Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Sorry, Mr.Obama, The Jokes Aren't Funny Anymore

Opposing Views
On March 12, The New York Times turned the clock back five years to an overlooked moment that may have been the beginning of Donald Trump's bid for the White House. It was the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, the annual event that reminds regular Americans just how cozy the press is with the government it's supposed to cover in an adversarial manner. In 2011, many of the journalists in the room were still star-struck, still convinced that President Barack Obama was the transformative figure who'd end political divisiveness and usher in the era of Hope and Change.
Wearing a bow tie and a mischievous grin, Obama took a warm-up dig at Mitt Romney -- his eventual opponent in the 2012 race -- before spending the next four minutes mocking Donald Trump, who was sitting in the audience.
"Say what you will about Mr. Trump," Obama said, "he certainly would bring some change to the White House."
Then the president pointed toward a projector screen, showing a crudely Photoshopped White House with a garish vertical extension topped by Trump's name and bright purple neon. That joke followed earlier jabs about Trump's "birther" skepticism.
"No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," Obama said, "and that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, 'Did we fake the moon landing?' 'What really happened in Roswell?' And 'Where are Biggie and Tupac?'"
The journalists in the room laughed as if Obama were Louis CK, and Trump smiled and waved as the crowd looked for a reaction.
As the Times notes, Obama is still laughing, and still taking digs at the Republican front-runner. But as Trump stands on the verge of a major party nomination for the presidency, his campaign is no longer the joke most people thought it was. Obama himself might be the one responsible for turning the idea of a Trump presidency from a joke to a serious goal for the real estate magnate, who by all accounts craves approval and credibility.
Obama might be the last person snickering, and that's probably not going to do him -- or Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton -- any favors if the president hits the campaign trail as often for Hillary as he says he will.
Indeed, Obama seems to enjoy belittling Republican rhetoric on national security and terrorism, which is not a good look for him on days like today, when the Islamic State reminded the world it can still strike prime civilian targets with impunity. The March 22 attacks proved ISIS hasn't been crippled by renewed vigilance, not when the fundamentalist group can hit an airport and a subway station in one of Europe's major capitals.
If Obama keeps on joking, he runs the risk of hurting the eventual Democratic nominee more than helping. It's not far-fetched to imagine campaign ads tying Clinton to Obama, with a voiceover of the latter making jokes about terrorism over footage of blood-soaked women and children stumbling out of ruined airport terminals.
The decision-makers and strategists who run the Democratic party should remind Obama that he's the president, not a comedian. The time for joking is over.
Click Here for an Opposing View on this Subject 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

And Now a Few Words on Behalf of Bernie Sanders.



And I say any man who dances like this has no business in the White House!



h/t GOP-TEA-PUB

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Obama's Lawlessness Fuels Civil Disobedience and Record Government Distrust

CFIF - If Barack Obama refuses to follow the rule of law, how can he expect others to do so? 

That's a disturbing but perfectly legitimate question to raise as each day witnesses another scheme by the Obama Administration to circumvent established laws and constitutional mandates, and as an increasing sense of lawless chaos prevails both domestically and abroad.

Just how bad has the situation become? Two new Gallup surveys cast a worrisome scene.

When asked to name the nation's greatest threat as we enter the 2016 presidential election year, Americans by a record margin overwhelmingly say "big government." Particularly notable is the fact that the percentage of respondents holding that position has skyrocketed from 53% when Barack Obama entered office to 69% today. Thus, the man who so desperately endeavored to reverse Ronald Reagan's legacy by convincing Americans to welcome governmental power over our lives has ironically accomplished the direct opposite effect through his actions.
"A staggering 75% of the American public believe corruption is 'widespread' in the U.S. government. Not incompetence, but corruption. This alarming figure has held steady since 2010, up from 66% in 2009... Protests are growing in cities and campuses all around the country. Students and citizens have generally lost faith in their national institutions - the biggest and most powerful of which is, of course, the federal government."
When Obama entered office, he possessed an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives, and a filibuster-proof Senate majority. Accordingly, he could have introduced any among his litany of extremist proposals on whatever issues he wanted - climate change, labor unions, gun control, immigration, closing of Guantanamo, treaties with Iran or anything else. 

