Attention! Presidential Candidates

Here’s what I want to know.


What do you plan to do about the following?

1.The oppressive Federal tax burdens; direct or hidden in the price of goods and services.

2.The huge explosion of tyrannical Government regulations.

3.Enormous National Debt and continued deficit spending.

4.Ineffective control of all National borders.

5.Equal justice and equal taxation rates for ALL.

6.Worldwide terrorism.


What I want you to do:

Cut Federal budgets to no more than last years budget in ACTUAL DOLLARS; all spending, discretionary, non-discretionary, and black projects and ops(all spending is up to you and Congress and is therefore, DISCRETIONARY!), except for those already receiving insurance BENEFITS like Social Security and Medicare; fund them by additional discretionary cuts. No Means Testing for wealth or Poverty.

No more annual deficits. Keep cutting budgets until the National Debt is substantially “Paid-off”. No budget increases, even for inflation, until National Debt is less than 5% of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP)..

Repeal and reform nearly all Federal Government Regulations, and all Executive Orders. Accurately determine the total true and complete costs to the taxpayers and consumers for those you keep.

De-fund hundreds of Federal Agencies, Departments, Programs, Projects, Bureaus, Offices, and Committees.

Evaluate all and repeal most Federal Excise taxes; and all tariffs, subsidies and embargoes.

Repeal Federal minimum wage laws. You’re preventing young people from learning to be useful workers.

Veto 95% of all laws passed by Congress; we already have way more laws than are needed. Only sign laws that apply equally to all citizens; including you, Congress and Executive appointees.

Repeal or phase out over three years all income tax exemptions and deductions; including all special interest carve-outs, credits, tariffs and subsidies.

Establish a single Federal Income Tax percentage rate applicable to all individuals, businesses and organization (including nonprofits, unions and churches; except for funds spent on their avowed purpose). Return to equal tax treatment for all under the law.

Tax all political contributions to Federal office candidates as income from individuals (if not already after taxes) excess revenue of organizations (nonprofits, churches, unions, foundations, etc.) and profit of businesses.

Stop subsidising behaviors and circumstances we want discouraged with ENTITLEMENT payments

Eliminate or significantly reduce Foreign Aid bribery and other transfer payment bribery to all recipients.

Stop special privileges and exemptions based upon sex, religion, ethnicity or nationality; allow limited exemptions for the verifiable disabled, aged, or in-firmed individuals.

Secure our borders, all of them, with traditional and modern devices, adequately train and vete personnel, and use effective modern procedures. Exclude all illegal invaders or intruders regardless their nationality or place of origin.

Build more prison and jail cells. Many criminals are avoiding punishment for their criminal behavior because of ineffective apprehension, inconsistent prosecution, sloppy sentencing, and overcrowding. Keep arresting criminals and incarcerating them, regardless of their apparent race or ethnicity, until all are being punished appropriately for their behavior.

Punish officeholder corruption relentlessly regardless of the stature, history, popularity or party.

Stop partisan treatment from the IRS and Justice Departments, or keep cutting their budgets until they stop arbitrary punishment of those with beliefs they dislike.

Punish officeholders that incite rioting and violence. It’s already a crime.

Stay out of foreign countries with whom we have no treaties or occupancy agreements. Do not occupy other countries any longer than it takes to kill them, blow-up their stuff, and load up our people, equipment and supplies and leave. Don’t stay around to train anyone, keep peace, re-built their junk or monitor elections. It’s not our business. Selling democracy is not our job. Do not repair anything or pay reparations! Do not apologize! Punish them and get out!

If you must build or repair stuff, do it here; keep peace, do it here; guard a border, do it here; monitor elections, do it here; pay reparations, do it here!

 
Mind our own business here!

