Tide Turns Again

Just when it seemed that coalition air power had enabled the anti-Qaddafi rebels to gain the upper hand, government forces altered their tactics and are pushing the freedom fighters back. Libyan troops have abandoned their heavy weapons which were easily identifiable from the air such as tanks and have simply piled into trucks and other civilian vehicles that resemble those the rebels themselves are using. The regular Qaddafi forces are still better trained and more professional than most of those who have taken up arms against the dictator. The United States will in all likelihood have to at the very least rapidly introduce military advisers on the ground to aid the overwhelmed rebels. This is the slippery slope to American forces being on the ground more generally where they will soon be regarded as occupiers even by many of the Libyans that they are there to help liberate. There is no way victory for those the West is backing will be cheap, easy, or soon.

Credit Is Due

It has finally happened, something really momentous, an event not to be forgotten- an Arab man on the street, a real live Libyan has actually thanked Barack Hussein Obama, the President of the United States, for intervention against Qaddafi. I saw this real piece of history last night on one of the dinosaur media evening newscasts. Yes, after all that guiding and prodding in Egypt trying to find one native to be grateful for or even acknowledge Obama's centrality to the resistance movement, we finally have one reporter find one Arab who will actually bear that out and tell the American public what the main stream Obama-backing media wants them to hear. These flacks now have a message recorded for posterity of what they want to sell us- that yes- Obama really is saving the world.

Another Wooden Man

Did last night's Obama address remind in the least of the public performance of former Vice President and Democrat Presidential nominee Al Gore? To me at least, Obama presented the words written for him with very flat affect. There was no enthusiasm or even realness in the moment as we saw in the unguarded clip of Obama speaking his mind, his essence, and his real socialist truth to Joe the Plumber, way back in the salad days of the 2008 Presidential campaign in Ohio- before Obama's handlers could fully polish and sanitize him. Obama's remarks of last night were a sort of pro forma obligation that our dear leader seems not to love so well.

A Latin Qaddafi

There is a state to the south of the United States of America that meets many of the same criteria for intervention that Barack Hussein Obama mentioned in his Presidential address to the nation last night (which incidentally seemed somewhat hollow and less than heartfelt as if Obama was simply going through the motions without conviction in what he was saying or enthusiasm that he was called on to explain his Libya action to the American people). The South American leader that resembles Muammar Qaddafi is of course the clownish but menacing Hugo Chavez. Have dissidents in Venezuela who oppose the Chavez tyranny been murdered just as opponents of Qaddafi have been killed? Yes, and has Chavez posed a danger to neighboring states as Qaddafi or at least refugees from Libya pose to Tunisia and Egypt? Just ask Colombia where the government contends that Hugo Chavez has been aiding FARC and giving sanctuary to its terrorists. And has Chavez not prided himself in being a thorn in the side of America just as Qaddafi has for years? Both Libya and Venezuela are oil producers, but while Obama exceeded his constitutional authority and will go out of his way to protect French and British interests there, he will not protect American interests much closer to home in Venezuela.

Grief for Qaddafi

Gentle reader, please do not construe the recent criticism of the Obama administration's Libya action as support in any way for Muammar Qaddafi. Qaddafi has been a brutal and unrepentant dictator who has fostered terrorism and committed acts of terror over the years. I certainly hope Qaddafi meets justice and my primary concern is what eventually will replace him. There is a possibility that after the West dispenses with one tyrant, he may be supplanted with Islamic extremists of one stripe or another. Would a Taliban-style regime emerging in Libya not be vastly worse that Qaddafi? If the West is unwilling or unable to engage in the long and costly process of "nation building" that would involve ground troops and be seen as occupation by the Libyans and more broadly by the Arab world, then it is quite possible those with sympathies for al-Qaeda will have a share of power or at least find sanctuary in Libya. My other concern is about the process that Obama has used to take us to war (which is what our Libya involvement is without any semantic acrobatics) without following the US Constitution by consulting Congress. If a Republican were President, the leftist elite and the dinosaur press would be screaming for impeachment right now.

Dear Secretary Clinton

On the NBC Sunday wonk program, Hillary Clinton said that the US had "answered" the call of the "Libyan" people. Madame Secretary, you and your President are not answerable to and will not be held accountable by the Libyan people but by the American people. I look forward to the next national election here in the United States where we the people have the opportunity to prove it. If the UK and France are the areas of concern for you and Libya is in their national interest, then why do you not cross the waters and become a foreign minister over there? You and the Obama administration surely do not represent the values of the American heartland but may go over well in the Paris salon. Go peddle over there.

Eviscerating the Constitution

United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted on ABC's Sunday morning policy wonk program that America's Libya action was not a "vital national interest" to America and that Libya posed no "imminent and actual" threat to the homeland. On the FOX Sunday Wallace show both US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman abdicated their duties under the US Constitution by saying that the "Arab street" wanted American involvement in Libya. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized that the United Nations had called for a "no-fly zone" over Libya and now NATO was implementing it. None of this addresses the necessity under America's Constitution of seeking United States Congressional approval before such an action is mounted, and none of this absolves Barack Hussein Obama from the impeachable offense that he has just wittingly or unwittingly committed. Obama took the nation into a war of choice without the consent of Congress. Now let us see if anyone in the US House of Representatives has the courage to hold him to account for it by drawing up Articles of Impeachment against him. I hope a bipartisan team perhaps led by Texas US Representative Ron Paul, a Republican, and Ohio Democrat US House member Dennis Kucinich, who have both already spoken out and said Obama's Libya intervention is impeachable, have the courage to prove that Barack Obama is not yet America's new emperor. On a different front about how the Obama administration trashes our Constitutional protections, according to the Drudge Report, Florida journalist Scott Powers was held captive in a closet during much of a Democratic fundraiser that Vice President Joe Biden was attending after Powers had been assigned as the "pool reporter" for the occasion. Detaining this reporter violated his civil rights and assaulted the freedom of the press, one of the fundamental freedoms assured under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. But if the politicians, press, and people do not squawk too much about an unconstitutional involvement in Libya; they probably will not carp much over the suspension of freedom denoted by the brief abduction of a single, relatively unknown, Florida reporter.

Doing Others' Bidding

United States Navy barges are now being used to bring fresh water to attempt to cool the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. While the American government has routinely delivered aid around the world to people struck by disasters, this is really going beyond the call as such an action is likely to expose US military personnel to contact with dangerous radiation. Performing this gallant act is hardly an essential American interest, anymore than bombing Qaddafi forces is a US strategic necessity. No claim may be made that our action in Libya was initiated for self-defense. What is our strategic interest in helping Libyan rebels who may also be active members of al-Qaeda, who under every other circumstance are intent on murdering Americans? Has Barack Hussein Obama been snookered by Nicolas Sarkosy and David Cameron whose nations may make economic headway in Libya if they force the departure of or kill Muammar Qaddafi? If so, then someone should ask what is in this for the United States? On the domestic front, whose bidding are Democrats doing except labor unions, particularly public sector unions and a few corporate and individual cronies? How close is the relationship between the Obama administration and George Soros who some claim has privy access afforded to the very few? How has GE been able to make billions in profit and avoid taxes while other corporations are soaked? Could some quid pro quo exist between General Electric and Team Obama that is being kept close to the vest? Where are all the conspiracy theorists who were yelling "Halliburton" during the last President Bush's administration yelling "GE" now? Why is the dinosaur media not pressing Obama on this the way they hounded Bush?

Never Ending Commitment

America finds herself in a marriage arranged by our cunning parent Great Britain and our scheming cousin France. We are now wed, tied inextricably to the conflict in Libya. These two European powers sought to further their national interests using our treasure, in this case, our military resources that vastly exceed their own. Were England and France somehow taken with a humanitarian impulse that somehow never moved them to act in Darfur where hundreds of thousands more were killed and displaced than were ever threatened by Qaddafi in Libya? Did a conscience suddenly start to trouble that never pricked before? And what is this of timetable and limited duration of the engagement? What if Muammar Qaddafi survives or dies but has managed to solidify enough support to pass power to one of his sons? What if we have to fight a dynastic Qaddafi regime in Libya like we see passing from generation to generation in North Korea or Syria? How can the United States imagine that this new war will be quick or limited? The Qaddafi clan has quite a bit to say about that. Their survival in authority will predicate how long this lasts- not our intentions, not our military superiority, or advantage in technology and planning. Everyday, Muammar Qaddafi remains he gains strength and convinces would be opponents of his invincibility. After all, Muammar is standing up to the United Nations, the US, England, France, and now NATO. This war may not be short-lived but enduring.

Joining the Fray

President Barack Hussein Obama may discover a hard lesson that leaders have encountered over the centuries- that is that it is quite easy to enter a conflict as the United States has just done in Libya and not possible on your own terms to extricate yourself. You see the other side has quite a bit to say about that. When the Seven Years' War started, do you think the participants thought it could possibly last that long? What about the Thirty Years' War, did anyone imagine a war that fathers and sons could claim to be veterans not fighting together, but a generation apart? And what of the Hundred Years' War- did the leaders who started the fighting have any idea that the conflict would outlast them and by no small margin? No, it is awfully easy to spill the first blood, but terribly difficult to staunch the hemorrhage.

America's New Standard

President Barack Hussein Obama has set the bar high for the United States with his comments regarding America's impetus for joining the action against the regime in Libya. Evidently, now US air assets will be deployed every time a dictator threatens his own populace. This new interventionist ethos should soon have us bombing Ahmadinejad and his election stealers in Iran. And let us not forget China- the cabal that turned tanks against people in Tiananmen Square is still busy killing and repressing from Tibet to Xinjiang, murdering and oppressing freedom seekers and crushing minorities whenever they are deemed too vocal for the bloody regime's tastes. Unless America is applying selective morality or President Obama is really being played by master manipulators who actually do seek to steal Libya's oil in Britain and France, America's new policy means endless widespread conflict. So, the USA had best train a lot of combat pilots and reimpose the draft because under the new Obama Doctrine, our military forces are bound to be very busy.

War By Chance

I awoke this morning and tripped over a new war that I had not noticed when I went to bed. There are several types of war:1.)War of conquest, the kind of war that if we were engaged in against Libya would have the clear objective of seizing their oil resources. 2.) War of liberation, where the clear end game is to free people from an occupying power (i.e.-freeing France from Germany in World War II) or a tyrant (as in Iraq being freed from the grip of Saddam Hussein). 3).War of self-defense, clearly the sort of war the US was forced to wage against Japan after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor or more recently against al Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 outrage. 4.) War due to treaty commitments, such as the entry of France and England coming to Poland's aid in 1939 after the Nazi invasion. 5.) War of national pride, such as started over Jenkins' ear (and freedom of the seas as the larger issue) or over a football (soccer) match as once happened in Latin America. 6.)Defending the freedom of maritime navigation more broadly as in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War where Israeli shipping had been blocked from crossing the Straits of Tiran. 7.) Preemptive war which is on its face a more nebulous casus belli as it starts before one side has staged the attack which is supposedly being preempted.8.) Ethnic, religious, or tribal War which may lead to 9.) War of genocide as Hitler waged against the Jews. So which sort of war is the United States currently waging against the Qaddafi regime in Libya? With our nation so fiscally imperiled that the United States is beyond broke, what is the end game that justifies one more war and was that even a consideration for the Obama administration? With our fiscal house in such dread disorder, what does America gain from engaging in yet another costly conflict? How is the US paying for the Libya adventure? Are we merely printing fiat currency? This would simply devalue the dwindling dollar that much more. Are we actually adding the tally to what we already borrow from Red China? What an irony that America's stretch into Libya may leave us even more indebted to and reliant on Communist China. This Libya action is not a war of conquest. There will be no return for the dollars spent as we will never ask for any sort of reparation. Barack Hussein Obama has neither the intention or gumption to grab Libya's oil. Red China finds herself at least partially financing the endeavor although Beijing is against it and it conflicts with China's national and strategic interests. Offending the People's Republic of China is perilous for the United States and world peace and stability. Red China may take this opportunity with America so overstretched and ignoring China's desires to finally put their foot down. They may encourage North Korea to take further provocative action perhaps moving beyond South Korea to kick at Japan while she is down. Communist China may even conclude that now is the perfect moment to swallow Taiwan. What the future is to hold is of course pure speculation but with Obama weakening his own nation at home and abroad, the Red Chinese are bound to become more antsy. There is a chance of events spiraling beyond control with America poking the eye of our major foreign creditor as we seem to deliberately offend Beijing's interests. At some point, real problems may occur when Red China says "enough". As to which type of war America has entered into in Libya- with no clear cut objective, no exit strategy, and conflicting messages out of the Obama administration- only God knows.

Wars of Choice

I am rarely of two minds about the proper course for America, but am ambivalent at best about United States participation in the attack on the Qaddafi regime in Libya. In some ways, the decision has even eroded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with original members France and Britain leading the charge for involvement and other allies refusing to participate. There is some wisdom in this reluctance, but America has been dragged in even though what will replace Qaddafi is far from certain. In some aspect, I have liked the idea of Pax Americana, with the US as the colossus that imposes peace and freedom across the world. But in practical application, I am aware that America lacks the will to even win in Afghanistan, the country that incubated and hatched the September 11, 2001 horror and even shielded Osama bin Laden thereafter. I hope the action taken against the brutal Libyan dictator is swift and decisive.

Rumors of Peace

A supposed agent of change was elected to the White House in 2008. Some who believed that Barack Hussein Obama would be a benevolent dictator now see him as every bit as benighted as his predecessor George W. Bush who they widely despised. Would Obama advance equal outcomes in office? In the event, Obama has spouted some of the rhetoric of a class warrior while doling out corporate welfare and practicing crony capitalism of the worst kind. It pays to be Obama's friend, backer, contributor tenfold. GE was seen as being in the President's corner, and it seems to have been rewarded lavishly by Obama's favor. Is the peace camp suddenly happy now that Obama has ventured into yet another war of choice? Certainly, no argument exists that engaging Libya is in our strategic interest, much less a strategic necessity. Qaddafi posed no particular threat to the US homeland although now as a cornered wounded animal, Qaddafi will feel impelled to strike back. On the domestic front Obama's leadership has been lacking at best and catastrophic at worst and now internationally, Obama fails to lead and leads to fail.

Catch War Fever

The nation has embarked in a third conflict with America still engaged in heavy fighting in Afghanistan, with troops remaining deployed as "trainers and advisers" in Iraq, and now our missiles and bombers are striking "regime assets" in Libya. One has to ponder the wisdom of yet another shooting war, particularly since we have no idea what will emerge to replace Qaddafi if (when) we succeed in eliminating him. Might it have been better early on instead of committing so much resources to undermine one man, if the West had simply sent in special operatives from the US Delta Force, British Special Air or Special Boat Service, or similar elite NATO unit to target Muammar Qaddafi himself, if much bloodshed may have been avoided? But now like the poker player near the end of the game, America and some of her allies are now all in and whatever eventually emerges in Libya, we own it. The Qaddafi family is well aware of the grisly ends two of Saddam Hussein's evil sons and the tyrant himself met (in Saddam's case at the end of a rope), and they and their tribal clan, which has thrived through close association to the regime, will feel compelled to fight to the bitter end. Obviously, command and control structures will be hit by the US and allied forces and Muammar Qaddafi himself will now be the focus. I wonder with Barack Hussein Obama now seeming to mimic George W. Bush so much in international relations if the Nobel Committee will move to revoke Obama's unearned and unmerited Nobel Peace Prize?

A Bellicose Notion

America finds herself involved in yet another war with hostilities this time directed at Muammar Qaddafi and his forces in Libya. The last few leaders of the United States mistook the Founding Fathers strong admonition to "avoid foreign entanglements" as "enjoy foreign entanglements" and off adventuring they went. I suppose General George Patton (or George C. Scott in the Patton movie) was correct: "Americans love a good fight". At least whatever ill befalls Qaddafi, he will certainly have coming.

The Sweeping Vista

A story from the Associated Press said that the Congressional Budget Office has found that President Obama has underestimated future budget deficits that the Federal government of the United States will rack up by 2.3 trillion dollars. A discrepancy this wide can not be a simple miscount or rounding error but by necessity of such staggering figures is deliberate policy being pitched to the public with lies. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently admitted in testimony to Congress that there had been a deliberate double count in one instance to make the numbers work for Obama care. This was a small portion of overspending that a member of the Obama administration has admitted to, but when such enormous amounts are spent, billions are bound to be squandered. What is most alarming now is that Republicans who claim to be sound fiscal stewards have gone along with the continuing resolutions game twice now, holding the line only to the extent that they insisted on cuts that are minuscule when measured against the total budget. The GOP is also going along with raising the debt ceiling, signalling that they are content with business as usual and will not squawk too much as Obama spends the US into oblivion. In the United States Senate, there are only about a dozen Republicans worth their salt- the rest including one of my own Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander are essentially Republicans in name only (RINO). The last GOP Presidential candidate Senator McCain was one of these, who only looked good as a Hobson's choice, a lesser socialist running against the greater socialist Barack Hussein Obama. In the United States House of Representatives, the situation is little better with weeping willow John Boehner still going along to get along in the one national legislative body where Republicans have a clear majority. The new GOP House members are standing strong for the values of the voters who elected them, but the Republican old guard, the holdovers from the last Pelosi Congress are acting as if Democrats still run the show. If this pattern is not soon rectified, these RINOs should be swept out just as liberal Democrats were in the last election. If the national Republican Party digs in their heels to protect the moderate fossils, then sadly but surely, it will be time for a conservative, national third party.

Like Cowra Revolt

Illegal immigrants to Australia have rioted in their detention center against the hospitality including food, clothing, and shelter that Australian citizen/taxpayers were gracious enough to offer. When Third World parasites are apprehended on the sea trying to break into Australia, they should no longer be permitted to set foot on land. The risk is too high, the cost too great, to allow interlopers to spill Australian blood on Australian soil. If the craft these invaders are on is seaworthy, the navy should escort it back from whence it came (with only sufficient fuel, food and water provided to facilitate the safe return). If the vessel is overcrowded or adrift, offload the so-called asylum seekers onto a leased freighter or similar ship with spartan accommodations and when it is filled from several captured people smuggling attempts, send them all back. No nation can survive being overwhelmed by a foreign horde, particularly an utterly dependent one. Europe and the United States must counter similar invasions (though the threat to America comes from her Southern land border and not the sea). Borders must be enforced because our generosity is not merely being abused- we are being raped.

The Promise Shattered

Barack Hussein Obama campaigned that if elected he would be a peace President. Global expectations were high that such a measured man would be replacing "cowboy" George W. Bush who had not bowed at the alter of false peace but committed the United States to spread freedom and acted on that by liberating twenty-five million Muslims from the Taliban and an equal number from Saddam Hussein. Barack Obama pledged to close the supposedly nearly universally despised Guantanamo Bay prison camp and abolish military tribunals to demonstrate the greatness of the US system of justice, but to this day, this is a commitment that Obama has not fulfilled. The world is anything but a safer place since Obama has entrenched himself in office. Never in my lifetime of forty-four years have I ever seen more chaos than at this moment. This is what happens when the occupant of the most powerful post in the world, the US Presidency, forgets the lesson of peace through strength. Obama's grandiose universalist notions have made the globe less safe.

The Lesson Learned

Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak heeded calls from the West and rather than slaughter his own people stepped down from power. Now, Mubarak may face forfeiture of his and his family assets and criminal prosecution for alleged misdeeds in his time in office. Muammar Qaddafi has so far ignored world public opinion and is holding onto his authority by brutally repressing those who would stand against his tyranny. The dangerous message this is bound to convey is that there is no cost for defying the West but an enormous price for listening to its message. Despots around the globe can not help but take notice. The cost of allowing recalcitrant dictators to hang on while bringing restrained leaders who decided to align themselves with us and respect our values to heel will be measured in unimaginable bloodshed down the line.

Miss Pan American?

A baby was born on an airplane- to celebrate the happy event the budget air carrier happily charged for a second seat.

The Reluctant Worrier

Persistent, almost constantly negative reports have emerged in the mainstream media about events in Japan, about the war in Afghanistan, and even about labor relations in the United States. In the first instance, while I would not vacation in Japan right now, there is little possibility that anyone is under the threat of fatal radiation on the American continent. As far as the war on terror goes, al Qaeda and members of the Taliban are not immortal, and they too are subject to defeat. Osama bin Laden has no magical immunity from death. Finally, strikes have occurred before and some have seemed interminable but eventually they end- public sector employees in job actions eventually go back to work or are replaced. As far as the National Football League lockout goes as another battle on the "labor" front, I think that the millionaire players and the mostly billionaire (with the exception of municipally owned Green Bay) owners will survive. If they do not sort things out and the football season does not happen, I still believe the United States will soldier on and I know I will. Events are seldom as grim as the dinosaur media makes them out.

Survived Radiation Before

Quite a bit of scare mongering is afoot in the dinosaur media in regard to the "meltdown crisis" facing Japan. No doubt that there is a danger presented to those physically near the battered nuclear reactors, but to those on the American continent, there should be little to fear from clouds of radiation. Any release would likely be highly dissipated and mostly harmless by the time it would reach the American Pacific Coast. In the early days of atomic testing, bombs were detonated in the American Southwest and even that prevalence of nuclear radiation did not claim a heavy toll. Thankfully an ocean separates us from those most at risk. God bless and protect those closer to the disaster zone.

Catastrophic Cataclysm Continues

The worst fears for Japan have turned into irrevocable facts. More than ten thousand are dead and thousands more are missing. When disaster strikes a backwater like Haiti, we take some false comfort in the thought that the death toll was so high because of the primitive conditions in which Haitians were living before their earthquake struck. But that sense of security evaporates in an instant when we see an advanced First World, highly developed technological society brought low despite massive and extensive efforts to protect it. America, we are not immune, and now we must help Japan, prepare for our own day of testing, and most of all, pray.

A Certain Immediacy

Just as the situation is clearly critical for those impacted by the Japan disaster(s), the situation deteriorates day by day for those who had the courage to stand against Qaddafi in Libya. Just as those in Japan who are currently stricken need every necessity brought to them, so too do the freedom fighters in Libya now need robust air support to successfully contest the more powerful weapons in the Libyan government arsenal. Some in the West who are resistant to the notion of helping those who seek to overturn the Libyan tyrant have pointed out that there has been no Rwanda type massacre. The answer to that is a three letter word..."yet". If five years from now Qaddafi lingers as Libya's leader over an Auschwitz pile of the corpses of his "enemies", the world will ask two questions, "How can this be?" and "Who lost Libya?"

Lambs to Slaughter

In the midst of the extensive coverage of the Japan disaster, a crime against humanity in the Holy Land has gone almost unreported outside of the Israeli press. Five members of one family have been butchered including a mother, a father, an eleven year old child, a three year old, and a month old infant girl. The family hailed from the tiny town of Itamar that much of the Jew-baiting globe would call a "settlement". The existence of this small community and others like it are said by much of the world to be the source of all the hostilities of the Middle East. If the Jewish presence in these contested areas would simply dry up or be eradicated, we are told somehow peace will flourish. I just wonder what a babe in arms and an infant still at the breast did to summon their own murder? Yes, Israel certainly has kind-hearted, reliable interlocutors with which to negotiate and the poor, put-upon Palestinians only want peace.

America Abdicates Again

A world power and certainly the sole remaining superpower has a moral obligation to lead. We see the United States willfully shirking that duty when it comes to Libya. Barack Hussein Obama has passed the burden of leadership to Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy. The United States Department of State initially talked a good game with bluster about the necessity of Qaddafi leaving, but the American Department of Defense sent a chastening message that the US lacks the military power to implement the type of force necessary to oust the Libyan tyrant easily, and therefore, the multilateral bodies, particularly the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, must bear the brunt of any generally agreed operation to oust Qaddafi. If this were truly the case, why was an American aircraft carrier deployed near Libya almost immediately after the open resistance to Qaddafi began? There are thousands of Libyans on the ground present and armed already to do the dirty work necessary to remove the despot and the air support provided by that single American aircraft carrier would be more than enough to rid Qaddafi of his air power and heavy artillery capacity that are now providing him an edge over the freedom seekers.

Tsunami Terror Spreads

Yet another disaster of epic proportions has just devastated the world, certainly killing hundreds but sadly more likely taking thousands of lives, mostly in or near Japan. I have recently implored my readers to seek the Lord and beseech forgiveness. This holds true more now than ever. May God bless and protect innocent life all over the globe as we pray mercy for those in the tsunami's path.

An Unserious Budget

The United States is drowning in debt with a Federal deficit exploding to proportions never before seen and hardly even imagined until the rise of Obama. For the single month of February alone, the national debt rose two hundred and twenty-seven billion dollars ($227,000,000,000), an astounding figure which happens to be greater than the entire debt for the 2007 budget year under the last President Bush who we were told was spending like a drunken sailor by so-called fiscal hawk Blue Dog Democrats way back then when Federal debt was growing but still seemingly manageable. So now that Federal deficit spending has soared over a trillion United States dollars for the last fiscal year and if not dealt with in this budgetary cycle will be even larger for Fiscal Year 2011, the Democrats craft their plan to save us. They introduced their belt-tightening, waste-cutting budget proposal to put paid to the debt. Yes, the Democrats in the US Congress have managed to find a whole four billion dollars in cuts and savings that can be made before the end of the budgetary year. I just do not know how Americans can endure the pain of such sound fiscal management austerity. May God bless those Democrats with their strong Blue Dog contingent doing all that they can to restore our sound fiscal footing.

Driven to Distraction

Much has been made lately about "texting while driving" and legislation that has been written to make this obviously dangerous practice illegal. I have over the years witnessed people engaged in even more hazardous activity than texting behind their own steering columns while I sat haplessly behind my own steering wheel. I have seen drivers eating as they wove through traffic more times than I could count. I have watched people combing their hair numerous times as they drove. I have occasionally seen ladies putting on their makeup, particularly lipstick as they tried to navigate through traffic. I often observed people talking on cellular phones (not hands-free) as they tooled around town. I have occasionally observed a driver speaking on said cell phone, smoking a cigarette, and attempting to turn the wheel- talk about multitasking. I was once even amazed by the sight of a gal reading a magazine as she guided her car through heavy traffic. You can legislate all you want, and certainly all these distractions to safe motoring should be illegal, but the list of activities behind the wheel that should be legislated against is too long to actually pass into law. I guess what grandma said was correct- "you can not legislate common sense".

Qaddafi Digs In

Muammar Qaddafi does not merely cling to power but goes on the offensive in the life and death struggle to see who controls Libya. Without the intervention of foreign air power to support the rebels or the rapid provision of easy to use shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles such as Russian produced SAMs, US-made Stinger, or Blowpipe-types delivered to those resisting Qaddafi's tyranny, the long-term dictator will continue to hold out and may even be able to entirely roll back and vanquish the revolution. Every moment Qaddafi's authority remains means that it is ever more likely that the forces of evil will win.

No Greater Love

A tremendously destructive tornado struck Louisiana doing much damage, but also demonstrating the kind of preternatural courage that I have only heard of once before. A young mother, twenty-one year old Jalisa Granger gave her life protecting her baby with her own body. Similar elan was evinced several years back in Hendersonville, Tennessee, when a mother who if memory serves was the wife of a firefighter, ended up paralyzed after placing her body between her children and a tornado. Miraculously, this brave lady from a town near my Middle Tennessee home survived as did the offspring she was protecting. She has been featured since in local and national media, and has said that she would gladly take the same risk again if necessary to shield her kids. May God bless every mother with such a powerful bond and may we pray that a mother is never again forced to make such a sacrifice.

Seek Your Forgiveness

A member of the Westboro Baptist Church appeared on the Wallace Sunday morning FOX talking head program. She had argued successfully for her Phelps family before the United States Supreme Court for the right to gratuitously inflict more pain on grieving people by picketing funerals. Most of those targeted have fallen in service of the nation in the United States military. They have the legal right but can even they believe that were Jesus walking the earth today, that Christ would be holding up signs of condemnation in such a dogmatic fashion? There exist fanatics in all religions, but ultimately, they harm the underlying message more than they advance it.

Persistent Fear Intensifies

Iran spreads her corrupting influence, fomenting revolution across the Middle East while suppressing dissent at home, even recently locking up the candidates who came in first and second in the election stolen by Ahmadinejad and the mullahs who back him. Iran simply does not play by the same rules as other nations. Iran is also not held to the same standards as other countries, and this has been the case since the Iranian Revolution. Iran is the only country that permitted diplomats to be held hostage in such numbers for such a sustained duration (of 444 days). Yet, Iran was never really punished for it. Iran staged mass casualty bombing attacks on Jewish institutions in Argentina, yet never felt the world's wrath. Iran has proxy armies in Hamas and Hizbollah frequently attack Israel, but Iran is not made to suffer in reprisal. So here is my fear: Iran has literally gotten away with murder and the sanctions she is facing over her nuclear program are being violated. Turkey is not particularly eager to cut Iran off from the world and has not enforced the embargo that multilateral organizations (the IAEA and the UN) expected. Even though the punishment Iran was facing has been greatly watered down by Russia and China in the United Nations Security Council, enforcement is not being conducted by Iran's neighbors. Even Iraq with American forces still on her soil seems determined to help Iran thwart any serious castigation that would actually set back the nuclear endeavor. I have already stated that Iran ignores convention, and believe that when Iran achieves weaponized status that she will not conduct an underground or even atmospheric test, but immediately employ her putative capacity against Tel Aviv, either through indigenously launched missile (or bomber aircraft which is less likely as Iran would assume that said plane would be shot down before it could deliver its atomic punch) or from a Syrian or Hizbollah proxy, which is becoming ever more likely now that Iranian warships have been permitted to transit the Suez Canal and effectively merged the Iranian and Syrian navies. Perhaps Israel will even be attacked with an atomic artillery shell similar to the ones America developed early in the Cold War. Remember Iran is not attempting to gain nukes as an exercise, or as they claim to produce energy, but to use against the Jewish State at the first possible moment.

Dismantling the Dream

We are supposed to be heartened today that the Obama administration's manipulated employment numbers show the jobs' situation is improving. How can we be optimistic when even if we are fortunate enough to not be under water in our homes, we still have punitive property taxes that are by themselves higher than house payments were in the 1950s? How do we feel secure in the notion that we even own our property when local government is able to abuse imminent domain to seize it for what has become a public purpose of generating more tax revenue when a new owner takes over? How can we really own the property we have payed for when if a raindrop falls on it, suddenly our little piece of America becomes a wetland that the government must control to protect? You can not improve it or remodel or build on land you hold the deed on, but you still best pay that property tax- after all it is your property even though you can no longer use it. Then there are the zoning laws that strangle freedom and give bureaucrats power over what you do with what you paid for and thought you actually owned. Then there is that nice vehicle you sweat blood to finally pay off. You own it alright but with four dollar a gallon gasoline, you have to think twice about driving it anywhere. There was a lot of hype about all the hope that Barack Hussein Obama was peddling, but what President Obama delivered was all bluster, baloney, and a bill of goods, no matter what some carefully massaged job numbers that are being pitched by a handmaiden media are supposed to tell us. The improvement in the economy that Team Obama is crowing about is good, old-fashioned bunk.

On Slow Burn

So-called intelligence agencies once again failed miserably in assessing the anger on the Arab street. The Central Intelligence Agency duplicated its failures as it missed the coming attack on America on September 11, 2001, as it failed to notice Pakistan constructing nuclear weapons, and as it failed to recognize Iran's growing influence over Lebanon and Hamas when American actions might still have been able to contain it. But blame is not reserved for the CIA alone but all Western intelligence agencies, and even the dreaded state security apparatus of the various Middle Eastern states themselves that obviously did not apprehend that their own people were ready to rampage. Only now does US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledge Iran has fingerprints all over the street chaos in Bahrain and Yemen. But for some reason, Secretary Clinton demands that the US continue to provide one hundred million dollars in military aid to Lebanon- a nation that has fallen wholly under the thrall of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who knows what will come next beyond the increasing possibility of a regional war being directed against Israel after some provocation most likely from Hamas but perhaps from Lebanese Hizbollah? The world's vaunted spy services certainly do not know and have failed completely in their predictions.

Attack Not Terrorism?

United States Air Force personnel are gunned down at an airport in Germany and initial reports by the American and German governments suggested that the murders were something other than an act of jihad. Authorities from both nations at first attempted to whitewash the shooting even as witnesses described the gunman shouting "Allah akbar" and literally "jihad, jihad, jihad!" as he was firing, but according to those responsible for protecting us, the shooter "exchanged words" with his targets, trying to suggest that the event was anything but what it obviously was- an act of religiously motivated terror. The same denials emerged after the Fort Hood massacre where US Army Major Nidal Hasan shouted the same "Allah akbar" as he began firing. So why would American and now German authorities attempt to cover up the true motivation for terror? Perhaps, they do not want it to be percieved that we are in a war of civilizations with the West pitted against Islam. The clash exists though- no matter how cowardly leaders who lack the will to fight to win wish to portray it.

The Cesspool Rises

America is being barraged with reports spewing out about a drug-addled narcissist who seems to have hit the self-destruct button as we watch him commit slow-motion suicide. Charlie Sheen is called a "train wreck", but what Americans should instead be focused on is our nation derailing. We are being turned into a servile country, hostage to OPEC and Red China. Our nation was seen as divinely inspired creation with the Lord Almighty as the font of American exceptionalism. Part of the unique covenant between God and this nation has been to uphold morality. We are now mocking marriage and Providence with homosexual union- sanctifying the unholy and basking with pride in our own heresy. I care not the slightest what consenting adults do in privacy, but to attack all the monotheistic faiths' (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) marriage concept is inviting ruin. Australia is now led by an overt atheist and since her elevation to Prime Minister, Australia has suffered her most costly disasters there ever. America under the profligate Obama is inviting God's wrath.

More Moral Abdication

The world has asked Barack Hussein Obama to summon moral courage and lead. President Obama, through his proxy, the United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, has shown that America will no longer uphold the values that have given blood bought freedom to much of the globe. Libya feels the bud of liberty being crushed under the thumb of a mad man. And where is the US? Are we arming freedom fighters? Are we providing air support to those trying to overthrow the evident mastermind of the Lockerbie bombing? No, the last super power is cowering in a corner of excuses about being overextended in Afghanistan. What message does Obama send to the earth's regimes filled with malign intention? Seeing America on her heels must comfort evil doers everywhere.

Of a Feather

Evil Evo Morales of Bolivia, horrific Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, dirty Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and the criminal Castro brothers of Cuba have expressed their solidarity with the butcher of Tripoli Muammar Qaddafi. This should serve as warning as to how these Latin despots intend to address dissent by their own people. A gulag in South America is no less dehumanizing and brutal than one in the desert. Any true "man of the people" would view another leader who would fire heavy weapons and drop bombs from aircraft on his own citizenry with contempt. These South American Stalins are no better than Qaddafi and are announcing to the world how they intend to treat those who stand against their tyranny.