A Party in Need of Reality Training

Why is it that the media is so willing to publish with attention grabbing incendiary headlines anything that is proclaimed by Democratic Party politicians?  Why would anyone believe them?  Liberal politicians have no credibility whatsoever since they are known to intentionally lie and distort the facts about everything on their agenda, particularly when attempting to portray conservatives as greedy, racist, child eating, predatory monsters.  Ever since the Clinton Administration that has been their standard operating procedure.

Regarding their claims about CIA techniques of interrogating terrorists, no one should be surprised if the CIA did indeed use some of the methods stated in the report, although that may deserve some skepticism given the Demorats history.  But no one should believe for a minute those techniques did not provide critical information that saved American lives.  Every CIA Director and responsible member of Congress sitting on the intelligence committees during the period in question says that they did, including the Directors appointed by the Democrats.  The original report was over 6000 pages while the Democrats published just under a heavily redacted 600.  What is in the other 5400 pages?  Would it be a surprise if the Demorats are suppressing important information and just doing what they always do - lying?

The published report claims that one terrorist died of hypothermia in detention, but was not clear whether that was under CIA or Pakistani supervision.  One death.  That has to be a first in the history of human conflict.  Can't you just see the Islamic terrorist groups, the Russians, the Chinese and every other autocratic regime around the world laughing their asses off about the torture conducted by the CIA.  They would be calling the CIA pantywaist girliemen amateurs.

Americans need to understand that in order to win wars it is necessary to make the enemy fear you, not laugh at you.  The enemy must understand that whatever you do to them will be much worse than what they do to you.  That is the only way to stop aggression.  The last war America won was an all out affair that used every means possible to kill as many enemy personnel as possible, including civilians, until their leadership was eliminated and those still left knew they could not win, resulting in unconditional surrender.  No country can survive for long if their enemies do not fear them.  Sorry for telling the sensitive liberal types the brutal truth, but that's just the way it is.  They always recommend sensitivity training for those of us who don't get with the political correctness program.  Maybe the liberal establishment needs some reality training.

Finally, did anyone see anywhere in the published reports that all but one of the Republican members on the committee (Maine Senator Susan Collins, a RINO who often votes with Democrats on key legislation) wrote a 167 page rebuttal strongly objecting to the Democratic majority's report, particularly the part about the interrogations not revealing information that saved American lives?  No?  Me neither.  Every article appearing in the Dallas Morning News regarding the report was from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press - the Triumvirate heading the Syndicate comprising the Progressives Media Indoctrination Machine.  Does anyone still think there is not a Democrat - Media conspiracy to brainwash the American people?  It sounds absurd, but the evidence is overwhelming.

By the way, we didn't start this.  These assholes the liberals are weeping over did, on September 11, 2001.  In case they forgot, that was the day these cold-blooded murderers killed nearly 3,000 innocent people inside our homeland who were just going about their daily lives and threatening no one.

And one more thing.  Why is it OK for King Barry to personally decide who dies in drone attacks, with no regard for the many civilian casualties that have been collateral damage, but the CIA is demonized for giving a few terrorists a bad day?

Ferguson

Why is it that black people think they are the only ones to ever get stopped by the police?  Why do black people think they are the only ones who get nervous every time they see a police car following them?  Why do black people think they are the only ones who have ever been falsely arrested, assumed guilty and mistreated by the cop, and treated like dirt at the police station?  I personally know white people that has happened to.  I expect many other white people do too.

Black people complain that some places they go in America they are harassed by the police and white people.  That is probably true.  What is also true is that there are places in every metropolitan area in America white people can't go or they will likely be murdered.  I am sure most folks would agree that being harassed is a better experience than being murdered.

Perhaps what is most surreal about the Ferguson, Missouri situation is that no doubt there are a lot of incidents around the country where the police have used excessive force resulting in injury and death that are unjustified and should be prosecuted.  The bizarre thing is that this case is clearly not one of them.  The fact is the professional agitators and pliable protestors picked the wrong incident to go ballistic on in Ferguson, Missouri.  But this is what community organizers do.  They have organized protests claiming racism regarding this incident in cities across the nation.  Is this the ultimate result of having the Community Organizer in Chief in the oval office?

America appears to be headed toward anarchy.  At some point there will be no police protection for any citizen in America because no one will want the job.  Who in their right mind would want to be a police officer in America today?  It is hard to believe that the New York Times published Darrell Wilson's home address.  Their editors should be arrested.

One has to conclude that the primary problem behind the anarchy is the information people are getting.  Rational people tend to be amazed at how some people respond to incidents like this.  The facts and evidence in the Ferguson situation are about as clear as they ever can be.  Unless the protestors are completely insane, the only thing that makes any sense is that they are misinformed.  For example, one has to be seriously misinformed to say something like "I'm numbed, but I'm also saddened.  First it was Trayvon, now it's Michael Brown.  And it's sad that killing of black males is justified and legal."  That was a senior pastor of a United Methodist Church in Dallas.  That church is in a predominately black part of town, but a church leader should not be making such incendiary comments without being better informed.  At some point people are going to have to acknowledge the evidence, the facts and the truth instead of believing anything that comes out of Al Sharpton's mouth.

As Alan West said Monday night, how can the media and black leaders focus on this incident while totally ignoring the often more horrific murders that blacks perpetrate on whites.  He went on and described in detail a number of such incidents.  Ben Carson mentioned how can the country blow this incident way out of proportion while ignoring the epidemic of black on black murders?  Excellent questions, and just in case anyone is unfamiliar with Alan West and Ben Carson, they are both African-American.

Freedom of speech is necessary in a free society, but it has an extremely dark side.  Unfortunately, free speech allows anyone to lie and misrepresent the facts in order to manipulate the easily influenced.  It would be a dangerous step to take, but maybe it is time to prosecute media sources that deliberately lie and publish or broadcast any biased misinformation that disrespects the law and incites lawlessness.  Differences of opinion are one thing, but intentional provocation of criminal behavior is something else entirely - irresponsible at best and seditious at worst.

What The Hell Is Going On?

