| | The Science of Stupidity
Making Sense, by Michael Reagan
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently told Al Jazeera English that President Obama “wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with the dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science… and math and engineering.” After hearing this statement, my deepest fears about the dangerous priorities being put forth by this administration were confirmed.
Could someone please explain to the hard-working men and women of NASA, or, even more importantly to us as taxpayers who fund the agency, why the leader of that organization is being asked to essentially serve as a diplomat? Why such a foolish edict to a leader who is already facing severe budget cuts at his agency and is being continuously challenged on the viability and affordability of the space mission? Where in NASA’s mission statement does it discuss the role of the agency in making nations "feel good"?
With such an egregious misuse of resources, personnel and priorities, I hardly know where to start.
Now this is not to say that the United States should not engage in efforts to improve the usually rocky relations we share with so many nations in the Middle East. Doing so can build a level of trust and a greater understanding of our diverse cultures. But that is a job for the U.S. State Department, not an agency dedicated to space exploration.
So what does this tell us? First, it reveals an administration that is unable or unwilling to focus its personnel and resources on their respective jobs at hand. This is a time when our federal government should be trying to do more with less through greater efficiency and accountability, not foolish duplication and misdirection of our available assets. Asking an administration that should be focused on travel to Mars to try to bridge the divide between our nation and the Muslim population of the world is not only ignorant, it is a dangerous abuse of the nation's resources.
Second, this story is also going to fuel the rumors that abound when it comes to the President and affinity for and preferential treatment of the Islamic world -- a potentially hazardous approach when considering our own security and that of our key allies, such as Israel.
Right now, Americans want policy approaches that get our economy back on track and put more Americans to work, cut out the massive spending spree in which our government is engaged, and ensure the safety of our national security interests at home and abroad. Asking NASA to step into foreign relations simply does not fit into this package of priorities, and the president will surely pay the price at the polls when his time comes.
America’s space program has led to some of the most dramatic moments in American history. From the first orbit around the earth, the lunar landings, development of an amazing shuttle fleet and even the tragedies that have unfortunately befallen our brave men and women, NASA has pushed the bounds of who we are and who we can be. As an agency and as explorers, NASA has helped shape the America of today. It is not, however, the agency that should be tasked shaping the Middle East of tomorrow.
Mr. President, this is not rocket science.
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The Bitter Fruit of ObamaCare
By Floyd and Mary Beth Brown
Get ready for your life to change. The so-called benefits of ObamaCare don't start until 2014, but the tax increases, misallocated resources and federal regulations start now.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said the night of ObamCare's passage, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it …” The emerging picture is frightening.
ObamaCare dramatically alters the already-overregulated health insurance market. The federal government will now manage your health care decisions. The law creates a maze of mandates, federal directives, price controls, tax increases and subsidies.
We all begin paying ObamaCare taxes this year. The law includes at last count at least 19 new taxes. As Americans begin to reap the personal financial burden of Obamacare, the movement to repeal it is mounting.
Individuals must pay an annual penalty of $695, or up to 2.5 percent of their annual income, if they don't purchase an approved health insurance plan. Penalties on families include an annual penalty of $347 per child, up to $2,250 per family, if parents don't purchase an approved policy.
Most of us have heard about the penalties on employers. Business owners must buy a government -approved health plan or pay a penalty of $2,000 per employee if they have 50 employees or more.
Investors get whacked hard. ObamaCare imposes a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for individuals making $200,000 or more and on families making $250,000 or more. The investment tax is not indexed for inflation, so as time passes more people will be expected to pay. Seniors on fixed incomes and pensioners with IRAs and 401(k) plans will be hit hard.
The so-called "Tax on 'Cadillac' health plans" imposes a 40 percent tax on health care plans valued at $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families.
Medicare taxes are climbing up, too. The bill requires single people earning $200,000 or more and couples earning $250,000 or more to pay an additional 0.9 percent in Medicare taxes.
Thinking about downsizing or buying a new home? There are new taxes on home sales tacked on the bill. ObamaCare imposes a 3.8 percent tax on home sales and other real estate transactions. Almost every homeowner qualifies as “rich” for one day, the day they sell their house.
Taxes on medical devices will also be going up to 2.9 percent under ObamaCare.
And we can't forget the new 10 percent tax on tanning.
ObamaCare empowers the IRS for enforcement. The IRS is hiring 16,500 new enforcement officials. The IRS will confiscate tax refunds, place liens on property and seek jail time if healthcare penalties and taxes are not paid.
But don't despair. As of July 14,130 members of Congress have signed a discharge petition that will force Nancy Pelosi to hold a straight up-or-down vote on HR 4972, a bill, proposed by Congressman Steve King, that repeals ObamaCare
In plain language, that means that the repeal of ObamaCare is actually within our grasp. Congressman King is upbeat, saying: "I am optimistic that we will be able to attract the 218 signatures we will need to force a vote on repealing ObamaCare. ... Signatures on the discharge petition have come more quickly than I had expected."
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|  A Summer of Discontent
Making Sense, by Michael Reagan
President Obama has had a rather challenging start to the Summer of 2010: Gen. McChrystal’s remarks to Rolling Stone magazine and the resulting shift of NATO control in Afghanistan to Gen. Petraeus; the continuation of the high-profile and painful BP oil spill; the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination hearings; and the move by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to enact strict immigration control policies within her overwhelmed state.
In it all, the president has had the opportunity to step up and re-assert himself after a bad few months for him politically. And in part, he was able to do just that. His pick of Gen. Petraeus to step in for Gen. McChrystal was the smart move from a political and military perspective; however, it opened a wound within his party that he will most assuredly face in December when the issue of our Afghanistan policy is once again debated.
Gen, Petraeus would not publicly commit to the merits of a July 2011 timeline as many Democrats have been demanding. The administration knew that the general would sail through his nomination and it could not have gone much better than it did -- 99-0! However, they merely tabled the debate that will come later this year when the likes of MoveOn.Org, Senators Durbin, Schumer and Reid, and Speaker Pelosi once again make their demands for withdrawal public. And this time they will be able to fight that fight without the threat of looming mid-term elections -- possibly putting the president on the defensive as he turns his attention to his own re-election effort.
The BP oil spill continues to weigh as an anchor that will not release itself from the hull of this administration any time soon. We are more than 70 days into the spill, and oil continues to flow into the gulf at an alarming rate – and, unfortunately for the president, this flow is continually televised in a manner that rightfully stokes the ire of Americans who cannot understand why the federal government and BP cannot get things right. All the while, too many hard working Americans on our Gulf Coast are losing money, and potentially their professional industries, in the process.
While it appears that Elena Kagan will become the next United States Supreme Court Justice -- filling the vacancy left by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens -- Republican Senators appeared to be emboldened by her lack of a judicial record and achievements and have homed in on a period during her tenure as the Dean of Harvard’s prestigious law school where she refused to allow the military to recruit on campus. Such an argument, while seemingly not enough to derail her nomination, will feed the firestorm already brewing around the country around the president’s patriotism and reverence to the military.
Lastly, we have seen a governor in a western state who has taken matters into her own hands when it comes to the out-of-control flow of illegal immigration. Today, Phoenix has a higher kidnapping rate than Kabul, Afghanistan, and the federal government continues to do nothing about it…except threaten to take court action against the Arizona law. Americans are fed up and, rather than take action to defend our border and our nation, this administration talks about amnesty rather than security.
This summer is heating up for President Obama, but not in a way he has envisioned. He has much work ahead to try and right the ship before it is his turn to ask the voters for a second term. And right now, his fate is far less certain than many pundits were predicting just last summer.
An Administration Adrift
Making Sense, by Michael Reagan
As we pass the 50-day mark of the terrible oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it seems like the more things change the more they stay the same.
As I have previously discussed, sometimes terrible tragedies occur for which even the most diligent administrations cannot prepare. While it can and should be properly debated whether this tragedy is one of those events, our collective priority must be the well-being of our ecosystem and the many Gulf Coast residents who are being impacted. We must also continue to keep the family members of those lost during the initial accident in our thoughts and prayers.
But today we must also explore the attitude and focus of the Obama administration as this terrible tragedy unfolds -- seemingly around them.
What President Obama must learn is that his job is more than chief executive -- it is also chief communicator. And on that side of the equation, his administration has failed terribly, always seeming to play catch-up when it comes to the unfolding Gulf narrative. At times the president has seemed distant and even disinterested -- publicly partying with musicians or welcoming victorious basketball squads to the White House. He has seems oblivious to the fact that many of the cable networks carry his appearances alongside a live box of oil flowing from an underground pipe -- poisoning our environment each passing moment he addresses another subject.
In a purely defensive posture, the president has tried to counter such criticisms by saying that he is not in the business of the “theater” but rather the business of leading on behalf of the people. And in a perfect world he would be right. But this is reality -- a reality the president himself came to just a few days later when he used his pre-planned zinger about finding the right asses to kick in order to hold people accountable on the spill.
Simply put, the administration is trying everything it can think of to get its arms around this issue. At times, they seem just as concerned with trying to stop the leak of public opinion as trying to figure out a way to stop the Gulf leak from spewing oil.
With poll after poll showing that the public feels that both the administration and BP are equally at fault in not doing enough to get this disaster under control, the Obama presidency finds itself staring at further erosion of the support of a nation that overwhelmingly supported their change agenda. If they don’t resolve this matter by figuring out how the get this leak under control, clean up the habitat and protect Gulf residents from further harm, they may find themselves looking at the kind of political changes reserved for one-term presidencies.
For the good of our nation, especially our neighbors down south, and for his own political viability, President Obama better find a plan and a message that puts an end to a tragedy that is running 24/7 on cable news.
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2WakeUp
...Your federal, state and local representatives is a very easy process and can be done right here in just a few minutes. On the left side of this page are links to your representatives no matter where you live in the USA. When you click on the federal, state or local link you will be guided to the site that will give you address, email and telephone for your representative at what ever level you click. It takes but a moment and you will be contributing to the future of your country. Remember, when you vote for a person to fill a political position no matter what level, that person is a public servant and you are the public. You pay their salary and they are obligated to listen to you. If any person is voted into office today, any office, they believe that you agree with their policy and they go forward with their agenda. The reason they assume this is that you do nothing after voting them into office. Every week you stop at the water cooler to talk about the politician that you do not agree with but never speak to the person. It is time for all of us to step up to the plate - to walk the walk and write or email, not once but once a week. One of the most pressing bills before your legislators today has to do with immigration and if you do not take a stand and be heard now there will be amnesty for millions of illegals and millions more will cross our borders knowing that nothing will ever be done to stop them or to return them to their native country. It can not be that difficult to take time to be a part of this countries future, your future,and the future of you children or grandchildren.
Patrick Gillespie 10 March 2005
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Politics as Usual, Exponential Factor Four
Raging Moderate, by Will Durst
In an age of relentless change, it’s heartening to be able to count on a few simple things. Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann ranting and raving one pulse short of an aneurism. Water flowing downhill. Congress holding hearings whose only point is to express the indignant depths of their public outrage even though our chances of learning anything is less likely than the North Korean Minister of Medicine going on Oprah to talk about Kim Jong Il’s spider phobia. Its all good.
The spectacle of politics as usual is as reassuring as a warm, Vaseline-lined bathrobe. It’s comforting to be reminded every now and then that no matter how urgent the crisis facing the American people, our politicians can and will find ample time to grandstand even if their self-righteous preening cancels out the eensiest possibility of actual progress. Can’t wait for them to replace the gavel at these things with a hand-held mirror.
Take the recent seven-hour theatrical farce featuring Tony Hayward. Please. Strictly following the prescribed testimony demanded of these august tribunals, British Petroleum’s CEO stuck to the script and adopted the role of a character afflicted with a severe case of selective amnesia. The man didn’t know anything. Including which industry he was in or how to wipe that priggy smirk off his face.
Hayward’s disingenuousness was so complete he actually might have put himself in jeopardy of being charged with impersonating a Congressman. The deceit, the whole deceit, and nothing but deceit. His ability to be so utterly elusive, evasive and impossible to pin down could lead to a career filling in for the Roadrunner in future Looney Tunes cartoons.
Not to mention that grilling him on technical questions was predestined to be as fruitless as Antarctica in July. As CEO of a huge corporation, he’s got lackeys and minions and stooges and toadies for the heavy lifting of knowing stuff. Mr. Hayward’s job is to massage shareholders and pose for the cover of yearly financial reports, and in times of trouble act as designated fire hydrant to packs of media-hungry dogs. Or cartoon coyotes posing as concerned Congressmen.
This televised dramaturgy wasn’t ever about answers. This was pure stagecraft. Congressional hearings are to hypocrisy what green felt is to pool tables. Especially the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Which is code for the Big Oil Boys. The same politicians who receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions every year from the very people they’re supposedly regulating. Foxes, hen houses and flying feathers spring to mind.
The only person briefly maintaining a semblance of integrity was Rep. Joe Barton, R- Exxon-Mobil, who opened the proceedings by apologizing to BP for what he called a White House “shakedown.” At least this guy knows who his friends are. The very definition of an honest politician: one who stays bought.
But buyee’s remorse prevailed. Mere hours later, after a quiet tête-à-tête with the biggest dogs in the Republican Party, Barton emerged to call another press conference where he retracted his apology. That’s right. He apologized for his apology. For which we should apologize. Reportedly, the wolves threatened his committee seniority. And so he caved. And covered his comfortable butt. Reverted to form. Back to the normal scheme of things. Politics as usual, exponential factor four. Ain't it grand? |
 Look at Our Yellow Ribbons
Edith Shain was 91 years old when she died peacefully last week in her home in Los Angeles. You knew her as the woman in the iconic black and white photo of a jubilant soldier kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. The snapshot tells an American tale of a war ending and an entire generation of people coupling up - creating the suburbs, a solid middle-class and a stupendous baby boom.
What strikes me about the photo is that they really knew how to end wars back then. For example: they used to end wars...back then. There was a global conflict followed by a resolution. Beginning. Middle. End. Done. Birthrate skyrockets.
Now we have two never-ending wars and Cialis commercials on an eternal loop. How far we’ve come.
The U.S. decided to invade Afghanistan after September 11th in 2001. As troops were being mobilized, Americans preemptively bought yellow ribbons to show support for the mission and the troops. Yellow ribbons also appeared in 1979 during the Iran Hostage Crisis and again in 1991 for the troops in Operation Desert Storm. Then ten years later they were back, displayed for all to see: tied to trees, flagpoles, telephone poles and every pole in between. Our nation was awash in American flags and yellow ribbons. “These colors don’t run!”
The other day I saw a yellow ribbon stuck in a chain link fence. The ribbon was tattered, frayed and sun-faded. The war in Afghanistan is so long it has outlasted the material of the ribbons initially supporting the effort. An original ribbon from this current war is now an antique.
About five years into the conflict yellow ribbon car magnets became a big trend. During that time I was traveling all over the country, and in every pocket of the U.S. were cars, trucks and SUVs with magnets showing support for what had become not one, but two wars. Yellow ribbons were ubiquitous. And then gradually the magnets starting disappearing until they were gone. Individually - one by one – in private, with no fanfare and no media coverage - Americans removed their patriotic yellow ribbon magnets from their vehicles. You don’t see them anymore. Apparently something as temporary as a magnet shaped like a ribbon is not the proper symbol for the war we are actually waging.
With all the red-baiting and pundit-driven fear of the U.S. becoming a communist country because we no longer let health insurance companies deny coverage to sick children, we’ve lost sight of an important fact: the Soviet Union – communists – lost their collective red shirts in Afghanistan. The perils of fighting a determined local force whose idea of infrastructure is a bridge to the sixth century proved too enormous for the last super power that fought there.
In fact, Afghanistan is an empire graveyard. It has been for millennia. How about this for a foreign policy: don’t invade a place where the last successful incursion was led by Genghis Khan.
Last week a Rolling Stone article about the war in Afghanistan resulted in the retirement of General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan. The media attention focused on the personnel issue in the chain of command. What was skipped over was the passage about the COIN (acronym for counter-insurgency) doctrine created by McChrystal’s replacement, General David Petraeus. “The COIN doctrine, bizarrely, draws inspiration from some of the biggest Western military embarrassments in recent memory: France's nasty war in Algeria (lost in 1962) and the American misadventure in Vietnam (lost in 1975),” wrote reporter Michael Hastings.
That’s right. We are looking at past mistakes and incorporating them into our current conflict - which is like gathering a bunch of defective parts, putting them into your new car and being surprised by the outcome.
So far the war in Afghanistan has cost the U.S. $300 billion. It’s already the longest war America has ever fought. The date President Obama gave for the start of withdrawal is July 2011. The war hawks argue this is too soon. |
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