A Just War

“There has never been a just [war], never an honorable one--on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit will--warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers--as earlier--but do not dare say so. And now the whole nation--pulpit and all--will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

― Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories

What a brilliant writer and thoughtful patriot and citizen! I agree with this view and believe it is consistent with our few true incidents of Foreign Policy interests or National Security attacks in more than six decades. I think only one of the current Presidential contenders has the courage to speak out against all but the most necessary defensive wars, I hope he continues. Defending our homeland and its freedom and prosperity are critical; but interfering with, invading, occupying or attacking those who have not and could not threaten our sovereignty,is absurd.

Protect and defend our homeland and its wealth, health and freedom; stop interfering where no national security or international policy interests exist. 

Use the enormous savings from that new policy to defend our borders, pay down our hideously oppressive debts, and benefit our law abiding citizens.

Mind Our Own Business!

Stop Invading and Occupying Sovereign Countries,

It’s Hypocritical!

Isn’t it odd that as a nation we insist upon respect for our sovereignty and the sovereignty of our allies, but violate our allies with little justification, and violate non-allies and enemies with even less forethought.  

We proclaim our sovereign rights loudly and threaten those that would violate our boundaries aggressively, but tolerate foreign invaders and occupiers who come here with less violent intentions, like to steal our prosperity, to corrupt our social services, or molest our innocent and ignorant.

Stop!  Our behaviors show others that we do not respect sovereign rights; our own or those of other nations.

Since at least 1965 we have interfered in foreign countries in many affairs, events, and behaviors that were and are within the rights of sovereign peoples and nations with virtually no rational justification, except some unexplained nation interest or paranoid national security exaggeration.

Stop!  It looks and sounds utterly ridiculous to those we violate, some of our allies, and most of our own citizens.

Leave nations and their people alone to solve their own problems in ways that suit them, even if it’s ignorant, dangerous and destructive; even if millions of them are injured, sickened, or murdered.  

It’s their problem; not ours.  We didn’t chose poorly for them, or we should not have; hopefully, they chose idiocy by themselves.

Our National security interests that would require invasion and occupation of any other sovereign nation are very few; an attack by other sovereign nations upon the lands of the United States, and upon the citizens and their property; or similar destructive attacks upon those we have agreed to assist if that event occurs; or massive destruction and genocide of innocents incapable of self-defense.

Otherwise, mind our own business.  Yes literally, protect international commerce where the businesses and properties of our citizens and their lives and health are under attack, or trade agreements exist with sovereign partners that require us to defend them.

Otherwise, we have no obligation to correct the ignorant mistakes of other nations or their citizens, nor build their economies, or construct schools, hospitals, sanitary system, prisons, or anything else for them.

We need to correct our own national mistakes, build our own infrastructure, educate our own people, care for our own people, protect our own inalienable human rights.

Terrorists and others prone to bad behaviors that endanger our citizens, or their property and rights, or national needs, should be quickly hunted down and brought to swift justice; i,e. captured and punished, or killed where they are found.

Do not move into foreign nations, invited or not, and stay to help them solve what we think their national problems might be.

It’s not our concern!  Find the bad people.  Punish them appropriately.  Load up and move out.  Explain it, but do not apologize.  Don’t fix or pay for any damages.

The damages and misery are their costs for having us fix what they should have fixed, so we didn’t have to use our resources and risk our people to provide a just outcome for them and our protection.

It’s easy people; their losses and misery are not our problem, even if we have a ratified Treaty obligating us to defend them….helping them all by giving them our nation’s wealth is not in my national interest.

It’s Just Not Our Business!     

  

Heinous Acts Stop Terrorism

Extremely Heinous Attacks

Stop Terrorism

Lately there has been a lot of discussion about preventing terror attacks by experienced novices and very experienced warriors; and a mountain of commentators, journalists, the well-meaning, elected officials and other morons and idiots.  Few of them seem to understand much about severely inhumane violence or the history of successfully ending undesirable violent conflicts.

So, here are a few historical and personal observations about very basic evil behavior and a “How to List” to end terrorism from religious extremists or other primitive bigots.

It is clearly intended to be and is completely incorrect; socially, legally, intellectually, culturally, morally, ethically and politically.

If you have a delicate psyche or are just troubled by severe mayhem and mass homicide, or don’t what to know what’s necessary to stop the chain of escalating successive events of terrorist violence:

Stop Reading Now!   

If not, what follows is my assessment of what has worked historically with easily observable examples. Some that you have probably not seen or heard of in more than 50 years, if ever.

First, a few general observations

1. Dead people cannot commit crimes of inhumane violence or terrorize anyone.
2. Their dead siblings, spouses, parents, children or associates cannot commit crimes or terrorize anyone in retribution; they’re Dead.
3. If non-participants fear they will be tortured, dismembered, eaten, burned alive, drowned, beheaded, repeatedly raped and publicity murdered, etc., or actually see people being tortured and murdered and it’s widely known; they will avoid terrorist affiliations.   
4. Exchanges of minimally escalated mayhem stops when one group of active participants commits a most unimaginably heinous act on an enormous scale, killing and maiming large percentages of participants and non-participants, and is believed likely to continue doing so unless all hostilities are halted.  (i.e. Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings -  WWII, Sherman’s March to the Sea - Civil War, Kit Carson’s conquest of the Navajo - Indian Wars)
5. The perpetrator is unwilling to listen to accusations from allies, enemies or individuals, and seems unaffected by condemnation by nations, religions, cultures or world organizations, or their spokespeople.

These kinds of things work when carefully and correctly executed in large circumstances and small, like Atomic bombings in Japan, or John “Liver-eating” Johnston (Jeremiah Johnson movie) Plains Indian conflict in the Montana Wilderness, circa 1850-1880.

The United States has not effectively used hardly any meaningful strategies in 70 years, choosing instead something called “limited warfare” an idiotic oxymoron from which sprang elaborate and moronic “Rules of Engagement” ensuring a long list of win-less conflicts through the present day anti-terrorism charades.

My suggestions for annihilating terrorism:

1. Preposition Combined Services Assault Teams, equipment and supplies near all likely future terror event sites.
2. Train and prepare for joint mission assaults upon terrorists regardless of the geographic location.
3. When positioned and upon any credible intelligence, attack the location with multiple assault teams killing all there except a few high value principles, if there; collect all useful intelligence devices; destroy all infrastructure; destroy all assets; contaminate all food and water sources; flatten all possible habitation and exit quickly.
4. Aggressively Interrogate high value assets, when no longer useful, execute them.
5. Publish accounts of the attack with pictures taking credit for all illustrative factual aspects.  Do not comment or reply to any other source accounts, except to discredit them as terrorists sympathizer's lacking first hand knowledge, and blame the terrorists and them for any dead captives.
6. Repeat all the above with increasing frequency, ignoring all commentary, individual, national, or international organization. Quickly elevate the ferocity and heinousness.
7. Do not apologize for anything, even something bad, even if it’s true!

Our incompetent leadership has abandoned what works for the nice, feel-good, political and social correctness of the well-meaning.

Merciless, unrelenting, heinous punishment works, choosing self-imposed artificial limitations does not. Don't worry about Terrorism's new recruits; if you are killing enough of them fast enough, new recruits will be very scarce.

And remember, when they are dead, they can’t terrorize anyone.

Syria, Our National Interest?

What is our national interest in the civil unrest in Syria? 

I don’t think we have an important national interest in Syria.

Maybe it’s arms sales.  Maybe it’s keeping more disgruntled Syrians alive.  Maybe it’s an opposition to potential peace in the region.  Maybe we have a huge vested interest in Muslim coalitions reeking havoc in lesser developed places.  Maybe it’s thwarting Russian, French, Iranian and Palestinian alliances in the region.

What do we gain by contributing to prolonging a civil conflict in which millions may die before its halted insuring hundreds maybe thousands of years more of regional unrest? 

Maybe that’s it; the lost Syrian and coalition resources and millions of dead Muslims without any loss of American lives.

I honestly can’t find a single plausible reason for US involvement.

I think it was Napoleon, who said; “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”.

I think our most important national interest maybe to let them kill each other, and let our old enemies fund the whole thing with their resources.

Either way we could watch it for free.  And fewer and less capable Syrians would be no great loss to the world’s future.

My Foreign Policy

If I were elected President, here are a few things I would do differently:

Suspend all cash transfers to foreign governments and non-governmental agencies operating in or for all foreign governments.

Immediately reduce all financial foreign aid to zero.

Begin the systematic evaluation of all nations; ally, friend or foe, evaluating all  requests for aid, history of our relationship, security and national interests, and relative value and importance of a continuing relationship with them.

All Congressionally ratified formal agreements will be honored carefully and exactly, trusting but verifying and not lavishly over providing anything.

Formal agreements for transfer payments may be resumed after formal renegotiations are successfully concluded.

All other requests for cash or funds transfers are cancelled.

Requests for disaster aid, medicine, food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and emergency medical procedures, will be considered first and appropriate types and reasonable quantities given the severity of the disaster will be provided directly to the effected peoples, but not through intermediaries.  Any government or non-governmental interference will cause immediate suspension of aid and potential cancellation.  Security and transport will be provided exclusively by USA forces or US contractors.

The only other forms of aid to be considered will be economic, military, scientific, humanitarian, or cultural; and only people, products, services, technology, natural resources, or knowledge will be available for negotiated exchange. 

Only countries willing to trade without subsidy, tariff or embargo will be considered.  If there is no free trade for the things involved in exchange, by the US or foreign nation, there will be no trade agreement.

All military exchanges will include the cash purchase of US arms, munitions, technology, facilities, equipment or training according to ratified and signed treaty conditions only.  No others will be permitted.

All scientific and medical resources will be exchanged by reciprocity only; like volunteer for money, money for knowledge, medicine for work, natural resources for equipment, value for value, etc.

All humanitarian, cultural and educational exchanges will be engaged in only with specific measurable benefits that will be verified by observable analytical evidence.

No cash, no funds transfer, no elaborate compensation, or questionable expense reimbursements will be honored.

Treaties are an element of foreign policy.  Substantially reduce the volume and intensity of any treaties.  Seek the mutual discontinuance of lopsided military disarmaments, economic handicapping, and world law or world court initiatives or treaties.  Reaffirm US sovereignty and stop handicapping US economic power and silencing US human rights and constitutional advantages.

Those nations publicly maligning or privately thwarting US capitalism, private property rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech, merit based achievement or human rights will not be parties to any US agreements.

Trade agreements will relocate responsibility for economic policy to what little is left of the Department of Commerce where “fair trade” only agreement will be signed; no subsidies, no tariffs, no embargoes, no inducements.  All trade agreements will be specific straight up trades; this much of our commodity, good or service for this much of their other specific commodity, good or service based upon strenuously negotiated market values of goods and services, not artificially manipulated.

Participation in major regional and international organizations including the United Nations is important but, not a main or major theme.  Begin deconstruction of the US role in the United Nations, reduce funding, reduce participation, become just another participant.  Stop interfering in the business of other sovereign nations.

The deployment of Military forces is another major element of foreign policy.  Discontinue routine overseas deployments on any foreign soil, even allies; including routine deployments at sea.  Increase joint military exercises with allies deploying from the US or US territories and protectorates, not from any other nation simulating the build up to all out war.  No police actions, no actions less than all out war, like limited engagement or special limited combat rules; just destroy the enemy and their war making capability, annihilate their forces and return US forces to within the US and territories; leave them defeated and their country decimated and refuse to help their citizens recover as punishment for their malicious ignorance.

Humanitarian Aid will include routine participation in conventions, consortiums, World Fairs, and alliances for medicine, science, and technology transfer and to a much lesser extent than historically, research and development.  US R&D will be increasingly done by the US, in the US, for the US quickly reducing to near zero funding for joint efforts.  Joint participation will still be sought when full participation and contribution by foreigners includes equal funding and the security and economic interests of the US are assured.

In other words, much smaller, much less intrusive, very selective, basic diplomacy and much smaller less active State Department; and much smaller funding participation in international conventions; and fewer treaties and no automatic treaty renewals.

And no more cash payments, funds transfer or bribes for promises of friendship.

Elected Officials

What I Want Them to Do

I’ve written on this before, but I am, to borrow a phrase from our beloved political elite, revising and extending my remarks.

Here’s what I want my elected Federal officials to do:

Substantially and actually reduce Federal spending immediately after the oath of office.  Immediately limit spending to less than revenue; substantially less.

Actually cut each years Federal spending by at least one percent of last years’ spending; regardless of inflation, new programs, growth of recipients, population growth, revenue increases, recession, depression or any other stupid reason.

Make it clear that all new legislation will be vetoed, unless there is a compelling national emergency, acknowledged by more than half of all citizens expressing the desire that a particular consensus solution be applied, the misery of which will assuredly to be shared equally by all.

Prohibit all new regulations.  Suspend all existing regulations, except those that apply to all citizens equally, pending a complete review of each for costs versus value.  Cancel by Executive Order, all regulations that cost more than their demonstrable value and are not constitutionally authorized for Federal Government.

Cancel by Executive Order, all obsolete regulations.

Veto all new laws that do not apply to all citizens equally; especially those exempting Congress, the President and any elected or appointed officials. 

Begin the repeal of all Congressional and Executive Branch exemptions to laws they’ve passed on everyone else.

Repeal all obsolete laws.

Immediately cancel all tax law that does not apply equally to all.  Revise all tax laws that allow for progressive tax rates.  Only allow one rate applied equally to all.  Immediately nullify all laws granting exemption, deduction, exclusion, subsides or transfer payment from or to tax filers, and grant only deductions for business or home improvements, carefully defined and equally available to all legal citizens.

Require all citizens to be prepared to provide proof of citizenship and carry it on their person at all times.

Veto all street, road, highway, river, mountain, lake, stream, ravine, rock or any other natural place name changes paid for from tax revenue, regardless of now nice or popular the dead person’s family is or was.

Eliminate any religious displays and any edifices to the dead on Federal Interstate Highways right-of-ways. 

Do not allow the installation of religious symbols, religious paraphernalia, or verbatim religious quotes from this day forward on taxpayers funded property or facilities.   

Reduce all entitlement payments by ten percent each year until they are demonstrably below the survival level, not counting help from others.  Then freeze them relative to the “Cost of Living” signified by the Consumer Price Index (existing, CPI) and Government Cost Index (new, calculation of total individual annual tax burden as a percentage of income).

Reconsider by national computerized referendum, if governments should be allowed to offer insurance for sale at all, given their monumental and historical miss-management and numerous defaults. 

Do not modify the “promised” and “paid for” levels of benefits by already compulsory participating citizens, like Social Security, Disability, Medicare, and Unemployment.  Change the contributions or benefit level for future participants. 

Create no new Federal benefit programs that are compulsory or with unpublicized opt-out provisions.  All new benefits must include widely advertised OPT-IN provisions equally available for all citizens and government officials.  Zero compulsory or mandatory contributions.  No everyone must be in, and you have to op-out or buy your way out.

If you want in, you pay in.  If you don't, no help for you later.

No one should ever be compelled to be in a socialist government benefit or insurance program from the beginning without their own personal request.

Any benefit program revenue deficiencies will be made up by more contributions or lower benefits for program participants only, no general tax revenue, loans or temporary funds transfers will be permitted, ever for any reason.

Limit Unemployment payments to a maximum of twenty six (26) weeks, period. 

Eliminate the ideas of subsides and tariffs, by all there various names and schemes.  They just shrink markets and penalized productive workers and industries under the guise of protecting jobs which will be lost to retaliation or market forces later.

Evolve quickly to enterprises producing goods and services better, faster, and cheaper than anyone else in the world.  Stop artificial protection and artificial punishment.

