President Obama’s decision to seek Congressional approval on Syria attack is brilliant.

             President Obama has been criticized for how he has handled previous attacks on the Syrian citizens. Most recently the Syrian government has used chemical weapons to kill about 1400 Syrian civilians and bombed a bus full of kids. Our war weary country is split on whether to help or not. Many Republicans have criticized President Obama, calling for U.S. military involvement and saying his planned bombings were a weak show of force. Then they criticized him for thinking about attacking Syria. He put them on the spot now.

Despite the criticism, none of the members of Congress are rushing back from vacation to help come to a decision. Congress comes back September 9 and works for 9 days in September. They want to debate the Syrian situation. Despite calling for a decision from the President, Congress wants to spend tine debating it. Democrats have been for the most part silent on the issue. Of course every talking head media fool was calling for immediate action, all now seem confused by President Obama going to Congress for clearance. Shows the true difference between Republican and Democrat Presidents, Democrats respect the Constitution, Republicans think they are monarchs.

Of course there is the moral issue. How do we, the worlds big brother and policeman for the last 50 years not immediately help those in need? How do we watch genocide? First of all, we allowed the genocide to go on in Tibet for many years. The Chineese decimated that country and their spiritual leader, the Dali Llama, is no longer allowed in the country. We as a country only help countries of strategical interest. Morally, all countries should be obligated to help. Britain voted not to. How many others will follow suit? No President has been able to calm the tensions in the Middle East. Religious fervor cannot be reasoned with, that is why this region will never be stable.

The sheer brilliance of President Obama’s decision is purely political. He put the Republicans who criticized his decision and non-decision on the spot. It is now on them, they can’t step back and criticize, they have to play a part in the decision. They are now on the hook for the outcome. The President no longer be the only object if hateful rhetoric. He has made it put up or shut up for his critics. Now we will see what is more important to Republicans, lobbyist, constituents or the proper moral decision. This should be interesting. Nice opening move President, lets see if the GOP can play chess.

George W. Bush, the President Republicans refuse to acknowledge.

               George W. Bush was President from 2001-2009, he oversaw the decimation of the American culture. He deregulated the Banking Industry,  Wall Street and just about anything else that had lobbied for his support. He oversaw the Housing Crisis, the Great Recession and a huge difference unemployment spike.

He started 2 wars that weren’t payed for and oversaw the largest foreign attack on American soil. He took a budget that was in the black and he created a National Debt that exceeded almost any created by an American President before this. He created more than half of the economic problems we still face today. The Bush Tax Cuts cost us about $4 trillion towards our National Debt. He created the polarization that exists in politics today.

He lied us into war. Not only did he lie but he provided false information to Congress. He did it again with the Banking and Housing Crisis. He gave out $750 billion to the banks without any rules or restrictions. None of the banks were required to pay anything back. The TARP funds President Obama gave out have all been payed back and he attempted to put restrictions on bonus payouts as well as CEO pay. He was unfortunately overruled by a pro-bussiness Congress.

According to Republicans Bush 43 did no wrong. He was in fact a patriot. To all Democrats including myself he was the beginning of Corporate America. Corporations got their foothold under Bush and it has continued to get worse through Republucan obstruction. In my opinion Republicans have sabotaged our economic recovery in order to hurt President Obama. That is not a sound economic policy. Nor is the Republican flat out denial of President Bush’s presidency. They got what they wanted with him, yet attempt to deny that is what they wanted. Sadly the only end in sight for these idiotic policies is the decimation of the Republican party.

Conservatives refuse to acknowledge Bush 43.

             Yesterday on Twitter I debated one, then several Republicans. Started off with one, then it became 6. I do not understand how their set of facts and truths are so different from mine. Nor do I understand how they refuse to blame George W. Bush for anything. I actually had one tell me that Bush was trying to fix the Banks, according to them he did not deregulate anything.

As the conversation went on, they blamed Bill Clinton and President Obama for everything that happened during Bush 43’s 2 terms. According to these people Clinton caused the financial collapse and housing market collapse. Bush did nothing to cause this, although he was President for 7 years when all of this happened. According to these people the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were run properly and there was no hidden agenda.

