A&E Restores Phil Robertson to Duck Dynasty: As Expected, Liberal Groups Calling for A&E to Require “Rehabilitation” of Phil By Meeting With Them

A&E caved in from public pressure and Phil Robertson has been restored to Duck Dynasty. As predicted, liberal and civil rights groups are calling for A&E to require Phil to go through “rehabilitation” to prove that A&E still supports their various causes.

Will be interesting to see if A&E will insist on it, or if Phil is even willing to do so.   There was online speculation that if Phil did agree to it, if A&E would film it and turn such a meeting or series of meetings into episodes.  I highly doubt it.

President and Members of Congress Who Voted for Obamacare Should Face Impeachment or Recall: Their Ill-Conceived Actions in NOT READING THE BILL Before Voting “YES” Have Brought Serious Harm to Four Million Americans With Tens of Millions More Scheduled to Join Them Next Year

President Obama and every member of Congress who voted “yes” on the Affordable Care Act should face impeachment or recall proceedings for their serious lapse of judgment when they chose not to READ THE BILL before voting “YES” on it. 

It’s done nothing but bring serious financial harm to roughly four million Americans, with tens of millions more at risk of having their health insurance plans cancelled in 2014.

President Obama obviously didn’t read the bill either since he signed it into law and uttered statements like “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”   All that’s missing is the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner.

Everything that has happened so far was spelled out in great detail in the text of the Affordable Care Act.   If members were complaining that they didn’t have time to read it themselves, they should have read it right in the chamber, like they read the Constitution in the House of Representatives, and REQUIRED members of Congress to be there to listen to it be read.

Having some insurance is better than having no insurance at all.   Obamacare has stripped millions of their health insurance coverage, and the rollout of their replacement insurance has been an unmitigated disaster.  And millions more face having their insurance cancelled as spelled out in the Affordable Care Act next year.  Those who have been able to sign up aren’t sure if they’re covered or not.

Voting ‘yes’ on a bill without reading it should be considered a high crime and should be considered an impeachable offense.  It’s the height of irresponsible Congressional and Presidential conduct that must be stopped. 

No more voting on bills that they haven’t read!  If they don’t care to read the bills before voting on them, I have a solution: RESIGN!

A&E Is Punishing Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty for Quoting Verses of the Bible? Highly Ridiculous, Considering They’ve Made Religion an Integral Part of the Duck Dynasty Show

First, here’s the profanity-filled GQ article that got Phil Robertson into trouble with A&E.  I couldn’t help but notice that the profanity was all on the part of the author of the article, not from Phil.

Next, here’s the Corinthians quotation in as many Bible versions as you want it.  

I find the A&E position highly dubious.  They chose to make religion part of THEIR Duck Dynasty series.  Why are they punishing Phil for simply quoting verses from the Bible, as he does on the show?  If they didn’t want the family talking about religion on the show, they could have easily edited the religious aspects of the show out as they film more stuff than they actually use in the episodes.  This is totally on A&E. 

And their most bankable (former) personality has nothing to lose in this controversy.  He’s rich, because A&E helped to make him that way.

The First Amendment has nothing to do with this controversy.  A&E isn’t the government, and the First Amendment is about the government not infringing on freedom of speech (among other things).  This is about secularists attacking religion.  Again. 

Someone I know recently told me that the anti-Christ is walking in our very midst, and the anti-Christ isn’t a person.  It’s secularism, and A&E has fallen before it and is an active accomplice in slapping religious adherents around. 

A&E probably wants Phil to meet with gay groups to “rehabilitate” him as other networks have done with other celebrities who have gone off the reservation and spoken their minds.  They probably want him to retract his statements, but to do so would mean he’d be withdrawing direct quotes from the Bible.

I don’t see this happening…he’ll happily walk away from the TV show to be rid of them all, and not have to put up with the political correctness movement as spelled out in his A&E contract with their so-called “moral clauses.”  The Robertsons had already restricted A&E to four filming days a week, so they can have more personal time and not have the cameras in their faces constantly.

Phil himself said in the interview that he knew the end of the Duck Dynasty series was 4-5 years away at most, and that shows come and go.  They’ve been preparing for the end of the show’s run, so if it ends sooner, I doubt it will affect their other business ventures.  Their Duck Commander company is a multi-million dollar company, and will continue to be so after A&E ends Duck Dynasty.

If A&E doesn’t want their stars giving interviews to media outlets like GQ, that should be part of their contracts.  Asking someone like Phil a question like “What is a sin in your view?” is about as loaded a question as you can get.  Ambush journalism at it’s best and worst.

Cracker Barrel is a joke too.  They pulled Duck Dynasty merchandise from their shelves and then put them back up less than twelve hours later after they started feeling the national backlash that liberal outlets are also feeling after they piled onto the bandwagon. 

The question is not what Phil Robertson is going to do next…it’s going to be what will A&E do next to save face?  Cracker Barrel has egg in it’s face already.   I think A&E bit off more than it can chew.

If Afghanistan Doesn’t Want U.S. Troops, Even for a Short Amount of Time, President Obama Should Zero Out the U.S. Military Presence There And Bring Them Home

Afghan and U.S. officials are bickering over when a new U.S./Afghan status of forces agreement (SOFA) should be signed.  The Obama Administration says no later than December 31st of this year, the Afghans are saying after the next round of presidential elections in Afghanistan next year.

I would be in favor of the ZERO option as of January 1st, 2014, which is the same option President Obama used to pull troops out of Iraq.  No SOFA, no American troops. Sounds fine to me.

North Korea Abducts 85-Year-Old American Veteran: They Have to Resort to Bullying Senior Citizens to Make Some Kind of a Point?

North Korea pulled an American senior citizen off his plane in Pyongyang and have been holding him for close to a month.

This is totally unacceptable, and North Korea needs to get this veteran on a plane and out of that country immediately!  And the other American they’re holding should also be on the same plane.

What kind of military information can a senior citizen who’s been retired from military service since the 1950s give to North Korea that they don’t already have?  They’d better not put him on trial, which is what I fear is going to happen, or has already happened. 

Shame on North Korea!

Another 50-100 Million Insurance Cancellations Coming Due to Obamacare: Congress Must Repeal This Disaster Before It’s Too Late

Word hit the street that another 50-100 million health insurance policies may be cancelled in October of 2014, just before the mid-term elections.

If that many people lose their insurance and the Democrats hold fast to their Affordable (hardly affordable) Care Act, they are going to be in for a major shock in November. 

Congress needs to keep this from even happening and repeal it within a few months.   It was ill-conceived, not well thought out as to what their overall goal was, ramrodded through a Congress that didn’t even bother to read the entire bill, signed by an ultra-liberal and elitist President eager to have a signature piece of legislation (and who didn’t read the bill either), poorly implemented and disastrously rolled out to a population who had already seen five million insurance policies cancelled and the contract holders left with no insurance at all.

They need to scuttle this thing before a sizeable chunk of their constituents lose their employer-provided health insurance to this disaster of a law.

Police Officers Involved in Capital Shooting Are On Duty But Not Being Paid Due to Shutdown: This is WRONG!

The police officers involved in the shooting of a woman who used her car to attack them were on duty, but are not being paid either their wages or hazard pay due to the shutdown of the government.

Those officers are out there risking their lives to protect the Capitol, but that isn’t enough to get paid for their trouble??!   This insanity must end, and Congress owes these brave police officers an apology and back pay for the hours that they’re continuing to work.  And get shot at, and run over by insane people.

Those who refuse to negotiate to do the business of the American people are unfit to serve in Congress or as the President.  Shame on all our politicians, who are continuing to get paid to DO NOTHING!

Federal Treatment of World War II Veterans During Shutdown is DISGRACEFUL: WWII Monument is in Open Air and Should Be Accessible 24/7/365, Regardless of Whether the Government is Open or Not

The government should be ashamed of themselves, erecting barriers around open-air monuments in Washington during the shutdown, especially the World War II memorial. The government shouldn’t get in the way of our veterans paying what could be their final respects to their fallen comrades. 

Most of our surviving World War II veterans are in their 80s and 90s.  It is predicted that all of our veterans from that era will be gone by 2020.  This is no way to treat veterans who simply want to pay their respects at a memorial dedicated to their service, and to their fellow Americans who did not return.

If it was inside a building that required federal workers to be on site, that would be one thing.  But this is outside, where anyone can walk up to it.   It’s RIDICULOUS to erect barricades around them.

The federal government should remove the barricades immediately and welcome our veterans with open arms to a memorial dedicated to their courage and sacrifices, not arrest them for storming a barricade that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Congressional Pay Should Be Cut Along With the Federal Workers They’ve Laid Off: This is Not Right

Congress is continuing to receive their pay, while many other federal workers are going without pay due to the shutdown of the Federal government.

This isn’t right.  

Congress should face the same financial pain that tens of thousands of others who work for the federal government are currently facing and have their own pay cut, with a possibility of not receiving back pay, like everybody else.

There’s a photo going around on Facebook that addresses this issue in the form of a proposed Constitutional amendment. 

It  reads: “Amendment 28—Congress shall pass no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall pass no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”

That’s a GREAT idea.  We’d get more laws that make sense, with no exemptions for Congress.  They wouldn’t be so gung-ho to pass idiotic laws that they are not subject to.  Perhaps we should consider it.

GOP Keeps Moving the Goal Post: One Year Delay of Obamacare is the Latest New Demand in Confusing Series of Twists and Turns

I’m really disappointed with the current Republican party strategy of trying to deal with Obamacare.

They do not have a consistent message about what their goals are.  Are they trying to delay it, overturn it, or something else?  They need to pick their spot, and fight for it, and make their message about their fight clear to the American public.

Now, on the debt ceiling, I wish Congress would just raise it and pay closer attention to the current funding bills which make the debt ceiling debates necessary.  If Congress has a problem with the debt ceiling, they should spend less on pork and make cuts above and beyond sequester levels to the next budget.  That will make future debt ceiling fights in the federal government unnecessary as they’ll have room to maneuver while continuing to pay for what they voted on already.

On the federal government shutdown, the Senate took 1,372 DAYS to pass a budget, so that tells you how quickly Congress moves on passing a budget of ANY kind.   The government should learn to do more with less.  And the possibility of not paying soldiers on time who are fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan?  SHAMEFUL!

Congress needs to get its act together and vote its way out of this mess, or we’ll vote them out of office.  And President Obama needs to start negotiating and compromising on stuff.  President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neal did.  So did President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich.   Why can’t our current President and current Speaker?  Both sides need to tone it down.

Less Blame on the Shotgun, and More on the Shooter

I came home to news that the madman who shot up the Navy Shipyard in Washington used a Remington Model 870 in his killing spree.

The media is treating the shotgun like it’s the most powerful shotgun ever created, and spent way too much time analyzing how many shells it holds.  I couldn’t help but notice that the media chose to run with pictures of the tactical model of the 870 because it’s scary looking.  Since the shotgun was introduced in 1951, there have been HUNDREDS of variations of this shotgun, in multiple configurations.  There are civilian, police and military models currently in use.

Knock it off, you media idiots!  I use a Remington Model 870 to hunt with.  It’s a nice  hunting shotgun.

The shooter at the Navy yard is 100% to blame, not the shotgun.  He turned it on his fellow human beings, then stole the guns of his victims to continue his killing spree against his former employers. 

We have to understand that if he didn’t have this particular model available, he could have legally bought another type of firearm to carry out his attack.   I’m following my customary rule and not naming the SOB.  He’ll get no free publicity and name recognition here.

Russian Leadership’s Self-Esteem is So Low That They Have to Attack Others to Make Themselves Feel Better: PATHETIC!

Vladimir Putin and one of his firebrand supporters have been attacking Americans over feelings of exceptionalism, and there’s a reason for it.

It’s because their self-esteem is so low that the only way that they can feel better about themselves is if they attack the good in others.  There’s a term to describe this bully behavior: PATHETIC!

What’s more, President Putin’s former bosses instilled the sense of low to no self esteem in Russians and Soviet citizens for decades.   If Russians want to feel better, they should vote his butt out of office, as well as his other KGB lackeys.

The main difference between us and Russia is that in the U.S., we send crooks and corrupt politicians to jail.  In Russia, the crooks and corrupt politicians come to power and lock up the innocent and anyone who disagrees with their government’s point of view. 

Compared to Russia in those terms, are we exceptional?  Heck yes! 

President Putin should keep his opinions to himself

When was the last time we had a president do the kind of RIDICULOUS publicity stunts like President Putin has?  That’s another point…by staging these stunts, President Putin appears to be setting himself up as an exceptional leader, doesn’t it?   That would make Putin a hypocrite too, which is old news to us. 

That’s all the attention that I’m paying to Russian remarks on exceptionalism.  They have no leg to stand on, thanks to people like Vladimir Putin.

Syrian Rebels Are Slaughtering Syrian Christians: President Obama Wants to Turn the Tide of Battle in the Favor of These People?

Syrian rebels are attacking Syrian Christians in a blatant attempt to wipe Christianity out in Syria, under the guise of fighting the Syrian government.  This is more proof that Islam IS fighting a war against Christianity, while they accuse Christians of waging war on helpless Islam.  Hypocrites!

Under no circumstances should we assist these rebels.   President Obama needs to stop trying to change the tide of battle in favor of the rebels; they’re even more undesirable than Assad staying in office.    This smells of al-Qaeda or of Hezbollah. 

I don’t know what we can do to protect Christian villages in Syria.  By the time a course of action is decided on, the body count will be even higher than it is now.   Very frustrating.

Obama Has 22 Likely “Yes” Votes on Military Action Against Syria in Senate: 16 Likely “Yes” Votes in House So Far

Based on early projections, CNN seems to think that President Obama will get a majority of “yes” votes in the U.S. Senate, but the House cannot be predicted as only sixteen Representatives have indicated that they’re likely to vote “yes” on a military authorization against Syria.

Congress is not back in session yet, but the leadership is back in town and already talking about the language in the bill that will be debated, in terms of guarantees that there will be no introduction of ground troops into Syria, the kind of military assets to be used, duration of the conflict, mission creep, etc.

Should be interesting to see what happens.

Should “Porn Revenge” Be Banned? You Mean It Isn’t Already?

“Porn Revenge” has been popping up in the news lately, and it deserves comment.

Porn revenge is where a vindictive person coming out of a breakup of a relationship posts videos of his or her ex having sex or nude photographs from the relationship online, in order to humiliate the ex.

The question has been asked if revenge porn should be illegal.  My question is this: it isn’t already?

People need to understand that when they make pornos, whether they’re public or private, can come back and bite them hard, especially if there’s a breakup of the relationship.  Making home porn just isn’t a good idea to begin with, but to answer the question, my answer is “YES!  Revenge porn should be illegal.”

This sounds like some kind of virtual rape, so there should probably be criminal consequences for posting porn without the consent of the other party.

UK Votes No on Syria Intervention: President Obama Should Back Off Too

The British Parliament put the kibosh on the British military joining in an attack on Syria. 

They seem to be the only country doing it right; Prime Minister Cameron called Parliament back from recess, they debated it after listening to what he had to say on live TV, and the Prime Minister told the British public that he would accept the results of  the vote.  Even though he suffered a political defeat, he still did the right thing.

President Obama doesn’t want to call back Congress for a vote and has indicated that America is willing to go it alone.  I am 100% opposed to this line of thinking.   Unless the Syrians attack the U.S. Navy in the Mediterranean with their Russian-built anti-ship missiles, or attack Israel, we have no cause to break international law and attack Syria.

So far, Assad is the only one who has committed war crimes.  I hope President Obama has enough sense not to join Assad on that platform by taking us into an illegal war.  As despicable as the use of chemical weapons are, we need to know who carried it out before we even consider attacking another nation.

Absurdity: A Driver Who Looks At a Text Message While Driving Is Responsible for Any Accident That Happens, Not Anyone Else

A court in New Jersey has ruled that someone who texts a driver can be held liable if the driver gets into an accident while reading or responding to it.  Here’s why I disagree with this ruling in principle:

The driver consciously makes a decision to take his/her eyes off the road to read/respond to a text message.   He/she can easily ignore the text messages until they safely reach their destination.  Speaking from personal experience, it’s very easy to ignore a text message or hand the phone to a passenger to read it and respond for you.  I’ve done this before.

In the New Jersey case, a couple of teens were volleying text messages back and forth while one of them was driving; he crossed the center line and hit someone one a motorcycle in the other lane while he was distracted.  The people on the bike received severe injuries, survived the accident and sued both texting teens.  They settled with the driver and lost the case against the other teen.

There was an appeal, and the other teen was found liable, but not sentenced to punishment as she was unaware that her texting boyfriend was driving.

The driver is ultimately responsible.   He caused a severe accident, two people lost their legs because of it and all because he couldn’t put his phone down.  This was a stupid mistake that had life-changing consequences for his victims.

The judges were right to not sentence the other teen, though the knowledge that her text conversation had devastating results on two people will be with her the rest of her life.

No winners in this case, just sadness.

Russia and China Have a Lot of Explaining to Do: They’ve Allowed The Syrian Civil War to Continue Unabated By Blocking Every Single Security Council Measure Designed to Bring the Parties to the Bargaining Table While At the Same Time Heavily Arming Assad’s Regime

A lot of blame should go to Russia and China for their unbridled support of President Assad’s side in the Syrian civil war. 

Russia has opposed Western nations sending arms to the rebels, while quietly arming the Syrian government to the teeth with Russian heavy weapons and advanced missiles and aircraft.

The missiles are particularly troublesome.  Syria has tried to transfer the Russian weapons to Hezbollah, and Israel has gone in and blown them up at least twice.  The first time it was Russian advanced anti-aircraft weapons and the second batch of missiles were Russian anti-ship missiles.  

For all the Russian talk of trying to find a diplomatic solution to the Syrian problem, their irresponsible actions are destabilizing the region.    Israel’s already bombing Syrian territory to eliminate the Hezbollah-bound Russian weapons. 

China’s interest in Syria is financial and they’ve opposed sanctions against the Syrian government.  It is currently unclear if China’s been arming Assad.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they were.

All five permanent members of the UN Security Council need to be more flexible in finding a solution to the Syrian problem that they can agree to support and enforce.  If they can’t, or won’t, then shame on all of them!

We Don’t Like the Syrian Government, and We Don’t Like the Syrian Rebels and Their al-Qaeda Friends Either: So Why Are We Getting Involved in Syria?

We’re getting into a no-win situation with Syria and we need to stop. 

I don’t think we should be helping the al-Qaeda-backed rebels at all.  I think they’ve also used chemical weapons for their own advantage against the Assad regime.  We should be really concerned about these rebels AND Syrian regime soldiers picking up experience in using chemical weapons in or on heavily populated areas.   We can’t afford to trust either side.

There’s no doubt that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons too.  He’s used every weapon in his arsenal so far.  So far, he’s had no reason not to.  Consider: 

The ICC has no authority in Syria as it’s a non-signatory to the treaty, and Assad’s Russian and Chinese supporters won’t allow the UN Security Council to pass any kind of punitive measures.  The only thing that can be done against Assad is if his own people bring him to trial. I can’t see that happening at this stage.

We should NEVER ally ourselves to an al-Qaeda backed rebel group.   EVER.  They’ll turn on us.  So will Assad, for his own survival.   We should not support either side, arm either side or fight for either side.   

No more invasions, missile bombardments or drone strikes unless we’re attacked first.  It’s high time to return to traditional thinking about when to launch a military attack on another country.  Regime change?  Out the window.  Intervening on humanitarian grounds?  Out the window.  Imminent threat?  Possibly.  Defending a country we have a treaty with?  YES!  Supporting our allies, like Israel?  YES!

France, the UK, and the US need to back down from military action in Syria.  It’s a fight that the Syrians need to sort out themselves.   The West needs to stay out of there.

UTTER HYPOCRISY: If Missouri Clown Wore a George W. Bush Mask Instead of an Obama One, The People Griping and Complaining Right Now Would Have NOTHING TO SAY!

People really need to shut up about the Missouri clown who was banned for life for daring to wear a President Obama mask.

If he had been wearing a GW Bush mask while W was still in office, the complainers who are currently dominating the news cycles would be silent.  This is sheer hypocrisy that is playing out in front of our eyes.

Do us all a favor, complaining politicians and hypocrites, and GROW UP!

This is the biggest non-story of the year. Surely there are more worthy news stories rather than a clown in Missouri.