Mitt Was There - Where Were We?

Where were we when we needed him?  Teeing off about his religion, his wealth, his perfect appearance.  Listening while Candy Crowley contradicted him and our President mocked him.  It has been our loss and we best learn a lesson from it.

I concede he was a poor campaigner.  He wanted to win so badly he took bad advice and was overly cautious when he should have just been himself and not felt apologizing for who he is was necessary.  That's all in the past now.  It's our loss.

I do believe he would have been a far better President than the one we have.  Heck, I would be a better President than the one we have but I don't mean to damn Romney with faint praise.  He didn't achieve all that he has by being no more than a community organizer with a big ego.  He earned it.  He is worldly, economically savvy and understands the world of which we are a part whether we want to be or not.  He would have served us well.  Now he has had the good graces to read polls accurately and has bowed to, hopefully, a younger generation.  If we've traded him for Jeb or Hillary than I think we've learned nothing.

Is there one of the remaining candidates, at this point, that have the combination to offer that Romney had?  I don't think so.  Except for Lindsey Graham, they are all weak in foreign policy.  The governors have experience managing diverse organizations but only a few have knowledge of Washington's ways.  Few if any have hands on business experience.  Few have actual military experience and I dare say first term senators are still feeling their way and at this point are getting attention with mostly flamboyant rhetoric rather than actual ideas.

It's sad, really, that we turned our backs on a man who truly loves our country. The irony of it is he was there when we sorely needed him.  But we couldn't be bothered when he needed us.

Lesson learned? I doubt it.  

Retreads And Underqualified Newbies

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Sarah Palin is seriously interested in joining the 2016 campaign. All we need is one more retread.  An irritating one at that.

Unfortunately many of the better qualified haven't made the front pages yet.  Or maybe they're smart.  The others will be suffering from voter burn out by the time the campaign gets serious.

I'd like to see some of them go now for various reasons.  Mitt Romney.  He may have been a better President than Obama has been but there are many now running that would be better than him.  He's old news and a lousy campaigner and still carries the same baggage.

Jeb Bush.  Other than being another Bush...  Well, maybe that's enough.  Ben Carson.  No political experience, no business experience.  He'd be a great Health and Human Services Secretary.

Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio.  We tried a first term senator and look what we've got.  Maybe they have good ideas but not enough experience nor domestic and foreign policy acumen.

I won't go through the entire list nor state what are strictly personal opinions as to reasons, but I hope those younger governors will not be scared off by the big money needed.  Naively I hope ideas will win out and that they'll actually articulate them.

One last thought on the whole process is about the money involved.  These elections are now much like professional sports.  It's all about the money.  It's obscene that we're talking in billions when people's work weeks are being cut from 40 to 30 hours, they can't get full time employment and what wages they get are stagnant.  The economy is still sluggish and likely to remain weighed down by the world economy and a steadfastly obstinate President.

Remember growing up and you wanted something a bit pricey and were admonished by your parents who said, "Money doesn't grow on trees"?  That's true. The reason why is it's used like fertilizer by special interests and those who do their bidding.

I guess if you want a living wage and unlimited hours become a campaign worker. But please, pick a good candidate.

Martin Luther Who?

 I love man on the street interviews.  At least I would if I knew the people answering the questions would never be allowed near a ballot box.

Take MLK for starters.  An article on Inforwars.com  is enough to make you wonder if we educate people at all in this country.  Some thought he just died, another thought he died at the ripe old age of 93.  At least they knew he was dead.  It gets worse.  One thought he was the first African American to walk on the moon. Another, the first African American on Mt. Rushmore. Oh, of course not! That would be Obama.  How dumb are they?


I have to give credit where credit is due.  Those questioned seemed to know he was African American but were a little fuzzy in the history department when suggesting he was a popular general in the confederate army and gave the Gettysburg Address.  Rest in peace Reverend King. We're still trying to over come.  Just not the same things.

Here are a few other gems that this particular interviewer came up with.  Obamacare supporters signed petitions to support post birth abortions up to age 3 and making the euthanasia of senior citizens mandatory.  You can imagine how much I loved that one!

Some supported Karl Marx to be the next President and agreed not liking Mexican food was a "racist form of bigotry".

I know when people are on camera they don't want to look foolish and these interviewers love 'gottcha' questions, but really. Unfortunately it isn't laughable; it's downright frightening!

