With Friends Like Us...

Some times the news is so incredible I have to pause to make sure I'm not reading some fictional thriller.  Such was my reaction when I read that the Obama administration has had meetings to consider sanctions against Israel.  Israel!  The only friend we have in the Middle East which doesn't have Muslim underpinnings.

They've been as staunch an ally to us as we've been to them before this administration. What could they have done to make us think sanctions could be justified?

Bombing innocents in Gaza?  No. Building houses in East Jerusalem.  It was captured in the seven year war.  However, it has been designated to be the capital of Palenstine when and if it becomes a state. Some would say by having declared themselves one is enough.  But the Israelis continue to build, not helping the situation at all but then since the Hamas driven Palestinians are determined to drive Israel into the sea I can understand why they continue to poke them. Halting the building would give them the high ground.

Why don't they take it?  I don't know. And that's the point. It would help if it were explained.   I do know, however, how we would react if our former allies would move to place sanctions on the United States for our handling of racial discord.  We'd scream and shout it's none of their business.  Butt out!

I don't understand middle eastern mind sets.  There is so much hatred and violence it seems to me to be hell on earth.  But isn't it an issue to be settled and perhaps even negotiated among themselves without U.S. threats if they don't do things our way?

It's cockeyed to be looking at sanctions against Israel for building settlements while looking to lessen or even eliminate them against Iran who is building toward a nuclear bomb!

They say we have no foreign policy, whoever "they" are.  In some ways they are wrong.  We do.  It's to micromanage everything according to the will of Obama regardless if it makes sense or not.  We promise military aid and send meals ready to eat.  We draw red lines and kick sand over them.  We negotiate with an enemy regime while they build their bomb. We take 4 days to mount a rescue attempt by which time the captive has been moved.

And we wonder why we have no credibility among our enemies nor our one time friends in the world. We have a bunch of rank amateurs running the show and bolstering one another while the professionals stew, quit or are fired should they dare speak out.

Is there anything worse than having no friends?  I think so.  I think it's having no convictions.

Turning A Blind Eye

We all do it for various reasons.  Let's take my husband for instance.  He had turned a blind eye to his health for as long as I've known him.  Did he think he was invincible?  I have no idea because he'd never discuss it, but he came within hours of dying just a couple of weeks ago. Knowing his mind set I can't guarantee that I won't have to go through that particular hell again.

In a sense that is what has happened to this country.  We've all turned a blind eye to our social ills. Invincibility has nothing to do with this however.  It has to do with it being the easier out.  Until it explodes and the resulting shrapnel cannot be pieced back together again.

What we're lacking in this country are the basics.  Different communities have different areas in which they are weakest but all have them and it's due to a lack of the right kind of leadership. Start with Native Americans.  Centuries ago we began changing them into a welfare state and so they remain.  If it weren't for their enterprising casinos it would be worst but if that enterprising spirit had been channelled toward education and mainstreaming into American society things would be a lot better for them.

Then there are the blacks.  If government didn't reward them for bad behavior perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.  Instead of Obama phones, and food stamps and welfare mothers if leaders had sat them down and told them they have to be responsible for their own fate perhaps they would put some effort to rising out of their despondency and bettering themselves sans handouts.

But leaders haven't done that. We've allowed them to nurture a victim mentality rather than showing them that is no excuse.  You break the law you go to jail.  You father a child you support it. You get an education without being passed through.  You compete and when you don't win you work to better yourself rather than cry victim.

None of this is rocket science.  But it does take conscious recognition by all of us and a cohesive effort to make the changes necessary.  Forget political correctness.  It's a relatively new concept and people who were never offended before are suddenly - victims.  Don't tell me it harms their self esteem.  First you have to have some.

The basics.  Meet a guy or gal.  Romance them.  Get married. Then have children.  Stay in the relationship.  Nurture the kids.  Be a part of their lives.  Educate them.  Stand by them.  And always be there for them with patience, understanding and love.  When they stray don't tolerate it.  Stealing is wrong.  Bullying is wrong. Challenging authority is wrong. We have it for a reason.  It's all basic and it all starts at home.

Oh, what nice words and thoughts but how do you accomplish all this when the country has gone so far astray?  Back to leadership. Don't tolerate those who disrupt for their own agendas.  Teach the kids to know the difference.  And from the top down be ethnically, sexuality and religiously blind when applying justice.  No one should be immune from punishment for bad behavior nor raised up as heroes when in truth they are thugs.

If this is going to end we have to get smart about how it's handled and political correctness isn't smart.  Looking in the mirror with honesty is.  It's a place to start. Do we have the guts to do it?

Good Cops, Bad Cops And Grand Juries

How could a New York grand jury have gotten it so wrong considering the turmoil  following the one in Ferguson getting it right?

In watching the Ferguson mess I felt, from information available on TV news and the papers, that the grand jury made the right decision knowing there would be outrage fomented by racist agendas. I felt the officer got a raw deal and no where nearly enough support from his peers., the public and the media.

Along with that I've heard the pundits who are also lawyers praising grand juries as a vital piece of our justice system and that evidence counts. So what do I think now?  While I agree with the decision in Ferguson it has become clear that the justice system has become politicized with media compliance.  We pretty much know how things played out.  Little was made of Michael Brown's true character nor of Darren Wilson's. Did justice prevail?  Certainly not from the officer's point of view where he has lost his career for having done his job as he had been trained to do.

Fast forward to New York where another grand jury has decided not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo for the choke hold that lead to the death of Eric Garner who's crime was peddling untaxed cigarettes on the street and arguing with police when he was confronted. Okay.  Using choke holds in New York is illegal.  Period.  The video shows that Pantaleo used one to subdue the giant of a man. He died.  As in Ferguson the cop, along with those who helped him, were white, the perpetrator black. That's where the similarity ends.

That's according to video.  What we don't know is what this grand jury heard as evidence.  I'd like it to be made public just as was Ferguson's.  Why was the decision the same when evidence of both incidents as reported by the news is so vastly different?

It's no wonder people are outraged. The President and his surrogates should stay out of it because at this point nothing more can be seen than their color and perceived bias. White cops are now targets for every hot head on the streets looking to settle a score.  Blacks who will revert to violence will only harm their cause to an even greater degree and the rest of us are pretty much on our own!

There are cool heads on both sides but both seem to be having trouble making themselves heard. Until the decision of this grand jury is fully explained the outrage will continue.  Perhaps even after since it follows so closely on the heels of Ferguson.  My guess is that it has set race relations back decades because of misguided actions of the Farrakhans and Sharptons, football players and even members of Congress.  Misguided in some cases.  No more than ill will in others. There is no trust on either side.  It won't be easy to re-establish.

It's Christmas season.  Peace and good will toward men. If you think it was lost to the frenzy of commercialism, it's even more lost to the frenzy of self interests and lack of leadership on both sides.  The networks need to reign in the race baiters, black and white, and for once dig into a story and tell the truth of it.  Is that even possible any more?

Hiatus

I disappear from my blog for days on end quite often.  Mostly just to get away from it.  I'm taking some time off now for an entirely different reason.  My Facebook post from yesterday sums it up.  I hope it will suffice:

Thanksgiving will be special this year. So very special. Mike hadn't been feeling well for awhile and being typically male refused to go to the doctor until it got so bad along with something akin to a pulled muscle in his back that he could no longer stand it.

Dr's. appt. Tuesday. Blood work and all the usual stuff. Friday a call to get him to the hospital stat. He was down 2 quarts of blood. Two quarts. Sunday he went through the drill ahead of what was to be a colonoscopy plus a stomach scan.

This morning I drop him off for that. I'm called back. The Dr. wants to talk with both of us. Panic. Big time.

As I write this he's in surgery having 10" of colon removed along with an orange sized tumor. The Doctor says he's going to be fine. It appears to be contained though I'll remain caustiously optimistic until all post surgery testing is done. For now I'm breathing more easily. Forty five years of marriage have been passing before my eyes these past couple of days.

For those of you who know him, don't tell him I wrote this. He'd kill me. Mr. Macho and all that.

But it helps rid some of my anxiety by having done so. Thanksgiving, even foregoing the turkey, couldn't be more timely. Plus I won't have to agonize over Christmas. The shopping is done. When it's cooked doesn't really matter so much.

Funny. He asked me just the other day what I wanted for Christmas and I told him a healthy husband. You don't have to worry about that, he said. I'll take that on good faith.

Immigration - More Questions than Answers

Well, Obama did one thing last night.  He created the expected fire storm. What struck me about his dictates is how oblivious they are to what will be both expected and unexpected consequences.

Just a few things that struck me in particular.  How everything is slanted toward Hispanics.  They are not the only illegals we have to contend with. what about our northern borders and coasts?

How are they going to verify just how long someone has been here illegally?  Take their word for it?  Do they really expect these people are going to come out from the shadows to fess up and pay a fine?  Especially if their "legalization" is for such a limited amount of time? And knowing that the next President can rescind the order?

Forgetting that the Congress couldn't get their act together over whether a comprehensive or piece meal bills should be passed, we have Harry Reid to thank that some piece meal legislation was ignored by the Senate.  No debate.  No compromise. Stamp your foot.  Dictate.

Also ignored is a pot full of needs that businesses wanted to have addressed. While this may sound nice to the Hispanics and those beating their breasts for anything that would pass, it is choke full of ambiguities, undeliverable promises and problems that if handled as it should have been would have been avoided.

We should all know that massive comprehensive legislation is doomed to failure.  All we have to do is look at Obamacare.  Even more of concern, however, are those in power who think they know best and act with self given impunity.

Obama has done nothing to mend the rift in the country nor the government.  What he has done is lessen his standing even further with  those of us worried about our democracy not to mention world leaders. Except for those who applaud his dictatorial  methods.  Those would be the ones who act in the same manner.  We call them enemies.  I don't know what he calls them.