Wishy Washy President Obama = Dead Americans.

The Obama Administration is wishy washy at best. Think that’s too harsh? Ask me what I really think about these people.

It’s just been discovered by Judicial Watch that the federal government has put a warning out of an imminent terrorist attack on the southern border (link below). This threat is from Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).

In addition, the drug cartels have taken over regions and even the U.S. Border patrol has ordered their officers to avoid the most crime infested areas because it’s too dangerous and patrolling them could cause an international incident.

In the Daily Beast (link below), there has been a debate going on between Obama and his national security bureaucracy about how, where and whether to strike ISIS. In light of this debate Obama came out and said “we don’t have a strategy yet”.

First of all, perhaps he ought to talk to the military. I’ll bet they have a strategy. They plan for all sorts of contingencies and even if they didn’t, they are the experts. They would have a strategy within a few short hours and probably less and ready to implement it.

The debate seems to be going on between politicians. Obama’s department heads. Leaving it to this bunch, they will not get it done. They seem to be afraid of protecting this country. Some are upset that we can’t find allies to help us in the middle east. Does this really surprise them? Why would any country offer help to a President that is afraid to defend his own country?

This should not be a surprise to anyone. Obama always puts out mixed messages. He tells the world that he sent in special forces to rescue hostages only to find that they had been moved. Why would he advise our enemy that we’d tried something and failed? Keep your mouth shut and try again.

Now he tells them we don’t have a strategy for dealing with ISIS and the very next day we’re put on alert for an impending attack on our southern border by ISIS.

We are the United States of America. We have the strongest, brightest and best military in the world. Americans don’t hide behind trepidation. We stand up. When one of ours is killed, we go and kill more of them. But not under this President.

Under this President, an American is beheaded and he talks big, then says we don’t have a strategy and no friends in the region to help us so James Foley murder goes unanswered.

We liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein and instead of finishing the job, Obama brings the troops home despite being warned that if we don’t finish, Iraq will be a mess. Welcome to the mess created by Obama.

James Foley was beheaded and Obama was mocked and made fun of by ISIS and he does nothing but sit in a room debating and unable to decide despite reasons given from both those that want justice and those that don’t want to fight. All he has to do is make a decision and turn the military loose. But he claims they have no strategy.

Second, since when do we back away because an international incident may occur if our border patrol does its job?  We armed the cartels under fast and furious. You want to avoid an international incident? Arm our border patrol better than you armed the cartels. If there is an international incident, it will be caused by the Mexican drug cartels not by our Border Patrol. There would be no one left over there to complain about an international incident. We don’t back down when Americans are killed….until now, under President Barack Hussein Obama.

With all of these illegal aliens coming across the border it’s been warned by many that terrorists would be coming across with them. Again, this is Obama’s doing. His administration has gone so far as to advise some of these illegal aliens to claim that they were abused by their spouses so that they can stay here. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It’s just an excuse for them to use so the authorities won’t send them back. But they really aren’t sending many back anyway. How many times have we heard that dangerous criminals from these other countries are being turned loose in our country?

Mr. President. If you want to eliminate ISIS for what they are doing to tens of thousands of refugees in Iraq and for the beheading of an American, there is a simple solution. You send the might of the American military over there. Give them orders to shoot ISIS soldiers and to keep shooting them until they run out of ISIS members.That's how and where. "Whether" was answered when they took off James Foley's head. 

Mr. President, if you want to eliminate the border threat, enforce the laws on the books regarding our borders and actually send those that come here illegally and ship them back. If the cartel crosses the river into Texas, shoot them. If they sneak over and kill Americans and run back home, send the soldiers in and tell them to keep shooting until they run out of Cartel members. If President Nieto of Mexico has a problem with that, tell him to police his own country and eliminate the problem or we will.

Mr. President, if you can’t lead, call a former President for advice and follow it. 

You’re welcome to comment

Brett

 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/386694/judicial-watch-feds-bulletin-describes-threat-imminent-terrorist-attack-southern

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/28/why-obama-backed-off-more-isis-strikes-his-own-team-couldn-t-agree-on-a-syria-strategy.html#

Does your Vote Count? Are you sure?

Voting season is coming up once again. Have you ever wondered how your vote is counted? If your vote is counted? If your vote is counted accurately?

Voting is not a Right. It’s privilege. It’s also a duty if you want a say in your representation at the various government levels.

During my voting lifetime which began forty years ago, I have voted in various methods. Paper ballots where you put an X next to the person’s name or the proposal or millage you’re voting for or against. There were the booths where one lever closes the curtains and a wall of levers next to each candidate and item and even a lever to automatically vote for everyone in one party or the other. Then there were the punch cards where you poke a hole for you vote. Computers with touch screens where you only need touch what you’re voting for and it’s recorded.

For the past two elections, my precinct has had a two sided scanner. You color in the  bubble on your ballot, then slide it into a scanner and it records your vote.

But how do we know that our vote is counted accurately on any of these methods of voting? Are we to just trust our elected officials? Trust is something that is earned. Has our government earned our trust?

Remember the election of 2000. More specifically the Florida debacle that dragged the election out for 35 extra days. Ballots were gathered up and brought to a central location within three counties and officials were counting them by hand. Who can forget the judge, with glasses on his forehead holding a ballot up to the light to try to figure what the voters intent was. That election gave us pregnant chad, dimpled chads, swinging chads, tri-chads and so on. Just as they get their recount done, another batch of ballots is miraculously found and need to be counted.

We have a government that does not trust its citizenry yet they expect us to trust them. Quite often when there is lack of trust we find that it’s because the one not trusting actually has something to hide.

The past two elections, I decided to ask questions about my vote counting. The latest was on August 5 of this year in the primary here in Michigan. After filling out my ballot, I then walked over to the machine and fed my ballot into the scanner. As it was sucked my ballot in, there was nobody within ten feet of the machine except for me.

I turned and asked if I get a receipt for my vote showing who and what I’ve voted for. I got two of the most dumbfounded looks that I’ve ever seen. I was told that the machine had my ballot in the storage bin and it automatically counts it as it’s scanned. So I asked how I was to know that it recorded my votes the way that I voted. The answer was that it was automatic and they are verified. I then said, “there was nobody near the machine so how can you verify it?” I was then told that if the number of voters didn’t match up to the count on the machine, they’d have to recount them by hand.

I had to push this just a little bit further. So I said, “there is one office that has two people running for it. I refuse to vote for the one because I disagree with them completely and I refuse to vote for the other because he has done just the opposite of what he said when running the last time. So the numbers won’t match up. So how do I know that someone won’t look at my other votes and determine that I would have voted for this one person and I must have accidentally missed it?” The answer: “We wouldn’t do that.”

There is one other new feature this year. Now as you’re going through the line from one worker to the next, one of them asks for your drivers license and they run it through the track on their computer as though it were a credit card. It’s reading the magnetic strip on the back. I asked if they are seeing my health records and driving record on there? He smiled and said no. I should have asked if I could see what’s on there because frankly, I don’t know what’s on that magnetic strip. Whatever is on there, I don’t think that some guy working an election line that is either retired in his everyday life or maybe works at Fords, should be seeing my personal information. So I guess I have my question for the next election in November.

I should mention that I live in a remote area. When I went in to vote there was only one other person there voting. I would probably be more annoying to them if they were busy and trying to answer my questions. 

We go into cast our vote and they are gathering information on us, and we are trusting them to count our ballots accurately, and record them just as accurately and we have no way of verifying that they are doing as they should be. Can we really trust these election officials that don’t trust us?

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

Who's In Charge?

Who is in charge in Ferguson, Missouri? It doesn't appear to be any good citizens of the small town. It doesn't appear to be the administration of the town. Nor the police. 

Following the shooting of Michael Brown, the police would not release the officers name, fearing for his and his family's safety.  During the day they had and have peaceable protests, but at night it's a different matter. It's not about Michael Brown at night. It's more about stealing by looting the stores. Throwing things at the police, such as molotav cocktails. 

Isn't the motto of the police to "serve and protect"? Ok, so they want to protect the officer and his family. But then they changed their position. They released the officers name. CNN broadcast his address and even filmed in front of his house. The police also released a video of Michael Brown stealing some cigarellos and pushing the store clerk or owner into a rack as the owner tried to stop him. 

Following the release of the video, the attorney for the Ferguson Market and Liquor store where Brown stole the cigarellos held a press conference, according to KDSK news. The press conference was not to verify or deny the events on the video, although it did verify it with what they said. The reason for the press conference was because of fear. 

The attorney told the press that the owners wanted to make it clear that they did not report the incident to the police and that they did not offer the video to the police. They did not "snitch". The police asked for it and they had to hand it over. Basically, they were saying 'please don't hurt us, we tried to keep it quiet.' 

According to the Washington Post, the owner said, ““It’s very dangerous,” he said. “They kill us if they think we are responsible. People don’t understand that.””

The owner pleaded with them not to use his name in their reporting. 

This reminds me of the movie "Escape from New York". The criminals run the town. Everyone else serves them. 

The police, and the governor seem to be backing down and giving in to these looters. Although, on Monday, there were 57 arrests and only four of them were from Ferguson. That wasn't the case before this incident, but it's added to it. Nobody in authority has taken charge. 

So it appears that the answer to Who's in Charge, is the looters, while the business owners and law abiding citizens (if there are any in Ferguson) cower in the corners thankful to only get robbed and not being killed by the thieves. 

You're welcome to comment. 

Brett

Are we Really that Stupid?

Ten days ago it was reported that a police officer had shot and killed an unarmed 18 year old black kid. His parents appeared on camera and said they were taking him to sign up for college classes on Monday but now they can’t. Not only was the “child” unarmed but he raised his arms as though to surrender. This bit of information set off day time protests and nighttime rioting.

We have a justice system in this country. It’s not perfect, but it is the best. Even corrupt officials haven’t taken away from it being the best system. However, it does take time to  see if there is a case and then to put it together. Witnesses must be interviewed, credibility checked, and evidence gathered. But the people of the area can’t wait. They act on what they originally heard without regard to the actual events.

We now know this 18 year old unarmed “child” was six feet four inches tall and weighed just under 300 pounds. We also know that ten minutes before he was shot he took some cigarellos from a convenience store and when the store owner tried to stop him, this kid pushed him into a rack. What is striking is that the store owner looked like the kid and the kid looked like a bully on the video.

The kid, Michael Brown, left the store and was walking in the street with his friend who also had been in the store. A police officer drove up and told the two of them to get off the street and on to the sidewalk. The kid, Michael Brown, then went to the police car, reached in and punched the officer breaking his eye socket. They apparently fought for the officers gun and it fired while in the car.

Brown ran off and the officer followed in pursuit. Brown stopped, turned and put his hands up. Then apparently started running right at the officer. The officer had drawn his weapon when Brown started to run and yelled out “freeze”. When Brown then turned with his hands up and started running towards the officer, the officer fired six shots into Brown. Brown fell dead three feet in front of the officer.

The protestors and rioters either don’t believe the story or choose to believe what they originally heard or they are opportunists and took advantage of the easy pickings of the stores by looting them.

Originally, when the rioting started, the police and the governor wouldn’t release the officers name. They feared for his safety. Then they acquiesced and made his name public. Does that mean the officer and his family is now safe?

Brown was not unarmed. He was armed with nearly 300 lbs and a 6’4 inch body. He was strong and he was dangerous. The reason we know he is dangerous is because the officer was punched by this “kid” and has a broken eyesocket.

In Michigan, one of the University of Michigan football players was walking on July 18 at or near a bar. He was bumped by someone passing by. He says he was taunted, but the video shows he was bumped and turned and sucker punched the guy. The man he punched had his jaw broken in three places. That football player was just kicked off the team.

Across the country, we hear of people passing people, strangers on the street, and just all of sudden sucker punching them. Young people and the elderly. They seem willing to punch anyone just for the fun of it.

Monday night, the Washington Redskins played a football game and the players ran out on the field with their arms raised, ala Michael Brown. This was their way of protesting what happened in Ferguson, Missouri.

These professional football players are college educated. You would think they would have a basic understanding of how the law works in this country. You’d think they’d know the entire story isn’t out there yet.

On February 25 this year, I wrote about the NFL threatening to pull the Super Bowl out of Arizona next year if the governor signed a law that had been passed. I decided then that if the NFL can dictate laws by withholding their product, then that product is something I wouldn’t participate in, even if it means just not watching their games on television.

Football season is here and I haven’t watched the exhibition games. Soon they’ll be playing on Sunday afternoons and I won’t be watching. I won’t even have it on the TV as I do things around the house. I will watch college football if I want to watch football this year.

How can so many college educated people in a huge sport such as football be so stupid? How can so many people, including Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson be so stupid to immediately go and lead protests when the facts aren’t out? Jackson was even trying to raise money during his speeches and it’s been reported that Sharpton wanted to be paid by the family of Michael Brown to come to Missouri.

We have had Americans killed at the southern border of this country. So what is Obama doing? He’s plotting how to do an executive order to allow more of this. Obama pulled us out of Iraq despite being warned that Iraq would fall apart. Today, a video was sent showing that ISIS has beheaded an American in response to the air strikes Obama ordered when he took back a bridge.

How can this President be that stupid? How many Americans must die at the hands of our enemies before he grows a pair and defends Americans and American interests?

Finally, we elected this guy not just once, but twice. Are we really that stupid?

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

A Bitter Republican Victor:

Representative Justin Amash embarrassed himself following his victory in the primary on August 5. The sad thing to me is that I don’t think he even realizes it. The challenger in the primary was Brian Ellis, a west Michigan businessman.

Brian Ellis seemed to back the Core Curriculum for schools, and had some other ideas that caused question into whether he’s conservative, moderate or even a liberal Republican.

Amash has been supported by the Tea Party and has bucked even the establishment Republicans. He apparently leans more to the Libertarian view than Republican and certainly not Democrat.

The campaign was very contentious. It was a classic example of what’s wrong with politics in this country. Ads were run by each campaign but not one was heard where the candidate advocated for his own position and what he would do for his district. They were all about the evils of the other guy. There was nothing positive about themselves only negatives about the other guy.

When you’d hear an ad if you heard the candidates voice, the opponents name was mentioned. You usually didn’t hear the candidates name in their own ad until the end when they approved their message.

Amash refused to debate Ellis saying his campaign was not a serious campaign. The guess is that Amash is afraid to debate his opponents so he implies that the other candidate is not worthy of his time although he had no problem paying for advertising telling everyone the ills of Ellis. Ellis ended up with 43% of the vote. That sounds like a serious campaign to me. 43% of the voters in Amash’s district considered Ellis serious enough to vote for him.

Don’t make the mistake that I was in favor of Ellis over Amash because you would be wrong, but in the interest of full disclosure, I have no stake in race other than that of all Americans because while these candidates represent their districts and only answer to them, all Americans are affected by these candidates. I am not in Amash’s district. I had decided a week ago that Amash is who I’d have voted for if I were in his district.

Amash put his arrogance and ungraciousness on full display on election night. Brian Ellis called Justin Amash to concede the election to him and wish him well. Amash refused to take his call, instead choosing to let it go to his voicemail.

Then in his victory speech he was not humbled by his victory to represent Americans in the people’s Congress. He chose instead to take the low road by saying the following:

“To Brian Ellis, you owe my family and this community an apology… for your disgusting, despicable, smear campaign,” Amash said toward the end of his victory speech. “You had the audacity to try to call me today after running a campaign that was called the nastiest in the country. I ran for office to stop people like you — to stop people who were more interested in themselves than in doing what’s best for their district.”

The only place that I’ve been able to find that said that Brian Ellis’ campaign ran the “nastiest in the country” is from Amash himself. I have yet to find anyone else say it. But Amash wasn’t done with just Ellis. He also had some unkind words for former Representative Pete Hoekstra. Hoekstra had been a Representative for 18 years and then ran for Governor of Michigan and for the United States Senate, losing the first to current Governor Rick Snyder and the latter to Debbie Stabenow.

 “I want to say to lobbyist Pete Hoekstra, you’re a disgrace,” he said. “I’m glad we could hand you one more loss before you fade into total obscurity and irrelevance.”

Hoekstra’s crime? He endorsed the man that Amash considered not a serious candidate.

Representative Justin Amash should have been happy he won his election and shown some class and a little humility in victory. Imagine what he’d have said had he lost this election. When Amash was first elected there were positive hopes and he was a man to keep your eye on. Now, he appears to be someone you don’t want to let out of your sight.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett