Who did Obama offend with his bow?

The embarrassing display by President Obama and his reverent, if not obedient bow to King Akihito of Japan was a lot of things to a lot of people, but mostly, it was a slap in the face to a country who has stood on justice and freedom for all.   So, with  his disgusting display of obedience, who might he have pissed off?

WWII Veterans - Simply the greatest generation in our history was rebuked for the blood they shed in places like Okinawa, Saipan, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, Midway, etc...   We're not too sure what he was bowing so ceremoniously for, but one has to assume that this liberal demagogue is STILL apologizing for dropping the bomb.  I was in Nagasaki about 2 years ago and believe me, we have NOTHING to apologize for.  They're pretty much over it, and for those who aren't, well, they're doing a great job of revisionist history to lie to themselves.  At the Nagasaki museum, there was no mention of what caused the "Great War" to start, but plenty to talk about why it should never be dropped again.  I can live with latter, even though they brought it upon themselves.  What was conspicuously missing was the utterly unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March and the completely barbaric treatment of our POW's.   Even still, I found the place to be quite charming and the people were gracious and hospitable to a fault.  It's a wonderful place and it's probably safe to say that they're over it and just wanting to move on and pretty much have.  The museum, by the way, was practically empty when we Americans got there.  Even the Japanese understand revisionist history when they see it. 

Well, apparently Obama and his crack staff didn't do all that good of a job researching all of this, which leads me to to my next group that was probably offended....

THE Japanese.   Let's start with the obvious, his bow was clunky and done completely incorrectly, which in of itself, suggests disrespect...but I think the Japanese people are smart enough to know when they have a rank amateur on their hands, which has been readily apparent when the common guffaws of Joseph Biden's prodigal son, (Barack Obama in case you were wondering) steps onto the world stage.   The worst that probably happened is they got a good laugh at someone who is ignorant in the world around him. 

Long debate has been brewing in Japan as to the relevance and necessity of an Empirical family, which is viewed more as state representation than having any say in governing.  The democratic process in Japan has completely replaced the former monarchy system, with most of the country never having to serve under Empirical control.   With this said, so much reverence being displayed to a purely symbolic leader who's daddy thrust them into a War that ended so brutally, has to be wondering what parallel universe they must be in.  This is the supposed leader of the free world and the symbol of captitalism, which parterned with Japan, and emerge them from the War, to having a place as an industrial behemoth.   Weird at best.

Black America - Aren't Black American's a bit squeamish over this subservient attitude and wasn't Obama supposed to be the one that showed what true black leadership is capable of?  Is this one of the end results?  Since when did Nelson Mandela ever bow to anyone?  Did Jesse Owens dip the flag to Hitler?  NO!!  He held it high in the air with one hand.   Martin Luther King knew his life would probalby end in the way it did, but he courageously knew that his strength of action would create a better Nation.  This whole apologist approach shouldn't be surprising because that's how Black America has been tuned to believe that's how we do business with each other. White apologists seem to get further in the black community than standing on principle and EQUAL rights to all. So does it seem really all that surprising that this President acts in the same capacity?  

This is a step back in the progress of leadership in America regardless of what color you are.  The Blogs are LIT UP with protest, regardless of political or racial deference, to this embarrassing display.  How does this portray a strong America?  Even the foreign media are taking pot shots and they love his apologetic attitutde.  GREAT!!  Now the guys that were on our side...are now making fun of us.

Now that I think of it....maybe it is best to send Uncle Joe Biden in to warm the political waters for our country.  He just says stupid stuff.  He doesn't make a COMPLETE buffoon out of himself.   This administration isn't smart enough to the use the one chip that will keep them out of trouble on the foreign stage, Hillary Clinton.  WOW....I'm now rooting for the "cankle" queen to rise up and take control!  See what kind of weirdness happens with one bow??

Was it terrorism?

Considerable debate is going on as to whether the Ft. Hood attacks are an act of terrorism.  One of the first quotes I saw, as reported on FoxNews, caught my eye: 

That doesn't add up to the prelude to a terrorist attack, said Carl Tobias, a professor of law at University of Richmond who analyzes terrorist investigations across the country.  "Terrorist attacks are undertaken by people who typically ... have some agenda they want to forward politically, and from what I see in the news, this is just a person acting individually because he doesn't want to deploy overseas," he said. "So I just don't see that angle."

