Obama now President elect

Barrack Obama is now the President elect of the United States.  Congratululations to him on his victory.  He got the votes, and he will be sworn in as our next Presient in January.

While I am not pleased with the outcome of the election, it is done and over.  Barring an unforeseen situation, he will become the next President.  It is now up to us, the voters, of all persuassions, to keep Obama and his cohorts in the Congress on track, and yes, in check. 

Obama and the Democrats have now been handed the keys to the Kingdom.  Now we shall see what they do over the next two years.  You see, two years is all they can count on, as the next Congressional elections will be in 2010.  Obama and the Democrats will have to work a lot of miracles over those two years, or face the wrath of an electorate that will turn their cyicism on them like the did the GOP in 2006. 

A person on a message board I regularly post on was worried that expectations may be too high for Obama and the Democrats, and she is an ardent Democrat.  Of course the Obama campaign was already laying the ground work for “reduced expectations” several weeks ago.  But a great mahy of Obama’s supporters have extremely high, and unreasonable, and unrealistic expectations of what will happen. 

Two years.  Everything will have to go perfectly for Obama and the Democrats over those two years if they hope to carry on beyond that.  The economy will not only have to rebound, but accelerate.  There can be no international crisis, especially not one of a violent nature.  Al-Qaeda will have to remain silent (web videos don’t count).  They will have to meet every voters wants and desires.  If they don’t, the electorate will turn on them.  They’ve done it before, they’ll do it again.  Americans are fickle, self indulgent people, who only care about “what have you done for me lately.”  With control of Congress, and the White House, the Democrats will have no one to blame if things don’t go as well as expectations.  It’s put up or shut up for them.

The word mandate is being bandied about in some quarters.  Sorry, but no, this is not the case.  The numbers don’t support that concept.  For that matter, very few Presidents have ever had a mandate, the last being Reagan in 1984 (and maybe Johnson in 64).  I have not yet poured over all the numbers as yet, mainly because they’re not all available as yet, but a mandate is not indictaed.  Too many close races, too many states were close (vote wise, not percentage wise) that a mandate cannot be concluded.

“Always in motion is the future.”  Yoda said that.  Even though it came form a muppet in a movie, it still is true.  We cannot control the future.  We can’t even predict it much (all you Edgar Cayce fans just go away now please).  Even so, I will get a smug smirk on my face when things don’t suddenly become all wine and roses (or is that Rojas?) next January.  The excuses as to why should be entertaining as well.

Another 9/11 Anniversary has come to pass

*Sigh*

Here we are again, now 7 years on.  The Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks is here, and we have forgotten already.  Oh, not all of us have forgotten, but that’s mainly those who had to deal dirctly with what happened that day.  The vast majority of Americans, and the world, have pushed those memories aside, they have fortgotten what it was like that day.

The fact of the matter is, you either remember or you don’t want to.  Most don’t want to.  It’s too painful, too inconvienient.  And we are worse off for that.  Set aside the politicians, the leaders, those who got the “face time” on TV.  Ignore the pundits and the talking heads on TV and radio.  They will dominate the airwaves, for what little coverage there will be today.  Instead, go to one of the lists of the dead from that day.  All those people who never held public office, or got a cushy job reading the news, or expounding on the days events. 

There were, and are, plenty of great stories from that day.  While most may not be “movie of the week” type stuff, it is none the less real actions by real people.  It’s simple stuff that goes unrecognized, unrewarded, and virtually unknown to the masses.  We over look them, in part because what they did, or do, is “expected” of them, or worse, because they’re not “politically correct.”

So we ignore what’s inconvienient to our world views.  We push aside anything that may interfere with an agenda.  We seek to minimalize loss to further an unrelated goal.  So we minimalize the rememberance of events.  We did with Pearl Harbor.  We’re doing it with 9-11. 

It’s yesterday’s news.  It’s “not relevant anymore.”  After all, it’s just another Thursday right?

RIP Ken Marino, Rescue 1 NYFD.  Father, husband, sports fan, and fellow Stratomatic player.

UN Liability in Bosnia

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,2145,12215_cid_3423266,00.html

Relatives of those killed at Srebrenica are attempting to sue the United Nations and the Dutch government over the massacre.  This is a civil case in addition to the various war crimes tribunals being held at the Hague.

