Bumps in the Road

By William L. Garvin

The Middle East and Northern Africa continue to display their anti-America and anti-Obama attitudes in violent mob attacks and demonstrations.  In an interview, President Obama refers to the current state of affairs as “bumps in the road.”  In another late night comedic appearance, he blithely noted that he didn’t even know what the national debt was and it’s not “a pressing concern.”  Last year, when the United Nations was in session in New York, the President had thirteen meetings with heads of state.  The year, the President will have…ZERO!  Mr. President, where are your priorities?

When Ambassador Stevens was murdered along with three other American citizens, what did the President do?  Why he flew off to Las Vegas for a fund raiser.  Other than his presence at the arrivals of the coffins of the four Americans, the President paid scant attention paid to the raging conflagration.  For a week, the President, the Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Secretary of State failed to recognize an obvious terrorist attack.  While devoid of analytical ability or leadership traits, at least they showed a little more class than erstwhile journalist Geraldo Rivera, who referred to the ambassador as the “dead dude.” 

It took over a week for a representative of our counter-terrorist service to acknowledge the assault on the Consulate as a terrorist attack.  There continues to be an administration-wide allergy to calling a terrorist a terrorist!  Apparently, terrorist attacks continue to be viewed as crimes versus acts of war.  Maybe that’s why the FBI is allegedly conducting the investigation in Libya.  If and when they actually catch any terrorists, they will probably read the lowlifes their rights and provide them with attorneys and a trial in downtown New York that will drag on for years.

Meanwhile, the President has not been available to answer questions as to what appears to be either a massive failure of intelligence or a massive blunder in state security.  How does a CNN employee discover Ambassador Stevens’ personal diary on the floor of the burned out consulate?  Obviously, the FBI either failed to secure the “crime scene” or failed to identify obvious evidence.  For the time being, we’ll let the CNN reportage of the contents of the diary against the wishes of the family pass, but within the pages, Ambassador Stevens noted that he had concerns about his security and that he was an al Qaeda target.  Even without these concerns, how could one not have maximum security on any and every anniversary of 9/11?  Why isn’t each and every consulate and embassy guarded by our Marines?  Why weren’t the rampant rumors squelched about the Marines not being allowed to carry loaded weapons?  Why won’t the Sudan allow our Marines to land and protect our embassy in their country?  How many of our embassies and consulates have closed or suspended services?  Mr. President, what are you doing about all this?

Of course, there’s the Las Vegas fundraising.  Of course, there’s the interview with the “Pimp with a Limp.”  Of course, there’s the late night Letterman appearance.  Of course, there’s the daytime appearance on “The View.”  Just once, couldn’t you have put your country first and attended an intelligence briefing or a jobs council meeting?  Couldn’t you just once have noticed that over 8% unemployment is not a bump in the road but a superhighway of failed policies?  Just once, couldn’t you call Harry Reid into the office and tell him to produce a budget or bring one of the House jobs bills up for a vote?  Just once, couldn’t you explain to the American people how your policies in the second term will differ from those you promised in your first term?  Are you ever going to learn that an American president cannot “lead from behind” and be rehired!

One thing he has learned is never to go to another Univision interview.  Not only did their reporters ask questions that should have been asked by mainstream media a long time ago, they followed up on your non-answers.  Your answers were so bad in your “60 Minutes” interview that they only showed up online.  “Fast and Furious” did NOT start in the Bush Administration; Israel’s concern about Iranian nukes was just “noise”; his biggest failure was the “tone” in Washington; the falsehoods in his campaign commercials are just stuff that “happens in politics.”  And of course, the loss of lives in Libya and the massive destruction of airplanes in Afghanistan are just “bumps in the road.”  Some would say that the last four years wasn’t a bump but a series of sinkholes.    

“Arab Spring” Freezes Over!

By William L. Garvin

Sometimes words just fail.  There is no way they can explain what our eyes were seeing this past week.  There also was no way we could believe what our ears were hearing.  Finally, there was no way to express the sorrow for the deaths of more fine Americans in another terrorist attack.

One has to wonder why our Cairo embassy would bring attention to an obscure YouTube video for an even more obscure movie.  They were apologizing to Muslims before the protests had even begun.  Why did they repeatedly defend their apology in cyberspace in a “tweet war” with those who disagreed?  Why would Jay Carney, the presidential Press Secretary, insult the intelligence of the American public and the world at large by saying the riots in over twenty-three countries had nothing to do with anger at America and American policies?  Instead, he asked us to suspend all logic and rational thought and believe the only issue was Muslim anger with a movie that none have seen.

Maybe he hadn’t seen the news coverage where President Obama was being burned in effigy.  Maybe he hadn’t seen the flags of the United States and Israel being burned everywhere.  Maybe he hadn’t heard the chants of “Obama, Obama, we are all Osama” or “death to America.”  Maybe he didn’t hear Democrats talk twenty-one different times at their convention about the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Maybe he didn’t know these demonstrations started on the anniversary of 9/11.  Maybe he forgot that many of these countries had huge crowds dancing in the streets as the Twin Towers collapsed and thousands of Americans died.  Maybe he’s afraid to admit they still hate freedom and that’s not going to change.

