Politico (29 Aug 11) Asked: "Is Rick Perry Dumb" - Here Are the Facts, You Decide!

Politico hack Jonathan Martin posited the question: ”Is Rick Perry Dumb?” in his 29 Aug 11 column, and then went on to describe a complex highly successful politician that has been constantly underestimated by opponents – all at their own peril.

Perry is the ONLY candidate of either party that can boast of creating jobs while in political office! During the Obama reign, half of ALL jobs created in the US were created in Perry’s Texas while, according to the 19 Aug 11 Washington Post Fact Checker: “…. nearly 2.4 million jobs have been lost since Obama took office, the worst record of the modern presidency.” Does this sound like Rick Perry is Dumb?

According to a 21 Jun 11 USA Today: “Texas Wins in US Economy Shift” - with Gov Perry in charge “Texas became the USA's second-largest economy during the past decade— displacing New York and perhaps heading one day toward challenging California — in one of the biggest economic shifts in the past half-century.” Does this sound like Rick Perry is Dumb?

According to Bureau of Economic Analysis, “over the past decade Texas experienced the biggest economic increases in 50 years surpassing $1 Trillion in annual economic output. The state’s share of the US economy during the past decade gained nearly a full percentage reaching 8.3% in 2010 – a feat matched only twice in the past 50 years — by California in the 1980s and Texas itself during the 1970s. By contrast, California’s share of the national economy peaked in 1990 but shrank faster than all but three states from 2000 to 2010.” California is experiencing the death spiral of Higher Taxes to pay for Govt Unions and generous but unaffordable social program which attract more socially needy people looking for handouts -- driving businesses out of the State – requiring Higher Taxes to pay for Govt Unions and generous ….. “ The Death Spiral that Gov Perry has not allowed to happen in Texas. Does this sound like Rick Perry is Dumb?

As this country’s longest serving Governor (since Dec 2000) and the chief executive of our second largest state by both size and population, he presided over this entire decade of growth and is by far the best qualified and most experienced executive in all of US Government. Compare this to our present Commander-in-Chief who had never held an executive position in his life prior to becoming President. Also, Perry is the ONLY credible candidate with Military service. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1972, he completed pilot training and flew C-130s in the States, Middle East and Europe before leaving service as a Captain in 1977. I’ve heard a lot of adjectives used in connection with Air Force pilots but “dumb” has never been one of them. Does this sound like Rick Perry is Dumb?

Now “Dumb” is a relative term and I would suggest that any discussion of dumb politicians should compare them with the quintessential political idiot -- Good Old VP Joe “5 Draft Deferment” Biden – the “Consummate Gaff-mister.” Every time Joe speaks, I listen with anxious anticipation confident he will commit some “world-class” gaffs to provide comic relief. He is the reason every American should pray every evening for Obama's good health as he will surely go down in history as the dumbest and most inept vice president of all times; by comparison he makes Bachmann appear cerebral, Palin smart, Dan Quayle intellectual and Rick Perry absolutely brilliant. As for President Obama’s intellect, compare his record of achievements with those above for Gov Perry and draw your own conclusions. Does this sound like Rick Perry is Dumb?

Writing about political gaffs without mentioning Joe “the Gaff-mister” is like writing about politicians with illegitimate kids and failing to mention Edwards or Schwarzenegger. And remember, President Obama was the person that selected “the Gaff-mister” to be his Vice President and the person he thought was capable of running this country if something were to happen to the president. Now “is that Dumb?” Here are my two favorite “Biden-isms” that demonstrate how dumb he really is although there are so many of them they could fill a bookshelf.

- During the VP Debate with Palin, Biden said that "all the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch are laid out in Article I of the Constitution.” – Well Sorry Joe, they're not. Article I of the Constitution is the one on the legislative branch. Article II are where the Executive Powers are found. Joe's been chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a member of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate for 36 years, teaches constitutional law back in Delaware, and can't keep straight which article of the Constitution provides for the legislature and which provides for the executive. Maybe he should be taking instead of teaching Constitutional Law?
In a 22 Sep 08, CBS News interview with Katie Couric, Senator Biden said "Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people .... When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'" Two problems with Biden’s “history,” when the market crashed in 1929 Herbert Hoover -- not Roosevelt -- was president. Roosevelt wasn’t president until 20 April 1933 and Television hadn’t been invented yet…. Other than that Biden got it right.

