More than sick at heart...

CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack, sources say

Thank God for the insubordination of Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Because they did NOT obey the orders to "stand down", lives were saved...though it cost them their own.

At best, our leaders' reaction to this tragic incident is shamefully incompetent...shamefully!

But there is more evidence that it could be something worse than shameful incompetence. I'll not put a title on it, but I am angry that after the attack and the deaths, and the obvious knowledge of it that our leaders had as it happened, and now, the knowledge that help was denied -- I am angry that for weeks, our leaders kept telling the story of a spontaneous attack that resulted from a video made by an American.

What? WHAT?! WHY?!

There is no way that the actions of our President, his administration and our Secretary of State can be seen as anything but self-protective...

Simply put, they care more about themselves than others. Let the others pay the price. Obfuscate the facts that reveal deficiencies.

More than any other event in the course of President Obama's term, this shows us what is most important, most valued in his life...

And it's not our country, or his obligation to the people of this great country.

And 4 people may have died because of this.

I continue to be sick at heart -- and now I am angry too.

Sick at heart...

I am sick at heart over the violence, and the lives that have been lost, in the countries supposedly liberated in the Arab Spring.

I was disbelieving that our Ambassador to Libya was killed, along with three of his colleagues. Is it not a long-standing tradition that an Ambassador is untouchable? He is the representative of peaceful cooperation between countries. He speaks for his country, and communicates to his country the requests, requirements of the country for which he is a liaison.

It is the ultimate in disrespect for Libyans to take the Ambassador’s life. It is the ultimate disrespect to the country that he served.

I agree with Donald Rumsfeld that these things are happening as “a result of perceived American weakness”.

I believe that the response of the Obama Administration was weak, and slow, and completely inadequate.

But it is nothing new.

I am weary of an administration that seems to gauge or change its response by putting a finger in the air to check which way the wind is blowing. I think we saw their true convictions in their immediate response – which in this event, seemed to be apologetic – but when this response didn’t get the ratings desired, they changed things up, so as not to lose their audience.

Bill Clinton did this all the time too, except there wasn’t Twitter, et al, for the immediate consequences. He had to wait for the polls.

Establishment Republicans are pro-active in their directional determinations, and refuse to risk alienating, not so much their base, but the fence-sitters they think they can’t live without.

I’m tired of it all.

Whatever happened to convictions and men who would act and “damn the torpedoes”! If President Obama’s true convictions are that the US has something to apologize for, I wish he would live by it, wrong as it may be.  If Mitt Romney believes that the President responded completely inadequately, I hope that he will stand by his statement, and not soften it to make himself look more kind and acceptable to the independents/undecideds.

We need leadership. Our country will soon fail without it, and it has become very scarce. We need to reject those men who pose as leaders, but in reality their greatest conviction is that they must succeed at their personal endeavors. These posers have no regard for the common good. All their efforts are self-serving, despite their talking points that we can’t get through life without a “village”.

They are everywhere, not just in our highest offices. We need to be more discerning, and keep short accounts with our leaders. They need to know that we want truth, conviction and action…not just having our ears tickled with pleasant promises and fake hope.

Of course, that means we must be people of conviction, willing to risk confrontation…and there is the rub. But if we truly love our country, and the amazing opportunities it affords us, we must.

As Plato said: “The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.”

I am weary, but I’m not going to give up. God help me find ways to live as a patriot.

I think I have a better idea...

In her interview with Diane Sawyer on the day after her convention speech, The First Lady listed some of her husband's accomplishments.

One she mentioned was that they were able to give young people, up to the age of 26, the ability to stay on their parents' health insurance.

I think I would have preferred that they accomplished an increase in productivity and a boost to the economy that allowed 22-26 year olds the ability to pay for their own health insurance. THAT would be an accomplishment!

I just don't agree that enabling young people to be dependent on their parents longer is something that should be considered progress.

And I certainly wouldn't be proud to list it as an "accomplishment".

Bittersweet...

I think, after what he said on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we can assume the our Vice President would also find hell to be "bittersweet".

Today, President Obama said that his opponent, Mitt Romney, "has a tendency to shoot first, and aim later".

Mr. President, that is a much more apt description of your Vice President...quite perfectly descriptive...except that there is some question whether he ever does aim at all.

"Stand up, Chuck!" comes to mind...

 The errors he utters indicate he is a man who can't focus enough to adequately address the audience of the day, or keep to the party line. I am still quite astounded that someone who "misspeaks" so profoundly and often, is second in line to the Presidency.

It's another good reason to wish the President good health.

Likability...

I have joked before about our country being "The Land of Perpetual Junior High".

I'm starting to think it isn't a joke...

There's a lot of fussing going on about the "likability" ratings of the two presidential candidates.

Likability?

Who gives a hang dang about likability? I'm just a little more interested in CAPABILITY.

Remember that, American Citizens? CAPABILITY!

You know, competency, success, leadership, character, conviction...

I don't want a president who is like all us common men...I want someone with uncommon capabilities and strength to lead. I would dare to wager that there is a high percentage of our country's presidents who didn't rate high on the likability scale...I think Abraham Lincoln was one of them.

PUH-LEEZE...we have descended into Junior High when our biggest concern is whether we are liked...and we choose our leadership based on whether they are liked, or cool, or easy to talk to and dress nicely.

Let's remind people that likability is a minor virtue...We are looking for capability.

I REALLY don't want to go back to Junior High.

Whatever happened to progress?

In my blog wanderings, I came across this post: Cloth Toilet Paper: How and Why...and I am thinking, mostly, WHY????

This earnest, frugal person, whom I will say must be a "better man than I", uses cloth for, uh, you know what...And then she has to keep a container next to the toilet in which to collect the, uh, used cloths for later washing.  Apparently, the container is sealed, because, well, you know why...

I'm not gonna add this to my to-do list, people...And I'll bet there aren't many old-timers-- who once thought that the Sears catalog was an upgrade -- that will want to bring it back either.

Progress means you can send the, uh, foul stuff away with a flush, and without extra, uh, handling...or smell...or collecting it...ewwwww...Using toilet paper used to be considered an UPGRADE...another improvement for the homemaker, and for hygeine...time-saver, and so much better than a corn cob or a catalog...

So many of the improvements in "technology" that our grandparents and parents hailed as new luxurious conveniences, upgrades in hygeine, in food storage & safety, and in reducing their workloads, have fallen out of favor today.

Oh -- I know chlorine is used to make toilet paper white, and that the toilet paper has to be dealt with at the water treatment plant...But so does the water from your washing machine, and you have just shifted the e.coli to another source for the water treatment plant. I'm not saying cloth does not lessen the effect on water treatment, but I am suggesting that it may not be a very large percentage of improvement for the environment. Not to mention the increased risk of having an e.coli source sitting on the floor of your bathroom while it waits for the wash...

In my opinion, some of these radical shifts back to "the way things were" do more for the psyche of the doer, than they do for the environment, or the purposes used to justify the practice.

More power to you, I say! But I'm staying with paper, and the luxury of flushing some of my troubles away.

Peeves in the news...

 SYMBOLISM OVER SUBSTANCE
Disney has joined the fight against the "obesity epidemic" by pledging to offer more healthy food choices at their parks. The First Lady lauded the move as something that is "really big" in the effort.

I'm not sure we can expect that the number of obese citizens will drop dramatically...because Disney is a place that, unless you live in Orlando, or southern California, you will probably visit only once in your life...not exactly enough time to make a life-change. Of course, it is advertised as a "magical" place...maybe there's something I don't know that could effect a magical weight loss.

Regardless, I don't think the phrase "really big" was a good choice of words...for a number of reasons!

 GET YOURSELVES A NEW SPOKESPERSON
King5 news last night covered a protest against additional local regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries. They interviewed one of the protestors, a woman who emphatically described her need for medical marijuana. She said that the doctor had given her pills for her condition, but you don't know what is in them, and there's stuff in them that will kill you. She needed access to marijuana because you know what is in that (just marijuana!) and it's much safer.

Perhaps she had just taken a dose of her preferred prescription before saying this...but I'm pretty sure that the cause that she supports was not too happy with the display of her reasoning -- or lack thereof.
I don't think the cause would have appreciated the guffaws coming from the viewers as they considered the safety of acquiring pure marijuana from a grower/distributor as compared with medicines researched by drug companies, and prescribed by doctors, who are accountable for malpractice. Oh sure, I'd trust the marijuana guy over the doc every time...and that's why every neighborhood should have their own dispensary.