Afghan stability

Zach makes an important point. I too served in the military. I have seen what an American presence can do.
http://ohtw.blogspot.com/2009/12/damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-dont.html It is unfortunate that America ends up having to police the world and be involved in everything. But that is what makes America great. We are a young democratic country. We try to help other countries and end up being the only ones left. After this happens we get blamed for destroying the countryand are called invaders even by the people who were supporting us.

What is going on? Why are we always the bad guy? It sure seems that everyone wants our "Western culture i.e. music, clothes and music ect. But no we are infidels. Give me a break. The Afghanis people want us there to help but the warlords, druglords and other bad guys don't want us there and will do everything to make us look bad.

Cash blocked

It seems that Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott makes a good point that Texas is making good headway with education standards. President Obama has decided to make a standard math and english curriculum and the state of Alaska is in the same boat as Texas. They are telling the president to shove it. They dont need the federal government to tell them what they need to teach. Texas definately does not need to. Texas has been working diligently on making the education system better. The only problem is that to get a big fistfull of govt dollars, you have to conform to the government standards. So basicly what is happening is that you have to follow the pied piper playing the flute to get to the money bin. This seems to be just another way to get everyone to fall in line in the Obama administration. What happened to the states making decisions for themselves. If one state is having no problems with curriculems and students are making good grades, why should they have to switch to a different set of study materials? Cant they leave well enough alone and still help out a state that can use the grant money?

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/12/03/1203scott.html

Obama Finally makes a decision

Well I guess there are miracles. Obama finally made a decision about Afgahanistan. It only took a few months but there was no rush. No troops were dying over there. No family members had to worry about loved ones. Come on. He is the commander in chief. People rely on him to make wartime decisions.

I am not saying that it was easy to reach the point he got to. But he had to make a choice and he did. he is sending at least 35,000 troops at a annual cost of 75 Billion. Yes this is a lot of money, but wars cost. The russians sure know this about Afghanistan. We are fighting a long battle that may never end. But we are Americans and we try to police the world.

Obama has made the right choice in my opinion about sending more troops. Will it be enough? Only time will tell. The unfortunate thing is that we do not know the whole strategy. Obama cant let the enemies know what he is going to do so the public only has limited knowledge.

Obama let us know he was going to do something about the war in Afghanistan. I only hope that he did not take too much time and hurt us in the longrun.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/30/obama-issues-final-orders-afghanistan-strategy/

Is there support for the Troops?

As I have stated many times before, I served my country for six years in the Army. I am proud of my country and was happy to volunteer for whatever came my way. I saw blood, guts, bad times and good times. I made many friends and will always have great memories. I saw pay raises and new equipment. I also saw housing that needed to be razed, I saw weapons that needed replacing and equipment that needed to be scrapped. There was not always enough money in the military budgets for what we needed and wanted to get the job done. But we always made it work somehow. That is what soldier do. We soldier on.

I have seen a lot of talk about what to do about the military and budgets for such. It is very expensive to run a war, and two at the same time is really a budget crisis. But money is what helps us keep the freedoms that we enjoy from day to day. Our congressman, senators and the president and cabinet help decide what funding soldiers receive.

There is talk about the defense spending going up five percent to close to 537 Billion dollars. (That is a lot of bullets). But seriously, this is great but when the budget goes up for spending on the troops, some programs end up getting cut. This tends to hurt soldiers in the long run. Programs in the past that have been cut include new weapon systems (guns), tanks, jets, warships, armor. Sometimes these are justified, and sometimes we really could have benefited from new tools of the trade. I understand taxpayers pay for these items. I also understand that the govt has to answer for the money spent on various programs. But does the general public understand what life is like for the Soldier, Airman, Seaman and Marine? I doubt it. They could not and would not want to deal with the daily strugles.

Just keep in mind that the next time you complain about what the govt is spending on these wars and equipment, and how the budget should be cut and the president should take his time about funding for the military. One day someone may be knocking at our back door and the military will be in a more dilapidated state and wont be able to protect you as before.

Where is our govt taking us?

Is our Govt taking us for a ride? I believe they are as they have always done. Polititians for the most part are a joke. They just feed us what we want to hear and then do what is best for themselves and line their own pockets. Not that they need the money. They get all kinds of goodies for free. Food, lodging, transportation, "tokens of appreciation".

But you know what drives me crazy? It alway seems like the rich get the goodies. They can already afford all of the things they get for free and dont think twice about it. Now take the average american. A free dinner or a trip anywhere would be a blessing and greatly appreciated. Most americans cant even afford to go out to McDonalds.

Back to my main point. How many times have we elected a president, Demorcratic or Republican, who have promised us this and promised us that, just to forget about what they told us or have conveniently put the issues on the backburner. I am sick of politicians making horrible decisions. I know that we vote them in and hope they will do what we need and will make the best decisions. I feel that these yahoo's decide to cut funding in places it is needed such as military spending, and waste money on programs such as space exploration. Dont get me wrong. I am sure there are things we can learn in space that will be beneficial, but we are fighting multiple wars and the soldiers need better weapons and equipment. I know, I was a soldier for six years.

I sometimes wish that the common man could once in a while spend some time with the politicians during their day. What for you ask? To be the little birdie in their ear, whispiring to them, letting them know what the little people think and feel and make them think twice about the decesions they are making.

Our govt is failing us. They continue to say they are doing what is best for us and yet look how our country is doing. We are involved in multiple wars, people are losing their jobs, houses, savings and sanity. National debt is outrageous. Health insurance is driving people into the poorhouse. Where will it end? The government is taking us down a dark and dangerous path.

Promises, Promises?

Everyone has been lead to believe that President Obama won the Nobel Peace prize very easily. But it appears that it was not so. The Norwegian Nobel committee seems to not have been convinced of President Obama's promises he made to the U.S. and the world and his enormous lack of experience. How is it Obama won this prestigious award? Can anyone win? Aparently so, and you can obviously dupe the committee into believing campaign promises would be fulfilled. Obama has not had much experience in leading. We can see this in his time as a junior senator. I believe the committee could have made a lot better choice for the award. He has not ended the "Don't ask, don't tell policy which would be good for the gay rights movement but could pose a problem for the homosexuals in the military. If they are outed there might be a lot more "hazing" or attacks. Obama in my opinion has failed us in Afghanistan as the committee has noticed. Obama has not supported the "right"war and has replaced competent commanders and not given the numerical support needed. I believe the Norwegians realised Obama was unable to live up to the promise of closing GITMO quickly. I am happy it is still open. I served there as a guard and know what kind of people are there. If the Norwegians realise Obama cant keep promises, why is America so into Obama, the man who can do no wrong? Obviously even people from other countries see that he has not held up his promises. Why can't we?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/10/16/kevin-mccullough-obama-nobel-peace-prize-objected/

President Obama's Olympic Trip Gets A bronze medal

I was reading articles from Foxnews.com as I do on a normal basis. And to my chagrin I find a piece of gold in the form of an opinion piece titled "5 Reasons the President should not go to Denmark" from Bradley Blakeman, whom was President George W. Bush's Deputy Assistant. Blakeman describes reasons why the presidents trip to Denmark is a waste of time, money and effort.

Blakeman spent 4 years as President Bush's Deputy Assistant, whose main job was to schedule the president's daily affairs and determine who would see him and who would not. Blakeman describes what factors he used to make the choices of who saw the president and for how long they got to see him. Blakeman is obviously qualified to speak on how the president has his time divied up for everyone.

I must say that I agree with Blakeman on many of his points. He speaks of how the President has reduced himself to a "Pitchman", which in my opinion is true. Why does President Obama feel the need to try and influence the olympic committee? Blakeman points out that the president is a busy man and his greatest assets is time and credibility. He also points out that the president should have sent other representatives to Denmark. Why? Because we are in the middle of numerous crisis's. Do I feel the same way? Yes I do. To be honest, who cares about the olympics in 2016. If we cant get out of this recession, who will be able to afford to go to the "Chicago Olympics" if we do get selected? Who will be able to buy food, trinkits, clothing or any number of foolish purchases? Not us. Who will pay for all of the construction? Taxpayers. And on the same note of money, I am sure it was not cheap to pay for the president to get to Denmark. Lets see, Air Force One and the back-up, fuel, secret service personnel, military personnel, food, overtime pay and any other number of wasted money. But who cares, we will add it to the national debt tab.

Blakeman also talks about how precious the Presidents time is. After all Obama is leader of the greatest nation on earth. Sure glad Obama has so much free time to worry about bringing the olympics to Chicago. I feel that Blakeman is making a good point by getting us to really think about how Obama's priorities are askew.

Blakeman states how he used the 5 prong approach he had when he would schedule people to see President Bush when he was in office. 1. Time, 2. is he the right person for the job, 3. Timing of trip, 4.vision of prestige, 5. advancing the presidents goals. Blakeman goes through each of these 5 prongs showing how Obama's lack of understanding his role as president and the use of his office.

I must admit that I am a bit biased due to the fact I am a Republican and did not vote for Obama, but if McCain had become president, I doubt he would have gone to Denmark, and if he had I would not have agreed wtih it. I'n not saying anyone is perfect, but I agree with Blakeman, this trip was a waste of time, money and prestige.



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