Farewell 2009

A lot of people, including myself, will be glad to see the last of 2009. It has been a year of fears and terrors, economic recession and emotional depression, political hardball and hard court presses, where reality couldn’t live up to unrealistic hopes and hero’s were tarnished and cut down from their lofty perches. No, not much good occurred in this ninth year of the new millennium.

2009 nonetheless began with hope and optimism even in the midst of the continuing financial meltdowns. No matter your political affiliations you had to be touched and inspired by this great country which has become color blind after a history of injustices. You could understand the tears streaming down the upturned faces alit with hope and optimism when Obama was sworn in.

And yet Obama has turned into a fun house illusion. It is part arrogance and part inexperience and the combination has resulted in a multitude of errors. Perhaps the greatest is that he simply has yet to become the President. Oh he may sit in the Oval Office but he does so as a usurper. He still is playing the roles he knows best – Community Organizer, lawyer, Chicago politician, Ivy League alumni and always the mantle of being black in America lies across his shoulders instead of the mantle of the presidency.

The surprising thing is that this man, who can inspire with his speeches, has actually turned out to be cold and distant without his teleprompter. It feels as if he is treating this country as some lawyerly experiment; setting up new policies giving untold power to the government in the supposed goals of helping the citizens. And yet has any of this truly helped? What has his stimulus package stimulated other than more work for the bureaucrats but none for the people?

Somehow Obama has managed to offend both the left (Guantanamo Bay still holds prisoners, increased action in Afghanistan) and the right (health care, stimulus packages) and everyone in between with the handouts to the financial giants. Time and time again he misjudges situations – siding with his friend and calling the police stupid, going to plug Chicago for the Olympics, going to the climate convention which ended in complete failure by the participants to agree with anything measurable, not going to the memorials for WWII etc. etc.

There was an overall undercurrent of disgust and anger running through the citizenry this year. People were appalled by the ACORN debacle when up and down the Eastern coast employees of the ACORN organization showed their lack of respect for the law with their disgraceful and disgusting fawning over the alleged pimp and Madame who were trying to purchase a house for illegal underage prostitution.

After watching the inept Congress try to destroy the democracy this country was founded on people finally rose up and said “Enough!” The Tea Parties, ignored for the most part by the main stream, were a true phenomenon harking back to earlier times of rebellion by the people, of the people and for the people. Average citizens had reached the tipping point and their anger and frustration had evolved into action.

Yet Congress continues to blindly push through their agendas. In their arrogance they justify their actions with the rationalization that they know what is best for the country even if it is at odds with what the majority believe. And the politician who dares to question this is both threatened and bribed by Reid or Pelosi who are willing to do whatever it takes to pass their bills. And yet they wonder why 65% disapprove the job Congress is doing.

The year began with the US President refusing to use the word terrorist or even concede that we are at war. Absurdly, he even won a Nobel Peace Prize for no explicable reason. Obama was to be the start of a glorious new era, an anti-Bush era, where everyone now loved America because we had a President who cared and could feel their pain, so to speak. The only problem is that no one told the terrorists that they no longer existed and that there was no war.

We end the year with what an increase in terror attacks for it doesn’t seem as if these fanatics got the word. They didn’t realize that Bush was gone and Obama, a man who once lived in a Muslim country, was now America’s President. In fact, world leaders didn’t seem to understand that in Obama, the U.S. now had a President who, unlike the warmongering Bush, was willing to let bygones be bygones. Or perhaps they did. For recently the head of Iran and China and Russia and Venezuela and oh so many other countries are giving us more troubles and simply aren’t playing nice even though we are led by a man who told them that he wants to be friends.

For someone who has always been able to see the silver lining in any situation, I must admit to being hard pressed to find even a silver thread in this past year. Perhaps the best I can do is to say that the best thing about 2009 is that it is now over!

Arrogance over Protocol

The recent gatecrashers at the White House bring to mind what happens when a new administration comes into office. Understandably, they are pumped up over their recent win and now want to put their own mark on the country. Unfortunately new administrations also have the tendency to walk over the rank and file and don't listen to the real people who run the departments regardless of who is president. The new presidents tell the old-timers that they don't want to hear the excuse of "that's how we always did it" and now want things done their way. However, the new administration has neither the experience nor the patience to listen to the very peope who could help them. In their arrogance at being elected Presidents don't understand that the intricate protocol that has been perfected over the past 100 years enables new presidents to fulfill their new duties with poise and class and avoid potentially embarrassing mistakes. I have a sneaking suspician that this is at the heart of the lapse in security at the Obama's first state dinner.


If I remember correctly, there were horror stories about the last two Democratic administratons. Both the Clinton and the Carter incoming teams were young, inexperienced and few on their team had much managerial skills or spent any time in DC. Yet these young politicians came across as arrogant, cocky, power hungry and charged with the belief that they were empowered to do whatever they felt was best for the country. There were rumors that the Clintons sold overnight stays at the White House to major donors or their Hollwood friends. Then there was Bill Clinton's conduct in the White House with that woman which showed a complete lack of respect for the office of the President and for the White House, itself. Carter wasn't much better as he invited his adolescent daughter to a formal state function where she then proceded to read a book at the dinner table.

In contrast to the disastors created by Carter and Clinton's administrations, both of the Bush's had very smooth transitions. Yes, George HW Bush went from VP to President, retaining a number of people from Reagan's regime. But Bush himself was a career politician who knew the ins and out of Washington. Ford was another old time politician who stepped into the void left by one of the country's most traumatic experiences. Yet Ford was still able to assure the country and the world that the US would continue intact. But this kind of transition isn't always that smooth, as both LBJ and Truman had very rocky transitions from VP to President.