They blame President Obama for not creating jobs, but put no blame on Republican led House, although they shot down a Veterans Jobs Bill and a Jobs Bill. Collectively they would have created as many as 1.5 million jobs, effectively lowering the 7.6 unemployment rate and helping economy. They do not recognize this as happening. They attack President Obama about Benghazi, but say the 11 embassy attacks and near 60 deaths in Bush term were acceptable because we were at war. War on Terror is still in progress, not all embassy attacks happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The whole Republican party philosophy shows here. If they cannot convince you that act like young children. Yes it devolved to them calling names and cursing. If you disagree with their views, you are dumb, stupid, a terrorist and a Muslim. Apparently religious views are no longer protected by their beloved Constitution, which Democrats protect more. This is why Congress is in gridlock. Republicans have own facts and refuse to acknowledge any other views. In my experience many, not all are bigoted, short sighted people. It only matters when it happens to them. Of Trayvon Martin was their child, their opinion of him being responsible for own death would be different. We live in a country of many views and ethnicities, people need to be more open minded.

Policies Republicans supported until President Obama did.

             Republicans have a nasty habit of supporting policies until President Obama does. As soon as he supports them Republicans withdraw their support and work against them. Here are a few;

1) Military intervention in the Middle East- If this doesn’t convince you that Republicans oppose policies because President Obama supports, nothing will. Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 all supported military intervention in the Middle East, yet when President Obama uses the military in Libya, Republicans come out in opposition. Their stand on this policy is very revealing. Under President Obama, Libya overthrew their dictator without on Americsn life being lost.

2) Minimum Wage- With Republicans talk about abolishing the minimum wage, you would have thought their were always against it. 82 House Republicans and 39 Senate Republicans joined the Democrat majority in passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. It is only now that President Obama wants to raise it that Republicans oppose it with large corporate backing, led by the Koch Brothers. If Republicans were so against raising the minimum wage they would not have voted to raise it 3 times.

3) Defecit Spending- Republicans have employed defecit spending since Reagan and were out of control during Bush 43. In an attempt to pass a conservative agenda and fund 2 wars, Reagan and George W. Bush both doubled the defecit. When Democrats were in control of the White House and Congress from 2008-2010, Republicans reversed their stance and still oppose defecit spending because a Democrat is President. If a Republican were President I am sure our defecit hawks would disappear.

4) Civil Rights- Republicans were once the champions of Civil Rights. They ended slavery adopted the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. They split apart over the 1964 Civil Rights Acts and have become more opposed to civil rights ever since. President Obama has called for an increased civil rights and Republicans seem to oppose civil rights for all but white male Christians.

5) Public Education- The founding fathers believed in education for all. Every Republican President in U.S. History has been supportive of the Public Education System. Reagan campaigned on axeing the Department of Education, but he notably didn’t eliminate it, he gave it a larger budget allocation. President Obama is seeking to improve the Public Education System and all Republicans suddenly oppose Public Education. When President Bush proposed improving Public Education, Republicans supported him. Now that President Obama wants to do it, Republicans decided that all Public Schools are evil liberal institutions that must be destroyed.

Obviously Republicans flip flop according to what President Obama supports. That is not the way to govern.

Is it the American Dream or the American Lie?

           After WWII the United States had an unprecedented economic run. The People in our country had an incredible run. We were well ahead of the rest of the world in technical advancements. Our automobile industry, technical industry, health and just about every other industry was well ahead of the rest of the world. Our economy was stellar and it truly showed in the strength of our middle class.

The American Dream was alive and well. People were able to afford the nice house, nice yard, a good car, vacations and savings for college and/or retirement. Unions helped employees earn a better salary and people had more discretionary income. People were buying T.V.s, unnecessary items, that were once considered a luxury. Even with ups and downs it seemed as if everyone had a fair shot to live their dream.

Everything truly started to change in the 1970s. That is when CEO pay began to jump and the employee pay began to level off. The 1980s and Reagonomics put a serious hurting on the American Dream. More people were layed off, companies began getting more work out of less people and corporations put short term profits ahead of the long term outlook. The 1990s saw a bit of an uptick for employees, but that was shortlived. Then George W. Bush and the new Republican party struck.

The Bush administration started the Bush Tax Cuts, which increasingly helped the Wealthy. Since the inception of the Bush Tax Cuts, they have cost us about $3 trillion. He started 2 wars that weren’t paid for and was in charge for 2 recessions. He created less jobs that any President in history and was in office for the largest terrorist attack in American History, 9/11. The Housing Market and the Banking Industry fell apart under his watch.

To top all of that off we were hemorrhaging jobs. He gave tax breaks to companies who outsourced American jobs as they were recieving government subsidies. By this time CEOs were making 400 times what their employees made and employeed wages stagnated. Banks were going bankrupt, yet their CEOs were getting million dollar bonuses or more. It was as if tge world was turned upside down. The American Dream was dead in the water.

In steps President Obama and the Democrats. They passed the ACA, the economy was slowly improving and jobs were slowly being created. All this despite Republican attempts to stop him and find a way to impeach him. Now the Stock Market is sitting at a record high, unemployment rate is below 8% and the Republicans are still doing everything they can to inhibit him.

But despite the improvements, does the American Dream still exist? Yes and no. It will never be the same as it was. It is more like buying a home and making sure the bills are paid. Maybe you can go on a vacation, most likely not if you want to put your kids through college. The one hidden stat that is very disturbing is that 91% of the wealth made over the past 5 years was made by the top 7% of America’s earners. It appears the American Dream has been held hostage.

Radicalization and Terrorism. Can we stop the process?

            First the excusr that Jihadist Terrorism being a response to American foreign policy must be scrapped. Or the percieved difficulty faced by Muslim youths trying to intergrate into American society. Most Muslims are not terrorists and in fact most abhore the actions of the zealots who pervert their religion. The only way to defear radical Jihadists is not by beating the violence, but the underlying ideology of hate.

As of 2012 according to Wikipedia, the American government, CIA, FBI, DEA, the police and the military have prevented 29 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11. In that time there has been one successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The Boston Marathon Bombing, which was committed by 2 Chechens, one who was interviewed by the FBI. If Russia g ad shared the information they had, that one would have been prevented as well.

We are never going to prevent Radicals from hating America, regardless of changes in our foreign policy. George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan indirectly or dirictly complied with terrorist by removing U.S. soldiers from a specific area, it did nothing to change the Radical attempts to harm our country or our citizens in foreign countries. Radicals twist religious teachings to fit their hate, their mental instability and the fact that their situation was caused by Radicals before them. They prey upon weak people, lost souls and those looking for a group identity. These people are so immersed in their leaders teachings, they cannot see the forest for the trees. They do not realize that they are pawns in a sick game of revenge on a society not the individual “evil doer”. They also don’t realize their leader does not put themselves in harms way unless it comes to them, despite their claims that dying whole killing the infidels is glorious and guarantees a spot in heaven. They manipulate the weak minded, they are predators.

We can stopp planned attacks, which has been proven. The Intellegence Services pick up “chatter” and then figure out how to handle it. They usually find out if the “chatter” is true, narrow down the conspirators and then strike. We need to stop assisting countries that support or allow terrorist to hide in their lands, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran- which is subsidized by wealthy Americans like Mitt Romney and their controlling interests in the oil fields. Drone strikes make a lot of sense in these cases, cross border attacks on terrorist hideouts and training camps. We have made a lot of progress, but as a Free Society we will always be open to attacks. If we became a police state, the terrorists woukd have won and we still wouldn’t be safe.

Our leaders, intellegence services, police and other organizations have done an admirable job stopping attacks. Lone wolf attacks like the Boston Marathon Bombing or the attack on the British soldier will continue to be a thorn in our side. It shows how terrorists are adapting to our methods, finding alternate means of communication. If we cannot pick up any information about an attack, it cannot be prevented. We will never stop radicalization, we can change how we are percieved worldwide, it doesnt matter what we do. It us not our policies they disagree with, it is our freedoms and it is their theory that all people should live by Sharia Law. As we deal with more of this maybe we can develope nethods to stop radicalization.
In closing, Republucans; Democrats, President Obama or Joe the Plumber are not the cause, we are the victim. You cannot stop insanity, you hospitalize and medicate it. For radicalization to stop, it must be felliw Muslims that stop it. They need to preach what their religion is really about and erase the perversion done by zealots. All we can do is stop what we can and react well when it happens. We cannot kick people out of the country or hate all because of the actions of a few. We are America, we are better than that.