Cartoon Idea for Debt Limit Debate

Obama, Pelosi and Reid are driving a car labeled “America” off a cliff. A group of people labeled “Tea Party” lash a rope to the car and are trying to pull it back. A group of vultures labeled “NYT”
“MSNBC” “WashPost” are yelling things to the Tea Party people “Fanatics!”, “Loonies”, “Extremists”, “Terrorists”. John Boehner and other leading republicans are carrying a gas can offering it to Obama.

Things People Do Not Say About Government

People across the world, across the political spectrum, of all races, religions, sexes, do NOT say the following:

“I love government”

“I like paying taxes”

“I want more regulations”

“I like filling out forms like tax returns and want to fill out more forms”

“I have too much personal liberty, I want less”

“I like government debt”

“I want government officials to spend more money travelling”

“I want to hear more speeches”

“I want a government official decide on my next surgical procedure”

“I want the government to tell me how much corn I can plant this year”

“I want the government to tell me how far back from the road I have to build my new house”

“I want the government to limit my freedom to own and use a gun”

“I want the government to tell me how fast I can drive”

“I want the government to tell me to wear a seat belt”

“I want the police to fine me if I talk on my cell phone while driving”

“I want the government to make me get a license to get married”

“I want the government to assume I am a terrorist and strip search me at the airport”

“I want a body cavity search”

“I want the government to censor television so I can’t watch unedited movies I like”

“I want the government to control the internet”

“I think politicians are good, moral, upstanding people who always fight for my best interests”

When are people finally going to say “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more”?

Reporters and Salmon

It was appropriate seeing reporters climbing all over each other rushing to get the boxes of old Sarah Palin emails. Sort of like the Alaskan King Salmon spawning upriver, leaping into the air over each other striving to get to the place of their birth.

Watching Salmon is fascinating. Watching reporters frothing at the mouth for old messages of an out-of-work politician was hysterical.

A Congressman’s Poor Judgement

An old expression: When the weiner gets hard, the brain goes soft.

Congressman Anthony Weiner was obviously involved in a sex chat with a 21 year old woman. He then hit the wrong key and sent a lewd photo of himself to all of his Twitter followers instead of a private message to his virtual lover.

Oops.

Politicians.

The Bin Laden Assassination

I’m not comfortable with what happened to Osama Bin Laden last Sunday.

Even Nazi Generals, responsible for the deaths of millions of people, got trials.

Yes, it was a brilliantly executed mission – right out of the Tom Clancy books I used to read. Daring, gutsy, courage way beyond anything I could ever muster.

But, a representative democracy should not go into sovereign countries, break into private residences, and assassinate unarmed people.

I really hate being on the same side of an issue as Michael Moore, but I am.

Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. What if, some dude in Pakistan killed 3000 Pakistanis. Then, he fled to America and settled down in a house in West Point, NY. Then, one night, Pakistani helicopters flew in and Bin Laden’d him.

Americans would go ballistic. Out of their minds. Calls for nuking Pakistan would be rampant.

Well, if it ain’t right, it ain’t right.

What if this government starts doing that here? Assassinating criminals instead of arresting them?

The silence on this issue is deafening.

I’m glad Bin Laden is with the fishes. I’m not glad that his death seemed like part of a Godfather movie.

Truth, justice and the American Way. Did not happen.

Consequences

What happens if Qaddafi wins?

What happens if 12 months from now, there is no kinetic military action in Libya, no more NATO supervised strategic bombing missions killing, among others, innocent civilians, no more “rebels”, and Muammar Qaddafi is firmly in control of his country?

It will symbolize the decline of Western nations, their values, their ability to wage wars, and it will open up new opportunities.

The new opportunities will be for Qaddafi to acquire nuclear weapons, for other dictators in other parts of the world to act with more brutality, and for other rogues and renegades to take power wherever and whenever they find it.

It is as clear as day that Western nations should never have interfered in Libya. If you can’t win, don’t start.

President Obama will lose even more respect than he’s lost so far bowing and scraping to every world leader outside the US.

