Media - Just Quit It!

Boy, do I have a headache!  No, nothing like a brain tumor though it might be less painful.  It's from watching too much news.  Old story, isn't it?

I have a cure in mind, however.  It will never happen but when I get these bright ideas I like to share them.  This is for both the main stream media and FOX News.  Quit!  Just quit covering government all together.  They aren't doing anything anyway.

Just look at the health care mess.  Tell us when something positive happens.  Otherwise ignore Congress.  Did it ever occur to you that the reason why Congress holds so many hearings is because it gives them an excuse to not legislate?  Why do they have to investigate every little tit and giggle as a potential crime when they know it isn't?  Because they then don't have to do anything else because they don't have the time.  Those vacations, you know.

Then there's the administration.   Stop already.  You are reporting fake news about this hapless bunch and you know it.  Collusion is not against the law, besides both parties are equally guilty of the practice so quit trying to make a story out of it.  Donald is going to continue being the man/child he has always been.  He loves the attention it gets him and you all in the media just feed into it by reporting every Tweet.  Give it up.  You're not winning anyone over to your side.  You just keep alienating.  Is that your intent?  If so, quit it!

I no longer have any idea what is true and what is not in the jumble of mixed messaging.  I never thought being in the "middle" meant trying to figure out where the truth lies.

Not that I've been missed, but this is why my posting has become nil.  Actually I miss it but that takes me back to subject matter.  I found trying to be positive about a failing organization might help but the organization is still failing and I'm no longer with them.

My time has been spent trying to do my share of keeping up our 5 acres.  At our age it's no easy task. We're in the yard by 7:30 or 8 and shot by eleven.  So much for stamina.  Of course we use heat as an excuse and there is some merit to that but I'm not sure how much.

Oh well, if I ponder long enough I may come up with something.  There is beauty in this world of ours.  The last two nights we could get a rare glimpse of the northern lights.  I didn't make it to mid-night but those who did had some spectacular photos.

I've never tired of photographing our yard birds.  Yesterday it was a pair of baby Robins trying to earn their wings in between stints of trying to decimate my raspberry crop.  At that they are succeeding.

My headache feels better now.  I've an errand to run before dinner.  By the time I get home the local news may be on and I can catch the weather.  By the time dinner is over the news will be too and FOX will not be on the agenda.

So.  What shall we talk about now?

What About The Country??

I literally want to pull my hair out listening to the selfish, self-serving antics of our government.  Both sides.

True.  Trump isn't the greatest. He's a man-child but we elected him.  That the Democrats and Obama are bent on destroying his Presidency is appalling.  I know he isn't helping matters with his incessant tweeting with loose words and an even looser handle on facts but he's going to continue doing it.  Those who are in his inner circle have to learn to work around it.  And to anticipate it.  They need a war room like Clinton had so as soon as he tweets something they're on top of it instead of the media.

The Democrats, in their way are just as bad.  I don't know who is holding what over who's head but for them all to march in lock step tells me there is no thought being given to anything other than destroy, destroy, destroy.  We don't need to manufacture robots.  We've a whole Congress full of them.

And Mitch McConnell, get some guts and get the remaining cabinet officials into their offices. You don't have to put up with the Democrats delaying actions.  Put a time line on it and move forward.  Sheesh!  Do note he got his wife confirmed a while ago.

I know, I know.  It has been awhile since I've written much of substance but what is there to write about other than the inanity of it all?  I keep seeing images of Rosie O'Donnell screaming, "Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!" at some rally or Barbra Streisand complaining that Trump is making her gain weight.  Man, the substance of all this just escapes me.

But that's what I hear. Health care?  Does any one really have a clue?  I think it's all posturing because there is no plan and it's no more than a stalling tactic.  Rather than reforming the TSA the pat downs are going to get more invasive?  Is that actually possible?  And have those pat downs actually caught anyone that was a potential threat to the flight they were going to board?

I can't stand it any more! I really can't.  There's a country out here waiting for all those promises to become reality.  Is it going to happen?  I have my doubts. You have no idea how much it hurts to have to say that.

Donkeys and Democrats

Donkeys are known to be stubborn.  I've read it's about self preservation thus their refusal to go along easily, especially when it's a human giving the orders.

What a perfect mascot for the Democrat Party.  They have their ideology and they will stubbornly resist anybody who tries to wrest it away from them or alter it in any way.

