It's a Beautiful Thing...Hindsight

Dear America,

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Matthew 7:3-5

we are really good at judging what other people do or say, no?

perhaps because we get a kick out of it, we take dominion over another's actions or words, and in some twisted way it makes us feel better, smarter, we just point the finger and click...especially these days, when our responses can almost be instantaneously binged across the globe.  take that.

While the ability to ban together -- in protest on city streets....or on-line, taking the term pile on to a whole 'nother level...and even divided by common interests: political party, political correctness, political propaganda -- allows great judgmental power to ebb and flow freely.

All this blog does, really, is judge one thing or another -- so believe me when I say, I get it.  And more than that, this girl believes wholeheartedly, that if we are respectful of all sides and all opinions and all beliefs and all possible answers to the questions we face, there is a place for it.  Matter of fact, it MUST be done as our civic duty;  it  MUST be said, as to live in integrity makes it so; it MUST be judged, in order for us to discern and learn of our mistakes and our successes.  And besides, to do so otherwise, we become deaf, dumb and blind tools of a vicious trade and wind up under the unwieldy, unyielding, unrelenting oppression of a tyrannical big government.

That being said, hindsight is something to behold, eh?

In hindsight, we can say things like, should've have taken that turn... 

In hindsight, we can say things like, probably shouldn't have eaten the whole thing...

In hindsight, we can say things like, should have listened to my mother...

Hindsight can be rough territory, for it casts a spotlight on that which, more often than not, on the things we wudda, shudda cudda done instead, and didn't.

And let the judgment begin, right?

Like this whole business with the Russian hacking and the Clinton loss and the Trump win.

In hindsight -- and under the glaring light of no evidence today -- there was no direct influence to the outcome of the 2016 presidential election by the Russians.  The Left is only holding onto this lie, because, in hindsight, they cannot believe Hillary lost to the Donald, and at the same time, wish to de-legitimize his presidency.

What they should be considering -- in hindsight -- is that their candidate sucked.  

She lied under oath, she manipulated the truth in Benghazi, she lied about her private server, she lied about sending TOP SECRET confidential correspondence on her personal email, she manipulated the truth about the Clinton Foundation and funds received from various countries of oh, how shall we say, with rather sordid diplomatic histories with the United States...does this girl really need to go on?  Because I can.  My judgment on this runs wide and deep; not to be confused with deep state territory, but it could be, if you give me enough time.

Oh sure, the Democrats sure picked a good one, indeed and thank you.

And no, this doesn't mean that Republicans are off the hindsight hook, not on your life....

In both hindsight and under the old G thing microscope, the GOP has a House full of issues, and a Senate nearly not worth a darn, let alone the debt they make.  Just how on earth could this congressional moment be left in the hands of such weenies?   Which is funny,  for a number of reasons, not precluding the obvious (teehee); but breaking out the root of the word, from my handy dandy American Heritage Dictionary:  ween means: "To think it possible."  And yet, a weeny, is defined as tiny, a wee bit as often said here...

Oh the irony.

The case in point is what is happening, an exhausting seven years later, in the Obamacare Repeal.

In hindsight, looking simply at what we pay these yahoos for -- how come the GOP is not ready and waiting to pounce on this opportunity, like yesterday, like January 22nd?  This girl stands with every gripe-y whine-y grimace of disgust on the American people's faces (at least, the half that voted Trump into office for this reason and many more...)

In hindsight, this reaction should not be something that catches any of you in Congress by surprise, right?   You guys knew this is what we wanted; you guys knew we wouldn't except anything less, and yet you play this pathetic game with the other side as if we owe them some kind of reciprocal courtesy?   Can I just remind you all how we felt when they stuffed this tongue depressing legislation down our throats without one republican vote?????????

It should be all for one and one for all right now -- speaking to you, John McCain...speaking to you Lindsey Graham...speaking to you Paul Ryan...speaking to you Mitch McConnell....speaking to you Mike Lee....speaking to you Rand Paul....and if I had the time and space, this girl would just be rattling everybody's name off, one after the other....

THIS IS THE TIME not to judge one another, but to judge and criticize the legislation. 

In the first stroke, simply take it away (Obamacare).  And in the second stroke, replace it with the things that work -- the things of agreement and  consensus -- for these are the things that should stay (and, you would think, seven years of hindsight should tells us everything we need to know!) and then promptly, burn the memory of Obamacare from your minds.  And then!  Bring confidence back to the American people by communicating directly, and clearly, and to the point of drowning out the other side -- how the stages of returning this abomination of legislation back to zero and starting over, was the only way to begin, even if we must go through a little rough territory to see it through.  

Hindsight tells us so; for this is about saving lives, an industry, and quite possibly, our future.

Remind the American people -- over and over and over again -- that it was the Left, Obama and the democrats, who created this mess; remind them --- over and over and over again -- that there was not one republican in agreement with this legislation.  And ask the American people, if perhaps hindsight offers us an opportunity to glean just why that was.  It was because the legislation (not the actual people... the countrymen and women and think tanks and community organizers...who wrote it)  -- sucked.

This is about restoring the health care industry once again, and allowing a free enterprising, competitive marketplace that manages one-sixth of the American economy to judge what works and what doesn't, what survives and what dies.    The government does not belong in the middle of it.

------------------------------------------------

And speaking of meddling in the middle of things....somebody please tell me why one man, an activist judge, can directly decide what is best for homeland security over and above another man, and the president, the one who actually has the authority and LAW on his side?  Obama did just this and nobody said a thing.

From The National Review: 

Section 212(f) of the INA is arguably the broadest and best known of these authorities. It provides, in relevant part, that “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”

In other words, this is why we are a REPUBLIC and not a democracy; we follow Rule of Law for a reason  (for from law, we retain true order of things), otherwise we become manipulated and violated by the folly of mankind.  We can't run a country on the whims of political correctness or personal bias, and this decision made in Hawaii (hilarious) is proof.  It could almost  be thrown into the category of another absurdity:  as in, California deciding the popular vote, and thereby deciding who should be the next president...hilariously good idea....okay....God Bless the Electoral college, but I digress.

So in hindsight today, what do I know...I'm just a girl, her name is Gretchen and this is just a day in the life of an American girl.   But this I do know:  the day after nearly anything and everything offers us the possibility to learn something.  Hindsight graces us with greater understanding in order to move forward with authority and confidence in the future, and sheds a glimmer of hope of not making the same mistakes again.

This would be good, right?  Never mind that much of history just might repeat itself,  think about it: not making the same mistakes again --  how wonderful a world would that be?

True wisdom asks each and every one of us to learn from our mistakes, make course corrections, master our responses, and aim for being a people that become more respectful of others in our daily dialogue, NOT LESS (which very much includes how our mainstream media respects the office of the president); grow more intelligent from the availability of volumes of experiences from those who have preceded us, and offer great incite of the reasons civilizations rise and fall, NOT LESS; and last, but certainly not least, devote more time and honor in communion with the Almighty,  Creator of all things seen and unseen, and not to mention, the final Judge and jury of all things large and small, and with the utmost confidence can add, NOT LESS.

This is what I know to be true, in hindsight.  Take it or leave it.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

Move over 60 Minutes, hindsight is 20/20.  And they're right (usually).

Isn't it so easy to sound off on things after the fact; isn't it brilliant to arrive at a whole slew of  new found conclusions and alternative solutions, after something's been tried and discovered untrue.

What becomes really spectacular is finding out, after everything's been said and done, that when everything said and done was proposed, long before the done was ever said, that an agreement of how to tell the story had long been reached and agreed upon...even if it appears to be a mistake, an injustice, to the level of looking like a myriad of transgressions and aggressions against a sovereign nation and "ally."

Oh I am a rambling girl today.  Just what has got me babbling, you ask?

Pakistan...while the Bushmeister rears his beautiful mind once again.


Read this.
To coin a poetic phrase from the A-Team, "don't you love it when a plan comes together."

Say what? you didn't want to go the extra mile...here...let me pick out a couple of key phrases of foresight:

"The deal was struck between the military leader General Pervez Musharraf and President George Bush after Bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001, according to serving and retired Pakistani and US officials.

Under its terms, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaida No3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion.

'There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him,' said a former senior US official with knowledge of counterterrorism operations. 'The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn't stop us.'"

somehow, somebody, namely a George W., decidedly recognized a possible betrayal in the making; while in an area of the world where, let's face it, takes great consideration of how egos work large and small -- 'saving face' becomes a key negotiating tool.  How Pakistan "spontaneously" responded in "anger" all of a sudden becomes just another part of the plan.  Brilliant, isn't it?


Now, I doubt we would hear a word of this from the Obama Administration -- who, with special clearances and being privy to classified information -- knew of this all along.  Leave it to the guardian.uk to get the word out.

