Article 28

  The recent events in the Ukraine, and all of the accompanying outrage by the President and Congress, has openly exposed the hypocrisy in United States foreign policy.  This became very clear as I watched the White House Press Secretary respond to questions about the effectiveness of the President as he tries to build support for a response to the Russian invasion of the Crimea. The most recent statement: "No country has the right to  unilaterally encroach  into the territorial sovereignty of another nation......"  WOW!  Let's review. The United States is well know for its unilateral military interventions since the birth of the nation. We have become famous for them in the past few decades: 1983 - Grenada  1989 - Panama 1993 - Somalia  1999 - Yugoslavia 2003 - Iraq 2002 to Present - Drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia (Originally started under President Bush , the number of authorized drone strikes has doubled un...

O ver the past few weeks I have seen numerous posts on Facebook, read articles from the newspaper, and watched commercials about "taking back America" or "Getting Back to American Values." I agree!  But, perhaps we need to ask these questions first:  1.) What, specifically, are American Values?  2.) What is America supposed to look like once we "take it back?" Listing american values is probably the easiest to do as an individual but the most difficult to come to consensus around.  Just look at some of the social network posts to see the divisions with what some claim to be a "value."  Some feel we lost our values when we attack the God element in our governmental language.  For example, removing the term "under God" from the pledge of allegiance.  People make statements like "if one nation under God was good enough for our forefathers it's good enough for us today."  This statement is indicative of the ignorance of ou...

The Media Tree USC Symposium on Digital Media   Anyone who is a child, parent, spouse, teacher, brother, sister, co-worker, boss, minister, or (you pick) is a master of spin.  "How are we going to convince the kids to do....?"  Or, "How can I get mom and dad to allow me to do...?"  Most will say, this is not spin but manipulation.  Exactly!  Spin is manipulating fact to achieve a predetermined goal.  It may not be as obvious in our everyday life but it is a reality.  Today, however, with the widespread use of multimedia, spinning is an art that requires daily attention.  Particularly with politics, it incorporates the use of Plato's Noble Lie.   Plato's Noble Lie has been in practice for centuries and applies a different set of "truths" to different groups in order to achieve maximum support with minimum resistance.  It doesn't require a lot of thought in its application, just a basic understanding of the various groups that ...

The intent of this blog is to provide a forum for open and constructive discussion on the current political environment in the United States.  Our country has become polarized on almost every level because we do not engage in constructive and open dialogue.  It is named Article 28 based on the a proposed amendment to the constitution to reform the government.   While the proposed article has very little chance of survival, to does provide a foundation for discussion and, God willing, a platform for political change. As I begin, I want to provide some personal background information so those who choose to engage in this discussion will have a point of reference for my thought process and opinions. I am a retired Air Force veteran and served in a Special Operations Unit in Thailand and Vietnam.  I retired from active duty in 1991 shortly after Desert Storm.  During my military career, I had the opportunity to live all over the world and experience the politi...