Category Archives: Foreign Events

Is history repeating itself?

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A number of writers and bloggers, myself included, have noted the similarities of our current events to those just prior to World War I. If you take a step back and look at the underlying issues, our times also mirror events during the 1930s just before World War II.

Putin wants to restore Russia to its former USSR status. While the former USSR was nominally Communist, it was governed by a closed group, a political party that operated as an oligarchy. Hitler, like Putin after him, wanted to restore Germany to the status it held before World War I with its world-wide empire. Germany, like the USSR, was nominally socialist but was governed by an oligarchy masquerading as the National Socialist Workers Party, the Nazis.

Hitler took the Rhineland breaking Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact in 1936. The Rhineland was a demilitarized zone in western Germany, that created a buffer between isolating Germany from Belgium and France.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in July 1919–eight months after the guns fell silent in World War I–called for stiff war reparation payments and other punishing peace terms for defeated Germany. Having been forced to sign the treaty, the German delegation to the peace conference indicated its attitude by breaking the ceremonial pen. As dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s military forces were reduced to insignificance and the Rhineland was to be demilitarized.

In 1925, at the conclusion of a European peace conference held in Switzerland, the Locarno Pact was signed, reaffirming the national boundaries decided by the Treaty of Versailles and approving the German entry into the League of Nations. The so-called “spirit of Locarno” symbolized hopes for an era of European peace and goodwill, and by 1930 German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann had negotiated the removal of the last Allied troops in the demilitarized Rhineland. — History.com.

Two years later in march of 1938, Hitler annexed Austria into the growing German Empire. The Anschluss, as it was called, is exactly like the annexation of Crimea into Putin’s resurgent Russian Empire.

Before the end of 1938, Hitler, through political maneuverings, absorbed the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia when Neville Chamberlain of Britain and Édouard Daladier of France refused to intervene.

http://gdb.voanews.com/CBBF0236-4C48-427A-8268-A80B0BECB923_cx0_cy10_cw0_mw1024_s_n.jpgI should note that Russian armored forces has entered the Ukraine and the Ukraine is left defenseless after the US and NATO have refused to honor security agreements between them and the Ukrainian government.

Ukraine says Russian forces cross border in tanks, armored vehicles

By Annie Gowen and Karoun Demirjian August 25 at 11:12 AM

KIEV — Ukraine charged that Russian forces crossed into eastern Ukraine early Monday in military vehicles, including tanks, as Russia vowed to send a second humanitarian aid convoy into the country this week to deliver emergency supplies to areas held by pro-Moscow separatists.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Russian military vehicles with the insignia of the separatists’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic “violated the state border of Ukraine” near Novoazovsk in the southern part of Donetsk region.

It was the latest, and one of the most forceful, accusations from Kiev that Russia has been directly supplying weapons, personnel and other assistance to the separatists fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine.

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Lysenko said at least 10 tanks, two armored vehicles and two trucks from russia crossed into Ukrainian territory at 5:20 a.m. Monday, potentially bound for the key port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. The highway leading to Mariupol is currently under control of the Ukrainian military, he said.

The Russian military vehicles flying rebel flags moved toward the village of Shcherbak, where they engaged in battle with soldiers of a Ukrainian border unit, Lysenko said in a briefing Monday. He said the Ukrainian forces then called for reinforcements and managed to stop the advance of the convoy just outside the villages of Shcherbak and Markyne. The villages are north of the larger town of Novoazovsk, about five miles from the Russian border.

The rest of the article can be found here, at the Washington Post website.

The first question is if Putin’s incursion into the Ukraine is like that of Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. The difference is that in 1939, Britain and France actually honored their treaties with Poland. Today, after Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine, Obama couldn’t be bothered and is playing golf somewhere and the EU nations and NATO have emasculated themselves by depending on the US military to provide their defense. The similarities between today and the open scenes of World War II are astounding.

On the other side of the world, similar scenes are playing. In the 1930s, Imperial Japan invaded China in a quest for natural resources. As an island nation, Japan had few, if any, resources needed for an industrialized society. It lacked oil, iron and coal. China and the territory around the South China Sea, Indo-China, the Philippines, and Dutch East Indian Islands, had all those resources in abundance. The problem facing Japan is that the territory belonged to other European powers…until an opportunity arose when those powers became embroiled in war.

Communist China is acting Imperial Japan of the 1930s. China has arbitrarily and in violation of a number of Open Seas treaties, laid claim to much of the South China Sea—and the resources that lay underneath those shallow waters. China started drilling in territory claimed by Vietnam that sparked riots and the movement of Chinese troops to the Vietnamese border.

China has expanded their military and has recently taken to harassing US Navy maritime patrol planes. In 2001, a Chinese fighter colliding with a US Navy EP-3 patrol aircraft causing the US plane to make an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island. China asserted its right to harass aircraft after this latest incident.

China rejects U.S. criticism over jet encounter

BEIJING Sat Aug 23, 2014 1:19pm EDT

(Reuters) – China on Saturday called US criticism of an approach by one of its jets to a US Navy patrol plane off the Chinese coast earlier this week “completely groundless” and said its pilot had maintained a safe distance from the US aircraft.

The strongly-worded statement attributed to Ministry of National Defense spokesman Yang Yujun was a response to a diplomatic complaint the Pentagon filed with Beijing on Friday.

The complaint concerned an August 19 encounter about 215 km (135 miles) east of China’s Hainan Island in which a Chinese fighter jet came within meters (yards) of a US P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine and reconnaissance plane and, the US claimed, performed acrobatic maneuvers around it.In its statement, the Chinese defense ministry said the J-11 jet was conducting routine checks and described the pilot’s actions as professional.The United States’ frequent short-range reconnaissance missions threatened the safety of both militaries, it said.

It urged the US to reduce short-range reconnaissance against China and to respect international law and conventions.

Yes, more and more the world appears to be entering a new stage for conflict, a conflict on the scale of earlier world wars. And, like those earlier wars, the United States and Europe are woefully unprepared for conflict.

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The Day of the Dron…duds

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The Senatorial oversight committee investigating the Benghazi fiasco is still conducting hearings.  You wouldn’t know that if you read our local Kansas City Red Star nor would you be aware if you only listened to MSM outlets. Testimony last week from SecDef Leon Panetta and CJCS General Martin Dempsey revealed nothing whatsoever was done to send relief to our Libyan Consulate.

Both Panetta and Dempsey tried to evade questions. Dempsey at last responded to the question from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), “Was any asset—soldier, sailor, marine, airman, ship or plane sent to relieve the Benghazi consulate during the eight hours of the attack?”  Dempsey, after numerous attempts to equivocate and evade the question finally answered, “No.”

When Leon Panetta was questioned about Obama’s involvement, he, too, evaded questions. He said Obama was informed when the information was first known. Obama told Panetta, “to take care of it.” Thereafter Obama did not call for updates nor, apparently, did Panetta, Dempsey, nor anyone call the White House to provide Obama with an update.

In engineering, process design circles, this is known as an Indecision Loop. You see, neither Panetta nor Dempsey can order troops  to act outside of the the US border. That can only be done by the CIC—Obama. As has happened so many times, Obama was absent. Without Obama’s presence and authorization, nothing could be done.

Panetta admitted that the attack in Benghazi ended before anyone in Washington could act. The fact that military assets, from the 4-hour alert units of the 18th Airborne at Ft Bragg, to air and naval assets in the Med and Europe only minutes away, were available was immaterial. The non-leadership in Washington was running in circles because the only one who could make that final decision couldn’t be bothered.

It is interesting that several Generals and Admirals who were in a position to act and who gave orders to prepare to act pending release from Washington were fired. Not only was Washington incapable of acting, they punished those who could and were preparing to act.

From the emerging testimony from Leon Panetta, General Martin Dempsey and SecState Hilliary Clinton we now know the answer to the question posed to Obama during the 2008 election. When the phone rings at 3AM in the morning in a emergency who will answer the phone? Obama or Clinton? The answer, we now know, is neither.

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Take that!

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If there are two politicians that I have less use for than John McCain and Ron Paul, I can’t think of them at the moment.  Well, OK, Lindsey Graham is close. John McCain and Ron Paul finally said something that I can “like.”

John McCain was speaking to some reporters about the Benghazi investigation when a reporter attempted to divert the conversation to Patreaus’ resignation. McCain, as he has before on occasion, let his temper flare.

John McCain To Reporter: ‘That’s One Of The Dumbest Questions I’ve Ever Heard’ (VIDEO)

Posted: 11/14/2012 1:21 pm EST Updated: 11/15/2012 1:55 am EST

Wednesday seems to be a testy day for press conferences.

John McCain smacked down a reporter following his remarks on the Benghazi investigation.

In response to a question about whether classified documents found leaked in the Gen. Petraeus scandal posed a greater national security threat than the Benghazi attack, McCain quickly responded, “Well I say with great respect, that’s one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard.”

He continued, “There’s 4 dead Americans. There’s 4 dead Americans. Not a socialite.” The reporter attempted to interrupt but McCain quickly stopped him. “I’m answering your question. Ok, do you want me to answer your question or do you want to interrupt? Which do you want?”

After a short pause he continued, “There’s 4 dead Americans. The lives of other Americans were put in jeopardy. This is a matter of 4 dead Americans. I think that the other issue raised is very serious and I think it deserves a thorough and complete investigation. But it does not rise to the level of an attack on an American consulate that took four American lives.”

 The reporter failed in his attempt to divert attention to Obama’s failures and mismanagement of the Benghazi attack. McCain rightly slapped him down.

The second occurance was during Ron Paul’s farewell speech to the US House…a speech long overdue. Be that as it may, Ron Paul finally said something that agrees with my views—the coming extinction of the MSM.

Ron Paul: Internet is the alternative to ‘government media complex’ that controls the news

November 14, 2012 | 3:33 pm

During part one of his farewell speech to Congress, Rep. Ron Paul insisted that the internet remain free, as it is an important alternative to the “government media complex.”

“The internet will provide the alternative to the government media complex that controls the news and most political propaganda,” Paul stated. “This is why it’s essential that the Internet remains free of government regulation.”

The media is not our friend. At best it is a some-what useful tool to be understood and used when appropriate. Unfortunately, the MSM does have a captured audience who are oblivious of alternate news and information outlets. If we are to be able to present our views and arguments over the MSM propaganda outlet, we must find a means to infiltrate into those areas of the internet where that “captured” MSM audience can be found…Facebook, YouTube, twitter and other social sites. The trick is to find a method when you cannot force your audience to join you or read your posts. We need a means to attract that audience to us.

Frankly, I don’t know how to do that. But if we are to reclaim our government, end the runaway spending and taxation, we’ll have to find a means to attract more of the nation’s population to us and to join us. Waiting for the collapse of the economy and government is NOT a viable plan.

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Tuesday’s Thoughts

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The election is a week away. That’s good. With Sandy working over New Jersey, New York and New England, a number of folks are worried that Obama will delay the election.

Ain’t gonna happen!

The date is fixed in federal law. If you listened to Rush yesterday, he quoted chapter and verse. I didn’t write it down but don’t worry, Obama can’t delay the election.  Consider. Why would he want to do that? Check Drudge this morning. As more time passes, Obama is doing worse and worse. Even NPR has Romney ahead of Obama.

It’s the same an many of the state races. Akin is closing in on McCaskill (see yesterday’s post.) I’m sure she’s counting on a sympathy boost due to the death of her mother. But as time passes, Akin does better and better.

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Speaking of Claire McCaskill, she voted for the Stimulus packages (note, plural.) Here’s another reminder just how effective that wasted money was.

Quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant creates just 400 jobs

Bankrupt energy business joins list of federally-backed flops

Battery maker A123 Systems vowed thousands of new jobs when it received a nearly quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant in late 2009, but federal job-tracking figures show only a few hundred positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy.

The latest quarterly report on file with a federal stimulus tracking database shows just seven positions created through the grant from April to June this year. Previous quarters’ job reports contained anywhere from a handful of positions created to more than 100 new jobs.

But even when the quarterly reports are combined, a total of 408 new positions were reported under the stimulus program since 2009, amounting to more than $300,000 spent for each new job reported.

Like Solyndra, green energy isn’t. It isn’t productive, nor profitable without government subsidies. In short, green energy is a fraud.

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Have you heard this? Two flag-officers were fired because they attempted to help those in peril in Benghazi. Everyone has heard about General Ham who was in command of Africom. Have you heard about Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette, the commander of the USS John C. Stennis strike group in the Med?

Navy Replaces Admiral Leading Mideast Strike Group Because of Ongoing Investigation

Oct 27, 2012 8:27pm

In an unusual move, the Navy has replaced an admiral commanding an aircraft carrier strike group while it is deployed to the Middle East.  The replacement was prompted by an Inspector General’s investigation of allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment.

Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette, the commander of the USS John C. Stennis strike group, is being returned to the United States for temporary reassignment.

In a statement the Navy said it had approved a request made by Vice Adm. John W. Miller, the Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, to temporarily reassign Gaouette  “pending the results of an investigation by the Navy Inspector General.”

…

A Navy official familiar with the circumstances of the investigation said it involved allegations of “inappropriate leadership judgment” and stressed it was not related to personal conduct.

This is very unusual. Admiral Gaouette worked with General Ham to support a response to Benghazi when he, like General Ham, was summarily relieved by their deputies on orders from the Pentagon.

The whole Benghazi affair gets more and more telling of Obama’s incompetence and pro-muslim policies. Here’s just a couple or three examples.

I think there is more than enough evidence to impeach Obama for malfeasance—at least enough to get an investigation going. However, I’ll settle for booting his butt out of MY White House next Tuesday.

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George McGovern—then and now

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I haven’t heard much about this on the broadcast and print news…George McGovern died. Many of the younger folk won’t know who he was. He was the socialist…democrat candidate for President in 1972 running against Nixon. Nixon was up for his second term after beating Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

He was beaten by Nixon in a landslide. The democrats blamed the fiasco over VP candidate Senator Thomas Eagleton (D-MO). The real reason was not Eagleton’s issues, but the fact that McGovern wanted to appease the Russians and the North Vietnamese. His plan would be an effective disassembly of our military—cutting it in half in the case of the Navy and Air Force. The plan would be a withdrawal of the US forces opposing the Soviet Union, Communist China and the other dictatorships in eastern Europe and around the world.

I remember seeing a chart in Time magazine with the comparative size of our military compared to the Soviets before and after McGovern. It’s my belief that chart destroyed McGovern’s chances for the Presidency.

The before chart was bad. The US Army was 1/4th the size of the Soviet army, The long-range US Air Force bombers was on par with the Soviets. But it was our Navy—a true three ocean Navy that outclassed the Soviets. Except for submarines. There, we had a clear advantage in nuclear subs. The Soviets had many more diesel-electric subs that we did. In fact, at that time, most US diesel-subs were being decommissioned.

The after McGovern chart was horrible. The ground forces situation was worse. The US bomber force was cut in half as well as our land-based ICBMs. The Navy was reduced to nine fleets, if I remember correctly, and the Navy ballistic subs were cut as well. All this at a time the Soviets were pushing all around the world.

McGovern lost handily as he deserved.

Now that you’ve had a history lesson, compare McGovern’s plan with Obama’s. Our armed forces are in disarray and demoralized. The Navy is smaller than our Navy before WW I. We no longer have a long range bomber force. Most of our remaining long-range bombers—the B-52s and B-1bs have been converted to carry conventional bombs. Only a few remain in their original nuclear configuration. Few, if any, are on ramp alert.

And what is happening on the other side of the world? China is preparing to seize the oil and gas rich South China Sea, a territory also claimed by Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. Putin just completed an exercise of their nuclear forces and is deploying a new-generation of mobile ICBMs. We, on the other hand, decommissioned our last ICBM upgrade, the Peace-Keeper ICBM, as part of the S.T.A.R.T. treaty. Putin is ignoring the treaty when it suits him.

There are reports that Putin is placing MRBM missile in Cuba as Khrushchev attempted to do 50 years ago. He’s also rebuilding Russian bases around the world.

The world is not a safe place. As our ability to extend a military presence around the world declines, those who oppose us will fill in the gaps left by our withdrawal. The result will endanger us all.

After the debate last night, focus groups said Obama had a better handle in foreign policy than Romney. We are truly in danger if half the country really believes that.

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Thursday’s Thoughts

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The election season is heating up. Locally we’re seeing some revelations about a candidate for Cass County Public Administrator. Not all counties have Public Administrators. They are elected public officials whose job it is to oversee the physical care and finances for those unable to do so themselves. Many of the clients are mentally and physically disabled and need someone to oversee their finances and any others needs that may be present.  It is a position that requires trust.

The ‘Pub candidate, Melody Folsom, is the incumbent and views her job as a Ministry of service. Her opponent, Michelle Cornforth, is new to the county. In the first candidate forum a  week or so ago, Cornforth can across to the audience as cold and bureaucratic.

Today, we have addition information about Cornforth that brings into question her ability to manage the funds of the county’s clients. There are allegations that Cornforth filed for bankruptcy shortly after filing to run for Public Administrator.

An elected official who has filed for bankruptcy will cost the county a large amount just to acquire the performance and trust bonds required by the state. According to public documents, Cornforth and her husband have only $20,000 in assets and $210,000 in debts. If the allegations are true, how can we expect Cornforth to manage the assets of the county’s clients when she cannot manage her own?

(h/t to Taken from the Democrat-Missourian newspaper,...Garett Houghton)

It would be nice if the Cass county democrats could run candidates for office who are actually…competent and qualified for the positions and who have the best interests of the county’s residents in mind instead of just receiving a public paycheck while performing the minimum necessary for the job.

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Many, especially dems/libs, assume Russia is our friend after the collapse of the Soviet Empire twenty years ago. Welcome to the real world, it’s not true.  Russia is as expansionist as it has been for centuries from Ivan the Terrible, through the Romanovs, Lenin, Stalin and now Putin.

Expansionism is enbedded in Russia’s culture. It lives now just as it did earlier centuries. The expansionist attitude of Russia lives in Putin. The libs in the west will not see the threat. It’s contrary to their political doctrine. Obama and Hilliary shout, “Reset!” Unfortunately, there is no reset, just a short break while Russia recovers.

We have parity on the number of nukes with Russia. Obama would like that to be cut further again. As I remember, we and Russia have around 1,000 nukes each. Obama wants to cut that down to 300—less than the number in the Chinese arsenal. Now Putin has declared he won’t renew the limitation treaty.

Russia says it will not renew arms agreement with U.S.

MOSCOW | Wed Oct 10, 2012 4:00pm EDT

(Reuters) – Russia will not renew a decades-old agreement with Washington on dismantling nuclear and chemical weapons when it expires next year, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The death of the 1991 agreement, which had been renewed twice, is the latest in a series of hitches in relations between the United States and Russia and casts doubt on the future of the much-vaunted “reset” in relations between the Cold War-era foes.

“The basis of the program is an agreement of 1991 which, by virtue of the time when it was conceived, the way it was worked out and prepared, does not meet very high standards. The agreement doesn’t satisfy us, especially considering new realities,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

…

The project, intended to dismantle nuclear and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union, was last ratified by Russia in 2006 and is due to expire in 2013. Aides said it had resulted in the deactivation of more than 7,650 strategic warheads.

Ryabkov said that Russia now had the finances to carry out its own programs and that Moscow was interested in continuing partnerships in third countries.

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A number of bilateral agreements including the latest START nuclear arms treaty, put in force in February 2011, have built the foundation for the U.S.-Russia “restart” initiated by Washington when President Barack Obama took office in 2008.

That treaty lowers the ceilings on stocks of long-range weapons.

But recently ties have been strained, most notably by Moscow’s decision to close the office of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Moscow, which critics say is part of a broader Kremlin crackdown on pro-democracy groups.

Obama and Hilliary have created the impression of weakness in the US all the while crippling our national security and our ability to defend ourselves at home and around the world. Putin, like the Chinese and others, see this weakness, a real weakness in many cases, as an opportunity to recapture the strategic position once owned by the Soviet Empire.

The Chinese see our weakness as an opportunity to seize the oil and mineral rich South China Sea, an area also claimed by Japan, Viet Nam, the Philippine Islands and Taiwan.  The Chinese have already sent warships into the area, has rattled sabers and issued threats to every nation with interest in the South China Sea.

This is no time to be, or to be perceived to be weak.

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Followup of Previous Posts

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Why does time fly faster with the intensity of events? Yesterday I wrote about the similarities of current events to those preceding World War I. I mentioned the increasing tensions between China (PRC), Japan, the Philippine Islands and the US. This morning I saw two new items that give more credence to another coming conflict in the Pacific.

 

Chinese General: Prepare for Combat

Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan

BY:

China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.

Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.

Below is another news item that hints of Chinese violence being directed towards the US.

Beijing demonstrators damage US ambassador’s car

By DIDI TANG | Associated Press – 12 hrs ago

BEIJING (AP) — A car carrying the U.S. ambassador to China was mildly damaged after becoming the target of boisterous anti-Japan demonstrators who were expressing outrage over a territorial dispute and marking the 81st anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China.

The State Department said in a statement Wednesday that Ambassador Gary Locke was unhurt in Tuesday’s incident, and that diplomats have expressed concerns to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The statement said around 50 protesters surrounded Locke’s car as he tried to enter the embassy and were eventually removed by Chinese security personnel.

Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of Chinese. Most came here to the US to attend our universities. Most return to China. Some don’t. One of the things they taught me is nothing happens spontaneously in China without the government, I mean the Party’s approval—and active assistance. When you read a news item such as the one above, be aware it is not an expression of popular sentiment. It is a planned government act.

America’s weakness—and it is weak after four years of Obama’s administration and the crumbling of our military due to neglect, entices our enemies to take advantage of our weakness, real or not.

Add to all this is China’s deployment of nuclear-tipped, ballistic anti-ship missiles, missiles purposely designed to attacK our carrier fleets, it becomes apparent our military may no longer be a deterrent to war.

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This afternoon the Cass County Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the outside auditor’s report on the County’s management for 2010. There is only one commissioner who is still in office from that period but he declined to run for re-election. The media will have a very strong presence, print and TV, at the meeting from what I’ve been told.

I’ll be there too with my little notebook and a voice recorder. The release of the outside report has been picked up by the local media and while the report was balanced, it was not kind to the Cass County Commission.

There has been more document drops since that auditor’s report. One is particularly interesting. The former Presiding Commission endorsed in writing a company that had existed less than a year, had no track record, no customer base and no product! The letter appeared to be given as a reference for the company to acquire public grants from the Mid-America Regional Council.

As more documents are released to the public, the county government is looking worse and worse. It makes one wonder what other activities will be exposed. Many of the ones now could lead to criminal charges.

 

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