I’m Just Saying…..(more)

The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has initiated a program called “Joining Forces” to “support and honor” service members and their families. What a great idea. The families of service members have always had it particularly hard. Always moving from base to base and long periods when the service member is deployed overseas are hard enough, but that combined with the fact that it is not easy for most families just to get by on military pay. So, in my (admittedly unimportant) opinion, this is a very good program.

Unfortunately, the kick off event, sponsored by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden (wife of the Vice President) was seriously flawed by what could be described as another example of political correctness gone wrong. You see, gay service members and their families were barred from the event and will be barred until the DADT law is in effect. That happens after it is certified by the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff that it can be repealed without undue disruption to the Armed Forces. That is expected to happen by the end of the year.

In the meantime, our service members who are gay and their families (who, by the way, have an even harder time than most families just because of the “gay” thing) will be persona non gratis and will not be supported by the program. Oh, but please don’t worry, the can still be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan so they can share the fun avoiding IED’s and getting shot at….

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I just read a column by a Republican pundit who is pointing out that President Obama is “losing creditability” among Hispanic and Black voters. He made a good case but, in the end, I think it is just plain wishful thinking. For example, he points out that the Presidents approval ratings “have slipped” to 54% among Hispanics and just 85% among Blacks. Wow, I guess they’ll be running him out on a rail any time now. Come on, the truth is, with numbers like that he is going to be one hard hombre to beat. He may have slipped to all time lows but I'd bet any Republican Presidential want-a-be would kill to have those approval ratings among those minority groups right now…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of the President, do you remember him declaring, during the campaign, that he would be President of the 'most transparent administration in history'? Yes? Well, how is that going?

President Obama's greatest and only truly meaningful transparency policy turns out to be a mere gesture. The Center for Public Integrity says. "The White House website proudly boasts of making available 'over 1,000,000 records of everyone who's come through the doors of the White House' via a searchable database". But, upon closer inspection, here are some problems CPI found with the database: "The 'event' description in the logs is blank for more than 205,000 visits, including many that involved small meetings with the president and his key aides," and "less than 1 percent of the estimated 500,000 visits to the White House in Obama’s first eight months (a time when the new administration was bustling with activity) have been disclosed." Also: "Five junior staff aides together received more than 4,440 visits. By contrast, then chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, famed for his workaholic schedule, is listed for less than 500 visits." Log viewers get to see what the Obama White House want them to see, and nothing that it doesn't. No, Mr. President, this is not the transparency you promised. In fact it is the opposite of transparency.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh, check out tomorrows blog on Turkey. I think it is time we talked about the Wests apparent failure to recognize another poisonous snake emerging in the Middle East...

Until Next time -Live Long and Prosper....