obama

Islamic Jihad

by asmwizard

This was previously posted in the Leavenworth Times Community Blog.

It is a sad truth that the average, garden-variety Muslim is not a terrorist, and in fact is a peaceful citizen who obeys the law and harms no one.  Yet, within their ranks, usually hiding their identities and pretending to be good citizens, there are those who would kill, kidnap, steal, and destroy their own people or, preferably, kill non-believers in order to follow a perverted version of Islamic teaching.  There are many more of Muslims who might not engage in acts of terror themselves, but who condone acts of violence against the West or against other Sects of their religion.  They donate money and support the terrorists. For them, killing infidels is OK.  The day after 9/11, many in Muslim countries danced in the streets and celebrated.

Muslims who follow the Koran, peaceful or not, want a world in which everyone will be a believer, and all will be subject to Sharia law. The Sunni Sect is particularly aggressive in pushing toward this goal.  The majority of terrorist activities come from within their ranks, including Al Qaeda and ISIS. This is a terrifying theology, considering that to achieve it, all non-believers have to be eliminated.

The Koran, like the Holy Bible, is a large, ambiguous work that can be interpreted in many different ways.  However, according to terrorismanalsys.com, it is interpreted selectively by Jihadists to justify violence against non-believers.  According to thereligionofpeace.com, there are at least 109 verses in the Koran that directly justify the murder of non-believers.

There is a war, waged and plotted by Islamic Jihadists, against the West.  As part of this, since it is difficult to come to America and the European countries themselves, they try to find converts within Western countries.  They persuade these people to kill in the name of Islam.  They have had success in this, as the Paris and Belgian attacks in the past few days prove.  In Ohio, a man has been arrested this week and charged with plotting to launch a terrorist attack.  He wanted the U.S. Capital Building with an automatic weapon, his sole desire to kill.

The Obama administration condemns terrorism in general but refuses to call it by its true name, Islamic Jihadism, the only significant threat.  It is said, and denied and argued back and forth, that Obama as a child was educated in the Muslim religion, and perhaps that’s the reason why they soft pedal the Islamic threat.  We in the West need to fight a war against Islamic Jihadists, and wipe them from the Earth.  We can’t fight effectively if we haven’t named and identified our enemy.

What steps could be taken in a war against Islamic Jihad?  Let me suggest a few.  In the United States, pass laws to make it illegal to advocate terrorism in a Muslim mosque, as inciting to riot; make travel to the United States from any Muslim country require a VISA which is closely checked; require an exit VISA for any American traveling to a Muslim country; make it a major felony to travel to a foreign country and participate in terrorist training; close the borders with Mexico and Canada; modify Internet servers and switches to block internet traffic to and from Islamic sites known to sponsor terrorism; monitor all Muslim services in mosques; cut off trade and funding and apply sanctions to any Muslim country suspected of tolerating Jihadist organizations (including Palestine); stop oil exports from any country tolerating terrorists; round up and expel all Muslim non-citizens.  Overseas, we should relentlessly attack ISIS, persuade Muslim countries to participate, and persuade them to preach against the Radical Islamist interpretations of the Koran, as the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has recently advocated.

Winston Churchill did not regard Muslims highly.  In his wonderful way with words, he wrote this in his two-volume The River War in 1899:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die: but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

Note: I own the abridged, one volume version of this book, and it does not contain this quote.  I copied the above excerpt from the Wikipedia article on the book The River War.

In my view, his words are mostly still true, but Muslim terrorists have caught up with modern Europe in many aspects of science, in that they have cell phones, internet, pickup trucks, rockets, machine guns, and many other items.  They also have plenty of oil money to finance their insanity.

France and several other European countries made a major blunder in allowing large numbers of Muslim immigrants. In France, there are reportedly now some 750 areas which no non-Muslim goes into, because the Muslims who live there are so dangerous.  In recent years, they have rioted, burned cars and other property, and supply a fertile breeding ground for fostering new terrorists.  We must not let this happen here.

