[COLUMN] Obama leading us down the road of ruination

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, U.S. Navy, answers questions during an all hands call with soldiers assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division stationed at U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud, Republic of Korea on July 21, 2010. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy.)

Americans are fighting the wrong war.

The greatest threat to national security is not Islamic extremism. Nor is it a Chinese military buildup, nuclear weapons in Iran or climate change.

"I think the biggest threat we have to our national security is our debt," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

How right he is.

The national debt under President Barack Obama has grown by $2.62 trillion in his first 18 months in office.

In June, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued its annual long-term budget outlook and it is dismal. As the reported noted, "the federal government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II."

The report said that at the end of 2008, the national debt was about 40 percent of the nation's annual economic output as measured by gross domestic product, which was slightly higher than the 40-year average of 36 percent.

Under Obama's watch, the CBO predicts the federal debt will reach 62 percent of GDP by the end of this year, which marks the highest percentage since shortly after World War II.

By 2012, the annual interest on the debt will be more than $600 billion.

"And that's, notionally, about the size of the Defense Department budget. It's not sustainable," Mullen said.

[COLUMN] The pot is calling the kettle black

Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

LIMA, Ohio - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People passed a resolution at its national convention Tuesday condemning the tea party movement for tolerating racism.

Is that not the pot calling the kettle black?

The NAACP has to be one of the most racist organizations on the planet and its attacks on the populist tea party movement make it a hypocritical one as well.

The flap between the tea party and the NAACP began when NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told the tea party: "You must expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take full responsibility for all of their actions."

Perhaps he should learn that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Until the NAACP cleans the bigots and racists from its own ranks it really has no business condemning others.

Tea party officials realize the hypocrisy of the resolution and Jealous' unfounded accusations.

"You're dealing with people who are professional race-baiters, who make a very good living off this kind of thing. They make more money off of race than any slave trader ever. It's time groups like the NAACP went to the trash heap of history where they belong with all the other vile racist groups that emerged in our history," said Mark Williams, a national spokesman for the Tea Party Express.

Lessons From LeBron: What Clevelanders Should Really Be Pissed About

Another great video from my friends at Reason. I am tired of all the whining about LeBron James.

Who cares where he plays. It simply is not that important.

Find the original at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP7HCKweZiY

[COLUMN] Feds right to fight Arizona law

"The Congress shall have Power ... To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization."

There it is. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

This so-called Naturalization Clause is the foundation of the federal government's power in regulating immigration. It is why the federal government is justified in suing the state of Arizona to put an end to its Draconian immigration law, which is set to go into effect July 29.

It is the opposite side of the states' rights coin, a sort of federalism in reverse.

In addition to being the law of the land, the U.S. Constitution establishes the relationship between the federal government and the states.

In this country, the states hold all power. They are not political subdivisions of the central government, as is the case between cities and states. States, and by extension the people, are the masters and the federal government is the servant.

[COLUMN] Finding less to celebrate every Fourth of July

Today is the Fourth of July, a day during which I should be full of patriotic fervor. But, alas, I find myself looking around the present and weeping for the future.

I am not even sure most Americans even understand what it is they are celebrating today.

The Fourth of July is about more than the birth of a nation. It is about the idea of personal liberty and history's greatest experiment in self-determination.

If we simply wanted to mark the beginning of the nation, then July 2 would be our holiday because that is the legal birth of the United States of America. That is when the Continental Congress passed the resolution declaring our independence from Great Britain. (However, one could make the argument that May 15 is the proper date because that is when the Congress passed what is known as a preamble, drafted by John Adams, explaining the purpose of the resolution, but I digress.)

No, we have always celebrated July 4 as the holiday. That is the day the Continental Congress approved the wording of a statement drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman (the Committee of Five) that listed grievances against the British crown and eloquently expressed the sentiments of the Founders pertaining to the idea of political liberty.

While Jefferson was disappointed with the final product (especially the removal of a large section criticizing the slave trade), it is perhaps the greatest political document ever drafted. In fact, the second sentence of the declaration is perhaps the greatest sentence to ever be penned in a political document: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Such a simple statement, yet it carries with it such a profound truth that is unparalleled outside religious writing.

[COLUMN] McChrystal flap sign of war's loss

The comments and subsequent sacking of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal expose a larger problem than a general who showed poor judgment.

The Afghanistan war, which is now President Barack Obama's war, is a colossal failure. It is, at this point and under this president and his philosophy, simply unwinnable, or, what the Pentagon would term, "mission failure."

The problem is twofold: The president's strategy, which McChrystal championed and his replacement, Gen. David Petraeus glorified in Iraq, is flawed and his Afghanistan team is dysfunctional.

The counterinsurgency strategy, often referred to as COIN, boils down to the idea of winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. (If you have heard that before, it is because it was a central tenet of the war in Vietnam, which the United States lost.) It essentially requires the forces in Afghanistan to refrain from killing civilians.

Unfortunately, the enemy hides among civilians. So the policy the United States is pursuing is one that basically prevents America's war fighters from fighting the war.

[COLUMN] Obama makes BP look sympathetic

President Barack Obama, members of Congress, and whiners in the Gulf Coast region, with help from America's hopelessly leftist media, have achieved a nearly impossible feat, they are making people the world over feel sorry for BP.

When I say members of Congress, I mean both parties as became apparent Thursday when BP CEO Tony Hayward appeared in front of a congressional committee and U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, apologized to Hayward for the $20 billion relief fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill.

"I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that is - again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown," Barton said. "So I apologize."

Way to hit the nail on the head, Mr. Barton.

Unfortunately, the spineless "leaders" in the Republican Party, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, threatened to strip Barton of his prestigious committee post if he did not recant his statement. He promptly apologized for apologizing.

Later Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small-business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction."

No, Mr. Gibbs, what is shameful is your lack of respect for the rule of law.

[COLUMN] Obama’s Failures Creating New Libertarians

Despite the damage to the nation, President Barack Obama's failed presidency has accomplished one thing: more people are embracing libertarian values.

While no one should confuse the tea party with libertarianism, the populist movement does embrace many libertarian values, such as smaller government, fewer taxes and respect for federalism, the very core values of this nation's founding.

If one were to characterize the predominant political philosophy of the Founders, recognizing, of course, that they did not march in ideological lock step, it would be libertarian.

Under the federalist system they created, the central government only has the powers specifically granted to it by the states through a written constitution.

Most of all, the Founders, all of them, had a profound respect for the rule of law.

Of course, we have strayed far from the way our government is supposed to operate. Today, if you advocate the idea that government should operate within the legal constraints of the Constitution, you are accused of being outside the mainstream, an extremist, or a left-wing or right-wing nut.

We have strayed so far that one company, Wilder Publications, is putting a warning label on copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence warning that the documents are a product of their times and do not reflect modern values.

[COLUMN] BP keeps promises; Obama doesn’t

The president's handling of the growing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is going from bad to worse.

Attorney General Eric Holder held a news conference during which he said: "We will ensure that every cent of taxpayer money will be repaid and damages to the environment and wildlife will be reimbursed. We will make certain that those responsible clean up the mess they have made and restore or replace the natural resources lost or injured in this tragedy. And we will prosecute to the full extent any violations of the law. ... We will not rest until justice is done."

We are in the middle of the worst oil spill in the nation's history and President Barack Obama's administration decides that would be a good time to go on television and flex its legal muscles?

The United States should investigate if laws were broken. However, holding a news conference while the oil is still gushing into the gulf is simply counterproductive.

Like it or not, the federal government is, to a large extent, reliant on BP in stopping the leak. The government cannot stop the leak on its own. Alienating your partner with unnecessary public posturing is certainly not a good idea.

Obama also is taking this environmental disaster and turning it into an economic one by following Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's 2008 advice: "Never allow a crisis to go to waste. They are opportunities to do big things."

A Fitting Video for Memorial Day

I know I have posted this video before, but it is so appropriate for Memorial Day, even though the artist is singing about Canada's Remembrance Day.

Please keep in mind today those who gave their all in the defense of liberty. Sometimes war is necessary and just.