But he didn't.

Only when his own actions created a backlash and caused Americans to elect Republican House and Senate majorities not seen since the 1920s did Obama miraculously find it appropriate to begin imposing his agenda by extra-constitutional means. 

Obama has infamously behaved just as lawlessly in other areas, such as unilaterally declaring the Senate to be in "recess" when only it has the power to do so, the swap of hardened terrorists for deserter Bowe Bergdahl in violation of his explicit duty to inform Congress beforehand, arbitrarily suspending and imposing ObamaCare regulations for political purposes, job-killing and punitive environmental regulations, IRS persecution of conservative organizations and now a commitment to impose gun regulations that he could have introduced into Congress back when he possessed overwhelming Democratic majorities.

Throughout his presidency, Obama has simply chosen to disregard constitutional and political constraints in order to impose his agenda. It can therefore come as no surprise that increasing instances of reciprocal lawlessness and disrespect for his own authority pop up everywhere from domestically to the Middle East to Ukraine to the South China Sea. He cannot expect others to demonstrate a respect that he himself does not show.

This nation was founded by men far wiser than Obama in the philosophy of individual freedom, not government fiat. Candidates hoping to enter the White House in one year would do well to understand that reality, and Americans increasingly disgusted and alarmed by government overreach would do well to translate their sentiments into electoral action.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

I will be so good at the military, your head will spin!


None other than the fish wrap of choice,  The New York Times informs us that in interviews for an upcoming biography,  Donald Trump told author Michael D’Antonio that because his parents shipped him off to a military boarding school, he “always felt that he was in the military.” And really, who would know better than Donald Trump what being in the pretend military is like?  Mr. Trump said that his experience at the New York Military Academy, an expensive prep school where his parents had sent him to correct poor behavior, gave him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”

Trump attended the military school from eighth grade through high school, starting in 1959.  His parents sent him there after he’d gotten into too much trouble at his previous boarding school, where, he gave a teacher a black eye “because I didn’t think he knew anything about music.” You don’t go around disagreeing with little Donald.

At New York Military Academy, Trump got a real sense of what the military is all about:
"He wore a uniform, participated in marching drills and was expected to conform to a hierarchy imposed by instructors, some of whom had served in the military.
Despite sitting out Vietnam because of deferments followed by a high draft lottery number of 356 out of 366, Mr. Trump said that he endured the rigors of real military life.
“My number was so incredible and it was a very high draft number. Anyway so I never had to do that, but I felt that I was in the military in the true sense because I dealt with those people,” he told Mr. D’Antonio."
We also learn that Trump sat down with the author for six hours of interviews for the bio, but abruptly terminated his cooperation “after Mr. Trump learned that Mr. D’Antonio had spoken with a longtime Trump enemy”, which hardly narrows down the field of people that could have been. If consistency counts for anything, we at least learn that even in his youth, Trump was already working hard at being an asshole:

"Mr. Trump’s preoccupation with winning — at anything and everything, big or small — dominated his youth. His mentor at the New York Military Academy, Theodore Dobias, called Mr. Trump “a conniver, even then.” 
Now we finally know why Donald Trump never cared much for war guys who got captured: When he was in the military, he never got captured, so why should he think all that much of guys who were? Now, you might think that Donald Trump, who got a bunch of draft deferments has never been in the military.  But he feels like he’s military, because his parents sent him to military school, so shut up already.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Obama Dems No Longer Have Reason for Optimism

Barack dragged scowling Medusa back from another weeks long vacation this weekend. Hillary Clinton is also on vacation. The only one on stage, with a sense of urgency, during the Black Monday meltdown is Donald Trump.

Monday morning, before the stock markets on Wall Street opened, there was Donald Trump on TV speaking with urgency about the economic plight of the American People. Trump denounced hedge fund managers and added to his years long warnings about China. Yes, you read that right. Billionaire Donald Trump denounced hedge fund managers as parasites who unlike him built nothing.

Hillary? Obama? Biden? MIA.

In the first half hour of opening the markets spectacularly followed up the 350 point loss from Thursday and the 530 point loss from Friday. At one point the plunge was over 1,000 points and after violent ups and downs the market closed 588 points lower. 



The big losers were not to be found on Wall Street however. The big losers today are Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Once again, Donald Trump is the winner of the entire week.

Anyone or anything associated with Barack Obama is today’s big loser, again. The Obama economy and the stink of Barack Obama will knock out any presidential candidate who defends Barack Obama economic policy in any way. The Associated Press decorates the funeral parlor:

AP survey: Dimmer outlook for US economy, wages and hiring. 
For much of the economy’s fitful and sluggish six-year recovery from the Great Recession, analysts have foreseen a sunnier future: Growth would pick up in six months, or in a year.
That was then.
The latest Associated Press survey of leading economists shows that most now foresee a weaker expansion than they had earlier. A majority of the nearly three dozen who responded to the survey predict tepid economic growth, weak pay gains and modest hiring for the next two years at least.
“We no longer have reason for optimism that the economy is going to accelerate,” said Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics. “The real question is, when is the next downturn coming?” 
The “next two years,” no “reason for optimism,” “when is the next downturn coming?” is a frightening place for a presidential candidate who wants to be an Obama “third term” or even associated with Obama the boob.

The Democrat's Great White Hope

Monday, August 17, 2015

Are We Witnessing Another Collapse of the Party System?


ACCIt is entertaining. All the “Ready for Hillary” bumper stickers seem to have vanished over the last month or so. Donald Trump is making mincemeat of the GOP party apparatus. All sorts of assumptions about the 2016 presidential race have been tossed out. Rules have been broken. New paths are being blazed. It has all thrown the Washington political class for a loop. And that is a very good thing.....

Personal Liberty
I know it’s still early, but it’s beginning to appear this election cycle that conventional wisdom may not hold.
The pundit class and the establishment politicians inhabiting the insular bubble that is the District of Criminals are flummoxed. They can’t fathom why the hoi polloi will not fall in line behind establishment-approved candidates (and there are several, but particularly they are Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton). Some pundits are even offering to turn in their “pundit license.”
For example, The Washington Post’s Charles Lane told Brett Baier on Fox News’ Special Report last week: “I think I’m going to have to turn in my pundit’s license because — or somebody is going to revoke it because I really can’t analyze this phenomenon. We’re living through one of the strangest, most — if not strange, one of the most puzzling moments in politics that I can remember.”
Americans in flyover country have long sensed that the politicians they elect are not the politicians who end up inhabiting the District of Criminals. And they have long sensed that the system is rigged against them and in favor of the establishment and crony corporations. Though they have sensed it, for the most part they still have played along in the hope that, somehow, something will change. 
READ MORE on the Previous Party Collapse  

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Let's See Hillary Top This!

Obama Shoots Giant Rainbow Out Of His Butt,
 Turns Entire Island of Jamaica Gay


MFNS - On his way to The Summit of the Americas, President Obama stopped and visited Jamaica this week, the first time a president has done that in over 30 years. Upon his departure, he turned and shot a beautiful, giant rainbow at the island nation, right out of his ass, proving definitively that he has some special tricks up his gay wizard....sleeve! 

This act was caught on camera by White House photographer Pete Souza, so we guess Obama is okay with his magical powers not being a secret anymore. Now, let's see Grandma Clinton top THAT when she is president?

Thursday, April 9, 2015

State Department Orders Crash Course on Negotiatin'

 Training is Meant to Increase Understanding and Effectiveness 

"Mr. Secretary Would You Like to Lead the Class in the Pledge of Allegiance?"

After disastrous negotiations with Iran in which they were allowed to run the table and call the shots, the Obama State Department has decided it just might be time to learn the fine art of not getting the floor mopped with their faces when dealing with adversaries.  

"Less than a week following the framework of a nuclear deal with Iran that allows the Islamic Republic to continue operating core aspects of its program, the State Department is looking for a new training course on how to negotiate.  The agency released a solicitation for “Negotiations” on Wednesday, revealing that the State Department is seeking a class for U.S. diplomats on “making and receiving concessions wisely.”
“The overall course teaches the essential skills, knowledge, and attitudes for U.S. diplomats to succeed in any of 275 overseas posts performing the full spectrum of political and economic work,” the solicitation said. “This module will focus on the complex art of negotiating across diverse cultures to find common ground for advancing mutual interests.”
The training is meant to increase “understanding and effectiveness” of negotiations between foreign powers.
The State Department said upon completion of the course diplomats will be better able to describe “basic, universal negotiating concepts and vocabulary,” and identify “objectives and underlying interests of negotiating parties. Preparing relevant strategies for diplomatic persuasion,” and “analyzing ‘Lessons Learned’ through debriefing to improve future outcomes,” are other goals of the course."
The three-week course also seeks for State Department diplomats to understand “cultural considerations” and “building trust” between their foreign counterparts."
READ MORE 

I guess this should come as no surprise to any of us that this bunch have no skills and couldn't negotiate their way out of an open box, considering the previous Secretary of State spent 5 years doing nothing but fly around wearing out government aircraft, having cocktails with world leaders and reminiscing about the Bill Clinton years....


Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Gov. Signs Virginia Criminal Fair Employment Act

Va. Governor Eliminates Criminal History Questions on State Job Applications



My friend, have you been convicted of car thievery?  Maybe dealing drugs to high school kids or beating up your baby momma? Or maybe just a politician skimming off campaign funds to buy yourself a nice fur coat.  Well, fear not for being convicted for jacking that 7-11 (of course you were innocent). Now you too can have a rewarding, high paying, cushy pension paying job as a Virginia State Employee thanks to the wee brained, but big hearted Governor Terry McAuliffe ( a bit of a shady creature himself) who in the spirit of Barack Obama, whipped out his pen and did you a great favor.....

BRISTOL, VA (WJHL) -  Applications for state jobs in Virginia will no longer will include questions regarding a person's criminal history.  Governor Virginia  Terry McAuliffe  signed an executive order removing criminal history questions from state employment applications Friday. Under the order, employment decisions won't be based on an applicant's criminal history unless it's specifically related to the job they are being considered for.
While it only applies to state employment applications, the order also encourages similar hiring practices for private employers throughout the Commonwealth.  Some business owners we spoke to in Bristol, Virginia are not on board with the idea.
"It could effect us, I do think its very important, as I said, if we are going to ask about their education and other types of history, why can we not know about their background," said April Barnes. 
"I think any business owner should ask about criminal background, I don't want a crook working for me," said Hugh Testerman.  
Governor McAuliffe, however, said he believes the executive order will eliminate obstacles for Virginians who deserve a second chance.  
I suspect as a one of his last acts as President and a final FU America, and to throw a bone to the folks in the hood,  Barack Obama will issue a blanket pardon to citizens convicted and jailed for simple marijuana possession and low level dealing now that it's legal in many states, all under the guise of "reuniting families and children with their fathers, or some phony nonsense like that..... 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

We Are Led Through Blood-Smeared Times by Those Who’ve Never Suffered a Bloody Nose

"We are led by men and women educated to believe in the irresistible authority of their own words. When they encounter others who use words solely to deflect and defraud, or, worse, when their opposite numbers ignore words completely and revel in ferocious violence, our best and brightest go into an intellectual stall and keep repeating the same empty phrases (in increasingly tortured tones):
 “Violence never solves anything.” “There’s no military solution.” “War is never the answer.” “Only a negotiated solution can resolve this crisis.” “It isn’t about religion.”
Or the latest and lamest: “We need to have strategic patience,” and “Terrorists need jobs.”
Every one of those statements is, demonstrably, nonsense most — or all — of the time. But the end result of very expensive educations is a Manchurian Candidate effect that kicks in whenever the core convictions of the old regime are questioned. So we find ourselves with leaders who would rather defend platitudes than defend their country.
Once-great universities have turned into political indoctrination centers worthy of the high Stalinist Era or the age of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Their aims may be more benign, but their unwillingness to consider alternative worldviews is every bit as rigid. Students in the social sciences at Harvard or Yale today are cadets being groomed to serve a soft-Socialist form of government conceived not in the streets, but in the very same classrooms. It’s a self-licking ice-cream cone. And graduates leave campus brilliantly prepared for everything except reality." - Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, US Army Retired
(source) 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Gallup: Both Parties Poll Below 40 percent Favorability

In a Gallup poll released Monday, 37 percent of Americans view the Republican Party favorably and 39 percent view the Democratic Party favorably.  This is because in many respects both parties are vestiges of the 20th Century and do not reflect the the will of even the real people who make up the respective parties, never mind the people who operate outside of the parties.  

Disgruntled Republicans were the first to really break with their party. The Democrats, filled with folks who embrace a more union lockstep mentality have been slower to voice their displeasure, but even they are leaving the herd.  People are fed up. They are increasingly empowered thanks in large part to the Internet. This poll is just a blip in an ongoing American trend.
"Except for a brief spike to 51% for the Democrats after Obama was re-elected in 2012, both parties' ratings have registered below 50% since 2010. The descent to sub-40% ratings for both parties marks a new low in an already inauspicious trend...."
As far as the Democrats go, guess that Hopey Changey thing hadn't worked out so well.....

Read More 

Monday, March 16, 2015

More Nonsense From The Nutsack of Congress

DEPT. OF PEACEBUILDING?
DEMS GO NUTS ON VISIONS OF GLOBAL NIRVANA

Rep Barbra Lee ( Dimwit-CA)

By Cheryl Chumley
The latest Democratic brainstorm is a "got to see it to believe it" piece of legislation aimed at stopping wars around the world – by creating a Department of Peacebuilding.
How very forward-thinking of the left. Or perhaps, more specifically, how forward-thinking of Rep. Barbara Lee, the California Democrat who devised the piece of legislation, H.R. 1111, with the creative fortitude to begin its descriptive text with reference to our Founding Father's vision for our nation, followed closely by quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.
Only the boldest of Democrat could suggest the establishment of such a massively bureaucratic government venture by waving the very founding documents that pressed limited federal powers.
Points for Lee for the sheer impudence of it.
The cost? This bill calls for "such sums as may be necessary" for the newly created department, including what's needed for the various created offshoot offices to give out grant dollars to those schools and non-government groups desiring to be trained on all matters of peace.
The bill only has a handful of cosponsors – all Democrats, and more to truth, all the most leftist-of-left Deemocrats. And it's probably not going anywhere near the full House floor for a vote, at least while Republicans still hold the majority. But that's not really the point.
The larger issue is: Why do politicians always think they can solve all the world's problems?
Lee and her Department of Peacebuilding supporters no doubt truly believe that simply spreading the word of peace – by getting together and sitting down in a group, identifying problems, rationalizing solutions, hashing out consensus and shaking hands on an agreement – will somehow, miraculously, bring about a peaceful coexistence among all of humanity. But that's just naïve to the level of ridiculous. Not to mention dangerous; that's the mentality the Obama administration touts on all its foreign policy dealings with even those nations that want to harm the West.
It's that line of thinking that defies the truths about war and peace and the matters and motivations of human hearts. It negates the fact that true evil exists – and fails to recognize evil as the springboard for war. And it outright ignores common sense principles. In Lee's mind, and those of her cohorts, the solution to war is building a new government facility and creating a new federal bureaucracy and hiring new government workers who will talk and meet and give out taxpayer dollars so more government workers can talk and meet. 
It just doesn't make sense that making a new federal department -- and throwing money at a new government bureaucracy -- will purify the human heart to the point that worldwide peace prevails.
Editors Note: Ms. Lee represents a district that includes Berkley Ca. She graduated fron UC. Berkley in 1973 and went to work as a aid to Ron "RED" Dellums 1975, and later was elected to his seat. She is in her 9th term as a congress peoples, and has never held a public sector job. The above story should then be of no surprise....... 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Texas Largely Responsible for the +1.2M net US Job Increase Since 2007

Despite the Obama Administrations tauting of a bunch of fly-by-night taxpayer cash grabbing solar energy company failures, much to their dismay, good jobs numbers have come because of employment created in the demon fossil fuel industry.

AIE
"The Texas Workforce Commission released state employment data today for the month of December, and job growth in the Lone Star State continues to lead, and in fact carry the nation’s improving labor market as the chart below shows." 


"The Texas Workforce Commission released state employment data today for the month of December, and job growth in the Lone Star State continues to lead, and in fact carry the nation’s improving labor market as the chart above shows. Here are some highlights of the December employment report for Texas:
Texas ended the year with the state’s largest ever year-over-year payroll gain with the eye-popping addition of 457,900 new jobs between December 2013 and December 2014. That’s more than 1,700 new payroll jobs that were added every business day last year in the Lone Star State, and 220 new jobs every business hour or almost 4 new jobs added every minute!
In just the last month of December, which marked the 51st consecutive month of employment growth, Texas added 45,700 new payroll jobs, which was more than 2,000 jobs every business day, almost 260 jobs every hour, and more than 4 new jobs every minute! The strong job growth in December brought the state’s jobless rate down to 4.6%, the lowest Texas unemployment rate since May 2008.
Bottom Line: Texas clearly deserves the title of America’s “economic miracle state.” It’s the most important energy-producing state in the US, and now produces so much crude oil that the state’s daily production of more than 3 million barrels represents more than 37% of the nation’s crude oil and would rank the Lone Star State as the world’s sixth largest oil producer as a separate country. Along with the gusher of shale oil and gas in Texas has come a gusher of more than 1.44 million new jobs since the start of the Great Recession......"   Read More  
Even with the gas and oil boom in the Dakotas has the the rest of the US yet to recovered all of the non-Texas job losses during the recession.   That's the Obama economy in a nutshell.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Future Through a Looking Glass Darkly


by Robert Janicki
Since the 114th Congress was sworn in on January 6th, we have gotten a preview of things to come from President Obama and they aren't pretty.  Even before the new Congress was sworn in, Obama threatened to veto any legislation sent over from the Republican Congress that he didn't like.  This was a very telling indicator of things to come, despite Obama's follow up rhetoric that 'he was willing to work with Congress where he could.'
No Mr. President.  You have absolutely no intention of working with the Republican Congress.  In six years you have demonstrated one substantial fact.  You have no negotiating skills whatsoever.  You have repeatedly tried, and often been successful with, bludgeoning Republicans, rather than even trying to negotiate with them.  Of course with RINO's, that hasn't exactly been a real challenge for you, since they seem to surrender faster than the French or Italians.  But enough of this historical recitation of Republican weakness.  
Lest we forget Obama's early adult years, remember that he began as a community organizer.  CO's don't negotiate.  They demand.  They lay it out in terms of what you are going to do for them or else suffer the political or monetary repercussions.  CO's are very good at laying out the consequences of not acceding to their demands.  This isn't leadership, unless you're a Capo in the Mafia.  
CO's walk the legal line, which is very close to extortion.  All we have to do is look to the Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson, Sr. community organizing business model.  The only difference between these two otherwise street thugs and the run of the mill street thugs is that they have a better plan and dress better.  And Obama is even a better dressed than these two race baiting hate mongers and with a hell of a lot more means to force compliance to his wishes.
Obama has taken the Sharpton/Jackson business model and run with it as president.  He's taken what can be best described as a cottage industry created by Sharpton/Jackson and made it a corporate model on an almost global scale, with the power of the presidency in the form of his pen and phone as he issues Executive Orders and Executive Memoranda.  By the way, Executive Memorandums do NOT go into the Congressional Record as do Executive Orders.  Hence, the public does not really know of all the orders that Obama has really issued.  
All one has to do is look to the  power Obama has exercised in retribution as he uses the IRS and the EPA as his most notable agents of mayhem, since they are the two most prominent means of coercing recalcitrant victims to see the light of Obama's political righteousness or at least roll over and play dead as RINO's are so experienced at.
__________________________________________

