Surf''s Up

After four days since a terrorist tried to detonate a bomb on a Detroit bound airliner from Amsterdam, President Obama took a break from his Hawaii Christmas vacation to deliver a terse and perfunctory message that provided no insight to the event, no passion or resolve and mostly indifference to the incident. "If the suspect was successful over 300 people would have died..." he read from a prepared statement. Well, "duh".

The President called the terrorist a "suspect" and treated the issue as a crime instead of a terrorist act. His press comments were fairly pathetic and not worth the time he took to get off the golf course. I'm not sure if alot of America is all in a tizzy about this in the middle of the holiday glare - but if you were looking for solace and comfort from the President you didn't get it. He is much more animated accusing honest and hardworking Massachusetts policemen than talking down red-handed terrorists.

This look at a few more fun facts:

• He banned the use of the word "war on terror"


• He wants to close the terrorist jail in Guantanimo, Cuba - a state-of-the-art and out-of-country haven for those who want to kill Americans


• He wants to move those terrorists - who want to kill Americans - to a place 90 miles from Chicago - to an old prison that will need major significant upgrades to come anywhere close to what Guantonimo provides. And nevertheless they will now be in-country.


• He wants to put the most significant terrorists on trial in New York city - instead of going to military tribunal - which all other war combatants have gone to. In essence he still is handling terrorism as a crime, assigning US citizen rights to terrorists and creating a mockery of this nation.
• His attorney general has further insinuated, under questioning from a Senate panel, that he would give those same rights to Osama bin laden if caught as well.


• This same attorney general has spent more time trying to imprison CIA operatives who have tried to save American lives than go after these terrorists.
• And his hand picked head of Homeland Security - Janet Neopolitano - the ex-Arizona governor who promoted amnesty for illegals in this country - said over the weekend that the security system on planes and in airports "worked".

And with this track record how are we going to "learn from this event". The administration has already scared federal investigators from trying to learn information from terrorist "suspects" by a number of means - how can anyone be confident "that the government is taking the proper precautions to keep the flying public safe"? Everything Obama has done has been to keep us less safe.

Unfortunately we have more to fear from our overly incompetant administration than maybe the terrorists themselves. It's okay Barry - just go back to your golf game. Have yourself a merry little christmas.

It's Still a Charlie Brown Christmas

It was becoming a frustrating mid-December evening - work that won't stop even at Xmas time, folks coming in the next day from out of state, a pending catastrophic health care bill - and a bunch of women unexpectedly congregating in my living room for some reason upon invitation by my significant other (see "Jerry McGuire"). Safely ensconsed in my den, I flipped between Fox and CNN until I found what I really needed in this hectic holiday halstrom. I hadn't seen this annual program the week before because it was pre-empted by that jolly old Barack Obama and his merry speech about war.

I was able to catch the back end of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" - and as many times I have seen it - I seem to always forget the calming and redeeming nature of its allure. It is the gold standard of decency, entertainment, teamwork and the truth. It is also amazing to me how it conveys so many feelings and sentiments with a minimum of scenes, dialogue and characters. The plot is simple, grows and crescendos to Linus's speech in the hushed auditorium - which really says it all. Linus tells Charlie what Christmas is really all about.

And I still get a kick that everyone thought Christmas was so commercial back then - in 1965! - and "aluminum trees" were apparently all the rage. I also think its interesting that the show was produced and developed by several of the jewish persuasion (check the credits), but of course that's Hollywood. But, nevertheless, even they believed in Charlie Brown.

And the Hard Place talked about this years ago - of course. God bless you Charlie Brown.

And Merry Christmas to the rest of us.

Arrogance Personified

President Obama - while pitching another new ill-advised program to "create jobs" (why not just "save" them) - continued on in his speech while claiming credit for things that have not happened and then contiued to blame the previous administration for all wrongs done to man.

Much of his speech centered on doing almost anything different than what has been done before. He will create boards and agencies to protect us. He will get us "green jobs" because "I want this nation to be the leader in that". Leader in what? A myth. He wants jobs and investment in retrofitting houses - who can afford it Barry?

What he really was selling was that he wanted to use excess TARP money to "create jobs" (or more accurately be used to "stimulate" lending to small business). Hmmm - why don't you just cut their taxes - and wasn't looser investment guidelines the reason we are in all of this mess (i.e. Fannie Mae).

Then he had the audacity to say that the deficit had been growing dramatically in real terms over the past 8 years (it was almost balanced in 2007!). He just made this up! Someone on his political team must have said to him "go ahead and say it - everyone will buy it - and we have the media in our hip pocket they don't know how to report news anymore anyway".

While the President did claim he wanted to use some methods that the right have clamored for the past year - cutting taxes for small business - he was unclear on how to do it and essentially wants to use paid back TARP funds (that were to go straight to deficit reduction) to "pay" for it - all in a rambling incoherent speech which did not explain specifics, blamed the past administration and set unrealistic expectations.

There's your "hope and change" - another photo-op for the Pres, a teleprompter, three-to-four "let me be clear" (s) - and with little to show for it.

You Mess with the Bull...

....you get the horns.

There's nothing worse than unbridled hubris - and this is what it looks like.

One of the reasons I started blogging was to comment on how media treats certain stories. This one is another doozy - not so much on how the media is treating it - but how they have deferred to the subject.

Ever since Tiger Woods burst onto the pro golfing stage he has been untouchable. When Fuzzy Zoeller uttered his absurd "fried chicken" remark right after his first Master's win, the press -and most of America - has been in Tiger's corner. And good for him - and maybe for golf.

I will have to admit I have never been a fan - I have never wanted Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors broken, never wanted famed golf courses (Augusta) completely overhauled because of his length, never liked the simple rejoinder about golf tournaments that were no good if Tiger wasn't there. I also didn't like his incessant arrogant attitude on the golf course where he threw clubs, threw fits and constantly stared and screamed at people in golf galleries (I've been there) when someone dares to click a camera. I mean come on - find a golfer where everything has been about him like this guy. But like anyone else I have been amazed at the skill and discipline form which he came from virtually nowhere (because of the steady hand of his father) and have come to dominate the game.

Then why couldn't he use such discipline to keep his house in order? Let's face it - he's a whore. And the sporting world and media have covered him - and his myth - for years. And to actually have to hear over the past few days certain on-air personalities (including pregnant morning LA "newswomen")(yes - that's you KTLA) actually DEFEND him on TV - well it absolutely disgusts me.

And it should disgust the rest of you.

And as of even as late as this evening (Thursday night - five days later) "pundits/experts" have still been debating on TV of whether this will hurt his endorsements - first of all why would anyone care. He can still play golf and support himself just fine - if fans actually let him on the course. And most pundits were still saying (after three women came forward and payoffs were obviously made) "oh this will blow over just fine". (Fools).

Really? This isn't just one slip somewhere. There are multiple women - at the same time (and there will be more for sure) - and all the while he has the faithfull wife on the 18th green and kids to welcome him after another great win. Joy Behar says "well at least he's not right-wing hyhpocrite politician who strays". Oh yeah?

He's actually worse. No one will ever look at him the same.