ISIS beheads journalist. How does the United States need to respond?

         ISIS, also known as ISIL or Al Quadea in Iraq has struck a nerve with United States population. James Foley was kidnapped, held hostage and then beheaded by the terrorist organization.  This is just weeks after they attacked a rare religious sect in Iraq. Just weeks after President Obama authorized strategic airstrikes. It seems as if ISIS is tempting the United States back into Iraq. The war mongers are pounding their drums louder now.

ISIS had convinced the Iraqi people that they were unbeatable. ISIS owes much of its success to the fact that Iraqi military officers who were ousted by the U.S. have joined there cause. ISIS has not suffered many, if any losses until faced by the Peshewars and the United States military. When faced by these two ISIS backed off. ISIS claims that they are the leaders of the Muslim world. Where in truth, most Muslims want nothing to do with them. They are a radical element that Republican Marco Rubio says needs to be exterminated.

People were upset that the U.S. would not pay 100 million euros or $132 million dollars for the release of Foley. The U.S. does not pay ransoms to terrorist organization or any organization. If a group or family decides to do so, the government typically will let them do so, despite that money assisting a terrorist organization. It is a horrible tragedy and no one deserves to be harmed like that. But I am sure Foley knew what the dangers of this assignment were. Again that does not make them right, but he had to be aware of the risk he was taking. Anyone going over there, soldier, reporter or medical workers should have these risks presented to them.

When I heard President Obama authorized air strikes I was appalled. I knew it wouldnt be long until we had soldiers over there fighting again. Today I have heard that it may be happening much sooner then I thought. We do not need to fight another war. Our country is tired, devastated and broke because of the last 2. Our soldiers need to recover and be with family. This is not the answer. We have many special operations units and drones to do this work. Yell about drones all you want. I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER AMERICAN TO DIE IN IRAQ!!!!!! I cannot stress that enough. It will not end well. I agree that action needs to be taken. But noy another war.

I am an adamant President Obama supporter. I love many of his policies and agree with even more. His whole presidency has been one tough decision after another. This is no different. Congressman John McCain has been beating his war drum for years. The Republicans and there puppeteers have been trying to get us in every country that has a case of marital discord. President Obama and Democrats have held strong until now. The region has always had issues, religious zealots tend to hate a lot of people. We are not the country to fix it. I do not know if Iraqis are better off now or before the war but our country is not better off. We have recovered quite a bit but not enough to go to war again. Please President Obama, I implore you, do not go to war.

President Obama authorizes airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq.

     Much to my dismay President Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq. I realize that President Obama had only bad choices in this matter, but in Iraq again. Really? We supposedly stopped military operations in 2011. We were supposed to be teaching Iraqi forces to handle these situations without losing control. It seems the only military presence in Iraq is militias. As of now President Obama has limited military action to airstrikes. How long will that last.

As always the Republican war machine has its wheels turning. John Boehner said the bombings were appropriate but will not be enough. John McCain, the biggest war monger of them all, referred to the strikes as pin pricks. Then followed by saying the Obama administration will not move forward to finish the deal. Peter King said the strikes will not be enough alone. Are these leaders calling for boots on the ground? Of course Democrats are calling for no more then air strikes. Nancy Pelosi commended the President saying that air strikes will help and that she admired his commitment to not putting soldiers in danger.

Why did it take us so long to get involved? Iraqi official have asked the President for help earlier in the year. He said no, because he wanted Iraq to stand on their own as a soveirgn nation. He said that Iraq needed to learn how to handle these situations themselves. Essentially to grow as a government and country. Was this the right strategy? Of course the opinions are split. I do not want soldiers on the ground and it seems as if the American people do not either. But honestly what choice was left.

ISIS is the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. It is essentially Al Queda in Iraq. It was also very involved in Syria. It is a self proclaimed caliphate and claims authority of Muslims all over the world. It aspires to bring much of the Muslim inhabited regions of the world under its direct political control, according to Wikipedia. ISIS us currently targeting the Yazidis. The Yazidis are a Kurdish minority that is isolated from the majority of the population due to their ancient beliefs. Members of the group are believe in an ancient religion linked to Zoroastrianism and are considered herectics by radical Ialamists. ISIS growth in power has made it easier for them to target the Yazidis.

President Obama said these strikes may save women and children stuck on a mountaintop. His decision seems to have been made by ISIS. Iraqi militias stopped the ISIS march into the capital. But ISIS has been very successful in other regions. I am disapointed that it has come to air strikes. I believe we did the right thing allowing Iraq to handle the situation themselves, we essentially did that in Syria. This is a rock and a hard place situation. Any decision will involve loss of human life. I am happy to say President Obama waited until he could wait no longer. I just home the war machines reach ends at air strikes.

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.

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.

Happy 4th of July, Independence earned through blood.

               HAPPY 4th of JULY!! The day our fledgling country declared its Independence from a colonial power. The day our founding fathers said enough was enough. The day we said no more to an oppressive regime. The day the American experiment began. Of course all of the rights we have today were earned with the blood of brave Americans and over our many years as a country more blood has veen shed to spread these freedoms worldwide.

Our Freedom to scream at our leaders, protest, although that seems challenged at times, to write what we want, religious freedom, freedom from tyranny among many other freedoms started that day. Our right to elect our leaders and elect different ones when they don’t do the job all started that day. All these freedoms that other countries would put you in jail for, we have. No other country has anything like our 2nd Amendment, however misinterpreted it is. Our Bill of Rights guarentees our Freedoms as an addition to our Constitution.

Republicans show blatant disregard for our Constitution. Stomping on 1st Amendment rights, our voting rights, workers rights and women’s rights. The Voter I.D. Law, which was model legislation from ALEC which is in cohoots with the NRA, as well as these Anti-Abortion Laws Republicans are attempting to pass nationwide. The Republicans show disdain for the office of the President, because they don’t agree with President Obama. Democrats are not perfect, the Monsanto Protection Act, is a complete joke, but they do more for the people than the Republican party.

Gettysburg is celebrating yhe 150th anniversary of what is probably the most pivotal battle of the Civil War. 50,000 Americans were killed or injured during this battle. This was the beginning of freedom for African Americans. African Americans were only considered 3/5s of a person in the Constitution. Our Country is not and never will be perfect. But our syste m of government has worked for a long time. To let it be hijacked by lobbyist working for corporate interest makes everything these men and women sacraficed for a joke.

So today while celebrating our independence remember the blood that has been shed. Thank your neighbors son who serves in the Navy. Thank your good friend who serves in the Air Force. Thank the man in the wheel chair for his Army service in Iraq. Thank the Marine you know or see for putting their life between you and those who despise the freedoms we have. The Marines are special to me because I was there, so I personally thank all of you service members for what you do. We are celebrating our county’s independence, but it was won with the blood of soldiers like these. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!! Have a great day and don’t drink and drive. Be careful with those fireworks as well.

Snowden was wrong and deserves to be punished.

           Edward Snowden revealed the Top Secret NSA Surveillance program. The NSA is collecting phone records and they are also collecting Internet records under the PRISM program. Republican Senators chastised President Obama and said they knew nothing of the program, a blatant lie. There are records showing Congress having briefings about the programs, maybe they went home instead of going to the briefings.

Snowden dropped out of high school. Got a job as a janitor at the CIA and somehow worked himself into a low-level intellegence position. He apparently is a whiz with computers. As budgets for the NSA, CIA and FBI were slashed they began outsourcing a lot of the intellegence work. Snowden left the CIA and began working in those fields. He stole information he was not even supposed to have and fled the country. He worked with the Guardian newspaper to get it out.

There is no dilema here, ge broke the law and the contract hth e signed to be privy to Top Secret information. Giving Top Secret information to anyone not cleared to look at it can be considered treason. If someone dies because of the information he made public will he still be considered a hero? Releasing classified information like this hurts our National Security. We are a free state, not a police state, but we do have to take measures to protect our country.

I am a Democrat and a Liberal but I realize that National Security is of the utmost importance. Do you think it was blind luck we were only hit with one terrorist attack since 9/11. There is a reason for that. How many people were prosecuted because of these programs? These programs had to get renewed court orders every 3 months for 7 years and Senators claim they didn’t know. Republican outrage over this is a sham, they supported George W. Bush and his illegal wiretapping.

What Snowden did was wrong? If he sold these secrets to Russia he would be labeled a traitor. Instead he gave it to a newspaper who gave it to our enemies. He is a traitor, plain and simple. The Government looking at your Internet activity is wrong, but corporations doing it is ok. Snowden deserves to be punished. There is no way around that and any country that shelters him obviously has a vested interest in him.

Republicans kill the Veterans Jobs bill, good enough to die for them but not good enough to help.

                  To put it blatantly, the Republicans screwed our veterans again. Last one was a few months ago when the Republican Sequester killed the Military Tuition Assistance Program. This time is even worse and a serious thumb in the eye of our veterans. This time they stopped the Veterans Jobs Bill by forcing a budget point of order vote. Senate Majority WHIP Dick Durbin (R-Il) requested a motion to waive the budget point of order. The budget point of order was raised by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Al). Democrats need 60 votes, but only got 58.

Sessions said in a floor speech Wensday “This violates the Budget Control Act, there is no dispute about it. The Bill will not even go through the House and it violates the Constitution because it says revenue bills must be started in the House and this is a revenue bill.” Why does the House insist the Senate and President Obama present budgets when that is obviously unConstitutional. According to Senator Sessions the House is violating the Constitution willingly in doing so.

The Veterans Job Corp Act would have created new job training programs to help veterans find work in targeted fields. Fields such as natural park conservation, historic preservation projects, police work and firefighting, among others. Senator Scott Brown, Dean Heller, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe were the only Republicans who voted for the waiver, in a 58-40 vote.

The $1billion bill would have paid for itself over the next decade. Republican Senators say the bill allows for more spending at the Veterans Administration than what was agreed to in the Budget Control Act. This is thec reason they raised the point of order vote. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Ok) said these types of bills are part of the problem of the growing National Debt.

S.3457 was returned to the calender, leaving H.J. Res. 117, the 6 month spending resolution passed by the House last week, as the only business left in the Senate before the Election recess.

Senator Patty Murray (D-Wa) said “This point of order puts a price on what we are willing to provide our veterans and it says not a penny more. It’s a point of order that not only kill our ability to pass the bill, but that could also affect nearly every other effort we make to improve the lives of veterans moving forward.” She also said ” At every turn, we have sought compromise. But instead of meeting us halfway, we have been met with resistance. Instead of saying yes to the nearly 1 million unemployed veterans, it seems the other side have spent the last week and a half seeking out any way to say no.”

This a disgusting act on Republicans part. They practice a form of selective austerity. Tax cuts are another form of spending because they cut revenue. Republicans, Tea Party and conservatives are unwilling to raise taxes on the wealthy or close Corporate Tax Loopholes, tax havens and other forms of tax avoidance that cost us hundreds of billions of dollars a year, but will kill a $1 billion dollar bill for veterans that will pay for itself in 10 years. Lobbyist obviously have Republicans in their pocket. Our soldiers are good enough to die to make these greedy pigs rich but are not good enough to help. Shame on you Republicans, you are despicable.

                 

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.

Congress has know about NSA collecting phone records for 7 years.

                    I find it laughable that news outlets immediately went on the attack about the NSA collecting phone records. They immediately attacked the Obama administration for violating civil rights, before they had all the information. I find it odd that Republican lawmakers were informed about this, yet say they weren’t completely informed. Where they not reading their briefings? They also didn’t seem willing to mention it was part of the Patriot Act. Why now was this TOP SECRET document released? Isn’t it odd that it coincides with other “scandals”.

                 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Chair women of the Senate Intellegence Committee says the top secret court order for telephone records is a 3 month renewal of a continuing program that has been in place since 2006. That’s a whole 3 years before President Obama took office. Senator Feinstein said that the surveillance is lawful and Congress has been fully briefed on the practice.

Her Republican counterpart, Saxby Chambliss agreed, ” This is nothing new. This has been going on for years and EVERY member of the U.S. Senate has been advised of this. To my knowledge there has not been any citizen who has registered a complaint. It has proved meritorious because we have collected significant information on bad guys, but only bad guys, over the years.” He said that every Senator was briefed on this, all of them, Republicans and Democrats. If this is violating civil rights and President Obama is wrong, Republicans are complicit and thereby just as wrong.

The statements of the Senators rule out that the surveillance was in response to the Boston Marathon Bombing. The order was effective April 19, shortly after the bombing, sparking speculation of a link. Despite revealing the duration of the surveillance, the Senators did not specify why the surveillance is in place. I guess that is why it is TOP SECRET, there are some things the public shouldn’t know, or it will get in the papers and possibly harm our anti-terrorist experts. The court order was authorized under a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, that allows the government to collect business records in bulk if the request is approved by the court. What are Phone companies business records, call data, numbers, call origins and data used. Fits under the law, a law that Republicans helped put in place.

Much to the chagrin of Conservative media, the Patriot Act was George W. Bush’s baby. Republucan born and bipartisanly voted on. President Obama said ge would use this as long as he got a court order, he has one. Was it a violation of civil rights when a Republican President was doing it? I heard no complaints then. The Prophet Glenn Beck is painting himself into a corner. First he says President Obama is weak on terrorism, then when he uses Bush’s tactics he is violating civil rights. Which is it Glenn? Can’t have it both ways. Why don’t you tell your listeners at least a portion of the truth, instead of painting President Obama and Democrats as evil.

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.