On the Benghazi Coverup

This administration has to go.

I'm sick and tired of hearing breaking news on all the ways we, as the American people, have been lied to.

I'm sick and tired and thinking back to all of the deception and deceit in the aftermath of the Benghazi raid.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens...

Just today, we learned that the CIA safe house requested help three times that night.  Three. Times.  And yet, what were the people told?  They were instructed to "stand down."  Their fellow Americans were under and attack and they were told not to lift a finger and ignore bloodshed nary a mile away.  Fortunately, a few good men ignored those orders and evacuated the consulate.  Then for hours afterward, the CIA safe house came under repeated attack by organized assaults from men using automatic weapons and indirect fire support.

Yet, despite being in a region where they were surrounded by assets to assist them, the men in Benghazi were left to die.

They.  Were Left.  To Die.

It is really any wonder that more did not perish.  This is beyond heinous.

...Sean Smith...

There were repeated attacks on the consulate and an attempted assassination of of the British ambassador in the months preceding the attack.  Then the state department goes ahead with a withdrawal of security from Libya, despite the concerns of Ambassador Stevens himself.  In fact, the ambassador asked for additional security the day of the attack.  Within hours, he was dead.

We know that the White House knew of this attack in real time.  People were watching it in the situation room via a drone and there is no chance the president was not aware of it.  For the next week, his administration blamed an idiotic YouTube video and he himself prattled on about it for longer.  He and the Secretary of State stood before the coffins of the men who died because their negligence and blamed the video.  They literally disrespected the four men who died in Libya by obfuscating and lying before their flag draped coffins.

...Tyrone Woods...

And then, on top of that, the man who created the crappy YouTube video no one had heard of until September 12th, was arrested.  No one with common sense believes it was over a probation violation.  This man and everyone who collaborated with him on the video have been demonized, attacked and defamed on the international stage.  And then he was imprisoned for exercising his free speech rights.

And now the parents of the slain are coming out on media outlets that will have them and telling their stories of their meetings with the president and the Secretary of State.  They themselves recognize they are being lied to by those people.  Lied to their faces.

...and Glen Doherty all perished in Benghazi on 9/11/12.

At this point, I am at a total loss of what to think.  I know this sounds crazy, but did the White House want these people to die?  How can you not agree to send aid of some sort?  Of any sort?  As more comes out, the more despicable and guilty the White House looks.  And I seriously doubt anyone believes Secretary of Defense when he tells us that one doesn't deploy military forces without a clear picture.  I'm no military genius, but I damn well know that military forces all across the world throughout history have entered situations without a clear picture to save lives.

And then, of course, there is the media.  Except for Fox News and conservative media outlets, no one has reported on the constant news regarding Benghazi.  No other media outlet has sought out of the truth about just what happened there.  There have been few questions and little pressure/  Every single member of the mainstream media should lose their jobs.  Immediately.  They are corrupt and they deceive us.  The president doesn't need to take over the media to make it cover him.  They do it of their own free will.

I am tired of people, who I am supposed to trust, lying to me and trying to keep me ignorant.

Enough is enough.

On Riot Threats

Lately, I've been hearing some chatter on social networks of people threatening to riot should Romney win the election.  Now, any other year, I would have considered such threats as the ramblings of sore losers.  Indeed, threats to that effect are normally just bluster of dubious legality.

But this year, I'm slightly more inclined to lend credence to the threats.  The conditions seem conducive to trigger at least some incidents of violence for the following reasons.

1) President Barack Obama is the first black man in the White House.  Unfortunately for the country, opposition to him has been consistently (and abhorrently) white-washed as racist by his surrogates and supporters, no matter the substance or intent of said opposition.  This has inflamed racial tensions greatly over the past few years, particularly with the rise of the Tea Party and the vitriol hurled at it.  Considering the occurrences of race riots in the past, this seems like a perfect excuse to incite new ones.

2) On a related note, the constant demonizing of Mitt Romney has had a similar effect.  Many of his opponents don't view him as just opposed to Barack Obama.  Many see him as flat out evil.  They see him as a big business, "vulture capitalist" out to hurt people for his own benefit.  Or because he's a sadist.  Or something.  The end result, however, has been a sharp inflammation of class tension in the country.  That could also be a catalyst for violent reaction pending an Obama defeat.

Remember how these folks degenerated into a mindless mess?

3) Occupy Wall Street is still a recent phenomenon.  Although they professed not to be friends of the president, Obama is still far closer to their world view than Mitt Romney's.  Their constant calls for government assistance for their problems certainly indicates they are much farther away from conservatives much closer to progressives.  Additionally, their proclivity for the destruction of private property makes riots the perfect activity for them.  Finally, I may or may not be going out on a limb by saying that some former occupiers may be seeking out a reason to create a resurgence after the rather inglorious and quiet death their movement suffered earlier this year.

4) All of this ties into one unsettling fact that has become increasingly evident this campaign season: Liberals have come totally unhinged.  Not a day passes by where I don't see some (apparently insane) leftist cursing out conservatives and threatening their lives.  Stories of leftists vandalizing the signs and property of Romney supporters have become increasingly commonplace.  Threats against Mitt Romney's and Paul Ryan's lives are constant (and likely keeping the secret service occupied).  There are even children being booed live on national television.  While this most certainly has happened before, and the obviousness of these incidents may be amplified by social media, these incidents seem to be getting very little play in the media at large.  Thus, the incidents' significance is diminished when they would not have been had they been directed at Barack Obama instead.

This sort of behavior, in addition to being illegal and frightening on many levels, also indicates a higher level of tension among those who fear the president may lose.  I believe that many liberals and progressives are recognizing a possible collapse of their worldview in America.  After four years of President Obama, it has been demonstrated that economic stimulus doesn't work, no matter how many people say it "saved us from another depression."  The push for national healthcare is unpopular and the bankruptcy of European nations due to cradle-to-grave entitlements is proving it does not work.  Bigger government is being shown not to work and this is sending many of its advocates off the deep end.

Now, I pray that my fears after unfounded.  As I said before, this is not the first time people have threatened to do stupid or silly things in the event of an unfavorable election outcome.  Most who do just sink into a brief, sullen depression as their electoral hopes are crushed.  At the same time, I fear conditions are ripe for people to actually carry out their idiocy on the rest of society. 

All I can say?  Pray for America and hope I'm wrong.

On the Final Presidential Debate

Okay, the third and final debate is finished.

Thank you Lord! I swear my head was going to explode if I had to go through another one of those.

Now, for my serious analysis.

This debate was "all over the map," to use a term those of us viewing it heard often.  I suppose the best place to start is how Mitt Romney acted during the debate.  He wasn't nearly as aggressive as he was in the previous two debates.  This probably benefited him more than hurt him.  He's in the lead and the national polling is trending strongly in his direction.  Indeed, many states (including my own) which were trending for Obama are drifting rightward.  By not taking risks, Romney avoided a blunder that could have blunted that momentum.

On the other hand, by playing it safe, Romney lost many good opportunities to hammer home points against the president, particularly on Libya.  While I agree with the analysis that says he shouldn't have over-pressed it, he hardly pressed the issue at all.  He lost ample opportunities to also bring in other international issues, such as the Eurozone fiscal crisis.  He also failed to differentiate himself from the president on many issues, which was dangerous, in my opinion.  Part of the reason many are voting for him in the first place is because he is different from Barack Obama.

Romney also skillfully brought the discussion back to our economy at home, however.  By mentioning that in order to be strong abroad we must be strong at home really resonated with me and many others.  It really brought home just how weak the United States is perceived abroad.  It rendered the President's counterargument ineffective because his record remains indefensible.

The president, on the other hand, was suitably punchy.  Again, however, he was forced to defend a record that was indefensible.  He was helped by Romney's lack of aggressiveness however.  It made some of his arguments stick better in people's minds.  Yet, as Romney was roused out of his non-aggressive posture, the president was slowly forced to start backing down during certain exchanges.  Additionally, he seemed petulant, occasionally angry and condescending.  In particular his crack about bayonets and "boats that go underwater" was utterly ridiculous and behavior unbecoming a president.

As for the moderator...Bob Schieffer was, much to my pleasant surprise, the best of the four.  Using the Lehrer-style, he rarely interrupted, but didn't allow himself to be trampled by the candidates.  This made him stronger and more effective than Lehrer.  He seemed to lose control when the debate veered into the economy about half an hour in, but by not taking control right away, it helped illustrate just how important the economy is in this election.

So my verdict?  Romney won.

"No surprise," you're probably saying.  You shouldn't be.  The president can pretty up his arguments and record all he wants.  It has no substance.  The country is, at best, just as weak as when he took office.  Frankly, the prolonged period of weakness means that we are in fact weaker than that day.  Romney was calm and in control, despite an annoying lack of fangs, but that fact didn't hurt him.  Of the two on stage, he looked presidential and that is to his credit and certain to help him.  Additionally, his arguments were well-reasoned and didn't generate into talking points that sometimes meandered completely off-topic.

With the last debate behind us, we have fourteen more days until the election.  Fourteen more days until we can decide where the country will go.

Let's do this, America.

On the First Black President

There's something that has been weighing on my heart lately and now seems as good a time as ever to mention it.

I am very, very disappointed in the administration of President Barack Obama.

"Yeah, no kidding," you're probably telling yourself right now.  It is not a secret I find the current administration contemptible.  However, by disappointment, I refer to nothing more than a deep, profound sadness.

When I was a little boy in Irvington, New Jersey, I attended a school that was, as I recall, majority minority.  Thus we always had presentations regarding the heritages of various minority groups.  We even had a yearly assembly for Kwanzaa (even then, I was confused by it).

One thing that always seemed to stick in my mind, though, was the suggestion that we could, one day, have a black president.  We were told the usual childhood encouragement ("If you work hard, one day, you could even become president!").  I was taught about our nation's racist heritage and how we had yet to have a black man in the White House.  The racism never really stuck.  Historical racism stayed just that for me: historical.  However, for a long while, there was a little place in the back of my mind that always hoped to one day see a black man in the Oval Office.

Perhaps ironically, I eliminated that though at the beginning of 2008's primary season, long before Barack Obama became a viable contender for the presidency.  I had come to recognize that it did not matter what the person in the White House looked like.  Only their character mattered.  So I found myself immune to his charm and his teleprompter-based style when Sentator Obama ascended as the candidate of the Democrat Party.  That immunity kept my eyes open as I saw all the warning signs of radicalism, despite the media's shameless attempts to hide it.

Yet, on election night 2008, when it became clear that Barack Obama had won the presidency, I saw my Facebook page explode with friends who were excited to have made history.  Indeed, on the inside, I felt a small resurgence of pride in that a black man had just been elected president of the United States.  Like most conservatives, I resolved to give him a chance, despite my apprehensions.  Those feelings were driven, in part by that old spark of pride in seeing a black man ascending to the White House.

That spark has made the past four years all the more painful, disappointing and shameful.  Instead of being a beacon of hope and positive change, the past four years have been dismal with exploding debt and economic stagnation.  The president, instead of bridging divides between Americans, has intensified them and viciously attacked those he does not like or sees as convenient targets.  He has forced legislation through congress and ignored the Constitutional limits on his power time and again.

Despite his actions yielding negligible or bad results time and again, Barack Obama refuses to take responsibility.  He blames his predecessor constantly, even after being in office for four years.  He spends more time golfing and hobnobbing with celebrities than he does in intelligence briefings.  His office is empty more often than not as he speaks at rallies filled with screaming fan boys and girls, rallies that are far easier than than fielding questions from the press corps.

I feel that Barack Obama has been robbed of his sense of personal responsibility.  A man with no real accomplishments, he has been handed nearly every position he has held in life.  Some will say he excelled in college, but he has never released his transcripts.  Judging by how peculiar that is and a lack of real accomplishment in his professional life, that leads me to believe he did not do well at all.  Penning no papers on the Harvard Law Review, considered intellectually lazy as an adjunct professor and voting present more often than not in elected office, he is little more than a self-entitled shell.

Now that lack of accomplishment in his life has returned to haunt him as he is unprepared to take responsibility for his failures or defend himself against true challenge to his worldview.  And now, as his campaign appears to sputter out, latching on to internet memes week after week in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, all I can feel is a profound disappointment at how far the hope and change of 2008 has fallen.

I often hear older black people say they were taught by their own parents and grandparents to be a "credit to their race."  They had to endure racism and thus had to work harder to achieve and succeed.  Yet now, the president seems to be nothing but the antithesis of a "credit to his race."  In the end, the first black president, whether he wins re-election or not, has been everything he should not have been.

And it is a shame.

Conservative Musings: Times Five?!

Yes, that's right, times five.

Honestly, every week, there are enough good articles and columns that I could make a blog post many pages long to showcase all of them.  However, for reasons of both practicality and wanting people to read my writing, I tend to select what I think are the best few and run with them.

However, due to a lack of updates for this (well, last) week, I figured I would instead treat you to columns from some of the best minds conservatism has to offer and save myself mentally for the coming week.


First off we have a column by Dennis Prager.  I value his opinion highly, particularly when it comes to discerning the difference between leftist and Christian doctrine.  For those of you who wish better understand how Biblical faith differs from modern liberalism/progressivism and how the former is corrupted by the latter, I point you to this man for enlightenment and understanding.

This week, his column delves into Vice President "Laughin' Joe" Biden's answer to the abortion question at the VP debate.  In particular, he explains just how his answer is self-contradictory and reveals how his answer is evidence of leftist hypocrisy when it comes to the treatment of Christian faith in America.  Part of me wants to just take the article and analyze it right here and now, but as that is not my purpose, I'll leave it to you to click through and read it for yourself.

You can read Dennis Prager's article, "Joe Biden's Religion: Catholicism or Leftism?" here.

I'd kill for context right now.  Then again, it's just funnier without.

Next up we have Jonah Goldberg.  Columnist, Editor-at-Large of National Review Online and occasional Fox News contributor, Goldberg is many things.  Normal is not one of them, which also qualifies him as one of my favorite conservative columnists, whose name isn't Sowell, Williams, Coulter, Limbaugh...you know, I think you get my point.  For anyone who wants a little humor with their political commentary, make sure to give Goldberg a read and never stop.

In this column, Goldberg discusses how the spin of the Obama administration really obfuscates just how poor the nation is doing economically.  Indeed, he manages to explain it all using a bit of allegorical story that involves manure.  Believe it or not, it's not as crass as it sounds.  If you don't believe me, click through and learn a little about just how poor the economy is right now, without the administration spin.

You can read Jonah Goldberg's column, "Obama's Economic Spin: A New Pony or Manure?" here.


Next up we have David Limbaugh.  Again.  It seems I just can't post this man's columns enough.

This week, he delves into questions that just aren't asked of the president.  At all.  Often when President Obama is asked questions, they are either softballs or "in the moment."  By the latter, I mean that the questions deal with only the situation that is occurring at that particular moment, like Benghazi.  Such questions are never contextualized to previous events in the president's tenure.  Limbaugh does a little of that and so much more in this article.  If you think this president is hard to question or criticize, perhaps this article will open your eyes.

You can read David Limbaugh's article, "A Few Questions I'd Like to See President Obama Answer" here.


Our next article is one by Walter E. Williams, whom you may remember from the first "Musings" post.

This time around, he discusses poverty and its causes.  Is it caused by society or is it caused by a variety of factors?  And is blaming society a) accurate and b) the correct focus?  There's a lot to be said, but I'll save my personal arguments for another day.

For now, you can read Walter E. Williams' column, "Poverty Nonsense" here.




Finally, we have Thomas Sowell.

This week, he merely wrote some random thoughts on the passing scene.  So enjoy comments on everything from entitlement to Joe Biden to baseball.  There's really nothing to say here.  But maybe you'll run into a thought-provoking question or two.


Read Thomas Sowell's "Random Thoughts" here.


 

And that is that!