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Name: Mike Silverman
Location: Milford, MA
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FEVERED FANTASIES

Being President is hard.  When I was a little kid, I was as naive and immature about what the President does as any kid was.  I would say "I'm going to be President and make it so that 10 year olds can drive!", or "I'll make all amusement parks free!", or "I'll stop all the wars and give everyone a house and thier own free doctor for when they get sick!" or "I'll make all the world our friends by being nice to everyone!". Yes, those were the golden days of youth, when wide-eyed thoughts of the President as some sort of magician who could wave a wand and make everything the way he wants it..., passed by and truth eventually filtered in. The truth , of course, being that the President isn't serving himself and living in a fantasy land where his dreams are his to make real.  But, some people never get past that fantasy stage, thinking of the Presidency as some sort of mystical throne where upon sitting you suddenly have the ability to will your dreams into reality and that it's all about you, all about what you want and making wishes come true like wandering through Disneyland. It's sad to see a person ascend to that high office who still clings to that silly naive cartoonish image of what a President is.
 
Now we come to the fevered fantasies of the trancontinental lie of man-made global warming. We should celebrate the exposure of the hoax of man-made global warming by eating a big trans-fat soaked burger. Now, the laments will be multiplied 10-fold by the cornered and desperate liars who have no facts except in the fevered fantasies that boil up in their scheming little brain cells. The outrage from these kooks is real. VERY real. Because, you see, no one with a single shred of credibility is ever, EVER, supposed to question their witch's brew of crap science that they stir up in the name of the public good, the fake research and phony cure for which is supposed to be funded...of course... by us the hapless taxpayers. Anyone with credibility who questions the "science" of phony science is supposed to be cast down with aspersions by the media and politicans as agenda-driven know-nothings who are unqualified to comment. When it's the promoters of junk science who need to be scruitinized. There was a time when the press operated with skeptisicm. They used to insist that someone prove what they say before they would print it. But now it's just the opposite. As long as what you have to say fits the liberal talking points mold, you are given instant credibility by the very people who should be suspicious of you, and WOULD have been suspicious of you in the world of 20 or 30 years ago. Now, anyone who uses real facts to question liberal fantasy science are considered castouts, stoned by the media, evil people who are trying to stand in the way of good-intentioned liars. All the hoax-science that exists should be exposed. Why dont junk scientists ever come up with one of their typically stupid theories that could help people? Like maybe "Burning fossil fuels enriches the soil" or "smoking kills the N1H1 virus" or "the ingesting of trans-fats promotes a healthy colon" or "polar bears are great for steak sandwiches".
 
- Mike Silverman
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BLOOD ON THE PRESIDENT'S HANDS

It was bound to happen sooner or later that President Obama's natural liberal hatered and loathing for all things military slipped out for all to see in a highly palpable and deadly way. Now all this attempt to denigrate General McChrystal is out there. The General has only made what might be considered an indirect appeal for his plan to be implemented. People should keep in mind that a Bush white House and an Obama White House are different creatures when it comes to attitude toward the military. Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, the usual liberal suspects.. have exhibited contempt, flagrant contempt..., for our military men and women attempting to achieve success in war during the Bush administration, and it was pure... politics. The military rank and file and the commanders know very well the disdain that liberal polticians hold for the military. It is clear, to everyone, that Obama is following personal political considerations in his choice of how to permit the war in Afghanistan to be waged. He has forced General McChrystal to make a public appeal because a private appeal only falls on deaf ears. If I was in his place , knowing that the lives of the men in women under my command are being lost daily due to... what is clearly a political tactic ..., of delaying what is needed to wage the war adequately, of rules of engagement that are handcuffing his troops. I would be outraged. As a citizen I "am" outraged over all of this, as are many in our nation.
 
There should be no Democrat party political motivations involved if Obama is interested in doing what is right to protect the country, if he has to take a hit politically, then so be it, he should be ready and able to take it.  Bush was slammed like hell by the press , the Democrats and even  moderates in his own party almost EVERY DAY that he committed to the war in Iraq.
 
Every time we get caught up in arguing about whether McChrystal leaked some of the info in his report, or made an indirect appeal for his stratregy, we are losing focus on the real engagement of the war, and getting caught in the minutia. There is far..., far too much time being spent on hand wringing and groaning over what McChrystal is doing to get his plan implemented and not enough outrage that Obama is putting the war, the country, and our reputation of military excellence in jeapordy every moment he delays in doing the right thing.  The villian is not McChrystal, and not Obama... it's the enemy we are trying to kill. BUT...we've got a weak, liberal socialist egotist for a President and a General who desperately wants to be able to make things happen without needing to have that liberal leftist's approval, and that just isn't going to happen.  Personally I'm torn, because it seems the only way McChrystal is going to get Obama to consider his plan at any level is for him to put on the Presidential kneepads and ..., well you get the idea.  And the thought sickens me. Our President is failing in his most important role, defense of the country.  On the other hand, we have to win this battle.  the consequences of losing are far too devastating. And pulling out... is losing. McChrystal is put in an impossible situation.   He has to try to complete the mission goal without employing the strategy he has developed to do that.  Obama is sticking his thumb in McChrystal's eye and treating him like a second stringer.  If I was a fighting man in Afghanistan in the Marines or Army or whatever branch, I would be wondering how much more of our own military's spilt blood the President needs to see on his hands before he does the right thing.

It's obvious that Obama lied heartily and thoroughly during his campaign when asked about his strategy on fighting terrorism.
 
Below are actual quotes of Barack Obama when asked about the war on terror during his campaign....;
 
* "The Afghan government needs to do more. But we have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan. And I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front, on our battle against terrorism," ....
 
* "I think one of the biggest mistakes we've made strategically after 9/11 was to fail to finish the job here, focus our attention here. We got distracted by Iraq," he said.
"...troop levels must increase in Afghanistan."
* "For at least a year now, I have called for two additional brigades, perhaps three," ( he told CBS.) "I think it's very important that we unify command more effectively to coordinate our military activities."

Here is a source you can check for yourself for the above three quotes made by Obama... 
 
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/20/obama.afghanistan/
 

- Mike Silverman

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THE REPUBLICAN JIMMY CARTER

Poor old former Republican Senator Dole, a great man, a war hero, who nowadays is being played like a useful idiot that the Democrats srcaped up from retirement and suckered with a chance to feel important again in the context of current events. I hate to say it but he's become the Jimmy Carter of the Republican Party. He, and former Senator Daschle ( of all people...), have been working together to promote acceptance of the healthcare reform bill by the Republican party, with "bi-partisan" reforms... ( ha ha).  And , the media, so very very predictable..., love it when a Republican "finds his soul" ( as the liberals might see it...) and seeks "redemption" in the form of submission to the liberal Democrat agenda.  Republicans should keep away from any Democrat healthcare bill as if it were poison. The Democrats want to mix a poison potion of government run healthcare for the nation..., so why should Republicans drink ANY of that poison? Why should they dilute it a little and then take a swallow of the poison? The right and principled thing to do is slam any and all healthcare bills that attempt in any way to increase regulation and extend the reach of the government into our private lives and choices. If Republicans want to do something to increase medical insurance competition and promote tort reform, that's fine, they should introduce a separate bill to do that, and ONLY that..., but should keep away from the boondoggle that Obama wants to inflict on the country. Democrats don't want to bear the repercussions from this mess that Obama wants for healthcare.... alone. They want the Republicans to siphon off some of the poison into themselves, like sucking the venom from a rattlesnake bite, in order to soften the grim impact of the Democrat party's re-election prospects. You see, the strategy is not hard to figure out. IF , the Democrats can sucker Republicans into sucking on this venom sack called government Healthcare, then that leaves the angry public hating both parties equally. And thus does not give the public confidence that Republicans would do things differently. Thus, it evens the odds that repercussions from voting up a healthcare bill will effect negative returns on election results. Now, Republicans know this is the political tactic the Democrats are trying to employ when they accuse the Republicans of partisan politics and call them the party of NO. This is something we want partisanship on, because we should all WANT to have sensible politicians taking a principled stand against this boondoggle bill. Republican partisanship against this bill is a good thing.
 
- Mike Silverman
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A FRIGHTENING EMBARRASSMENT

 The voting was done only a month or two after Obama was in office, and they gave Obama the award. This thrusts the final liberal dagger into the back of the Nobel Peace Prize. It is officially a worthless tool of extremist liberals that has sunk to the bottom of a sea of hatred for the United States by pompous Europeans. Giving the peace prize to President Obama is like the Nobel prize Committee punching the United States in the face as hard as they can. They hate anyone who is Pro US as a superpower. The president winning the Nobel Peace Prize should both embarrass us and frighten us all. It means he is seen as a hero among people who despise our way of life of capitalism, despise our military strength, despise our own belief in the strength of our justice system and constitution, hate us for our success and advanced lifestyle. They revel in Obama's weakness. We should all be immediately suspicious of anyone who wins the Nobel Peace Prize nowadays. I would call it another one of the many reasons to vote Obama out of office at the next presidential election.

Just look at the nut jobs who have won the prize in recent years;

* Yasser Arafat a Terrorist,

* Al Gore... a man given the award for his efforts at spreading an idiotic theory of man made global warming that has no scientific evidence at all to support it and has been disproven in all respectable scientific circles.

* Jimmy Carter, worst president in the history of our country. His record of failure is well known. And most recently, our official National declarer of racism in America.

* Barack Obama, for urinating on the united states every chance he gets when overseas or even domestically..., for being weak and for fomenting fascism. Just what the Noble Peace Prize goons love.

- Mike Silverman, Milford MA

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THE BLIMP AND THE COLD DEAD HAND

Trial balloon time.  Obama's Brigades have been floating a colorful blimp up there into the wild blue yonder, a great big gas bag like the grand old Zepplins of yester-year, and they've named it "Trigger".  But instead of helium the blimp is filled with excrement and is floating around with the notion that perhaps legislation will arise from that creepy old cobweb-filled Frankenstein's laboratory in congress where our national mad scientists rub their hands together in wild eyed glee as they stitch together pieces of a monster that they hope to bring to life.  The monster will be the moldy zombified hand of Obama Care reaching out from under the sheets of  the secret Democrat laboratory to put a death grip on the throats of private insurance companies.  The hand, attached to a warped head and abnormal brain will threaten the Insurers that if they don't comply with the wishes of the mad scientist Obama and his shifty-eyed assistants Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and the others...., by doing what those creepy villians want, basically something that the private insurers can't possibly do and still maintain a semi-reasonable premium rate, ( offer everyone the same level of insurance regardless of existing preconditions or any other factors...)  that it will reach up to that floating blimp called "Trigger" and burst it open, sending the excrement raining down on everyone until we're drowning in it.  The excrement will be the universal public healthcare system that Obama and the hard left desperately want.  It will of course include massive tax increases and witling private insurance agencies, that will drive masses of people like a huge herd of goats into the public healthcare corral..  Don't buy into the latest incarnation of proposed government controlled universal healthcare that they are calling, "the trigger".   It's just more of the same kind of government system that nobody wants.
 
- Mike Silverman
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AN UNWORTHY LIFE ?

What is the significance of life?  Is it to be useful in some way? To plow fields, to feed the hungry, to bring happiness to others, to invent, to heal, or in some way be of value to the world? what if a man is paralyzed, immobile, his arms and legs frozen forever? Perhaps he can hear and see and speak, but lets rob him even of his eyes and his voice. He is paralyzed and blind and mute. He can hear and he can breathe. All other senses fail him utterly. Perhaps he has been this way for as long as he has been alive. Does his life have any vaule? What is the significance of the life within him?
 
Perhaps there are those who would seek to help him. They would learn how to care for such a man, to provide him with what he needs to survive, and how to communicate with such a man who is so shut off from manners of expressing himself. Perhaps there are those who would love him for the life within him, for its own sake. Perhaps by caring for him, they would learn to care for others and to respect life in a deeper way. But then, is he merely significant as a tool to teach others something?  Does he have to be something to someone else, or can his life mean something important even if no one cares for him?
 
Let's move to the end of his life, he dies, and no one has noticed. His lifeless body stiffens and grows cold in his bed and days pass before anyone discovers him. He is then taken away and laid to rest in the earth. what can we say about the time during which life inhabited his body?
 
He did not choose to be born, birth comes absent of the knowledge of the one being born. And certainly he did not choose to come into the world with such a condition afflicting him. Yet, into the world he came. The earth was solid under him, the sun shone on him as on everyone else, and the wind touched him no less or more than it touched anyone else. Creation did not judge him. So what man can say he knows better than all of creation? If the world and the universe and all of existence was willing to accept his birth, is a man better able to judge if his life is acceptable?
 
- Mike Silverman
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OBAMA - EXPOSED


You and I and lot's of ordinary citizens, including those of us who didn't go to Harvard, can see that President Obama's policies are highly flawed, which begs the question of why does he want to continue with a failed approach. We MUST assume that he is intelligent enough to assess the impact of his economic spending thus far. And if he can see that, then there is another agenda at work than "saving" the economy. The question is , what exactly does he hope to accomplish with such a destructive agenda. Unemployment numbers are still rising, the spending of revenues that already are deeply in the red by the government is still increasing for the alleged purpose of "saving jobs" and "restoring" the economy, including the ludicrous notion that government run healthcare will restore economic balance. Obama is fond lately of declaring that he is not interested in running car manufacturers or banks, and yet... he has had a strong and deliberate hand in the creation of new bureaucracies to oversee and control the standards Obama has demanded for GM, Chrysler and Executive pay.  He himself may not be doing the "runnning" of the banks and industries, but his lackeys are, and that makes him in essence doing exactly so by proxy. Again we need to return now to the vital question, since Obama's policies are only destined to make economic recovery slower and more painful for the country... and this he surely knows otherwise we would have to consider him to be a monumental idiot...,  what then is his "real" agenda? There are many possibilities, but my best educated guess based on his behavior is two-fold, first that President Obama believes that Capitalism is the root of all evil in our economy. By putting heavy handed controls and reigns on businesses, banks, and even manufacturers he hopes to create an outcome based solution for investments that minimizes risk and balances dividends in a manner that he sees as fair. He seems to believe that those who invest and lose due to circumstances beyond their control are victims of deciet rather than legitimate risk takers who made a value judgement on thier choice of investment and therefore should suffer no loss for making a poor choice ( for example , buying a home when you can't afford one). However, this viewpoint is broken down along social lines by Obama.  If the investor is a Hedge Fund and the dividends owed to people invested in it has any influence on the fate of any particular blue collar workforce, ( aka: GM...), then the laborer is placed on the pedestal and the investor is demonized. Obama works off of a heirarchy or pyramid chart of who is most important in society. It begins with the common laborer at the top, and ends with the top executives in large businesses at the bottom.  Furthermore, he looks at high executive pay as unfair because he has been institutionalized to the proletariat plight, which in essense rates the low level or blue collar labor force a more valuable contributer to society than the white collar or executive and that one man's salary should be no more or less than another's depsite the contribution. I believe this has been ingrained to his thinking since his earliest experiences, and is proven by his seemingly irrational approach to resolving social and economic problems. So his goal is not common sense free market based solutions,  it is a re-restructuring from the ground-up of the rollercoaster ride that risk taking by it's nature is subject to. This is an approach doomed to failure, but it is a part of Obama's nature and upbringing to pursue it regardless.   The second primary reason he continues down a line of flawed policies is for the sake of loyalty to those who have always been the most supportive of him. The unions, the left wing special interests, the ACLU, ACORN, etc.  Also, those who aided in his rise feel they are owed and I'm sure have made it known to him what they expect in return.

 

- Mike Silverman


 

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OBAMA'S FRENCH-KISS TO MUSLIMS

This speech Obama gave in Cairo was ill advised. I don't think there was anything he could have said that would appease his critics domestically or abroad. I think the end result is a wash. Those who were critics of Obama before the speech have not changed their minds. Those who loved him, still love him. The segment of Muslims who hated and mistrusted him still hate and mistrust him. The reasons for hatered by radical elements of Islam for western democracies is not going to be appeased or resolved with a speech. It is a religious fanatacism that no words will talk them out of. Only by supporting and promoting and vigorously protecting ( and that may mean military support ) footholds of Democracy in the middle east where Democracy has a chance to bloom will it eventually overtake the radicals and push them into a deeper and deeper corner and deeper and deeper isolation. President Obama carries with him the failed premise that all liberal progressives hold. As an ideology, liberals on the extreme left believe that by the simple goodwill of thier empathy, words, and personality, they can change the world and stop those who hate. This is why contrition is a big part of his approach. Liberals believe in apology as a cure for conflict. It's part of the overall ideology. Unfortuantely , the approach doesn't work. You can no more change the minds of radical elements with a handshake and a hug than you can change any religion or religious practice with a speech. It would have been a far better use of his time to try to convince muslims of the value of a working and productive relationship with Israel and the benefits of commerce and shared technology with them, to promote the reasons why capitalism and free markets are valuable and can change societies for the better, to mention the reasons for the formation of our own country as a breakaway from tyranny and oppression, to show how we defeated a monarch and maybe through example of our struggle in the US to maintain freedom and democracy inspire muslims with a foundational example for overthrowing their own tyrannical leaders. But, unfortunately he didn't choose to discuss that. The news media has been praising Obama's speech to the hilt, glorifying it as comparable to Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall as he demanded that Gorbachev tear it down.  Of course the speeches are not comparable. Obama made no bold demands of the Muslim world but instead praised them with lies about what contributions were made by the Muslim world to mankind. Does it seem to you that Obama had far, far more praise for Islam and the Muslim culture than for his own country and it's core of Christian values? He refused to be pegged as having special symapthies for Islam or Muslims during his campaign, but what are we supposed to think after hearing his toungue-kiss to Muslims?
 What passes for televsion news media today is simply not news media. There are no more real reporters. Brian Williams, Kaite Couric, Charles Gibson, etc.. have a record button on their heads, the Obama administration presses it, leaves a message, and then Williams, Coric, etc... plays it back to their dubious audiences. Thats' what the major press outlets have been reduced to, human tape recorders for left leaning politicians to use to advance their liberal agendas.
 
 
- Mike Silverman
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YOU MAY NOT LIKE THIS - MY OPINION ON ABORTION

As always, blogs are primarily repositories of opinion, and so let me preface what I am about to relate by stating that this is purely my most heartfelt opinion. If you are too sensitive to face reading an opinion that is dramatically opposed to abortion, then I suggest you go read something else, for you will not like what follows here, you might even find that my opinion is shocking. I will begin by making a simple observation. The most innocent, the most untouched by the demands the joys the wonders and the sorrows of human society, the purest moments of existence for a human are those precious moments before, during, and then after birth when a child takes his or her first few breaths. Like a falling snowflake pure and unique, it begins a journey that will eventually change it, merge it into a greater conglomerate of snowflakes till the child may seem to disappear in the masses of society. And yet, like that snowflake, it adds a little something to the overall depth and strength and volume of our world. Of course a child is far more complex, has far more potential and life than a mere snowflake. To see and hear a child newly born, crying out, reaching out to the world around it as that child takes it's first tentative grasp of a new experience outside of the womb is a moving experience for anyone with a human heart. Along with the divine spark of life that was passed to that child from the parents, within that child rests a potential for achievements as yet untapped. With caring and guidance and love, that child will have a chance to learn and dream and reach for highest potential of the human spirit. How then, any loving person can make a deliberate choice to kill... to wipe out, destroy in horrific fashion that purest, most innocent of human life before it has the chance to even take those first few precious breaths, to reach out into the world with those small hands, to have a chance to bear witness to creation, that innocent life depending on its mother for protection, a mother who commits either of her own will or under the heavy handed influence of others to that most wretched and vile act of savage and brutal betrayal, is beyong my reckoning for it seems to be an act completely without human comapssion. Which brings me to the point of my soliloquy. Recently the news media has been telling us of the murder of Doctor George Tiller, a commited abortionist who had no qualms about ripping innocent helpless life to shreds thousand times. He has openly declared it, seeming to be pround of the fact, that he has done this thousands of times. No infamous serial killer has been as prolific or heartless as this dreadful man. The difference is that the law, sadly, protected this murderous villian in most of the cases. What of the family Dr. Tiller leaves behind?  You may think me cruel to offer my opinion in such a fashion at a time when they most likely are greiving the loss, but in my opinion there is in fact no time in which the truth of the matter should be hidden, avoided, swept under the rug, or aborted. I feel sad for his family, those who loved him and who feel the pain of losing a loved one. I hope that as they pray for his soul, they will also take a moment to pray for the hepless and innocent souls who as a doctor, a profession people look to for healing, he betrayed and crassly ripped from this world and suffed out. Just so there is no misunderstanding, murder is wrong, always. Whether it takes the form of building a gruesome mountain of abortions, or if it takes the form of murdering the murderer. Tiller will face his ultimate judgement before God. I will conclude with this thought, there is no case, no time, no circumstance when a fetus, a human life, a baby in the womb should ever be deliberately aborted. Not even at the cost of the mother's life. Again, my blog... my opinion.  If you disagree you are welcome to respond.

- Mike Silverman

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GOODBYE REPUBLICANS - HERE'S YOUR TERMINATION NOTICE

Hello and welcome to whomever of you may be gazing at my little blog today. And I would also like to extend a very special "Good Morning" to a fine old group of fellows out there. Good Morning Republican party. Good morning General Powell, Senator McCain, Mr. Steel, Senator Ridge, and the rest of you who have expressed reservations about being too critical of Judge Sotomayor for the position of Supreme Court Justice. We appreciate the service, the time, the effort you have given your grand old party. Now, if you will please open and read the letters you have just been handed we would greatly appreciate that. Please don't feel too badly.  It's simply that your services are no longer needed.  Please walk single file as you exit the stage, you will find transportation outside ready to take you permanently back to your private civilian lives. When, as a political party of alleged moral principle and opposition to the spread of the structural disease known as liberalism, it becomes a debate as to whether a debate should be made against the rise to power in the highest unchallengeable lifetime appointment in government a person whose proven rhetoric and body of work represents the antithesis of our foundational freedoms, it is time to clean out the house. When, as a political party founded on preservation of the essential moral and structural framework of the documents which gave rise to independence and freedom and self determination for our nation, the party itself can no longer see the enemy for who it is, it is time to clean out the house. It's so very plain that Liberals and those who call themselves "progressives" want to destroy the Republican party, it rather goes without saying. It's so crystal clear that Powell and the other self proclaimed moderates are the tools being used by enemies of Conservatism for that end. To listen to the lies... the perverse lies... from those who seek to destroy Republicans and more precisely destroy Conservatives... that they are trying to "SAVE" the Republican party is an insult that cuts to the heart of anyone with a scrap or more of intellect. And the thing is , we all know that this is what it's all about. The left wing media knows it, the liberal analysts know it, and the moderates know it. And yet we are treated to this fantasy theater of the likes of Powell clomping around on a media stage like pinnocchio, a useful idiotic puppet of the people who want to destroy the Republicans and he is a willing and happy mouthpiece for them. He sits there like a vetriloquist's dummy mouthing the words of the liberals who hate Republicans and want to dilute Conservatives out of existence as a power, which of course will put the final nail in the Republican coffin. Either Powell and his fantasy-weavers have an Obama-Complex and want to be lead by a Republican version of Obama, in which case if they succeed there is no more Party, or they are happily working to destroy the party principles that they desperately hate and their satisfaction will come from taking it down into the final flames of Hell where it appears is the only fire hot enough in their minds to purge the party of the sin of Conservatism.
 
With regard to recent dangerous actions of North Korea, just a thought... what if... China is using North Korea as a cover to test their own nuclear weapons technology? Given the provocative and radical nature of North Korea's leader why not let him be the front man and scapegoat for testing tht China wants to do? I'm not sure of that, it's just something that occurred to me as I was considering the situation. Anyway, the question I'm looking to have answered is will the Republicans come up with the right response, regardless of whether Obama will implement it. Republicans , according to liberals... ( and of course if we follow the "moderate approach" we must always view Republicans through the liberal lens..., ), are war mongering nuts. So, if Republicans as a party follow suit with Powell leading the way, they will want to "sit down" and "talk" with Kim Jong-il and try to convince him that this is a bad thing he's doing, like some sort of political version of the Jehovah's Witness but without the moral conviction of their beliefs. Instead of being strong on foreign policy and defense which is , or was..., something Republicans had a lock on..., they will kowtow to the pied piper of liberalism beause those Republicans who gaze through the liberal lens see their opportunity as being right now... with the election of Obama being thier proof that "they" are the type of leaders the country really wants. The right approach is to lead... lead the way by laying down the law, not talking but ordering North Korea to immediately cease or face immediate response. We CAN'T just sit here like a bunch of blithering dolts while that little pig Jong-il makes a mockery of US power. Faliure to bring the North Korean government under control, to allow them to mock us, is going to undermine the war on terror, and further deteriorate our effectiveness and image around the world. For God's sake..., our ALLIES are in the line of their fire. We need to have a US Navy battleship off the coast of North Korea and start doing some "test" firings of its cannons in the general direction of North Korea.
 
- Mike Silverman

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THE CASE AGAINST MODERATES

Hello.  I'm not sure if anyone reads my posts here anymore, but I felt that I needed to comment regarding recent statements made by Colin Powell about the Republican party and specifically that he feels it needs to "moderate" , to move to the middle ground and not be so strident in holding a particular point of view. I disagree with Powell. And here is my reasoning. In a basic sense, in accordance with societal admonitions, we are told, "if you must drink, then drink in moderation." Smoke in moderation.  Eat in moderation. And so on. In schools, churches and at home from the time we are children we are instructed to resolve our conflicts, make peace with our enemies, seek a compromise.  In many circumstances, all of this advice can serve a person very well. Today we face a world of economic uncertainty, and hostile governments with dangerous weapons. We live in a world where it seems to make sense that finding a way to compromise, to find a middle ground between light and darkness, where we can help each other economically and ease tensions by reaching out with friendship to those who mistrust us, is a common good. No one wants to fight a war every day. No one wants to wrestle with principles and ethics and personal values that sit outside of the accepted normal vistas of familes , friends, and nations. In this I'm reminded of a gentleman I used to work with. His name is Bob.  A very mellow, easy going, likeable guy. A Grateful Dead fan, among other music. We got along quite well for about 1 month. We talked about all sorts of things, from music to politics, to science. And then, one day..., he asked me if i'd like to try some "mushrooms". I remember staring blankly at him for a long moment, and something welled up inside me as I looked at him. At first I wasn't sure what the feeling was. Later I realized it was shock, and a sudden deep mistrust. I told him I wasn't interested, that I didn't prefer to ingest things that warped my perception of reality and caused addiction. But, Bob..., being the nice guy that he is, tried in his own way to convince me of how wrong I was, in his opinion. Every day he would try to pursuade me as to the "health" benefits of both body and mind of ingesting these "magic mushrooms"" of his.  He actually brought me in case studies done in other countries in an attempt to prove that his fungus was not addictive. It began to be a bit of a struggle to convince him that I simply had no interest in it. I tried in every way that I could think of to gently but firmly rebuke his offers. But I began to realize that this simply was not going to work. This issue was something he was so passionate about , that he could not let go of it.  This was not a case for conflict resolution 101. He held a very specific, unwavering point of view.  As did I, to the exact opposite of his. There was no middle ground to be achieved. There was no moderate view that we could both aspire to. This was not a bi-partisan matter. He was a partisan for his view, and I for mine.  Now, the only reason I bring this up is to point out that moderation, making peace, conflict resolution... does not work in every case.  In the real world, there are times when personal values clash, and do so without a means of reaching a middle ground. The clash of values can be important, as means of defining the argument for and against something. Going back to what I said at the start of this, we are raised with certain values pertaining to moderation. But we must not lose the line between moderation of activity we choose to do as individuals or within friendships and familes, and the personal ethics and values that form our individual perceptions of the world and the moral fabric of our souls. Within politics today we hear quite often from the "voice" of those who insist that moderation and middle ground is vital to great leadership. This is a case of carrying the lessons taught to us as children for survival in a basic sense, to find common ground with your friends, your family, don't overeat, or over-exert yourself, and taking it to the extreme and improbable command to compromise one's personal values and principles so as avoid the appearance of being hard and unreasonable. In other words, taking moderate views of anything that forces you to diminish and withdraw from your closely held and passionte principles is as being asked to barter your soul for the sake of avoiding an argument. This is not the lesson from childhood. Such a thing is a perverion of that lesson. Those who engage in this level of compromise have pared their individuality down to the form of a mime being pushed left and right according to the whims of others. To take a solid and principled stand based on the formative experiences of your life is the essence of leadership.  And the remaining argument from childhood goes as thus, "always be open-minded". Open-minded is such an abused phrase today.  Again it's vital to differentiate between what "open-minded" means in the informal vista of one's personal life, as opposed to the circumstance one would face in the role of a leader. Is the lesson from childhood of being "open-minded" that one must never maintain a solid value or principle that is worth fighting for? No. The admonition against failing to be "open-minded" is meant as a tool to use for the purpose of cooperation, to look beyond superficial things and welcome participation from those who have something constructive to contribute. But lest we confuse "cooperation" with "moderation" , let's look at it this way.  Imagine you are an engineer designing a suspension bridge over san fransico bay. You bring your sound scientific principles of design and construction to bear in the plans for the bridge. Another bridge engineer opts to use a different design, one that has sweeping lines and grand curves, but a weakness and flaw in the basic design that will cause problems for the bridge in the future. Being "open-minded" you review the design of the other engineer and after careful consideration conclude that it's far too dangerous. Since people's lives are at stake, you insist that the bridge be built with the normal standard sound principles you have learned. The other engineer refuses to give up his own plan for the bridge.  Rather than construct a problematic bridge that looks good but has flaws in its substance, you step away from the project and refuse to be part of it. It is a reasonable decision to refuse to participate in construction that you know is flawed and dangerous. Thus, it's important for those in a leadership position not to give in to the cries and shouts and demands for being moderate and open-minded if in any way such a thing requires you to abandon the principles and values that have carefully shaped and guided your intellect and ethics.
 
- Mike Silverman

 

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OBAMA AT NOTRE DAME - BORING AND POLITICAL

Obama's speech at Notre Dame;

If you love Obama, voted for him, etc.. you probably loved his speech.
 
If you opposed his presidency, policies and actions as President, you probably will find a lot to criticize about it.
 
Personally, I found it to be too long, I was bored by the end of it, and it meandered in various topics that didn't seem quite relevent to the graduating class, especially when he went on and on about how there is such injustice and inequity and greed in our country talking down the United States again as he so loves to do. It was filled with political campaign rhetoric. And, it would have been a nice gesture if, with all his flowery rhetoric about finding common ground and trying to reach hearts and minds, if he had acknowledged specifically the 50 or so students who through principled disagreement with the University's decision to award him an honorary degree decided to hold a separate ceremony of their own outside. He could have wished them well , and that would have been a decent thing to do. But he didn't. And of course, in his comments about his receiving the honorary degree he made a joke of it, saying how he's only 1 for 2, only getting 1 honorary degree out of two graduation addresses so far as President and said he would have to ask the Notre Dame University President for tips on how to get more.
 
- Mike Silverman
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HEALTH CARE, THE CIA, AND NOTRE DAME


Hello Again.  I'm not sure if anyone reads my blog anymore, but I thought I'd post a few thoughts about recent events.
 
* President Obama speaking at Notre Dame's graduation ceremony  ;
 
Personally, I don't have a problem with this. I strongly support of freedom of speech as a natrual right for all citizens of the US and all people of the world.  But then, I don't attend Notre Dame. It's a matter for the school administration and it's students and alumni to determine who their guest speakers should be.  It seems that what bothers most of the people who are protesting his appearence there, is less the fact that he is going address the graduating students, but that he is being given an honorary law degree from the university, an institution of the Catholic Church whose teachings are diametrically opposed to Presiden't Obama's view on abortion. This I can certainly understand. President Obama clearly supports the most radical pro-choice policies of the left, and faithful Catholics strongly oppose abortion. It's one matter to have the President make an address to an assembly of students, it's quite another to honor him with a special degree from an institution whose teachings are to the opposite on such a dramatically important matter as abortion.  A reasonable compromise from the school's administration would seem to be to have the President speak, but do not give him the degree.  I have listened to some of the student protesters who said they would be satisifed with that. President Obama, as a goodwill gesture, should perhaps choose to decline accepting the honorary degree in light of the obvious turmoil it is causing. It would be a dignified thing to do, and could be a catalyst in defusing the tensions over this. I hope he will do that, though I suspect he probably will accept the degree.  As a final comment on this controvesy, it's interesting to note how the news media is making this into an isolated controversy between people of the Catholic faith, and President Obama.  Millions of US citizens who are not of the Catholic faith, such as myself, also are strongly opposed to the cultre of abortion-on-demand , and oppose President Obama's stance on the matter.
 
* Speaker Of The house, Nancy Pelosi's argument with the "CIA";
 
This is ridiculous. I watched the news report in which she was asked if the CIA lied to her. When she uttered the word "yes" I thought she would immediately catch it as a mistaken thing to say, and rescind it in the same statement.  She didn't. She stood by it. I don't want to wast too much commentary on this, since it is such a dramatically rookie-type, neophyte knee-jerk silly thing for her to have alleged, that it pretty much speaks volumes for itself. You don't kick the dog that's guarding your house. Congress relies on the CIA for important intelligence briefings on the status of our country's security. Pelosi has forced the CIA to defend itself now, since by remaining silent they would in essence be submitting that they lied to her. Thus she has started a war, and put herself directly in the middle of it. Pelosi has had reign over the House Of Representatives similar to what a queen matriarch would have over her kingdom. She undoubtedly was feeling her power, feeling untouchable.  But as Elloit Ness proved to Al Capone, even the biggest and the badest can be knocked from their pedestal. Capone picked a fight with the wrong guy, and Pelosi has made a similar mistake.
 
* National Health Care, Obama-Style;
 
Well, what's to be said that hasn't been said already? President Obama recently demanded , and got a vague promise in return, that the nation's hospitals and drug companies  and insurance agencies reduce health care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. That's hysterical coming from a man who just asked for a nearly 4 trillion dollar budget made of tax payer's money. A man who has already spent generations of tax money that hasn't even been collected yet.  What huge arrogance and hipocrisy on display. Of course, his biggest plan is for every man woman and child to have government run health insurance. Anyone who has had to deal with medicare or the VA for any major issue knows the nightmare he wants to inflict universally on the country.  No thanks.  Transparent prices of services and medications, consumers choosing their own policies as best fits their lifestyle rather than leaving it up to the government or an employer, and tort reform are some of the keys to reducing medical costs as well as allowing the individual in conjuction with the doctor to choose the medical services they require rather than some nameless faceless insurance or government bureaucrat.
 
- Mike Silverman
 
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HATING RUSH LIMBAUGH

Is there a place for civil discourse in blogs?  Or are we merely punching blindly into the darkness as if boxing an invisible opponent? I call my blog Crawling Out Of The Dark because that's what a blog is, a blog lives in relative darkness and only makes itself known through the declarations of its sole occupant, which in many cases ( not all cases, but many..)  takes the form of screams and shouts and savage slashing. One of the caveats of discourse on the internet is that you rarely know anything about the people you are engaging, and from that shelter of darkness anyone can pretend to be anything. That makes a blog a prime piece of real estate from which to launch a no-holds-barred assault.  A blog is both liberating, and debilitating.  There is no doubt at all that a major percentage of the diatribes leveled from blogs would never take place in real face-to-face conversation with the actual target of that vitriol. Simply because the blogger would not have the nerve to do it. This makes blogging as a form of communication more open to charges of being less than courageous, and of being underhanded. So what does all of this mean? It's leading up to my discourse on recent attacks against radio talk show personality Rush Limbaugh.  At the White House Correspondants Dinner the other night , which President Obama attended and spoke at, we were all treated to the disgusting comments of commedienne Wanda Sykes. She joked about Rush Limbaugh, saying he was the 20th hijacker during the attacks on the trade center and Pentagon on 9/11/2001, and in reponse to Rush Limbaugh's commentary where he stated wanting President Obama to fail in his agenda to advance socialism, Sykes retorted "I hope his kidneys fail", as a way of counterpoint to Rush Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail. And we were treated to images of President Obama chuckling and grinning at both comments. Now, it's plain to most thinking citizens that her comments about Rush Limbaugh were not funny, so it basically goes without need of comment that she blew it in a big way. We have a constitution in our country that protects commentary and speech such as Sykes made that night. She has the freedom to say what she wants, even to the point of joking about kidney failure. But she has no protected right to an audience. She has no right requiring others to listen to, or laugh at, anything she says. Our freedom to speak does not include a protected right to be heard. So she only has fame and power if other people grant her an audience. And that night, no less than the most powerful politican in the world granted her that fame and power by giving her an audience and chuckling and grinning  freely at jokes that were not jokes, let's face it, they were her personal hatered for Limbaugh on disply sheltered by a thin sheathe of a comedy routine. Given the progression of that scenario it would have been in character at that point for her to then make jokes about the killing fields in Cambodia or the ovens used to burn bodies at Auschwitz. This all begs comparison to how President Bush might have handled such a moment if it had been him at that dinner and he had heard those comments from Sykes.  Let's just say , instead of Rush Limbaugh she made comments about a Bush opponent, Barney Frank. So lets pretend she says "Barney Frank... I hope his kidneys fail!".  I don't think anyone can envision President Bush, or President Reagan, laughing or even smiling at all at such comments. But President Obama is no Reagan, and no Bush for that matter. Obama campagined on a platform of bipartisanship, of bringing the country together, in a new day of hope and change for a better future.  Is laughing at jokes about a decent hard working private US citizen, as being in collusion with the terroists who attacked the country on 9/11, who is actually guilty of nothing more than presenting his political analysis and an occassional football analogy on the radio, a way of bringing us closer together as a nation and ending the partisan bickering? Is that Hope and Change you can believe in? Rush Limbaugh, like you, and like me, and like a lot of people wants what is best for the country. But unlike  me, and unlike a lot of people, Rush does not have to work, does not need to be on the radio every day in order to pay the bills, and could retire any time he wants and live in luxury for the rest of his life, and avoid all the hate and all the savage attacks on his character and God only knows what else that we never hear about that he has to put up with. Rush Limbaugh asked a question on his radio show today.  He asked everyone who was listening "Why is Dick Cheney doing what he is doing..., exposing himself to the attacks and hate and vitriol of the press and the liberal bloggers and the left wing militant groups?" He asked this because, Dick Cheney ( former Vice President in the Bush Administration ) has a great amount of personal wealth, he's not in great physical health and probably has been advised to take it easy these days,  and doesn't need to do the media circus, he's not selling any books, he's not promoting anything. So why is Dick Cheney going on the air and talking to the media so frequently lately about things like the success of methods used to interrogate some of the terrorists at the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba? Because he is a patriot, and is worried about the safety of our country and is very concerned about the direction that Obama has been taking the nation. In this way, both Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney are alike. Neither one has a need to expose themselves daily to the vicious personal attacks they get as they strive to make thier voices heard, they do so because to men like these it's worth the struggle.  President Obama has apologized lately around the world to allies and enemies for what he called United States greed and arrogance and talked about how terrible we are because of slavery and unfairness to the American Indian and so on. His so called "apology" tour. With all the apologizing Obama has been doing for percieved trangressions of our country, one has to wonder if he will also apologize to the world, or at least to Rush Limbaugh for laughing and smiling at Sykes as she joked about wanting Rush Limbaugh's kidneys to fail. Somehow I doubt we'll be hearing that apology from him anytime soon.


- Mike Silverman 

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OBAMA SAYS WE CAN FEEL GOOD ABOUT BEING MURDERED

  I watched the President's so-called press conference last night. First, I do not believe that the President does not want our government to have a controlling interest in as many major businesses as possible. His template is one of progressive liberalism. You heard him in the past, he wants to stop what he feels is corporate greed and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd want to stop businesses from any sort of financial practice that seems risky. Based on all the outrageous acts by the Treasury Secretary, Barney Frank and his gang and the President himself to tamp down and place controls on businesses, by their outrageous attempts to demonize any of the people who took bonuses to the point of actually putting them in physical danger, in fear of thier lives, I have to believe that the President very boldly lied at the press conference last night. With regard to government intrusion in GM and other car companies, they should stay out of it 100%. They have no businesses being in business. Period. For me it is not a negotiable idea. And, I am getting very sick, sick as can be... every time I hear our President climb up on his pedestal.., on his Greek column, and become the most pretentious pompous jackass that has ever held the office of President as he says how he is making us safer, and a better nation, by ridding the practice of hard interrogation used by the CIA. By saying that, here is what he is saying to you and me and the rest of us. Here is how he wants us to think and feel. The next time you hear a news report that a US commercial jet has been hijacked by Al-Qeuda terrorists and has been slammed into another skyscraper full of our fellow citizens, this time in Chicago, or perhaps San Francisco, or perhaps the city you or I work in, and.., perhaps your son or daughter or wife or father is in that structure... and you see images on the news of your family member leaping to his or her death from a 20th story window because flames caused by the attack are consuming everything and everyone around into piles of charred human remains... just remember one thing... at least no terrorist was tortured for the information that might have prevented it, and no terrorist will have to face harsh interrogation as a result, so please feel good about our values as a country, and don't forget to thank President Obama for making us a better nation for it.
 
I also want to address the idea of the United States sitting down to face to face unconditional talks with the leaders of enemy nations. One of the things we have as a nation with incredible success and power and wealth, is our stock as a presence in itself with whom a mutual meeting or conference with immediately lends credibility to the posture and leadership of the nations we meet and conference with. For foreign entities, meeting with high ranking members of our government is a privilege, not a right. It is an earned achievement, not a God granted liberty. We debase, weaken, and undercut the image , the integrity, and the strength of our name, our history and our position by throwing down with the lowest vermin in the world without condition. WE are the country who must set conditions to be met for those who wish to have the honor and prestige of negotiating with the greatest human power for liberty and democracy on earth. Obama has sold us out by giving up our image and prestige and power to the worms and ticks and other vermin who want to bleed us dry. He disgraces us when he does that. He is simply an insufferable fool who proves almost daily that he has no understanding of what it takes to be a leader. His popularity is going to wane, I think more quickly than anyone is willing to admit. A cult leader has his followers in his grip only till he makes a mistake that goes so deep that his followers have no choice but to be shocked by it. Remember Jim Jones and the People's Temple? Guyana, I think it was. They stayed with him until... he gave the order to start drinking the poison. Then, what did he have to do? He needed armed guards to keep people from fleeing as they tried to run from thier own forced suicides. Obama so very much reminds me of Jim Jones. His followers being led down the primrose path to thier government-enforced suicides for the sake of his own twisted glory. Obama is trying to make the country into his own version of Jim Jones' People's Temple and himself into an unchallengeable God.
 
- Mike Silverman
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