VP Joe Biden set the bar very high when he described the new litmus test for being patriotic. He said “it is now time to be patriotic by paying your taxes.” So, in order to be patriotic you must pay your taxes. In addition to loving, defending, being willing to die for your county, and obeying the laws of the land, in order to be patriotic, you must also pay your taxes.

You must do it willingly and enthusiastically, or you are just not patriotic.

Unfortunately for the country, President Obama, has tried to pack his cabinet with a bunch of unpatriotic people. Fortunately for the country, all but one of these unpatriotic people has been kept from being installed in the cabinet.

I also see the irony in a group of people that are pushing for the largest spending program in history, the so called stimulus package, that they are spending someone else’s money.

“For the children”

We have heard over and over again that the justification for passing some liberal cause big government program is “for the children.” How could anyone oppose a government program that is “for the children?” No one in their right mind could oppose a new government program “for the children.”

It seems that the so called stimulus program, which is really a liberal government spending program is also “for the children”. Well, sort of.

The reason that this stimulus program is “for the children” is because they are the ones that will have to pay it back. This massive, nearly-trillion dollar program will have to be paid back by “the children.”

The new politicians of Hope in Washington have discovered another way to borrow for their big government programs. They have found that they don’t just need to barrow from the Chinese and those in the Middle East with deep pockets, they have learned to borrow from future generations.

In a conversation that I had with my fifteen year old son, I explained how the stimulus program was going to be repaid. He was not very happy that this debt was going to be assigned to the next generation to pay it all back. We have tapped a group of youngsters that can’t even vote yet with the responsibility to pay off our debts.

But remember, “it is for the children.”

What is the difference between Barack Obama and Michael Phelps?
Both of these men are the hero of millions around the world.

Both of these men admit to “youthful indiscretion”

Time will tell, but this photo could cost Michael Phelps a hundred million dollars.

The photo of Barack Obama didn’t cost him anything, and it may even have helped him get elected.

The lesson is that unless you are Barack Obama, the press will actually investigate your actions and hold you accountable for your actions.

I think that one of the changes that we can expect from the Obama administration is a change from the decisive action that we observed during the Bush administration.

George W. Bush was decisive and resolute in his actions. He saw moral issues and took action on what he saw as right.  W was resoundingly criticized by domestic and international pundits that did not approve of his decisive action.

The change that we are seeing from Obama, especially on international issues, is that there is complete inaction.   No statement or position on Russia, China, Hamas, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, etc. Nothing.  It is almost like a foreign policy vacuum.

Maybe there was too much action by Bush.  Maybe he extended the US too much.  He sure upset the Russian, the French, the Iranians, etc for making the US wars moral wars against evil.  However, so far the Obama administration has the “hear no evil, see no evil, smell no evil” response to international conflict.

This truly is change.

Ronald Reagan caused global warming
so Ronald Reagan is responsible for Al Gore’s Academy Award

A caused B, B caused C, therefore A caused C

In a very interesting sequence of events, it turns out that Al Gore needs to thank Ronald Reagan for the Academy Award that he was awarded in 2006. Al Gore received an Academy Award for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

In a recent report from the U.S. Senate environmental sub-committee*, a significant cause of the statistical increase in average global temperature has been the reduction in temperature reporting stations in the former Soviet Union. The number of reporting weather stations around the world down from a high of 15,000 in 1970 to 5,000 in 2000*.

This meant that the much lower temperatures that these 10,000 stations in extreme northern climates (Russia and Siberia)would have reported were not included in the averages. This artificially increased the global average temperature by not including lower numbers that had previously been included. At this same time there was no corresponding reduction in temperature reporting stations in warmer climates.

Ronald Reagan is frequently credited with bringing down the Soviet Union. Reagan’s high tech and high cost modernization of weapons including the much ballyhooed “Star Wars” that they Soviets had to match bankrupted the USSR. The Soviet economy just couldn’t afford the military expenditures necessary to keep up with the western economies. Reagan also challenged Gorbechev to “tear down this wall”, which led to the reunification of the two Germanys.

The fall of the Soviet Union led to a massive decrease by government spending. This reduction in spending included a reduction from 15,000 down to 5,000 weather reporting stations. Fewer reporting stations resulted in fewer low temperatures to be included in global average temperature calculations. At this same time there was no corresponding reduction in temperature reporting stations in warmer climates.

Here is the flow: A caused B, B caused C, therefore A caused C
A) Regan’s political pressure caused the fall of the Soviet Union
B) With the fall of the Soviet Union, there were fewer temperature reporting stations in the north regions of Russia and Siberia
a. Fewer reporting stations resulted in fewer accurate temperature reports being included in global average temperature calculation
C) Some scientists, and others including Al Gore, cite higher average global temperatures in their arguments supporting global warming

This flow resulted in Al Gore being awarded the Academy Award for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.

*http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2158072e-802a-23ad-45f0-274616db87e6

The accurate and thorough vetting of our new president elect did not occur before the November 4th election. The press, or their modern incarnation “the media”, who are granted important and broad freedoms in the first amendment, did not do their job. There are any number of excuses, but the reason may be that a full vetting of each of the candidates (and not just the Republican candidates) may have kept some voters from actually voting for Obama.

Yes, there were a few notable exceptions, including the international media that fulfilled their responsibilities and informed the public. And yes, there were a few details that slipped out accidentally. And there was also Joe Biden, who was finally muzzled in the last few days of the campaign. But the exceptions were few and far between. And there was nowhere near the scrutiny that the founding fathers expected.

However, once the election had been called for President-Elect Obama, the actual vetting process began. For example, NBC’s national news program ran a clip of Obama’s former Pastor’s rant with the actual words not bleeped out that they had not run before the election. And the details of the size and scope of government expansion are being painted in great detail. And some of President-Elect Obama’s unsavory friends are speaking opening in broadcasted interviews.

Since the media now acknowledges that they didn’t do their job before the election, now the real work needs to be done.

There are already interesting details that are now coming out. Maybe these details wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the election. Who’s to say?

However, I predict that there will be at least one new major issue each week that will be discovered and reported by the media between now and the inauguration. These issues, if voters had known before they voted would have at least given them reason to think a little bit harder about their decision.

Thoughts on McCain`s VP Sarah Palin

I have to categorize John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin to be his VP as “Brilliant.”

I use that term in the same way that I would describe a chess move that takes a player that is significantly behind in pieces and positions to turn the game around with a single move.

My kids have played competitive chess and I have witnessed these types of moves. One time I watched as my son Andrew took the queen of the state champion in the grade higher than his. That was a brilliant move by my son Andrew. I think that this is described as a “Zwichenzung“ which means such an unexpectedly brilliant move that it changes the dynamic of the game.

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Thoughts on Hillary Clinton`s run for President

I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton. In fact, in speaking with a friend who is a big supporter of Barack Obama, I said that Hillary’s voice to me sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. I don’t know if I could survive 4 years of her as president. I would need to wear ear plugs the entire time.

However, I recognize her skills and tenacity as a candidate for president. She has amazing organizational skills and came to within a few percentage points of the presidency. She received 18 million votes in the primaries which beats everyone in history except Obama.

However, timing is one of the key’s to anyone’s success. In this regard, I think that Hillary was a victim of bad timing. Let me point that out using the following two arguments.

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