Articles are available for reprint as long as the author is acknowledged: Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D.

Friday, February 26, 2010

No Profiling is Poor Government

The number one function of federal government is to provide protection to its citizens. This is clearly spelled out in the preamble to our constitution.

The events of the past three administrations have shown a lack of resolve in defending the USA against terrorism. The Clinton administration had an inability to see and define the terrorist threat and treated it as separate criminal acts. There was the 1993 attack on the Twin Towers, the Mogadishu incident, the killing of 17 sailors on the USS Cole. There was the establishment of the Wall of Separation between the FBI and CIA preventing any sharing of intelligence information, which made it impossible to connect the dots to identify terrorists and to plan to counterattack them.

The 9/11 attacks on the US did consolidate our forces in a plan to actively thwart Al Qaida. Unfortunately throughout the Bush administration there were security leaks from the State Department, Department of Defense and the Justice Department, which hampered the war effort. There were no public announcements of tracing, firing and correcting the lack of loyalty of career bureaucrats.

In a year’s time the Obama administration has gone back to re-establishing the Clinton’s pre 9/11 approach of de-emphasizing the threat from terrorists. A terrorist act was sugarcoated to a ‘man-made disaster.‘ On December 20th, five days before the crotch-bomber incident, this administration sent five Gitmo terrorists back to Yemen knowing the recidivism rate is 20% or higher for terrorists from that country.

This is not a breakdown of the intelligence community; it is the failure of our leadership to give a consistent message. We are either fighting an enemy at war with us or we have foreign criminals coming to America to do suicidal acts for no specific purpose.

Behavioral profiling does work. Israel’s airline, EL AL, has not had a security breach since the 1960s. Our entire government has stubbornly prohibited profiling even with passengers at airports. Being aware and scrutinizing high-risk passengers is nothing more than self-preservation ,yet the administration ignores this common sense method to stop haters of America from entering our shores.

Homeland Security took the lead in wishing away the War on Terrorism and minimizing security. The Christmas Day Miracle revealed a surprising number of red flags that had to be disregarded by an incredible number of agents. The 23 year-old Nigerian, Yemen trained terrorist was placed on a “watch list” and was denied a visa from Great Britain. He boarded a flight in Nigeria, purchased a one-way ticket with cash and had no passport or luggage. His own father, a highly respected banker, personally reported to the CIA on several occasions, his son’s radicalization and involvement with Al Qaida.

Janet Napolitano initially appeared on television and told America that this colossal security failure showed that our security system worked. The next day she completely changed her story. President Obama’s said 72 hours after this event that it was an isolated terrorist. The next day he related that there is evidence 25 other terrorists were waiting in line for their chance. After this information was revealed this incident became a systemic failure of security.

The real cancer is much more deeply imbedded in our federal government than one or two officials. Their response shows incompetency or an attempted cover-up. The systematic nature of their approval of this downgrading of our safeguards as soon as this administration came into power is much more problematic.

The story keeps on changing according to the facts that can no longer be hidden. We can no longer accept an internal review or blue ribbon commission cover-up with no specific actions taken. We must demand to be given a full explanation of who authorized these changes in policy and the methods that will be used to hold them accountable.

There has been incident after incident that indicates there are people in our government who are more dedicated to protecting our enemies than our citizens. Charging these heinous acts as criminal acts allows the enemy combatants to ‘lawyer up’ and prevent any real interrogation. We are being stopped from reaping important intelligence information.

Attorney General Eric Holder has to reverse his policy of closing Gitmo and treating enemy combatants as criminals with all the rights of American citizenship or be held accountable for its disastrous results. All parties that impede the investigation or fail to swear allegiance to the constitution should be sent packing.

It is becoming clear; the only way to make sense of these illogical and counter productive policies is that there are officials in important positions that have little interest in protecting our citizens. Before the advent of political correctness their behavior would be considered treasonous. This type of behavior can no longer be tolerated without accepting further serious attacks and horrific consequences to our economy and the morale of our citizens.

It is time to clean house or face greater suffering.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: drmaglio.com.

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Lack of Punishment Results in Dishonor

America is becoming a weak nation. There is no longer agreement on what is right or wrong or decent. This confusion has lowered our ability to establish and maintain high standards. People are not sure what is expected of them anymore.

We see the effects on the disintegration of our moral values in all aspects of our lives. Our society is producing weak and overindulgent parents. Our schools are inflating grades and do not give consequences for inappropriate behavior. Corporations are providing poor customer service and producing inferior products. There is no institution in the United States that is sending a strong and clear message of what it takes to become excellent in any role.

Our politicians are not being held accountable for the most flagrant incompetence and disgraceful behavior imaginable. There are few honorable people willing to risk their positions to lead us back to being an exceptional nation. Citizens are beside themselves attempting to comprehend what is happening to our country.

The answer is simple. Who rocks the cradle, controls the nation. When a nation does not emphatically teach moral values to the children everyone does his 'own thing.' Without a moral compass, any deviant actions can be and is rationalized. Pathetically we are perfecting the art of not taking responsibility at an early age, which continues throughout adulthood.

When a young child hurts another child the major consequence today is being made to say 'I'm sorry.' Everything is forgiven and forgotten. There is no sufficient punishment to give enough pain to learn a moral lesson. The actual lesson learned is that 'after I get caught as long as I act contrite, I can do anything I want.'

The opposite is true of a strong parental figure that clearly establishes parameters through appropriate consequences. Children respond positively to strong parents and listen to them. Employees listen to the man in charge who sets the rules and enforces them and follows them himself. They respond by meeting the boss's expectations or face his wrath. The employee looks over his shoulder to see if he is satisfying the boss. In the same manner the child looks to his parents to see if he is meeting their expectations.

The person in charge confirms he has the authority and power every time he metes out consequences by promotions or salary increases or by demoting or firing an employee. External discipline breeds internal discipline for people of any age. This is the reason all healthy people want to know where they stand. Children want discipline because then they know their parents care. Dedicated workers feel more appreciated and safer in an environment where they know the expectations and standards on which they will be judged. Authority figures are slacking in this area.

Political leaders are poor role models when they are not telling the truth or enforcing the same rules for everyone. They say one thing and do the opposite. Lying is so prevalent that we joke, "what can we expect, they're politicians?"

These mixed messages are allowed because we, the citizens are not holding them responsible by firing them through the ballot box. Like parents who refuse to punish their children, politicians believe they are entitled to be revered. Citizens like children are becoming cynical and disrespectful of authority figures.

President Obama's press conference about the security lapses of the underwear bomber was a virtuoso performance of double talk. According to him it was a systemic problem but he did not define the specifics, take responsibility for the fiasco or say how he would fix it. This meant no one including himself would be punished for not performing his duty.

The inability to say what he means and mean what he says creates a muddled message. After the investigation of this incident the administration made no operational changes and did not fire anyone. The tone set was business as usual: sloppy and corrupt. This means everyone is secure in his position and no one is in charge.

Under pressure it is easy to place the blame anywhere rather than making the right decision. There is a big difference between throwing an innocent person under the bus and exonerating a guilty one. An honorable civil servant of the president, if wrong, should not wait for a presidential decision. He would admit his mistake and resign to save the president from any embarrassment. No one has yet done so.

Our lack of respecting right and wrong has weakened the quality of our performance and ability to know the honorable thing to do. 'Falling on one's sword' in this society is incomprehensible for there is nothing more important than protecting oneself.

Dishonor becomes commonplace in a culture that promotes arrogance and getting ahead by any means. Tragically this weakens the entire society.

Our duty as citizens is voting. When we do not study and know a representative's record we are being as delinquent as an appeasing parent or boss. It is time for honorable people to fulfill their responsibility to support the conscientious servant or kick the bums out. Honor will be served.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: drmaglio.com.

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The Global Warming Swindle has Imploded

Global warming has moved from a previously held theory now to a scientific fact Osama Bin Laden has proclaimed that the USA with other industrial nations are the cause of climate change. He advised to boycott American goods and stop using the US dollar.

All the “scientific experts” including Bin Laden have formed a consensus with an airtight argument proving global warming. The consensus is called climate change. When it is unusually warm or even frigidly cold, like this winter, the “experts” proclaim it is indisputable proof of global warming and they are not joking.

The only thing American skeptics must do is ignore the “climategate,” Himalayagate, Amazongate debacles and the fact that climate has been changing long before man walked the earth to be converted to true believers. This will be tricky since 57% of the American public- and more every day- believes there is no solid evidence for global warming.

Climategate, the suppressing and manipulation of data was disclosed in thousands of emails going back 13 years. Phil Jones, the head of the British Research Center, had to step down after it was found he used “tricks” to “hide” the decline in recent global temperatures. The correspondence also demonstrated how he and others kept critical articles out of peer review journals, an essential element of the scientific process. This maneuver demonstrated how they kept any dissenters out of the scientific discourse.

On February 14, 2010, the same Phil Jones produced a new chapter of climategate. He said he could not produce data for the hockey stick graph that was the pivotal evidence of global warming. He related that the world was possibly warmer in medieval times than now and said that there has not been statistically significant warming since 1995. Amazingly he said that global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Global Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report has been factually discredited by the Himalayan and Amazon debacles. Indian glacier expert, Syed Hasnain, said he was misquoted about the Himalayan ice cap melting by 2035. He reluctantly admitted it was included in the IPCC report to put pressure on world leaders.

“Amazongate” relied on a World Wildlife Fund, an environmental advocacy group, report rather than on a scientific study. The IPCC used this political environmental group to make the assertion that global warming could reduce 40% of the rainforest. This was an anecdotal observation not in any way scientific.

Dr. Rajendra Pichauri, the chairman of the IPCC is not the world’s top climate scientist, he is not even a scientist. He is a railroad engineer and has a PhD. in economics. It was discovered he knew about the misinformation of “Amazongate” two months before the Copenhagen conference and chose to withhold it until after the conference. When you follow the money it is obvious he would profit immensely from the global warming hoax.

These three strikes and you’re out should end the fiasco of global warming. Add the additional fourth, fifth and sixth strikes and it becomes a joke. These consensus people were yelling about global cooling in 1974 in Time magazine, India outright quit the Copenhagen conference and China does not accept any of the conference regulations that would limit their economic growth.

Yet our executive branch does not listen or hear the people’s voice concerning the overwhelming evidence smacking them in the face of the fraud of global warming. They cannot make a rational decision; instead, these progressive politicians with all the damning revelations will stay this ridiculous course. The motivation of these self-serving people is redistributing money nationally and internationally as well as political power and socialism through any means possible.

The Cap and Trade bill is supposed to be dead. Our executive branch is making an end run on science and the American people. On December 9, 2009, before the Copenhagen conference, the EPA concluded greenhouse gasses are endangering American’s health and must be regulated. This was a signal to the leaders of the climate change industry that we were going to be serious about Cap and Trade.

The New York Times has reported on January 5, 2010, that the CIA is now to use spy satellites and other sensors to document global warming instead of doing their job of protecting our country through gaining intelligence. They are diverting valuable resources by this ridiculous new executive order. On January 29. 2010, Mary Schapiro, head of the SEC, made a veiled threat to intimidate public companies to join the Cap and Tax bandwagon. She issued “guidance” to them about reporting to the SEC about their operation’s risk to global warming.

Now on February 9, 2010 the administration has established the Climate Service under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It will be promoting politically motivated predictions for global warming.

These executive decisions makes our government actively involved in the global warming deception.

The global warming fiasco has awakened the American people. Science practiced with objectivity and integrity has advanced mankind. Politicians disguised as authentic scientists are charlatans who want to subjugate the people of the world for their own personal gain.

If meteorological predictions of local daily weather and hurricanes are any indication of the accuracy of the field of science, why would anybody buy into this inconvenient politics except to honor Nobel Peace Prize “scientist,” Al Gore and IPCC “scientist.” Rajendra Pichauri. There is no definitive proof of global warming or CO2 emissions being a cause. But we now know there are many political factors driving this charade. The jig is up.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: drmaglio.com.

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BIG GOVERNMENT SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

“You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.” Andrean Rogers

The vigor of the middle class is derived from its own free and independent initiative. People who are secure that they can keep their profits and property are incentivized to work. Those who have the majority of their profits and property siphoned off through ever increasing taxes and regulations lose the motivation to struggle to better themselves financially. They either never form their dreams or give them up.

The growth of big government in any nation is a natural enemy of the independent middle class. Government devours it through taxes. The middle class is like the canary in the mine, it is the first to realize the impact of taxes and regulations on its livelihood and well being.

Government does not produce any wealth. Wealth is generated by business. The growth in power of central government has to be financed by the private sector. The redistribution of the assets of the haves to the have-nots with a large slice going to growing and greasing the bureaucracy is a predictable destructive process.

For government’s growth to occur it is easier to start at the top and work down in a progressive tax system. By scapegoating the wealthy class as selfish and greedy it is easy to convince others to confiscate a larger and larger percentage of the wealthy class’s property over time. As the government appetite continues to grow it drops down the social ladder to increase the taxes of the rest.

At the same time one class is pitted against another, corporate welfare is used to solidify economic power of a too big to fail international corporation. The corporate world’s privileged incentives are directed towards carefully selected companies. The money and power flows both ways enhancing the pockets of each.

Regulations and tax incentives are offered to some but not to others. Those selected corporate execs and elite politicians meet behind closed doors to hammer out corporate social welfare for the few willing to “pay to play.” The government sets the regulations dictating the way the industry will be run while the chosen companies are protected and granted federal dollars as others are frozen out. The revolving door connection with people in high office insures the money flow through government contracts and even bailouts with political kickbacks.

The financial success of these corporations is distributed to political cronies through lobbyists, donations to assist their elections and benefits to enhance their life styles. This money exchanges are hidden from the public through backroom deals. There is no transparency in the development of these relationships. Once the new political structure is solidified, the middle class will be absorbed.

Two classes will be left standing, the unconnected poor class and the politically connected wealthy and powerful one.

The reality of an all-powerful government is established with the crushing of hope and the spirit of the nation. Everyone except the politically connected enter the world of enslavement through dependency. A centralized government without constitutional restrictions and protection has the power to confiscate privately accumulated wealth which de-incentivizes entrepreneurs. Innovators will have no opportunity to compete with the corporate world and will turn into disillusioned, bitter people on the dole.

China, Russia and other centralized governments are choosing to decentralize economic power. They have swallowed the bitter pill increasing the freedom of people to engage in unrestricted free enterprise. These central control governments have reluctantly given up political power to stimulate the economy. The willingness to hand back certain liberties that will limit central power has brought and always will bring economic prosperity. Yet our own nation is taking the opposite path.

Now Americans understand that hope and change of any administration can be a nightmare instead of the traditional American dream. Americans are learning there is no free lunch without losing freedom and property. We are finally waking up.

Government handouts and over 40% of citizens not paying any federal income taxes has to be reversed for the sake of freedom, liberty and our children’s future.
Paraphrasing Alexis de Tocqueville, the less citizens are dependent on government, the healthier the nation.

Let us preserve the engine of our prosperity: the middle class, and stop bailing out international corporations that are too big to succeed. Removing government regulations, public and corporate welfare and redistributing wealth to special interests will ignite our nation’s middle class competitive juices.


Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.
Visit: www.drmaglio.com.