Immediately I was flashed back to 1983 and the Beirut Marine Barracks attacks and the immediate reaction from President Ronald Reagan.  At the time he called it clearly and simply, "deliberate and heinous acts of international terrorism" to an act that was directed to embody political ideology and to create a reaction to the action.  I dont' see this any other way.   Clearly the Beirut bombing was an act of terrorism designed to get our peacekeeping forces away.  It was designed to achieve a political response.   What Major Hassan did at Ft. Hood was exactly the same....and here's why:

Major Hassan had numerous avenues to get out of deploying.  There is a means in which a Concientious Objector can submit a request to be dismissed from their duties.  Department of Defense Directive DoDI 1300.06, May 31, 2007 clearly details the process for which a military member can either be assigned to non-combatant duties, or be allowed to resign their position before being assigned to those duties.   Secondly, he could have simply put in a letter of resignation.  Upon completing college, certification and ROTC requirements, each participant is required to "pay back" with an 8 year commitment.   Becoming a Major in the Army from ROTC requires no less than 9 years of active service, therefore, I highly doubt that Major Hassan had not met that requirement.  There is a process for Medical Corps Officers to come in at a higher rank based on their qualifications and education, but none that I know of from ROTC.  Lastly, being a psyciatrist, he knew more than anyone else the process for which one can claim psychological illness and not meeting Fit For Duty requirements.   If anything, this would have precipitated an investigation and exhaustive counseling which would have delayed his impending deployment until such a time that he could simply resign his post. 

There were numerous avenues that Major Hassan could have taken to be relieved of his military obligations.  I think when all is said and done, a far more diabolical plan than was involved than simply just losing his marbles.  Major Hassan was afforded far more opportunities to relinquish his duties than to resort to popping off over 100 rounds while killing 13 and wounding 31.  Make no mistake about it, this was a deliberately planned effort to achieve a goal.  The almost endless options that were presented to this man to allow him to leave military service were puposely ignored.  The choice of weaponry, his religious ideology, his growing frustration with the Obama Administration's lack of effort in changing the status quo militarily in the Middle East are easy to spot signs.  Couple this with the Obama Administrations attempt at becoming an apologist state, Major Hassan had big fish to fry.  He intended on making a political statement to achieve a desired result.  He played a hand that he felt was stronger than the Obama Administration and their lack of experienced foreign policy skills.   Major Hassan is a very intelligent man and was never outside of his own faculties.  He was deliberate, calculating, and sincere in his plans. 

To call this anything less than terrorism is pure cowardice by the Obama Administration.  To call this a criminal act relieves them of making a decision on how to handle the War on Terrorism.  Major Hassan knew this all to well and has forced those in the administration to have to make some tough decisions.   I suspect this investigation will go on for months if not years and will be somewhere back in the deepest recesses of the American conscience by the time this comes out.  That is the courage of the Obama Administration.    Pure and simple, this was a terrorist act. 

Promises to Keep: Candidate Obama vs. President Obama - FOXNews.com

Promises to Keep: Candidate Obama vs. President Obama - FOXNews.com

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San Francisco declares WAR on Immigration law and order!

Let's just say for arguments sake that a certain high powered national politician from San Francisco, waaay back in May 2005 co-sponsored legislation that went a little like this:  Americans are frustrated with our lack of border security and our inability to control illegal immigration.......Make no mistake, this is not an amnesty bill. We are not here to reward law-breakers, and any accusations to the contrary are patently untrue.   Furthermore, in election year rhetoric, this same high powered national politician from San Francisco stated on October 26, 2008:    While some in the hard core pro-immigrant community will no doubt push to kill any bill that does not include a path to citizenship, hopefully they will realize after two prior failures that the only way we will improve the immigration system is to accept compromise.   Would you say that this politician respects the law of the land and would represent the will of her constituency?   Would it be fairly safe to say that there is some semblance of reason and a willingness to protect the law abiding LEGAL residents of this country?

