Fort Hood - Outright Terrorism and Political Correctness

As I contemplate the events that occurred at Fort Hood, Texas the other day, I can’t help but believe this really was a terrorist act caused by political correctness run amuck even in the U.S. army. Although 13 people were murdered and 30 injured this could have been far worse, were it not for the brave acts of a few people. The density of unarmed people in a small space and the assumed secure surroundings existent at Fort Hood were a perfect scenario for an entrepreneurial terrorist like Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to carry out his dirty deed.

More facts will eventually emerge, particularly as people who came in contact with Hasan over the years are questioned and his computer files are inspected, however, one thing is certain in my mind; this was clearly a planned and calculated terrorist act of the entrepreneurial variety. Hasan was not a member of the “corporation”, Al Qaida, but in business for himself. This act was driven by his Muslim religious beliefs and it was executed in the name of Allah as he shouted “Allaha Akbar” the Arabic phrase for “God is Great!”. The frightening thing is that sentiments like this are cultivated in many mosques all over the U.S. Although the vast majority of people who practice the Islamic faith here are peaceful and law-abiding, there are pockets of people like Maj. Hasan who are capable of this type of terrorism and, in fact, we have stopped many these terrorist attempts with the help of law-abiding Muslims. However, the silence of the Muslim community in condemning these acts is deafening, this also is a result of political correctness in their own community.

The U.S. is extremely vulnerable to entrepreneurial terrorism; since our armed forces and intelligence community are in dire need of people who speak Arabic, who can act as counter-intelligence agents for us, and will integrate with the local population in efforts to stabilize political factions where our forces are deployed. The problem is that the forces of political correctness exacerbate this vulnerability as exemplified in the Hasan case. Hasan may have been provoked by harassment, but it now appears that his actions as a psychiatrist for army returnees and his vocal tirades against our military policies made him a lightning rod for this harassment. His training as psychiatrist should have been enough for him to realize the consequences of his behavior.

Yes, this may have been the act of a desperate man but most of the suicide bombers recruited by Al Qaida are desperate men and women with no future and caught up in a religious justification for their acts. Maj. Hasan had a future, an education, a profession, and a job, all paid for, compliments of the U.S. government and yet he chose this action in the name of Allah. Most Americans abhor this, yet political correctness prevents us from speaking out about this apparently unique Islamic concept.

Health Reform: Bad Assumptions versus Good Logic

I have been watching this "so-called" debate in health reform with interest and, as most of you know, this really has been a debate amongst Democrats only. The Republicans have been essentially squeezed out of the key meetings in the Senate except for Olympia Snow of Maine, since she seems to support this monstrosity of a bill. The specifics of the actual Senate bill are now being "worked out" behind closed doors between Rahm Emanuel, the President's Chief of Staff from Chicago, and Harry Reid the Majority Leader of the Senate along with a couple of aides, who basically take notes of the wondrous utterings of these gigantic intellectuals who single handedly are going to tell us what we should now do with 1/6 of our economy. Does that send shivers down your spine?

As this goes on, the President is telling you that we now have a bill that represents the best ideas of the Congress and of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike. It is a "bi-partisan bill that will not add one dime to the deficit". If you really believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you or you can continue to read on in order to make your own judgment based on facts and history.

First, as a rational human being, does the idea of adding more than 20 million uninsured to the roles subsidized by $500 B in savings from cuts in Medicare fraud and benefits in addition to a 40% tax increase to private insurance companies, make you comfortable that the quality or availability of your health care will stay the same or even improve? If you said "yes" to this question then please stop reading this post because it appears that you have imbibed too much of the Kool-Aid.

Not only is the $827 B ten year cost of this bill a fantasy, but the bill is effective for only 7 years of the ten years. How is that for doctored math? Let's now look at the government's track record of estimating the costs of these health plans:

Government Cost Overruns - $B

Program	Year	Predicted Cost	Actual Cost
Medicare	1965	12	110
Medicare Hospital	1965	9	67
Medicaid Hospitization	1987	1	17
Medicare Home Care	1988	4	10
Schip	1997	5.4	6.8
Medicare Prescription Drug	2003	49	41

These overruns were recently published by the Wall Street Journal. Ironically, George Bush's prescription drug plan has actually underun predictions. How come we hear no kudos for Bush on this? The Congressional Office said that the primary cause of the success of the prescription drug bill was that "the pricing is better than anticipated, which is likely a reflection of the competition that's occurred in the private market". Wow! Look what happens when you let the private market operate instead of having politicians regulate what they think is warranted. I don't think Obama will admit he "inherited" something good from the Bush Administration, do you?

At this point I think you should let your logic dictate over what you're hearing from Washington and then decide whether this is reform or just putting your children and grandchildren further into hock.

Nordic Revenge

While you’re still basking in the glow of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, I thought a few comments were warranted. As you know, this corner has not been kind to our President but obviously he was not looking for this and his aides are actually mortified, since this raises world expectations that will obviously not be fulfilled, at least, if the first 9 months of his presidency is any indication of the future.

The Politics of Peace

Unlike some of the other Nobel prizes which actually are awarded for accomplishments, the Peace Prize has become a political comment by the Nobel Committee, which in recent years has been a cheap shot at the U.S. Since no one cares what the Nobel Committee says anyway, I wouldn’t get too upset about this. Norway is an ultra Socialist society where citizens give almost all of their money back to the government to take care of them for the rest of their lives. The economy goes nowhere, the suicide rate is off the radar screen, they are notorious for their prejudice about anything non-Scandinavian, and they rarely smile. So those of you who are irate about this, just relax and remember that Obama is part of a line of recent recipients, such as Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and Yassar Arafat, that never did anything for peace or worthwhile for that matter. If I were Obama, I’d consider this an insult!

The End of American Exceptionalism

Obama won this infamous award because he professes all that Norway extols: pacifism, green radicalism, socialism, high taxes, the distribution of wealth, big government, global disarmament, and mediocrity. Now that this administration wants us to “blend in” with the rest of the crooks and despots in this world who have an equal vote in the U.N. with the greatest nation in the history of the world, the Europeans, particularly the likes of Norway, are elated. Thus, Obama gets the Nobel Peace Prize.



Potential versus Accomplishments

As a technically trained person, I always considered the Nobel Prize in the sciences as credible, but when it comes to literature, economics, and peace, the prize is generally awarded on how far left the recipient leans rather than real accomplishments. To Obama’s credit, his comments were appropriate considering his admission of his lack of accomplishments to date. However, he is scheduled to go to Oslo to accept the prize in December so he can make another speech apologizing for past U.S. transgressions and preach global disarmament and the new world of “multilateral diplomacy”. The period of American exceptionalism may be dormant for a while, at least the next three years, but we will rise again when a real leader emerges.

I was disappointed, I thought Michael Jackson might win the Peace Prize for his song, We are the World, We are the Children. What about Bono, what about Sean Penn, maybe Oliver Stone………?

Love at the Office

The recent admission by late night comedian, David Letterman, to numerous sexual encounters with his staff members and interns over the years, has caused some interesting dialogue that illustrates the changing trends in our values. Many people thought this was funny; in fact, the way Letterman related this to his audience it appeared that he was telling a joke. He also said that he was concerned that his admission might embarrass the women involved. Now, tell me that wasn’t a sexist remark! Of course, he wasn’t embarrassed at all. I never thought I’d see the day that a married man with a child, admitting to such an indiscretion on national TV would be applauded and laughed at.

Now, I’m not a moralist or a prude, but since I was born in a different era I may be considered “a little behind the times”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against love in the workplace, in fact, surveys show that 40% of us have been involved in romance with a co-worker. Most people don’t mind if it’s a peer relationship, however, when it’s between a boss and a subordinate and either one is married, it gets a negative reaction. It’s particularly egregious when the supervisor controls the promotions, salary, and career path of the subordinate. In many companies the involved parties are shown the door. In fact, some executive contracts have language to that effect.

It’s clear that in Letterman’s case, the affairs were well known by co-workers, they occurred when he was married, CBS was aware of it, but nothing was done, even though Letterman controlled the destiny of these people and they were considerably younger. In fact, it’s been revealed that he offered to pay for law school for one of them and then hire her as his attorney once she graduated.

I encountered such a situation as an executive when a manager who reported to me was caught in a comprising sexual situation by a cleaning woman when she unexpectedly arrived at his office. She reported it immediately to our Human Resources person, who was still in the building, and the act was verified. The manager was married for 30 years, had married children, and the female involved reported to him. She had been aggressively promoted and given generous salary treatment. I immediately took action by sending the female to another division and the manager was re-assigned and demoted. He eventually divorced his wife and married another workplace mate.

I was eventually thanked by many people in the organization who were aware of what was going on but were intimidated by the manager and his indiscretions and didn’t make me aware of it. I guess today my actions would be considered as somewhat of an “overkill”, but I think most of you over 50 believe I did the right thing. In the meantime, Letterman keeps using it in his monologue, the audience keeps laughing, and his ratings are sky-high.

I never did think Letterman was funny…now I know why.

France: The New Leader of the Free World

We are now beginning to see the fantasy foreign policy of President Obama. In fact, his performance at the recent annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly and his chairing of a ridiculous Security Council session on non-proliferation was particularly un-nerving. Do you really think that the permanent members of the Security Council, U.S., China, Russia, really want to get rid of nuclear weapons while North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan are busy building their stockpiles?

The fact that President Obama knew of Iran’s other previously undisclosed nuclear site and did not confront them at the UN session, was a clear error in judgment and a major disappointment to our allies. President Sarkosy of France and Gordon Brown of the U.K. were mortified that Obama waited until the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh to give a rather tempered rebuke of Iran while Messrs. Sarkosy and Brown made very strong statements and looked like the real leaders of the free world.

It seems that President Sarkosy has been frustrated for months about Obama’s reluctance to confront Iran, but was told by the Administration that it didn’t want to “spoil the image of success” for Obama’s debut at the UN and his formal speech calling for his “dream” of total world disarmament. In fact, Sarkosy’s speech to the Security Council included a section about Iran’s latest deception, but was scrubbed at the last minute.

Sarkosy’s remarks, after Obama’s rather muted scolding of Iran at the G-20, were telling and seemed to be directed at Obama and not Iran. “We are right to talk about the future, but the present comes before the future, and the present includes two major nuclear crises (Iran and North Korea). We live in the real world, not in a virtual one”. Wow, is this France talking? “I support America’s extended hand but what has this produced for the international community? It has resulted in a statement by Iranian leaders calling for wiping off the map a member of the United Nations. What conclusions are we to draw?” Looks like Israel now has a more reliable friend.

On TV last night a credible reporter for a major Pittsburgh newspaper, said that aides of Sarkosy said to him that Sarkosy considers Obama naïve about foreign relations and is so egotistical that he doesn’t listen to those with more experience and just will do what he wants. This is shocking stuff coming from people at that level.

If you remember Obama’s opening line of his UN speech, he said “I know you have great expectations about me”. I guess he now thinks he is President of the whole world. A naïve President with a major ego is a dangerous combination. I never thought I’d see the day France would lead in confronting the bad guys for the free world while our President hides in his virtual world of disarmament.

Obama: Commander-in-Chump

The events of the past few weeks must put a scare into the public as recent terror plots of Al Qaeda cells in the U.S. were nipped in the bud while an urgent proposal by our Commander in Afghanistan goes unheeded. These terror plots remind us that we are at war with an enemy that will stop at nothing to kill Americans here or abroad. Meanwhile, our Commander-in-Chief acts as though a war doesn’t even exist. In fact, his Commanding General in Afghanistan admitted last night on television’s 60 Minutes that he has spoken to the President only once in the last 70 days! Does this sound like a President engaged in a war?

What Are the Priorities?

General Stanley McChrystal’s memo urging a troop build-up of an additional 30-40,000 was sent to the White House in late August. Here we are a month later and the President has enough time to make the rounds of every network (except FOX News and the Food Network channels) to push his healthcare reform package (a package he doesn’t even know exists at this point), talk about the White Sox’s chances to make the playoffs on the David Letterman Show, and today announced that he and his wife are flying to Copenhagen on Friday to plea for holding the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago instead of Rio. This must be pay-back for his Windy City cronies so they can make big bucks, particularly his real estate friends. Frankly, I think Rio is a much better site for such an event and there are other more deserving cities in the U.S. that can use the economic lift from an Olympic event.

What Really is the Strategy?

In the meantime, our military is in harm’s way while Mr.Obama decides if he now wants to change the strategy in Afghanistan from the one he just set in March. That strategy was one in which he said was “a stronger, smarter, more comprehensive strategy” which would build schools, hospitals, roads, and enterprise zones, and address issues of energy and trade. We have thus far seen none of this! Where are the agricultural specialists, educators, engineers and lawyers? He said he was directing Secretary of State Clinton to develop a diplomatic plan to run in tandem with McChrystal’s military plan. Have you seen that plan? In fact, our Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, made a plea to the White House for funding this civilian support last month only to be told it was “premature”. Does this sound familiar?

Governing By Proclamation

The President makes these proclamations implying that he now has the answers, but there are no plans to implement them or know whether they even can be implemented. Remember, let’s get out of Gitmo? Well, we are still there with no plan to get out. He recently proclaimed that the school year should now run through the summer. Apparently, we can’t get all the work done in the conventional school year because in the 21st century we now have more things to do. Boy, we have computers for kids, i-phones, Twitter, texting and still can’t get all the work done. Maybe he ought to first ask the teacher’s union why. Perhaps our teachers aren’t as efficient as they used to be.

Mr. Obama, I hope you can be more efficient, stop making proclamations, just stay at your desk for awhile and make a decision on this war, because saving the lives of our soldiers is more important than lowering yourself to run a UN Security Council meeting or run off to Denmark to make the case for a Chicago Olympics. You lose your sense of priorities when you don’t have a plan. That’s a cardinal rule in the business world and you’re obviously no businessman.

Obama's Endless Summer

August has been a horrible month for the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress. Not only have the poll ratings and public support deteriorated significantly, but town hall meetings and the President’s bungling of the healthcare message has capped a summer that exposed many things about this President that most of us feared; he can make a great speech but when it comes to running things and developing political strategy, he is what most of us thought…..a novice.

From Bungled Events

From the Louis Gates affair, where he actually illustrated racial bias (a trait that would get a white President impeached), to the resignation of his Green jobs Czar, Van Jones, a professed communist, anarchistic, white hater, and supporter of a cop killer, he has made the wrong move at every turn. All this while his foreign policy continues to languish and our Secretary of State is virtually absent. In fact, her husband pulls off the best stunt of the summer by going to North Korea at the request of the captors, in order to escort two irresponsible and reckless female employees of Al Gore back to the U.S. That must have really made us look great in the eyes of the world, particularly the Iranians.

To The Healthcare Fiasco

This President has already made 32 more speeches than his total number days in office, held more press conferences than his predecessor did in his whole first term, and we still don’t know where he stands on healthcare, except that he wants the “government (public) option” and will cut Medicare by about $500 Billion to help pay for it. Meanwhile, the people of this country want reform but not a drastic overhaul of the entire system. It’s time for the President to stop blaming Republicans or Fox News for the healthcare debacle and start looking at the left wing of his party which is scaring the moderate and conservative Democrats. Many of whom are up for election in 2010 and believe they will lose their jobs if the Congress passes legislation that most of us don’t want. It is clear from the polls that the American public does not want universal healthcare, in fact, the elderly are overwhelming against it, except in the black community, but then again anything this President does is ok with them.

And Now Another Speech

And now we wait for another inspirational speech that is going to set things straight. In my many years of following politics I have never heard any speech by any great orator change public opinion in one night. The mere fact that Obama needs another speech, after all the previous speeches, TV specials, and advertising that his giant political machine has given this topic, tells us that the speech is now a political necessity. It is clear that the healthcare reform he will eventually get will be far less expensive and more incremental than he wants. It is the economy that concerns us right now, not healthcare.

I know that most of you expect this kind of commentary from me since you know I’m not a fan of this presidency, however, I have never witnessed such a shortened honeymoon for a newly elected President, particularly coming off the mountaintop from which he ascended after the election. The ironic thing is that you would never know it, if the mainstream media was your only source of information.