Friday, February 27, 2015

GOVERNMENT BY EXTORTION

Those who believe that it is proper for Congress to deny funding to a vital Government agency, as a means to reverse an executive order, should bear in mind that all that is needed, to do so, is an an act of Congress, as our Constitution envisioned.  I doubt that our Founding Fathers considered extortion as part of a system of checks and balances.

Monday, February 23, 2015

MYSTIC POWERS

There is something oin the Republican Party platform that seems to bestow mystical powers on Republicans.  George W. Bush had the uncanny ability to be able to look ionto the eyes of people and find clues as to that person's soul.  Bush, Jr. was thus able to clear both Putin and Maliki as trustworthy recipients of American backing, despite the aggresive behavior of the one and ethnic bias of the other.  Another of those gifted Republicans is Rudy Giuliani, able to judge the degree of  love of country, in the heart of a Democrat,  just by looking at him, or possibly by the fact that his programs, for one, brought medical attention to millions of his poor compatriots, a most unpatriotic act. In any event, despite any apparent doubt as to the efficacy of  their mystic powers, Republicans have faith in their faith

Thursday, February 19, 2015

INFINITE REVENUE

When Republicans took over the House of Representatives, in 2011, one of their first orders of business was to pass a rule which stated that any tax cut would not require a corresponding budget cut.  This rule, which is still in effect, is based on the axiom that tax cuts stimulate revenue increases for the Government.  

It has been pointed out that, if one accepts the premise, reducing the tax rate to zero should yield infinite revenue, so why not also eliminate all taxes and not just cut them for the wealthy?  The Republican reply is that, out of concern for the poor, they are limiting tax cuts to only the wealhy because they can better weather any ill effects should the theory prove to be wrong.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

NUCLEAR DETERRENT

The only real deterrent to Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon evaporated when George W. Bush toppled Saddam Hussein.  As long as Saddam successfully bluffed the Iranis into thinking that he might have one, and was savage enough to launch a preemptive nuclear strike, they refrained from pursuing such a program.

At the moment, there is no national leader who is deemed crazy enough to undertake a preemptive nuclear strike, without considering that radioactive fallout recognizes no international boundary.  North Korea is an example of how effective sanctions are to stop a determined government from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as it was, similarly, for Pakistan and India.

When it comes to a preemptive strike with conventional weapons, does Netanyahu, and his chickenhawk allies in Congress believe that it  would work, without boots on the ground, against Iran but not when dealing with ISIL?  

As usual, the only realist in the room we call Washngton, is Obama, and we can only hope that he will prevail despite the obstcles that  his foes erected.












Tuesday, February 17, 2015

AMAZING GRACE

The power of Judeo-Christian beliefs is amply demonstrated by the fact that cowardly, Muslim terrorist jihadists can in an instant of time be converted into heroic, knightly Christian crusaders by baptism.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

BUYING TIME

Buying time has been a major element in many conflicts.  Russia twice defeated the most powerful land armies, in the world, at the time, Napoleon's during the 19th Century and Hitler's in the 20th Century, by trading terrain for time.  Churchlll sacrificed his major cities to buy time, in the West, to eventually defeat the German war machine.  After Saddam Hussein, purported to have the 3d largest army in the world, invaded Kuwait, George H.W. Bush waited, patiently, for months while forces were built up, all the while carrying on a war of attrition, as did the Russians and Churchill, to defeat the aggressor.

The American people have demonstrated, however, impatience with the current President, when it comes to the handling of crisises, even when they are handled, one by one, in a reasonble time frame.  Perhaps, this can be attributed to a hostile press which, for partisan reasons, criticizes the President if they are not resolved within hours.  I cannot help but wonder if the portrayal of fictitious black Presidents, on both TV and the movies, contributes to the problem.  After all, black Presidents, as depicted, take less than two hours to resolves their problems, why not Obama?

Saturday, February 7, 2015

BRIAN WILLIAMS

For telling a lie that ,actully hurt no one, but which may end his career, I believe Brian Williams is guilty; guilty , that is, of having picked the wrong profession.  If he had become a politician , it would have been to his credit.  Of course, he would not have prospered in that field, unless he also told more frequent lies, say at least daily, and to become a super star in the field, gotten us into wars; committed adultery; doctored up his war record; tanked the economy, and other similar things. 

THE MORAL IN THE GAME

There is a powerful moral in the game of "Monopoly".  When one player amasses all of the money, it's game over!

ANCIENT HISTORY

President Obama is being roundly criticized for ,bringing up ancient history, by mentioning malevolent behavior of 
Christians, against other religions.  Considering that there was a massacre of 7000 Moslem Bosnians, by Christian Serbs, as late as 1995 AD, ancient history may just be in the belief system of the observer.  

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

CHRISTIEN SCIENCE

If, as Chris Christie believes, parents should have the right to choose whether  their children should be vaccinated or not, it would seem equally fair, if parents were able to choose whether their children could attend school with those who were not vaccinated.  To accomodate both camps, it seeems the only sensible course of action would be to have separate schools for those whose parents disagree on wheher to vaccinate or not.  Teachers at the non vax schools should be required to have their vaccinations and booster shots up to date, as a precaution.