Hillary Defenders' Very Poor Case on Benghazi

The Congressional Benghazi Investigation made news this week because committee chairman Trey Goudy released a report saying that while the committee is making progress, it is still facing “obstacles” from the Obama administration.  This brought the usual chorus of defenders for Hillary the Inevitable to the forefront. The defenders claim the terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, have nothing to do with Ms. Clinton’s qualifications for the presidency.  I strongly disagree.

I'm sure everyone would want to serve under a commander who reacts to your requests for beefed up security by cutting security. You also would like a commander who sleeps through your call for support while the enemy is not only on the wire, but inside the compound. I'm sure you really want a commander who instead of taking responsibility for her bad decisions, lies about it in order to win an election. But as Hillary the Inevitable said about the 4 dead Americans and her contribution of negligence and malfeasance in office, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" That attitude says it all when it comes to how much she values their sacrifice and how much she will value our military if she wins election.

The Secretary of State is in charge of the State Department. Hillary the Inevitable had the responsibility to know about the security situation in Libya, since it was arguably the most dangerous US diplomatic post in the world. When the Secretary of State uses the excuse that she did not personally know about the security cuts in Libya, she admits dereliction of duty.

Politifact's posting that she’s blameless because she didn’t personally know what was going on in Libya fails the Bush test. If someone named Bush stated that he was not responsible for some disaster, like lack of aid to the New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina, because he didn't know about it, how would Liberals feel about his excuse? Would Politifact or any other outlet of the Pravda Press rate charges that Bush was responsible as Mostly False? I really don't think so. Politifact and liberals in general are both giving Hillary the Inevitable a pass because she's destined to be the Democrat's standard bearer in 2016. Liberals are setting a higher burden of proof than they would for any Republican. 

The other argument is that Republicans cut the State Department security budget and the budget cuts made Benghazi vulnerable to attack.  The budget cuts are irrelevant. The allocation of State Department security personnel did not reflect the relative risk of the posts. I will believe that the budget cuts in the Diplomatic Security Service had an effect on the Benghazi attack when you prove to me that the State Department had more security agents in Benghazi, Libya, than they did in Paris, France. There were 5 agents in Benghazi. If I remember the 2012 coverage correctly, there were over 100 in Paris at the time. Unless you are going to argue that Paris was more at risk than Tripoli or Benghazi, this was criminal negligence.

The 16 member Army Special Forces team assigned to protect State Department personnel in Libya plus a six-member State Department elite force called a Mobile Security Deployment team left Libya in August, 2012. This was about a month before the attack. The embassy in Tripoli, Libya, asked repeatedly to retain them, but their requests were denied. Here's the link:

Libya Security Cuts:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444799904578048344154761294

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/middle-east/article24738427.html
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2014/may/19/ron-johnson/hillary-clintons-state-department-reduced-security/

Politifact on Clinton’s direct knowledge of Libya:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/may/16/fact-checking-benghazi-our-most-recent-round-/

Original article:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trey-gowdy-obama-administration-obstructing-benghazi-probe/article/2564329bama-administration-obstructing-benghazi-probe/article/2564329

Wasting Money Buying Over Engineered Aircraft

The article linked below is about how over engineered aircraft are wasting money when it comes to combat effectiveness. The whole concept of one aircraft, the F-35, for the Air Force, Navy and Marines guaranteed engineering delays and huge cost overruns. The Marines' requirement for short takeoff vertical landing required a much bulkier and heavier airframe that makes other services' models much less maneuverable. I remember that the F-111 was originally supposed to be a fighter both the Navy and the Air Force would use for both interception and tactical bombing. It ended up as a costly fiasco, which ultimately saw action only with the Air Force and only as a bomber. We should have remembered Robert McNamara's F-111 project was not the panacea that he promised. Instead, we repeated the mistake with the F-35 project.

The author mentions that for the price of one F-35, we could buy a small single purpose air to air fighter, and a single purpose ground attack bomber like the A-10 Warthog. The maintenance and flying costs of the combination would also be far lower that the F-35 and the mission readiness rate would be far higher. The Pentagon believes, almost religiously, that every airplane they buy has to be multipurpose. That's why the Air Force is trying to retire the A-10, because it only does ground attack. The fact that it does ground attack better than any other airplane we have in the inventory or plan to purchase is not enough to save the A-10, since it only does one thing. My solution is to give the A-10 in particular and the close air support mission in general to the US Army. They really appreciate the capabilities of the A-10.

I know this would require a change in the law. The Army lost almost all of its aircraft in a deal in 1948 that gave the newly established Air Force almost all current and future fixed wing aircraft. Currently, the Army can only operate helicopters as attack aircraft. But helicopters are a lot less capable and a lot more expensive to operate than "Warthogs." Congress should revoke the 1948 deal and give all the A-10 aircraft to the US Army. The Army should also be allowed to buy other fixed wing ground attack aircraft as needed in the future.

The author argues that while some stealth is worth it, super stealth is wasted on fighters because most air to air engagements are dogfights within visual range. Stealth only fools radar, not optics. Less stealth would be both cheaper to buy and cheaper to maintain.

The author's historical reference at the beginning of the article really backs up his point about overly sophisticated US aircraft. He mentions that the last air to ground casualties inflicted on US ground forces were inflicted by a PO-2 biplane. The PO-2 was a Soviet training, ground attack and crop dusting airplane made of wood and fabric. It had so little metal and flew so low and slow that US night fighters could not find it with radar.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418430/what-if-worlds-most-expensive-fighter-planes-cant-defeat-our-enemies-mike-fredenburg

States Should Recognize Marriages From Other States

Marriage is left to the states under the Constitution and it should stay that way. The fix for the same sex marriage problem is to apply standard doctrine on marriages to same sex marriages. States should have to recognize as valid marriages performed in other states even if those marriages could not be legally performed in their own state. This leaves the definition of marriage to the states, and leaves marriage law to legislatures where it belongs. It allows states who don't want gay marriage to forbid it within their state, but allows gay people to go to another state to get married. Since it is a decision that follows precedent, Conservatives will grumble but not become enraged. Just like in the Defense of Marriage Act case, Conservatives will find losing acceptable because they will lose based on states' rights. Over time everybody will get used to the idea and it will cease to be a big deal.

Ruling that the 14th Amendment requires states to allow same sex marriage is ridiculous. There is no way the 14th Amendment says anything about same sex marriage. At the time it was ratified, homosexual acts were illegal. Ruling in this fashion will create stubborn resentment which will last for years, just like the Roe v Wade ruling did. It will be based on what the justices want the law to be rather than what the law is. And given the availability of a less intrusive solution of requiring the recognition of marriages performed in other states, it's a completely unnecessary abuse of power. Further, it will remove the predictability of what the law is. The Constitution will become something with a meaning that can radically change on any given day in the Supreme Court. It will move us radically closer to the rule of men, not the rule of laws.

The 14th Amendment was passed specifically to prevent segregation and anti-miscegenation laws. Using it for same sex marriage is ridiculous. It does not apply. I realize it's tempting to get everything you want from the Supremes without having to do the hard work of winning state by state. But anything you win in the Supreme Court with no consistent reason, is something you can lose the same way. The whole reason liberals are so nervous every time a new Supreme Court Justice is appointed is because Roe v Wade was based on nothing but what the court at the time wanted the law to be. It could be easily reversed at any time and everyone knows it. Big changes like this should be done legislatively. It takes longer, but it gains wider acceptance and it lasts longer as a result. Gay marriage is winning the argument politically. You don't need a shortcut.

When the 14th Amendment was adopted, homosexual acts were illegal. To interpret the ratification of the 14th Amendment as legalizing gay marriage is ridiculous. It was not the intent of the people who ratified it. Religion has nothing to do with it. (I'm a Congregationalist who goes to church once a year for Easter.) I'm in favor of gay marriage. I am not in favor of the Supreme Court inventing new ways to interpret the Constitution and its amendments that the original ratifiers would find unbelievable. If the Supreme Court can bend the 14th Amendment to that extent, then they can bend the entire Constitution in whatever direction they want with no checks or balances. Since gay marriage is winning anyway, why do we need to use the 14th Amendment in outlandish fashion when there are easier ways to get there which will leave the Constitution with some meaning? Big changes like this are what legislature are designed for.