Obama and Benghazi

Hi Steve and Tom!
You may think this is just drivel but I had to write this down for my own peace of mind and send it to you two who might be willing to analyze it a bit.   I don't have nerve enough to send it to Nan Noaker because of all the enemies I would make in this town if she chose to publish it!
Incidentally Tom, you probably remember my (conspiracy?) theory that Petraeus purposefully left this administration and his job at CIA because he could no longer accede to Obama's culture.  Just this afternoon I heard about an e-mail or something of the sort in which he had not agreed to the unified story on the information put out on all the morning talk shows by Susan Rice.  Petraeus may yet come back from exile if he is forced to testify under oath.  Further comments (Fox News,of course) assumes that Obama will have to push Hillary under the bus. -- Ralph

May 8, 2013

Today I spent several hours listening to the testimony of the three "Whistle Blowers" before a Congressional committee on what happened at Benghazi on 9/11/12.
It appears to me that the Republicans got the best of it by carefully bringing out facts (in the testimonies) to support a coverup by the Administration while the Democrats spent their time trying to make it all political --an attempt to blame Hillary Clinton and President Obama.  With Bill Clinton's guidance it would not surprise me to see her successfully separate herself from Obama on this current issue, in time for the next election.
I think it is sad but true that the Obama culture wanted so badly to win the upcoming second term election that they insisted this was not a full scale terror attack.  This would fly in the face of Obama's strongest claim to success -- namely his recent statement that a Decade of Terror is now over.  In my opinion, the public's acceptance of Obama's timely claim helped considerably in swinging the election to him.  A great many people (including me) were pretty sure Romney would win.
Obama is a good and strong man in his conviction in believing that our system of government badly needs changing toward more central control and less involvement in worldly struggles.  Other good and strong men see this as a danger to our capitalistic system and the danger from the growing threat of a resurgent Ottoman type empire using fanatic religion as the principle weapon.
Obama's populist and anti-war beliefs are eagerly accepted by perhaps a majority of the people at the moment -- likely not to change until some catastrophe awakens them as occurred with Pearl Harbor in my generation.  The people back then did not like war and felt the oceans were enough to protect us in isolation.  There is no such protection now for isolation.  A sudden catastrophe could be momentous.
I remain constructively optimistic that the Obama Culture will not long endure  economically and that not too much damage will be done in our war against terror before the next Presidential election.
Obama is a good, well-meaning populist  but he is not the right man for the future of our country.


Ralph Gates
frkenn@comcast.net
www.lifestoriesbyralph.com
http://lifestoriesbyralph.blogspot.com/

Allah Akbar

April  23, 2013  -- A few days after the Boston Marathon bombing

What has happened in the last few days hasn't totally jarred my constructive optimism that a reformation will take place in Islam soon whereby the supreme religious Imam (or Imams) will tell Muslims in general that Allah no longer requires them to sacrifice themselves while  killing non-believers that refuse to convert.

It is difficult for us realize that anyone can accept this tenant of their faith. It is already probably not accepted by many or even most Muslims but a religious dictator has a no more powerful weapon at this disposal than blind faith if he chooses to use it.

In my lifetime we saw such blind faith by the Japanese people who believed their Emperor wanted them to kill themselves rather than surrender.  Sadly it took the atom bomb and the threat of near total destruction before their god-like emperor    (over the objection or the military leaders) spoke to the people (the first time they had ever heard him speak!) and said they should no longer martyr themselves in his name.

My constructive (perhaps blind) optimism tells me that communication is so complete in the world today,  that the "people" will force a reformation before  truly new world -wide destruction occurs. It will take some time yet when you realize the fanaticism shown by the mother of the two Boston bombers when she shouted

"Allah Akbar" and was glad that one of her sons had already died in this killing of non-believers.