Obamaville Thursday, February 19 - The Deep Freeze

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Weather...

Here I sit, 65 miles from downtown Washington, D.C., waiting for the coldest temperature on this date in 40 years, maybe since records started in the 1800's, or maybe since the last Ice Age.  Ever since the weather stations went digital, the weather reports have made a shambles of the truth.

I do not know what a meteorologist has for breakfast, but lately the bizarre forecasts might indicate something comparable to LSD.  If they say we will get two feet of snow, we might get five inches.  When they say it will be around 20 degrees tonight, and then they revise it to a wind chill of 25 below, we know it is not just cream in their coffee.

Did I mention that the forecast for just 48 hours later is over 50 degrees?  The good news is no one really puts much faith in the weather reports, I mean it is still a government agency so accuracy and efficiency are distant dreams.

Politics...

Nothing has changed.  Obama trashes the Republicans and the Republicans trash the President and the Democrats watch and strategically trash both the President and Republicans.

On the presidential scene, the apparent front runners are a Bush for the Republicans and a Clinton for the Democrats.  My how things have changed since 1988 and 1992.

It has been 28 years since a Bush was first elected president, in 1988.  During the 28 years, from 1988 until the next election in 2016, a Bush will be president 12 years, a Clinton for 8 years, and everyone else in America the remaining 8 years.

Pot Smoking Ivy League Presidents - Harvard & Yale

What do you think about the dominance of the Ivy League?  A graduate of Yale will be president for 20 of the 28 years, and a graduate of Harvard for 16 of the 28 years.  I think the Ivy League invented the term "Fuzzy Math" which might explain why Yale's 20 years and Harvard's 16 years add up to 36 years, not to 28 years.

Do not worry there is an answer for all deviations and this time a legitimate one.  One president graduated from both Yale and Harvard.  In fact, he is the only president in history with that intellectual distinction, his name, George W. Bush, as in junior.

Is it not ironic that one candidate for president in 2016 with a legitimate chance to win is also the first person in 28 years to NOT graduate from Harvard or Yale.  It is not Hillary Clinton (Yale), or Mitt Romney (Harvard), or Ted Cruz (Harvard).

Yet another twist in logic and reason, one of the top picks to break the Ivy League stranglehold on the presidency is Jeb Bush, whose father and brother are Yale and Harvard alumni.

Other legitimate candidates like Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, and Martin O'Malley are among others who are not Harvard or Yale graduates.

Health, Energy & Education...

Every month brings new super viruses, mutating bacteria, other drug resistant diseases, and fewer and fewer cures to an unsuspecting public.  UCLA Medical Center is the latest breakout of a dramatic new virus, which has already killed 2 and exposed about 180 people in the first reports.

America celebrated becoming energy independent with the third major derailment and explosion of train cars filled with crude oil.  Not even napalm bombing in Vietnam could match the spectacular explosions from the West Virginia fireworks this week.

The North Dakota crude oil apparently burns better than other production here in the west.  With thousands of oil tankers using train tracks through about every major city in America, look for Keystone Pipeline approval as a "safe" alternative to urban trains.

Terrorism...

ISIS terrorists seem to be popping up in country after country with their unique theology and evil ways.  With Obama still in a scolding mood, so far Jordan and Egypt are the only nations taking a lead in armed resistance and dedication to destroying the terrorists.

Our paper tiger approach to foreign affairs has also been a great aid to Vladimir Putin, who used American indecision to carve a land mass to connect Crimea to the Russian border, as predicted a long time ago by the Coltons Point Times.

Economy...

Stock Markets are pushing against their highest levels in history in the midst of a mediocre, at best, recovery that has left most Americans with less cash, less equity, less choices, and a lousy selection of cheap made consumer products.

In my opinion, the markets have nowhere to go but down and they will take all the 401K money with them since most 401K funds have stock based investments.  Market players should have the ability to sit on investments for 5-10 years before needing the funds, in order to come out ahead.  As for the rest of us, forget it.

Sports...

The Super Bowl was rocked by scandal, the deflate gate conspiracy, while the Patriots took home the money.

College football crowned the first playoff king, as Ohio State beat number one Alabama in the semi-finals, and number two Oregon in the finals.

In college basketball, the mighty University of Kentucky have five games left in the season in their historic effort to become the first undefeated national champion since Indiana in 1976.  It promises to be a magnificent March Madness if we survive the Arctic deep freeze.

More later...

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Ross Perot - Prairie Prophet & Presidential King Maker

Exactly 22 years ago George Bush, Sr.,  was running for re-election as president of the United States and being challenged by a young, upstart Democrat and Governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton.  And then there was that shrill talking, billionaire from Texas named Ross Perot who was trying to launch the first successful third party campaign since Teddy Roosevelt just after the turn of the last century.

For historians let me set the record straight.  Yes Teddy was elected vice president in 1900 and became president when President William McKinley was shot September 6 and died September 14 of 1901, his first year in office.  Teddy was then elected by a landslide in 1904.

 

 

In 1908 he supported his secretary of war, William Howard Taft for president and Taft won.  By the end of Taft's first term Roosevelt felt Taft no longer served the people and when he failed to beat Taft at the GOP convention he started a third party, the Bull Moose (progressive) party to oppose the president.

 

 

This is where the parallels between Ross Perot and Teddy Roosevelt become intertwined as if history was simply repeating itself about 100 years later.

 

In the election of 1912 Republican President Taft got 23% of the vote, Independent Roosevelt got 27% of the vote, and Democrat Woodrow Wilson became president with just 42% of the vote.  Thus Roosevelt blocked Taft from being re-elected and made Wilson President.

 

 

After his first term in office in 1992 President Bush was running for re-election riding the popularity of Desert Storm when Ross Perot, a former Republican like Teddy Roosevelt, came out of nowhere with his Independent campaign.

 

 

In the election of 1992 Republican President Bush got 38% of the vote, Independent Ross Perot got 19% of the vote, and Democrat Bill Clinton became president with just 43% of the vote.  Thus Perot blocked Bush from being re-elected and made Clinton President.

 

During Clinton's first term Ross Perot sought to influence the national agenda focusing on three issues, the NAFTA economic treaty, Health Care Reform and rebuilding our educational system.

 

 

He opposed NAFTA, an issue Clinton co-opted from the GOP because he was in danger of losing his re-election campaign.  Perot warned passage of NAFTA would lead to the destruction of our manufacturing industries and we would lose millions of jobs to Mexico and other countries.  Clinton got it passed and the final nail was driven into the coffin of America's once dominate manufacturing base.

 

 

On health care Perot warned the lack of cost controls would bankrupt America, and any government entitlement programs regarding health care like Medicare and Medicaid would drive the American deficit beyond our capacity to pay.  In 1996 the US national debt was $107.4 billion under Clinton and by 1998 would become a surplus through Bush in 2001.

 

 

Today the National debt stands at a record $17 trillion, thanks in large part to runaway entitlement costs as predicted by Perot.  In fact America spends more per capita than any other nation on health care yet ranks just 37th in the world in terms of quality of health care.

 

Finally, Perot was so disgusted with the deficiencies in our education system that he started his own high school in Dallas and was to set records for educational achievement and college attendance by urban youth.  Today our educational system continues to spend more per pupil than any other nation and we still are failing in terms of the quality of educational care.

 

 

Sooo, Ross Perot, the caricature from Texas who dared challenge the American two-party system was a figment of historical déjà vu showing up 100 years after Teddy Roosevelt played the same role for America.

 

 

Both were prophets in terms of warning of the dangers faced by America and both greatly influenced the national agenda and debate.  A couple of obscure Democrats owe their fortune and fame (Wilson and Clinton) to these political rebels.  At the same time, the failure of our government to heed the warnings of these two left us floundering in the winds of indecision as our judicial system seemed to collapse, our health care costs spiraled out of control, our manufacturing base vanished away, our educational system continued to flounder and our national debt reached epic proportions.

More on the Prairie Prophet from Texas later as the story of Ross Perot and his unbending care for the nation, commitment to veterans, exceptional patriotism and whose incredible rescue of his employees from the prison of Iran after the failure of President Carter to protect our own embassy in the fall of Iran to the Ayatollah is one of the greatest stories of courage to ever take place in our nation.

US hostages in Iran 1979

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