Mitt Romney

Perhaps the election of Obama to be our President was the peoples choice, but who hasn't wondered what if?

What if instead of John McCain the Repooicans had nominated a  Harvard Law School and Business school graduate, who graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class...who took over leading the effort to make the 2002 Winter Olympics go form "event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks.." to become "..the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million..."

And later became Governor of Massachusetts..

Who dropped out of his partys nomination race, as he said,"...  by staying in the race I would only forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I'd be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Senator Barack Obama to win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding surrender to terror."

 He went on to say "I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century - still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world...

"The strength of the nation has been challenged before: at its birth, during the civil war, in the peril of world wars. It is challenged again today. In our past Americans have risen to the occasion by confronting the challenge honestly, and by laying their sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. We must do so again."

What if ?

"In 1976, we needed a Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan and today, we may have needed a Barack Obama in order to get Mitt Romney. "

Preparing for Tsunami

The devastation in Chile looks a lot like the devastation I lived thru during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Collpased freeways, fires, cracked streets...I feel their pain. Ours was a 6.9 while this Chile was 8.8, which is roughly 600 times the amount of energy we saw.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning — its highest alert — for Hawaii, where incoming waves could cause damage along the coastlines across the island chain. A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.

The first waves were expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST).

A lower-grade tsunami advisory was in effect for the coast of California, and an Alaskan coastal area from Kodiak to Attu islands. Authorities in Australia did not issue a warning, but asked residents to stay away from the coast.

The Ewa Beach, Hawaii-based center called for "urgent action to protect lives and property" in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations and territories subject to tsunami warnings.

"The main thing is we want everyone to take this event seriously," said Charles McCreery, director of the center.

According to the latest warning, my daughters' part of the coast (Santa Cruz) will be seeing this at about 1:30 p.m PST...expected to be about 2.6 feet higher surf...

PERSONS IN TSUNAMI ADVISORY AREAS SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE
WATER... OFF THE BEACH AND OUT OF HARBORS AND MARINAS.

TSUNAMI ADVISORIES MEAN THAT A TSUNAMI CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
STRONG CURRENTS OR WAVES DANGEROUS TO PERSONS IN OR VERY NEAR
WATER IS IMMINENT OF EXPECTED. SIGNIFICANT WIDESPREAD INUNDATION
IS NOT EXPECTED FOR AREAS IN AN ADVISORY. TSUNAMIS ARE A SERIES OF
WAVES POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SEVERAL HOURS AFTER INITIAL ARRIVAL
TIME. ESTIMATED TIMES OF INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL FOR SELECTED
SITES IN THE ADVISORY ARE PROVIDED BELOW.

LA JOLLA-CA      1202  PST FEB 27 
SANTA BARBARA-CA 1231  PST FEB 27 

SAN FRANCISCO-CA 1326  PST FEB 27 
CRESCENT CITY-CA 1346  PST FEB 27 
CHARLESTON-OR    1402  PST FEB 27  
SEASIDE-OR       1446  PST FEB 27  
NEAH BAY-WA      1507  PST FEB 27 
FOR ARRIVAL TIMES AT ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS SEE
WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV

Afghan flag raised over Marah

Afghan, US forces seize Marjah

The red, green and black flag was hoisted over Marjah by the Governor of Helmand province

Last Updated: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:14:00 Afghan, US forces seize Marjah

The Afghan flag has been raised in the town of Marjah, which is at the centre of a US-led offensive on a Taliban stronghold.
The commander of US Marines in southern Afghanistan, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson has called it a historic moment, stopping short of declaring victory. Afghani provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi says the civilian government has taken over responsibility.
Around 15,000 US, Afghan and NATO forces have been engaged in Operation Mushtarak for more than a week, in what has been billed the biggest military operation since the 2001 US-led invasion. The mission is to capture the Marjah and Nad Ali areas of Helmand from the Taliban and drug lords.

The flag raising comes as U.S., NATO and Afghan forces continue an offensive to take control of the lawless city.

The move is meant to signify the handover of control in the area from NATO to Afghan officials.

U.S. and NATO leaders view the transition as an important step, but say there's plenty of fighting ahead as troops work to completely drive Taliban militants from the area.

Why there is a movement called the TEA Party

I was driving home from work the other day, and listening to a radio talk show it occurred to me that the caller and the moderator missed the point entirely. Sure people are scared, and upset with run away spending, of our sour economy not putting people to work, etc. All valid points.

But to me, why I  went to the Capitol last year, is pretty simple. I am tired of the lying. I am tired of the elected failing to do what we elected them to do, govern. I am tired of being told what I want to hear, when I need to be told the truth, and not some partisan BS, the truth.

People got fed up with the democrats, and tossed em out in 94, and let the republicans have a shot at it. They failed, and were booted out, and we let the democrats play some more, and they are even worse than than before...and now we realize that the people that could do the job don't ever get the job because honest middle of the road people can't get elected...they don't have the political machine or money to do so. So we end up electing fools.

When I was younger, i would listen to politicians on TV and wonder how much of what they said was lies; today I wonder if anything they say is true. Ever hear the saying " You know a politician is lying if his lips are moving"?

My son in law asked me once if I thought things would get better; I said yes, but I really think its a qualified yes...I don't think this country is headed towards the kind of prosperity enjoyed after WWII by our parents ( and us as children)...but who knows?

"Your money is worthless here..."

I know reading bits and pieces of financial news is not what most people want to hear, especially in these times where the government, our government, routinely talks of spending trillions of dollars as if anyone I know could reasonably comprehend what a trillion is.

Recent financial news have focused on the cost of the government doing what ever the heck they are doing to health care, and  it usually is associated with the trillion word.

We all know or should by now that our national economy is (to me) based on promises and promissory notes, with our being the biggest debtor in the world…and the biggest holder of that debt was China...

Yeah, communist/socialist/ whatever hodgepodge government system they have owns T-bill, which our esteemed Treasury Secretary (sorry, cynicism here) last summer assured the Chinese were sound solid investments, and would they kindly buy more…

In December the Chinese spoke with their wallets,

“China sells $34.2bn of US treasury bonds”

“Analysts fear Beijing's move may suggest a loss of faith in American government's economic policy

Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters last year: "We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried."

America must sell an unprecedented volume of treasuries in the coming years to finance its record deficit, and pay the cost of bailing out Wall Street and kick-starting the economy with a $900bn stimulus package. Any evidence that foreign investors are beginning to doubt Obama's promises to bring the public finances under control will spread alarm in Washington.”

Today the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission  met, and the discussion was something most people are likely unaware of…

The discussion states “…a reasonable working assumption is that China owns close to $1 trillion of United States Treasury securities. That would be nearly half of the stock of Treasuries thought to be in the hands of “foreign official” owners...”

“If China were to end its intervention, the renminbi would appreciate substantially, likely in the region of 20 to 40 percent.  The primary effect would therefore be an effective depreciation of the American dollar against the Chinese renminbi…”

So our government would like the Chinese to allow their currency to appreciate, which simultaneously (since they own so much of our debt) would cause the dollar to depreciate “…in the neighborhood of 15-20%”

As a hedge on the balance of trade that might be good, but if Chinese goods suddenly jump in cost 20% because of our currency dropping, and at the same time their money goes up, what’s that do to the price of all that Chinese “stuff” we import?

I think there might be an unintended ripple effect here, which would in fact not help but hurt our economy.

“Any evidence that foreign investors are beginning to doubt Obama's promises to bring the public finances under control will spread alarm in Washington.”

Washington is undoubtedly the last place alarm will spread…it’s the source of this insanity

Weekends

Well, I usually write about politics and things, and that’s important; as citizens we need to stay engaged, especially when we think the land we live in is going off course.

With that in mind, sometimes its good to let your brain and emotions take a break. So honey and I went to the symphony last Saturday.

It was OK, actually more than OK….it was very good. Unfortunately I had spent Saturday doing chores and a couple of times started to semi-doze during the quiet passages in the music…

Hope the weekend was good for you as well.

Here is the pianist we saw, although this is not what he played, it gives an idea of how good he is..

 

Iran

Back in July 2009, this was the news:

"During a recent appearance on ABC's "This Week," Vice President Joe Biden seemed to say the administration wouldn't stand in the way of an Israeli attack.

"Look, Israel can determine for itself - it's a sovereign nation - what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," he said.
Two days later, President Obama told CNN. " What is also true is that it is the policy of the United States to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities in a peaceful way through diplomatic channels."

Today, February 19, 2010 the headline was this -

VIENNA — The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday said it was worried Iran may currently be working on making a nuclear warhead, suggesting for the first time that Tehran had either resumed such work or never stopped at the time U.S. intelligence thought it did. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency appeared to put the U.N. nuclear monitor on the side of Germany, France, Britain and Israel. These nations and other U.S. allies have disputed the conclusions of a U.S. intelligence assessment published three years ago that said Tehran appeared to have suspended such work in 2003. "

US intel thought the Iranians had ceased work .  In September 2009, US intel reports reported "... U.S. intelligence agencies have informed policymakers at the White House and other agencies that the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's "Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities" in November 2007. Public portions of that report stated that U.S. intelligence agencies had "high confidence" that, ...Iranian military ..."halted its nuclear weapons program."  This opinion changed in January 2010, when U.S. intelligence agencies now suspect that Iran never halted work on its nuclear arms program in 2003, as stated in a national intelligence estimate . " So the news today, if true, means that while we believed them to not be seeking a nuke, Iran was toiling away for the last SEVEN years to in fact build a nuke...and I don't mean a power plant, but a thermonuclear weapon. 

