Crosshairs

Hey Bill, If It Walks Like A Duck…

2010-03-08T11:14:00Z

About two weeks ago Bill O'Reilly started his program on Fox News discussing Socialism in America, here is an excerpt:

"A recent Gallup Poll is simply incredible: 36% of Americans have a positive view of socialism, including 53% of Democrats. A socialist believes the government has the right to control and/or seize private property and regulate the distribution of goods and services. That means the government has all the power, and you have none. And 53% of Democrats think that's a positive thing? Gallup says it didn't define 'socialism' and therefore some of the respondents simply don't know what socialism is. Even so, the poll is disturbing because there is a trend by the Obama administration to expand the federal government and redistribute wealth. It is long past time for Americans to wake up - the far left wants to diminish personal power and impose social justice on the nation. They want to erode our personal freedoms in order to right what they consider wrongs brought about by capitalism. Talking Points believes that will not happen, and the more exposure this quasi-socialism gets, the more Americans will object. America was founded on hard work, personal responsibility and honest achievement. Socialism has no place in the USA."

Later Bill expresses his opinion that he does not believe Obama is a "Socialist."

When this aired, two weeks ago, I was going to write about this debate but as we all know time slips by and well, instead I just let this simmer in the old brainpan until I thought that the time to discuss this socialist label had passed. The reason I am writing about it now is because it hasn't gone away. Bill is still randomly asking some of his guests if they believe Obama is a socialist, and most of them have refused to call Obama what he is, a socialist.

Now I watch the O'Reilly Factor almost every night and I agree with many of the things that the host has to say, but not all. I give O'Reilly and his coworkers at Fox News a lot of credit for giving us the chance to form our own opinions about what is going on. But even though I do not expect to agree with what Bill says all of the time, some of the things he states are a bit worrisome.

For example Bill has stated that he believes Obama is generally a nice guy who wants to do what is best for the country. Sorry, after Obama's harmful left wing agenda of the last year, that dog won't hunt here.

For one Obama may be a nice guy to those close to him or to those who can do him favors, and he certainly displays a pleasant persona in public, but he has repeatedly shown that he is more than willing to throw friends and relatives under the bus when it helps him. Basically nice guys don't sacrifice their grandmother's reputations for political purposes. In other unguarded moments Obama has made it clear how he really feels about the bible and gun clutching American people. Nice guys don't smile at you when you're face to face and then scorn you behind your back.

Not to mention that if Obama was really only trying to do what is best for the country, as a politician, he would be a very rare bird indeed.

Likewise Bill has stated that Obama "is an intelligent guy." What proof he has of this I do not know because all of Obama's academic records are well hidden. This proof of intelligence is certainly not reflected in Obama's disastrous first year in office, or with his inability to carry on a conversation, news conference or speech, or even tell us how many States are in the Union, without the ever present teleprompters. For that mater Obama cannot correctly pronounce "corpsman" on even his third try with his teleprompters. While Obama has been smart enough to hoodwink a lot of people, that is not really a major accomplishment, just ask any used car salesman how easy that can be.

My personal theory on how Obama came to be known as an intellectual was from the numerous Ayers and Dohrn parties the Obama's attended. Everybody just knew that when it came to Trivial Pursuit, the Euro-Soviet Version of course, you wanted to make sure that Barry was on your side.

Meanwhile Obama has clearly shown that he is not intelligent enough to listen to the American people, or even the pollsters.

On the other hand O'Reilly's educational background is well documented and shows that he "is an intelligent guy." Like Obama, O'Reilly attended Harvard, unlike Obama, O'Reilly actually writes his own books. Surely someone as well educated as O'Reilly should know a socialist when he sees one, right?

Yet despite Obama's repeated socialist ravings about "spreading the wealth", his overbearing insistence on a socialistic, unconstitutional national health care plan, his takeover of banks, GM and Chrysler, his meddling in the unions and his desire to see 'card check', along with his agenda of 'cap and trade', Bill states that his refusal to call Obama a socialist is because Obama has not yet tried to take "control and/or seize private property."

But I ask what were GM and Chrysler if not "private property"? What about the banks and unions that are now being controlled by the Federal government? What of the Feds now determining private corporate salaries and bonuses? Isn't that controlling private property? Apparently Bill has a checklist of socialist wrongdoings and until Obama checks off everything on that list Obama should still be considered a capitalist.

After a full year of Obama's definite, unbridled socialistic agenda Bill still refers to it as "quasi-socialism"? Excuse me Bill but everything this Administration has pushed in this past year has been socialistic, there is nothing "quasi-socialism" about it.

Total socialism is not going to happen overnight. The Left has been making steady progress for the last sixty years to get to where they are now. Today Obama takes over GM, tomorrow he uses the "nuclear option" to force socialist heath care down our throats and in the not too distant future we arise one morning to find Old Glory replaced by the Obama "Pepsi" flag flying over the White House.

So if Bill is waiting for Obama to come in and confiscate his home before he admits that Obama is a socialist, well, when that day comes Bill will have waited too long to help any of those Americans he mentioned who might not know what a socialist is.

Yet one might forgive Bill his reluctance to label Obama. Certainly Fox News has an agenda, although certainly not as corrupt as say MSNBC, but one must understand that Bill O'Reilly and Fox still have set some goals. Perhaps Bill is reluctant to call Obama what he really is in the hope that Obama will once again grant Bill an interview? That is after all what Bill does for a living. Or maybe it is because even despite of Bill's own conservative leanings, O'Reilly is still an East Coast intellectual, and we all know how academics, especially those Ivy Leaguers, love to debate things before they can settle on anything.

But out here in every day, raise the kids, get up and go to work, Middle America most of us don't have the time or inclination to waste our days debating the true colors of a man's character and philosophies. We take a man for his word and judge him by the faithfulness of his words and by his actions to determine who that man is and what he stands for, thus there is little use for any unnecessary debate. Here in Middle America if somebody sticks his hand in our pocket we don't wait until he withdraws our wallets before we call him a thief.

I also have to disagree with Bill about many of us not knowing what a socialist is. Most of us have spent our lifetime watching the depraved socialism of the USSR, China and Cuba. We have sadly watched as socialism has encroached upon our system of government and upon our European allies. We well know what socialism is and how it plots to end our way of life. Heck, most of us learned all we really needed to know about the evils of socialism just by watching Dr. Zhivago. But many others of us saw first hand the atrocities of socialism by fighting in Korea and South Vietnam.

Likewise it matters little to us what label you wish to apply, be it socialism, communism, fascism, progressivism, Marxism or Liberalism. They all boil down to the same unconstitutional, anti-American agenda that is now upon us from our very own White House and Congress.

Most of us who did not vote for Obama already knew that he was a socialist. Liberals who voted for him also knew, and that is why they voted for him. Others may have been fooled into thinking that Obama was at worst a Centralist, but if they still believe this then they are beyond help anyway. Indeed it did not matter to most of the 97% of African-Americans voters who voted for him what his political philosophy was. Sadly too many of them voted for Obama for the same reason they cheered when OJ got away with murder.

So Bill you can continue to debate and to ask your guests if they believe Obama is a socialist until the cows come home. We here in Middle America already know the answer.

Middle America simply says it like it is, for when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck. And Bill your duck came out of his socialist closet kicking and screaming years ago.

Now all we have to do is wait until Obama kicks open that Muslim closet door, and I believe he already has his fingers on the handle.

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike

"Copyright 2010. Michael E. Tank All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."

Leaving Las Vegas… Alone

2010-02-21T15:01:00Z

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Obama has left the building."

Once again we mere mortals have been shown that we should never underestimate the star power of The Chosen One. After all of the hubbub about Obama dissing Las Vegas, twice, now after just a twenty-hour visit to The Sin City, by simply giving a wave and a smile, while unashamedly proclaiming a hardy, "I love Vegas… always have," everybody, who is 'somebody', is smiling again.

But with a 13% Nevada unemployment rate and with that state leading the nation in home foreclosures, there are a lot of people who still find it hard to smile. Not that any of that was Obama's concerns, or his reason for going there, Obama was just campaigning, still, this time for the reelection of Senator Harry Reid.

This Las Vegas fiasco, which started last year when Obama pulled a 'Biden', is just a microcosm of the Obama Administration. In this small episode you can find all of the hypocrisy, arrogance, detachment, ineptitude, and wag the dog stupidity along with the socialistic agenda and tactics such as class warfare and race baiting, which most of us have come to expect from the Obama Gang and his minions. Likewise after all of the mindless talk and wasted energy that was directed at this sideshow, again, nothing has been improved or accomplished.

Just like our Nation now finds itself a year into the Obama Regime, after Obama has come and gone, Nevadans still find themselves with the same problems. In the last year we have spent more money than ever before in our history, while constantly debating one failed Obama agenda after another only to find ourselves in the same mess, or worse, than when Obama came onboard as he just stumbles blindly on by continually crisscrossing the country. In another one of his recorded 'Presidential firsts' at his present travel schedule Obama may be the only President who meets himself coming and going. But then wherever he goes, he always leaves them smiling.

This whole Vegas mess started when the Constant Campaigner was giving yet another one of his patented blame the rich guy/fat cats speeches in Indiana. Talking about corporation bailouts, which where approved by Congress and signed by his Oneness, Obama stated, "You can't get corporate jets, you can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime."

Well yes "you" can if Bush, Obama and Congress gave them the taxpayers' money in the first place. No bailouts equal no taxpayers' dimes, which equates to no trips to anywhere at the taxpayers' expense. Obama's statement was especially lame after it was revealed that Congress had agreed to the corporate bonuses that would be paid to corporate bigwigs after the bailout money was received.

Likewise it is immensely galling to watch as what is collectively the most corrupt Congress and Administration in our history preaches about what is right and wrong, even if they are talking to greedy corporate goons and bankers. Corporate hacks and bankers are no different than our politicians; they got their hands on other people's money and they wasted it. Sorry, nothing new here. At least most of the corporate waste stayed in the USA.

But the talking heads of the MSM said nothing about this hypocrisy. Instead they fixated on the uproar coming from the various Nevada politicians about how Obama was hurting their economy, which indeed he was. Of course the point of most of the MSM fixation was in defense of The Chosen One's statement.

Nor did anyone "in the know" care to reflect on the twenty odd trips Obama has made to Vegas in the last two years during his campaign and twice since his inauguration. It's okay for the Chosen One to take private jets, including Air Force One on the taxpayers' dime, into Vegas whenever, or on a date night to New York City, but the rest of you fat cats better stay home. In the last year Obama has repeatedly been that all to well-known bad example of "don't do as I do, do as I say." But then that is the way this guy rolls.

Since Obama's emergence upon the national political scene the Left has been constantly telling us what a genius this guy is. Of course without any evidence concerning a real paper trail from his life history it is hard to substantiate this claim. Forget his birth certificate, I would just like to see some college grades, or papers and if he registered as a foreign student.

Nonetheless what we have repeatedly seen is a guy who without a teleprompter can't string six words together unless three of those words are, "Uh."

With such gaffes as "visiting 57 states with a couple of more to go," "the police acted stupidly", the Christmas panty bomber "acted alone" and "corpseman," Obama seems to be in a race with his VP to see which one of them can make us all ask, "What?" the most. Personally I would give Obama a few more IQ points if he could get through a speech without the teleprompters by maybe just writing a few notes on his hand.

As it is Obama also seems to be absentminded because no sooner had the first Las Vegas slam been set aside then earlier this month Obama gave us this gem:

"When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

So once again the Nevada politicians justly threw up their arms and screamed, "What the…!" This time even old Harry Reid told Obama he should, "…leave Las Vegas alone."

Likewise the MSM once again reported about how everyone was upset and once again they mainly defended their Messiah for making this statement. At least Bill O'Reilly did get it marginally right when he said that Obama's statements hurt the common working people of Vegas more than anyone. But there is so much more wrong on so many levels with this particular free-spending politician making this statement.

First, and most obvious, is the fact that in Obama's first year of office he and his Liberal Democrats have spent trillions of tax dollars yet here he lectures the American people on being thrift? Tighten our belts? We have, now how about you and your cronies doing the same, pinhead.

In Obama's world, the American people must all do "the right thing," "sacrifice," and in the mean time we politicians will do as we please. Once again it's the old do as I say not as I do, right BO?

Also in this arrogant statement Obama strongly implies that it is the spending habits of the American people who have brought about this recession/depression. Clinton, Bush, Obama, Congress, Wall Street, Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and so on and on had nothing to do with the fix we're in. If only the Johnson's hadn't bought that new boat and the Smiths hadn't gone to Vegas our economy would be just fine. From this incompetent President and his idiotic Democratic Congress who have repeatedly preached that 'they' need to spend our way out of this recession, the American people are again told to tighten their belts!

Somebody should belt Obama.

The division between the American people and our aristocratic politicians was never more evident than in this statement. With millions of Americans unemployed and millions more under-employed, Obama sits on high where he can only imagine that what we peons are thinking about are new boats and expensive vacations.

Americans are not planning on buying new boats, cars, televisions or flying off to the beaches and Vegas. Americans are worried about paying the electric bill this month and putting food on the table. They are worried about the kids having the proper clothing for winter and food in their bellies. Millions of our elderly have had their life savings wiped out by corporate and Congressional greed. Widows and widowers have seen their retirements disappear and are now facing a life of going back to work in their sixties and seventies. Young Americans have had to set aside their college plans because Mom and Dad have lost their jobs, perhaps their homes as well. As these young Americans are forced out of school they find that what jobs are available don't pay enough to get by. But Obama wants to make sure we know to tighten our belts. He wants us to not buy that boat or to roll the dice in Vegas while he and his fellow Liberals continue to roll the dice with all of our futures.

Last year Obama and his Liberals generously extended a tax break to the American people amounting to about $250.00. In the meantime they handed out billions to the scum who got us into this mess. Somebody needs to tell the uninformed Obama that $250.00 won't even buy you a decent remote control toy boat let alone an actual take the family skiing type rig. The plain simple fact is that Obama and the rest of these arrogant politicians don't have a clue to what the American people are going through, nor do they care. But then what else should we expect from a man whose wife wears $500.00 tennis shoes?

Finally with this inane statement Obama clearly shows that he really doesn't have a clue as to how our economic system works. One can surely understand how this inexperienced lifelong public sector employee never was able to grasp the way free enterprise works. After all everything he has done has been funded by tax dollars. Quickly, if people were out buying new boats and taking vacations this of course would help our economy. The fact that people do not have the money to buy boats and take vacations is why we are in a recession/depression. I wonder if Obama understands that? Buying products and services, good. Not having jobs, thus not having any extra money to buy products and services, bad. As Obama has shown that he is a slow learner, I doubt he will grasp this by the end of his term.

Meanwhile back in the desert!

With Obama's two slams on his city the Republican Mayor of Las Vegas flatly stated that he would not meet with Obama when he came to his fair city. Unfortunately for the Mayor the night after he made this announcement he had a meeting in what the Las Vegas Review Journal described as, "the city's historically black community of West Las Vegas." Not long after this meeting began the Mayor stormed out stating, "I'm not going to be called a racist!"

What the Mayor had said was this:

"Working families are suffering because of the President's remarks, the president should retract his reckless statement about Las Vegas and make a public statement supporting business and tourist travel to Las Vegas and other destinations in the State of Nevada."

How that is racist, I do not know, but it seems that many of the residents of this "historically black community of West Las Vegas", including a few Democratic assemblymen, feel that the Mayor's comments on Obama's comment were racially motivated. Once again proving that if you disagree with Obama, and especially if you are a Republican or a conservative, then you must be a racist. And so as Sonny and Cher once so vocally harmonized in this city of nonstop entertainment, "And the beat goes on..."

But it is all over now, well except that if the Mayor is planning on running again he has lost the African-American vote. Obama came to Vegas where he gave two speeches, mostly to tell people what a great man they have in Reid, and to answer even more questions about his health care plan.

Yet out of this microcosm of Obama's world perhaps the most telling item was the joke he told during one of his speeches. With our nation looking at financial ruin and generational debt the Ultimate Gambler came to Las Vegas to joke:

"Just last night, I hit a flush on the river and cut the budget deficit in half. Some of you know I can play some poker."

With what Obama and his fellow politicians have done to the deficit is hardly a joking matter.

Of course when you're playing with other people's money, what does it matter if you win or lose?

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike

The Modern NFL: The Pursuit For Imperfection

2010-01-06T20:29:00Z

Quick Question: As most sports writers are now telling us that an undefeated season is not as important as winning the Super Bowl, what was all of that unending hype about?

As we headed into the last week of the 2009 regular season we at last had some respite from all of that irrelevant hyperbole about how a modern NFL team just might make it through the season and the playoffs undefeated. When the Colts handed a victory to the Jets, finally in week 17 there were no more comparisons to Brady and his Patriots who almost made it, or to Griese and his '72 Dolphins who did make it.

Alas, thankfully, there is also no more talk from former Dolphins bragging about the past or venting about the differences between the then and the now. They have once again sipped the champagne.

Besides, dragging out the old Dolphins every time some team looks golden for a few weeks is a bit much when you consider that most of the young people of today who watch the NFL weren't even alive when that team won them all.

Larry Who? Mercury What?

Isn't a Shula like a kielbasa?

And what did they call that no name defense again?

Yeah, well, okay, while I may be old enough to remember those undefeated Dolphins, my sons and their friends have maybe just heard of them. But if they have then you can bet your leisure suits that most of these younger folks think Csonka and Morris wore leather helmets.

