Time of War

Two recent incidents have caused me to fear that our commander in chief has forgotten our current international situation. Under President Obama's watch, two successful and effective officers have been removed from their assignments under interesting, if not downright stupid, conditions.

The most recent incident concerned Capt. Robert Gamberg, executive officer of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). For those of you who don't know, "executive officer" is the number two position on a ship, the second in command. It is an extremely important assignment aboard ship.

And what was the reason for Gamberg's dismissal? Cowardice in the face of the enemy? Mistreatment of his subordinates? No. He was removed from his post for an "inappropriate relationship with a woman soldier when both were married." Not a woman sailor under his command, mind you, but a woman in an entirely different branch of the service.

And what evidence was presented for this relationship? Emails. Not even steamy, passionate emails that used colorful euphemisms for certain body parts either, but ones that spoke of Gamberg's love for the soldier who, he stated, was an "amazing woman."

This comes on the heels of Capt. Owen Honors being removed as commanding officer of the USS Enterprise (CV-65). By all accounts, Honors was an extremely effective and well liked officer. But, while he was serving as the Enterprise's executive officer, he "co-produced and starred in shipboard video skits that used sometimes racy content to make messages - such as the importance of conserving water - resonate with the crew." In other words, he attempted to use occasionally spicy humor to help the people under his care learn some very important lessons.

Now, I'm not saying that either Gamberg or Honors used the best of judgment. Neither demonstrated good common sense and that is a commodity certainly called for in an effective executive or commanding officer. But folks, we are at war! To be more exact, we are involved in three deadly conflicts in the Middle East. The admiralty and their boss, the president, need to make their decisions based on military need, not on the whims of political correctness.

Obama already bears the burden of a president who has never spent a single day in the military. The public recognizes that he never faced the rigors of boot camp or the horrors of combat. He needs to recognize that deficiency himself and be especially certain that military decisions are made for military reasons and not for political ones.

Is The Stimulus Working?

Back when I was a reporter for a Kansas daily newspaper, I heard a word of advise that goes something like this: If you have both the liberals and conservatives mad at you, you're probably doing something right. So, maybe I'm about to do something right.

Figures have been released by the White House's Council of Economic Advisers concerning the Economic Impact of the American Recovery Act of 2009. It seems that, to date, the stimulus package has cost us $666.3 billion and has added or saved 2.4 million jobs. As Jeffery H. Anderson of The Weekly Standard has pointed out in a recent editorial, that means that each job cost taxpayers $278,000.

His primary inference is, of course, that liberals are incorrect in their belief that public money pumped into the economy will result in economic recovery and more jobs, or that, in the least, they are incorrect in the belief that these desired results can be accomplish in an economically feasible way. And, in these conclusions, Anderson is standing on pretty stable ground. Money poured into inefficient bank and factory bailouts, and into pork barrel public work projects is generally not money well spent.

However, his secondary inference, that the stimulus money should instead have gone into tax relief, is extremely shaky when one looks at the Seventh Quarterly Report itself. A quick study of the document reveals that a figure approaching half ($288.8 billion) of the stimulus did go to tax relief for individuals and businesses.

Of the remaining money, $126.1 billion went to individual states, $89.5 billion went to unemployed individuals and $161.9 billion went to public works.

If I may comment briefly on these last expenditures: the majority of the money going to the states was most likely spent on public education since this expense constitutes the majority of state budgets. In my own state of Kansas, public education, including public colleges and universities, consumes about 2/3 of the state budget. This was likely money well spent. No matter how you feel about public education, certainly you can agree that further cuts into already diminishing school budgets can do nothing but harm our children's education.

Likewise, the money going to unemployed individuals was needed. I do, however, strongly believe that any long term unemployment relief needs to be linked to training and, possibly at times, to relocation of individuals. A person laid off from an outdated profession and living in an economically depressed area needs to train for a new profession and move to a better area and, if necessary, public investment in these endeavors is, at times, certainly needed.

The $161.9 billion going to public works is a bit more controversial. I fear that way too much of it went to "bridge to nowhere" projects that did little more than soak up public funds and create temporary employment for a few lucky individuals. I understand that an obscenely small amount actually went to highway and bridge construction and repair, which was the great example put forth by politicians trying to sell the stimulus package to the taxpayers. I have long supported public works as long as they are for truly needed projects (such as highways) and go to areas of the country where they are actually needed. In other words, not just to areas represented by powerful senators and congressmen. I have also long supported one massive, and much needed, public work project: the construction of a coast-to-coast smart grid for our electrical needs. This project would save energy, create jobs and, if built correctly, create free or inexpensive internet access for nearly all Americans.