Month: November 2008

More of the same

Russia: We did not fire on presidential motorcade – CNN.com and Russia says U.S. mercenaries, others fought for Georgia | Reuters truly make me wonder at the paranoid wackos running Russia at the moment. Russia previously made claims about foreign mercenaries fighting in Georgia against the Russian invaders but quickly backtracked when no evidence was forthcoming. Convenient that Russian has now “found” such evidence. Show me the evidence and I might believe the Russians. Maybe. With a huge grain of propaganda wary salt. Funny how the Russians had no problem with using the Ossetians as mercenaries in their war against pro-Western Georgia.

In some ways I feel sorry for the Russian people now, being stuck with such poor, reactionary, and quite frankly backwards thinking leadership for their nation. They panic for no reason, threaten on a whim, and embarrass themselves when they can not follow through on either except to foment ethnic rivalries and bigotry. Yes, the new Russia has changed: into another country whose potential is being wasted by its corrupt leadership.

Napolitano for DHS?

Napolitano Tapped for Homeland Security

As an Arizonan, I hope Napolitano is selected if nothing else so the state can get rid of her do nothing Governorship. She talks and talks about dealing with crime and illegal immigration but when it comes down to enforcing the laws she actually undercuts the State’s police forces and shuns her duties claiming immigration is a “Federal issue”, one that the Feds have willfully ignored as long as I can remember. The only immigration laws she’s reluctantly enforced were those passed by the voters, since she can’t veto those laws. She only does something when she thinks it will give her some political gain but still accomplish nothing. Case in point: declaring a state of emergency in southern Arizona counties where no crisis warranting military intervention existed and then mobilizing the Guard to for political gain by play upon people’s fears of the false crisis and stoke racism rather than stand up for truth and reason.

All of this on top of her allowing the State budget to go from a surplus into debt under her veto happy reign. About the only thing Napolitano may have had any positive impact on is education reform. So good riddance to her if she’s selected. The Obama administration is starting to look like a Clinton club at this point.

Should Napolitano become DHS Secretary, she will be replaced by Arizona Secretary of State Janice Brewer (R) (better known in Arizona as Jan Brewer). Her most recent successes  in reforming Arizona’s voting system is winning (via Attorney General Goddard’s office) a challenge to Arizona’s proof of citizenship voter law. (Something illegal immigration advocates are still gnashing their teeth over trying to call it racist and burdening the poor and minorities.) Brewer is also known for working across party lines on assorted issues (state deficit, election reform, eliminating government waste, etc.) with varying degrees of successes and failures.

Gays in the military

Ex-Military Leaders Say End Rule on Gays

Those who know me, know that I support allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military. The current policy has not worked and even led to problems including personnel shortages that suspiciously match the number of soldiers dismissed under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. These shortages of course led to the use of “stop loss” which is further discouraging current military personnel from staying in the military after being overly burdened by extended duties and dissuading potential recruits who fear being embroiled in such a situation themselves. More important to me is simply ending a policy that accomplishes absolutely nothing except to deny American citizens the right to willingly defend their nation, a policy that actually weakens military preparedness.

Now will gays be allowed to serve openly in the military any time soon? I suspect so, either through President-elect Obama or the military leadership finally acknowledging the policy’s failure. The gays are already serving and always have been. Why not allow them the same dignity as heterosexuals. In the end I think people will find that sexual orientation matters very little.

Liberman keeps seat, MSM Arizona politics correction

Lieberman Keeps Senate Chairmanship

At least the Democrats did one thing right since the election. I’m sure that will change once the new administration gets in the White House. As for the Republicans they should sanction Stevens now. He’s a convicted felon. If they want to be the party of principle and reform they need to clean house first.

Side note to correct more MSM misinformation and ignorance. I caught a segment of Fox News (why my brother was watching, I don’t know) that ignorantly stated that had Arizona Senator John McCain become President the GOP would have lost a senatorial seat in Congress to the Democrats. Wrong! Under Arizona law, the governor must appoint a member of the departing senator’s party to fill the vacancy. A simple little fact easily discovered had the media truly been doing its job during the Presidential campaign. Hell blogs had been talking about that tidbit since early 2008. Lazy reporters.

Big 3 Bailout

If Obama is smart he’ll back off supporting a bailout of companies (particularly the ig 3 automakers) that refuse to change. It’s political suicide for himself and his party to get into bailing them out.They’ve shown no interesting in changing with the times, going as far as to refuse Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect them while readjusting and reforming their companies. Instead they want tax payers money to reward them for being failures. Failures they brought upon themselves through arrogance and poor business practices.

Reality is the car companies must change even if it hurts employees and employment levels. It’s harsh and it’s ugly but it’s also the truth. The rest of nation has had to face such hardships and survived, so can the car companies if they really want to remain viable.

As one of my favorite sayings goes, “Change or die.”

The United States government and the American tax payer cannot continue to bail out failed companies by rewarding them with money. We cannot afford to bailout state and city governments whose greed, graft, corruption, and mismanagement have saddled the public with debts. It’s time to say no to wasteful government and lazy, greedy corporations.

Veterans Day Thanks

To all the people who have served, are serving, and will serve in the United States military:

Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your courage in both war and peace. To my friends and family who have served, thank you. To my friends and family currently serving, thank you and be careful out there.

For those in the Phoenix Metro Area, ongoing events (outside of the parades):

Veterans Day Gourd Dance and Community Potluck: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Bring a
dish to share. Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park

“A Gathering of Legends,” 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Commemorative Air Force Aviation Museum (CAF) Admission: $10, ages 13 and older; $9 for seniors; $3, ages 5-12. 4 and under, free

Annual Veterans Day program at 2 p.m., at Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park

Tolleson Veterans Day: 10 a.m.-2 p.m Tolleson Veterans Park

Situational Space Awareness

SPACE.com — Out There: Space Traffic Control System Needed

I agree there needs to be some sort of tracking system for civilian satellites and debris in addition to existing military systems. The problem that arises is:

  1. Coming up with a genuinely neutral group beholden to no nation, organization, or political affiliation. Space is highly competitive and geopolitics is too easily manipulated into benefiting one group over another.
  2. Military and Civilian operations. In some cases there is no separation between military and civilian operations which could cause conflicts over individual nation’s space activities adversely affected other space nations.
  3. Proprietary data between competing satellite trackers, vendors, and operators. Getting them to cooperate may prove difficult if they feel their business maybe adversely affected, undermined, or even stolen. Add on top of this any information that may be tied to assorted national security requirements, regulations, and laws.