AMERICAN DEFENSE AND COST CONSIDERATIONS

As part of my normal Sunday morning behavior pattern I scan a variety of internet websites and view the Sunday morning political news programs.

Once again I was struck by the fact that the CBS Face The Nation program seems to be taking on an obvious harder edge. Host Bob Schieffer has become an attack-dog with his guests, such as Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on this morning’s program. I thought moderators such as Schieffer were to probe, but not render harsh personal opinions. CBS is clearly changing its tenor in the effort to achieve better ratings.

Moving on to this morning’s internet surfing, let me draw your attention to three interesting articles, which may contribute to a better understanding of military expenditures, military deployment, and our defense capabilities world-wide. All three links are noted below, but if you do not want to take the time to read each, I will summarize them in the following paragraphs and conclude with my opinion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/us/costly-osprey-symbol-of-fight-to-cut-pentagon.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/general-us-troops-uganda-mission-likely-to-last-until-rebel-leader-is-caught/2011/11/18/gIQAOKeScN_print.html

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/11/18/armys_new_toy_strike_anywhere_on_earth_in_one_hour/print

The first article from The New York Times addresses the changing mission of the Marine Corps and the Corps’ efforts to sell the costly V-232 Osprey $70 million dollar aircraft program. Essentially the article addresses the significance of the influences of the Military Industrial Complex against cuts in military budget expenditures expected in the coming months. I, on the other hand, see this as a good opportunity to shift spending priorities for the Marine Corps away from outdated mission expenditures for amphibious equipment to the modern troop deployment Osprey.

The Washington Post article reminds us of the recent deployment of 100 Special Forces personnel into Uganda, and now we learn that a "small number” are assigned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, too. I see mission-creep developing here. Remember President Obama has just announced that 2,400 Marines will also be deployed to Australia shortly.

Allow me to paraphrase something Rep. Ron Paul said this morning on Face The Nation: With American military now posted in 130 foreign countries on some 900 different bases it is certainly time for our government to re-examine the necessity for commitments of this extent. It is obvious to your Commander that reductions in Defense Department spending are appropriate, prudent, and necessary.

Lastly is the Townhall.com article by Katie Pavich announcing the success of the test flight of the DARPA Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV)-2 by the Army. The hypersonic missile travels at least five times the speed of sound, or 3,805 mph at sea level. It is capable of striking "anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour.” This one weapon could totally change the way military actions and Wars are fought in the future. This single weapon could provide us with a great opportunity to reduce Defense expenditures significantly.

In conclusion after all the smoke clears there will be many opportunities to address Defense capabilities and spending as a result of the evolving shifts in the missions of each military unit, and evolution of the weapons of War. Recognizing that your Commander is a committed hawk, we just should never just say "No" to any discussion of Defense spending expenditures until an objective analysis can be conducted away from the political influences being brought to bear by the Military Industrial Complex.

COMMANDER GRANGER

ASSANGE MAY FINALLY BE EXTRADITED

Frequently the wheels of justice move slowly, and the case of WikiLeaks’s founder Julian Assange is a perfect example. Here is a link to a Chicago Tribune article reporting the action of the British High Court which has rejected his appeal against extradition on accusations of rape and sexual assault back in Sweden.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-britain-assangetre7a07oq-20111101,0,2326011,print.story

Certainly Assange will try to appeal the Court’s decision, but hopefully he will eventually be brought back to the Swedish authorities and eventually be held accountable for his alleged actions. I cannot speak with any degree of inside knowledge, but I do know that this creep is guilty of totally unethical conduct when his group of left-wing wackos released thousands of secret government papers breaking laws all over the world.

Your Commander was delighted when Visa and MasterCard cut off the flow of financial contributions to WikiLeaks and hopefully as a result it will quickly go out of business. Assange and his band of little puppets have caused great harm to numerous governments and intelligence gathering institutions around the world.

This little piss-ant’s motivations are certainly not as he portrays them to be and if convicted in Sweden he should be placed in a dark cell to contemplate his destructive actions for many years. Eventually Assange will pay for his many crimes, but in the meantime numerous lawyers are having a field day collecting huge fees, and he is living-large in some rich liberal English fool’s country estate.

COMMANDER GRANGER

UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS

The major topic of the day appears to be unemployment and I believe it will be the key decision point when it comes to selecting the next President of the United States come November 2012. To fully understand the depth of the electorate’s concern about unemployment Politico.com earlier this month conducted a poll in which 11,735 individuals participated. I found the result to be very important and revealing as to the depth of our collective concern on this subject.

‘THE NEW UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS ARE: -

Good News – they show the economy is moving forward – 24%

Bad news – jobs growth is still way too sluggish – 43%

Mixed news – could be better, could be worse – 31%

I’m not sure – 0%


Clearly 100% of the participants have an opinion on this question, and less than one-quarter of the respondents feel the employment news is good. On the other hand 74% feel that unemployment is a problem, which leads me to believe that unless there is a sharp improvement in employment figures before Election Day that single issue will be decisive.

Thus, I conclude that nothing short of the parting of the waters will solve this critical issue before Election Day, and that puts President Obama in jeopardy of being a one-term president. It will be for the historians to determine if the Republican Party can come together and win or if they fail to unify to take advantage of this political trump-card.

COMMANDER GRANGER

CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEE IS A JOKE

I recently spotted an article that appeared in the Blog Briefing Room section of The Hill, and I want to bring the details to your attention. Below a link to the full article by Jordy Yager dated November 4th detailing an investigation into another member of Congress’ ethical conduct.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/191807-report-ethics-committee-votes-to-launch-investigation-into-rep-richardson?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

Now we have the second investigation into the ethics of Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) on top of long delayed inquiries impacting Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) which have lingered for years without any definitive action. Since all three mentioned in this report happen to be black, it is not surprising that the race card has come up. Don’t you think that race is something that certainly at the Congressional level we have moved far beyond?

What is troubling is the fact that long delays by the Ethics Committee are not something new. All of these inquiries cost significant amounts of money and we must provide a fair hearing, but it is time to get conclusions with definitive actions. This situation is exactly why there is so much dissatisfaction with Congress and I have come to the conclusion that they (Congress) are their own worst enemy.

Apparently there is so much corruption and internal violations of ethical behavior on Capitol Hill that everyone is fearful of pointing fingers at one another or they will be exposed too. There is one easy way to solve this apparent problem and that is to simply totally clean house.

COMMANDER GRANGER

VOTER PARTICIPATION ADVICE FROM 1924

In view of my recent writings about voter apathy, I found a rather profound commentary from President Calvin Coolidge dating back to 1924 that addresses the issue quite well. Permit me to quote Coolidge directly.

“All the opportunity for self-government through the rule of the people depends upon one single factor. That is the ballot box…The people of our country are sovereign. If they do not vote they abdicate that sovereignty, and they may be entirely sure that if they relinquish it other forces will seize it, and if they fail to govern themselves some other power will rise up to govern them. The choice is always before them, whether they will be slaves or whether they will be free. The only way to be free is to exercise actively and energetically the privileges, and discharge faithfully the duties which make freedom. It is not to be secured by passive resistance. It is the result of energy and action…

Persons who have the right to vote are trustees for the benefit of their country and their countrymen. They have no right to say they do not care.
They must care! They have no right to say that whatever the result of the election they can get along. They must remember that their country and their countrymen cannot get along, cannot remain sound, cannot preserve its institutions, cannot protect its citizens, cannot maintain its place in the world, unless those who have the right to vote do sustain and do guide the course of public affairs by the thoughtful exercise of that right on election day.”

Well said, President Coolidge! Considering the fact that only 63.6% of eligible voters participated in the 2008 presidential election, that means that more than one-third of Americans failed to participate and apparently have lost faith in our government.

America desperately needs a greater percentage of our population to get to the polls and participate in the voting process. If you do not like the way things are going then it is your duty to learn all you can about the candidates and express your opinion for the future leadership of this country with your vote. If you do not vote, you should keep your mouth shut and be ashamed, especially if you are taking any government handouts.

COMMANDER GRANGER

THE POVERTY CARD

As we rapidly approach another General Election campaign, both sides of the political spectrum are playing up the “Poverty Card” in hopes of arousing the minority population and also play on the guilt of wealthy liberals who classify themselves as Independents. Again I suggest that you turn to the writings of Professor Walter E. Williams to assist you in cutting through the fog of deceptive words being tossed our way. Please take a look at William’s recent syndicated column:

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2011/11/16/poverty_in_america/print

Williams really makes an important point in his closing paragraph directing the blame appropriately upon Congress who through its devious actions increasingly is getting their hands in our pockets.

COMMANDER GRANGER

VOTER TURNOUT - A REAL SHAME

Recently there were local elections for Mayor and several other local offices in northern Indiana’s St. Joseph County. During the election campaigns much was said about the local economy, unemployment, crime, abandoned and vacant homes, and a lack of economic development. Local newspapers in both South Bend and adjacent Elkhart County were filled with highly critical voter concerns that were published in the Letters to the Editor sections questioning the direction and leadership of local government.

Now that the election is over, the Democrats have retained control of the Mayor’s office in South Bend, and the Republican incumbent has retained the Mayor’s office in Mishawaka despite a vicious negative campaign run by his Democrat opponent, something very significant has been revealed.

Yesterday I spoke to a knowledgeable member of the St. Joseph County Clerks Office and learned that the voter turnout for South Bend was 19.6%, and the turnout in Mishawaka was 24.8%. In other words 80.4% of the registered voters in South Bend and 75.2% of the registered voters in Mishawaka did not take the time or indicate their interest to vote in these vitally important elections.

While the winners in the Mayoral races in both South Bend and Mishawaka both won by landslides, neither should consider their election a mandate when you consider the insignificant size of the voter turnout. The truth of the matter is that the turnout in both cities was shamefully inadequate.

Recognizing that there is a substantial difference between a local election in St. Joseph County, Indiana and the General Election here in the USA in 2008 it is significant to note that 63% of this country’s eligible voters voted in the Presidential election. Now please take a look at a very interesting piece of information for voter turnout on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout

It was interesting to learn that voter turnout in Australia is mandatory, and in Malta, which does not have required voting, the turnout averaged 94% during the years 1960 to 1995. Hopefully you scrolled down to pages 4 and 5 and noted the percentages of voting in a wide variety of countries world-wide. It is surprising to note the significantly higher average percentages of voter participation from 93% in Chile, to 86% in Germany to 51% in Poland during the same 35 year period. Tragically, the summary indicates that the lowest percentage of voting was in the United States with only an average of 48%. As the report specifies we Americans voted on the average of 55% in the General Elections and only 40% in the off-year elections.

If you read the Wikipedia link then you have noted the many factors that come into consideration for voter turnout. Taking all this into my consideration I am totally ashamed of my fellow Hoosiers here in St. Joseph County for such limited participation in local elections. If the people in the county have such a disregard for the governance of their communities then they have absolutely no business voicing any complaints about their local government. Those people should be totally ashamed of themselves and simply put they should keep their mouths shut taking what they get without any complaint.

These shocking numbers raise many questions that would make for a revealing Doctorate Thesis. What is the demographic profile, the percentage of non-voters who are unemployed, are on welfare, are Republicans or are Democrat Party members, and why South Bend appears to be in decay, and Mishawaka appears to be prospering. With voter turnout so low it is no wonder Newsweek Magazine deemed South Bend a “Dying City.” Your Commander can only believe that the people of this community just do not give a damn about the future of their local government. SHAME ON THOSE WHO DID NOT VOTE.

COMMANDER GRANGER