Seeking to Place Blame, While Covering Failure

For John, BLUF:  Mr Michael Goldman's column in the Sunday Sun is always entertaining.  Not always accurate.

In the Sunday Edition of The [Lowell] Sun is an opinion piece by Mr Michael Goldman, of Goldman Associates, in Boston.♠  The title is "Help yourself to 50 states loosely aligned or 1 union".  It is a collection of straw men.

The trust of the argument is that the evil Republicans are preventing us from helping the poor folks devastated by Hurricane SANDY.  This is the hurricane that was worse than KATRINA, but which FEMA and others responded to much better than those terrible people under President George W Bush.  I am waiting for actual history studies before I accept that.

In the mean time, the problem is the Republicans didn't want to vote approval to a pork laden bill.  I know.  That was tacky of them.

In setting the stage for his contrast between the bad old days of every state for itself and the wonder of the FDR Revolution, Mr Goldman mentions the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, and a 1998 book about it, Rising Tide"  The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America.  Mr Goldman excoriates former Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge.

The most interesting part of this extraordinary book was the reaction of the national government in 1927 to the regional economic holocaust wrought by the unexpected breakdown of the river's levee system, which was created and managed by the National Core of Engineers.

I want to take this in three parts, in that, first the Secretary of Commerce was out leading the rescue effort, and based in part on his efforts, won the US Presidency.♥

Secondly, while some 246 people died and $400 million in damage was done, "holocaust" seems a little over the top.

Thirdly, can I get a fix on the "National Core of Engineers"?  Do you think he might mean the "Army Corps of Engineers"?

We don't leave individual states behind.  There is always creative tension in how we understand the role of the States and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, but we do, as a nation, tend to pull together.  Mr Goldman should do better that this piece.

And, besides, I think Mr Goldman should explain how this fits into the Budget passed by Mr Harry Reid's US Senate.♦

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Nice looking web site.
♥  He could have gotten a dig in at Mr Hoover for making promises to Blacks that he later reneged on, resulting in Blacks shifting their vote to Mr Roosevelt in 1932.  Mr Hoover knew better, but he failed Blacks, himself and his Party.
♦  They are going to try to pass one this year, aren't they, after several years of failure?

Friendly Fire

For John, BLUF:  There but for the Grace of God...

I have mentioned, either here or on City Life, my friend Juan Paron.  No, not that Juan Paron.  The one I know comes from Minnesota and lives, along with his beautiful wife, Carolyn, in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Powell's Creek.

Juan is a retired US Navy Captain and former Naval Aviator and hydroplane operator.  His path and mine have crossed several times.  He was on the staff of NATO's FIVE Allied Tactical Air Force (ATAF), up in Northern Italy, when I was on the staff of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, down in Naples.  When I was at Thirteenth Air Force, at Clark Air Base, in the Philippines, I helped plan an exercise in Australia that his Squadron, at Cubi Point, in the Philippines, participated in several months later.  On the Joint Staff we actually met and had offices a couple doors down.  Juan was doing NATO forces at the time I was in the Strategy Division.  Later, as Commander of US Naval Facilities in Italy he lived about six doors down from where we had lived when we were in Naples a decade before.  We both taught at the National War College.  Juan was the Chief of Naval Operations Chair and I was the Chairman's Chair.  Then we both worked at Dynamics Research Corporation, on the "Universal Joint Task List" (UJTL), a tool for increasing military unit readiness.

But, back a long time ago, Juan had a very direct experience of joint service cooperation, when his Section passed through an ARC LIGHT mission and one of the bombs from a B-52 went right through his tail, taking out a chunk.  Spectacular photo:

The saying is, better lucky than good.

For those who wish to know, a Navy A-7, CORSAIR II.  Otherwise known as the SLUF, for Short Little Ugly Fellow.  Thus the saying, "No weapon is too short for a brave man".

Regards  —  Cliff

Missing the Point

For John, BLUF:  Is truth and a common reading of things on vacation in Washington?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Columnist Margaret Carlson is one of my favorites on TV.  In Sunday's edition of The [Lowell] Sun Ms Carlson talks about "Why Chuck Hagel won't end up like Susan Rice".♠  Charles Timothy Hagel is the former Senator from Nebraska, with two Purple Hearts from Viet-nam.

Rice was torn apart by senators who wanted to use the attack on the U.S. special mission in Benghazi, Libya, to damage the president, as well as by those who wanted the job to go to a male rival they liked better.  (Actually, the membership of both groups is the same:  Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.)  Although the Benghazi report held Rice blameless, she was gone by the time it came out.

Of course the Benghazi Report held Ambassador Rice blameless!

The hit on Ms Rice was that she went out on all those Sunday news shows and said the Benghazi incident was a spontaneous reaction on the part of Libyans to a 15 minute YouTube Video, when, by that point informed opinion in and out of Government suspected a deliberate attack by a terrorist organization.  The video was a cover story and it was a very poor one, especially considering that it appeared to not just sacrifice, but shred, the First Amendment rights of someone in this nation

Ambassador Rice gets an "A" for loyalty and a "D" for having an active imagination and the ability to persuade her masters that they are on a wrong course.

Yes, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina may well be total jerks (although I seriously doubt it), but trying to blame Ms Rice's problems on their desire to "damage the President" misses the real point.  Shame on Ms Carlson.

But, the article is about the nomination of Senator Chuck Hagel.  Ms Carlson tries to show that Senator Hagel lacks support on the left and the right, but he will slide right through. She does mention opposition from pro-Israeli lobbies, who see him insufficiently pro-Isaraeli, "especially his suggestion that the U.S. talk to Hamas."  I say, sit down and talk with anybody.  But, it is fair to ask about the nature of the relationship between the US Government and Hamas, even as the Governing Authority in the Gaza Strip.  That is along the lines of Chancellor Hitler opening discussions with Governor Huey P Long North Korean Leader Kim Jung-un opening discussions with the [former] Governor of New Mexico.♥  But, it is mostly about the narrative about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

What Obama needs to be able to do is talk back to the generals.  Hagel can help him do that, and that’s why Republicans are so upset.  Hagel’s flip on Iraq disturbed their comfortable certainty.  Letting Army General David Petraeus have his way with the surge gave Republicans a fig leaf with which to claim victory there.  It bought them time to get out without admitting defeat.

Frankly, those wars are about to pass to the historians.  It may well end up sad for those seeking a modern freedom in Afghanistan, especially women.  On the other hand, President Karzai may well pull it off, and if he does, kudos to him and also to President Obama for helping to midwife it.♦

The real issue is the Defense Budget.  It is going to have to contract.  The trick will be to retain short term readiness while maintaining the basis for long term readiness, including things as different as officer and NCO education and Research and Development in the technology areas.  It will not be easy.  Already Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is talking about shutting down the Civilian Side of DoD with rolling furloughs.  But, which would you rather have?  Your neighbor Sally without pay for a month or a whole bunch of Suesy's on the street and undernourished due to cutbacks in entitlement programs.♣

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Remember, articles in The Sun go away after a while, to a different place.  I will not be updating their links unless I am bedridden and have read every book in the house.  And, besides, the Editor tells me the links cost money after a few weeks.  It is the new business model.  Here is an alternative link.
♥  Yes, what WAS the purpose of that visit?
♦  And to all those Four Star Generals on the ground, whom Ms Carlson seems to disparage.
♣  Yes, I know that we can make up the difference by smarter management and eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, but the time to start those efforts was back in 2011, when Sequestration first emerged.  Now we are facing a time compression abort.

New Mass GOP Chair?

For John, BLUF:  Notwithstanding your belief that the GOP is a waste of time, we are the opposition and it is our duty to oppose.

The Massachusetts Republican Party is seeking a new Chairman.  A number of names have been bandied about.  Here is one review of the situation, although the reporter (or editor) is discredited in the lede:

The Massachusetts Repulican Party has never been as big or popular as the [C]ommonwealth's Democratic Party, but as it prepares to elect a new leader, the task ahead is daunting as ever

Look at Commonwealth Senators from the Civil War on.  A lot of Republicans.

I believe the consensus of the Lowell Republican City Committee is that our State Committeeman, Rick Green, is the person the Committeemembers should pick.  (Ms Susan Slade is our district's Committeewoman—we get one of each.)

Per Ms Sandi Martinez, a GOP Committeewoman for Chelmsfor, there will be a debate amongst perspective candidates this Thursday, 17 January, in Lexington.

- The time is 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm.
- The location is 1 Cranberry Hill, Lexington, MA

- There will be a Meet and Greet from 6 to 6:45 pm.

Dick Hersum, founder and Chairman of the Board of AMRC will speak briefly and introduce the candidates.  Then, Citizens for Limited Taxation's Chip Faulkner will moderate the first part of the debate.

As I mentioned the Lowell Republican City Committee has a consensus for Mr Rick Green.  Former Lowell Republican City Committee Activist Rob Eno is also supporting Mr Green.

Regards  —  Cliff

War in Mali, in Africa

For John, BLUF:  The US Military is always involved somewhere.

France is sending troops to Mali.  Mali is in that Western bulge of Africa, in the Sahel area.  (Yes, I had to look it up also, and I was handicapped by my lack of spelling skills.)

How many people in the local area care?  I guess not many.

That said, how do you think the heavy equipment for the French and the men and equipment of the ECOWAS crowd are getting there?  If you guess United States Air Force you win.

The "long War" is not over, notwithstanding what people in our Nation's Capitol say.  We have reduced our footprint in Iraq and are reducing our footprint in Afghanistan, but we are still out there, fighting the al Qaeda bring, in its various forms.  And, a word of caution.  It isn't all black and white.  There are shades of gray.  A knowledgeable acquaintance noted:

We have to be careful not to confuse the Taureg self-determination movement, that has been around for some time and affects neighboring Niger as well, with our fear that Ansar Dine will prevail with its agenda to install Shari'a law throughout.  While its leader is related to an AQIM leader, the relations between the two is still a question mark.   The Tauregs have some legitimate issues and have indicated their willingness to talk

We may be pulling back a little, but we are still involved out there and if things go South, we will be involved even more.  Notice how we recently helped France try to rescue an agent captured in Somali.

Regards  —  Cliff

Dark Deeds, in Our Name

For John, BLUF:  Torturing people is not the best way.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Over at the Huffington Post we have a column on the use of torture.  The two authors, retired Air Force Colonel Morris (Mo) Davis and Presbyterian Minister Richard L Killmer, are against it.  For what it is worth, Colonel Davis was, for two years, the Chief Prosecutor for the Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The two authors are referencing the recently released movie Zero Dark Thirty.  Actually, the real question is why we tortured the perfectly acceptable "oh dark thirty" to come up with a pseudo-accurate term that has an additional syllable.

One way to remember this is "Torture achieves compliance; proper interrogation gains cooperation."  Jack Bauer notwithstanding.

To be clear, torture, to include enhanced interrogation methods, was wrong when it was the Bush Administration—to their shame—and it is still wrong today.

UPDATE:  What did he mean by the Title, "Card Deeds, in Our Name".  Trying to walk back the auto-correct, I am thinking I meant "Cruel" and made a typo, or "Dark".  I am going with "Dark".

Regards  —  Cliff

Gun Control In DC

For John, BLUF:  Don't expect major Federal action on guns.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Confusion Alert:  The author of this article uses "liberal" in a manner interchangeably with "progressive".

From yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal was have a column by Ms Kimberly A Strassel, "Strassel: The Real Gun-Control Consensus:  Despite the press's best efforts to parse his statements, Harry Reid has committed himself to nothing more than a 'thoughtful debate.'"  Here is the lede:

The next time you hear a fellow American bemoaning the lack of Washington bipartisanship, tell him to cheer up.  There is one issue on which Congress still resoundingly agrees:  gun rights.  Bear that in mind, too, the next time you read a story about the "new" political debate over gun control.

On the other hand, Ms Strassel did pick Governor Romney to win with 289 electoral votes.

We do have New York Governor Cuomo advocating gun confiscation.  That didn't work out so well at Wounded Knee.  But Progressives are strong believers in American Exceptionalism.  No, not the normal understanding of American Exceptionalism, but the belief that our Government could never, ever, turn against the People, going rogue in some way.

Hat tip to Neal.

Regards  —  Cliff