I See Dead People

As a nation we genuinely have our priorities misplaced.  We are spending millions upon millions of dollars attempting to prevent people with Ebola from entering our country.  Don't get me wrong, Ebola is very frightening and we are not well prepared to fight this deadly infection.  And we had that one very well documented, reported and investigated case of a man from west Africa dying in Dallas, Texas.

Meanwhile tens of thousands of young Americans are dying every year due to gang and gun violence in virtually every American inner city and pocket of poverty.  Many, many are completely innocent, guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And many, like Laylah Peterson, are just children.  Laylah was shot and killed last week while sitting safely on her grandfather's lap in their own home in Milwaukee.  Two men fired shots into the house, for some unknown reason, and shot the child.

Laylah was white and the shooters allegedly were black and some are claiming this was racial violence.  I'm pretty certain the reason doesn't matter.  If you want to write this off to racial violence, I'll be happy to post the story of a black four year old girl shot the day before in nearby Racine, Wisconsin.  Here the shooters were also black. Race doesn't matter.

That fact is that deaths from Ebola here in the United States will be rare.  Yet by the time I finish writing this blog entry another child, perhaps two or three, will be dead from the massive violence right here in America.

You probably know all the steps we are taking to prevent Ebola, airport screenings, triage centers, CDC edicts, hospital preparedness and more.  We even have an Ebola Czar.

What are we doing to end youth violence in our inner cities? On a Federal level virtually nothing.  Not a damned thing.   Unless the victim is black and the shooter is a white policeman (or neighborhood watch patrolman), you are unlikely to hear a peep from the President or the U.S. Attorney General.   Again, this isn't about race, it's about priorities.

The greater St. Louis area is preparing for riots and an eruption of violent protests this week when the Grand Jury might possibly fail to indict patrolman Darren Wilson who fatally shot eighteen year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

"Hands up, don't shoot."  Do you suppose if little Laylah had raised her hands, they home invaders would have held their fire?

In Milwaukee there are no protests, there are no riots and there will be no violence over the murder of a 5 year old girl.  Police have few leads and there have been no arrests. There isn't even a person of interest. The FBI isn't there and neither is the justice department.

But by tomorrow there will be one or more similar murders in the same Milwaukee neighborhood.  And by next weekend there will be more.

My personal hero today is Milwaukee District Seven Alderman Willie C. Wade.  Alderman Wade is walking his district alone, knocking on doors, looking for a lead as to the identities of the shooters who killed five year old Laylah in cold blood.  He is hoping that his constituents will talk to him, a black, a trusted friend, when they might not talk or "snitch" to the police.



Willie C. Wade is a real hero.  We need more heroes.  I'm tired of seeing dead people,

Ebola Infects the Presidency

Three Short Ebola Observations:

• We American citizens were over confident and, well, downright smug about the ability of our vastly superior Health and Medical Structure to combat Ebola if it ever invaded our country.  Now, as it turns out, our strengths have proven to be our weakness.  In small African nations, the population is very poor and relatively stationary making it easy to locate and quarantine the infected people.

Here in the United States, people are relatively wealthy and extremely mobile, taking trips constantly by plane, train, bus and even vacations on cruise ships.  In Africa an Ebola victim generally can only infect family, friends and very close neighbors.  Here anyone EXPOSED can jump on a plane, train or ship and expose hundreds or even thousands of people.  Our wealth and independence make controlling the disease both more difficult and vastly more expensive.

• President Obama's extremely poor management style where no one is ever held accountable for anything, has created a massive bureaucracy of sheer incompetence throughout the Federal Government.  Never in our history has our government been less prepared to face a crisis.  As error after error piled up on the gross mishandling on the first Ebola patient, no one from the CDC ever did so much as issue an intelligent guideline, let alone provider hands-on direction to health care workers.  

The hospital did not even have the correct protective gear for doctors and nurses for days.  The CDC never issued guidelines on how to handle the infection.  CDC Director Thomas Frieden, no matter how intelligent or educated he might be on infectious diseases, is a grossly incompetent manager. Worse, he is an ineffective spokesperson.  Many Democrats as well as virtually all Republicans are calling for his resignation.


Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal "The administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis continues to be marked by double talk, runaround and gobbledygook. And its logic is worse than its language. In many of its actions, especially its public pronouncements, the government is functioning not as a soother of public anxiety but the cause of it."

• Only a President as totally unprepared for his job, a President who seemingly has learned nothing over six years, could possibly appoint someone as thoroughly unqualified as Ron Klain to the EBOLA CZAR.  Klain has not one second of medical experience and not one second of experience in handling an epidemic.

To be certain Mr. Klain will have, as his primary job, communicating with the press and public.  Since he cannot credibly answer a single question, the press will eat him alive and the public will further lose confidence in the Obama Administration.

You would think at least on person advising the President would have said, "Sir, you know this appointment of a political manager is going to look very bad and will reflect poorly on your continued handling of this crisis.  This IS NOT a political crisis, Sir, it's a medical crisis." 


Perhaps it was said. Perhaps the President chose not to listen.

Ebola: Coming to a City Near You

Zsuzsanna Jakab, the European Director of the World Health Organization warned today that Ebola is certain to spread throughout Europe.  He stated it was "quite unavoidable."

This warning was tempered in a way that he hoped would not frighten Europe but enable them to prepare for the certainty that people in their countries, and perhaps their cities would contract the disease. 

It's not easy to contract Ebola, but it is difficult to provide the necessary isolation to keep the disease from spreading.  Fear is our very worst enemy.  People will lie to both avoid isolation and to seek treatment.  It's a dangerous brew.

Jakab's warning should have been made for the United States as well.  As it spreads through Europe it will invade the USA increasingly often.  And we lack practical methods of prevention, reasonable methods of isolation, and we have zero efforts at education.  

I'm frankly more worried about the impact on our economy even more than our national health.  Even a relatively minor outbreak will frighten most citizens.  And frightened citizens do desperate things.  The cost of prevention will be astronomical.

