Are military members just props for politicians?

While I was watching the State of the Union, I was thinking what I could post about today on the blog. I was all set to write about presidents and their desire/ability to bypass congress and change laws with signing statements and executive orders.  This has been the norm for the last five presidents however, the current president was the one who campaigned on breaking the chain of executive orders and signing statements.  But this topic will have to wait for another day.

Just another prop?

Just as I started to outline the blog post on executive orders I saw something that just upset and bewildered me. The use of Army Ranger Sergeant Cory Remsburg as a political prop is one of the most disgraceful parts of this SOTU address. All presidents have pointed to the hero in the balcony for the last 30 years, but I find it most terrible that this is done with not only a uniformed service member but also one that was terribly injured and maimed by fighting in a war.

The SOTU is not an annual report on the state of the Union as a whole. It has become a platform for the President to put forth his partisan plan for the year and then attack the opposition for not helping and for being a villain. The State of the Union has turned into a partisan campaign tool for the party that has control of the executive branch.  For those who do not know military members are not allowed to attend or participate in any partisan political rally and they are not allowed to go to any type of political rally in uniform. Yet the President has this member attend in his uniform and uses him as a political prop. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the attention that this soldier is receiving and he deserves every single bit of it for the sacrifices that he has made on behalf of his country.  However, this does not change the fact that presidents have for many years have allowed members to break this rule when it is in the president’s best interest to do so. If in the next election cycle a military member attends a political rally in uniform or volunteers to work for a campaign and it gets back to his superiors I can guarantee that that member will be punished and possibly kicked out of the military.  Military members have their freedom of speech silenced in order to maintain good order and discipline within the military it is not right to then use service members to propel the presidents partisan message.

I'm Back

      I know I have been gone for a long time and for that please accept my most sincere apologizes. A few of the reasons why I have been away for so long is I recently decided to leave my job of 16 years and I have been placing most of my energy in finishing up my master’s degree, and developing new skill sets.

But boy have I missed a lot of things in the news lately; we missed the entire fiasco with the government shutdown. Did the Repubs, and the TEA Party shut down the government or was it due to the fact that the President refused to negotiate on any of his policies.  We are now having record cold snaps here in the United States and I know that this has renewed the talk of global warming and that no matter how cold it is it is because the earth is warming by man made carbon usage, this is one topic that I do not want to get into on this blog.

I chose today to come back, and I have been debating it for a very long time, I needed to find a good point in which to come back. The State of the Union seems to me to be the most logical spot to start writing again; a new political year and a new year on the blog.

Things that I am looking for tonight:

1.     Will the president tout the withdraw of troops from Afghanistan as a victory or is he just sticking with his own timeline. Are we abandoning the citizens of Afghanistan and improving the conditions for the Taliban to take back control of the country? How is the state of the female in Afghanistan?

2.     As we have seen in the last few weeks, there is going to be a big push to talk about income inequality and how everyone should all get the same results from the same amount of efforts. This is what he calls “leveling the playing filed.”

3.     The third big issue he will cover is his actions that he took today, because that is the only reason he would sign and executive order on the day of the SOTU, the raising of the federal minimum wage for federal employees. I believe he will try to explain why he took this action and blaming it on the Republicans in the House. ( I will have much more to say about this in the future.)

So please watch and enjoy the SOTU address and it will surely bring about many new topics of discussion for the year to come.

Egypt and US Aid

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First off let me apologize for being away for so long. I recently relocated to Florida from southern California due to a new job. I am so happy to be free of California politics and crazy taxes. However, I arrive in Florida in the middle of the farce/circus that is the George Zimmerman trial (kill me now).

Since my last post, there have been many different topics that I would have liked to weigh in on. Topics such as the NSA spy program and everything that goes along with Snowden from weather he committed treason or should be protected under the Whistle Blower Protection Act. To his seek for asylum with some of the US’s biggest threats in the world.

What will be the new face of Egypt?

The one event that I want to talk about today is the recent unrest in Egypt and what the US policy should be in response to the military coup (if that is what we are going to call it).  Let me first look at what we are going to call the uprising of the last few weeks. Does it parallel the Arab Spring movement, which was touted as the introduction of democracy to the Middle East, or is it just another run of the mill military coup? I believe that it is the latter and not the former. The military complex removed the leader of the country who was properly elected by the citizens of that country and that in my opinion is a coup. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of Morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood nor do I believe that the he was a good President or was he leading Egypt down the right path. In fact I believe most Egyptians are currently in a worse economical state than they were in the beginning and eventually this coup may lead to a better life for Egyptians, however a coup is not the way to go about removing people from power. There was an impeachment clause built into the Egyptian constitution and that is how this should have been played out. Gain the support of the legislature and properly remove Morsi from power and if that didn’t work vote him out of power at the next scheduled election. If Morsi did not give up power after either of these events then a coup would be seen restoring the legitimate government and constitution.  Instead, the military seized the first opportunity to take power once they realized that Morsi was not interested in leading in a democratic fashion. No matter how much this will eventually help out the people of Egypt is was no the proper action to take.

Now we have the lack of American response to the situation, the White House has said little even though they have backed Morsi and the Brotherhood in the past. Nor has the Obama Administration cut off aid to Egypt even though it is required to do so by law. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I fully agree with Senator McCain we must cut off all aid until the democratic process has been fully returned to Egypt. Cut off all aid until elections are held and the winner of that election has taken power. Not cutting off aid sets a very bad precedent, not only does it show the World that the US is not committed to democracy but only democracy as it sees it, and by not cutting off aid we give the military to do what ever it wants to in another country as well as cementing the military as the supreme leader of Egypt. What is everyone's opinion of the correct course of action?

Further Reading:

http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2013/7/coups-democracy-and-other-questions-in-egypt

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/mccain-suspend-us-aid-to-egypt/

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2013/07/11-egypt-military-intervention-democracy

How does the AG STILL have a Job?

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Did this man lie under oath?

So what does it take to get fired in Big Government today? If you run the IRS, at least temporarily, and you are set to leave your post in a month, then you may be asked to resign when your organization targets people based on political and religious beliefs that run counter to that of the ruling party.  Oh yeah, and all of this started before you took office, then you might get fired. Or maybe if your firing helps out the ruling party as was the case with the IRS and its former acting director Steven Miller, by firing Mr. Miller and effectively ending his public service career the ruling party can be seen to somewhat distance themselves from the IRS scandal.  Because, as Americans, we are too dumb to see through this blatant political attempt of deflection of blame.

However, if you are the Attorney General, you can continue a program that runs guns illegally into Mexico, lose track of the guns, and eventually those guns kill an American border guard. Then you target a reporter with a subpoena of his phone records during an investigation of a security leak and to skirt any First Amendment issues, you know the one that says something about a free press, you label the reporter as a co-conspirator but this is ok because he works for Fox News. Then, once again, you target reporters, this time from the AP, in another security leak investigation.

Then you can go into Congress and not give accurate testimony and refuse Congressional attempts to have your office produce documents, as is required by the Constitution. You then call a the behavior of a sitting member of Congress “unacceptable and it is shameful” because he is trying to pin down your story 

Eric Holder will be brought back in front of Congress in the next couple of weeks to account for not only his roles in these scandals but to account for his previous accounting before Congress. This man MUST lose his job and should be indicted for perjury to Congress if it can be proven that he mislead or lied while under oath.

This will not happen because he has some strange type of hold on the President. I wonder just what dirt he has that is keeping him from losing his job. Lord knows that if this were a Republican administration the AG would be out on the street i.e. Alberto Gonzales and there would be cries from the media for impeachment for willful violation of the First Amendment rights of all Americans as well as the use of a federal agency to intimidate your opponents.  I guess Anita Dunn’s isn’t the only person in the Presidents circle who admires Mao.

An Interview with Thaddeus Nowak

    I know I generally write about current events and politics but today I am going to a bit off the reservation and post an interview with a exciting new author, Thaddeus Nowak.

    My wife and I are avid readers, so my wife is more than I am but who doesn’t enjoy a really good book every now and again. Recently the wife found an interesting web promotion run by Novel Publicity, they sent out a few copies of the author’s books and bloggers agree to review the books. It’s a pretty good idea and good way for new authors to build up a following.

     Mother’s Curse, by Thaddeus Nowak is a very entertaining young adult tale that will entertain readers of all ages. Please check out Thaddeus’ debut book and the sequel, which are available on Amazon of $.99.

I am posting an interview the author gave I hope you enjoy.

1. Stephenie surely defies stereotypes. Born a princess, but a tomboy. Cursed as a witch, but a likable relatable character all the same. How did you go about creating her character?
Stephenie was born in my imagination many years ago.  It was during a time I was struggling with another story. To help “get my creative juices flowing,” I started to write random scenes with random characters.  One scene I wrote was about a young girl who was alone in a public house where a conflict broke out, and she had to fight her way out.
Well, I kind of fell in love with the character and had to find out who she was, where she was going, and why she was alone in the world.  In making that discovery, I crafted the current story arch that is the Heirs of Cothel Series.  It took some time to work out her past and what her life would be like growing up as a witch and how the damaged relationship she has with her mother would affect her.  Based on those factors, her break from what would be typical for a princess seemed natural.
Which then led me to think of the girls I had grown up with and the women I know today; many of them are tomboys and are not afraid of getting dirty and running about the woods.  So it just seemed natural that Stephenie would be that way as well: a strong young lady who has her own motivations and agenda, but is compassionate and can sympathize with others, even if she cannot fix all of their problems.
As a bit of trivia, many aspects of that original scene are in Mother’s Curse.
2. Did you face any special challenges writing a female lead character, given that you are a male author?
Yes and no.  I grew up surrounded by girls.  My family had the only boys in the neighborhood for many years, so all my friends were female and that does give me something to draw from.
When writing Stephenie, I try to get into her head and see the world through her eyes.  Occasionally, I need to refocus and make sure she would really react in a particular way.  The good thing is I have had her in my head for so long that I usually have a pretty good idea of what to write for her.  My bigger challenges come with some of the other female characters and making sure I am true to them.
3. The tension between Stephenie and Sergeant Henton is one of my favorite parts of the book. How did you develop their relationship using such subtlety and not hitting us over the head with cliché romantic dialogue?
I am glad the subtlety of their relationship is being noticed.  I had one reader tell me they were worried that I might fall into one of the overused traps they see in so many YA novels.  Once they realized I had not done that, they were ecstatic.
I can say this approach in the story is very much me.  I am something of a romantic, but I don’t care for most of the stories dubbed as “romance”.  Do people act in stupid ways when they are trying to attract other people?  Of course, but too many stories seem to force stupid decisions upon the characters to ratchet up the tension.  Too many times, that is done through obvious misunderstandings that could be resolved with half a minute of conversation that the characters work very hard to avoid.
My goal is to never have a character deliberately sabotage their relationships for stupid reasons (at least not a character I respect).  If things work or don’t work, I want there to be more substance to the reasons.  I want the investment in the relationship to be greater, and so the emotions stronger.  Perhaps I’ve watched too many classic movies, but there is something very powerful about what is never said aloud between people.
4. The Kingdom of Cothel is at war. Could you tell us more about the front lines Stephenie is so desperately trying to escape to?
At the opening of Mother’s Curse, Cothel, and most of the other countries to the west, are fighting against an invading army that sailed in from the Endless Sea.  These invaders have many witches and warlocks in their ranks and are overwhelming the holy warriors and soldiers of the people who live around the Sea of Tet.  These Senzar invaders have killed royal families and left countries without rulers.  Stephenie’s father was quick to join the battle because his oldest daughter was married to the crown prince of Esland and one of the first to be killed.
The Senzar spent most of their focus driving toward a prominent mountain range in the middle of the land between the Sea of Tet and the Endless Sea to the west.  Their main forces have yet to cross over Cothel’s boarders.  However, they are on the doorstep of the country and Cothel’s forces are low on supplies and reinforcements.  Stephenie’s desperation is to reach her father and brother, the King and Crown Prince, because she fears her mother is plotting something that could put them and the people of Cothel at risk.
5. Although firmly rooted in the fantasy genre, Mother’s Curse and Daughter’s Justice remain quick-paced engaging reads not mired in the details of exotic lands or creatures. Why did you decide to depart from the genre with regards to this important aspect of storytelling?
While some fantasy novels feature lengthy descriptions and details about the various inhabitants, to me Mother’s Curse, Daughter’s Justice, and the subsequent books that will be in the series, are foremost about the main characters: Stephenie, Henton, and Kas.  The backdrop of the world, while important, really is a backdrop and I have tried to embrace the idea of less being more.
I am proud of the world I have created, but I am also willing to let the nuances soak in over time as they become relevant to the story.  For those who like to find out more about the lands Stephenie has to explore and the history I have created for those lands, I try to put some extra information up on my website.  I’ve been adding to it slowly, but have had requests for more information and will work to increase the frequency of the postings.
6. Which authors, film makers, and other sorts of storytellers serve as your primary influences in crafting this book series?
This is a good question.  In all my reading, I cannot recall consciously thinking I would like to expand on a specific idea in my own stories.  I am certain all the things I have read have had significant subconscious influences.  I grew up with a mixture of the classics (Isaac Asimov, Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, and Arthur C. Clarke) and contemporary writers such as Joel Rosenberg, Barbara Hambly, Jane Lindskold, and Kate Forsyth.  There are, of course, many more I did not list.
From TV and movies, I would tend to pull more influences from the scifi realm.  For conscious influences, I would say I really liked the whit and humor of Farscape and how the characters got along.  The only thing I can say I remember the actual spark of the idea was from the movie High Spirits.  That movie lent me the idea that over many years ghosts would fall into a trance and continually relive an aspect of their lives, no longer aware of the world around them until something disturbed their environment.
7. How did you write the interactions between Stephenie and her mother without wanting to strangle the latter? And how did you craft such a formidable villain despite her maternal relation to our loveable hero?
Well, first off, I love my own mother, so no parental issues there.  I do know she got a few questions when other people first saw the title and read Mother’s Curse, but having been an early reviewer of the story, she’s also a strong supporter.
For Stephenie and her mother, I wanted the interaction between the two of them to be very toxic and antagonistic.  Years of mutual hate meant they knew how to push each other’s buttons and get under the other person’s skin.
Some of it I think I may have pulled from my experiences working in sales and dealing with difficult customers, but mostly it came from the number of years I worked in what was effectively the advanced support team of a crisis management center.  Our job was to help people recover large computer systems that were in real trouble.  It was high pressure work and not everyone could handle the customers who were themselves under incredible stress.  A big part of the role was simply human psychology, empathizing with the customer and helping to make sure they knew you had their best interests at heart.  It was really more managing the people than actually working to repair and troubleshoot the databases.
A natural side effect of learning how to help reassure people in a crisis is an insight into how one could hurt people.  Hopefully, I’ve managed to put those years of experience to good use in making believable villains.
8. Have any experiences, personal quirks, or people you know worked themselves into your writing? If so, how and where?
Well, not so much in Mother’s Curse or Daughter’s Justice.  There is a lot of me in the characters, especially when it comes to the pragmatic nature of several of them, but I did not really draw from any other people.  As a kid, I spent a fair amount of time gaming with my friends and that has lent me the ability to quickly imagine another person, craft some personality traits, and put on a different hat to play that part.
However, the next book, tentatively titled Daughter’s Revenge, will feature someone close to me in the pages.  I’ve had numerous requests to include a character for our horse, Dollar (original show name was Silver Dollar due to a white mark on his withers about the size of a silver dollar).  So, in book three, look for Stephenie and others to spend some time on horseback, and Dollar to be along for the journey.
9. When not writing, what do you like to do with your free time? Tell us something whacky and cool!
Free time?  I don’t quite understand the question.
I have had to narrow down my list of hobbies and “want-to-dos” considerably over the years.  There is just not enough time in the day.  However, the primary activities I keep up with include:
Hiking.  Though we lack any mountains to make it challenging, I try to spend time on a couple local trails.  It is excellent time for working out specific plot details in my head.  This year I have two different vacations planned, both of them involve a week of hiking with my wife.  One will be in North Carolina, and the other will be on the west coast.
I often mix photography in with the hiking.  My wife and I are generally landscape photographers who want trees and mountains in almost every shot, though I do like shooting soft water.  I’ll definitely post a few shots of my vacations online after each of those trips.
I also try to keep fit at the gym, but that unfortunately slips from time to time.  However, I need to get back into proper condition to hike 15+ miles a day in the mountains with about 35 pounds of gear (cameras, lenses, and a tripod gets heavy).
And of course, I read a lot of novels when I can.  Though lately that has also been hit and miss.  I always feel guilty reading something else when I can be working on my own novels.  But sometimes I just have to take a day or so of solid reading and knock out a book simply for the joy of it.
10. What’s next for the Heirs of Cothel Series, and when can we expect book three?
Book 3 is tentatively titled Daughter’s Revenge.  I will let the title imply what it will.  As I have already alluded to, Stephenie and others will be going on another road trip, this time using horses.  She will learn more about herself and continue to grow as a person.  There will be a couple of new characters introduced, but aside from that, I don’t want to give too much away.
Regarding the release date, the first two books have released in the first quarter of the year.  I am am aiming to move that up some, but a lot of things have to come together with the proper timing to make that happen.  I will definitely keep everyone posted about when to expect book 3 on my website as things get closer.

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Mother’s Curse and Daughter’s Justice eBook editions are just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing either or both of these fantastic books at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes.
The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $450 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of each book.
All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment–easy to enter; easy to win!
To win the prizes:

1. Get your copy for just 99 cents
2. BONUS:  The sequel is also discounted to 99 cents
3. Enter the Rafflecopter contest below
4. Visit the featured social media event

Mother’s Curse is a coming of age story about the youngest Princess of Cothel and her efforts to save her father and brother from her mother’s schemes, while at the same time, coming to terms with what it means to be a witch. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.
Daughter’s Justice continues Stephenie’s journey of discovery, where she must overcome national opposition to her being a witch as well as lead her friends and protectors on a mission to stabilize her countries finances. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.
Thaddeus Nowak is a writer of fantasy novels who enjoys hiking, photography, and the outdoors. Visit Ted on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

Service Member On Service Members Crimes Must Stop

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While browsing the yesterday’s Congressional Record today, I know what a dork right, I ran across the floor speech that Senator Hagan gave on the staggering amount of sexual abuse in the military.  Based on a survey of service members from all branches there is an estimate of 26,000 sexual assaults in the military. That is an overwhelming number of service members who have been victimized. As a veteran, I find this number to be very offensive and like Senator Hagen believe that we need to do more to protect our service members. 

I know that there are numerous required training sessions each year that deal with sexual abuse. To the credit of the military they are getting better than they were in the past. The training used to be very generic, done as a formality, and was usually death by power point. However, they now conduct small group discussions led by service members who have received specific training on prevention, identification, and the resources available to victims of sexual assault. My point is that there is a higher quality of training that is conducted now rather than the training that was done 10-15 years ago. 

According to the DoD report that Sen. Hagan quotes, we are seeing a drastic rise in sexual assaults despite the increase in both quantity and quality of the training that is given to service members.  Sen. Hagan gives a couple of harrowing stories of several victims reporting rape and assaults to their commands and not receiving any justice or at least fair shot at receiving justice.  Most of the claims are investigated by the leadership of the victim’s command, in my opinion this causes a giant conflict of interest, as the CO of the unit is responsible for both the successes and failure of his command. If a CO has the ability to find a case as “unsubstantiated” and to keep his own record clean would not some take that road? Even if the CO finds that the allegations are “substantiated” and he refers the case to court martial the CO is able to overturn any convictions. 

This is why I believe that an outside unit should investigate ALL sexual assault cases or even better lets use law enforcement officers that have proper education and training in investigating these types of allegations. Bring in the Criminal Investigations Division or civilian police to do the investigations. We CANNOT allow this type of increase to continue. These people put their lives on the line to defend us and deserve to be able to feel save in their barracks and workplaces.

I urge everyone who reads this to please contact there congressmen or and senators and demand that investigation process be changed to better serve our brave men and women in uniform.

                                    THIS HAS TO STOP!!!!!

For more information please see the following links:

http://www.sapr.mil/index.php/annual-reports

http://www.hagan.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2121

and to add insult to injury

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/jeffrey-krusinski-arrested_n_3225155.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/15/us/army-sexual-assault-investigation/index.html

A Pyrrhic Victory on Benghazi

Republicans in Congress need to ensure they do not win the battle at the cost of the overall good of their party. Let’s look at things realistically; most Americans, and almost all the media, don’t care about the semantics and the deceit that the Administration put forth in the days and months after the September 11^th 2012 attacks in Benghazi.  Outside of the conservative echo chamber, very few people care, it is sad but true. People that I have discussions with believe that the President and his administration tried to hide the true nature of the attacks in order to keep the President looking strong on terrorism for the November election. Most are willing to forgive and forget as long as security has been raised and these mistakes don’t happen again.

Thanks in a large part to the whistleblowers and Sharyl Attkisson, @sharylattkisson, we have learned the Administration did indeed try to convince the American people that the attacks were not based on Islamic extremists’ intentions to destroy the US but to pass it off as a spontaneous reaction to an internet based movie trailer. Attkisson published a story earlier that detailed the changes made to the talking points to soften the blow of four dead Americans. This is a huge story but unfortunately the narrative has already been written on this point, and the truth has lost out. It’s time to move on.

It’s only time to move on because there are bigger and more important issues that have come to light in the last few days. The IRS story keeps getting bigger and bigger every day. What were initially reports of a few low level employees in Cincinnati has now turned to higher level players in Washington. Conservative groups, Jewish groups and several others have come forward to state that they have been harassed by the IRS. Now even a liberal group,  ProPublica, has come forward saying that the IRS gave them unapproved applications which are not legally available until they have been approved for tax-exempt status. This is the story that has legs and which could potentially bring the most discredit to the Obama Administration.

Yes the facts must come out of Benghazi and they will in time but the IRS and possible the AP scandals are where the Republicans in Congress must center their efforts if they wish to win this war. The American people will forgive someone who was trying to mislead them but they are not willing to allow elected members of government to use their positions and the powers of their offices to torment their political opponents. Just ask Nixon.

Will it be this man that turns the Media against his boss?