23 June 2010

Obama vs. McChrystal

In how many different ways can the war in Afghanistan be turned into a SNAFU and opportunity for the most narcissistic president in US history to genuflect? First and foremost, this goes out to all politicians regardless of party affiliation, if you are going to deploy the US military, it needs to be under the order to achieve unconditional surrender of the enemy. This requires that the congress officially declare war and provide funding above board for a good, old fashioned, ass kicking.
As for General McChrystal, he is responsible for the lives of thousands of American soldiers, including my brother, while trying to eliminate the Taliban from the worst geographic location for military maneuvers on the planet. If he expresses frustration, as he did during his time with the reporter from The Rolling Stone, then so be it. He is the military leader in a quagmire that is shaping up to be significantly worse than Vietnam. By the way, if you've read the article, the comments aren't nearly as bad as they could have been. The reporter appears to have painted a reasonably accurate picture of the diplomatic infighting as he could.
As for the tongue-lashing that the General is bound to receive from Dear Leader today, I have only one comment "Stand your ground, General". You took an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic and this president has shown his complete disdain for the document.
This president has proven himself to be a megalomaniac intent on showing that he is "the chosen one". His obvious disdain for the American soldier is evidenced by his refusal to attend the ceremony at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day, choosing instead to vacation with his family in Chicago. While his lame attempt at showing some amount of respect got rained out (what a weenie), Marines charged with standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown never leave their post, even during a hurricane.
Chairman Maobama is all about the photo op, taxpayer funded dates with his wife, and has taken more vacations in his first year than most presidents take during an entire term. Hope his golf game is improving because he plays a lot of it.

16 June 2010

Could he be any more disingenuous?

President Obama addressed the nation last night about the worst environmental disaster in the history of this nation. His claims of actions already completed were half truths at best. He claims that he assembled a team of top scientists, led by Steven Chu, to figure out how to stop this spill. When did he do this, yesterday? Besides, this is an engineering problem that has to be figured out by seasoned, experienced drilling experts not a bunch of academia wonks that have never been outside of a classroom or laboratory. Yes, there are a lot of physics involved and Mr. Chu is at the top of that field and will likely have good ideas, but why wasn't he put up there 55 days ago?
He also attempted to discredit the technological marvel that was Deepwater Horizon and forgot to mention that it was government policy, bowing to the environmentalists, that moved drilling into a region that was a mile below water. Notice that he failed to mention the offer of assistance from the Dutch government three days after the initial accident that the Obama administration, not BP, refused. Notice also that he failed to mention that EPA policy concerns are what prompted the Deepwater Horizon to be filled with water and sunk, turning a mile of pipe into one big pretzel, rather than letting it burn while BP and TransOcean figured out how to shut it off.
Did he mention that nobody has ever tried to cap a well below a mile of water and what has been accomplished so far is a testament to the technological advancement of our society? No he didn't and I doubt that he even understands that a human can not swim any deeper than about 2000 feet (that's less than half the depth of the well head for all of the Obamabot Zombies out there). He would rather follow "Rules for Radicals" and identify someone to vilify and put all of the effort toward complete vilification and blame.
A real leader, regardless of political affiliation, would have asked BP at the beginning what help they needed and removed barriers for assistance. He would have accepted assistance from anywhere and everywhere and overwhelmed the issue as opposed to spending time figuring out whose ass to kick.
My take on the whole thing; Obama knows that he is a one-termer and he is intentionally making this as large of a disaster as possible so that his ultra left wing buddies can use it as ammunition to destroy the oil industry as a whole. After all, the ultimate goal here is complete government control over the means of production and what better way to accomplish that than control of the basic source material for so much of our lives.

10 June 2010

My latest project

Last night, I embarked on my latest project, teaching a class on The Constitution to a group of home school students. What I was presented with was a group of intellectually adept students (and some of their parents) that asked intelligent questions and approached the subject matter with an open and critical mind. We never got past definitions of terms like liberty and forms of government, yet the inaugural class lasted 2.5 hours. These kids are the hope for our future and if we can send them into the world intellectually well armed they will flourish.
In our discussion on liberty, there were questions ranging from abortion to the draft to retribution for violations of an individual's personal liberty (which led into a discussion of the proper role of government). As an engineer who is self-educated on the subject, it provided the equivalent of an intellectual obstacle course, but I am confident that this group could have held its own with a true scholar on the subject.
I am looking forward to next week's class and the challenge that it presents (yes, I actually enjoy a challenge).

03 June 2010

Back from hiatus

I am back from a hiatus that has renewed my admiration for the medical profession. Those "evil" doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies have made it possible for my wife to function normally again. Seven weeks after going through total knee replacement on both knees, she is up and walking around with a significantly improved range of motion, and reduction in pain, when compared to her pre-surgical condition.
The other item during my hiatus that has renewed my passion, knowledge and respect for The Constitution was a Memorial Day weekend visit with my grand-daughter for her first birthday. She is absolutely gorgeous and I need to insure that this country holds all of the promise for her that it has for previous generations.
My renewed focus brings me to a modification of something that Andrew Wilkow mentions on his show. He talks about the "zero liability voter"; those who do not contribute to the system and only take from it. They have all of the benefits without incurring any of the liability. There is another classification that I would like to put out there for public consumption, the "limited liability voter"; the individuals who preach about saving whatever it is that floats their boats for "future generations" when they have chosen not to procreate (or even adopt). These people have no vested interest in the future generations and therefore don't see an issue saddling them with inordinate amounts of government interference and debt. When they chose to have a vested interest, then they can preach all they want. As for me, I have a picture of my future generation on my cell phone to remind me daily of what it is that I am truly fighting for.