As has been the case under President Obama, virtually every threat has been underestimated, minimized or dismissed by the administration.  Ebola is no different.  We need a national health response plan now and our citizens need to be educated and informed to avoid panic.  

Will Hatred Ever Be Replaced with Understanding? Remembering Sue Kim Hanson on 9/11

Last night I prepared to watch President Barack Obama's Address to the Nation about the latest continuation in the war with Islamic Terrorists, the SIS or ISIL threat in Iraq and Syria.  Megan Kelly on Fox News interrupted her broadcast to show the twin beams of light thasat had, seconds ago, be illuminated on the site of the 9/11 attack.  It is a beautiful site, a beacon of strength, hope and spirit.

And yet here we are, thirteen years later, facing the same threat that destroyed so many lives on Spetember 11, 2001 and we face the same threat, perhaps even greater.  It is a threat based entirely on blind hatred.

Can we ever possibly overcome that?  Are we doomed to an ageless war that will eventually destroy us all?

September 11, 2001 was horrific.  In a few short hours 2,996 were murdered by the same terror from Islamic Fundamentalists that threatens us today.  We will make it through today? Last year the terrorists attacked Benghazi on the Anniversary of 9/11 just to commemorate the anniversary of the attack.  Our Ambassador and three others were murdered.

Since 2006 I have maintained my own small commemoration of the tragedy that was 9/11 by repeating here in this blog the story of Sue Kim Hanson and her husband Peter and their beautiful daughter Christine who were killed in the holocaust of 9/11.  I've placed a series of links at the bottom of this post to each of the preceding eight years of blog entries.

Last year I wrote that I hoped we might eventually learn to replace hate with love if we focus on the people, their lives, their loves, hopes, fears and dreams.  With a heavy heart this morning I light again that small candle of hope.  I believe understanding and love may somehow overcome hatred and evil.  At least I pray so in the memory of Sue Kim, Peter and Christine.

Please join me in remembering Peter Hanson, the handsome, young software engineer, Sue Kim Hanson, his Korean-American bride, and their two their old daughter, Christine.

The Hanson's were killed when United Flight 175 was hijacked by the terrorists and purposely crashed into the World Trade Center.

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Susan Kim Hanson was one of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that took the lives of 2,996 souls in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania.

Sue, her husband Peter, and her two year old daughter Christine were on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her daughter Christine was the youngest victim of the September 11th attack.

Sue was a great scientist in the making. She was a doctoral candidate in micro-biology immunology at Boston University and working on her final thesis. Her work promised to reveal the workings of a chemical believed to regulate immune responses. She had isolated in lab mice a gene suspected of being involved in asthma sufferers and AIDS patients. Her work had the potential to help millions of people.

Susan Kim was one of those wonderful American success stories. A Korean-American, Sue had lived with her grandmother in Korea until she was 6. Her mother died when she was 15 and she was raised by her strict Korean father. Through hard work and discipline, sacrifice, dedication and sheer will power she neared the goal her mother and father and grandmother had hoped she would achieve, her doctorate degree.

Dr. Hardy Kornfeld, Hanson's thesis adviser, said "She was sort of fearless. Sue just took on tasks that were incredibly challenging, and more often than not she was able to make a go at them."

That she would be attracted to the wild and undisciplined Peter Hanson was a great surprise. Three years younger than Sue Kim, Peter gained his education by following The Grateful Dead. Peter believed that the group and its music would become classics, up there with Beethoven, Bach and company, and he tried to sway the opinion of anyone who would listen. Many of our listeners to Wizard Radio would certainly agree with Peter.

But even if Sue wasn't quite convinced about the Dead, she believed in Peter. And her faith was well placed. Peter was, by all accounts, a brilliant software engineer, a great salesman and a wonderful person.

He was passionate about Sue and Sue fell head over heals in love with Peter. She obviously had a great effect on him. Legacy.com has a reprint of a New York Times article about Sue that tells the story:

"The relationship spurred Peter Hanson to clip his tangle of brownish-red dreadlocks, trade in tie-dyed T- shirts for suits, go to business school and become one of the best software salesmen his friends and family had ever met. He was vice president of marketing at TimeTrade in Waltham, Mass."

"Her bond with the Hansons was so strong that they accompanied her to California when she went to inform her father about her engagement. She worried that her father would protest because Peter Hanson was not Korean. But her family embraced the Hansons."

Sue and Peter were married and had a beautiful daughter. Sue continued to pursue her doctoral degree. She was scheduled to defend her thesis in November, 2001.
Taking a last break before finalizing her research and thesis, Sue, Peter and Christine were on their way to visit the Sue's father and grandmother in California, and take Christine to Disneyland, when they boarded United Airlines Flight 175. Peter was one of those who made a final cell phone call to his parents moments before the plane crashed into the south tower.

Sue's friend Mona Pengree writes, "Sue was awarded her PhD posthumously, as her professor finished her work on her behalf. This is a wonderful picture of her, and she shone every bit as brightly in person. Probably more. Her loss was a loss to all mankind."

Sue gave a great deal to Boston University and she gave a great deal to all of us. Her work in immunology inspired her fellow students, faculty and the University to continue her research and finish her thesis. They awarded her a doctorate degree. And they established the Sue Kim Hanson Lecture In Immunology, not just to honor her memory, but to give full credit to her work and the inspiration, the strength and the courage Sue provides to us all.

Michelle Malkin wrote this in her syndincated column:

"Eight children were murdered on hijacked airliners that crashed on Sept. 11. Christine Hanson, 3, was on United Airlines Flight 175 with her parents. She was on her first trip to Disneyland. Christine was brown-eyed and rosy-cheeked and button-nosed. At family meals, she made everyone stand and hold hands while singing the theme song from Barney. During Christine's funeral, mourners re-enacted the scene, singing:

"I love you, you love me . . ." "

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back in 2006, the 2,996 Project asked bloggers to prepare tributes to all who died in the tragic events of September 11th. Many of those blog entries remain on line and many will be reprinted today.   Each year since the project began I have repeated my effort to honor Sue Kim, Peter and Christine.  You can read each of my essays following the links below:

September 11, 2006 - Susan Kim Hanson

September 11, 2007 - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2008 - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2009 - Remembering the Reality: 9-11-2001: Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2010 - Reflections on the Life of Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2011 - Tears in Tragedy - Remembering Sue Kim Hanson

September 11, 2012 - Honoring the Memory of Peter, Sue and Christine Hanson

September 11, 2013 - The Tragedy of War, The Victims of Hate - Remembering Peter, Sue Kim and Christine Hanson

"...you have to get shot by a white cop to get any justice..."

