Cold Hard Reality

America’s 43rd president, George W. Bush was not quite the pragmatic realist that his dad, H.W. was. He squandered trillions of American dollars in a quixotic attempt to “fix” the Middle East (which I now abashedly confess, supported.) Although he was a patrician of relative honesty (for a politician), he was nonetheless frozen when dealing with the growing sub-prime mortgage crisis, the clearly burgeoning trading and military threat from China ... and unwilling to face head-on North Korea's nuclear insanity. 

He was pushed around by the deep state and main-stream media without serious complaint ... opening the door to Obama-inspired Socialism. But, by far, his crowning accomplishments were that he defeated those nincompoops Al Gore and John Kerry. For that we must be eternally grateful.

Solace

From reddit Pics

2007 Global Warning

Originally Published in 2007

Oops! Another moonbat prediction gone far, far wrong ...

Skunk at the Garden Party

President Obama was effective in blaming the Republicans for leaving him an economy that was "in the ditch." It's a complicated story, but, in a way, he was right in that George W. Bush allowed the daring duo of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to corrupt the US mortgage market to the point where financiers found a way to turn these two bozos naive mandate into an economy killer ... a Ponzi scheme which took in most of the world financial markets.

Now the Democrats have released another skunk at Trump's garden party ... Obamacare ... which should have collapsed before Obama left office ... however it was kept on life support through a series of executive actions that postponed its worst mandates. Now, unless the Republicans untie Gruber's Gordian knot, they will be blamed by millions of poor suckers on expanded Medicaid of taking away their health insurance. As it turns out this is not as many that lost their "bad apple" health insurance under ACA, but nevertheless many in Congress still fear being sprayed by Obama's pole cat.

Up Chuck Schumer is counting on it ...

Who He?

Ross Douthat is now the conservative columnist for the New York Times (since David Brooks has finally let his inner self have its head) and is a clear find. I plan to start reading him on a regular basis since his political position seems to be very close to my own ... and he expresses it so much better.

I discovered him referenced on the Breitbart Internet news site with the following op-ed snippet. If you want the link, it is  HERE ... but it offers little more than the following burning logic:

The dangers of a Hillary Clinton presidency are more familiar than Trump’s authoritarian unknowns, because we live with them in our politics already. They’re the dangers of elite groupthink, of Beltway power worship, of a cult of presidential action in the service of dubious ideals. They’re the dangers of a recklessness and radicalism that doesn’t recognize itself as either, because it’s convinced that if an idea is mainstream and commonplace among the great and good then it cannot possibly be folly.

Almost every crisis that has come upon the West in the last 15 years has its roots in this establishmentarian type of folly. The Iraq War, which liberals prefer to remember as a conflict conjured by a neoconservative cabal, was actually the work of a bipartisan interventionist consensus, pushed hard by George W. Bush but embraced as well by a large slice of center-left opinion that included Tony Blair and more than half of Senate Democrats.

Likewise the financial crisis: Whether you blame financial-services deregulation or happy-go-lucky housing policy (or both), the policies that helped inflate and pop the bubble were embraced by both wings of the political establishment. Likewise with the euro, the European common currency, a terrible idea that only cranks and Little Englanders dared oppose until the Great Recession exposed it as a potentially economy-sinking folly. Likewise with Angela Merkel’s grand and reckless open-borders gesture just last year: She was the heroine of a thousand profiles even as she delivered her continent to polarization and violence.

This record of elite folly — which doesn’t even include lesser case studies like our splendid little war in Libya — is a big part of why the United States has a “let’s try crazy” candidate in this election, and why there are so many Trumpian parties thriving on European soil.

Of course, next I had to learn a little more about this man ... he has impressive credentials ... see: Wikipedia Bio. I have no clue if he is planning to vote for Trump, but I think he is leaning anti-establishment and therefore just might. But, from what I've read so far, I'm convinced he's "not for her".

Border Walls

Our feckless Secretary of State, John F. Kerry (who briefly served in Vietnam), recently told the graduates of Northeastern University that they should be prepared to live in a borderless world ... for no wall can be built high enough to deter those terrorists who want to harm us ... see: Washington Examiner Article.