After eight years of having one of their own in the White House it has become readily apparent that their sacred policies did not work and that the American voter soundly rejected them.  Yes, they did. The voters that gave Hillary the edge in the popular vote came from New York and California, both heavily Democrat. And both having their difficulties under Democrat leaders.  Especially California.

What goes on out here in America between Republican and Democrat neighbors has nothing to do with the larger problem of Washington.  I don't think it is Republicans alone who are fed up with the shenanigans of our representatives in Congress. It has become a game between the parties and the most clever will win.  The Democrats did for years under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  Pelosi is still there but Chuck Schummer is no Harry Reid.  Thank heavens.

The problem for the Republicans is their leadership.  Mitch McConnell has yet to show he has the killer instinct to get things done and for some reason Paul Ryan seems to have an agenda of his own which seems more sacrosanct than the President's.

Therefore both sides are causing fits for the new administration.  You know, it's beginning to be funny to me to watch this slap stick. There is so much drama in the executive branch alone it's hard to keep up with it whats more what is and isn't happening in Congress.

I wonder if it will ever settle down.  Out of the chaos I hear Iran has been put on notice for it's ballistic missile tests.  It was barely a whisper beneath the belligerence in Congress over the hearings on the cabinet appointees.  Yet it is hugely important.  Just what does being put on notice mean to this group?

Trump has disturbed the order of things and those affected don't want to cope nor do I think they know how.  Quick on their feet they are not.

So they want things to remain the same.  The people do not.  We have a President pledged to the people.  The question is who will win?

What's Missing? Senior Citizens!

I thought the months preceding the election were a gut wrenching roller coaster but it was nothing compared to this transition period.

Yes, I've been watching the celebrity circus coming and goings from Trump Tower.  I find it just as gut wrenching.

Why? Because of the mix of characters.  Cabinet potentials and/or wannabes, clergy, celebrities and body guards and who knows who else all seeking an audience with The Donald soon to be Mr. President.

While I have a strong distaste for the blathering and, in many cases, stupidity of the losers, I have an equal amount of angst watching the transition process.  For entirely different reasons. While I applaud many of Trumps picks, I figure his advisers have had a huge say in them, I raise an eyebrow over many others that seem to make little sense or at the least are only marginally qualified.  As much I as I like Ben Carson, his pick for HUD is an example.  Nikki Haley for UN Ambassador is another.

Why the transition team is giving audience to Kanye West is a question.  It seems there might be a more appropriate time.  But since Trump seems to be finding time for just about everyone, why is one big segment of the population missing?  One of us.  The ordinary citizen.  Or the elderly.

Since I am one of the elderly, let me address that.  I'm willing to wager Mr. Trump has no idea of what my issues may be nor do most of his selections.  He may have talked with farmers and miners and small business  owners along the way though not a fair representation by any stretch of the imagination but I have seen no representation of the elderly. That irritates me no end. I don't mean someone to speak for me either.  Let me, or one of my peers speak.  We're perfectly capable of articulating our concerns without some youngster supposing them for us.

He should really have one or more of us as advisers.  Every other segment of the populations seems to be represented.

So. Many of us will probably not see Mr. Trump through his complete term but that doesn't mean we should be back benched or ignored.  What about it, Mr. President-elect?  How about some senior citizen advice and consul. And you, at 70, don't count because you have far fewer concerns about your age and aging than the majority of us.

I wonder, should I have to tweet this to be heard?

Of Course I'm Afraid!

 Don't mock me, Mr. President, because you're the one who planted my fear under the guise of keeping us safe.  Now you want me to believe we have nothing to fear from refugees who can't even be proven to be Syrian, whether Muslim or otherwise? People from an area who are at war with themselves and it would seem everyone else who doesn't believe as they do?

You can't have it both ways.  When I can go to a Federal office building and enter without going through a metal detector and being patted down, then maybe I'll relax.  If at my age, sex and race I can go to an airport and board a plane without being molested by TSA personnel, maybe I'll relax.

When TSA personnel quit stealing from my luggage and can catch contraband being smuggled as a test, maybe then I'll relax.

When ISIS closes it's schools that teach kids and women how to be suicide bombers maybe I'll relax.
Maybe too when enough Imams say enough is enough and put some clout behind it maybe I'll relax.

Maybe too, when the cops are once again the good guys, professors actually teach rather than pander and students apply themselves to learning rather than self aggrandizement based on their "world views" I'll relax.

Until then Mr. President, keep your snarky criticisms to yourself.  If you were more interested in the well being of the American people more than your own legacy I'd feel a whole lot better.

If you'd show that the bloody slaughter of hundreds of innocent people by people who wish us all dead is of more concern to us than your view of climate change than I might have some respect for you.

As it is, I do not. So yes.  I'm afraid.  For myself, for my community and most of all for my country and I have you and your ilk to thank for it.  In all fairness it isn't just you, the individual, but also of previous administrations who couldn't be bothered and a Congress who's greatest talent is burying its  head in the sand and a military/intelligence community willing to lie about statistics to protect your agenda.

You, sir, are however the voice of it all and yes, I am afraid of you, of what you've done and what you may yet do.

Here's To French Resolve

I'm taking French President Hollande at his word when he states the response to the terrorist attacks will be merciless.  I hope he takes it further than the Jordanians did after one of their young pilots was burned alive.  A few air strikes and gone.

Perhaps the difference will be the fact France is not a Muslim country.  Jordan is.

More importantly, someone needs to take the lead in the fight against Islamic radicalism and it sure isn't going to be us. Who better than the French since they've been on the receiving end of terror strikes twice within this calendar year!

What gives me great pause is wondering what would be happening if those attacks had happened here.  I think a lot of breast beating and woe is us for a few news cycles until the furor died down then as is usual with this administration - nothing.

Whatever we've become as a nation will be revealed in no uncertain terms come next November.  Have we really become a "selfie" nation that care more about our personal wants than the good of the nation as a whole?  Have we really come to believe a group of students on college campuses who are still wet behind the ears know better than adults who have lived life and seen the world?

Have we really come to believe that the government is the end all and that no matter how burdensome taxes may be we will get it all back in the form of entitlements?

Have we really come to believe that a Donald Trump will do us proud over a Ben Carson who is belittled because he's a gentleman and a gentle man?  Or that the conviction of a Ted Cruz or or Marco Rubio is offensive?  Why?  Because they seem, at least, to love their country and have ideas on how to put it back on track.

Are we so blase about the abilities of women we're willing to lionize a Hillary Clinton with all her baggage yet won't even offer Carly Fiorina a bowl of milk because she's a Republican?

I hope we have a year to sort it out.  But as France has found out, there are no guarantees no matter the effort.  Those running for office, I am sure, are listening to what former diplomats, military personnel and students of the history of those who oppose us have to say.  The Democrats are not but surely most of the Republicans are.  I hope so; not only listening but actually hearing.

What remains to be seen is if the candidates who would love to lead us not only state their convictions,  it's politically expedient, but also have the courage of them.

In the meantime we must look to France and the allies it can pull together to keep us safe. If anything is un-American it's cowering behind others.  It's time to admit there is no such thing as leading from behind and remedy it.

Trouble With The Truth

Why is it politicians, of any party, feel it is okay to lie to the people they serve?  Granted there are times when it's better we not know some things to avoid panic but for the most part we deserve the truth.

The biggest and most consequential lie of the Bush administration was weapons of mass destruction.  The fall out of having pushed that lie may never be put to rest.

This administration seems to be doing it's share too.  Benghazi for starters.  All the denials that preceded departmental investigations - the IRS, the Veterans Administration, Obamacare.  Carefully, calculated lies.  Why?  To obscure departmental short comings? Or is it mere contempt for the intelligence of the public? Do they really think no one will notice?

I can't help but wonder where this mind set originates and why it's so difficult to eliminate.  Perhaps the most egregious set of untruths come from the President when he promises and fails to deliver to countries who had once been our friends.  The most recent and worst is saying Turkey will allow us to use their airports to launch strikes against ISIS. Wrong.  No such agreement has been made.

Did Susan Rice think that by saying so Turkey would be embarrassed into to doing so?  Well, whoever was behind the statement miscalculated.  Again.

The only thing that comes from such actions is a demeaning of this country and its leadership and the establishment of mistrust among our allies.  And triumph from our enemies.

If we don't want our boots on the ground in massive numbers arm the Kurds like we promised.  If we don't, there will be no boots what-so-ever.  IS will continue revising it's strategy, and like yesterday when they over ran another Iraqi Army training center, our arms will continue to fall into their hands. That's not the type of arming we should be doing.

It certainly cannot be our intent.  Can it?

We Doze, People Die

I realize there is a lot going on in Washington these days and little of it good.  The incompetence of cabinet level people is enough to take your breath away. Maybe we should have cleaned our own house before engaging in another war no matter how justified.  But we have.

We also know that our own house won't be cleaned until after the November elections if then.  Some things can't wait.  Or can they?  I haven't seen the President call Congress back to get his war vote nor have I seen them volunteer to do so.  Heanven forbid their vote may come back to haunt them in future elections.  Who cares what's right?

I hear great bragging about this marvelous coalition we've pulled together - mostly with our own enemies.  They aren't in the fight because of the inhumanity of the IS but because of their own governmental and territorial interests.

Yes.  They'll fly with us but will only hit targets of their choice, not ours.  Like us they won't put boots on the ground.  I can't help but wonder about the commitment.  Well, you say, many of them have said they would send modern arms and armor to the Kurds, the only ones willing to fight.  On the ground.  They're still waiting.  Why?  Don't give me a big song and dance about delivery logistics.  It's not that.  It's politics.  Anything that can slow involvement is being done.  After all, elections loom.

In the meantime what about the Kurds?  They're still fighting with weapons from the Soviet era.  Give them an A+ for keeping what should be in a junk pile functional.  Such as it is against the modern weaponry of IS.

The IS is annoyed with the air strikes you can be sure but they're flicking them off like an irritating fly.  They've taken cover among civilians just as Hamas did against Israel.  Of course they're basically the same.

They continue with the ethnic and religious cleansing attacking villages, hospitals and schools.  Recruiting mere children.  Beheading women they don't sell into slavery. Sending more and more refugees into Turkey who like other neighboring countries will soon find themselves on overload.

Yet our politicians continue the opposition bashing campaigns while ignoring the state of the world.  No one is pressuring the coalition to step it up, the action is in "negotiations" with Iran.

The entire world could use some leadership.  It won't happen here with this administration.  Do we really have two years to wait for someone to emerge?  The Kurds, the only ones really willing to fight, don't.

There Will Always Be Bullies

Russia is a bully.  It always has been and I expect always will be as long as people like Putin can hold on to power.

I've been watching the Ukraine incident unfold with this in mind.  I think back to  West Side Story where the two gangs, the Sharks and the Jets,  go after one another and one lone young man, the hero Tony, tries to bridge the gap.  He ends up dead.  Mostly because he didn't have the tools to quell the gangs.

Today's conflicts aren't much different.  Our Secretary of State can preach to the Russians, or any of our other adversaries, about how they're behaving in an outmoded manner all he wants.  The reason why they thumb their nose at him and our President is because neither has the will nor the tools to have any clout.

One reader seems to think every time I write along these lines I'm advocating war.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I am advocating being able to go to war as a last result if necessary. An ability to show strength that  gives those adversaries pause. With the Defense Department cutting the Pentagon budgets to the extent they are, they're diminishing that deterrent.

In an ideal world negotiating would work.  Everyone would get something and life would go on.  We can't even do that within our own government.  Why should the world follow our rhetoric on an  grander scale knowing we have no will to lead?

Putin doesn't care which decade his behavior is most reminiscent of.  He knows there is no will to stop him nor the ability.  He will continue on until he gets bored, take a rest then get back to it.  Whatever 'it' may suit his fancy.

Also in an ideal world there would be at least one other player who has the tools to stop him yet chooses not to utilize those tools unless the need is dire.  That role used to be filled by the United States.  I think it really began changing when Bush went into Iraq.  I remain furious with him for that action.  The U.S. doesn't start wars.  It ends them.  Pair that now with a pacifist detachment from all that goes on outside our borders it has done nothing but embolden bullies of all stripes.

The Europeans are of no help because they have done what we're about to do - allow our lust for spending overpower good sense and put the economy at  even more peril than its already at.  They've become beholden to the Russians for life sustaining gas.  They're strong trading partners just as they are with Iran.  With Russia pulling the strings.

We're like Tony now.  We no longer have the tools.  The waffling from the President makes him no one to fear.  The weakness of our allies make them no one to fear.  And the bully rules.

As in other parts of the world, there will be those who will try to step up to the plate.  It will probably be students.  Bored, lack of opportunities, tired of sacrificing for the selfishness and corruption of their leaders. Without the counterweight to the bullies they will not succeed.  Look at Iran.  Look at what had once been feasible in Syria until we dithered it away.  How many others?

Will the pendulum ever swing back?  I don't anticipate it in my lifetime.  The Republicans in our area, which is small town conservative America, can't even get their heads together on what they represent.  The Democrats are facing similar problems.  Those defecting from their ranks are doing so to save their careers, not because a policy is just plain wrong.

Grass roots.  It begins there.  Left unchecked you get what we have today.  The bully that will always be, will continue to win.

Naivete Rules, Or Is It Really Stupidity?

Let's see where we are today.  Obama has begun a campaign to resell the ACA while still not admitting that the botched roll out is the least of it's problems.  The problem is the law itself and how he continually flouts the Constitution by imposing his own adjustments.  The roll out is but a mere example of incompetence across the board.

 Then there is the fact that the TSA is now searching parked cars at airports supposedly looking for bombs and such.  Of course you don't know about this until you find a note stuck under your windshield wiper telling you this has been done.

Don't you love the police state this administrations is creating?  Apparently so.

Let's return to the Middle East.  They should not be forgotten amid all the domestic turmoil.  We know the administration has negotiated a deal with Iran regarding their nuclear program.  We've eased the sanctions.  Countries it took years to get to comply have rushed back in giving immediate relief to Iran's financial burdens and making reimposition nearly impossible.

We are allowing them to continue enriching uranium though at a lower grade than before.  They've told us in no uncertain terms they will never give up their enrichment program so I don't see that we're being particularly magnanimous.

They also have not retracted any of the rhetoric that makes clear how they feel about the West, especially the U.S., and Israel.  Knowing that we're taking the word of a country who cares little about keeping it but never-the-less we can say we've negotiated.  Right up until it behooves them to put together that bomb.  They'll have all the necessary ingredients just like the North Koreans did and one day there will be a big boom and we'll find they've tested their very first nuke.

No, no.  We'll have strict verification criteria.  Okay.  Then why is the White House looking for ways to allow Iran to keep enriching officially?  Oh, it will be for domestic use only.  Any one who has been following this knows that the current deal has allowed for everything to stop just below weapons grade but at a point where it can be quickly upgraded.

I personally think they have already have the 20% goal, maybe even an actual bomb, and have it safely stashed away therefore entering into these negotiations with absolutely nothing to fear.  That may be a stretch but then maybe not.

The question that begs to be answered, however, is if the Iranians do not have the right to enrich why are we trying to make it easy for them to do so anyway?  For the life of me I have no idea what we're trying to accomplish in that region of the world.

Neither does anyone else and that's why business continues as usual.  Now we're supposedly turning our focus to Asia as China rattles its sabers over territory disputed with Japan. Are we going to negotiate that too and cave in to Chinese demands?  Probably.

If I were the other countries in that region and saw us coming I'd turn tail and run as fast as I could away from the "n" word.  The "n" word?  Negotiation.

Ground Kerry Before More Harm Is Done

The debacle that is Obamacare is bringing a point home that has long been needed.  This administration is less than truthful on top of being inept.

The reasons are many for both.  One, they're trying to push an agenda by the American people knowing if it were transparent the people would rebel. To wit Obamacare.

To do so they've allowed people with questionable expertise in any aspect of health care craft the bill.  If they've done it on purpose to move the country toward single payer system they should all be thrown out of office.  It's not for them to decide; it's for us to decide.  If they've done it because they're inept the same holds true.

So, before things get any worse, it's time to ground John Kerry.  We're seeing now what the world already knows on an international scale.  This administration is weak and inept. It's foreign policy staggers like a drunken sailor.

Now, however, they are so in need of a victory they are willing to sacrifice a tenuous calm, with several exceptions at that, in an entire region of the world on the false pretense the Iranians would keep their word on anything. The rest of the world and previous administrations can't all be wrong when saying Iran cannot be trusted. We do know Obama is not all knowing and his word also cannot be trusted.

What about his success in Syria?  Ah, yes.  The death toll is now over 250,000.  The civil war continues having passed the 2 1/2 year mark.

But the weapons of mass destruction are being destroyed. So? People are still dying.  Are you aware of Assad's latest tactic?  Starvation. Systematic, slow, agonizing starvation. Loyalist troops are not only not letting aid into civilian and rebel strongholds, which in many cases are one and the same, but they are not allowing food  in either. Is there a worse way to die?

One soldier was heard telling a young boy begging to take a bag of pita bread through a government check point, "...there are those bigger than me and you who make the rules and they're watching you right now."

While the administration basks in the fact they didn't have to used military force to rid the Syrians of their poison gas, what are they doing for those who are starving?

Have you read or heard anything about this in our media?  Neither have I.  This came from the Financial Times  which covers international news far better than our media.

Be skeptical when the administration says negotiations with Iran need be given a chance. If you look at the situation in Syria, you'll see they are inept at that too.

This is no time for glory seeking to save a Presidential or a Secretary of State's legacy. Tighten the sanctions until the Iranians cry uncle and not before.  And hope those who once believed in our strength and loyalty will have it within them to give us another chance when we shed this administration.

But don't bet on it.

It's Time To Change The Programming

The evening airwaves between four and, say, eight are filled with redundancy no matter which channel you favor. I've gotten to the point I want to lash out like Jay Carney did not long ago to a CBS reporter.  "I get it, ...!"

If I see one more clip of Obama saying we can keep our health care, period and the talking head proceed to bug a guest  into say the President LIED, I'm going to get violent.  Then the host usually trots out a litany of citizens who have either lost their coverage or have seen their cost skyrocket.  Okay.  I get it!  How many times is that dead horse going to be beaten?

I beg to question, however, why don't they get it?  The disastrous roll out of the health care website is due to a lot of things, none of which have anything to do with the actual content of the bill.  You could say it shows the government should never get involved in anything in which it lacks expertise. Which is just about everything. It's a given but about as possible under this administration as Ted Cruz's attempt to defund the bill.

They're going to meddle because it's the nature of the beast.  Those in high places always think they know more than the rest of us even though most of them are there for no more than having been a loyal supporter of the man who holds the top job.

In truth, the problem with the bill is it's content.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that when unnecessary benefits are added, demanded, the price is going to increase.  It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that those increased prices are going to preclude a lot of the very people they need because of that additional cost.  It should be easy to see that by saying only 5% or 15% of the people are being effected is ignoring the number of bodies actually effected which is in the millions.  A percentage is far more palatable and masks the fact real people with real needs make up that percentage. I could break it down even further but for space and time constraints.

Could the pundits help the case?  I think so but they won't because they have no imagination as to how to program plus it's easier to harangue than offer something of substance.

What would I do?  I'd seek out the Republicans who have had good ideas about how to fix the problem sit down for a serious panel discussion all in one place at the same time.  I'd have each lay out their ideas.  I'd not interrupt. I'd not allow them to interrupt each other.

When they were finished I'd ask them why they don't take themselves off the air, sit down together and piece together the best of each idea.  Then they select the most dynamic among them to be the spokesman for the plan and present it to the people in every venue that would have them.  And fight for those who wouldn't.  Just to keep it fair.  If, say, MSNBC said no thanks, let it be known by every means available.

Yep.  That's what I'd do.  It's the Dogwalk solution for Congressional  inertia and media complacency.

Obama Has The Sadim Touch

What is the Sadim Touch?  The opposite of the Midas Touch. Where everything that is touched is turned into a mess.

In some respects perhaps we should be glad Obama has turned out to be a bystander President rather than a leader.  Everything he touches is either a pending disaster or an unmitigated mess.

Consider Fast and Furious, the IRS scandal, Benghazi, the NSA, violating reporter's privacy,  and now the ACA. Not just the roll out, but the consequences of poorly written and unread legislation  paired with too many "the Secretary shall"s. These are but a few of the unmitigated messes.

The pending disasters are more far reaching in that they are global.  Syria, where Assad gave up his chemical weapons in order to be able to continue slaughtering his people. Since Assad didn't really need them it was no punishment. Not following through on arming the once good guys thus allowing the extremists to gain a foothold.

Cutting off aid to Egypt because of the misguided assumption that because Morsi was duly elected he should remain in office no matter the increasingly dictatorial stance he was taking.

Libya.  What more needs to be said.  Over a year later no arrests for the consulate attack while the press has had a multitude of interviews with those involved.

And now he's about to ease sanctions on Iran with nothing in return.  No freeze on enrichment.  No dismantling of centrifuges.  Leaving everything in place for Iran's nuclear program to continue. Something that has been going on since June, actually.

So what happens now? No one has considered any of the U.S. actions in the middle east to be wise.  Essentially everyone will fend for themselves.  The Taliban in Pakistan has elected the man who threatened school girl Malala as their new leader. Iran will get its nuke.  Pakistan has agreed to sell nukes to Saudi Arabia. Saudi will continue arming the rebels in Syria.  Russia may provide the nuke for Syria if deemed  advantageous.  Jordan will probably fall,  Hamas and Hezbollah will be strengthened.  Iraq will lose out to Iran as will Afghanistan to the Taliban. Al Qaeda will continue to run rampant and spread across Somalia, the Sudan and throughout the weaker African states.

Then there is Israel. With friends like us they don't need enemies! Whatever they choose to do be sure we will not be forewarned.  We have opposed them, besmirched them and finally betrayed them.

All because Obama needed to divert attention from the ACA in an attempt to save his administration from total collapse.  What a trade off. Every mid eastern expert in the world takes exception to our policies if thats what you want to call them.  Peace in our time?  Not by this President's hand.

Unless the negotiations in Geneva come to a total stand still you'll hear the other shoe we've been waiting for - drop.

Egocentric Government - It Has Nothing To Do With Us

I've been thinking about why politicians, from the President on down are so bull headed and nasty.  They are a totally egocentric bunch and we are left out of the equation.

I won't say that all members of Congress are stupid though they certainly act that way more often than not. Those who do, do it for survival. This last debacle is the perfect example of how and why.

Ted Cruz has presidential ambitions.  That's a given.  To succeed he has to gain an edge on his would be competitors so he gambled  by tying Obamacare defunding to the budget and default debate.  He lost.  It isn't that he wasn't forewarned that it was a suicide march.  Everyone from more experienced colleagues to constituents  to pundits told him so but he did it anyway.  Why?

He'll be the first to tell us it was for us.  I don't think so.  It was for his own future.  Not because he didn't know better but because the 31 year old President of Heritage Action, the one who orchestrated the whole ordeal, used his position to threaten sitting officials with primary challenges.

So who is this power monger, Michael Needham?  He's president of Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation, probably the best known of the conservative think tanks.  To me, advanced in years as I am, I question the wisdom of a 31 year old. As with Obama, he lacks the real world experience to be dictating policy.  But dictate he did.

Now he admits, after the damage has been done, that Obamacare won't be repealed until at least 2016 if at all but is proud as punch of the uproar he caused.  He figured we wouldn't get how bad this legislation has been constructed by ourselves.  No one is so obtuse as to not have noticed the roll out thus far has been a disaster.

I'm tired of the influence these think tanks hold over our politicians.  And tired of how our politicians bow to them. If they were truly serving their constituents they wouldn't be following Pied Pipers of the special interest groups.  It is, however, all about the money that will flow to their future campaigns if the bidding is done.

Consider the Heritage Foundation for just a minute.  It's current President is former Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC.  He is an ideologue happy being surrounded with fellow ideologues even if it means losing. No political party can survive with this type of governing philosophy.

This is but one example of many.  All parties fall prey to the such movements.  They distort truth to the point it's difficult to decipher.  We lose.

I had a brief moment of hope when I saw four people introduced to debate the budget issues before the next go round.  It lasted until I read that the entire committee will consist of 29 members. People with agendas made that decision.  Twenty nine ideologues in one room.  What do you get?  Nothing. we've been there and done that how many times?

One more time.  We lose.  Special interests and outside influences other than constituents be damned!

Diversity - Here We Go Again

We find the strangest things to agonize over.  Now that the President is fleshing out his Cabinet for his second term, it would appear that some are upset over the lack of - well, diversity.

Charlie Rangel thinks his lack of appointing women and minorities is embarrassing.  So far only four of the vacancies have had nominations to fill them.  Treasury, State, Defense and the CIA.  Only one was a woman.  Hillary.  The other are men to be replaced by men.  Granted Jackson from EPA and Solis from Labor, both women, are leaving.  Their replacements have yet to be named. If they are men, so what?

Forget for the moment that such positions are not usually filled with the best and the brightest but rather those who the President is confident will side with his way of thinking and carry out his wishes.     It would be difficult to get blind loyalty and diversity in one fell swoop.  Unfortunately for us.

I had hoped diversity was on it's way out.  Especially in government.  We have it in school admissions and the job market.  The result has often been a person has been denied because he or she wasn't the correct color or gender to meet the criteria of so called balance.  Government is the last place we need to be fighting this battle.

Melissa Harris Perry, an NBC commentator, has a  somewhat different view. She doesn't think gender or race necessarily represents diversity.  Her cases in point are that Clarence Thomas, as a Supreme Court Judge, doesn't represent the way the black community interprets issues.  Of course he's not on the court to represent just the black community and the fact that his thinking is far more encompassing is in large part why he's there.

She says much the same of Michele Bachmann were she President. Being a woman doesn't necessarily mean she is representative of that group.  Nor should she be if she were President.

This to me is more to the point.  The President might be better served if he surrounded himself with the best rather than the most simpatico, no matter their race or gender.  This isn't a criticism reserved for President Obama.  It has been the universal way of forming Cabinets and choosing advisors for decades and I doubt I'll live to see it changed.

Are there women who could do the job as well or better than those chosen.  In some cases, absolutely. In others, no. Is it because men have had more opportunity than women or minorities?  Well, that's why all this diversity stuff started in the first place isn't it.  But the opportunities are coming.  More women and minorities are pursuing careers once thought off limits.  Their numbers will grow as attitudes change, not with false premises.

It wouldn't bother me one bit if every staff member in the White House was a man if he was the best available for a particular assignment.  It wouldn't bother me a bit if more than a token Democrat or Republican were chosen if he was the best for the job. I always felt Hillary was wrong for Secretary of State when the most pressing of issues were initiating in patriarchal cultures where women are more tolerated than treasured.

It will take a far more secure and independent minded leader than those we now have for that to happen.  A leader who has convictions, the courage of them but also the wisdom to admit that he or she might not always be right, that other thinking and opinions may hold more validity and be willing and able to 'evolve' for something other than political expediency. Maybe for the good of the country?

We aren't there yet.  Insisting on diversity won't get us there any sooner.

Haggle Over Hagel

The Republicans seem to be having a fine time waving their red capes in front of the Democratic bulls.  The problem is the bulls keep winning and the Republicans keep getting gored.

That's why a headline on Politico caught my attention. GOP sees payback in Hagel pick.  Now there's an example of child's play if ever I've seen one.

I have mixed feelings over the selection of Mr. Hagel just as I do with Kerry for State and Brennan for CIA. Every one seems warm and fuzzy over Kerry.  Senatorial courtesy we're told.  The difference between Kerry and Hagel?  Hagel isn't well liked and it would seem Kerry is.

I hope the hearings focus on policy and how these men will continue implementing it.  After all it is the President's purview whether or not I agree with it.  To turn it into a witch hunt as payback for past disagreements will make those partaking in it appear petty.

I don't think the credentials of any of these three is any better or worse than many others serving in the Cabinet. If either, I'd probably lean toward better.  That's a positive.  They don't appear to be merely political payback.  Obama knows, likes and most importantly trusts Hagel and Brennan.  Kerry wasn't his first choice for State but being Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he comes in with a depth of knowledge and personal relationships with most of those with whom he will be working.  That too is a positive.

I differ with the President on many aspects of his foreign policy but it is what it is.  If it has any chance of being successful or at least maintaining the status quo, he needs that trusted leadership doing his bidding.  So do we.

The time for celebrity appointments is past. The world is far too dangerous a place any more. I don't know how Hillary as Secretary of State will rate when all is said and done but suffice it to say that a "name" doesn't necessarily equate with success.

What I do understand is that none of these men have much appetite for war.  That again, is a positive.  Where they stand on readiness as a deterrent is more of an issue but that's not my call.

What I don't want to see is "payback" in the hearings.  An attempt to denigrate a nominee for so called sins of the past.  I daresay there won't be one on the panel of questioners that hasn't changed his or her stand on an issue for political expediency.  After all, the President himself has "evolved" in many areas of policy.

Let's have hearings that are informative.  If the men are ill suited for the positions for which they've been nominated then don't vote for them.  Personal agendas against a nominee will only make this President dig his heels in deeper and we've been seeing of late how good at it he is.

Leave the red capes home.  Conduct yourselves like grown ups with your major concern being your country. If the bull deserves to, let him live. Being gored in the name of payback could be excruciatingly painful!  For all of us.