America's Genocide continues every day.  It's a damned shame American's don't know about the "killing fields" right in their own country,  Maybe they know but they don't care. Maybe they're just numb.

Here's just one story. Marcus McCarty, only 14 years old, was fatally shot Sunday afternoon. He's just one of several young black men murdered on Sunday. There is no day of rest in America's killing fields. 

Marcus was standing on the sidewalk when two older boys (or men) walked up. One of them was carrying a gun and opened fire, striking the boy in the back. The murderers walked calmly back to their Infinity and drove away.

Marcus was rushed to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, but was pronounced dead minutes after arrival.

As is often the case, no arrests have been made and no one is in custody for the shooting.

The story received almost no press, but here is a short story in the Chicago Homicide Watch.

In the middle of the afternoon on Sunday in a residential neighborhood, it is likely several people witnessed the murder.  Gangs and criminals have instilled a "don't snitch" mentality into the folks who must live in the area the gang controls.

In addition we cannot minimize the impact of the police killing of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri two weeks ago.  Inner city blacks already didn't trust the police.

The saddest comment of all came is a comment attached to the story linked above. 
In his comment a person using the name "Tracksuit Al" noted (quite correctly), Sickening that you have to get shot by a white cop to get any justice in this country if you're black.

America's Genocide

No teenager, black, brown or white should ever be murdered by a police officer.  Not ever.

Fortunately, it actually is a very rare occurrence, in spite of what you might "feel" after listening to the non-stop television reports and the rantings of certain pundits.  In  fact, it makes the national news because it is so rare.  We can spend hours upon hours concentrating on the events in Ferguson, Missouri because not one other similar event (white officer, black victim) happened since that date.  I am thankful for that.

But events in Ferguson further distract us from the real American Genocide happening EVERY SINGLE DAY WITHOUT EXCEPTION all across America.  Not one of these stories make national news. Not one of these genocidal murders ever gets the attention of President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, or any leaders in the Black community.

None-the-less, black teenage males are being murdered at an alarming rate, every day.  The dead numbers in the thousands just this year.  When do we make this a priority? When do we step in to save lives? When do we stop the Genocide?

Thirteen year old Nizzear Rodriguez was shot and killed Sunday in Atlanta by three black men (ages 17 to 24) as he slept in bed during a home robbery to steal his Play Station.

Nine year old Antonio Smith was shot and killed execution style, shot four time, just minutes after he ran outdoors to play. in his Chicago South Side neighborhood.  

The shooter or shooters have not been identified and the crime may never be solved. The Chicago Tribune has an excellent story here: Parents Visit the Block Where Antonio Was Killed

I could go on...... I have over seventy more stories in just over the last ten days......

We cry for justice for Michael Brown, exactly as we should, but we ignore the American Genocide of young black men happening right before our eyes.

Straight Talk from Rand Paul

Ferguson, Missouri, USA is downright scary.

I think nearly everyone in America who is aware of the police shooting of an unarmed 18 year old boy, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri and the aftermath of riots and police confrontation is terrified by what is happening there.

This level of racism in the midwest was unexpected.  And the attitudes of the police in their interactions with the public and the press after the shooting is frightening.  We have a police force that is genuinely out of control and we don't know what to do about it.

Unfortunately 99 percent of the nations politicians are busy staking out their old, worn-out, pre-programmed, hackneyed political positions.

Imagine my surprise this morning to find one politician is actually, "gasp," telling the truth.  Even more remarkably, it is a Republican, telling truths his fellow Republicans generally don't want to hear.

My hero today is Senator Rand Paul.  Writing in Time Magazine he attacks the issue of Racism head on:

Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

More importantly Ron Paul attacks head on the over-reaction, military style response from the police who are attempting, unsuccessfully, to address the reaction of the people of Ferguson.

Republicans generally want to defend the police, but here their actions are indefensible. Paul knows that and takes the issues head on.

The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm. It is one thing for federal officials to work in conjunction with local authorities to reduce or solve crime. It is quite another for them to subsidize it.

Americans must never sacrifice their liberty for an illusive and dangerous, or false, security. This has been a cause I have championed for years, and one that is at a near-crisis point in our country.

It is incredibly refreshing to hear a politician, especially in an election year, tell people the truth and address the issues affecting our nation. We don't need sugar coated, focus group tested, platitudes. We need to be able to handle the truth. I urge you to read Senator Puals full essay here.

"Ok, I don’t know where to go with that"

"Ok, I don’t know where to go with that."

Assuming you've seen the Sprint "Framily" commercials you recognize that line, spoken by the father (alright, he is a hamster living in a plastic ball) in response to his rather dim witted son Chuck's comment at the dinner table with "Grandpa." Here is a link to the commercial in case you somehow missed it ---> Dinner with Grandpa

Dad's frustrated punch line in the commercial, "Ok, I don’t know where to go with that," mirrors my frustration with the inexplicable behavior of our virtually absent Commander in Chief, who appears to be nearly totally uninterested in world events in Gaza, the Ukraine or Libya, the border crisis here in the United States or even his own plummeting poll numbers.  He seems to be blissfully ignoring them all.

Surely President Obama is not as dim witted as Chuck in the above mentioned commercial.  So what is he doing?  It's a great mystery to nearly everyone.

Frustration among Democrats is starting to boil over as President Obama faces criticism from many members of his own party in Congress who simply don't understand why he is so unengaged, detached or oblivious to events swirling around him.

He demonizes Republicans at every chance (mostly at fundraisers), but never attempts to actually engage them. He claims to have a "pen and a telephone" but the telephone is never used.  He never calls John Boehner or Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan in an attempt to broker a deal, reach a compromise and reduce tension.  He quite literally has no friends or allies in Congress or anywhere on the world stage.

The entire nation, indeed the entire world, simply "doesn't know where to go with that."  No one alive today has ever seen the President of the United States simply abdicate his role in world affairs.

Yesterday, spokesmen from the White House suddenly gave credence to the wildly speculative talk of possible Impeachment.  I simply must say, "Ok, I don’t know where to go with that."  It's almost as if they wish Republicans would engage in that behavior as it might actually raise the President's approval rating much as it did for President Clinton. Perhaps they believe talk of impeachment would help turn out Democrats in the fall elections.

However, curiously, two polls about his possible impeachment were released yesterday.  It's laughable to read CNN's downplaying the fact that their own poll indicated an astonishing 35% of Americans favor impeachment.  That number is huge and more than a little scary.

The media downplayed a Fox News Poll, also released yesterday, that showed a nearly identical 36% favor impeachment.

I don't believe that impeachment is even a remote possibility today. House Speaker John Boehner says it's "off the table."

But.... If Barack Obama continues his absentee role as President and his approval rating continue to fall.... and more Democrats continue to criticize him... well, "Ok, I don’t know where to go with that."

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Perhaps because I spent a good part of my career in Advertising I really appreciate the genius of the new Sprint "Framily" commercials. They have become a cultural phenomena.  Virtually everyone I meet, both friends and random acquaintances seem to know virtually every line from every commercial in the series.  It is a client's dream and I'm sure Sprint loves that this series of commercials has gone viral.

The voice of Dad, also known as Tom Frobinson (the hamster), is voiced by Andrew Dice Clay.  The part of Mom, or "Tacos" Mollie Frobinson in the commercials is played by brilliant Judy Greer  The son "You can also text" Chuck is played by Kyle Mooney. And the part of "It's pronounced Gor-don" is played  fantastically by Justin Michael.

The series of commercials, referred to in the industry as "The Frobinsons" was created by Figliulo & Partners and is their first campaign for Sprint.  The campaign was created in partnership with DigitasLBi and MediaVest and designed to promote a rather unique cellular telephone plan now called the Sprint Framily Plan.  Under Sprint's concept you get to decide exactly who you consider to be members of your "Framily." It can be actual family, friends, acquaintances, roommates or even hamsters.  The more members of your "Framily" the lower the bill for each member.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,"

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," is probably the most famous quote by any President in our lifetime.  President Bush's praise of FEMA Director Michael Brown during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 illustrated to ALL the American public exactly how out of touch the President was concerning the unfolding disaster in New Orleans.  The public was watching the disaster unfold, live, on television.  President Bush, briefed badly by incompetent advisers simply had no idea what was happening.

Bush rallied and by all impartial accounts did a masterful job in directing the efforts in the aftermath of Katrina, making over a dozen grueling trips and personally overseeing every aspect of the recovery*, but he is always remembered for that one quote.

Because we are now so used to President Obama lying about absolutely everthing, his stating that he's “not interested in photo ops" in defending his decision to not visit the border even one time will never receive the legendary status of the Bush "Brownie" quote.  Never-the-less it does illustrate exactly how horribly out of touch he is concerning the current border immigration crisis.

Fortunately ABC NEWS is covering the situation in depth.  Their report Here's What Obama Would See If He Visited the Border is frightening.  Be certain to read and watch the entire story at the link above. Below is a tiny portion of the report.

Children, wrapped only in Red Cross blankets, sleep on cement floors. Hundreds of young children apprehended at the border are crowded into sanitary but impersonal detention cells, their faces pressed listlessly against the glass.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told ABC News that the president risks looking “detached,” calling the optics “horrible.”

“If you go down to the border, he has to see the kids that I’ve seen, young girls, young boys, you know, that have come through very difficult situations. It is a humanitarian crisis, and he can either do two things,” Cuellar said. “One, as a leader, he can be defiant and say I’m going to roll up my sleeves and see the humanitarian crisis. Or he can look detached, appear detached and say I’m doing everything long distance.”

Today it is certainly Barack Obama who is out of touch.  And, unlike President Bush during Katrina, Obama isn't doing a damned thing to alleviate the situation,  Instead he demonizes Republicans.  He makes speeches calling Republican's evil.  He doesn't even try to win over popular public support. He seems more interested in making enemies than allies. He has yet to appeal to the American Public, who would, most assuredly, rally to the cause.

Today it is Glenn Beck of all people who is doing the right thing for all the right reasons.  It is Beck who is illuminating the crisis and it is Beck who is appealing directly to the American People for support, tolerance and understanding.  

The President ought to ask Glenn Beck for a ride and join him on the border.  The President ought to appeal to the public for donation, support and a willingness to take in refugees in their local communities.  The President ought to pretend, for just a few hours to be a leader.  Frankly, Obama needs a photo-op.

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* See and read how President Bush handled the aftermath of the Katrina Crisis in Jonathan Tilove's New Orleans Times-Picayune article written in October 2009. 

A Nation Cries out for a Leader

For five and one half years we've had, as President, a man who loves the trappings of the office, but dislikes and avoids any of the real responsibilities of the job.  Barack Obama is a gifted orator, perhaps the greatest to even hold the office of President. He is a visionary and a man who, at least at one time, had a real feel for the pulse of the people.

He has vision, but lacks virtually any ability.  He is not a leader and he is not, most certainly, a politician.  He cannot negotiate and is completely unwilling to compromise.  He rails daily against Republicans for not bending to his will, but never works with them to achieve a mutual advantage.  Mutual being the operative word.

Slowly, but surely, the press and the public have turned against him. Today most people (a surprisingly large majority) wish they had elected Mitt Romney president. Add me to that column, because today we really need a President. And we don't have one.

