WHY DO WE EVEN BOTHER ASKING OUR GENERALS?

On June 10th 2009, General Stanley A McChrystal was made Comander of our forces in Afghanistan. He had the full backing of the President and the approval of the Senate. His job was to evaluate the situation on the ground and report back on what would be needed to complete the job.

Now the interpretation of what completing the job meant may mean different things to different folks, but what it means to me is that we WIN. The meaning of win is of course open to debate (we are talking about Washington DC ... where countless hours were devoted to figuring out what the meaning of "is" was). So to define it further, winning means 1) eliminating the ability of the Taliban and al-Qaeda to effectively mount any further insurgencies (or in lay-man's terms ... kill them) and 2) Install a sustainable Afghan government that is supported by the citizenry and will not harbor terrorists that wish to harm us.

General McChrystal has given a 66-page report describing what needs to be done to "Win" this war. It calls for an additional 40,000 troops to deal with the insurgency and accelerate the training of the Afghan police and military. This plan of action has been endorsed by General David Petraeus (the guy who brought us the "Surge" in Iraq, grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat).

However, there are a bunch of "Generals" in Washington DC that don't like McChyrstal's plan. General Joe (let's divide Iraq into 3 different countries and leave) Biden, thinks that we should stop fighting the insurgents and just train the Afghans, while occasionally firing missiles into Pakistan to kill al-Qaeda targets.

Generals Pelosi and Kerry of course just want to cut and run ... what a surprise!

Hey General Joe ... we tried fighting a war from DC twice before. During the end of the Korean War and during the Viet Nam war, and guess what?

Politicians make lousy Generals!!!

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HAS EVERYONE HAD ENOUGH YET?

I almost feel badly for the sheeple that voted for our President ... but if they were gullible enough to believe in the "change that you can believe in", I guess they deserve what they got.

I do feel badly for the people who voted against him, that worked their butts off to warn as many people about what could happen if he were elected, only to be met with a barrage of hate directed against them. Because obviously, if you were against electing a Black man to the Presidency, you were a racist.

It doesn't matter if you can provide a logical cognitive thought process to your decision not to support President Obama, you are a racist because ... umm ... well ... just because.

When the race card gets played ... no one wins, not the player or the playee ... and especially not the country, but then again, it doesn't seem like anyone on either side really cares about the country. The Dems are just trying to figure out how to consolidate the most power possible for "Big Government" and themselves. The GOP is trying to sabotage anything they can in the hope that they can regain power in 2010.

It would be nice if the American people would stop rewarding our politicians for acting like petulant children and vote them out of office ... but we keep falling for nice slogans and pretty faces.

We asked for this ... Next November let's ask for something else.

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Obama's Report Card

So ... how has the administration handled the first 100 days? Seems like it is time for a progress report. Let's see how the President has done on 5 key areas ... The areas are: Foreign Policy, Economics, Defense, Social Issues and Intangibles.


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A+ Intangibles ... The President has managed to convince the country that he can lead us out of the recession and restore our prominence in the world. Of course there are people who don't believe he can, but we they are in the minority, just as we they were in the last election. Don't discount the intangibles, we have often heard of educators that gave their students work that was many grade levels above what they were supposed to be studying and because the students thought that they were expected to learn it ... they did. He has given the majority of Americans HOPE.


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C- Foreign Policy ... I would give the President an A for his handling of the Somali Pirates (would have been an A+ if he had acted 3 days earlier). The rest of his foreign policy is a disaster. Bowing to the Saudi King would not have been that bad if he had just explained that it was an error. It might have actually played well for him. But trying to deny what everyone could actually see for themselves was very Clintonesque. Acting friendly with the rulers of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and China is an actual slap in the face of those people that are currently fighting, dead or imprisoned in those countries for trying to bring to their despotic homelands just a sliver of the freedoms that we enjoy in the United States. The USA should be helping those fighting against oppressive rule, not glad-handing their oppressors.
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D Economy ... Much as I hate even thinking about TARP, this has to be addressed here. Now this is a combined grade with the Bush administration having authorized and spent half of it. But it seems that having given 600 Billion to the Banks in order to loosen-up lending, shouldn't they be lending more? Kudos to Wells Fargo, which has actually increased lending from last year, but to the rest of the banks ... well, lucky you can't see the gesture that I am sending your way. Bank of America used the TARP money to buy other banks ... I guess that way they could get the TARP money from the banks they bought too. And now, when some banks want to give the money back, the government doesn't want to take it. Moving on to the "stimulus package" ... have you ever seen such a pork-filled political pay-back packed piece of s&*7 legislation? Guess the President didn't keep his word about vetoing bills with earmarks. And I don't have enough memory in this computer to go on about his 10 trillion dollar budget. I better stop now before I lower his grade.
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A+++Social Issues ... WTF??? you may be asking yourself, have the Blogway Boys gone completely crazy? This guy is a total disaster on social issues. But guess what folks, we all knew where he stood when we elected him, and boy has he delivered.
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F Defense ... The most important job of government is to keep us safe. As far as I'm concerned there is no debate on this, and all the other things that government does for us (post office, schools, roads etc) is just an added blessing (or curse). This administration is going to leave us weakened militarily and open to an attack that may make September 11th look like the good old days. Seems that all the other divisions of the government (commerce, agriculture etc) got bigger in the Obama budget, while defence was told to cut back. One of the things that the Army has been told to cut back is FCS (future combat systems). This includes things like robots for clearing minefields and disarming mines as well as things like the Predator drones that have been so effective in Iraq and Afghanistan and allow our troops to kill the enemy from miles away and have been directly responsible for saving lives and limbs. Mr. President ... just because you abolished the term "war on terror", doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that want to kill Americans ... and it is your responsibility to ensure that they don't succeed. And by the way, releasing memos on enhanced interrogation techniques and photos of abuse is not the way to safeguard America's security ... It's just a way to pander to your base.

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"PLEASE SAVE MY BABY-BOY"

Well, it didn't take very long did it? Some intrepid reporter tracked down the family of the lone-surviving Somali pirate. His mom is now pleading with the President to pardon her son because he was enticed into piracy by "gangsters with money". Newsflash mom, that's how most criminals turn to crime. The mom also wants the President to allow her to come to the United States to be with her boy (probably at taxpayer expense). She says her boy is only 16 ... though he says he is 19. On the off-chance that he is 16, she should be allowed a visa to visit her son and attend the trial ... but she needs to come up with the money to do so.

In yet another example of lawyer self-aggrandisement, prominent New York Civil Rights attorney, Ron Kuby is in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the young pirate. I never met a lawyer that didn't love press coverage, and Kuby is no exception.

In a welcome turn of events, several attempts to hi-jack other ships have been thwarted by NATO forces this past week. It just goes to show that when America steps up and shows strength, other nations follow. It's time for America to take the lead wherever evil people attempt to oppress others ... are you listening Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinijad and Kim Il Sung?

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Well Done Mr President ... BUT

I don't get to say this often but, "Kudos Mr President", your decision to let the Seals take out those Somali pirates was the correct one. Those 3 shots heard round the horn of Africa sent a simple and clear message ... you mess with our citizens ... you pay a steep price. This is the kind of message that I the world expected of a Ronald Reagan ... and it is very refreshing indeed to get it from a Barrack Obama.

I've been listening to the pundits for the last day or so, and there seems to be a consensus that the President's actions were to appease the conservative and pro national defense moderates in the country, but I say ... "So What???" A right decision reached for the wrong reasons is still a right decision.

Now be careful Mr. President, there will be a gnawing feeling in your gut to apologize to the families of these maritime terrorists ... DON'T DO IT! Your actions showed strength, and we absolutely do not want to be viewed as weak by the world. If this was your international "test", you passed with flying colors. Any "extra-credit work" will only lower your grade.

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What Did You Expect?

Congratulations America ... What 40+ years of the Cold War couldn't accomplish, President Obama did within the first 100 days of his Reign. We have now socialized a good portion of our economy. First our financial institutions, and now a major portion of our manufacturing sector. Next on the list ... Health Care.

Now, the President was well within his rights to fire the CEO of General Motors. Think of this as a "de-facto" bankruptcy, and our new Car-Dealer-N-Chief as the Bankruptcy judge. He is simply ordering the restructuring of the company. He got that "right" when GM got tax-payer money.

The President has given Government Motors 60 days to wring concessions from the UAW (United Auto Workers Union) to ensure the company's viability. I guess a "worker's paradise" will have to be put on hold for a while. At the end of the 60 days, I guess GM will have to go into bankruptcy so that they can void their contracts with the unions, suppliers and dealers. Because, does anyone think the union will actually voluntarily give up anything?

It is my opinion, that this has put the President in a bad position. He has staked so much political capital on GM succeeding, he is going to have to continue to pour billions of dollars into the company. If GM goes down, it will be seen as a failure by the President.

The big question is ... How much pressure is the President going to put on the Unions, they are the ones that brought him to the dance after all.

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Can Hillary Drink Her Way To The White House?

Whoever said that President Bush was a party animal, never hung out with Senator Clinton. Pictures found on Hillary's my space page show that she is the original "Party Girl". Whether it is shots and beer in Indiana or a bottle of Presidente beer in Puerto Rico ... This chick knows how to party down.

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Can you imagine the election party if she gets elected? I hear special beer funnels have been ordered in anticipation of her election. Both the funnels and beer kegs will have the Presidential seal emblazoned boldly upon them.

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But seriously, what in the world is she thinking? Does she think that by swilling beer and shots she will be able to win the vote of the typical hard-working middle class American? I actually think this is insulting to your average American. We want someone who is better than us in the White House ... I wouldn't trust the average American with their finger on the button.

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Lest I forget to pile on to Obama, the presumptive nominee flew into El Paso yesterday and hopped in his motorcade for Las Cruces, NM without stopping at all. Who cares if El Paso has a population of over 600,000 and Las Cruces has a population of only 86,000. Obama and his wife don't seem to want the votes of this heavily Democratic city. Neither Michelle or Barrack have deigned to visit our fair city, but both have been to Las Cruces. Former President Clinton has been here twice, Chelsea once and Hillary kicked off her Texas campaign here. Is it any wonder that Clinton got 70% of the vote here in the primary and 90% of the caucus delegates. To add insult to injury ... Barrack decided to send a surrogate to El Paso. Now, El Paso has a population that is 76.2% Hispanic ... so who did he choose to send??? George Lopez!!! Hispanics I have asked about this were very insulted, they love George Lopez as a comedian ... but felt that maybe Bill Richardson would have been a better choice.

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To take a line from CFS ... Isn't Politics Fun?

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