JACK'S BLOG
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TriflesA cool breeze ruffled the surface of the bay, but it failed to stir the Stars 'n Stripes as they were lowered into the waiting hands of the sailors who stood at attention on the fantail of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy. A lone bugler played taps as it descended. Another group of sailors from the Peoples Republic of China stood by holding their own flag, folded in readiness. Their band stood ready to play their national anthem when it was raised.
The ship's name and number had already been replaced. Within hours, it would depart San Francisco as The People's Revolution. It would be accompanied the same task force that had sailed with it since its launching, all similarly re-flagged, renamed, and crewed by Chinese sailors. Admiral McHenry ignored the Consulate General of Great Britain buzzing in his ear until taps ended and he lowered his salute. “I'm sorry, Counselor,” he said over his shoulder, “you were saying?” “This is deplorable,” the counselor repeated. “You're delivering weapons into the hands of our enemy.” The admiral shrugged in response. “They're bought and paid for,” he replied. “But...” the counselor began, but was interrupted by the marshal music accompanying the raising of the flag of the Peoples Republic of China and the admiral resumed the position of attention without saluting. Later, they stood side-by-side on the dock watching the great ship taking its position in the task force under the command of the Chinese admiral. A detachment of U.S. Marines held the press at bay. The Japanese and South Korean ambassadors stood slightly ahead of the admiral locked in uncharacteristic sympathy. “Poor devils,” the British diplomat observed. “China now has the tools to project power into the oceans around them.” The admiral merely nodded as though lost in his own thoughts of foreboding. This was the third aircraft carrier task force sold to the Chinese. Even the Iranians now had one. The world was now at their mercy. The Chinese Ambassador approached with a smile. “Why look so glum, Admiral?” he asked. “You now have a partner that's capable of sharing the burden of maintaining world peace.” The British diplomat bit his tongue as he had been trained as the admiral returned the Ambassador's smile. “Yes, we look forward to working with you,” he replied as he had been trained. All three accepted the lie without reaction. The sales had been sanctioned when the U.S. defaulted on its debt. Many still argued that it hadn't been necessary. Tax revenues were more than adequate to service the debt, principal and interest, but the President had insisted that his health care program was more essential than maintaining a world class fleet. Besides, he had argued, drone technology had negated any advantage that surface ships could provide. Still, since the armaments had been turned over to the Chinese and Iranians, Europe and the United States had been obliged to accept widening Chinese and Iranian territorial claims. Many nations in Africa and Asia were now submitting to their demands for special trade concessions and the NATO alliance was on its last legs. All this raced through the admiral's mind as he contemplated the bottle of fine bourbon and the handgun that awaited him in his office at the Pentagon.
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10/7/2013 1 Comment Bigger government/Bigger failures?AmericaWe used to get upset with government when pot holes weren't repaired. Guest blogger Bill Husztek sees little things like that as trivialized by government's failures these days. On March 30, 1981 President Reagan was shot down by John Hinkley, a lust driven nutcase. At that time newspapers noted that the Secret Service and Metropolitan police couldn’t communicate with one another because their radio systems were not compatible. The Congress decided to act on it and sent out federal monies to correct the problem. Since I lived in Hawaii, it made no difference to my safety. Let’s assume for a moment that I believed that Government, bigger and better has all the answers to my fears and the troubles of our society. Let us further assume that on September 11, 2001, this Nation had an epiphany. We realized that we were in a crisis which only Government could deliver us from. That date then became our new starting point for a safer society. I could relax. The Government would handle keeping me safe and secure. From the unique perspective of one of 100 million citizens who, has been through this all before, I would point out to my Liberal, or Progressive friends a simple fact of reality. Make no mistake in this. My personal safety is paramount. Whatever Government wants to do is okay by me as long as I am safe to live my life left alone! If something is broken and, Government as my Liberal friends assure me is the way to fix all problems, then I say to them. Fix it, leave me alone to live my life in peace. But keep me safe! Then I will abandon my Conservative skepticism and follow you anywhere. In 2011 on 9-11, the Pentagon was brought to its knees by a jetliner come missile in the hands of three terrorists. Sitting here at this desk that morning I may well have heard the plane as it flew overhead toward the Capital. It is certain, I felt the shock wave of that impact as it rattled the windows of this office. From that 9-11 attack there came a hew and cry about the Metropolitan Washington land of all the Populist Press asking one question. After the event. Why didn’t the emergency services respond better? In 2001, it was discovered that local metropolitan Washington emergency services were ham-strung by the fact that each jurisdiction had communication systems which couldn’t communicate with their neighboring jurisdictions or the Federal Agencies or the Military. The quick and simple solution was for them to come together and establish a common communications system over which they could all work and share for my safety. My Congress and President flung billions of dollars into bringing My Safety up to a level where I could relax and go about my business without further fear. As they worked to keep me safe, they found they had to take my shoes off to fly on jetliners. I had to dump my toiletries in airports. They built walls and moats and hired multitudes of people all to keep me safe in my daily life. I could no longer enter any public building except my church without facing a personal search, and a metal detector. If I set my briefcase or a lunch bag on the public sidewalk in Washington for a minute I could instantly become the center of a blitz of police action. If I were to take pictures of public buildings I became a person of suspicion if the guards didn’t like my look. With the billions of dollars to spend on improving my safety, local jurisdictions made going to the National Mall for a 4th of July celebration an impossibility for me. No longer could I take my cooler with its assorted foods and drinks, my umbrella and blanket, to any out door venue in the area. My wife’s purse had to become a gallon or less sized transparent baggie. I was now safe from those nefarious evil-doers. Then last week, while I was fortunately out of town, an un-armed mad woman with her 1-year old child strapped into the back seat drove wildly up and down Washington streets, crashing barriers down at the White House and then the Capital building. Nothing was impervious to her little Japanese built sedan as she wreaked mayhem on the Nation’s Capital. She was finally shot in her back and killed, as she drove away from police by a fusillade of pistol fire! Theoretically those bullets passed close to her co-conspirator 1-year old daughter in the back seat. How asked the local Populist Press, could this have occurred? After all she was chased down Pennsylvania Avenue from White House to the Capital all the while pursued by a whole herd of Secret Service Government Motors black Suburbans. All with their lights and guns blazing. She evaded them. How? Asked the Press. How I wondered?
Why didn’t n the Secret Service phone ahead to the Metropolitan Police, the Park Police, the Capital Police and all the other Police who thrive in the city of Washington. Why didn’t they get on their state of the art communications, i.e. radios, and warn the others that they were in pursuit of an unarmed mad terroristic mother of a one year old? The police chief of the D.C. cops coldly informed the Press that her officers were so used to seeing the stately massive SUV Suburban GMC vehicles traveling with their lights flashing at outrageous speeds that they believed they were engaged in business as usual. When the perky little Populist Press reporter asked, “Why didn’t the Secret Service use their radios to communicate the danger to the Metropolitan police forces? She was answered imperiously. Our communications systems aren’t compatible. We can’t talk to each other. We will need more money to fix it. So, to my Liberal friends I pose this question. Do you think that they ever will? AmericaDid Harry Reid have to drive himself to the office? Did Al Qaeda receive their rockets? Were assault rifles sent to the Mexican drug cartels? Would the laws of physics prevail? Would water boil? These are a few of the things that troubled my sleep last night. Well, the government shut down and amazingly the sun still rose in the sky this morning. Looking towards the sky, I saw birds on the wing and all seemed right with the world. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the television and it worked. Every part of the system from the broadcast studies to my receiver at home via the cable network worked. Even more amazingly, there were no reports of mass hysteria and riots. Then, after firing up my computer, I discovered that the Internet was working and I was able to post this message of joy.
Of course, as soon as I checked my email, there was a message from the White House. “The government was shut down.” I was beginning to doubt it since the world hadn't yet spun off its axis. Furthermore, the White House staff proclaimed, “It's the fault of the Republicans.” Now I knew. All was right in the world. My wife was concerned about our Social Security checks. Those comprise a significant portion of our monthly income. Joyfully she announced that benefits would be paid despite the government shutdown. Also, the Post Office would still be in operation to deliver them. How? Aren't they operating at a loss? How can they continue without the government borrowing more money to keep their doors open and the mail trucks rolling? So, what does it mean that the government is shut down? I guess we'll have to wait and see. It better be something really bad or people may discover that they're just as happy without it. |
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