Manns Medium

For years now, the GOP has been trying all kinds of things to trap President Obama and make something stick to him.  Much of what they tried in the past all turned out to be more fluff than substance but this time they just may have something.  Many who just can’t stand this man have been talking impeachment even though, being lawyers themselves, they knew that there was no grounds for it.  According to an article titled “ GOP report: Administration misled Congress on Bergdahl swap ” written Deb Riechmann for the Associated Press.   It details a 98 page report which charges that the Obama Administration violated the law by not giving Congress a 30 day notice about the transferring of five Taliban detainees in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.  It reports “ House Republicans are claiming in a new report that the Obama administration misled Congress about the effort to release five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who ...

I’m continually amazed at the arrogance of media members who seem to run straight to people like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Billy Crystal, and John Bolton and of course Dick Cheney when it comes to questions about foreign policy.  I’m amazed because I used to think that smart people do not continue to do the same dumb things over and over again but it appears that I am wrong or those I thought were smart is not so smart. When it comes to the unrest in Iraq, many of those now experts who get paid to spew their crap on the airwaves and in front of TV cameras say that the main reason it is happening is because America “walked away” after creating this through occupation.  How many bricks must fall upon our heads before we figure out to move because the building is collapsing?  Now Joe Lieberman is penning an Op Ed in the paper to say that the same will happen in Afghanistan.  They offer criticism but no solutions except keeping military there knowing...

The news of Army Sergeant Bowie Bergdahl exposes mixed emotions for me as a former member of the military.  It also creates lots of questions not only for those responsible for his release but for the choices made that caused his capture and it especially compels me to slap the media for how they are about the manipulated this news to gain them more viewers and page viewers instead of just trying to report the truth. My first is the choice Sgt Bergdahl made to join the Taliban.  I say join because unless you were experiencing a “Gandhi” moment and thought just your very presence would make the relationship between Americans and the natives better, leaving the camp with just a compass and a bottle of water makes no other sense.  Once you were there and found that what you were hoping to maybe accomplishing was to no avail, where are the bruises and injuries from trying to escape during your capture for all those years?  I see no evidence that you made any attempt...

As a former military member, anything that has something to say about the military will always spark my interest.   This article by Donna Cassata of the Associated Press titled Health care costs a hefty price tag for Pentagon is no exception.   Since some find approaching this topic as lethal as touching the third rail in the subway, I’ve decided to offer another way of thinking about this. The article mentions that “costs of the program that provides health coverage to some 10 million active duty personnel, retirees, reservists and their families have jumped from $19 billion in 2001 to $53 billion in the Pentagon's latest budget request.   The explosive expense of health care rivals what the Pentagon shells out to buy fighter aircraft, submarines and high-tech weapons, and is about half of the $118 billion that the Obama administration wants in the next budget to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”   The problem really isn’t whether the receiver should pay...

I was reminded of why I have a very hard time listening to The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC when it came to his support of the treatment of Private Bradley Manning.   I have a hard time because there seems to be no one on his show who can intelligently disagree with him and get their points across. I expect a cable news agency to present both sides equally but I don’t see that happening on this show. The thing that really got me boiling was the implication that the reason most Democrats are not questioning President Obama is because he is a black man in the White House.   Of all of the ignorant statements to make this is one of the worst.   Why, because Mr. Ratigan assumes that the public is so afraid of race that we will sit idly by and allow this president to do whatever he wants because questioning him makes us appear racist.   It’s as if we have chosen to ignore our responsibility to keep his feet to the fire and help him govern.   He is so very wrong. What...

Before it was President Barack Obama, I too was happy to hear him say that he would close Guantanamo Bay.   Now that the news of this new Executive Order is out, I must say that I am greatly disturbed and saddened.   What I am not is willing to assume that this decision was reached as early as it is reported in Glen Greenwald’s article titled Obama's new executive order on Guantanamo.   I am also not willing to say it was a neither easy decision nor demand that he change his mind and do what I would have loved to see him do. Mr. Greenwald’s article describes it as “President Obama yesterday signed an Executive Order which, as The Washington Post described it, "will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay" and "all but cements Guantanamo Bay's continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy." None of this is the slightest bit unexpected. The new Executive Order has been previewed for mo...