Obama's Biggest Mistake

There are, or at least there should be, some things in life which we hold sacred; God, our children and family, our morals and principles.

The defense of our nation and everything that entails should be one of those sacred things for which there should not be any compromising. What would America be without our freedoms? Would we still be the shinning beacon to which generations have looked for generations? Would American be the land of the free and the home of the brave? Would we still be the country for which thousands risk their lives each and every day in a deadly trek in order to realize their dreams? The simple and most obvious answer to that question is a resounding, No!

America is free because it has always been strong. Because Americans have never been willing to compromise with righteousness. When the King of England became a tyrant, Americans (then English subjects)revolted despite having little chance to win against the then mighty British Army. But revolt we did.

Now President Obama, in a surreptitious move disguised as progress and humanitarian rhetoric, intends to weaken our military for a more "effective and highly maneuverable military". Our enemies must be relishing the president's plans.

North Korea, with its nuclear ambitions must be astonished at what they are hearing. A country known to starve its own people for the sake of a strong military and who is still at war with its neighbor to the south, must be making all sorts of plans right about now.

And what about Iran who has threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz and obliterate Israel?

Do we think that the President's announcement is more likely to encourage them to abandon their military plans?

I don't believe that the President understands what it is to have a strong military or to serve in it. If he did he wouldn't' make an idiot of himself answering the military salute  that military personnel make .to the office, not to him. Even if the President had served in the military protocol demands that he not return the salute. But I think that this behavior is a small window to how the President sees himself; a dictator, a tyrant, a king.

I question our President's loyalty to this country. Always have and always will. The President's decision couldn't come at a worse time in history and it weakens America, leaving it vulnerable to those who would love to destroy everything America stands for.

The President is gambling with the security of our nation; With the lives of over 350 million people who he purports to care about and make a better life for.

What good are the President's plans if we become subject to another world power?

President Barack Hussein Obama is no friend of America or its people and if you bother to read his book, "Dreams of My Father" you would understand why.

America should rise up as it did during colonial days and throw this, this...tyrant, this buffoon out of office before its too late. The future of America should be sacred and not gambled with.

The Arrogance of U.S. News Media

As a small child I watched as U.S. troops distributed WW II surplus powdered milk, cheese and Spam in our poor small town neighborhood in Puerto Rico. Such scenes can and in fact did inspire a great sense of loyalty toward the U.S. government and the American people. In my mind’s eye neither could do any wrong. After all, these were the days of Camelot. Then President Kennedy was inspiring the nation to go to the moon and was standing up to the Soviet threat of missiles in Cuba. There was plenty to be proud of. I could hardly wait to grow up and join the U.S. Marine Corps.

That said, it is with great trepidation and disappointment that I now come to my own personal conclusion that U.S. media has become inebriated with self importance and hence, a little arrogant.

Since January when the state of Iowa kidnapped the nation’s attention to their Caucus the only news that all major television news agencies seem to care about is the race for the Republican Party nominee; to the exclusion of all other world issues which affect and are of interest to many Americans.

Sure U.S. politics is important and we must, as responsible citizens, be abreast of the issues. However, there is a myriad of other issues to which we should not turn a blind eye. There is still a war in Afghanistan where America’s finest men and women are dying. There is still a famine in Somalia and other countries around the world, tensions between Iran and the rest of the world are at an all time high and  is not just the American economy which is faltering, many countries in Europe are also at the verge of collapse.

As the melting pot of the world, many Americans of European and Latin-America descent just may be interested in these issues too.

CNN’s democrat Wolf Blitzer is among the guiltiest and annoying personalities in television. As a former White House correspondent, Blitzer seems to think that his opinions or his interests are those of the rest of the nation. From the Situation Room Blitzer blitz Americans with his constant barrage of nauseating diatribe of opinions, repetitive reporting and questioning of candidates and other correspondents. He is not alone however, Fox and Headlines News willingly follow suit.

I just think that it is shameful that Americans often have to turn to Latin Channels like Telemundo, Univision and Galavision for well balanced and unbiased coverage of news. These channels do a great job of reporting on issues affecting not just the Latin-American community, but the world!

Get off the high horse CNN, Fox and Headline News! Stop the biased reporting and do your job; news reporting. As professional journalists you are not supposed to have an opinion. Your job is to report the news, all news, and not just the news that interest you personally or concern only American politics.

Occupy San Diego Lacks Focus

Perhaps is ironic poetry that a photography student was photographing the Occupy San Diego movement with a 4 x 6 field camera. This portrait of a couple posing with their dog and protesting at the Civic Center Plaza last week seems nostalgic now when viewed in light of the fact that the very next day San Diego Police, at the request of city officials who themselves were responding to the concerns of “the other 99%” removed the many tents and other personal belonging which protesters had erected in defiance to previous direction by city officials. Some of the Civic Plaza workers who are inevitably exposed to these activists every day complained of human waste, the odor of urine and marihuana emanating from what was fast becoming an encampment in the middle of downtown San Diego.

I’ve been photographing and documenting the movement almost daily since it first occupied the Civic Center Plaza and everything I’ve seen simply reminds me of the heydays of the “Hippie” movement of the 60’s and early 70’s. With copious use of marihuana and perhaps other drugs the protesters yell and scream and demand changes to the current economic system around the world and dream of a Utopia-like state where everyone is equal and everything is provided by the government.

While the protesters see themselves as heroes and revolutionaries bringing forth new ideas and concepts in economics, there’s really nothing new under the sun in this movement. Those who don’t have, many of whom because they chose to live outside of the boundaries of normal society, complain that the top 1% own much of the wealth of this country. And while this is essentially true, the cold reality is that most of the protesters would continue to find themselves in the current situation they’re in even if the economy were healthy and unemployment was as low as 2%!

I have serious doubts that few-if any- business owners, presumably in business to make money and make a living would offer employment to the vast majority of protesters who currently occupy the Civic Center Plaza. The old adage of not judging a book by its cover might work for literary work, but doesn’t lend itself so readily to the real world.

Few people would patronize a business where employees looked and behaved the way many of these protesters do, at least not yet. While the protesters seem to have a valid concern over recent publicized practices of Wall Street and many of its financial institutions no one seems to have a clue of what it is that they wish to accomplish with the movement of how to go about it.

Movement organizer Keyla Ward recently told me that the San Diego group has been in contact with the original movement in New York through a website and that they are trying to compile a list of demands that the group hopes to present to officials. However Ward failed to say what those demands are or to what officials they hope to deliver the demands to.

Ward is currently threatening to sue the San Diego Police Department for use of excessive force during the police department’s recent actions to remove tents and other personal items which they protesters have been told repeatedly are not allowed in the plaza.

Ward was not one of those arrested but alleges that an unknown police officer swung a baton at her which caused a back injury when she ducked to evade the blow. During an interview some 12 hours before the police action I specifically asked Ward what the group would do when police undoubtedly asked them to once again remove the tents they had re-erected at the plaza and she told me that her and the group would comply with any police order or direction as it was not the group’s intent to clash with police.

However, during the night when police officers asked the demonstrators to take down their tents and remove their personal belongings it was the protesters who chose to ignore the officer’s directions and confront them with insults, racial epitaphs and resistance.

While no one seems to be clear on what the final objective of these demonstrations is, one thing fact is becoming clearer. These peaceful protests are costing cities all over the world millions of dollars in security and clean-up efforts. So the question begs to be asked: Why are protesters, so concerned with the social and economic status of the “other 99%” creating this expense by repeatedly and intentionally violating laws and ordinances which they know better than most?

Occupy San Diego

Perhaps the distant stare of this protester as she holds her sign is as good a description of the ambivolence of  these protesters who for 10 days have camped at the Civic Center Plaza in downtown San Diego.


They are loud and they are proud to be sure. But when asked what the end game of this movement is and how to achieve it, their answers become as vague as this protester’s stare.


That the middle class and those below it are angry at Wall Street for the way they seem to have mismanaged their business dealings is not in dispute. How they were bailed out with tax dollars by a democratic president and how they are now clinging to billions of dollars instead of creating jobs again is not in dispute. What seems to anger those who have taken to the streets in protest is what to do about it and how to go about remedying the situation.

At first glance it appears that these protesters are against the establishment; against everything and everyone that in their view, is keeping them from having a job, from moving forward, from realizing the American dream. But that is not necessarily true.

In San Diego most of the initial protesters simply wanted to bring attention to the issue  that corporate greed is at the root of our financial and economic problems. They insist that greedy bankers and their investors took high risks during the real estate bubble in an effort to get richer, quicker and that when that bubble inevitably burst and they were at risk of losing their money, the government, which is supposed to look out for the people, invented the phrase, “too large to fail” in order to use our tax dollars to bail them out, and that the banks in turn, are now gauging even more money out of Americans pockets to ensure that they remain viable through a recession that they created.

If all this sounds complicated; it is. While they yell and scream at corporations, the protesters are organizing and communicating via smart phones.They email, "tweet" and post meesages on online social media sites who make money by selling advertisement space to the same corporations they protest. Domino’s Pizza is making a “financial killing” thanks to the protester’s need for food. Unknown donors buy large numbers of pizzas to distribute among the hungry protesters. Makers of peanut butter, Wonder Bread, Smucker’s jelly and preserves are also making money as many protesters choose to sustain themselves with the ever-popular PB&J sandwich.

Some of the protesters are obvious outsiders simply trying to take advantage of a grass root movement to spread hate, discontent and promote violence. In the mix of protester there are those representing socialist and communist political parties in America and those who are against any and all immigration laws in this country or any resemblance of order. They question everything and everyone and feel that everyone should live off the land and be equal.

There are also those who seek to take advantage of the anger against banking institutions by encouraging protesters to close their bank accounts with large banks and open accounts with the different credit unions in San Diego.

And somewhere in the mix there are also those who support organized labor unions, the legalization of marijuana and other drugs, and those who after nearly 50 years are still angry about the war in Vietnam.

It is not clear how the rest of the movement is doing in other parts of the nation and the world. But here in San Diego the movement seems to be gasping for inspiration and energy. Of the thousands of protesters who began the vigil 10 days ago, there are less than 50 still occupying the Plaza in downtown San Diego today. Perhaps because they are slowly realizing that it is easier to shout and complain  about any particular problem than it is to deal with the complex and diverse issues of a nation of over 300 million people.


No one seems more interested to see the protest end than the homeless of San Diego who make the plaza their sleeping quarters and at night panhandle the many patrons who have enough money to go see a Broadway show. They seem to have been caught in the whirlwind of a movement no one seems to understand. While many of the speakers include the homeless as part of those they are fighting and protesting for, the homeless seem to exist in the shadowy  edge of the movement seemingly confused and perhaps a little angry that their situation has been kidnapped by people they never intended to lend their voices to.

The homeless seem to feel that for all the noise made by the protesters in their behalf, no one seems to be listening to their voice and that some of them just want to be left alone.

Sometimes in an attempt to be kind, we hurt those who we think we are fighting for…..

"...And to the Republic for which it stands..."

With wars (not only US engaged ones) raging all over the world, people starving in Somalia and other countries, diseases running rampant and economic woes in just about every country in the world, here in the United States, just like in the months prior to the attack of 9/11, people seem to be concerned with trivial matters like whether the disgusting TV Show The Simpsons should be cancelled, or whether or not Kim Kardashian is wearing underwear! (Sarcasm added for effect)

How ignorant, mundane and insignificant some Americans have become in today’s world. How sad to see the once greatest nation in the world, fall in disgrace due to selfishness, greed and narcissistic behavior.

For decades I’ve been arguing that the kind of Democracy that liberal judges and politicians dream for America cannot survive.

Democracy and Republic are two forms of government which are distinguished by their treatment of the Minority, and the Individual, by the Majority.

In a Democracy, the Majority has unlimited power over the Minority. This system of government does not provide a legal safeguard of the rights of the Individual and the Minority. It has been referred to as "Majority over Man".

In a Republic, the Majority is Limited and constrained by a written Constitution which protects the rights of the Individual and the Minority.

The purpose of a Republic form of government is to control the Majority and to protect the God-given, inalienable rights and liberty of the Individual. The United States of America is founded as a Republic under the Constitution.

However, those who consider themselves an abused minority have, as its sole purpose, to become a majority and in that achievement “get even” with the majority which in their opinion has suppressed them for a long time. It is ironic that in their ignorance they don’t realize that by supporting a majority rule government, they are promoting a tyranny and mobocracy (the majority makes laws and governs by passion, prejudice, or impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences) which will eventually turn on them. For majorities don’t remain majorities forever.

A republic however, involves the government using and abiding by the constitution heavily. Personal rights are respected and cannot be taken away. A harsh example of the significant difference between the two forms of government is: In a democracy if the majority were to agree that murder should be legal, then it would be legal. No individual rights; simply the will of a “mobocracy” where the majority makes laws and governs by passion, prejudice or impulse as stated above.

In a republic, guided by the principles of a constitution, the inhalable rights of the individual cannot be taken away no matter the desires of the majority; a huge fundamental difference, wouldn’t you say?

A recent incident aboard a bus is another example of democracy in action. A mother and her baby were kicked off a city bus because the baby was crying and disturbing the rest of the passengers. Again, the majority made a passionate decision and violated the civil rights on an individual and her child! In a republic was wrong is always wrong. And there has to be a moral and legal code or else society is doomed.

America was founded as a republic. Our forefathers fought long and hard and agonized over the drafting of a constitution to avoid the passionate and discriminate government they left behind in England. We should live by the constitution which gave birth to this country without interpreting as a “living document” which is ever changing. The constitution is what it is. It is this nation’s birth certificate and it should be now and forever the law of the land!

Farewell to Andy Rooney

Without much notice or fanfare America TV lost another great icon of literature and humanities. Andy Rooney retired from 60 Minutes after 70 years of television writing and war reporting.  Born in 1919 in Albany New York  during the depression Andy, as he became known to America, attended Albany Academy and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in upstate New York, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in August 1941.

Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army when, in 1942, he began writing for Stars and Stripes in London during World War II. He later published a memoir, My War (1995) about his war reporting. In addition to recounting firsthand several notable historical events and people (like the entry into Paris, the concentration camps, etc.),

 Rooney describes how it shaped his experience both as a writer and reporter. In February 1943, flying with the Eighth Air Force, he was one of six correspondents who flew on the first American bombing raid over Germany. Later, he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi concentration camps near the end of World War II, and one of the first to write about them.

During a segment on Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation," Rooney confessed that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a pacifist. He recounted that what he saw in those concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.

Andy Rooney wasn’t only a brilliant writer but a witty one too. His often whining and complaining about the most mundane things in life touched a chord with Americans and people all over the world.

Andy looked at life and saw the absurdity and waste that so often accompanies it. Andy wasn’t a political person but he wasn’t afraid to state his opinion regardless of whom it might offend. He often commented on how absurd political correctness has become and how only the opinions of those on the left are voiced and seem to matter.

By Andy’s own admission he was more of a democrat than a republican but he always had an open mind and reported thing not only as he saw them, but as they really were.

Like anyone in the public eye Andy had his retractors. As he might say, “There are always morons who refuse to see the truth and often enough those are the ones that scream the most. Must be all those pig calling contests they participate in.”

He was a curmudgeon for sure, refusing to sign autographs and becoming known for his unkempt appearance and short temper but he was unapologetic. He is who is and you don't like it, go jump on a lake. Long before the world became a free for all and everyone was encouraged to be whatever they are,

Andy was who he was and that’s just the way he was and is. After all, Andy just retired, at 92 years of age; he is still alive and well. Good luck in your retirement Andy, you will be missed!!

News: The Latest Victim of Greed

Like most people I don’t like to be played, manipulated or “handled”. Steered into something without being aware of it or told the truth; no one does. But when that manipulation comes from those who are in the business of keeping us informed, of keeping others accountable, who demand the truth from others, and then I really get tied up in knots.

I firmly believe that greed is the sole reason why the economy and the world in general are in the situation is in. Someone, somewhere decides that they want more money for whatever they’re selling and that greed trickles down the economy ladder. The workers need more money so they can afford basic necessities while the big corporation stock holders then want more money so they can continue to afford the good caviar, champagne and their yachts.

Few things are free anymore; not museums, parks, parking, bank checks, customer support, pillows, blankets, food, drinks, snacks or luggage in airlines. On the contrary, everyone is trying to figure out how to squeeze every possible dollar from our pockets and they will make subtle, small changes to flee us constantly.

Go to any supermarket in the country and begin to pay attention to the sizes and contents of the food you buy. You will notice that while the size may be the same, the content of the package is less. Jars have been redesigned and the bottoms indented inwards to make them appear the same size as before when in actuality the consumer is getting fewer products for the same money. Literally an underhanded price hike without the consumer’s knowledge. The practice finally caught the attention of several news organizations and recently it was exposed in the evening news.

Now is the news agencies themselves who are being underhanded. Recently I did some research for a story I was working on and I visited several news agencies websites for accurate information and to get in contact with the reporter who initially exposed the story, only to be frustrated time and time again by their requests to open an account and set up my cell phone for “news notifications” or to “like” them in Facebook. I don’t want to open an account, “like” then in Facebook or be exposed to the ads they now have in their websites! I just want to be able to contact a damn reporter without giving them an opportunity to spam me half to death!

Not only are news agencies contributing to the demise of photojournalists by asking viewers to submit photo and video for the simple thrill of having their names mentioned in a newscast, but they are making money by selling advertisement in their websites. And now, some, not all, don’t even let you contact them unless you sign up for an account so they can spam you some more. What a shame!