Open Letter to Barack Obama

Open Letter to Barack Obama

Al Ritter 

Mr. President, I don’t care about time line of what happened inside Osama bin Laden’s complex, who went in first or on what floor our brave members of Seal Team Six attacked first. What really bothers me the most is how you continually claim your participation as “I did this, or I did that.” Let’s face it you gave the final go ahead and then you watched on TV like everyone else in the situation room. It wasn’t your bullet that ended his life it was a bullet from one of OUR brave SEALS.

Can’t we just agree to describe the actions that night as……”the SEALS won and we watched?”

What really gets my goat is the fact that you have used the attack that night as a reason to re-elect you? You have turned this into a political football that you somehow feel the need to keep spiking week after week! How about rather than claiming bin Laden’s death as “I got him” and to start claiming that “we got him,” it sure sounds less conceited.

Once Osama was killed, you just couldn't keep the news to yourself, you just HAD to report it! 90% of the intel the Seals retrieved became "old intel" the minute you reported it. You had over 200 intel experts working on the huge cache of information you got from Osama's compound, but the were hog tied for time because you were like a little child with a secret! Once it was announced that all the intel grabbed from the compound was now in YOUR grubby little hands, the terrorists abandoned every target, every safe house, every objective because you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut!

On another political football claim, “you gave women free contraceptive” and at the same time have alienated millions of Catholics in the process. Once again you assumed something that was not necessarily so. You were convinced that most Catholic women would support you over their religion. You assumed that because many Catholic women use contraceptives this legislation was a “slam dunk” for your side because your healthcare would pay for it. What you failed to take into account was that those women made that decision on their own and they needed no help from you either morally or financially. The result of your decision was to reduce freedom of religion to a mere footnote of history rather than the milestone of the constitution.

Your most recent attack on Catholics has not gone unnoticed. Your intentional intimidation by the State Department when you declared the Vatican as a potential money laundering group is beyond comprehension. This is a clear signal that you want the Catholics to stop fighting you and fall into line or else!

In your words, “I want to make it perfectly clear.” I am not a Catholic but I see your attack as transparent and self-serving. I am reminded of a quote from WWII that goes like this:

“In Germany they came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade
unionists, and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time
no one was left to speak up.

Reverend Martin Niemoller….1945

November is coming fast Mr. President and we remember the atrocities of WWII and the  egomaniac that prematurely ended so many innocent lives based on one group being “better” than another. We saw how quickly Adolph Hitler rose to power under the guise of class warfare.

You have once again assumed that we are stupid, somehow we won’t liken your behavior to a tyrant of the past……you have forgotten the axiom, “Fool me once shame on me.” We have been fooled once in 2008……There will be NO shame on us in November.

Contraceptive Mandate

Contraceptive Mandate
Al Ritter

There are so many facets to this issue that it begs further scrutiny. First you have an Administration that thought they would extend to female citizens the economic advantage of not having to pay for contraceptives out of their pocket. The administration knew that the largest portion of Catholic women defy the church and use contraceptives anyway, so this could be a feather in their hat if they supplied them with something for “free.”

Unfortunately nothing in this world is “free,” someone always has to bear the cost, especially when it involves a product produced by a private company. This is no debate on this, it is a fact of life. Let’s look at an actuarial chart of all insurance companies. All insurance companies supply a service based on mandates by governments whether they be federal or state. The rates are based on what services the government deems necessary. When you add a mandate or a service, that service is figured into the entire pool which the annual rate is determined from. More services or mandates equal higher cost. This is not up for debate either it is a fact of life.

Mandates are voted on by congress, not demanded by Presidents. There is no legal precedence for President Obama to keep demanding services and decisions based on his social guilt. This is a country of laws, and Obama constantly denies and ignores them based on some sort of idea of social injustice.

It is my opinion that this is one major issue that the Obama Administration has misjudged. He is now being attacked by both sides on his waffling of the issue. Sebelius has already told Obama that the issuance of contraceptives will be a major cost to health insurance, but Obama has ignored that advice.

Now let’s consider the religious side of it for a moment. Religious leaders from all religions and backgrounds testified on Capitol Hill yesterday to put their support behind the Catholic Church, that this mandate violates the first amendment, whether they believe the same way about contraceptives or not.

Not only is this a first amendment violation, it violates the Supreme Court ruling of the separation of church and state. You may view this from many different angles, but the underlying argument from the left is that a “woman has a right to choose.” That is all well and good and the law is on their side with that for now.

This mandate is strictly about “who pays” and the answer is we all do through increased health care costs at a time when they are increasing at a rate faster than our salaries.