Labor Unions; repeal special treatment laws and tax exemptions for them.  They are not a religion, they are not educational, and they are not philanthropic.      

Phase out all subsides, all tariffs, all embargoes, all exemptions, and all Corporate and individual income tax deductions by ten (10) percent each year, beginning immediately after inauguration.  Allow tax exemptions for business expenses and equipment replacement, and likewise, home expenses, repairs and improvements for individuals.  

Phase out all Corporate and business taxes by ten (10) percent each year until they are zero, then prohibit taxes on businesses forever.  They are just passed on to consumers hidden in the price of goods and services.  Stop it.

Abandon income tax, in favor of a low National Sales Tax (NST) on all purchases, prepared or cooked food, homes, buildings, insurance, vehicles, drugs, medical services, clothes and all goods and services including elicit, illegal and black-market sales. 

No NST on raw unprepared foods or raw materials that will be consumed in their natural form or made into something else, whether used or traded for other goods, unless sold for money.  When sold the sale amount would be taxable.  If grown, produced and consumed or used by the originator, No National Sales Tax

Begin immediately closing all government organizations not authorized by the Constitution, including offices, commissions, boards, institutes, bureaus, and other organizations; and begin consolidating authorized functions in the few remaining departments.  Within three (3) years, no exceptions, have constitutionally unauthorized departments closed and authorized functions transferred. 

Withdraw nearly all combat and support troops from all overseas posts to within our boundaries.  Leave science, technology, medicine, philanthropic and training troops to help our allies and a few others in the most desperate need. 

Assign 175 thousand mixed services troops to Operation “Secure Borders”.  Begin retraining and redeploying 25% of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines for their new jobs preventing intrusions into our country.  They can do it, the Coast Guard already does. 

Continue Defense research and development at about half its current level; it’s essential.

Immediately begin reducing Foreign Aid.  Send humans, agricultural seed and science, or medicine; send help not money.  If they don’t want our help, don’t bribe them to be our friends.  Let them wallow in ignorance, poverty, corruption, famine and disease.

I want smaller, more efficient, much less intrusive, much less expensive Federal government focused on just the constitutional obligations the citizens require and have allowed, not running roughshod over the rights of states and our citizens.

No Spending is Too Small

To Be Cut

Every ineffective program, regardless of its size, must be cut immediately. This country is plunging into debt it cannot recover from.

All departments, agencies, bureaus, offices and commissions must review all of their programs, projects, and initiatives, scope and staffing; asking one simple question.

Are they achieving the purposes for which they were created?

The Drug Enforcement Agency must ask itself, “Is drug abuse less now than when we began the “War on Drugs?” If the answer is no, then stop doing more of the same thing, and try something different that might work; or stop doing it at all?

Is there less poverty now than 1968?

Are children and the elderly malnourished for lack of available nutritious food?

Are there fewer unwed mothers now, than the 1960’s?

Is the American Intelligence Community too fragmented at seventeen Agencies, Departments and Offices?

Are more students better educated today, since the Department of Education was created?

Do we fly safer since TSA was created?

Is our Border Security preventing illegal immigration or contraband?

Is our immigration system getting better, faster, cheaper?

Have subsidies helped or harmed our farmers?

Have tariffs helped or harmed our Auto workers

Has Social Security and Medicare helped our elderly care for themselves?

Has Medicaid helped the poor, disabled and incompetent?

Has the Food Stamp Program helped or harmed the needy?

Are the sick and injured able to get medical care?

Are widows and orphans able to get food, clothes, housing, education and medical care?

Do all people have the opportunity to share equally in the burdens and privileges of this great nation?

Are there jobs for all those who need to work?

Is the Boundary Commission still needed?

Are the best world citizens easily able to immigrate here and become great Americans?

Are the world’s most useless people prevented access to this country?

Are all citizens experiencing an equal share of the Nations tax burden?

Have the Federal Trade and the Security and Exchange Commissions prevented enough business crimes?

Has the EPA saved any species that would have become extinct?

Have our Air and water quality improved?

