SamSaid!

There are memories, clear memories and selective memories.  Most if not all policians possess all three. Obama pledged open transparency in  government  — remember? And Nancy Pelosi followed suit by beating up on those deceitful Republicans. Remember? And now we have the public brouhaha over water boarding and “torture tactics” used in Iraq interrogations. The media simply gags at the thought of embarrassing Bam Bam or Nancy. So they switch the subject back to the economy.

Seriously, can you imagine being personally briefed on the “Interrogation ” techniques that were never intended to be used?  Why on earth would the CIA schedule briefings to high ranking people (40 briefings in all) on methods that would NOT be used. So now Nancy fumbles over her own words regarding waterboarding. Remember, this is the  #3 person in our government. Her politico buddies say that she may have mispoke. Lying is such a nasty word.

And then we have the “openness” idea from which Obama hides. There were any number of memos at the CIA and Obama was familiar with all of them. He — only he  –  selected the two to be released publicly and of course they cast doubt on the value of aggresssive interrogation. There were other memos that strongly supported the agressive interrogation techniques and offered examples of the high quality information obtained. But these memos have not been released and the stonewalling continues. To the Obama camp, transparency is about like looking thru a jar of molasses.

To most Americans, this pattern is clear, but the media is looking the other way. Don’t touch Obama!!  Who knows, he may throw Nancy to the wolves.

As a teenager I liked to read adventure stories taking place in far away places.  In those imaginative stories, torture went hand in hand with captured prisoners. Chinese water torture  was often used and described as was severing fingers one by one or stretching people on the rack.  People in the Middle Ages were very creative in their treatment of fellow men  — and women.  They would likely consider water boarding pretty tame. Now we have the battle of terminology.

The BamBams like to call aggresive questioning  torture while the Bushies talk about enhanced interrogation. And the Speaker (or is it the Speakess) of the House says she was briefed on interrogation techniques including water boarding but never dreamed that they would actually be used when interrogating the terrorists captured after 9/11. Come on Nancy, don’t make us barf. Can’t you just see a terrorist yelling “torture” and demanding a lawyer?  War is a messy business and BamBam is well advised to stay away from the details. When the world agrees on the line that separates torture from ordinary inquiry I’ll give a little more credence to BamBam’s cop-out. But when we are dealing with savages who include TVed beheading of prisoners just to spice up an Islamic lawn party I think we are naive to think that our polite rhetoric will have much of an influence on the so-called Mullahs.

One personal experience is instructive. Following WWII I made 5 trips to Japan and on one of our trips the guide/interpreter was a Japanese military officer captured on Okinawa. During a break,  we informally discussed nuclear weapons and the A-bombing of Hiroshima. His comment about the A Bomb was brief and to the point  —  ” If we had it, we would have used it”.

Spare me the squeamish hypocrisy over water boarding.

NERO

During the 50 years before the coming of Christ, the Emporer of Rome was Nero. He was not one of the great ones, and is mostly remembered by the phrase “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”. I can still recall the picture in the History book —   A befuddled Nero standing on his balcony holding his violin watching the major fires in Rome. It is still the classic example of a leader preoccupied with trivia while major tasks go undone.

That brings me to appearance of BHO on the the Jay Leno show last week.

Granted, the Prez is a busy guy without much time for fun, and  he is certainly entitled to a bit of levity and light humor. No argument here. But his preoccupation with the NCAA basketball brackets seems a bit out of character while his pet spending projects and key operatives are floundering in Washington. He has painted the critical need for swift action in his doom and gloom scenarios on TV any time he gets the chance. If these bills are so important, why isn’t he in Washington twisting arms?  No doubt, the left wing press will not draw the Nero comparison, but other journalists may well wonder about his fiddling in LA while Washington is ablaze.

Maybe he needs more time to make Chris Dodd look salvagable

I’ve been a baseball fan since I was 6 years old, so early on I learned about baseball terms and acronyms –  LOB, BA, AB, RBI, ERA, SB, K, DP, etc., etc.  Now that our media is dedicated to the world of high finance (or low finance??), there are many more acronyms or abbreviations in play. AIG is a good example.  Last year I probably thought AIG meant  Almost inconceivable  Greed, or maybe Average Industrial Growth, or maybe even Almost Intelligent Guesswork. But not a financial giant big enough to turn the world upside down. Now our history books will refer to the Scandal of the Bonuses (SOBs)

The formula for sure failure is (a) make sure the project is huge  b) make sure it has many parts  c) Make sure is is very complex  d) make sure it is prepared in secrecy e) make sure it is approved in a hurry under a lot of time pressure f) Make sure there isn’t time to read the text, and g) press for a quick vote.

The Democrats succeeded admirably in the AIG Bailout package. It went  by script except for the little matter of $156 Million dollars paid AIG people as as bonuses. Now all the finger pointing starts amidst the BamBams.  I can see it all coming. A full blown investigation  –  maybe 6 months or so– followed by a report that says something bad happened but it wasn’t anyone’s fault. End of case.

Personally, I have no support for $40 – 50 million bonuses to anyone for any purpose, any time, any where for any reason. That is wholly inconsistent with any thing as simple as goals and achievements. Culprits should not be rewarded. On the other hand I have no sympathy with the Democrats in congress. They passed the bill blindfolded and now they want to blame others for their own stupidity. We the taxpayers are going to be stuck with the bill either way. But rank hypocricy is suffocating what is left of good government. BamBam’ words have been eloquent. But will he face down his own troops who have screwed up royally?  I doubt it. Not even sacking Chris Dodd.

When Sarah Pilan appeared at the Republican Party Convention last fall,  The Bamacrats were caught flat footed. Surprised at her looks, TV presence, and  verbal skills they knew that she would have to be marginalized –  promptly. The task of character assassination of Sarah, her husband and her family fell to the Obama Adoration Choir  –  the Democratic dominated mass media.  And attack her they did. The word went out across the land  — “Destroy Sarah”, and to a large degree they succeeded. “No mercy, Babe.  Sorry”

Now we are at Chapter 2, and this time the target is Rush Limbaugh, who is a radio commentator slinging barbs at the Bamacrats. But this time, BamBam himself and his henchmen are personally   involved in delivering the message, “Destroy Limbaugh”. The attack is on, led by the Torquemada of the Bam Bam staff, Rahm Emmanuel.  Rush might be a tougher adversary than Sarah Pilan, since he has a devoted following of 20 million voters and also has access to the national airwaves every day….. and he can choose the agenda and ask very difficult questions.

In the spirit of openness, fairness and good government, Bab Bam may play his trump card and use the force of the Democratic Congress to force Rush off the air. Watch the public debate over the “Fairness” doctrine, but don’t let it fool you. Nothing Fair about it. Just using our tax dollars to negate the free speech comments of Rush. He won’t go down without a battle. But this is another example of BamBam “change”. If Rush gets in the way, “Destroy him”.

Question  —   Is it possible for eloquence to become boring??  Something to think about.

When I first heard and observed BHO speak publicly, maybe  2 years ago, like many others I was duly impressed. He can really turn a phrase and has a very good command of the English language. And I continued to be favorably impressed as the campaign progressed and he made major speeches at conventions, Party gatherings, debates, nominations, etc etc etc. He clearly has an ongoing love affair with microphones and captive audiences, and many audiences still are captive to his eloquence.

By the time we got to the $787 Billion speech plus the $400 Billion Budget his pitchmanship had begun to run a little thin. I wondered aloud if I was watching a re-run since his deliverances had begun to sound pretty much the same. Is this the Prez addressing the country  or just another campaign speech? Have I heard this before??

I answered my own question. Yes, it is possible for eloquence to become boring?  And once it becomes boring, it is no longer eloquent.  It just becomes smoke and mirrors.

Whatever became of what we used to call straight talk??  For example, ……  “The probabiliity is something less that positive… ”    How about just saying NO?

The love affair between the mass media and BHO continues as they confidently refer to possible events in his second term. Simultaneously they write off the REPs as disorganized and leaderless. Maybe so   —- but it is a long way until 2012 and a lot can happen in the interim.

A lot of GOP criticism centers on the lack pf big time top level leadership. At least superficially that would seem to be true. There is no powerful leader at the top of the Republican party, but there is no shortage of potential high grade candidates with political visibility, experience and style. Take your pick  –  Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Bobby Jindal, to name a few. They all have voter appeal, public service  experience, good TV presence, lots of growth potential, and are supportive of the same ideals. In short, they all can sing the same song. Their national visibility will only grow in the next 3 years. Right now, they might seem to be lightweights. But economic issues and foreign policy gaffes can easily become albatrosses around the necks of BHO and his accomplices. Today’s lightweights can become tomorrow’s heavyweights.

Think of it another way. When you look beyond BHO among Democrats, who do you see?? Anyone?? I think it is a bit premature to write off the REPs in 2012.  And forget about the Press Corp. They are hopelessly enamored with BHO. Their job will be to do the hatchet work on whoever emerges as the Rep front runner. All 5 of those listed above understand that implicitly, and I think all 5 (plus a few other possibilities) will be very prominent in the House elections of 2010.

In my view, if any of the lustre comes off BHO in the next 2 years, the outlook for the Dems becomes more iffy in 2010.  It’s still much too early to jump at conclusions.

The product of the left wing fervor of the 18th century historians and philosophers has generally been termed “socialism”, and while it took roots in Europe, is failed in the USA. Despite two World Wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s, Socialism never really got off the ground on this side of the big pond.  And with all of the controversy over socialism and communism, these two words earned a very negative connotation in our language.  It is no different today. So, no matter what the BHO agenda might be for bigger government, confiscatory taxes, re-distribution of wealth, private property, nationalization of industry, punishing capitalism, endorsing collectivism, controlling communications, etc etc etc the word “socialism” will not be used.  Maybe many other euphemisms, but not “Socialism”.

The Dems and their left wing supporters will do it the sneaky way  –  by labeling their social programs under some other term. These government programs may sound nice but will be insidious in killing freedom in the name of big beneficial government.  Their goal is simple  –  achieve socialism but call it something else. When a word has a bad connotation, forget about improving the image. Just use another word. All you need is a good word merchant (think BHO). And also think about the large body of college Profs who have never met a payroll or worked for a living in a competitive environment. And this is higher education?? Just ask them!!

Las Vegas is the world capitol for setting odds on future events   —  ball games, card games, athletic contests, elections, etc etc etc.  Of course, all of the bettors are looking for the sure thing, even though the lead pipe cinch only comes along once in a blue moon. But there is one event that assuredly qualifies as a sure thing –  and you can count on it.

Prezz BHO has signed into law the biggest financial commitment in the history of the world  —  the $787 BILLION Stimulus Bill of 2009. The debate over the bill centered around “jobs” vs “spending” and the Prez argued strongly that it was a jobs bill.  Experts sharply differ and there is considerable doubt that the 2009 Stimulus will jump start our ailing economy.  But 1-2 years from now, Prez Obama will most certainly pronounce it as a spectacular success regardless of how it turns out.  In such a huge outlay, there will no doubt be a few items worthy of praise and maybe even a few jobs to crow about. Whatever, the bill will be marketed as a great success by the Prez. Just ask youself a simple question, “can you imagine Prez BHO getting on national TV before a joint session of Congress and labeling it  a big costly mistake, failure and blunder??” Not hardly.  Big success and a feather in the cap of the Prez.

The odds??   Sure thing!

Last week, the Prez signed the biggest check ever written by any human being at any time anywhere in the entire  history of mankind  —   $787,000,000,000. The Congressional debate  was over a jobs bill vs a spending bill. The magnitude alone provides enough room to call it anything. Rest assured, Prez Obama will declare it a success no matter how it turns out and he will cherry-pick the results to make his case. There’s gotta be some new jobs in there somewhere.

It is accurate to describe the Stimulus as the Mother of all Earmarks  –  something for all of his followers and contributors. Not surprising. But friendly media coverage will push such observations well beyond the back burner. We all have to hope that the stimulus and other factors will revive our moribund economy.  Then we have to hope that our “leaders” have the gumption to tackle Medicare and Social Security since those programs will not fund themselves.  It would be nice to view the dawn with optimism, but staking our future on funny money is a bit chancy.  Fancy rhetoric will only take us so far.

Living in a new age takes some readjustment,  like labeling $20 million as chump change
and resolving debt by borrowing more. Amazing what can be done by spending other people’s money  –  lots and lots of it.