For Whom The Bells Toll

A while back on 8/15, I blogged "REALLY!", a "Hill and Bill" observation, and as anticipated received a ration of vilification over perceived racism and antifeminism on my part! Is not our President a proven disaster no matter being our first president of color, whatever shade that color might connote; that Hillary Rodham Clinton's public record would suggest a similar presidency no matter the chance of being our first female president? What's with you people, can't we get beyond this color, gender, et al. division gamut you persist on running! What happen to the measure of a candidate's character, morality, patriotism, accomplishments! Have we become so divided in our diversity that they are no longer important, that our color, gender, ethnicity in it's self can carry the day? The word diversity to me suggests a means of categorizing, dividing, of culling a population for all the wrong reasons. The elements of diversity as practiced by politicians is not to unite but to divide! Not meant to be a range of different things per se, but specific different skin color, different gender, different ethnicity, different whatever.That is an anathema to everything American, everything our country was founded on! Sure we have had our troubles sorting out the unique concept of all men being equal, having the inalienable right for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But, we've done it better than any one else on this planet..., up to now! Have we become so self loathing that we can't recognize the good thing we've got going here and rally in it's preservation, or have we gone down this path of condemnation so far that we can hear the bells toll in repose for this great American experiment of ours! I can assure you the world will not be better off with out us! There is no place for character assassination, ascension or advantage based on race, gender, color or creed in these United states of America-, so says our Constitution and Bill of Rights loud and clear! Abide you politically correct morons, before you do us in! We are supposed to be the United States of America not the Divided States of America! 

Assad Aside

Let's not give this poseur an opportunity to go to war! No question he needs a major distraction to mask both his domestic and foreign debacles. And, Syria has all the ingredients for that potential, as it has all the ingredients for disaster! Whom are we to come to the aid of, the Hezbollah, the Sunni Jihodist, the Muslim Brotherhood? Who are our enemies then to be? And tell me are our actions to be precipitated and/or sanctioned by that august body, the U.N? I tremble in anticipation of your answers. I agree we can not just sit on our hands till the 2014 Mid-terms, the 2016 Elections to rid ourselves of this President's maniacal administration, but to afford the electorate a diversion to that end could be catastrophic! This strutting, pompous, arrogant president of ours is poised in my estimation to do us great harm in a last ditch effort to attach some semblance of accomplishment to his disastrous presidency (if only to be Carterian in stature). Once again in my estimation President Obama is capable of plunging us, if not the world into a self serving holocaust of biblical proportion! .....as the commercial goes: Don't let President Obama plunge us, the world, into a holocaust of biblical proportion! 

Shallow Scott Brown

So he chose not to run for the vacated congressional "Kerry Seat", further advising, nor is he interested in running for the governorship of Massachusetts in succeeding Deval Patrick. Both attainable goals, as judged by his party's political pundits. He is what he is however, a pretty, celebrity wannabe, a political dilettante. He lends a new dimension to being a flash in the pan in the scheme of Massachusetts' politics. A could have been, that never was or will be! He is the candidate on the block that seemingly has all the desirable attributes for greatness: looks, physical stature and presence, the boy next door easy going charm-, all superficial!  And let us not forget, a thought to be emerging formidable conservative politician with the potential to lead  Massachusetts out of it's quagmire of Democrat rule. As it turns out, all a charade, apparently his ambitions fulfilled in 15mins of fame in claiming the "Kennedy Seat" (a short lived accomplishment; Elizabeth Warren stuck an arrow in his ballon!). He has apparently had enough of "...the thrill of glory and the agony of defeat..." He is beyond all that now, he has risen to celebrity status: time to trade in on his model good looks; rest on his singular laurel!  And what of his loyal supporters you ask, those tireless campaigners, those Tea Party members who poured their blood, sweat, tears... and money into his tenuous candidacy for the Senate, all in great expectations of his championing their conservative aspirations for state, and country for years to come? What did they get for their effort-, his celebrity? Zilch, Nada! Jump in your pickup truck Scott Brown and get lost!

Really!

