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Today America came to face with yet another inconceivable tragedy when one of America’s “finest”, an officer doctor (a mental health professional) went on a murderous shooting rampage, killing 12 people and wounding another 31 in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. Military base.  Amazingly, even though he was shot four times, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39 year old psychiatrist lies in a hospital bed under armed guard.  
 
A life-long Muslim, Major Hasan, was born in suburban Washington D.C., graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in biochemistry and his medical degree at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.   He then spent six years at Walter Reed for his internship, residency and a fellowship.  The taxpayers of this country (literally) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars educating this man, who, as an army officer, took an oath to serve and protect the land of his birth.
 
However, despite this oath of fealty and honor, this officer trained in drug rehab, disaster and preventive psychiatry ran into problems with patients and army protocol at Walter Reed Hospital  and received a poor performance evaluation, stymieing his potential for further rank advancement and necessitating his transfer to Fort Hood. 
 
At the same he came to Texas, Husan was also under suspicion by homeland security and law enforcement due to his frequent outbursts against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He frequently engaged in arguments with others in the military for supporting the wars, and he had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment to Iraq.
 
In addition to his verbal altercations, including quotes from fellow officers who said Major Hasan had told them Muslims should "rise up" and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq, he also listed his nationality as “Palestinian” despite the he was born in the United States. 
 
Further worrying the authorities was the fact that in the last six months Major Hasan started going to the radical Muslim Internet sites, participating in postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
 
According to a retired Colonel who worked with him, Hasan he said he was "happy" when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June by an American convert to Islam.  Major Hasan had also said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square" in New York.  Regardless of freedom of speech, that type of rhetoric hardly seems the kind of talk that should be espoused by an officer in the U.S. Army.
 
As all this information poured out into the television and radio broadcasts and more information was detailed on the Internet, Hasan’s  Aunt and cousin were contacted and proclaimed Major Hasan was a true American and a deeply religious man, attending a Mosque daily and saying prayers.  They talked about his education, his brilliance, his gentle nature, and how he made a six figure income…they could not believe he could ever commit these types of murderous acts.
 
His relatives said Hasan’s must has “snapped” due to the high stress of his treating soldiers returning from war, and the persecution he had received since 9/11.  His aunt said he had been the recipient of name calling and harassment for his faith.
 
On TV news shows, several of Hasan’s colleagues talked about how disturbed they were with his perceived sympathies to the Muslim terrorists, and another associate said he was “not surprised” to learn of Hasan’s actions. 
 
However, as the day became night and the various cable and radio talk shows heated up, many of the hosts started talking about how unfair it was for this man to receive poor treatment due to his Muslim faith, and some callers expressed their concerns that someone who had principles against the war, should not have been “forced” to be deployed to Iraq.  Of course, as they said this, they seemed to be missing the obvious point, there were talking about MAJOR Hasan, who was a ranking officer and well compensated, this was not a private who didn’t know what he was doing or had far less choices.
 
Later in the evening as I listened to Sirius radio, switching stations as I drove home, the  cacophony of excuses only grew in excuses and recriminations, especially as I switched to listen to the responses on different left and liberal leaning talk show stations and their listeners. 
 
One host said it was obvious that Hasan was driven to this act by the way he was treated for his Muslim beliefs.  Another host said it was “sickening” to have Hasan accused on committing a terrorist act just because he had a Muslim name.  He was angry that it was always Muslims whose religion was in question when these type of tragedies occur. 
 
Some of the listeners calling in said that these types of actions were actually originated by the constant fears and accusations of ignorant Americans who believe Muslims are out to kill us.  Other callers said that Muslims were not terrorists but peace-loving, and another host made fun of and mocked the several callers who questioned why such a religious man would make such a calculated attack on his fellow soldiers unless he was a Muslim sympathizer and terrorist supporter.
 
In the middle of all of this discussion, another caller called in to say this type of action was a direct cause and effect of discrimination and racism.  The host readily agreed and then the listener and host talked about the consequences of not following President Obama’s example to reach out to the Islamic nations. 
 
Another caller said our institutionalized racism had created a series of “slave camps”, which he called our jail and prison system, because such a high percentage of blacks were incarcerated in these correctional institutions.  The host said African Americans, who are 12.4 percent of the population, are more than half of all prison inmates, compared to one-third twenty years ago.  According to the host and caller, both of whom were white, this was due to the discrimination of “white America” we had to change this situation. 
 
The host said one of the ways to correct it would be to require the next four generations to inter-marry-black, white and Hispanic and “that would solve the situation once and for all”.  Somehow, one of the statistics the host and caller neglected to mention is the fact that based on current statistics, 70% of black children are being raised in single parent households and the lack of fathers has created severe problems in black society.
 
Frankly, listening to all of this imbecilic, finger-pointing drivel made me ask myself, “what the heck is going on in America?”  It seems obvious we are being overwhelmed by apologists and pseudo intellectual insincerity.  We are drowning in political correctness and playing the “it’s not my fault” game.  Many of our politicians are contributing to this same attitude, with a do as I say, don’t do as I do attitude on taxes, health care and conservation.
 
In regards to Nidal Malik Hasan fortunately, or unfortunately, he is going to live and be able to answer questions and hopefully take responsibility for his actions.  We will be able to learn if he was influenced by radical Islam and with any luck we will be able to find out if he had connections with terrorist influences.  Regardless of any real or imagined slights or suspicions he might have felt for his Muslim faith we will be able to find out why a religious man would feel it is acceptable at any time and for any reason to kill the very men and women he was called to serve, lead and protect.
 
Finally, as part of a military tribunal, we should also see full accountability demanded for Hasan’s actions.  Since he was the only “shooter”, he should also be found guilty of multiple murders and scores of attempted murders and since he also irreparably destroyed so many family relationships, Hasan will make restitution in front of an army firing squad.
 
When I was very young, my Dad told me that President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk which said: "the buck stops here".   In other words, someone has to make the decision and accept the responsibility for that decision. This saying came from the slang expression "pass the buck" which means passing the responsibility on to someone else.  

The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.
 
In January 1953, the same month and year that I was born, President Truman gave his farewell speech to the American people saying, "The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job”.
 
What a refreshing and ethical notion.  Wouldn’t it be great if that were the case today?  Unfortunately, we have become a society that is obsessed with “passing the buck” and blaming others for anything that does not go our way.    This attitude of it’s “not my fault” and always blaming others for our actions, has become so pervasive that it permeates every aspect of our society; extending throughout our schools and universities, in the every level of the workplace and throughout our entertainment and media industries. 
 
Unfortunately, unlike the example that President Truman set for the nation, it is also happening from the very top down.  As recently as this week, more than a year past his election date, President Obama continues to blame former President Bush for anything that goes wrong in the economy or in the world.  In these times of extreme challenge what we really need more than ever before is a nation, with our leaders setting the leaders accepting the responsibility of setting the example of living, the buck stops here.   

This morning I received another e-mail from a viewer with documents questioning President Obama’s American birthplace.  The e-mail showed his Indonesia grade school application and it had a picture of Barak Obama when he was living in Jakarta, Indonesia as Barry Setero.  The picture showed 9 year old Obama with his mother, step-father (Lolo Setoro) and his baby step-sister.  The viewer who sent the e-mail was very concerned since the document included indicated the 9 year Barry Setoro had an Indonesian Nationality and his religion was listed as Islam.  This viewer wanted to know how the freedom of information act could be circumvented to hide Obama’s true birth identity.  He was also very concerned about this story below, which was posted last Friday in WorldNetDaily:

Judge stalls access to Obama birth data
WorldNetDaily ^ | SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 | Bob Unruh - Posted on Friday, September 18, 2009 5:27:55 PM by RobinMasters

A judge has told lawyers whose clients are challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president they cannot start digging into the president's historical records right now, and he'll adjust a scheduled Jan. 26, 2010, trial date if they end up needing more time for their research.

The ruling comes from U.S. District Judge David Carter in a California lawsuit brought by several political candidates and party officials, including former U.S. ambassador Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson of the American Independent Party.

They are suing Obama alleging that he was not and is not eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution's demand for a "natural born" citizen in the Oval Office. They are represented by Orly Taitz, who has worked on a multitude of lawsuits over Obama's eligibility, and Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation.

Kreep had responded to the government's motion requesting a stay in the discovery process, the procedures through which valuable evidence is assembled in a lawsuit, by requesting immediate access to Obama's records such as his original long-form birth certificate and his Occidental College records.

The plaintiffs' suspicion is that those records would, in fact, undermine the president's statements that he is a "natural born" citizen, which could disqualify him. For example, an original birth certificate could indicate that it was a "delayed" filing, which could open the door for a birth location outside the United States.

Likewise, the Occidental College records could be significant if Obama attended on a program for foreign students, or represented himself as a foreign student at the time.

At San Diego 6 we have a policy of responding to our viewers who take the time to write to us.   We also have a firm commitment to keep our news reporting balanced, regardless of personal feeling.  I thanked the viewer for his information and told him if this ever became a story we would certainly cover it.

Frankly, this is an old story which I have seen many times before.   It is also a story the liberal bloggers and biased network news outlets such as MSNBC have spent a great deal of time mocking and belittling as crazy.  They also take great delight in attacking as “extremist loons” all those who continue to repeat this information.  However, to completely discount this type of fear of the unknown would be just a “crazy” as those they are trying to discount.  The fact is, this type of reaction is a continuing symptom of an ongoing problem regarding President Obama. 

While the majority of Americans voted for President Obama (53.7% Obama vs. 46.2% McCain), many of the people who originally voted for Obama are having second thoughts and getting increasingly fearful about the type of changes taking place in our country.  Many of those same people are discovering President Obama’s actual vision of change is not the change they were voting for in November 2008.

People who voted for Obama because they were concerned about the long-running war in Iraq and the downturn in the economy that started in 2008 are now wondering how President Obama can been considering adding more troops into Afghanistan than we ever had in Iraq.  They are also questioning how they were told they had to pass bail-out bills to save jobs, and now find the U.S. jobless rate the highest since the Great Depression (9/1/09-The U.S. jobless rate is 9.7% and it is 10.2% in California) and according to all the leading economic indicators, it is still going higher. 

People not only want to know why the government bailouts have not stemmed the flow of lost jobs, but how will we possible pay down a national debt that is now $1.8 Trillion and, according to the National Treasury department, is going to jump another $1 Trillion by the end of the year.  Even worse, the Congressional Budget Office has projected the policies laid out in Obama's first budget would require an additional $9 trillion in borrowing over the next decade and that is before we add-in the additional deficit created through the passage of the Cap & Trade Bill (global warming) or the potential Health Care Bill.

More and more people are saying this type of radical and lightning quick change is not the type of change they voted for when they elected a President who ran on a platform of hope and change.  What was hope for so many has turned into outright fear for many others, and that is one of the reasons why this type of e-mail keeps repeating and re-circulating.  These e-mail chains are part of the same concern that has sparked the town hall meetings and march on Washington.  More and more people have grown increasingly frightened by the fast growing debt combined with increased government control of our country. 

As I have said in previous viewer e-mail responses and my personal blog, while it’s true that no one has ever seen an original birth certificate for President Obama, the most important question is not where he was born, but where was President Obama raised?  What are the real background and values of our President and how do those affect each and every one of us who are impacted by his decision-making processes?

The problem that many people are having right now is it is increasingly apparent we have a President who does not share the traditional American values which built America and made it prosper.   This should not be so surprising since it would be difficult to share those same values if your upbringing was so different than most Americans.  Regardless of where he was born, Obama’s birth father was a Kenyan socialist activist and his mother was an American socialist idealist.  

His father finished his degree in Hawaii and left baby Barak and his mother to attend university in Cambridge when Obama was less than a year old.  After he left, despite a short visit in Cambridge, Obama was raised by his mother, with his parents divorcing before he was three.  Before he was seven his mother remarried a man from Indonesia (Lolo Setoro) and they moved to Jakarta where his parents enrolled him in a Muslim school.  At ten years old Obama moved back to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents, but as anyone who has resided in Hawaii for any period of time knows full well, that is not a state which resembles mainland U.S. and it has always been one of the most socialist of our 50 states. 

Famously, Obama’s primary work experience was centered on community organizing, including a stint as a director at the infamous ACORN.  In fact, before starting political office, other than teaching at University of Chicago Law school, virtually all of his career experiences were involved with extreme leftist community organizing and teaching.  

Another unique element of President Obama’s upbringing is the now proven evidence that until he met his wife and started to attend Reverend Wright’s extreme anti-white black Christian church, President Obama’s religious reference points were always Muslim.  While this was adamantly denied as a democratic candidate and during his presidential campaign, just before he addressed the Muslim world this year his deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."

To quote the very pro-Obama ABC News: “Given widespread unease and prejudice against Muslims among Americans, especially in the wake of 9/11, the Obama campaign was perhaps understandably very sensitive during the primaries and general election to downplay the candidate's Muslim roots.  With insane rumors suggesting he was some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his campaign did everything they could to emphasize his Christianity and de-emphasize the fact that his father, Barack Obama Sr., was born Muslim character shaping, his only Christian background was in anti-white radical black racist church, led by a preacher who openly taught hatred of America”.   

So, with all these different facts about the President’s life, including many unanswered questioned about how he lived and spent some of his younger life, questions continue to abound.  In addition, as he makes efforts to change our government into a more socialized version of his own political beliefs, people’s fears continue to generate more and more concerns for his origins.

Regardless of the President’s genesis, the bottom line is this; the country is split and getting more deeply split with every passing day.  After the initial rush and warm glow that attended his inauguration, and the heady early days of his Presidency, Obama now has more people disapproving of his actions as President than approving.   In fact, his rapid approval fall has continued precipitously despite the fact he has appeared in front of the American public on Television (and through prime-time television cut-ins) more than any President in the history of the office.  

Today’s (9/21/09) Rasmussen daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President but thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

Also in today’s Rasmussen Poll: Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide now oppose the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the highest level of opposition yet measured and includes 44% who are Strongly Opposed. Just 43% now favor the proposal, including 24% who Strongly Favor it.

Here is some other feedback regarding health care reform from the recent Rasmussen poll: Part of the president’s problem is that he has so far been unsuccessful in winning over those who already have health insurance.  Instead, 53% say the plan will force them to change their coverage. The plan faces many obstacles because it touches so many aspects of life. One of its contested provisions is coverage of abortions, and 48% believe any government-subsidized health care plan should be prohibited from covering abortion procedures. Just 13% support such coverage.

A South Carolina Republican’s outburst during Obama’s speech was prompted by another hot-button issue – health care subsidies for illegal immigrants - although some Democrats (including former President Carter) have suggested his comment was due to racism. But just 12% of voters nationwide believe that most opponents of the president’s health care reform plan are racist.   As for the underlying issue of immigration, 83% believe that people should have to prove their citizenship to receive government subsidized health benefits

What continues to happen is support is continuing to erode for the President and for his health care plan despite the constant media barrage philosophical attack to push it forward.   Frankly, as a person who has spent his entire professional life in the television business I am shocked at the current level of bias in the media.  It is obvious that NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN are “cheerleading” for the President and not reporting the facts.     

In the series of network interviews recorded Friday at the White House for airing on the ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC Sunday morning interview shows, all highlighted Jimmy Carter's charge that racism is fueling the anti-Obamacare protests – with CNN's John King and NBC's David Gregory following up with Nancy Pelosi's claim the heated rhetoric may incite violence – and CBS's Bob Schieffer asserted the "meanness that has settled over our political dialogue" had "started this summer at these town hall meetings."

Amazingly, only NBC's Gregory chastised Obama for not taking on the left on malpractice reform and only ABC's George Stephanopoulos brought up ACORN, but painted Obama as a victim: "Have some of your allies made it easier for, handed your opponents some ammunition, like ACORN, for example?"  Schieffer and King, but not Stephanopoulos or Gregory, pressed Obama on how seven former CIA directors urged him to drop the criminal probe of interrogations of terror suspects

Right now one of the proposals to establish health care reform is to force every single person to buy health care…which is estimated at $3800/each.   We should be asking the question; “is that proposal a tax increase?”   President Obama said no one under making under $250,000 would be taxed.   If everyone will be forced to buy health insurance, even if it is a public option, how will the poor pay this tax?   Also, what will happen to the millions of illegal immigrants who show up now at hospitals and get treated?   Will they be forced to pay for health insurance?   Here is another question, is it constitutional to demand everyone buys health insurance?    All are good questions, but none of them were asked of President Obama this weekend.

As listed earlier in this article, President Obama worked as a Director for ACORN and for years and funneled money to them.   During his election campaign ACORN was a key part of the campaign, including telling them during the year before his election to President if he was elected, ACORN would help shape his Presidential agenda.   Yet this past Sunday, when asked about ACORN and the scandal surrounding them, the President actually said this; “I didn’t know ACORN was getting a lot of federal money…it’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to”.  

What?  He didn’t know ACORN was getting federal money and didn’t pay a lot of attention to them?   Good grief, this man’s elective life-blood was through ACORN.   Since 1994 ACORN has been given $53 million dollars and was earmarked to collect billions from the stimulus bill before the huge outcry caused by a couple of FOX Cable commentators and two young film-makers.

In what has to be a complete challenge to realistic credibility, we are supposed to believe the President doesn’t pay any attention to ACORN and their corrupt practices, but he is going to push forward and prosecute CIA officers for “torturing terrorists” despite the fact the Justice department investigated already and declined to prosecute.  This investigation is going to press forward even though the CIA already took administrative action, including disciplinary action against those officers whose conduct it deemed warranted such responses.   In addition, this past week, in an unprecedented move, seven former CIA directors, who served both Democratic and Republican Presidents, wrote to the President, strongly opposing this action.  However, undeterred, and despite saying he would not do this during the election, President Obama and his attorney general are moving forward to investigate the CIA for interrogating the 9/11 murderers, while they are unconcerned about the overwhelming corruption of ACORN. 

We now have a President who promised change in many ways, including giving us complete transparency and openness as he governed “towards the center”.  In reality we less transparency than ever before, with members of his own party, including some it’s most senior members,  openly expressing worry and concern about the transfer of power to non-elected officials.   The fear of government takeover included the fear for having so many Czars (34) including; California Water Green, Climate, Guantanamo Closure, Intelligence, and WMD Czars.  What is most concerning is the czars in this administration seem to have more power and authority in this Presidency than Cabinet positions. 

People are also increasingly concerned that President Obama and his White House seem to withhold everything except for the image and propaganda they release without substantiation.   In polls out last week Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said nearly two-thirds of Americans think the news stories they read, hear and watch are frequently inaccurate.  That marks the highest level of skepticism recorded since 1985, when this study of public perceptions of the media was first done.  The survey polled 1,506 adults on the phone in late July and found that 63 percent of the respondents thought the information they get from the media was often off base.   In 2007, the same Pew Research survey, said 53 percent of the people expressed that same doubt about accuracy.

In a move that is unprecedented in my lifetime, this weekend President Obama actually spent the weekend appearing on various networks attacking FOX News Channel as being out of control, dangerous and biased for not agreeing with him.  He was (literally) on every other network, including Univision, and even appeared on the anti-FOX, anti-Bush and openly pro Obama David Letterman to pitch his health plan.  However, he refused to go on Fox News Sunday and meet with Chris Wallace who is one of the most fair minded journalist broadcasters I have heard.

Chris Wallace told Fox & Friends the White House is being petty and childish. Wallace went on to say he asks “tough and fair questions but the administration does not like it”.  “We have a President who has promised to reach out to all citizens and he is going back on that promise”   Wallace continued; “I have to say there is a pettiness about this White House…we don’t like you do this, we don’t like you do that”.   “I have covered a lot of white houses in my 30 years in the business”…I covered Ronald Regan, you come in and do a tough piece on day and it didn’t seem the facts were favorable to the President” and another day you do a piece that might be more favorable…but the white house only treated you as a professional”.   “There is a childishness to this Whitehouse” they only see the networks favorable to them and Univision told me the White House came to them for the interview.  

As of Sunday President Obama has conducted 124 print and broadcast interviews since the start of his Presidency.  During the same exact period of time, President W Bush did 40 interviews and President Clinton conducted 46.  Many people are wondering why so many interview but almost none with Fox News Channel.  

This is what was reported by www.examiner.com:

What many critics are calling a weak kneed policy to avoid Fox fits the mould of Obama’s developing personality. Europe is crying that Obama is weak and caved to Russian demands and threats which is reinforced by his aversion to appear on FOX.

Buck it up Mr. President, beside you got O’Reilly in your corner!

Get this format: an assembly line of network anchors file in and out quickly from the West Wing.. All get the same venue located in the Roosevelt Room just outside the Oval Office. They each get 15 minutes in the hot seat with Obama then five minutes to swap the fawning talent.

I’m guessing he’ll knock this out in just under two hours,” a White House aide was reported to have said.

The fact is, we are living in a world gone insane.  We have just started to dial down the troops in Iraq and now we are being told by commanders on ground in Afghanistan we need more combat troops in that country than we had in Iraq.  Today, the head of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once again denied the holocaust, saying;  he was “proud he had managed to enrage the West by denying the Holocaust during a speech he made in Tehran in honor of Jerusalem day”.   Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) as saying that the angering of "professional man-slayers is a source of pride for us and will not stand in our way".    We are seeing threats from all over the world and our President seems to think the way to with these people is to set up a lectern, fire up the teleprompter, and talk.   Amazingly, our President has a Secretary of State who has become almost invisible due to some type of political struggle and it seems as though we have no clear direction against the people who want to see us dead.

At San Diego 6 we perform an important service, we report on as much local news as is important, as well as some of our national news stories.   As a local news operation we are not here to slant the news.   Unlike the bias seen on cable and what has unfortunately become the “standards of rigor” for the broadcast networks, at San Diego 6 news we do our best to present the news without “slanting”, or delivering “angles” with our opinion.  We present the news and give both sides to our stories.  

For example, even during a story tonight  about a local “Sneak a Peek” Coffee stand, our reporter gave both sides to the entrepreneurial young ladies who set up a bikini coffee and drink stand across from a Starbucks in Freemont.  He included parents and civic leader who wanted to stop the stand from operating and the statements of the young ladies who created the stand.  At the end of our 10pm news we also posted the comment sent in from our viewers about this story.  Our goal is to deliver our viewers the best news and all the facts possible and then our viewers make up their own minds how to interpret those stories. 

Blogs like this one are for opinions, but opinions are not news…they are opinions.  In my opinion, we now have a President who is an exact reflection of our time.  President Obama uses a Blackberry, can talk in short text language and glib speech, and he is very photogenic, handsome and seemingly erudite, but he continually seems to be all surface and appearance,  and that is not enough to lead or to govern effectively. 

Unfortunately, too much of the national and local media is covering up any shortcomings or flaws or contradictions or mistakes of our President.   The problem is NOT the color of his skin (see my last blog is “Is Racism the new swear word”).  Frankly, President Obama’s partial black ancestry was wonderful for America and the world, and added to the excitement of our shared hopes for a better society.   

However, if President Obama’s election was a statement of our true liberty and a glorious song of democracy, the current attacks on those who disagree with him as racist is orchestrating the once beautiful music with the most dissident and ugly chords formed by xenophobic rhetoric.

The color in question has nothing to do with President Obama’s race, but it has everything to do with the black hole created by his lack of experience and naïve approach to government.   All of his actions are pushing us further and further into economic disaster as the threat of trillions of dollars of additional deficits are needed to cover his bailouts and social change programs. 

With every passing week I keep asking myself more and more, “what the heck is going on?”   It really feels like the world is turning upside down.  Everything that we believe in is being twisted and distorted and what has always been right is now proclaimed as being wrong. 

We are seeing public opinion being attacked as inflammatory, idiotic, neanderthal, and even racist.  We are being told how we are “supposed to think” by a government who is telling us they are doing what they think is best for its citizens despite what the citizens who elected them don’t agree with them.

Let’s talk about some specific examples in the past two weeks that have made me question whose interest is really being served?

Last week the British Government (read Scottish Court and it’s “Justice Minister”) released the architect of the 1988 Lockerbie Airline bombing, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.  This terrorist gangster, who was directly responsible for slaughtering 270 people (most of whom were Americans) was released from prison because al-Megrahi is terminally ill with prostate cancer.   

This release took place over the objection of most of the civilized countries of the world since most people asked the same question, “why does it matter that al-Megrahi is dying of prostate cancer, did he care about the 270 innocent men, women and children he murdered?”  The answer to that question is “no, he has never shown any remorse or regret for his bombing”.

On Thursday August 20^th he was returned to his native Libya where he was greeted by crowds waving Libyan and Scottish flags who proclaimed him a hero to the Muslim people.  In a poll that came out today (August 24^th)  96% of the American people felt it was a mistake to let al-Megrahi be released, but despite that fact, the Justice Minister of Scotland justified letting this terrorist go free.

By stark contrast let’s jump forward to today, Monday August 24^th.   The Obama administration announced today that it is launching a criminal probe into "unauthorized ... inhumane" interrogations of terror suspects during President George W. Bush's war on terrorism, spurred by newly declassified revelations of CIA tactics.

Additionally, President Barack Obama ordered changes in future questioning of detainees, bringing in other agencies besides the CIA under direction of the FBI and supervised by his own national security adviser. The administration pledged questioning would be controlled by the Army Field Manual, with strict rules on tactics.  However, the White House said it would “keep its hands off” the professional investigators doing the work. 

This is all happening despite the fact a 2004 Congressional report stated that the CIA interrogations had been an “unqualified success in getting information from terrorists to protect America”.  In addition, the most recent polls have shown that 94% of the American public feels that the CIA officials should not be interrogated or investigated for interrogating terrorist. 

The Director of the CIA Leon Panetta is opposed to this action, and so are all past heads of the CIA.  Why?  It will cripple our intelligence gathering capability and make foreign nations unwilling to participate when they now under the “threat of investigation”. 

Most people feel as though if terrorists need water-boarded and treated harshly to get information to protect innocent men, women and children, then let’s go for it.  After, we are talking about terrorists who want to see us dead, and dead in horrific, appalling despicable ways, but we now think the rights of these sub-humans are more important than the people we have hired to protect us from them.

The next bit of crazy and contradictory news came on Tuesday August 18th when Obama Administration announced it is financing oil exploration off Brazil.  This is not a typo, the President is supporting drilling for oil in Brazil. President Obama has authorized the U.S. to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees.  

Very suspiciously, one of President Obama’s biggest supporters, George Soros, has massive financial interest in Petrobas.  This is the same George Soros, who is also the supporter many other liberal and leftist group such as Moveon.org, Acorn and anti-American drilling lobbyists.

Does any right-thinking person actually think this is a coincidence to have President Obama support drilling in Brazil but not in the U.S.?   Already this year, under direction from the Obama administration Congress introduced billed to ban offshore drilling, scrap oil and gas leases in Utah and produced a bill to permanently prohibit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  That was topped of with the Cap & Trade Bill which will make energy production and use in the U.S. cripplingly difficult and in many cases economically impossible…but how is it ok to give Billions to Brazil to drill for oil?    

According all the gas and oil scientists and exploration experts it is estimated that we have more oil and natural gas reserves in the United States than exits in all of Saudi Arabia, but unlike every other country on earth, we are BLOCKING the exploration of these reserves.  Instead, we a subject to terrorists nations who control oil in the Mid-East and South America  and now we are giving money to Brazil instead of simply allowing America to drill for oil and natural gas in America. 

The fact is, every single national poll shows 75% of American’s support off-shore drilling and exploring more oil and natural gas reserves all over America.  Even in New Jersey, a heavily Democratic state, in it’s most recent poll on August 18^th Quinnipiac University poll made it clear, New Jerseyans say gasoline prices is the economic issue that worries them the most, and by a 64%-34% margin, their voters support offshore oil drilling. New Jersey voters also support new nuclear power plants (61%-32%) and drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuse (53%-41%).  

In the biggest “green state” in the U.S., California, the August 5^th Public Policy Institute of California came out with the 2^nd year in a row of public support for offshore oil drilling among all registered voters.  51% in 2008 and 53% in 2009 said they favor allowing oil drilling off the California coast while 43% were opposed and 10% “were not sure”.

Still, the President, Al Gore and our congress all think they know better than the populace of America and they are not allowing off-shore drilling and are banning Alaskan oil exploration despite the fact it has been proven there have been NO environment negatives. How is this possible in a sane world? 

Speaking of drilling and global warming, in an interview on the BBC last week the head of Green Peace actually admits that their statements about Global Warming and the destructions of the Greenland Ice Cap melting is simply a lie (remember, massive amounts of An Inconvenient Truth is also a complete lie).  This gentleman called this “emotionalizing the truth” for the “benefit” of people. 

Here is another mind-boggling turn of events…tomorrow, Tuesday August 25^th, the White House and a financial scrutiny arm of Congress will release separate government budget estimates and updated economic forecasts highlighting the deficit problem plaguing the Obama administration. 

According to an anonymous official in the Office of Management and Budget will release the mid-term review of the federal government budget for fiscal year 2010, which starts October 1.   According to this official, President Barack Obama's administration's budget update will add nearly two trillion dollars to the forecast of the government's $7.1 Trillion…which means the 10-year budget deficit will now be over NINE trillion dollars. 

These latest budget figures BEG all Americans to ask this important question…what the heck is going on?  

Why are we trying to add another trillion dollars to nationalize health care and then add another two trillion to the deficit by passing a Cap & Trade bill, which will also destroy the ability of America to compete in the world market because no other country is going to take the same strict energy and conservation steps? 

Worse, why would we take these drastic steps when the majority of Americans do not want to see these type of radical changes? 

Unfortunately, our President and elected officials, all of whom are supposed to be the employees of the American people now feel they know what is best for us and like a strict and inflexible parent, regardless of what we might think they are going to make sure they institute those changes for us.

The best example of our politicians knowing more than the stupid and unwashed electorate was demonstrated on Monday, August 17th by Eric Massa (D-NY).  This congressman was caught on film by the Washington Times telling participants of the radical leftist extremist NetRoots Nation (formerly called YearlyKos Convention) conference that he would vote against the interests of his district.  

One could also ask, why was this congressman addressing such a far left organization and why was it so important to him that he pander to their support and votes?  Regardless of the answer, Congressman’s Massa’s exact words were this: "I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district". 

Remember, this is a congressman elected to represent the interests of his district.  He then showed his complete arrogance by saying: "I will vote against their opinion if I actually believe it will help them."  This video has been extremely popular on YouTube…in case you missed it, or simply cannot believe a congressman would say this about the people who elected him, you can find it here:  

http://www.atr.org/rep-massa-d-ny-vote-against-a3708

 These are just a few of the examples of a world that has turned upside down and is doing that on an almost daily basis.  Each of these examples is proof of the fact we have lost contact with reality and have lost ourselves in the demands to be politically correct. 

Unfortunately, we are not only not correct, we have lost what is most important, the truth and common sense.    To quote Howard Beale, the iconic character from the 1976 Academy Award Winning Film, Network, we should all be “as mad as hell and not going to take it any more”.   

None of us should accept politics, or political posturing, and now that we need it most, we need to demand common sense.  We need to stop blaming invisible ghosts and cease the demonizing rhetoric, and start dealing with practical realities that will help America and the ideals that have made it great throughout its history. 

The reality is 70-75% of the voters in the United States are NOT for government control of every aspect of our lives.  The citizens of the U.S. do not believe that government knows best.  The vast majority of Americans believe in freedom and self determination.  We need to remember what is says in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Americans believe in free agency and they would also prefer to have reasonable answers for our problems and our issues. We need be “as mad as hell” that we are not getting this type of response from too many of our elected employees. 

Tomorrow is the Michael Jackson World-wide Memorial Service, and yes, San Diego 6 will be covering the event.  One of our fine young reporters, Elex Michaelson, who is also our Sat/Sun 7-9AM co-anchor went up today, along with a photographer, to report to local angle on this unique event.  

Elex will be giving us live reports and observations and we will live-streaming the entire event on sandiego6.com.  Elex (and Jenny Hamel) did the same thing during President Obama's inauguration and together gave San Diego the only local reporters “on the ground” for this event…not just on-air, but through live streaming and facebook and myspace. 

These Michael Jackson updates will start in our 5A-9AM San Diego 6 in the Morning broadcast.  The first live remote coming to our viewers around 530AM and will continue each 30 minutes throughout the morning. Elex will also be in our 10pm news and 11@11, and will be available on Twitter and Facebook and myspace. 

With Los Angeles being so close to San Diego, and since fans from San Diego were among those randomly picked for the memorial service, we felt that it would be a good idea to have a local slant on what is likely the biggest world-wide celebrity interest event since the funeral of Princess Diana. 

Many people have commented to us asking why the news services have so much Michael Jackson coverage?  What is wrong with the media to spend so much time on this man?  Why do you care about all of this?  The simple answer is, because so many of our viewers care and would like to know what is happening.

Actually, I don’t think San Diego 6 has gone overboard on the coverage…unlike most of the other stations in San Diego, we didn’t break into our programming during the self-serving press conference by Michael’s father, Joe Jackson and Al Sharpton to talk about a future service and the forming of a record label to make money off the death of Michael Jackson.  We have kept our reporting on whatever updated facts there have been to the conditions of Michael Jackson’s death.

However, Michael Jackson was a part of the fabric of culture that many, many people of all nations and language shared together.  His descent into freakishness and bizarre behavior became the fodder that many found either fascinating or we drawn to the information like people watching a car-wreck, not being able to stop themselves.  Whatever the reason; his music, his fame, his strange life-style, his fantastic wealth, his even more fantastic spending habits, his altruism, his adopted children, the accusations of abuse…all were reasons people are interested in Michael Jackson, and the media and news has reflected that interest.

I would recommend you watch our own Dr. Keith Kanner, from Your Family Matters, who discussed this very subject today on San Diego 6 in his usual insightful and articulate manner: “Michael Jackson, Why Legends leave Impressions” I have included the link: 

 http://blogs.sandiego6.com/blogs/post.aspx?App=your_family_matters&y=2009&m=07&d=03&PostID=4196391

I would hope that as we give you some new insights on this world-wide event, we will not forget the real news and real heroes of this country.  I am refering to precious lives of those men and women who continue to place their lives in “harm’s way” to protect our ability to have the freedom to choose to watch this type of activity. 

Today in Afghanistan, seven more American marines lost their lives and another marine was announced as kidnapped by the Taliban.  These are the true heroes who we should recognize.  They leave their families behind and go out to protect each of us.  The fact is, while these latest casualties will be in our news tonight at 10pm, and these fatalities have already been mentioned on other news services…it will simply be a "mention" compared to the massive amount of coverage on Michael Jackson. 

Frankly, that is a sad commentary on what is wrong with the values that exist not just in California, and in America, but in the world today.

As many of San Diegan's know, Friday April 20th brought a ruling in the trial of Sam Suleiman and his wife.  Unfortunately, instead of a trial, and a conviction, a deal was made between the District Attorney's office and the Suleiman's: Sam Suleiman pleaded guilty to felony assault and his wife, Rosa pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.  In return for the guilty pleas, the district attorney's office has dropped several other charges against the couple, and instead of facing prison time, Sam Suleiman will likely receive probation.

I am shocked at the response of the court to the actions of the Suleiman's...to have them be able to get a plea bargain and pleading guilty to a felony, and misdemeanor assault and then have "probation" be their only consequences is a shockingly lenient judgment considering the heinousness of their crimes. 

Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:46 PM
name: Michelle R.

subject: Shocked by your station's insensitivity

message: My two teenaged children, along with my husband and I saw a short news update about the 14 year old San Dieguito Academy student that was killed today while walking back to school from lunch, when he was crushed by a truck being driven by a fellow SDA student. My son, also a freshman at SDA, is devistated by this tragic accident that happened in front of the eyes of many fellow students. If you could have seen the look on my sons face and the tears that filled his eyes when he saw the pillar and blood that you so graphically diplayed on television.

What is the purpose of showing such a gruesome scene?  Does shock value and sensationalism over-ride basic decency and respect for this boys family who are grieving and his fellow classmates that are both grieving and  suffering from the trauma of witnessing this horrible accident. Shame on you FOX 6! You owe Ryan Huong's family and this community an

apology!

I am the Vice President & General Manager of FOX6 & MYTV13.  John Mattes is one of our terrific reporters who specializes in helping our viewers investigate situations where fraud, theft and injustice has taken place.  At FOX6 John has been an ardent and passionate crusader for the San Diego community protecting our viewers from consumer abuse.   

This past week, John Mattes was violently and viciously attacked by a husband and wife “team”(Sam & Rosa Suleiman).  In the past three months, the Suleiman’s illegal and violent activities had been exposed through John’s excellent reporting and broadcast to San Diego viewers during our newscasts.

On the day of the attack, I went to the hospital to meet with John, and saw the immediate after-effects of this attack.  John was covered with his own blood, not just on his face, but his clothes looked like they had been soaked in red paint.  John was severely lacerated around his face and eyes when Sam Suleiman attempted to gouge out his eyes.  In addition, John had to receive a tetanus shot since Sam Suleiman had bitten John on both his hand and ear and had bitten him so viciously that blood and teeth marks were evident in both locations.  Finally, along with bumps and bruises, John had several cracked ribs and damage to his nose. 

Sam Suleiman outweighed John by 30-40 pounds, and as bad as John’s injuries were, the damage could have been much worse, possibly even fatal, if was not for the intervention of B.K. Philips.  B.K. Philips is a true hero, since he literally picked up Sam Suleiman (BK is 6’6” 260 pounds) and John and put them on the ground…pinning Sam Suleiman and then pinning him as our photographer helped John Mattes extricate himself by pinning Suleiman’s legs.

Rosa Suleiman had also slapped John in the face with an empty water bottle after emptying it on John and our photographer, and told them she was going to her car to get a gun to shoot them.  Fortunately, despite searching under her seat, she could not find a gun.

What many people watching the video of the attack did not realize was during the fracas, when Sam Suleiman was pinned to the ground and John was trying to get away, Rosa Suleiman did come back from the car with a very heavy glass perfume bottle and attempted to hit John Mattes and BK in the head.  Fortunately, another brave bystander stopped her and took it from her hands. 

In addition, Rosa Suleiman, speaking in Spanish, told John that she intended to kidnap him across the border and "finish him"...we had many of our Spanish speaking viewers so concerned about this that they called and wrote us warning us about what she had said.  Adding to the “hate crime” nature of the attack and showing Sam Suleiman’s true lack of character, as BK Philips restrained Sam Suleiman, BK was repeatedly called the "N" word, and Suleiman told BK that he would “get him”.

(Unknown to FOX6) the Suleimans had evidently been secretly stalking/shadowing our reporter.  This was why, when Mr. Mattes was on the private property of BK Philips, doing his interview, Sam & Rosa Suleiman were able to locate him.  They drove up in separate cars and trespassed onto Mr. Philip’s property where the interview was being conducted, and as I have described, attacked John Mattes.

This story was so shocking and the injuries John Mattes received so severe, that it has received national attention, being replayed on virtually every TV station and media outlet all over the world.  John has been interviewed on FOX News Channel during every one of their shows, as well as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Geraldo, and even David Letterman has wanted to have John appear on his program because he was so shocked at what had transpired.  In addition to TV programs, John has been interviewed via the phone on local and national radio programs and we have requests for him to appear on many more programs.

In response to our video and follow up stories, we have been deluged with phone calls and e-mails (over 1600 e-mails as of today, Saturday September 9^th) from all over the world, most of which have expressed their support for John and outrage that these people could be out on bail within a couple of hours of their arrest.  The Suleiman’s will be arraigned again on Monday and hopefully they will not be able to stay out of jail after that arraignment.  Without a doubt, civil charges will also be coming against them on top of their criminal prosecution.

However, what has been very disheartening is from many parts of the United States, even here in San Diego, we have received many e-mails (10-15%) from people who have said they believe John Mattes DESERVED to be attacked. 

To give an idea of some of these emails, here is a small sample.  These are NOT the worst of the negative e-mails, but they have not been edited in any way other than the F-word was eliminated in places it was used:

• It truly warmed my heart to see your sissy, smart mouth, sanctimonious newsman get his ass kicked proper.  He truly deserves it getting in that lady's face.  Loved his "have a nice day comment" and then getting decked. You guys are all a bunch of drama queens with your "reign of terror" hype.  jeez.  Get real, man up, and quit crying like babies. 

• Mattes got what he deserved. He follow someone around with a camera which is just crappy journalism and then proceeds to get beaten up like a little girl on live TV. I'm guessing he won't be seeing any *** for awhile.

• Hardly a surprise attack.  You fools apparently think you have some God-given right to get in any scoundrel's face and push his buttons with impunity.  Then you cry foul to the Heavens when the very foreseeable lands on your nose.  Get more professional, and less Jerry Springer.

• You're sorry attempt to grab ratings worked. It looks like everything worked out in everyone's favor. We should just call it even. Your news guy gets his ass kicked and the station gets more ratings. Sounds fair to me. I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all.

• I wish I could see more reporters get their ass beat down. Especially the pushy ones who don't listen when you try to be polite. F*** you all. I must have missed your reference to the bubbly effervescence af Mrs. Psycho and the verbal skills of the pugnacious Mr.Loon. And to you, likewise.

• I am glad the reporter got his ass kicked, the woman deserves privacy and should not have been videotaped after she asked that they stopped. Who the f--- do these reporters think they are?

• You guys are pathetic.  If it weren't for the ratings?...why wasn't the camera man doing anything?  Roll tape and bring on the ratings...Pathetic news program

• Are you an investigative reporter or an invasive reporter.  I  just saw this report on CNN and it seems that you are on private property, invading the woman's privacy, and you basically got what you deserved.  Journalists today have an aura of being above the law, as if it's your right to invade and instigate a subject for the sake of a story.  I'm pretty sure if you saw your wife fending off reporters, continously telling you to stop, that you'd react in much the same way her husband did.  Now you're the joke of the evening news, and you're impressive resume no longer matters.  Stick with being an investigator, not an instigator.

• Conrats to the Puncher. He got in a couple of good shots. It serves him Right. These College Dropouts. We had a reporter stick a microphone in a truck drivers face. His response was the Right one. "Get that the F*** out of my face"

Frankly, these types of responses are shocking to me.  At first, I thought some of these people were simply misinformed, but in most instances, even when presented the facts, they refused to change their positions, firmly believing that John Mattes deserved to be beaten. 

This event reminds me that once again, regardless of the facts of any situation, people will come up with their own conclusions, regardless of how wrong or completely opposite from the facts they are.  We euphemistically talk about how important it is to have peace and cooperation in our society.  We also speak of our hopes for a compromise in the Middle East, and how we want our political system to not be so increasingly polarized and divisive.

And yet, after a shocking event such as this one, when we had a reporter physically attacked on the private property of the man he is interviewing in a manner that is literally bestial in nature, and ANYONE believes they should identify with the beastality that performed the attack, then it is obvious we have reached a new low point in the downward evolution of our society. 

In the days of Columbus the reality was the world was flat and he would sail off the edge of the earth, but despite the fact the majority of the world believed this falsehood, it didn’t make it true.  Is perception a reality?  Individual perception is also why murderers are allowed to go free by juries, despite proof that is irrefutable.  It is also the reason there are so many people today who actually believe 9/11 was "staged" by our government and not the work of terrorists.  It is also why other people believe that our space program has never happened but is shot on a "Hollywood lot". 

John Mattes began investigating the Suleiman’s for one reason, because the victims of the Suleiman’s asked John to help them.  The truth is the Suleimans hate John Mattes because he has exposed the truth of their illegal and terrorist-type activities.   It is simply beyond rational belief that anyone could identify and empathize with these people since they represent the basest elements of everything that is wrong with our society. 

The Suleiman’s have literally stolen millions of dollars in real estate by stealing the identities of their victims.  We have received emails from many more victims who are now coming forward…including people from surrounding cities and states…all of whom were victimized and defrauded by Sam & Rosa Suleiman.  In many cases the victims of this fraud were either physically attacked (last week Sam Suleiman physically attacked another man and literally bit a piece of flesh from his chest, and then got out on bail) or were threatened with physical harm and in many cases, death!

The victims of these people include the most vulnerable members of our society, the elderly, whose security was destroyed by the Suleimans.  On the day of the attack, John Mattes had just interviewed an architect who had worked for Sam & Rosa Suleiman, who told John that recently he had gotten into a disagreement with Sam Suleiman, who then threatened this architect by telling him if he didn't do what he wanted him to do, he would "break his legs and rape his wife".  This man was so frightened he until his interview with John Mattes, he had not told ANYONE, including his wife about this threat.  Think about that for a minute, "I will rape your wife"...this is the man you say you would defend for "putting a camera in his wife's face".  Forget human decency, what animal would ever say that to anyone?

The Suleiman’s are liars and thieves, they are terrorists and thugs.  It is too easy to call them “delusional” or “crazy”…they are evil people, who intentionally hurt and cheat other people.  Sam Suleiman is guilty of perpetrating hate crimes and physical assault and he has done so on camera in a way that is irrefutable and beyond dispute.  What must happen now is Sam and Rosa Suleiman need to face justice by losing the freedom they have so ruthlessly taken from their victims.

However, even when justice is served on the Suleimans what about those who still believe their actions and violence is justified?  How is this possible? Unfortunately, as part of my long experience in dealing with the public I have learned that regardless of a person's intellectual capacity there is no guarantee that someone will ever have good judgment. 

Our hope for a better future for our society can only be realized when we can reach the point when we say without any hesitation, this type of behavior is wrong and will never be tolerated and there must be immediate consequences for these actions.