Rob Janicki is a retired educator, strong supporter of the 2nd amendment and all around good guy, as well as owner/operator of the website Wired Right  and owes me 20 bucks. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

Jimmy Carter's Biggest Blunder

America's 2nd Worst Presidency Continues to Haunt Us

May people today are unaware the most difficult and brilliant feat of engineering in modern times, one which cost an estimated 32,000 plus lives and almost 100 years from conception to finish  is no longer in American Control.   One of the crowning achievements of the the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt , a strategic  tool in the defense of America and the western hemisphere and a vital weapon in the winning of World War 2 was signed over to new owner by that brilliant Statesman, the 39th president, Jimmy Carter. 

On  October 1, 1979 Carter signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which set in motion the process of handing over the Panama canal to Panamanian control  and providing for a twenty-year period during which Panama would have increasing responsibilities for Canal operations, culminating in complete U.S. withdrawal on 31 December 1999, during the presidency of  Bill Clinton. 

The treaty was highly controversial, and its passage was difficult. The controversy was largely caused by contracts to manage two ports at either end of the canal, which were awarded by Panama to a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, a  company that has close ties to the the Chinese military.

The Chinese have undertaken more massive construction on the canal and will have a strategic advantage over the west, no ship, commercial or military will be able to pass without being electronically scanned, photographed and spied upon as they move from ocean to ocean. 

The rise of the Chinese navy and control of both ends of the canal will allow free movement of the their navy into the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean for the first time, as well as shutting off the world's easiest means of  commercial and military movement of water traffic in a minutes notice. 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

All it Will Cost Us is Another Piece of Our Soul…

"There’s always that super-powerful person who prefers to stay out of the spotlight…(and I don’t mean Valerie Jarrett, even though the resemblance may be striking)."

Friday, December 5, 2014

The Last Day of Southern Congressional Democrats


Jonathan Tobin

The outcome of tomorrow’s Louisiana Senate runoff election is not in much doubt. With the most recent state poll showing Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy with a whopping 26-point lead over incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, it is a virtual certainty that the last vote of the 2014 midterms will ensure that the GOP will have a 54-46 Senate majority in January. Even before the votes are counted, the result is being rightly touted as the end of the Democratic Party in the South. But while the reasons for this are worth examining, it’s also important to point out that the implications of this trend have more than a regional impact.

Just as the Democrats have developed a built-in advantage in the Electoral College in presidential elections, a new solid South in the hands of the Republicans means they have now acquired an equally potent edge that should allow them to retain control of Congress for the foreseeable future.

As Nate Cohn writes in the New York Times’s Upshot section, though most put the shift of the South into the GOP column down to race, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Democrats survived and even thrived at times in the Deep South decades after Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy” enabled Republicans to flip the region into the GOP column in presidential elections. But the steady drift of the Democratic Party to the left on social, cultural, and economic issues has now alienated most voters in these states and left moderate Democrats like Landrieu increasingly isolated from both their constituencies and their national party.

As Cohn notes, blaming this solely on alleged white racism or on a backlash against President Obama ignores the fact that Democratic losses in the South can be traced to the way the party has embraced liberal issues that energize its northern and urban base but which alienates southerners: