Barack Obama is sure practicing a curious foreign policy. The standard foreign policy for every country in the world throughout history is to keep your friends close and watch your enemies. Obama is keeping our enemies close and watching our friends closely and with skepticism. This is no way to run a country. If Obama wanted to project American weakness to the world, he has done a masterful job. It only took him 9 months to undo what his predecessors took 233 years building up. In the process, Obama is aligning himself with all the wrong people. If he was my son, I would counsel him to stop hanging around with gutter trash and start hanging around with the good guys.

On the Dennis Prager show, I heard that Obama is shutting down a service that documents all torture and civil rights abuses in Iran. The company that provides this service requested only $2.7 million to do the job for the year. Considering the massive amounts of money that Obama is spending like water, that is an extremely modest amount. The company is being shut down because Obama wants to meet with the Mullah’s of Iran and does not want anything to get in the way of those talks. This is very short sighted thinking.

Obama also has refused to meet with the Dali Lama. He is the nominal head of Tibet. Freeing Tibet is a favorite cause of Obama’s Hollywood crowd, yet he will not meet with the Dali Lama. Why? It is because he wants to meet with China and he does not want to make the Chinese leaders mad. Every President in my memory going back to President Eisenhower has met with the Dali Lama. Not meeting with the Dali Lama is a sign of weakness. The Chinese will make careful note that America is now weak. They will act accordingly in Asia and throughout the world.

In Honduras, their President Zelaya decided that he wanted to emulate Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. So, the Honduran Supreme Court ruled that President Zelaya had committed unconstitutional acts and should be deported. A new President was selected to fill out President Zelaya’s term of office. Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro objected to this action by Honduras, calling it a coup. Barack Obama stepped in as the leader of the “Free World” and sided with the communist dictators and against the Honduran people who were following their Constitution. Barack Obama called the Honduran action a “coup”. Zelaya is now in the Brazilian embassy waiting for the communist dictators to give him time to become a communist dictator like them. Obama continues to support the communist dictators by shutting off all support to Honduras. Honduras is a poor country in the first place. Shutting out needed supplies will make things that much worse.

How did the country that is the leader of the “Free World” become a lap dog for communist dictators? Why aren’t we preaching freedom and democracy to the rest of the world? Why is America suddenly so weak that even Venezuela thinks that they can thumb their nose at us? It was only 10 months ago, under George W. Bush, that we were the strongest country in the world. It was only 10 months ago that we were the leader of the “Free World” and spoke out for freedom and democracy.

Now, even our dollar is under attack. The dollar is crashing on world markets. There is talk about replacing the dollar as the currency used to buy and sell oil. If that happens, the dollar will start a freefall and we will be in severe trouble. Hyperinflation would be a real possibility if the dollar becomes disconnected from oil. Last year nobody even gave it a thought to disconnect the dollar from oil. Now, it is a possibility and could happen very soon. I do not want it to happen, not even to a Democrat President. Disconnecting the dollar from oil has implications to the country far from just making buying and selling oil difficult. It means there would be a real glut of American dollars on the market. When you have too many dollars chasing too few goods, you have hyperinflation. Hyperinflation destroys the value of everyone’s savings and investments. It destroys the value of any contracts. It destroys confidence in the System of government. Governments fall because of hyperinflation. We have the best government ever devised by man in this country. We need to keep it at all costs. We cannot let the government be changed just because some people misused it to cause hyperinflation. Let that be a lesson to us for all time that elections have consequences.

We are living in pivotal times. We need to keep our eyes open to the fast moving events that are shaping the world around us. We also need to hold fast to the things that are true. By being vigilant and holding true to our values, we can withstand the whirlwind that is attacking us. Jesus talked about the House built on the rock and the house built on the sand. Let us make sure that we have the house built on the rock so that we can withstand the floods of history.

Barack Obama had a photo op with about 150 doctors that he had invited to the White House. These doctors support socialized medicine. Since only about 8% of doctors support socialized medicine, this group makes up most of them. At the photo op, Barack Obama thought that the doctors did not look like doctors. They did not have on their white coats. So, he passed out white lab coats for each one to wear. That way everyone would know that these are doctors, not just someone in a suit or dress.

If George W. Bush had pulled a stunt like that, the press would have hammered him for days. So far, the press has said nothing about the incident. In fact, they treated the photo op like it was an important state function. They took the photos that they were supposed to take, and no more. They asked the questions they were supposed to ask. They did not ask a single tough question to anyone at the press conference.

The Democrats are trying to sell the American people something that they do not want. The Democrats are using slick advertising with wonderful pictures. They have celebrities cooperating with the push for socialized medicine. Still, the majority of the American people are not buying the idea. The number of Americans buying the idea drops each time they take a poll. Usually slick advertising can overcome a weak message. This proves that slick advertising cannot overcome a bad message.

Part of the reason for the failure of the slick media blitz to connect is the alternate media that is available today. People can tweet and use Facebook for immediate connections. The internet and You Tube allow people to pass information around for a more in depth study. All of this alternate media use has been entirely without the direction of any political party. The Republicans are the beneficiaries of the outcomes, but they were not the instigators. This amateur production has achieved a critical mass without any visual leadership of any single individual or party. The groundswell has been genuine and heartfelt.

As Bear in the Woods put it on Hugh Hewitt.com today, if you look at the flags that people are flying you get an idea where they stand. The most popular flag is the American flag. The second most popular flag is the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag with the snake. This flag is also known as the Gadsden flag. That shows that the sentiment among many, if not most, of the Tea Party goers is that they want a reduction in government. A smart politician could pick up on that bit of information and use it to design a campaign. If the campaign promised a reduction in the size and scope of government, it would resonate with a large number of people. That just might be enough to get that person elected President. Of course, that could not be the only item on the platform, but it is an excellent start.

We are at a crossroads in history. We can either take the path that Barack Obama is showing us or take the path that the Tea Partiers are showing us. One leads to bondage and oppression. The other leads back to freedom and prosperity. One promises security. The other promises a chance to succeed. One promises that you can remain a child for the rest of your life. The other makes you grow up and be an adult to face the world as a free individual.

I choose freedom for my choice. The Founding Fathers chose freedom for this country. We cannot allow people to come here and throw away the American dream for the false promise of security. It has been said that those that give up their freedom for security find themselves neither free nor secure. I hope the rest of America chooses Freedom at this crossroads in time.

One thing that we have not heard much about since January 20 is Iraq and Afghanistan. There are new rules of engagement for both countries. In Iraq, there is also the anticipation that the Iraq security forces will take over most of the security in the major cities. With the bombings in Bagdad yesterday, it is time to look at Iraq and Afghanistan and see how we are doing.

While President Bush was in office, the news media told us every day that the policies that the Bush administration had taken were failing. Every day they gave us body counts on how many American soldiers were killed and injured. They also included totals for Iraqi citizens as a total, not separating out civilians and terrorists. It was all designed to show that George W. Bush was failing. Since Barack Obama has taken office, there has been a virtual news blackout. You would hear a story every now and then. But for all intents and purposes Iraq and Afghanistan have almost ceased to exist.

Yesterday, there was a series of bombings in Bagdad that has killed at least 75 people and wounded 300. Had George Bush been President, we would have almost non-stop news coverage. With Barack Obama as President, it is reported, but not pumped up. The bombings do bring into question the Iraq strategy of having the Iraq Security Forces supply security in the populated areas of the country.

In listening to the Mike Broomhead show on KFYI, I learned the rules of engagement for our soldiers in Afghanistan. The soldiers are not to fire unless they can GUARANTEE that there are no civilians in the area that will be hit by a stray bullet. The priority for the soldiers is to withdraw from the scene. The nonofficial term would be retreat. American soldiers do not retreat, they withdraw. The effect is the same. We are perceived as weak by the Taliban and others that we are fighting when we withdraw instead of fight. There is nothing worse for a soldier than withdrawing when the soldier knows he/she can win the fight. That will destroy morale more quickly than anything you can imagine. I am not sure that is the goal of the Obama administration, but it sure seems like it from where I sit.

I am not privy to all the ins and outs of the rules of engagement. All I know is what I hear on radio, TV and the internet. But, I put what I lean from those sources with what I see happening with the rest of the country under Barack Obama and a pattern becomes very clear, very fast. Every time Barack Obama has a chance to put Americans first, he puts them second. Every time there is a chance to advance the interests of the United States, he rejects it. Every time there is a chance to improve the economy of this country, he tries to destroy it. That, to me, is a pattern. The pattern I see is not good. I would have to say that from the pattern I perceive Barack Obama does not have the best interests of the United States at heart. I could be wrong. There may be some plan going on that I am not able to perceive at my level. But, every time Obama has a chance to boost Americans he cuts them off at the knees. Every time he has a chance to boost our long time friends and allies, he cuts them off at the knees or ignores them. Every time he has a chance to help our enemies, he gives them a hand. When a friend and ally acts within its Constitution, he comes out for the person who wanted to be a dictator. It is like we went through Alice’s Looking Glass on January 20. In Lewis Carroll’s, story about Alice and the Looking Glass, everything was backwards when she went through the looking glass. I am getting that impression more and more as time goes on.

One good thing that is happening right now is that Americans are waking up. Americans are standing up to their elected representatives and telling them that they are going too far. This is gratifying to me. It makes me think that there is hope that we will get out of this backwards land at some future time.

Last night, President Bush gave his final talk as President. He basically thanked people and looked forward to the future. In his opinion, the history has been written and it is up to the historians to write it correctly.

A lot of good things happened under George W. Bush and some bad things happened under George W. Bush. First, the bad things: the economy tanked at exactly the wrong time. For the economy to go into a recession is a bad thing at any time, but the timing on this one could not have been worse because President Bush couldn’t do much to fix it. He had to try draconian measures that were basically Democrat in design to try and deflect the effects of the recession. So far, nothing has worked because they are the wrong fixes for the problem. What caused the problem? Democrats and reporters blame the recession on too little regulation of the markets and the economy. The real problem was too much regulation of the markets and the economy. A truly free economy will have its ups and downs, but the ups are higher and the downs are smaller than the regulated economy that we have now. The problem with a truly free economy is that the people involved have to be aware that people might try and take advantage. That is happening under regulation, but people believe the regulators are catching the people trying to fool them. That allows crooks like Bernie Madoff to run up huge paydays until he gets caught. Under a truly free economy, Bernie Madoff would have been detected sooner.

Second, spending got out of control. President Bush never said that he would veto a spending bill and he never did. That was a mistake. He should have stood firm against Democrat excesses. But, he allowed the Democrats and some Republicans to run away with spending. That cost the Republicans the House and Senate in 2006 and 2008.

Third, is related to the second but it is the increase in Medicare with adding prescription drugs. There was not a call to add this benefit, but he added it anyway. Now, we are stuck with the bill because it will never be repealed.

Now for the good things, first up is the handling of 9/11. On that day and the days that followed, President Bush was the best President that anyone could ever want. He was strong and brave. The only flaw was allowing his handlers to delay his return to Washington. He should have insisted on returning to Washington sooner. It would have made him look even better.

Second is how President Bush has handled the subsequent war against Islamo Fascism. President Bush decided that the best defense is a good offense, so he took the fight to the terrorists. By doing that, he kept the terrorists from having the time or ability to strike the United States again. On 9/11 everyone expected the US to be hit again. It is now over 7 years later and we are still free from terrorist strikes within the US. That is a remarkable achievement.

Third, is his handling of the economy in general, specifically in getting tax cuts through Congress. The tax cuts were the corner stone of his economic boom for most of the 8 years he was in office. Unfortunately for President Bush, he will be remembered for the economy that tanked at the end of his administration, not for the economy that boomed for the 7 years before that. It can be argued and is probably true that Senator Schumer from New York is primarily responsible for the economy tanking just prior to the election. Senator Schumer set in motion a series of events that culminated in the economy entering a recession.

Overall, President Bush will be seen as a good President. He, like all Presidents, is not perfect. He made mistakes. But, overall he did most things right. His most important job, he did perfectly and that is remarkable. History will judge President Bush much like history has judged President Truman. The people with Bush derangement syndrome will have to get over it before that can happen, however.