It’s clear that extremists will use any excuse to justify their savage behavior.  Remember, they have already killed because of a newspaper cartoon.  Somehow they see a moral equivalency between disrespectful words and murder.  The slightest insult sends them into homicidal frenzies.  It’s hard to comprehend their savage rage.  Libyan media outlets and European press are reporting that Ambassador Stevens was subjected to humiliating atrocities before he was murdered.  The reports indicate treatment similar to the mutilation of Quadaffi.  It’s hard to believe that these people are even human.

Now the White House has contacted Google and “asked” them to review their policies and determine whether or not the video “meets their guidelines.”  The press has identified the filmmaker and because of that, he is in hiding and under guard.  Some are calling for his prosecution because of the insults to Islam and Mohammed.  Does anyone remember calls for prosecution when an artist immersed a crucifix in a jar of urine or covered a painting of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung?  Of course not!  White House favorite, Bill Maher, is also a movie maker.  One of his works was RELIGULOUS.  The majority of the movie is his predictable mocking of Christianity but the last twenty minutes also mocks Islam.  Will there be a fatwa against Maher and HBO?  What about our President who accepted $1 million from this “movie maker” who insulted Islam?  What about the Hollywood movie currently being produced to glorify the President’s killing of bin Laden?  Will that incite more riot and violence?  Remember, guns don’t kill people; movies do!

We are also told to believe that this winter of discontent is not representative of these countries as a whole, or their peoples as a whole, nor the religion of Islam as a whole.  Then praytell, where are all the so-called moderates?  Where is the public outcry and condemnation from within and without these countries and from their religious leaders as a whole?  The silence is thundering.  These are countries that have no problem accepting our foreign aid with one hand and stabbing us in the back with the other.  These countries vote against United States interests at the United Nations ninety percent of the time.

The early evidence also indicates that the Libyan “security forces” aided and abetted the terrorists.  There is no indication that a single Libyan charged with this responsibility was even wounded, let alone killed.  Our Embassy and Consulate are American territory.  This invasion and murder of our citizens show that “unconditional love” has not worked.  Neither has unconditional foreign aid.  Until these nations show that they can discharge their security responsibilities faithfully, until they show they can act in a human and civilized manner, all assistance should have strings attached and be performance based.  It’s still wrong to bite the hand that feeds you!

       

Voter Fraud at DNC!

By William L. Garvin

In an effort to insure that only eligible delegates attended, the Democrat National Convention required photo identification. Nary a word was heard about “voter suppression” or the untenable burden such a requirement placed on poor minorities.  Nonetheless, despite their best precautions, voter fraud ran rampant.

The first instance came with the development of the Democrat platform.  For some inexplicable reason, the Democrat platform committee decided to eliminate the one time their platform actually mentioned God.  They also decided to eliminate the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  This turned out to be a public relations blunder of Joe Biden magnitude.  Under an onslaught of voter outrage to a God-less Democrat Party, an amendment was hastily introduced to reinstate the singleton recognition of God and also to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  DNC Chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa conducted the voice vote which required a two-thirds majority to pass.

On the first vote to reinstate God and Jerusalem, the ayes and nays were very close which would have meant that God would have no home in the Democrat platform.  So, the intrepid mayor held a second vote.  This time, the nays clearly were the loudest.  Obviously flustered and looking exceedingly uncomfortable, the undemocratic chair conducted a third vote.  This time the nays were substantially louder but democracy be damned!  Villaraigosa brazenly dictated that the ayes met the two-thirds support threshold and unilaterally put God and Jerusalem back into the Democrat platform.  What a blatant fraud and disgrace to the delegates and the Democratic Party.

Naturally, Democrat surrogates quickly began pandering and trumpeting their religious nature and support of Israel.  However, little notice was given to their elimination of language regarding Hamas.   The State Department designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1993.  Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and in 2008, the Democrat platform said:  “The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements. Sustained American leadership for peace and security will require patient efforts and the personal commitment of the President of the United States…All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.”  All this language has been eliminated so “full support” of Israel now rings rather hollow in sound and disingenuous in action.

These are examples of the many DNC frauds.  When Cory Booker said that the demand for the rich to pay even higher taxes is not class warfare but patriotism, that is a fraud.  Did he mean that the 144 million Americans who do not pay any taxes whatsoever are not patriotic?  When Joe Biden said that it was never, ever a good idea to bet against the American people, that was a fraud.  No one on the GOP ticket is betting against the American people.  It’s only those who advocate big government and central planning who think the American public cannot be trusted with their own futures.  When Bill Clinton talked about his “budget surplus,” that was a fraud.  Despite his bookkeeping shenanigans, the simple truth remains that the Total Public Debt increased every single year he was in office.

Then of course, there was the chorus line of Hollywood actresses, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, and Kelly Washington.  Apparently they are talented actors but any intimate knowledge or understanding of politics was a fraud.  Eva thinks that higher taxes on multi-million dollar year actors such as her are just fine.  She doesn’t understand that the taxes Democrats propose on millionaires and billionaires start at $250,000.  Over ninety percent of people in that category are NOT the millionaires that she, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama are.  Higher taxes will devastate small, family-owned businesses.  ScarJo said she speaks for millions of young women who are dependent on government and Planned Parenthood.  Fraud!  Just another Sandra Fluke wannabe.  K-Wash actually thinks that there is a battle going on over women’s right to vote and that is somehow an issue in this election.  Then there’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz who lies more often than Biden gaffes…enough said.  There was John Kerry, who lent aid and comfort to the enemy on foreign soil, who called our military “terrorists,” who threw his military medals into the river, fraudulently posing as a war hawk.  As for the Harvard lawyer, employed by an established Chicago law firm wearing shoes a half size too small…let’s not even go there!       

GOP Women ROCK the RNC!

By William L. Garvin

In the ‘80’s, the car commercials shouted “this is not your father’s Oldsmobile” and today we hear “this is not your grandfather’s Buick.”  After the Republican National Convention, it is evident this is not your father’s or your grandfather’s Republican Party.  It is equally evident that the players on the bench are deep, diverse, and dynamic!

Of course, everyone expected Paul Ryan to add spark and sparkle to a younger generation.  He broke the main problem down into straightforward terms:  you have to stop spending money you don’t have!  Everyone expected Mitt Romney to deliver a straightforward, no nonsense, and very businesslike assessment of the dire economic straits this country is facing.  Everyone thought they knew what they would hear from Chris Christie; some were disappointed by his muted, albeit still devastating critique of the current administration’s economic failure.  Everyone expected that Marco Rubio would deliver a brilliant introduction of Governor Romney.  What very few expected was the depth, breadth and brilliance of the women who spoke during the three days.

The first and foremost characteristic of all these women is courage.  If you think back on the vicious attacks against Sarah Palin (and her family!), the character assassination, the lies and distortions of her record of governance, the flood of ethics complaints (none of which were proven!), the deliberate attempt to personally bankrupt her family, and baseless attacks that continue even today, lesser souls would have recoiled from the spotlight.  Nonetheless, into the breach they strode, undaunted, unafraid, and with consummate professionalism.

The potential First and Second Ladies, Ann Romney and Janna Ryan, gave warm and endearing tributes to their husbands.  Immediately some Hollywood Bill Maher wannabe named Jason Biggs showed just how small he was with obscene and vile tweets about them both.  Even his wife joined in.  What a disgrace!  Mrs. Romney was virally criticized for wearing an Oscar de la Renta gown…shades of the phony Sarah Palin wardrobe scandal.  Do you think the cost and cut of President Obama’s suit will warrant media attention?

Mia Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and the daughter of Haitian immigrants gave a spirited message of “fiscal discipline, limited government, and personal responsibility.”  The congressional candidate spoke of the American Dream emanating from her parents arrival here with ten dollars in their pocket.  Of course, MSNBC failed to show her rousing speech in order not to upset their racist stereotypes.  Immediately, her Wikipedia biography was hacked with more obscene bile and racial epithets.  Curiously, MSNBC also failed to show the speech of Artur Davis, the former Democrat congressman now Republican who supported Senator Obama in 2008.  MSNBC just doesn’t want to hear it when an African-American says it’s time to correct their mistakes.

But the women just kept on coming and rocking the house!  There was Senator Kelly Ayotte from the “Live free or die!” state who pointed out that “President Obama has never even run a lemonade stand - and it shows.”  The Florida Attorney General Pam Biondi, who has spearheaded the legal battle against Obamacare, clearly outlined how the Affordable Health Care Act has turned unaffordable.  This is backed up by the Congressional Budget Office which says it will cost THREE TIMES the original estimates.  The parents of Nikki Haley emigrated from India and now their daughter is Governor of South Carolina.  She lamented how her state’s biggest obstacle is the Obama administration.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kept the room enthralled (without a teleprompter) with her own heart-stirring, American Dream story.  As a child growing up in Alabama, she couldn’t eat a hamburger at the Woolworth’s counter but she could grow up to be Secretary of State!  The same theme was echoed by Senator Rubio who also talked about his father working late nights as a bartender in the back of the room “so I could stand in the front of the room.”  Most people know that Condi Rice is “mildly pro-choice.”  Even though one-third of Democrats describe themselves as pro-life, how many speakers at the DNC will represent that view?  ZERO!  They won’t even let them be represented on their Democratic Party Platform Committee.

Of final note is Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico.  Once again we heard about the American Dream being realized…Prosecutor, District Attorney and the first Latina Governor in the United States.  “Success is not built on resentment or fear,” she noted.  “I fear some of our leaders today have lost the courage to stand up.  They won’t offer real plans, and only stand up when they want to blame someone else. “   They were all headliners and they rocked the house…this ain’t your grandpa’s GOP!