SEQUESTRATION-CAN IT SAVE TRILLIONS

With the failure of the Super Committee and the previous Simpson/Bowles Debt Reduction Commission appointed by President Obama due to political gridlock, we now have “sequestration”, which has stirred great concern across the country and within the Halls of a do-nothing Congress. With a President more interested in his re-election than the deep issues confronting the nation, we must urge our reluctant Congressional representatives to act bravely and firmly before the axe falls sharply upon our national economy.

The definition of sequestration in this case is, “confiscation of property, as by court or government action.” What will be confiscated are dollars from government budget line items, which means that half of the $1.2 million in expense will be cut from the Defense Department.

We and Congress have kicked the can down the road so long we now must address several previously untouched issues, because there is no longer any alternative. Cuts in expenditures must be made and they must be made soon.
Issues such as Immigration, Social Security, and Obama-care must be changed, but the hot-button issue getting all the attention currently is National Defense and cuts to the Pentagon budget. That is a highly emotional subject just like the ones I noted earlier.

I have addressed Defense spending previously, and know from first-hand experience, as every single veteran knows, that we can cut waste, fraud and corruption in Defense spending and not lose one iota of defense readiness.
That would save billions of dollars, but we must save trillions ASAP, and I am going to make a suggestion that will cause a huge emotional negative reaction from many of my readers, but it is doable and logical.

There is absolutely no reason for the United States of America to fund, supply and support five separate distinct branches of our military. We should unify the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard into two distinct units, namely the Army and the Navy. Currently we have five separate units operating five different air operations, with five different supply units, five different uniforms, five different budgets that overlap the same objective.

After you take the emotional opposition out of the argument there are obviously billions of dollars in savings that can occur, and many of the under utilized facilities domestically and internationally can be unified with immediate greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Our federal government has never been run with the efficiencies and cost-controls that exist in private industry and those efficiencies must be forced upon our military and government operations ASAP. We have to require the political leadership to make these hard decisions and get our country back on a sound economic balance sheet.

Just consider all the under-utilized buildings that our government owns and maintains. Consider the millions of acres of land owned by the federal government and the substantially under-utilized acres of land that exist on our military installations. Selling off unneeded and unused land and getting it on the tax rolls only makes sense, but some one must have the guts to face these issues despite the well-known special interest lobby efforts that will quickly spring forth.

Remember our five-star General of the Armies, and later President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the dangers of the Military Industrial Complex shortly after he left office. Many of the essential services of government must be preserved, but first we must get our financial house in order or nothing will exist if all our institutions collapse because our elected officials did not act responsibly. If you look into the mirror you know I am correct in my conclusions, but no one enjoys facing the cold hard facts of the day.

We are all guilty of kicking the can down the road, and we have been spoiled and bought-off by persuasive political forces, including lobbyists, but we must now suck it up and pay the price for having it good for far too long without keeping an eye on our federal check book. We trusted Congress to do that, and they cannot be trusted in this day and age.

I think our last chance to achieve an improvement in our economy and our national finances may be with the adoption of the Simpson/Bowles Commission Report.

COMMANDER GRANGER

DARE THE DEMOCRATS

The title listed for Dr. Charles Krauthammer’s recent column was called “The Grover Norquist myth”, but I think it should have been DARE THE DEMOCRATS. Krauthammer’s insightful column elequently notes that the Democrat spin machine has been effective, but he proves without any doubt that it is the Democrats who have failed to even present a budget plan over the past 2 ½ years. Here is the link:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-28/news/ct-oped-1128-krauthammer-20111128-20_1_tax-revenue-tax-rates-tax-reform

This opinion piece proposes an important suggestion by urging the Republicans to force a vote on the Simpson/Bowles report in the House. The key point of Krauthammer’s thesis is in his closing paragraph when he states, “Dare the Senate Democrats to vote down the grandest of all bargains. Dare Obama to veto his own debt commission. Dare the Democrats to actually do something about debt.”

When are the Republicans going to force the truth to come forth and out-maneuver the Democrats and their complicit simpatico main-stream media pals?

COMMANDER GRANGER

OCCUPY POSTER OF THE DAY

In my email today I received a wonderful example of the shallow misdirected foolishness that permeates the Occupy Wall Street Movement. A young woman at the OWS site in New York was holding a sign (to the best of my knowledge the sign was not photo shopped). It said:

$96,000 for a BA in Hispanic transgender gay & lesbian studies and I can’t find work!

Now I ask you, why do you suppose she can’t find a job? Let us start by questioning why the school even offered such a degree, and why the guidance counselor suggested or permitted this course of study, and why a bank would approve the accompanying loans for this particular student when there were few if any jobs in this course of study? It is apparent that our universities and colleges are not serving their students’ best interests, but presenting courses that support politically correct or politically sympathetic agendas of the facility.

This demonstrator should be holding up that sign in front of the university or college she attended asking the same question of them. Maybe they should hire her, but that action would end up costing the American taxpayers to support another scholastic program that leads to nowhere.

I suspect this misguided young adult is only qualified to open a coffee shop for Hispanic transgender gay & lesbian students, but little else. I think I am having another Howard Beale moment…”I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

COMMANDER GRANGER

BOOK REVIEW - KILLING LINCOLN

Since completing the Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard best-selling book “Killing Lincoln”, I have given considerable thought toward this review of the extremely sad story surrounding the assassination of one of the most famous presidents in the history of the United States of America. I must note that I believe a person who is 80 years old will be affected differently when reading this book than an individual of a much younger age. At my advanced age the subject of death is one I prefer to avoid and not dwell upon, although I recognize that it is inevitable.

That being said, I strongly recommend that all ages read “Killing Lincoln”, because it certainly brings forward many long forgotten facts surrounding this devastating event. While some have challenged certain details disclosed in the book, I suspect some of that is due to the strong sentiments individuals hold regarding Bill O’Reilly.

Permit me to suggest that there is great value in understanding all the subsequent actions that occurred as a result of Lincoln’s assassination, such as the creation of the Secret Service, the restriction of public entrance within the White House, and the importance of the vetting process for the Vice-Presidential candidate in subsequent elections.

The authors have written a book that is very easy to read, and with short chapters it is one that you can read for a short period and then pick-up again quite easily. The book is a worthy read or it would not have been able to sustain its long tenure on the better best-seller lists across the country.

Lastly, I wonder how different our country would be today had we had the leadership and direction of Abraham Lincoln as our president for the remainder of at least his second term (remember that the presidential two term limit did not occur until the late 1940s). Certainly the re-unification of the North and South after the Civil War would have been a priority under Lincoln’s leadership, but did not occur under his inept successor, Andrew Johnson.

Tragically, we will never know all the answers, and we must trust historians for direction and understanding as O’Reilly and Dugard have done so effectively in this book.

COMMANDER GRANGER

PRIVATIZE THE NATION'S MAIL DELIVERY

Here I go again addressing the sad financial state of the U.S. Postal Service. You may remember that your Commander has addressed this subject on numerous occasions, and has long suggested that the business model of the Post Office has changed forever and it should be privatized.

At my advanced age I find it most rewarding when I find someone else who carries an opinion identical to mine, and thus I draw your attention to a recent George F. Will column.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/privatize-the-nations-mail-delivery/2011/11/23/gIQAe2J7wN_print.html

Once you take the emotion out of this conversation the answer is obvious as clearly stated by Will in this opinion piece. Now we have to wonder just how long Congress will take to implement the appropriate action, and save the country billions of additional wasted dollars.

COMMANDER GRANGER

IGNORE ELIOT SPITZER

Yes, the name of Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former Governor of New York, has popped up in a sympathetic article in the weekend edition of Politico.com. Any suggestion that Spitzer can or should re-enter the political scene is utter nonsense and should be simply ignored before it gains any traction.

If you have nothing better to do, spend fifteen minutes reading the Politico.com article. Here is the link for your use:

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=BFE9147E-80C3-4867-8090-DAF4E21EE788

As the article notes Spitzer and the Occupy Wall Street movement have found each other. That should be sufficient reason to ignore him again just as he was by the electorate after being exposed and shamed in a prostitution scandal that caused him to step down as Governor of New York and his failed attempt as a cable talk show host on CNN. The thought that Spitzer has even the slightest thought of returning to politics is sickening and again, as I did many months ago, I recommend that he be shunned for all time.

Seeing Spitzer extend his support to the Occupy Wall Street movement reminds me of the old expression “Birds of a feather stick together.”

COMMANDER GRANGER

UNIONS AND POLITICS

Over the holiday weekend I had an opportunity to read a very interesting and reflective interview with Fred Siegel, an economic historian of the American city, written by Matthew Kaminski on The Wall Street Journal web site. Siegel discusses “how government unions came to dominate state and local politics.” Here is the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577016092542307600.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read#printMode

This article really puts the current economic problems into a simple and easy to understand explanation by an experienced economist who has strong ties to a socialist environment within his family. I have never heard our current problems explained so logically and I hope you find this to have been a valuable experience to better understanding just what we must do to improve our economy in the near term.

The resolution is political dynamite, but it must be confronted because we simply do not have the funds to continue paying the unfunded union pensions that our government officials authorized to garner union voter support. Only strong leadership will solve our current economic debacle, but the day of reckoning must now be faced head-on, because the alternative is unacceptable to both political parties.

When you read articles with such substance as this one, it is easy to understand why The Wall Street Journal is so highly regarded.

COMMANDER GRANGER