Senate Retirement Pension Not Automatic

by Ron Spangler

A large misconception amongst the general public is all Congressmen and Senators automatically receive a pension upon their retirement from serving as a member of Congress. This is not the case. A good example is the recent announcement by Senator Bayh that he will retire and not seek re-election in 2010.

Reading the eligibility requirements for retiring members of Congress Senator Bayh will likely fall under the Deferred Retirement Provision because of his age (55) and he served less than 15 years as a Member of Congress. His pension or annuity could also be reduced by 1% for every year he retired before reaching full eligibility requirements. Unless Senator Bayh has had prior Military service he will be 3 years short of the 15 year requirement.

Under this provision if a Senator elects to leave his retirement contributions in the retirement fund, he can start drawing his annuity after reaching age 60. Requirements for Congressmen and Senators differ in some degree.

There are other options that members of Congress have when considering retirement. All of them have penalties and reductions in the amount of annuities payed to the retiree. Under all provisions members must be at least 50 years old with 20 years of service, except for the additional provision that a member may retire at age 60 with 10 years of service and age 50 with service in 9 Congresses (18 yrs).

While I am not defending the amount of benefits and sweet deals provided to Members of Congress, everything we think we know or things we hear may not always be the case. If you would like to know the facts they are available at CRS Report For Congress, Retirement Benefits For Members of Congress

There are a lot of plans available and every Congressman or Senator must decide which plan is best for them. The bottom line, no Congressman or Senator automatically becomes eligible for a immediate full or reduced pension just because he has been elected to Congress.

Following are some of the plans:

Retirement with an immediate, reduced pension is available to Members aged 55 to 59 with at least 30 years of service. It is also allowed if the Member separates for a reason other than resignation or expulsion after having completed 25 years of service, or after reaching age 50 and with 20 years of service, or after having served in nine Congresses.

Retirement with a deferred, full pension is available if the Member leaves Congress before reaching the minimum age required to receive an immediate, unreduced pension and delays receipt until reaching the age at which full benefits are paid. A full pension can be taken at age 62 if the Member had five through nine years of federal service, or at age 60 if the Member had at least 10 years of service in Congress. At the time of separation, the Member must leave all contributions in the plan in order to be eligible for the deferred pension.

Retirement with a deferred, reduced pension is available to a Member at age 50 if he or she retired before that age and had at least 20 years of federal service, including at least 10 years as a Member of Congress.

Retirement Under FERS. There are four possible retirement scenarios for Members who are covered by FERS:
Retirement with an immediate, full pension is available to Members at age 62
or older with at least five years of federal service; at age 50 or older with at least 20 years of service; and at any age to Members with at least 25 years of service.

Retirement with an immediate, reduced pension is available at age 55 to Members born before 1948 with at least 10 years of service. The minimum age will increase to 56 for Members born from 1953 through 1964 and to 57 for those born in 1970 or later.

Retirement with a deferred, full pension is available at age 62 to former Members of Congress with at least five years of federal service.

Retirement with a deferred, reduced pension is available at the minimum retirement age of 55 to 57 (depending on year of birth) to a former Member who has completed at least 10 years of federal service. The pension annuity will be permanently reduced if it begins before age 62.4

Like everything in government and the media the truth is sometimes hard to find.

Technorati Tags:congress. retirement, senate, money, pension, government, media
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Obama Address and Buyer Remorse

by Ron Spangler

As part of President Obama's State of the Union Address word has been leaked that he is going to announce a partial spending freeze. Pundits on the right see it as a political gimmick and pundits on the left see it as surrendering his sole to the right. State_of_America sees it as just another con or bait and switch tactic by this centuries' greatest con-artist.

With the left hand he has increased spending by $24 Billion per year but with the right hand he will freeze future spending that will save less than $15 Billion per year. If passed he knows Congress will find ways to get around this partial freeze and continue spending like drunken sailors of olden days (sailors today have nothing to spend). If it doesn't pass he can blame Republicans and regain the trust and votes of Independents in the upcoming November 2010 elections. It is pure politics designed to help Democrats and stymie some of the spending criticism coming from his political opponents.

In a earlier post date September 24, 2009 Buyer's Remorse in America I called President Obama the greatest con artist of the 20th century and possibly the 21st century. If this latest scam wins favor with Independents it will confirm my analysis. In that post I said in part:

'The con artist or confidence artist has gone by many names throughout history. Flim Flam man, hustler, shyster, grifter and sham artist are only a few of the more common names of people that work off of the naivety, honesty, trust, and sometimes greed or dishonesty of the victims they encounter along their paths.

A huge misconception about the perfect con is that the con man is in it only for the money. After a few cons the money doesn't mean as much as the power and confidence he gains from pulling off the perfect con. There are many forms of con artist and con games going on around the world. The biggest con of all is in American politics.'

Unlike working people that see harder times coming their way and try to save as much as they can, this Administration and Congress will continue to spend outrageous amounts of money making the dollar worthless. By the end of 2010 this could end in bankruptcy for America. This idea of spending your way out of recession or depression is nothing new, witness the former Soviet Union. They more than any other country in recent history proved that a central government having total control of the economy and involvement in running private industry only ends in disaster.

Why are Democrats doing this? Are they really that stupid? The answer is pure elite arrogance. In their greed for more power and their arrogance in believing they have the answer for every question, they believe their progressive ideology is the answer. They believe a nation of one party rule is the answer for the 21st Century. They also believe this one party rule must closely follow the philosophy of the great philosopher Mao and the the freedom fighter Che Guevara. If you believe in this philosophy or idea then it is not stupid to believe you can make it happen. If you are so arrogant that you believe you have all the answers or the government is the answer, then this is the natural path to follow.

If on the other hand you look back in history you will find this idea to be stupid. Why, because you will find other world leaders have followed this path and led their countries to a complete and disastrous failure.

In the 20th century alone Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Che and others believed in and followed this path. All of these people had one thing in common. They were crazed power hungry ideologues. They believed government was the answer to everything and they must control the thoughts and minds of the people they governed. They did not believe in an individual's right to succeed or fail. They did not believe in an individual's right to question the path their government was taking. They believed people were too stupid to understand what was in the best interest of the country. They believed the common man was too stupid to understand the economy and how it works.

History today glorifies people like Mao especially CNN.com

"Few people in history deserve sole credit for changing the fate of an entire nation. One of them is Mao Tse-tung, the man who rose from the peasantry to become the pre-eminent revolutionary theorist, political leader and statesman of Communist China."

In reality all of these men were mass murderers and they all came to power during or after the Great Depression when the world was facing an economic collapse. They promised their people better times and a better way of life. By taking control of the market and nationalizing all of the industries, they had a short term success in turning around their economies. They built roads, bridges, buildings, and automobiles. But in the case of Germany the biggest industry was military arms. Everyone in one way or another worked for the government.

The problem with this type of Totalitarian, Communist, or Socialist society is it never works. To some extent they all followed the Marxist doctrine. Followers of Marxism or Mao don't understand a few simple truths. People demand their right to succeed or fail. People demand the right to question their government. People demand to decide what path their country is taking. People demand the right to decide how they are taxed and how the money is spent. People expect the media to be free from government influence and tell us the truth about what their freely elected officials are doing. Simply put people demand to be the free and independent people that controls their government, not the people that are controlled by the government. People in America desire and expect nothing less than the dreams our founding fathers envisioned in the Declaration of Independence and the rights given by the Constitution of the United States. American people will tolerate nothing less.

With the last few elections, especially in Massachusetts, America has sent Washington a message. It is not clear if they understand or if they are just too arrogant to care. One thing is certain, America will no longer be conned. Great speeches and grandiose promises will no longer allow the politicians to disregard the American people. President Obama can no longer treat us like he did the 6th grade class with his Presidential podium and teleprompters. Either change directions or your progressive supporters will be voted out and like President Clinton you will be isolated and forced to bow to the demands of the American people.

Technorati Tags:president obama, buyers remorse, america, depression, recession, economy, congress, unemployment, government, industries, market, industry, politician, polls, groups
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Elite Washington D C Insults America

by Ron Spangler

After watching the Sunday talk shows I could not help but feel the elite Washington D C talking points from the Democrat Party was insulting the intelligence of the American people. Their message coming from President Obama himself seems to be,

"Americans just don't understand. Even though we tried to spell out the benefits of the Health Care Bill, Americans are just too stupid to get it."

Even faced with the fact that Massachusetts Democrats and Independents rejected the Health Care Bill as written the elite Washington crowd insist that the voters just didn't understand. Could this be true? Could Americans really be this stupid, as President Obama once insinuated by saying we as Americans,

"...get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Their attitude is they must treat us like children or second class illiterate citizens much like Arlen Specter did Rep. Michele Bachmann when in a condescending tone said, "Now, wait a minute, I'll stop and you can talk," he said. "I'll treat you like a lady. Now act like one."

Her reply was, "Well, I am a lady."

Our reply to the elitist should be;

We did listen, we did understand but we do not agree.

We don't like the backdoor deals.

We don't like the government take over and government mandates.

We don't agree on such a wide sweeping government intrusion into our private lives and we don't agree on this Health Care Bill.

The news that President Obama is bringing back his old campaign manager David Plouffe can only mean President Obama and his team didn't get the message. They are determined to pass their idea of Health Care Reform regardless of what the people think or say. Evidently what Senator Obama insinuated, he really believes. Maybe we really are second class illiterate citizens that are: 'bitter, gun toting, bible thumping, anti-immigrant rednecks and must be treated like children'.

Or maybe, if we act intelligent and continue to stand together just maybe they will finally get our message. We are not too stupid to understand the direction they are taking us in. We see it, understand it and we refuse to follow their lead to further destroy our economy and our way of life.

We understand the economy better than they give us credit. It is not creating universal health care that will lead to lower unemployment rates, it is the higher the employment rate the higher number of people will have insurance coverage. It is really simple. If you have a permanent job you can either afford your own insurance coverage or odds are you will have the opportunity to join your employer's health care plan.

What people understand and know to be the truth is economics 101, without jobs this country can never afford universal health care. The message is clear, stop the spending and help business to put Americans back to work. Health Care Reform can be done on a smaller scale that will reduce the cost but if Americans have no place to live or food to eat health care reform will mean nothing.

Technorati Tags:health care, obama, government, economy, jobs, health, business, reform, washington, elite, democrats, politics, news guns, religion
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Common Sense Measures To Cut Health Care Cost

By Ron Spangler

With the Democrat Health Care Bill lying int its coffin maybe it is time for Congress to take a simple approach to lowering the cost of health health care in the United States. Some simple measures that could be acted upon and immediately passed come from ordinary people regardless of party affiliation. These are basic common sense measures that will not allow the government take over of health care or add to the cost of health insurance premiums.

Here are some simple measures that come to mind. Passing these in incremental bipartisan steps would allow Congress to take action now and move on to more important issues like reducing government spending, creating tax incentives so business can expand and start hiring again, helping small business entrepreneurs hire or expand, reducing taxes on consumers so they have more to invest or spend, reducing the debt and deficit, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil by allowing more drilling of our own domestic oil.

Reducing Health Care Cost Measures:

Encourage younger people to carry health insurance that is similar to a annuity life insurance policy. A percentage of the premium payed by the insured or the insured person's employer would be set aside and invested into a separate account to draw interest. After a set accumulation period not to exceed five years, the policy holder could have access to a percentage, not to exceed 50%, of the amount accumulated to help pay for out of pocket medical expenses or to cover the cost of any future premium increases. After the accumulation period has been reached the insurance would follow the policy holder throughout life regardless of a change to their employment. After reaching their full retirement age the policy holder would have full access to his account and have the opportunity to use this account to pay the monthly premiums of their policy. This type of policy could not be restricted to one particular age group and must be offered as a single or family option plan. The cost of this type of policy could not exceed the fair market value of other plans made available by insurance companies offering this plan.

Allow insurance companies to compete across state lines.

Ban preexisting condition exclusions in insurance policies.

Ban insurance companies from canceling policy due to catastrophic illness or injury.

Ban hospitals and medical practitioners from charging people with insurance more than they would charge people without insurance.

Reform Anti-Trust Law for insurance companies.

Pass Medical Tort Reform.

Restrict hospitals and medical practitioners from charging patients with insurance more than they have agreed to pay the insurance company. If hospitals or practitioners have entered into an agreement with insurance companies to accept x amount of dollars for services rendered then they should not be allowed to bill the patient for any additional amount the insurance company refuses to pay.

Restrict insurance companies from arbitrarily deciding what the going rate for a particular procedure for a given area should be.

Restrict hospitals and practitioners from charging none medical fees to patients, i. e. administrative fees, professional fees, etc. All non medical charges should be considered as the cost of doing business and should be tax deductible instead of fees passed on to the patient. Processing paperwork, maintenance of a facility, cost for new construction, or additional cost to cover the uninsured should have nothing to do with the actual treatment received by a patient.

These are simple things that can be passed with bi-partisan support and would immediately reduce the cost of medical care and insurance premiums. Hospitals charging $25-$50 for an aspirin or insurance companies arbitrarily deciding the acceptable rate for a particular procedure and then paying only 80% of that rate is ridiculous. Allowing the medical field to charge administrative and professional fees to patients is unethical. Allowing the medical field to overcharge patients and then ruin the patient's credit for not paying anything the insurance company refuses to pay is extortion. Not holding lawyers responsible for frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent claims is criminal.

