Obama - A Blatant Lying Bus Driver

So. What will my liberal, Obama-defending friends say now? The Daily Beast, a liberal, Obama-loving journal, basically said on Monday that Barry is a liar and full of crap.

The article, published in Western Journalism quoted the Daily Beast at length regarding Steve Kroft's 60 Minutes interview of the President this past Sunday. As you know, the CBS magazine show is a latent Obama apologist "news" program and Kroft apologizes the most with his softball questions.

So.  Is it really a news magazine anymore? Or is it an Obama public relations firm?

At least the Daily Beast was honest in its assessment of the interview and Barry's lies.

Oh, and throwing his intelligence team under the bus. That is real leadership, isn't it?

Just read the article. If you still think that this skunk is a leader and you are proud that he is YOUR President, then you are all blind. Or stupid.

He certainly isn't mine. 

Year Two of the Health Care Failure Called Obamacare

Earlier this week, I was at my oncologist for my regular checkup. As usual, I had to get my blood tested, and that afforded me an opportunity to talk about insurance with the phlebotomist.

Funny how that works out, isn't it?

Anyway, during the conversation, we finally got around to the not so Affordable Care Act and how many people who have or had cancer are now struggling with their coverage. She indicated that many patients who have lost their old coverage because Obamacare regulations mandated it wasn't good enough and didn't comply with some of the nonsense like birth control or abortion coverage, when this type of coverage was not needed due to the age or choice of the insured.

Now, they have to first meet the unaffordable deductibles and make the premium payments.  On the Bronze Plan, that is between about $3,600 and $4,800 on average for the premium AND up to $6,350 a year for an individual OR $12,700 for a family plan.

This is totally outrageous. 

Sadly, so many people have lost the plan they were satisfied with, which paid everything as it was contracted to, with minimal cost. In addition, the employer was able to take the annual premium and spread it out across the year to withdraw from the employee's weekly or other regularly scheduled payroll.  AS PRE-TAX DOLLARS.

None of these benefits are available to the Obamacare participant.

So, next week, and for the next three months, unless the President decides to violate the Constitution again by changing the rules unilaterally, it is enrollment time once again and the magical mystery tour through the website awaits new enrollees. I wonder what disaster will befall us on the "new and improved" website.

Maybe this year, the Lame Stream Media will finally report the reality of this nightmare. Ya think?

Nah! That would mean admitting they were as fraudulent as the buffoon they covered for these last six years.

Good Luck Enrollees and enjoy the lies and deceit, especially if you voted for this Hope and Change. For those of you who didn't, my sympathies.

Let's hope the next President really changes this by repealing it. Unless it is Senator Granny Warren! Then it won’t be.

A Horrible Way to Spend a Horrible Anniversary

Friday will be two years since Pastor Saeed Abedini was thrown into that hellhole of an Iranian prison. In case you don't know who he is, well, he is an American citizen who traveled to Iran to preach the New Testament and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Imagine if the American government put Muslims or Jews or Christians into prison for preaching their religious beliefs to their congregations. Pastor Abedini was preaching Christianity to the very small minority of Christians still living in Iran. He was not prosthelesyzing, trying to convert people to his faith.

This is the problem with a theocracy. Its "leaders" are clergy in a faith, in this case, Islam. Therefore, the people must follow the leaders and the religion under pain of imprisonment, physical harm and even death. Even as one who is not religious, I can state this is not the intent of God or Allah or Yahweh or any other name people give to the One they worship.

Even Israel, which was founded as a homeland for Jews throughout the world to feel free to live, does NOT require that its residents follow Judaism as a precept to live there. There are many denominations of Christians, Muslims and other religious groups living there, free to practice their faiths without interference from the government.

Prior to the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 by the current regime, Iranians had one of the most open and tolerant governments of religious liberty in the Muslim world. Now it is the most repressive.

Saeed Abedini was born in Iran as a Muslim but converted to Christianity after he met and married his Iranian-American Christian wife. He subsequently converted to Christianity, became ordained a Pastor and was granted American citizenship.

The American Center for Law and Justice or ACLJ has actively worked to secure Pastor Abedini's freedom almost since his arrest. The entity has petitioned the Obama Administration which has done NOTHING to help free Saeed. The Administration had its best chance in December and January to have him freed when it negotiated that stupid nuclear arms/sanctions deal.

I wrote about this on May 22 in a commentary called The Sad Case of Pastor Saeed Abedini where I overviewed the whole case. To date, Barry and his goons have decided to let a good man rot in jail while negotiating with terrorists to free a traitor in exchange for terrorists.

Got that?

I think we have the power to help the ACLJ and other entities overpower Barry to finally stand up for this American and for Andrew Tahmooressi, as well as William Miller and all the other Americans languishing in prisons around the world for nothing more than being Americans. THAT is the crime they committed, being born here or choosing to become Americans.

Who is with me on this? It is time to begin the flood of emails, telegrams and other correspondence and calls until Barry finally gets the message.

Or is he too stupid to understand his first priority is to stand up for Americans wherever they may be or whoever they are? 

Barry and His "Peace Prize Preservation Policy"

It has been almost six weeks since James Foley was beheaded. Where are we in destroying ISIS? Anywhere?

Yes, we have heard Barry tell us how evil this entity is, but they are getting stronger and more brazen as Barry waffles and folds like a cheap suit. Anyone out there who thinks This Islamist has America's interests at heart, you are deluded fools.

This man has the best interests of only himself. I don't think he even cares about his wife and his children. If he did, he would have allowed our military do to ISIS what should have been done a year ago, two years ago.

Instead, he orders the military to do NOTHING. Why is that, do you think?

Since it was announced in August by ISIS that Mr Foley was beheaded, ISIS has announced it beheaded two other innocents and probably countless others. In addition, it was reported by Fox News and other news entities that Australian officials stepped up security after it was discovered that a plot to capture and behead Australians was uncovered.

So what did The Islamist in the White House do? That's right. NOTHING.

I finally realized why. It is about the Peace Prize. It is the "Peace Prize Preservation Policy". Why else would he do NOTHING to protect us?

It is a shame, an absolute embarrassment as an American and as a human being that the current occupant (and that is what he is, folks, an "Occupant") doesn't understand the words spoken by President Kennedy in his Inaugural Address. You know the verse:

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

This guy is all about protecting himself. Heck, he doesn't want to protect us, even on our porous southern border. ISIS has threatened to raise its flag on the White House. The easiest way for it to gain entry is the southern border.  And yet, NOTHING.

To all you bleeding heart blind fools: it is not about compassion for the disadvantaged in Central and South America. Cloward-Piven is becoming a reality here and beheading of Americans on American soil could be, too. The Islamist cares only that the world loves him; and that you do, too.

He promised to "fundamentally transform" the United States.  Well, he is, my friends. Unless we finally take back our country by "transforming" the Senate back to Republican control, nothing will stop him in his final two years.

He will have transformed America to something from which we may not recover AND he will have preserved his worthless peace prize (lower case intended). That will be his legacy.

And we will be worse off for it.

The Constitution Revisited

Those of you who know me or who have read my commentaries since February of 2013, understand above all else that the common thread which runs through each of them is the Constitution,  that document which is sacred to me. It is my scripture, my singular bible which I carry in my smart phone and on my laptop.

I am never without it. 

To me, every dotted “i”,  every crossed “t”, each “p” and each “q”  was discussed politely and argued over heatedly until each and every word placed in the Sacred Document was agreed upon by the Framers for all posterity. Yes, there are mechanics built in to change it, by both an Act of Congress, with the consent of the States, and by Article V. But since its inception in 1787, when it replaced the Articles of Confederation, it has been changed only twenty-seven times.

That is pretty impressive.

Essentially, the Framers, led by James Madison, who is known as the Father of the Constitution, were able to see far into the future and made certain that the need for change would be minimal and difficult, in order not to bow to public pressure for every single change in our societal views of a given time.

Those changes which were made, for example, banning slavery, granting women the vote, forbidding the payment of a poll tax, and reducing the age to vote to eighteen years old, were done, not out of changes in society's views but out of fairness. Other changes were made for pragmatic reasons, ie, reducing the time from Election Day to Inauguration Day to about 75 days, fixing the succession issue caused by the death or resignation of a President or Vice President, and allowing American Citizens who resided in the District to vote for President. And thus far, only one amendment was repealed by passing another.

There have been others but they have been enacted to fix issues which had no remedy except Amendment. And of course, there is the Bill of Rights, which encompasses the first ten amendments.  THESE NEVER SHOULD BE CHANGED OR REMOVED. THESE ARE OUR GUARANTEED RIGHTS AS FREE AMERICANS.

Nevertheless, I am providing you a link to last year's commentary called Constitution Day.

Perhaps you will agree with me or won't. But that IS the beauty of living in this country. We have the right of free speech, the right to agree or not with each other and the right to criticize our government and our leaders without fear of reprisal.

That is why I consider the Constitution our Sacred Document and our Scripture, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution's precursor, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, which explains it all.