I say that this hyperbole was irrelevant because it wasn't another team that finally ended the "dream" for the Colts, but was in fact the Colts themselves who ended their pursuit of perfection and deliberately settled for imperfection. Well at least if not the Colts' players then it was the Colts' coaches, management and owner that purposely stopped this long glorious run to immortality. The pundits and fans can argue until Detroit wins a Super Bowl whether it was the smart thing to do, but it will not change the fact that in so many ways the Colts were dead wrong in choosing to end their quest for The Undefeated Season.

What really shanks my punt is that after being blitzed for most of this season by all of the hype we finally realized what we should have known all along in that neither the Colts nor the Saints were going to make it to an undefeated season! Even if the Saints had not legitimately lost on the field, that determination was ultimately never going to be left to the players and determined on the field of play but rather in the hard, cold business settings of the owner's office.

Yet we Fans had to endure all of those weeks on end about how great it was, how great these teams were and about all the imaginary scenarios of possibly getting two undefeated teams into the Super Bowl. Bah! We were suckered, fooled, sacked in our own living room end zones, because this was never going to be about going undefeated. We forgot that this is the NFL Today, its professional sports, it's all about business and has nothing to do with glory or history or the Fans because it's all about the Money. We've seen it too many times in the past when a team tanks a game to rest players since they have clinched their division, or a bye and home field. So why did we allow them to run this (double) cross pattern on us again?

The NFL likes to say that on any Sunday any team can beat another. That is never truer when they won't allow their best players to play. Yet the NFL talks about the integrity of the game. Bah, again. Where's that integrity when a team pulls its best players and allows another team the chance to continue their season with what amounts to a win by forfeit? Call it what you want but the Colts threw that game just as sure as a boxer who takes a dive in the fourth round. Integrity indeed.

It is also said that in the NFL regular season everybody wins one and everybody loses one and this usually holds true despite the rare Patriots' success or the Lions' dismal disasters. But how much more true this holds when you get to the end of the season and the team management decides when to lose and when to win. Most all of the pundits and many fans claim that holding players out is the "smart" thing to do because it is after all, just all about winning the Super Bowl. Bah, yet again! Having a chance to win them all is about more than just winning, its about character, its about perfection, its about immortality.

So tell me what would you think of a NASCAR driver who slows down to eighty miles an hour because he is saving his gas and his car for the next big race. What the heck, this driver is way ahead in championship points and it's a long season, right? Besides the race he is running now doesn't pay the winner as much as the next one so he's pretty darn smart to hold back. Meanwhile it doesn't matter that all the fans have paid top dollar to see this race, so what if they aren't getting their money's worth out of this guy, or in the case of the Colts, an NFL team that has clinched.

How about that boxer, but instead of taking a dive he just floats around the ring to keep a safe distance from his opponent because this fight isn't for the championship? He's paid a million bucks or more to dance around the ring for twelve rounds and throw a few jabs to score enough points, but he's not going to take any chances. Meanwhile the fans pay $49.95 for cable access.

A fix is a fix, a sham is a sham, and just playing out the string is an insult to the Fans and to the game itself. Besides, dog gone it, its un-American!

So, you say, the NFL is a business. Okay, and like any business they are in business to make money, and boy does the NFL take our money! But we hand that money over for a product, a product that provides us with entertainment and a product that the NFL promises will be the best that they have to offer week after week. So what happens when the fan pays a week's wages to take his family to a game and the NFL reneges on that promise to field its best product and try to win the game? When the best players are pulled at halftime to make sure they don't get hurt or to just give them some rest so they can play in another game, does the NFL hand out refunds or free tickets to that next game when those players will be allowed to play? Of course not, any more than Direct TV is going to send subscribers a small refund check for the NFL Sunday Ticket package that costs an arm and leg.

Likewise the NFL promotes its marquee players to sell tickets and to make money. By doing so they want people to come watch these marquee players play. "What are you doing this Sunday?" Screams the radio pitchman. "Come see Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers!"

Isn't it wrong to demand the high prices for this privilege only to then not allow the players to play at all or to finish a game that has not been decided?

Somewhere along the line professional sports decided that their players weren't just entertainers but were to be held to a higher plain. Then somewhere along that line we allowed them to convince us that they were right. But in reality a professional player in any league is just that, a public entertainer who is paid well to display his or her talents.

So what would you say if you paid four hundred bucks or more to see a Paul McCartney concert only to be told that because he has four more concerts in bigger cities Old Paul needs to rest his voice, so instead you end up listening to three hours of McCartney covers by the runner-up from "American Idol"?

Would you demand your money back if you went to a movie staring Robert DeNiro who then disappears an hour into the film when his character's role is now being played by Larry The Cable Guy?

You wouldn't settle for any of this so why do we settle for what the Colts did? Basically aren't all football players' just performers like musicians or actors who are being well paid to entertain us? Why shouldn't these athlete entertainers be performing in every contest that the fans are paying to see them perform in?

All of these other examples would be considered a rip off, so why do the NFL and other professional sports get away with it as being "smart"?

The NFL wants its fans to love their teams, to be devoted to their teams and in return the NFL promises that it will give these fans the best effort from their teams to win every game. But this honest effort to win apparently is only when management deems it is prudent. Most NFL teams are now worth more then a billion dollars because the Fans spend billions of dollars on NFL merchandise and to watch the games. What the Fans are getting at the end of the season in return for their devotion and hard earned cash is a replay of the preseason when the best players are pulled after the first quarter, or don't play at all.

Football is a rough sport and injuries are part of the game but the teams and players have been well compensated in taking those risks. For the entire season the NFL owes it to their Fans to play to win every game, not to play it safe when looking towards the future in lieu of an honest effort towards victory.

The NFL tells the Fans that it is smart to rest their players before the playoffs yet they are talking about extending the season to eighteen games. Why? So the teams who are on top and headed for the playoffs can then take a dive in Week 16 instead of Week 14? Won't the players be even more tired after 18 games than they were after 16?

This extension is not for the Fans' benefit anyway, it is just another way for the greedy owners to make more money. But these owners will market this extension as a way for the Fans to see more games. Yet if they really wanted the Fans to be able to see more games they wouldn't start most of them at the same time on Sunday mornings and afternoons. How about that TV rule that does not permit the showing of "extra coverage" of those games, which run too long? It never matters what the score is once the old clock strikes because off goes the game, the fans can just check for updates on the 10 o'clock news. Likewise would the NFL play games on Thursday nights that are only available to subscribers of the NFL Network if they were even remotely concerned about the fans seeing more games? Want the fans to be able to see more games, spread them out a little more at the end of the week. What's wrong with a game or two on Fridays and Saturdays?

This owners' greed also has a lot to do in not playing to win before the playoffs because the deeper a team goes into the playoffs the more money there is to be made. There is nothing wrong with that of course, with success should come monetary gain. Except that by not playing their top players while trying to win every game before the playoffs the owners and the teams are already cheating their fans and are thus being dishonest about the money that they have already been paid just to make even more money in the playoffs. Again, where's the integrity?

Furthermore how many playoff teams, let alone Super Bowl winners, have NOT raised the price of their tickets for their next season?

But perhaps the biggest lie about this "smart" move of teams holding out players at the end of the regular season is that the NFL supposedly claims that it goes to great lengths to insure the integrity and legitimacy of every game. As in every profession sports' league the public must be reassured that every game is on the up and up, the league crushes any hint of gambling. They conduct league wide drug-testing, reviews of the referees, prohibit teams from spying on one another, requires up to date and precise weekly injury reports, and so on and on, all in a concerted effort to insure the public that every game is legitimate. But with such false claims of legitimacy the NFL only displays its own hypocrisy at the end of every season when playoff bound teams are allowed to sit their best players, which effects the outcome of the game. Isn't this the same as a fixed game? Isn't this the same as shaving points?

Of course the fans are simply told that the NFL allows this "fixing" to insure that certain players are not injured. But football is a team sport and while some players are better than others one player does not insure the outcome of every game. As if it wasn't enough that fans have to put up with the constant rehiring of spoiled prima donnas and potential convicts who have had one, two or a dozen run ins with the law because, we are told, nobody can fill their shoes, every year at playoff time we have the added lie that no one can replace certain key players so they must be protected for the playoffs. Yet it is always inevitable that someday because of age, injuries, retirement or finally, convictions, one day we turn on the game and by golly those shoes are being filled by somebody new! As always life, and the game, will go on.

To buy into this playoff injury excuse what we have to forget are all of the replacements that have come off the bench to replace an injured 'star' and have themselves shined just as bright. Steve Young instantly comes to mind when he had to replace the once thought irreplaceable Joe Montana. There are many other examples but here I will take us back to that undefeated Dolphin team in 1972.