I have two positions on this.  First off, I don’t think the Dutch government should be held liable, or culpable in this case.  The Dutch “Peace keepers,” were screwed before they got to Bosnia.  Their hands were tied long before they ever set foot on the gorund by UN restrictions.  Things like being unable to carry loaded weapons, or return hostile fire, or enforce UN mandates, or do anything other than give up when confronted by the Serbian partisans.  Those soldiers were put in an untenable position, charged with a task that they were in turn not allowed to actually do.

ould they have done something at that time?  Maybe, but it would ultimately have been futile, and would only have made them out to be “bad guys” for exacerbating the violence.  Besides that, they are good soldiers.  They followed the legal orders of their commanders, who were taking their orders from the duly authorized legal authority of the UN.  I cannot hold them accountable for what they did, as it was exactly what they were told to do, and was confirmed by their superiors in the UN “command.”  I have no doubts, from published accounts, that it galled them no end, and it still bothers them deeply today, a decade later.

The United Nations on the other hand, should be held liable, culpable, and accountable for what happened.  It was thier decisions which allowed this to happen.  the stated “rules of no-engagement,” the direct order to the Dutch soldiers to stand down and give in to the Serbs, the lack of any sort of enforcement capability, directly contributed, and allowed the events at Srebrenica to happen.  In effect, the UN polices regarding thier peace keepers, and the so called “safe zones,” aided and abeted the Serbian insurgents efforts. 

So here’s to hoping the Srebrenica relatives and survivors win their case.  While they may never collect anything from the UN, it will put on record what the UN did, and did not do in Bosnia.  It will enter a legal judgement against the UN for being the ineffectual hypocrites that they are. 

Around the World

Well, it looks like Zimbabwe is heading for another sham election process.  Not only have they denied several news outlets access (per CNN), but are already trying to intimidate the opposition.  The arrest (for unspecified charges), of the private contract pilot for the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai, is just the latest.  The army and police, personal thugs for Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF ruling party, have denied permits for opposition rallies, have violently moved against opposition meetings, and have openly threatened a coup if Mugabe loses.  As if the economic melt down precipitated by Mugabe hasn’t been bad enough.

NIcholas Sarkozy is just bouncing around politically.  Yes, he took a hit in some local elections recently.  But not a bad or irreperable hit.  But now his second wife is stirring up some controversy.  How some 15 year old nude photos of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are more important than the new French deployment plans for Afghanistan, or Sarkozy’s threatened boycott of the Beijing Olympics is beyond me.  Then again, in this day and age of tabloid press, and the more salacious the story the better, it really shouldn’t. 

Oh those fun and games with China.  We’ev got Tibet and the Olympics.  The leftists talk about our presence in Iraq as an “illegal occupation.”  If you want to see a real illegal occupation, one tacitly approved by the world, look at the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet.  For over 50 years, the PRC has attempted to subjugate the people of Tibet, taking over thier religion (imposing a pro-PRC Dalai-Lama), trying to eliminate their language, and generally trying to destroy their culture.  Despite several risings over the years, the Tibetan people have been up against a juggernaut, one that continuously has rolled over them.  This latest upsurge in dissent in Tibet is well timed for international coverage, but probably ultimately fruitless. 

Meanwhile, across the Taiwan Straights, an “oopsie” on the part of the US DOD has generated quite a bit more controversy.  Seems the DOD “accidentally” sent some missile parts to Taiwan (aka Republic of China, aka Nationalist China).  This would be in “violation” of some treaties, and certainly a tweak at the nose of the People’s Republic of China.  Arms sales to Taiwan are always sticky when it comes to the PRC.  A now 80 year old struggle is still a sore spot for the Communist Chinese, and US policy has been muddled as regards it (at best).  For some reason, I don;t think this was a “mistake,” except in that it became public.  All parts “mistakenly” shipped to Taiwan have been “recovered.”  Again, for some reason I doubt this, but then again, I have no problem with it. 

A US vessel fired on some small boats that ignored warnings while transiting the Suez Canal.  So what?  The security detail on the cargo vessel did exactly as they were supposed to.  After what has previously happened (USS Cole), such measures are necessary, more so to avoid a USS Cole type situation in a vital choke point such as the Suez.  The reports are contradictory, much like the incident with the Iranians in the Persian Gulf.  Neither US Navy, or Egyptian authorities had any indication of any casualties.  From the Navy and Egypt, all shots fired were warning shots, and all shots were accounted for, all hitting the water, not any boats or individuals.  But not to let an opportunity pass, some people jumed up with reports of deaths and severe inuries.  Have yet to see any offical word on this, or any reputable reports from outside sources confirming this.

A couple of interesting articles

Not much out there I could get jazzed about writing about.  Iranian elections?  Semi-fraudulent as was expected.  The “reform” candidates were limited as to where they could run, and did well in those areas.  But in areas where the establishment needed to secure victories, they banned the reformists from competing.  Any wonder the hard liners won?

Prosecutors are pursuing a new indictment against Barry Bonds.  As he doesn’t have a job at the moment, he’ll have plenty of time to deal with this.  On a semi-related note, it seems Brian McNamee, of Roger Clemens fame, was involved in a head on crash with a NYC Transit bus.  No charges or serious injuries have been reported. 