Because he has no ability to manage the office, Barack Obama has checked out. Republican's claim Obama has chosen to become an "Imperial President," acting on his own as if he were a king.  Even that is not true, he simply has embarked on a two and a half year retirement tour doing the only thing he knows how to do, give speeches to dwindling and increasingly hostile crowds.

Have we ever had a President have complete breakdown in office?  Rumor has it that Woodrow Wilson did.  Wilson's wife managed much of the last years of his Presidency.

Today the border and immigration problem has reached crisis proportions.  The administration is furtively hiding tens of thousands of illegal immigrants all over the country, many of them children.  Even Congressmen and Governors are being kept on the dark, not allowed to visit immigrants or encampments or even allowed to know the locations where illegal immigrants are held. Rumors are rampant.

Rich Lowrey (yes, I know he is a partisan Republican) has written a brilliant essay in The New York Post, The President's Man Caused Disaster. Below are some key points, rearranged and abbreviated by me. Be certain you follow the link above and read his original and complete essay.

The first rule in a crisis for any executive is put on his windbreaker and boots and get out on the ground. President George W. Bush didn’t do it soon enough after Hurricane Katrina and, politically, could never make up for it.

Obama’s bizarre resistance to visiting the border on his fundraising swing out West fueled talk of the influx as Obama’s “Katrina moment.”

The president didn’t have any depressing visits to frightened ranchers, overwhelmed border agents or desperate migrants on his itinerary.

Obama’s policies are responsible for the influx of immigrants from the border. It is, in the argot of his administration, a “man-caused disaster.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the number of immigrants younger than 18 who were deported or turned away from ports of entry declined from 8,143 in 2008 to 1,669 last year. There were 95 minors deported from the entire interior of the country last year.

At the same time, the number of unaccompanied alien children arriving from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras exploded from less than 4,000 several years ago to 40,000 since last October.

The White House brushes off criticism that Obama is avoiding the border as mere “optics,” in contrast to its highly substantive focus.

But it’s still not taking the crisis seriously. In a letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett downgraded the erstwhile “humanitarian crisis” on the border (the president’s words) to an “urgent humanitarian situation.”

When pressed on the shift in verbiage, ever-judicious White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained that it is both a crisis and a situation. Yes, it’s that bad.

The real question is can President Obama "Man Up" and accept the responsibilities of President?  We really need a leader.  Actually we really need several leaders.

In 1974 it was a trio of Republicans in Congress who grew to accept the challenge and face down another "Imperial President," Richard Nixon.  It would have been impossible for a Democrat, a member of the opposition, to carry the hard facts to President Nixon.  If the crisis in leadership in 1974 was to be solved, it had to be done by members of the President's own party.

It was Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, House Minority Leader John J. Rhodes and Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, who had both the integrity and courage to face President Nixon with the news that he must resign for the good of the country.

It is quite interesting that just a few days ago Barack Obama named Richard Nixon as one of the Republicans he most admires [LINK: Obama's speech in Austin Texas]. 

Let's hope President Obama does not have to resign. Let's hope he can become the President our country so desperately needs.

Can Americans Ever Work Together Again?

This morning I watched Bob Schieffer's Face the Nation, as I often do. Bob's calm and disciplined look at politics and political issues is a refreshing break from the hyperbole found on the highly partisan cable news networks.  People are not yelling at each other but actually talking with each other.

One of Bob's guest commentators this morning was Todd S. Purdum, author of a new book about the passing of the landmark civil rights legislation during another time of great political partisanship, An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964

After discussing the book, Bob Schieffer wondered if we would ever see this type of cooperation between the political parties again.  Please keep in mind that is was a coalition of a majority of Republicans with only some Democrats who actually passed the Civil Right's Bill.

The answer to Schieffer's plaintive plea is actually in the book.  The answer in 1964 was President Lyndon B. Johnson's incredible style of management of the political process. Johnson never once even imagined, let alone threatened that would "bypass Congress" or usurp the Constitution to accomplish his difficult task.  Instead Johnson masterfully worked across the aisle to win support.

Lyndon B. Johnson picked up the phone, quite literally all day, every day and talked with supporters and opponents of the bill.  He wanted to understand, genuinely understand, the reasons so many in Congress opposed the bill.  He wanted to learn  how he could win the support of those who wavered.  He used the power of persuasion and politics.  He horse-traded. He cajoled. He begged and he promised.  And he enacted what is one of the single most contentions pieces of legislation even enacted in our nation's history.

I genuinely believe President Barack Obama could get immigration reform passed if he could just bring himself to stoop down to the level of one of the greatest politicians in our nations's history, and one of our greatest statesmen, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Judy Woodruff and the Betrayal of America by the Main Stream and Liberal Media

A brief five second statement, really almost an side comment in the midst of a larger discussion, illustrated the nearly complete bankruptcy of our Main Stream Media and our beloved Liberal Media in the face of major scandal in the Obama Administration.

The side comment was made by Judy Woodruff, the co-anchor of Public Broadcasting's PBS Newshour.  She is one of the leading luminaries at PBS and a highly respected journalist.  Her candid comment tells us everything that is going wrong in main stream Journalism today.

The discussion took place today on Chris Wallace's Fox News Sunday.  The complete transcript of the hour long program is available here: Kevin McCarthy talks Iraq, future of the GOP; latest on IRS scandal.  

As Wallace's panel on pundits discussed the stunning disappearance of two years of Lois Lerner's emails and the highly improbable instantaneous failure of not just one but six individual computer hard drives (on six different computers) all happening exactly ten days after Congress began questioning the IRS about the targeting of Conservative Groups.  Any (and I do mean ANY) computer expert or engineer will tell you this is simply impossible.

Worse, the hard drives were not repaired of reclaimed, but destroyed.  Destroyed, ten days after Congress began asking questions.  Stunning, in fact it's frightening.

This scandal is much worse than Watergate in both the facts and implications.  Now I doubt the President is involved, but this is a conspiracy of huge proportions. We need a Special Prosecutor.

But what was upsetting this morning was not any of that.  What's upsetting was Woodruff's candid admission:   Well, what I can say, Chris, is I haven't reported this story. I haven't -- I don't know what happened inside the IRS.

