June 12, 2009 by rfhicks.

North Korea, a long time communist dynasty, is experiencing the passing of the poison torch as Kim Il Jong II is believed to be ill after suffering a stroke. It looks like this has given the old tyrant his last chance at decadence and rage in hopes that he can solidify the military’s loyalty and pass them to his son who will soon take the reins of the communist dynasty. The secretive nation has kept us guessing as to Kim Il Jong’s condition but it seems apparent that a leadership change is taking place.

The nuclear and missile technology that North Korea is employing is crude compared to the armament possessed by the U.S. and Russia, but the launching of North Korea’s ‘fireworks’ has a chilling and very intimidating effect on the nations in or around that part of Asia. The slight possibility of an unarmed long range missile landing in U.S. territory would surely initiate a military response if President Obama has the gall to stand up against North Korea. If he were to give the order for a military response it would be a good idea to muffle Joe Biden and his hypochondriac reaction to people sneezing on Air Force One.

Japan is also concerned about North Korea’s loose cannon diplomacy. According to FoxNews, “Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, that the U.N. Security Council should quickly send a message to North Korea that its underground nuclear test was unacceptable. “

Recently North Korea has sentenced  two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, to 12 years of hard labor in one of North Korea’s re-education camps. The camps are known for the brutality, long work shifts, and the lack of medical care and food.

This makes for a gnarly situation for U.S. diplomacy. Any sort of concessions that are made linking the journalists fate to the sick and decadent tyrant’s games with warheads and nuclear tests will test the U.S. military response. The only way the United States can deal with North Korea is to stop bowing to UN directives and take any action necessary to squelch North Korea’s bad behavior

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May 23, 2009 by rfhicks.

Nancy Pelosi, first female Speaker of the House, California Democrat, and one of the wealthiest members of Congress has denied that she had any knowledge of torture, especially waterboarding, when the CIA had briefed her on it. This is clearly a case of ‘political football.’

According to the Washington Post,  “Republicans who have seen the documents say they present a clear case that Pelosi (D-Calif.) was told about the waterboarding of a key al-Qaeda operative, rejecting her accusation that the CIA intentionally misled her about the interrogation technique, which simulates drowning. “

It is difficult to tell whether the Republicans are out to smear the Democratic Speaker of  House or are they trying to distance themselves from the Bush legacy. I simply believe that Nancy Pelosi is being dishonest about her knowledge of the enhanced interrogation techniques used at Gitmo.

It is apparent that Pelosi is a flip-flopper. According to Wikipedia Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying, “The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world”, while addressing a crowd of thousands of Tibetans in Dharamsala, India. She however did not call for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics that were held in Beijing.

 Nancy Pelosi has tossed a lot of political footballs during her career as a politician unfortunately she has challenged the wrong team on Capitol Hill. She has been sacked by the CIA and may be out with an injury for a long time.

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May 18, 2009 by rfhicks.

 President Obama’s strategy to concentrate the war on terrorism in Afghanistan may further inflame the situation unless we able to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban. Thousands of square miles of rugged mountainous terrain lie on either side of the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban has taken refuge here so they can continue to launch attacks back into Afghanistan on U.S. forces. Unfortunately Pakistan does not have control of this rugged area which makes it fertile ground for a lot mischief from the Taliban.

The Taliban may be changing its goals of Islamic militancy by challenging the Pakistan military’s control of the mountainous region. The Taliban is aware that this can be a lead-in to establishing the Taliban’s version of Islamic law in this region of Pakistan and the ability of further destabilizing Pakistan’s government. If these things occur there is the a opportunity to seize all or some of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Moreover the current military campaign to suppress the Taliban in this region has already led to the exodus of thousands of Pakistan civilians. Some sources have estimated that at least a million have fled creating a huge humanitarian crisis to which the United States is already responding to with money and humanitarian aid.

On the other hand according to Pakistan’s Daily News American intelligence officials are working on a secondary plan to infiltrate Pakistan to secure their nuclear arsenal keeping out of safe reach of the Taliban. This secondary plan will only be implemented on President Obama’s order according to officials.

Although according to the CBS News there is evidence suggesting that prior to 9/11 two of Pakistan’s leading nuclear scientists had met with Osama Bin Laden. Along with al Qaeda sympathizers that are in Pakistan this a weakness that the United States should not ignore.

Pakistan must wake up and remain vigilante if it does not want to become global and regional  festering boil that will infect and and weaken further global peace and stability.

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May 12, 2009 by rfhicks.

The Obama camp seems to be full of goofs and gaffes after rounding out the first 100 days. Our blustery, bumbling, vice president Joe Biden, a 36 year veteran ex-senator from Delaware has advised the public not to fly since a sneeze can be a lethal projectile of swine flu.

It seems that all this coincided with the recent Manhattan scare that was supposed to be $300,000 photo-op cooked up by a recent brought to light Obama bumbler known as Louis Caldera. As Vince Shlomi the ShamWow spokesman would put it, “Are you following me cameraguy?” Here’s you chance Vince to promote the ShamWow mask.

So far the dust has settled and Louis Caldera has resigned before he got fired.

Obama wants to emphasize ‘transparency’ in government but according to the Vancouver Sun; “Police said federal authorities had told them not to disclose any information to the public beforehand about the flight, the aim of which was to get a publicity photo of the plane against a backdrop of the Statue of Liberty.” Sounds like President Obama taped over the window for this piece of aeronautical antics. I’m pretty sure that no one stopped to wash their hands as they were screaming in terror and treading flights of stairs to evacuate buildings.

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May 7, 2009 by rfhicks.

The recent rash of piracy of in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden is due to the collapse of an official Somali government. This has allowed roving bands of Islamic militants to steal and destroy what little resources the Somali people have.

There is also the element of international fisheries that have stripped the coastal waters of Somalia bare of any tuna and lobster. The local Somali fishermen used to be able to make a living and thrive from the abundant fishing. These international fisheries have also been accused of dumping illegal toxic wastes in the Somali coastal waters furthering the demise of Somali’s local fishing industry. This makes for one less thing to eat in Somali.

The lawlessness of Islamic extremists fighting the government combined with a deteriorating local fishing industry brings about a lot of lean desperate men with growling stomachs. The chance to outfit a small boat with weapons and head out to sea to change your fortune by boarding a merchant ship and holding the crew for large ransoms suddenly becomes a workable option to pull yourself out of poverty.

A corrupt United Nations will do absolutely nothing for Somali. A coalition of naval vessels from different countries trying to patrol almost 3,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean is simply an exercise in frustration and may even provide more targets for the pirates.

An invasion of Somali by the United States will simply prove to be another failure.

Somali must find a way of establishing a legitimate government that can tackle the problem of the destruction of their coastal waters and establish the independence of the Somali fishermen and restore a way of life that provided food for the Somali people and a life of balance.

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April 24, 2009 by rfhicks.

Once again President Obama and the congressional coconuts have weebled and wobbled there stance on who should pay taxes and who shouldn’t.

It seems that those crazy congressional coconuts and their stuttering President found out that taxing AIG bonuses was unconstitutional since the Constitution doesn’t allow for ex post facto laws.  Of course Congress was eager to hand out the money to the ailing AIG without having clue of how it was to be spent only telling the public that if AIG were to fail there would be dire consequences the taxpaying public. The dire consequences to the public will be doubled now that AIG executives are back out at the country club shagging top dollar gold monogrammed golf balls and puffing expensive cigars.

The Federal Tobacco tax is something else that needs to be addressed. Although smoking cigarettes is a poor health choice it still remains that it is legal and still part of our Liberty entitlement as Americans. While Obama was campaigning for President he made a blurb about not raising taxes on Americans making more less than 250k. This is a hollow gesture to tax poor people as most smokers make less than 250k.

Secondly the tobacco tax is a sneaky socialist ploy to implement behavior modification on the general public. Why not tax Jolly Ranchers and Oreo cookies as well since they contribute to poor dental health and poor dental health can have devastating effects on you overall health as well even if you don’t smoke and spend 16 hours a week at the gym.

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April 16, 2009 by rfhicks.

In 1933 the G-20 had met for the first time to come to terms with the Great Depression. During this time banks were collapsing, unemployment had reached record levels, and global trade had come to a standstill.

76 years later we have President Obama hosting this gathering of world leaders with circumstances that parallel the Great Depression.

I had watched clips and highlights of the President speaking at London Summit. Mr. Obama seemed to be focused on environmental issues and the salesmanship of a stimulus package that is being implemented in U.S.

I was disturbed by the President’s apologetic tone, ‘that the United States did not appreciate the contributions made by the Europe’. He was not specific about the contributions that Europe had made. It seemed that this was more of ploy to be liked by the Europeans. President Obama neglected to mention how the United States defeated the Nazi scourge in Europe and then afterward rebuilding their nation.

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April 2, 2009 by rfhicks.

We live in an age where kingdoms and corporation are rewarded for bad behavior.
As of this writing North Korea has not launched their so-called satellite and President B.O. has reconsidered GM-Chrysler plight along with some conditions that could possibly result in a prearranged bankruptcy.
On the other hand it is likely that North Korea will receive a similar concession preceded with a tongue lashing from the Secretary of State followed by a formally lodged protest with the UN.
When the smoke clears and North Korea’s flying pipe bomb disburses over the Pacific Ocean we quietly give them some newly printed Treasury notes.

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March 28, 2009 by rfhicks.

It has been a while since I have posted an article and since then we have acquired a new President, taken a wild ride on the stock market, and experienced our friends and relatives losing their homes and jobs. I have been fortunate enough to keep my job at the casino and continue my drug therapy for hepatitis C taking interferon and ribavirin. The drug therapy has been rough, but I have managed to come out of a creative and ply my hand at political cartooning.

President B.O. has been in office a little more than 90 days and has more tough challenges ahead including a 3.6 trillion dollar budget he is proposing just to keep the rusty and inefficient wheels of our government bureaucracy turning. President B.O. has inherited a bill called T.A.R.P. that was hastily cobbled together by President Bush, Nancy Pelosi, and the Congress.  Desperate for a solution our lawmakers have created a 1100 page quagmire that will essentially disappear down a black hole and no one will have an answer as to how or where the money was spent. To make it all sound good lawmakers on the hill are desperately screaming that the Treasury department take on the oversight of distributing money that has been flushed down the toilet. Perhaps this committee should be called T.O.C.C.( Turd Oversight Commode Committee ). Stay tuned and stock up on toilet paper as your next wipe might be a $20 bill.

The media has already revealed that the banks and investment firms that desperately begged for the money while they were shagging golf balls and skinny dipping. To add insult to injury these bloated banks have taken the T.A.R.P. money and are settling debts with foreign countries that behind the scenes support the very terrorists and extremists that we are battling worldwide.

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November 13, 2008 by rfhicks.

President Elect B.O. will face global leaders both friendly and unfriendly after he has taken his inauguration vows. The President of Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejād, has forwarded his congratulations to the President Elect on his election victory. Russia has been steadfast and warned that they were not to be ignored as they place their missles on the perimeters of Poland.

The President Elect has already hinted that he would pull all troops out of Iraq within 16 months of his term in office and focus the United States military resources on Afghanistan.

The President Elect’s recent security briefing with the NSA has probably revealed many things to him that may change his military and strategic stance in the months to come. Even though Sarah Palin was unable to name the participants in the NAFTA free trade agreement let us not forget how B.O. trivialized the dangers of dealing with Iran. Knowing your enemy in a world of terrorism and conflict can make or break a president during his term. This type of ignorance does not bode well for ‘Joe the Plumber’ and I as we do not want another terrorist strike on U.S. soil.

Let us hope that President Elect B.O. pays very close attention to Pakistan. Pakistan is a potential ally in the war on terror and also possesses nuclear weapons. We do not want Islamic extremists overrunning Pakistan and getting their paws on nuclear armanents or it will take more than a decoder ring to solve our global terrorist challenge.

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