SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE LAUDS INCOMPETENCE

If you do not live in the vicinity of South Bend, Indiana you probably do not have any interest in this commentary. When I opened my copy of the Sunday South Bend Tribune December 10th the front page was graced with an extensive article penned by Kevin Allen titled “Transition to ‘Citizen Steve’”.

Here is the link to this puff piece:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-transitioning-to-citizen-steve-20111210,0,2729610,print.story

After reading that fawning and obsequious salute I was forced to take an early morning application of "Tums for the tummy", because you would have thought you were reading about the departure of some savior of mankind instead of the dysfunctional and inept political hack that Mayor Steve Luecke has been over the past 15 years.

The only reason Luecke attained the office to begin with was due to a well-oiled dominant Democrat Party machine. Luecke was the Vice Mayor and became South Bend’s mayor in 1996 when elected Mayor Joe Kernan was chosen to run as Lt. Governor of Indiana on the winning ticket with Gov. Frank O’Bannon. During Luecke’s 15 years as mayor there have been a number of bad financial decisions and commitments. Luecke’s liberal tax and spend agenda has provided South Bend and St. Joseph County taxpayers with growing tax burdens and little to show, except a few isolated projects that favored his political cronies.

While I do not reside within the City limits of South Bend, I do reside within the same County, and thus suffer from an off-the-chart tax burden caused by the repeated mismanagement of Luecke’s administration. His “do-good” projects have cost the taxpayers heavily and caused the county to be the second heaviest taxed in the State of Indiana.

Instead of providing readers with a thoughtful analysis of Luecke’s rule, The South Bend Tribune provided him with a nice article that he can put into his scrap book and show his grandchildren about how wonderful he was in the eyes of the paper. Don’t ask the citizens and taxpayers who live in the crime ridden west side of the city, and don’t ask the folks who can’t find a job in town. The school system is dysfunctional (three schools were about to be taken over by the State of Indiana, but showed enough meager progress to stop that for now) and thousands have fled the city during his administration.

During the rule of Mayor Steve new business development has been a failure. Were it not for development projects emanating from the University of Notre Dame the city would be in even bigger trouble. Space does not permit me to list all the questionable actions, but to name a few how about the millions spent on Covoleski Stadium, impending departure of the failed College Football Hall of Fame, the Dollar Family store purchase, land grant to St. Joseph High School, First Source garage purchase and now the proposal to bail out bankrupt Chase Tower.

Thank you, South Bend Tribune, for selling out your integrity and obligation to objectively serve your readers just so you could praise the political machine that produced the departing mayor.

Steve Luecke's future plans are not yet known, but personally I hope he returns to Canada, where he sought refuge during the Viet Nam War as a conscientious objector, while hundreds of brave young South Bend kids fought an American battle.

COMMANDER GRANGER

STRONG CASE TO REPLACE OBAMA

When I read the most recent essay by syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer in my local paper, I wondered if it had been penned by the Republican Party as a hit-piece against the re-election of President Barack Hussein Obama. Take a few minutes to read “The wages of appeasement” which appeared in newspapers all over the country this past week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-wages-of-appeasement/2011/12/15/gIQA5KEzwO_print.html

Obama’s two foreign policy initiatives toward Russia and Iran are in my opinion a justification to vote him out of office come November 2012. Clearly, the person elected as president then will have his/her hands full addressing the increasingly bold actions of these two very unfriendly adversaries.

The tragedy of our times is that most American citizens will not read Krauthammer’s column and if they did many would not understand what in the hell he is talking about, because our educational system and media have dumbed-down voters and diverted their attention to the adoration of the likes of Lady Gaga.

COMMANDER GRANGER

LESS STUFF, MORE HAPPINESS

With each passing year I look around the house and wonder how we ever accumulated all the ‘STUFF.’ I then ask myself why we don’t weed out the things we never utilize. You know what I am going to say next don’t you? We just never seem to get around to it.

While working on the internet today I ran across an article that includes a short video presentation by Graham Hill, who edits a web project titled Treehugger.com. Normally that title alone would send me running, but I suggest you might find the video appropriate and worth some consideration.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/life-editing_n_1138817.html?1323446551&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk2%7C118911

Now don’t worry I am not going to sell my home, but I may just be motivated to finally get rid of some of the stuff that could benefit someone who is in real need of a helping hand. As you know from reading my work I am far from being anyone associated with tree huggers, but Hill makes a sound point. Hell, I would have some difficulty living alone in a 420 square foot apartment let alone share it with my wife.

As the Christmas season approaches this could be a good time to send some items to the Goodwill, Salvation Army and/or Catholic Charities. I guarantee if we all did just that we would all feel much better, and fulfill the message of Christmas in a beneficial way by sharing our bounty.

COMMANDER GRANGER

FACTS BEHIND GINGRICH PALESTINE COMMENT

If you watched the ABC-TV Republican Candidate Debate last week from Des Moines, Iowa you know that Newt Gingrich made a comment about Palestine. On the chance you did not see the program, or hear about the comment, permit me to summarize.

Gingrich said, “The fact is, the Palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story…’Palestinian’ did not become a common term until after 1977. This is a propaganda war in which our side refuses to engage and we refuse to tell the truth when the other side lies.”

In an effort to bring some clarity to the subject, I did some detailed research that may allow you to understand the issue better, and it also proves that Gingrich’s statement can be verified as correct by historical facts and documents.