Does the government still own and control too much land?

Is flood control and storm water management by the Corps of Engineers working?

Should there be taxpayer funded radio and televison broadcasts?

Has the National Endowment for the Arts been worth the money spent?

Has the National Science Foundation been more successful than business, private and philanthropic research?

Is our Justice department insuring equal justice for all under the law?

Government does some things well. Here are some simple questions that might highlight that:

Is our military the most powerful, well equipped, supplied and trained in the world?

Has the Center for Disease Control prevented widespread infectious diseases?

Is the Smithsonian and National Museums among the best in the world?

Are some of our National Parks and Monuments among the best in the world?

Are any of our National Laboratories among the best in the world?

Are the US Marshall, the Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation among the best in the world?

Are the Central Intelligence Agency, Nation Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency among the best in the world?

London Daily Telegraph? Not

Note: this article falsely attributed to Alex Singleton was written by Jack Kelly Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade combines two previous articles headed by a quote from Alex Singleton; no matter, I still like the viewpoint.

"Let me be clear: I'm not normally in favor of boycotts, and I love the American people. I holiday in their country regularly, and hate the tedious snobby sneers against the United States. But the American people chose to elect an idiot who seems hell bent on insulting their allies, and something must be done to stop Obama's reckless foreign policy, before he does the dirty on his allies on every issue." (this quote may be correctly attributed to Alex Singleton)

One of the most poorly kept secrets in Washington is President Obama's animosity toward Great Britain, presumably because of what he regards as its sins while ruling Kenya (1895-1963).

One of Barack Hussein Obama's first acts as president was to return to Britain a bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office since 9/11. He followed this up by denying Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on his first state visit, the usual joint press conference with flags.

The president was "too tired" to grant the leader of America's closest ally a proper welcome, his aides told British journalists.

Mr. Obama followed this up with cheesy gifts for Mr. Brown and the Queen. Columnist Ian Martin described his behavior as "rudeness personified.” There was more rudeness in store for Mr. Brown at the opening session of the United Nations in September. "The prime minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure five minutes of face time with President Obama after five requests for a sit down meeting were rejected by the White House," said London Telegraph columnist David Hughes. Mr. Obama's "churlishness is unforgivable*," Mr. Hughes said.

The administration went beyond snubs and slights last week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed the demand of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, a Hugo Chavez ally, for mediation of Argentina's specious claim to the Falkland Islands, a British dependency since 1833. The people who live in the Falklands, who speak English, want nothing to do with Argentina. When, in 1982, an earlier Argentine dictatorship tried to seize the Falklands by force, the British with strong support from President Ronald Reagan expelled them.

"It is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history," wrote Telegraph columnist Toby Young. "Does Britain’s friendship really mean so little to him?” *One could ask, does the friendship of anyone in the entire world mean anything to him?

"I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office," wrote Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post, on Monday. "A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.” One official named French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but his contempt for Mr. Obama is an open secret. Another named German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But, said Mr. Diehl, "Merkel too has been conspicuously cool toward Obama."

Mr. Obama certainly doesn't care about the Poles and Czechs, whom he has betrayed on missile defense. Honduras and Israel also can attest that he's been an unreliable ally and an unfaithful friend. Ironically, our relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have never been worse. Russia has offered nothing in exchange for Mr. Obama's abandonment of missile defense. Russia and China won't support serious sanctions on Iran. Syria’s support for terrorism has not diminished despite efforts to normalize diplomatic relations. The reclusive military dictatorship that runs Burma has responded to our efforts at "engagement" by deepening its ties to North Korea.

And the Chinese make little effort to disguise their contempt for him.

For the first time in a long time, the President of the United States is actually distrusted by its allies and not in the least feared by its adversaries. Nor is Mr. Obama now respected by the majority of Americans. Understandably focused on the dismal economy and Mr. Obama's relentless efforts to nationalize and socialize health care, Americans apparently have yet to notice his dismal performance and lack of respect in the world community. They soon will.

Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade