Preident Obamas' Secret Weapon

Ever since President Obama came to office, I've seen a change in the reporting coming from Afghanistan, and I don't mean the increase in US casualties.

While Bush was in office, the Predator drone came into it's own. From eyes in the sky to a real killing machine, once it was armed. Again, while Bush was president, we'd receive reports of strikes. How many missiles were fired and how many militants were killed. They also would include the number of innocent civilians that were killed or injured. Innocent women and children were always killed or injured back then.

Now we have a new administration and a new president. I don't hear about innocent life being taken in air strikes any more. Only militants. I don't think they chase everyone out of town (for their own safety) when they ride in, do you? How could they recruit female bombers?

All that makes me think that we must have some new kind of missile or targeting technology. To accomplish killing 20 or 30 at a crack takes a pretty well aimed big bomb # 1, or # 2 we've developed some kind of serious laser targeting optics to be able to pick only the militants out.

Either way, I can't wait to hear what the secret is. It surely can't be the liberal press.

The Obama Administration v. The Truth

Talk about truth in government. All the presidents men were out in force explaining the nations defenses success in foiling the "the Christmas Day Bomber", Abdulmutallab.

Truth # 1; The Obama admin originally told the "American People" that he was a "Lone Wolf" and the system worked "Perfectly and flawlessly", no less. No worries. That the FBI collected all the intel it possibly could. That all the necessary parties were consulted, they all sighed off, then and only then, properly mirandized.

Truth # 2; Janet Napolitano, David Axelrod, Gibbs et.al. started to backtrack and try to rewrite the history of the event after it started to leak about what really happened during the "Interrogations". Everything pretty much stayed the same, except for little things like the timeline for the "Interrogations" and how quickly he was mirandized.

Truth # 3; Now the real truth. From reports we learned he was "Interrogated" for all of 50 minutes and then was given all the rights of a shoplifter. Nobody in real authority was informed and, well, basically they were trying to cover their asses.
50 minutes, though. What would you be talking about if your pecker and nuts had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over? Terrorists, operatives, bases and names, or a big ass shot of Demerol?
Drugged or burned to a crisp, how much "Useful" info can you possibly get in either situation.
Now information's starting to surface about a possible connection between Abdulmutallab and 10 suspected terrorists in Malaysia.

I feel safer already.

Obama and "Treasure Island"

The Obama mystique seems to be fading. His soaring oratory doesn't seem to have the inspiration it once had.
First, we apologized all over the place, extended our hand, lost the olympics, and then Copenhagen. Although he really didn't loose anything perse`, but they sure were flops. That is unless you were one of the more than 100 members of our fiscally conservative congress (after the state of the union speech, maybe) and their family members who took the taxpayer funded trip.
Then came the last 4 elections. The 2 for governor , one for the house, and the senate race.
President Obama campaigned for the 2 democrats running and they for rejected big time.
In the senate race, the President sure didn't help, or maybe he did and it would've been worse.
The house race? Once the republicans found a candidate they, and not the party honchos, liked, he almost won.
But, you can't tell them that. Take health care. The public doesn't like what they've seen. For dems to say the President hasn't tried to make his case is insane. He's made what 60-70 speeches just on the subject? Every topic is tied to health care.
Getting an endorsement from the Obama administration reminds me of the movie scene where Long John Silver got the "Black Spot" from his mates. Long John (Coakly) was happy to see them at first, but disappointed when he held out his hand. Long John Silver was able to get the crew to take it back with lies and trickery. It'll be interesting to see if other dems can do the same.

Obamas' Health Care

The health care debate rages but there seems to be a few things that aren't being discussed often enough.

First there is the the thought of me losing the ins. plan I already have. 20 years ago our plan covered everything including a vision and dental plan. Vision and dental had a limit, but it was more than adequate for my family. Then came PPO's and HMO's. Our contractors, eager to reduce costs, forced the union to accept them, and that was without a presidential or congressional endorsement. Funny how noone seems to remember the grief from all segments of the American labor force who were forced into them. The president says we can keep what we have, but that's only if it's offered.

If you look at life survival rates for the major diseases, the US rates in the top 10%. Take cancer. In the U.K. only one type of cancer has a survival rate 90% or more. The US has 5 at or above 90%. Pick your own disease and check it out.

Let's face it, they can't read muchless debate over 1000 pages in the time left. Now that we can see the stimulus bill, the American People are nervous and rightfully so about effecting 18% of the economy. Besides, chairman Conyers said it's just a waste of time anyway. He says you need a lawyer for that and a couple of days, so why bother.

I keep hearing all this talk about wringing billions of dollars of waste out of medicare and medicaid. If there were that much waste, why'd they wait so long? I would've thought that they (congress) would've done that years ago to be able to pay doctors more so seniors don't have to get supplemental ins. to help them pay thir bills.

If singe-payer's the goal, then why do so many foriegners come here? Public broadcasting on the radio (NPR) has a program called "As it Happens" produced by the Canadian broadcasting co. and I've heard many programs about the Canadian health care system. Right now the big fight in their congress is about purchasing private ins. Liberals want to outlaw the purchase of private insurance. Imagine that. They call it "Jumping the Line" and say it's unfair to others who either can't afford to or don't want to buy it.

The president and some lawmakers are saying that we're already paying for the uninsured with higher rates. If we're paying for them now for X amount of dollars, why is it going to cost a trillion dollars more for the same thing?

Nancy Pelosi says the Illegal Aliens won't becovered in the bill. That should lower costs, right? Wrong. After pressing her and a lot of stammering she brought up the fine point about noone being turned away from an emergency room. Looks like we're going to be hearing about the uninsured for a long, long, time.

Then there's the publically funded abortion issue. Nancy really did some twisting and turning on that one. She kept on insisting that abortion wasn't the point. I already know that. It's just a part. Never did give an answer.

Bushs' Bet Pays Off

Looks like Bushs' plan to give democracy a chance in the Middle East is starting to pay dividends. For the last 7 yrs., dems have been poking fun at his plan as folly.
But, it looks like Iran is having it's share of problems. I think the main reason is the Iranians watching the Iraqies vote for the people they want to represent them and not be overruled by the "supreme leader". They might not do the things the people actually wantdone, but then, neither do ours. Right? I mean, let's get real here.
They risk getting killed, but they're showing the world that it's worth the risk to secure your own future.
This is driving the the mullahs bonkers. The only way they seem to be able to fight back is with bullets.
It makes my heart sing to see the turmoil in Iran right now. I just wish the mullahs and army were the ones suffering and not the Iranian people. I'm 60 yrs. old and I've seen what the Iranian leaders have done the US citizens, and others, over the years.
I think of politics as more of a sport, and (to me) a very exciting one at that. I mean, nothing gets the blood flowing like a good old political fight, right? I'll bet that the more the Iraqies participate in their government, they'll come to see it that way too.
I wish the Iranians a lot of luck in their endevor. It's not easy to change a form of government and people don't give up their powerful positions easily. These mullahs aren't going to roll over like the Marcos', and it was plenty hard to get them out.

President Obama and the Pirate Czar

Once upon a time, when Andy Jackson was pres., the word czar was a bad thing. He used the term in his war with the banks.

Then in later years the term came more acceptable. In the 20's we had the "baseball", "beer", and "boxing" czars. Believe it or not, we even had a speaker of the house known as the "genial" czar.

During the Roosevelt admin. They had "price control", "production", "ships(?)" among others. They even had cartoons in the papers of the day about all of them. By the time Nixon's "drug czar"(1971) and the more famous "energy czar" (1973) came along, the word czar was falling into disrepute again. And we can see why. Jimmy Carter gave us "inflation" czars and it went to all time highs. Bush didn't use the term, and Obamas' not going to either.

But that doesn't mean we doesn't.

Right now we have an "energy", "urban affairs", "drug", etc, and talk of "cyber", "car", and whatever else they dream up.

I have a suggestion for them. We need a "PIRATE CZAR".

Shock Jocks

I got a chuckle today when I saw the shock in people's eyes when they heard the auto industry would shed about 25,000 more jobs, close plants, and eliminate some car model lines.

Memories sure are short. A week ago, newscasters were talking about how the congress of the US virtually mandated that they do just that.

That they (the auto comps.) come up with a survival and repayment plan. The only way to do that is to slash saleries, reduce pension costs, and the like.

That they (the auto comps.) increase fuel efficency. The only way to do that is to stop making big cars and build smaller cars. The only problem is that people aren't buying any cars right now, big or small, and that leads to lay-offs.

But, congress knows best.