Mission Accomplished?

Here is an Osama observation made in 2004:

“All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations," bin Laden said.

Bin laden went on to say, “"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah,"

And this bin Laden historical observation, “"We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat,"

Source: http://articles.cnn.com/2004-11-01/world/binladen.tape_1_al-jazeera-qaeda-bin?_s=PM:WORLD

In the article Osama estimates that the cost of the 9/11/2001 attacks was US$500,000 or one half of a million dollars. It is safe to say that America has spent at least one trillion dollars fighting Osama and his boys since then and that would suggest a ratio of about US$2,000,000 spent by America for every $1 spent by Osama and his gang. An astounding ratio of 2,000,000: 1.

Now, let us remind our readers again of the of the US debt on certain dates:

9/11/2001 – $ 5.8 trillion (attack on World Trade Center)

5/1/2003 -- $ 6.5 trillion (Bush II speech “Mission Accomplished)

5/2/2011 – $14.3 trillion (Obama puts bullet in Osama’s head)

5/1/2012 – $15.6 trillion (Obama crows about bullet in Osama’s head)


Today, April 16, 2013:  $16.8 trillion (Yes, that's correct - as Mr. Obama claims to be cutting back and "responsibly" managing the American economy, the debt has risen $1.2 trillion in less than one year.)
 

So, we pause before we say what should be obvious to even a casual observer.

Osama stated his mission quite clearly as noted above. If you find even a passing causal relationship between debt and bankruptcy, you would need to conclude that those in charge of America’s borrowing/debt situation for the last 11 years are he** bent on fulfilling Mr. Osama’s prediction. We at TheFundamentals find ourselves almost speechless in writing this observation but we darn well would suggest a rather rapid reconsideration of the deficit spending/massive borrowing path bin Laden laid out for us and that we are so willingly pursuing. Alas, we have been so suggesting for some time now but the debt just gets bigger and bigger.

America’s leaders are fulfilling Osama’s mission on their own. Terrifying thought that the bad guys will ultimately be able to unfurl Bush II’s banner from the 5/1/2003 USS Abraham Lincoln speech and use it just as Osama predicted.

Note to Readers - Much of this essay was first posted on May 1, 2012.   Nothing has changed; we now set out to locate and bring a new group of terrorists to justice.  Certain prediction:  debt will rise;  physical security will decline and the freedoms and liberty that we, the people, live for will continue to disappear under the burden of debt and government bureaucrat involvement in all aspects of our lives.

In His Own Words - Mr. Obama on "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" behavior

Frequently we are asked, "Do you think Mr. Obama knows better?  Is he just pursuing bad policies for political reasons or does he really think that his policies will help others?"   The answer is found in this brief video:

 

In case you are wondering, the debt today, to the extent that Mr. Obama's regime discloses something to the public, is about $17 trillion and rising very rapidly.  Mr. Obama clearly knows better - he knew better five years ago - he knows better today - he just does not have the leadership capability and/or inclination to pursue responsible and patriotic acts.   Americans will pay a dear price for the Obama experiment.  This simple observation is something the new and growing Latino component of our future will begin to recognize.  Their future is also being mortgaged by Mr. Obama and his irresponsible and unpatriotic regime.

Ich bin ein Detroiter – II

We recently provided an update on the Detroit situation.  We also gave you some information on the nature of many state constitutions and the wording or clauses contained therein that has been relied upon by public employee unions to demand, with no compromise (favorite term of progressive/liberal propagandists), complete and total payment of all monies due them – past, present, future – under so-called collective bargaining agreements, benefits plans and pension programs.  No quarter given – pay us because we earned it and the constitution says you must.  Well, is that the last word?  Read on.

A few weeks ago, Michigan’s governor appointed a well known bankruptcy lawyer to take over Detroit’s financial affairs.  Here is what the attorney, Kevyn Orr, had to say:

 "Don't make me go to the bankruptcy court. You won't enjoy it," Orr said Thursday in a possible warning to city unions, vendors and others after being introduced by Gov. Rick Snyder as Detroit's emergency manager.

"Bankruptcy's been my stock and trade. I'm very comfortable in bankruptcy courts," said Orr, who has resigned from the international Jones Day firm ahead of his new appointment. "You can do everything by consent. ... When I say consensual, I mean ... let's get at it and work together because we can resolve this."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/14/3285881/bankruptcy-expert-named-detroit.html#storylink=cpy

So, an intelligent view of the Detroit situation is – either fix it or go bankrupt in federal court.

You understand this message – TheFundamentals understands this message – we’d bet that even Ben and Barry understand the message.  Who doesn’t? 

Some examples of those who are struggling with the message:

The local city council of Detroit – it’s gone – terminated – kaput – fini.  So what brilliant statements are forthcoming from these accomplished public servants?  Read on:  “Detroit City Council members said this morning they will continue to represent citizens while they to figure out what role they’ll play under Detroit’s new emergency financial manager, Kevyn Orr.”

“Under the state’s new emergency financial manager law, which takes effect Thursday, he (Orr) assumes all decision-making authority currently held by council and the mayor.”

The law also calls for the elimination of council’s salary and benefits. Orr can later decide if he wants to reinstate their compensation and at what level.   Question for our readers:  just how long do you think these council members will “continue to represent citizens” when they figure out there’s no paycheck at the end of the week?  Pretty funny isn’t it?  Source:  http://www.freep.com/article/20130319/NEWS01/130319057/Detroit-City-Council-Despite-EFM-takeover-we-still-represent-Detroiters-

Next, from a fellow who doesn’t even live in Detroit – he lives in Chicago, a town doing its best to implement the “Detroit plan.”   This fellow actually has his hands full with local opportunities for his leadership brilliance, including some family member matters.   But, alas, that is not how this great minority community leader thinks:

“The Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling for mass demonstrations and court action to oppose the appointment of an emergency manager over Detroit's finances. “ 

Source:  http://www.freep.com/article/20130319/NEWS01/130319063/

No, folks, we don’t make this up.  Can you even imagine anyone with a functioning brain cell concluding that Jesse Jackson is just what the Detroit doctor ordered?  Jesse, try this on for size – Ich bin ein Detroiter.

“The civil rights leader told the Associated Press by telephone today that turnaround expert Kevyn Orr's appointment by the state is a "constitutional crisis" because it usurps local control.”  Thanks Jesse – spectacular brain functioning – incomparable insight capability.

We save the best example for last – it involves your great leader, Barack H. Obama.  Detroit is lost – Barry knows it.  Barry’s voters and supporters, in Detroit and elsewhere, look to Barry for direction; to move on – to even greater things.  Such as what you ask?  Well, Barry proposes that America spend a hundred million dollars mapping the human brain.  Without addressing the merits of this "brainy" idea, Barry, here’s our suggestion – find a brain that has evolved the ability to discern the difference between what works and what doesn't and then takes appropriate action.  Mr. Orr excepted, you don't need to bother with any of the people described above.

 

 

Ich bin ein Detroiter

If you have been following the Detroit situation, and you have been thinking about how Detroit can decline from one of America’s wealthiest communities to a destroyed dust bin in a matter of several decades, you will quickly grasp why TheFundamentals modestly suggests in the title to this series, that we all are becoming Detroiters.  Thanks to that combination of democrat party welfare policies that promote nothing but decline; an only too willing minority population to vote for said policies and the most incredible gathering of bottom feeding union masters dedicated to running their employers businesses into the ground (all for the good of the worker and that important  “collective bargaining agreements” principle), American cities and states are looking more like the proving ground for testing military weaponry.  Detroit leads the pack – but places like Oakland and Chicago and Newark and Atlanta are doing their best to catch up fast (big announcement due out today affecting Stockton, California's bankruptcy petition.)

Ich bin ein Detroiter *.  (I am a Detroiter.)

For those who are new to grasping the Detroit situation and what this coalition of bottom feeders can do with your neighborhood, we offer this reference from March 2011:  http://thefundamentalsus.blogspot.com/2011/03/deficit-trials.html

Detroit is headed to the bankruptcy court – slowly, meandering its way there.  Why the slow, meandering process?  Politics, politics, politics.  Democrat and urban black citizenry and public employee union politics.  Who is served by this slow, meandering process?  The aforementioned characters.  Who is not served by it?  The taxpayers of the state of Michigan and anyone still working in a private sector job in the state of Michigan.  Ditto for your home town and state.

Why is bankruptcy inevitable for Detroit?  Well, let’s read from the Michigan constitution, article IX, Section 24:

 

“§ 24 Public pension plans and retirement systems, obligation.  The accrued financial benefits of each pension plan and retirement system of the state and its political subdivisions shall be a contractual obligation thereof which shall not be diminished or impaired thereby.” 

How do you break a “contractual obligation”?  Even one backed by the constitution of the state?  Only one way that we know – bankruptcy.

 

Remember, bankruptcy is not a state matter – not even a matter for the people – it belongs to the federal government in the constitution of the United States which overrides all state constitutions.

 

The implication is significant.  Many of the 50 states have clauses with similar “guarantees” about pensions and retirement plans for public workers that “shall not be diminished or impaired” etc. and many of the 50 states and many of their “political subdivisions (cities, towns, school boards, counties, etc,) are insolvent – meaning they cannot pay current obligations with current resources or their liabilities exceed their assets.

There are two alternatives to insolvency and bankruptcy:

1.      Get your house in order – meaning cut your liabilities to match your resources and your assets and live within your means, or

2.      Get the feds to print money and send it to the cities and states in return for their vote to keep the “something for nothings” in their public employment jobs
 

Alternative one above is not doable; minorities will not tolerate it; the democrat party is committed to a welfare state and the unions will suck the last dollar of private wealth if permitted.  And, at some point, alternative two will end – it has ended for Detroit.

So, say it loud and say it proud, “I am a Detroiter!”

* We choose to paraphrase this line from JFK's speech in Berlin in 1963 because more than any one person, JFK set America on the path of public employment unionization by single handily enabling, via executive order #10988, federal employees to join unions.

 

Television, Children and Adult Mediocrity

This essayist does not know how many Americans know a very simple guideline that is a formal part of the American pediatrician’s guide to raising a healthy child.  What is this simple suggestion? 

Turn off the TV.

If you visit the website for the American Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org) and locate their page entitled “ Media and Children” here is what you will learn:

“Studies have shown that excessive media use can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity. In addition, the Internet and cell phones can provide platforms for illicit and risky behaviors.

Today's children are spending an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media, including televisions, computers, phones and other electronic devices. To help kids make wise media choices, parents should monitor their media diet. Parents can make use of established ratings systems for shows, movies and games to avoid inappropriate content, such as violence, explicit sexual content or glorified tobacco and alcohol use.

The AAP recommends that parents establish "screen-free" zones at home by making sure there are no televisions, computers or video games in children's bedrooms, and by turning off the TV during dinner. Children and teens should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day, and that should be high-quality content. It is important for kids to spend time on outdoor play, reading, hobbies, and using their imaginations in free play.”

And, then, their recommendation ---

“Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2. A child's brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens.”

As Dr. Ben Carson would say, “This is not rocket science.”  It is common sense.  So, here is something that this one essayist does not grasp – we have politicians and bureaucrats all over the land commenting, propagandizing, assembling and legislating all sorts of rules and laws and guidelines on everything from the size of ammunition clips to the capacity of soft drink containers and the volume of water flowing through a toilet to the unusable and Rube Goldberg mandated “safety” cap on a gasoline can but we don’t hear about or see any publicity in our media about the importance of no TV watching by children under the age of 2 and limited TV thereafter.

Why could that be in a land with so many “public servants” dedicated to the well being, the very safety and development of our children?   In case you missed the simple, really just common sense, guidelines, here they are, again:

·       No TV for children under the age of 2

·       Children and teens – one or two hours total for all entertainment media

·       And then it should only be “high quality”

·       No TV, computers or video games in children’s bedrooms

·       No TV during dinner, and

·       Parents should monitor the media diet of their children

It would not be such a bad thing, would it, if American political leaders spent more time on this topic and less time on those topics covered constantly by the very media and entertainment outlets that those who we turn to when our children are sick tell us we should be doing without?  Put it another way – why is mayor Bloomberg on TV constantly, opining on everything that is not his business when his TV business is what he should be telling us to avoid?

American mediocrity – which is now abundant at all levels of governance – and education – and commerce – is well rooted in what our pediatric physicians call “entertainment media” and what TheFundamentals calls “Hollywood media.”  In many ways, TV is much the same as what Bernanke and Obama offer us in their fiscal promiscuity – something for nothing.  But TV does charge us a high toll – it’s called mediocrity.  We simply spend too much time wandering this wasteland.

Turn off the TV - good for the kids - good for all

Cartoon Contest – “I’m Here to Help”

America’s perpetual clown, Jesse Jackson, has arrived in Detroit.  That sign he is holding, with the red line crossing out EFM (emergency financial manager) is Jesse’s recent contribution to a town that has followed his advice and counsel to the letter.  If anything, Jesse should be taking a victory lap around the devastation – his antics and those of his political, bureaucratic and union allies are on clear display for all to see.  We sum it up in one word – bankruptcy.  A cartoonist, Mike Thompson, at the Detroit Free Press is offering readers an opportunity to help Jess out – just fill in the caption.  To enter this contest, please go to:  (let’s keep it family friendly)

http://www.freep.com/article/20130325/BLOG24/130324041/Your-Mike-Jesse-Jackson-and-the-Detroit-EFM-cartoon-caption-contest

 

In His Own Words - Ben Carson on Logic and Common Sense

Please Watch and Listen....

 

 

 

...and Learn