Just when I think it couldn't get any sillier, I guess this final one takes the cake.  Many signed a petition to grant Obama immunity for all crimes he commits while in office. Since so many of the targeted were Obama supporters it makes me wonder just what it is about him they support.

They obviously think he has committed crimes.  I wonder if it's the idea of putting drugs into fruit drinks and calling it 'abortion in a can' or adding birth control drugs to our drinking water.

Given the circumstances, I could think of a few petitions of my own I'd like them to sign.  One would be anyone participating in a man on the street interview of this sort must first surrender their voter i.d. card.  If in fact they have one. Oops. That would be racist wouldn't it.

The Truth Is Still The Truth

I couldn't help but chuckle when I read that an ultra-orthodox Jewish newspaper took an airbrush to the photo of arm linked world leaders to eliminate the women - because it was immodest.

In a less violent sense they are as bad as the terrorists because they see only what they want to see. One dealt with their displeasure with violence.  The other with altering the truth.  The women were in the photograph.  Did they have the right to do it?  Is it free speech?  Whether or not you agree, at least the didn't kill people to show their disapproval.

What made me chuckle though is the thought that any group can hide from others anything but their own belief is absurd.  I can understand, however, why they are so frustrated that they go to extreme means and why they so dislike us.

Their attitudes toward women is the basis for a lot of it.  We are here to propagate the race and serve men.  They will dictate how we dress, where we go, how we will behave, who else can cast eyes upon us and punish us should those casting eyes also feel lust.  It's archaic to say the least. Power to the weaker sex which in this case is the men.

Westerners tthrow frank behavior in their faces without blinking an eye and they despise us for strutting our corruption.  We even try it in this country with our penchant for political correctness.  Words that are eliminated from vocabulary because they are offensive to a really insignificant few.  They are just more vocal than those of us who have better things to do.

Consider too the banning of certain books from our libraries because of their overtly violent or sexual content.  Heaven forbid the children should be exposed to such.  In my experience kids today know more than their parents think they do no no matter how hard the parents try to shield them.  Plus they're learning such things at a younger and younger age thus the number of teen pregnancies and episodes of violence influenced by easy access to violent games.

No matter how hard they try and how grim it gets before it's over, they will not win.  They will have to kill us all because if they don't the truth will seep through the cracks and eventually many who have been lured by false glory will become disillusioned with the depravity for no good end.

Put Angela and the other ladies back in the picture.  They were there and that's the truth.

The Hypocrisy Of It

It's time, I think, to reassess our friends and allies.  While we had no high level member of the administration attending the rally in Paris against Islamic terrorism, we continue to play footsie with the likes of the Saudis.

Why is that?  In their own way they are every bit as brutal as ISIS yet we continue to do business with them.  The latest story is about a blogger.  A blogger.  Not unlike myself.

He is a human rights activist.  That's a dangerous undertaking in Saudi.  When you upset the powers that be it could cost you your life as it may well this mans.  He has been sentenced to 15 years and 50 lashes once a week for 20 weeks.  One must have an extremely strong constitution to withstand such brutality.

What did he do?  He dared to critique the way Saudi clerics interpret Islam.  He was arrested in 2012 and was first sentenced to seven years and 600 lashes. He appealed and was rewarded with an even harsher sentence.  What kind of justice is this?  All for wanting to create a dialogue on how to modernize Saudi Islam.  Not so very different from how multitudes of bloggers in this country have a dialogue on how to improve our government.  Fortunately we can do so with no worse than sneers from those who don't agree.

At one time we maintained these mid-east relationships because of our dependency on their oil.  Technology has made it no longer necessary if our government will see the light and act accordingly.

It seems an ideal time to reassess these relationships.  They are brutal, hateful people.  Some don't bother to hide the fact.  Others couch it as best they can for obvious reasons.  In this case they too are afraid of ISIS and need the west's help in fighting them.  Let's face it, they don't want their form of brutality taken over by others - especially since it's more finite than their own and might even touch them in their inner sanctums.

How we can turn our backs on western allies who gathered together to protest Islamic terrorism on one hand and cater to those who support it, even practice it, on the other escapes me. And not just Saudi.  There are many other countries who have equally repugnant practices.

It's time.  Congress holds the power of the purse.  Here's one more item where the purse strings should be pulled closed, never again to be opened.  The administration wants more revenue?  Here is a source for a pile of it.