Clinton's administration not only began disastrously but it ended equally shamefully with stories of trashed offices and destroyed computers. But, like his father, George W. Bush had class and never complained about the mess left by the Clintons. And unlike the Clintons and Carters, Bush had a team that included career politicians who understood DC, which helped his team have an easier transition than if they were all newcomers.


Now we have Obama who has even less experience than Carter and Clinton, who had both been governors. To his credit, Obama did keep a few men from Bush's administration. This was particularly helpful in providing a smooth transition to our military, although, ironically, this caused Obama a lot of grief with the very liberal base who elected him.


In spite of the media's shunning of any negative story about the Obama administration, more and more cracks are starting to appear. People are beginning to question if mistakes are being made due to Obama's ignorance and inexperience or perhaps due to his determination to do things his way or to a combination of all of the above.


There are Obama's continuing bows to other state leaders when rarely if never has a President bowed that low for it is seen as a symbol of weakness. At times Obama comes across as too parochial. He had a favorite during the World Series, he of course cheered on the Chicago basketball team and he somehow found the time to travel overseas to help promote his hometown in its failed bid for the Olympics. On the other hand, he snubbed all of the activities regarding World War II.


Speaking of traveling, he really shouldn't be proud of the fact that he has traveled more than any other president in the first year. Someone with more experience, who truly understands his role as President, which isn't to go sightseeing with his wife and kids, belongs first and foremost at home. This is especially true when the country is hurting as much as the US is with the high unemployment, horrible housing markt and in the middle of a major recession.


And now we have a couple breaking through what should be extreme security to crash the Obama's first state dinner. (I also can't help but wonder why it took them 10 months before they had their first major official event.) I am sure that the Secret Security will take a major hit for this breach in security. Yet there are faint hints that the Obamas have tried to relax some of the security surrounding the White House and themselves. Perhaps once again a young inexperienced first couple is bulldozing over the rank and file so that they can do things their way. They might not realize that there is a reason behind the established protocol. Both of the Obamas need to stop talking so much and to start listening to the old-timers around them. Their very lives might depend upon it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Many years ago after a heated Thanksgiving Day discussion with my father, he quoted Winston Churchill who said "Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." I can't help but think of this quote as families gather round the Thanksgiving dinner table today.

A big part of the charm of Thanksgiving is that it does bring together multiple generations. No surprise then that these differing generations will result in children of all ages clashing with parents. And thanks to our longer living elders, it is not unusual for the middle aged to be the parent while carving the turkey and then the child by the time the pumpkin pie is being served.

I worry, however, that the family arguments this Thanksgiving will be more heated, more divisive then in the past. Even though we all know better than to discuss religion, sex or politics within the family nonetheless our political differences will permeate the dinner table like an unwanted guest. Make a toast to every one's health and the next thing you know there is an argument about the health care plan. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving and it turns into a heated discussion about religion and schools. I worry that nearly any innocent word or gesture will become a launching point for a vitriolic discussion from either the Liberals or the Conservatives.

I had forgotten that Abraham Lincoln was the President who nationalized this holiday. I mention this because it seems to me that the chasm between the Liberals and Conservatives today is not necessarily due to Churchill's generational gulf such as we had in the 1960's but that it dates back another hundred years to the 1860's Civil War's North vs. South division. I realize that it is dangerous for me to say this out loud because Liberals will now label me as a bigot because I am a Southerner. Their tunnel vision will immediately conclude that I, like all Southerners, dislike Obama because he is an African American and therefore all Conservative Southerners, must be racists. I am not naive enough to believe that there are no racists; I am sure that Obama's heritage is a problem for some Southerners.

But I think it is just as racist to feel compelled to like someone because of his race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. as it is to dislike someone for the same reason. The people I know who dislike Obama do so not because of his race but because of his politics. Conservatives are fearful that Obama is rapidly changing our country by gathering more and more power to the federal government by taking power away from the individuals and states. Just as this was a major factor in the Civil War, it is again a division between the North and South rather than a generational chasm.

It just occurred to me that this argument is even older than the Civil War and in fact stems back to the very beginning of our country. While writing the Declaration of Independence and setting up our first government a feud broke out between Northerner John Adams and Southerner Thomas Jefferson. Adams sounding like Kennedy, Kerry or any other fellow Massachusetts politician argued for more power for the federal government and less for the individual. While the Southern tea bag parties echoed the refrain first stated by Thomas Jefferson who wanted greater state and individual rights and a weaker federal government.

And now here we are 250 years later sitting around the Thanksgiving dinner table and still arguing for a stronger central government while others heatedly argue against it. Perhaps the very fact that our forefathers were divided over the issues that divide us today will help put it into perspective.

So whether you love him or hate him, the truth is that Obama's policies probably won't matter in the long run. The United States has been arguing the very same topics since our beginning and yet we still stand tall and strong as a beacon of freedom for the whole world to see. Now that is something for which we can all be thankful.

Finally, on a personal note, I have an awful lot to be thankful for this year. Just the fact that I am alive, healthy and have both legs is a minor miracle. And I am thrilled that although I missed the family reunion because of my health I was still eventually able to be with my family and will sit down to our Thanksgiving dinner with four generations. But most of all, I am thankful for all my friends and family's help, prayers and thoughts during this very difficult year. Thank you and may y'all have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Follow Up

A few weeks ago I wrote the following blog about the loss of childhood freedomsz during what had been a relatively slow week. Then something happened which caught my attention so I tucked this article away for this week when I knew I would be busy preparing for Thanksgiving next week.

Imagine my surprise when after publishing my reminisces of childhood freedoms I found the following article on www.Time.com Can These Parents Be Saved about overly protective parents! So if you want to read more, and I do mean more as Tme devotes four pages on line to this topic then check out this Times article. However, after page after page of hand wringing over helicopter parents the Time article concludes pretty much with what I started out with:

If you embrace this rather humbling reality, it will be easier to follow the advice D.H. Lawrence offered back in 1918: "How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning."
Of course, that was easy for him to say. He had no kids.

And I suppose I should also disclose that I don't have kids either. But I was one....

Lost Childhood Freedoms

Do you remember the feeling you had when you were a kid and you were riding your bike? The wind was in your face and the hot sun beating down, speeding away or perhaps swaying back and forth or maybe practicing wheelies. You were in your own little world where there were no parents or siblings or even friends to bother you or pick a fight or break the silence with their talking. Nope, instead the world consisted of just you and your bike.

I thought of that because today we are never on our own and out of touch with the world as we were when we were kids 20+ years ago. As adults we are plugged into the world 24/7 thanks to cell phones, blackberries, PCs, and round the clock cable news. And I doubt if even kids today will ever know that kind of freedom; as they are always carrying their cell phones too.

I feel sorry for these kids today. Every 12 year old needs to think that they have eluded their parent’s grasp and are free to do whatever it is 12 year olds want to do. My parents probably never knew that my friend and I would save our pennies then would bike a few miles away to a park where we would rent a little row boat. We would row out to the middle of the lake then stretch out in the boat; eat our forbidden Twinkies and simply float around; daydreaming, looking at the clouds while trailing a hand in the water and of course talking and giggling. It was harmless but to us it was magical as it was our little secret getaway.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine that idyllic summer scene interrupted by the insistent ring of a cell phone. To have that quiet escape broken by a mother’s interrogation of where are you, what are you doing, who are you with, when will you be home, etc. etc. Yet that is now the every day life for children today.

Perhaps parents reading this would be horrified if their 12 year olds went off on a similar little escapade. I am almost embarrassed to admit just how free we really were back then. (Oh my, I am turning into an old foggie complete with the prerequisite “In my day…”) Anyway, we were freer and less fearful than kids today. Take riding my bike for example. I had no helmet or pads and would have thought anyone wearing that stuff was a sissy. (Ok a part of me still thinks that!) I would think those funny little helmets were hot and would definitely interfere with the wind blowing through my hair.

I could, however, understand wearing a hardhat during my horseback riding lessons. But a bike? Over the years, I was thrown more times from a horse than a bike and yet even then I still never landed on my head. I wonder if making kids wear the helmets is also making them more fearful. Seems to me the kids of my childhood were fearless. I admit to a healthy respect and fear of falling from a horse but I never once worried about falling from a bike. I loved that bike. Yet making a child wear a helmet implicitly tells a child that riding a bike is dangerous; that you could fall and get hurt so be afraid and wear this helmet. How sad.

When I was young my sisters and I knew that we needed to be in whistle range. Mom had this very loud whistle and when it was time to come home she would stand on the front steps and call us with the whistle. So as long as we could still hear the whistle we were free to explore the neighborhood. When we were older we were given even more freedom. I had friends who lived a mile or more away and after getting permission would hop on my bike to go to their homes. No cell phones, just my trusty bike and I facing the world together.

Today my 11 year old niece is nervous about walking two blocks in her upscale residential neighborhood to her bus stop. (Although in her defense, this same young lady thinks nothing of hurling her body in flips while staying on a balance beam!) Nonetheless, she worries that maybe someone might try to kidnap her. Wow. Has the world changed that much? Were there not pedophiles when I was a child? I would think there were. I just wonder if no one talked about it back then, not even on the news. And so if you were ignorant then you could be carefree as ignorance truly is bliss.

Stranger – danger is what is drilled into today’s children. But the majority of strangers are not dangerous. The odds are that most children would go through their childhood and never meet a dangerous stranger. And yet they are taught to be afraid of all of them. How very sad. And think what they are missing by being scared to talk to an adult.

I worry that we are teaching our children to be afraid of life. Be afraid of your bike and wear a helmet. Be afraid of strangers and stay away. Be afraid of someone with the sniffles – you might catch the swine flu. Is this what Political Correctness is doing to our children? Making them afraid of life? What kind of grown ups will they become? What kind of America will we become? Now I think I am afraid….

Names do matter

After Nidal Malik Hasan killed and wounded our soldiers at Fort Hood, some woman being interviewed said with a straight face “I wish his last name was Smith.” And for me, that summarizes all this PC stupidity.

People just won’t admit the fact that a large group of radical Muslims want to incite terror and kill us. Liberals are so afraid of being politically incorrect that they simply refuse to face reality. Wake up America! It’s not ‘Smiths’ or ‘O’Brians’ or ‘Yamamoto’s’ who have issued jihads or holy wars against us. It’s people with Arabic names. It’s people who are Muslim’s. It’s people who hate our way of life and the very freedom for which we stand.

We need to recognize that we can no longer sit back and enjoy our freedoms. Our freedoms and way of life are being attacked. And not just with bullets. They are using our very own freedoms and courts to shelter and advance their malignant religious rules and laws. Already there are examples of how they are trying to corrupt our country with their extreme laws. At least some reporters are starting to investigate the murder of Muslim women who dared to be Americanized. Women who only wanted to dress like Americans, get an education, be more than the wife to a radical Muslim husband who believes he has the right to kill his wife without facing any penalties by his culture. In fact, why aren’t more women libbers taking up the cause of these Muslim women? They were sure quick to go after radical Mormons who illegally had multiple wives. Yet they are suspiciously quiet while radical Muslim men abuse their wives and daughters in the name of Allah and the Koran.

Perhaps a part of the problem is that we are a country of nice people. It is almost impossible for us to understand that radical Muslims could treat their women that cruelly. And then there is the little fact that millions of strangers want us dead. Liberals refuse to believe this. They think maybe if they could talk to them, sit down and listen to their leaders, perhaps even understand where they “are coming from” that they could then find some common bonds that will lead to understanding and acceptance. Wrong. Sure they will sit down and talk, their leaders might even make promises to be better in the future. And then at the earliest opportunity they will find a way to kill our soldiers and blow up innocent bystanders with their suicide bombers and ignore their promises.

When the world doesn’t act in a manner that Liberals approve of then Liberals end up turning issues inside out arguing that enemies are friends and friends are enemies? Words no longer mean what we were taught and they give nicer names to things that threaten them so as to feel better. They will insulate themselves by believing that they are superior to other Americans and that their greater intelligence allows them to see the “big picture” and understand the other side. They will always argue that a minority is at the mercy of the oppressive white man. Ironically, most Liberals won’t believe the stereo types of the "abused" minority but will quickly embrace any negative stereo type of the rest of us. And the scary part is that this group is who is running our country today.

Now we had a man of Arabic background, a Muslim, go on a shooting spree killing unarmed soldiers. I had hoped that perhaps our military hadn’t been quite as corrupted by political correctness such as our universities, media and local schools have been. This episode with Fort Hood demonstrates just how wrong I was. Political correctness, fear of upsetting a minority, worrying about playing fairly; it is this stupidity that allows a US soldier like Hasan to go so far as to communicate with al Qaeda and email with a radical imam. Not only was his outrageous conduct tolerated but this traitor was even promoted and sent to Fort Hood. Why did no one stop him? How many more unstable Muslims are there in our military? And better yet, does the FBI or military have what it takes to finally go after these men now?

What makes it doubly hard is that much of the hatred begins and ends in their temples. Radical Imams preach against the godless Americans, raise their children to despise us and our way of life, imprison their women into a life of servitude and encourage their young men that killing Americans is not only right but will give them eternal gratitude when they give their life for the cause. And these temples are not just found overseas. They are here in America, too.

Of course not every Muslim temple harbors radicals. But we need to stop the PC bullshit and admit that yes, some of them are our enemies. We need to be penetrating these temples, putting in taps and all that espionage stuff and letting the FBI do their job; rather than being persuaded by liberals and the ACLU start that we are being prejudicial and unfair to this religion. We need to recognize that there are cores of truth in stereo types. We need to take action if someone is showing questionable actions, such as this Hasan had without worrying that some ACLU lawyer will come after you.

And maybe the first step is to call things by their right names. When Nidal Malik Hasan began killing unarmed soldiers it was a terrorist attack; Hasan was literally creating terror and fear and not a “man made disaster” which is what our Homeland Security Secretary Janet Naplitano would have you call it. That’s right. A terrorist attack is supposed to be called a man made disaster. It would be laughable if it weren’t so, well, terrifying.

Tenaciously Optimistic

I heard a phrase the other day which immediately resonated in me. I don’t remember where I heard it but the phrase was “tenaciously optimistic”. Isn’t that great? We all know people who never seem happy; who complain about every little thing that happens to them. On the other hand, there are those few people who truly have had terrible adversities in their life and yet they still seem happy. They are tenaciously optimistic. They know that when life throws you a curve ball it would be easy to feel sorry for yourself or become bitter but instead they work to remain hopeful and cling to their belief that life is to be enjoyed. I should know. I also think that this phrase describes the attitudes of our best politicians and leaders, not just here but world wide.

Think of Winston Churchill who never gave up during WWII. One of his many quotes that he is famous for is: ... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. Wow. Now that is the epitome of being tenaciously optimistic! Churchill had faith that they would win but he knew they would have to work hard to achieve that win; in other words they needed to be tenaciously optimistic.

Our most revered Presidents are also those who were tenaciously optimistic. Roosevelt inspired Americans with his upbeat view during the Great Depression and then WWII. In fact, Roosevelt applied this sentiment in his personal life. He could have been bitter after being struck by polio and losing the ability to walk. Instead he fought to be happy. So did Kennedy who also had serious illnesses and a debilitating back problem. Like Roosevelt, he overcame his personal problems with humor and confidence that he could do anything.

Perhaps the President who most exemplified tenacious optimism was President Reagan. He was elected during a terrible recession, interest rates greater than 20%, unemployment well over 10% and an energy crisis. Yet during his campaign he exuded optimism and hope that things would be better. And the American people responded and swept him into office twice. How could you not admire a man who as he was being wheeled into surgery after being shot during an assassination attempt quipped to his wife “Honey, I forgot to duck.” Reagan knew that humor is frequently used as a means to deflect adversities.

Obama was also tenaciously optimistic. He would have to be as he was the first African American to be on the Democratic ticket for President. Few African Americans ever thought there would be a black president in their lifetime but not Obama. He even turned his tenacious optimism into his campaign slogan “Yes We Can”. And he did.

I mention this because I heard someone, I think it was the Republican House Minority Whip, say that the two Republicans who just became governors of Virginia and NJ were “sunny Republicans”. The pundits discussed how these two Republicans each ran a campaign of hope and ideas of how to improve life for the citizens of their state. On the other hand, the Democratic candidates ran angrier campaigns attacking their opponent and playing the blame game. Voters have shown over and over that they don’t respond to those kinds of campaigns. We don’t want leaders to blame other people, we want them to explain how they will improve the situation. And once again voters responded to the tenacious optimism of the Republican candidates of Virginia and New Jersey.

Something else has occurred to me. As previously mentioned, when running for President, Obama was enthusiastically hopeful with his “Yes We Can” motto. But since becoming President he seems to have lost that ebullience and hopefulness. Instead every time he gives a speech it is about doom and gloom, how bad things are and continuously blaming President Bush for all the problems. In looking back, Clinton had a lot of problems but if not exactly cheerful, he did have this cocky self assurance. Carter, however, was like an old time Southern Baptist pastor preaching of fire and brimstone unless people changed. He lasted one painful term and yet never learned for he is still preaching doom and gloom.

All the pundits are analyzing the election results from last night. What does it portend for Obama and his agenda? How will it affect the health care bill? What does it mean for the Republican party? Personally, I think the message is an old one. That voters are tired of being told how awful life is, they know that things are tough all over. They don’t need politicians telling them how bad it is or blaming the other party and voters definitely don’t want politicians telling them that they need to sacrifice (ie. pay higher taxes) in order to help others. And they also respond badly to threats – that if they don’t do something then life will be horrible in the future (think climate change).

Voters want those “sunny Republicans”. They want to hear that life is good and is only going to get better. They want solutions but not solutions that makes life tougher for themselves. They want leaders who are confident and hopeful in a better future. Leaders who won’t promise easy fixes since most of the time the voters end up paying for that. Instead these leaders will tell you how they will work to improve your family’s life. These leaders are tenaciously optimistic; finding joy and pride in America even during the darkest hours and exuding hopefulness that we can work together to create a shining future.

Man Up, Mr President

After nine months in office Barack Obama needs to either start acting like the President of the greatest nation on earth or at the very least Obama needs to grow a pair and start acting like a man.

The hypocrisy of this man and his followers knows no bounds. Everyone recalls that one of Obama’s main campaign themes last year was that he was going to enact “change”, right? And wasn’t cleaning up Bush’s mess implicit in Obama’s desire to replace him as President and his pledge to change the direction of this country? And even I agree that Bush left a lot of problems but instead of changing things Obama is still complaining about the mess left by Bush. Excuse me? At my old office the unwritten rule was that you could blame the person you replaced for one month, after that it was your problems and messes. Yet after nine months Obama is still whining about the problems Bush left instead of manning up and taking responsibility. Mr. President, its past time that you quit your bitching and do the job you promised you would do. I didn’t vote for the man but I still want him to act like a President and not like a spoiled brat complaining that the mess isn't his fault and that he needs more time to decide what to do.

Perhaps making a decision might be easier if he actually spent more time at the office. I’m beginning to think that Obama is the kind of president who likes the perks but not the work. Take for example, golfing. Did you even know he was a golfer until after he was elected? It sure wasn’t mentioned much since golfing didn’t go along with his image. And yet, this ex-community organizer recently played his 24th game of golf since being President! So nearly three times a month Obama was out hitting the balls while the country suffered from high unemployment, two wars, bail outs, car industry going up in ruins etc. etc. And yes, the last president was also an avid golfer, but it took him two years and nine months to play golf 24 times!

Obama is also quite the entertainer. Funny how you never hear about this, either, but Obama frequently hosts dinner parties inviting all kinds of Hollywood entertainers, famous singers and musicians. Did you know that the First Couple have been hosting a “music series” whose purpose is rather vague other than to demonstrate a commitment to the arts? Although in a recent MSNBC report, Michelle did mention that “she wants her daughters, Malia and Sasha, to be ‘aware of all kinds of music — other than hip-hop.’” I guess as First Lady, instead of buying her daughters CDs she has a dinner party where the guest of honor works for their dinner by putting on a concert for the First Daughters.

Between rounds of golf and listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire or taking his wife out on a date, it’s no wonder the President doesn’t have time to make decisions. In fact the only decision it seems he has made is that its good to be President and barely into his first term he is planning for his second term. Perhaps this is why he delays decision making – he doesn’t want anyone to be mad at him. It is also why he is constantly traveling gee, guess where, to swing states that he is afraid he might lose now that people actually know him.

The President also likes to hear himself talk. Oh he never settles anything with his speeches but he sure takes a long time to say very little. As Politico.com reported: Six months into his presidency Obama had already “uttered more than half a million words in public.” In one whirlwind week last month, the president made his third appearance on “60 Minutes,” gave a major speech on the financial crisis the next day, and made a record five talk-show appearances the following Sunday. And on the eighth day, He did Letterman. Yak, yak, yak. And yet after listening to one of his speeches you walk away wondering what it was that he said.

This summer Obama held numerous town halls across the country pitching the new health care plan, except there was no plan. There were half a dozen or so plans being discussed by Congress but we had yet to see a plan agreed upon by the Senate and House. And it is also like Obama for him to ask Pelosi and Reid to come up with a health care plan thereby relieving Obama of making a decision. Instead, he did what he does best, talk and at town hall after town hall, there was Obama going on and on and on about a health plan that didn’t even exist yet. Typical.

So instead of being President and making decisions Obama is still campaigning or else enjoying the perks of the office. Hell, after nine months in office he still hasn’t decided which church to join in DC nor could Obama even decide what kind of dog to get! And he never did make that decision as somebody gave him a dog, thereby making the decision for him. So if Obama struggles in making a decision about buying a friggin’ dog, no wonder he dithers on major issues, like the wars.

Speaking of the wars, a key advisor recently quit because we had no strategy for the war in Afghanistan. If we continue to neither bring in more troops nor pull them out then the situation will continue to worsen. Yet when Obama was told of this resignation and asked about determining a strategy, the President said he needed more time. Excuse me? This is the man who complained bitterly about Bush’s “mishandling” of the war so you would think that his team would have had their own strategy in place even before Obama was elected. Instead soldiers will die while the President is out playing golf instead of making a decisions.

Conservatives pointed out during the election last year that most of Obama’s political experience was in campaigning. And in the little time Obama did spend in office he rarely voted on an issue and if he wasn’t conveniently absent for an important vote he would cop out with his indecisive “present”. So it should come as no surprise that Obama continues to dither on making decisions.

Except he isn’t one of 50, where he could let others make the decision. Instead he is now the top man. And guess what, as President you don’t always have the luxury of more time. Nor can you vote “present” and hope someone else makes the difficult decisions for you. As Truman so succinctly put it “The buck stops here.” So its way past time that you man up and do your job, Mr. President.

Fox Hunting Season

Barack Obama’s administration is handling their power and influence like a Chicago bully rather than like a United States President. And the White House’s bullying of Fox News is getting way out of hand. No surprise that Obama and his Chicago crew are not enamored with Fox News but they have crossed a line into very scary territory.

The White House war on Fox News seemed to take a new turn after Fox was the first, and for a while only, news media to show the public the disgraceful films of ACORN employees. Fox then had the audacity to run negative reports on Van Jones, a White House environmental adviser, one of many advisers who were never vetted. Therefore it came as a surprise to the WH to see that Fox discovered Jones had signed a statement indicating the government was involved in the 9-11 collapse of the Twin Towers. With Van Jones's quiet resignation, Fox is continuing to investigate other Czars and unvetted advisers. To add insult to injury, the MSM (mainstream media) are now paying more attention to the stories that Fox News breaks and quicker to go after the stories themselves.

To make matters worse Chris Wallace, the Fox Sunday New’s host, actually had the gall to have someone fact-check what the assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs said. Chris Wallace explained “She criticized 'Fox News Sunday' last week for fact-checking -- fact-checking -- an administration official," Wallace said Sunday. "They didn't say that our fact-checking was wrong. They just said that we had dared to fact-check." Wow. What kind of people is Obama hiring? Isn’t shutting down the media that disagrees with you the first thing a dictator does?

Shortly after the fact-checking debacle, Obama, acting more like a spoilsport, then a President, announced that on a single Sunday morning he would be on every major network, including the Spanish network, but not on Wallace's Fox Sunday News show.

In the latest attack on Fox News, the White House senior advisor David Axelrod and White House Communications Director each separately reiterated the new Obama lie that Fox New is “not really a news station”. On Sunday, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanual provided a telling insight into what the core group running Obama’s presidency is thinking “It’s not so much a conflict with Fox News," Emanuel told CNN’s John King. "I suppose the way to look at it and the way … the president looks at it, we look at it is: It’s not a news organization so much as it has a perspective. And that’s a different take. And more importantly, is not have the CNNs and the others in the world basically be led in following Fox, as if what they’re trying to do is a legitimate news organization …”

Wow. They are afraid that the MSM networks, which basically glorify Obama’s presidency with no questions asked, might be influenced by Fox and who knows, the MSM then might even do a negative story. But the frightening part is that as in typical Chicago style politics, the chief of staff is warning the MSM that if they ever act like Fox News, which I guess means to stop deifying Obama, then the White House will go after them, too. As a further signal of how the White House treats their enemies; the number of interviews the President has granted to each network stands as: NBC-12, CBS-11, ABC-9, CNN-7 and Fox News just 2.

But the blatantly unfair treatment of Fox News by the White House has not gone unnoticed. First, ABC’s Jack Tapper asked the following of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs “It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one.” Gibbs couldn't explain it. And even the venerable Helen Thomas, who is as liberal as they come, has chastised Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, for trying to control and manipulate the media.

This week, however, the White House went too far. According to an article by the NY Times; The Obama administration on Thursday tried to make "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the White House pool except Fox News. But to their suprise ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN all stood up to the White House’s and in a united front said either all of us, including Fox interviews Feinburg or else none of us will.

Perhaps the MSM finally remembered the Freedom of the Press and how the media is supposed to react to being manipulated even if the person manipulating them is ordered by Obama, himself. And how did Obama’s administration react to this surprising stand? By punishing all of the networks! They said that by not including the Fox network each journalist would only have two minutes for their interview instead of the five minutes as promised when they were excluding Fox. How childish can you get? And doesn't the President have more important issues to worry about, like two wars, increasing unemployment, etc. etc.

I am proud of the MSM for finally standing up to the White House’s strong arm tactics but saddened to discover that I couldn’t find a single MSM article about what happened except for the NY Times. Even if the MSM are afraid to admit they came to Fox’s aid, at least the big networks took a stance and did the right thing. And that’s a good start.

New Flu Facts

Did you know that a person with the H1N1 flu can affect people as far away as 10 feet? I learned that when I watched 60 Minutes last night. Then this morning I read a Facebook dialogue between two young mothers who are very worried about their children getting the flu. They talked of sanitizing the handle of the grocery carts when shopping, not letting their young children touch anything when they go out and constantly sanitizing their hands. Now these are all good steps but the truth is it still won’t protect them from the flu. How could they know that the woman two places behind them has the flu and is affecting everyone in a 10 foot radius? This is not to say stop disinfecting your hands and other objects but the truth is you’ll still probably get the flu. Unless, of course you get the flu shot.

Getting the flu shot seems like a no brainer and yet I have overheard a number of conversations where people are saying they refuse to do so. This gets me extremely angry with their stupidity, especially since I am one of the few legitimate folks who can’t get the shot. Why am I exempt? Well about 10 years ago, I would make sure that I got the shot every year. But the last few shots made me ill, not in the normal way of giving you flu like symptoms but instead gave me severe stomach cramps. Long story short, I had developed an allergy to eggs. I learned that the flu shot is egg based and apparently I became allergic to both the shot and eggs. So I now can not take any shot that is egg based.

Even without the shot I wasn’t feeling very worried about this flu for my sister who is a nurse had said that it was hitting younger people a lot harder than older people. She said older folks had lived through similar strains of flu in the past. She was basically correct except for one small detail, her definition of old. The 60 Minute show said the same thing she did except that they defined old as anyone born before 1950. Oops. Turns out that I am not in that protected group of “old people” as I had thought because I was born in 1958 which is after the cutoff date. So again, anyone born since 1950 needs to get the new flu shot.

Then this morning the Drudge Report had an article from yesterday’s Sun Sentinel. This report was about the health officials from my state, Florida, drawing up a plan to deal with critically ill flu patients. I was reminded of something I first learned about by watching MASH – the TV show about a mobile hospital during the Korean War. In the show, when the doctors were inundated with wounded soldiers they would first do a triage, separating the soldiers into three categories: soldiers who were dying or couldn’t be saved were put in one group; the second group contained soldiers who were severely injured but could be helped and the third group were the soldiers without life threatening problems. The first group was made comfortable while they were dying, the second group was immediately rushed into surgery and the third group was assisted only after they were done with the first group.

It now appears as if my state, and probably yours, too, is looking into doing its own triage to meet the growing H1N1 problem. Today’s triage is really no different than the old TV show where doctors made life and death decisions. The report stated that the Florida Health official’s goal would be “to focus care on patients whose lives could be saved and who would be most likely to improve”. So just as in the TV show, patients who are critically ill, who aren’t responding to the ventilator and who they deem have a slim chance of recovering will be made comfortable but will not be placed on any of the scarce ventilators. Can you imagine the reaction when people are told that their elderly grandmother or son with AIDs or sister with cerebral palsey are denied life-saving treatments?

On the other hand, patients who show no life threatening problems, only typical flu like symptoms will be told to go home, drink fluids and rest. The patients, however, who do have life threatening problems, which are primarily respiratory, and have been deemed to have a strong chance of survival will be admitted to the hospital and will be put on one of the few ventilators. However they will be monitored every 2-3 days and if the patient isn’t responding or is getting worse they may end up in that first group and their ventilator given to someone else with a better chance of survival.

The H1N1, according to 60 Minutes, is similar to the flu pandemic of 1918 which killed over 50 million people worldwide, but today's flu is not nearly as virulent. H1N1 is expected to kill less than 1 percent of the population but this is still a significant number. And it assumes that people act responsibly and get the flu shot. After learning all these new flu facts I almost think not getting a shot should be criminalized because many of those without shots will end up hospitalized and using scarce resources that could have saved someone else’s life. So please, get the shot, to save not just your own life but somebody else’s life, too.

Tired of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As everyone knows, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My mother had breast cancer when she was in her late 70’s but they caught it very early and after months of treatments the cancer was eliminated. We are all thankful that she has been cancer free for years now. So you would think that I would have a greater appreciation for all of the hoopla this month regarding breast cancer. But to be honest I am more than a bit tired of it all.

In addition to my mother, I have known half a dozen or more women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. All of them caught it early and are doing fine now. So on one hand I agree with the push for early diagnosis. But this is something that every woman knows. And if she doesn’t her doctor or OBGYN will be after her to get a mammogram. By now everyone knows about breast cancer, so do we really need an entire month devoted to this one disease?

Actually this is beginning to remind me of Jerry Lewis’s annual telethon to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. Jerry Lewis has been holding a telethon for 44 years, that’s right ever since 1965 he has been on TV in September begging for money. And each year he raises millions and millions of dollars, in fact he received a record $65 million last year alone. Good heavens. What do they do with all those millions? You would think by now that they would have found a cure what with all those donations each year.

Jerry Lewis and MDA have less than 24 hours to beg for money. Breast cancer has been given an entire month. A little online research showed me that Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has been going on for 25 years now! Again, like MDA, where has all the money collected from those walks and donations for the past 25 years gone? In fact, unlike MDA, they do know how to cure breast cancer if caught in time, so why do they still need all these millions? Not surprisingly, on the website for BCAM I couldn’t find any mention of how much money has been raised in the past Octobers. But with all the corporate sponsorships I am sure it is probably more than what Jerry raises for “his kids”.

I realize that Muscular Dystrophy and breast cancer are terrible diseases. But there are other diseases out there which are overshadowed by these bigger, much publicized diseases. It is wonderful that more and more women are surviving breast cancer but if an infant is diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis the diagnosis is death. Maybe not immediately but a parent of a CF infant knows that their child will lead a difficult life full of pills, breathing treatments, hospitalizations, diabetes, lung transplants and operations and even then if the baby is lucky she or he will die in their mid thirties, although many still die in their teens and twenties.

Yet with what few funds CF has received, their researches have been successful in increasing the years a CF child might live. As the chart shows, in 1979 a CF child would , on average, only live to 18; today it is nearly 37, doubling their lives. As wonderful as this is, 37 is way too young to die, especially when the average person can expect to live into their 70 and 80's.

As previously mentioned, my 81 year old mother had breast cancer a few years ago. Of course I am thrilled that she beat it and has remained cancer free. However, my 8 year old niece has Cystic Fibrosis. Although she is remaining healthy due to massive doses of pills, breathing treatments and painful chest palpitations we know that she will die in her mid thirties or younger for there is no cure. And yet CF can raise only a fraction of the money that goes to breast cancer or MD.

I do have empathy for children and women with MD or breast cancer. Yet these diseases attract so much attention that it results in massive corporate sponsorships and donations from the population which then makes it difficult for other diseases to obtain donations. Although CF has no cure and results in death it is still nearly impossible to raise awareness and thus money to find a cure because of these other “popular” diseases.

During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, if you are planning to donate money to breast cancer, why not take a portion of your donation to help out the children with CF. Therefore, if you planned to give $100 to the breast cancer foundation, could you please give $20 to CF and $80 to breast cancer instead? This way you will help both and possibly give the children with Cystic Fibrosis a chance to live a long and healthy life.

To make a donation to Cystic Fibrosis go to the following website: www.cff.org/lwc/auntpatti

Thank you.

Undercover at ACORN

“Unless you watch FOX news you probably are unaware of what is happening with ACORN.” I had heard this statement but didn’t really believe it until I talked to a friend who only watches Main Stream Media (MSM) and he was completely unaware of the latest scandals with ACORN. So now I am not sure which is worse, the scandal or that the MSM is sweeping it under the floor. But if you are like my friend, and only get your news from the MSM then let me inform you as to what you are missing…

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN is supposed to help minority communities with housing, voter registration and other issues. Although they have recieved millions of dollars of tax payer funds and are eligible for additional millions in stimulus money they have frequently been found to be corrupt, illegal, and misusing our money. To find out just how far they could go, two conservative activists went undercover and visited ACORN offices with an outrageous request....

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, both young white twenty somethings, posed as a pimp and prostitute wanting to buy a house with ACORN's help to use as a brothel for 10-13 under aged El Salvadorian girls and to raise enough money for the “pimp’s” future congressional campaign. Really! They even dressed their parts in over the top outrageous outfits that were parodies of the movie version pimp and whore. He went so far as to wear a fur coat while she wore next to nothing with huge heels and earings. Dressed like this they entered ACORN’s offices where they taped what happened next. And you wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t on video. (To see for yourself, all of the videos can be found at: http://biggovernment.com/ )

After hearing the couples outrageous request for a house, did ACORN employees throw them out? Did they even try to dissuade Hannah from her life of prostitution? Did anyone mention any of the legalities or rather illegalities of their intentions? Did anyone speak up for the young girls who were supposedly being imported for prostitution? No, No, No and No. In fact, just the opposite. At each office, the ACORN employees went out of their way to assist Hannah in not only applying for a house but also in doing her income taxes and even hiding what she does and her money so that it wouldn’t hurt the pimp’s future congressional run. And the Baltimore office gave out hugs to their prostitute client at the end of their meeting.

But first, the Baltimore ACORN employee helped the couple to find a legitimate line of business or “code” since prostitution is illegal. They suggested she say she was a performing artist. This same employee then brings in their “tax expert” who later determines that the prostitute could claim upwards of $7,000 of her supposedly $9,000 monthly income as expenses and that she could claim some of the girls as dependents.

In Washington DC, the ACORN employee also councils how to get around being a prostitute by telling them to “create false company name to disguise ‘Lady of the Night Thing’” and encourages her to not put prostitute down as business but to set herself as a Sole Proprietor of her own business such as Marketeer or Consultant. When asked by the pimp if he could be the one to put up the money for her and she can do the tricks in the new house, the ACORN employee agrees with a “Yep”. They then tell him that he needs to be just the landlord and shouldn’t have any knowledge of what is going on in the house and he should stay away from that house if he wants to go into politics. The Washington DC ACORN employees go so far as to tell the “pimp” to lie to the police if he is ever asked about what happens in that house.

After these two films were released late last week even though the MSM ignored them, others are finally starting to take some action. Personally, I was thrilled to hear that the Census Bureau will not use ACORN to help with the upcoming Census. Yes! Then yesterday, Congress passed a law which stops million dollar funding to ACORN.

To try to limit any more damage, ACORN has fired most of the employees involved in the sting. The Chief Organizer of ACORN, Bertha Lewis then spoke out saying “This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.” And so with obvious glee, O’Keefe released yet a third video, this time from Brooklyn, New York.

The New York ACORN office reacted the same way that the Baltimore and Washington DC ACORN office’s reacted. Although this office suggested that the prostitute put her earnings in a tin and buries it in the backyard of her new house! This office also suggests that the prostitute buy the house then transfer it to a third party who then sells it to the pimp so that there is no direct link between the pimp and the prostitute. As for Hanna’s profession, the ACORN employee tells her “If you are going to do it then do it well, and start thinking for yourself.” Enough. You get the drift.

To repeat myself, as outrageous as this story is, the bigger outrage is the fact that NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and almost every other MSM has yet to provide a detailed story on this even though it has all the elements of a great scandal: sex, brothels, under age prostitution, corruption, etc. I also wouldn't be surprised if there are more videos to follow. And yet, could you imagine what they would do if this was a conservative group and not ACORN with its close ties to the President?