PRESIDENTIAL DISAPPOINTMENT

President Barack H. Obama was elected “fair and square” (not counting the probable involvement of ACORN) by American voters in our democratic republic. I didn’t vote for Mr. Obama, but I respect our election process. I want every president of our United States to succeed in upholding their oath of office. I respect the Office of the President, but not necessarily everything any president does.

Mr. Obama ran a superb campaign (I wish he hadn’t). He is attractive, articulate, has charisma, brains, and no shortage of other positive attributes. The man must be given his just do. He came from “nowhere” to the presidency. Nonetheless, as president Mr. Obama is a great disappointment. Even scary.

I expected personal disappointment with Mr. Obama’s social issues agenda. His actions on Pro-Life and stem cell research came as no surprise. But I never never expected such wholesale actions in defanging our country’s military, endangering America’s national security, and that of our allies. Nor did I envision Mr. Obama’s appointment of so many whako radicals to his administration, his assault on our economy, and his propensity for groveling to foreign entities.

NATIONAL SECURITY: To me, “public health” includes national defense from hostile nations and terrorists.

1. We were supposed to have 40 missile interceptor rockets at Ft. Greeley in Alaska. Mr. Obama has cut the missile defense back to only 28 rockets. Mr. Obama tells us we’ll save a bunch of money. But we save our nation? Has Mr. Obama never heard of North Korea’s missile program, their lunatic dictator Kim Il-sung and his rhetoric? And what about our current “good friend” China and their missiles.

2. President Obama stopped the funding for F-22 Raptor fighter plane - the world’s most advanced fighter plane. The reduction cripples the the US Air Force mission, and thereby our national security. It’s amazing Mr. Obama can find enough money for an expensive government health program, and bailouts of big business, but can’t afford national defense.

3. Our president is removing defensive missiles from Poland and the Czech Republic that protect our European allies buffer US defense. He timed his decision for the 70th anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Poland, and only a year after Russia invaded Georgia. How about that for kissing up to Russia, while stabbing Poland and the Czech Republic in the back? This action also encourages missiles launched by Iran’s mad man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel. As a side note, Mr. Obama was too “busy” to attend the 20 year anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down - or maybe he didn’t want to upset the Russians. I’ve seen both sides of the wall, and it was grotesque,

4. We are engaged in a War on Terror with Al Quid-a, the Taliban, and worldwide radical Muslim operatives. Yet the term “War on Terror” has been stricken from the Obama administration’s vocabulary - because our enemy might be upset (mustn’t upset people who’re trying to kill us, right?). Denial of reality is largely responsible for the terrorist massacre of our soldiers and others at Ft. Hood. This is “political correctness” at its extreme.

5. Mr. Obama selected General McChrystal to lead our troops to victory in Afghanistan - to destroy the Taliban, and their threat to America’s interests. The four star general told Mr. Obama that 40,000 additional troops are necessary to win. That was in August. It’s now nearly December. Unbelievably the president is still “studying” the general’s request. While Mr. Obama dithers his decision, Americans are being sacrificed on the battlefield. Recommendation: either support our troops, or bring our troops home. I’m a Vietnam veteran. I’ve been through this kind of unconscionable kind of stuff from Washington DC before. Now history repeats.

CIVILIAN NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE: What’s that?

How about this quote from Mr. Obama, "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” What’s that supposed to mean? Inquiring minds want to know. Are we supposed to spy on neighbors and report what we find to Obama? Isn’t that what happened in Germany, the Soviet Union, and other police states?

MR. OBAMA’s APPOINTMENTS: One measure of a president’s mindset is the type of people he appoints to policy and regulatory positions. Following are six examples.

Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director: Claims the mass murdering Communist Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung to be one of her favorite political philosophers.

Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education: A radical homosexual activist, who failed to report a pedophilia incident of 16 year old student’s relationship with an older man, He reportedly told the boy “I hope you used a condom.” Founded the “Gay and Lesbian School Teachers Network.”

Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Advisor to the State Department: Called America’s War on Terror “obsessive.” Thinks distinctions between American law and international law should vanish, and that foreign legal decisions can be considered in American decisions. Ideas like that make him a a direct threat to American sovereignty and our Constitution.

Cass Sunstein, Administrator, White House Office of Information: Wants to eliminate government recognition of marriage. Thinks animals should have a right to sue in court. Claims a horse is more rational than a human infant and should, therefore, be granted similar rights. Wants to ban all sports hunting. Defends the removal of organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.

David Michaels, Occupational and Safety Administration (OSHA): Is said to view private gun ownership as a “public health” issue.

John P. Holdren, Director, White House Office of Science and Technology: is accused of backing forced abortions and involuntary fertility control. In a co-authored book, Mr. Holdren claims “Individual rights must be balanced against the power of the government to control human reproduction.” The same book suggests a “Planetary Regime” to control population, resources, and environment.

Chai Feldblum, President Obama's nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Signed a petition favoring polygamy and claiming traditional marriage should not be privileged above other forms of union.

TREATMENT OF FRIENDS: Friends deserve friendship.

Mr. Obama’s removal of defensive missile from Poland has been mentioned previously. But Obama’s near political desertion of Israel is something else. Israel is the only democratic republic in the Middle East. It’s surrounded by nations and groups hostile to both Israel and America. Israel’s neighbors threaten to blow them off the map. Iran is within missile range. Israel has been our ally since its nationhood. I remember the day it happened. How can Obama persist in treating Israel like a naughty child? Why are we sucking up to adversaries at the expense of our allies? Why are we even discussing almost a billion dollars to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that threatens Israel?

AMERICA’S ECONOMIC SURVIVAL: Economics is linked to security. America is in deep kimchee when the Communist Chinese have to lecture Mr. Obama about our US financial policy. It appears China has the same concerns about America’s present and future deficits as the Tea Party people. I understand Chinese concerns. They bought some $787 million dollars in bonds to help finance Mr. Obama’s so-called stimulus package. Any creditors are dangerous, but America owing China is especially dangerous. It’s another a national security issue.

SYMBOLISM: Politeness is one thing. Being obsequiousness is quite another. The Japanese greet each other by bowing. The higher the status of the person you bow to, the deeper the bow. Yes, I’ve been to Japan and yes I’ve bowed - but my “bow” was more like a nod of my head. And I’m not the President of the United States. Whatever, it’s highly inappropriate for one head-of-state to bow to another head of state - as Mr. Obama did to Emperor Akihito (son of Hirohito of World War II fame). Our president’s bow was not a mere nod of his head, it was a long 90 degree bow - more obsequious than polite. In fairness, perhaps Obama wasn’t bowing at all. Perhaps he saw a coin on the floor and wanted to bring at least something back from Asia to help America’s struggling economy.

CONCLUSION:

A person of Pollyanna persuasion could gave a pass to any one or so of the disappointments from President Obama mentioned in this blog. Some of these disappointments were expected, knowing the mindset of Mr. Obama and his party. However, it’s the continuing pattern of these things that concern me about the security of our United States. and our adherence to the traditional American and Constitutional Values, that have made the United States of America the greatest nation in the history of our planet.

TRAGEDY VS TERROR

I’m about up-to-here with “terrorism” being called “tragedy,” as well as other forms of political correctness” (PC) I won’t venture into here.

What’s tragedy? Some examples: an accidental plane crash that snuffs the life from 300 people, a hurricane that eliminates a town, an earthquake that buries people alive, loss of a child from disease. In other words accidents, and Acts of God, In a tragedy, there’s no premeditation, no political, social, or religious motivation involved.

What’s terrorism? Some examples: Timothy McVey blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City, the bombing of an abortion clinic, 9/11, and yes, the Muslim Major who apparently wounded 30, and killed fourteen innocent people at Ft. Hood on November 5, 2009. The media reports 13 dead. But it was really 14 innocents - because the unborn baby of a pregnant woman was killed along with his mother. In terrorism, someone made a plan (premeditation), a human being or beings executed the plan, and there was political, social, religious motivation, or some combination thereof.

Fact is, the distinction between tragedy and terrorism isn’t news. Educated people know the difference. So why does most media, and too many upper echelon politicians, persist in calling the terrorist attack at Ft. Hood what it isn’t? It’s weak-kneed political correctness (PC) aimed at a political agenda run amuck (this sentence is not politically correct). To fix something, we must admit what the something is.

Some political correctness is harmless, annoying as it may be. I really don’t care that stewardesses have been replaced by flight attendants, or that waiters and waitresses have morphed into “servers.” But I do care when political correctness hampers government, the FBI, and others from protecting our troops at Ft. Hood from a terrorist because he called himself a Muslim? What if terrorist been Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, or Mormon? Would authorities have investigated and taken proper action then? You know the answer. No need to elucidate.

A cursory trip through the Internet using the term “political correctness” is interesting. Apparently some PC started during World War I, when our government marketed “sauerkraut” as “Liberty Cabbage” to avoid Americans not buying the stuff because it had a German name.

More insidiously, there are several articles that trace PC to the Marxist-Leninist vocabulary in which “correct” means the correct “party line.” A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is quoted as tracing the ancestry of PC to the China’s Mao Tse-tung’s “Little Red Book.” To me, PC is in line with George Orwell’s Book “1984” and the term “Newspeak.” In a manner of speaking, the PC in play at Ft. Hood requires us to expunge reality for what some national politicians want to be true, whether it is true or not.

HALLOWEEN THIRTY-FOUR YEARS PAST

Halloween 1975. Remember it like yesterday. I was still active duty US Air Force, and stationed at March Air Force Base, California. One of my “additional duties” was to help assimilate Vietnamese refugees “adopted” by my squadron into the American culture.

These good people, who had escaped the Communist takeover of South Vietnam, didn’t understand the American banking system, and kept what little life savings they had accumulated and escaped with, hidden in their homes.

As one of the squadron sponsors of the Vietnamese refugees, I did my best to explain the safety of American banks (that was before the 2009 recession!), and how the bankers were trustworthy. Finally, they agreed to take their money to a bank and open a safe savings account. I drove them there. They were nervous about the entire situation.

I escorted the refugees into the bank, whereupon they were greeted by Mickey Mouse, and the teller was Bozo the Clown. It was Halloween, All the bank employees were in costume.

Try to imagine, if you can, the expressions on the faces of the refugees, as they entrusted their savings to Bozo the Clown. I tried to explain, but it wasn’t easy. That occasion in 1975 was likely my most memorable Halloween.

A TEACHER TO TEACHER TALK

I had the pleasure of talking “teacher to teacher” about Alaska teachers and schools with Alaska National Education (NEA) President Barb Angalak. Barb and I have both been classroom teachers, so it’s understandable we share many concerns in common, including appropriate funding of education, school working conditions, plus recruitment and retention of quality teachers. Both of us expressed a need to return to a “defined benefit” pension for teachers and other public employees.

I’m both a retired US Air Force person, and a retired public school teacher. I’ve “been there, done that.” My military and teaching careers were fulfilling, but I must admit there were frustrating times when, I might not have persevered until retirement in either career, without the security of future defined retirement benefits. That’s reality.

FIRE OPS 101

Good news! I have muscles I never knew I had. Bad news. I’m so sore I feel like the age I really am. Really, really good news! The Anchorage Fire Department is one of the best fire departments in the nation. I’m ready to join. But I admit. I couldn’t keep up. No way. No how.

Yesterday, my legislative assistant Dirk Moffatt and I participated in Fire Ops 101. As the title implies, the activity was an overview of what our Anchorage Fire Department does every day to protect us. Along with other policy makers, we did a first hand extraction of a victim from an automobile crash, went into a burning building, had an opportunity to climb a six story aerial ladder, and attended to a cardiac arrest victim from arrival on scene to the Regional Hospital ambulance garage entrance.

First of all, getting into the firefighter outfit was no small task - at least for me: heavy protective clothing, gloves, boots, air bottle pack, head hood, helmet, and goggles. All in all, about 75 pounds. Add that to the fat poundage I carry around every day, and you’ve got a heavy legislator.

During the extraction of the victim from the car, I got to use the “jaws of life” to pry the car door away from the frame, and to use an instrument to break the glass out of a car window (legally). The being-in-a burning-building experience gave us an opportunity to use a thermal imaging device that made it possible to see the fire through the smoke and darkness (without it, couldn’t see anything and it was spooky).

Yes I did climb the aerial ladder but, I must disclose, only about the first eight or nine steps. Taking my time, I could have gone all the way up - but we were on a fast schedule, and the fire department couldn’t wait thirty days for me to get all the way up the ladder. But I did get a ride in the ladder bucket to the top of the aerial ladder. It’s a great view - and only scary when you look down.

There’s much talk about the need for health insurance. But let me tell you this. The Anchorage Fire Department is some of the most outstanding “health insurance” you’ll ever get!

REFUELING MISSION

Went on an Alaska Air National Guard refueling mission yesterday from Elmendorf AFB to the skies nearby Sparrevohn, Alaska. Our KC135 refueled a C17 transport plane. Got to perch down next to the boomer to watch him fly the refueling boom to the C17. This is socially acceptable passing of gas.

THE RACE CARD

Taking a public position on health insurance, the propriety of the government bailouts, the American military situation in Afghanistan (or for that matter, Vietnam), or any other issue, is free speech protected by the First Amendment. I have a right to disagree with you. You have a right to disagree with me. But what in the “you-know-what” does race have to do with anything? Huh? How dumb is injecting race into debates? Very.

Dumb is one thing. But if someone plays the race card on an issue, when they know better, that’s not dumb. It’s political cunning. It’s an insult to intelligence. And it’s despicable. It matters not if the race card is played by a former president, or any other big shot.