40 Years After Vietnam

The last US combat troops left Vietnam forty years ago on March 29, 1973. This was a result of a so-called “peace agreement” signed in Paris, but no peace occurred in South Vietnam. In fact, the ensuing year after the agreement was more deadly in South Vietnam than any year of the war.  That’s because the US wanted out of Vietnam, cared little about consequences, and declared “peace with honor” by signing an agreement everyone knew would not be honored by North Vietnam.

The US abandoned South Vietnam; much like it is abandoning Iraq and, eventually, will abandon Afghanistan (the “good” war). That is the lesson we learned from the Vietnam War. Declaring a politically incorrect war to be over is as good as a victory if it can be “sold” to the public as a win. That has now been expanded to simply declaring the economy to be fine, declaring the deficit to be no problem, declaring contraception to be a right, or declaring that the rich pay no taxes. Ideology trumps all.

One’s opinion of the Vietnam War is irrelevant to the issue of abandonment. A commitment was made to South Vietnam as part of the “peace agreement” to provide assistance if North Vietnam continued aggression, but a Democrat-controlled Congress refused that assistance when it quickly became needed. The US blatantly reneged on its commitment, abandoning South Vietnam to a total collapse and slaughter – because of ideology.

With war comes a responsibility, regardless of the reasons for the war. One should enter into war with clear goals and to win, or don’t enter into it at all. Allowing changing social mores, public opinion, or ideology to override responsibility or dictate rules of engagement is wrong. A “humane” war is an oxymoron and a losing strategy. War is hell, and hell should be entered only with good reason and traversed through as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Forty years after Vietnam, we have still not learned. Our enemies, on the other hand, learned well: Stick it out long enough and the US will tire and retreat. Where is the honor in that?

David J. Hentosh

Reagan Was Right – Again

As a result of North Korea rattling its nuclear sword with long range missile tests and development of a mobile launcher, Obama reluctantly reversed his decision to freeze the Alaskan missile defense system and allowed ground-based missile interceptors to be deployed. By doing so, Obama inadvertently pays homage to Ronald Reagan’s SDI initiative.

Thirty years ago, Reagan was demonized and ridiculed for his “evil empire” speech against the Soviet Union and his idea of a missile defense initiative (SDI). It was sneeringly labeled “Star Wars” by Sen. Ted Kennedy who had no such ridicule when President John F. Kennedy pushed the limits of technology by calling for a man on the moon in less than a decade. Technology is only embraced by liberals when it fits their political ideology.

Both George H. and George W. Bush kept SDI alive while in the White House. Bill Clinton, supposedly a far-thinking president, pointedly ignored it as best he could. Obama is only allowing interceptors because North Korean missiles may now have the capability of hitting the west coast of the US. His foreign policy with North Korea and Iran failed to stop or limit their nuclear aggression and threats can no longer be ignored.

Obama’s distaste for SDI was evident when he cancelled the anti-missile system that was scheduled for deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic as a defense against potential Iranian missiles. Obama caved to the Russian complaint (fear?) against a system that could neutralize Russian intercontinental missiles, as if defending against them was an act of aggression. Consequently, Iran’s continued development of a nuclear missile poses a threat that could have been, but won’t be, defended against.

Obama cancelled several other missile defense programs, causing us to fall behind in that technology at a time when the threat of a rogue nuclear missile is increasing. Once again, Obama’s “fundamental transformation” is proving to be out of touch with reality and dangerous to the welfare of the country. If he finishes stripping us down to the defense level of other European countries, where will we and the free world turn for protection? Reagan instinctively understood.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s State of Denial Address

President Obama once again delivered a campaign speech disguised as a State of the Union address. Obama is good with rhetoric that stirs emotions while denying reality, so those who succumb to such gibberish will be ecstatic. Those who are not in denial will be frightened by the direction this president is taking.

Obama’s denial of his administration’s failure to improve job growth was evident in his calling for a higher minimum wage. If there are no jobs available at a minimum rate of $7.25 an hour, how would raising it to $9.00 help create more? It wouldn’t, and many experts have warned against such an increase at this time, especially since it could result in jobs being exported to China.

Obama further denied the job crisis and threw out another emotional bone to hungry believers by stressing a college education. The unemployment lines are full of college graduates unable to find jobs, so the primary emphasis needs to be on the economy and job growth. Talking of college educations certainly plucks parents’ heart strings, Obama’s intent; but it hides his administration’s failure to improve the job market and reduce unemployment.

Obama declared Al Qaeda to be a “shadow of its former self”, denying Al Qaeda’s continued successful attacks around the globe. Declaring Al Qaeda defeated doesn’t make it so, but it rationalizes bringing troops home so he can cut the defense budget. Obama only cares about his social programs and cutting the defense budget will help him finance those programs. Pretending Iran and North Korea are of little threat also helps him in that endeavor.

In Obama’s eyes, everything is going well because he is, by hook or by crook, finding a way to get everything he wants. Consequences are meaningless to one convinced of superior intelligence, especially when duped voters and a highly invested media ignore accountability.  His “green” agenda has been a costly disaster, but that bandwagon is still full and rolling.

Inadvertently, the president did touch on reality in his speech at one point when he said his spending proposals would not increase the deficit by “a single dime”. They will increase the deficit by billions of dimes and saddle future generations with the bill, higher taxes, and programs they will no longer be able to afford. On the brighter side, fast food joints will end up with the most educated employees of any industry – as long as Michelle doesn’t find a way of eliminating fast food.

David J. Hentosh

Obama Opened the Closet Door

Obama’s presidency has convinced the progressive left that their ideology is now mainstream America. They feel empowered by the arrogance of Obama’s ‘in-your-face’ liberalism and re-election and believe it is time to come out of the closet. Taking their cue from Obama’s war against everything conservative, they no longer try to hide contempt for conservative, Middle America values.

Thus, we find MSNBC show host Melissa Harris-Perry boldly admitting that the US military is despised as an engine of war by many progressives. This has been vehemently denied for years due to the backlash at the despicable treatment soldiers received during the Vietnam War era. The sham of respecting the military is being dropped.

We also find CBS boldly airing a segment about giving up on the Constitution. Many progressive ideas have been hampered by the Constitution and it is obvious they would like it altered, or eliminated, to suit their ideology. The process of removing that obstacle is being legitimized by the CBS segment.

President Obama has repeatedly shown that he cares more about redistribution than the country’s poor economy, spurring the progressive left to unleash resentment and hatred of the wealthy. Consequently, the rich have now replaced Bush as the scapegoat for all that is wrong.

Obama continues to rail against FOX News, the lone news network refusing to carry his water. This has emboldened many progressives to adopt that criticism, even while admitting they never watch FOX. This is deliberate abuse of the presidential “bully pulpit”. It is unseemly and it furthers the partisanship that is damaging the country.

From celebrity Samuel Jackson admitting voting for Obama because he is black to a NY Times reporter admitting almost every news organization submitted quotes to an Obama campaign “gatekeeper” for censoring, progressive liberals are no longer trying to hide their dirty ideological laundry.

Obama opened the closet door and whether it is true or not, progressive liberals believe the majority is behind them. As we all know, belief does not give ground to reason. The next four years may irreparably damage the very fabric of this nation.

David J. Hentosh

Women in War – Or War on Women?

Pentagon Chief Leon Panetta is removing the military’s ban on women in combat units. This move resembles a “war on women” (almost literally) more than anything the left has erroneously accused the GOP of doing. This is not surprising since the left always accuses others of sins they commit themselves.

This move will surely be considered a “win” by feminists claiming to want equality, but exactly who wins here? If the goal was to have equal gender representation in the body bags coming home from a war zone, it is highly doubtful that women burning their bras in the 60’s were aware of it. It is further doubtful that most young women today are eager to learn the art of combat or feel much empowered by having the equal opportunity to fight and die for their country in faraway lands.

As another domino falls in Obama’s “transformation” of America, we continue on the path to emulating other countries around the world rather than leading. The necessity for some countries to have women in combat units does not exist for us, but Obama’s personal ideology demands all be the same, just as feminists demand the sexes be the same.

Perhaps Obama will further emulate other countries by re-instituting the draft. Will he and feminists then rejoice in seeing young women plucked out of society and forced into military service? Will it be as liberating as the guilt feminists have caused in many women for wanting to be stay-at-home moms?

Feminists are increasing pressure on young women by demanding behaviors acceptable only to them. Obama is increasing pressure on society with policies chasing unrealistic personal goals. The excess of liberalism is “transforming” America into a nightmare rather than a dream. Is this really the direction America wishes to go?

David J. Hentosh

Frightening Inauguration Speech

President Obama’s inauguration speech was a frightening glimpse into the next four years. He let it clearly be known that he is set to govern totally from the left and with carefully chosen rhetoric, he revealed his end game for “totally transforming” America.

Obama used his favorite obfuscating straw man tactic (clearly explained and revealed by Glen Beck) to validate his approach to almost everything. It is the smoke that carried him this far and will continue to do so as long as the mainstream media continues to inhale – and inhale they did.

Mainstream media praise knew no bounds and its bias could not be contained, exemplified by CNN correspondent Jim Acostas’ on-air giddiness at being so close to the president. Keeping in line with the adoration of Newsweek’s cover proclaiming Obama’s “second coming”, Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, stated: “There’s a moment of opportunity now that’s important…What’s frustrating is that we don’t have a political system or an opposition party worthy of the opportunity.” That’s some arrogance on display.

Obama gave us his top priorities for his second term: equal pay, gay marriage, voting protections, immigration reform, and gun control. If you are in the 7.8% unemployed (the same unemployment rate as when Obama was first elected), that may be disheartening to hear but Obama also assured us that the economy is in recovery, eliminating the need to make unemployment a priority. He’d much rather increase spending.

National Defense and the military are not on the agenda because Obama informed us that a decade of war is now over. That must have occurred by means of one of his executive orders. Relief in Middle East countries will be immense when they learn of it. Perhaps part of his gun control priority will be an executive order for terrorists to turn in their guns and Iran to give up nukes.

Although Obama didn’t say climate change was a priority, one-trick-pony Al Gore still praised him for speaking “powerfully and eloquently” about it. Obama’s consistent first-term failures on the “green” front cooled his climate change desires but with no re-election holding him back, the “green” light is sure to be lit once more.

Obama’s focus on social issues got him re-elected but the larger, neglected issues are eroding the country. Obama is much more like Nero than Lincoln, blindly fiddling away as the country burns.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s GM “Success” is Failing

President Obama told us in his convention acceptance speech that “…we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on the top of the world”. Along with many other nebulous claims meant to give the impression of success, this one stretches the facts and insults reality.

According to Forbes’ list of top car makers in 2012, the American car manufacturer, Ford, comes in fourth and Obama’s pet project, GM, sits in seventh place. This is not quite “on the top of the world” and the fact that Ford, which refused government bailout money, beat out GM makes the claim of “reinventing” the auto industry preposterous.

Obama should be embarrassed by GM’s falling stock, down 40% since emerging from bankruptcy, in no small part fueled by financial losses from the Chevy Volt, the “green” car championed by Obama. The government provides a $7500 tax break for buyers of the Volt in an effort to make Obama’s dream car successful. Failing to bolster sales with the tax break, the Department of Defense began purchasing them in its “greening” of the Pentagon effort. (Volt retail cost is $40K.)

One could consider this a continuing bailout of GM. The government is still down approximately $25 billion from the initial $80 billion bailout and the 500 million shares of down-sliding GM stock the government owns (taxpayers own) are far below the value needed to repay the bailout money. Some financial analysts are even predicting that GM is heading back into bankruptcy.

Obama’s bold claim of success with this fiasco and his “green” investments (such as Solyndra) indicates just how little he has accomplished. If this is the best he can boast about, a second term in office makes no sense. Voters need to take a serious look behind the curtain of accolades constructed by believers in the “One”. The “hope” is gone and “change” hasn’t been for the better.

David J. Hentosh

Ignoring D-Day

The anniversary of one of the most significant events in modern history was ignored by the far-left again and that is nothing less than an affirmation of distaste for the military and the country. There is nothing about the military, its function, or its history that the far-left is proud of unless, of course, it is somehow favorable for Obama. Thanks to Drudge for making this evident.

