Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Moving Day

This was a good start. Really. I liked it here a lot. However, since I became part of the key club over at The Hostages, I have gotten more comfortable with WordPress, and frankly, one sign-in there can connect me with all my blogs, so I staked out a new corner there. Its a little rough right now, but I think I can make it all mine soon enough. I'll still come back here from time to time, but most of my politcal posting will be done at the new place. See ya there:

Thursday, April 09, 2009

On Pirates and Pretenders

The Obama Administration is doing what it can to make us less safe in the world. Oh yes, I know Joe Biden doesn't think so, but he is the same guy who got caught plagiarizing someone else's work and asked a guy in a wheelchair to stand up so people could see him. His opinion is a little light on credibility, if you know what I'm saying...

Anyway, my reason for saying this is his administration's swift and decisive response to the seizing of a U.S. flagged cargo ship near Cape Horn by Somali pirates. These pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, which was bound for Kenya. The crew fought back, and reclaimed the ship. Thankfully, there are still some Americans who are willing to take a stand against terrorists and push them back. The drawback is that the terrorists still have a hostage, the ship's captain, who is being held by the pirates in a lifeboat. The U.S. Navy dispatched a destroyer, USS Bainbridge, which has been in sight of the lifeboat for many hours now. The Obama administration has decided to use FBI negotiators to seek the safe return of the captain. From the AP:

A ragtag band of pirates has put President Barack Obama in a bind: He commands overwhelming firepower in the form of a growing flotilla of U.S. warships, but he doesn't want to use it.

Thursday's decision to turn to FBI hostage negotiators showed Obama reaching for all of his limited options in the high-seas hostage drama. Negotiators in the United States were communicating with the pirates through a Navy destroyer that shadowed the small lifeboat where four pirates held American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips.


I guess the "we don't negotiate with terrorists" policy is officially dead. But the more important question is why doesn't Obama act like a world leader and dispatch these terrorists, and their land-bound compatriots with extreme prejudice? There is nothing to be gained in such a silly standoff. Each passing minute that these vermin draw breath makes us look that much weaker in the eyes of other nations and assorted bad actors who smell our blood in the water and would like nothing better than to swim by and take a bite from us. Lord Zero's intense need to be liked and perceived as a chin-stroking intellectual has now officially put us in a place where I, and others who have had to deal with bullies at any time in our lives, can realize that we really are less safe tonight as a nation then we were last night. Good Job, Barry! When the alligators come, I want to feed them your family first.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

A Conclusion

I was driving home from working late at the office when I heard that yet another Obama nominee has...tax trouble! I placed this on the great mental bulletin board of ongoing outrages perpetrated against the American people by this administration, and it occurred to me that back a little while ago, we were boldly informed by the Vice President and Smartest Person in the Room (just ask him) that paying taxes is patriotic.

Now the Democrats were the same people who were getting their upturned noses out of joint by the insinuation that their overt and latent "Hate America First" activities somehow allowed those of us who don't prescribe to that toxic viewpoint to question their patriotism. Well, finally, I think that even by their quixotic standards, they are damned by the mouth of one of their spokespersons, and the fact that so very many of them do not feel that is necessary to pay their taxes, but that is only one of many reasons.

I question their patriotism when they run on a platform that has the government redistribution wealth, assaulting the concept of private property that is fundamental to the success of the American Experience.

I question their patriotism when they advocate for the concept of mandatory voluntary service, making the government the chief endorser of involuntary servitude.

I question their patriotism when they determine that people who are hostile to every idea we hold dear, and are prone to violence, mayhem and murder as expression of their beliefs should not be held on foreign shores, but here on our soil instead.

I question their patriotism when they push through a grossly obscene 'stimulus package' that has very little immediate spending, that funds political activist groups sympathetic to those who do not respect the law of the land, and that many of them never even bothered to read.

I question their patriotism when they appoint a tax cheat as the head of the cabinet agency that oversee the tax system and enforcement.

I question their patriotism when they propose a federal budget that will destroy the economy and enslave many future generations to the serve of government debt that may never be repaid.

I question their patriotism when they move beyond the role of regulator in our economy, a role plagued by uneven application and selective prosecution on its best days, to being an active participant by deciding who wins and loses by 'bailing out' some companies in financial difficulty, and letting others fail.

I question their patriotism when they bypass the Board of Directors of corporations accepting bailout money and demanding the resignations of CEO of said companies.

I question their patriotism when they seek the 'regulatory' power to seize any business that they deem to be a threat to the economy.

I question their patriotism when they introduce legislation that, if passed, would limit my choices for health care, food, or the programs I want to listen to or watch.

I question their patriotism when they actively undermine the dollar by monetizing our debt.

I question their patriotism when they propose ex post facto laws and bills of attainder to seize bonuses that were lawfully contracted for and allowed in their own legislation with regard to a corporation that accepted bailout money, and using the faux and misplaced outrage to suggest that they have a right to regulate the compensation for executives in all businesses.

I question their patriotism when they state their goal to increase taxation on American corporations with the idiotic but popular justification that the corporations do not "pay their fair share".

I question their patriotism when they foment class envy, and encourage the belief that those who did not work to earn are somehow entitled to the fruits of the labor of those that did.

I question their patriotism when they continually vilify those industries and individuals who produce innovation and bring cutting edge technology, services, and treatments on line, and are willing to risk their futures to do so.

I question their patriotism when they rule with an underlying philosophy that the government, an entity that does not produce anything, and does very little in an efficient manner, has a duty to provide health care, rescue the fiscally irresponsible, and impose mediocrity upon us all.

I question their patriotism when they appoint as 'czars' that are not part of the chains of command of cabinet agencies in roles where they will probably have oversight over the areas governed by those agencies, largely because they would not make it through the appointment process.

I question their patriotism when they stubbornly adhere to environmental policies that ARE NOT supported by the science, even though they will be ruinous to US business.

I question their patriotism when they appoint transnationalist attorneys to high ranking positions where they will be able to actively advocate for their foreign law-over-the Constitution preferences.

I question their patriotism when the overall effect of their stated goals and proposed legislation is to consolidate power, including powers reserved to the states and individuals in the hands of the federal government.

I question their patriotism when they establish automotive company advisory boards populated by people who do not own American cars, have no experience in the auto business, or any business, for that matter.

I question their patriotism when they so hamstring an industry with regulations that it simply cannot succeed, and then have the nerve to vilify the executives of those industries when they finally do fail.


But hey, what do we expect from people who aren't patriotic enough to pay their taxes?

Feel free to add your own. I know there are more reasons to question their patriotism.