Happy New Year!

It's difficult to believe that 2013 is over. It seems like it just got here. There have been numerous incidents and occurrences that have kept the government in the news - both here at home and abroad. What would my blog be if I didn't talk about them on this last day of the year?

The first and largest incident actually happened in 2011, but since it began with lies by the Obama administration, proceeded with cover-ups by the Obama administration, and culminated earlier this year with Hillary Clinton saying "What difference, at this point, does it make?", I am including the murders in Benghazi on this list. Four Americans died, the Obama administration lied and as yet, those witnesses who were on the ground at the time have not been made available in Congressional hearings. In fact, those witnesses who work for the CIA have been subjected to frequent polygraph exams to determine whether or not they have been talking to anyone about the incident. The Obama administration will not tell the truth about it nor will it allow the truth to be made known. They won't even say what Obama did that night while he was conspicuously absent from the situation room.

Over the past weekend the New York Times published an article which said based on their investigation the incident was not terror related and was, in fact, caused by "the video." Even the Obama administration gave up on that lie by the end of 2011. But Hillary Clinton will be running for President in 2016 and Benghazi will be one of her greatest failures - unless the biased mainstream media can turn that failure around before the campaign officially begins.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden released classified information that informed Americans they were being spied upon by the NSA. Whether or not Snowden is a traitor remains to be seen but the most interesting thing here is that the President denied any knowledge of the program, in which the NSA is maintaining data files of millions of telephone calls made in the United States under the premise that it is monitoring them for national security reasons. One federal court ruled the NSA was in violation of the 4th amendment but recently an appeals court judge reversed that decision and said it was perfectly legal. In the meantime the NSA has built a huge data collection center where they are storing all of those phone records.

It was discovered in 2013 that Eric Holder's Justice Department was investigating journalists at the Associated Press, monitoring phone information and even targeting FOX News reporter James Rosen and his parents - snooping through their e-mails. Of course, President Obama and Eric Holder denied any knowledge of these actions - even though Holder himself signed off on the paperwork.

It was also discovered earlier this year that the Internal Revenue Service was intentionally targeting conservative political action groups who were seeking tax exempt status and had been. They were delaying those requests to prevent the groups from becoming legally active before the 2012 election. The Obama administration once again denied knowledge of these actions even though he had numerous private meetings with the head of the IRS just before it began. Then they tried to say it was 'a few rogue agents in Cincinnati who were responsible and that they acted on their own. Then several top IRS officials resigned.

The Affordable Care Act registration began on October 1st and was a whopping failure. The website crashed within a day and still is not working at a 100% level. (The administration said "Too many people tried to access it at the same time," which was ridiculous since on Black Friday Amazon's website handled three and a half million items ordered on site, at a rate of around 41 items per second. A properly designed website could have easily handled the few hundred thousand hits.) President Obama, of course, said he didn't know the website wasn't going to work properly.

From the time the ACA bill was signed into law until October of this year, President Obama went around the country telling everyone "If you like your current plan you can keep it. Period." and "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Period." Then, when the Obamacare rollout began in October, insurance companies began cancelling policies that didn't comply with the ACA law. More than 6 million policies have been cancelled so far and it is estimated that by next year it could be as high as 100 million, when employer based policies are cancelled as well.

The Obama administration and Democrat politicians say these plans were inferior and no good - regardless of what the actual consumer felt about it. Most of those who had plans cancelled will be paying more for a new policy through Obamacare and will be forced to have certain coverage (birth control, mammogram, etc.) that they don't need. (A 67 year old man doesn't need birth control or mammogram coverage.)

When the President's numbers began dropping and Democrats up for re-election began feeling public opinion turning against them because of Obamacare, President Obama did something he seems to be getting good at. He unilaterally changed the law - something he has no authority to do. He authorized insurance companies to reinstate those so-called "inferior plans" if they wished and encouraged companies to offer more of them.

The insurance companies, after scrambling for three years to comply with the law, were reluctant to reverse things so, of course, Obama, Democrats and the mainstream media demonized them. And they still do it occasionally.

The Obamacare website contract was awarded to a Canadian company (after only one bid - a violation of federal law) of which one of the top officials is the husband of Michelle Obama's old college chum. (The couple visited the White House last Christmas.) That company had been fired by the Canadian government for producing inferior products.

Enrollment in Obamacare has been far below the numbers expected (and needed) by the Obama administration. One million people have enrolled according to the White House however, they often include people who have filled out the paperwork without actually purchasing anything in their numbers. They need 7 million by March to make the program successful - something that seems doubtful at this time. We shall see.

One Democrat Representative said the other day that the reason enrollment is so low is because Republicans have convinced the American people that they have repealed the law. Really? My question for her is "Do you really believe the American people are that stupid or are you proving your own stupidity with that statement?" I'll let you decide the answer.

Just a month or so ago the President's Kenyan-born uncle Omar, living illegally in Framingham, Massachusetts for over 10 years, was granted amnesty by an immigration court - much like his aunt in New York was several years ago. The White House was asked about Obama's uncle following Omar's 2011 DUI arrest and they said Obama didn't know him and hadn't ever had contact with him. This year, when Omar was once again in the news, the White House was asked again about Obama's contact with his uncle Omar. Apparently they had information that Obama did indeed know the man. White House Fabrication Secretary, Jay Carney, admitted that President Obama had actually lived with Omar when he first attended Harvard. When asked why they lied about it in 2011, Carney replied "We didn't lie. No one ever actually asked the President about it."

The President has been really busy this year denying knowledge of pretty much everything. It makes one wonder what it is he actually does. He certainly isn't running the country if he doesn't know anything that's going on. Maybe "running it into the ground" is a better phrase to describe the Obama Presidency. Either way, if he has no knowledge of what's going on in his own administration why do we need him? That's like having two Joe Bidens in the White House.

On a personal note - Arden and I celebrated our first anniversary in August. I'm not only a very happy man but a very lucky one. She is everything I want and need and I thank God for her every day.

My book was finally published and many of you have read it. I have received wonderful reviews and comments about it and I thank each and every one of you who took the time to read it. In 2014 I hope to add a little bit to it.

After the death of his mother in 2010, Christopher's grandparents in Oklahoma gave me some of his things that his mother had saved. Included in those were two packets of letters that had been written to her (and in some cases to both of us) by students and teachers at Christopher's high school. They were heartfelt personal notes about Christopher, what they liked about him and what they missed about him. The book was already completed at that time but earlier this year I began looking at them and decided they should have been, and need to be included in the book. I talked to my publisher about it and they like the idea. When I finish my current project I will write another chapter or two for the original book and include at least some of the letters so people can read them. The book will be re-released when that is done. I can't promise your money back for the first one but can promise the letters will be something you'll enjoy.

This is my 288th post this year. I have had just over 23,000 page views on my blog this year. Thank you. It's always gratifying to know people actually read what I write. 2014 already promises to be a great year for political posts. We have an election coming up. The campaign lies will be starting soon after the first of the year and the media bias will become even more blatant.  I can't wait!

For my liberal/Democrat friends and acquaintances...  

I wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2014 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.  Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To my conservative/Republican friends and acquaintances...  

Happy New Year and may God bless you all.