Insanity.

As anyone that frequently, or even infrequently for that matter, reads this blog, you know where I stand regarding North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear weaponry, so I am going to try to be brief (For any of you that do not know where I stand, please feel free to read here, here, here, here and here).

Benjamin Franklin described “insanity” as doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results. Now, I do not wish to put words into the mouth of my favorite Founding Father, but I cannot help believe that if Mr. Franklin were alive today he would have no choice but to call President Obama’s attempts at getting North Korea and Iran to abandon their nuclear weapon aims as insane.

Why wouldn’t he? After all, we are long past seeing a pattern developing here. I am sure all of you have noticed it goes something like this…

An event like a nuclear bomb detonation, a ballistic missile test or the rejection of diplomatic overtures by the U.S. happens and President Obama talks.

He talks about how bad the event was and how the world cannot tolerate such conduct. Then he talks about his nuanced approach to diplomacy and how he plans to talk to the leaders of the offending nations and that he hopes these talks will lead to more talks and how enough talking will take place for all parties involved to finally see eye to eye.

He talks and talks and talks and talks.

Guess what Mr. President, they are not listening as the problems, clearly, still remain.

Yet, in the wake of the latest and incredibly brazen actions by both despotic regimes, we got, you guessed it, more talking from the President.

He said that the world must "stand up to" Pyongyang and demand that it honor a promise to abandon its nuclear ambitions, yet he refused to offer to take the lead to do so.

He stated that North Korea’s test firings of short-range ground to air missiles "pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action," although he failed to announce a plan to do anything about it.

If he is so insistent on talking, I wish he had said something like this:

“This weekend, North Korea, a country that has a long history of defying international law and endangering the safety of not only Asia, but also the safety of the entire world, once again repeated its shameful track record by detonating a nuclear weapon and testing additional short range missiles. As a result, Pyongyang has left me with no choice but to demand that the Republic of North Korea begin a legitimate dismantling of their nuclear weapons program, effective immediately. The have one week to show legitimate progress in this endeavor and if they do not, they will face the full might of the United States Military and I can guarantee that we will do a faster and more comprehensive job than that of our North Korean counterparts.”

If this happened, I can assure you that Tehran would start getting exceptionally cold feet about any further development of nuclear weapons.

I know that there is no chance that President Obama would take this type of stance and that is really a shame as it is probably the only thing that can stop both of these abominable governments from obtaining weapons that can kill, literally, millions of people.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John

Know Nothing Nancy.

“So, yes, I am saying that they are misleading, that the CIA was misleading the Congress.”

-Nancy Pelosi May 14, 2009

With this comment, Speaker Pelosi went all-in in her war of words with the CIA. For her sake, she had better be telling the truth.

Now I do not claim to know whether she is being honest or not, but my gut and the evidence that has been presented, tell me that that is not the case.

During the press conference, where she uttered the above statement, she looked like a person that was clutching at any excuse that would shroud the truth. From the finger waving, stammering, wavering voice, nervous smile, meek attempts to escape the room and theatrical hand gestures, she seemed scared, cornered and desperate.

In addition, comments made by current CIA director Leon Panetta and Representative Porter Goss and the CIA briefings regarding the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques that were recently made public certainly indicate that Pelosi was well aware of what the CIA was doing.

So for the sake of argument, let’s say she is lying, as I do think she is. Is this really the big deal that Congressional Republicans and Conservative commentators are making this out to be? After all, half-truths, fabrications and deceptions are as part of the American political system as baseball, apple pie and jazz are to the American culture.

I do think this is different though.

This is not some politician trying to spin their voting record on a politically sensitive topic. This is not an exaggerated claim by a politician that is trying to score cheap political points during an election cycle. What this is, is a member of Congress, the Speaker of the House to be specific, making fabricated statements regarding our intelligence community and how they have kept and are keeping us safe from a rogue enemy that specializes in terrorism. All of this, in a time of war.

So if this is really the case and Speaker Pelosi is lying, what should be done?

While I do not believe this is grounds for impeachment, I do think that Speaker Pelosi should be censured and have her position of Speaker of the House taken away from her if she is indeed lying.

While being censured is merely an administrative punishment, it would at least be in the Congressional records forever. I think this would act as, both, a just punishment and an effective deterrent to future elected officials that wish to lie regarding such intelligence issues.

Stripping her of her role as Speaker of the House is certainly a strict punishment, but if she is lying about the conduct of the CIA, I do not believe she should continue to serve as Speaker of the House… someone that is two heartbeats away from the presidency.

I know that this is harsh, but lying about sensitive intelligence information, denigrating the brave and effective intelligence professionals within our government, potentially alienating us from our allies and giving strategic and public relations ammo to our enemies are all incredibly egregious consequences of her reckless behavior.

Now, neither of these actions have any chance of actually happening. I realize that.

This current mini, and potentially epic-sized, scandal, does, however, present the Republican Party with the ability to show voters in 2010 yet another stark contrast between them and the Obama/Pelosi/Reid cabal that is currently running things in Washington, this time on an issue where the Democrats are clearly on the wrong side of public opinion.

That could be the worst punishment Speaker Pelosi could possibly receive.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John