More Shootings, Obamacare Round 2 & the UN

The Navy Yard Shooter & Kenyan Mall Terrorists

Another case (besides Snowden) of a poorly screened contractor -- or military officer like Maj. Hassan & the WikiLeaks leaker-- with clearance he shouldn’t have had.  The Navy Yard shooter (I won’t honor him with a name) reported hearing voices, showed gun violence on multiple occasions with no prosecutions.  Oh, and an Obama supporter -- not a Right wing nut.  Of course several in the liberal media jumped right to the gun issue, even inaccurately reporting he used an AR-15.  No, he used the very weapon that Joe Biden recommended people have at home – a shotgun.  And with that he took the handgun of a security officer.  Of course the Boston bombers were also poorly screened by the FBI after tips from the Russians, etc. – more political correctness run amok?

So again, according to them, it’s the gun laws – now they want to take our shotguns?  Why is it never the screening of mentally deficients (another case of going light on someone like Trayvon or Maj. Hassan out of political correctness?), or the arming of citizens or military personnel to better defend themselves?  Or the violent video games that put even more crazy ideas into the heads of crazies?  Or the liberal tendency to demonize or demean the military (or conservatives) and to glorify any “whistleblowers,” giving more justification for crazies?  At our quarterly CEO report last week, our CEO sadly felt she needed to remind us that the obligation to keep national secrets is not open to personal interpretation.  But apparently many liberals/progressives dispute that.  And they complain of Tea Party “anarchy?” (see Reid’s comments below)

I did hear a legitimate report of a former British military man who was in the Nairobi mall this week when the terrorists began shooting innocent Christian women & children shoppers.  He had only a handgun, but apparently with only that did quite a bit, and is credited with giving some 100 shoppers the chance to run for their lives rather than be slaughtered.  He apparently re-entered the mall more than once to help more people.  Oh, those brave terrorists, slaughtering unarmed women and children.  And all in the name of God.  If that isn’t taking the name of God in vain, I don’t know what is.  And Muslims complain of being persecuted or profiled?  When dozens of Christian churches are being burned in Egypt & Pakistan, etc., and many Christians in Africa being slaughtered?  But our brave media doesn’t like to report that.  No, they’d just as soon join in anti-Christian rhetoric right here in America.  And kiss up to the holocaust deniers (yes, Christiana Amanpour, I’m talking about you).  Two of a kind.

The Debt Ceiling & Obamacare

Obama says he won’t negotiate with Congressional Republicans on the debt ceiling, calling it “extortion.”  But he’s more than happy to negotiate with Putin & Assad on chemical weapons – and that’s not extortion?  He told a friendly audience, “They’re messing with me.”  Which makes it personal, and by what’s often already been said, and now understood without being so explicit, that’s code for racism.  Or partisanship – as if there was none of that when liberals constantly attacked Bush.  But the Dems want to have their cake &

eat it, too -- both more debt & Obamacare, and those Republicans are evil for even thinking about messing with either.   

Dems keep harping on “it’s [Obamacare] the law of the land.”  Big deal – it isn’t the first time bad laws have been passed and it was later recognized they needed to be repealed:  slavery, suffrage, prohibition, ....  And we all know what Obama thinks of the laws of the land like immigration enforcement, implementing even Obamacare as written (instead of applying it to everyone, he’s given delays to certain businesses, exemptions for members of Congress, ...), etc.

As to the House bill funding the government except Obamacare, the Constitution gives the House the power of the purse as a check & balance on an overreaching executive.  Perfectly within their power. 

Poor baby Obama screams bloody murder that this is unprecedented and the end of the world if government shuts down due to an impasse with those dirty Republicans insisting on defunding Obamacare.  The Washington Post gave that 4 Pinnochios.  There are some 20 examples back to Eisenhower, and the nation survived.  Why Obama himself, as senator, voted to defund the government to defund the war. 

Too often (just last week in the gym – I lost my patience) I hear the claim that the GOP has no plans or proposals to replace Obamacare.  Certainly none the Dems or media want to acknowledge or publicize – they want people to think that Obamacare is the only alternative to the previous status quo.  I’ve heard of a number without even trying – private exchanges, excising particularly bad parts of Obamacare, private health accounts, Medicare reform, etc., etc.  But no, it’s all or nothing for them – despite all their talk about Republicans never wanting to compromise.  And despite the increasingly overwhelming evidence that Obamacare is hurting the economy, job market, medical profession, quality & quantity of health care, costs of health care, choices, etc.  When selling Obamacare, Obama was touting the Cleveland Clinic as a poster child for Obamacare.  Only this week the clinic was forced to slash its budget and lay off hundreds. 

Speaking of the media’s complicity, here’s a report found online:

“Sixteen hours after he first stood up on the Senate floor to speak out against Obamacare—and vowed to keep speaking as long as he could stand—Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas took a moment to reprimand reporters for covering the debate over Obamacare as something that was primarily about politics and personalities rather than about the future of the country.

“I am going to suggest that is not responsible reporting,” said Cruz.

“I am going to make a request directly to those reporting” on the debate over Obamcare “to endeavor to have at least half of what you say be focused on the actual substance of this debate,” Cruz said shortly before 7:00 a.m Eastern time, and shortly after briefly yielding the floor to Sen. Marco Rubio (R.-Fla.).

Read more at http://patriotupdate.com/2013/09/cruz-press-responsible-reporting/#omtGeLUVzYc1tfFR.99

Harry Reid has the audacity to call Cruz’ 21 hour filibuster “anarchy”?  What about the result of economic collapse which is what the Dem policies are heading us into?  Of course Reid is incapable of understanding the fine nuance between limited government and no government.  Either that or he’s just prone to hyperbole in order to continue to grow government that we can no longer afford.  He also said he didn’t learn a thing from Cruz – I doubt he’s ever learned a thing besides his liberal party line – forget about the majority of Americans now against Obamacare, and unions and other former locksteppers breaking ranks.  Reid et al will pay the price when it becomes even more obvious what a disaster it is, if/when it’s fully implemented.

Besides giving a good airing to the problems with Obamacare (doing the job of the media), Cruz apparently read from Ayn Rand, the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (pledged their lives & fortunes, and many lived up to it), and Dr. Suess (for his girls’ bedtime story).  He obviously either has a better bladder than mine, or uses a Travel John very discreetly.  Local conservative talk host Ben Shapiro humorously wondered if he was on “Cruz control, or Cruz’in for a bruisin’.”

Yes, the media loves to focus on the Republican in-house disputes over tactics, making more of it than really deserves attention.  The GOP is united on getting rid of as much of Obamacare as possible, any way possible – for the benefit of the people.  And I admire the gumption, tenacity and conviction of Cruz and others to at least put up a fight, and give it needed publicity.

At the UN & White House

Oh, we have an oh-so-clever new Iranian president whom the liberal media is courting.  He says he can’t comment on the reality of the holocaust because he’s not a historian.  At least he learned from the mistake of his predecessor who outright denied it.  They’re getting slicker.  I wonder if he can comment on the reality of king Darius, or WWII, or the prophet Mohammed, or .....? 

And speaking of slick, Obama at the UN said “The U.S. is prepared to use all force necessary...” [to stop Syria’s use of chemical weapons, & Iran’s development of nuclear weapons?].  The military is always prepared, but of course any actual use of it depends on the leadership of the commander in chief.  Once again, he slyly, lawyerly parsed his words, giving a veiled threat with no indication of real willingness to back it up.  You can only cry wolf so many times before the wolves stop taking you seriously, which is even more dangerous, with all the wolves circling and ready to pounce in unison.  I will, however, give credit where it’s due.  Obama did finally defend American exceptionalism (when his first admission of it was attacked by Putin, and when it is personally and politically expedient to rally against Syria).  But it was only confined to the narrow area of America’s willingness to defend others’ freedom.  Which is not at all insignificant, but hardly the extent of American exceptionalism.  But better something than nothing.  Given another 8 years he might actually show some significant learning and progress.  An expensive on-the-job training for our community organizer.

There are other occasional glimmers of hope.  Because of my civic & church involvement on emergency preparedness committees, I listened to part of a White House webcast, “Champions of Change: Community Resilience and Preparedness.”  It was an awards ceremony recognizing especially successful local leaders who prepared or aided the recovery of their community.  The keynote speaker, an appointee, actually acknowledged that in big disasters government can’t do it all – first responders are neighbors.  And “One size [federal] doesn’t fit all states and communities.”  And how people need to get out of the mentality of waiting for government help (e.g., after hurricane Katrina).  Maybe it helped that Obama wasn’t at the ceremony, otherwise heads may have rolled for going against the party line and promoting “anarchy” (Reid).

And here's another postscript cartoon to my earlier posts on MLK's dream vs today, and gang culture.