Obamaville - February 24, 2014 - What Olympics?

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With the President disappearing from the eyes of the press and politicians one can only assume his golf game has drastically improved and private parties at the White House are dominating his agenda.  I mean, how else could White House expenses under our hip hop and bee bop president exceed $1.4 billion a year?

Finances

 

While saying he has done nothing in five years might be a slight exaggeration the fact we spent about $17.5 Trillion in that time seems almost magical.  Where in the world did it go when we are supposed to be cutting back on everything?  By the way, Obama's second $17 TRILLION act was setting new records for the National Debt, which also passed $17 trillion this year.

 

 

Defense

 

This will be the first year since Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize five years ago that we will have no troops at war, (although I suspect the American soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan might question the claim).

 

 

The 2014 budget includes $526.6 billion for the Department of Defense base budget, a figure that does not include war costs or nuclear weapon activities at the Department of Energy.  In other words, about half of the defense spending is not in the defense budget.  Real defense spending averages about $1 trillion a year.

 

 

Defense Secretary Hagel says he will cut back $1 trillion dollars over the next ten years.  So according to my math that means we will cut $100 billion a year from our trillion dollar a year spending.  And here I thought we had ended two very expensive wars under the president.  Where are all the savings?  Fuzzy math seems to dominate our nation's capitol.

 

Olympics

 

Of course our hip Obama family spends millions of dollars to bring their favorite musicians and celebrities to lavish White House parties, private parties I might add that we the people can't attend.  You can find Beyonce, Bieber, Swift, Jay Z and who knows who else prowling our White House and giving private performances for the Obama family, at taxpayers expense of course.

 

 

But do you think the President, the First Lady and family, or even a single soul from the 2 million civilian employees of the USA including over 3000 appointed by the President could travel to Russia to support our Olympic Team.  Not even smiling Joe Biden or a single cabinet member had time to go support the team.

 

 

President Putin of Russia was there a whole lot and so were representatives from over 100 countries competing in the winter Olympics.  As a nation we should be ashamed our first family was too busy to support the Olympic team or send anyone else.

 

 

NBC did it's best to trash the Russian Olympics, most likely to help Obama win the world popularity war with Putin.  NBC is the last major media outpost for Obama liberals and the person they helped put in office has collapsed in the polls so it is only logical they would help him.

 

 

Unfortunately for both NBC and Obama Putin delivered, the Russian Olympic team delivered, the people of Russia delivered and the nit picking Americans who tried to undermine the Russian production failed miserably.  The Russians did a great job under very difficult circumstances and terrorist threats.

 

By the way, in the process of staging the Olympics Putin managed to take a seriously deteriorating Stalinist Russian city and transform it into a world class resort on the Black Sea and the people of Sochi will benefit for years to come.

 

 

Mid-Term Elections

 

OMG, after two billion was spent in 2012 on political campaigns, here we are again in the middle of another election year.  I say everyone in America should cancel their television service, local, cable and satellite, and take a year off from the incessant and unintelligible campaign nonsense.

 

 

What would you miss?  Certainly nothing of any value to the future of the world.  No more super-hyped weather warnings to force you to race to the store and load up on pre-storm supplies that have been marked up because the advertisers need more sales, the TV stations need more ads, and no one cares about the lonely consumer who is the target of every crook and creep disguised as productive members of society.

 

As the political parties encourage you, vote early and vote often because it may be the last time you have anything to say about what happens in government.  Long ago our freedoms were hijacked and our rights were trampled.  We are spoon fed lies and falsehoods as if truth no longer counts.

 

 

Neither the news media nor political processes makes any effort to force politicians and political parties to tell the truth and the federal regulatory agencies like the Justice Department are hardly able to enforce fairness on politicians when they can't even send Wall Street crooks to jail.

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Obama DOD Nominee Chuck Hagel

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January 7, 2013
Dateline: Washington, DC

Obama DOD Nominee Chuck Hagel

Lightning Rod or Voice of Reason?

Today President Obama nominated former Senator Chuck Hagel as the next Secretary of Defense and the first enlisted soldier to ever hold the office.  The nomination met with instant criticism from liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans alike.

 

I believe no better nominee could be considered for this critical cabinet position and I say that not as a journalist, former political junkie or political party member but as someone deeply concerned about the future of America in a time of fiscal austerity.

 

Also I say that as someone who worked with Chuck when he first began his political career in Nebraska as we both served as congressional staffers and learned political warfare Midwestern style.

 

What does that mean?

 We served a Republican congressman from Omaha Nebraska in a congressional district that was dominated by Democrats from the city of Omaha with a non-partisan mayor and non-partisan state legislature.

 

In fact, from 1969 - 1973 I worked for three different mayors of Omaha, first a Republican, then a Democrat, then a Republican who turned Democrat in order to run against our congressional boss for US Senate in 1976.

 

Politics in the Heartland forced one to be accommodating of different views.  Once elections were decided the political party labels and political philosophies dissolved or nothing could be accomplished for the good of the people.

Compromise was a way of life and working together was far more important than party litmus tests.

When I worked in the mayors office we coordinated extensively with the GOP congressman and I got to know Chuck and appreciate the independence we all had to master in order to do good for the people.

After a stint in the Executive Office of the President I joined the same congressional office as a fellow staff member and Chuck worked in DC while I stayed in the district working with the Democrats and coordinating with the Strategic Air Command headquarters also in our district.

On many trips to Washington to meet with federal agencies Chuck let me stay at his apartment on Capitol Hill as we were both compulsive workaholics.

Chuck Hagel, though a Republican, is one of few Washington political veterans with no strings attached in terms of being beholden to special interests.  While most of our national politicians were owned by defense contractors and special interests Chuck was a former enlisted man, not career military politician, who understood the underbelly of the military and defense industry.

Because of his experience he also understood the financial implications of federal policy and was never afraid to speak his own mind, not parrot the will of the political party or president.

President's Lincoln, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Reagan all warned of the dangers of a military industrial complex, one in which our politicians and military leaders became senior executives or rich lobbyists in the defense industry when they retired, got defeated or driven from office.

Today more than ever we need government leaders who can stand up to the military industrial complex and make changes that no political party loyalist would ever be allowed to support.

Our federal government is riddled with conflicts of interest, special interests and greed because our public policy is determined as much by how much money can be made by individuals, foundations and politicians as by how well the policy serves the public good.

We need government officials who refuse to play the game that has nearly destroyed our ability to govern America FOR THE PEOPLE instead of for the political party or special interests.

Defense, like all government functions, has to be cut back and made affordable.  There are more American soldiers stationed overseas than in America and nations around the world are charging us excessive amounts for the bases we maintain to protect them.

Chuck Hagel is a pragmatic person who tells us the truth about wars and relationships and he has demonstrated consistently that he is far more patriotic than political, dating back to the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for service in Viet Nam.

We need a Defense Secretary whose first concern is for America, who is not a hack for either political party, who will not sugar coat the truth and will never forget the people and needs of Main Street America.

We also need a Secretary not interested in advancing his political career but in serving the public interest.  In the 42 years I have known Chuck Hagel and followed his career he has never been a yes man or someone who sucked up to the media to enhance his own agenda.

Hagel is an All American patriot from our nation's populist Heartland who never lost his perspective on the needs of the people nor catered to special interests in Washington.

The Senate should confirm him because of his differences with politicians and party platforms in Washington.

Jim Putnam

Publisher
Coltons Point Times
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