Madam Secretary: It Does Make a Difference

Hillary Clinton, looking a little long in the tooth, appeared in front of the Senate and House of Representatives today to answer questions about the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya. The performance of those in Congress who inquired was criticized by both the liberal and conservative press as being pontificating rather than questioning. So what else is new?

Notwithstanding, the main sound bite coming out of Hillary’s non-answers is telling and chilling. She shouted:

"With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

I would like to answer that question. Madam Secretary, the difference is that you and the President of the United States stood next to the coffins of our Ambassador and three other dead citizens at Andrews Air Force Base and lied. You blamed a lame video when you knew that it was a terrorist attack. You and the President lied in order to bolster his campaign narrative that Al Qaeda was defeated when you knew that wasn’t true. And that lie was carried right through the campaign up to an including the President’s Inaugural Address where he talked of diminishing wars and peace in our time while North Africa is imploding.

It makes a difference, Madam Secretary, because if you didn’t know about the danger before the attacks you are inept or uncaring. I am not sure which is worse. It makes a difference because in all of your answers today you seemed to know nothing, or the passed the buck. Taking responsibility is admirable but meaningless if you continue the lies. Taking responsibility means telling the truth and exposing the cover up so it doesn’t happen again.

It makes a difference, Madam Secretary, because be it through political expediency or ineptness, there are four dead Americans who asked for help, were denied help, who were attacked and denied help again, and then their memories denigrated by political lies.  The press can deny it.  The public can put its head in the sand.  But facts are facts.  Truth is the truth.

It makes a difference, Madam Secretary, because you want to be President of our great nation. We can’t afford any more lies. We can't trust you. That’s why it makes a difference, Madam Secretary.

23 Executive Non-Orders

Read Executive Orders Here

Amid much fanfare, President Obama put on a good show announcing his plan to deal with massacres such as was experienced at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Look up "lost opportunity" in the dictionary and you will find a picture of Barack Obama standing midst little children announcing with pompacity his 23 executive orders to help prevent this from ever happening again. Really?

The media was positively orgasmic as they covered the event. The NRA (I am a proud member) acted appropriately incensed at the usurping of American freedom and the assault on the 2nd Amendment. The joke, however, was on the American public. The 23 executive orders did NOTHING to solve the problem in the greatest sleight of hand Obama has pulled since taking office. What a crock!!! What a shame!!!

Most all of what he "ordered" was nothing more than finally doing what he should have done years ago. There were a few legislative initiatives, and the rest was clarification of some badly written laws. All of this after Joe Biden put on a dog and pony thing for several days “looking for solutions.” The public should be outraged that a serious effort to understand these mass murders is not being undertaken. There will be no debate. There will be no action. There will be no solution. There will be a lot of useless pontificating that amounts to nothing.

It doesn’t diminish the tragedy at Sandy Hook to say that however tragic that event and events like it are, most gun violence takes place on the streets. Mass shootings are horrible things, but more people were killed on the streets of Chicago than were killed in Afghanistan in 2012. And while gun violence has gone up in America, the overall crime rate has actually gone done substantially the past ten years bad economic times notwithstanding while going up in equal measure in countries like Great Britain.

Getting rid of guns is one of liberalism holy grails…for many reasons…none of which really has to do with eliminating Sandy Hook like massacres. Statistics show over and over and over again that states with concealed carry laws have much less violence than those without. There are over 300 million guns in the United States. The bad guys will always have guns, including the types of guns which are the focus of current gun control efforts. Good guys have guns gives the bad guys pause.

No matter that the liberal media is demonizing Wayne LaPierre and his NRA, he is right. The nation needs much self reflection on what we are doing to our kids. There are too many crazies walking the streets. Violence is EVERYWHERE…on television…in comic books…in movies….in video games. Values have been destroyed. Parents are self absorbed and ignoring their children. The list goes on and on. These are the kinds of issues that will help to stop crazy people from shooting our children.

Most importantly, we need armed guards in the schools. A “gun free zone” sign in the window won’t stop a nut job from killing whomever he/she wants. A locked door won’t do it either. The Sandy Hook murderer shot out the windows. Had the principal and/or guidance counselor and/or janitor had a gun, this could have been stopped.

To Obama’s credit, buried in his 23 executive “non-orders” was a recommendation for increased school security; translate armed guards in the schools. Good for him. But all of the other stuff doesn’t do one thing to look at the root of the problem. It’s not guns. It’s our culture that is the culprit, and the moral relativism of liberalism will never examine what it has wrought.

Baby Mamas in your Living Room

If you want to know what is wrong with modern American society, you have to look no farther than reality television.  Starting with that liberal  paragon of virtue Jerry Springer and his horrible talk show featuring the dregs of society duking it out over who fathered who's baby or who is stealing who's man, moving to Pregnant and Sixteen, moving to Honey Boo Boo....it is a never ending parade of perverse and degraded human beings.  These are examples as to what to emulate or strive for in modern America.  It is pitiful. 

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, here come Oxygen TV and its documentary to be turned into a reality show All My Babies Mamas.  This  reality show follows rap "star" Shawty Lo and his eleven children born by ten different mothers.  They all live in one house in Atlanta.  Oh Gee!!!  Let me set my DVR.

Shawty Lo claims to be supporting his kids.  He said he "didn't know how this happened" but it did nonetheless.  Should I draw him a picture?  He is wealthy man who reportedly made his money peddling drugs.  And it goes downhill from there.

It's a given that All My Babies Mamas is degrading to women on its face and taps into the essence of African American stereotypes.  72% of African American children are born to unwed mothers.  64% of African American children live in fatherless homes.  Then there is Shawty Lo...who somehow finds that impregnating ten women and fathering eleven is admirable because he supports them financially?  Really?

Our society is sick.  Look at what we deem acceptable.  Oxygen TV needs ratings and generated untold amounts of publicity just having this discussion.  People who never heard of Oxygen TV now will try to find it on their cable lineup. Shock for publicity.  At what cost?

In Detroit and Chicago, gangs and gang violence by young minorities is at an all time high.  The number one cause of death in the Black community is violence.  Things are tough enough without some punk television network looking for a cheap way to boost ratings showing trash to be emulated by young folks who have three strikes against them starting out. Do this. This is how to succeed.  This is how to get on television.  That's what young folks see in programs like this.

No culture, not even American culture, can withstand these types of attacks.  Values have been diminished to almost nothing and we are told to be quiet and accept it.  And those who attempt to succeed and better themselves are degraded and made fun of....not just in the 'hood, but on television, on the news, through our political leaders.  It is shameful.

Shows like Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, Family Matters, The Bill Cosby Show...any show with a nuclear family....are made fun of and scorned.  They aren't cool.  Let me tell you something.  Modern America is not cool.  How much more do we have to take?  Is this really the America you want?

In Defense of Catholic Schools

There was discussion on Fox and Friends this morning about attempted legislation in Indiana to re-introduce the Lord’s Prayer into the schools. This is being done in light of the Sandy Hook massacre. It sounded like a good idea to me. Although it is a “Christian” prayer taught by Jesus, Christians often fail to process that Jesus was a Jew. The prayer encompasses a universal theme among monotheist religions. God, your name is holy. Your will shall be done on earth and heaven. Please provide us with life’s needs, and forgive our misdeeds. Help us to forgive those who have offended us. Protect us from the evils of life. You are God forever. I don’t think there is anything there that is offensive to Christians, Jews or Muslims. It is the quintessential generic prayer along with the 23rd Psalm.

The Fox News religious expert, however, spoke out against the plan. He argued it would open the door to all sorts of unpleasantness with atheism, Satanism, and the like. He stated that public schools really mean government schools. That means, he opined, that we are leaving the “values” portion of our children’s education to the government which in turns mean no values at all. A better system would be to allow the parents to choose the schools where they send their children. That is a voucher system.

I agree. Although I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic school for a few years, I have never been a supporter of Catholic schools. I have always questioned those who move into a community like Canfield and then send their kids to very expensive parochial schools after paying very high taxes to the local school system. I am now changing my position.

I have come to the conclusion that America is experiencing a values crisis. While emphasizing social justice issues in the school, including extreme environmentalism, public schools have left basic values out in the cold. If “Thou shalt not kill” is not on the school wall, where are students supposed to learn it? Sure, schools discourage aggressive behavior, but rather than relying on a universal or greater code of ethics, it relies on punishment.

A case in point is the six year old boy who pointed his finger like a gun at a fellow student in general horseplay. The school suspended him (although it was later rescinded). A school psychologist when questioned about the incident said there were many layers to the issue. Really? The kid is six. How many layers could there be?  Don't show these kids violence 24/7 on television and movies then tell them no-no at school.  He is SIX. 

True values must be established in the context of something bigger than everyday life. For me, it came from a Catholic education both in and out of the Catholic school system. Progressive secularism teaches relevancy…not right and wrong. Suspending a six year old for doing what six year olds do shows how low the public schools have stooped in an effort to compensate for a complete failure of instilling common courtesies and standards of behavior through a value system that can be carried by students throughout life. There are no life guideposts for those graduating from our public school system…just government.

Although my son went to a public school, we made a concerted effort to give him religious training on a regular basis. The same can be said for Jews and Greeks that attend public schools. The parents make sure their children are exposed to religious training on a regular basis be it Hebrew School or Greek School. But in the 21st Century, too many parents are too willing to abdicate their responsibility to the schools, and the schools are failing miserably in their locus parentis responsibility.

At the end of the day, you cannot teach values without God…and you can’t get an education without values. Maybe it’s time re-examine the role of parochial school in our society. Vouchers are looking better by the day.

Is the Left Turning on Obama? A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

Oliver Stone is the producer of the Showtime television series and book entitled The Untold History of the United States. He recently sat down for an interview with RT which aired on December 28. He commented on Barack Obama this way:

“I think under the disguise of sheep’s clothing he has been a wolf. That’s because of the nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him, people forgave him a lot. He was a great hope for change. The color of his skin, the upbringing, the internationalism, the globalism, seemed all evident. And he is an intelligent man. He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them. That is what is sad. So we are going into the second administration that is living outside the law and does not respect the law and foundations of our system and he is a constitutional lawyer, you know. Without the law, it is the law of the jungle. Nuremburg existed for a reason and there was a reason to have trials, there is a reason for due process – ‘habeas corpus’ as they call it in the United States.”

Left wing historian Peter Kuznick, also appearing in the interview, said this:

And the other side of what you are asking is about the constraints upon political discourse in this country. Why are people so uninformed? That is what we are to deal with in the series. If people don’t understand their history, then they don’t have any vision of the future and what is possible. If they think what exists now – the tyranny of now – is all that is possible, then they can’t dream about the future. They can’t imagine the future that is different from the present. That is what I am saying – people have to understand the past because if you study the past then you can envision a future that is very different.

Make no mistake about it, both of these guys are avowed leftists.  You can read the entire interview here and see what I mean. Mr. Stone is not known for historical accuracy. His movie credits include cinematic docudramas such as Nixon and JFK, both of which he acknowledges play fast and loose with the truth. Other movie credits include Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, Natural Born Killers, Platoon and Reversal of Fortune which is one of my personal favorite movies. He has been described as by the British publication The Guardian as “one of the few committed men of the left working in American cinema.”

Here is a dirty little secret about those whose politics are firmly planted in the right and those planted firmly in the left. There is more in common than one would think. There is a strong libertarian streak on both sides…and it is that libertarian streak that is uniquely American. Both sides are deeply afraid of an intrusive government and value our individual liberty and privacy. We value rule of law. We understand that without it, there is either dictatorship or anarchy.  And more importantly, we value honest discourse.  That is the American tradition.

Mr. Stone has finally stumbled across the truth. Although he is coming from a different direction than folks like me, he has finally come to the ultimate conclusion about Barack Obama…he is a liar with an agenda that is anathema to both the right and left. And he is not afraid to use an Imperial Presidency whose antics have far surpassed those of Richard Nixon. He has hidden his true agenda from the public and has fooled everyone. Even those on the left are beginning to sense there is a problem here.

It is ironic that as the interview was being done, Obama’s EPA Chief, Lisa Jackson, resigned. She used the usual excuse of spending more time with her family, but the true motivation is she was caught using secret and/or alias screen names to conduct government business circumventing the Freedom of Information Act. We know of at least 12,000 emails. There are probably more with still more alias email accounts. What are they hiding…perhaps ways to circumvent the Congressional rejection of Cap and Trade or submitting the United States to the whims of the United Nations? Who knows? We will find out.

Although the focus of Oliver Stone’s concerns is somewhat different than mine, his concern about privacy is close to the top of my list with maybe a different nuance. On the other hand, he and I agree 100% on one thing, Barack Obama is a liar. Behind that winning grin is something else. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Those of us on the right know what his fundamental change to America is. Oliver Stone, and those like him on the left, are just now discovering that traditional liberal American values are also under attack. That’s a really scary thing.

Coming for Your Guns

The government is coming to get your guns. In the words of the current administration, never let a good crisis go to waste. The Sandy Hook massacre is the mother lode of crises. Wayne La Pierre, President of the National Rifle Association, today gave a detailed position statement on behalf of his organization. In it, he listed the elements of the cultural crisis that faces our nation: Inadequate and declining mental health policies; violent video games; violent television, violent music; a culture that celebrates violence…and I will add my own personal comment to his list…if you take the Thou Shalt Not Kill out of the schools, where are the students supposed to learn it?

He also commented that none of the proposed gun controls would have stopped the massacre of those innocent children. A mentally deranged individual went to the gun store to buy a gun and was denied after a background check. Next he did what most nut cases would do, he stole a gun. Then he went to a completely undefended group of people and killed them to make whatever point he wanted to make.

He further commented that had there been an armed guard in the school guarding the main entrance, this never would have happened. Further, in my opinion, if the school principal was schooled in firearms and had one available to her, when she heard the gun blasting through the windows, she could have grabbed her gun and shot the son-of-a bitch. Further, again from me, why didn’t the school secretary have a panic button to the police department?

I find it appalling and hypocrisy at its worse when those who advocate gun control are the very people who are peddling violence to the children they feign to protect. Mr. LaPierre used as an example a video called Kindergarten Killers available to anyone on line. I point to programs like any of the CSI television series with graphic portrayals of murder and death. And let’s not even talk about the gangsta rap music which simply accepts gun violence as a way of life and glorifies it in the nth degree in its recordings.

Folks with serious mental disease are walking among us because they have “rights”. It is next to impossible to get someone committed for observation unless they have already done a violent act. The hoops are unending. In Newtown, the mother was going through the arduous process of getting her son to a place where he could get some help. He killed her, too.

The second amendment is there to protect us from an intrusive and invasive government. Look at it, folks, and what do you see? Governor Cuomo of New York said today that the government should take control of semi automatic weapons. He said “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option.”

If you want to know what that means, look at the picture at the top of the beginning of the article. That was Janet Reno sending Elian Gonzales back to slavery in Cuba. Your tax dollars at work!! That is when I joined the NRA even though I don’t own a gun.

Think hard, America. Freedom is slowly slipping away to those who know better than you and aren't afraid to tell you so.

Right to Work Ascending

Union thug attacks Fox News contributor Steven Crowder

Union thuggery is alive and well. And if you are a Fox News contributor, beware. The union thugs will beat the crap out of you. Thus are the lessons coming out of Michigan! The state that gave birth to the United Auto Worker Union has laid the union bugaboo to rest. This past week it became the 24th Right to Work state in the union.

Contrary to popular belief, Michigan did not outlaw unions. The Michigan law reaffirms collective bargaining rights as guaranteed in Federal statutes. What it does do is hit the union where it hurts…in the pocketbook. There are no more closed union shops where you have to join the union to get a job. Workers are now free to politely say “no thank you” to sign up invitations. Less union members mean less money for the unions to spend on….let’s say….political campaigns? The union thugs went down fighting, literally.

In a way, unions are victims of their own success. Rooted in our dreary industrialized past, unions brought about better working conditions, job security, good pay and were the building blocks for working Americans to join the middle class. But then was then and now is now. It’s a different world. In the world marketplace, American manufacturers are stymied by union work rules, some of which verge on being ridiculous. In addition, many union members really don’t want to be union members. Dues are not cheap, sometimes approaching close to a $1,000.00 per year. American statutes and regulations have eliminated much of the overt issues which gave rise to unions in the first place.

The percentage of the workforce which is now unionized is in the 12% range, including public employee unions. That’s down from close to 40% during the union glory days. Modern attitudes have changed. Employers work hard to keep employees satisfied and to meet cultural expectations as to how the employer/employee relationship should be. Employees of Honda, Toyota, Walmart, and numerous other companies have routinely turned down efforts to unionize. Notwithstanding, the threat of unionization is the hammer over non-union companies keeping ‘em honest, so to speak.

The real problem for unions will be decreased political influence. Money is the mother’s milk of politics and the delivery man just stopped coming to the union door in Michigan. In state after state, fully a 1/3 of current union members opt out of the union when given the chance. That has sparked the violence seen in Michigan this past week by the union central core. Losing a major source of funds is a major problem for these guys.

On the other hand, unions aren’t going away. Unions will have to learn to market themselves to potential union members in ways that are relevant to today. The advantages of union membership can be found in job training and placement, insurance plans, benefit and discount packages such as one gets through the AAA, working for common political goals, and yes…even collective bargaining if things start to go south in a company.

One thing unions SHOULD do to protect American workers is look to unionize labor overseas. That is the heart of the real threat to American unions. If overseas labor begins to unionize, the benefits to making things there and shipping things here will go away. It would do things American tariffs and taxes can’t do. As the rest of world moves into the modern digital and industrial age, unions should be looking at the rest of the world as a source of new members.

Or…they can just punch out another Fox News commentator, and slip into irrelevance.