Harry Reid, Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer notwithstanding, the Bill of Rights should never be changed under any circumstances. These represent a CONTRACT between the Founders/Framers, us and our posterity. Never forget that.

And also, never forget that unknown, countless men and women died to secure those rights to US, you and me, without the petulant whims of petty politicians interfering because they can't get their way any other way. Too bad, Senators. You don't know any better than any of us.

In fact, you don't know jack, apparently, of the Constitution you swore to uphold. You are failures as leaders because you just don't get it.

And folks, THAT IS WHY FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS FIRST. It is the most cherished, and within that amendment, so are the Freedom of Assembly and the Freedom OF Religion, NOT Freedom FROM Religion.

Read our Sacred Document; it is our contract with the government, which exists because we grant it the powers it has with our consent, called “consent of the governed”, guaranteed by the Constitution; hence, the Sacred Document.

Happy 227th Constitution Day!

Cancer Screening Is a Must!

I am one of many people who are here today because of early cancer detection. I am, so far, a Stage 3 two-year colon cancer survivor who had many issues related to that cancer.

But I am here because it was caught early enough for me to survive the cancer surgery, the chemo treatment and the splenectomy that followed. Other people, I know, are not as fortunate.

So it was with deep consternation that I read the article "The 'Overdiagnosis' of Cancer" in Monday night's online edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Trust me. You cannot diagnose cancer too early. It is like saying that someone is slightly pregnant.

There are so many people who wish their cancer was diagnosed early, don't you think? In so many cases, it was too late because the cancer, when it was finally discovered, was so aggressive that the victim had but just weeks to live. It happened to my friend's wife in 1979, when she was diagnosed on April 12 and we were burying her on Memorial Day weekend. And she was never sick before that.

I go every three months now to see my oncologist and have a regularly scheduled petscan to make sure I am still clear. I had an issue earlier this summer, but because my oncologist was persistent, we were able to resolve the discrepancy.

So, to me, there is no way it can be said we overdiagnose cancer. Instead, I believe a petscan should be one of those medical tests which should be automatic in a well-visit. It probably would be less costly than all the panoply of tests performed like colonoscopies, endoscopies, mammograms, prostate digital tests, etc, and is less invasive. In addition, no anesthesia is necessary, either.

If only we had the Enterprise Sick Bay diagnostic bed....

Obama? Face It. You ARE Inept!

How many more, Mr President? Can you please answer that? Or are you so disengaged that you are willing to just run out the clock and hope Clio, the Muse of History, forgets how truly inept you are at protecting and fighting for Americans languishing in jails around the world?

And, by the way, why are they? Did they do something terrible, you know, like assassinate the leader or some other important person in that country?  No, sir, they did not.

Instead, they are in those hellholes because they are, uhm, Americans. THAT is the crime they committed.

And the leaders, yes, LEADERS, of Iran and Mexico and North Korea and elsewhere know YOU have no BALLS to demand their immediate and unequivocal release. You are a mealy-mouthed, chicken-$#!+ who is more concerned about keeping your worthless Peace Prize than standing up for Americans. 

These leaders have had your number from before you became President, knowing you spoke in platitudes of nonsense. You have shown the world you are nothing more than a paper tiger. With no balls.

Why do you think Putin, Iran and ISIS ignore you? You are a pushover who still wants to blame others for your own ineptitude, your own total weakness.

Foreigners who reside in American jails live in the lap of luxury compared to Americans in foreign prisons. Terrorists living in Gitmo have more rights and freedoms than Pastor Abedini, Matthew Tahmooressi and Matthew Miller, and others.

You traded five murderous terrorists who wish nothing but death to Americans for a traitor to his unit, to his platoon, to his country, and had a huge photo-op with his parents, as you negotiated with terrorists. But for the families of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, you and your administration threatened prison for them for attempting the same.

And then, after you spoke so weakly about Mr Foley's beheading, you went and played golf, fist-bumping your partners like you had not a care in the world. You know what?  You don't.

You are a weak, gutless, evil man who has no business being President. You have destroyed us on so many levels. And you have the losers of the left wing media carrying your water because they are blinded by the oratory of your words rather than reporting on the darkness of your actions.

You are the most inept President this country ever had and we don't have to wait for Clio to write it. You will be judged instead as worse than Jimmy Carter.  And that is going some. At least Carter tried to free hostages.

You have freed only terrorists and traitors. Good luck with that legacy. You can't blame President Bush for THAT.

Barry, you earned it all by yourself.

Remembering 9/11 - Both 2001 and 2012

8:45 am. Where were you? I will never forget where I was. I was in my office at the bank I worked at when I heard the traffic guy report from his helicopter that there was smoke billowing from the North Tower.  He also said there were unconfirmed reports that a small plane crashed into the tower.

I looked outside at the clear blue sky on that late summer day and couldn't see what would have caused a pilot to miss seeing these two magnificent, monolithic, iconic structures which defined Lower Manhattan, as much as, the Empire State Building defined Midtown, the Transamerica Pyramid graced the San Francisco skyline, or the Space Needle defined Seattle. It seemed surreal, impossible.

But then, not long after, another break-in of the regular radio noise happened, this time by ABC or CBS News, with the horrific story that the other tower was struck. Because everyone was now focused on the original crash and the subsequent fire, looking up to see what was happening,  there were thousands more witnesses to see the second plane hit. It was no longer a local story and we all knew whatever and whoever did this, it was an attack on the United States.

At 9:37 am, another bulletin broke into the already maddening news of the Twin Towers. The Pentagon was struck by yet a third plane and was, as well, on fire. This was an absolute disaster to our country, that the symbols of our financial well-being and our military might could be so blatantly attacked in such a manner.

We were dazed as a nation and tried so hard to get a grip on these fast-moving events. What else could happen to add to this already nightmarish day, a day that was so beautiful when it started just four hours earlier?

In less than thirty minutes, we had our answer. A fourth hijacked plane, believed to have been heading for the nation’s capital, for either the Capitol Building or the White House, symbols of our free and powerful government, crashed in a field in rural southwest Pennsylvania. The fear now became how many other planes were hijacked; how many more tragedies were set to befall us as Americans?

Before the fourth plane crashed, at 9:59 am, less than one hour after it was hit, the South Tower collapsed into a pile of rubble. The magnificence of this building was gone in a flash, taking so many souls with it. At 10:28 am, not yet 105 minutes after the first plane crashed into it, the North Tower was also no more. There was an eerie daylight in downtown Manhattan, not seen since the very early 1970s. It was frightening to know how that was possible.

The tragedy of this day was not yet done. During the collapse of the North Tower, debris fell onto the roof of the original 7 World Trade Center, a much smaller building at only 47 stories high. At 5:21 pm, this building joined the towers on the ground. Fortunately, unlike its sisters which brought down with them almost 3,000 souls, this building had been completely evacuated earlier in the day.

As much as December 7, 1941, April 12, 1945, August 6, 1945 or November 22, 1963, the events of September 11, 2001 changed America and the world forever. No longer can we rely on oceans to protect us, if they ever really did. Certainly, we were still that naïve on that horrific day to think we were somehow immune from attacks on our homeland.

It has been thirteen years, and fourteen Septembers since that tragic day. It seems to me that so many Americans have begun to forget those events as they fade into history. But I won’t. I have spoken out on what led to that day, and also the events of September 11, 2012, where an American Ambassador, Chris Stevens and his security team of Sean Smith, Glen Dougherty and Tyrone Woods were left by our government to be murdered by Islamic militants in Benghazi, Libya. Our government turns a blind eye to the possibility that these events could happen again. And probably will.

I have many friends who practice Islam and they assure me, that much like the IRA who killed Protestants in Northern Ireland until the mid-1990s, these Islamic terrorists have no true faith in their religion. They have co-opted Islam and have used it to justify torture and murder of those who stand against them, including other Muslims. They are criminals, barbarians, inhuman beasts who, like the Irish Republican Army, decided to use God, or Allah, as their justification to kill innocents.

The lessons of 9/11 need to be remembered and re-taught in classrooms. To stand behind political correctness so that we don’t appear to discriminate against those who clearly wish to harm us is to commit the greatest disservice by our government in violation of the preamble to the Constitution. Our current President, his Attorney General and other members of his Cabinet are in violation of the Constitution and their oaths to uphold it because they are not.

In case they have forgotten, perhaps this may be a reminder:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

This, then, is the lesson of 9/11.  Let us not forget that many people died that day because our government took its eye off the ball. It is incumbent on each of us to never forget that day, or the events in Benghazi, to remind others of the agony we suffered as a Nation and to make certain it NEVER, EVER HAPPENS AGAIN.

So Help Us God!

An Anniversary Tribute

There are many things one can say about Nancy and Frank McHale but you can’t say they are not in love. Or don’t know how to share love. Look around this room. They had six children and various entities of those offspring are here, right down to their youngest Great Grandchild.

Certain people said their marriage wouldn’t last, but of course, they were determined to prove those naysayers wrong. And they succeeded, right? 65 years later, they are still going strong.

This past summer, we had several reasons to get together with our extended family. The Rizzo Cousins seemed to dominate Facebook so many weekends, whether it was to see Nancy and her boys sing, (and an extra cousin, as well), parties because Trish came to visit, or Jenn; or because it was another ​ anniversary of Cousin Linda's 39th birthday.

Or Ginny FINALLY going, with her favorite cousin, to see her sister sing.

We had a great summer, especially as we celebrated Nancy and Frank’s 85^th birthday, For three weekends! And the proof of THAT is on Facebook, too.

All of you are here to show your love for Nancy and Frank as much as they have loved all of us. That extended family is here again, the children and grandchildren of some of my aunts and uncles.

We all have stories we could share, the effect both of these people had on us. Gouz bread, Santa in Corona or Howard Beach, or Floral Park. No Matter.

I have read that to a niece, an aunt is like your mom, only cooler, and I am sure Linda, Nancy and Ginny could all say this about their Aunt Nancy.

As for Frank? Put on Sinatra, Gleason or even the Beatles, just sit back and you can watch a great show.

The best part of being the oldest is that I have had a vantage point that no one else has had. It was a double edge sword that helped two people learn to be parents, paving the way for Jeff, Kathy, Tim, Roseann and Jackie. You are welcome.

But I have watched these fine people still in love after 65 years.

And today, you are all witnesses, too. Rarely does a couple make this milestone, generally because of age. But they have and that by itself is history.

On October 2, 1949 at 4pm these two people stood up to make a promise to each other when people told them they weren’t mature enough to understand what they were doing. They were right. They are as young and as in love now as they were then.

Sometimes it just pays to be TOO YOUNG.

Sins of the Father

Fate has a way of turning pictures around, doesn't it? Bernie Madoff has found that out with great loss to his heart.

Ten years ago, he was riding high on the hog, or the bull, certainly, as we have found out, the BS. He managed, somehow, to convince his friends and family, and others, that he was a smart investor.

But as we learned about six years ago, he wasn't smarter than anybody. In fact, he proved that the only thing he was, surely, was that he was so dumb, as much as his "investors", he was nothing more than a common thief.

We learned in Wednesday's late online edition of the New York Post that his son Andrew passed on Wednesday morning from lymphoma. His older son, Mark, passed in 2010 by committing suicide.

So, Bernie has lost both his sons. Isn't that an irony? He robbed hundreds, if not thousands, of men, women and companies of their investments, their nest eggs, their retirement funds.

The sins of the father have taken the lives of both his beneficiaries, his legacy. Seems to me to be a fair trade-off for Madoff, doesn't it?

But, in the end, the thief paid some of his penance with the deaths of his sons. No amount of jail time can ever make that pain go away. He got some small measure of what he truly deserves.

The man who was riding high is now utterly alone. THAT is his earthly punishment as he lives in the Hell he created for himself.

For now, and possibly Forever, Heaven can wait.

The Coming Disaster in Ukraine

I read a very brief, but excellent commentary about the similarities between 1939 Poland and 2014 Ukraine from The Minority Report called, appropriately, Poland, September1939:Ukraine, September 2014.

As you know, I also am a Contributor to The Minority Report. I have mentioned this for full disclosure purposes. However, my approval of AWR Hawkins' piece has no bearing on my relationship with TMR. I do not know the writer. But, at least, someone else has written now as I did in February and March, and several other times.

I wrote several commentaries pertaining to the events in Ukraine as they were unfolding at the time. These include The Ukrainian Coup d'Etat, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World, As The World Burns and Russia,  Europe and the USA.

There are others, but you get the point.

Vladimir Putin is trying to reassemble the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, of which Ukraine was one of the key players. I have said in several commentaries that he would call the new entity he creates the Eurasian Union or some other less intimidating, less offensive name.  No matter. It is coming.

Sadly, Barry, Angela and David sound eerily like Neville and Edouard. They bluster toward Vlad with their fingers crossed, hoping he will back down. Just like Nev and Ed blustered at Adolf.  And we all know how that turned out.

In any event, just know that sanctions against the Russian Federation will not work; they never do. In the end, economic sanctions hurt the country placing them as much as they hurt the country against whom the sanctions are placed. But, at least, the country which places them can say it has done something against the aggressor, right?

As far as the UN doing anything meaningful, well, if I were a betting man, I would put my eggs in the Russian basket. Vlad thinks he has a sure thing and so do I.

Ultimately, this is an excellent analogy of the Nazi-Poland threat of 1939 and the Russian-Ukraine disaster about to explode possibly into World War 3. Apparently, Obama never heard the expression "those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it". We are at that point in Ukraine.

To think anything less is just foolishness and wishful thinking. And Vlad knows it.

In fact, he is counting on it.