As I mentioned in the beginning this Dolphins team is generally known as having Bob Griese at quarterback, and Griese was their QB in their Super Bowl win. However in week five of that undefeated season Griese was injured and was replaced by an 'old man' who had once played for Coach Shula at Baltimore. That old man was Earl Morrall. It was this replacement quarterback who led the Dolphins through most of that perfect season and wasn't replaced himself by Griese until the AFC Championship game. Despite that late season replacement Morrall was acknowledged as the 1972 AFC Player of the Year and was also awarded the first ever NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

But this wasn't the first time that Earl Morrall, as a replacement QB, had stepped up. In 1968 Morrall became the starting quarterback when the then Baltimore Colts QB was injured in the last exhibition game. Morrall lead the Colts to a 15-2 season that included two playoff victories and the famous loss to Joe Namath's Jets in Super Bowl III, which cemented the AFC's legitimacy in pro football. That year Morrall, this replacement quarterback, was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player.

Two years later Morrall would again replace that same Colts' injured starter in Super Bowl V and lead them to a victory over Dallas. By the way, did I happen to mention that this quarterback who Morrall replaced, twice, was not only considered irreplaceable but is considered by many to be the greatest quarterback to ever play the game? Twice Morrall was the replacement in two Super Bowls for the great Johnny Unitas. Now please tell me just who is so great that they can't be replaced in the NFL today.

Two Quick Questions:

1) Who won the Super Bowl XXV in 1991?

2) Who is the only undefeated Super Bowl Champions?

Most of us cannot answer the first without looking it up unless we are diehard Giants' fans. But most of us can answer the second question. If this year's Colts do go on to win this Super Bowl XLIV they will just be one out of XLIV teams to win it. Someday, in another five hundred years or so, as the Super Bowl continues on, and if the good Lord allows our Great Nation to continue, these modern day Colts will be just another of the DXXX other teams who have won it. But if they had gone on to win it as an undefeated champion they would have been one of only two Super Bowl Champions to go undefeated. They would have been immortal. Instead by not playing to win they chose to cheat themselves, the fans and the game.

Besides, like I mentioned before, playing not to win is un-American.

When the NFL allows teams to 'throw' games by resting players for the playoffs it is an insult to the fans. But when a team like the Colts deliberately sack their undefeated season for the same reason it is a crime.

That is why more than ever this year I would like to see a team that has overcome adversity win the Super Bowl. A team that at the beginning of the season had so many injuries in its offensive line that it gave up more sacks than a Mom and Pop's corner grocery has in its inventory. Make it a team with a backfield that has no playoff experience, and as an added bonus make the quarterback the survivor of a controversy in his replacing a legend. A team that has lost one… no make it two All-Pro defensive players for the season yet their team's defense remained among the leagues best.

But most of all make it a team that went into the last game of the season with that same winning mindset and attitude that it had in the very first game of the season. A team that had already made the playoffs by winning seven out of it's last eight games with the only loss coming with no time left on the clock. A team that had nothing further to gain or lose by winning or losing that last game of the season yet still started the usual players and played to win at all costs despite the possibility of injuries. A team that played and won that last game like they were already in the playoffs. A team that gave their fans everything they had from the first game to the last. Yeah a team like that deserves to win the Super Bowl and just because my Packers fit this to a T, well, that would just make it all the sweeter.

Go Packers!

God Bless America!

Semper Fi,
Mike

The Obama Health Care Shuffle

2009-12-30T01:19:00Z

If nothing else this past year's continuous dancing around a national health care bill has clearly illustrated just how little regard our elected officials have for the Will of the People.

Well, for that matter it has also clearly demonstrated just how little regard they have for the American People period.

Since Obama's coronation the White House and Congress has been obsessed with passing an unconstitutional National health care bill that would ultimately take control of 17.6% of our Nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which in 2009 was estimated to be $14, 003, 000,000.00.

That's fourteen trillion, three billion dollars, for those of you who may be mathematically challenged like me.

It is estimated that by 2017 this health care percentage will rise to 20% of the GDP. With a U.S. GDP that is over three times that of second place Japan, well folks, that's a lot of 'Change' and it is the real reason why the Feds were so fanatical in their pursuit to get something, as in anything, passed in the way of a National health care bill.

Honestly, you didn't think that they really cared about uninsured Americans or our health care did you?

In the latest Rasmussen poll before the Senate passed its version on Christmas Eve, 56% of voters do not want Obama's health care with a firm 49% strongly opposing it.

Furthermore a full 60% of Americans wanted a smaller government with fewer taxes.

But despite what the voters wanted, and with this kind of money at stake, is it any wonder why these 'concerned' politicians have been so utterly relentless in the stalking of this bill ever since Obama ascended to The Throne? In fact health care has become such an obsession with these fiscally challenged perverts that if health care was a female sports announcer from ESPN these politicians would all be in jail by now, or at least they would all have had restraining orders filed against them.

With the chance at grabbing trillions of dollars while vastly increasing governmental bureaucracy in just one fell swoop, the average crazed Liberal now views National health care with the same depraved, unrestrained, gnawing lust that Tiger Woods views cocktail waitresses. And like Woods, while they know that what they crave is wrong, sinful and could ultimately ruin life, as we know it, they have become so possessed with the desire of their lust that they just can't help themselves.

At least the process that has transpired in trying to get this bill passed has been interesting and enlightening, yet, I might also add, more than a bit disturbing as well.

Since these 'humanitarians' started harping about this health care "crisis" in our country they have been relentless in their determination to pass something, which they can later change at will to take total control of our health care and insure that trillions of dollars will be added to the Federal Treasury in the years to come. After all they will have at least three years to play around with it behind locked doors before it even goes into effect! So rest assured that whatever they do pass now will not be the same bill as what they will eventually inflict upon us in the future.

Likewise just as these elected burglars view all federally collected funds as a community chest, (see SSI) these future health care trillions will be used for whatever our 'leaders' deem necessary, like, oh, say, giving 800 million dollars to the terrorist group, Hamas after they get their butts kicked by Israel once again.

In fact in the way that our Federal government runs things this national health care program could very well be bankrupt in three years before it even goes into effect!

In the Congressional process of debating this scam we have been told so many different things that will or will not happen, that will or will not be included or excluded, who will or will not be covered, and what it will or will not cost, that we cannot possibly understand what it is that they want to do with our health care.

The one thing we are sure of is that we did all hear them say that if we don't buy their insurance plan we will be fined and could even go to jail! Just how that little threat plays into their 'humanitarian' goals is beyond me.

However confused we might be, we should not fret because we don't yet fully understand what this bill includes. It's all right to be in the dark my fellow Citizens, and there is no need to feel intellectually inferior to these bill chasing fools because despite our own confusion, these highly educated officials, with all of their costly college degrees, and a plan, don't have a clue of what this national health care plan will be, or how it will work, either!

For in reality not even these elected scoundrels who are pushing this scam know what this health care bill will finally be, what it will do, who it will cover or what it will ultimately cost.

But what they do know, Comrades, is that at this present time with a Liberal Democratic controlled Congress and a Leftist President who would sign anything that is set in front of him, it is now or never for an unconstitutional national health care system in America, regardless if the majority of Americans want it or not.

In the past year during this flimflam health care circus we have been fed about as much ridiculous, conflicting information as we can stand. In fact about the only things that have been even more untruthful, fabricated or contradictory than this health care debate would be any one of Obama's far too many speeches and the Algore Global Warming scam. For example:

1) We were told that America has an obligation to make sure that all our citizens have health care. At one time or another we were told that forty-five million Americans do not have health care, no wait, that was then changed to thirty million, then to twenty-seven million, then back to forty million… oh well, whatever they finally made it up it to be it was a whole lot of people who didn't have it. But, we were told, with this national health care reform our caring, concerned Federal government would insure that EVERY American would be, ah… insured. Yet now the bill that was passed by the Senate only covers 95% of our citizens? So what about those other poor unfortunates? Don't they count? Just what are those five percenters supposed to do for health care… move to Canada… hope for the best… or just die? Apparently this 5% must all be Conservatives because this administration now just doesn't seem to care. And basically wasn't this promise of total coverage for 100% of all Americans the whole point of scrapping everything we now have? Ah well, once again Congress has proven that they cannot deliver on what they have proposed.

2) Obama and his minions insisted that right now our nation has a National health care 'crisis' that must be addressed immediately! But then, apparently, we can all bear this 'crisis' until the plan finally kicks in around 2013, as long as we start paying for it now. Oh well somehow I am just sure that Obama will see us all through this supposed crisis. Besides with these guys there's a 'crisis' every other day, and they aren't going to let any of them be wasted.

3) First we were told that this bill would not cost the taxpayers anything! Then it was estimated that government health care would only cost an estimated 840 billion over the next seven years… or about as much as two pork filled, Obama Omnibus Bills. Of course our elected used car salesmen didn't mention that we would be making payments for ten years instead of seven. In truth it has been estimated that this health care would cost taxpayers over 2.1 trillion dollars over this same period of time, and still it would not take effect until years from now. Can you see now why these bandits want to pass health care that is to be paid for now but will not be delivered for at least three more years? Or not at all? Likewise these harlots explained that they could actually cut the cost of national health care simply by saving billions when they stop the corruption and fraud that now exists in Medicare! I'll give you a minute to ponder the stupidity of that statement, for if these idiots already know about this corruption and fraud why oh why haven't they already stopped it? There is something very disturbing about the fact that the same people who would say something this ignorant, and believe that they will get away with it, will also someday be the same people who will be deciding on whether or not you and I really do need surgery.

4) The debate has gone back and forth on whether or not illegal immigrants will also be covered under this plan and while both yes and no have been provided as an answer it is plain to see that yes they will, especially after Obama grants them amnesty. Oh yeah, illegal immigrant amnesty is coming to your town and State early in 2010.

5) Another part of the debate has been whether this plan would pay for abortions. Right now it does, or does it? After all, as Barbara "call me Senator because I've earned it" Boxer has so deftly pointed out, if this health care pays for Viagra then it should also pay for abortions. Since I do not smoke grass, take illegal drugs or have had half of my brains sucked out of my head, I really have no idea just how this Liberal female dimwit came to this comparison between a treatment for penile dysfunction and the ending of a human life. But as Boxer is an ultimate Liberal I am sure that she "feels" that this is a just comparison in the same way that she "feels" she is smarter than the average primeval ape of which she "feels" was surely her great-great-great-great-and so-on-grand-daddy. At least as far as her great granddaddy being an ape, her consistent lack of any hint of intellect every time she speaks may well prove her right.

6) Meanwhile the debate continued over whether or not this national health care plan would ration health care, force long delays in getting treatment and would this rationing eventually lead to "death panels"? Logically with over three hundred million plus now insured patients all needing health care there will have to be rationing and long delays. This is a basic truth in any government run health care plan simply by the shear numbers of the insured in ratio to the available medical personnel, facilities and supplies. Not to mention the insanity of the overbearing and inept bureaucracy, which will be in charge of this national nightmare. Anyone who does not immediately realize that health care rationing and delays in treatment are in our future must also believe that doctors are a dime a dozen, like lawyers, hospitals are hidden around every corner, and that the world's supply of medicine is not only inexhaustible but is also always readily available. They must also believe that a system that cannot competently and efficiently deliver the mail, hand out drivers' licenses, run a nonprofit railroad or handle the health care of a few million Veterans will now somehow pull off a full fledged national health care system for over three hundred million people. To cure you of those delusions I will simply point out the recent H1N1 vaccine fiasco, which was the government's solution to yet another false 'crisis.'

Likewise rationing will ultimately lead to death panels. Obviously the government will not call them that but they will be nothing more than death panels all the same. Individuals and families make these life and death health care decisions everyday. What Liberals want to do is to take away your right to make these decisions for yourself or your family member and give them to some stranger, all the while denying that this will ever happen.

As these health care advocates have so often pointed out that America is the only developed country that does not have national health care I will point out that all of those countries with this national health care have health care rationing and are well known for the patients' waiting for long periods before receiving their necessary treatments. With many of those countries, such as Canada, being less populated than America how can any of these health care advocates imagine that long waits and rationing will not be the same, or even worse, in a nation as large as ours?

7) These Congressional stooges have slapped around the "single payer" or "public option" more than an abused Curly when caught between Moe and Larry. While the single payer is not included now in the Senate's version, it will be included by the time this bill takes effect. There is no other reason for this socialist takeover of national health care except total control by the government and that cannot be accomplished as long as private insurance is available. As stated before, the main goal of this government health care is total control of 1/5th of the GDP, which means the destruction of individual insurance companies. The government will have its single payer.

8) The old ways of Washington have become the new ways of this Congress and the Obama administration. Because the media will not tell the true story of what is gong on behind closed doors in DC we do not know the full extent of the bribery and fraud that has taken place to get this bill passed. We do know that 300 million taxpayer dollars was handed out to Louisiana and that Nebraska will never have to pay for Medicare again, ever, in order to get the necessary votes to pass this larceny. We also should realize that that is just the tip of the iceberg in the corruption and fraud that has taken place to get this unconstitutional bill passed. God help us if we do not make every single one of them pay for their treachery.

9) Believe it or not, for some odd reason many people in this country now believe that with a government run health care system all of their health care needs will be free. The simple fact is that this health care plan will cost everyone in America more than what they are paying now. While Obama and his cohorts insist that only 'the rich' will be taxed this is a bald faced lie. In the end this tax on the rich will of course not be enough to cover the cost of this gigantic undertaking and the results will once again be an extra tax burden on everyone. Obama and Congress know this, they knew it at the outset and yet they continue to feed the lie. Meanwhile it is still free enterprise and competition that keeps prices down. Nowhere can it be found where government regulations and control has effectively reduced the costs of anything. That is why the government pays a thousand dollars for a hammer or a toilet seat. The only Americans who will benefit from this health care plan are those who are already on the dole. The rest of us will all see our health care costs rise as our personal health care declines.

10) Just as Congress has shown a complete disregard for the Will of the American People, it has likewise shown nothing but distain for our Constitution. I will once again point out to those who say it is immoral that we are the only industrial nation, which does not provide national health care, by sighting the simple fact that none of those other nations are ruled by our Constitution. National health care in America, especially one that forces American citizens to purchase health care insurance under the threat of fines and or imprisonment, is unconstitutional to the extreme. What Congress and the Obama Administration have pushed down our throats is unconstitutional in every aspect and form. If our 'leaders' in government know nothing else they should at least understand the laws, limits and boundaries of our Constitution. After all they have all taken an oath to protect and to obey that Constitution. Yet when questioned about the constitutionality of this health care plan they act indignant and annoyed. We are told that 'they' will let "the lawyers" figure all of that out after the bill is passed, as if the Constitution is of no real consequence. How Royally arrogant and absurd.

With the passage of this bill Liberals will insure that the courts will be busy for years to come by not only debating the constitutionality of this bill, but in also convicting a new class of 'criminal', the American citizens who will be fighting for their Constitutional Rights in not being forced to purchase government run health insurance. I wonder what side the ACLU will take in this case? In truth every Congressperson and Senator that has voted for the passage of this bill should be run from office in disgrace for not upholding the Constitution, and I don't mean just voted out in the next election. Likewise if Obama signs this unconstitutional bill into law he should be impeached. If not then our system of government has failed the American People and we have failed the Founding Fathers in upholding their promise of a Constitutional Republic by The People.

In the end Liberals are more than willing to burden everyone with poor health care under the guise of insuring that a few more will be included while ignoring more economical, sensible and Constitutional ways to reform health care. The Liberal version of health care reform is much like their redistributing of wealth wherein ultimately you are only redistributing poverty. In a government run national health care system instead of redistributing the good efficient health care we now own, we are just insuring that we will redistribute the misery of poor health care to all. Well, that is except for the very rich and those members of the government who are pushing this plan but will not partake in this chaotic bureaucratic nightmare with the rest of us.

In the passing of the House and Senate health care plans what we have just witnessed are two shameful bills that are fiscally utterly irresponsible. By placing a large part of the fiscal burden on individual States combined with the end results of increasing taxes upon our citizens during an economic recession these Liberals have once again proven that they are completely disconnected from reality.

It may help, if we dare, to look at national health care through the eyes of a Liberal. In doing so you will see that it has nothing to do with health care but is only just another way to tax Americans. A tax that when finally in full swing after the destruction of private insurance, will ultimately be second only in collections to the Federal income tax. And like the Federal income tax this health care tax will be mandatory and will be enforced by the threats of fines and or imprisonment.

Obama's National health care, death and taxes all rolled up into one giant Liberal tax scam, now that's some deal for us Americans.

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike

"Copyright 2009. Michael E. Tank All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."

The Wannabe CIC

2009-12-02T10:54:00Z

President and Commander In Chief Barrack Obama was at West Point tonight to announce his plans for continuing the war in Afghanistan. Finally, in what was over three months after General McChrystal had asked for an additional forty thousand troops, a request that included the warning that without these troops the war may be lost, in another narcissistic, uninspiring and consistently contradictory speech Obama gave the Nation his answer.

While leaving out the fact that Obama has been insisting for the last two years during his campaign that Afghanistan is a war that must be won, he shamelessly explained why it has taken him so long to make his decision. Simply put he wanted to make sure that he had covered all of his options. While this lame rhetoric was merely a sad attempt to cover his own failings, what is perfectly clear is that he isn’t very good at making important timely decisions. But really, what else should we expect from an inexperienced short term Senator/community organizer who has never been asked to decide on anything before?

Dear Lord please don’t ever make him have to answer that 3:00 AM call!

As Obama was a candidate who constantly bragged throughout his entire campaign that he had a plan for winning this “just war” in Afghanistan, one would have thought that the initiation of that plan would have been a top priority the moment he entered office. If for nothing else think of the lives it might have already saved. But instead it has taken him almost a year, and a whole lot of thinkin’, to get around to this “new” plan. I guess he lost the one from his campaign.

Obama further stated that he would not send our sons and daughters in the military, or as he likes to refer to them as “a great photo op,” into another situation like “Vietnam.” Let’s face it America, this guy, like the rest of his Leftist cronies, hates the military and everything they stand for. Any and all admiration or concern expressed otherwise by these anti-American phonies is as insincere as their concern for our health care.

While once again giving Bush a few zingers for the Iraq War, Obama repeatedly compared the war in Afghanistan with Vietnam and warned us that we must not allow it to happen again. I couldn’t stem the anger that was swelling up within me as this new leader of the Left, the very people who insisted in making Vietnam into “a Vietnam”, was now lecturing the rest of us on the dangers of a half hearted, Rules of Engagement controlled, the enemy is not to be called the enemy, read them Miranda, the war can’t be won so let’s get out now conflict once again turning into a war of attrition. The way Obama and his like fight wars only guarantees that the conflict will always turn into another “Vietnam.”

Obama also expressed concern over the corruption of the Afghan government and insisted that America could not remain in Afghanistan if that government did not clean up its act. In the meantime he explained that our goal was to not to rebuild Afghanistan or its government. Yeah I know, you go ahead and try to figure out where he is coming from because I’ve given up.

This brings up the unanswered questions that if, in Obama’s view, we are only concerned with making sure that the Taliban or Al Qaeda, can no longer use Afghanistan as a place to launch their terrorism, and we are not there to rebuild this country or its government, why did Obama continually use the excuse that he waited to make his decision because of his concerns about a corrupt Afghan government?

If our only purpose is to kill terrorists who are in Afghanistan, and we were already there, and had gone there when the government was already corrupt, just what was the holdup in Obama making his decision if the elimination of this government corruption is not going to be one of his goals?

Obama stated his concerns about the cost of the war. As I have mentioned before this is absolutely insulting. Here is a man who in the last eleven months has spent billions on bailouts, false stimulus and larcenous pork bills, cash for clunkers scams, given almost a billion dollars to the terrorist group Hamas that rules Gaza, runs non-stop around the country and the world on the taxpayers’ dime, not to mention a date night or two and a AF1 flyby of the Statue of Liberty, is pushing a national health care bill that will reportedly cost over two trillion dollars in the next ten years, and has trillions lined up for the national budget, but when it comes to stopping Islamic terrorists from killing innocent American women and children its, “Whoops, hold on a minute! I gotta look at the check book to see if we can afford this!” But then all Socialists do have their distorted priorities.

The report is that it will cost one million dollars a year for each addition trooper who is sent to Afghanistan. Seems a bit much to me, as one thing is for sure this kind of money isn’t going to our boys for better housing or chow.

But getting down to the meat of Obama’s plan is that he will send thirty thousand more troops to Afghanistan. The larger part of this force will be sent as instructors to teach the Afghans how to defend themselves. Marines will be sent to clean out a particularly hostile area and rid it of the terrorists. They will deploy sometime this next summer, or six months from now, making it at least nine full months since General McChrystal requested forty thousand more troops, which included that warning of how without them this war may be lost.

Obama also stated that in July 2011, or eighteen months from now, our military will start their withdrawal from Afghanistan. He did not specify if this withdrawal had anything to do achieving a victory. But then from this wannabe CIC victory is not a necessarily goal.

One must come to the conclusion that these less than requested forty thousand troops and the date of withdrawal was Obama’s way of trying to appease his Liberal base. I still believe that Obama held off on this decision because he did not want to ruin his chances of getting his health care bill passed by upsetting this Liberal base. He was always going to send more troops but for political reasons he held off as long as he could until with the failure of quickly passing this national health care power grab he finally had to do something.

When there is strength in numbers, when we are already outnumbered and in a hostile foreign country, when our military is constantly surrounded day and night by an enemy that looks just like the civilian populace until they attack, that extra ten thousand troops that the General had requested are important. Who would know better in how many more troops were needed, an experienced ‘in country’ General, or an inexperienced been in country once for a few hours wannabe CIC? If you are going to send thirty thousand troops why not the other ten as requested? It makes no sense as it further endangers the lives of the men who are being deployed and it is all being done just as a useless bid to sooth the ruffled feathers of the Left.

Likewise Obama now insists that this depleted reinforcement complete the assigned job in what amounts to less than twelve months after the troops arrive. Well in anyway, in Obama’s view, completed or not, victory or not, it will be a done deal come July. This ‘Afghan Deadline’ is just another bone tossed out for the Left.

The entire plan depends on our military winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and thus their cooperation in fighting the terrorists. As in Vietnam we have seen in Afghanistan what happens to the civilian population who help, or even talk to, the Americans. Ask a Combined Action Platoon Marine, better known as a CAP Marine, or a Green Beret what the VC did to Vietnamese villagers who worked with our American forces. The same thing is now going on in Afghanistan where terrorists will kill the men and their families who have helped or are even suspected of helping the Americans in this war.

Obama now expects these terrified civilians to trust us and to help us even now knowing that come July 2011 they will be on their own to face the returning terrorists. How utterly naive can this wannabe CIC really be, or for that matter his advisors? This plan has a zero chance of getting any cooperation from the Afghan population, and really who can blame them?

Likewise Obama called upon our Allies to become more active in this war. But like the Afghan civilians, why should our Allies trust us when win or lose, we are already planning our escape?

Furthermore can any of you even imagine our leaders and media giving away troop strengths, movements and timelines during World War Two? Intelligence such as this wins battles and wars. It will cost us the lives of many good men. Yet even Fox News has shown where these troops are going to be deployed once they get to Afghanistan and what they are going to be doing. Our enemies now have the exact number of troops that will be in country and they know how many are in one area or another. We have given them the details of our interrogation techniques and how far we are allowed to go in that interrogation. We have assigned them the same legal rights as our own countrymen and have determined that they will be tried in civilian courts after we have appointed lawyers to defend them, free of charge, of course.

And worse yet we have now told them when we will discontinue the war. This is unbelievable. It is astonishing. It is insane. May God help our Armed Forces when faced with such an ample supply of stupidity and disregard from their leaders.

In the meantime these Islamic terrorists just want to cut off all of our infidel heads!

To give you an idea of what our military is up against here are two links.

The first is a portion of an e-mail I received from my son when he was with the 1/3 Marines in Afghanistan. On a two day mission his Marines were escorting some Army medical personnel out to some Afghan villages to treat the civilians. Of course the Taliban who often kill those who agree to receive this American aid does not welcome this medical treatment. On both nights of this mission his unit was ambushed. There is also a short video of the first night’s ambush. As a warning there is also some rough language in the video.

Afghan Firefight

https://www.archangelsandwitticism.com/Afghan_Firefight.php

The second link is a National Geographic program about some Green Berets at a lonely outpost in Afghanistan. My neighbor, whose Army Veteran brother just returned from Afghanistan, sent me this link. He also told me that these terrorists come across the Pakistani border and will set up a chain of rockets with timers that will set them off after the terrorists have safely moved back across the border. By the time the rockets go off there is no one around for our soldiers to fight. This video is about some Green Berets who also go out to these villages to give aid and to find the terrorists. It is about fifty minutes long and you will have to search for it among the “Full Episode” category but it is well worth the time to watch.

Inside The Green Berets

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/player.html?channel=60850

As it is twice now this current CIC has been asked to show strong, intelligent leadership concerning the Afghanistan war. The first was in making a quick and crucial decision on General McChrystal’s request and the second was his announcement of this plan. In both instances this wannabe CIC has failed miserably by being indecisive while playing politics with the lives of our military and our citizens.

During a time of economic crisis what our country needed was a financial leader with business experience. In a time of what should rightfully be described as a World War against terrorism, what our country needed was a strong leader with military experience. What we have is neither. For what we have is an inexperienced community socialist who thinks that by creating a generational debt we will somehow rebuild our economy. A man who thinks that by telling our enemies all of our plans, while refusing to even identify who the enemy really is, and who does not feel that victory in our war is necessary, yet still believes that somehow we will survive.

I have every faith in our men and women of our military. As in Korea and Vietnam they will win the battles. But once again the big question remains, will our public at home and our politicians allow them to win the war? For our Military the Left remains our worst enemy.

For example, after Obama’s speech at West Point, in what was an amazing display of Leftist stupidity, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews actually said:

“I saw if not resentment, skepticism. I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there, uh, the president chose to address tonight. And I think that is interesting. He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case.”

See Video: http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/4944

It is a shinning example of what the Left really thinks of our Military.

The bottom line is this:

Politicians never know how to fight a war, Liberals, no matter what is at stake, never want a war, and Conservatives always have to win the war to preserve our Liberties and Freedoms. The worst part of this is that the politicians and Liberals will not get out of the way so that the Conservatives can do want has to be done. It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it. Thank God there are still enough of us around to get the job done, despite the politicians and Liberals.

Plus the entire time these politicians and Liberals are constantly complaining and plotting to lose the war only to then conveniently forget the mass murder of those we have abandoned. The Left can’t wait to forget the Afghan dead that will result once we withdraw from Afghanistan and the undefeated Taliban return to take their revenge.

On a blog I posted on the Arizona Republic website one Liberal commented how the Vietnamese were able to sort out their differences after America left Vietnam. This sorting out resulted in millions of dead Southeast Asians, with millions more arrested and still more escaping to other countries like the United States. That is Liberal diplomacy and their idea of sorting things out.

With that terrible memory of what happened in Southeast Asia after America went home, may God help the Afghan people after Obama deserts them in the summer of 2011.

God Bless America

Please Pray For Our Military

Semper Fi,

Mike

Hey! Review This!

2009-11-29T05:17:00Z

This Saturday morning in Arizona while I was waiting for the annual Arizona- Arizona State football game to kick off at 1:30 PM local time, I thought I would catch a little of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game. There is nothing in football as fun or as entertaining as instate and conference college football rivalries. But isn't it too bad that somebody always has to take the fun out of our lives. Usually these party poopers are just an ex-spouse, the local police or the IRS. But sadly, in what seems far too many cases these days, it appears that these killjoys are a bunch of strangers who are always messing things up for "our own good."

Some time ago, and I really don't remember when nor do I care enough to look up when this idiocy all started, but some people thought instant replay would be a good idea for sports. Mainly this good idea came from people who were on the wrong side of a bad call. These ah… losers, wanted to make sure that by golly from now on there would be no more human errors by the officials in our sporting events that could influence the outcome of the contests. Enough was enough, apparently.

Now that this "instant" replay has infected college football it seems that the once all knowing and our word is final officials won't let any "big" play be judged on the field of play without a review from "up above." From fumbles to pass completions, from if the QB's hand was really going forward when he dropped the ball, to where the ball really was in the hands of the running back at the end of a 4th and inches, it is all "Under Review." And it is all redundant and ridiculous.

On the other side of the ball there are hardly any touchdowns anymore that are not automatically reviewed, even when they were obviously a TD. Now the main idea in football is to score touchdowns, yet now whenever a team scores one it's as if everybody involved is taken completely by surprise! How could that have happened? We better take a look at it "upstairs."

"The ruling on the field is that the play resulted in a touchdown. However since we must be sure that the player had control of the ball when he crossed the goal line, had at least one foot down before he went out of bunds or was not an illegal alien, we will now review the play."

Ten to fifteen minutes later, "After further review the ruling on the field has been confirmed and the result of the play is a touchdown." Gezzz…

In all honesty about the only thing I haven't seen reviewed are field goal attempts and the color of the cheerleaders' underwear. Everything else under the football sun is reviewable, well unless there was an inadvertent whistle.

With this artificial aid of instant replay there is no longer a natural flow to the games anymore as they are constantly being interrupted to review something or another on what seems to be just about every other play. Meanwhile the network breaks for yet another commercial when the ref goes "under the hood" and we are left to sit around wondering what the final answer will be like we're watching a live action version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

The results are that one hour of actual play takes three hours plus to finish. And "they" want to add instant replay to baseball? May the good Lord help us if they do, otherwise everybody pack a lunch and a supper because it will be a very long day at the old ballpark, without extra innings.

For example take this morning's OU-OSU game for instance. With a local time slot of 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM this game was still in the first quarter an hour after it started because of all the official reviews. To play the first thirty minutes in this ballgame took over two hours! Yet the half time intermission and the second half of play were completed by 2:12 PM.

This brings into question just what, and who, determines which plays will be reviewed and which won't be reviewed as often plays that are similar to others which were reviewed are not reviewed.

Or, as in the case of this mornings' OU-OSU game why were there so many plays reviewed in the first half but not in the second. These two teams were still making the same plays as they were in the first half weren't they? Can officials and the networks be cutting back on what they deem reviewable plays as the games that are running too long progress?

Furthermore to add to the unnecessary confusion no reviewed play can be reversed with how it was called on the field without what they call "indisputable evidence" that this play had been called incorrectly by the officials in the first place. Leave it to today's society to muddle up a simple game like football with legalize. We tune in to watch a football game and end up watching Perry Mason.

The major problem with this is that while we can all see the officials on the field and can somewhat understand why they have made a call one way or the other, we are now forced to sit by while some eye in the sky Big Brother, who we never see, makes the ultimate ruling. This invisible "god" now has the final word as this OZ like character determines if the officials were right or wrong and it is he that decides if the evidence is "indisputable," or not.

Man, talk about Power!

While Sun Devil fans are all hoping that the ASU tailback really didn't fumble the ball on the their own goal line this replay "Judge" is sitting up in the Penthouse sticking voodoo pins in a Sparky The Sun Devil doll while wearing a Wildcat jersey and saying that it is a fumble because it only looks like the ASU runner's left knee touched the ground first just before the ball came out. So the ruling on the field stands, as the evidence to overturn the call on the field is not indisputable, 1st and goal Arizona on the ASU one. I mean really, who knows?

Well, okay, I was just kidding about all that. As a god we all know that this replay OZ is supposed to love and treat us all equally. Well except for Southern Cal, the best team money can buy, just ask Reggie Bush. Besides any old man who still has more hair than Warren Beatty when he was twenty, like USC's Pete Carroll, had to make a deal with either the Devil or our football OZ.

The whole idea with this instant replay nonsense was to take the human error by officials out of the equation. But that is perfection and everybody knows that there is no such animal. Yet for some reason we still try? Many plays are still called wrong or go unnoticed thus giving one team an unfair edge. Even with using the reviews they often get it wrong. It has been said that you can call offensive holding on just about every play. In my view I believe that same goes for offensive pass interference with the way many receivers push off to get separation. But why take the fun out of the game by blowing whistles every sixty seconds? Blown or missed calls are just as much a part of football as TD's and tackles.

Sports are supposed to teach the fans and players life lessons. In real life, just like in sports, sometimes you get a raw deal with a bad call. Overcoming these challenges makes us stronger. It tells us something about our society when we expect Big Brother to step in and say, "Now wait a minute, lets take a look at this and see if we got it right." In real life when you don't "get the call" going your way, right or wrong, you have to deal with it, adapt and overcome the situation. Isn't that part of what sports is supposed to teach us?

Besides, even though this is now big money for many in sports, the winning and losing of these games hardly determine our futures or fortunes. Well unless you are stupid enough to bet the rent on the outcome of a bunch of twenty-year olds kicking a ball around. Whether ASU or Arizona won today did not change my life all that much, besides there is always next year. As a Cub fan nobody knows that better than I. In fact unless you are a Detroit Lions' fan we all should know this.

Taking the human element of error out of a football game makes it less exciting, and less memorable. Many of us cannot tell you who scored a TD in a rivalry game but we sure can tell you who fumbled for the other team at a crucial moment but then refs gave the ball back to Ohio State! Moments like that feed a rivalry even more than wins and losses.

Besides why should the officials get a break on bad calls when the players and coaches don't? When the players and coaches make a mistake they don't get an instant replay, do-over or a mulligan. They just have to live with it. So why are we being so generous to those guys in the stripe shirts?

Likewise things have a way of evening out. One time your team may get "robbed" by a bad call, but at another time they will be benefit from a bad call against someone else. Such is the way of life, and football. We should get rid of the instant replay reviews before it ruins the games. If this is the kind of nonsense that you want in a game then just send everybody home and televise Madden 2010.

In the meantime enjoy the Holiday Season with all of the Bowl Games, for regardless of what lunacy the BCS can come up with this year, its still football.

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike

Happy Turkey Day, 2009

2009-11-26T04:39:00Z

Well it is the night before Thanksgiving and the Obama White House still has not officially announced what President Tom Turkey is going to do concerning Afghanistan. Well, that is except to say that "He" will "finish the job."

My, my, he really must be Superman.

But of course this is just an arrogant boast by yet another self-serving politician as the only real Heroes who will be called on to "finish the job" are our brave men and woman in the military. The best Obama, or any politician for that matter, can do is to give them what they need and then get out of the way, which was the main lesson we did not learn from Vietnam.

I don't know about the rest of you but in seeing Obama standing before his Teleprompters reading such a bold self-inflating declaration, I have to wonder where are all of those critics who lambasted Bush when he equally declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq? Most of those same people who have been harping about Bush's arrogance since he was first elected, and we all know more than one or two, are today standing a little taller, chests thrust out and smiling as they claim that we finally have a man in the White House who can make decisions.

But what these Kool Aid drinkers won't explain to the rest of us is why they believe it is such a good thing to have this turkey in the White House make so many bad decisions? Nor can they explain why it took their Golden Goose so long to make this one.

Those one way critics also will gladly explain why they were so upset with Bush for taking a whole seven minutes to respond to the surprise attacks on 9-11, but now they have nothing to add when it has taken their Obama months to reach his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan. Unlike Bush looking indecisive in being caught by surprise, we know that Obama was fully aware that this war was going on way back during his campaign because he kept telling us that Afghanistan was a priority and that it was a war that must be won. He even told us back then that he had a plan.

Of course in the Charlie Sheen/Van Jones' explanation for Bush's Seven Minutes, Bush was simply wondering where the other two planes were that he had ordered to attack.

Now just in case it is a little fuzzy to some of you, as the passing of time can do that to us, General McChrystal first requested these additional troops on August 31st. I say again, that was on Monday, August 31st, or thirteen weeks ago. Even with just a public school education I know that thirteen weeks is a much, much longer span of time than seven minutes.

Still Obama does not even plan to announce what he is going to do until at least next Tuesday, or fourteen weeks after his General told him that without these requested additional troops this war might be lost.

But then as we have heard, this CIC does not necessarily require "victory" as the "goal" in Afghanistan. Except for Wibberley's fictional Duchy of Grand Fenwick, Obama may just be the first commander in history of any armed forces that were actively engaged in a war who did not have set as his one and only goal, Victory. Simply put, it does not matter if we are fighting the armies of Third Reich, a scattered Jihadist movement, or a boatload of Somali pirates, Obama's statement of not requiring a victory is treasonous.

But if you think that this philosophy for fighting a war is bad for America, just think of what it means to our sons and daughters who are now in Afghanistan!

Whether Obama inherited this war or not, to require our military to continue to fight this war without so much as even being willing to declare that our enemies are Islamic terrorists, and while designating what is clearly a war as an "Overseas Contingency Operation," this administration has clearly shown that it does not have the best interests of our Nation, our People, and most of all the members of our Military and their families, at heart. From Dover to Foot Hood Obama has shown that all the military means to him is just another photo op.

Personally I believed that Obama was just stalling until after he got his health care passed so as not to upset that Liberal base that wants him to bring the Boys home now. He can't do that of course and risk another attack that may be planned and launch from Afghanistan. The General was always going to get his much needed troops. But the question was, well in fact still is, when?

In these last three plus months we have been given some pretty lame excuses as to why Obama wasn't willing to commit to any plan. One was that the Afghan government was corrupt. Huh, no kidding. Why should this Afghan government be any different from any of the others in the Middle East? But before I start sounding too smug about other nations having a corrupt government, I will add that with the way the Obama administration runs things you could say that it takes one to know one.

Then Obama also explained that he was concerned that the Afghan elections were fixed. What? Obama, The Ultimate Community Organizer is concerned with election fraud! That's rich.

Umm… it's a good thing we don't need more troops in Minnesota or the Democratic Party and Al Franken would have to come clean.

We won't even get into ACORN here. But let's just say that with hanging chads, denying military absentee votes and in registering dead people and cartoon characters, these past few elections has America looking more like a Third World dictatorship than Venezuela, where at least everybody knows that the elections are rigged.

But after Afghan officials agreed to hold another election, only to later have one of the candidates withdraw leaving the election a mute point, Obama had to come up with a new excuse. Of course nothing had really changed in Afghanistan, the government is still as corrupt as ever but then hey, it's the 21st Century were fantasy becomes the reality with the drop of hand grenade pin.

Needing a new excuse to dither, now Obama explained that what he really needed before he sent any more of our good guys over there was a solid "exit strategy" before making a decision. Unfortunately whatever plans anyone came up with Obama found it prudent to turn them all down, for whatever.

Well here's one simple little plan for the Turkey President, step by step, I call it, "The Horse Before The Cart Strategy."

1) Send more good guys than needed to kill the bad guys. And this means always, 5 to 1 is good, 10 to 1 is even better. We aren't looking for a "fair fight," we're looking to win and there is strength in numbers. If you do think that this is unfair then join the other side to help them with the odds.

2) Give the good guys everything they need to insure VICTORY, including more troops if requested. (If you are not sure of the definition of Victory, see WW II, and no Hirohito was not onboard the Missouri to surrender to General MacArthur.)

3) End all diplomatic discussions or in the case of Islamic terrorists, negotiations. If we are at war then it means that the politicians had their chance and they failed. Once the shooting and dying starts the only thing we want to hear from the enemy is "I surrender", or the total silence of a peace that comes from vanquishing the enemy. The only thing we want from politicians are pay raises.

4) Kill all the bad guys (in this case Islamic terrorists) as quickly and brutally as possible until they either lay down their arms and stop trying to kill us or they are all dead.

5) Make it quick, savage and total. More lives will be saved on all sides by quickly and unmercifully destroying our enemy in a few months than by trying to slowly win the hearts and minds of the populace as we "tippy toe" around the area for ten years, or by paying off our enemies not to fight us. (For an example study Fallujah, by comparing the year before the Marines were "let go" to the year after the Marines were "let go.")

6) Fully understand that Victory, as in total and complete Victory, is the only goal.

7) Then, and only then, can you use your "exit strategy" by bringing the troops home.

Its called "War" for a reason, and this simple, straightforward strategy has worked for centuries.

Whatever happens after the war, like rebuilding the country and establishing its government, or "stressing out" over violating the bad guys' rights, will be a lot easier to accomplish, or bear, when the bombs stop exploding and the bullets stop flying because all the bad guys are dead, or in the case of our present war with Islamic terrorists, the bad guys have given up their Jihad and found Jesus.

This time tested and victorious strategy follows that old common sense saying of, "Don't put the cart before the horse."

First assure Victory, and then you can straighten the rest out. Obama and his fellow gobblers are more worried about what they are going to do after the war then they are in winning it.

As it is, only politicians will start wars and then want to fight them at the same time that they are trying to not fight them. Only politicians will send people off to kill others and to perhaps die themselves, and then worry about public opinion.

But only Liberal politicians will start wars, then immediately cut funding for it, refuse to identify who we are fighting and why, or refuse to even admit that we are at war. They will deny supplies and additional troops, worry about how the bad guys feel and if they are being mistreated, constantly look for and imagine a series of atrocities by our own forces, while ignoring the barbarian conduct of our enemies while continuously bringing charges against our fighting men for protecting they own lives. They will give terrorists the same rights as an American citizen, and want a soldier to read Miranda to a bad guy who just killed another soldier! Liberal politicians regret their votes to go to war a nanosecond after they are cast, will forever more deny that they ever supported the war and will want the troops brought back home two weeks before they had even left.

Liberal politicians send other peoples' sons and daughters off to fight wars while they continue discussing 'IF' we should even be fighting and will continue this pathetic charade until long after the war is over!

Liberals when then cook the history books to show that all of it had been avoidable if not for America wanting an empire so that everything had been America's fault. Or as they put it, any violence was merely the results of America's, "Chickens coming home to roost."

May God double bless the Warriors who have to go to war under a Liberal administration.

I was somewhat amused in that only a pompous, narcissistic drumstick like Obama would so belatedly appear before us to announce that he has an announcement by announcing that he will be making an announcement sometime next week when during that announcement he will announce his plans for Afghanistan.

It really does make you wonder how comedians can have enough willpower to lay off this guy even if most of them are Liberals?

Obama is also concerned in just how he is going to pay for this 'maybe' troop increase and still continue to finance the war. After watching this administration and its' Liberal puppets in Congress all act like they were penniless paupers who had hit a Mega Bucks lottery back in January by spewing money around like it was tomorrow's giblet gravy, but now, suddenly, they are concerned about where the money is going to come from to pay for a war that has been going on for eight years? Now that's funny.

But I guess we do all have our priorities. President Turkey's priorities over the last few months have been anything goes as long as it fit his socialist agenda. Be it merely hundreds of millions for Hamas or cash for clunker scams, to hundreds of billions for bogus corporation bailouts, failed stimulus bills, pork laden Omnibus holdups, or a few trillion dollars for the national budget, money was no object. You say this national health care will cost 800 billion, they say it will cost two trillion, Obama says, it doesn't matter just get it passed!

But to stop Islamic terrorists from killing Americans its, "Where, oh where, are we going to get that kind of money?" That's not funny it's pathetic.

Yet what is even more pathetic is that Obama already has the answer, tax the rich, again.

As we have repeatedly seen since this turkey was sworn in, after the holiday and his announcement, Old Bird Legs will undoubtedly continue to be off somewhere doing the I'm-so-sorry-about-that-evil-empire-America-turkey-trot-shuffle and bowing to foreign leaders while our sons and daughters fight for our honor, rights, freedoms and our very lives.

At least for the bravery and sacrifices by our Armed Forces, which has kept us safe despite the lack of support from this current administration, we can all be thankful.

Likewise when my family and I sit down tomorrow and give thanks, I will thank God that this current President was not our CIC in 1941. With the way this turkey neck has dithered over military matters, if he had been, we would all be having sushi and sauerkraut for dinner instead of turkey and stuffing.

I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and ask that you pray for our Troops.

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike