As they should. Without their sacrifice, none of the greatness of America would exist. Serving the country through military service crosses racial, economic, and religious barriers. For some families, serving in the military is a generational point of pride. Chances are that somewhere down your family line, you have had someone in your family serve in the US armed forces.

My family is no different. My father served, as did my grandfather and various scores of uncles and cousins. One family member in particular, retired USAF Major John H. Yancy, II, is probably the most unique of my family that has served our nation. At 87, he is one of the few remaining WWII veterans still around.

John joined the Army like many young men after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Challenge was that he could not join in 1941, as he was too young. He had to wait until 1943, which would also be the year he met his wife to be Jean. According to John, with the war in full operation, all the good positions for the training schools were gone. So John was assigned to the Air Corps and became a mechanic and began working on bombers. John would end up being a crack mechanic and work on every bomber built for US operations during the war. He would spend most of his time in WWII in Britain during the Nazi air raids. As John describes it, it was not a fun place to be at the time.

Once the war ended, John stayed in the army. He was not only a great mechanic, but was being prepped for a position on flight crews. After WWI, John would be part of the original Army Air Corps that would become the US Air Force in 1947.

John would also serve in Korea as part of bomber flight crews. According to John, many of their flights got a tad close to China. Of the numerous successful bomb runs he was a part of during Korea, he did experience one crash in the frozen tundra of N Korea. Fortunately, no one on the crew were injured or killed, but the wait for rescue was an experience John is not fond of talking about. His experience and skills allowed John to be part of the first crews that began the era of jet aircraft.

During the Cold War, he spent time at what was known then as Carswell Air Force Base testing the new B58 bomber and testing the new speeds of jets. John was on the flight crew that broke the mach 1 and mach 2 barriers in the early 1960′s. He was also part of the flight crew that tested a little known technology called Doppler Radar that we take for granted in weather forecasting.

In all, his career would span nearly 3 decades and 3 wars in support of the US air tactical efforts.

After retiring from the military, John went into business for himself, raised 3 kids, and lived American Dream he helped to defend.

Today, closing in on his 88th birthday, John finds fascination in the new “toys” that the Air Force has been given to protect our great nation.  A great deal of the testing he was a part of in the 1960′s carries through in the jet planes of today.

While he is long past being able to be part of the new jets that keep our nation safe, his love for the sky has never waned. If it has wings and can fly or can produce a speed to blow back one’s hair – John loves it.

So, I hope you’ll pardon my self-indulgence in this post on my cousin retired US Air Force Major John H Yancy, II.

He is a patriot and a zealot for speed.

And a Veteran of the Sky.

I thought it would be best to classify these questions by interest group, as that is obviously how you want to be portrayed…..

If you are white and voted for Barry, was it because you still felt white guilt or somehow bought into the press nonsense of being racist if you did not vote for him?
If you are black and voted for Barry, did you bother and look how you have fared economically under his administration?
If you are a woman and voted for Barry, do you like being defined only by your lower half of your anatomy and ignoring your intellectual qualities?
If you are Hispanic and voted for Barry, do you really embrace abortion and the trashing of family values promoted by this POTUS?
If you are poor and voted for Barry, do you enjoy being a slave the government handouts?
If you are a businessperson and voted for Barry, are you just freaking stupid?

I ask these questions for a simple reason – did you ignore the FACTS about Barry when voting like:

• The fact that the nation is at higher unemployment now 4 years later because of Barry’s policies.
• The fact that people like Reagan and Bush 43 took over crappy economies and turned them around in their first terms.
• The fact we have NOTHING – not roads,  bridges, electrical grid improvements, etc – to show for the Stimulus.
• The fact we have people at poverty levels and on food stamps that are the highest in our nation’s history.
• The fact Barry’s interference in the auto industry, setting aside paying bondholders to put union workers ahead with gifts of stock, was unprecedented.
• The fact Barry has appointed more czars than Russia to circumvent Congress.
• The fact he has hidden his role in Fast & Furious, one of several attempts to gin up ideas to take 2nd Amendment rights.
• The fact that BO Care will continue to make health insurance less affordable.
• The fact that small businesses will continue to not hire under the increasing regulations promoted by Barry.
• The fact he has shown ZERO willingness to work across the aisle.
• The fact he sat and watched as our Ambassador Chris Stevens was murdered.

Does any of this bother you?

Just what makes you think he will do any different for our nation in the next 4 years?

Your freedom will continue to be eroded in the name of social justice, redistribution, or whatever other spin Barry and his minions put on your continued enslavement.

Just remember, you were forewarned…..

Ten days have passed since the storm knocked out power to over 8 million residents, put millions of businesses on hold, and performed what could be nearly 50 billion in damage on the East Coast. In my opinion, the handling of this storm, from pre-landfall prep to post damage fallout, has been abysmal.

Before Sandy Hit
This storm was not a surprise. It was watched in the Caribbean causing damage in Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti and a projected path showed Sandy heading right for the NE Atlantic Seaboard. Virtually every weather service showed Sandy was going to hit landfall on the NE coast and wreak havoc.  There was also the projection of Sandy colliding with the cold front making it the “storm of the century” and all that jazz. There was plenty of time to get extra supplies, generators, gas, food, etc. Hey, you might even have been super proactive by deciding just to go to another state till it blew over.

But that did not happen…

I have a good number of friends in the area that Sandy thumped and I am just now getting to talk to them. While some I talked with had a reasonable amount of supplies, none were prepared for the flooding Sandy caused and the collateral damage from the flooding. Several friends admitted that they did not believe it would be this bad and several truly thought Sandy might turn back out to the Atlantic at the last moment. I think at this point it is safe to presume many folks in the northeast were probably of the same mindset – low disaster preparation, low expectations on Sandy’s impact, and a false hope she would miss altogether. So if we are giving a grade to the residents on disaster preparation, they get a “C” overall. That’s a blended grade as well. People with resources that did not prepare better get a “D” as they could have at least hopped in the car and bugged out to another state. You cannot be as hard on the poor, as they don’t have the resources and are more impacted by local, state, and federal response.

Let’s hit that topic for a moment. Local and state governments are the first units in on a disaster, with FEMA and federal dollars there for clean-up and needs beyond local and state resource capabilities.  How did they all do? Well based on how everyone got caught flat-footed, I give most of the local and state groups an  ”F”. Why? Very simple – there appears to have been no proactive plan for dealing with Sandy. This is spite of the fact New York was ground zero on 9-11-01; in spite of the lessons that should have been learned from Hurricane Katrina; and in spite of the examples what to do from Gulf States from past Hurricanes and other Southwest States that deal with disasters almost on a yearly basis. Why were there no sandbags back beyond the seawall barriers in New Jersey and New York when it was forecast that the storm surge would breach those barriers? Why were local and state authorities not contacting the feds in advance of this monster and requesting pre-storm positioning for pumps from the military? Why  did the local and state authorities not have an adequate plan in place for flooding? This is not the first time this has happened regarding northeast coast hurricanes.

After Sandy’s Smackdown
Sandy exposed a huge sore under our nations power grid – we are operating at or above capacity all across this nation. Just as Japan got caught flat-footed from the tsunami in March 2011 from water flooding their coastline nuke plants, our local and state utilities in the northeast had no contingency for flooding and knocking out the power on a massive scale. Lack of power is keeping homes cold, businesses shut down, impeding gas stations from delivering gas, etc.  Once the utilities start giving estimates of 5 to 10 days to get power restored, decisions should have been made to get generators in fast, get the military in for water pumping as well as using the military’s portable fuel tankers to provide fuel to needy people. My goodness, the governors could have at least called other state governors not as adversely impacted and brokered a deal to transport these people out to another state to stay in hotels until basic services were restored. Having people cold, starving, and waiting for hours for gas because the power is off in not an excuse for having these people suffer. As such, I have to get the local and state government politicos there in NJ and NY an “F”. Actually, I will modify Christie’s grade from an “F” to a “D” as he waived the licensing to bring in new fuel outside of NJ. Past that, he has been just as inept as Cuomo and the rest.

The Feds Role
While Barry would like to really make himself look good for this disaster past his photo-op with Christie, truth is he cannot do much. Sign the checks, be sure the DOD is helping the states with their assets, and out talking to people impacted is really all a president can do.  FEMA has to coordinate with the states efforts and be of help, not be a hindrance to results. So far, I am not seeing the military assets we have for disasters like Sandy hitting the impacted area. Is that Barry’s fault? Doubtful, but this could very well fall in his lap in a very negative way, ala Katrina, if things don’t happen fast. Cold, hungry people do not make good photo ops.

Who is going to foot the bill?
In the end, you and I will pay for the majority of this damage. According to insurance industry data, it is estimated that only 14% of the potential exposure of homes in the northeast close to the ocean have coverage through the national flood insurance program. We sell national flood insurance and one of the problems is that the structure is limited to $250000 and contents are limited to $100000.  Private insurance is not available for this as the feds cover this. That is another problem where the government interferes with what should be private enterprise. Flood insurance might cost more in the open market, but people would have options to cover themselves for building on waterways. More importantly – taxpayers would be taken off the hook for insuring private risks in known flood zone environments. Like any other private enterprise, the cost would either encourage or discourage building in areas for high property losses.  Many of these homes are multi-million dollar homes and will find out what an exclusion is when their normal insurance company denies the water damage. Their only hope for coverage is to have had water coverage for wind-driven rain and Sandy blew a whole somewhere in their house that allowed the water to come in. If the damage is from just rising water, which I promise will be how the majority of these claims are adjusted, most homeowners are going to be without coverage.

Sandy has been and continues to be a nightmare for the residents on the northeast coast. They need our prayers and our help.

Here are some worthwhile charities that you can donate to and make a difference:

http://www.redcross.org/hurricanesandy

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org

http://www.savethechildren.org

You can also learn more about national flood insurance (because floods are caused by more than just hurricanes) at:

http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program

If you live in Texas, our office can help you as well. Our toll-free number is 888-595-6933 and our site is http://www.yancyinsurance.com .

While last night’s debate will be compared to a heavy weight bout for years to come, the scorecard that the President edged Romney will change in the next few days. Why?  Very simply, Obama lied on the facts, kept lying about Romney, and made himself look like something that will come back to bite him: un-Presidential.

The debate was more reminiscent of Rockem, Sockem Robots and Rocky II where Rocky Balboa (Romney here) and Apollo Creed (Obama) came out swinging at one another and never stopped. Romney had the good manners to thank everyone at first, although he did drag that on too long to adequately answer the first question. Creed, I mean Barry, did not even thank or acknowledge the first question presenter, but went right for a body blow. Thus the tone for the night was set. While men in general liked what we saw last night in the debate, Obama may have damaged himself in a minor degree with women that would have preferred him not to have been the first to cut off the other debater or interject heckling, as Barry did throughout the debate. It will take a week or so for that to filter through the polls.

But that’s not why Romney won. Yes, he won and I’ll explain why. It’s not that Barry did not improve his comatose performance from the first debate – he did. However, being more aggressive about lying on the facts, continuing to call Romney a liar when Romney isn’t , and in essence having no clear plan to get the nation out of the quagmire he has created does not win him the debate. He said nothing we had not heard before, he had no defence for the prosecution Romney laid down on his record, and trying to bully Romney backfired. He expected Romney to be more of a gentlemen so Barry could run roughshod over him, but Romney stayed toe to toe with Barry. Instead of looking like a confident incumbent President, he looked like a scared candidate. And it showed with the focus groups shown after the debate who switched to Romney after the debate. That is another reason why I doubt the President will continue to get his edge win in the debate as he is now. CNN and CBS always have a bias on their snapshot polls and as more facts on Barry’s lies hit the press, and they will, the debate will swing every so slightly to Romney.

Scoring the fight – jabs and body shots
Obama – There is no question he scored multiple jabs and body shots to Romney with his aggressive stance for the night. He worked hard at painting Romney as the rich guy, which he is. He worked hard to convince people who Romney would tax the middle class to help the rich, he shamelessly pandered to women that Romney would reverse their gains, and he tried to paint himself as the energy guru. However, he never landed a knockout for a reason – his record does not back up his statements. Romney  -  well he kept jabbing back at Barry every time Barry threw out a lie and never left a hard hit come to the chin.

Women’s rights - both did well here. Obama talked about the Lily Ledbetter Bill and how BO Care pays for contraception. Romney did well talking about his choices in his cabinet as Governor. However, Romney missed at chance at a haymaker here – the Ledbetter Bill was not the pay act women wanted as it was his gift to trial lawyers to create more suits. Doubt that fact – read the bill. Regarding BO Care, Romney should have KO’d him on the fact the women have the right to choose birth control, but John and Jane Q Citizen should not have to pay for it with their taxes.

Earning the vote – Barry answered this question in the manner his base wants – moving forward and taking no responsibility for the past. Romney gave a concise answer on what his plan is.

Immigration – Romney answered well and in a manner that probably irritated hard-core conservatives and eased moderate Republicans. Obama showed to have a Clinton like form of teflon, talking about his progress in immigration and laying blame for no bill on Immigration on the Republicans in Congress. Romney returned a short uppercut reminding Obama that he had a Democrat super majority when he came into the Presidency and that Romney himself was not the standard-bearer here.

Missed haymakers
BO Care – I was surprised at how little BO Care was discussed in the debate. I have a feeling that might have been the moderator injecting bias. It did creep in and Obama missed a chance to knock down Romney here. BO Care is modeled after Romneycare. Barry could have scored some points here and missed out. Romney missed his shot on reply on Barry’s statement on women’s issues.

Gun Rights – this question will get some major discussion as Barry’s answers get dissected in the next few days. He is on record now for wanting to re-introduce an assault rifle ban. Romney missed here. He could have shown that when the Brady Bill was in effect there was no effect on gun violence, homicides, or suicides. Doubt that fact? Check out the University  of Virginia Law study posted in 2003 http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2003_spr/cook.htm. Romney should have hammered him here. While Romney mentioned Fast & Furious, he was too nice about it. Obama has the blood of federal border patrol agents on his hands and the blood of countless Mexican citizens killed by this program. Doubt that? Then why did he invoke Executive Privilege and stonewall the investigation.

Taxes – Barry did his normal “rope a dope” on Romney claiming he’ll tax the poor and give to the rich. Advice to Barry – learn some economics before you attempt to have a tax conversation involving math. You stink at it. Romney has explained this well enough where it does not wash anymore. But Lord help me, why did Romney not knock Barry’s block off regarding BO Care being a tax????? BO Care is the largest tax increase on the middle class and small businesses in the history of the nation! This would have been the equivalent of hitting Barry with a fistful of hammers.

The Term “Prior Republican Policies”
I have to reach for the duct tape when libs call upon the “failed policies of the Bush Era that crippled the economy”. Hmm – I call BS on that and Romney should have as well when Barry reached for that old, stale line in the debate. Let’s examine some facts. In 1977 under then President Jimmy Carter guidance, Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act. In short – the federal government mandated private banks and savings & loans find ways to lend to poor people for buying homes. If you want to remember the result, check the record 12 years later in the S&L bailout that came from this policy. Reagan kept it down during tenure, as did Bush 41. Clinton came to office and had Robert Rubin put the program on steroids during his stint at POTUS. Bush 43 made the mistake of continuing the program under his goal to expand home ownership and the house of cards finally collapsed. By the time Bush 43 came in, mortgage wraps and derivative trading were well into play. So, the actual phrase should be The failed democrat policies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton that George Bush did not stop. Someone at the RNC really needs to work on this.

Devastating knock downs
Energy/ Gas Prices -  Barry got his head handed to him here.  Romney was correct in the fact that Obama has reduced permits for drilling on public lands by gross percentages and was correct to press him on the amount approved. Barry tried to take credit for production on private land, such as North Dakota. The facts about the Keystone Pipeline and how Barry has killed jobs was very effective. Anyone around energy ( I would be one of them) knows full well that Barry has strangled domestic oil and gas production in pursuit of green energy. Hey, I am a fan of green energy and promote our company heavily, but not at the expense of an industry that has given us the greatest standard of living known to man. Barry got caught lying here and he knew it.

The Economy – Romney was like a head criminal prosecutor in his  review of the US economy under Barry. Rising costs in all consumer sectors, poverty, food stamps, the unemployment rate, the under employed, women’s poverty, the trillions in new debt, etc. Barry tried to go back to blaming Bush, who does bear some responsibility. However, you have to make do with what you have. Romney using Reagan dealing with a 10% plus national unemployment rate and turning things around clearing hit Obama hard.

China – Barry took a shot that blew up in his face. His administration has shipped so many jobs to China that they speak Mandarin at the US ship docks. He has sold trillions of our debt to them, has allowed dumping of products by the Chinese on our markets, and refuses to call them on the carpet for currency manipulation. Romney not only addressed how to deal with China, he handled the investment issue aggressively and showed Barry he was a two-faced hypocrite.

Libya – Sorry my liberal friends, Barry did not win this, even with Candy Crowley’s help. When you are wrong, you’re wrong. When you have the facts and you state something else – you are lying. Other than for political CYA in an election year, there is no reason for Barry’s camp to keep attempting to cover this up. If you screwed up, admit it. Barry came close when he took responsibility away from SOS Clinton. He had the stage to set the record straight by saying that he had screwed up, apologize, and ask for the nations forgiveness. It would have been scathing, but Presidential, and I think would have shut the door on the topic. Instead, he outright lied. There was no classification as a terror attack by the White House until September 25. Mentioning acts of terror in a statement and stating the attack was an act of terrorism are 2 different things and Barry knows this. UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk show tour 5 days later stating Libya was the result of spontaneous attack incited by some idiot video that had come out 4 months ago. Romney knocked him down here and would have been out if Crowley had not contaminated the process.

Scoring Candy Crowley
I give her a D. First, she had no control over Barry at all as evidenced by the fact he had 10% more time to talk. I have no issue letting him talk, but Candy cut Romney off 5 different times where Barry was allowed to land jabs without response. She also had little control over Romney. Then her interjection into the Libya question just illuminated her bias. While she has since issued a retraction on her interference, the fact it happened most likely means we have seen her for moderator for the last time.

It was a good bout and the final rematch could end up being a KO for one of the candidates for the election.

Effectively, something very suspect is happening to American Airlines. Now American has never had the best on time record in or out of DFW International Airport. Part of that has been an ineffective plan to rectify the problems of distance from the gates to the runways. DFW, when built, was not the most efficient use of land design for runways to gates; falling into the category of “Bigger and Better in Texas”. Problem here is that bigger was not better. However, what is occurring right now is beyond gate and runway issues of getting flights in the air.

This is sabotage.

American is the last of the large airlines to seek bankruptcy to get its financial house in order. After years of hemmoraghing losses for labor contracts it could no longer afford, AMR filed for Chapter 11 in November of 2011. Chapter 11 allows an entity to continue operations as it restructures its debt. Delta Airlines entered into Chapter 11 in 2005 and emerged out of it in 2007. When Delta filed, it took 4 of the top 7 carriers in the industry into Chapter 11 with it. When Delta came out of Chapter 11, it was leaner and meaner, able to acquire Northwest Airlines. Northwest had also filed Chapter 11 at the same time as Delta. Today, Delta and Northwest represent the second largest carrier in the industry. American has needed this move for quite some time.

For the liberals reading this – unlike what Barry did with GM and Chrysler, where he put aside US contract law and placed the auto unions into ownership ahead of invested bondholders (also spending billions in US tax dollars that would not have been needed had he stayed out of the process), what is supposed to happen is a debtor negotiates with their debt holders, labor contracts, etc to get costs down so they can remain in business. It is what the Chapter 11 laws were created for. Believe it or not, a company can file for Chapter 11 and survive. United Airlines, now number one in the industry since its merger with Continental filed for Chapter 11 in 2002. It took 4 years to get through the process, but made them a leaner company and attractive enough to be merged into a great situation with Continental.

However, we have a rotten situation going on with AMR’s Chapter 11 filing. They made the mistake of filing under the big labor administration of the BHO,  as well as being located in Texas. That is a double whammy. AMR has never had the rosiest relations with labor with its pilots and flight attendants. There were issue in the 1990′s. Workers accepted pay cuts in 2003 to avoid bankruptcy then from the after effects of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. AMR has 3 labor unions to contend with – the Allied Pilots Association, the Transport Workers Union, and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. AMR has a website for all of these negotiations called http://www.aanegotiations.com/ . Here is some interesting data from the site:

• AMR and the APA have been in negotiations for 63 months; 43 of which is mediated.
• AMR has been in negotiations with several TWU factions for a long as 49 months, with mediation for 34 months. According to the site, 85% of issues are resolved.
• AMR and the APFA have been in negotiations for 42 months, of which 34 has been mediated.

And people wonder why they declared Chapter 11….

Here is some interesting information not being reported in the lamestream media:

• AMR pilots calling in sick is at all time high. Twenty percent (20%) called in sick last month.
• Union reports to AMR show their pilots calling in sick between 6 to 7% each month for the past year. October 2011 was 9.5%
• Crews are slowing flights by calling in large numbers of maintenance reports.

The AP has a great article on this in more detail at http://www.reporternews.com/news/2012/sep/20/american-airlines-faces-backlash-with-labor-woes/?print=1 Take a moment and read through it.

Now, the pride of the American fleet the Boeing 757, has loose seats? Really?? Of course the TWU has declared that these issues must be related to mismanagement and outsourced labor. That according to reports from the Dallas Business Journal http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2012/10/02/twu-says-labor-problems-not-behind.html. Only one challenge here – AMR is not outsourcing this area of maintenance.

Pure and simple – this is union sabotage and terrorism against American Airlines. In any other adminstration, including Clinton’s, the FAA and the Labor Department would be in the middle of this to stop this from escalating to a point where a plane crashes and this airline goes under. I happen to remember the last big airline that went under here in Texas at DFW Airport. It was a carrier called Braniff and they could not survive deregulation of the industry. Many ex-Braniff people got picked up by American when they came to Texas. However, if the unions push this to the point where AMR goes belly up, don’t look for a savior like American was for Braniff. While US Airways has indicated an interest to take over AMR (the unions have thrown their support to this transaction), it will not be pretty here in Texas if US Airways comes in to pick through the remains of AMR. US Airways has filed Chapter 11 twice in the past 10 years to get themselves lean and mean. As such, they have no intention of taking on the baggage of AMR in its labor issues and you can rest assured they will rid themselves of any labor they feel are responsible for taking down AMR. Also, they want AMR’s flight routes and gates at DFW. They are drooling to get those gates, equipment, and routes for pennies on the dollar. So the unions are cutting their throats along with AMR’s with this economic terrorism being pulled right now.

If this continues requiring American to continue to cancel flights over the next week, look for this debacle to creep into the Presidential race. It is a classic example of how far left unions have gone under BHO and their tactics to strong arm companies. The federal agencies that are in place to oversee this are not doing there job because of politics. If this continues, it will be bad for AMR, all the labor unions, the airline industry, and the US economy.

AMR is worth saving. Not with new laws or taxpayor dollars in a bailout, but by allowing it to re-emerge through the framework of US contract law determined by a free market of supply and demand. This is a time for the federal government in the FAA and Labor Department to look into the union sabatage and stop it in its tracks to protect the people.

All the people….

It goes on and on…. Rasmussen has one of the better polling systems and here is some data from last week:

58% of Americans feel we are in a recession….
Only 36% of Americans feel the US economy is the best in the world….
45% feel US-Muslim relations worse than 4 years ago…
45% feel US & Allies are winning the war on terror…

Oh, but there’s more. Four days ago critical reports on several sectors in our economy came out. Not real pretty:

The national GDP was revised from 1.7% growth down to 1.3% for the 2nd quarter…
Durable goods orders were down 13.9%. To jog your memory, January 2009 was the last time they were that bad.
Orders for transportation equipment were off 35%!

Hope and change….. Hope and change…… Hope and change…..

If all of this was not enough to get you motivated to bring 10 friends to vote, ponder this:

The unemployment rate under Barry has been above 8% for over 43 months. The longest in US history.
Food stamp benefits have increase 51% since 2008. One in five americans are now on food stamps.
When Barry took office gas averaged $1.95/gallon. Now its 3.72/gallon. That is a 190% increase…..
Wholesale food prices are up 8% this year and are showing no sign of slowing….

But he needs 4 more years to fix the problems he inherited from Bush……

Here’s a real life percentage of American’s that will get screwed to the wall if Barry gets those 4 more years:

100%

Embassy Attacks
OK, even if we had zero intel of any pending attack, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as well as the fact that is has been a year since the death of Osama Bin Laden should have been enough to know to be on high alert status with fully armed security forces at all MENA embassies. For that matter – ALL of our embassies should have been on high alert. That is common sense. The fact our US Embassies – America on foreign soil – were left so unprotected is a major blunder on behalf of Obama’s view toward Islam. However, while Barry is naive on radical Islam, Secretary of State Clinton is not. I lay some major poo at her feet for not following her instincts here. The US Ambassadors abroad make the decisions on security and all other matters pertaining to our embassy staff. They are only overridden by the Secretary of State and the President.Barry truly has believed that his Muslin ties would have prevented any such matters as these. As such, you have seen a soft approach with him in these areas. Clinton knows better and should have had the smarts to ensure the embassies Ambassadors were taking proper precautions. Not having Marines in Libya and allowing them to be neutered by US Ambassador Patterson in Cairo was one of the most negligent acts in our nations history. The Marines should have been unleashed in Cairo and any other embassies we have being attacked. That is their job and SOS Clinton sat on her hands. Our embassies being attacked are acts of war against the US and require defense and response just as if it happened on the lower 48 states.

Was Romney Wrong in his early position?
Not only was he right, he showed strength in response that leaders in the MENA region need to see. Right now, they see us leaving Iraq (which is now falling to pieces) and giving timelines on leaving Afghanistan. While I know Barry really felt deep down in his heart the fact that he is a die-hard Muslim liberal would have made a difference there, he is just viewed as weak. Arabs only respond to strength. Don’t take my word for it, go read their history. There is never an excuse to allow or appease an attack on our nation – which is what these embassy attacks are. What should have occurred is a hard stand from Barry that Romney could have stepped in and backed him.

The Arab Spring
This region has been warring with itself for thousands of years. It goes back to Abraham and the births of Ishmael and Isaac. I am not going into scripture here – you can go read it again for yourself. Ishmael is the father of the Arabs, Isaac is the father of the Jews and you know the story from there. However, the Arabs have been warring amongst their tribes forever. The Ottoman Empire has been the only successful collective government to rule the MENA region and it was done with vicious, murderous, brute force. Which, by the way, is the only thing the Arabs respect – strength. Sorry, repeating myself, but this point cannot be overdone. The French and British occupations of the MENA region through 1958 prospered only when they were heavy-handed. Attempts at true democratic rules from internal appointments were disastrous and met with bloodshed from the Arabs. So when the Arab revolutions began last year and became dubbed the “Arab Spring” , a great deal of hope for democracy was professed from western leaders around the world. Now the US can take one of two positions when revolution is occurring – stand back or join in the fray. Frankly, I cannot hammer Barry for sitting back and watching as the region went through change. The US has bungled more than one toppling of dictators only to see a worse cobra arise. Saddam Hussein is the most recent to come to mind. The Shah in Iran also pops into my head. There is also the risk that you pick the losing side. I think this was one reason he held back on Libya. Gaddafi had been toothless towards the US for years and was not causing us problems. I personally think we should not have been involved at all. This is why you are also why we are hanging back on Syria, which I agree with. We would have to arm Syrian rebels, which means we would be in direct armed conflict with those backing the Syrian government – Iran and Russia. I’m not afraid of a dustup with either of those two, but not under these conditions. However, once the dust settles after revolutions, either you recognize the new government and embrace it or ignore it. Now, I have to give Barry credit in handling the new governments in MENA that have popped up. They have been recognized and supported. However, his over confidence in his Muslim ties has led to lax security here. Democracy takes years, not days, to be embraced and to be effective. While the US is the shining example of a democratic representative republic, we did not get here overnight. It took years for Britain to recognize the US formally and to make things work in the states. In an age of the internet, Twitter, and fast food, developed nations have too high an expectation for new democracies to emulate us instantly. As such, you have to be cautious and protective of new regimes (even “democratic” ones) to ensure security.

The Religion of the Region
So if the US handled the Arab Spring right, why all the hell right now? Well that should be obvious. Islam is the dominant religion of the region and even though its roots are clearly founded in Christian-Judeo origins, the morph into Islam has its differences. While I am not going to detail them here, you should already be aware that the key are Muslims value on Mohammed, whom they deem their profit. Islam does teach that all other religions are essentially paganism, but you do not see majority enforcement. If you did, 1.5 billion Muslims would warring openly with 2.1 billion Christians and 200 millions Jews as well as the other faiths. That is a losing proposition and they know it. However, their nut jobs are very well-financed and very devoted to be pure to the faith. As such, Christians and Jews (which the is the majority of what the US is) are hated by the extremist and tolerated by the rest.

The Film ” The Innocence of Muslims”
I viewed this “film” today on YouTube. It’s an absolute piece of garbage and there is no way in the world that the maker of the film can be blamed for the happenings of the MENA region. It’s a poorly made joke that takes many of the stories about Mohammed and puts them into a spoof. That’s it. For Obama and Clinton to come out and say the US does not promote this film is the same as saying they don’t support internet porn. If the US is going to distance support, then it needs to better clarify that is does not support the theme of the film, but supports the tenet of free speech afforded under the First Amendment. A golden opportunity has been missed here in the efforts to appease radical Islam. Not only should they have clarified the issue of theme of the movie, but declared that we enforce our freedoms to allow for all expression, even distasteful ones. You have a choice to pull it up on the net and view. No one is putting a gun to your head. This film is simply being used as a signal for a coordinated attack efforts on US interests by terrorists. Period.