Two links are worthy of your effort to read, but they are both quite long. The first is “History of Israel” and the second one is “State of Palestine” from the Wikipedia free encyclopedia.

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

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

Let me draw your attention to pages 7, 8 and 9 in the first document starting with the Mamluk rule in the 13th Century through The Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate of Palestine (1917-1948). The understanding of the influences of those factors is vital to understanding how Israel was created.

In the second document I draw your attention to page 10 and the Kingdom of Jordan’s rift with the Palestinian leadership, and the later creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974.

Since that time the disputes between Israel and the Palestine Arabs on the creation of borders for State lines has led to bloodshed and repeated wars. It is your Commander’s opinion that the British Empire learned years ago that it could not resolve the conflict dating back to its colonial dominance of the area and washed its hands of the situation.

Since that time the United States has been heavily involved with strong support of the Jewish State of Israel. In 2011 the USA has provided Israel with $8.2 million per day (almost $3 billion for the fiscal year) and $0 to Palestine in military aid. In 2010 the USA gave Palestinians $400.4 million in economic aid and $100 million in support of Palestinian Authority police training, plus another $61.5 million in USAID and Red Cross assistance following Israel’s assault on Gaza. All these statistics were verified by a Google search.

It is your Commander’s personal opinion that we should continue to support our friends in Israel, but I cannot understand our State Department funneling massive amounts of money into an area that continues to lob rockets into Israel. The existence of Palestine and its boundaries needs to be settled by the people in that area and the Israeli’s. I do not understand why we are putting money into the hands of people who are acknowledged terrorists and see no reason for Israel to exist. Both sides come to this debate with blood covered hands.

Please remember the term “Palestine” was created by the British Mandate to define the geographical area that currently covers the State of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, as well as the area covered by the current State of Jordan.

Please remember this conflict has been going on since the Kingdom of Israelite (1200-950 BCE) “Before the Common Era.” As far as the rest of the geographical area is concerned, I agree with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) that it is time for the USA to get the hell out of the Middle East, and let them fight as they have for centuries without our money.

After all that is said, Newt Gingrich was correct in his statement as proven by historical facts.

COMMANDER GRANGER

IF AMERICA IS LEAVING IRAQ, THEN LEAVE

Your Commander long ago learned to consider ever politician’s statements with skepticism and the recent action of President Barack Hussein Obama proves my point. As the President basked in the glory of his ‘victory lap’ appearance with the brave fighting men and women stationed at Ft. Brag, N.C., he skirted his many previous pronouncements against the American intervention into Iraq dating back to his opposition in 2002. He failed to also note his hesitancy to the troop surge long promoted by the leaders of our Armed Forces on the scene, and now basks in the glory of fulfilling his campaign pledge to take American troops out of Iraq.

While your Commander agrees with the departure of American military from Iraq, we saved Iraq’s very existence from its evil dictator and there is little or no appreciation for what we did on their behalf. Let’s not go down the road about the lack of weapons of mass destruction either, because ask any Kurd in Iraq and they will tell you that they were the proven victims of Sadam Hussein’s WMD.

I am opposed to the timing of our departure, because Iraqis are not presently prepared to defend their country against intervention by foreign elements, such as Iran or the various tribal and religious sects. America is leaving just so Obama can meet his campaign promise to leave as he approaches a difficult re-election campaign.

Although defense troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year, it is time to stop fooling everyone because some 16,000 Americans will staff the bloated American Embassy in Baghdad with some 6,000 hires for private army security. The State Department has budgeted $25 billion for operations over the next 10 years. After reading that, do you really think we have left…and let’s not forget the forces that will sit in Kuwait for sometime in the future.

Obama is still leaving Americans, military or civil, in Iraq in harm’s way in a land whose leadership says they do not want our defense forces there. Our expense will still be great supporting our people still there where Iraq is concerned. Iraq has vast oil reserves and should not need American dollars to continue to pour into that country. It is time for Iraq to stand on its own two feet and pay for its governance with its oil reserves, and not our green-backs.

COMMANDER GRANGER

TEN GRIM LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE IRAQ WAR

While your Commander is currently critical of the liberal editorial bent of Time Magazine, I must agree with a recent essay with the above title that states “Despite the upbeat talk of the Obama Administration, the eight-year war that ended this week has done plenty of long-term damage to both Iraq and the United States. And it has bequeathed lessons worth considering ahead of further conflicts.”

TEN GRIM LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE IRAQ WAR

1. The Iraq War Weakened the U.S. in the Middle East.
2. Military Power Doesn’t Equal Political Influence.
3. Iraq is a Model – Of What Arabs DON’T want.
4. Weapons of Mass Destruction – Asking the Wrong Questions.
5. Iraq’s Civil War Could Erupt Again, But Resolving its Conflicts is Beyond U.S. Capability.
6. Expect More From the Media.
7. American History Means Nothing Overseas.
8. The U.S. Has No Friends in Iraq.
9. When Arabs Vote, They Seldom Choose American’s Candidates.
10. Don’t Trust Politicians Promising Cheap and Easy Wars.

After I read those ten points I felt a sense of deep sadness, because I wonder how the families of the 4,474 brave service members and 13 Defense Department civilians who died in Iraq feel about America’s involvement in Iraq. I certainly do not have the answer to our participation, but I strongly urge our political leadership to think long and hard before ever ordering our precious youth into another war, unless we intend to end it in total victory.

COMMANDER GRANGER

TEN GRIM LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE IRAQ WAR