One week to go!

In one week, we will finally have an end to this bitter, vicious election.  There are clearly two different visions being offered for the country's future and neither candidate generates an electric buzz.  It, once again, seems to be a choice between the lesser of two evils.

President Obama has a list of failures longer than my arms and a $16 trillion deficit along with high 8% unemployment (supposedly 7.9% last month but that figure appears murky...).  He keeps blaming Bush (justifiable) but W has been gone for four years.

On the other hand, people like Romney put us in this hole.  Unfortunately people like Obama have made it worse.

Add in the odious conduct of the TSA, forced purchase of ObamaCare, and a general lack of competence and abundance of scandals, Obama is clearly a failure.  I cannot see why any liberal would champion such a candidate. Yet, the closeness of the race indicates an uneasiness with Romney.

Obama is chomping at the bit to raise taxes.  Combined with his tendency to blame others for his failings, it is easy to envision a scenario where America goes off the fiscal cliff, suffering automatic tax hikes because Obama will blame others for not agreeing to them in the first place.  A Romney administration, once elected, may plead agreeing to tax increases out of necessity.

Either way, there does not seem to be a lot to be excited about.  It may not matter who wins on November 6.

The path Obama has set is clearly the path to ruin.  Romney might have learned what not to do by watching Obama over the last four years. His business experience will tip the scales slightly in his favor, at least in my eyes.

Tepid endorsement of Romney......

Hopefully it works out.

Libya and the election

SecState Hillary Clinton, a month after the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, accepted full responsibility for the lack of security. 

Now what?

Is she going to be fired for negligence?  Will she be publicly excoriated?  Will anything be done at all?

Naturally, some say she is doing this to take the heat off the President who is caught in a tight re-election bid and there may be some merit to that argument.  Now the New York Times says the White House is considering a strike on Libya for retaliation.

Aside from the odd Regan-sounding plan circa 1986, the question is WHY is this appearing in a newspaper?  Anyone at the White House ever hear of "Operational Security"?  And why is this coming a month after the Ambassodors' death? 

Sometimes you really wonder if we should not ask Britain to take us back as a colony....

Nobel Peace Prize---why bother?

This week the Noble Peace Prize was given to the European Union.

This week, the world saw that the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke.

The European Union "won" this prize by "promoting peace and stability in Europe."  Wrong.  The prize for that accomplishment goes to NATO.  All the European Union is doing is trying to force the economically stronger members into constantly bailing out weaker members who are living well above their means while contributing nothing.

The alleged "superstate" is built on sand and it is beginning to falter. It is also taking a more regulatory tone and acting in a most undemocratic manner.

In other words, the European Union is going to turn into the Soviet Union.

But it will collapse before reaching that point.  Like its Soviet predecessor, it has too many internal contradictions that will one day tear it apart.

Besides, every member of the Europe is in debt to Germany...so guess who the real power in Europe is.

If there is no one worthy of giving the Peace Prize too, just leave it vacant for a year.  That is better than cheapening it and making it a laughing stock.

Presidential Debate 2012

At first I was going to title this entry "Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber" but after watching the debate last night, I had to admit that Mitt Romney decisively defeated Barack Obama.  It was obvious from the beginning the Republican nominee, regardless of what anyone thinks of him, came prepared and ready to do battle.

Obama, without his teleprompter, looked lost and at times, distracted.  He spent a lot of the debate looking down and it was clear he wanted to be someplace else.  This is what happens when you try to defend indefensible policies that have clearly failed.

 I am not sure if Mitt Romney is the answer but he is not Obama.  That might be his greatest strength.  In a moribund economy with $4 a gallon gas prices, 8%+ unemployment, little to no growth, and haunted by the specter of a looming fiscal cliff replete with tax hikes added with vanishing hope along with a chaotic foreign policy, that might be all he needs.