Awhile back here, I shuttered over the potential of "Hill and Bill" being back in the White House come 2016. At the risk of being redundant: It now appears it's fait accompli in the minds of the Democrat Party leadership and their hordes of liberal, socialist, politically correct minions! In the accomplishment of being part of electing the first president of color no matter its dire consequences-, now the chance of being part of electing the first woman president, no matter it's sure to be equally dire consequences, has them literally palpitating in anticipation! Can this fetish of ours for tolerating infamous notoriety and celebrity, once again trump credentials advising intelligence, morality, experience and accomplishment! Here we have the record of two to examine and compare-, intelligence, morality, accomplishment?  No question this Democrat power couple has had the media exposure, reveled in the celebrity, survived the slings and arrows of accompanying notoriety. And in that alone we should say they be awarded a free pass to the presidency of the United States of America? I didn't think it possible we the people would be afforded yet another opportunity to compound our lack of judgement, so blatantly demonstrated in 2008 and again in 2012. But here we have it, the threatened " Bill and Hill Revival". This time around: starring that former  martyred First Lady and stellar performing Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, ably accompanied by our impeached 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton. TADA!

The Empire State Crumbles

New York State is rapidly becoming the poster child for failed liberal policies, results being swept aside using the Obama Administration’s tried and true techniques of diversion, outrage and finger pointing….all the while maintaining the status quo of redistribution, entitlement and no accountability.  

Exhibit A:  Republicans, a tiny minority in the New York State legislature brought to the floor proposals for welfare reform in the Empire State.  To set the stage, let us bear in mind that New York has some of the highest property taxes in the nation, taxes set so exorbitantly high to subsidize the outrageous benefit packages offered to welfare recipients, perhaps the state’s largest import.  It is well established that New York ranks number one in the country for expenditure per welfare recipient….and if that news isn’t bad enough, they spend more than number two (Texas) and number three (California)…..combined.  And with the digital age we have come so far.  We have evolved from actual food stamps to SNAP, strategically renamed by the left to avoid any stigma associated with public welfare, but essentially a credit card with food dollars on it.  Similarly, these same welfare recipients receive their monthly redistribution check on a credit card to spend as they please.  Consequently it has become common knowledge that these cards have become the currency of the indigent, traded for cash and with no checks and balances, and are being used to purchase everything from lap dances to liquor, theme park tickets to junk food.  Isn’t America just grand when hard working people have their money taken away so it can be used for the entertainment indiscretion of the indigent and the irresponsible. But when these points were made on the floor of the state chambers, the Republicans were summarily dismissed by the Democrat majority with no discussion.  Bravo.  Way to serve your demographic and simultaneously [expeletive deleted] the New York taxpayer.  Notice to working New Yorkers: the queue to a better life south of the Mason Dixon line forms here. 

Exhibit B:  Syracuse New York has once again failed to meet national standards for students grades 3 through 8, bested only by Rochester in that dubious distinction.  So much for “no child left behind”. Rather New York prefers to leave virtually all of them behind.  Syracuse actually had just a tad over 6% of students meet national standards for math and about 8% meet standards for English.  For those of you educated in Syracuse public schools, that means upwards of 90% of students failed to meet standards in math and English. Seriously.  And what did Syracuse’s liberal administrators and the liberal teacher’s union have to say about this performance?  Why, the usual barrage of excuses ranging from refusal to “teach to a test” (translation:  inability to teach, or just to lazy to do so) to finger pointing at “demographics” (translation: too many poor, minority students), “family dynamics” (translation: single parent households), and lack of resources (translation: pay us more).  As if the rest of the country is somehow devoid of minorities, single parent households and poverty. All this coming from overpaid administrators and their six figure salaries and exorbitant benefit packages.   As local Syracuse conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry observed: the Syracuse public school officials are essentially saying to public school students:  The welfare line forms that way.  But more troublesome is the reaction from the officials: we will not hold the teachers accountable for this dismal performance.  Excuse me, but exactly who is accountable for educating our public school children if not the educators?  And what other job in America is not judged on performance standards?

How can it be that Americans have become so stupid that when obvious failure stares them in the face, they fail to recognize it.  Liberal bastions of utopian socialist policies like Detroit , New York and California continue to teeter on the edge of insolvency and yet we respond with more liberal policies,or in the case of Detroit, a simple refusal to alter our course, try something, anything different.  And it’s not like we haven’t had a blueprint for this before: as Canada’s government-run healthcare starts to crack, services are denied, patients die on waiting lists for treatment, Europe flails under failed immigration policy and socialist governments, and unemployment remains staggeringly high while government services and benefits  become unsustainable.  Are we so blinded by the promise of a government that supplies all our needs that we are willing to sacrifice our independence and skew our work ethic towards sloth? Apparently.  I have seen the enemy and it is us.

Why Can't We See

To paraphrase our anthem: "O say can't we see by the dawns early light what we so proudly once hailed; that flag and country are going down the tubes...?" It's beyond me how we can so carelessly ignore the preponderance of evidence that as a country we are in great peril. By our own governments statistics, our economy, no matter how spun, unequivocally advises  we are in dire straights; our domestic problems appear near insurmountable; our international prestige seriously besmirched. Is it as simple as, the stupid are in the majority and are unaware or incapable of realizing the reality of it all, and in so empowered by their slim margin of numbers have the potential to do the rest of us in? My God what has happen to us! Unfortunately we know, don't we? We the concerned citizens of this country have become so divided and/or passive-, that we have become bystanders to our own imminent demise! Tell me how can anyone ignore: our unemployment, our anemic GNP, our poverty level, our national debt, our burgeoning welfare rolls, our falling standard of living, our shrinking once great middle-class, our governments domestic and international scandals: the IRS, NASA, Obamacare, misappropriation of stimulus funds, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, etc, etc... What is it going to take to convince our liberal Democrat and RINO brethren something is seriously wrong! Are our elected officials along with their cadre of so called public servants so entrenched in the bureaucracy of government that their personal interests of security and reward in their governing trumps the best interest of their country, of their constituencies-,  it certainly appears that way. If that is indeed the case, is it not reason enough for us to put our differences behind us and pose a united front in taking back our country? Come on people the clock is ticking loud and clear!

I Do Go On

Aside from whether Edward Snowden is a well intended whistle-blower or a traitorous weasel, why should we be surprised Putin thumbed his nose at us over his harboring of this fugitive; further that al Qaeda is alive and well and still yanking on our chain, the cause for shutting down our embassies; that America, in spite of it's conspicuous military and economic might, is seen by it's adversaries as impotent. Why? Because we have demonstrated of late we are impotent! Our embassies in Libya and Egypt violated with impunity, our support of our steadfast allies faltering and dismissive; our UN presence mealy mouthed and submissive. And don't tell me we are tirelessly working behind the scenes, leading from behind, resolving our and others' international problems through diplomacy-, ameliorating all offended parties positions' fairly and equally. There is only one offended party here, only one party whose ambassador was killed, whose flag was desecrated, that was humiliated by inaction... that would be us-,The United States of America! I can't bring myself to cope with the frustration and embarrassment in being bullied by 2nd rate countries, disrespected by despots!  Everything just seems to be piling up on us, futility to do anything about it palpable. All we hear from near every quarter is the dire consequences of our government's inadequacies in dealing with both international and domestic affairs. The very same government that has blatantly demonstrated a penchant for misinterpreting our constitution, flaunting our laws, appeasing our enemies, mismanaging our economy, oppressing we its citizenry. I know I said it all profusely in my previous rant, but it just goes to show you how these circumstances stick in my craw! Admittedly I'm immersed in a liberal, socialistic, politically correct bubble here in the Northeast and unmercifully subjected to the terrains' distorted impression of an America to be-, and If so offended I should just bail out! But, my circumstances prevent that alternative. So there you have it, you are stuck with my whining!   

A More Insightful Tom Swift Here

Admittedly my blogs for the most part are spontaneous, right off the top of my head responses to inquiries, statements, circumstances; events offered, observed, promulgated and/or transpired one way or another by my liberal antagonists. However on occasion I am prompted to be more thoughtful, more introspective in my observations, more wordy-, this is one of those occasions. A long read for me, but hopefully one of substance and merit for you:

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the White house thinks that we the public are stupid, or at the very least, so overcome by attention deficit disorder that they can get anything past us.  We are sheep. And they may be right. Their consistent display of performance theater consists of denial, usually in the form of an outright lie, followed by amendment and outrage, followed by disinformation, followed by stalling that allows the story to drift back to page four, having been overcome by stories on the progeny of the British royals for example, until both the scandal driven media and the public have completely lost interest, at which time the story withers on the vine, or the ultimate discovery of wrongdoing is just not that damn interesting anymore.  As Peggy Noonan astutely observed, this administration is more interested in campaigning with virtually no interest in actually governing:

“Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate sinister entity that’s at the root of all of our problems.  Some of these voices also do their best to gum up the works.They warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.”
--Barack Obama, May 2013 

Hypocrisy, thy name is Obama.We are in the midst of the slowest recovery in the history of recessions and yet, rather than seeking to grow the economy, this administration continues to bang the inequality drum and redistribute wealth.  Waxing philosophical on his future legacy, Obama and his media lap dogs are now touting “Republican obstructionism”, the latest sound bite in a campaign of deflection.  Whereas Reagan and Clinton sparked 3 to 4% rates of growth by crossing the aisle, cutting tax rates, and spurring business to grow and hire creating wealth for all, this administration continues to follow failed policy with more failed policy in an arrogant display of partisan politics, punishing business with punitive corporate tax rates and Obamacare penalties.The result is growth less than 2%, increasing food stamp rolls, increasing disability, continued unemployment, and a median household income that has plummeted during what is supposed to be a recovery.The middle class, Obama’s poster child for this recovery, continues to suffer under his policies while the scapegoated rich are doing just fine, thank you very much, with stock market rallies and easy money on artificially low interest rates. Obama stated himself that he believes in redistribution, the calling card of socialism, and he is reaping the rewards of failed policy as we mimic Europe’s slow descent into stagnation and social upheaval.  It is misfortune to be the first lemming off the cliff, but it is stupidity to follow the rest of the herd over the edge.

The assault on our Constitutional rights continues to be worrisome. Obama remains dismissive of border security and interferes in the southwestern states attempts to control their porous borders with Mexico.  Attorney General Holder, the highest ranking law officer in the land continues to behave abominably by inserting his Federal nose into Texas abortion laws (why is it that an abortion limit at 20 weeks is such an affront to a woman’s right to choose is beyond me.  If a pregnant woman can’t figure it out in 5 months, then abort them both…but I digress), voter ID laws (how is it racism to demand identification for the privilege of voting in the United States?), Arizona border security (another racial profiling situation whereby looking for Mexicans is profiling if you actually stop a Mexican, as opposed to say, a Swede?), Florida’s racially charged Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case (a jury found Mr. Z innocent….end of story, whether the AG agrees with it or not, even after the justice department helped fund protests).  All this after the phenomenal level of ineptitude in failing to acknowledge a screw-up of colossal proportion in the “Fast and Furious” debacle where guns were funneled into Mexican cartels in an attempt to sting American distributors, guns that eventually killed one of our own Border Patrolmen.  All brought to you by the same group of mental midgets that staged Ruby Ridge and Waco (that was of course the FBI and the BATFE under the Clinton administration and Janet Reno, but all justice department). And while on the gun subject, this administration continues an incessant assault on the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms by banning firearms in common use, firearms that statistically are used in a miniscule percentage of crime.  But this President never let actual facts or statistics get in the way of policy.  All in the name of the people, the public weal, the whims of the masses.  Our Constitution was specifically constructed to prevent just such a thing.  Our founding fathers warned of succumbing to “mob rule”, but the warnings of old white men have been set aside in the progressive zeal for “equality”. What’s old is new again.  Witness the following comments:

“These moral demands which the President places before every individual citizen of the United States, are also the quintessence of the German State philosophy which finds its expression in the slogan ‘The Public Will Transcends the Interests of the Individual."-Adolph Hitler 1934, praising then President Roosevelt for his efforts at restoring America’s economy by comparing Roosevelt’s governing philosophy to that of Nazi Germany.....Prompting: “We sought to sidestep the impression that the President was becoming a fascist” by Undersecretary Phillips, 1934 in his diary responding to Hitler’s comments.

The assault on our individual rights has been well documented. Our government spies on its citizens, tracks the telephone records of journalists and in California police are tracking the movements of innocent civilians with license plate trackers. Recent releases by the NSA have proven our worse fears realized, that ordinary citizens are now being tracked via the internet with the government analyzing our email correspondence, web sites visited and Google searches. Although dismissed as being banal information gathering and only temporarily cached, consider how much information about you can be garnered through analysis of your interests, habits, hobbies, acquaintances and correspondence. Should you visit a sporting goods store that sells firearms, search for information about hunting, contact your physician about treatment of a disease or substance abuse, converse unknowingly with a subversive or a drug dealer, search for a local mosque, send an email to family in Pakistan, research investment opportunities in foreign markets, contact your accountant about taking advantage of tax loopholes, have a picture posted of you at a party with a bong (Michael Phelps take note) or alcohol, join a conservative organization, contribute money to a conservative group, or just post a conservative blog……..are these key search words identified and tracked by the government? And if so, does that flag your email for further study or in cases that are well documented, subject you to harassment by the most brutal arm of government ever conceived, the IRS? And you cannot dismiss this as conservative paranoia.  This is reality, this is happening now, and the liberal establishment continues to dismiss the public’s concerns with the usual spate of finger pointing, misdirection, lack of responsibility, and ultimately the purposeful failure to release information in a timely fashion knowing the public’s attention deficit disorder and complicit mass media will cause us to become distracted by the next scandal.  Witness the IRS.  With over 13000 pages of documents flagged as potentially incriminating, the agency has released to date a mere 1500 pages, many of which are duplicates (Peggy Noonan, WSJ).  This leaves us with the unsettling feeling that in McCarthy-esque fashion, we are all under scrutiny by our own government, an environment that has in the past, led to no good. And it is all eerily familiar:

“One can evade a danger that one recognizes, but a police working in the dark becomes uncanny.  Nowhere does one feel safe from it.  While not omnipresent it could appear, search, arrest.  The worried citizen no longer knows whom he ought to trust.” -Historian Friedrich Zipfel, quoted in Gellately, 129, referring to the Gestapo in 1933*

"Let us not be sheep, lulled into complacency.That rarely works out to the benefit of the public. We have been down this path before, told by a voracious, expansive government that our concerns are trivial, and our needs will be satisfied by sacrificing a little freedom for security under the protection of an omniscient, all powerful state.  Let’s not allow history to repeat itself!" As quoted in  “In the Garden of Beasts”, Erik Larson, Random House 2011

How Can He; How Can They?

What say ye Abraham Lincoln? How about a thunder bolt or two to bring this ultimate recipient of your Emancipation Proclamation to his senses. He has more than once claimed to be Lincolnesque in his governing! Can you believe it? It's from him all our strife, confusion and dissension seems to be emanating these days! Most of us see him as the antitheses of anything remotely resembling Lincoln, yet he campaigns on, buoyed by a socialist, liberal, racist, anti-constitution, godless rabble-, until hell won't have it! When subjected to the rhetoric the likes of his acolytes, Legislators: Rangel, Pelosi, Reed, Durban and their legislating ilk, Governors: Bloomberg, Brown and Cuomo and their gubernatorial  ilk, the Reverends: Jackson, Sharpton and Wright and their religious ilk, one has to question where are they coming from and why. Can any true, responsible American in mind and spirit grasp the intent and purpose of their actions or inactions as being other than subversive, mean spirited and divisive.Their common denominator seemingly to undermine the very essence of our country's founding, existence, the sanctity of our constitution; accentuating our differences, bringing us to our knees in class warfare, promoting a malaise of disorder in debilitating social conflict, all the while with great success, diverting our attention from critical issues of state and country-, fertile ground for the Sol  Alinsky seeds of civil unrest to be sowed. I cringe in disbelief and dire apprehension of the fate awaiting us if this diabolical and insidious direction we are heading continues. We seem to be participants in a horrible morality play where vices are glorified over virtues, where the bad guys are the winners, the good guys the losers! The '14 mid-terms may be too late or in themselves denote the beginning of the end for these United states of America. I'm just saying, I hope.....