A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security - The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. (READ MORE)
Prohibition vs. Regulation Debated As U.S. Bettors Use Foreign Sites - By many measures, Neteller PLC was a huge success. Founded in 1999, the financial services company signed up millions of customers and saw its market value soar to almost $2 billion. (READ MORE)
In Just Minutes, Mumbai Was Under Siege - MUMBAI, Nov. 30 -- It was just after dinner, about 9 p.m., when the fishermen noticed four strangers come ashore on an inflatable raft. Moments later, another four pulled up to the boat launch in a speedboat. Only two got out of the boat. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Star Parker: Formula for GOP recovery: traditional values PLUS limited government - Now that Democrats have won the White House and have widened their margin of control in Congress, does this signify that American voters have moved to the left? Many Republicans question this claim. And a new report from the Pew Research Center seems to verify that America is still a right of center as a country. But the picture gets murky when you look at the details. And this murkiness presents a considerable challenge for Republicans who are trying to figure out where to steer their party. According to the just published report, more Americans today call themselves conservative than liberal, and the relative percentages in each category has hardly changed since George W. Bush was elected to his first term in 2000. Thirty eight percent of Americans self-identify as conservative, 21 percent as liberal, and 36 percent as moderate. This compares to 36 percent, 18 percent and 38 percent, respectively, in 2000. (READ MORE)
Emmett Tyrrell: Public Nuisances - WASHINGTON -- There is a condign symmetry about this financial crisis. A government-induced crisis is getting a government-insured resolution. The excesses of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are being mopped up by huge federal spending, made all the more massive by all the reckless endeavors of the politicians, the regulators and the financiers who frivoled with the intemperance of Freddie and Fannie. Now President-elect Barack Obama has perhaps faced up to the mess. He has not shied away from bringing former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers onto his economic team as head of his National Economic Council. Summers was a proper critic of Freddie and Fannie, having noted this past summer that "the illusion that the companies were doing virtuous work made it impossible to build a political case for serious regulation." This virtuous work was extending mortgages to those who could not afford those mortgages. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: Letter to a Handcuffed Feminist - Dear Handcuffed feminist: I want to thank you, first of all, for taking the time to attend my recent speech at Duquesne University. I don’t know how you managed to handcuff yourself, gag yourself, and then place a sign across your lap saying, “Kick the feminist.” I’m just glad no one in the audience accepted your invitation. I was concerned that you would jump up and interrupt me at some point during the speech. I was surprised that you did not. I was even more surprised that, at the end of the speech, someone came up and handed me a note saying “This is from the handcuffed chick. She wanted me to give it to you.” Your note, indicating that you had to leave the speech early because you were working the late shift, was pleasant in tone. I hope you weren’t offended that I did not use the e-mail address you supplied in order to e-mail you the next day per your request. (READ MORE)
Burt Prelutsky: Recent Musings - I admit I am not an economist. The truth is, I have trouble balancing my checkbook. Having said that, I can’t figure out how we can compete in a global economy. When China uses slave labor and other countries pay their workers a few dollars a day, it seems to me that we’re trying to fight with one arm tied behind us and a small dog biting our ankles. I know even less about cars than I do about economics, so I have no way of knowing if American cars are as good as those produced by the Germans and the Japanese. But I did hear recently that when pensions and benefits are factored in, a UAW union member makes about $78-an-hour. That works out to about $156,000-a-year. I’m not suggesting that an American factory worker isn’t worth it, but how can the company paying out that kind of money possibly sell a car at a competitive price? I don’t have answers, you understand, I’m just asking questions. Another question that comes to mind relates to George W. Bush. (READ MORE)
Dan Kennedy: Media Fail to Connect Dots on Bailout - Have you noticed that the media largely fail to connect the dots between related events? In all the reporting on the auto industry’s ills, little is said about the government as the chief cause. Politicians holler at auto executives in hearings and beat their chests in interviews, but never mention Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) mileage standards. Just like unaffordable union contracts (mentioned incredibly often by the same politicians who now wish to give the unions expanded), unchecked power wreaks the same destruction in other industries via the Employee Free Choice Act (which steals away free choice). In all their reporting of how the sub-prime mortgage meltdown purportedly triggered the financial industry collapse, they uttered hardly a word about Barney Frank and Gang’s push for financial institutions to provide mortgages to the woefully unqualified. (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders: When the Warmest in History Isn't - Here's another reason why people don't trust newspapers. When science reporters write about, say, hormone therapy or drinking red wine, they report on studies that find that hormones or red wine can be good for you, as well as studies that suggest otherwise. Any science involving complex organisms is rarely black and white. When it comes to global warming, newspapers play up stories that reinforce the prevalent the-sky-is-falling belief that global warming is human-caused and catastrophic. But if a study or scientist does not portend the end of the world as we know it, it rarely rates as news. In that spirit, many papers (including The Chronicle) have reported on a UC San Diego science historian who reviewed 928 abstracts of peer-reviewed articles on global warming published between 1993 and 2003, and concluded, "Remarkably, none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position." (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Terrorists Continue Using Our Own Technology Against Us - Reports indicate that the Islamic terrorists in the deadly Mumbai attacks used Google Earth to help plan and carry out the attacks. Other reports indicate that the terrorists communicated with Blackberries to coordinate the attacks. Meanwhile, the pirates operating off Somalia may have a few technological tricks up their sleeves, courtesy of technology required for shipping. It is quite possible that the pirates are using mapping technology, coupled with GPS locators to strike out deep in the Indian Ocean to hit at shipping. The mapping technology provides highly accurate locations of ships, including their bearings and speed, enabling terrorists or pirates (really one in the same), to close and hijack the ships and their cargos. Dave Hardy has more details about how the pirates appear to be operating (HT: Instapundit). (READ MORE)
Donald Douglas: Obama's New Global Architecture? - Fareed Zakaria, as has been noted of late, is perhaps the world's best known foreign policy intellectual and pundit. Zakaria, expanding on his recent theory of America's relative decline ("the rise of the rest"), has a new cover story at Newsweek: "Wanted: A New Grand Strategy." After reading through this I was left pretty much blank ... where is this "new grand strategy" that Americans should expect? Actually, Zakaria's piece is mostly boiled over multilateral institutionalism (which at the U.N. is a poorly disguised shield for anti-Semitic demonizations of Israel). Also included is a few obligatory reminders of the coming multipolar world - and Americas' need to accommodate itself to "the new realities" - topped off with a paean to aligning American "interests and ideals with those of most of the world's major powers" The payoff, really, in Zakaria's essay, is the conclusion, where he just comes out as a top Obama cultist of Washington's foreign policy elite: (READ MORE)
American Ranger: My Last Few Days in Uniform - When I was a young soldier in Officer Candidate School back in 1969, the oldest man in our class was a guy named Callahan. The “old” man was a thirty-two-year-old sergeant first class, but he was also a combat veteran with multiple awards for valor, several Purple Hearts and a variety of other awards. Naturally, since he was the oldest officer candidate in the class, all of us youngsters gave Callahan a mighty hard time. He was a tough guy and he would stare us down and tell us, “Don’t worry, kids; you’ll be where I am some day.” Well, I not only reached his age, but I have almost doubled it. Since I will turn sixty in February, my somewhat disjointed, off-and-on Army “career” is finally coming to an end. There is a bittersweet quality about it, but I know it’s almost time to take the uniform off for the last time. (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Strange normalcy - The Terror Wonk knows that a journalist’s first problem in writing about anything that happens involving terror on the Indian subcontinent is to answer the question “whodunnit”? Finding the answer is rarely easy. In the Mumbai attacks “most of the speculation has focused on Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), although their spokesperson and the spokesperson of their political wing … have both denied their organization’s involvement.” Indeed, the Indians are pointing at LeT also, despite their avowal of innocence. “A top Indian police officer said Sunday he believed the attackers were from Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help fight India in the disputed Kashmir region.” But Pakistan has denied any connection with LeT and no less than “Pakistan’s president said the terrorists who attacked India’s financial capital had no links to any government and pledged Monday to work for good relations between the two neighbors.” (READ MORE)
Big Dog: The International Court Of Environmental Nannyism - A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change. Telegraph UK Stephen Hockman wants to have a court similar to the International Court of Justice but he wants this court to be the International Court of the Environment. The court would be responsible for forcing countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The court would also fine countries or companies around the world for failing to protect the environment and endangered species. The last thing we need is an Environmental Court of Nannyism. We do not need to give away our rights to outside agencies. This country has laws and law enforcement agencies to deal with companies that violate the law with regard to the environment. We need to focus on real violators and stop creating rules and expectations that are nearly impossible to meet, have little or no benefit, and drive costs way up. (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo @ Blackfive: The torture of things that aren't torture - Strap in for a good old-fashioned scrap as the folks who get weak in the knees at the thought of KSM catching a little nasal-surfing are out in force and we have the ever popular anonymous book to contend with. “Matthew Alexander led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006. He is the author of ‘How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq.’ He is writing under a pseudonym for security reasons.” His team got the tip that nailed Zarqawi so he obviously deserves our praise. The problem is that he seems to think quite an awful lot about himself and his techniques. His game may have worked and it may even be the interrogation equivalent of sliced bread, but that does not mean it should be the only game in town. (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard: Change You Can - Er - Believe In? - Well, Obama’s supporters on the left are having to deal with the fact that Obama’s administration is looking an awful lot like the Clinton administration. Which is amusing. What is somewhat less amusing is the fact that there appear to be at least two former Clintonistas - now Obamanistas - who are slightly less than in touch with reality. “When he was the White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, Mr Podesta led a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents. In a press conference, still available to watch on the YouTube website, Mr Podesta said: ‘It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.’ Gov Richardson, a former presidential candidate and fellow UFO aficionado, has written a forward to a book on the so-called Roswell Incident in New Mexico, where campaigners believe an alien spacecraft crash landed near the town of Roswell in 1947 and that the corpses of humanoid aliens have been kept hidden under lock and key by the government.” (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Why Not Just Cut Taxes? - President Elect Obama has decided that the $175 billion "economic stimulus" he suggested during the campaign may not be enough to get the economy rolling again. So now, he's discussing a plan somewhere between $500 and $700 billion dollars. (GPO linked XL spread sheet. Cell BI) To put this in perspective, that's between 40 and 60 percent of all personal income tax revenue estimated to be collected for FY 2008. If you do the low end of it, $500 billion, that would be every bit of tax income paid by the bottom 95% of tax payers; folks with an income under $153,000 in 2006. (Tax Foundation Table). This begs the question, why not just eliminate the income tax on the lower 95% of the population for the next year or so? That seems to be the simple solution to getting that money out there. But there is are political reasons it won't be done. (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: NY Times Scurrying To Give Obama Victory Credit For Their Shared Defeat In Iraq - Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have famously done everything in their power to try to lose the Iraqi War while President Bush is in office, but now that everyone with any understanding of the conflict knows that the war is effectively won, Democrats are trying to steal credit for the victory they fought so hard against: “In the last year, though, the U.S. troop surge and the backlash from moderate Iraqi Sunnis against Al Qaeda and Iraqi Shiites against pro-Iranian extremists have brought a new measure of stability to Iraq. There is now, for the first time, a chance — still only a chance — that a reasonably stable democratizing government, though no doubt corrupt in places, can take root in the Iraqi political space. That is the Iraq that Obama is inheriting. It is an Iraq where we have to begin drawing down our troops — because the occupation has gone on too long and because we have now committed to do so by treaty — but it is also an Iraq that has the potential to eventually tilt the Arab-Muslim world in a different direction.” (READ MORE)
Nathan Hodge: U.S.-Iraq Security Pact 'Throws Contractors under the Bus' - Iraq's parliament on Thursday signed off on a Status of Forces Agreement that paves the way for withdrawal of U.S. forces within three years. The pact -- which has been in negotiation for nearly a year -- provides legal cover to U.S. troops stationed in the country after a U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. But here's the interesting part: the agreement also makes thousands of U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law. According to the final version of the text, Iraq will have the "primary right to exercise jurisdiction over United States contractors" and their employees. So much for the "get out of jail free card" for contractors. Doug Brooks, the front man for the private security industry, is not happy. "This agreement throws the DoD [Department of Defense] contractors under the bus,'' he told Bloomberg. (READ MORE)
Euphoric Reality: My Predictions for the Obama “Presidency” - Now that America has shown us all that affirmative action even works in politics, I’ve compiled a list of things that you can probably expect to happen. These predictions are 80% gleaned from information I have access to, and 15% gut instinct based on many years of research, historical study, and being glued to current affairs. The other 5% is just anger at my countrymen’s stupidity–I admit it. Websites and mass emails offering “free grants,” courtesy of the government and “Obama’s wealth redistribution.” Actually, this one’s a freebie, because I have an email with a date and timestamp of literally 7 minutes after Obama was declared the winner, offering exactly that. Israel will understand this election was the end of any type of assistance, military or otherwise, from the U.S., and will stop holding back their defense at the request of the American administration. Look for a first strike on Iran soon, as well as increased activity by the Israeli military in general. (READ MORE)
Bill Whittle: AND YET AGAIN, WITH FEELING - There is no better land to live for. Tuesday night of last week, I got a call from a good friend of mine. I just wasn’t in the mood to take it, you know? You’ve been there. Anyway, he didn’t leave a message. The next day got away from me, but the day after that I called his cell on the way to work just to catch up. His wife answered the phone. And then I found out that my good friend Richard had died in his sleep the day before. Just like that. Gone. He left a wife, a five year old daughter, and a son who’s not yet one. So this is my Thanksgiving message. It’s not dreary or sad at all – on the contrary. You see, my friend Richard worked for Boeing. He was a defense contractor, and, like so many of his fellow employees, he was a true-blue patriot who loved his country and spent his life making sure that she did not come to harm. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Oathed - The L.A. Times editorial board weighs the oath of office: “I, Barack Hussein Obama…” vs. “I, Barack Hussein Obama…” But I spot an even bigger name controversy. An editorial about whether a president should use his middle name when taking the oath of office shows how slow the news gets around the holiday. It also shows the media’s double standards on all things Obama. On the one hand, using his middle name in the campaign was a bad thing. Wrote the Times: “John McCain, to his credit, denounced a radio host in Ohio who warmed up a Republican rally by using all three of Obama’s names.” On the other hand there’s a not-that-there’s-anything-wrong-with-that attitude toward his using it. Obama should “make clear that an American with an Islamic faith — or an Islamic name — is not a second-class citizen. When the new president takes the oath, he should say, loudly and proudly: (READ MORE)
Yankeemom: NO! - Meredith, Being the mother and mother-in-law of Soldiers, I cannot bring myself to link to your article. For one thing, the title “Broken Soldier” is an insult to the outstanding men and women you are targeting here. They are not “broken”. They may have lost a part of their bodies but they are from from “broken”. I visit our wounded warriors at Walter Reed quite often and have seen them have some hard days dealing with their new reality, but I’ll tell you their spirit is whole, if not stronger. Secondly, the fact that you quote the New York Times tells me that you are not necessarily interested in the truth. The NYT is notorious among Military families for reporting what they want to report - not necessarily what is actually going on and mostly to make our Military look deranged, murderous and out of control or just plain mindless victims. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, some have problems but they are few and far between, just like in any other society. (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Peggy Noonan: The media wants to make Palin the face of the GOP - It’s true, isn’t it? Palinmania’s always had a perverse “strange bedfellows” dynamic insofar as the base is convinced she’s the savior of conservatism while the left’s convinced she’s the ruin of it. Hence their mutual interest in raising her profile. (For a stark illustration of the point, hold your nose and watch the “Thank You” parody at HuffPo’s humor site.) It’s no mystery which camp Noonan’s in; what is a mystery is the extent to which each side’s simply reacting and overreacting to the other, goading each other into ratcheting up the praise and vilification in an endless backlash cycle. Douthat names that as a key omission from my post about the difference between Palin and Huck, in fact: While Huckabee’s always been chummy with the national media, notwithstanding the occasional Rolling Stone piece calling him a lunatic, she’s been derided since day one. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Monsters of State - That may sound like a football team, but it may better describe a State Department headed by Hillary Clinton with Samantha Power working as a liaison to Barack Obama. According to reports, Obama will announce just that combination today, putting together his chief opponent over the last two years with an adviser who famously described her as a “monster”. But which of the two present the bigger danger? “Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who was forced to resign from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign last spring after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ‘a monster,’ is now advising the president-elect on transition matters relating to the State Department — which Clinton is slated to head. Power is listed on Obama’s transition Web site as part of the team reviewing national security agencies. Her duties, according to the site, will be to ‘ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in.’” (READ MORE)
Jihad Watch: CAIR's banquet, website, donations: all illegal! - Honest Ibe or Outlaw Ibe? Why? Because CAIR doesn't exist. More on this story, and more hot water for the unindicted co-conspirators who continue to enjoy access to and influence over willfully blind media ops and public officials. "Updated with Letter to the IRS: CAIR in violation of IRS 501c3 statute," from SANE, November 30: “One of the important discoveries emanating from the lawsuit by former CAIR clients against CAIR for fraud and racketeering is the fact that the law firm prosecuting this lawsuit (Law Offices of David Yerushalmi) discovered that CAIR's corporate charter in the District of Columbia had been revoked as of September 8, 2008. That means pursuant to DC law that the only thing CAIR can do is engage in those necessary acts to dissolve the corporation and to distribute its assets (and to defend itself in litigation for fraud and racketeering). But it also means per the IRS code, that CAIR is no longer a valid 501c3 tax exempt organization because it is no longer a valid organization (see here).” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Bush Legacy - No, not the Obama administration. Good one, though. It’s turning out to be an early legacy bonus. This is about Bush himself, and how he hopes history will view him. As a liberator of millions who never sold out his principles for politics. AFP: “George W. Bush hopes history will see him as a president who liberated millions of Iraqis and Afghans, who worked towards peace and who never sold his soul for political ends. 'I’d like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace,' Bush said in excerpts of a recent interview released by the White House Friday.” Sounds about right. Even as Obama moves today to adopt the legacy of Bush’s foreign policy, his challenge is going to be not undoing the good Bush has done in the most troubled parts of the world. He’s already behind the curve on that political-soul thing … unless, charitably, you want to consider that Obama may be buying back his soul with a political mortgage. (READ MORE)
neo-neocon: The Mumbai policemen who refused to shoot - Photographer Sebastian D’Souza, who was able to take a photo of one of the armed terrorists in the train station in Mumbai, also described the events he witnessed there. One puzzling—not to mention profoundly troubling—aspect of his report was the following [emphasis mine]: “But what angered Mr D’Souza almost as much [as the terrorists’ rampage] were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. ‘There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything,’ he said. ‘At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, “Shoot them, they’re sitting ducks!” but they just didn’t shoot back.’ …The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit…Mr D’Souza added: ‘I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera.’” (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: “He believed in our effort over there in Iraq. It wasn’t just a job. It wasn’t just a benefit.” - As Thanksgiving weekend draws to an end, please say a prayer for the family of Master Sgt. Anthony Davis and find a way to show lasting gratitude to him — and all those who have sacrificed for our freedom. Davis was killed while delivering humanitarian supplies in Biaj, Iraq. He had served in the Army for 26 years. He loved his job and he believed in his mission. If this doesn’t put life in perspective for you, I don’t know what will. Via the Baltimore Sun: “An Army master sergeant who grew up in Baltimore and graduated from St. Frances Academy was killed Tuesday while distributing food on a humanitarian mission in Biaj, Iraq, the Department of Defense said. Master Sgt. Anthony Davis, 43, had served in the Army for 26 years and was planning to retire when his tour ended, said his brothers and sisters, who gathered yesterday in Baltimore’s Harwood neighborhood to remember the man who loved the Army so much they called him ‘G.I. Joe.’” (READ MORE)
Political Pistachio: When a Recession is not a Recession, but merely the possible beginnings of one - Last Spring I optimistically believed that, due to a few positive construction industry signs, the housing market would possibly rebound from its downward spiral. A short burst of activity, spurned on by the industry builders intentions to close their books on projects by the end of the year encouraged a slight, but short, increase in the sales of new homes in some areas around the country. The quick rise of hope, however, was short lived, and immediately afterward the numbers dropped lower than they had been in the months previously. I never believed the short, but sweet, activity in construction and the real estate market would eventually become a new boom, or that the housing part of the overall economic picture would ever be what it was during the previous housing boom that came crashing down a few years ago. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Are We There Yet? - I guess I've seen enough of exploiting racism. I don't think it's a tactic America needs to engage in even if it benefits us. We're better than that. When I look at decades of intentional government programs aimed at eradicating poverty and fixing racism and I see 70% illegitimacy rates for black children that didn't exist before such programs began, I wonder what the justification for these programs can possibly be? When I look at 40 years of education programs aimed at "fixing" uneven black literacy and educational outcomes and see that these outcomes persist, I have to ask myself, "Is government intervention the solution?" Or is it the problem? And when 90% of blacks continue to vote for these programs I have to wonder why they aren't asking these questions too? I have to wonder why they aren't looking at the data and at their own history, at a time when they were far more oppressed and yet their children learned to read and write in schools which weren't federally funded... (READ MORE)
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred: Language Lessons From Mumbai - “What we have here, is a failure to communicate”. The events in Mumbai and the response (or mostly. marked lack of response) from most of the Islamic world, has exposed a long evident truth- western values and the values of free nations are far different than the values of most of the Islamic world and the values of tyrannical regimes. It becomes more difficult to maintain the charade that they are really ‘just like us.’ We want to take a look at linguistics and how language plays a role in how we define the world around us. This is a deadly serious topic. How and why we perceive the threats around us the way we do, determines how we respond to those threats. To do that, there are a few words you need to know and understand. Simply put, linguistics is defined as the study of language. Semantics is the study of language meaning and sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to its sociocultural context. (READ MORE)
Kim du Toit: “And so, it has come to this.” - Those were the words with which Johnny Carson started to wrap up his last Tonight Show, and they work for me, too. As a writer, it should be easy for me to find the words, fitting words which suit the situation, but I have to tell you, after six years and countless thousands of words, it’s still not easy. What gives me the greatest joy of all, in all this, is that my beloved wife Connie will no longer have to keep this bucket of bits and bytes running, and can spend more time doing the things she loves than putting up with the thankless role of Tech Support. People often say that “without so-and-so, none of this would have been possible” and their words ring hollow; well, in my case, that’s literally true. Without her, this magnificent website would have been a series of text pieces on BlogSpot or whatever, and to her go all the plaudits for what this site ever was. (READ MORE)
J. D. Pendry: Tell me again about that National Security Force…. - What do you think about the Russian analyst who predicted the demise and breakup of the United States? I have news for him. The breakup of the United States was completed the day that being a Hyphenated-American became more important than being just an American. I needed to clear that thought from my mind before moving on. I recently scanned an article in a paper produced by a professional military association. It talked about the President-elect and what the military and veterans should expect from him. What the article amounted to was a regurgitation of talking points provided to them by a political campaign. I was rather disappointed. One political statement made by President-elect Obama, or campaign promise, whichever way you choose to characterize it, concerns me a great deal. It should concern everyone. (READ MORE)
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