Wednesday, March 30, 2011

On My Mind, On A Wednesday

During my drive home from work today, I heard a report on the radio that caught my attention. The report was about regrets. I decided to look for a link about this story when I got home.

“Lost love tops list of most common regrets study reveals,” says the Toronto Star, which is one of the choices I had when I did a Google search for “regrets survey.” Fox News and MyFoxAtlanta offered links too, but we all know that Fox News lies and has an agenda, so I decided against them.

Funny, those Canadians are rumored to have such a good health care system, if you believe the liberal talking points. But the grammar in this headline, offered by a Canadian newspaper? I’m just ‘sayin…

The report discussed that certain things fall into certain categories of certain types of people. You know, polling data.

This is the same stuff they do to study the political climate, except this was about life, personally. Not that politics isn’t personal, but participating in political polling is just not the same as participating in a poll that says, “I regret thus and such and this and that,” knowing that if you’re female, you’re going to be told that you’re more likely to regret this, and that if you’re male, then you’re more likely to regret that.

So I thought about regret. I thought about the fact that I used to believe that I was regretful about some things in life, and that in my recent days I have learned how to live with less... and perhaps without, regret.

It is difficult to not regret some things, but I believe it is one of life’s great achievements to learn how not to regret, but instead to learn and grow from any experience.

Amyway… I got home and turned the boob-tube on, and flipped to that network where all they do is yell at their guests and make stuff up. That network was discussing some very interesting topics that really matter to good people, but I figured the stories must be lies, because again, this was Fox News Channel I was watching.

For example; Michelle Malkin reported tonight on Hannity about the fact that, according to the information provided by her syndicated columnand her blog, “Buried in Barack Obama's failed trillion-dollar stimulus program was a $10 million bloody border racket that has now cost American lives.”

She was talking about the fact that both parties of our government have known about, and actively participated in, the process of weapons being illegally transported across our border.

“Like so many border programs run amok, Project Gunrunner was the spawn of Beltway bipartisanship,” Malkin offers as she opens her column.

“It was established in 2005 as a pilot project under the Bush administration and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The intended goal of the program's sting operations: stop illicit firearms trafficking along the Southwest border through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases and coordinated intervention with Mexico. The deadly result: federally sanctioned gunwalking of high-powered weapons from U.S. officials right into the hands of drug cartel killers.”

Yes, that’s right. A Fox News guest openly discussing a disaster of political policy, and that disaster started under the Bush administration.

Remember, this is the network that Media Matters (an educational institution that certainly deserves its 501(c)(3) tax status) has openly accused of being “the de facto leader of the GOP.”But wait a minute… Bush was a Republican. Now I am confused…

Another fascinating discussion offered up on the network of choice amongst mean old white people who don’t want to give up their hold on power (at least that’s what I hear in the Huffington Post comments section all the time, and it seems The Village Voice concurs to some degree) was about Planned Parenthood.

It seems Planned Parenthood does not offer mammograms, yet they are receiving taxpayer dollars to be “The nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate.”

Hmm. I don’t think that’s right. Why should tax dollars to an organization that claims to be (at the risk of being redundant) “The nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate” if that organization does not provide one of the most important – (as in critical to womens’ health) reproductive health care services that exists?

America needs to cut spending, and if our tax dollars are going to continue to go to organizations that openly deceive the public as much as Planned Parenthood, we’re screwed.

This to me is not even an abortion issue; I am pro-life, but I don’t believe in making abortion illegal. I believe back-alley abortions will always exist, even if the procedure is outlawed, and that’s a worse option than having abortion remain legal.

The issue at hand is health, and life, and Planned Parenthood is deceitful as it claims to be about either.

And on the subject of health – as in health care and the health of America - Obamacare may just have been the real medicine America needed, but only a few of us saw it for what is really has turned out to be.

Now it is time for America to know the truth. We must fight the mainstream media with all of our might, because they bring horrendous misinformation, or just a complete lack of information, each an every night to your dinner table, or with your morning cup of coffee.

America’s health care system does need an overhaul, but over 2000 pages of legalese and billions of dollars hidden in ways to guarantee funding of a policy that is doing more harm than good?

The Democrats worked the system in shady ways to get the bill passed, and the media played along. Now we have hundreds of organizations, including some of President Obama’s biggest supporters (like SEIU), receiving waivers and not being forced to participate.

Isn’t that special…?

The Donald – Donald Trump says he is considering a run for The Presidency.

Trump is trying to play the “Birther” card, and it’s going to backfire on him. He has been on a few networks now, and on The View, and discussed the Obama birth certificate issue, and he risks it blowing up in his face.

I don’t care where he really stands on the issue, but this is an issue a smart politician does not want to interject into the debate, if he is a considering a serious run at The Presidency. I could run against Trump and win, if he doesn’t shut up quickly about that non-starter.

I must say, however, that if he were to shut up about the birth certificate and talk about policy, that while he might not be elected President he certainly can bring some good ideas to the discussion.

Trump has run a very successful business, lost his way and made some very bad decisions, and recovered. Sound familiar, with need for the recovery to make the story complete?

Earlier I mentioned that survey I heard about on the radio, and I mentioned how personal the survey was, as compared to politics. Well, lately politics has become very personal. The hyper-partisan rhetoric surrounding the Libya “kinetic military action” is astounding.

Many people, including me, believed that America's decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power was the correct decision. The truth is out there – Congress largely supported the decision, including many Democrats who later lied about their own position, and with the help of the media those same Democrats have been able to get away with those lies.

Meanwhile, they have said that George W. Bush lied, which is simply not the case. All the information, provided to all leaders foreign and American, said that Hussein had WMD’s in the lead up to the Iraqi invasion.

Anyway – today we have a man in office who clearly sees himself as special. I mean, what are we to think, when he has acted in exactly the same manner he once deemed unjust, and his now-VP said was worthy of impeachment?

President Bush formed a coalition in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. This coalition was larger than that of President Obama, regardless of the current media’s lack of ability to report that as fact.

Bush went before Congress and requested funding for his actions; Obama? Not so much.

President Obama did not lead, and has not led, for even one moment of the Libya “kinetic military action.”

Oh, by the way… the same lawyer who helped George W. Bush work-around the legal mess related to water boarding? He supports Obama’s invasion into Libya.

President Obama has stood on his heels and allowed others to make decisions, in the effort to “not offend” the world with America's media-created “bossiness,” or “meanness,” or whatever it is that liberal Americans are so afraid of.

America is a leader when American is led by leaders, and we are lacking a leader. We have a man with a handsome face who gives a good speech, when reading from his script. He has a set of policies that are hell-bent on destroying everything that I know America's founding to be.

So as I am able to, in hindsight, question the decisions I believed were correct, I am being told I am a partisan.

I am partisan, I’m told by those on the left, because as I examine my previous views and opinions and apply my findings to the current situation, I don’t like any of what I see this President doing. Must be the color of his skin, I am told, or the fact that I just hate him because he is a Democrat.

Actually, not so much.

Truth is I find this President’s actions eerily similar to actions taken by the Republican in office eight years ago. There’s a different presentation to the activities, but all in all the situation is looking less like the kind of thing America needs to be doing, and more like the kind of thing America has become caught up in doing, because we are the only nation that will.

Well, perhaps it is time America stop doing it all, for the entire world.

American Exceptionalism is not about using our military clout to spread liberty around the world; American Exceptionalism is about being exceptional in our liberty, and setting an example that all the world should want to follow.

America has lacked leadership for a long time. Some of the men we have elected to office have been good moral men, others not so much. Some have left office and become much more statesman-like than we ever expected, and others have become seen as gentlemen once they left office, much more clearly than they were ever given credit for having been, while they served.

What America needs more than anything right now is someone who will stand up and tell the world that we are going to take care of ourselves and to stay off our lawn. And should anyone mess with us? Strike, we shall, with the fury of the rattlesnake on the Gadsden.

7 comments:

Teresa said...

Great post, Sol!

The only thing I disagree with you on is that in my opinion Bush was different than Obama. I honestly don't know whether Obama lives by any kind of moral compass or not. I agree with Bill Maher when he stated that he believes Obama to be a secular humanist, just like his mother was. Bush was an ethical and moral man with flaws.

I am proud to be called a partisan by the Left because it means that we're doing something right.

Soloman said...

Teresa -

You and I do not disagree so much about Bush, in the sense than I too believe Bush was and is "an ethical and moral man with flaws," as you said. I concur.

Obama, on the other hand? I am not so sure.

I see indicators that make me want to believe he has morals, but then I see actions, and I see who he surrounds himself with, and I just can't believe anyone with morals would act as he does.

His position regarding Israel pretty much sums it all up for me, when it comes down to it. How anyone can say Israel is in the wrong, given what they literally put up with by their neighbors? Beyond comprehension.

In an effort to do the right thing, W. made mistakes. That's okay.

My issue with both Bush and Obama, and many other presidents before them, is that the founders believed America should not invade other nations by force in order to offer the world the possibility of individual liberty. That is a progressive concept, which is one reason why Bush was, although a Republican, somewhat progressive.

Additionally, in both cases we (America) faced no imminent danger. While it is true that both nations were under tyrannical rule, many nations have situations far worse than Iraq or Libya, yet for whatever reason these men decided these nations deserved our attention at that level.

My question than becomes, "Why?" Who gives is the moral authority to decide that a nation is in such a place that we are supposed to now be their caretaker of sorts?

This is the "lesson" many liberals - the honest ones, not the hyper-partisans - wanted America to learn from the Bush years. I believe I did learn that lesson and have somewhat refined my political beliefs accordingly, to be more in line with a true "Constitutionalist" perspective.

The more time passes since the George W. Bush presidency, the more I see that he is very much like his father. Both are good men, but both were much more big-government "Republican Party" men than conservatives guided by the Founders' principles.

Teresa said...

Sol -

The only thing I disagree with you on is when you said that George W. Bush is very much like his father. In my opinion W is more conservative in some ways but also like his father in other ways. Don't get me wrong it is obvious that His father played an important role in his life and influenced him but some of his political views are more conservative than his father's in my opinion. George W. Bush's immigration policy irked me the most. I don't think he would have sued a state like Obama & Co. are doing.

I have looked at things more critically also since Bush left office. I have researched the Patriot Act and found it to be unconstitutional and gives too much power over to the government, invades our privacy, and takes away some of our liberties. The Patriot Act either needs to be repealed or revised greatly. I am pretty sure that I differ from you on Iraq though, and I give an explanation as to why in my latest post.

Fuzzy Slippers said...

Great post, Sol. One thing that I'm not sure about, though, is the Trump/"birther" issue. The thing is that we've been conditioned by leftists to run for the hills if anything about BO's birth certificate is mentioned. We're performing seals on the issue. We clap on cue when someone shrieks "down with birthers"--that bugs me. I don't like being manipulated. It's a thing.

Here's how I see it: Trump is being not only smart but rather savvy in this issue. When he released his "fake" birth certificate, I made the rounds of the leftist sites (Slate, Kos, etc.), and I was giggling and laughing and roaring as I read leftist loon after leftist loon not only call into question the document Trump's office had released but what that said about him, his citizenship, etc. It was freaking hysterical. Not sure if it was planned, but I can tell you this, leftist hypocrisy on the topic of eligibility was blatant. And of course, the only thing missing was any self-awareness at all. Trump's offered a fake birth certificate, they cackled: what's he hiding, they demanded. And all without any obvious understanding of the validity not only of their own questions but of the same ones about BO's birth certificate and other records.

The "birther" thing is a joke, played on the right to silence them. Period. And Trump has, either intentionally or not, revealed that once and for all.

Personally, I do believe that BO is a U. S. citizen, but I suspect that he probably defrauded the federal government in applying for student loans/grants/aid. I think it's far more likely that he rode the gravy train to government handouts that he really wasn't eligible for. One thing is certain, he's hiding something. Or many somethings. It's just too weird that he won't release his long-form, his college transcripts/records, or really anything at all. And that he's spent literally millions hiding this info. How do you get to be editor of the Harvard Law Review without ever once, ever, publishing a single article or presented a paper/scholarship at a conference? That's not how academia works. There's a there there.

Teresa said...

Bravo Fuzzy!

A certificate of live birth is different from a long-form birth certificate. If I am required to show my long-form birth certificate to register my car in a different state (they wouldn't accept my certificate of live birth) then every candidate for President should be required to release their long-form birth certificate to prove that they were born in the United States. That's my position on the issue.

Soloman said...

Hey Fuzzy..

I can't say I follow political folly near as closely as I used to, so I didn't know Trump was doing his own birth certificate release, of sorts.

Hypocrisy on the left, though? Who'd have thunk that?

I would ask that you consider this, in your consideration of Trumps "accomplishments" regarding the "birther" issue -

You know what you know - all that information that you described to me in this comment - because you follow this sort of thing, as you yourself described. As I mentioned, I follow politics much less intensely than I have in the past. However, I still follow more and know more than your average voter. With that I am sure you can agree. Yet I knew nothing of whatever Trump has done, with respect to a release of his own “fake” birth certificate, and I actually pay attention to information sources that might bring that kind of story to light.

The average voter watches Katie Couric or Brian Williams, and those two (or any of the Sunday shows) will never report about how hypocritical the leftists are. They might, at best, offer up that Trump is a “Birther,” though, and therefore to the general public (again because of what they’re fed by the MSM) Trump is a fringe lunatic at best. And it’s not like there’s any dissenting point of view on “The View,” where Whoopi and Behar think Trump is a racist for even suggesting the possibility that Obama might have some hidden information about his past. Poor Elizabeth Hasselbeck can’t get a word in edgewise for the most part, and she’s certainly not confrontational enough or given enough of an opportunity to counter-point the leftist slant there. And have you checked the front page of msn.com or yahoo.com lately? Not likely to find much insight there; likely just more “Trump is a Birther” fodder.

Even O’Reilly (the most watched hour on the only right-leaning cable news network) during his three night Trump extravaganza, didn’t get into all of what you described.

A final thought – tonight I heard Brit Hume make a statement that I consider very valid. He said that Republicans don’t want their candidate to be the issue this election; they want Obama to be the issue.

I agree. I would add that this automatically releases Bachmann, Trump, Gingrich, and Palin from their desire to run, because they will each certainly be made into more of an issue by the MSM than anything we honest brokers know Obama is really all about.

And that, my friend, is what really matters. Of course it's important to you that you see the progs’ hypocrisy, but you are the rare, well informed person who pays attention. And of course we want a President that most closely represents our values, but we must accept that the MSM is bound to screw with the election, so we need someone who flies a bit below the radar yet can accomplish the mission.

Fuzzy Slippers said...

And that, my friend, is the biggest load of surrender I've ever read. It saddens me immensely that you are essentially throwing up your hands and giving up on America.