Hope And A New Beginning

President Obama has named former Senator George Mitchell and former U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as special envoys to the middle east and Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Both men are serious at that level and have vast experience and knowledge to implement the Presidents foreign policy toward those area's. 

 

The middle east and especially the Israeli and Palestine problem will be Mr. Mitchell's responsibility after 8 years of neglect.  Mr. Mitchell will engage the area and will be a priority for the Obama administration.  I will be surprised if Mr. Mitchell does not bring any thing new to move the peace process along.  His past record of success tells me a few surprises may be in store for both Israel and Palestine and that is a good thing.

 

Mr. Holbrooke's responsibility will be Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Theses two countries are now a serious problem and the status quo policy has to change.  Mr. Holbrook knows the area well and also its leaders.  He is a proven leader in bringing people together and finding common ground.

 

The appointment of Mr. Mitchell and Holbrooke is the first step in addressing a situation that has become worse and has gone on too many years.  The problems could blow up at any time and drag the U.S. into a situation that would not be in Americas best interest.

 

Hope is finally in the air in U.S. diplomacy. 

Wisdom, Courage, Character and Direction

Those are the qualities President Obama needs to display as our nations leader for the next four years.  The President's team, especially National Security, Economics, Defense, State, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Budget needs to follow his lead.

 

Our military role in Iraq and the enormous cost to America has to come to an end.  New Plans for the war in Afghanistan have to be faced with wisdom and courage.  We can not and should not start a large military build up in that country with U.S. troops.  We already invaded that country 7 years ago to find Bin Laden and destroy the Taliban and accomplished neither.  There is no question that we did not have enough troops but is that the answer 7 years later?  A new strategy has to be adopted and implemented that deals with reality.

 

Never in our history has a President committed so many American troops and money as Mr. Bush did to fight an enemy that has no government or country.  Republicans in congress and the neocon journalists are already attacking President Obama's order to shut down Guantanamo prison with their scare tactics. Wisdom, courage and character will be needed to move forward and change direction.

 

President Obama has to have the courage to stick to his concerns about balancing the federal budget with sound economic policies, creating jobs and a fiscal policy that is based on sound principals.  Never mind the double talk from the conservatives.  They have not balanced a federal budget in over 50 years, but the Democrats have and it was not only President Clinton.  I wonder if conservatives know who was the other democratic President to balance the federal budget?

 

Wisdom, courage, character and direction are the qualities that really will matter and make a difference for our country and its peoples future.

American Intelligence, Iran and The Middle East

The Times Picayune carried a story in its addition dated 1/17/09 by the Associated Press that reported Iran producing a nuclear weapon tops the list of concerns nagging at National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell as he prepares to leave office.  Mr. McConnell told reporters that U.S. intelligence do not have evidence to prove Iran has decided to build a nuclear warhead, but shares the alarm of outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden that possibility may come soon.

 

McConnell also reported Tehran is two to three years away from having a long range missile that could reach Europe.  He especially worried about the effect it would have in the middle east, either kicking off a regional arms race or a war.  I wonder how worried Europe is but Mr. McConnell did not say.

 

Does any one in American intelligence really know what is going on in that part of the world?  Israel already has approximately 50 nuclear warheads according to President Carter.  India and Pakistan has nuclear weapons and none of those 3 countries are party to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as the United States, Briton, France and Russia are yet Iran shares a border with Pakistan and are close enough to India and Israel to spit.

 

Its obvious that it is not Iran who has started a regional arms race.  It is arrogant to hear American intelligence talk about Iran building arms when those 3 countries have already done that and are still adding to their arsenal.  They have already started the arms race.

 

To my knowledge Iran has not invaded or attacked any other country in the last 50 years but Israel has invaded Palestine land on more that one occasion and has attacked Syria and Iraq.  Pakistan and India has attacked each other.  There is no question that several countries in the middle east would like to see Israel destroyed but Iran has never said they would be the one to do so and for good reason.  It was just recently reported that Israel asked Bush to supply them bunker busting bombs to attack Iran and wanted U.S. permission to over fly Iraq.  That proves how dangerous Israel's leaders are to world peace and especially in the middle east. 

 

Our President and world leaders need to step in before Israel, India and Pakistan set the world on fire.  If our intelligence people think other countries in the middle east are going to sit by and let Israel attack them and use its military power with impunity then the world is in real trouble.  Should Iran have nuclear weapons?  No they should not but neither should Israel, Pakistan or India.  Yet American Presidents and world leaders in the past had no ongoing plan to deal with that possibility and of course American intelligence was silent.

 

At least McConnell admitted American intelligence has no evidence Iran has decided to build a nuclear weapon.  The same was true with Iraq but that did not stop our President from invading and occupying that country.  By the way, speaking of Iraq.  Since we are being told Iraq is a sovereign country the leaders of Iraq should be mad as hell at Israel seeking permission from Bush to over fly their country to attack Iran and use their country as a pawn.  Serious thought ought to be given to that.  I wonder if Mr. Bush discussed that with Israel and reminded Israel leaders Iraq was a sovereign country.  Hopefully President elect Obama's newly appointed intelligence people will bring this situation under control.

Israel, Hamas And Gaza: A Human Tradegy

Once again Israel has invaded Palestinian territory in Gaza and are using their military power with impunity.  Hama's leaders authorize rocket attacks on Israel land that end up killing innocent men, women and children and then Israeli's leaders authorize attacks and invasion of Palestine land and kill innocent men, women and children.  Both sides leaders are a menace to peace in the middle east.  So far the Red Cross and other independent sources say over 800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and about half are innocent civilians.

 

Israel has the most powerful military in the middle east and also have WMD.  There will be no peace in the middle east until our President and world leaders say enough is enough and condemn the leaders of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinians for not doing enough to bring about a peaceful settlement of the issues.  World leaders should also condemn both sides for being so careless with killing innocent men, women and children.

 

There is no power in the middle east who can attack Israel with impunity because no one has the military to do so.  The balance of power in the middle east is Israel.  Their leaders act like Palestine was to blame for the holocaust. 

 

President elect Obama needs to change our relationship with Israel, Hamas and the Palestinians in order to get serious about bringing peace to the situation that has gone on for too long.  Remember President Bush and Israel's leaders said it was Yasser Arafat to blame for a lack of a peace agreement.  But Mr. Arafat has been dead for 4 years.  World leaders need to stop this blame game in the middle east and do something to change the status quo.  World leaders also have to reject the notion leaders can kill innocent men, women and children in the name of retaliation. 

Economic Facts By Numbers

The Labor Department's report released on January 9, 2008 is another sad reminder that the economy is still suffering with no end in sight.  The unemployment rate in December jumped to 7.2%, up from 6.8% in November, the highest in 16 years.  The economy lost 524,000 jobs in December and employers are also cutting workers hours and forcing some into part time work.  The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest on record since 1964.

 

For all of 2008 the economy lost 2.6 million jobs, the most since 1945 and job losses occurred in every month in 2008.  The recession is in its second year and is the longest in 25 years.  During George Bush's 8 years in office only 3 million new jobs were created.  That's an average of 1.5 million jobs per term.  His father's administration created 2.5 million new jobs in his only term in office. 

 

When it comes to a sustained economy and job creation the numbers prove "trickle down economics" that the last 3 republican Presidents embraced has been a failure.  Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 served a total of 20 years that produced a total of 21.6 million new jobs.  By contrast, President Clinton in only 8 years produced a total of 22.7 million new jobs.  President Clinton had a true economic plan to sustain the economy, job creation and balance the budget.  His administration accomplished all that with out one republican vote.

 

Make no mistake the lack of a true economic and fiscal policy and the massive debt created by those 3 republican Presidents is the number one reason the economy is where it is today.  The facts tell the story and Mr. Bush's failure to properly use the record surpluses that he inherited from the Clinton administration was a tragic mistake by a President who governed by ideology.

A Time Warp Of Republican Conservatives

Republican neocons have already forgotten the American people spoke with their voice and vote when in November rejected conservatives in favor of Barack Obama.  Their Republican President is leaving office with 73% of the people rejecting the policies of Mr. Bush.

 

Now comes Republican Senator David Vitter in a report published by the New Orleans Times Picayune written by Jonathon Tilove of Washington bureau that Vitter has unleashed an onslaught of legislation filing 34 bills and resolutions on the first day the new 111th congress convened. 

 

Some of his filings are: Abortion, public prayer, stem cell research, a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag.  As usual these are the divisive issues that divide our country and is typical of Republicans trying to divide the people.  A few people burn the flag every few years in protest and for that Vitter thinks the constitution needs to be changed.  Our flag has stood the test of time for over 200 years but Vitter is once again showing how phony conservatives are.

 

The republicans in congress will continue to do their phony thing but can never change the fact that the democrats are the only party who have a record of balancing the federal budget, paying down debt, creating a sound economy and sustained job creation, low unemployment and real tax cuts for the middle class.

 

The American people showed their wisdom when they voted for Obama in November and sent a loud voice they want change.  Senator Vitter's legislation and resolutions represents not only the status quo but a lack of character and wisdom in falling to recognize the real problems the country faces.

President Elect Obama's Choices For Intelligence

Leon Panetta, former member of Congress, White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton and U.S. Army veteran has been chosen by Obama as the next Director of CIA.  Retired Adm. Dennis Blair has been chosen to be the next Director of Intelligence.  These two men are not a product of the intelligence community and that is good.  They do have great management skills and that is what our intelligence services need at the present time.

 

The CIA came into being during President Truman's administration and was prior known as the OSS.  The CIA was an intelligence gathering agency with no operational duties under Truman.  Eisenhower and other Presidents that followed let CIA get into operations and that is when the intelligence community got out of control.

 

Over the years congress has had to investigate their wrong doings and found CIA to be involved in illegal activities and out of control.  Iraq's so called WMD and the Iran Contra affair should still be fresh in the peoples mind.  The director of CIA during the Warren Commission investigation failed to turn over to that committee documents that were important to their investigation.

 

Mr. Panetta and Mr. Blair will have an opportunity to manage American intelligence and make sure the gathering of intelligence is in line with the President's foreign policy and the standards that make America and its people strong.  Panetta and Blair need to make sure intelligence is not manipulated to reach a predetermined outcome.

 

America should never again have a President and an intelligence community that manipulate intelligence to push a Presidents ideology that commits our men and women in uniform to any action that is unnecessary.  Congress should approve both nominations.

2009: In Hope Of A New Beginning

Every year America celebrates a new year with hope, joy and a desire that the new year will truly bring advancements for the common good and that the quality of life will be improved for all people everywhere.

 

Those above words were written on January 4, 2008 in an article titled 2008: Celebration Or Return To The Status Quo.  Our only celebration was the election of Barack Obama as our next President. The American people stepped up to the plate and voiced their independent thought and decided to vote for change.

 

Outside of the election most of 2008 was a return to the status quo under Mr. Bush and the year turned out to be a disaster for the people and our country.  That disaster is still playing out so there is no need to repeat it here.  America will have a new leader on January 20 and our hopes are high that a new direction will be charted for our country and its people.  The status quo has to be reversed with new idea's and direction.  Our fiscal and economic house has hit rock bottom because of the Bush administration policies and now our people have to realize President-elect Obama will not be able to turn things around over night.  He deserves our support and patience and at the same time we the people have to hold him to his promises of change for the better.

 

The people's support and patience is important because the news media, especially the neocon journalists on cable news will look for any thing negative to create a story that is not even there.  President-elect Obama has a great challenge ahead and America and its people will enter 2009 with the hope that our country will once again answer the call.