What's tragic here is that PBS has willfully ignored the story and has spent not one second investigating or even exploring the implications of a massive, coordinated government cover-up.

Had this exact same situation occurred with a Republican President, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I or Bush II, PBS would be tearing the very walls of the IRS down the ground.  And they should be doing it now.  We only survive as a free democracy with the aid and protection of a vibrant, active press.

FOX NEWS has few resources and limited access.  They cannot carry the ball alone.  Plus they might distort the story.  We need ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS on the case.

We cannot survive as a free nation if the main stream media only does it's job when a Republican is President. The press is either going to have to start doing their damned job or we can simply never elect a Democrat President again.

The Racism in Gun Violence Reporting

It's been a tough, demanding news week. Between the Sunni led invasion and revolution in Iraq that genuinely threatens to topple the government and the controversial Bergdahl - Taliban prisoner exchange and the stunning Tea Party election victory over Republican Eric Cantor in the Virginia primary, it's amazing that anything broke into the news stream.

But one huge controversy did break through and occupied significant time on MSNBC, Fox News and CNN: A group called Everytown for Gun Safety released what they thought was a definitive list of all the school shooting since Sandy Hook, a stunning seventy-four examples of gun violence in or around school.

Immediately nearly everyone tore the list apart, claiming it was fatally flawed with non-school shootings, unrelated crimes and events like suicides that should not be included in the list.  However, Liberals and Gun Control Advocates trumpeted the list demanding increased gun laws and stricter licensing requirements.  After all, seventy-four school shootings is a nightmare.

Now, admittedly the list is a huge exaggeration.  CNN recompiled the list into actual school shootings and it only came up with ten (10).  But ten is still terrible.  And, regardless, the news cycle was dominated by statistics about past events, not a current event at all.

The real question is "Why?"  The answer is obvious. School Shootings are horrific. They are easy to visualize. I bet you can see it now ---> Innocent children mowed down by a machine gun wielding rambo-like maniac.  Of course we need gun control.

But maybe these school yard shootings get the press and publicity, public outcry and notoriety for another reason.  The victims are virtually always white.  So are the shooters.

You remember Sandy Hook In Sandy Hook twenty-seven were shot.

Last weekend, Father's Day Weekend, twenty-five (25) people were shot in south and west Chicago. One as young fifteen, another seventeen. By the way, the fifteen year old lived, the seventeen year old was killed. And this happens most weekends. A Sandy Hook every week.

No one reports this, but if they did, no one would talk about it. Why?

Is it because because most of the victims and shooters are black?  Is it because Chicago already has the toughest gun laws in America, laws that are rarely if ever enforced?

There is just no milage in discussing America's Genocide. No one can profit. No one can raise money. No one can lobby for tougher laws.

And no one wants to even brooch the real issues of societal breakdown behind the gang related violence.

We Liberals love to blame guns because they are inanimate objects.  People? Not so much.

Pat Sajak's Brilliant Tweet

I really appreciate those who have mastered the art of Twitter.  Occasionally you find someone who can be brilliant in 140 characters. I've read dozens of tweets I admire and a few I felt were brilliant. But Sajak's is pure genius.

I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends. Good night.
— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) May 20, 2014

Naturally, many on the Left worked hard, strained and stretched their credibility to mount faux outraged attacks on Pat Sajak as if they were just too damned stupid to instantly realize Sajak's satire was aimed directly at them. I do not believe there is anyone who claims to be a Liberal that is actually that dumb. I just wish my fellow Liberals didn't feel compelled to insult the intelligence of their fans, followers and progressive supporters.

Sajak certainly won the battle of wits here, but he accomplished much more.  In 140 characters Sajac taught us a lesson about insults, racial and otherwise, that we all need to learn.

The Stunning Stupidity of The (Totally Unaffordable) Affordable Care Act

This is my promised follow-up to my April 28th essay, The Unfolding Nightmare of The (Totally Unaffordable) Affordable Care Act.

Capitalism is the most amazing engine of innovation the world has ever known. Capitalism finds the tinest nook of a need and leaps in, unfettered, to fill this miniscule of a void.

For example, did you realize there over ONE MILLION different vehicle combinations for sale in America today! There are hundreds of brands and models of cars, and even more models of trucks, and hundreds more motorcycles. Then you add the choices of commercial vehicles, ambulances, heavy duty haulers, delivery trucks, oil tankers, grain trucks, trash and refuse trucks.... Well, you get the idea and I'm not including airplanes and railroad vehicles.

Need a vehicle? You have over one million choices.  There is one just perfect for you.

Need health insurance? You have exactly one choice.  Just one. Only one. Period.  There is no innovation. There is no variety. There are no options. There is no competition.  One size fits all.

To make matters one hell of a lot worse, the one single, solitary Health Insurance Plan was written by a committee. A committee of politicians and special interest lobbyists.  The politicians included many things that are totally unnecessary, designed only to garner votes.  They included little gifts (worth hundreds of millions of dollars) to their friends.  They actually did not care if the damned plan worked.  

They purposely kept out any little remnants of capitalism.  They expressly forbid competition across state lines.  And they forbid any innovation.  Every aspect of the exact nature of the Health Care Insurance was spelled out to the tiniest detail in the 2,000 page bill and the tens of thousands of pages of regulations.

Although Insurance companies are required to provide the product and administer its implementation, they were forbidden to sell it.  Advertising was run only by the government and sales were accomplished by untrained, unqualified "Navigators."

The stunning power of capitalism that gives you hundreds of versions of the Ford F-150 Truck, and gives you brilliant "Madison Avenue" advertising to explain all the features and benefits of the truck was forbidden by the legislation.  Nope, government knows best.

When I purchased my Ford I had the benefit of dozens of competing dealerships with well trained salesmen and full service garage mechanics from which to chose.  And the dealers all fought for my business and competed to offer me the lowest price.  Of course the government outlawed such competition for my Health Care dollars. 

Thanks to the complicated Affordable Care Act, I am allowed to buy ONE complicated, unworkable, nightmare of an insurance product, from an untrained "navigator" or, worse yet, for a non-working "Internet Website." 

Why did this happen?

Well Democrats, and many of my fellow liberals and progressives, hate capitalism.  To them, Capitalism is public enemy number one.   They believe, as they sip on their Starbuck's Latte and text on their iPhone, that Capitalism is a nightmare of oppression. Capitalism is not to be trusted. Capitalism must be controlled, regulated, managed and, ultimately, neutered.

The Democrats, who designed the Affordable Care Act without input from a single Republican, decided patient choice would no longer be available to Americans. You can chose your car, your coffee, your chicken sandwich, but not your health insurance.  Your 85 year old Aunt Mary, your two year old nephew Phillip and the high wire acrobat in the circus all get the same plan.  And all pay the same basic rate

In the place of choice you get mandatory services provided to each and every customer whether they’re wanted or needed or not.  

This is what has led to the insane price increases combined with massive deductible increases virtually all American's are now encountering.  And this one size fits all policy is also the cause of the elimination of many doctors and hospitals from most people's plans.  ObamaCare actually forces narrower networks and fewer doctors to care for (potentially) more patients.

ObamaCare doesn't work because it basically cannot work.

I like my Ford F-150 Truck.  I like the color blue.  I like the gas milage.  I like the long bed for hauling my four-wheeler.  And I like that fact that, unlike my ObamaCare Insurance Plan, my Ford will NOT cost me $10,000.00 every year in deductibles and premiums.

The government does regulate some aspects of my truck.  The EPA sets gas milage targets that Ford must meet.  And there are safety standards, air bags, seatbelts and more.  Had government taken the same approach to health insurance, I would be choosing from dozens of plans, with competitors from all around the nation.

We Liberals must learn to embrace what works and discard what doesn't.  Government can do a good job of regulation.  They should then have let the marketplace develop the products, advertise and sell them.  Liberals must learn to harness the horsepower of capitalism, not lock it away in the barn.

Employers Take a HIT - Health (Provider) Insurance Tax

Here's a hidden tax almost everyone missed.  This year alone ObamaCare raises taxes on all Americans by EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS by adding an eight percent tax to all Employer' Provided Insurance Plans.

Guess what! Much of this cost is passed on to employees and the rest of it to customers.

Here's the story in a very interesting format, from National Public Radio:

The Unfolding Nightmare of The (Totally Unaffordable) Affordable Care Act

It is possible to write a thousand essays about the failings of the Affordable Care Act, each covering a different aspect of this ill conceived and horrifically executed piece of legislation.

Then one could write a thousand more about the damages done to America and the American citizens at the hands of ObamaCare and the mindless bureaucrats charged with implementing this nightmare of a healthcare system.

Everytime I go to write a blog entry about ObamaCare I'm despondent I haven't written more and sooner.

But today the "other shoe" dropped for the small business where I work.  The insurance provider (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) was unable to renew the current policy and replaced it with a new policy that complies with the absurd requirements of The ACA (affordable Care Act or ObamaCare as it is unpopularly known).  The new play is a "silver level" plan

Here's the good news - the premiums only increased 15%.  The Board of Directors quickly decided to absorb all of the cost increase, passing NONE of it on to the employees.

But the bad news is devastating,  Deductibles and copays have skyrocketed.  Effectively employees who face a major (but far from life threatening) illness or injury to a member of their family could face copays and deductibles of over $12,000 or more!! Previously, under similar circumstances an employee would have paid under $2,000.00.

Likewise prescription co-pays skyrocketed, from $9.00 for a generic drug to $40.00.  Brand Name drugs jump to $120.00 or more under certain circumstances.

Co-Pays and Deductibles cover every conceivable procedures individually, so they multiply exponentially for a hospital stay, where x-rays, ct-scans or MRI's might be needed before surgery.

My good friend Steve keeps singing the praises of Obamacare in his blog here. Sadly I don't believe his experience is the same as younger, lower to middle income workers.

Middle class Americans can raise a family of four (especially if they are married with a working spouse), but little is left for savings.  But even with a middle class income of $40,000.00 to $65,000.00 annually, they cannot afford to get sick with the co-pays and deductibles they face under the new ObamaCare compliant insurance policies.  Even a minor illness or accident with place the average employee into deep debt our total bankruptcy.

Can you imagine an illness striping you of 1/3rd our your annual take home pay.  Name one middle class person who could afford that cost.

Based on this astonishingly bad news, the Directors of the company where I work are looking at ways to increase employee coverage to the "Gold" or even "Platinum" level of ObamaCare.  But even Platinum will increase deductibles and co-pays over the old plan. If the decision is made to upgrade the level of the plan then monthly premiums will skyrocket.  There are no good options.

In spite of President Obama's dishonest effort to delay the implementation of ObamaCare plans for employers and corporations until after the November election, the insurance companies will roll out the new plans on a company's annual renewal date.  

This may be the first story you read, but it won't be the last.  Look for hundreds more over the next few months.  As this rolls out it seems unlikely any Democrat can be re-elected.

I'll be covering exactly why this is happening in an upcoming blog entry..

President Obama Has My Full Support (and he should have your's)

I understand politics.  I know Republicans are positioning for the mid-term elections, as well they should.  I personally hope they take control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House.

I also realize Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and even Governor Mitt Romney are positioning themselves for a possible run for the Presidency in 2016.  I respect all these men and believe any one of them is capable of becoming a good President.

But I was deeply distressed by Senator Cruz comments today that I felt attacked President Obama in a personal and very derogatory manner.  I find this upsetting.

Cruz said, in summary, that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russians were "Openly Laughing at President Obama" and he went on to imply that President Obama's weakness was a valid cause for the Russians to belittle the President.  Here is a link to the story:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/ted-cruz-the-russians-are-openly-laughing-at-obama/article/2546343

I hope, when and if Senator Cruz becomes President he is given substantially more support than he has shown President Obama today.

I would have respected Senator Cruz much more if he had instead warned President Putin that America stood strongly behind President Obama and that Putin was making a tragic mistake to think for even a moment that America was weak or lacked the determination to stand by our principles, our allies and our President.

Had Cruz given that tough speech he would, quite literally, be a shoo-in for President in 2016.  America does love a strong leader who places principle above politics.  Playing petty politics in the face of Vladimir Putin is a mistake Senator Cruz and others should not make.

Lee DeWyze - Fight

Global Warming Isn't Settled Science, Heck, It's Not Even Science

Climate Change is a reality.  It's been a reality since the very beginning of  the Earth.  And do I ever have a surprise for you, Continental Drift is real, too.

There actually was an ice age.  The earth is warmer now. The Earth is changing, evolving, and these changes will continue until the Earth no longer exists.  And even that end is coming.

But, alas, Global Warming, while a genuine concern, is hardly science.  While there are anomalies that have occurred over the last 75 years they indicate absolutely nothing.  Serious, credible and fully accredited scientists do not believe that global warming is happening at all.  Moreover they are absolutely POSITIVE that the anomalies often cited by Global Warming Zealots are not even remotely man made.

James Delingpole has written an excellent report titled "Earth is Safe From 'Global Warming' Say The Men Who Put a Man on the Moon."  Citing over 40 scientists, Astronauts and ex-NASA employees who have formed The Right Climate Stuff Research Team Delingpole reports:

The planet is not in danger of catastrophic man made global warming. Even if we burn all the world's recoverable fossil fuels it will still only result in a temperature rise of less than 1.2 degrees C.

It's not necessary for you agree with they ex-NASA scientists. But you must not deny that there is serious and legitimate debate.  

Political footballs do not science make.

The bottom line is not to deny climate change, but to carefully study it further and stop the hysteria that leads to political warfare, false fund raising, political posturing and the efforts to ban and censor anyone who dares to disagree with the Zealot's Warming Alarmist Creed. 

Tolerance, Acceptance and Love

Just exactly what are LIBERALS supposed to stand for?  When I talk and correspond with my many Liberal friends they tell me that they are accepting of others, their lifestyles and their choices.

As an example Liberals support lesbians, homosexuals and transgender people and seek to have society accept them and give them both equal rights and equal protections under the law.  This is no different than past championing of equal rights rights for minorities and for women, two battles that are not yet fully won.

Liberals fight discrimination.  Liberals are the champions of the oppressed.  Liberals are caring, understanding, tolerant and loving people.

Except, of course, when they're not.  Sadly, for about 95% of people who claim to be Liberals, tolerance, acceptance and love are just pure bullshit.

Most folks who claim to be Liberals or call themselves "Progressives" are actually the "Taliban of the Left," living in a cesspool of hate and malice toward all who don't follow the unyielding scripture of the elite left's political mandates.  Today's Liberals nether seek to understand or accept anyone who differs by even a fraction of a millimeter from the demanded principles.

All too many so called "Liberals" are, in reality, misogynists, racists and religious bigots.

This week's tragic example of left wing bigotry was occasioned by the death of Shirley Temple Black.

A reading of last weeks blogs, news stories (from the "we're always in total denial about our overtly left leaning bias" mainstream media) and entries on Facebook and Twitter, provided a litany of evil behavior supposedly practiced by the one time beloved child star.  In reality it all boiled down to one single unforgivable sin: Temple Black was a ...... gasp! .... Republican!

See more than enough examples here to make you vomit:

‘F*ck Shirley Temple’: Lefties bash late Republican star, smear her as ‘roaring racist’

Her failures as a woman were legion. She never once appeared nude in overtly sexually suggestive film clips like today's model teen, Miley Cyrus.  Nor did she ever abuse drugs or enter rehab like today's cultural icons and former Disney child stars Britney Spears, Demi Lovato or Selena Gomez.

She did not live life in excess, posting sexual escapades on you tube, She didn't even dare to have children out of wedlock. She did not, to our knowledge, have an abortion.  If she did, she failed the Liberal litmus test by not shouting it out to the hilltops. She did divorce once, but, alas, that wasn't enough to gain her favor in today's Liberal circles.

Sadly, once her Hollywood career was over, the tragic Mrs. Temple Black made the fateful decision to actually serve her country. Beloved around the world, she was appointed Representative to the 24th United Nations General Assembly in 1969. In 1974 she was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana. Unlike the embarrassing Ambassadors appointed recently by President Obama, she was well qualified for her roll and was not merely rewarded for massive fund raising. Imagine! A qualified Ambassador! No wonder my pretend Liberal friends hate her.

Shirley Temple Black was first female Chief of Protocol of the United States in 1976 and was in charge of arrangements for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball. Temple Black broke the glass ceiling before today's pseudo women's right leaders even knew there was a glass ceiling.

Temple Black went on to serve as the United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia finishing her long and distinguished career in government in 1992.

She was a real leader in many other ways, most importantly going "public" about her battle with breast cancer at a time when such matters were never discussed, but were instead a matter of great shame born in silence by the women affected. The tumor was removed and a modified radical mastectomy and Temple Black went public on Television and in a feature article in McCall's (a leading women's magazine of the day), with full and graphic details. She gave hope thousands of women and restored respect and dignity for tens of thousands. In the history of supporting women Temple Back was the real deal, showing courage seldom displayed by today's so called Liberals.

O.K., now I will fess up with the sordid truth. Shirley Temple Black did enter politics as a Republican, albeit a relatively liberal Republican at a time when there still was a liberal wing of the Republican party.  She ran for Congress in 1967 on a platform of racial equality, but was defeated by a strong anti-war candidate during the height of the Viet Nam War protests.

This past week it was painful to read the blogs, tweets or listen to MSNBC.  Nobody it seems bothered to know the facts.  Hate is so much simpler. 

I'm not really sure why I posted this essay.  After Left Justice, who until 5 days ago tweeted under the name of @turnleft16 on Twitter already said all there is to say: "...while everyone (over 60) is doing their Shirley Temple memories, here is mine: She was a republican… i didnt need to know anything more— "