New Blog Location

I have moved my blog location to:

http://patrickbohan.blogtownhall.com/

Did Obama Bow?

The media exhaustedly covered President Obama bowing when he met King Abdullah. The Democrats deny he bowed, but it was a bow. But who really cares? No one! The only mistake the Obama camp made is insulting our intelligence and denying that he bowed. After all, aren’t there more important things for the media to cover? Absolutely! I for one am more concerned about the economy and our spending spree. I am also more concerned about foreign threats such as Iran and North Korea as they close in on obtaining a nuclear weapon. Yes, it is a bit funny watching the man who is the leader of the free world bow to an Arab leader, but it is no big deal. And yes, Obama is turning into a gaffe machine ala Joe Biden, but everyone makes mistakes. It is not easy to be President and to understand all the ridiculous protocol. I say we give the man a break and judge him on how he handles the tough issues and not on petty procedural or protocol things. I know the media loves to show Presidents making mistakes, but can we stop the pettiness and cover the things that really matter. I did not like it when the media covered inconsequential gaffes made by President Bush, nor did I like the media making President Ford out to be a klutz. It is not right, nor should it be of any concern. I see this as this as common courtesy and following the “golden rule” to treat others how we expect to be treated. I do not think the media would want media people following them scrutinizing every move they make. I realize that this is the day and age of technology and a camera is on the President at all times out of the White House, but the media needs to practice some restraint.

I have one other pet peeve about the media and their coverage of politicians or celebrities. They should not cover the families of politicians and celebrities. All family members should be exempt from coverage especially if they have not done anything wrong. For example, media coverage of Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter was not acceptable. Other recent media violations of this rule was the New York Times negative coverage of Cindy McCain and the media making an issue out of Dick Cheney’s daughter being a lesbian. All of these topics are not fair, unless the person injects themselves into the campaign and is publicly making speeches on their relative’s behalf. Obviously the Obama daughters should be off limits to the media however, Michelle has injected herself into the political process so she can be scrutinized to a certain degree. However, the media needs to use sound judgment when making decisions on what to cover about Michelle.

Is America Dying?

An update on my new book: "Is America Dying?". It is now available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble web sites. You can purchase the book from the following sites:

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

www.justbookz.com

http://patrickbohan.home.bresnan.net/

Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens is the former Senator from Alaska who recently lost his re-election for an 8th term by a narrow 4,000 votes. The main reason Stevens lost to Democrat Mark Begich in a conservative state is because he recently was indicted and convicted of seven felonies. However, just a few months after his conviction, Attorney General Eric Holder, dismissed the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct. Many leading Republicans (along with me) called for Stevens to resign before being ousted by Mark Begich. Even though the conviction was overturned, I am still not convinced that Stevens was completely innocent. His reasons for many of the 250 thousand dollars in gifts he received were flimsy and lame at best. Thus, I am not sure he would not have been convicted even if the prosecutors did not deceive the defense by withholding critical evidence. However, there is enough doubt that Stevens would have been cleared if the prosecution followed the law. I do not see any difference between the Stevens case and the cases of many leading Democrats that had not paid their taxes or face other scrutiny such as Charlie Rangel, Tim Geithner, Chris Dodd, and Tom Daschle to name a few. If Stevens really had received over 250 thousand dollars he did not report, he owed the government money just as many the Democrats mentioned above who continue to serve in their roles (I will be the first person to admit the U.S. tax code is ridiculous and needs to be overhauled – it is much too complicated and cumbersome). That is the double standard – The Republican loses his job even though he wins his case and the Democrats just have to pay their back taxes and not face any prosecution or even any fines. And if anyone thinks that Democrats do not steal elections, look no further than the criminal behavior by liberal prosecutors to take down Stevens at any cost. The timing of the trial and the charges tells a big part of the story since this all came to light the year Stevens was up for re-election. Maybe Stevens deserved to go, but we will never know for sure. The judge that threw out the conviction said it was the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he had ever witnessed in his 25 years on the bench. The prosecutors in this case that violated the law should have the book thrown at them. They should also have to serve whatever sentence that Stevens would have gotten. Thus, they should serve their sentence for prosecutorial misconduct and then the sentence that Stevens would have gotten. In my book I talk a lot about having stiff penalties for breaking the law to deter the act from happening. I also explain that we should follow the “Golden Rule” to do onto others as we expect to be treated. Hence, if we follow this rule, then the guilty prosecutors should serve the Stevens sentence as well.

Obama: America is not at War with Islam

I guess I am confused, when were we at war with Islam? Why does Obama feel obligated to state the obvious and offend Americans while he grovels for Muslim support. America has been fighting a small number of fanatical radical Islamic followers such as the Taliban and Al-Qaida. I really think that 99% of Americans have absolutely no problem with Islam or Muslims. In fact, the last three wars America has been involved has been to free oppressed Muslims. America has liberated Muslims in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Why doesn't Obama mention this instead of stating the obvious? I think this blatant omission only shows Obama is ignorant to past U.S. foreign policy or he himself really thinks that Americans have really been a threat to Islam and Muslims around the world. This is preposterous! I believe Obama's thinking is misguided by U.S. foreign policy that recognizes and fully supports Israel. He must take this to mean that U.S. foreign policy is against Muslims. This does not mean that the U.S. is against Islam or Muslims, it only means we feel Muslims should also recognize the rights of Jews just as we recognized the rights of Muslims in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. That is it. There is no conspiracy theory by the U.S. to destroy Muslims and Islam. I really wish Obama would get his facts straight before he feels it is necessary to apologize for past U.S. policy.

The Obama Administration’s Anti-American Rhetoric

I for one am tired of the President Obama apologizing for past U.S. behavior as he did while he was in Europe. Obama tried to rally French and German support as he told their citizens that America had acted poorly over the past decade. If we are going to live in the past, maybe we should bring up WWII and how America saved the French from German aggression. I personally do not care if the Germans and French do not like us. I worked at a large global U.S. company and they had plants in many European locations. In fact, I had bosses located in Norway, Germany, and France during my employment. The people in these plant locations not only felt they were superior intellectually to the American worker, they also felt they were also superior with their liberal philosophies. A day did not pass that I did not hear how great they were and how Americans are stupid barbarians. Believe me the European superior attitude gets old fast. Now our President is apologizing for me. I find this behavior appalling and completely unnecessary. What did Obama get for all of his groveling to the French and Germans – Nothing! They will not support Obama or the American effort in Afghanistan. They will not support our economic sanctions against rogue nations such as Iran or North Korea. Obama will learn quickly what Bush learned – The United States cannot count on any European or U.N. support to fight terrorism. After the U.S. got attacked on 9/11, the world turned their backs on the U.S. Imagine if the U.S. turned their backs on the world during WWI and WWII? What if the U.S. turned their backs on countries that have been battered by natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis? More times than not the U.S. is there to help countries in need, but how quickly the rest of the so called idealistically superior world forgets. So I for one am tired of our President criticizing our country. If the President is that embarrassed to be an American, he can pack his bags and move to Europe where he is so enamored by their finicky citizens. The trend of the Obama Administration apologizing to other countries for American behavior continued last week when Secretary of State Clinton apologized to Mexico because she blamed U.S. drug use as the cause of Mexico’s instability. I was surprised she did not blame the U.S. for not allowing more illegal Mexicans from crossing the boarder.

One April 4th headline on Yahoo stated: German and France Embrace Obama’s Afghanistan Plan. What was missing in the headline is that they refused to help. By that same measure Germany and France embraced Bush’s Iraq invasion since they refused to help. The media continues to make this man out to be a God.

New Hypocritical Oath Addition Today

Although the federal government had scrutinized 165 Million in AIG bonuses, they approved 210 million in bonuses to government run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Remember Fannie and Freddie are also in financial trouble just as AIG is. Once again everything is fair game for federal government to break the rules, but not the private sector. If we would simply treat others the way we expect to be treated all of these contradictions would not be occurring.