In defense of Biden, he doesn't commit these gaffs on purpose; he just isn't bright enough to avoid them. Although Obama may have originally selected him as a running mate to fill that all important role of designated "butt of jokes" for the late night comedians -- a role for which he has proven ideally suited and eminently well qualified – his shtick is beginning to wear a little thin which is why Obama doesn’t let him out in public much any more and replacing him on the 2012 ticket isn’t all that much of a stretch. The Obama challenge is "Hidin Biden" until 2012! With his history of gaffs, plagiarism, explaining his draft dodging and other dumb stunts, I can't imagine what a Biden presidency would be like. Possibly more pronouncements like the ones on his recent China trip endorsing forced sterilizations and ninth month abortions.

If you really want a fuller picture of how dumb Old Joe “5 Deferment” really is, I have posted a compendium of "Dumb Biden-isms” on a 9 Oct 2010 Blog entry (below) entitled: Joe Biden - The Consummate Gaff-mister and Some of My Favorite “Biden-isms”

Wikipedia - A Bastion of Liberal Misinformation & Distortions

A Call to Arms for All Fair Minded People to Become Contributors to Correct Liberal Tilting Wikipedia Entries with “Fair and Balanced” Factual Information

Wikipedia should come with a warning label much the same as cigarettes because relying on anything published in it “could be hazardous to your (intellectual) health.”

Most of the entries contain either factually inaccurate information or at least information culled from published sources that have greatly distorted or revised history. It appears most Wikipedia entries have a very liberal bent which is obvious to anyone that objectively reviews articles. Bios of Democrat politicians are normally much more laudatory in tone and either exclude or minimize derogatory information while Republican bios are routinely much harsher. Even subtle methods are often used to advance a liberal viewpoint. For example, in the entry on “Draft Dodger,” reference is made to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney and Bill Clinton as examples – three Republicans and one Democrat. Balance might have suggested using Republicans Bush and Cheney, and Clinton and Vice President Biden.” (although for the record, Bush flying antique Air National Guard Convair F-102s was probably in more danger than I was during an extended CIB-earning tour in Vietnam!)

Another even better example of subtle liberal bias is this passage in the John F. Kennedy Bio describing the Bay of Pigs Invasion: “Prior to Kennedy's election to the presidency, the Eisenhower Administration created a plan to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba” thus implying that Kennedy merely inherited Eisenhower's flawed plan. “Documentation” for this fallacious accusation was the writings of Kennedy administration officials Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Theodore Sorensen; when, in fact, both men were writing to defend their boss from criticism by unjustly deflecting blame on Eisenhower. In fact, reputable scholars now acknowledge that Eisenhower wasn't even aware of the invasion plan and he even said so in an article published by the New York newspaper Newsday in 1965 titled "Ike Speaks Out: Bay of Pigs was all JFK's.'' Unfortunately, “inconvenient facts” are not welcome in Wikipedia.

To perpetuate their liberal agenda, Wikipedia has appointed a cadre of “like minded progressive” volunteer “Administrators” who are editors trusted with access to restricted policing tools so they can “protect,” “delete,” and even “block” contributions by others who make edits that don’t conform to their liberal biases.

Bottom line: If you like getting your news from Newsweek, you’ll love getting your “facts” from Wikipedia! I wouldn't believe a Wikipedia Editor under oath!

So what’s the FIX! I’m calling on ALL Fair Minded people that believe Wikipedia ought to be providing “Fair and Balanced” treatment of all subjects to become contributors. Scour all entries, especially those prone for liberal distortions such as political Bios, and correct inaccuracies. Be diligent because the liberal Administrator/editors will throw in every conceivable roadblock to thwart your efforts. At times it will be frustrating but if enough fair minded people make the effort, it will eventually overwhelm their capacity to filter out the truth.

Who Exactly Are the “Better Off Among Us” Not Paying Their Fair Share of the Taxes?

The Progressive mantra as articulated by our President is: all we need do to sustain all the Federal give-away programs is to ask the best off among us to pay "a little more." According to the non-partisan Tax Payers Union, the top 1% already pay ~40% of the Federal Income Taxes and the Top 5% pay ~60% while over half the population pay NONE at all, so who exactly isn’t paying their “fair-share?”

When you have more people “in the wagon” than “pulling the wagon,” the incentive is to stop pulling and get in to allow the other dwindling minority to carry an even bigger load of dead weight. Is this what our Progressive President is advocating?

Some argue that those that don’t pay Income Taxes do pay other taxes, e.g. gas tax and payroll tax. That’s true but those are specific taxes for specific services; gas taxes fund roads, and payroll taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. Here low income contributors actually receive a disproportionally larger benefit than their contributions cover. Those that don’t pay income tax contribute nothing to the common functions of Government for which they also derive great benefit. These include National Defense, law enforcement and criminal justice, environmental protection, and hundreds of other common services. Those who don’t contribute but derive great benefits from these common services enjoy an equal vote about how they are delivered yet have no incentive to constrain costs or encourage efficiency. At a time of unsustainable deficits and debt does anyone really expect the people “in the wagon” to be in a position to weigh the benefits of “give-away programs” against their costs?

I believe the bottom line to this is we cannot go on forever borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend before the rest of the World that is “helping to pull our wagon” quits helping to pull or at least want a lot more money to help us. The inevitable result is the “wagon stops” and everyone, riders and pullers, are in trouble. This is a catastrophe that doesn’t have to happen if we get our house in order now but it will call for shared sacrifice. All Americans need to have some “skin in the game.” We should let all the Bush era tax cuts expire in 2013 (except for the inheritance tax which makes it impossible to continue to operate a small business S-Corporation or a family farm when an owner dies) and find a way to include that half paying nothing so they have a stake in the County’s future and an incentive to constrain costs. Americans have always been great at pulling together in emergencies so let’s lay out the facts and involve everyone in the “shared sacrifice.”

Is Newsweek Magazine Trying to Go Out of Business on Purpose?

I noticed that Newsweek has switched format from News to Fiction. What’s next, replacing Editor Tina Brown with Oliver Stone? Here’s a bit of unsolicited business advice for Newsweek about why it is a dying weekly that probably wasn’t even worth the $1 it recently sold for and why it will probably go under within the next two years. Not only do they fabricate their “facts” but they routinely miss the big story of the Week that WILL SELL copies. Either Newsweek is tone deaf or just trying to go out of business on purpose (a la the movie “Major League”).

Case in point, the week the S&P Downgraded the US Credit Rating along with the Stock Market tanking, that story was on the front pages of every credible newspaper or weekly. What was the best Newsweek could do? Put a demeaning Photo of Michele Bachmann and a snarky caption on the cover! Given Newsweek already had covers with a Photoshopped Mitt Romney head on some kid’s body jumping and the Sarah Palin Runners World cover, one would almost believe they were trying to belittle Republicans and hence ensure they couldn’t sell to that market!

When I was retiring from the Army, Newsweek offered me a multi-year subscription that came out to be about a buck and a half ($1.50) a year and it doesn’t run out until April 2013. My wife will not let it in the house so I only flip through it as it moves directly from the mailbox to the trash. I’d cancel my subscription but I feel I’m performing a patriotic service as I’m confident it cost them more to print and mail my copy than I paid for it. Hence, Newsweek losing money on my subscription hastens their demise – and that’s truly a Public Service.

Newsweek Article Pays Tribute to “Hanoi Jane” Fonda – What’s Next? “Person of the Year” Honors?

Hanoi Jane Fonda Manning a NVA Anti-aircraft Gun

Newsweek’s 22 & 29 Aug 2011 Double Issue featured an extremely laudatory piece on Fonda but this was my favorite passage in this entire article: “….her perceived antipathy for veterans during the Vietnam War ….” If “Hanoi Jane’s” actions could be described as “perceived antipathy,” as a Vietnam Vet (actually extended there) I’d hate to be around if she were to ever really get pissed off at me.

For the record Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972 and made several false anti-American accusations that the North Vietnamese used for propaganda. During her trip, Fonda made ten radio broadcasts in which she denounced American political and military leaders as "war criminals;" her most egregious accusation was she falsely accused them of deliberately targeting the Red River dike system which, if true, might have drown as many as 200,000 people.

A contemporary 7 Aug 1972 Time Magazine article “VIET NAM: The Battle of the Dikes”
(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,8... ) refuted this allegation and contained this passage:

“During (Columnist Joseph Kraft’s) own current tour of North Viet Nam, Kraft reasoned that if the U.S. Air Force were "truly going after the dikes, it would do so in a methodical, not a harum-scarum way." Summarized Kraft: "I have to conclude from what I have seen that there is no deliberate American drive to bomb the dikes. But the dikes do run parallel to many roads. Some are close to railroad tracks and bridges." Inevitably, some dikes have been hit in error, Kraft believes, and the damage—also inevitably —has been exploited by the North Vietnamese for propaganda purposes.

Kraft's conclusion supported the US officials version, that the dikes were not being "targeted," but that a few dikes near military targets had been accidentally damaged. The State Department released the results of a photo-reconnaissance of the entire Red River Delta taken in mid-July which revealed bomb craters at only twelve locations in the dike system—ten of them near petroleum storage tanks, and all relatively minor. The evidence showed conclusively that there has been no intentional bombing of the dikes.

I would only point out that Joseph Kraft (1924-1986), a former John F. Kennedy speechwriter, and Washington Post and New York Times reporter with a syndicated column running in over 200 papers was in North Vietnam at the same time as Fonda and was NO friend of Nixon's or the War; he was even on Nixon's "Enemies List" and was highly critical of the Vietnam War. Kraft would have jumped on any opportunity to disparage Nixon or the War if something had been there. There wasn't!

During the visit, Hanoi Jane even had the audacity to be photographed manning an anti-aircraft battery and there are persistent rumors that some POWs were forced to meet with her and she spat on them, called them "baby-killers." Then, when some POWs attempted to sneak notes to her to let their families know they were alive she turned the note over to the North Vietnamese which led to the prisoners being tortured.

When cases of torture began to emerge among the returning POWs, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars.” In my opinion this is the moral equivalent of Hanoi Jane being a “Holocaust Denier.”

To be fair, in a 1988 Barbara Walters interview Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions saying: "I would like to say something … to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did…. I was thoughtless and careless … I want to apologize to them and their families… I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes…. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless..."

Of course her apology came at a time when a group of New England Veterans had launched a campaign to disrupt a film project she was working on so Hanoi Jane's apology might ring a tad hallow and have been motivated more by self economic interest than remorse.

NEWSWEEK Changes Format to Fiction - Rewriting the Bay of Pigs History

Where Obama's “Blame My Predecessor” Political Strategy Originated
I hadn’t realized Newsweek had switched formats from News to Fiction until I read “The Untold Story of the Bay of Pigs” in this week’s (22 & 29 Aug 11 Double Issue) edition. What's next? Is Oliver Stone going to replace Tina Brown as their new editor? Anyone wishing to know the truth rather than this whitewash intended to relieve JFK of his richly deserved ‘credit” for the Bay of Pigs fiasco should access the C-SPAN website at: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/PigsM to hear Professor Irwin Gillman’s excellent (and factual) presentation entitled “The Coming of the Bay of Pigs: Myth and Reality” which was most recently broadcast on C-Span just last week, 14 Aug 2011. Liberals would have you believe that Eisenhower had it all planned and left office leaving Kennedy “holding the bag.” In truth, Eisenhower wasn't even aware of the invasion plan and said so in an article published by the New York newspaper Newsday in 1965 titled "Ike Speaks Out: Bay of Pigs was all JFK's.''

The following is plagiarized almost verbatim from the C-SPAN Website:

Professor Gellman is the visiting scholar of history at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., and has written four books on U.S. and Latin American history, including "Secret Affairs: Franklin Roosevelt, Cordell Hull and Sumner Welles,'' published in 1995 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

The Professor points out that historians in recent years have tended to shift the blame for one of the greatest U.S. foreign policy disasters in the 20th century on Kennedy's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower. They say Kennedy merely inherited Eisenhower's flawed plan to use Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and oust Fidel Castro. But they've got it all wrong, Gellman said, basing their scholarship on the writings of Kennedy administration officials Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Theodore Sorensen. Both men sought to defend their boss, who was assassinated in 1963, from criticism by fixing blame on Eisenhower.

"Sorensen wishes you to believe that Kennedy had no choice, that when Eisenhower leaves office, Kennedy was stuck. There was no option for the guy. And that's how history is written, and that's the story that's told,'' Gellman said.

Instead, Eisenhower wasn't even aware of the invasion plan and said so in an article published by the New York newspaper Newsday in 1965 titled "Ike Speaks Out: Bay of Pigs was all JFK's.''

According to Gellman, these are things many historians never take the time to read before thinking that Eisenhower was at fault for the plan.

"If you are a good liberal, do you go on the position that because Eisenhower initially started a movement to get rid of Castro, that makes him the player of the Bay of Pigs? Which by the way, anybody that reads the documents will tell you that there was no Eisenhower involvement. He wasn't even consulted,'' Gellman said.

The Bay of Pigs invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by the U.S. government to overthrow Castro. A group of about 1,400 Cuban exiles was assembled and trained by the CIA for several months to invade the Bahia de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, on April 17, 1961. But Castro was ready for the invasion and his 25,000 troops defeated, killed or captured many of the invaders, embarrassing the United States and causing Castro to form a closer alliance with the Soviet Union.

Gellman called the plan "crazy'' and marked by "stupidity,'' including lack of air support and leaving its execution in the hands of the CIA, an intelligence organization, not a military one.

But if there was going to be an invasion, Gellman argued, it would have fared better under Eisenhower, a decorated five-star general who was Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, whose maxim was “If you're going to use force, then you better win.” (End of C-SPAN Quote)

So if anyone is wondering where President Obama came up with his “Blame My Predecessor” strategy for his failure to fix the US economy, one need look no further than President Kennedy. Appears this has been in the Democrat’s political playbook for at least 50 years!

Honor All Vets But Reserve a Special Place for Those of World War II

In today’s Washington Post (19 Aug 2011) there was an excellent article: “World War II veteran remembers historic B-17 attack against Germany" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/world-war-ii-veteran-remembers-historic-b-17-attack-against-germany/2011/08/18/gIQAdipVOJ_story.html) and it got me to thinking, most Americans today don’t realize how costly in lives World War II really was, especially when compared to our present wars. Actually, the 8th Air Force alone in WWII sustained more than 27,000 killed; that’s more than the entire Marine Corps (24,500) lost in that war. Although they had the highest casualty rate, the 8th Air Force was only one of 16 numbered Air Forces in the War. Americans of today owe a real debt of gratitude to the WWII generation for their sacrifices.

Understand as a Vietnam combat Vet who spent 30 years in the Army (and was in Afghanistan as a civilian last year), I consider every service member’s life precious and I don’t wish to diminish the death of a single one but to put things into perspective, here are the stats from our most recent wars compared to WWII:

In the 10 years we’ve been in Afghanistan (Oct 2001-Today/Aug 2011), we’ve lost 1726 military killed from all causes in country and the surrounding regions (1192 Soldiers, 357 Marines, 84 Airmen and 93 Sailors). That averages less than ½ person lost per day.

In the 8½ years we’ve been in Iraq (Mar 2003-Today/19 Aug 2011), we’ve lost 4565 military killed from all causes in country and the surrounding regions (3283 Soldiers, 1022 Marines, 57 Airmen, 103 Sailors and 1 Coast Guardsmen).

Theoretically the Vietnam War lasted 10 years but 51,585 of the total 58,220 killed occurred during the real 5 years (1966-70) of the war when we were heavily engaged. At the height of the war in 1968 we were losing 50 a day killed!

The Korean War lasted 3 years and one month (Jun 1950 – Jul 53) and total US Killed was 36,516. That averages ~32+ killed a day

All these conflict pale in comparison to World War II where the US lost almost half a million men. The Battle of the Bulge alone lasted 40 days (16 Dec 44 – 25 Jan 45) with almost 90,000 U.S. casualties; 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded, and 23,000 captured or missing. The 36-day Iwo Jima assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead while the 82-day Battle for Okinawa lasted from early April until mid-June 1945 and U.S. (5 Army and 2 Marine Corps Divisions) casualties were over 62,000 with over 12,000 killed.

Honor ALL Veterans but reserve a special place for the Heroes from World War II!