Do we stay or abandon the MENA Region?
We have to stay for a number of reasons. Not every nation hates us. Saudi, The UAE, Turkey, Oman, and Jordan are not issues for us. Are they democracies? No, they are monarchies that take reasonable care of their people and afford them freedom. Don’t believe everything the lamestream media tells you – we do have friends there. Another reason is energy. Unless you are ready to pay $10 a gallon for gas and all of the other increases that are associated with it, there are reasons for securing the region. It will take another 6 to 10 years for the US to produce all of the energy it needs in liquid fuels, renewables, and other forms before we can tell the MENA region to kiss our behind. Another is economic influence. If the US steps out – Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France, and India get the region to themselves for the export of their goods and services, not ours. That means the MENA residents, who are one of the most rapidly developing consumers with loads of cash to burn, will be loyal to all those other nations there to help them. The US needs exports to those regions for our economy. While there are more reasons, my final one is national security. Not all of the nations I listed who would fill the US void are friendly to US interests. If we allow those interests to further influence hostilities towards us with no way to monitor the situation, it will only be a matter of time before we are at full-scale war when the extremists are whipped up enough to make such a move. However, this does not mean we just send a check and hope for the best. Any region not securing our embassies should have an immediate halt until peace is restored, those in charge found and prosecuted, and specific examples are produced of how this will be prevented in the future. With Egypt, we have some trickier waters to manuever there, as we are committed to financial aid as part of the treaty between Egypt and Israel. However, Egypt relies and tourism and I think they have blown their foot off. All US citizens should refrain from travel to Egypt as well as foregoing any purchase of Egyptian tourism goods sold in the US. Hit them in the pocketbook and see how long it takes to come around.

Dazed and confused yet?

Break out the Led Zepplin….

I know why they have issues with Russia – the support of regimes like Syria and Iran through trade with them undermine US efforts. Since Putin has returned to presidential power (as he still pulled the strings when he was Prime Minister), he has certainly taken on more of a dictator role in opposition suppression. While the prison sentences for the members of Pussy Riot got international headlines, they are the tip of the suppression machine Putin oversees. He has seen that political supporters of his past campaign have been economically punished since his re-election.  This includes arresting business owners that donated to his political opponents as well as denying access to products for re-sale.

However, this is not the Russia of Gorbachev that realized an arms race with the US would bankrupt the nation. Russia since the end of the Cold War has tapped into its vast oil reserves and has built more refineries than any other nation on the planet. Russia –  not Saudi, Iraq, Venezuela, or India is the dominant supplier of crude oil to the world. Europe and China are its 2 greatest clients and that makes todays Russia more powerful and influential, and dangerous, than it ever was in its communist height.

The Republic of Georgia has controlled a part of the BTC pipeline since its inception in 2006. That pipeline was designed to sell oil to western clients from former Soviet bloc nations that were now free. Two years ago, Russia made a land grab for part of the pipeline. This move was part of Putin’s plan (he was Prime Minister then) to keep control on Caspian Sea energy reserves. In short, Russia has more economic clout than either the US or China with regards to energy supply. What that means to you and me is that the Russians have the cash to do whatever they darn well please and there is not much we can do about it.

The one thing Putin likes more than power is money and not in rubles or yuan, but good ole US Dollars. Russian crude products have traded in the Euro and Dollar for quite some time, but the potential collapse of the Euro has the Dollar looking very good to Comrade Putin. Maybe we can use that want to lure this big fish to the table to keep the Russians on the capitalist side of the world trade.

Otherwise, we have a real problem brewing in Mother Russia.

Of course, the media whores quickly perched to crow about Armstrong’s guilt by not taking on the arbitration case. Today, Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour De France Titles and has received a lifetime ban from the sport.

So, is Armstrong guilty of using performance enhancing drugs as has been touted? Well, lets look at those pesky things called facts:
         1. Armstrong passed over 500 drug tests throughout his career 
         2. His 1999 test during the Tour De France was questioned over corticosteroids. Armstrong produced a doctor prescription for the drug to treat saddle sore.
         3. The evidence the USADA was to use against Armstrong was a change in his blood content over a number of years.
         4. The biggest evidence the USADA had against Armstrong was witness testimony from former teammates.

The USADA’s claim of “bloodboosting” by Armstrong goes back to 1999 when the French wanted to go after Armstrong and asked a Swiss lab to perform a new blood test. That Swiss lab declined in 1999, as the testing did not meet protocols in place for testing. In 2001, the International Cycling Union (UCI) sent notice to Armstrong that his blood test during the Tour of Switzerland came back with some higher than normal readings  for a hormone EPO. UCI admitted the test was new and could not be relied on and thus Armstrong passed the test. However, this notice meant UCI was watching him closely. The USADA’s argument is that over a period of many years, doping changed Armstrong’s blood content and that he was cheating. This is spite of the fact that doctors on both side of this case claim that Armstrong’s blood content fluctuations are well within the norms for professional athletes.

Is is possible Armstrong has been railroaded and just got tired of the ride? In my opinion – yes. 

After being diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and fighting through it, Armstrong founded the Livestrong Foundation for cancer awareness and to raise money for research. To date, the foundation has raised over 500 million to fight cancer. So, in 1999 when he began the start of his Tour De France domination, Armstrong had everything to live for and no reason to cheat. I am curious as well to know what continuing medicines or routines Armstrong may have had to do to keep cancer away that could have been interpreted as doping. After 2001, Armstrong was very aware of the UCI keeping a strong eye on him, so is he really stupid enough to test them? To jeopardize his career and ability to raise money for fighting cancer?

The USADA points to not entering arbitration as a guilty plea, as if Armstrong had not put up any fight at all. In fact, this issue goes back 3 years. Armstrong has had his lawyers battling this issue on various fronts, but the USADA would not go away. From insiders to Armstrong, the toll was not just financial, but wore on his family and was beginning to impact his health.

But why pack it in now? Why not fight the arbitration? Well, if you know the deck is stacked against you, do you enter the arena to formally get your head chopped off or walk away with your body in one piece? I know something about this, as I was railroaded in 2009 by TREC over a complaint against me and my former broker over a business brokerage case involving real estate that got ugly in 2006. At that time, a seller I represented told me to punt a buyer because they were Mexican. I refused and had the backing of my broker and the firm who positioned to me that her action violated the buyers civil rights. The transaction never closed, but the seller filed a complaint. We submitted a ream of evidence over her discriminatory tendencies and were told in 2007 that it looked like sour grapes and that it should be dismissed. Nearly 3 years later when I was in a political campaign, now it was decided that I alone – not my broker or corporate broker, was to be punished. I assumed I could clear this issue up by meeting with the attorney for TREC and just review the facts. While I had counsel for advice, I went to the meeting by myself and that was a huge error on my part. It was apparent that this lawyer did not like me or my politics. After arguing for 30 minutes on my ream of evidence, I declared I would just take it to an administrative hearing. The lawyer had a motion already prepared to quash 75% of my evidence and told me not only would it not see the light of day in the hearing, but if I challenged her she would pursue revocation of my license. So I took the lesser punishment and kept my head. Of course, we now know her political leanings and ties were opposite of mine and within 6 months of my punishment, she had left TREC to go to work at a plaintiffs firm…..

Could Armstrong have been facing a similar situation? I think so. The large part of the USADA’s ”evidence” was not physical, but 10 former teammates that would testify against him. You don’t suppose those 10 former teammates, who got drowned in obscurity by Armstrong’s success, might have an axe to grind? If his legal team assessed the positions of the witnesses and how the arbitrator might view testimony, he could have been fried in a legal setting. At this point, he can walk away and let his defenders argue for him. Sounds crazy, but when powerful bodies want you out of the way, they can find a way.

How can a man whip cancer, pass over 500 drug tests,  dominate his sport,  and face this kind of garbage? Somewhere he made enemies with someone, some group, or some nation that could not stand his success and committed to tearing him down. It has happened to others, although most of the time in politics from both sides of the aisle.

I have not seen or read anything that causes me to think that Armstrong violated any rules. The only thing he cheated was death from cancer.

Livestrong Lance!

Now we still have these issues and you could substitute it with any of the following: Record US Debt Threatens American Dream, SCOTUS aid POTUS in further shredding of Constitution, Billary Trying Backdoor UN Gun Ban, President Obama Caught wearing Michele Obama’s Dress, etc.

OK, I threw the last one in for humor. My point is that if you listen to all the garbage all the time, Jack and Jill don’t run up the hill – they might jump off the darn thing.

Now we have this Bane wanna be fouling up the premier of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises by blowing up and shooting attendees at the movie house. It is sad and tragic and anyone with a heart is saying prayers for those lost and injured. While I am not totally convinced this incident was not a plant by the anti-gun crowd, for now we are going to classify this nut for what he is. From all appearances, literally the garb of this nutjob, he read too much of the movie trailer and decided to wreak a little of his own havoc on the citizens of Aurora. What this whacko forgot is that The Dark Knight Rises is art, not life, and in real life psycho’s like those portrayed in the character Bane don’t get to ruin a city. They get hunted down out of the chute and in most cases end up taking the celestial dirt nap.

As usual, we are hearing from the libs about gun control. New York City idiot Michael Bloomberg is calling for Barry and Mitt to commit to gun control. This is the same idiot who recently made 16 once drinks or larger against the law. HEY NEW YORK – WILL YOU TOSS THIS MORON OUT NEXT ELECTION? HE’S MAKING YOU LOOK BAD! I am also seeing where psycho babblists’ are claiming that now you and I will have trauma anytime we go to the theater.

Folks – time to take a dandelion break and collect ourselves. The sky is not falling. 

First, let’s get real on how to prevent this nonsense in the future. It is high time we get away from all of this licensing of firearms for concealment and get back to what the 2nd Amendment is for – to protect yourself. I promise you if the people in the Aurora movie had been openly carrying their guns, this jackwagon thinks twice about the atrocity he committed. We have the Heller Supreme Court Case behind us. Why in God’s name are we tolerating ANY infringement to protect ourselves?

For the psycho babble artists who plan on increasing their billable hours by professing we all now need counseling – go suck an egg! I plan on going to see the last of this Batman series just like I see any other movie – with my .40 Glock 27 loaded with hollow points. What that means for the stupid criminal coming to my theater planning on shooting people , when I shoot them in the chest protecting my family, the bullet will blow a nice, big hole out of their backside. As such, I don’t plan on missing any movie I want to pay to see and neither should you.

It would be nice if politics were never around these tragedies, but they are. It’s human nature to have knee-jerk reactions. We just cannot allow those knee-jerk reactions to lead any law that reduces our freedoms. Right now our 2nd Amendment rights have never been more in peril.

Pray for the victims. Pray for the nutjob who committed this crime as well.

And for Opus’s sake, take a dandelion break!