In a somewhat slowly developing move, President Obama has created a coup in Libya that I believe no other President has achieved. He should be complimented. Libya has been run by a tyrant, Gaddafi, who had no love for the United States, but had decided to cooperate with us against the Al Qaida, a violent, terrorist, enemy. His subjects revolted – at least some of them. After some delay, what ignorant Republicans called dithering, Obama threw the power of our armed forces against Gaddafi, who appeared about to defeat the insurgents. It was a brilliant strategy. He created a double lose situation for the United States. If the insurgents win, they will be controlled by Al Qaida, an organization that hates and sends terrorists to kill us. If Gaddafi wins, he will hate us. How many of our Presidents have had the wisdom to enter a conflict in such a way as to make certain that the winner will be our enemy?

George Lakoff wrote in an article in the Huffington Post (What Conservatives Really Want, February 19, 2011) that “Conservatives believe in individual responsibility, not social responsibility. They don’t think the government should help its citizens. That is, they don’t think citizens should help each other.” Note the complete twist of logic, which I find common among “Liberal” writers. Since when does individual responsibility not include social responsibility? As to government help, yes, in major disasters such as Japan recently had, only the government has the resources to provide the necessary assistance. However, on a daily basis to individuals whose own activities have created problems for them - as is true of single mothers, alcoholics and drug addicts, all the government does is to take money from the responsible, give a large amount of it to government employees and trickle down some to the irresponsible.  Responsible individuals, knowing their neighbors, do much more good in such situations than people working, occasionally, in WashingtonDC government offices.

Watching the evening news and reading news articles on the Internet, I am impressed by the items reporters consider important. Are any of them aware that we still have over 40,000 service men and women in Iraq?  They never mention them or their activities.  President Obama said he would bring them home. Probably he did, but he also sent in replacements. What about Afghanistan, which President Obama said was vital to our interests? We have over 60,000 military, many in combat or combat situations there, but one wouldn’t know that from listening to ABC, NBC or CBS or reading the New York Times or the Washington Post. 

Then there is Libya, our newest military adventure. A government spokesman, praising the Libya action, said Obama believes people should have the right to assemble and protest without threat and is acting to support their safety. He even mentioned the people of Syria and a few other mid-eastern nations as possibly having the need for our help. Great! Does this mean that he now supports the “Tea Party” assemblies and will have his FBI and Attorney General Holder arrest and try the hired thugs who try to disrupt their protests of government tyranny?

President Obama said we would be out of Libya in “days.” But how long is an Obama day? The Bible says that God created our world in seven days and some biologists whom I know argue that there are seven eras in the development of our current world. We all know President Obama has a good opinion of himself, which “day” is he on in Libya?

Changing the subject – slightly, having read article after article complaining about the salaries of the leaders of corporations including banks, I realized that I never saw an article about Union leaders’ salaries.  I decided to look up the salaries of the Union Officials, especially the ones complaining about attempts to hold the salaries of public employees to levels comparable to those of private workers in similar jobs. If anyone is interested, good luck. I could find reports on only two.  

Wisconsin Educational Association maintains a medical insurance business. It has twelve executives whose salaries exceed $100,000 a year. Including all financial benefits their total individual incomes range from that of the President and CEO Fred Evert’s $469,522.00 per year down to Carol Pelrick (Chief Accounting Officer) who makes only $181,792 per year. (directorblue.blogspot.com, January 2, 2011)  The article did not mention compensation for other Union leadership positions.

The Teamster Union has 98 officials who made salaries of $150,000 a year or more. These ranged from Earnest Sowell of Houston, whose total compensation was $329,962, down to Richard Smith of Des Plaines, Illinois, whose total was only $157,874 (annual TDU report) 

Incidentally, it is possible to find out how much money unions donate to the Democratic Party. I found it by accident. Think hundreds of millions of dollars, not hundreds of millions total, but hundreds of millions per union. No wonder Obama is exempting requesting unions from his health care plan.