Yes, Gigolo John, you are correct ... but such a wall, combined with vigorous enforcement of our existing immigration laws, can significantly reduce the odds of such an occurrence. I guess that today's graduates can't understand this distinction.

Perhaps, John, we shouldn't have locks on our doors because some burglars can climb through our second floor windows ... or have bars on our jails because occasionally we lose a resourceful escapee?

We, in the United States, are now saddled with senior management who have an Utopian one-world view and are determined to implement this idiot ideology even if the vast majority of their countrymen disagree. This could easily be thought of as treasonous ... but, as anyone who has watched this Boston Brahmin's braggadocios career, this wouldn't be the first time he skipped across this red line.

How a man so stunningly stupid and duplicitous as Kerry can rise to the positions of power he has held causes one (me) to question our society's basic underpinnings. Possibly George W. Bush's greatest achievement was keeping this numbskull from "reporting for duty" at the White House.

Robert Frost had it right ... "Good fences make good neighbors."

Campaign Slogans

William McKinley -- A Full Dinner Pail

Franklin Roosevelt -- A New Deal

Harry Truman -- A Fair Deal

Dwight Eisenhower -- I Like Ike

Jimmy Carter -- Not Just Peanuts

Ronald Reagan -- Morning in America

Bill Clinton -- Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow

George W. Bush -- A Compassionate Conservative

Barack Obummer -- Hope and Change

Donald Trump -- Make America Great Again

Hellery Clinton -- I Have a Vagina

Sinister

The Latin word for both "left" and "evil" is "sinistra." And consequently, for most of the modern era, left-handed people were considered to be sinister. That is why, until early in the twentieth century, left-handed children were mostly forced to write with their right hand. Interestingly our last three presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obummer have all been lefties ... physically and politically. Whether they were sinister is up to you to decide. I think that at least one fits this description.

Now for some good news ... all the presidential candidates who are still in the race are right-handed. The only left-handed ones, Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham, have dropped out. So, it now appears that the U.S. will indeed break this southpaw trend in presidents. Hopefully we will also then break this nation's downward spiral?

Liberal Solutions

Why is it that so many liberal solutions to societal problems don't work? Now liberals generally are not stupid ... nor are they, I assume, trying to make matters worse. But all too often their well-meaning solutions to imbalances in our society end up costing a fortune and destroying an existing working mechanism. What is that old saying ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

It isn't difficult to come up with examples of these liberal failings here in the United States  How about their insisting on dealing with terrorists inside of our criminal justice system? How about their not enforcing many of our immigration policies (George W. Bush included)? How about their continued diminishing of our military hegemony? How about their expansion of our welfare system beyond reason? How about their creating of mechanisms that encourage voter fraud? How about their self-serving roiling of race and gender relations? How about their attempts to overthrow our gun freedoms? How about their penchant for deficit spending (ditto George W. Bush)? How about even their continued attempts to centralize powers away from the people?

To be fair, there are occasional liberal ideas that do work ... at least for a time ... like social security, and some reasonable welfare benefits. (Many might also claim that the roll-back of slavery and the Jim Crow laws were liberal wins ... but it was just the opposite.) But, when such successes are accomplished, liberals double down, triple down, and even quadruple down until such benefits are crushed under their inherent weaknesses.

Pulling the Tiger’s Tail

The United States government (FBI) rapidly concluded that it was North Korea that had hacked into Sony’s computers in retaliation for producing the picture, “The Interview,” which spoofs the leader of that country, Kim Jong-un. Now many cyber-security firms have expressed reservations about that conclusion … saying that it more likely was a combination of a disgruntled ex-employee colluding with a hacking group … see: Politico Analysis. This conclusion seems supported by additional hacks into Sony’s Playstation servers on Christmas day by a group self-labeled the “Lizard Squad.”

If it eventually turns out that the original hack was NOT performed by the North Koreans, the United States intelligence community has egg on its face (again) … which then spawns three possibly serious consequences:

1)     President Obama, in his very public rush to judgment in this case, may end up being made to look as foolish as George W. Bush. (Remember how many years the media drumbeat went on … accusing Bush 43 of lying to the world about Iraq’s WMDs?)

2)     It is fairly obvious that the United States, in retaliation, has crippled the North Korean Internet … twice. This is a serious piece of cyber-aggression against an unstable government that likely possesses atomic weapons. Talk about pulling the tiger’s tail.

3)     In taking down North Korea’s Internet, I am certain that the U.S. cyber counter forces have revealed to the Chinese and Russians technical capabilities that might have been left for more serious cyber-attacks against this country’s infrastructure. To me, it is questionable whether such counter-measures might now work when they are more critically needed.

Will the American media now excoriate luau-boy for his too-quick accusation of North Korea in this matter? Hmmm?

Good Job, Tommy

"Good job, Brownie"

George W. Bush complimenting the then FEMA Director “Brownie” (Michael Brown) after the hurricane Katrina was not one of Bush’s finest moments … even though Brownie certainly shared blame for that poor New Orleans disaster response with the governor of Louisiana (Kathleen Blanco) and the Mayor of the city (Ray Nagin, who is now in prison for corruption).

Now President Obama is covering this Bush moment with his support for his Director of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden. Tommy exuded an air of confidence and his sonorous voice reinforced this demeanor during his early handling of the Ebola crisis. However, his string of failed assurances, poor administrative talents, and his flawed logic (see: Logic is Logic) has led me to conclude that he must have inhaled too much chloroform during his medical school days.

This opinion on my part was reinforced today when I discovered that he was for 7 years Mayor Bloomberg’s Commissioner of Public Health in New York City … see: Wikipedia Entry. If you recall, it was during this period that the city forced chain restaurants to list the caloric content of all their dishes; installed draconian increases in cigarette taxes; tried to ban all soft drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces, eliminate trans-fats in restaurant meals, and salt shakers from their tables.

Now I suppose that these nanny-state strictures are hailed by liberals, but, to me, they indicate that the doctor is a political animal before he is an administrator … just like our president. Leading from behind in this Ebola crisis is a dangerous stratagem … as we are daily finding out.

Afterward: The U.S. is still issuing 100 or so visas a day to people from the three West-African nations which are the centers of the Ebola outbreak ... see: Daily Signal Story. "Even better job, Tommy!"

Irony of Ironies

The aircraft carrier from which the planes are launched to attack ISIS in Iraq and Syria (a month from now!) is the U.S.S. George H. W. Bush ...

All the News …

That it is paid to report.  Here is a very disturbing story about how far some “news” outlets are in the satchel for a few pieces of silver.  Apparently, according to one of its Emmy-winning former investigative reporters, Amber Lyon, the cable channel CNN accepts money from the U.S. and foreign governments to include or exclude information in their “news” stories. To see the details of this how deep this fourth-estate corruption goes, please read: Red Flag News. 

Unlike this story, I do not accuse the Obama administration as the exclusive corrupter of the media.  As I recall, George W. Bush’s press people also engaged in such malfeasance.  What can be drawn from this revolting revelation?  I think someone once rightly said, “Don’t believe anything you read and only half of what you see.”  Perhaps this shibboleth can now be updated to say, "Don't believe anything you see and only half of what you personally experience."

Bull in a China Shop

I once was a fan of Colin Powell.  But his sycophantic utterances regarding Barack Obama has caused me pause. Yet the Powell Doctrine, “If you break it, you own it” still has profound meaning … meaning that George W. Bush seemed to understand and embrace in his attempt to stabilize Iraq before he left office.  However this current administration appears to have no such compunctions … a failing that General Powell has yet to noticed.

President Obama and our then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, have left Libya in ruins and chaos … see: The UK Independent Story. Our President’s inattention to Iraq has caused much of what was accomplished there to be backsliding into sectarian warfare.   Obama also promised a “surge” in Afghanistan to try to fix things ala Bush 43 … only to make things worse with his concurrent statement about our departure date … and his political and shameful gutting of our rules of engagement (see: Sitting on Our Hands).  And then there was Egypt … a self correcting disaster despite all of Obama’s and Clinton’s attempts to the contrary.

Now we have shifted our snorting “foreign policy” to Syria.  El toro!

Bad Apple

George W. Bush wasn’t often at his best when he judged the character of those surrounding him… witness Douglas Shulman whom, in late 2008, he appointed IRS Commissioner, a very sensitive and powerful job … see: Wikipedia Entry for Shulman's CV.  (I can count Bush's other bad apples on one hand.)  Moreover, this same Doug Shulman quickly found a soul-mate in the newly-elected President Obama and became a rabid attack dog in the administration’s efforts to neutralize right-wing 501(c)(3) organizations … probably a key strategy in Obama’s winning re-election.

During his five year tenure as the IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times (see: Daily Caller Story) … an extraordinary number, even considering the impending IRS involvement in Obamacare. And when asked in Congressional hearings why he visited the White House so many times, Schulman’s snarky reply was that it was “to attend the Easter-egg roll.”  This was a revealing look into the contempt that this smarmy man had for these Congressional oversight hearings.

Now we find that Shulman’s wife, Susan Anderson,  is also a radical left-wing activist … in that she is a senior adviser to Public Campaign, a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) funded (clearly) political organization that is behind much of the Occupy Wall Street movement … for her CV, see: Powerline Blog.  (Sidebar note: 501(c)(4) organizations are union-sponsored PACs which seemed to have escaped any IRS scrutiny.)  And, as I sometimes say, birds of a feather sleep together.

Justifying the IRS’s despicable behavior under Shulman in targeting conservative groups based upon his Bush 43's appointment is a little like excusing the Holocaust because Hitler’s had Jewish ancestors (see: Telegraph Story).

I sincerely hope that this jackanape, Shulman, eventually spends significant time behind bars … but I kinda doubt that this will happen under Eric Holder’s corrupt reign as our Attorney General.

WMDs

Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of George W. Bush’s inspired invasion of Iraq in order to secure its weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).  Even though the U.S. was successful in this military operation, the popular narrative is that there were no WMDs in Iraq … and thus “Bush lied, people died.” 

Now, the civil war in Syria is again raising the specter of WMDs which most concede that President Assad of Syria has at his disposal … see: The Atlantic Wire Story.  Many analysts believe that, in the months that it took George Bush to muster the U.N. support and the coalition forces to invade Iraq, Saddam Hussein merely transported these weapons into Syria where they now still reside.  If Bashar Assad has WMDs, surely Saddam Hussein did also.

Another incident in this on-going saga of  Iraqi WMDs was when ex-diplomat, Joe Wilson, said that his trip to Niger in 2002 produced no evidence that Iraq was trying to purchase yellowcake uranium from that country.  This was the trigger to the infamous Valarie Plame CIA-operative outing and huge investigation in a New York Times’attempt to defame many in the Bush administration.  Isn’t it funny that in 2008 the United State secretly transported 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium out of Iraq and into Canada … see: NBC News Story

So, even though the popular narrative is that there were no WMDs in Iraq ten years ago, I think the evidence is not so conclusive.  However, going against the popular narrative is not the brightest thing to do if one wants to establish one's street creds.  But then truth has, for me, an insatiable appeal.  The popular narrative be damned.

The Door to Hell

Around five years ago, Hugo Chavez said to the assembled U.N. members that, as a result of George W. Bush’s previously being at this same podium, there was still a lingering smell of sulfur.  In other words, Bush was the Devil personified.  I’ve always found it fascinating that many politicians try to cleanse their own souls by accusing others of their own transgressions … and I’m not just painting liberals with this sin … many conservatives have also been culpable. 

And so it is with Hugo Chavez.  His sins since grabbing power in Venezuela in 1998 have been rife … from corruption … to drug trafficking … to kidnapping … to anti-semitism … to despotism … even to murder … see: Curacao Chronicle.

Now Hugo Chavez appears to be on his deathbed in Cuba … and when he does succumb, I’m sure that there will be much donning of sackcloth and gnashing of teeth among the liberal glitterati of this country (Sean Penn, for example).  However, when this happens, I fully expect a fissure to open up in the earth somewhere near Havana … belching fire and the actual smell of sulfur … and Hugo baby being escorted, under the blare of out-of-tune trumpets, down to his fiery residence for all of eternity.   (Hopefully in tandem with Fidel Castro?)

Cowed

The unfolding events in Benghazi, Libya on this past September 11th are becoming very disturbing.  It has become abundantly clear that everyone in the administrative chain of command, including the President, knew in real time what was transpiring on that fateful night.  And for almost seven hours nothing was effectively done.  This is 180-degrees against American tradition and against the most basic instincts of human nature.  One can speculate until the cows come home as to why this was the case, but the actions and words of Leon Penetta, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama can only cause one to conclude that the decision was made, at whatever level, that these four American's lives were expendable.  CIA Director, David Petraeus seems to be unwilling to made the scapegoat ... see: Weekly Standard Piece, but the recent revelations of how Hillary and Barack acted whilst standing beside the coffin of his son Tyrone and talking to the father, Charles Woods (see: Another Weekly Standard Piece), suggests to me the utter calculated callousness that these political bovines were trying to use to misdirect blame.

It is inexcusable for how our administration acted and (did not) react to this Benghazi massacre.  Even if more lives were lost as a consequence of an attempt to protect our United States's sovereignty and lives, we still would have acted with honor.  Now we have lost four lives and our honor to boot.  To compound this outrage, the administration then went on to commit an even greater sin ... the cover-up.  For at least two weeks they peddled the fallacy of an anti-Islam YouTube video was the reason for the Benghazi attacks.  I needn't repeat the litany of falsehoods that our administration manufactured to try to excuse this infamy.  But thinking back on this period, it turns my stomach. 

George W. Bush was frequently called a "cowboy President." The Obama tag team are not cowboys ... merely cowed.  Unfortunately, we must endure them for at least a while longer.

Justice Delayed

It's been almost three years since Nidal Hasan killed thirteen people and wounded more than 24 others at Fort Hood, Texas in one of the few successful acts of domestic terror during the Obama presidency.  For some callow and probably political reason, this administration has labeled this heinous act "workplace violence."  Now relatives of the victims in this incident are attempting to get it called what it was ... an act of terrorism (see: AP Story) in order that they might receive just the military benefits due them.  (Contrast this modest request with the largess that was passed out to relatives after the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Centers).

Even more disturbing is the time it has taken to bring this Islamic zealot to justice in this case.  Many suspect that Nidal's refusal to shave off his beard for "religious reasons" has been a convenient excuse to delay his trial until after the upcoming presidential elections.  Fortunately, a military court has just decreed that the beard must come off (see: NBC News Story) ... but too late to remind voters of how silly Obama's administration has been in dealing with this atrocity.  But then, let us also note that the still-living 9/11/2001 conspirators are just now coming to justice in military tribunals at Guantanamo, Cuba.  (One can partially blame George W. Bush for this travesty ... although Attorney General, Eric Holder, had also pooped the bed big time on this one.)

"Justice delayed is justice denied."  How true ... how true.

Hand Puppets

I still vividly remember our then Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright standing in front of the White House testifying for her boss, President Bill Clinton, in his avowal of “not having sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky, not a single time.” And then there was another of our Secretaries of State, Colin Powell, at the U.N. making the case for George W. Bush’s rationale for war with Iraq … that of its amassing of weapons of mass destruction. At least our current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, had the good sense to send her underling, our U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice, to do her dirty work by assuring the American public that the Libyans’s killing of our Ambassador there was spontaneous  ... see ABC News Story. (As John McCain has rightly pointed out, people don’t bring RPGs with them to a “demonstration.”)

So, over and over again, lower-level administrators of both parties have become hand puppets to their bosses and asked to attest to things of which they have little or no personal knowledge. Most often the result is their diminishment. (I even think this abasement has caused Colin Powell to switch political horses.) So, may I suggest, as soon as those of you in government see your bosses pull on those long, greased rubber gloves ... run, don’t walk, away for your lives and honor.