Eight years ago the slumbering giant that is the people of the United States was rudely awakened to the reality of Fascio-Islamic terrorism. Sure... there had been a number of indications that there was an organized group of nut cases out there who wanted nothing more than to destroy everything that this country stands for, but we chose to believe we were safe - that we weren't at war for the simple reason that we did not want to be at war.
September 11th, 2001 changed all that. Even the most ardent denier was forced to admit that war had been brought to our shores taking the lives of over 4,000 innocent civilians.
Thus began the finger pointing. A new Republican administration was immediately blamed for not "connecting the dots" by an outgoing Democratic administration that was working hard to protect their legacy. There are a number of indications that the Clinton administration failed to fully understand the magnitude of the threat posed by Islamic terrorists. However, no one before 9/11 believed that Mohammed Atta and his merry band of terrorists would turn airliners into missiles and fly them into buildings killing thousands of Americans.
Of course, we hadn't been living in the Middle East where terrorists regularly straped on explosives - walked into pizza parlors and discos only to kill as many innocents as possible before going off to meet Allah. We were stunned... much of the rest of the world merely waited for our reaction.
Our reaction came swiftly. President Bush declared that if a nation harbored terrorists within its borders, then that nation was itself a terrorist nation. The idea was to fight them over there so that Americans didn't have to die over here. Whether you agree with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or not, you have to admit that the strategy worked and at the cost of very few American lives from a historical perspective.
Unfortunately, our successes may be leading to failure. Despite our best efforts, Islamic terrorism has not been defeated. They're still out there waiting for us to return to our misguided slumber. And the politicization of the Iraq War and the resulting changes in Congress and the White House have all but erased the hard earned knowledge earned at the cost of over 4,000 American lives on September 11th, 2001.
Prosecuting CIA operatives who were acting on orders and in good faith that their methods were both necessary and legal, diminishes their willingness to work in the field. More importantly, prosecution diminishes our ability to "connect the dots."
Turning a war in to a police action by mirandizing terrorists captured on the field of battle and expecting soldiers to act like law enforcement, exposes them to danger and us to terrorists. Guantanamo Bay - the much demonized detention facility located safely and securely on the southwest tip of Cuba - is to be closed. The terrorists it holds moved to be held amongst us.
President Obama has shown us his true colors. He is an American apologist who either doesn't know or doesn't understand the nature of our enemies. He believes that he can talk his way out of anything and the public and his enemies into anything.
Make no mistake - we are at greater risk today than we were just eight short months ago.
We're not saying that President Bush got it all right. The Patriot Act went too far, he hung too much on WMDs in Iraq and probably was overly optimistic about our ability to a remove a government and replace it with a democracy - lessons we should have remembered from Japan and Germany. But, President Bush understood the nature of his enemy. Anyone who is willing to die for a cause will ultimately take an unacceptable number of innocent lives while trying to achieve their objective.
Last November, Americans voted for "hope" and "change." Let's hope that change hasn't lead to the same type of slumber that resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Americans. We owe them and the soldiers that have died in two wars far more than that. At the very least, we owe them and our countrymen the vigilance that is but one of the prices of our freedom. If we forget 9/11 we will be doomed to repeat it.
Showing posts with label U.S. Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Congress. Show all posts
Sep 11, 2009
Jun 30, 2009
21 Pages
The Constitution of the United States is one of the most important documents in human history. Its 7 articles and 27 amendments created our government, its checks and balances, and even restricts the powers of the government it created. The entire document, including all 27 amendments is about 21 pages long.
The founding fathers understood that brevity is not only the sole of wit, it's the essence of wisdom. The knew that large, bloated legislation creates the opportunities for mismanagement and corruption.
Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives - under the cover of nationalized health care and the demise of Michael Jackson - debated and passed one of the most dangerous bills to come out of the House in recent memory. Dangerous because of it's size and negative impact on our economy and our lives. The bill often referred to as cap and trade, cap and tax, choke and steal, or more disingenuously entitled "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" creates government boards, inspectors, regulators, national building codes, and transfers an incredible amount of power to the Secretary of Energy, just for starters. This document including its 300 plus page early morning amendment totals 1201 pages. That's 1180 pages more than the document that is the foundation of our republic.
All three of New Mexico's representatives to the House voted for this massive increase in government bureaucracy. Heinrich and Lujan voted for the measure like a couple of party line toting bobble-heads. Meanwhile, their colleague and fellow freshman congressman Harry Teague cut a deal to exempt the evil carbon producing refineries in his district from the rigors of this misguided attempt to regulate carbon production.
Our question for Mr. Teague is if it's good to exempt your carbon producers how is it not good not to exempt others? We hope the true believers in choke and steal legislation can see through Teague's subterfuge and that the beneficiaries of Teague's deal understand how tenuous their situation truly is should this Obamination of a bill pass the Senate.
Today we were treated to Congressman Junior, uh... Ben Ray Lujan, Jr. trying to answer a simple question from KKOB-AM's Craig Kennedy about whether or not he had read the bill he had so enthusiastically supported. After prattling on about knowing the "major" points and other non-sense, he didn't answer - which of course means no.
Congressman Heinrich will be holding his "open house" at 4:15pm on the carbon belching diesel train commonly known as the Rail Runner. Perhaps someone from KOB could catch up with him in order to find out exactly how many of the 1201 pages he had actually read. Our bet that his answer will be no more satisfying than Bennie Jr's.
It's become a habit of the 111th Congress - passing bills without taking the time to read them, particularly when they're passing thousand page legislation that chokes our economy and steals our money and liberty.
You know, It's not surprising they haven't read the bills they're voting on. If they did, they'd probably be as horrified as the rest of us. Might we suggest however, that they take the time to read the 21 pages of the United States Constitution. By comparison it's light reading and utimately more important. At least it'd be a start.
The founding fathers understood that brevity is not only the sole of wit, it's the essence of wisdom. The knew that large, bloated legislation creates the opportunities for mismanagement and corruption.
Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives - under the cover of nationalized health care and the demise of Michael Jackson - debated and passed one of the most dangerous bills to come out of the House in recent memory. Dangerous because of it's size and negative impact on our economy and our lives. The bill often referred to as cap and trade, cap and tax, choke and steal, or more disingenuously entitled "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" creates government boards, inspectors, regulators, national building codes, and transfers an incredible amount of power to the Secretary of Energy, just for starters. This document including its 300 plus page early morning amendment totals 1201 pages. That's 1180 pages more than the document that is the foundation of our republic.
All three of New Mexico's representatives to the House voted for this massive increase in government bureaucracy. Heinrich and Lujan voted for the measure like a couple of party line toting bobble-heads. Meanwhile, their colleague and fellow freshman congressman Harry Teague cut a deal to exempt the evil carbon producing refineries in his district from the rigors of this misguided attempt to regulate carbon production.
Our question for Mr. Teague is if it's good to exempt your carbon producers how is it not good not to exempt others? We hope the true believers in choke and steal legislation can see through Teague's subterfuge and that the beneficiaries of Teague's deal understand how tenuous their situation truly is should this Obamination of a bill pass the Senate.
Today we were treated to Congressman Junior, uh... Ben Ray Lujan, Jr. trying to answer a simple question from KKOB-AM's Craig Kennedy about whether or not he had read the bill he had so enthusiastically supported. After prattling on about knowing the "major" points and other non-sense, he didn't answer - which of course means no.
Congressman Heinrich will be holding his "open house" at 4:15pm on the carbon belching diesel train commonly known as the Rail Runner. Perhaps someone from KOB could catch up with him in order to find out exactly how many of the 1201 pages he had actually read. Our bet that his answer will be no more satisfying than Bennie Jr's.
It's become a habit of the 111th Congress - passing bills without taking the time to read them, particularly when they're passing thousand page legislation that chokes our economy and steals our money and liberty.
You know, It's not surprising they haven't read the bills they're voting on. If they did, they'd probably be as horrified as the rest of us. Might we suggest however, that they take the time to read the 21 pages of the United States Constitution. By comparison it's light reading and utimately more important. At least it'd be a start.
Feb 4, 2009
Caught in the TARP
President Obama has decided to cap the salaries of executives at companies receiving a federal bailout from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. His argument is that executives at companies that receive federal money shouldn't be rewarded for bad behavior.
No doubt that today's move will be popular with the American public. In fact, a Rasmussen poll indicates that some 88% of Americans say that executives that receive federal TARP money should not receive bonuses. But there is a down side to all of this.
While allowing companies to pay corporate executives BILLIONS in salaries and bonuses is obscene when the very companies they lead are tanking, having government step in and mandate compensation is truly frightening and could handicap corporate recovery by making it impossible to attract top talent.
The yahoos that have run GM, Chrysler, and Wall Street into the ground can't and shouldn't be able to demand huge salaries on the open market. In fact, they shouldn't be able to demand a plugged nickel, but that's a question for each company's board of directors and their share holders. Compensation should be based on performance not mandated from Washington by politicians - many of whom are at least as responsible for the current financial situation as corporate executives.
In the long run, capping compensation for positions at any level restricts a company's ability to compete with their non-TARPed competitors. Companies should think long and hard about accepting bailout money from the federal government.
When a company gets caught in the TARP, they are no longer just answerable to their share holders but to 536 politicians in Washington that already have done too much damage to markets through ill-advised legislation and have too much power to do even more damage. Before TARP, the damage was done externally. Companies that take a TARP injection may find it to be a fatal poison that cannot be removed short of death.
"For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn't just bad taste. It's bad strategy. And I will not tolerate it as president," he said.The problem is these companies have already been rewarded for bad behavior by the Bush administration, and by Congress in the form of $750 BILLION. And if Obama has his way, the federal government will dump another $900 plus BILLION of borrowed money into spending programs that have very little to do with stimulating the economy.
No doubt that today's move will be popular with the American public. In fact, a Rasmussen poll indicates that some 88% of Americans say that executives that receive federal TARP money should not receive bonuses. But there is a down side to all of this.
[Sidebar]If the value of your work and experience on the open market was $20 an hour and someone like Obama decided that since your company took a TARP injection you should only be paid $5 an hour, what would you do? We dare say most people would start looking to find a position that pays their market value at a TARP free company. The same thing can be said of corporate executives.
Before some of you absolutely freak out... a lender has the right to set conditions on the use of the money being lent - that includes the government. The problem is that governments are driven by polls and politics that are arbitrary in the best of times. And governments have the power to impose restrictions and terms retroactively - regardless of how arbitrary or capricious those terms may be.
[End Sidebar]
While allowing companies to pay corporate executives BILLIONS in salaries and bonuses is obscene when the very companies they lead are tanking, having government step in and mandate compensation is truly frightening and could handicap corporate recovery by making it impossible to attract top talent.
The yahoos that have run GM, Chrysler, and Wall Street into the ground can't and shouldn't be able to demand huge salaries on the open market. In fact, they shouldn't be able to demand a plugged nickel, but that's a question for each company's board of directors and their share holders. Compensation should be based on performance not mandated from Washington by politicians - many of whom are at least as responsible for the current financial situation as corporate executives.
In the long run, capping compensation for positions at any level restricts a company's ability to compete with their non-TARPed competitors. Companies should think long and hard about accepting bailout money from the federal government.
When a company gets caught in the TARP, they are no longer just answerable to their share holders but to 536 politicians in Washington that already have done too much damage to markets through ill-advised legislation and have too much power to do even more damage. Before TARP, the damage was done externally. Companies that take a TARP injection may find it to be a fatal poison that cannot be removed short of death.
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