WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

Friends of Liberty VOL 58
by Jim Clonts, 2010

06/24/2010

Has anyone noticed the lies told by this Administration are never the story in the Mainstream Media? The story always revolves around the degradation of the character of those pointing out the lies. This is Democrat politics at its finest. The Democrat political strategy is "admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations." The truth means nothing so long as they can control the Media, the premise and the language of the argument.

After a meeting with the CEO of Caterpillar, President Obama announced the CEO's endorsement of his stimulus package and said the CEO would hire back hundreds of laid-off employees if the Stimulus Bill passed. The next day the CEO of Caterpillar reported he never said any such thing. The Administration did not admit a mistake---so my guess is it was not a mistake. The Media said the CEO was playing partisan politics and questioned his integrity.

Recently a group of oil industry experts met with the Administration concerning their plan to deal with the oil spill in the Gulf. These experts signed off on a document, lending their support to the Administration. The next day the Administration said they supported the six month moratorium on underwater drilling in the Gulf. Eight of these experts came forward in the Wall Street Journal to say the document they signed did not contain language concerning a six months moratorium and they most ardently do not support such a measure. (I'm betting the other four were too scared of the Administration to say anything.) It seems the Administration added a paragraph after the signing. Is this incompetence or fraud?

When Representative Joe Wilson blurted out "You lie" in response to statements made by the President during the State of the Union Address concerning the Healthcare Bill, the story was "Joe Wilson", not an investigation into the truthfulness of the President's words. In a free society with a free press, I'd expect to see both stories. If Wilson was wrong he should have been taken to task. If Obama was saying things he couldn't back up with facts, that should have been pointed out to the American people. In fact, in this case, Obama was either lying, mis-informed by his staffers or incredibly incompetent---you choose.

This Administration has perfected the art of massaging their lies. In some cases, timing is everything. Just days before the Healthcare Bill vote, the Democrats sent the bill to the Congressional Budget Office to have it scored. The data was incomplete, or most likely optimistic lies, but the CBO's procedures mandate it evaluate a bill based on what it is given. They scored the bill as saving $140 billion over ten years and this is what was presented as fact to the American people just prior to the vote. Obama hailed the plan as a deficit reducing measure. Now, months later, the CBO has received more accurate data from the same Congress and now projects it will cost the Government $150 billion over ten years. So much for deficit reduction. This is why it is so important to introduce new bills and vote on them as soon as possible, before any truth leaks out. Any outrage in the Media? No? Lying or incompetent?

During the healthcare debate the President repeatedly said if you liked your healthcare plan, you could keep it. Last week the Administration announced that 51% of health plans provided by employers would not meet the requirements of the new law. Any outrage in the media over this? No? How about the fact the Government now admits existing insurance plans will have to raise their premiums next year as a result of the new law? Still no media outrage? I bet there will be outrage when the companies do raise their rates---and guess who the outrage will be aimed at.

Recently, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona met one on one with the President in the Oval Office to discuss illegal immigration and securing the border. Kyl said the President told him if the Government secured the border, Republicans would have no reason to support the Administration's comprehensive immigration reform. When Kyl related this to the Mainstream Media, White House staffers told them he was lying. Kyl stands by his remarks. Obama does not stand by his---his staffers, who were not in the room, speak for him. The Media is now in the process of roasting Senator Kyl and questioning his integrity.

President Obama's recent Oval Office speech was supposed to address a strategy for dealing with the clean up in the Gulf, actually spent most of the time outlining a new energy bill. During this speech the President implied we have run out of places to drill for oil. That is why BP was drilling in 5000 feet of water. This is also a lie. There are plenty of places in the US to get oil that do not involve the dangers and complexity of drilling under 5000 feet of water. The truth is BP is not out there by choice. The environmental/anti-capitalists movement has successfully lobbied Congress to shut down drilling in Alaska, the Mainland of the US and in shallow waters off our shores. Make no mistake, the words he used were carefully crafted to make the average American think all the oil is in dangerous, hard to reach locations.

Sometimes new language is required to mask lies. When the stimulus bill failed to keep unemployment below 8%, the Administration invoked the spirit of George Orwell and created a new phrase---giving us a great example of NewSpeak. Vice President Biden touted the benefits of the Stimulus Bill as having "created or saved" 2.4-2.8 million jobs. Now this is both bold and creative. I can think of no other President with the stones to hail "saved" jobs as an achievement. Even if it is true, are we really celebrating zero growth with 10% unemployed and nearly a trillion spent trying to create growth?

I think the key to understanding the Obama Administration lies in another Orwellian construct. In 1984 Orwell called it Doublethink. This is where you know something is a lie, but at the same time you convince yourself it is the truth. If we can just overcome our reliance on logic and adapt this enlightened mental flexibility I'm sure we will better understand the workings of this Administration and the stories reported in the Mainstream Media will make more sense.

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."

-Mark Twain

"Love is hate. War is peace. Ignorance is knowledge."

-George Orwell

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