Reap What You Sow

"What do we want? Dead cops.  When do we want it? Now!" Free speech or shouting fire in a theater?  According to the racist adviser to the White House it's free speech.  To anyone with an ounce of sense looking at the current climate it's akin to crying fire in a theater.

I hope all the race baiters are happy that two NYPD officers lie dead.  Now, right before Christmas a boy is without his father and a bride without her groom.  Thank you Mr. Mayor and Mr. Sharpton and all those with whom you are complicit.

Now Mr. Sharpton is asking the Feds for protection because he has received death threats.  I can't imagine why. Okay, how 'bout we protect him behind bars where he belongs for a multitude of sins including non-payment of taxes which have been ignored.  Yet he struts around anointing himself as spokesperson for justice for blacks.

What would I like to see?  When the two officers are laid to rest I'd like to see hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets of New York in support of their police and every other police department in the nation. I'd like to see it led by blacks chanting "Police lives are important!" Or maybe  "What do we want? Respect for our police.  When do we want it? Now!"

It's about time we start enunciating the facts of daily life.  Police are the thin blue line between safety and chaos.  The higher the crime area the greater their presence and the greater the danger to their lives. If those who are committing the crimes are black then they are the ones who will be apprehended and punished or if they resist they are likely to be shot.  And killed. The same applies to everyone, no matter their race.

Instead of lionizing a man who was killed while police were trying to arrest him for a crime he had a habit of committing or a teen who thought attacking an officer and trying to get his weapon let's look at the facts of the case.  Yes, it's tragic when someone loses their life but lets put the blame where it belongs.  On the one committing the crime.

Of course black lives are important.  So is mine and so is yours and so, especially, are the lives of those who have taken an oath to do what is necessary for us to be able live those lives in peace and without fear.

I don't fear the police.  I fear the likes of Al Sharpton, Bill di Blasio and those in the administration who feel it necessary to propagate fear and division in order to justify their being. I have trouble getting my arms around the idea that their lives, too, are important.  Perhaps they are as a lesson as to how not to live my own.

Are The Rats Deserting A Sinking Ship?

Let this be a lesson to jihadist wannabes! Choose who to follow wisely. Especially if you're a foreigner looking for adventure or just a way to sate your lust for blood.

The Financial Times reported today that IS has executed 100 of it's own fighters who tried to flee their headquarters. Interestingly, those killed were foreigners who had become disillusioned.  I can say hooray for that but for them it has been too little too late!  I wonder too if maybe the Europeans have a smidgen of conscience that the hard liners don't.

The nationalities of those executed included British, French, Germans and Belgians.  It would seem they wanted to fight groups other than those to which they were assigned. The downside is their desire to fight in the first place.

However, when rebellion begins within ranks, chaos could follow and with a little bit of luck it could be the beginning of the end of ISIS.  Once word gets out that you either do as you're told or die, it puts you on an even footing with those you're there to fight.  Capitulate or die.  While hard core IS members look at death in their own way, most Europeans entered the fight for the fight perhaps more than the cause.  That would be their downfall. But it could also lead to the downfall of IS because they can't afford to lose too many within their own ranks if they can't replenish them.

If the likelihood of death by the hands of those with whom you've joined becomes widely known I would hope their ability to recruit would be greatly diminished. That IS would begin to disintegrate from within.

Now if only we would help the movement along by doing what we promised as far as properly arming the Kurds so they can mount more robust counter attacks real progress may follow. With Iraqis once again deserting due to lack of equipment poses a dilemma.  Of course they would still have their arms if they hadn't deserted in the first place.

Maybe it's time we quit playing war and actually fight it and end it.  Once and for all. Properly.

Couldn't We Do It Right Just Once?

Will the political parties that represent us ever grow up?  Better yet, will we demand that they do?

I was reading headlines on Drudge a few minutes ago.  Jeb is seriously considering running.  We know that.  The next one read Democrats already digging up dirt.  Please.

Let's look at this.  If it's Hillary versus Bush we know the Republicans will dig up tons of dirt on Hillary.  There is plenty going back to their days in Arkansas, Bill's moral shortcomings, Hillary's tenure as Secretary of State and so on. I wonder too, in this moral client where women are coming out of the woodwork to accuse Bill Cosby of indecencies, how Hillary tolerating Bill's peccadilloes will wash.

On the Bush side, it is known Jeb's wife had some issues with custom's over some shopping items while he was governor.  I have no idea what else there may be to be found or manufactured but you can be sure there will be something.

So what do we have without the dirt?  Two people vying for the presidency. One has a great deal of experience having been a two term governor of Florida.  The other has a great deal of experience being the wife of a former President.  Which looks better?  Forget who you'd like to have a beer with.

Bush has some perceived drawbacks.  One being his support for common core, the other being his support for a legal path to citizenship for certain illegals.  He has said he will run on what he believes which I would like to take to mean he will not pander.

Hillary?  I don't know.  I have heard her parrot other's opinions but has claimed none for her own. Wanting to be President shouldn't be enough. She is pretty good at pandering.

No matter.  Other's will in time enter the race because these two in their individual ways are vulnerable.  It would be nice, though, to have them all be judged on the merit of their ideas for regaining the stature of the country and moving the economy so we can all get back to living what used to be normal.  A decent job, good wages, a future and respect around the world shown toward our President and our country.

I know negative advertising works.  Only because we allow it.  We should dig, not for dirt, but truth.  If we don't we'll end up once again mired in nothing but mud. 

Let's Try For A Governor

The more I look at the potential candidates for the presidency for 2016 the more I find myself waiting for a governor or former governor.  And not Jeb Bush.

Not that I don't like Bush, it's just that I think we need to introduce some new blood and there are plenty to choose from that don't share his name.  He would, however, be better than Hillary who seems to have little more than celebrity to offer.

I look at Ted Cruz, among others, and his grand standing and see that he doesn't want to follow how the game is played in Washington. It is a game and there's little we can do about it except elect people who will ease it back to where it works well for us.  Slash and burn doesn't cut it.

That's why I lean toward a governor.  Someone who has experience in running a multifaceted entity.  That gives us a record to look at.  What does he or she know about trade, environment, education and so forth.  They can be grilled on foreign and defense policy for they will all have to have a policy to offer especially since our current President doesn't and the lack thereof is painfully obvious.

We will be able to see if they delegate or micro manage.  Whether their policies as governors were successful or not and why.  Maybe all states should pass laws that if you hold one office and want to run for another you have to give up the one you hold.  No more going back to the Senate or House if they fail.  That should force them into adopting strong enough positions to give them a chance to succeed rather than merely trying to promote a personal agenda.

It would be nice, too, if we'd adopt regional primaries so the same two or three states don't get to choose the candidates who pander to them then change their positions once nominated or even worse elected.  I won't hold my breath on this one.

It seems we're doomed to have professional politicians running our country.  At least let's choose ones who have some practical experience.  

Some People Never Learn

So the Omnibus Bill has finally passed.  I suppose I should take some pleasure in the fact that people from both sides of the aisle tried to stop it but I don't.

The way I see it, it's how government is supposed to work.  Neither side got everything they wanted but both got something.  It's called compromise.

It also means they might actually get some work done next year without the threat of  having to pass continuing resolutions or shutting down the government.

Ted Cruz and his ilk have yet to learn the art of compromise.  They are the obstructionists because, like the President, their modus operandi  is their way or no way.  They think that's what the American people want.  Or so they keep telling us.  This American person doesn't.  I want them to put their heads together and draft legislation that will move the country forward.  Not their personal agendas.

That's what the last election was about.  I am going to be a very unhappy camper with the Tea Party Republicans if they continue obstructing forward movement. I'm already fed up with the "conservatives" on the air who have done nothing but bash McConnell and Boehner since the election.  Give them a chance when they have the power.  Until January they don't and even after, the President still has the final word so expect compromise unless the demands are egregious.
 
We're going to have to know when  members of Congress are working toward their own ends for 2016 versus working for us. Especially those wanting to bid for the presidency.  Their ideological base may help them in the primaries but they best remember they're supposed to govern for all of us, not just those who share their point of view.

We've had six years of one who has not learned that lesson. I'll be holding those vying for his job to a much higher standard.