The Quiet Conservative July 29, 2008
Status Quo
The last column from The Quiet Conservative was July 9, 2008. It was time to take a short break
and try for a little down time. It was nice to be on a beach not watching television as all three major
broadcast networks shed any semblance of impartiality and credibility. ABC, CBS, and NBC sent
their three network anchors to cover Senator Obama’s campaign swing through the Middle East and
Europe. The media circus was an in your face- in the tank- move by the nation's broadcasters.
Lightly touched upon during the Obamafest was the lack of press reporting when the senator was
actually in Afghanistan and Iraq. The reason given by commentators was that portion of the trip was
not a campaign funded jaunt, but part of a senatorial fact finding mission with two other senators.
Funny the national reporters didn't name the two other senators. The press couldn't have cared less
who those senators were and what they were doing there. Funny also were the lack of any reports of
soldiers mobbing the rock star Senator. There weren't any reports of actual soldiers at all. An
educated guess is they might not have been too impressed with the senator who seemed dedicated to
their defeat in the field. The man to meet in the occupation, General Petraeus, also didn't agree with
Senator Obama’s plan to lose by setting a timetable. So anything the general might have said was
dropped quickly down the memory hole. The press seemed highly disinterested in this part of the
senator’s journey.
Happily the press enthusiasm rekindled as the Senator began the official campaign portion of the
trip to Europe. It was all Obama all the time coverage. Recent reports give coverage time of the
presidential race between the two candidates at a 10 to 1 ratio of Obama over McCain. That ratio
must not include the magazine covers or the ratio would be much higher. In Berlin the senator spoke
to a massive crowd that showed up for the free food, beer and two popular rock groups. The press
forgot to mention the food, booze, and music in their dispatches home from the continent.
To be fair, all the free giveaways might not have been the sole reason for the large crowds. After
all, European socialists seem to prefer Senator Obama anyway for his post American globalist
attitude. Or, as he styled himself in his speech: “a citizen of the world.” Perhaps they were simply
there to hear a kindred spirit speak.
Not all was bliss in old Europe, however. Senator Obama’s decision to avoid meeting wounded
troops in the Landstuhl Hospital has laid a deep scratch in his Teflon coating. Multiple reasons have
been poll tested as to why the Senator and presidential candidate avoided the visit to the wounded.
The weakest has been the senator didn't want the press to intrude. It was immediately pointed out
the press wouldn't have been allowed in to begin with. Scrambling the campaign settled on blaming
the military for not allowing campaign staffers to accompany the senator. Instead Senator Obama
decided to squeeze in a workout at the gym.
The up to now ineffectual campaign of John McCain finally seems to have drawn some blue blood
on the issue with the following press release on their web site:
Statement on Barack Obama's Cancelled Troop Visits in Germany
ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Command Sergeant Major Craig Layton, USA (Ret.) -- who
served as the Command Sergeant Major at Landstuhl -- issued the following statement on Barack
Obama's cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:
"Having spent two years as the Command Sergeant Major at Landstuhl Hospital, I am always
grateful for the attention that facility receives from members of Congress. There is no more
important work done by the United States Army than to care for those who have been wounded in
the service our country. While Americans troops remain engaged in two hot wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, there is a steady stream of casualties to the hospital, and a steady stream of visitors who
wish to meet with those troops and thank them for their service.
"Senator Obama has explained his decision to cancel a scheduled visit there by blaming the
military, which would not allow one of his political advisers to join him in a tour of the
facility. Why Senator Obama felt he needed an adviser with him to visit U.S. troops is unclear,
but if Senator Obama isn't comfortable meeting wounded American troops without his
entourage, perhaps he does not have the experience necessary to serve as commander in
chief." (our emphasis added)
Command Sergeant Major Craig Layton, USA (Ret.) was the Command Sergeant Major (senior
enlisted soldier) at Landstuhl from 2003-2005 and has 31 years of active duty service. He was also
the Task Force CSM twice in Kosovo while assigned in Germany from 1999-2005. He also served
at the Brooke Army Medical Center and the Great Plains Regional Medical Command from 2005-
2007.
During the same period back at home domestic gas prices have changed the views of a lot of
Starbucks liberals. The Democratic leadership in Washington is feeling the blistering heat of people
trying to make ends meet while hearing limousine liberals spout fairy tails about windmills and
sunshine. As if any family with both parents working have the cash laying around to suddenly
splurge for a new hybrid or solar panels. With Anchorage, Alaska having the coldest summer in
recorded history and the ice free North Pole covered in, well, ice, global warming which stopped
warming is getting to be a tougher sell in destroying the economy. John Bolton writes for the
American Enterprise Institute: "Czech President Vaclev Klaus has rightly observed that Warming
has overtaken Socialism as an organizing principle around which the High Minded are rallying to
advocate new rationales for greater governmental control over our individual lives, substituting
one rationale for another in the quest to achieve the same objective: stronger governmental
authority and less individual freedom." While the march to destroy capitalism marches on the
everyday voter is getting mighty unhappy. With the loony left in charge the Democratic Congress
can only look on President Bush's approval ratings with envy.
But to really set the high water mark of the old style Soviet elite version of ‘haves verses have not’,
the DNC has been caught in Denver avoiding taxes on gas. Democratic Party members are there
gearing up for the Democratic National Convention. It seems they have been filling up their vehicles
since March at the Denver city government pumps to avoid the forty cent federal and state taxes on
fuel. At first they claimed they were doing this to make sure the gas wasn't tainted. Then they
claimed the RNC was doing the same thing in Minnesota. The tainted claim was lame because they
still would have owed the taxes, and the RNC took a nanosecond to slap down the other silly
statement as they buy their gas at the public pumps. Having been caught the DNC will now have to
pay the taxes they tried to avoid.
Remember now, this is the same party that wouldn't allow you to have a break on gas taxes during
the summer. All the while they were avoiding the same taxes. Illegal? Probably. Will they get
penalized for it? You have to be kidding me. It will run its course and if everyone stays looking they
will pay the taxes they already owe. If everyone stays looking. But the principal is well established by
the left. They have a sense of entitlement that will not be imposed upon by the little people or the
laws that are passed for the little people.
Speaking of holding you in absolute contempt, Representative Robert Wexler, Democrat and
firebrand liberal from Florida, was caught living in Maryland, not Florida. Representative Wexler
doesn't have a residence in Florida at all, but wrote down the address of his in-laws. Illegal?
Probably. Will he get penalized for it? Kicked out of Congress? You have to be kidding me. Now
having been caught he will likely have to lease an apartment to comply with the law he has been
breaking with impunity for about a decade. Members of Congress are allowed multiple residences
due to the nature of their position, but up to now you couldn't just fake it. The question becomes
how long has the Congressmen avoided paying taxes and were his actions criminal? Perhaps he
could borrow some bribe money from Congressman Jefferson (D) of Louisiana. That crooked
politician is still in office. Liberals impose laws on others; they don’t impose them on themselves.
The beat goes on. The Quiet Conservative is looking to report on stories here in Kansas on how
our government operates. We seek to inform you as to how politicians are spending your money and
ordering your life by the laws they make. We need your assistance in holding them accountable and
shining a light on their actions. Otherwise, the status quo will remain as it is.
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