This conclusion is bolstered when one accounts for the statement by  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who ordered his country's atomic agency  to begin the production of higher enriched uranium. On state television, Ahmadinejad said: "God willing, 20% enrichment will start" to meet Iran's needs.

20% enrichment is not a power plant requirement, but is if you intend to weaponize. Iran already had achieved 4.5% enrichment, which conforms to the data from the nuclear power industry that "...the most prevalent power reactors in the world, uranium is enriched to 3 to 5%"

"To the mullahs, nukes are the way to ensure that no matter how badly they provoke us, we’ll never attack for fear of a nuclear exchange. And if you think it over carefully, for the Mullahs basic geopolitical strategy requires nuclear weapons – that they are insane and shouldn't’t do it doesn’t matter. You have to think of it from the lunatic’s point of view."

The problem is that now we’ve got a President who has already shown himself unwilling to offend our enemies. The plain fact of the matter is we need a President who can grimly look that fact in the face, and still do the right thing. Obama doesn’t impress me as a man who can do this.

And that means that Israel, if it wishes to survive, will have to strike…and by implication will bring us along as well (we're basically next door now in Iraq). If Israeli planes do penetrate Iraqi airspace, will U.S. military commanders order them to turn back?

Will American fighters be scrambled to intercept them? Will we shoot them down, or will we allow them to continue on to their Iranian targets?

The other interesting development is Iran showing off their new destroyer....possibly for Straits of Hormuz combat??? Commentary and discussion here is welcome..these are weird times for sure...

Battle for Marjah

While most people today are enjoying the holiday, even if they cant tell you who its for ( Its for Washington, established in 1880 by an act of Congress honoring Washington, and later in Uniform Holidays Bill of 1968 to establish on the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday celebration- Presidents Day was the name widely used from 1980's on at the urging of advertisers), I find myself wonder where a family member is that I have not heard from since New Years. He was assigned to Fort Bragg, and unlike his last assignment where his family went with him, this time he travelled alone. Based on his specialty in the Army, my honey (a Nam era vet) suspects he either went to Haiti on an assistance mission, or more likely given his last two assignments, he is in Afghanistan doing something there...we spoke during the holidays and he mentioned he had recently been to the Presidio of Monterey, where he "brushed up his arabic and another language"...all seems kind of cloak and dagger to me, but honey says its operational security(?)...

So today I wonder where he is and hope he and all with him are OK...then I read this pop up on the news feed..

"The main attack began before dawn Saturday when dozens of helicopters dropped hundreds of Marines and Afghan soldiers into the heart of the city. Ground troops began moving just before sunrise, using makeshift bridges to cross the irrigation canals ringing the town because the main bridge was so heavily mined.

Although there was only scattered resistance on the first day, Taliban fighters seem to have regrouped, using hit-and-run tactics to try to prevent the Americans and their Afghan allies from gaining full control of the area.

The Taliban snipers appeared highly skilled at concealing themselves.

"I haven't seen anything, not one person, not a muzzle flash," said Richard Knie, of Hudson, Iowa, a former Marine and retired police officer embedded with the Marines as a law enforcement professional. "And I've been looking a lot."

Troops complained that strict rules to protect civilians made it difficult to use enough firepower to stop the attacks.

"I understand the reason behind it, but it's so hard to fight a war like this," said Lance Corp. Travis Anderson, 20, from Altoona, Iowa. "They're using our rules of engagement against us," he said, adding that his platoon had repeatedly seen men dropping their guns into ditches before walking away to melt among civilians. "

Typical, our foe using our rules against us... today's latest video (Graphic language)

 

 

And more video (from CNN)

 

Say a prayer tonight...for them all

Corporal Mabry is a combat photographer with the 1st Battalion 6th Marines in Afghanistan...here is a breif video he made of what they are doing...as my honey says, Semper Fi Marines, go you devil dogs...

 

Michelle - Barack- The Axis of Hypocrisy

I read this story online, and really shook my head...really, she really said that??? What? She DID...!

See what you think...

At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security.
 
“A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.”

Ok, how many applicants to our voluntary military get bounced because they are over the weight limit??? "According to the latest Pentagon figures, a full 35 percent, or more than one-third, of the roughly 31.2 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues. And, said Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions, “the major component of this is obesity. We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it.”

Isn't this the same government that pushes fast food school lunches?,Isn't this the same government that under funds physical exercise programs, things we all grew up with?

So now Michelle wants us to all do as she says?? what the ???

 

I say keep it up! Keep talking to the nation like we're all a bunch of pitiful dolts that hang on your inspired words of leadership and wisdom.....

One termer, coming up!!!

Commentary -

Why if a company is too big to fail, is it forced to buy another company and become even more too big to fail…??? It makes no sense unless the objective is not to do what you are saying, saying the economy, as much as you are consolidating. And why consolidate the banks?  Why did the government do that, when it seems to clear be the opposite of what the government had done before, which was to break up companies because they were too big. Like back when the phone company was broken up, and forced to compete with others.

Why lower taxes would help this country:

John F Kennedy once said “

It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits… In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.”

Yet Obama does not heed these words, although it can be demonstrated that in every instance where taxes were lowered, the tax income to the government increased, as the economy accelerated…

I wish he would study up on what democrats did in office that were remembered as being good for the country…

Obama - Most Ineffective President Ever

I was going to blog about something relatively simple and benign, but then...

I am really tired of people labelling other people as inherently stupid, vapid, intellectually challenged, sexual deviants, or whatever because what they say, online or elsewhere, is counter to the current government.

I attended the Tea Party in Sacramento last April, and thereafter was labelled a hater, a racist, a dulltard (yes, here is the quote in part  "You are a f**king dulltard. You have not a clue ...) 

So much for civility in discussions. Sort of like MSNBC Oberman speaking about  Scott Brown:

 

See, if you are a not a raving fan of the president, or the new agenda, you automatically become a slovenly hater...well that's what my daddy would have said is a "crock of BS."

So let me make this real simple. I don't hate Obama. I do think he is ineffective as a leader; ineffective leading the Democratic Party, ineffective in managing the direction of any national debate, ineffective in representing the USA.

That's not just me mouthing off...its what others think as well....

"Despite his ability to deliver soaring rhetoric, President Barack Obama’s effectiveness to build bi-partisanship and rally citizens around his initiatives have fallen far short of expectations following his inauguration. Practically every initiative Obama has championed has fallen short of its stated goals or, in many cases, been diametrically opposed to the wishes of a majority of American people.

The number one issue on the minds of Americans over the past year, for example, has been the economy and unemployment. Obama’s solution to address this issue was a 787 billion dollar Stimulus Bill which has not only did not do what the president said it would do (keep unemployment under 8%), it’s actually made it worse as unemployment remains at over 10% since passage of the bill.

The number two issue on the minds of American is the ballooning national deficit. Here again, Obama’s initiatives have only made the problem worse as Obama champions deficit busting initiatives such as health care reform and pork-laden spending bills.

On the foreign policy front, not only has Obama been on a non-stop apology tour for every past American transgression, but Obama has infuriated a majority of Americans by passively allowing Attorney General Eric Holder to move forward with affording the perpetrators of 911 all the rights of a U.S. citizen by trying them in lower Manhattan."

It is time that Mr. Obama assume the role of President of the United States, and use the pulpit of his office to further the goals of his administration by speaking with a singular voice, unwavering in intensity to push legislation forward and cease his acquiescence of power to Congress. Having not done so for the first year of his administration has deeply damaged his ability to be seen as an effective leader...."

Well, OK then, lets see if he can muster up the courage to be that guy...I doubt it...

Why does President Obama want to hurt USA???

Well, the headline today was Obama saying not to spend your money in Vegas...and immediately catching it from BOTH Senators from Nevada. I personally don't care for Las Vegas, but my daughter loves going there, and I know lots of people do...and why not, there is lots to DO there, besides gambling...

Any way, so here is the note he sent to Harry "Soon to be Retired" Reid...what a bunch of trash...not one iota of truth comes from the oral orifice of the man..

He didn't mean don't spend college money, but its OK to vacation there In Las Vegas...what a crock..

I bet the spin machine went crazy realizing what he said and that he plans to visit there soon..

and to think people actually expected more from this smuck

We would have been better off with Hillary!

Sanity break

I came home from work to wait for hours during the "delivery window" for my new stove...I hate that they make these 4 hour appointments, like for cable, the telephone whatever...anyway, so to pass the time I thought I would watch some television..and tuned into one of the usual afternoon political talk shows. It doesn't matter which one anymore, they all seem the same, repeating the same themes over and over until i was so depressed. You know, the news about a 3.8 TRILLiON dollar budget, and how our future is sucky because of the escalation in national DEBT...

So I changed the channel to something and then turned it off.

I miss being a kid, not having to think about this stuff, about my kids and grand-kids future. So I started looking at youtubes and found this one...a reality break now and then is OK...