Cynthia- This one is for you.

First, I want you to know you brightened my day at Oregano’s today. Your smile and cheerful demeanor made it a special occasion. You were able to take the time to share thoughts with me and you promised to check out my web site. If you do, this is the first thing you will see. You are not just drifting through life. You have a plan and are willing to do what is required to accomplish. Your boyfriend enjoys world traveling. When he did it while in the Navy, there was a specific purpose to accomplish. I don’t mean to say that travel is not a reasonable thing to do. There is nothing wrong with learning about other places and cultures. What I meant to say is that each of us has the opportunity to make the world a better place because we were born. Along the way we work, raise a family; support our community, church and family and try to make a difference. Money is not the prime objective. You will need enough to carry out your responsibilities. Giving of your time and talents is also very important. Along the way, enjoy life’s many pleasures. Your new, old, friend, Jack B. Walters May 16, 2013

Obama lashes out over Benghazi "sideshow"

This was the headline for an article in the 5/14/2013 edition of the Arizona Daily Star. There is truth in it; The Republican Party advocates will take every advantage to score political points. They have many opportunities today with the IRS being discovered giving special reviews of applications for tax free status of any group supporting the tea party. Also for two months in 2012 the government taped phone calls of Associated Press reporters ostensibly to find White House leaks of terrorist information. Referring to my main concern Benghazi, I have been watching news broadcasts on different channels and to date I have been disappointed with the questions asked. They approach. They skirt around it. They imply but don’t have the intestinal fortitude to come right out and state the truth. The Republican Congress is clawing their way up step by step looking for scapegoats. The process will continue unabated day after day, week after week, month after month; filling the news channels with content while leaving us waiting for the truth. The truth, in my opinion, is that Obama was willing to sacrifice the Americans in the Embassy and then deliberately cover it up with the blatant lie that the attack was the result of the video, when clearly the intelligence community knew and reported that an Islamic group was attacking the Embassy. Hillary was told at 2:00 A.M. by Hicks. The next day she flatly stated it was a disgusting video which the American government had nothing to do with. She apologized all over the place instead of condemning the Islamic terrorists. I was revolted then and my revulsion continues unabated. Am I the only one to recognize that Obama has and will continue to deny that Islam has anything to do with attacks on Americans or blame Islam for the many atrocities occurring on a daily basis everywhere in the world today. All the aircraft carriers in the world will be useless if we don’t have the resolve to fight back when required. With Obama at the helm we are defenseless. Jack B. Walters May 14, 2013

What I believe about Islam

Muslims who live by the tenets of their faith believe they are superior to all other people who are not believers of Islam. Wherever they are in the majority they exert their power over all others. People who are Christians or Jews have been forced to leave until there are very few remaining in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Turkey. For the most part those of the Jewish faith have fled to Israel. How convenient to have them so concentrated that at the right moment they can be annihilated which has been the goal since this religion was created 1,300 years ago. Just this morning in the Star was an article about students turning in their teacher for supposedly anti-Muslim statements. She was arrested and will stand trial for blaspheme. There is no freedom of speech when Islam rules. I don’t consider Islam to be a religion. It is a cult, an ism as in Nazism or Communism. There I’ve said it. Jack B. Walters May 11, 2013

Another Women's Issue

I find it tragic that the news media and all Americans can be so appalled at the imprisonment of those three unfortunate young girls in Cleveland but don’t care a whit about the many millions of women and girls who are living as virtual slaves on a daily basis all over the world because they are living under the Muslim culture. Where Islam is dominant, they are forced to wear burkas and must obey their male relatives on penalty of beatings or death. There is no recourse for them by the legal systems. When will, particularly the women of America, decide that this is of sufficient importance to take on as an issue, the same way they have been fighting for women’s rights for a century in America? They cannot afford to wait for the men to take issue except for a few like me. Jack B. Walters May 11, 2013

Benghazi Hearing-May 8, 2013

I learned about the hearing in which three high ranking officials were to testify about the attack on our Embassy. I checked C-Span and the other news channels. Only Fox considered it important. I caught it just as it began. I was complimentary that they would not interrupt the testimony until, lo and behold they did. The commentator even apologized stating they had to pay their bills. I then went to my computer where I found it being broadcast by Public Television and watched uninterrupted until it ended. I spent at least six hours of my day. Of the people I will be sending this to, I would be willing to bet that none of them did as I did. My long standing opinion on the subject did not change. What it did was confirm for me the outrageous conduct of the Obama government to not react in a prompt fashion to mobilize forces to come to the defense of our people and then when it was over to falsely claim that it wasn’t an attack by Islamists but only Muslims congregating to protest a video, implying that it was really our fault. Obama, Clinton, Rice and Petraeus apologized over and over including Obama’s speech to the United Nations a week later. These three (whistle blowers) were appalled and spoke out, effectively ending their careers. Eric Nordstrom had been the Regional Security Officer posted to Libya after the war. His testimony related to his repeated attempts to beef up security. As it turned out security forces were dramatically reduced instead. Gregory Hicks, the Deputy Chief-Tripoli was in Tripoli. He attempted to get reinforcements to Benghazi. The Colonel in charge received a “stand down” order. No knowledge of the name of the person who gave that order, or more importantly the person in the Pentagon or State Dept. The committee chair Representative Darrell Issa has pledged to continue searching for the truth. We can only hope he does. This outrage cannot be allowed to stand. Mr. Hicks clearly confirmed it was a terrorist attack by a group called Ansar el-Sharia. The Libyan President also confirmed who the attackers were. He was contradicted by Susan Rice’s appearance on five Sunday news programs when she stated that the attack was brought on by a mob angry at the video. Mark Thompson was the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department with responsibility for anti-terrorism teams called FEST (foreign emergency support teams). He tried many times to receive approval to deploy a team. He was denied. Statements were made that it was too dangerous or they couldn’t get there in time. How outrageous is that? What is the use of training military personnel to intercede when needed? They could have been called back at any time once sent. The fighting in Benghazi lasted over six hours. They might have arrived in time to save lives or at the very least exert deadly force against the perpetrators. It has been proven that the assessment of the intelligence memo was re-written to exclude all comments relating to terrorists, at the direction of the State Department, which to me means Hillary Clinton. She and the rest continued to blame the attack on the video. As an aside I doubt if any of you have ever seen it, I did. It was available as a trailer of a movie. There is no movie that anyone has ever been able to find. It is 14 minutes long and the dumbest thing I’ve ever watched. Comical, not something that should generate hatred just disgust. On the positive side, watching and listening to these three dedicated public servants was heartwarming to me. It rekindled my faith that there are great Americans working on our behalf all thru the government. They were very emotional as they recalled the events and at times showed anger at not being allowed to do their jobs as they were trained to do. I can only hope you are as interested as I am in finally learning the facts of who made those fateful decisions that night and who decided to keep the truth from the American people. I will continue to follow this process to the end. Jack B. Walters May 9, 2013

Islam

Once again I feel compelled to share my thoughts about Islam and the danger adherents to the faith present to the world community. I understand there are over 1.4 billion Muslims today. I recently sent out comments about the religion made by Winston Churchill 100 years ago. His analysis was right on, in my opinion. His main point being that strict adherence meant continuing slavery for women and girls. I have read many books on this subject which have convinced me of the evil this “religion” continues to do on a daily basis. There is a difference today from years past. This was pointed out to me in reading “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright. He details the beginning of Al-Qaeda in 1947 by an Egyptian and how it really took hold with Osama bin Laden while in Afghanistan which led directly to the 9/11 event we are all so familiar about. People like me are labeled as Islamaphobic. We supposedly see a radical Muslim hiding behind every tree waiting to pounce. I have read that 10% of Muslims could be regarded as radical. Radical meaning they are ready and willing to commit havoc with non-believers wherever found. The math is simple, it means 140,000,000. It seems to me that this could be considered serious, but, of course, what do I know? My continuing frustration is with our government and the news media, neither of which will come right out and state that a problem exists with Islam. I include George Bush in my condemnation. After 9/11 he proclaimed that Islam was a peaceful religion. He, his father and the whole Bush clan have been in bed with the Saudi Arabia princes for decades. Do any of you remember how Bush allowed the many members of the bin Laden family to be flown out of the country all the while the airlines were shut down for the rest of us. As an aside, I always find it amusing that these privileged Muslims enjoy living in our decadent country. As to our current president, he has extolled the greatness of Islam starting with his Cairo Speech shortly after becoming president. It is my firm belief that he has required our intelligence agencies and the armed forces to not even mention that an incident was committed by a Muslim. The Fort Hood massacre was labeled a work place dispute. How outrageous is this? While killing the soldiers he shouted “Allah Akbar”. It has been three years and the Major has not been tried as yet while receiving first rate medical treatment and still earning his salary. This should have been handled with dispatch but that is not how our government works today. It is impossible to read a newspaper and not read of some atrocity committed in the name of Mohammed somewhere in the world. Adherents are on an accelerated campaign to convert the whole world to their belief system. All the while Obama tries to cover it up. He blamed the Benghazi episode on a video, when it was clearly an organized assault, not a spontaneous event. After all this time including Senate hearings and news media discussion the truth has not come out. The latest is the terrible bombing in Boston by two Muslim young men. The elder spent six months in Southern Russia where the Chechnya Muslims live. As I understand it he was admitted to our country as an immigrant, given welfare and other aid. I wonder how much it would cost to travel to Russia and stay for that length of time. He was driving a Mercedes. Something doesn’t make sense. Our security was warned by Russia that he was a radical Muslim. I believe for political correctness that warning was ignored. Another point worth mentioning is the tremendous cost. I cannot even contemplate the loss as a result of shutting down the entire city for a day. These two Muslim fanatics have shown how devastating an action like they took can be to America. I have no doubt others will follow in their footsteps. Not to disparage our security forces, who put their lives on the line for us, but what I saw was overwhelming forces committed particularly when it was known he was in the boat. There were hundreds of police officers at the scene. Like the Fort Hood incident this young man will be in custody for years while the investigation goes on trying to prove him guilty at a cost of millions. He will be referred to as alleged bomber. Would sure be wrong to convict him without a trial, wouldn’t it? My main purpose in putting these words to paper is to alert you to the threat to America by Muslim terrorists who will continue to punish America for our presence in Muslim countries. The odd thing is my agreement with them about this issue. Bush’s wars which are now Obamas were and still are the wrong wars for us to fight. For a fraction of the cost we could be energy independent. No one can ever convince me that those wars were not started by our addiction to the oil in the Middle East. Our travail is just beginning. Jack B. Walters April 30, 2013

A Country of Vast Designs by Robert W. Merry

(James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent) A short while ago I read a biography of Andrew Jackson. I became intrigued by the events that occurred during these years. In particular the additional territory added to the Union. While still a General during the presidency of James Monroe he conquered Florida whereby Spain ceded it to America and also added tens of millions of acres to the Union from Indian tribes in the South and West. James Polk was supported by Jackson with advice and consul until his death. Polk became President by default. At the time he was running for Vice President. The delegates at the Democratic Convention were deadlocked. He was stunned to learn of his nomination. Once he became President he resolved to accomplish his most important goals during one four year term and he did. The most important, in my opinion, was acquiring all remaining lands in the West including the Texas, New Mexico and Oregon territories. He added over five hundred thousand square miles and gave the United States free access to the Pacific. The total amount far exceeds the Louisiana Purchase. It encompassed all lands between America at that time and the Pacific Coast, except for a small area of 30,000 square miles in Southern Arizona and New Mexico, referred to as the Gadsden Purchase which was acquired in 1854. This goal was popular with the people who foresaw increased opportunity as lands became available, but the job was not easy. In the Northwest England claimed ownership. There was a possibility of war between the two countries. When we relented on ceding the lower half of Prince Edward Island to Canada which gave them free access to the port at Vancouver agreement was reached. While this was going on, Polk aggressively prodded Mexico by moving troops to the Rio Grande River. Mexico responded by attacking and killing a number of soldiers. Military actions were forthcoming in Texas, New Mexico and California. Mexican ports were blockaded and Mexico City was occupied. Finally a treaty was signed ceding these lands to America. During all this time Polk was berated for the Mexican War by politicians of the Whig Party including Daniel Webster and even a freshman Congressman named Abraham Lincoln. Most of the problems in ending the war with Mexico had nothing to do with that country. It was the issue of slavery in the new territories. It became inescapable in August 1846. Polk was asking the Congress for $2 million to offer to Mexico, an amount he had good reason to believe would accomplish that objective. Unexpectedly a relative unknown Congressman, David Wilmot offered an amendment forever known as “The Wilmot Resolution”. It provided; “That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, wherein the party shall first be duly convicted.” This, in effect was challenging the slave states to give up on their bringing slaves to these new lands. Once again, as it was in Jackson’s term the specter of cessation was breathed new life. Not only did Polk not get the money requested but the war became secondary to the issue of slavery. You can only imagine the pressure this would add during wartime. He was under great strain during the rest of his term. While he did accomplish his goal, it drastically affected his health. After his term ended he only lived four extra months dying at the age of fifty three. I am willing to grant that he was a patriot who gave his life for his country. That is the same status I give to FDR. The strain of office also took his life. I see that as the same as dying on the field of battle. Historians in 1962 rated Polk as being in the top eight presidents at that time. After reading this biography I must concur. The greatest of leaders throughout history were the ones who pursued their objectives through thick and thin without regard to their own well-being. He was certainly one of those. This is a well-researched and written book worthy of reading. It is 500 pages with a great deal of information which I have not included in this short report. Jack B. Walters April 23, 2013