Thursday, December 31, 2009

Who is a Journalist?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is so concerned about its internal security that it sent out investigators to the homes of two bloggers who spilled the beans about Transportation Security Agency (TSA) plans for the imposition of idiotic in-flight rules as a result of the Underwear Bomber incident. Fox News reports how the two bloggers were treated. DHS Subpoena's Two Journalists DHS/TSA alleges the two are not journalists and therefore do not deserve the same 1st Amendment protections afforded journalists. The Watchman did a little research and found a web site reporting on a recent court ruling that clearly establishes bloggers as journalist.

What is disconcerting about this episode is DHS/TSA's heavy handed approach and their concern about embarrassing leaks, when they should be figuring out how to win the war against terrorism. Interesting too, DHS, headed by a Democratic Obama appointee is aggressively seeking out to find who leaked the unclassified TSA document. Under the Bush administration SECRET CIA/FBI documents were leaked to the New York Times and published on page one! At the time Democrats heralded the disclosure as an act of patriotism.

However I digress. The importance of this incident will be played out in the courts again and hopefully the earlier ruling noted above will withstand judicial review. This is important for every citizen and especially every blogger. If the common everyday blogger who reports on activities of their community to international events is not viewed legally as a journalist, then the 1st Amendment is meaningless. Remember, several of our founding fathers were not journalist, yet they produced pamphlets, newsletters, handbills, and speeches that gave birth to our nation. Without a broad definition of who a journalist is or what journalism really is all about, then the State could begin regulating journalist content and only State approved content could be published. Note in the Fox News report the blogger's comments about how they felt intimidated and fearful.

The Watchman isn't advocating irresponsible reporting by bloggers and other communicators acting in a journalistic manner. However, bottom line is these individuals do deserve the same legal protections as other professional journalists. Stay tuned to how this story unfolds. It may raise a red flag on things to come.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Can He Do an About Face?

Its going to be tough for our Dear Leader, President Obama, to make an about face and become the terrorists worst nightmare since President Bush declared war on them eight years ago. Remember, Obama is suppose to be the Peace President and make nice with the world. Obama is suppose to end the unrighteous imprisonment of terrorists because they were misunderstood 'man made disasters'. He was suppose to sit down with the nutball prime minister running the daily affairs of Iran and over tea work out a consesus basis of spreading more of Americans wealth to tin horn dictators. His attorney general was to procute CIA integrators, not call them back into action to get dirt on the terrorists.

No the President is really going to have a real struggle to call Islamic terrorism what it is, terrorism, and then do something concrete to keep it from coming ashore into the American heartland. It is apparent he is truly struggling to find the right response and so far the best he can come up with is to blame Bush for an outdated system and its failure. Unfortunately that old song was last years hit and folks are tired of hearing it. Besides, that was then, this is now and he's the guy on the watch, like it or not. Man-up and fire some administration idiots starting with the Sectary of DHS.

However, since he never has worked as a business owner or chief executive, he's never had to fire anyone, so canning the DHS chief is not likely. The Watchman doesn't blame Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano for the attempted bombing, but does believe she is clueless about the reality of how seriously America's number one enemy, Islamo-Fascism, would dearly love to kill everyone of us just for the thrill of it. And if reports out of Yemen is even half true, then there are several hundred rabid jhidists just itching to kill an American. We don't need a delusional government hack running DHS, who plays PC games with peoples lives.

Too Obama is hampered by his Nobel Peace Prize. He just can't order up a barrage of cruise missiles to bomb Yemen terrorist training camps like Bill Clinton did. Also he's ham strung too by his recent foray into environmental, global warming, politics. If he bombs the hell out of Yemen and leaves behind all the nasty pollution, his supporters from Green Peace et. al. will go nuts.

We are entering into a very dangerous period. There are other evils out in the world watching Obama's first tepid responses to crisis, measuring the man, and taking careful note how and what he does. Russia is pushing for our nuclear defense system information. China is toying with our dollar while eyeing Taiwan across the Formosa Straights. North Korea continues to merrily work away at building its armed forces, testing missiles, and fine tuning its new nuclear toys. One miss-step by Dear Leader and anyone of these three evils, as well as potentially several others, will unleash their plots to bring darkness over the world.

Mr. President! About Face!

Monday, December 28, 2009

I Don't Know and I Don't Care

Recently a dear relative of mine ask me if I "had won over anyone with my conservative views"? I was not sure what to say, but felt that I had. A very liberal co-worker is slowly seeing the Marxist ways of Obama is going to ruin the American economy and demolish individual liberty, partly because I frequently point out Obama's policy positions are right out of Marx's Das Kapital. However, I cannot say hundreds have come around to my way of thinking due to my pithy comments or insightful writings. Upon reflection over the holidays and considering patriots of former centuries I have decided my answer should have been: I don't know and I don't care.

I do not know if I have won one soul to the right position that conservatism and capitalism seem to work very well in our country. That free enterprise is the backbone of our nation. That: "the government that governs best, governs least." (Ronald Regan). I do not know if anyone ever reads this blog or other items I have written. I do not know if people tune me out when I speak about the obvious march to implementation of Marxist policies or his hiring of Marxist personnel by BHO. I have not a clue if there is a single human soul ‘who once was lost but now is found’, have moved from being a passionate liberal-socialist to a passionate conservative because of anything that I have said or written. I just have no idea if any of my non-PC thoughts have affected my PC afflicted friends, neighbors, or fellow citizens.

But I don't care. I really do not care what the left thinks of my ideas or me. I am not going to be cowed by others who dismiss me as a cranky old man who is spouting off about how our country has gone to hell in a hand basket. Because I stand against BHO's policies and the Democrat's hell-bent charge into Marxist/Socialist economic policy. As a conservative, I have been labeled a racist (Jimmy Carter), a bigot (Sharpton / Jackson), a Nazi (Nancy Pelosi), and a slaver (Harry Reid) to name a few enlightened fellow citizens of the Marxist left. So I do not care if that is their (or others) opinion of my position.

Why? Because I know, I am right. As a student of history, I know of no nation that has embraced National Socialism and did well in the end. The left swoons over European socialism as a beacon of utopia. Yet, Europe is silently in its last years of greatness as the cradle of western civilization. Europe is experiencing irreversible falling replacement birth rate of native Europeans (think white, Christian/Jewish DNA Frenchman/woman) below 1.0 and a sky rocketing birthrate of non-native Europeans (think Arab, Muslim, immigrant-citizen Frenchman/woman). As a result, it will only be a matter of a generation before sweeping changes in the culture/values, governance, and basic economic underpinnings of European National Socialism is no more. Think - Paris as the new Bagdad or Kabul, complete with Shria Law. Easy socialism is at the root of their demise. Europe's conversion is inevitable and unstoppable.

Yet, there is still time in America. America stands alone as the last best hope for our world. America as it was born and founded upon the values of independent action by each individual with the liberty to see their dreams come true through their own effort. What BHO and the Democratic controlled congress are attempting to do is a wholesale cultural change of those values to a government dependence value. They are implementing sweeping changes in almost every aspect of our society to bring about complete dominance by the State, and under-cut independent thought and action. Creation of an European America with similar long-term results. Doubt me? Look at the news regarding how National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants have been used to "suggest" artist extol the virtues of BHO's administration (Is National Endowment for the Arts Pushing Obama Administration's Agenda) The Washington Examiner reports stimulus funds have gone to democratic districts by a 2 to 1 margin. Report: Democratic districts received nearly twice the amount of stimulus funds as GOP districts By: Mark Hemingway And as mentioned in the Watchman's last blog, the culture of governmental bribery is now so blatant it is called 'normal' by our leaders.

The true patriot does not change their stand by holding fingers to the wind and gauging whether or not the public approves of their message or their methods. They stand firm in thier convictions and assail what they see as evil. Some will respond that my delivery is what they object too. The Watchman is not here to tickle your ears and make you feel warm and fuzzy. He's here to cut through the blatant hypocrisy of the Marxist left and their soft bigotry of deception being foisted upon unthinking citizens leading to their own destruction.
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The Watchman is back at home station after a trip to the Land of Oz. I've been working on a few things that I'll share once complete and edited.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Great Democratic Party Achievement

Yesterday the U.S. Senate approved to move the Senate's version of Obama-Reid-Pelosi Health Care Program to the next Senate procedure by a party line vote of 60 Democrats to 40 Republicans. This is a great achievement for the Democratic Party. However, how it was achieved now places America squarely in the same league as a corrupt banana republic. Democracy is now officially dead in America.

Why do I pronounce that? Because for both Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to get the necessary votes in the House of Representatives and Senate, bribes of unimaginable magnitude were offered and democratic party senators, engorged by their own lusts for power, accepted. The bribes offered immediately didn't individually benefit the taker, but their states. (However, as one Washington insider observed, these kinds of bribes have a way of ultimately enriching the individual.) So Nebraska will receive special Medicaid federal aid under the proposed Senate health care law, to the tune of $100 Million over 10 years. This is federal tax dollars from every American citizen going to Nebraska, while the rest of the nation has their Medicaid and Medicare program aid slashed. But that's not the only bribe offered and taken:

-- Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., won between $100 million and $300 million in additional federal aid for her state's Medicaid population. The deal, secured before she cast her critical vote in favor of bringing the health bill to the floor, was immediately dubbed the "Louisiana Purchase," though the actual Louisiana Purchase was considerably cheaper.
-- Vermont and Massachusetts got $1.2 billion in Medicaid money -- a change that was described as a correction to the current system which exempts those two states because they have robust health care systems. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also boasted Saturday that he requested and won an investment worth between $10 and $14 billion for community health centers.
-- Western states secured higher federal reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals that serve Medicare patients. The provision covers the low-population "frontier" states and applies to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming -- the latter two states are both represented by two Republicans, but ended up as beneficiaries anyway since they qualify. The legislative language defines frontier states as states where at least 50 percent of the counties have fewer than six people per square mile. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, defended the "special deal," telling "Fox News Sunday" that those five states were getting an increase in reimbursements because they get the lowest amount in the country. "That doesn't offend me at all," he said. "It's in fact, fair."
-- Florida, New York and Pennsylvania -- where five of six senators are Democrats -- will have their seniors' Medicare Advantage benefits protected, even as the program sees massive cuts elsewhere.
-- Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., reportedly secured expanded Medicare coverage for victims of asbestos exposure in a mine in Libby, Mont.
-- Connecticut is receiving $100 million for a "health care facility" affiliated with an academic health center at a university that contains the state's only "public academic medical and dental school."
-- Nebraska's Nelson won permanent federal aid for his state's expanded Medicaid population, a benefit worth up to $100 million over 10 years. Other states get the federal aid for three years, but Nebraska's benefit is indefinite. His state also got an exemption for nonprofit insurance companies from a health insurance company tax. Many believe this was targeted at Mutual of Omaha, but senior Democratic aides would not confirm that.
Updated December 21, 2009 The Price Is Right? Payoffs for Senators Typical in Health Care Bill. Trish Turner of FOXNews.com

Thus in a desperate attempt to garner the votes of Senators who had significant reservations about certain provisions of the proposed bill, the Senate Leader stooped to bribing gullible and power hungry senators. Almost as bad was the after comments regarding the blatant bribery:
But Senate Democrats said the payoffs are nothing unusual, and in fact typical.

"People fight for their own states. That's the nature of a democracy," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said on "Fox News Sunday," defending Nelson against withering attacks from the GOP.

"This is just part of the normal legislative process," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Updated December 21, 2009 The Price Is Right? Payoffs for Senators Typical in Health Care Bill. Trish Turner of FOXNews.com

No Senator Klobuchar, bribes of this magnitude is the nature of a corrupt, tyrannical, and evil government. Congratulations Democrats, you've managed to kill off democracy. Let's pray Americans will resurrect it on November 2, 2010.

[Note The Watchman is traveling so posts will be irregular at best. But he'll still be working on future posts regarding Health Care and other significant events.]

Friday, December 11, 2009

Posting Bounties

The left has started something they may greatly regret. A group called the "Velvet Revolution" (VR) has posted a $200K bounty on Tom Donohue, CEO of the National Chamber of Commerce. (Chamber Danger)

Seems as if VR doesn't take kindly to the chamber's efforts to stand up to our Dear Leader's, President Obama, plan to socialize our health care system. The VR placed an ad to pay $200K to anyone providing dirt on Mr. Donohue that would lead to his arrest and conviction of some terrible crime. Problem is the fellow at VR is himself a convicted felon! Apparently, Mr. Brett Kimberlin has convictions for drug related offenses as well as domestic terrorism as the "Speedway Bomber". He severed 12 years of a 50 year sentence. Thus from his apparent unrepentant past, he is now creating an environment where Donohue has to hire additional security and look over his shoulder at every turn.

The worst aspect of this is two can play the game. What would stop someone from placing a $500K bounty on say, Rob Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff for any kind of embarassing dirt. Which leads me to the greater point: How soon will we see the rise of left/right wing death squads so famously used in South America when two sides can't live in peace. Readers might scoff at such an idea, but given the level of intensity, the high stakes games being played, and now this tactic, its just a short ride down the slippery slope to your run of the mill banana republic response to hated adversaries.

I hope wiser minds prevail at VR, but somehow I don't think that will happen. Hopefully, others on both sides don't take the bait to do likewise creating yet even more division in a badly divided nation.

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The Watchman apologizes for his neglect of bringing news and opinion recently. He's been overwhelmed at work and home with projects and got-to-dos that he let slip this important aspect. He'll get back to the program and keep raising the Red Flag.