Boehner is right on immigration reform

by asmwizard

This post also appears in the Kansas Republican Journal website opinion page, posted on 2/11/2014.  Link: Kansas Republican Journal

In the last week of January, Republicans released a statement of principles on how they would reform immigration law.  It’s a one page, entirely logical and fair set of ideas.  I suspect it was principally constructed by Paul Ryan.  You can locate it with keywords “Republican immigration principles”.  Democrats immediately hailed it as “A good sign.”  They were glad to believe Republicans might cave on immigration, although their massive bill passed by the Senate died in the House.  But, notice the first sentence: “Our nation’s immigration system is broken and our laws are not being enforced.”

The principles call for dividing the reform bills into a step by step approach, in several bills rather than one big kludge of the sort Democrats always come up with.  It would legalize aliens in the country, providing they come forward and identify themselves.  But, it wouldn’t give them a faster path to citizenship.  It would only begin to happen after the border is better enforced. 

Last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner burst whatever bubble of optimism Democrats had.  He said he didn’t think it could pass the House, and said one reason was (I paraphrase) that they didn’t trust the President to administer whatever laws they might pass.  Right on!  Obama’s administration has used executive orders and regulation changes, often issued by Kathleen Sibelius or Eric Holder, to circumvent existing laws or in effect create new ones.  Congress has become a useless appendage of government.  Only yesterday, Eric Holder issued a directive to the effect that from now on, same sex couples will receive all federal marriage benefits.  Congress wasn’t consulted.  Obama, through Sibelius, has made numerous changes to the Affordable Care Act.  On immigration reform, Congress failed to pass the Dream Act, but Obama effectively established it through executive order.  Republicans will never trust Obama to enforce the laws as Congress intended, nor should they.

Illegal aliens, and their continued flow into our country, are a real problem.  We don’t have enough jobs to take care of the people who are looking for work, as it is.  The number coming in is said to be down, but that is no doubt due to the economy and the unemployment situation. 

Democrats really want immigrants as citizens, because they vote Democratic.  They support amnesty, not only as a way to identify the aliens and allow them freedom from fear of deportation, but also to fast-track them to voting status.  In my opinion, it would be political suicide for our two-party system to allow that to happen.

I don’t believe Boehner’s comments mean that immigration reform is dead for this year.  The House may pass the first of the bills later this year, which might address one or both of two things: tighter border control, and enforcement of the requirement for employers to check citizenship status through the E Verify system, with severe penalties for the employer if the check isn’t performed.  Such laws would be dead in the Senate, because Harry Reid wants the big bill.  In spite of what they say, Democrats don’t want immigration reform – they want fast track amnesty.  If Republicans win the Senate, next year could be interesting: real reform bills could be passed and sent to the President.  By then, reality might have penetrated his fog of narcissism, and he might realize that his legacy may be extremely skimpy unless he signs one or two Republican-favored bills.  We can only hope.

The Sick Economy Party.

by asmwizard

Of course, they don’t really want the economy to be sick (with a few possible exceptions), but the Democrats are the party of the Sick Economy.  Their priorities say that government should be big, should control all aspects of life, and should do all it can for the poor and the middle class.  They believe business has to be regulated – can’t be trusted – so they favor all sorts of laws and rules to do that.  They create huge entitlement programs that take immense amounts of money to run, need lots of bureaucrats to oversee, and therefore need heavy taxes.  Because they spend more than they can raise through taxes, they print money or borrow and let the debt increase.  Big government, heavy regulation, heavy taxes, and running the government on credit or inflated money are the factors which guarantee the economy will be sick.

The Democrats have instituted several programs that actually pay people to exist and do nothing useful: the Earned Income Credit, a sort of reverse income tax, which pays people who don’t earn enough; food assistance; Aid to Dependent Children (the more fatherless babies you have, the more we’ll pay you); disability income (OK if the people are really disabled, but many aren’t); and infinitely extended unemployment.  So, fewer people want to work.  The government taxes a shrinking work force more and more, to pay for an increasing group of people who don’t.  Now, it’s almost an even split.  Democrats have a sneaky ulterior motive for promoting this: people who depend on government for their livelihood will vote for Democrats. 

Democrats bully big business with big taxes and heavy regulation.  They spout a constant theme: big business is evil – after all, they want to make a profit, and that’s at the expense of the little guy.  Never mind that a business cannot exist long without a profit. The Democrat propaganda constantly accuses Republicans of being the party of “the Rich” and of big business. 

