Sound Off

I'm getting tired of all this outrage about Benghazi from the republicans and we've only just begun. They have been trying to find everything in the book to use against President Obama and this is a two-for-one. They can whip up outrage about the mismanagement of the attack on the Libyan embassy claiming it is now Hillary Clinton's fault for the failure. Before Hillary was the target they attacked Susan Rice for saying Benghazi wasn't a premeditated attack. She was wrong but the damage was already done. Now they are using Hillary Clinton to smear the democratic party and hopefully derail the Clinton momentum for a 2016 Presidential campaign.

Susan Rice blamed the attack on a film that swept across the internet and American news media that defamed the prophet Muhammad. The film had incited violence in Cairo, Egypt days before the attack on the Libyan embassy. It is understandable that she would make that connection, but it is also obvious that it was a planned attack on Libya's US embassy. How you can call an attack in a foreign country a terrorist attack, I do not know, but that's how they labeled it. I don't know if people from other countries would label an attack by Americans on American soil as a terrorist attack against their embassies or not, but it would have definitely been a riot. No matter what you call it, four Americans were killed in the Libyan attack, including the Ambassador of Libya, Christopher Stevens. 

Mr. Stevens and his fellow comrades died because of a sustained attack on the embassy that didn't have enough armed personnel to protect them. Funding for foreign embassies had been cut by thousand of dollars because of budget cuts. Without those funds there wasn't enough money to pay for protective forces on the ground. The embassy had to rely on independent forces in Libya to protect them. It is outrageous to assume you can depend on a foreign country to protect your people in a hotbed of unrest like the middle east. It is wrong to blame the murders on the lack of oversight by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or her contingent of employees. The real blame, and the real shame, should be laid at the feet of the congressmen who opposed funding for embassies overseas.
Jason Chafffetz on the Embassy

Our embassies have been attacked for decades. The Iranian attack on the American embassy in Iran lasted for 444 days (Nov. 4, 1979-Jan.20, 1980) when the embassy was stormed by students and military. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage. President Carter worked tirelessly to try to free the hostages. He didn't focus on his reelection, but put every bit of energy in freeing these Americans. 

Ronald Reagan worked secretly behind the lines to make sure that the hostages would not be released until after the election and until he was sworn in as president. Anybody remember the Iran-Contra affair? In November 1986 it came to light that the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran in a hope of freeing hostages, although Iran was under an arms embargo. Reagan didn't suffer any consequences for his duplicity but Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was arrested for arranging sales of weapons to Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

We have never learned to stay out of the middle east or out of their business. We have two recent wars to prove it. Our government will arm rebels and then wonder why they turn their weapons on us. We don't have the wherewithal to decide who is, or who isn't, our enemy. We interfere in foreign elections, civil unrest, and government issues without understanding the culture and mindset of the people we are seeking to control. We play like we are puppet-masters and believe we can manipulate and control foreign countries. We are the same people who are appalled at the very idea of other countries interfering in our politics.

The unprovoked invasion of Iraq is a good example of our interference and the devastating consequences of that action. When George W. Bush was beating the war drum he claimed we would be freeing the citizens of Iraq and America would be welcomed as heroes. Instead, the downfall of Saddam Hussein broke the country down into warring factions that tried to take control of the country. Iran was poised to try to take control of the country. Saddam had been the one controlling force in that part of the Middle East. He was a tyrant and a despot but he was still a leveling force in the east. Before the attack on Iraq women were allowed to dress in western clothing and were doctors and teachers. Now women have lost all their rights and are no longer allowed to dress as they please or even work in their previous positions. 

America hand picked Nouri al Malachi and stayed in the country hoping to establish fair and democratic elections. Instead, today Iraq is a hotbed of violence and discrimination. There are still bombings and killings daily. Al Malachi has a stranglehold on the country, arresting and jailing anyone he considers a threat. We replaced one tyrant with another one. Our attempt at liberating and civilizing Iraq has really demoralized and demolished law and order. 

During George Bush's administration there were eleven attacks on embassies around the world, killing 59 people working at the embassies. At least 90 people were injured. This doesn't include the number of girls killed or injured when a bombing hit a girls school nearby. 
Bush Watch

My sympathy goes out to the families of those who have been killed in attacks  on American embassies. The people who work around the world representing the American government put their lives on the line every day in these countries of unrest. Americans are not loved and respected. Americans are considered devils who are pushing our agenda on the world. The men and women working overseas are very brave and are doing everything in their power to help relations with America and countries around the world. They do not deserve to be treated as playing cards to be used against one another on the American political scene. Their lives and sacrifices should be remembered and honored. 

If the republicans really wanted to get to the bottom of the attack on Benghazi they would have called to witness the real players in the situation like the commanders who would have had to send air reinforcements to Libya. Planes were in Croatia and would have taken 7 hours to reach Benghazi. By then the first attack had already happened and they would have been ineffective. Ambassador Stevens and his companions had already been killed.
John Bolton on Benghazi

It is important for us to get the facts about the attack on the embassy in Libya and strengthen security at all our embassies around the world. We shouldn't have to rely on security from the country in which we are placed because oftentimes their interests and ours are not the same. We shouldn't whitewash this tragic attack but we must not use it to attack the present administration except to make sure our lawmakers do not ever cut funding for security again.

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Comment I saw on May 14, 2013 by a reader called J:I understand – regarding the DOJ and the AP phone numbers – there was a bill to prevent this and Issa was just one of the republicans that voted against it!

May 14, 2013 Stop Holding Democrats To A Different Standard
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/on_scandals_obama_held_to_higher_standard_than_bush/

AS ALWAYS

PIO

And So This Is Christmas

It certainly is a strange Christmas season. Scout decorated the house outside with lights but we haven't done a thing inside. Not anything. Scout has some little mice Moma helped him make pinned to a egg carton. Moma's the crafty one who has always encouraged my son's creative side. We haven't even gotten our little Christmas tree out to put them on. I've been sick for a couple of weeks and haven't felt like doing anything.

It's very hard to get into the spirit of Christmas and the joy of the season after the tragedy at Shady Hook in Newtown, Connecticut last week. It brings home the importance of loving your children and family, and holding them close, and telling them you love them because, for some people, it may be the last chance you get to tell them. It only takes one selfish person with a gun, or one driver who is out of control, to turn your life upside down. 

It has been so painful to hear about the lives of the women and children lost in this senseless tragedy that I have avoided listening to the news as much as possible. I still get plenty of information anyway. I am sick of the tragedies that happen across this country because of the lack of gun control. I am tired of the murders of innocent people who are gunned down because some deranged gunman decides to exact revenge against people who have done them no harm. 

We need to do more to make sure that mentally ill people have access to mental healthcare before they decide to do something awful. It's too late after the fact. I read that Ronald Reagan cut back mental health funding in the '80's and that is why there aren't enough programs in place for people to turn to when they have a friend or relative who is exhibiting antisocial behavior. 

It's ironic that Reagan would cut funding to mental health in light of the fact that in 1981 he was targeted by a mentally ill gunman who tried to kill him. He and James Brady, Reagan's press secretary, were shot during the attack, Brady critically. In 1993 President Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Act which required a background check by the FBI before purchasing handguns. The Brady Act expired in 2004 and, because of strong lobbying of the National Rifle Association it has never been revised again. The lobbyists have too much control over Senators and Congressmen to ever allow it to see the light of day.

In light of the slaughter of 20 little kids, you'd think that everybody would be in favor of more control of assault weapons. Instead, I have read people defending the weapons, and all guns, since the terrorist attack at Sandy Hook School. 

I've decided to call them what they are, terrorists. They may be insane. They may be desperate. But they are still terrorists. The country is being terrorized by evil people with guns. When is it going to stop? How are we going to stop it? How many more lives are going to have to be lost in deadly rampages before the American people rise up and demand change?

The Mayan calendar predicted a new era. Many people predicted the end of the world. I enjoyed playing along with the fantasy but, like everything that is hyped, it proved to be a bust and the world is still here. Thank God. Maybe the new era can be a time for change and growth. Maybe the new era marked by the Mayan calendar will usher in a new age of peace and compassion for our fellow man. Maybe, just maybe, people will wake up and start caring more about people than their precious right to own a gun.

I'm not anti-gun. I don't believe the government needs to confiscate every weapon in the country. Someday I want to buy a titanium handgun. I saw one years ago and really liked it. But that still doesn't absolve the testosterone driven ego that thinks being a man means having a bigger and more powerful gun than everybody else. No man needs, or should have an assault weapon. If you want to get your kicks with high powered weapons why don't you man up and join the army? Or, if you can't handle that, why don't you apply to the police academy and become a police officer? Channel that he-man drive to wield a weapon in a productive way.

The Second Amendment states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."    

I'd say the closest thing we have to "a well regulated Militia" is the National Guard which is supposed to protect America from within her borders. It implies that the Militia must be "well regulated". That, to me, sounds like they have to have regular meetings and exercises designed to respond to any threat the State may encounter. I've never seen a bunch of men get together and practice military skills in my neighborhood. Have you? I've never seen people get together as civilians and use their weapons to prepare for invaders. Have you?

The right to have a weapon has long been established in this country. When I was growing up boys would go squirrel hunting with shotguns. Nobody thought a thing about it. They had relatives who taught them gun safety and how to hunt, but there weren't any bloody attacks on people during that age.

It is a different world today. Most men have never touched a gun, much less own one. They wouldn't even dream of hunting. I'm not discounting the men who hunt. I'm just saying most men today don't hunt. They don't use guns. The world has changed. 

Hunting doesn't bother me. Hunting and killing people, does.

My father and grandfather used to hunt. They owned shotguns and rifles. Nobody I know owns an assault weapon though. There is a difference. If you are a real hunter, you don't need an AR15 or any other weapon that holds thirty rounds. You certainly don't belong in the woods with a weapon like that. 

I hope the tragedy in Sandy Hook was not in vain. I hope the people will demand the Brady Act be reinstated so that everyone has to go through personal background checks. I hope gun manufacturers feel the pressure of their customers and the government and they quit making and selling the macho-man guns that have turned up in so many tragic shootings. I hope we wake up before it is too late. Sadly, it is too late for too many people.

In closing I'd like to say, I have met many people in my life and honestly, I wouldn't want most of them to have a gun. People are not as bright as they think they are. They certainly don't need to be armed and dangerous.

Maybe God will give us reason this holiday season. I sure hope so.

AS ALWAYS

PIO