May God have mercy on his soul.

An Associated Press article on Yahoo is alerting us that the 92 year old Senator from West Virginia is seriously ill.  There is no prognosis on if he is deathly ill, but with his age and frail health, nobody would be surprised.

One of the inviting things about news articles on Yahoo is that you have the opportunity to comment on the article.  Unfortunately, everybody else has that opportunity, too.

It is inevitable that many of the comments are saying that it is about time the old man died.  This is a reprehensible attitude, but a review of Senator Byrd’s past could lead you to give these ill-wishers a pass.

The Senator is a past member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).  At some time in the past, Byrd renounced his membership in this racist organization.  It is obvious that Senator Byrd’s conversion to racial rationality was a political, not moral, decision.

It should be remembered that one of the founders of the KKK, Nathan Bedford Forest, later renounced his membership in the organization because he felt that thugs had taken over.  Senator Byrd obviously joined the KKK in the age of thuggery.  Forest was a slave trader before the Civil War, and had no compassion for black people.  I don’t think Byrd has compassion for people of any color.

You see, when somebody joined the KKK, it was for a reason.  These reasons revolved around fear, hate, and ambition.  To be a member you had to have no compassion for black people, and this was part of Byrd’s psyche.

He is revered in the Senate because he rubber stamps Democrat programs, and can get elected time after time in West Virginia.

I wish the old man no ill will, but maybe this illness will get his worthless backside out of the Senate.

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Just kidding.

It is a wonder that we haven’t seen a blog using this theme among the “progressive” internet organs favored by the brainless liberal Democrats.  This is just the kind of thing you would expect from them.

Of course, Karl Rove, Republican Political Advisor to President Bush, is not in action anymore as advising major Republican candidates.

With Rove out of action, who will the liberal left blame with tempting Al Gore to do his Sex Crazed Poodle Act?

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There is a fascinating Forbes article by Warren Meyer, author of the blogs “Coyote Blog” and “Climate Skeptic”.  Mr Meyer runs a company that manages public parks and recreational areas for various levels of government.  He makes a profit where the governments would otherwise have to close facilities to the public.

Meyer’s observations in his article, “Where Are The Yes Men?” hit at the heart of government problems. Eveybody has the power to say, “NO”, and nobody has the power to override anyone else’s “NO”. Each department, bureau, agency, and level of government is run by people who have no incentive to say “YES”.

For example the EPA is supposed to look for problems, and to that end they have their regulations on the purity of water dumped into the sea by ships.

The oil skimming ships so desperately needed to clean up the environment do not meet the stringent EPA rules.  So, screw the little people trying to handle the problem.  The EPA says “NO” to the skimming vessels.

They will say, “NO” in every case.  The same thing exists with the Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, and all other government agencies.  The only person who can say “YES”, and get it to stick is the President of the United States.

The President doesn’t seem interested in helping people tackle the oil spill mess.

There are analogs in the private business world, too.  As a professional salesman, I learned that there is usually one person in an organization that can say “YES”.  Everybody else has some sort of veto power.  All you have to do is sit in a meeting with corporate drones in one of our major corporations, and you will discover that there is always someone who will say “NO”, and get an initiative tabled.

As a matter of fact there are a couple of formal sales methodoligies that address this organizational charteristic.  First there is Strategic Selling, and it’s cousin, Consultative Selling.  Both methodologies advocate focusing sales efforts on the person who has the power to say “YES”.

If you want something to happen in the Federal Government or a major corporation, go as high as you can  in the organization to get it done.

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General Washington walked the walk, and talked the talk. He was a stern leader, but showed compassion and wisdom in his dealings with subordinates.  He would execute a soldier for desertion, or extend mercy in the case of contrition on the part of the guilty.

Abraham Lincoln, like Washington, was a man of principle.  He was derided by the popular press, and was excoriated by the Democrat party.  If Lincoln would have lost the 1864 election to Democrat McClellan the slaves would arguably not have been freed for generations.  Lincoln stayed with his principles, and the results were historic.

Fast forward to the present, and you get George W Bush, one of the most under-rated leaders in history.  His legacy will read a lot different than the New York Times would have you believe.

Like Washington and Lincoln, G W Bush is a man of principle and didn’t let the popular press dictate the direction of his administration.  If the popular press and the Democrats would have had their way, Saddam Hussein would still be murdering people, a very real threat to the USA, and would be hosting terrorist groups as was the case before his demise.

With the knowledge and benefit of hindsight, we can ask what each of these Presidents would have done in the case of General McChrystal’s inadvertant political and personal swipes at the Administration.

I believe Washington would have talked to McChrystal and made the determination that just because there were differences of opinion, this would have been manageable.  The two things Washington would not tolerate were cowardice and treason.  McChrystal’s statements fit neither of these categories.

Abraham Lincoln had big problems with people who didn’t want to win the Civil War, and he could not stand reticent field commanders.  He would have had no problem with General McChrystal.  McChrystal is a winner, and just because he is a bit on the mouthy side, he is all about winning.  Nothing wrong with that.

George W Bush is a different kind of leader.  Make no mistake about it, G W Bush is a leader of men and does not get intimidated by his subordinates. In my opinion his greatest weakness as President was that he was too loyal to his staff and appointees, some of whom should have been fired.

Bush took a long time to make up his mind about the surge in Iraq, but did so when convinced that it was a winning strategy.  George Bush is a winner, and he would have been able to work with McChrystal, also a winner.  These guys know how to get things done.

Barack Obama has no experience in leading people or successfully managing organizations.

Obama’s leadership skills are based on receiving adulation and wet lips on his posterior area from those around him. When he does not get worshipful attention he has a fit. According to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the Whiner in Chief got “really mad” when he heard about the Rolling Stone article.

With Obama, everything is personal.

In my opinion President Obama fired General McChrystal because he could not stand the personal implications of some of the comments published by Rolling Stone Magazine.  Obama is not much of a man as measured against other Presidents.

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Sickening, just sickening.  I can’t imagine anybody being overjoyed with Al Gore touching them.

Al’s little tryst apparently resulted in evidence of the “blue dress” variety, but the bashful mobile massage therapist waited three years before trying to get the police to look at the evidence of the previously reported crime.  The cops wouldn’t look at her clothes.  I wouldn’t touch them, either if there was supposed to be a Big Al DNA sample soaked into the fibers.  Euwww…

Tipper apparently was tipped off about Al’s lack of fealty, and she and Big Al are now going through a divorce.  I really hate to see the perfect couple split up, but Big Al’s karma has been sluffing off for quite a while, now.

Tough breaks, Al.

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UPDATE:  Apparently, there is not DNA evidence on the massage therapists pants, but I don’t understand what other evidence would be there.  At any rate, if it is something Al Gore handled when naked, I still wouldn’t touch them.

What is it with these people?  What do they think they can accomplish by issuing another moratorium on deep water drilling?

The Obama Administration still has no evidence or material findings that any other drilling operation is an immediate threat to the environment.  So, what’s up with that?

Stuart Varney of Fox Business News speculated that the Obama Administration is implementing the equivalent of a Trojan horse with their baseless moratorium.

The Trojan horse works like this.  If Obama succeeds in his moratoriums, he will apply the same reasoning to ALL offshore drilling.  If he succeeds in this he will have succeeded in banning ALL offshore drilling without going to Congress for legislation.  It will be a lawless coup.

Obama is an extreme environmentalist and an anti-capitalist.  His Trojan horse approach may succeed in killing whatever is left of the Amerian economy.  His actions are never as they seem, and you have to keep a sharp eye to decipher which shell game he is implementing.

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As I stated earlier, McChrystal would get the boot.  Obama is not man enough to manage situations where things are not kissy/feely/lovey.  He cannot handle people unless they are kissing up and brown-nosing.

On the other hand, nobody can blame Obama for firing McChrystal.  If I were the President, I am not sure if I would have fired him or not.

One of the marks of a good manager is the ability to get the best from his people. Barack Obama has shown his incompetency in managing crises, national security, and foreign relations. Obama does not have the personal courage to work with people who might disagree with him, nor can he take a joke.

Obama is not good for the United States of America.

General McChrystal’s career is ruined, and he is responsible for his own situation.  However, there is nothing of which he need be ashamed.

General McChrystal may be out, but Obama is the real loser.

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I just read a provocative article by Roger L. Simon on the Pajama’s Media web page titled, “Does Barack Obama Want To Be President?”.  Mr Simon’s approach is that Obama has had such a tough time in his first year in office that he is tired and would rather be somewhere else.  We can see some signs of Obama’s fatigue, and there may be some truth to Simon’s thesis.

I disagree.  I think Obama is there for the long haul.  Even with his lack of experience, lack of understanding, and egregious errors in domestic economics, foreign relations, and national security, Obama is the kind of man who will keep on marching to his particular drummer’s beat.  His ego is like Adolf Hitler’s ego. Barack Obama will imagine victory is within his grasp until the very end, and he may never understand his mistakes.

We are already seeing the first signs of Obama bunker-mania with him blaming everybody in the world for the BP oil spill and lack of Government response in the cleanup.  When the November elections go bad for the Democrats, we will see a huge cloud of dust and a whole flock of de-frocked Democrats bounced out of office.

Obama’s bunkermates will run over each other trying to  get out of the way of the American voters’ wrath.

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The Obama Administration was dealt a setback on its unwise 6 month off shore drilling moratorium.  A Federal Judge in New Orleans made the ruling this morning, but has stayed the block until appeals have been heard.

The only reason the Obama Administration could give for the moratorium was that they feared for the safety of the existing drilling projects currently underway in the deep Gulf Waters.   The Court was unsympathetic to this approach noting that the Government had not only issued permits for all the projects underway, but they have inspected and approved all of those operations.

In short the Obama Administration has no reason to halt the drilling operations.  They will immediately appeal the decision.

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