Hubris Takes Flight

If a pilot of a 2 seater airplane strays into the "no fly zone" surrounding the White House and Capital, he is escorted to the ground by fighter jets, detained, and cited. When Air Force One, escorted by 2 F16s buzzes Lower Manhattan, causing widespread panic, the White House initially said they "took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities." This notification included directing them not to notify residents of the planned fly by. Perhaps, besides reminding us about 9/11, which many in government are trying to make us forget, this incident points out the arrogance that pervades Washington, which Mayor Bloomberg said "in the end, can do what it wishes."

Tortured Logic

While it is open to debate whether "enhanced interrogation" is torture, the intel gained has clearly saved American lives. By excluding these techniques being used by U.S. personnel, we return to the days of rendering high value detainees to countries like Turkey or Egypt where real torture is legal, and observing while the detainees are questioned by brutal inquisitors. This results in actual torture, as opposed to psychological trauma, and wastes precious time when innocent lives are in grave danger. Shockingly, the Administration uses hyperbole in condemning these "enhanced interrogation" techniques on two or three subjects, while ignoring the very real, and unhuman torture that is inflicted on the elderly in U.S. nursing homes every day. Just one month before the 9/11 attacks, CBS news reported that over 9,000 instances of abuse had been reported from 1999 to 2001 in nursing homes. These included beating, kicking, withholding water, and numerous other crimes that would violate the conscience of even the most hardened interrogator. For my money, I hope that when my comes to go to a home, I hope to be treated with the same care and respect that our detainees recieve at the Guantanamo Bay facility, rather than the way some 1600 of our nursing homes care for the elderly.

President Saves World! Details at 10

While it is unclear whether this Administration understands how to manage the free world, they are quite adept at managing headlines. The President today called for $100 million in budget cuts, prompting the usual headlines about "fiscal responsibility" and "reform." I did the math and these proposed cuts are the equivalent to the average household cutting annual spending by 99 cents. Can you imagine a headline like "Illinoistom makes hard choices, cuts annual spending by 99 cents?" Which is why I always tell my son to read past the headlines, you might be surprised to find the truth buried in the story.

Happy Tax Day!

Nearly 50% of Americans pay no federal income tax. The top 1% of earners generate 19% of the wealth yet pay 30% of the taxes. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35% versus an average of 25% in Europe. All inconvenient truths to the current U.S. government, yet they are committed to doubling down on Federal spending to "rebuild the economy on solid rock." Say what? So you can never say I didn't warn you, I will say this as plainly as humanly possible: $1 trillion per year deficits can only be sustained by INFLATING THEM AWAY! The U.S. cannot default, it can only debase the currency, which may get rid of debt but also destroys your 401k, IRA, Social Security, or pension. The left's favorite economist, John Maynard Keynes warned of the end to free markets and capitalism by saying "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalistic System was to debauch the currency. . . Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose."

We Have Met The Enemy, And They Is Us

The law of unintended consequences has struck again in Washington. Many of us looked on nervously as the Department of Homeland Security was created as a reflexive response to 9/11. Naturally, it has morphed from an outward looking agency charged with coordinating efforts to defeat radical Islamists into a stormcrow warning that "Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning." Telltale signs to look for are: Pro Life bumper stickers, pro 2nd Amendment bumper stickers, promoting anti-taxation tea parties. Those of us who revere the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independance are finding ourselves characterized as "fringe radical conservatives," while activist groups openly pushing a socialist agenda such as ACORN describe themselves as "a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization." Interesting times, indeed.

Avast!

Finally, a bit of good news on the TV. After months of bailouts of failed corporations, failed state governments, assaults on the Constitution by our elected officials, apologies for being American by the President, and countless other insults to our collective psyche, 20 merchant seamen have made us all proud by retaking their ship from Somali pirates. I write this before the details have been released, but the first reports make me feel good about life, and the American ideal of self reliance.

Europe loves him.... should we worry?

The BBC played "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" while describing the President's G20 meetings this week. I hope they were being facetious in comparing him to Jesus. Besides the obvious policy differences, Jesus was humble, meek, yet authoritative. Obama, on the other hand, seems to revel in the spotlight, delivering soaring prepared speeches, yet stammers and stumbles while answering direct questions sans teleprompter. The Euros venerate this man while he apologizes for America, and that is fine. My hope is that no real foreign policy crisis comes during this Administration, because sophist rhetoric is no substitute for conviction and strength of will. While it may be that Obama will conduct passable foreign policy, the seeds have been sown for a weaker U.S. in embracing the notion of allowing international law to trump the Constitution in many areas. Our founding documents are America's greatest gift to the world, not things to be apologized for or undermined. I pray that the President remembers that he took an oath to defend the Constitution.