So, I went searching for something to read, and possibly pass along.  On CNN, I found a couple of articles of interest.

First is this article: HERE

It’s about an immigrant from Germany, who enlisted in the US Army, while still only holding a green card.  Guy finds out he can enlist in the US Military with only a green card “by accident,” and still having feelings unresolved from 9-11, joins up.  He ships off for Iraq, where he takes one on the chin, literally.  This guy shows more honest feelings for this country than many who were born and bred here.  Amazing really.  And check out some of the comments, they go off the wall.

The other one is HERE.  This one is obviously far more political than the first.  This one tries to tie in a lot of other issues, and puts a definite political spin on the story.  The best part of this, beyond LCP. Ramos-Villalta’s personal story, are the links and numbers for non-citizen’s serving in the military to get assistance in processing their paper work for getting their citizenship.

Non-citizens serving in the US Military is nothing new.  As Chris Rhatigan of US Citizenship and Immigration Services said, “We have had immigrant members of the military going back to the Revolutionary War.”  The US Military has had citizens, here legally, with green cards (or the equivalent for the time), serve proudly and with distinction.  Even as late as the Vietnam conflict, we had Canadians, Irish, British, Mexicans, Phillipinos, and others enlist and serve.

The expedited path to citizenship is the least that can be offered to these immigrant-soldiers (and Sailors and Marines).  Legal immigration is a boon to the country, and this is just one of many ways to achieve citizenship properly.

Catching up on McCain

Gosh.  Been a while since I put up a fan boy post about John McCain. 

Well, lost in all the hooplah over Eliot Spitzer, Mac held a fund raiser in NYC last week, right as the Spitzer story broke and came to a head.  Rough timing for Mac really.  Lost out on some free press.  He still managed to raise about $2million in the one day stop over.  Might have been more if he held the raiser on that Friday.  Still not bad all things considered.

The campaign released this video (I know it’s late!):

Journey to Freedom

There’s also this one:

Man in the Arena

News items:

Mac on the DC Gun Ban

Mac on Tibet

That’s it for now!

Have they no sense of honor? (Small Update)

I was reading through the various blogs I link to, when I found this on Noble Duty:

http://www.soldiersperspective.us/2008/02/26/no-love-for-the-new-york/trackback/

Not a single elected official from New York is going to attend the launching of this vessel?  Not one current or former official from the 9-11 days is going?  What are these people thinking?

Rudy has begged off.  Pataki said no.  Spitzer said no.  Joe Bruno and Shelly Silver passed.  What about Peter King?  Or Charlie Rangel?  No, and no.  Bloomberg?  A definite maybe.  Representatives from the NYPD, NYFD, and Port Authority will be there, but none of our elected officials.

This one bears a little digging to find out why none of these people will make the one day trip to Mississippi to christen the new vessel.  With 7 tons of steel recovered from Ground Zero at the WTC in it’s prow, one would think the USS New York would have more meaning than what the politicians are giving it. 

I’ll have to fire off a series of emails to as many as I can contact, and see what sort of responses I get, if any.

UPDATE:

One NY politician attended the event.  US Rep. Vito Fosella (R) attended and spoke.

I have yet to receive any responses from the emails I sent out.

Solidarity

I hadn’t planned on directly commenting on the terrorist arrests made in Europe yesterday.  I would have thought that it would get enough coverage, especially as the target of the plot was a cartoonist for a Danish paper.  Kurt Westergaard and his paper, Jyllands-Posten avoided being silenced violently by Islamic extremists due to the diligence of the Danish authorities.  The “crime” they have been sentenced to death for?  Running this cartoon:

Per a request from the Captain’s Quarter’s, I’m publishing this cartoon in solidarity not only with the Cap, but with our Danish friends.

Read the Captain’s take here:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/016965.php

Just Some Light Reading

With Mac looking to have a clean sweep of the Potomac (or “beltway”) Primaries (DC, VA, MD), might as well exercise your brain a bit with the gems…

James Kirchick on the Obama Doctrine (Hat tip to Beth at MVRWC)

IBD Editorial which also endorses John McCain

Mark Helprin in the Wall Street Journal

NY Post Editorial on Obama and Lincoln

Oliver North Endorses McCain on Real Politics

More Primaries and Fred Bows Out

The Republican primaries in Michigan and South Carolina are in the books, as is the Nevada Caucases.  While Michigan went with in expectations, and Nevada was a fore gone conclusion, South Carolina did give a surpise or two. Now it seems that South Carolina has proved to be the death knell of a candidate.

Fred Thompson, after his 3rd place finish in South Carolina, has decided to drop out of the race.  I truly believed that Fred had a shot at winning in the Palmetto State, but he failed to capitalize on his credentials and Southern residency.  He never managed to materialize the sort of energy he needed, and was available to him.  So Fred has bowed to the inevitable IMO, and has dropped out of the race to attend to a sick family member.  He’s issued no endorsement as yet, with some saying won’t endorse anyone.  I kind of doubt that, so expect Fred to make an endorsement some time just before February 5th.  Fred can still play king maker in this nomination cycle if he times it right.

Instead, John McCain, in a reversal from 2000, won the State over Mike Huckabee.  Mac, building off his win in New Hampshire, along with the lack of a campaign by Rudy Guiliani, and Huckabee still appearing to be a flash in the pan, carried the State that brought him such pain in 2000.  Credit should be given to Lindsey Graham and the SC campaign staff for this one.

A word on Mike Huckabee here.  He’s played his campaign fairly well so far.  But he might need to rethink his choice of “attack dogs,” and watch his comments a bit more closely.  You see, he has two “endorsements” from celebrity types who have been used as fronts for some of Huck’s campaign bits.  First off is Chuck Norris.  Now I like Chuck, really I do.  But his criticism of McCain and his age seems to be a bit out of place and disingenuous IMO, more so give Chuck’s own age.  Then there’s Ric Flair.  Yes, THAT Ric Flair of pro-wrestling fame.  He was up on stage with Huck at a rallly in SC the night before the primary.  This is where Huck needs better handlers.  Huck was up on stage and said “If you don’t vote for me, Ric Flair will put you down.”  Now, I know Huck was not serious about this, but it’s the sort of think people will remember, and will not look kindly upon.  It was a poor choice of words, even though said in jest.  But it gets worse when you add in Huck’s comments about helping to keep supporters of other candidates at home instead of going to the polls.  It’s just bad form, bad for a primary, and if said in a general election, an almost certain defeat.

Meanwhile, a ho-hum caucus night in Nevada handed Mitt Romney an uncontested win, much like Wyoming.  Yes, Wyoming had its caususes a while ago.  You missed it?  So did all the candidates.  This one was never in doubt, as only Romney campaigned in Nevada, and had abandoned South Carolina after his ad blitz failed to produce any results.  So he won in a runaway, helped out by his fellow Mormons. 

But Michigan was a genuine win for Romney, even if he was expected to win.  I don’t think that Romney carrying Michigan was a sure thing by any stretch.  McCain ran a solid campaign, flawed by a misdelivered message on jobs, which I have no doubts cost him support.  But Romney was the “favored son” in Michigan, having grown up there, and with lots of connections across the state. Even though he won, it was not by a big enough margin for him to feel secure in his candidacy.

Yes, yes, yes.  Romney leads in delegates, but he lack luster showing in South Carolina, and his poor polling numbers in several key states for the February 5th primaries, is not boding well for him.  Don’t look for Romney to place higher than 3rd in California, New York, or Florida (on the 29th). 

Now in the “Have You Seen This Candidate” category, Rudy Guiliani.  Rudy has shot himself in the foot with his campaign.  Or should I say lack of a campaign.  This whole “ignore everything before Florida” strategy is backfiring badly.  So badly in fact, that he now trails not only in Florida and California, but in New York as well.  In every instance where polling data is available, he trails the leader by double digits (who happens to be John McCain at the moment).  Even the New York GOP is backing off of Rudy, after all the hoopla over having the big wigs file his ballot papers. No, Rudy is all but dead in the water, and he has no one to blame but himself.

Oh yeah, Duncan Hunter quit the race too.  Snore.

Then there’s the lunatic fringe that is Ron Paul.  Yes, he’s still kicking around, garnering just enough support to keep his campaign on life support.  What amazes me is the sheer willful blindness to his past that otherwise intelligent people have concerning him.  They will pointedly ignore his antisemtic remarks and articles, he associations with Holocost deniers and white supremacists, his all talk no action about earmarks and balanced budgets, and continue to laud him as some sort of second coming of Jesus Christ.  It boggles the mind it does. 

Over on the other side, the “blue on blue” violence continues.  I am thoroughly entertained by the bickering between Obama and Hillary.  Plus I get to watch the comedy show that is John Edwards try and play “peace maker,” and fail miserably.  The last debate showed how testy the race between Obama and Clinton is getting. 

This may be an undoing for the Democrats, even if they nominate the person they should in Obama.  This fratricidal infighting may polarize the party enough that when in comes to November, many Democrats may stay home rather than vote for the candidate who beat out “their guy/gal.”  February 5th should be very interesting on the Democratic side, more so if South Carolina is close.