It may cost him an election. I certainly hope so.

Why Not Libya?

Does it surprise anyone that a government that  meddles so much in it’s own citizens private lives decides to meddle in the private lives of Libyans?

Who’s Behind the Arab Spring?

Protests and civil unrest are spreading throughout the Arab countries in the Middle East.

Who’s behind it?

Is it just technology bringing videos of abuse and massacres to the masses? Is the technology bringing everyone closer together at the speed of electons?

Or is there an evil hand at work here? Al Qaeda?

Anybody know? I sure don’t.

Getting a Grip?

I’m having a hard time getting a grip on world events these days but boy, imagine if I went to sleep in 2007 and woke up today.

In 2007 the French were violently opposed to US military action in Iraq. Anti-war sentiment was raging all across Europe. George Bush was portrayed as evil incarnate.

Now, the French are aggressors in interfering with internal matters in Libya while our goofy President follows meekly along unleashing the incredible firepower of the US Navy. It’s like a wimpy guy taking his pit bull out on a walk and the pit bull takes charge, dragging the wimp along for the ride. There is no strategy here. There are no well articulated principles.

Libya under Qaddafi has always been bad. No news there. We left him alone while he cemented his control with the brutality of a mobster, gunning down everyone who got in his way. And blowing up passenger planes over Scotland. What’s different now?

Perhaps the “Arab Spring” makes things different. The whole power structure of the Middle East is splitting open like a magnitude 10 earthquake. The wonderful power of the internet giving people the power of information is turning everything upside down. Or is it?

The Libyan rebels, inspired by the success in Egypt, thought that they could easily take down Qaddafi. Wrong. Unlike Mubarak, Qaddafi isn’t ready to ride off into the sunset. With his billions, he built an effective military that could suppress rebellions. Since he is ruthless and doesn’t seem to care about human life but his own, he kills everyone who gets in his way. His military is either paid very well to kill, or have been properly indoctrinated so they believe the rebels are not human and therefore can be killed like animals. No guilt.

So, now we’re engaged in a joint military operation with France and other European nations. What’s the goal?

War can only be ended in unconditional surrender. Otherwise, conflicts boil on for generations. Victor Hanson writes that democracies, though they don’t start wars, do fight them with unusual ferocity and have no problem pummeling the opponent until he cries uncle, no matter how many people die. There is a feeling of moral superiority that gives democracies the ability to turn a blind eye to all of their moral principles and fight like a Tasmanian Devil.

Are the French going to demand unconditional surrender from Qaddafi or are they going to wimp out and leave him in power? Is there political will in the West to win wars?

Qaddafi’s air force has French-built and Russian-built jet aircraft. Are the French blowing up the planes they sold Qaddafi so they can sell him some new ones?

There are going to be many revolutions around the world in the next few years. I wish peace loving, democracy loving people everywhere good luck in their fights. However, it is not possible for the United States military to get involved in every revolution and see them to their proper conclusion.

I just don’t get it.

 

 

 

 

Afghanistan v. Libya

So, here we are, March of 2011.

Our heroic soldiers dither around in Afghanistan getting shot at and killed, for what? while the majority of Libya literally begs for US help to overthrow one of the truly bad guys of our times, and we do nothing.

Afghanistan, a country without significant resources, with a tribal population that has no national identity nor do they seek it, the country that is the “graveyard of empires”, has tens of thousands of US troops trying to accomplish something. What is it nobody knows.

Libya, a strategically important country in North Africa, a stones throw away from Italy and southern Europe, oozing with valuable petroleum, has a significant educated population willing to fight and die for freedom and a new government rid of the murderous Ghaddafi, gets absolutely zero help from the US. So, Ghaddafi, with his stolen billions, pays mercenaries from other African countries to drive tanks, fire weapons, fly jet planes and helicopters, and stage a so-far successful counterstrike to quell the democratic revolution that was spreading throughout the country.

And Obama plays around with basketball betting cards.

Kind of makes you nostalgic for a real president. W, the world misses you.