Technorati Tags:insurance, health care, health care cost, government, insurance company, health, business, family, jobs, congress, tax, united states, premiums, hospitals, doctors, medicine
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

After Boston Tea Party, What Now For Health Care

by Ron Spangler

After the Boston Tea Party 2nd revolution what will the Democrats do about Health Care? It is clear the White House didn't get the message. According to David Axelrod on MSNBC: "Mass vote was more about jobs (Fault of Bush) than it was about Health Care" REALLY?

Again on MSNBC Axelrod and Gibbs would not agree Brown victory was meant to be a "Wake-Up Call" to Obama and the Democrats:



According to Axelrod and Gibbs halting health reform 'not an option'.

Evidently they just don't get it. The message from Massachusetts voters was the same as the message from the majority of voters around the country, 'Stop the Health Care Bill, Stop Expanding Government, Stop the Spending, Stop What You Are Doing'.

Some Democrats did hear the people and they are listening. Some in the House are suggesting they go back to the basics. They are taking the Republican view of reforming Health Care incrementally. What does this mean, breaking it down and fix Health Care issues one step at a time.

Where could they start?

Cut the cost:

Open up insurance across state lines.

Ban precondition exclusions in insurance policies.

Ban insurance companies from canceling policy due to catastrophic illness or injury.

Ban hospitals and medical practitioners from charging people with insurance more than they would charge people without insurance.

Reform Anti-Trust Law for insurance companies.

Pass Medical Tort Reform.

Restrict hospitals and medical practitioners from charging patients with insurance more than they have agreed to pay the insurance company.

Restrict insurance companies from arbitrarily deciding what the going rate for a particular procedure for a given area should be.

Restrict hospitals and practitioners from charging none medical fees to patients, i. e. administrative fees, professional fees, etc.

These are simple things that can be passed with bi-partisan support and would immediately reduce the cost of medical care and insurance premiums. Hospitals charging $25-$50 for an aspirin or insurance companies arbitrarily deciding the acceptable rate for a particular procedure and then paying only 80% of that rate is ridiculous. Allowing the medical field to charge administrative and professional fees to patients is unethical. Allowing the medical field to overcharge patients and then ruin the patient's credit for not paying anything the insurance company refuses to pay is extortion. Not holding lawyers responsible for frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent claims is criminal.

Massachusetts and the American people have spoken. Obama and every Washington politician better listen. Neither party is safe come November 2010. As for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC: Race Has Nothing To Do With It!!

Technorati Tags:obama, health, health care, democrats, medical, hospitals, washington, boston, voters, tea party, message, msnbc, insurance
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Haiti Turning Into Obama Katrina

by Ron Spangler

I wrote the this post seven days after the Haitian earthquake. The following video is a recent video that only validates my concern. This is in Port-au-Prince Haiti virtually the only area the media has covered for the first seven days of the crisis. Watch the video and read the following post.



Could Haiti turn into Obama's Katrina? If the situation is not brought under control very soon, things will become extremely dangerous and ugly for the United States. The answer to the question is a definite yes.

Seven days into the crisis and few desperately needed supplies are reaching are being distributed outside of the capital of Haiti. The Obama administration warned the media not to venture too far away from the airport and asked the media to limit news of violence and unrest in the areas outside of the capital.

Some would argue that it would be counter productive to broadcast too much of what is really going on in areas that cannot be reached for security reasons. This is probably true but it leaves the impression that things are going better than they really are and the situation is improving daily. This is not the case for areas 15 or more miles away from the capital. There are areas both large and small from Cap-Haitien to Les Cayes that have been devastated the same as the capital with hundreds of people dieing daily. Seven days later very little food or medical supplies have reached these areas. Our military has started setting up areas to drop supplies but they cannot police the areas to prevent it from becoming chaotic. Secretary of Defense Gates announced our military would have no police action authority in Haiti. They have the right of self defense but if the situation becomes chaotic or violent their only alternative action would be to leave the area.

President Obama and the State Department insist they are working with the Haitian government but in reality the Haitian government has totally collapsed. Most of the government officials have been killed or simply disappeared. Except for the Haitian President very little is left of Haiti's government. The Haitian police have no control of the cities and 90% of the police force have simply walked away. Areas that have been taken over by roaming gangs are not challenged by the U.N. Security Force. Like all U. N. Security detachments they are not authorized the use of deadly force if confronted by a opposition force. Now the U N has called for more international forces. They say they need more forces in order to police the country and stabilize the the upsurge in violence.

It is only a matter of time before the really bad news starts to come out in the mainstream media. As more and more people die and the violence escalates the media will have no choice but report it. When this happens people around the world will be horrified and the comparison of the response to the Katrina Hurricane and the Haiti earthquake will begin. The President will deny any attempt to censure the news coming out of Haiti and the media will simply say they couldn't get to these areas to report the true devastation and slow response of the rescue and humanitarian efforts. Seven days into this effort there is still a lack of coordination in getting much needed help to the areas outside of the capital and the airport is running out of room to stock these supplies.

Until this effort is completely turned over to the United States Military the lack of coordination will continue to cost lives. When it is finally turned over to the military and they begin to deliver the much needed help, chaos will break out all over Haiti. In some areas the military may have to use deadly force to protect themselves and deliver aid, if this happens some in the media will turn against the military and accuse them of being too heavy handed. Unfortunately some in our military may find themselves in a situation where they could face prosecution for simply doing their job.

While I commend the administration for its quick action I am afraid they have taken too long to plan a course of action. This should have been turned over to the U S Military in the very beginning, after all Haiti is in our own backyard. The Pentagon has contingency plans for just about every crisis imaginable. As soon as the news came out in Haiti our military personnel should have been put on standby. The U.N and the President of Haiti should have been told the United States was willing and ready to take control of the situation. Instead government agencies and civilian organizations started rushing in civilian personnel to assess the damage, this created chaos at the airport and slowed the American response. It wasn't until the U S Air Force took control of the airport and started limiting commercial aircraft that the situation at the airport became manageable.

The American people will continue to give the same as they did during Katrina. After Katrina the American will not stand for another bureaucratic debacle that cost innocent lives when they could have been prevented. When a crisis develops this close to home, speed and immediate action is of the utmost importance. Americans expect that deliberating a plan of action and acting on this plan should be accomplished within the first 24 hrs. Watching from the outside I am afraid we have learned nothing from Katrina. It looks like we are still tied up by bureaucracy and infighting between government officials.

Technorati Tags:obama, haiti, earthquake, military, crisis, united states, media, katrina, people
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Wall Street 2010 Bubble Ready To Burst

by Ron Spangler

Looking at the year ahead it is not hard to see another economic disaster looming in the near future. Like every Socialist program put forward in 2009 by the Socialist Democrat Party led by President Obama, the Health Care and Energy Bill of 2010 will be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the United States economy. President Obama and his Socialist colleagues in his own secret government of Czars and media cohorts like MSNBC and CNN are doing everything possible to spin the true state of America's economy. By using temporary employment numbers to decrease the real unemployment numbers they are misleading the American people. The reasoning for reporting an increase in temporary jobs is pure politics and a attempt to gloss over the reality that the economic situation of the average American has reached the point of desperation.

The media supporting President Obama and the Socialist Democrats that have taken over the Democrat Party must stem the tide of the Tea Party activist. The media fully understands that the Tea Party movement threatens to bring down this government and their Socialist programs in the Nov 2010 elections. Early on the media hitched their wagon to the Obama Socialist agenda and are so heavily invested that they cannot afford to abandon the agenda regardless of the consequences.

Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have been watching and taking advantage of the turmoil going on within the Democrat political party and economic recession facing the American people. After studying the reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union, the present day terrorist leaders understand that the best way to destroy America is to bankrupt our economy. With the election of Barack Obama they consider this to be the most opportune time to bring America to her knees and achieve their goal of destroying our economy. In their view a weak America cannot afford a strong defense and cannot afford to fight a global war on terror.

The attacks in Little Rock Arkansas, Fort Hood Texas and Detroit Michigan were designed to do two things. One was create fear in the market place and airline industry, the other was to disrupt the normal everyday flow of business in America. So the American people would not be alarmed, the government and media played down the Little Rock and Fort Hood attacks as everyday criminal acts perpetrated by deranged American citizens. The President, his administration officials and some in the media tried to play down the Christmas day bomber in Detroit but it was impossible. To every American except the President we knew we were under another terrorist attack. Since the connections of the Christmas day bomber and the other Muslim attackers have come out the media and the President find themselves in a difficult position. It has become impossible to defend their previous position but they still try.

After the dismal and utterly failed attempts to con the American people on what really happened in Detroit, the President came out trying to act tough and promising to take the appropriate action to ensure this never happens again. Sounded nice to some but the Islamic Jihad terrorist hell bent on destroying America are laughing all the way to their terrorist camps. They consider this president as strong in rhetoric but weak in spine. They have watched time after time as this president gave out ultimatums and deadlines to enemies of America. They have watched to see the ultimatums and deadlines turn out to be nothing more than empty rhetoric that no one fears. Now they are watching as the President turns his attention back to the economy and his promise to fundamentally transform America. They know that in the mind of this President the situation is under control and due to his strong speech the problem of terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda have been dealt with. The problem for America is the Islamic Imams that are organizing and funding the terrorist will never stop because the President offers a feel good tough sounding speech. Because of their distorted view of Islam these Imams will never stop trying to destroy America, Israel, England and the rest of the western world. By calling the people attacking us extremist, President Obama is doing nothing but playing right into the hands of the Imams.

