles a senior policy adviser at the Democratic think-tank Third Way and an expert in demographics and generational politics. “Washington doesn’t get that change isn’t just a slogan. It’s about to become a reality,”

“Neither party,” she said, “gets what’s coming down the pike.”

What happens in Washington this month might make a Millennial Revolution all the more likely. — The National Journal.

When the writer mentions “Millennials,” I see him really referring to the conservative base that is supporting Cruz, Lee and others. Those conservative supporters are washing their hands of the two party, business-as-usual Washington environment and demand change. If you change “Millennial” above to “grassroot conservatives,” I think he is right.

The “Shutdown”, will disrupt some in the short-run. In the long-run, it really won’t make much difference if Boehner and McConnell caves as Obama Reid expects. But! If the real conservatives in Congress apply pressure, and pressure is applied as well from the electorate, perhaps it will be Obama Reid, who ends up failing…to the betterment of us all.

Oh, *&%@#*, it’s Monday!

Posted on by

In an earlier post this month, I wrote about Life Events can occur to upset our routines. Well, we had another such event over the weekend. That means today’s post will be rushed and short. Crud!

The Benghazi scandal grew over the weekend and a new one appeared. In case you haven’t heard, the IRS targeted groups applying for tax-exempt status or reviewing the tax exempt status of a number of specific groups. Groups whose name included “Tea Party,” “Patriot,” “912,” or if the groups were Jewish organizations supporting Israel.

A new revelation is that the IRS “leaked” confidential information about some conservatives to the media. Some of those whose info was leaked was Mitt Romney and possibly others.

The Inspector General of the Treasury Service has begun an investigation. It now appears those targeted were not limited to the groups above but in 2012, was expanded.

The internal IG timeline shows a unit in the agency was looking at Tea Party and “patriot” groups dating back to early 2010. But it shows that list of criteria drastically expanding by the time a June 2011 briefing was held. It then included groups focused on government spending, government debt, taxes, and education on ways to “make America a better place to live.” It even flagged groups whose file included criticism of “how the country is being run.” 

By early 2012, the criteria were updated to include organizations involved in “limiting/expanding government,” education on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and social economic reform. 

Taken together, the findings of the IG and the initial admissions by the IRS Friday are fueling complaints from Republicans on Capitol Hill. — Fox News.

The snowball of revelations, of an enemies list, perhaps of criminal behavior, is rapidly rolling downhill. For those of you who didn’t live through the last months of Nixon’s last term, the events we are seeing now are almost identical to those leading to Nixon’s resignation. Both cases involved a cover-up. In Nixon’s case it was the burglary at Watergate. For Obama, it is Benghazi. For Nixon, it was a criminal act of Breaking and Entering. For Obama, it could be criminal negligence leading to four deaths.

Nixon, at least, had the smarts to realize the end was coming and left office for the good of the country. Obama cares not for the good of the country. His primary care is his own welfare and keeping his hide intact.

As we progress through this morass, do some reading on the events during the last months of Nixon’s second term. Then compare those events with that of Obama’s second term. Amazing how similar the two are, isn’t it?

Facebook