Fast forward to October 26, 2009 and those kooky, crazy liberals are having some fun in the rave party that is San Francisco City Hall!  Seems as if it's not good enough that illegal immigration is sucking the life blood out of the state of California and possibly making it go bankrupt, but now the Board of Supervisors have overturned a law enacted by Mayor Gavin Newsome (D) in which juvenile illegal aliens are deported when they commit a crime and providing safe haven to other illegals that report criminals and criminal activity.   As Mayor Newsome put it, the Board of Supervisors "perverted" the law and created an extreme safe haven for illegal's to basically do what they want in this country.  Of course there are some that contest that San Francisco has pushed hard to extract themselves from the union, but that's a different matter altogether. 

The prime sponsor of the Board of Supervisor's legislation is none other than a previous illegal alien, David Campos.  Mr. Campos apparently can't seem to discern the difference between what illegal activity is and the rights of those who don't participate in illegal activity.   The very fact that Mr. Campos is here seems to justify his view of the boundaries being stretched as to what criminal activity is.  In his jaded his view, he now has fellow enablers (by an 8-2 vote) that will thumb their nose at the laws of this country.  He has painted this as some sort of Rockwellian portrait of families sitting by the table sitting down to Sunday dinner and being ripped apart by a system that is victimizing the fact that they're simply illegals trying to make their lives better.  Could Mr. Campos and his fellow crack smoking liberals be further detached form reality?  These are criminals that committed a crime by being here in the first place and then exacerbating it by committing another crime!  Furthermore, he has given protection to the criminals by providing a safe harbor to those the original law was intended to combat.  

So, getting back to that certain high powered national politician from San Francisco.  I wonder where she will sit on this legislation?  I wonder if she truly believes that "We are not here to reward law-breakers" and that she is truly willing to stop the insane policies of the liberal enclave she has helped to build.  I truly wonder who the real thugs are?  The criminals doing the crimes themselves or the system that enables them?  At what point to does the federal government begin to take back our country by enacting laws that protect the ones that are here legally, and stop empowering those who aren't.  At least Mayor Newsome has the common sense to understand the difference between social activism and enabling criminal activity.  Apparently that line does not exist in 8 of the 10 minds that were elected to the Board of Supervisors for San Francisco county.  That hefty a plurality should be troubling enough to the constituents of that city.  Maybe now the outrage might shift the insane politics of San Francisco to some sort of moderate profile that RESPECTS law abiding citizens for once.

THIS JUST IN.....CNN SPIN IS IN FULL FORCE!!!!

As I was enjoying my morning coffee, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to check out the latest Communist News Network (CNN) branch of the Obama Administration website.  Directly from the CNN Money site, in big bold letters was the headline:

Jobs outlook brightens

National Association for Business Economics says more U.S. firms are planning to hire and increase investment in the next six months.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/26/news/economy/NABE/index.htm?postversion=2009102607

WOW!!  Praise GOD!  We're out of the woods and we're headed back on the path of prosperity with a promise of health insurance for every man, woman and child regardless of citizenship!!   New cars for everyone!!  Mortgages, schmortgages....that's for people who work for a living.  Anyone making over 100k will take care of everyone else.  The new Reich....err.....I mean...the new order is in full bloom!!   Next up, marijuana legalization and alternative lifestyle education for every child in public education!! 
 
Unfortunately, this is the part where the sound effect of the record skipping happens...brrrrrrrrppppp.....or for those that are more inclined to relate to a Bugs Bunny cartoon.....WHAAAAA, WHAAAAA, WHAAAAAA!!!   Not so fast folks.  Let's take a look at what the NABE REALLY said:
 
The key part CNN failed to report was that according to the same NABE site, The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 10 percent in the first quarter of next year and edge down to 9.5 percent by the end of 2010.  The business outlook is quite muted, with moderate gains expected and a slow recovery in process, but certainly not the big bold headlines that CNN put on their site.  A key element of the CNN article, which was hugely cherry picked for it's vaguenss, never made a mention of exact jobless numbers.  A closer look at the paragraph states: 
 
The National Association for Business Economics said the number of employers planning to hire workers over the next six months exceeded the number expecting job cuts for the first time since the recession began in December 2007. 
 
So if you break this down, the article is accurate, but clearly taken out of context to meet the agenda needs of the Obama New Order Gestapo.   So, if a .3% increase from 9.8% jobless rate over the next 15 mos. is what you call a bright outlook, well, this administration is for you!!

Just for kicks and giggles.....in the time I've written this article, the DOW has dropped 100 points....I'm just saying.....

The Letterman Standard

The recent admission from David Letterman struck me as odd the other day.  Now I know that marital infidelity isn't something new, nor is it earth shattering in the entertainment business.  It's simply just not newsworthy these days of "open relationships," reality shows, and your sex just a quick click of the remote control.  Jon Gosselin isn't really seen as the bad guy to Kate and the kids, even though he was the one who left them for more nubile pastures.  Infidelity is just not newsorthy these days, well, unless you're the extreme narcissist that Letterman is.  Drama is what he wants, so he'll share all his little failings in life to bring you into his egomaniacal empire.  It pays the bills and it feeds his ever increasing arrogant self indulgence.   None of that is what struck me as odd.  Just seems so "hollywood-ish".

What did strike me as odd is the stark contrast between the Military and the rest of the world on this subject.  While matters of the heart are seemingly fair game these days, the morality of scrogging the help is an absolute taboo in the Military.  If you want to get an immediate one-way ticket back to the civilian life, be in a position of leadership and indulge in carnal  knowledge of one of your subordinates.  It doesn't matter if both of the participants are single, the same age....whatever the reason.  The policy is quite clear.  Zero "fraternization" will be tolerated.  The policy reads....Personal relationships between officer and enlisted members that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in rank and grade are prohibited.  Furthermore, the policy between senior enlisted (E-7 to E-9) and subordinates (E-1 to E-6) are as follows: Personal relationships between Chief Petty Officers (E-7 to E-9) and junior personnel (E-l to E-6), who are assigned to the same command, that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited.  These policies have practical use in the workplace to respect the differences in rank so as to not foster favoritism and maintain military discipline. 

Letterman's extortion attempt clearly indicates the pitfalls of workplace sexual misadventures.  The thing that really caught my attention was an ABC Poll which said that nearly 60% of Americans see nothing wrong with consential workplace affairs between seniors and subordinates, with close to 20% seeing it as a big problem.  That's a stark difference between military and civilian worlds. 

Boys and girls being what they are, the policy still cannot stop all laws of nature to be ignored.  In a 5 year period between 1999 and 2004, of the nearly 1300 command jobs throughout the United States Navy, 80 commanders had been relieved of their commands due to fraternization.  Those number peaked especially during 2003 at the height of deployments during the War on Terrorism at 26.  Considering the length of deployments, the lonely aspect of being a commander without peer groups to socialize or commiserate in certain circumstances, it's quite remarkable that an average of 16 per year out of 1300 commands, lead to this kind of behavior, which seems to fly in the face of civilian scrutiny.   Still, there is value in the policy and should be a matter of practice, rather an inconvenience of policy.

The Obama Afghanistan policy.....seen walking around with the dodo bird.

The one thing that appears clear about the Obama Afghanistan policy:   It's unclear what the policy is.  

When then-candidate Obama campaigned touting the Afghanistan War was the "just war" and "winnable war", it appeared as though he was entering a new political pragmatism and a move to the political center.  While many in the GOP had a good sense that this was political pandering, he seemed to have a clear view of what the American people wanted.  After a closer look to his policy, it appears as though the he was saying the right words at the right time without a clue as to what really needs to be done, but knowing that it is a political football that his offense had firm control of. 

Early on in his administration, President Obama is using political capital achieved by President Bush to appease the public on the conduct of the war in Afghanistan.  He simply adopted the same policy hammered out by the previous administration in Iraq, the troop surge, and applied the same policy in Afghanistan.  In May 17,000 troops were redeployed to the region with a promise more might come, which hasn't yet materialized to date.  While that policy has not been widely challeged by many in congress and the public, closer scrutiny shows a flawed policy that needs immediate attention -- if that's possible with the domestic debates that are raging today. 

Afghanistan is uniquely different than Iraq.  There are very few natural resources to tie an economy to, there is no stable national culture, and the population is indigenous and therefore, ill-equipped to react on a national scale.  The economic prospects are weak at best.  The political prospects are even weaker.   Centuries of wars and invaders to the region have been grotesque failures in policy and execution.   The Soviets couldn't figure it out and their political might could arguably be considered stronger than ours.   Military commitment has proven to be a failure because it's been a single pronged approach: invade and conquer. 

Afghanistan will take much more than just a simple troop surge.  President Obama is clearly backing our military into a corner that will not end well for our country and especially our troops.  He has used the surge to say "see I meant what I said" without REALLY meaning what he said.   It appears as though he's used the surge to buy himself time to push his domestic agendas and detract attention to the mounting problems faced in the middle east.   In the meantime, civilian casualties are mounting, Taliban advancements are increasing, and political stability is being challenged with every incursion into Pakistan.   A much different approach needs happen and happen quickly. 

To take this forward the term "exit strategy" is now looming large on the horizon and the political play is coming clearly into focus.  While the administration made the term akin to a four letter word in church, it is provocating the policy without actually saying it.  As Obama pushes his big-spending domestic policies to the forefront, the question of who is going to pay for this and what the cost will be, will ultimately rest on the blood that has been shed in the region.   The military strategy will be spun into a failure.  The increase in civilian deaths are at the forefront of the consequences of increased military tempo, which the administration is getting a political bump in it's reporting. They knew it would happen and they've worked in lockstep with the liberal media to expedite it's reporting.  The administration will say, "see we did our best and our military couldn't get it done, therefore its time to get out"  ....and with it the billions and billions of dollars spent on the war can be politically and economically re-allocated to big spending domestic policies.  The plan is disengenious at best, but mostly disrespectful to the thousands of men and women whom have sacrificed all in the name of keeping this country safe. 

Militarily, we have rooted out safe havens in Afghanistan.  We have delivered a staggering blow to Al Qaida and their political, terrorist organization and the financial network that supports it.   The Military is doing it's job and doing it well given the parameters this administration is giving it to operate.  This administration must increase cultural, diplomatic and economic support to this region and stop taking a disengenious "wait and see" approach to success.  Our men and women who are fighting overseas should be afforded the opportunity at winning and not be used as a pawn in a failed foreign policy, contrived or not.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Pensacola, FL - Tuesday, September 11, 2001

I got one over on the Navy this day...I decided to sleep in. I slept all the way to 6:45, not the usual 4:00 I've been stumbling to during the last 7 weeks. I barely remember my wife getting up at 5:00 am for work and I sure didn't hear her leave. So I extended my little mini vacation by a few hours...so what? I was about to be a CHIEF PETTY OFFICER...my stuff didn't stink!! Who was going to mess with me? NOBODY was the answer, not on this day. Yep...I was the master of my domain for the first time. I decided when I was going to start work today. And then, I was going to end work when I felt like. Yep...life was good. My arrogance and self indulgence was so American....so us!!

I showered, shaved, got myself ready at my speed and grudgingly headed to the base, across Escambia bay, 19 miles from my house. We were in the thick of hurricane season, but it was eerily quiet this particular year. As I drove across the causeway into Pensacola, it struck me that we'd had hardly a puff of a tropical depression, let alone a hurricane, but Tropical Depression Gabrielle was spinning down in the southern Gulf and might be headed this way. Well, a hurricane is much better prospect to me than the earthquakes I was raised with. You never knew when an earthquake would hit, but hurricanes? Oh yeah, I could handle that. I could just leave and let the insurance cover the cost. No problem. The only problem was the storm that was brewing wasn't the one I was thinking about.

07:45 CDT - The world I had known.....was no more...
As I was driving down Davis Hwy heading to Corry Station, I had the usual programming on the radio. Lex and Terry were doing their usual yukking it up on the local rock station, TK101. As I came to the intersection of Olive Dr. and Davis Hwy, Terry broke in and said "now I know we say funny things and joke around, but a plane has just driven into the World Trade Center....I'm not kidding....we joke around and play pranks on a lot of stuff, but this is no joke." WOW....that was weird. Must have been some small cessna that thought they would get a good view and clipped the tower. 10 minutes later...."OH MY GOD....ANOTHER PLANE HAS JUST PLOWED INTO THE OTHER TOWER" came blaring over the radio. My first response was incredulation. What is going on here? I pulled into the base 10 minutes later and by that time my buddy, Bill Sprake was on post at the front gate....wow that was weird. I've never seen a Chief Petty Officer at the gate...hmmm..... He said, he got called out there quickly by the watch commander on base. Strange.

After arriving at the building I worked at, I went upstairs to the only TV we had in the building and saw for the first time, the horror that unfolding. Myself and about 100 other sailors sat in stunned gripping silence as we saw the building tumble one by one. We stood there with tears in our eyes as we saw the Pentagon up in smoke. By this time, it was clear....we were being attacked. By who? Why? Why on this day? The PENTAGON???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE PENTAGON....the singular most important symbol of military might has been attacked? No!! No way!! Not the Pentagon!! There's no way anybody could be that stupid to try to destroy the building with the power to yeild the most destructive military might the world has ever known. Nobody is that crazy. Must be some sort of explanation.

As the day unfolded, almost every single emotion had been felt. From the high of thinking you owned your own destiny....to knowing in the blink of an eye, everything you thought you knew about the world came crashing down with those towers. Shock was replaced by horror, which was replaced by grief, which was replaced by disbelief, which was replaced by anger, which settled into sadness of the highest magnitude. As the night wore on and I was watching all that was unfolding with my wife and 2 year old son, I knew that from that day on, nothing was ever going to be the same. Then I got scared for my family. What was next? What was going to happen to them? What was going to happen to our country? One thing was certain..NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME!! America's innocence died that day, and I was hoping our apathy would too.

Monday, September 10, 2001

Pensacola, FL - Monday, September 10, 2001

It was a bright sunny hot and humid day, just like every other late summer day in the Florida Panhandle. The kids were back in school, the baseball pennant races were heating up, and the buzz around town was high school and SEC football. The NFL had just opened their season with a full schedule. Most of the news was hardly newsworthy that day.

I was deeply involved in a time tested Naval rite of passage known as Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Initiation. Naval tradition calls for every E-6 (First Class Petty Officer) who is selected to E-7, or Chief Petty Officer, go through a subsantial learning process to handle the significantly increased responsibilities of the rank. In 2001, the process lasted approximately 8 grueling weeks of intense learning scenarios, team building and inner growth. It's a hell-packed time that tests the strongest of sailors but ultimately breeds the most able of leaders. On this day, I was embracing the last few days of Initiation before I promoted to the rank of "Chief" on September 15th. Reflection for what we had gone through and the final push of the last days of the initiation dominated my every thought.

Some of the things we took for granted that day was security, a feeling of invicibility, the knowledge that nobody was brazen enough to come to our backyard and mess with us. I could easily go through any gate on any base with hardly a nod or a challenge as to who I was and what I was doing. Sure, the USS Cole was a brazen attack on our Navy, but it was an isolated incident that happened overseas. No way could anybody do anything like that on our soil, and that was the furthest from our thoughts. Posting the names of crew members on websites was common. Ship schedules were readily available almost anywhere you had a connection with AOL. Ships were on a 12 or 14 watch section rotation, with barely enough people to adequately fight a fire inport if the need existed. I could walk onto any plane in any airport with hardly a passing glance. Families crowded busy terminals and waited for loved ones to walk on or off. Apathetic attitudes pervaded our society. We couldn't care less about what was going on in the Middle East. That was somebody elses problem. The only thing about that God-forsaken place we cared about was the cheap oil it brought us. We had never heard of Al-Qaida, couldn't tell you the difference between a burka and a Persian, and certainly couldn't tell you the difference between a Shi'ite and a Sunni. The Middle East was somebody elses problem and most of us just wished everyone there would just kill each other off so it wouldn't be our problem much longer. You know the joke....one nuclear blast and we have a glass parking lot...funny huh? Usama Bin Laden? Who was he again? The only guys we really thought we knew there was Saddam Hussein and that other crazy guy, Yasser Arafat who was mostly just a comical charicature of Arab life to most of us. That was about it for the place. The only military threat were those pesky SCUDS that even the most rudimentary Patriot missile could easily shoot down, provided the lousy things got within a zip code of their intended target, which was rare. The economy was floundering, President Bush was just getting a handle on the economic situation and a way to right the country. Folks in Florida were still in a buzz over the craziness of the past year and their election turmoil.

I got home a little early that night. I was able to have a nice dinner with my family for the first time in weeks. Almost every night for the past seven weeks I had come home barely long enough to take a shower and get three or four hours of sleep. The Initiation process had worn me out. Tonight I decided to take a little time for myself and watch a ballgame and relax. My beloved Dodgers had just finished a tough series with the Cardinals, but were still in the pennant race. They were on a travel day. I was getting settled in for the Yankees and Red Sox, but due to rain, got the Braves instead. That was okay, it was tall cold one, a ballgame and some peace and quiet. It was a night of serenity. Outside the crickets were chirping and a half moon cut the darkness of the night sky in half after the usual late afternoon monsoon-like downpour. I went to bed dreaming of what I would look like in my new khaki uniform and what I would do with that pay raise..........the night was peaceful...the last night of the world I had known....

It's a matter of credibility!

The Republican Party has a credibility issue. They just can't seem to get their act together....

Barack Obama is making atrocious decisions with our National debt. He's proving to be over his head in a war he has absolutely no idea how to win. Abroad, he's clearly pandering to the Arabic community at the price of our close relationship with Israel. His cabinet is a mess, his "Czars" are dirty, he has a completely ineffective Secretary of State (as evidenced by her husband coming to the rescue in North Korea), but in fairness she is a pretty good dancer. In short, Barack Obama's early Presidency is a mess...a mess of extraordinary proportions to which we haven't seen since Jimmy Carter.

Now it appears as though the support from the independent voter base, which was so instrumental in electing Barack Obama, is losing ground almost as quickly as the national deficit. According to the most recent Gallup poll of Independent voters, Obama's approval rating is down to 48% from a high of 66% in May. Almost every demographic group in America is trending downward. Even Blacks, whom are still staunchly behind the President at a remarkable 84% rate, has trended downward by 5% in just three months. While this is going on, continuing downward trends in voter opinion about the Republican party and their viability also continues to fall. This is the most interesting point of all.

While President Obama's fall has been easy to see progress through his ill-advised big spending projects, usually a bump for the opposing party happens. Unfortunately, this has not taken shape. in May 2009, 25% of all Republicans viewed the party as unfavorable. At a time when one party is faltering, the other should be gaining ground. This has obviously not happened. So the big question is why.

The Republican Party has failed in gaining trust of the American people because they still can't get their own house in order. The vast divide amongst the haves, and the have nots has further crippled the outward appearance of the GOP to make decisions for the constituents they serve. The scandals of Randall "Duke" Cunningham, Jack Abramoff, David Vitter, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, and most recently, Mark Sanford and John Ensign, as further pushed the assumption that the Republican Party has lost touch with America. The ability to recruit and develop leaders has come down to an issue of money. Who has it and who doesn't. Is this what the GOP is truly about? Where do we go to find leadership....ETHICAL leadership. The answer is quite simple and makes complete sense. The Military.

Honor, courage, commitment, Esprit de Corps, loyalty, duty, respect, integrity.....all strong words and words that the outside world see as labels for military personnel. But for the men and women inside the Military it's a way of life. It's words they live by every single day. For the most part, vastly two-thirds of career military personnel consider themeselves conservative, which follows in line with the aforementioned values. According to a 2004 Military Times Poll of military personnel, 59% of ALL military members (not just career minded military members) called themselves Republicans. This is an astonishing number when less than one third of all Americans align themselves with one party or the other. To point this further, nearly two thirds of all Officers consider themselves Republican. Clearly, there is a base of leadership talent out there that understands not only the characteristics for military life, but they understand the world, leadership under fire, and are acutely in tune with political climates that affect their lives.

Michael Steele said at his acceptance speech as the new Chairman of the Republican Party: We stand proud as the conservative party of the United States, and we will make sure that the values that have made our party the Party of Lincoln, are part of the issues, part of the policies that are reshaping this country. It's time to put up or shut up Mr. Steele. Start recruiting from your strength and not what makes you the most money. It's time to show courage under fire, it's time to show true leadership in the face of adversity and time to get this country back on track!!

Welcome!!

Welcome to my Blog!! I've created this as a forum to express my views and opinions, from a Conservative ideology, of issues that pertain to Military life in reference to political and social issues. I also plan on this site being a meeting place for like minded individuals to express their opinions and discuss what we can do as Conservatives to maintain our place in the Military, especially in this political climate.