American businesses are over-taxed.  The tax rate they pay is among the highest in the world.  With extremely high labor costs as well, American business doesn’t compete well in the world markets.  They are also clearly over-regulated, and have to spend a lot to satisfy government demands.  This means that cheaper foreign goods are imported and outsell American products, while American manufacturers go bankrupt and jobs move overseas.  This has been going on for decades, and is a major reason we have high unemployment.

To summarize, with huge entitlement programs, high taxes, big government, the tax and spend philosophy, and relentless regulation of business, Democrats are hamstringing our economy.  In fact, increasing government spending and taxation may cause out economy to collapse.  It’s that serious.  They aren’t likely to change anything, and have never considered reforms seriously under Obama.  As long as Democrats have the power, our economy will be sick.  There will be high levels of unemployment, few business start-ups, more people living in or near poverty, and fewer people achieving the American dream.  They have put our economy into a death spiral.  The Democrats are the party of the Sick Economy, and America’s economy, which hasn’t improved since Obama took power, won’t improve until Republicans take over the government. The sad truth is, that may not happen until after an economic collapse.

   

 

 

  

General observations about the U.S.

by asmwizard

A quick recap: America’s government began in revolution against the British king.  The colonies had to cooperate in order to field an army of rebels, and they did so by means of the Continental Congress.

Following the revolution, it seemed logical for the various colonies to form a confederation, and the United States of America was born with the United States Constitution, adopted September 17, 1787.  The Constitution set up a division of power with three supposedly co-equal branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.  We have a representative democracy, in which the states elect senators and representatives – the people are not allowed to vote directly on any issue.  This system worked well, for the most part, and not counting the contentious times around the Civil War, until about the year 1992, when Congress and the President began to be at odds.  The first government shutdowns occurred under Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1996.  The attempt to impeach Clinton probably began the great increasing trend in polarization between the parties, no doubt intensified by the Bush-Gore election and the second war with Iraq.  Hard feelings between parties continued to grow until we have today’s situation.

In my opinion, the equality of power between the three branches of government has seriously deteriorated since Clinton’s time.  The three branches are no longer co-equal.  The executive branch has become dominant.  What we have now is almost a dictatorship.  The president fails to enforce whatever laws he doesn’t like.  He stonewalls investigations into improprieties in his administration.  He issues Executive Orders to change the laws and regulations without consulting Congress.  The House is likely to investigate his action to extend the timeline for corporations to adopt Obamacare requirements, which they consider extra-legal; he did it without authority. 

The Attorney General and various other officials have managed to totally flout Congress.  The House seemingly has no power to enforce cooperation in its various investigations into misconduct by government agencies.  A Contempt of Congress citation against Eric Holder is meaningless until he leaves office, since he won’t prosecute himself.  Even afterward, a Democrat in the office may refuse to initiate proceedings. 

The Supreme Court often votes along strict party lines. One might think law is different for the two parties.  There are also two ways of looking at the Constitution, apparently.  Democrats seem to believe big government should be able to totally ignore it.  Republicans like to think there are some things the Federal government should leave to the states.  Almost certainly, Obama will be able to give liberals the majority within his last three years of office.

State’s rights don’t seem to mean much now.  States receive so much money from the Federal government that they almost have to go along, even if they aren’t mandated to cooperate. 

The Federal government has become a giant money collector, borrower, and distributor.  Politicians spend a million dollars the way an ordinary citizen would a nickel.  A billion dollars is like a twenty to Congress and the President.  But, when you spend a few billion here, and a few billion there, they add up.  A thousand billion dollars is a trillion, and our Federal debt is about 17 of them.   We have the most wasteful president in history, and the government agencies he is supposed to manage seem to think they can do anything whatever with government money, including having lots of parties.  After all, there’s an endless supply of it.

Being elected to the House or Senate is like winning the lottery, and most politicians think only of their re-election.  They pander to the voters and support huge giveaways to them.  They vote themselves high salaries and great benefits, including retirement.  Many become old in their job.  Proposed amendments to the Constitution to impose term limits and make Congress members have to follow the same laws as everyone else don’t seem to be going anywhere.  At this moment, many members of Congress are trying to exempt themselves from the Obamacare regulations for their own offices.  There are a few good public servants in the group of 500+, but good ones who follow conservative principles are rare.

The majority of the electorate is either totally self-serving, uninformed, or stupid, in my opinion.  After all, they re-elected Obama after four years of miserable performance.  They allowed Democrats to retain control of the Senate in 2010.  Nevada re-elected Harry Reid. 

Overall, the Federal government is ineffective.  They haven’t agreed on a budget since 2007.  The party in power takes no interest in cutting back spending or addressing the deficit and debt.  The Congress can’t get needed reforms done, or even agree on what is needed. Incompetence is rampant in the State Department and the IRS.  Legislation, totally dominated by Democrats since 2008, has been immensely overcomplicated.  Obamacare was voted into law by Democrats who never read the bill – no human could read and understand it in less than a month.  No one knows who wrote the bill of more than 2000 pages.  It’s an immense social experiment and no one knows how our medical care will be affected by it.

Barack Obama came to the office without any significant accomplishment and was totally unqualified.  He’s intelligent and well-spoken, but – his is a weird personality.  He doesn’t lead, never proposes detail. He controls everything but is responsible for nothing. He just tells Congress he wants legislation of a certain kind, and leaves it to them – knowing that the Congress is divided and incompetent, and can’t agree on anything.  He apparently despises conservatives and never listens to Republican suggestions.  He spends most of his time campaigning, fund-raising, traveling to make unneeded speeches on the public budget and visiting foreign countries for no apparent reason. I have never figured out whether he’s incompetent or is deliberately trying to wreck the economy, but the effect is the same. 

About the time the Roman Empire collapsed, I imagine some people were saying similar things about their leadership.

As I have often said, I’m not totally satisfied with our present administration, but of course you’d never figure that out from what I’ve written here.

People said it didn’t matter . . .

by asmwizard

A lot of anonymous material flows through the internet.  This is based on such a post I recently received.  It’s anonymous, so it’s fair game.  I’ll plagiarize it, modify it a bit, and post it.

WHEN – he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Muramar Kaddafi and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary Communist radicals, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his voting record in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he refused to wear a flag lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he surrounded himself in the White House with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco – a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home – people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist /Communists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to “fundamentally transform this Nation” into something else, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax cheats and socialists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in “Explicit Consent,” harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual and organizer of a group called Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Mark Lloyd as Diversity Czar who believes in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth, who supports Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Valerie Jarrett, an avowed Socialist, was selected as Obama’s Senior White House Advisor, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Carol Browner, a well known socialist as Global Warming Czar working on Cap and Trade as the nation’s largest tax, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary could not be confirmed because he was a tax cheat, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , people said it didn’t matter..

WHEN – he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his actions concerning the Middle East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel , our long time ally, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States , people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and ‘stating’ that he was raised a Muslim, was educated as a Muslim, and is still a Muslim, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State , people woke up— but it was too late. Add these up one by one and you get a phenomenal score that points to the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society.

BUT – it did matter.  All of it.

People ignored warnings

by asmwizard

A lot of anonymous material flows through the internet.  This is based on such a post I recently received.  It’s anonymous, so it’s fair game.  I’ll plagiarize it, modify it a bit, and post it.

WHEN – he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Muramar Kaddafi and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary Communist radicals, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his voting record in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he refused to wear a flag lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he surrounded himself in the White House with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco – a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home – people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist /Communists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to “fundamentally transform this Nation” into something else, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed cabinet members and several advisors who were tax cheats and socialists, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in “Explicit Consent,” harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual and organizer of a group called Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Mark Lloyd as Diversity Czar who believes in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth, who supports Hugo Chavez, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Valerie Jarrett, an avowed Socialist, was selected as Obama’s Senior White House Advisor, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Carol Browner, a well known socialist as Global Warming Czar working on Cap and Trade as the nation’s largest tax, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary could not be confirmed because he was a tax cheat, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , people said it didn’t matter..

WHEN – he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – his actions concerning the Middle East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel , our long time ally, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States , people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and ‘stating’ that he was raised a Muslim, was educated as a Muslim, and is still a Muslim, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade, people said it didn’t matter.

WHEN – he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State , people woke up— but it was too late. Add these up one by one and you get a phenomenal score that points to the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society.

BUT – it did matter.  All of it.

 

Who holds the moral high ground?

by asmwizard

As published in The Leavenworth Times, April 3, 2012.

Liberals routinely claim the moral high ground.  They believe government should directly help the poor and other groups of victims, and assert that conservatives just want to make things better for the rich.  An air of superiority permeates the demeanor of many university professors, wealthy movie stars, and cable network personalities.  For them, there is no debate: they are morally superior.  To that end, they push for ever bigger, more intrusive government.  That has a feedback effect: the more people depending on big government, the more downtrodden to vote for Democrats to continue it, and the more superior they feel.

But are they more moral, as a group, than conservatives? Should we hold them up as models of morality? First, a disclaimer – politicians of all stripes are often corrupt and self-serving, but let’s ignore that and just assume liberals and conservatives act for what they believe is the greater good, not just for themselves.

First of all, liberals reside on the left of the big-to-smaller-government spectrum, as well as the left of the government-power-to-personal-freedom spectrum. They always push for bigger, more powerful government – with more regulations, more taxes, and less freedom for the individual.  Point for conservatives.

Liberals want government to decide who is poor, keep raising the poverty line, and do all they can to keep government largesse flowing to them, rather than improve their overall circumstances. They don’t really want the poor to help themselves. They have allowed nearly half of the public to get away with paying no taxes whatever.  In effect, they attempt to make many voters dependent on government money.  Conservatives want to make it possible for people to help themselves.

Liberals aren’t fiscally responsible.  They’ve grown the deficit and the public debt under Obama, and despite holding all power for two years, have made no move to reform anything.  They’ve run the government on continuing resolutions, never daring to produce a budget which might have to cut a government program.

Leftists are notorious for dishonesty.  They believe the end justifies any means.  Liberals dance dangerously close to that attitude.  For example, liberal journalists and TV personalities routinely pretend to be objective while pushing the liberal agenda.  This is hypocrisy. 

LIberals consistently attack family values, such as traditional marriage and religious freedom. They have asserted rights that never existed before, and imposed them on the majority.

Liberals have no compunction in using mobs to enforce their minority will on the majority.  The huge, organized demonstrations in Wisconsin are an example; the various Occupy movements are another.  Mob action is the opposite of rational discourse and democratic process.  Conservative movements like the Tea Party have behaved properly, and have never used mob action to try to enforce their will.

Liberals seem to hate capitalism.  They want totally regulated economy.  Never mind that such has never worked – even Russia and China have had to back away from it.  Vigorous capitalist economies have done more to raise the standard of living than anything else, particularly in America.  But Liberals still fight it.

From all of the above, and much more, conservatives in general really hold the moral high ground.  The Obama administration proves that.  Obama flaunts the will of the majority – mostly conservatives who want smaller, simpler, less intrusive government, personal freedom and responsibility, and a lawful society.  He has increased government power: ignoring congress on many issues, increasing government size, allowing the debt to grow more than all previous presidents combined, taking over health care, spending ever more, refusing to even consider entitlement reform (while saying he is interested in doing so), pushing irrational energy ideas, and on and on.   

He does all that with an arrogant, confident air.  But you can’t blame him: he’s a liberal, therefore he believes he is morally superior.  He’s wrong.  

 

   

 

 



The president has plans too

by asmwizard
This totally unbiased piece appeared in the Leavenworth Times on Feb. 14, 2012.  I hope you realize it is tongue-in-cheek.
The president has plans, too . . .

All we’ve heard lately are the plans of the Republican candidates, as to what they will do after becoming president. We forget that President Obama may be re-elected. He has plans too. He’s revealed most of them, in the State of the Union speech and in his actions so far, he just hasn’t written them down. I thought I’d write them for him so he won’t have to.

After his re-election, Obama will face a sobering challenge — it will be his last term. Without a reason to campaign full-time, he’ll have to divide his time between more vacationing and more partying with rich folks and taking money for Democrats in exchange for government favors and exemptions.

He plans to make the Executive Branch more efficient by creating two more cabinet positions: The Department of Republican Bashing will assume the job of telling everyone how bad Republicans are, freeing the President to play more golf and travel around. The Department of Tax Code Tweaking will seek new deductions that encourage businesses to hire more workers while going bankrupt. Complicating taxes has been an important tool of Democrats since President Wilson. The President is considering a deduction for not taking any deductions. Tax reform and simplification must be avoided at all costs.

The President’s plans for jobs, energy, and the economy are all related to environmental protection and union appeasement. The new cabinet positions will create many jobs. After increasing the number of federal employees by 15% in his first term, he ought to be able to add another 15% in his second. He’ll continue to create jobs – in other countries – by driving American businesses away with more regulations and higher taxes. His proposed minimum tax on millionaires is actually a doubling of the capital gains tax. To please the greenies, he’ll maintain his stranglehold on oil, gas, and coal production. For the unions, he’ll make certain that no state with right-to-work laws can obtain new business, if he can help it.

He plans to expand the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s new breathing regulations will reduce the carbon dioxide emitted by the American public. The “no breathing on Sunday” rules are controversial, but will make a large dent in greenhouse gases. Obamacare will cover any side effects of not breathing.

His plans for entitlement reforms? He’ll let the Republicans do all the work, then he’ll stop them. Entitlement recipients vote.

Health care? When the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, he’ll ignore their ruling while saying he’s obeying it. Fortunately, he’s improved his game on ignoring the Constitution and his oath to defend it. He’s learned how to enforce only the laws he likes.

For illegal immigration reform, he’ll push for instant citizenship, allowing illegals to qualify for food stamps, welfare, and voting. But, they’ll have to pass a test. The test will consist of one question: “Habla English?” (“Si” is the correct answer.)

Obama’s plans for the federal deficit? He’ll tell the Senate to extend the record of no budget proposals by Democrats to 2000 days. He’ll instruct his party to ignore all urges to economize. Actually, they never have urges of this sort. He’ll raise the federal debt to mega-trillions, but at the right time, he’ll start a war with China, then confiscate all their American assets. China will go bankrupt. Easy win. Even if we lose the west coast cities, it’s worth it.

In his foreign policy, he’ll continue to ignore all problems in the Middle East, while saying what he’s doing is working.

The President will pursue his current wars. His war on Christians is going well. His class warfare plans are to tax the rich 500%. (send every millionaire a bill for 5 times his/her total income. They have savings, don’t they?)

President Obama will have many challenges in his second term, but he is up to tackling them. His new mobile golf course office will allow him to keep his finger on the pulse of the American people. No pulse? No problem.

State of the Union

by asmwizard

Instead of giving an accurate one sentence summary, “Its totally f***ed up”, President Obama elected to be positive.  This of course led to many inaccuracies about the state of the union.  

As usual, his speech was well done.  He might be the best speech reader in history.  His delivery is convincing.  There seemed to be little rancor, and at times you might have thought him conservative due to what he said.  As I watched, I kept in mind things he said he’d do in past speeches, and how few of them he had actually done.  Words and promises haven’t seemed to mean much to Obama. 

Before the speech, I made a list of things I thought he wouldn’t mention:  (My score in italics below – according to my notes and to the best of my memory)

  • Keystone Pipeline (not mentioned)
  • Entitlement reform (said he’d work with Congress.  Lots of luck)
  • Medicare reform (said he’d work with Congress. Lots of luck)
  • Social Security reform (said he’d work with Congress. Lots of luck)
  • Medicaid reform (said he’d work with Congress. Lots of luck)
  • Tax reform (said he’d work with Congress. Lots of luck)
  • Drilling in the Gulf (Not mentioned specifically, but said he would work to allow offshore drilling)
  • Reducing regulations (said has directed the executive branch to examine all regulations and recommend those not needed)
  • Reducing food stamp use (not mentioned)
  • High unemployment (not mentioned)
  • Obamacare  (not mentioned specifically, but he said he wouldn’t give up some features of it)

I also made a list of things I thought he would mention:

  • Raise taxes on the rich (he said this, in so many words)
  • I thought he would claim success.  (definitely)
  • Claim the economy is improving  (definitely)
  • invoke class warfare (not as much as I expected)
  • Call for more spending (not as much as I expected)
  • Fairness and equality (a whole lot)
  • Republican obstructionism (touched on it, but much less than I expected)
  • Republicans want to protect the rich (I don’t think he said this, may have hinted)

So, in many ways, his speech surprised me. 

Highlights of his speech as I saw it:

  • Last troops home from Iraq; Osama bin Laden no longer a threat; In Afghanistan the Taliban is broken (Is it?)
  • Imagine what we could accomplish if we worked together, like the military does.
  • Wants everyone to do their fair share. 
  • In 2008, house of cards collapsed, 4 million jobs lost before I took office; 4 more million jobs before my countermeasures took hold; but in the last 6 months, 3 million jobs created (Question – does that include the Christmas temps?  I don’t know)
  • I will fight obstruction (by Republicans?) with action.
  • I’m working to stop outsourcing of jobs; I have a blueprint for American manufacturers; tax credits for them to stimulate more jobs (credits the answer to every Liberal problem)
  • We saved General Motors; now GM is again the world’s leading manufacturer.
  • Tax code needs revision; no tax deductions for outsourcing; basic minimum tax for all companies; stop rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas.
  • Will form a trade adjustment bureau, will catch and penalize cheating by foreign countries; I’ve made trade agreements and will continue to do so; American exports will rise.
  • Businesses can’t find workers with tech skills, I will boost retraining, will commit to train 2 million workers; turn unemployment systems into reemployment systems.
  • We need more teachers; reward good ones, eliminate bad ones (sounds suspiciously like merit – teacher’s unions won’t buy that)
  • We shouldn’t let students drop out of school.  (Federal law to that effect?  Not so fast) Congress should reduce interest rate on student loans.
  • Illegals – we have put more boots on the border, fewest illegals crossing in the past 16 years (due to the economy?)  We need comprehensive immigration reform now (Not before closing the border, Charlie)
  • Women, equal pay for equal work; expand tax relief for small businesses; don’t gut federally sponsored research; develop every source of energy; no more subsidizing the oil industry; give it to clean energy (Like Solyndra?) I’ve directed the Navy to make a large purchase of clean energy (solar panels?  From China?) 
  • Congress should take the funds saved by no longer having wars, take half to pay off the debt, use the other half to fund infrastructure rebuilding (Let me count the ways this is wrong – we can’t pay off the debt as long as we’re borrowing a trillion or more per year from China.  What part about cut spending don’t you understand?)
  • No more bailouts for banks, ever.  We’ll regulate the heck out of them; I will establish a financial crimes unit within the FBI, which will chase down and punish financial fraud.
  • I want a minimum tax of 30% on the very wealthy (above $250,000); I’m prepared to reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as long as the rich pay more.  (Note – I believe he’s effectively raising the capital gains tax here, although he didn’t say.  I don’t think a minimum tax on income only would raise much money.)
  • Send me a bill to penalize insider trading by members of Congress.  (It would also be nice to see a penalty (say dismissal from office and a 5 year prison term) for presidents who engage in crony capitalism)
  • I want a rule in the Senate that all nominations receive an up or down vote within 90 days; I want Congress to give me authority to consolidate and modernize the executive branch (translation – appoint 50 more czars)
  • I will act with or without Congress.  It would be better if Congress would help.
  • America is back, anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong. 

 

Comments on Fox News:

Krauthammer – the speech was less partisan than I expected; it had a much narrower focus than his first state of union speech; it seemed to lack long term objectives.

A.B. Stoddard – He pushed clean energy.

Bret Hume – He had a long laundry list, wanted to please everyone; it was fairly boring.

There was a Republican response from Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana.

  • The State of the Union is grave; was bad when he took over, but he was hired to make it better; he can’t claim that he has made it anything but worse.
  • He’s added trillions to the national debt; his middle class is built out of government jobs and dollars; the young have been harmed; there is economic stagnation; the time is running out to save us from a Greece style meltdown.
  • The loyal opposition must do more than complain, we must offer solutions.
  • We need a simpler tax system with fewer regulations; must unite to save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
  • Obama needs to stop accusing Republicans of obstructionism; Republicans have passed many bills which are blocked by the Democrats in the Senate and the President.
  • The President seeks to divide us; the government should serve, not supervise us.

My final take on the speech: it was an attempt to baffle us with Bulls**t.  It was a campaign speech.