The Bravo Blog

Seeing how ACORN is under investigation in numerous states for vote registration irregularities and they have been discovered to be part of the mortgage mess I don't feel they should get any federal monies or participate in the 2010 Census where they could influence districting and shifting power, counting illegal aliens as citizens, etc.  Please investigate the facts and then think about it, if you feel as I do ACORN should not be even close to the Census please call your representative and voice this and sign the below petition or others stating the same goal.

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I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:"Stop ACORN from Accessing Taxpayer Dollars" http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/TaxDollars?e

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time.

From one of the two articles mentioned above - “President Obama issued a statement condemning "heinous acts of violence" within hours of Tiller's death. The Justice Department issued its own statement and sent federal marshals to protect abortion clinics. News anchors and headline writers abandoned all qualms about labeling the gunman a terrorist.” 

the Recruitment center - “By contrast, Obama was silent about the military recruiter attacks that left 24-year-old Pvt. William Long dead and 18-year-old Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula gravely wounded. On Tuesday afternoon more than 24 hours after the attack on the military recruitment center in Little Rock, AK Obama held a press conference to announce his pick for Army secretary. It would have been exactly the right moment to express condolences for the families of the targeted Army recruiters and to condemn heinous acts of violence against our troops.  But Obama said nothing. The Justice Department was mum. And so were the legions of finger-pointing pundits happily convicting the pro-life movement and every right-leaning writer on the planet of contributing to the murder of Tiller.”

Domestic News leads off the rant with two juice items.  First off the DNC meltdown that is not being covered by the liberal main stream media.  Up first is Howard Dean and an off comment he made on MSNBC.  In an interview he sated America had "had enough of capitalism" and we needed to try something different, different like socialism?  Dean tipped the hat of the Democrats by showing the patients are in charge of the asylum in the DNC.  We have seen the slow nationalizing of the country and the lack of coverage pointing it out.  From nationalizing the banking system, housing market, auto industry, and now taking on healthcare it seems the government will have greater say in what, where, how, and who can buy what in our country.  Gone are the days of free market consumer driven markets.  It seems the lessons of Freddie Mac and Fanny May have been lost on housing, manufacturing, and finance.  There is even press coverage, however light, that some of what Obama was boasting about in November and December was false, like Caterpillar going to rehire employees if Obama passed the stimulus package.  With Howard Dean saying what he did it is now wonder my company, and many others, have de-listed from the US markets and listed in Ireland, who has a much better business climate and tax rate. 

Next up is Nancy Pelosi, one of my favorite people to blog about.  She got caught lying and now the entire Democratic Party is rallying around her like she is hapless victim.  Remember the support Sen Stevens got from the GOP, how about Craig when arrested in a Minnesota airport bathroom?  The difference is the DNC will rally and the GOP throws there members under the bus.  Nancy got caught lying and all the press is really saying is how the CIA lied to her and misled the American public.  Nancy is blessed to have such cover.  She knew of the interrogation tactics used and had no problems with them until it was publicly acceptable to speak out, for 2 years she didn't say a thing.  The issue is not torture as the press is indicating, but when she actually knew about it and the CIA has offered a plethora of evidence as well as the current and past directors publicly stating on the record she was briefed and providing evidence to prove it.  If Nancy gets re-elected it will show how powerful the press is and how naive the California voters are.

International News is led off with Venezuela’s citizens marching en-mass against Hugo Chavez's muzzling of the press.  It seems the good people of Venezuela want more freedom of speech against the government.  This is not the first time the South American dictator has caught heat for his facade of a socialists elected government.  He has been losing or barely winning the past few elections and his supporters are seeing his running of the country as not in their best interest, he continues to take over foreign company assets that restrict investment in the country.  Chavez may well end up on the wrong end of his revolution as those left with money and power feel the winds shifting and listen to the people who's voices are becoming louder and louder.

North Korea continues to poke a finger in the eye of the international community.  The rebuked Obama's European speech outlining his approach to stopping nuclear proliferation by detonating a nuclear bomb underground.  This bomb's yield is debated but seems to be around 4 kilotons, the size of the ones we dropped on Japan in the 1940's.  This was followed by numerous missile tests, threats, and posturing that continues well into June.  How many times will Obama extend his hand to get it slapped before he comes to the conclusion North Korea does not give a rip about the UN or its actions?  North Korea want bi-lateral talks with the US and an US non-conditional surrender, period.  They want to control the Korean peninsula.  They want to dictate their policies to the world and regain 50 years of lost wealth and respect.  China doesn't want a democratic Korea on their border.  The US wants it all to go away quietly while Obama continues his US apology and humbling tour to show our humility and wrongs to the world.  Not everyone is open for diplomacy or talk, Kim Jong-Il is one such person.  He wants this to end, as do his comrades, but they want it to end in a glory victory for their side.  Iran meanwhile is eagerly watching in the wings to see how we deal with such stubbornness to come back to talks.  China won't let North Korea fail, we have to figure out how to appease them without giving them the whole farm, something a community organizer and teacher's assistant is not capable of doing.

In Financial/Business news we have an IRS report stating tax revenue collection was down last year, really... who knew?  What is bad is the economy is tanking, so of course people losing jobs will make less income and pay less taxes.  Add an out of control government that is spending more then all previous American governments COMBINED and you get a recipe for disaster.  The IRS, headed by a tax cheat and an administration who only appoints tax cheats, is now in the situation where they need more tax money to cover our existing debts, and whopping future debts!  Obama has been spending money till it’s all gone, then ordered the printing of more and sold bonds to the Chinese in hopes they will fund it all, well they are skeptical now because he is still spending more and more and more.  The outright lies Obama told in the presidential campaign about taxes will be exposed sooner rather then later.  To pay for all his spending he is going to have to increase the tax burden on everyone more, not just the elusive richest 1% who used to pay 75% of the taxes.  This is because between the market drops, Bernie Maddoff, and others these rich people have little left.  If you paid 50+% of your income to taxes and it was increased significantly more and you could stop this by moving to another country what would you do, remember its this richest 1% who can afford to move the most.  The IRS will have to go out and collect more, and this time we need to see if they will collect all he money or overlook those Democrats that Obama seems to like enough to hire while telling the rest of use to pay our fair shares and spread the wealth around.

Next up are a couple of articles I found where our lord and savoir, his holiness Obama, has pushed through a spending plan that was the longest and largest in history.  Remember his saying there was no pork or ear marks?  Two items uncovered were funding for studies outside of our country that make no sense.  I know our government funds silly things and these things don't cost much in the grand scheme of things but these two outrage me.  Obama released funds for a study of Argentinean gay men in bars to see if drinking more made them more likely to have sex.  This was proposed under Bush, but Obama green lighted and released the money, having the chance to cut it out he neglected to do so.  Also green lighted and authorized by his pen, a study to see how the effects of alcohol impaired the judgment of Chinese prostitutes in engaging in safe sex.  Now both studies are related to AIDS study of its spread but come on, do we need to waste half a billion total dollars of tax payer money to know if getting drunk will make Argentinean gay men and Chinese hookers more likely to not use condoms and engage in risky unsafe sex?  I know we need hard science here but come on.  Lets stop sending money overseas to study sex habits and use it to fund actual work projects to get American's working again, speaking of which, how many jobs did Obama promise us his spending would result in?  How many have been realized?

Science news is dominated by space.  First up is the Hubble, fixed and ready to go, for a couple more years anyway.  Let's hope they don't ditch it in the ocean and let it follow in the footsteps of the Mars rovers, remember them, they are still working!  Hubble is our most expensive and best resolution telescope and getting it fixed has allowed us to peer further into space.  This is important because we may need to find another planet to colonize soon to get away from high taxes and government spending, just kidding.  The pictures Hubble can take now will advance our understanding of the universe and hopefully our own world more.

On a Chinese talk radio program, in Chinese of course, there was a report on the Japanese moon satellite stating its mapping mission was over.  Why was this a big topic here in China, they have their own satellite doing the same thing of course.  The Japanese scientist was stating they could not find the US landing crafts or any sign of human activity on the moon!  Conspiracy theorists galore will most likely find this out soon and blast it across the internet, kind of like a group of people pleading with Obama to release all the area 51 technology to fix our economy.  The telling part of this is a respected space agency allowed this to be broadcast.  NASA could squash all rumors but giving out the precise locations of landing sites and providing pictures of them.  We could use Hubble I'm sure for this.  Now over the past 35+ years it is possible space impacts could kick up dust, dislodge, etc. objects from the lunar surface that would make finding these items harder but again I am sure NASA knows 100% where to look, and our lunar satellite will be up there soon as well.  I wonder when Google will release Google Moon?

Sports has only 1 item this month, we are in transition between sports and I don't care about the NBA too much.  The Detroit Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup finals, defending camps.  The Wings are old, beat up, and tired, but they are also very experienced.  The Pennsylvania Penguins, the other team in the finals, are very young, so we have youth verses experience.  This is a classic and telling match up.  Remember the story of the tortes and the hare?  Detroit needs to get out early on the kids and break their morale. The series with the Chicago Blackhawks was long and hard fought.  Detroit has the experience and pride to take the series, but sweeping like last year is highly unlikely.  Go Wings, Detroit needs something to celebrate and a reason to watch the news without hearing about bankruptcy and unemployment.

Political news is led off with Obama's reversal on GITMO pictures and his curious flip flopping on tribunals, prisoner releases, and torture.  Obama says he will not torture, yet his executive order leaves that option open to him and him alone, smells a bit like hypocrisy to me.  He has yet to give a date for closing GITMO so Congress and refused funding until a timeline is announced, hmmm rings of the Iraq War funding debate a few years ago, seems Obama forgot to take notes on that one despite leading the charge on that very issue.  Obama will resume military tribunals just in a different forum, can't do it all the same way Bush did, and he is of course the anti-Bush.  California was the loudest to cry about detainee abuses, yet when Obama said he was closing GITMO and needed a place to hold the terrorists they were the first to pass laws preventing the housing of said terrorists in their state, Not In My Back yArd is coming to mind now.  Only 2 foreign countries have agreed to take prisoners and those total less then 5.  It seems Obama still wants to grant these terrorists access to their intended target, the US, with trials in civilian courts.  There are so many problems with this I don't know where to start; legal standing, court jurisdiction, which laws apply, which protections apply, how the constitution can be applied, who funds the lawyers, who selects the lawyers, what legal presidents are in place, who and how will punishment be delivered, what if an acquittal happens, and the list can go on and on.  These people were captured off American soil, waging war against America, not part of any internationally recognized standing army or group, do not adhere to the Geneva Convention, do not follow rules of war, etc. so how can a civilian court deal with them?  I smell some interesting Law and Order episodes coming from this.

Finally, we saw a rare and odd speech duel this month.  First the President delivered his anti torture speech in which he defended Pelosi, attacked the Bush administration, and tried to vaguely outline a plan for those we captured in our now defunct "war on terror" which has now been called something less abrasive like ongoing overseas contingencies.  Obama made it to the podium late and took quite a long time to deliver his speech.  In a direct follow up former Vice President Dick Chaney delivered an almost item by item rebuke.  Chaney pulled no punches and laid out his views clearly.  The press focused on Chaney's gray areas more then the tit for tat he offered to the President.  Chaney does have one ace up his sleeve on this.  He requested the full release of the memos on interrogations and Obama refused, only releasing partial and edited ones.  Obama cited the same concerns Bush did when Congress demanded the same memos during his presidency.  It seems there is something in there Obama does not want out.  Chaney already stated that our enemy knew what we were doing so there is no need for the security now, and I tend to think along that same line on that topic.  Chaney of course has an ax to grind and strayed out far to the right in some areas, but overall it was a good speech and one that showed he and the administration were Hell bent on protecting the country and taking the fight to the enemy and not allow it back onto our soil during their watch.  They delivered on that and for all their faults we Americans need to realize it was their actions, convictions, and stubbornness that kept another attack from happening.  Chaney outlined some of the attacks avoided, proving information was found.  He also outlined the number and frequency of water boarding on these terrorists.  There has been more water boarding in public for political goals then happened in GITMO.  The released memos also showed how comical the torture allegations were, bugs, bare armed women on TV, being pushed into a soft plastic wall, etc.  Sure there was some harsh treatment, but remember who these people were and what they were aiming to do.  It is not pretty by our laws of our citizens it was not legal, but these people were not citizens, they were known to have committed grave acts against our country, including beheadings broadcast on the web, killing and torturing innocents, and plotting to kill civilians so as Chaney stated, I can sleep well knowing what took place because it prevented more destruction. 

You see, these operations may be hard to swallow for some, but like Truman in a decision to drop the bombs on Japan, he was willing to make a hard call against an enemy to save tens to hundreds of thousands of lives.  That is what leaders do, make hard calls and take decisive actions to combat present and near future threats.  You can't lead by popular opinion or consensus, that is not leadership.  The Obama administration needs to stop trying to prove America is making up for past wrongs and show how America is going to address current and near future threats.  The past is the past, while nice to address we don't have the luxury of time to do so now, we have 2 wars needing to be won, a brewing conflict to defuse, and an economic storm to weather before we try to humble ourselves to our detractors, they will be there when all this blows over and their views of our country will not change, getting them to change our minds will take much more then speeches, hugs, and handshakes.  There is a time and place for everything and we need to focus on the major issues at hand.

Many a heavy sigh I have in my despair,
Grieving that I was born in such an unlucky time.
I yoked a team of jade dragons to a phoenix chariot,
And waited for the wind to come,
to sour up on my journey