Thoughts on Libya

Is it safe?

In Libya and that region of the world there exists sectarian discontent, tribal conflict, religious contention, political animosity, class and socio-economic friction along with gender and racial persecution.  And note that all these issues are the problems you will find in the good neighborhoods.  All these issues and all that now seems to be part of our concern were controlled by the dictator Muammar Gaddafi who as you know had a great deal of American blood on his hands.  Now he is gone do you really think anyone can fully control the country?  There is a lot of deep rooted social turbulence to be settled some of which may never be settled.  Make no mistake we are only in Libya because they are an oil producer.  The region and country remains volatile with no real policing.  How can you tell freedom fighters who have won “put down your guns and go home?”  As for the American ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, his mission was a labor of love as he knew the country and the people like no other before him.  He also knew that your friend in the morning could be your enemy in the evening.  He knew the danger and accepted the mission and was loved by all the local leaders that knew him.  But the danger was real and too great to be handled with simple diplomacy and protocols.   In short Benghazi is not and could not be made safe.  Gaddafi had a well-equipped army and ruled with an iron fist.  Now he is gone old wounds and old social conflicts are free to reemerge.  The security needs in that region remains unquantifiable.  Yes our ambassador was killed and we need answers.  But no amount of excuses or explanations will bring him back.  Let’s remember him for his service and not vilify the Obama administration for obvious errors.  The head of the CIA is David Petraeus and I trust his judgment.  Most of the decisions on these issues are based on the advice of his office.  Yes there has been a miscalculation but it pales in comparison to the invasion of Iraq which was a debacle of monumental proportion.  How many lives were needlessly lost there (about 4488 killed since the war began)?  Not to mention Bush and Cheney being convicted of war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions in courts all over the world.  Yes I am proud to support Obama he has brought dignity and respect back to the “Office of President”.  We are all in this together is a much better sentiment than every-man for himself. 

Why Romney is the Wrong Choice.

It is almost beyond my comprehension that evangelical Christians are going to cast their vote for a Mormon.  Mormon beliefs are quite clear and far different from traditional protestant “Bible Believing Christians”.  It is strange that the party of the “religious right” would settle for a Mormon in the first place.  But as I recall it is only his money and negative ad campaign that eventually won him the nomination over Santorum and Gingrich.  At one time even Cain was beating him.  Now because he had the money to overwhelm the other candidates people are pretending he is the best thing since sliced bread.  I had my doubts from the beginning but, as we have all seen, he is a good fund raiser. 

My religion and faith is all I have apart from my family.  The Mormon Church has always been known as a racist organization that believes in fairytales and their religious tenants are viewed as blasphemy to believers in the “God of the Bible.”  Political expediency can replace faith and ethics with some people, but that is not my way.  As you all know Romney has changed his mind on many things; and on some things several times, e.g. it is just like the Mormon Church changing its view on black skin and polygamy.  Furthermore, I get the impression Romney will say anything to be president.  And I get it; the stakes are high and everyone has an opinion.  However, I cannot pretend to like him for President.  Willard is out of touch with reality and is, in my view, the wrong choice.  There are many websites that support what I have highlighted about the Mormon doctrine and creed including their own (check the Book of Mormon online).  They themselves will not deny the facts even though they have been rushing to hide their true beliefs due to Willard’s run for the white house.  Then again, many say his religion does not matter due to the separation of church and state etc.  But guess what – it matters to me.  This is 2012 and no one who grew up in the midst of a racist organization should be president of anything.  So think about it for yourselves.  When you run for high office full disclosure has always been the norm, why change it now.

The First Black President Did His Job

The First Black President has done his job and made the country proud in the process.

No one can deny that the country had severe problems that were developing just as Obama was coming into office.  Obama took charge of a mess and started work on our recovery.   The whole economy is connected and each job created or lost has an impact on all things economic.  We know that consumer confidence is tied to job security which is linked the GDP which affects stock prices and so on.  With the housing market bubble busting and sending the banks in a downward spiral caused by junk bonds, credit default swaps and the “overrating” mortgage backed security scandal, Obama was walking into a perfect storm of economic collapse.   Then of course the property tax crisis hit pushing cities, counties and municipalities to the brink of bankruptcy due the lack of revenue caused by the housing market crash.  This in turn resulted in millions of police officers, fire fighters, teachers and other public service personnel being laid off, down sized, retrenched and furloughed.  Record high job losses and the fall of Lehman Brothers and a slew of other banks infected by the toxic assets and irresponsible and unethical investment risks all threatened to turn America “the super-power” into a failed nation.  All this while we were engaged in two wars and al-Qaeda continued to transmit threatening messages reminding us of the 911 tragedy that was yet to be properly avenged.

Good Americans were losing their pensions and life savings; coming out of retirement to make ends meet.  The auto industry was failing and people were faced with the reality of having to start over, again.   All this and the first Black President elected in the history of our nation just now walking into his new job at the white house.  Let us not forget that he had taken on the job as President at some considerable risk to himself.  Let us make no mistake there is no shortage of people who would like to take a shot at President Obama.  Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy are the assassinated presidents to date.  Even Reagan, now remembered so fondly, was almost assassinated while in office.  There are threats made, plans formulated and schemes being hatched to harm the president all the time.  And all this just from the Americans for whom he has vowed to serve.  I do not know if there are any checkable stats but I am sure the secret service has never worked so hard.   It goes without saying that there is much personal risk involved with being elected President of the United States of America.  But he accepted the challenge and he has endured to this point striving to bring back some dignity to the office that was somewhat eroded with his predecessor.

The banks have been stabilized and are profitable again, the stock markets has regained much of the loses, the car industry has rebounded, thanks to the bridge loan, and the housing market is no longer hemorrhaging equity.  We have had thirty straight months of job growth yielding 4.6 million new private sector jobs.  The war in Iraq is over and we are winding things down in Afghanistan.  The healthcare bill, with its imperfections, will save families from financial ruin making healthcare “affordable.” He passed the Lilly Ledbetter act and won the Noble Peace prize for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.  A lot of Americans do not feel Obama has worked hard enough on job creation.  But let us not forget the “Tea Party” wing of the Republican Party that has refused to compromise on anything and stifled every effort he made on jobs for the last two years.  Yes he is our first Black President and many people disagree with him.  But he tried under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.  He said he would lead and he did.  He said he would bring us justice for 911 and he has.  I can live with that.  Nobody is perfect but I give him a nine out of ten for effort.

Pain Or No Pain work outs by Don

Blogging for understanding.

These days we are able to communicate with others in so many ways but can we truly share what we feel without fear of retribution? While we are encouraged to reveal elements of ourselves for the sake of disclosure and honesty, we must remember that almost everyone has a hidden agenda. People wish to know more about us in order to influence our behaviour and decisions. However, these same people rarely have our true best interests as their priority. The heart of a true servant while remaining open and willing to serve must also be guarded against those subversions as presented by others that prevent us from being who we need to be for our families our country and for God.