Google, a bastion of far-left ideology, chose to adorn its logo in remembrance of the anniversary of the first drive-in movie theater rather than pay homage to those who fought and died on D-Day saving the world from evil. It is so utterly disgraceful and insulting, but very consistent with Google’s past logo designs that often exhibit its ideology. Do not for a second think it is meant to be fun and light-hearted. It is a deliberate political statement.

Both Michelle and President Obama concentrated their efforts on fundraising, the only thing they are comfortable doing, rather than make any special statements or plans to commemorate D-Day. President Obama chose to ignore it the past two years, too, so his distaste for the military and the country’s past achievements should already be known to all. The liberal media, however, makes it their job to keep this under the radar.

We are living in a very strange era where displaying the flag of the United States or honoring the military’s past or present achievements is considered to be a conservative political statement and, therefore, is shunned by liberals. The partisan split has reached ignorant proportions that cannot have any positive impact for the future of this country. Obama’s administration didn’t start this trend, but it sure hasn’t done anything to stop it. In fact, the partisan split has become wider with Obama’s election and his deliberate class warfare tactic has been a huge wedge.

What can we do about this? We have until November to figure it out. After that, we will only have ourselves to blame.

David J. Hentosh

The Jewish Lobby Puppet

Able to leap buildings with a single bound, Obama impressed all, again, with his superior intelligence. During a meeting with Jewish community leaders, he assured them that all his friends in Chicago were Jewish and that in the beginning of his career, he was accused of being a puppet of the Israel lobby. As if that weren’t enough, he also told them that he knew more about Judaism than any other president because…he read about it. Obama’s attempt to out-Biden vice president Biden would be laughable if he were not serious – but he is.

Rest assured that his band of notable Jewish friends, such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Eric Whitaker, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, and even Rod Blagojevich will back him up on his claims, but searching for his Bar Mitzvah certificate will not be as successful as was the search for his birth certificate.

It is embarrassing to watch an egomaniac ring his own bell, but when it is the president of the US it is frightening. Obama believes his own hype and many of his actions have been based on his belief that he knows best about everything. He has ignored professional military advice concerning Afghanistan and, having no military background, he personally selects targets for drones. Incredibly, his justification is that he is a student of Catholic just-war theory or, in other words, he read about it.

Obama is mishandling economic recovery, the budget, health care reform, diplomatic relations, financial reform, immigration reform, and now, even his own image because of his lack of experience. His well-read ego blinds him to it all and the sycophants surrounding him, and in the media, feed the farce. How do we know this? We read about it.

David J. Hentosh

Will Photos Be Obama’s Abu Ghraib? – Not Likely

The liberal mainstream media had a gleeful obsession with the Abu Ghraib incident, exemplified by the NY Times printing front-page stories about it for 32 days in a row. It was an international embarrassment for the United States, a stain on the military, a sinister depiction of our efforts in Iraq, and another way to blame Bush (and Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld) for…everything. What was there not to like for the far-left media?

Perhaps with nostalgia for those good old days, the LA Times recently published two-year-old pictures of soldiers posing with Afghan body parts. They did this against the expressed wishes of the Pentagon. Any reluctance to taint Obama’s ‘good’ war with negativity was overcome by a deep hatred of the military and the chance to snub the evil Pentagon. How could they resist?

Obama, sympathetic to leftist ideology, did not admonish the media over their Abu Ghraib excesses. Instead, he took advantage of the media frenzy with campaign promises to stop torture, close down Gitmo, and get our troops out of Iraq. Now, however, reality may have penetrated his idealistic bubble because the tune he’s singing is in a slightly different key.

Obama’s White House, related by spokesman Baghdad Bob Jay Carney, rebuked the media, saying it is “disappointed…[with] the decision to publish two years after the incident”. The White House (Obama) feared that the photos could put soldiers at risk, a consideration sneered at during the Abu Ghraib feeding frenzy.

Carney further related that “[The] conduct depicted in those photographs is reprehensible and does not in any way represent the high standards of the US military”. This, too, was not in keeping with the Abu Ghraib meme of an out-of-control, evil, military.

With liberal Obama in the White House, it is a safe bet that the NY Times will not break its front-page reporting record. The media can’t resist smearing the military and will force the story, but when the mud begins splattering Obama, they will back off. Elections are coming.

This is just so sadly predictable.

David J. Hentosh

Update:   Networks Dowplaying Photos