Here's another piece of foresight, now part of the hindsight, looking back:

"The agreement is consistent with Pakistan's unspoken policy towards CIA drone strikes in the tribal belt, which was revealed by the WikiLeaks US embassy cables last November. In August 2008, Gilani reportedly told a US official: 'I don't care if they do it, as long as they get the right people. We'll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it.'"

that is wicked good. again, kudos to Declan Walsh for the guardian.co.uk.

Now there is someone who has been consistent with his stance on the war on terror for years; he's not just jumping on the newly organized mission to get out of the occupancy of the middle east as fast as possible -- he was already there, holding tight to our founder's libertarianism in us.  The guy who never requires a hindsight before making a sound, righteous, conscientious, decision respective of all sides, deeply keen on the original intent of this country, not to mention our golden rule, is Dr. Ron Paul.

He has an opinion column in today's Daily Bell, which as usual, is ringing off the hook.

"Hopefully bin Laden does not get the last laugh. He claimed the 9/11 attacks were designed to get the US to spread its military dangerously and excessively throughout the Middle East, bankrupting us through excessive military spending as he did the Soviets, and to cause political dissension within the United States. Some 70 percent of Americans now believe we should leave Afghanistan yet both parties seem determined to stay. The best thing we could do right now is prove bin Laden a false prophet by coming home and ending this madness on a high note."

Sure, hindsight plays a part in all this now; but to be fair, Dr. Paul has always held this position, and has never wavered. Why?  Because his mind  (as hokey as the man may sound) is, and was, wrapped around the principle of the argument --  not the politics --  the whole entire time.  Principle.  Truth.  Honor.  Integrity.  Six out of ten guts concur, these are the things that will always win in the end.

The thing is, everyone has their own gut feeling.  In a world where nothing stays the same, we make decisions based on the information we know in the moment along side the intuition we carry deep inside us.  Each and every one of us has a gut feeling, for better or worse; sometimes we listen to it, sometimes we don't -- while sometimes, even with solid, proven information right in front of us, even with the best intentions, our gut might just get it wrong. And honestly, it's probably only a 50-50 chance by today's standards.

Bush got the WMD's wrong -- or did he?  Tunnels go every which way but loose under Iraq...there was time to get rid of every shred of evidence.  Not to mention, Bush was operating at a time immediately following a catastrophic attack on America (it's real easy to pick on him for that even years later); and even though I am not "his gut"  -- I dare say, all of his actions came from a place which needed to respond to every bad guy known to man.  Sure, Poland might be used it, but for America, we were vulnerable to outside forces on American soil for only the second time in our history!  The real truth in this matter we may never come to know (and who are we kidding, what your gut says about it is the only thing that matters, am I right? our minds have been made up...no budging or turning back now...let's roll)

But let's focus on the reality Dr. Paul is illuminating here...the very thought that bin Laden led us right smack into the desert: "[Osama] claimed the 9/11 attacks were designed to get the US to spread its military dangerously and excessively throughout the Middle East, bankrupting us through excessive military spending as he did the Soviets, and to cause political dissension within the United States."  check and check mate.

For myself, I know in my heart, I evolve has a human being -- I learn new things, I discover new perspectives, I lean one way or another based on my experiences (i.e. usually thru my failures), my education, my beliefs, my faith, my respect of good over evil -- and even though I may believe I know what's right from wrong in my heart, my perspective may be very different from another.  Even still, generally speaking, my mistakes in life have been when I didn't listen to my gut, or turned off my gut altogether. While, in fair play, decisions I make today are far more evolved from when I was twelve...at least, we can only hope.

Somewhere, deep inside each and every one of us, is a knowledge superior to none.

America has made mistakes drifting from our first principles, our first intentions made into a reality and eloquently captured in our prized first documents --  that, of course, being our Declaration of Independence...our Federalist Papers...our Bill of Rights...our Constitution!

The more we have rationalized a continuation of poor choices, veering from the path to set us free, the more we have suffered.  We have essentially turned off our gut decades ago, and have simply grown accustomed to reinventing excuses, creating even greater challenges to overcome, in hopes of hiding the very truth that what we've really done is messed up. Big time.

We have messed up.  And it's nobody else' fault but our own.  Today, all things considered, hindsight is a bitch and a half (but hey, I could be wrong).

make it a good day, G

thing is...it is real easy being an armchair quarterback... especially if we add hindsight, and with or without foresight; if we had not captured and killed bin Laden, would the prevailing winds to question the mission in Afghanistan, vacate the troops, really be happening? Does the absence of one madman change everything?  Did we have this wrong all along?  What would TJ do in this instance? Who's gut do we go with?