Barack Obama campaigned on Hope and Change.  After nearly six years in office, the Hope has turned into ethnic and class conflict and the Change has been disastrous.  So, the blame for the failures must be due to victimization and injustice, and Ferguson, Missouri seems to have provided the perfect opportunity to exploit that bullshit.

There certainly is a lot of injustice going on in this country today, but it is not aimed only at black America.  Injustice is bailing out and rewarding rich bankers and politicians who caused the financial and economic collapse while punishing the middle and lower classes with economic policies that destroy jobs.  Injustice (and corruption) is awarding government contracts to wealthy political benefactors for government boondoggles.  Injustice is affirmative action using quota's to deny qualified people an opportunity to pursue their dreams.  Injustice is using government agencies to target, harass and obstruct people and organizations who oppose the political party in power.  And yes, injustice is police hassling people for being young or black.  It happens.

But what happened in Ferguson was not injustice.  It was an all too typical event of a young black thug letting his attitude get him killed.  All the evidence indicates Michael Brown was not a peaceful, law abiding citizen in this incident, yet Democrats and the media are portraying him as an innocent angel and calling for a lynch mob for the white policeman doing his job.  Why is it being sensationalized as a racist event?  Even more incomprehensible, what the hell is going on in America?

In the last 5 years nearly 700 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty, many of them black.  Do Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton show up for those funerals?  Does the media generate dozens of stories a day for weeks on end for those incidents?  Are their funerals broadcast to the country on live television?  Media pundits and black activists claim the fact that Michael Brown was shot six times is evidence of excessive force.  Do any of these people know how many shots it may take to stop a 300 pound man intent on harming a person?  Soldiers will tell you it often takes multiple bullets to bring down an average sized terrorist.

Although it is almost unthinkable, it is not that outrageously paranoid to observe what the Obama government and its' captive media are doing in America today and conclude that a leftist conspiracy is underway to turn America from a liberal democracy into an autocratic dictatorship, with white people being blamed as the villains.  Barack Obama said his goal was to fundamentally transform America.  He is certainly doing his best to accomplish that.  I don't remember him saying why it needed to be transformed and what he was transforming it to, but apparently we are finding out.

It is not unreasonable to argue that Barack Obama is intentionally presiding over the destruction of the United States of America.  Why else would he proclaim the country needed to be fundamentally changed?  He has deeply divided the country into dangerous economic and social polarization.  He is encouraging the deterioration of moral and ethical values.  He is openly defying our Constitution.  He is depriving Americans of their individual rights.  Is that what Americans want?  Do we really want to turn the US into an African or Middle Eastern country?

What conclusion can we draw from what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri?  Maybe it is that every white person in America better have a gun and know how to use it.  God, I hope not.  But it is becoming a rational question to ask if a war on white people has been declared by the Democratic Party and the majority of major media networks.  What else logically explains the media coverage of the death of Michael Brown?  This can't really be happening in America, can it?

Here We Go Again

The liberal left cannot comment on anything anymore without raising the ghost of racism.  And when an event such as happened in Ferguson, Missouri occurs, they go apeshit.  They refuse to recognize that the vast majority of Americans, as well as most other people in the civilized world, no longer embrace racism.  What we do object to is lawlessness and anti-social actions from people who do not adapt to the basic rules of civilized behavior within the traditional accepted culture of a community.  It has nothing to do with race.  It has everything to do with respecting the society people live in, and acting accordingly.

For some reason a relatively high percentage of African-Americans, print journalists and broadcast talking heads seem to know nothing about the US Constitution and the American justice system.  They do not seem to understand the concept of trial by a jury of peers rather than vigilante demands from a violent mob, self-appointed ethnic activist, or mass media commentators convicting someone before the facts are determined or accusations are proven.  Civilized nations have laws.  Without laws approved by the majority of citizens, there is nothing but chaos and self-destruction.

Everyone knows that policemen sometimes abuse their power.  But it makes absolutely no sense to do something stupid like looting and burning your own community because bad shit happens.  If people respect the laws of the community and the rights of everyone in it, a lot less bad shit would happen.  Most important, citizens of a community must respect the police whenever they are confronted by an officer whether the officer deserves respect or not, perhaps for no other reason than they carry guns and can seriously fuck you up.  There are other ways to deal with people in authority who abuse their power.

Liberals in general and Obamacrats in particular will never admit that widespread racism no longer exists in America.  They can't.  It's the only platform they've got.  Just look at the voting results by race from the last election.  It is the only issue that clearly divides American voters in national elections.  White folks don't overwhelmingly vote for white candidates.  But every other ethnic group overwhelmingly votes against whites.  Liberals not only have to perpetuate the ghost of racism but continually work to bring it back to life in order to win elections and continue their dismantling of American principles, prosperity, and most irresponsibly, our national security.

But let's examine the incident in hand, the one the liberals were waiting for to scream racism.  Three facts are known in the case of Michael Brown on the day he was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri.  He committed a robbery, he was high on an illegal substance walking in the middle of a street, and he assaulted a police officer doing his job.  What could anyone possibly be protesting about?

If It Ain't Broke, Blame The White Guy Anyway

It is tough being a white male these days.  Every day we read about how evil we are.  Apparently we have oppressed, tyrannized, exploited, subjugated, persecuted, tormented, terrorized, mistreated, abused, bullied and generally hassled everyone on the planet who is not a white male.  Supposedly we are also responsible for every catastrophe, pestilence, famine, war or other barbaric act ever inflicted on mankind.  Who knew?

A previously relatively unknown writer named Ta-Nehisi Coates writes an article in The Atlantic magazine claiming white men owe reparations to black people for slavery and all other races for our evil crimes against humanity. It has become the talk of all the major propaganda networks.  Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor in Texas tells us that now "women don't iron the pants, the wear them", as if white males were now subhuman creatures.  The list of white male transgressions go on and on.  Just google 'evil white males' and you get 1,770,000 results, at least as of 4:52 p.m. on July 2.

