From Mike Walker (retired USMC Colonel)

Several points about Somalia.

A. No one should consider a long-term “stabilization /nation building” operation for that unfortunate land. Why? A short “History of Somalia” may answer the question.

Historically, there were once a handful of thriving coastal city-states on the Somali shoreline, most notably Mogadishu, which brought peace, stability and wealth to the enclaved population. The hinterland, on the other hand, was always the home of decentralized nomadic clans living marginally above the subsistence level. But there has never been an historic nation of Somalia in recorded history.

The European (Italian, British, and French) powers colonized the region in the 19th century but there efforts had a minimal effect on creating a unified nation. The Italians poured in millions of dollars always with a losing result. The British basically maintained a “do no harm” policy. The coast was kept peaceful by leaving the nomads alone. They invested little or nothing with a similar expectation on any return. The French simply never left. They are still their today in their little corner of the region (Djibouti).

Perhaps because of its lack of perceived (real?) value, Somalia was one of the first Sub-Saharan African countries to gain independence from its colonial masters in 1960. It quickly reached the status quo of a failed state by the late 1970’s. It has remained much the same ever since.

If some one else wants to try to recreate the Somali city-state pockets of stability in a hope that it will tame the inland deserts, more power to them but now is not the time for the United States to consider such a risky undertaking.

B. Is this “piracy stuff” linked to the war on terror?

It is now acknowledged that the first two attacks by al Qaeda against the United States took place on 29 December 1992 in Yemen, home of Usama bin Laden. It was directed against US forces there preparing to participate in the Somalia humanitarian aid mission Operation Restore Hope.

This fact is brought to the fore for several reasons. First, we didn’t even know that al Qaeda existed at that point in time even though it had been operational for as long as four years. Perhaps that is because it was operating under front names such as the International Benevolence Foundation and the al Kifah Refugee Center.

Second, the same bases used by the pirates today were used then to smuggle weapons and al Qaeda operatives into Somalia from Yemen during Operation Restore Hope. At the very least the smugglers then and the pirates today are almost certainly from the same clans. It would not be surprising to discover they are the same groups and even have some of the same outlaw members from the 1990’s.

Third, there would not have been the level of sophistication in the Somali warlord forces during the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” battle in Mogadishu had it not been for al Qaeda and the Somali smugglers/pirates. The point is what is real and what we think is real about today’s piracy is not necessarily the same thing.

We underestimated the complexity of the situation then. We underestimated the resources available to our opponents then. We underestimated the true motives of our opponents then. We underestimated the emboldening consequences of being perceived as having been bested by our enemy.

Anyone who claims that the pirates are not connected in any meaningful degree to al Qadea is just wasting everyone’s time in a useless exercise of wishful thinking. The real question is how connected are they are now and how is the relationship evolving.

C. Economics 101

Getting the incentives right is the toughest part of any progressive economic policy. In the case of Somalia, it never worked out under the colonial powers. It never worked out under successive pro-Western or pro-Soviet governments in the Cold War. Hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign development aid never did the trick. Well if we couldn’t succeed then we certainly are doing a great job of setting Somalia up for further failure. Talk about a textbook example of creating the worst possible incentive. A few years ago, the Somali pirates were taking in a few million dollars. Last year, estimates are in $50 million range. This year, they look to reach $100M.

We failed in helping Somalia but we have done a grand job of turning them into huge criminal enterprise. Cheers! The silver lining is that the figures are just huge. If we really want to turn this around and get to the bottom of it we just need to follow the money.

And therein lies the rub. Clearly a few pennies make their way into the local community, but that is a distraction. Big bucks never stay in Somalia. So where are they? More importantly, do we have the guts to face the answer? I ask this because after the Oil-for-Food corruption/criminal operation, I doubt that some “power that be” in the international community really want anyone to get to the bottom of this operation. They would like to put it to bed with the killing of some hapless Somali pirates, if need be, and quickly change the subject.

If any fool thinks that these are just a few simple fishermen who have turned to piracy out of dire necessity then I have hedge fund for you to invest in. I believe Bernie Madoff is pulling it together using mortgage backed securities created by Fannie Mae. Even better, your investment is totally secure because it is protected by credit default swap derivatives from AIG Financial Products. Make checks payable to the Somali Benevolence Foundation.

D. What do we do next?

First, let us give President Obama high marks for handling this crisis. He adeptly avoided legitimatizing these guys by refusing to become personally engaged with them. He refused to be intimidated or enfeebled by the crimes of the pirates by choosing decisive action.

So what is next? We should seriously consider putting U.S. Marines on all U.S. flagged vessels sailing through the stretch of the Indian Ocean as an appropriate defensive step that applies only to the situation in Somalia. This can be done under the envelope of UNSCR 1816. Make this an overt move and state openly that the Marines and U.S. Navy in order to prevent, repress, and/or deter acts of piracy and armed robbery will use force.

That should create a nice little test of competing economic incentives, attack U.S. flagged vessels and die or go elsewhere to get rich.

Semper Fi,

Mike

From Mike Walker...(well said!)

All,

Moving On

The President did not get it entirely right in his address earlier this week.

What he should have said is “The era characterized by too much reckless borrowing and spending by too many is now being replaced by an era of too much reckless spending by too many in Big Government.

This is NOT the change our Country was either promised or needs.

Semper Fi,

Mike

Tea, anyone?

Have you been depressed lately concerning the incoherence that is our "New Nation"? I have been experiencing that as well.

This all reminds me of the old sage "Young people begin to see the wisdom of their parents as their own lives unfold".... geez, I hope that it won't be too late for "O" to mature as the realities of our dangerous world and the things that have made this country great begin to evaporate. A broad and general strike might be the order of the day, or just a 10 million person tea party.

Read Scott Johnson at Powerline to fill in the blanks... you may have to cut and paste...

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/03/023140.php

Bonus Rage: Right Message – Wrong Messengers

(A note from Mike Walker)

All,

There is justifiable anger over the bonus situation at AIG and other firms. I am both disappointed and angry. In their defense, there is nothing wrong with rewarding good performance especially if those rewards are transparent and part of a legally binding contract. If that is the case then pay the employees. We desperately need more good performers in the financial sector just now.

But what is not transparent is what the financial consequences were for the folks who brought the business down. If you lost $ billions did you lose you job or get a bonus? If you oversaw the disaster as senior management what consequences did you face? Where was the board that was supposed to protect the shareholders? What price did they pay?

One thing is for sure, none of those bums should get a penny in bonuses.

And, as a guy who plays by the rules, what are the consequences of all those folks who played the "liar loan" game?

Is some judge now going to write down the loan on their super house to the same size as that of the decent folks who live in homes like my very nice but far more modest abode?

Does that mean the "Liar's Club" members are going to make big bucks later when the housing market recovers and they sell their McMansion for much more than my modest home when both of us paid the same mortgage bill? So much for the American Dream and our trust in the government to look out for the middleclass.

And don’t fall for that “it’s too hard” to find the “liar” mortgages malarkey. Any government official who says that is the biggest liar of all.

If the IRS can do a very good and competent job of tracking and verifying the tax returns for tens if not hundreds of millions of individual Americans and the President can push for 21^st century IT systems in healthcare that can individually track information on hundreds of millions of Americans saving us billions of dollars then the selfsame government can certainly identify the liars and not conspire with them in gaining an ill-gotten financial windfall.

And why does the Washington bailout allow for big-time winners and losers in the financial crisis? Madoff is wickedly reckless with $40 billion or so and his investors get what, 3 cents on the dollar? Meanwhile Countrywide is reckless by giving birth to hundreds of $ billions in losses yet Angelo Mozilo goes out the door with OVER $100,000,000 stuffed in his golden parachute. Unbelievable.

These are some of the reasons why so many folks do not trust Washington to solve problems in the economy.

And that gets to the next big issue. The messengers I see on TV and read about in the newspapers as well as on the internet, the politicians who are supposed be looking out for us, are all deeply mobbed up in the scam.

Let us look at three of our supposed champions of the little guys like me.

Here at home in California we have Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. Here is what she said during a hearing back in 2003 when the issue of new regulation to rein in the risky behavior of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was being urged (You remember Fannie and Freddie, they are the two busted government sponsored enterprises (GSE's) that played a major role in the current financial meltdown):

"…if it ain’t broke why do you want to fix it? Have the GSE’s ever missed their housing goals?”

And

“Mr. Chairman we do not have crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines. Everything in the 1992 act has worked just fine. In fact the GSE’s exceeded their housing goals.”

How and why GSE’s Fannie and Freddie were exceeding those goals was precisely the problem. As for “outstanding” Frank Raines, well, he was forced to resign a year or so later when an “Enron-like” accounting scandal broke at Fannie Mae. He is currently awaiting trial in a lawsuit brought by the regulators to recover $115 million in bonus payments made to Fannie executives. Sound familiar? AIG? GSE? As Yogi Berra once said, “Its déjà vu all over again.”

But more on the “housing goals” problem later for the good Congresswoman also appears to be up to some shenanigans regarding all the bank bailout monies floating around.

As it happens, her husband has hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock with OneUnited Bank where he was, until recently, a board member. It appears the bank is in trouble and (like all the big bosses in the financial industry) he doesn’t want to lose any of his money. A few weeks ago, she conveniently set up a meeting between the Treasury Department (who pays out the bank bailout money) and a group of bankers to discuss “policy.” She also ensured that a senior executive from OneUnited Bank was in the group.

To put the icing on the cake, somehow Congresswoman Waters forgot to mention this potential conflict of interest to the Treasury Department. Here is what the Atlantic reported about her actions in a short piece entitled “Maxine Waters: crazy like a fox.”

'"Here you had a tiny community bank that comes in and they are not proposing a broader policy -- they were asking for help for themselves," said Stephen Lineberry, a former Treasury aide who attended the meeting. "I don't remember that ever happening before."

Ms. Waters declined on Tuesday to comment on the meeting, or to say whether her husband still owned shares of OneUnited. Her staff released two letters that showed the meeting had been initially called to discuss industry concerns broadly.'

How can we count on someone like Congresswoman Waters to do the right thing for the American people in this crisis when she is busy looking out for “numero uno” while missing the big problems? The answer is we should not.

Number two on our hit parade is Senator Chris Dodd. He is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Senator Dodd quite probably takes the prize for pure chutzpah. He was one the “big three” for top-dollar political contributions from Fannie Mae. He has made a couple of “sweetheart” real estate deals with discredited Wall Street insider trader Edward Downe, who was “only” convicted of securities fraud, wire fraud, and filing false income tax returns. And let us not forget that Senator Dodd was not only the biggest recipient of political contributions by Angelo Mozilo’s now defunct Countrywide but he was also given the special mortgage treatment (spelt s-a-v-e b-i-g b-u-c-k-s) by Countrywide as part of what was known as the “Friends of Angelo” program.

And what did this appear to buy? During the drive discussed above to regulate Fannie Mae in 2003 he put together a filibuster team to ensure that GSE regulation was dead in the Senate. Senator Dodd successfully lobbied President Clinton to get Mr. Downe a pardon for his conviction. Not surprisingly, Senator Dodd did this without getting the normally required pre-approval from the Justice Department. And when Countrywide started to go under in the great mortgage meltdown (in which it played a large role), Senator Dodd introduced legislation that would have pushed $ billions in taxpayer bailouts in the direction of companies like Countrywide. I guess the “Friends of Chris” program is the real winning ticket for the well connected, sorry Angelo.

Our last tainted hero is the leader of the pack, Congressman Barney Frank. He is Maxine Waters’ boss as the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. A good argument can be made that this guy bears more personal responsibility for the unprecedented mortgage meltdown than any other elected official in the nation. Where to begin? How about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, our two broke GSE pals that are now run directly by the government? Their financial failure is going to cost the American Taxpayers who knows how many billions of dollars to bailout.

And the real shame is that all the writing was on the wall. The cause was plain old greed. It began in 1998 when the head of Fannie Mae told their Wall Street investors that he would double the price of Fannie Mae stock by 2003. As Vanity Fair reported in their article “Fannie Mae’s Last Stand:”

“”All the V.P.’s in the company looked at each other and said, ‘How is that going to happen?”’ says a former executive. The promise, combined with the lure of financial rewards, created an unhealthy pressure throughout the company.”

One very unhealthy result was that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gave the equivalent of the “good housekeeping seal of approval” on all the Sub-Prime and Alt-A Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS’s) and the firms that created the mortgages. In the past, these types of firms made big bucks in good times and usually went bankrupt in any downturn. They were marginal players for those with a taste for high-risk profits and losses.

Overnight Fannie Mae took the bad-boy, high-risk players in the mortgage business out of the back alley and put them on Main Street. They made the gamblers legitimate. They had to. The only way to keep Fannie’s share price sky high was to generate more and more mortgage revenue and these guys could deliver. That is why Fannie Mae was always exceeding its housing goals. Exceeding the goals was a key indicator that something was wrong but for our heroes it was a grand measure of success not an omen of pending doom.

And Congressmen Frank was the unstinting cheerleader of this recklessness. As U.S. News and World Report pointed out in “Barney Frank’s Fannie and Freddie Muddle,” he dismissed those who warned of the coming disaster…

“These two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis.”

George Orwell would have been proud. But to really see his political art, consider the regulation fiasco of Fannie and Freddie in 2003. It is hard to overestimate how clever this guy is. Consider this little canard of a press release:

“The truth is when President Bush took office, and the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, he did not make any progress on comprehensive legislation to reform the regulation of the Government Sponsored Enterprises.”

Of course the reason why Bush and the republicans “did not make any progress” is because Congressman Frank was doing everything in his power to ensure no progress was made in the House. And we already noted above how Senator Dodd killed GSE regulation in the Senate.

If you want to digest the consequences of allowing Congressman Frank to run the national economy then coming to grips with this quote might do the trick:

“I do not think I want the same focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the guys who regulate the banks) and OTS (Office of Thrift Supervision, the guys who regulate savings & loans and other thrifts). I want to roll the dice a bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing...”

And roll the dice they did in Washington. There are some big rollers in Vegas, but Congressman’s Frank’s gamble has cost the American taxpayers at least a trillion dollars. That has to go down as the most expensive roll of the dice in world history.

And there you have the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Good grief!

All these self-anointed protectors are already long in bed with some of the worst offenders and all are looking out for themselves, their careers, and/or their wallets (but not the taxpayer’s wallet).

I’ll keep to the message against undeserved bonuses but as for these messengers, let’s quit rolling the dice with them. Enough is enough.

Semper Fi,

Mike

Not sure of the source but this has been verified with "Snopes"

Something is definitely rotten in San Francisco.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's home district includes San Francisco .

  

Star-Kist Tuna's headquarters are in San Francisco , Pelosi's home district.

 

Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi.

Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa employing 75% of the Samoan work force.

Paul Pelosi, Nancy 's husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kist stock.

In January, 2007 when the minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $7.25, Pelosi had American Samoa exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have to pay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products less expensive than their competition's.

Last week when the huge bailout bill was passed,Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 million dollars for an 'economic development credit in American Samoa '.

Pelosi has called the Bush administration "CORRUPT" ? ?

How do you spell "HYPOCRISY" ?

Contributed by Mike Walker...

All, 

Back in December I sent some musings on the current troubles in our economy.  Here are the grades with comments I would give to Washington so far:

A.  Increase the velocity of the dollar in the economy.  This means getting the cash flowing again in our financial markets

Grade: C+.  

We avoided a disastrous defeat but have not secured a victory.  To raise the grade Washington now needs to talk the “other” bankers like the people who run community banks.  If you understand their issues/concerns with the current financial market then you will finally understand how to get the entire banking industry back on track.

This is where the capital needed for immediate job growth is most badly needed.  Besides, the big bankers are too busy remodeling their offices.

B. Good Stable Jobs = Support for Private Sector Businesses

Overall Grade: C-.

Job #1 is support for Small Business.  Grade: D.

This is the road to turning the economy around.  Every other stimulus goal must be secondary.

When California began its economic turnaround five years ago it was borne almost entirely on the backs of small business.  Small business created the jobs.  Big business was still downsizing.  These entrepreneurs in California not only created as many new jobs as the big businesses were shedding, they created a significantly larger number of jobs.  

Small businesses are the dynamic and agile engines for growth on the playing field.  If Washington really want to put people to work again then focus on small businesses.  

Job #2 is support for the rest of the private sector. Grade: Unknown 

If we want to keep jobs in America we need to make American industry competitive.  We have the second highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.  Shame on us!  We need to be globally competitive and that means keeping big government out of the pockets of the private sector.  The competing plans have not been sorted out to date.

Job #3 is infrastructure development. B+

Infrastructure can enhance economic growth but alone it cannot turn an economy around.  So far Washington is doing a pretty good job. The stress on information technology is savvy strategic move.  

The key to infrastructure development is to understand that it can never be an end in itself.  Most in Washington seem to grasp the idea that the purpose of infrastructure development is to create an environment that allows the private sector to thrive.  

To get an “A” grade we need to see more investment in defense.  For example, the light armored vehicles (LAV’s) in the Marine Corps should have been replaced nearly ten years ago.  The LAV’s were overhauled but eight years of war puts them right back in the “NEED TO BE REPLACED” category.

The last Job: Bailing out failed/failing industries and State/big city bureaucracies.  

Grade: F.

This somehow became Job #1 to the professional political class in Washington. 

It is folly to think the solutions to our economic problems will be found in the actions of any combination of the folks working at Ford, Chrysler, or GM.  It is plain dumb to think it lies in state and big city government. 

One last point, when the taxpayers put $ billions of dollars in the banks, etc, we received a lot of equity.  When the banks, AIG, etc, turn around (and they will) the taxpayers stand to not only get their money back but with a nice profit to boot.  You will be hearing screams of the rich banker folks from sea to shining sea.

When we pump $ billions into failed big businesses and state governments, the taxpayer money is pretty much poured down the drain.  A small handful of career politicians will get millions in contributions from this mob but the taxpayers will be left with empty pockets.  

Maybe the rich bankers should stop redecorating to take a cue from the government worker’s unions and figure out a way to keep their share of the taxpayer bail-out?

C. Change the business model in Congress

Grade: C  

The jury is still out.  The early signs from the White House and Senate are good but not those from the House of Representatives.  Pork still seems to be the favored food there.  Grass seed for Washington DC + Condoms/Family planning = Immediate Economic stimulus for folks out of work?  Good grief!

This national economic downturn is a real problem.  It is a serious problem.  Congress needs to put our county first and their pork project/special interest pandering dead last.  

Semper Fi,

Mike

Another in a series of letters sent by Marine Col. Mike Walker, retired. This letter was responding to a letter written concerning media coverage of the Israeli/Hamas war.

Martine,

Always good to get a different perspective.  The war in Gaza was very violent and innocents were killed but do not fall for some of lies and propaganda.  There has been an untruthful manipulation of the war in Gaza by Hamas.

War is always savage.  But Hamas and the radicals who follow al Qaeda/Muslim Brotherhood/Hezbullah go beyond refusing to follow accepted international rules of warfare.

The extremists intentionally violate the rules in order get the "Big Lie" out blaming the other side for all the bad things that the extremists largely cause.

Let me give you my first hand experience with this de-civilizing form of warfare from Iraq.  Hamas/Hezbullal/al Qaeda/Muslim Brotherhood: They are barbaric terrorists.

In Iraq they hid weapons and ammunition in Red Crescent (Muslim partner of Red Cross) food supplies.  Our forces were tipped off and searched and found the stuff.  Using the Red Crescent to smuggle arms and munitions is a war crime by the way.

The extremists ensured that al Jazeera and al Arabia only showed it as evil Americans halting desperately needed international aid from the "victims."  A "Big Lie."  

In reality our only requirement was that we would search the aid going through our lines. 

These enemy propaganda stories were more often than not repeated by the Western media with little or no attempt to get at the truth.

The terrorists never wore uniforms when they attacked to try to kill/wound Americans and their fellow Iraqis so that their dead/wounded could always be reported in the news as innocent "civilians" who were victims of American war crimes/atrocities.  A "Big Lie."

We (like the Israelis), in trying to follow the rules of warfare, designate areas as no-fire/restricted fire areas.  They are usually places that are heavily populated or structures such as hospital, schools, clinics, Mosques, etc.

Hamas/Al Qaeda/Hezballah all figured this out.

In Iraq the terrorists immediately began to store their weapons and ammunition only in schools and the like.  They would use the minarets of the mosques as military observation posts and the mosque itself was used for all manner of military purposes.  

Muqtada Sadr's followers had a torture chamber set up in the Shrine of Ali Mosque in Najaf during the fighting there in August 2004.

Even more shocking, our forces found dozens and dozens of empty and broken bottles of hard liquor on the shrines grounds where his Mahdi Army boys used to get up a little liquid courage before fighting the Marines.

Needless to say that sacrilege of the Shrine was never reported on al Jazeera or al Arabia or in the Western media. Instead the Madhi army was presented as a legitimate force opposing the occupation.  One more "Big Lie."  

The truth is that the Mahdi army was a bunch of (occasionally drunk/high) criminal thugs and a tool for Sadr's now ruined plan for becoming the new dictator of Iraq.

The terrorists used the hospitals to position snipers and set up command and control centers to try to kill Americans in Fallujah. 

We would eventually move in to attack the enemy at these places.  Al Jazeera and al Arabia would then air pictures of a damaged minaret or a hospital with American troops all around it and show it as another example of evil Americans doing bad things.  Another "Big Lie."

In Iraq, a humanitarian group brought a convoy of ambulances to Fallujah during the first battle.  We were then put in a lose-lose situation.  If we refused to let the ambulances in we were heartless and evil.  If we let them in we knew the terrorists would use them for their own purposes.  We decided to let them in.

They were immediately used by enemy as military transport for troops, weapons, munitions.  The worst of it was in one fight an ambulance drove up and left the wounded on the street as the driver only stopped to pick up the weapons of the dead enemy and put them in the back of the ambulance and drove off back to the enemy lines.  

After repeated use of the ambulances for solely military purposes we started knocking them out.  Of course the only pictures shown on al Arabia and al Jazeera were pictures of burning ambulances destroyed by the evil criminal Americans.  A "Big Lie."

I could go on and on but hopefully you see my point.  

I do not trust the reporting from Gaza.  I have been met with the "Big Lie" too many times to accept any of it at face value.

The civilized world has a real problem.  

Every time we let Hamas/Hezbullah/al Qaeda/Muslim Brotherhood violate the rules of warfare (storing weapons in schools/not wearing uniforms/using hospitals and mosques for military purposes) we take another step backwards towards a barbaric world ruled by ruthless savages.

Mike

Is it just me or is there something terribly wrong in Minnesota? Well, I know Mike Ramirez sees it!

Do you remember the first "kick-off" function of the John Kerry campaign? Al Franken was the de facto "voice" of the Democratic Party in NY's Central Park. He grabbed the mic and started the chant, "F___George Bush, F___George Bush....(on and on)" There cemented in stone was Al, the Democratic Party, and John Kerry's first effort at creating a dialogue that the American people could take part in... send shivers down your back, huh? This is this platform for change that Reid, Pelosi and Obama have stacked their claim...

And now, this joke of a human being (Mr. Smalley) might be a United States Senator. Is it too late to take this country back? I don't think so! I am a resister, a naysayer, a gad-fly! Join me and the legends that will emerge!

Hamas-Israeli Fighting

Mike Walker

All,

No attempt here to lay blame for the root causes of the extremely complex Palestinian-Israeli issue in the Middle East.

However, the blame for the December 2008 fighting can be laid clearly at the feet of Hamas.

On 14 December 2008, during a celebration of the 21st anniversary of the creation of Hamas, its leaders unilaterally announced that they expected the ceasefire brokered by Egypt would expire on the 19 December deadline.

It should be remembered that Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. The extremist Sunni Muslim Brotherhood is also the forebearer of al Qaeda.

Israel responded with a plea to extend the ceasefire but warned it would not tolerate renewed attacks on Israel.

The ceasefire had not worked as desired for either side, as have virtually all the preceding agreements, but it did effectively contain the violence between Hamas and Israel to a "tit-for-tat" level.   

Three days later, on 17 December, Hamas fired 20 rockets at Israeli civilian targets.

On 18 December Hamas formally declared that the ceasefire would end the next day, Friday 19 December 2008.  To emphasize the point they fired another 14 missiles at Israeli civilian targets.

On Saturday 27 December Israel responded with large scale strikes against Hamas soldiers and the Hamas military infrastructure.  As a veteran of the war in Iraq, I know that we always strove to keep a standoff distance between our forces and civilians in order to protect them from the fighting.  

I also know that Hamas, like al Qaeda in Iraq, deliberately places its military weaponry, supplies, command and control facilities, etc, in as close a proximity to the civilian population as possible.

Hamas, like al Qaeda in Iraq, does this in order to create the "big lie" that will be broadcast around the world that the Israelis are targeting innocent civilians.  

As an aside, as a long as the media continues to allow the "big lie" to be aired without condemnation, the numbers of innocent civilians killed in modern wars will only continue to increase.  

The modern media has done a great disservice in recklessly blurring the line between legitimate targeting of the military and the unconscionable deliberate targeting/inclusion of civilians by extremists in their operations.

Where this fighting will lead is anyone's guess.  I would keep an keen eye on Hezbollah in Lebanon for indicators of a possible wider war.

Israel miscalculated the strength and willingness of Hezbollah to fight a major campaign in 2006.  

It appears Hamas has miscalculated by ending the ceasefire and stepping up attacks on an Israel that appears prepared and willing to fight a major campaign against them in 2008.

Semper Fi,

Mike

All,

 

There are few subjects that I can talk to ad nauseam but one is the California state education budget and in second place is the California state budget in general.

 

There should be NO bailout by the American taxpayers to fill a huge multi-billion dollar hole created by a broken California budget process and a dysfunctional state government.

 

Much has been said about the fact that California is one of a handful of states that requires 2/3 majority to pass a budget.  Some claim this is the root of the problem.  BUNK! 

 

What is not said is that California is also one of a handful of states that has its elected officials get on a plane to Fantasy Expenditure Island each year when it passes the budget only to have it crash, all too often of late, on the Rocks of Real Revenues during the return trip.

 

I fully support a simple majority to pass a budget in the legislature but IF AND ONLY IF they permanently cancel the flights to Fantasy Expenditure Island.  In other words, the budget must to be rigidly tethered to revenues. 

 

This can be achieved by having the budget process BEGIN with a hard statutory revenue projection that caps expenditures for the Governor and the Legislature. 

 

This can be formulated by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office or the Department of Finance or perhaps some reputable non-partisan committee that includes these offices.  

 

During the budgeting process it may be prudent to allow for well-constrained revisions of the cap based upon revenue changes as reported by the formulating office/committee.

 

In the future, the "rainy day" fund that is now in place (but empty) can be used to get California through extreme/ difficult fiscal situations.

 

But that discussion has nothing to do with socking it to the taxpayers in the other 49 states by making them the enablers of California's irresponsible behavior.

We Californians created this mess all by our lonesome and we need to fix it ourselves.  It won't be any fun but it is the only path to curing the disease.

 Happy holidays from here in sunny and broke California!

Mike

It is the Economy Stupid

(Article contributed by Mike Walker)

(Cartoon contributed by Michael Ramirez)

My very brief musings on the current troubles in our economy.  Here are hard questions that need to be asked in Washington:

A.  Increase the velocity of the dollar in the economy.  This means getting the cash flowing again in our financial markets.  When the "quiz kids" and hat-in-hand bankers show up ask them how they are going to achieve this paramount goal.  If they waffle, dissemble, etc send them packing without a dime.

As an aside, it is a national loss that many investment banks have gone away.  Investment banks are a great engine for economic growth.  Their "velocity" in priming the economy is double that of commercial banks.  They are the best.

B. Good Stable Jobs = Support for Private Sector Businesses.

Job #1 is support for Small Business.  That is the road to turning the economy around.  Every other stimulus goal must be secondary.

When someone opines in Washington that they have the "magic bullet" to cure our ills ask them about small businesses.  If it ain't first and foremost then send them packing without a dime.

Job #2 is support for the rest of the private sector.  If we want to keep jobs in America we need to make American industry competitive.  We have the second highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.  Shame on us!  We need to be globally competitive and that means keeping big government out of the pockets of the private sector.

Job #3 is infrastructure development.  This is an essential but tricky issue.  Infrastructure can enhance economic growth but alone it cannot turn an economy around.  

When the gurus propose their infrastructure plans, ask how does this help our Country achieve Job #1 and Job #2? 

If it looks like they are giving you the "smoke screen" and really arguing infrastructure is Job # 1 then send them packing without a dime.

The purpose of infrastructure development is to create an environment that allows the private sector to thrive.  Building a bridge to make it economically efficient for local business to operate is super.  Building roads to provide access for new businesses is the ticket. 

But these projects are never ends in themselves.  They take years to get off the ground and it is short-term work.  Once the bridge is built the jobs go away for many decades.  

Ask how the project stimulates the private sector and how that will create long-term job growth.  If the nabobs can't clearly answer that question then send them packing without a dime.

The last Job.  Assisting failed/failing industries and State/big city bureaucracies.  When these guys come begging ask them to specifically explain how they are going to change.

Ask them to present a fiscally responsible plan for the future.  Ask them to explain in detail how the money they want from Washington is a one-time bridge to a responsible future.  If they can't provide the answers then send them packing without a dime.

C. Change the business model in Congress.  Kill the pork added to the economic actions.  Enough is enough.  This national economic downturn is a real problem.  It is a serious problem.  It is time for adult leadership in congress.

Congress needs to put our county first and their pork project/special interest pandering dead last.  

Ask your elected representatives if they are going to deal with the task at hand before they go back to politics as usual.  If they start to pontificate and ramble, vote them out the first chance you get.

Semper Fi,

Mike

A Veteran's Day Message

Mike Walker

All,

The Military Times did a poll of our men and women in uniform, our GI's, on the presidential election. If you are wondering what the Military Times does, it publishes a number of newspapers, the Navy Times, the Army Times, etc, that are widely read by GI's around the world.

The result of their poll is a reason to give all of us, especially the new administration, a good reason to pause and reflect.

While the American people, as whole, favored the Obama-Biden ticket by a close ratio of about 5:4, our GI's favored the McCain-Palin ticket by a ratio of nearly 3:1.

That is a huge disconnect. Why?

Now that I am retired, I can speak in a way that would be inappropriate were I still in uniform.

I believe it is not President-elect Obama. I believe that he will vigorously lead and support our men and women in uniform during the ongoing war against terror; a war we neither asked for nor wanted but had forced upon us on 9/11.

I do not believe it is Vice President-elect Biden. He has been a consistent voice of reason in developing the strategies needed for victory in this war. I do not agree with all of his arguments, but his message and intent are unmistakable. He knows the risks of failure and the importance of victory.

The problem is not with the top of the ticket, in my opinion. I believe the military is unshakable in its loyalty to our new administration. I know that the military will execute the orders of the new President to best of their ability, no matter what the personal risk or sacrifice.

The reason for the GI's great hesitancy in voting for the Obama-Biden ticket lies primarily elsewhere. The Obama-Biden ticket was rejected by a troubling margin of our GI's because of a real concern with the next level of leadership and their influence on the new administration.

It is a deep uncertainty over whether or not the new administration can and will be able to match their words of support with actions.

It is a fear that the men and women in uniform who are fighting this war will be let down by some powerful leaders in the Congress and the new administration may not prevent it.

That is why our GI's turned to the McCain-Palin ticket and away from the Obama-Biden ticket. They knew they would not be let down during a McCain presidency. They knew they would not be forced into defeat in the middle of battle due to a lapse of judgment and nerve by our Congress.

I believe I can sum up this fear and uncertainty in two words: Harry Reid.

As veteran of the war in Iraq, I tell you that words cannot describe the crushing effect of Harry Reid's infamous statement on 17 April 2007: "...THIS WAR IS LOST and the surge is not accomplishing anything..."

A rough analogy would be as if it were the last year's Superbowl and, during the third quarter, one of the Giants' assistant head coaches called a press conference on the sidelines to announce that, for the Giants, "..THIS GAME IS LOST and the play by our team on the field is not accomplishing anything..."

Of course this is a very poor comparison. The Superbowl, in the end, is only a game played by great athletes. Our men and women in uniform are not in a game. They are engaged in a life and death struggle to defend this country against some very bad people.

But through this analogy you can get a feel for the deep sense of betrayal and damage that was done by the words of Harry Reid on that fateful Thursday in 2007.

What needs to be done? We need change.

On 21 March 2007, President-elect Obama said: "...we must learn the lessons of Iraq. It is what we owe our soldiers. It is what we owe their families. And it is what we owe our country – now, and in all the days and months to come."

Harry Reid failed as a national leader in time of war. He failed our GI's. He failed their families. He failed our country in a time of great crisis.

As President-elect Obama has said, we must learn the lessons of Iraq and change requires more than speeches.

Change requires action.

Harry Reid must step down.

I am sure Harry Reid has done many fine things in areas not related to the war against terror. Well and good. Find him a new job where his strengths lie but he has no place as a national leader in the war effort.

President-elect Obama must ensure that Harry Reid is no longer the leader of the Senate.

Harry Reid needs to atone by doing the honorable thing in stepping down.

A generation or so ago, another Senator named Arthur Vandenberg said: "To me, 'bipartisan foreign policy' means a mutual effort, under our indispensable, two-party system, to unite our official voice at the water's edge so that America speaks with one voice to those who would divide and conquer us and the free world."

We need a leader in the Senate who will not divide but fight for victory here at home with the same determination, courage, and judgment as that of the GI's fighting on the battlefields overseas.

This is a change we GI's, past and present, need and deserve and many, many, more would say it loud and clear if duty permitted.

Semper Fi,

Mike

From Mike Walker, a timely word!

All,

We now have a new President. It is time to put our political differences aside and do what is best for our Country. I will be honest and state that I voted for John McCain and I have no intention of compromising my values or beliefs.

I have always been a centrist and will take the new President at his word that he will be moderate in his policies, especially towards the middle class and small businesses. I believe him when he says he will reach across the partisan divide to change our Country by unifying rather dividing.

No matter what your political philosophy, two facts are important.

First, there is no ignoring the race of Barak Obama. I was born into a world and nation that held firmly to unconscionable forms of racism. The election of Barak Obama makes a statement, heard round the world, of how far we have all progressed.

Second, we have reaffirmed the ideal of our Republic that the democratic process, with its secret ballot, freedom of political speech, and despite its many flaws, is still the most honest and just form of government for a free people.

I will be praying for and supporting our President as best I can.

We live in the greatest country on earth.

Let us keep it that way.

Semper Fi,

Mike

I think we haven't heard anything yet. if anyone is able to break the glass wall that protects him then we will surely know more about the New Party and ACORN.

And now a word from Mike Walker...


All,

The debate nicely summed up the failed socialist "income redistribution" policy in a nutshell.

Joe the Plumber works his whole life to be able to own his own plumbing business.

He runs head on into the income redistribution policy that ensures that the average person cannot step out of his or her economic class as predetermined by Big Government.

Joe is a working class fellow and his dream of owning his own business is crushed by the "income redistribution" policy.

What is truly fascinating is that the defense of the policy turns the whole argument on its head. It is a neat example of both political newspeak and a "Catch-22."

Middle-aged Joe is told that he must give up his life's dream through taxation to give money to others so they may have the same opportunity save up in the pursuit of their life's dream. Sounds good and fair on the surface.

But of course, in the near future, the recipient dreamers will become their own version of "Middle-aged Joe the Plumber. " When they too hope to realize their dream they will, in turn, have it crushed by "income redistribution" taxation.

That is the failure of socialism in a nutshell. It does do much to provide for those at the bottom but it also savagely crushes the dreams and aspirations of anyone trying to breakout.

Yet it is those selfsame citizens who do breakout that are the driving force in advancing standards of living, creating national wealth, and moving progressive societies forward.

Socialism, when all is said in done, is an economic model where a very few and very powerful number of bureaucrats rigidly and mindlessly enforce a mundane orthodoxy of institutional and societal mediocrity.

One other peculiarity, since when is the dream of a plumber to own his own business a crippling threat to the economic dreams of nurses and teachers?

This is odd indeed. In the school district where I work the top-end salary of a teacher is over $80,000 for ten months of work plus a generous health and retirement plan. The nurses make slightly more than the teachers.

Just how much income do plumbers need to redistribute to these folks?

Semper Fi,

Mike

Well, I guess the ACORN doesn't fall far from the tree.

Michael Ramirez and another truth...