Very soon the Health Care Bill will be passed and signed into law by the President. As soon as the final Bill is passed in the Senate and House, the Senate will take up the Energy Bill that was previously passed through the House. As the Senate works on a compromise Energy Bill the House will take up their Immigration Bill. Just as the Health Care Bill was forced down the American citizen's throats, so will the next two Bills to come out of Congress. Unfortunately for our country by the Summer of 2010 everything will most likely come to a disastrous climax. The unintended or maybe intended consequences of the new regulations, taxes and pending Bills before Congress will cause the already escalating oil prices to reach a point that cause the artificial prices in the market to collapse. Any successful attack on the United States by a terrorist group will hasten the dramatic increase in prices and accelerate the collapse of Wall Street.

Nothing we as Americans can say or do will change the ideology of this President or his Socialist Democrat Party. He and his followers are living in their own ideological world of illusions. They honestly believe that through a Lansky Marxist style world economy they can persuade the Muslim extremist to put down their weapons and partake in the new world Utopia they are designing. The only thing that angers President Obama is the temporary distraction these terror attacks cause. He cannot afford the Congress' attention be taken away from the tasks at hand, Health Care, Energy, Immigration Reform and transforming America. With Americans becoming angrier every day the President can ill afford distractions. If his Socialist Democrat Party's agenda is not fulfilled by the next election he may not have enough votes in the Congress to complete his Socialist transformation. If the government spending and artificial prices controlling the market collapse, the bubble will burst again. When this happens President Obama will be remembered as the worst President in the history of the United States.

Technorati Tags:president obama, obama, economy, united states, state of america, wall street, marxist, terrorist
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

DHS Budget Cuts Endangers Security

by Ron Spangler

Before the Christmas Day terror attack on flight #253 into Detroit the new FY 2010 budget went into effect for Department of Homeland Security. While there was an increase in the overall budget, due to reallocation of funds within the Department some agencies actually experienced a budget cut in security measures.

One of the areas experiencing the biggest cut was in the Border Patrol. In Secretary Napolitano's FY 2010 Budget Request released May 7, 2009 she bragged about the Department's efforts in "preventing the smuggling of people, drugs, cash and weapons across our nation’s borders while facilitating international trade and travel."

The news release went on to say they had created a new initiative to disrupt the flow of drugs, cash and weapons that are fueling the drug cartels in Mexico. When it comes to our Southern borders it is clear Secretary Napolitano doesn't consider our Border Patrol Agents as an essential part of the effort to control attempts of would be terrorist from entering our country. In her list of priorities she recognizes the primary function of DHS is to protect the American people from terrorist attacks. Evidently when it comes to the Border Patrol she does not consider protecting the American public from terrorist and the threat of terrorist weapons entering the United States as part of their mission.

Since the attack on 9/11 the structure and mission of CBP and our Border Patrol Agents have taken a drastic turn. They are no longer simply looking for illegals or fruits and vegetables that could damage our well being. They are a large part of our first line of defense against terrorist looking for any opportunity to attack and kill Americans. While the public and media focuses most of their attention on the illegal immigration aspect of the agent's job, they fail to recognize the job agents are doing everyday and night along our Southern borders. Since their primary mission has been changed and they have been designated as the primary federal law enforcement agency designed to protect Americans from terrorist attacks they have been extremely successful. Until the Christmas 2009 attack on flight #253 no terrorist had been able to penetrate our border security and carry out a successful attack on the homefront. With the attack of 2009 and reallocation of funds this is about to change in 2010.

Secretary Napolitano believes the best way to fight terrorism is to add more desk jobs and technology by additional funds for resourcing the expansion of information-sharing partnerships with local and state law enforcement. What she doesn't say is she is taking funding away from the everyday operations of the Border Patrol to pay for this expansion. In her budget request she brags about the additional manpower she has planned for different agencies within DHS. Included in this number is a paltry 44 additional Border Patrol agents for FY 2010. This will not cover the loss of agents along our Southern borders due to natural attrition, transfers and increased violence coming from Mexico.

Agents in most of the sectors along our Southern borders have been experiencing long hours requiring overtime for the majority of 2009. It is not uncommon for agents in the field to work 12 or more hours a day, everyday, 5 days a week. Using a weird formula for determining overtime pay they are restricted from receiving overtime pay equal to their counterparts in the private sector. Agents normally earn from 10% to 25% extra pay for overtime based on the number of hours worked. The number of hours a agent can claim has always been limited but with the new FY 2010 budget the amount of overtime hours has been drastically reduced in certain sectors. Due to operational budget cuts, agents in these sectors have been told when their shift ends they must stop what they are doing and return to their official duty stations. What this means is some areas along the border will not be patrolled during certain hours of the day. This will undoubtedly create holes in our first line of defense against would be terrorist, smugglers, criminals, or illegals. Creating unmanned corridors along our borders that allows the free flow of illegal entry into the interior is a unintended consequence of decisions being made by this administration.

A lot is expected from agents in the field and we seldom hear anything in the media in support of what they do. For the most part they are either ridiculed by the open borders section of America or just forgotten by the national media. In less than 2 years 2 agents were murdered by illegals. One was killed by a smuggler and the other was executed supposedly by a lone teenager that confessed to doing it while trying to rob the agent. He struck a deal receiving a 20 year sentence. Very little for executing a father, husband and federal law enforcement agent performing his duty of protecting Americans from would be terrorist and criminals targeting our country.

It is clear this administration and for the most part the American people will continue to misunderstand or simply ignore the vital role these agents play in protecting our country. Maybe after the next successful terrorist attack, and it is determined that the terrorist crossed through our Southern border, this administration will wake up. Reallocating funds and manpower but still expecting a understaffed agency to fulfill their mission is naive and dangerous. It shows a distinct misunderstanding of the threats facing the United States and the American people. Agents along our borders are men and women no different than other American men and women serving in our military and other areas that have taken the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We cannot expect people that risk their lives everyday and night to continue to perform their duties at the highest possible level without support from the people they are trying to protect.

President Obama earlier in 2009 announced he would reduce the number of agents deployed along our Southern borders and transfer hundreds to our Northern borders. Now with the reallocation of funding creating budget cuts in some of our Southern border sectors he is basically telling our agents we expect more for less. This is a recipe for disaster. After the 2009 Christmas Day attack I hope but don't expect that President Obama and Secretary Napolitano will rethink their strategy on the terror threat facing America.

Technorati Tags:terror, terrorist, napolitano, obama, department homeland security, border, border patrol, security, drugs, law
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

Obama, Delusional and Mentally Incompetent

by Ron Spangler

After the Christmas day attack on board flight 253 some serious questions are beginning to surface about the United States President. Before the attack people praised Barack Obama as highly intelligent, articulate and a constitutional scholar. The biggest question his critics could muster was if he had Socialist intentions for the United States. With his actions and statements since Christmas more serious questions must be raised.

Does Barack Obama have a mental disorder that will not allow him to face reality?

Is he in a delusional state of mind that restricts his ability to separate facts from fantasies?

Is he mentally incompetent and unable to distinguish the difference between our friends and enemies?

These are questions I never thought I would ask about any President of the United States but these are desperate and scary times. If we look at the world the way it really is and look at the world the way Barack Obama sees it, something is clearly wrong. The United States economy is still on the edge of destruction and unemployment is still at a record high but Barack sees it coming back strong and the worst being behind us. With the high unemployment and consumer spending down, government tax revenue is dwindling. Normal people would stop borrowing and spending but Barack Obama believes we should borrow and spend more. He goes to China, our biggest debtor, with hat in hand asking for more loans. They scold him on excessive spending and the falling value of the dollar. He returns home speaking about reaching a mutual understanding and economic agreement between the two nations. In the meantime China publicly ridicules him and warns they may agree to drop the dollar as the world reserve currency. Obama refuses to hear the warnings and criticism and decides to force through a health care plan that may cripple the United States for generations to come.

He believes in Global Warming and sees the world being destroyed if the nations of the world do not follow his lead and advice. Scientist disagree on the cause and even if mankind can make a difference but he doesn't hear the opposition and refuses to listen to dissenters of the Global Warming theory. He goes to Copenhagen promising to come back with an agreement that will change the way mankind deals with the effects of global warming. Again China refuses to discuss the matter by sending a low level minister that has no authority to broker any agreements with anyone. Obama representing the United States at the highest level did not see this as an insult but returned home with a fantasy story about agreeing to have future talks to agree on something. It made no sense but some in the media bent over backwards to clean it up.

After taking office the first thing he did was order the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Military Prison. He had no plan but in his mind it was simple, if I say it will be done then it will be done. He told America and the world it would be closed within a year and then he walked away from it. In March he decided the War On Terror was over and using Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano started calling terrorist, extremist instead. Terrorist attacks became man made disasters. He went to South America and met Venezuela President Chavez during the Summit of the Americas where Chavez clapped him on the back and gave him a book. Obama never understood it to be an insult but rather an opportunity to settle past disagreements between the United States and Chavez. At the first opportunity Chavez blasted the United States and ridiculed Obama calling him another Bush.

After the Fort Hood terror attack by Maj Hasan, Obama went to a previously scheduled event hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. After being introduced he jubilantly recognized the staffers and laughingly gave a "shout out" to "Dr Joe Medicine Crow, that Congressional Medal of Honor Winner." It took three minutes into his speech for him to say anything about the Fort Hood shootings. When he did he called it a "horrible incident". In the days and weeks that followed he still would not call it a terrorist act, even though the rest of the country recognized it as an act of terror.

After the terror attack on flight 253 it took over two hours for the President to be notified. Three days after the attack and only after Janet Napolitano made a fool out of herself on the weekend news shows, Obama finally broke his silence. In his speech he never recognized it as an Al Qaeda directed act of terror, instead he called it an "extremist act" and "incident of one lone extremist". It was perfectly clear to everyone including most of the media it was a terrorist attack directed by Al Qaeda in Yemen.

It was after Obama's speech that Al Qaeda in Yemen posted a statement claiming responsibility and warning of more attacks to follow. Obama gave a second speech partially defending Napolitano by saying after the attack the system worked to stop anymore potential attacks from occurring. He did say the system failed and ordered a review on his desk within two days. He still never referred to it as an act of terror and called the Al Qaeda connected terrorist an extremist. In both speeches it was clear from the expression on his face, President Obama didn't understand what was going on and didn't really believe what he was saying.

President Obama is still considering returning some of the GITMO prisoners to Yemen even though two of the previous detainees were returned to Yemen and now are leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen. His determination to treat both acts of terror as criminal acts has most of the country bewildered.

Whether President Obama is suffering from some form of a delusional break down from reality or is just in a state of denial is something a qualified psychologist will have to determine. The question some Americans are beginning to ask:

Does President Obama have the mental stability or is he competent enough to remain as Commander In Chief during a time of war?

Technorati Tags:obama, war, terror, terrorist, united states, global warming, economy, president
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

President Obama Terrorist Not A Threat

by Ron Spangler

If it wasn't clear to President Obama supporters in the past it is clear today, when it comes to terrorist attacks President Obama is a weak leader.

Unlike President Bush this president has decided to take a low key leadership role when America is under attack. Since the Christmas day attack President Obama has made zero public appearances. Rather than appearing on camera to reassure the public that everything is under control the president has decided to work out in the gym and play golf while vacationing in Hawaii.

This is to be expected of President Obama. After all, after the Fort Hood killings this administration refused to classify and prosecute the attack as a terrorist attack. In the most recent attack that was thwarted only by the fact that the explosive device failed to explode and the passengers taking swift action President Obama and some in the media have been reluctant to make the connection of the suspect to Al Qaeda. It is perfectly clear to most people that this was carried out by Al Qaeda out of Yemen.

The president may think his nonappearance will be more reassuring but it will most likely have the opposite effect. It also will send the message to other terrorist that President Obama is not President Bush and will not take these terrorist attempts seriously. This is reminiscent of the Clinton Administration of the 90s'. Attack after attack was treated as a criminal act and never given the full benefit of a terrorist threat or act of war. To most Americans this is the wrong direction for this president to be taking and is nothing less than a sign of weak leadership skills.

It is Sunday the second day since the Christmas terrorist failed attempt to bring down a U S plane and kill innocent civilians over a U S city. The president has decided to send his cabinet people to all of the talk show circuits instead of addressing the situation himself. Evidently resident Obama is worried that without his teleprompter he might say the wrong thing, thereby opening himself up to public ridicule. With his performance rating dropping like a large rock the president must be more concerned about his political standings than the security of the country.

If this sounds like a harsh critical review of the president's handling of the recent terrorist attack, then I have done my job. Since President Obama has taken office this is clearly the second terrorist attack whether the president believes it or not. We all know the president has worked really hard on his domestic agenda and needs to recharge before the next fight over health care but nothing including health care is more important than our country coming under attack by agents of Al Qaeda. It is bad enough we have murderers of Federal Agents and Marines sitting in Mexico while this Administration does nothing, it is absolutely intolerable and inexcusable for the country to come under attack and the president say nothing for two or three days.

Technorati Tags:obama, president, terrorist, war, barack obama, attacks, security, president bush
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator