Suggested readings from Oct. 5, 2015

Note: Each block of text actually is a link to a story or a web page that I am commenting on. Click on that text and it will take you to the page being referred to.

I know I have turned into a blogging fool here … but I find so many stories that I want to share … this Random Thoughts will have little organization as I race to go through my task bar to post and comment on so many articles. I apologize for this failing of my, but sometimes organization is not always my forte. I hope you find these articles of interest and of thoughtful consideration.

This is very true ... unfortunately. However, there are those among us who confuse religion with ideology ... and so say we must tolerate it ... I disagree

An interesting viewpoint from a Jew toward the influx of Muslims into the European Union and its ultimate impact on European Jews and Israel. Worth considering.

This WaPo article points out all the potential negatives of the Russian intervention in Syria ... with the key point being from a Western perspective. The equipment may be somewhat obsolescent, but it is far an above better than what the Syrian rebels and ISIS forces have ... The Russians are not going up against a massed US military force, or even NATO force, and that is what this article overlooks.

Probably a very valid criticism of EU policies toward the Middle East and Southwest Asia ... as well as its own defense, that also applies somewhat to the US. Whether the Russians are reading off the same script is highly questionable... since that come at the problems with an entirely different cultural mindset .... any way, food for thought.

Interesting analysis of Japan's developing new role in its collective and cooperative defense with its neighbors and allies and how that rubs against it 70-year-old legacy of pacifism

Unfortunately, this author is either not listening or merely dismissing the solution some of the Republicans are asking for. The mental health treatment regime for people with mental health problems desperately needs to be revisited, if not revamped and reformed. I have dealt with my own issues that involve PTSD from the Persian Gulf War I for more than 20 years ... and I know the VA's basic response has been to throw psychotropic drugs at the problem ... which sometimes has made my situation worse. Normally, I am stable ... but I have been on some pretty strong stuff too. It doesn't make me a threat, but we have to think about the impact these drugs have on our young people ... and that appears, in the case of a lot of this mass casualty events, to be a link of commonality between the shooters. It is not the guns, necessarily. Maybe, folks, it is the drugs we used to treat these people with.

This commentary points out the futility and speciousness of the President's, and other progressives', rant on gun control. Unfortunately, none of their solutions - short of confiscation which Constitutionally is a non-starter - would have done anything to have prevented any of the mass casualty events that President Obama seems to rage against.

Probably one of the best rationales I have read for staying on the sidelines in Syria for now. Our leadership is not willing to commit the resources and effort to fight the fight over what is truly in US interest ... and until our leadership is willing to do that ... then it really is a losing cause. In other words: If we mean to fight a war, then fight one ... with all that means and entails ... if we are going to continue to be casualty-adverse and buying in on the cheap, half-way measures, then we need to stay out.

What role does the family, or lack of one, play in incarceration? I suspect it is a major factor. So the question is not a racial one, as this article focuses on mass black incarceration, as much as a social policy one. The question to me becomes on of how to we encourage monogamy, responsibility, and family cohesion? It seems to me that the social policies advanced by the progressives over the last 50-plus years have augured to discourage those traits.

I read this article about the upcoming closure of the last Gun Shop in San Francisco ... and I had an intriguing idea. What if a group of firearms owners sued the city, citing the usual mantra of pro-abortion lawsuits, over infringement of their constitutionally protected rights to procure a firearm.  Nah, won't happen. But think about the parallels? It provokes a little thought.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/05/i-am-a-gay-priest-who-is-happy-vatican-official-is-fired-after-coming-out-on-eve-of-church-conference-on-family/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202

Monsignor, you made a little mistake ... you see priests are supposed to be celibate. Doesn't matter whether you are homosexual or heterosexual. You do remember that Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate and those who indulge in sex ... say with young people, are supposed to go to jail. Oops, did I say something wrong? I think I hear the PC police backed by the Gay Rights Corps are rattling around out there somewhere.

It seems the Afghans aren’t really buying into the MSF protestations of innocence. Or may be they are more realistic about the wages of war. Still, the louder and longer MSF officials protest and rant and rave about war crimes ... I have this sinking feeling that maybe there were Taliban militants using the MSF facility as a base of operation. IF so, then a) the Taliban is committing the war crime by bringing fire down on them. And b) MSF is complicit and therefore also committed a war crime because they didn't run the rats out the gates. I am not saying ... I just offering that as an alternative view. We really need to keep an open mind on this … and not blame the backwards Afghans for the mistakes of some well-meaning but rather dumb doctors. Pappy used to have a saying that is rather apt: Methinks the lady protests too much about the violation of her virtue.

Now, as I remember, this all started out as an effort to topple Assad from power. I think we lost our way somewhere along the line.

Golly garshes ... who'd a thunk it ... Damn those Americans, if it wasn't for them the rate would be zero ... but then we all know that 20 percent or so Americans are living in abject poverty, right?

Bernie Sanders's campaign is built entirely on envy and greed ... only he won't tell you that.

The Supremes are back in town and playing to a packed schedule of controversial issues. I dearly love the section on abortion rights where it explains why state restrictions are unconstitutional ... and then I think of the regulations running the gun store in San Francisco ... and I started to laugh.

Interesting profile on former FED chairman Ben Bernanke ... and I agree with him ... prosecuting corporations really does nothing ... you need to prosecute the decision makers.

I love how hypocritical some progressive media darlings are ... to the point, I am about to put my trashcan between my knees so I can get to it more quickly.

This commentary in Commentary paints a rather dismal picture about the near future

The WaPo publishes a house editorial telling our esteemed president that vetoing the Defense Authorization Act is a really dumb idea and is being done for all the wrong reasons ... Dumb? Wrong? When has that ever stopped President Obama from acting

A bit of a backgrounder on what forces Putin has put in Syria and what they are doing

Not to worry, but a view on Russian activities on another front - the Arctic ... probably nothing malevolent here ... but you never know.

It may not be inexperience that is leading President Obama down the primrose path to perdition, but his naiveté and his false premises sure are.

This proposal for a greater role in the US in UN peacekeeping operations seems to ignore that the US military really doesn't do nation-building very well ... you would think we would learn.

This definitely a letter to Congress - but it applies to the President as well – that it should heed before we get involved in sending any more troops into action ... anywhere.

The question to the director of the FBI - Why? Are you planning some way to cover it up and whitewash it, or are you seriously thinking that maybe there should be a criminal prosecution out of the effort and a planning how to execute that with the expected resistance from the Justice Department

I have got major problems with presidential candidates - I don't care which party - who start saying "If Congress doesn't do what I want, I will enact what I want by executive action." Sorry, folks that is not how things work ... and the candidates who advocate such efforts just lost my vote.

It looks like the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is a wrap ... now the question is will President Obama and Congress sign off on it.

Very valid series of points here on gun violence ... not that the progressives really are listening.

You know, as a veteran, sometimes political correctness just absolutely disgusts me ... and the Bergdahl case is a case in point. Only the people who haven't had to depend on others for their lives want to see him as a poor victim who is being unfairly treated. Bovine Scatology ... but then, I am in a distinct minority here and I know it.

Yes, let's give President Obama another pass despite the mythology he is peddling based on a very flawed study. Oh well.

One as to remember that the US and Russia are not the only players in Syria and the region. This could get ugly really fast if people start shooting down other people's aircraft.

Way back when in a world far away of my childhood and teen-aged years ... you could get in for just $2 ... of course, rides were extra.

Again, methinks the MSF doth protest its innocence and the Americans' guilt far too much. Maybe I am just cynical ... but honestly, folks, I don't believe them.

Now NATO is issuing the Russians with cease and desist demands ... I am telling you ... this could get ugly.

This BBC reporter, like most progressives, seems to have little patience with democratic republics ... especially when it comes to gun control. When it comes to who is represented in our legislatures, etc., it is those people who vote ... not the people who answer anonymous telephone polls.

It seems that Rudyard Kipling's definition of what it means to be a man - as exemplified in his poem "IF" - is passé these days. We all must be submissive, passive, so that we don't cause any problems for those smarter and more politically correct than we are. I do encourage you to look up and read IF … it is a really good primer on manhood.

Is President Obama a nihilist or merely incompetent? Victor David Hanson asks the question ... but he also answers it: Does it really matter? The end result is the same - chaos, catastrophe and collapse.

Holy crapola, Batman ... we need to ban cars and trucks ... and restrict ownership only to those progressive people who know better than us.