Until recently the evidence suggested the United States of America was a nation conceived, built and preserved by mostly white men as it grew to become the greatest country in the history of the world, one that achieved the greatest prosperity and affluence ever and helped other countries around the world rebuild their societies following global conflicts and become prosperous as well.  It was a nation that sacrificed young men and contributed billions of dollars to preserve freedom and democracy around the globe.  It was a country that welcomed women and people of any ethnic group who desired to join in and work hard to be productive members of society and continue to increase the nations standards of living.  That is evidenced by the rapidly increasing number of women and immigrants who have become top executives or built their own successful businesses.  The one thing we didn't do, which may be the cause of the white male bashing, is we didn't want to encourage or facilitate people of any gender, race or religion whose intentions are to willfully become parasites on society.

But those days are gone.  Barack Obama and the Demorats are intentionally creating an environment of hatred - hatred between ethnic groups, genders, age groups, income groups, urban vs rural, and the most obvious, all non-whites and women against men.  It doesn't matter if the vast majority of white men struggled and worked their ass off to support their families and improve their situation in life.  Demorats and their enablers claim all white males were privileged.  Some were, and those white males who didn't have to work hard to enjoy their top one percent status are most likely Demorats.  The rest of us know the claim is bullshit.  Of course these privileged white males are not volunteering to sacrifice their wealth to rectify inequality.  No, they expect the working stiffs of the middle class to sacrifice for that.

The Demorats are running the biggest scam in this country by claiming that Republicans are the party of big business and rich white men while Democrats are the party of minorities, women, the poor and the middle class.  And the scam is working.  The fact is the income and wealth gap is rapidly expanding under Obama and the Demorats because of their policies of bailing out the bankers and hedge funders, funding special interest government programs run by their cronies, and manipulating interest rates to benefit their benefactors.

Something is truly out of whack when the four highest earning hedge fund managers in America made more money than the combined salaries of all 157,800 kindergarten teachers (The Week magazine, 5/23/14).  The real question is why anyone thinks that has anything to do with conservative policies since Demorats have been in charge of at least 2 out of the three legislative and executive branches of government 2/3 of the time under the last ten presidents (54 years) and 54% of the time under the last four (26 years).

Yet white males constantly have to hear and read lies about how we are keeping people of color and women down, the preferred phrase for the bogus accusation of preventing them from achieving success and affluence in America.  Look around in politics, commerce, industry, medical and educational institutions and even the military.  That accusation is pure bullshit.  Today's Democratic Party is built on nothing but ripping apart the legacy of white males, a legacy that built a society open to all, and declaring war on them - a gender war and a race war.  Demorats have nothing to offer regarding ideas and policies to maintain freedom, economic growth, equal opportunity, and national security, so they resort to lies, false promises - and demonization of white males.  They encourage the politics of envy, taking from those who have earned it and giving it to those who haven't, rather than creating an environment where everyone can earn it.  And lots of women  and every ethnic group other than white are buying it.  Demorats are selling mass hatred.

For over 230 years the country created and built predominately by white males achieved unprecedented success and spread freedom, democracy and affluence beyond anyone's imagination to every country whose citizens followed our lead, no matter what ethnic group or gender was in charge.  Now we are being told by one political party in America that didn't really happen, a party that is offering nothing but generational theft, national bankruptcy, economic disincentives, social regimentation, autocratic mandates, and societal polarization.  The United States of America was not broken.  It doesn't need to be fixed, or changed.  Perhaps we should focus on just trying to get along and let merit determine who our leaders are rather than lies and character assassinations.

Conscientious Capitalism

Some people make too damn much money.  No CEO is worth the mega million dollar salaries and cash bonuses they are often paid just doing the job they are already handsomely paid to do.  The vast number of financial advisors and fund managers charge way too much in fees without even having to add value to their investors portfolios.  If they don't outperform a simple low cost index fund, and most of them don't, any fee they charge is too much*.  Bank loans, real estate deals, car purchases and leases, credit card charges, cell phone contracts, and seemingly most other major consumer transactions involve outrageous fees that have no rational explanation.  Personally, I believe they are nothing more than legalized theft.  And fraud is so rampant throughout the government run health care industry that many hospital administrators and doctors belong in jail.  Insatiable greed has taken over the country.

All of this is not the fault of capitalism.  True capitalism is based on free competitive markets and private enterprise.  It is an economic system where the means of production and distribution are owned and managed by private individuals for the purpose of generating a profit.  Like government, capitalism needs a limited number of rules and regulations to function properly by maintaining a fair and competitive environment.  But too many constraints in either arena cause the system to break down.

Our current situation is the fault of corrupted and coercive capitalism.  It is the fault of creeping government control of the economy as ever increasing federal rules and regulations favor the dominant players in each industry.  After all, it is the large established organizations who can afford the lawyers, accountants and extra clerical staff necessary to comply and take advantage of the requirements government continues to impose.  Big business can afford the lobbyists who bribe Congress to pass legislation benefitting their companies.  The commercial and industrial giants can afford the marketing teams and ad agencies that stretch the truth or create outright lies about their products to gain more market share.  Government regulations are driving small businesses out of the marketplace so the lack of competition can let the big boys charge any prices and fees they want.

How can that be changed?  Obviously with less government interference in the marketplace.  Fewer rules and regulations is the best cure.  But also strengthening truth in advertising laws, enacting lobbying constraints, enforcement of laws already on the books regarding consumer transactions, and tax laws encouraging small business.  Government at each level should make sure they hire enough people to enforce consumer and commercial laws already in place rather than hiring more people to conduct income redistribution, entitlement expansion and unnecessary regulatory activities.

Capitalism must have a conscience to function properly.  Every enterprise must do its best to be a good citizen in each of the communities where it operates.  Successful companies must focus on product quality, customer satisfaction, employee morale, operational productivity, corporate financial stability, shareholder returns, and community involvement - not activities that exploit workers and stuff the bank accounts of Wall Street bankers and corporate executives.  But those values have been lost as big government continues to take greater control of the economy by creating an environment where big business and labor union leaders maintain corrupt incestuous relationships with regulators and politicians.

Somehow Republicans get blamed for this environment even though Democrats are the primary perpetrators of this big government creation.  Republicans could increase their electoral prospects dramatically by making three changes in their agenda, changes that actually are warranted.  One would be to propose eliminating all tax preferences.  Every tax preference is an unfair payoff to some powerful special interest group.  Most should be eliminated immediately while some such as the mortgage interest deduction and property tax could be gradually removed over time to allow taxpayers to adjust.

Another change would be to support increasing marginal tax rates on those making over $250,000 a year.  Incomes over $1 million could be taxed at escalating higher marginal rates as they climb through each million dollar level.  No one needs to make that much money.  The argument that higher tax rates would stifle creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and managerial efficiency is absurd.  Talented people will not stop producing just because their taxes increase on each marginal dollar as long as the rates apply to everyone.  A third boost to conservative prospects would be provided by eliminating regulations and other impediments restraining small business and setting a zero tax rate on enterprises with revenues less than $10 million or profits less than $1 million, all in the interests of creating more jobs.

I am as big a believer in capitalism as anyone.  But I view the rewards of capitalism accruing to those who risk their own capital, who buy ownership through shares of stock or partnership interest.  Business executives are well compensated for their contribution to the success of the enterprise.  No individual contributes that much to a company's success to earn the outrageous bonuses not available to other employees.

Personally, I would consider legislation limiting any CEO and all corporate officers from receiving compensation more than 25 times the average employee, and more than 50 times the lowest paid.  That would still provide ample incentive to gain the top job at any organization.  A bonus would only be considered if every employee would be equally rewarded at the same percentage up to 100% of their salary (all employees including officers, or none) with rights to buy company stock or partnership interests at the market price at the time of the reward, meaning they all profit if the stock goes up.  That would provide incentive for all to continue to work hard to improve productivity and creative product development for the company to be successful. 


* I even wrote a book 8 years ago about investment advisers charging too much.  "Don't Feed The Vultures" needs to be updated, but the primary message is still applicable.

The Mirage

Liberals cannot understand why conservatives dislike Barack Obama so much.  They think he is doing a great job as president and have convinced themselves that conservatives are just pissed off because they are Neanderthal racists who can't conform to the liberal social changes underway under Obama's leadership.  After all, are things in America really that bad?  We still seem to be prosperous, healthy and productive.  Look around.  Most of us have big homes, multiple cars, big screen TV's, abundant leisure time.  In fact, most of us have everything we need and some of us have more than we could ever want.

Actually, most of us who oppose Barack Obama and his policies could care less about the changing social issues.  We are more concerned about the economic and national security ones.  Unfortunately, below the surface things are not so attractive in America, changing for the worse slowly at first but now deteriorating rapidly.  Substandard economic growth.  Stubbornly high unemployment.  Diminishing security.  Perhaps it would be a good idea for those who support the Democratic Party's policies to move to the inner cities of America's major metropolitan areas so they can enjoy the consequences of those policies.  We are heading toward class, racial and/or generational conflict, egged on by a president who ignores reality and believes he is the second coming who can do no wrong.

But everything he does regarding the economy and our national security is wrong.  He has been in office for more than five years, yet good jobs are scarce while income inequality skyrockets.  The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class is going backward.  Average income per household is still down 6% from 7 years ago.  The country is bankrupt.  The Educational system is graduating young adults who are unprepared to enter the work force and society.  The family unit has been torn apart.  Crimes of financial fraud and identity theft against individuals are increasing.  Younger generations are being robbed to support the older generations.  Interest rates are held artificially low by government regulatory manipulation, punishing savers.  Meanwhile, domestic civil unrest is growing as societal polarization is reaching an extreme. 

A healthy society is one where the living standards of the majority continue to progress, while today they are regressing.  We are heading toward a collision with reality.  But most of all, we are losing our ability to defend ourselves from our adversaries while they strengthen their offensive capabilities. We are ignoring what is going on in the world around us.  Terrorism is on the march, ethnic genocide is rampant, and once powerful nations with expansionist intentions are rebuilding.  Chaos and apocalyptic war will be inevitable if these trends continue.   Maybe its time for Americans interested in preserving our heritage to tell Barack Obama and the Democrats that we are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.  Perhaps the productive Americans will refuse to pay taxes, stage mass protests or go on strike.  What will the government do, throw us all in jail.  They can't do that.  They need the productive Americans to foot the bill.

Does anyone believe our widespread prosperity and global power was built through socialism, communism, or confiscation of income from those who earned it and redistributed to those who didn't?  If they do, they are seriously uninformed.  It was built through capitalist incentives, hard work, personal responsibility and limited government letting the productive produce.  It was safeguarded by military strength that was second to none.  Those days are gone.  Our prosperity and security are not just slipping away under this president, he is presiding over their dismantlement.

Slinging the Bullshit

Barack Obama was slinging the bullshit again at West Point yesterday.  He was his usual self creating straw men at both extremes, then telling us his policies were not only the middle way but that they were working.  Obviously he is the Brother from Another Planet.  The problem is, talk is cheap.  Talk means nothing when his actions do not reflect his stated policy.  That is his standard operating procedure.  Everyone in the world knows that except his die hard, brainwashed supporters.  Strong words accompanied by weak or no action at all accomplishes nothing.  America is losing influence and relevance throughout the world as millions of innocent people die or fall under the influence of oppressive regimes because Obama does absolutely nothing to back up his rhetoric.  Inaction, empty speeches, appeasement, capitulation, unilateral withdrawal, and surrender are not acceptable responses to the mounting foreign aggression, religious wars and ethnic genocide intensifying throughout the world today.

Obama did mention that the United States of America is the globe's indispensable nation.  There is no question about that.  Unfortunately, under his leadership that translates into the obvious conclusion that he is doing his best to erase that distinction due to his apparent belief the rest of the world is dispensable.  Then again, as is also his standard operating procedure, he can always blame his disastrous foreign policies on someone else such as his secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, with some justification when one ignores the fact he was the one who selected these incompetent morons for such an important job in the first place.  After all, he will never admit that the 'reset' with Russia; the 'red line' in Syria; the disaster in Benghazi; the continued expansion of Iran's nuclear arsenal; the resurgence of al-Qaida, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations; the loss of influence with allies and increasing boldness of adversaries; et cetera; et cetera, have anything to do with him or his policies.

Democracy's Fatal Flaw

Democracy has a fatal flaw which we are witnessing today.  Over time in a prosperous democracy a growing segment of the voting public becomes complacent about its political leaders, uninterested in the political process and uninformed regarding the issues, making them vulnerable to the lies and false promises of political candidates.  Another expanding segment becomes dependent on government to the point where they only vote for those who promise income redistribution through public support.  Eventually those segments become large enough to determine the outcome of elections.  That results in the turds floating to the top of the government toilet bowl.  The turds are interested in the perks of power, not the job of representing and serving the people who sent them there.

Top government officials, both elected and appointed, tend to be corrupt incompetent political prostitutes.  All they really care about is keeping their lucrative jobs, allowing themselves to be purchased by the conglomeration of special interests to do their bidding.  They go along to get along with their party's leadership and appointed department heads in order to advance their own personal interests.  The hell with the American people and traditional principles and values.  Government has become a massive black hole, a singularity whose gravity eventually consumes all of the country's human and material resources.

The more abundant turds on the left side of the toilet bowl have also allowed themselves to be manipulated by a charismatic ideological snake oil salesman whose objective is to undermine traditional principles and values and obtain domination.  They are enabling Barack Obama to become the most consequential president in American history.  He is doing what he said he would, changing the fundamental nature of the country.  Rational dialogue has evolved into demonization and intolerance.  Obama is turning America away from a liberal (in the traditional definition) democracy dedicated to freedom and justice and imposing a socialist dystopia, which always translates into a totalitarian police state of subjugation and oppression. 

We are increasingly being told what we can say, what we can think, where we can go, who we can associate with, what we can buy, and who we can worship (apparently either Obama or Allah). Our children are being indoctrinated in the Progressive agenda in our educational system, reinforced by the incessant leftist propaganda from the popular media.  Opposing opinions and free speech are not allowed. There is no rational dialogue, only demonization and intolerance of non-conformists.  It is time to flush the toilet.

Blowing In The Wind

America has changed for those of us over the age of forty.  It hasn't changed for the better.  Is the America we once knew gone forever?  What did it mean as little as twenty years ago to be an American?  I suppose everyone might have a different answer to that question, but here is mine.

An American was one who believed in -
  1.  Individual liberty, not conformity to politically correct agendas
  2.  Fair justice, not the best legal judgments money and/or political connections can buy
  3.  Free speech, not censorship
  4.  Equal opportunity, not necessarily equal outcomes
  5.  Personal responsibility, not blaming others and claiming victimization
  6.  Work ethic and diligence, not sloth and endless welfare
  7.  Self-reliance, not dependency
  8.  Compassion for those who need it, not enabling indolence
  9.  Expanding the economic pie, not fighting for the pieces
10.  Free markets and private enterprise, not coercive and controlled pseudo-capitalism
11.  Competitive markets, not government manipulation favoring special interests
12.  Suffering consequences of personal actions, not being bailed out
13.  Incentives to succeed, not incentives to drop out
14.  Strong national security second to none, not appeasement and capitulation
15.  Human rights for all, not ignoring genocide and oppression
16.  Limited government, not all intrusive and controlling
17.  Reasonable taxation, not confiscation and redistribution
18.  Democracy, not government of the special interests
19.  Balanced government budgets, not massive unpayable debts crippling future generations
20.  Personal choice in seeking services, not required government mandates
21.  Real education, not dumbed down and irrelevant feel good courses
22.  Teaching our children math, science, history and literature, not the mindless politically correct trash of environmentalism, the evils of Western Civilization, or race and gender studies
23.  Always helping those truly in need, not taking advantage of other's generosity
24.  Moving forward, not demanding reparations for transgressions long ago
25.  Overcoming obstacles, not quitting because of them

Most of us over the age of forty still believe those principles and values should prevail.  But they don't.  Anyone who thinks they do has not been paying attention.  Our society has changed dramatically in the last twenty years.  Today the ideas and beliefs following the 'not' in each of the 25 principles above dominate our society.

Capitalism is today considered by the leftists in power to be the economic philosophy of greed and inequity, even though it produced prosperity far beyond any other economic system in history.  Capitalism in America generated a vast majority of people who live very well, for both the wealthy and the huge middle class, and it substantially improved living standards for all including those at the bottom.  Any other economic system produces a tiny class of elite rich rulers and a huge underclass of subservient vassals.  History is full of examples.

Over 150 years ago America fought a war to end slavery, yet today we are all becoming slaves to government dictators and their bureaucratic storm troopers as it grows ever bigger and controlling.  The country we once knew is well on its way to becoming another memory just blowing in the wind.

Selling Snake Oil

Isn't it interesting that every time Barack Obama promotes something as a major policy issue, the print and broadcast media overwhelms us with stories on these same issues backing Obama's rhetoric?  Is it a coincidence?  If these were major issues demanding public attention, wouldn't a responsible media already have been featuring this information long before Obama makes them political campaign issues?  Just asking.

In the last year Obama has decided to emphasize four issues that he believes will hammer Republicans and increase the chances of his storm troopers winning this fall's congressional elections.  One is income inequality.  Income inequality is a real problem, but the media most certainly will ignore the fact that it is increasing at a record rate under his administration due to his policies.  Another issue he plans to exploit is his creation of a non-existent War on Women, citing irrelevant statistics to claim there is a substantial pay gap.  This claim is made even though women under the age of 30 now earn more than men in metropolitan areas, three women are now graduating from college for every two men that do so, and the shrinking differential is explained by historical job choices and the number of hours worked.  He has also ignited a new race war when the only ethnic group left that maintains a racial bias is African-Americans themselves.  What else can you say about a group that votes 95% for someone of the same color.

Now Obama is returning to the old Environmentalist favorite of global warming, reconstituted as climate change since the apocalyptic predictions produced by the rabid Greenies have not come to pass over the last decade.  Let's examine the points.  Is earth experiencing climate change?  Certainly, as it has been doing every day for the last 6 billion years.  Are human beings contributing to climate change? Probably, just as every other living organism in abundant supply on the planet does, but nowhere near as much as the dynamics of the sun.  Is climate change a bad thing?  That depends on where one is located on the surface of the planet.  In the lower, warmer latitudes it may be a negative. You may have made a mistake if you were wealthy enough to build a house on the beach.  In the higher, cooler latitudes it could be beneficial due to more productive land use.  Will climate change have a net harmful effect on human beings?  Probably not.  We will adapt as we always have. Will climate change destroy life on the planet?  Not anytime in the foreseeable future.

Hurricanes, tornados, droughts and floods have been occurring on earth long before biblical times, in fact since the atmosphere on the planet first formed.  They have always been exploited by devious people who declare them bad omens in order to achieve political or financial gain.  The gullible and the superstitious always buy the snake oil from the Dr. Feelgood's.  Obama is just the latest.

Life on earth is much more likely to be destroyed from a nuclear war that escalates out of control, or a collision with a random asteroid.  Neither of the two more likely causes are being addressed in any rational or meaningful way by the Obama administration.  Unilateral disarmament makes nuclear war more likely, not less, as does reduced spending on defense that causes us to lose our strategic and tactical superiority.  Adversaries do not start wars they know they are going to lose, or invade other independent countries if they are worried about resistance and confrontation with stronger powers.  Furthermore, defunding our ability to compete in space exploration and create new space technology leaves us defenseless against near earth objects that have the ability to cause catastrophic damage.

As usual, the agenda of the Obamacrats is not based on real tangible issues that government needs to address, such as economic expansion, job creation, national security and social harmony.  The fact is that his policies have a detrimental impact on each of those issues.  Obama's agenda is for the political purpose of creating fear, envy or resentment among voters in order to gain votes and impose his anti-democratic, anti-capitalist agenda on the country.  He uses a strategy of divide and conquer, or more accurately, polarize and conquer, which is an agenda of hate and destruction that tears a country apart rather promoting integration and tolerance.  Unfortunately, Dr. Obama's Snake Oil is not harmless.  It is malevolently toxic.

The War On Whites

In America today the liberal dominated government is waging a war on white people.  A person who is not white can say anything they want about white people, while any white person who says or does anything similar about a non-white  is vilified, ostracized and destroyed.   Free speech no longer exists for white people.  We now live in a hypocritical, double standard country created by pandering politicians and their media whores.

One can find almost any statistic on the internet, but one I cannot find is the percentage of individual income taxes in America paid by white people.  I wonder why that number is not available.  Whatever it is, I would bet it is significantly higher than white folks percentage of the population (69%).  One thing that is known is the percentage of white people who voted for Obama in 2012, which was 39%.  That means white people are paying for leadership they did not choose - taxation without representation.  Whites pay a disproportionate share of taxes while watching their culture being taken away, their rights ignored, the fruits of their labor confiscated and redistributed, quotas limiting their opportunities, and their children's future being ruined.

Apparently this is happening because a majority of voters in America (whether alive, dead, four-legged, magically duplicated or ineligible) have been convinced that whites are evil and owe them something.  The fact is, no one in America today owes anything to anyone for things that happened long before any of us were born - except perhaps Native Americans, who white Americans truly committed horrific crimes against and continue to pretend they don't exist.  It is time to rethink who is being victimized by the political party in power.

Personally, I don't believe it is the ethnic minorities themselves that created this environment.  It has been created over the years by white liberals.  White liberals have been building the welfare state for fifty years, yet the black and brown minorities still suffer from the same unemployment and poverty.  One has to ask, since the Democrats have been at it so long, why has there been no progress?  Could it be because white liberals constantly tell minorities that white people are oppressing them, that they can't succeed on their own, and that they can't do it without government assistance.  That is not only a self-defeating message, it is real racism.

It is true that minorities have been victimized.  They have been victimized by white liberals false promises, legislated policies encouraging dependency, lies about the character and motives of political opponents, and the absurd claim that government can create more jobs and economic growth than private enterprise and free markets can.  The incessant preaching by white liberals indoctrinating minorities with the idea they have been victimized by white America is for no reason other than to buy votes.  The white liberals bullshit is designed to win political office in order to dominate the distribution of propaganda, legislate more dependency creating policies, and increase their own power and wealth.  It is not designed to do anything meaningful for the minorities they claim to care about.

The old minority rally cry "The Man is keeping us down" is true.  Socioeconomic disparities obviously continue to exist.  But 'The Man' is not who they think it is.  The Man is liberal white people of both genders.  White liberals have destroyed the inner cities, destroyed the American primary and secondary educational system, destroyed job opportunities, and destroyed traditional American principles and values.  Look at Detroit.  Look at the real Chicago, not the glittering facade.  Look at any big urban area that has been controlled by Democrats for the last fifty years.  It is not a pretty sight.

Yes, Barack Obama is president.  He says he is black, even though he was raised by a white mother and white grandparents.  But that is irrelevant.  What is relevant is who are his policies really benefitting?  The rich white liberals are getting richer and more powerful while the middle class is struggling and the underclass is still unemployed and stuck in the crime and poverty of the inner cities.  That is the way the white liberals like it because it gives them the opportunity to perpetually sell hope that is never realized into infinity.
 

He Who Controls The Information Controls The World

After a few back and forth emails with editors and staff of the Dallas Morning News over the last couple weeks regarding two different topics, I have come to the conclusion the only way America can survive is for moderate conservatives and independents to become more involved in owning the primary sources of information.  That means buying major media networks.  We already know all but Fox are controlled by liberals, but we may not truly understand how pervasive throughout the industry the extreme far left's control is.  Apparently most editors and columnists seem to swallow the Obamacrat bullshit hook, line and sinker.  Instead of people like the Koch Brothers lavishing campaign contributions on conservative candidates, the money might be better spent buying up controlling interests in influential newspapers and television networks.

One big problem with the media is that they typically phrase the headlines and soundbites in favorable terms for the Democrats, when reading the details reveals more problematic and unfavorable interpretations.  Unfortunately many people don't read the details, and the broadcast media often doesn't mention them.  Even the Wall Street Journal is not immune from this misleading habit.

For example, today's WSJ (4/15/14, page A3) has a headline that reads "Narrower Deficit Now Seen for 2014".  Reading the details tells us the CBO lowered forecasts for the 2014 deficit due to reductions in military spending (a really bad idea) and falling future cost projections associated with ObamaCare.  But the details also mention the deficit is expected to begin rising again in 2016 and continue growing for years due to rising health care costs, and the ratio of government debt to GDP is already at the historically high level of 74% and continuing ever upward.  By the way, the headline for the same story in the Dallas Morning News was "Deficit shrinking - for now", at least a bit more honest.

Another headline for the same day on page A4  of the WSJ reads "Health Premiums: Slower Rise Seen", one of the reasons for the narrower deficit mentioned in the paragraph above.  The headline for the same story in the DMN (4/15/15, page 7A) was a similarly misleading "CBO: Cost of health insurance subsidies to drop".  Of course the details tell us that the CBO still expects insurance premiums to continue rising over the next decade, they are just starting out lower than expected.  Furthermore, premiums are only one aspect of the cost of health care to Americans.  Premiums may be less than expected, but they are still higher than they were for individuals who do not receive government subsidies.  Even more important, deductibles are higher than under old plans so the total cost of health care will be going up even faster for individuals whose insurance does not pay anything until they cover the deductibles. 

In addition, experience with ObamaCare over the next several years is more than likely to indicate that the number of people under the age of 30 who sign up will be less than expected, which will drive premiums up at an even faster rate.  On top of all that, the CBO projects that 31 million people will still be uninsured in the US in 2024 when the point of the whole thing was to make sure everyone was covered.  Obviously the newspapers and television news reporters need somebody with a little more integrity writing the headlines and the soundbites.

More Hogwash From Napoleon

Barack Obama has built his presidency on racial warfare (blacks and browns against whites), class warfare (non-taxpayers against taxpayers), and gender warfare (women and LGBT's versus men).  Of course that is a generalization.  There are crossovers among the groups.  But looking at the statistics of party preference profiles it could easily be argued that Obama's war is against white married men over the age of 30 who have jobs or are retired.  In other words, the folks who were primarily responsible for building the world's dominant economic engine of prosperity and the defenders of freedom of the last hundred years.

This year the Democrats major theme for the fall elections is the demand for equal pay for women.  No one disagrees with that premise if all things are equal.  But it is interesting they have chosen this theme since income discrimination for reasons of race or gender has been illegal in America since the Equal Pay Act of 1963.  If the argument has any basis in fact then why don't they go after the violators of the law rather than propagandize the issue?  Could it be because this is another bogus issue the Democrats are promoting to buy votes from the freeloaders, the uneducated and the clueless?

The primary fallacy of their argument is that they compare apples to oranges.  Equal pay can only realistically be measured if two people are doing exactly the same job, have been doing it for the same length of time, putting in the same number of hours, and achieving equal results.  The surveys don't come even close to measuring that.

The useless and irrelevant surveys conclude that on average women are paid 79% of what men make.  But the fact is that historically women have worked fewer hours than men and have taken more time off from their careers.  Furthermore, women have traditionally worked in lower paying occupations.  All of that is certainly rapidly changing, but won't show up in the statistics overnight.  However, it won't take long.  57% of college students today are female, and women under the age of 30 in metropolitan areas already make more money than men.  The revolution is well underway.  That is neither a good thing nor a bad thing.  It is just recognition of reality.

Women are now CEO's of such Fortune 500 companies as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, PepsiCo, DuPont, Campbell Soup, Xerox, Yahoo and more.  They are also becoming more involved in politics as the number of women elected to office has grown substantially at the state and local levels as well as nationally.  Anyone actually involved in private enterprise already knows that more and more women are taking the top jobs and earning the big bucks.  Of course no one in the Obama regime may be aware of that since none of them spent any time in the private sector.  If they are aware, then the Democrats are again attempting to lie their way into office by focusing on issues that no longer exist.  If that's the case, some things never change.

Unchallenged Bullshit

The outrageous audacity of Barack Obama never ceases to amaze.  Yesterday he held a news conference pompously declaring victory in the Health Care War by claiming 7.1 million people have signed up for ObamaCare as of March 31.  Did anyone notice yesterday was April Fool's Day?

Of course Obama doesn't disclose how many of those folks had to sign up because they lost their previous coverage because of ObamaCare.  Never mind that Mr. Obama promised that would not happen.  Those folks are most likely now paying substantially higher medical costs, which Mr. Obama also promised wouldn't happen.  Many people who were newly eligible for Medicare due to the new rules switched from previous policies and have been counted in the sign-up for ObamaCare.  It will also be interesting to see how many who signed up actually pay for it once they see the price.

Even when not necessarily lying, Obama seriously bends the truth.  The only credible measurement of ObamaCare's success is to find out the increase in the number of Americans now covered by health insurance that weren't prior to ObamaCare.  I would suspect that number is considerably less.  In fact, I bet that number is closer to zero than 7.1 million.

Given Barack Obama's actions to date in his presidency of routinely spitting on the graves of our founding fathers and his presidential predecessors, one can't help but wonder how long we have until he changes the Declaration of Independence to the Declaration of Dependence.

Nerf Balls

Sorry.  Can't help myself.  I know I said in the last blog I was probably done.  But it seems like as long as Obama is running things in America there are just too many geopolitical issues that demand a comment.  Besides, as Hoser (My wife's cousin who played hockey in college, thus the nickname - hoser, hosehead, i.e., Canadian) reminded me of the famous words of Bluto Blutarsky in a comment to the last Slugzilla, "was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"?

The biggest issues of the day involve the Russian activities in the Crimean region of the Ukraine.  So to start off, make no mistake and let me be perfectly clear (a phrase borrowed from a certain megalomaniac when he is about to tell the world something he has no intention of following through on, but in this case is a statement of fact rather than an announcement of a toothless threat).  Vladimir Putin is a bad guy.  But, it is kind of humorous for Barack Obama to label Crimea's new legislature's vote to secede from the Ukraine as illegal when Obama himself routinely violates our Constitution to impose his ideological agenda on us.

Furthermore, it is not like Crimea has been a long time loyal province within the Ukrainian territory.  Crimea has been a constitutionally recognized self-governing autonomous region since the Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991.  As far as I can tell, the Ukraine as a nation with anywhere near its present borders never existed before 1922, when it was formed as one of the first republics of the USSR, and even then it didn't include Crimea until it was annexed in 1954.  Prior to that time the territory of present day Ukraine was comprised of  independent states controlled by ethnic groups such as Tatars and Cossacks or neighbors such as Poland, Lithuania, Crimea and Russia.  From 1721 through the first World War the Russian Empire claimed significant parcels of the region, but the borders kept changing.

The first time Ukraine became an independent nation was for three years from 1919 to 1922 following World War I and prior to the formation of the USSR.  The next time it was independent was in 1991 upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  In other words, the Ukraine has existed as an independent nation for a total of only 26 years.  Since 1991 it has been comprised of 24 provinces and one autonomous republic - Crimea.

As mentioned, Crimea did not even become part of the Ukraine until 1954 when it was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic by Nikita Khruschchev, a native Ukrainian.  I am old enough to remember Khrushchev.  He never came across as a particularly bright guy.  Perhaps handing Crimea to Ukraine was a bad idea.  58% of Crimeans are ethnic Russians and 77% claim Russian as their native language.  It seems the people of Crimea have had very little voice in choosing their allegiance.  Maybe they should be given that choice.

Yes, the Russians under Putin are becoming more belligerent and dismissive of international law.  That is what happens when you have the Western World abdicate its responsibilities and depend on the US for security against aggression, followed by the election of an American president who is an incompetent wimp.  We should expect potential adversaries throughout the world to continue to show their fangs and gain more global power and influence at the expense of Western countries.  Until Americans and Europeans pull their heads out of their asses and understand the way the world works, it will continue to become a much more dangerous place.  But the Russian actions in Crimea may not be the place to justify an aggressive response.

Western countries are screaming that the Russians are violating international law.  Yes, the Russians did sign an agreement in 1994 where they agreed that in exchange for Ukraine's decision to give up the nuclear weapons it inherited during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia affirmed it would respect Ukraine's independence and sovereignty and the existing borders.  They also agreed to refrain from the threat or use of force against Ukraine's territorial integrity or political independence.  But why would anyone trust any agreement Russia signs.  They violate every one.

Of course in reality one has to question whether there is such a thing as rule of international law, particularly when multiple violations are underway around the world all the time.  Think Syria, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, and on and on.  Perhaps the most egregious hypocrisy is when the biggest violators of human rights such as China, Cuba, India (the caste system still exists), and that paragon of virtue, Venezuela, all have seats on the UN Human Rights Council.  And Russia is not the only country that unilaterally violates treaties it signs.  In his first year in office Obama reneged on a deal that had been signed the year before to build a missile defense shield in Poland to defend Europe against long range missiles launched from the Middle East or Russia.  That was the beginning of our allies learning to not trust us.

For Barack Obama, warning the Russians about breaking rules is like living in a glass house and throwing stones, except in the international arena Obama throws nerf balls.  So far in every region of the world where mere creampuffs have kicked sand in his face, he has yet to do anything.  The whole world knows he has no intention of backing his bluster up.  He always falls back into the Obama Shuffle - talk tough and pretend the other side capitulates as they continue to do whatever they damn well please while moving on to the next big lie.  After all, the empty threatener did tell the Russians he would be more flexible his second term.

What the hell are opponents supposed to think, that Pee Wee Herman will suddenly turn into Audie Murphy?  On top of that, do we really have the capability of backing up threats?  Europeans spend barely enough on defense to build a scarecrow, and naturally the Democrats are doing what they do best - gut our military.  Obama's record in foreign policy for five years has been nothing but a combination of Jimmy Carter and Roseanne Roseannadanna,

In some circumstances secession may not be a bad idea.  Some issues are irreconcilable.  Conflict to maintain lines on a map may not be worth the bloody battles that result.  For example, once before in America history society became so divided that half the country tried to secede.  One out of every 25 Americans were either killed or horribly wounded in our civil war to preserve the union.  Out of a population of 31 million, 750,000 died and 500,000 were wounded.  For those who survived, nearly every family was profoundly damaged by the carnage.  All for what?  So a few politicians could maintain their power?  Slavery was already a failing institution throughout the world as the United States was one of the last Western countries to abolish it.  Slavery was primarily an agricultural phenomena, and the Industrial Revolution was already under way.  Slavery in America was on its way out.

So was the Civil War really worth it?  For some reason there seems to be a societal stigma on questioning the necessity of the Civil War.  Why is that?  What did the Civil War really accomplish?  150 years later most African-Americans still claim to be victims and that white people owe them entitlements and reparations.  Some issues persist in the minds of many long after they have ceased to exist.  Actually, separation of people with different backgrounds and interests is not necessarily a bad thing.  Coercive domination by claiming intellectual, cultural and moral superiority only creates lingering hatred and enmity that never goes away.  Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let the British and the French determine the fate of the Ottoman empire after World War I either.  Perhaps the Middle East wouldn't be in such turmoil today.

I have no idea how events in the Ukraine will turn out.  You certainly can't count on the Russians to run a fair election in Crimea.  Of course you can't trust the Democrats to run a fair one in the US either, not with ACORN and unions involved.  It is too bad that in all their self-proclaimed brilliance the current leaders in Washington had no clue the world is still a dangerous place.  There is little question that the proper response to the Russian move in Crimea is complicated, but it is certainly not worth brinksmanship.

At some point, however, the West is going to have to stand up to the belligerents of the world and let them know they have gone far enough.  Unfortunately, it is never a good idea to make that stand from a position of weakness.  We are the only country in the world that has the capability to create strategic and tactical superiority.  But the Democrats think other things are more important and are determined to make us vulnerable.  Hopefully we won't find out the hard way that you don't pick fights unless you are sure you have superior offensive and defensive firepower, not just rough equivalence.  Otherwise you will see the nukes fly.  That will most definitely not be a good thing.  The Russians have more than we do.