Dem’s return to “The Big House”

Democrats return to The White House:

In November the Democrats will, without a doubt, return to The White House. The American people know the current administration has had little focus on anything but “the drums of war”. While I agree with attacking the Terrorist infrastructure inside Afghanistan, the War in Iraq, though altruistic in nature, was based on lies. The deficits incurred by this administration will be crippling for the American taxpayer’s for years to come. When a Democrat sits again in The White House, confidence will be restored.

President Bill Clinton presided over a very healthy economy. He ended his Presidency with Budget surpluses, which were quickly squandered by the current administration. It may take the Democrats years to extract the American Military from Iraq, don’t believe the campaign trail speeches, it may take decades! The training and equipping of a modern, multi-faceted military in Iraq, capable of defending it’s territorial integrity is a multi-decade job. A premature exit would allow Iraq’s unfriendly neighbours to have free reign to send unlimited numbers of their military to guarantee an outcome to their liking and this would force the U.S. Military to return once again to the nightmare of today’s Iraq.

Which Democrat will it be…??? Hillary and Bill Clinton are a potent combination of experience, talent, connections and drive. The current electoral situation is as of yet unresolved. Senator Obama is also a talented and gifted orator that has captured the imaginations of the young people, much as John F. Kennedy did for my generation. This will be a “horse race” to the wire without a doubt. Can you imagine any Republican team going head-to-head against the ticket of “Clinton & Obama” OR “Obama & Clinton”. They would be truly unbeatable!!!!!

Medical News – breakthrough in HIV fight?

Montreal, Canada

A team of Canadian and American researchers, led by Rafick-Pierre Sekaly of the Centre Hospitalier de Universite de Montreal, the team has discovered a “memory T-cell” mechanism that protects “Elite Controllers” from the Aids virus and it’s ravages. This special group of patients can remain healthy, without medications and have no symptoms of Aids, though infected with the virus.
The secret of the, elite controllers is a key protein called “FOX03a”, this allows the immune system to remain potent and protect the body, this protein stimulates “bad genes” to kill T-cells. The aids virus is virtually undetectable in these individuals. Scientists will now begin work for future therapies to treat not only HIV but potentially Cancer’s as well.Reference: published in the advance online edition of “Nature Medicine”.

What does the future hold…?

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Prediction: March 17, 2008

ECONOMIC & ELECTION 2008

Prior to President Bush’s first election win the economy in Canada and the U.S. went terribly sour for about a year before the election. Some believed this was an Economic cycle asserting itself, others believed it was due to the prospect of a Republican White House; this is for the Historians to determine. The reasons for the current economic malaise are easier to identify; Trillions in debt for an unpopular War in Iraq, bailouts of Mega Banks brought about by their own greed and complicity, millions of U.S./Canadian jobs sent offshore by the large Corporations motivated, once again by greed, for short term profits.

There is no doubt in the mind of the average American; the Democrats will reside in The White House in January 2009. The minority that would dispute this are The Republican Party faithful whose job it is “to soldier on in the face of certain defeat.” Senator Hillary Clinton or Senator Barak Obama will be the next President. I respect and admire Senator John McCain for his military and political service over many decades, but the battle has been lost by The Current Administrations policies.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

The new administration, next January, even though “saddled with the debt from the previous administration”, will begin making moves that will “shore up” confidence in the flagging economy. A troop pullout from Iraq has been mentioned repeatedly, some troops will be withdrawn but a robust force will be in place for decades! Post war investments in rebuilding the U.S. Military will be required, this is something Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on. This will be long term funding and money well spent for future security requirements. The housing debacle currently playing out, was brought about by poor oversight provisions – “small government” promoted by Republicans? This will escalate to crisis proportions long before the election; will House Democrats & Republicans be able to salvage less affluent American’s homes? Demand it!!
In the summer of 2009 the economy will begin to rebound, slowly but without doubt. As Iraq begins to take the field against the insurgents, exported by close neighbors to cause America grief, with the Iraqi Army’s growing capabilities and competence will come success. World Financial Markets will recognize the positive changes in American Fiscal Policy and it will be time to return to “business as usual.” OPEC will realize that a worldwide recession is not in their best interests and will make efforts to bring the price of oil to a reasonable level $60/65/barrel?

“Iraq invasion was successful endeavour” – Cheney

Source: Reuters – www.reuters.com

Monday March 17, 2008.
Baghdad, Iraq.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney declared the 2003 invasion of Iraq a “successful endeavor” during a visit to Baghdad. That same day a woman suicide bomber killed 40 people. He went on to say “I was in Baghdad 10 months ago and I sense, as a result of the progress that has been made since then, phenomenal changes in terms of the overall situation,” Cheney said after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki.

Bush – dosen’t like Wolverines?

“George doesn’t like Wolverines?”

Bush says let Canada take care of Wolverines

The U.S. Presidents refusal to list the endangered species in four northwestern states has outraged many American environmentalists, they accuse federal scientists of relying on Canada for a healthy population of Wolverines to avoid protecting the Wolverine, south of the border!

In the U.S. the Wolverine may be little known, in Canada it is known as a fearless combatant, attacking Grizzly bears, wolves or any other interloper threatening it’s food. In Canada its ferocity and tenacity echo in the spirit of the Canadian people. Though tiny compared to its adversary, a Grizzly bear, it nevertheless will fight to the death to protect its prey.

George, when all the American Wolverines have been killed by American hunters or wolves, Canada will re-stock America as we did with the wolves, also killed off by ….?

At some point, an extinct species is forever more an extinct species and cannot be replaced…control the killing?

NAFTA Attacked by Democrats

NAFTA ATTACKED BY DEMOCRATS

March 19, 2008

Senators Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama have both attacked the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, while on the campaign trail in hard hit Ohio. Pandering to the electorate, most assuredly! I am an ex-Automotive Industry worker in Ontario Canada; we have lost over 200,000 manufacturing jobs in 5 years. That is not to mention the downward slide in our industry for 25 years, free trade with the Japanese and Korean Auto makers…also pushed by Corporate America as good for business – yes executives, not blue collar workers!!

U.S. big business pushed the NAFTA agreement down everyone’s throat at the time, the only ones to benefit were Corporate executives and their year end bonuses* All the rest of us have lost, some decades worth of good wages and secure jobs. This is “the greed thing, over and over again”, a very few benefit and most lose, with no thought given to the future of either of our countries.

Please my American cousins, and I do have many; please demand the facts from all of your politicians when statements are made – get the facts. The heat of a campaign can bring out statements based on emotion, not facts or reality and with no ties to policy of any kind.

Election – tap dancing?

March 19, 2008

Democrats return to The White House?

The polls show the Democratic battle between Senators Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton are giving a boost to Senator John McCain, though fleeting as that may be, it appears more and more as though the “rough and tumble” race may be a sham planned for media exposure and headlines. Political handlers, behind the scenes, are undoubtedly “placing the foot shaped imprints on the floor” for these two “opponents?” Much as in a dance studio the steps are planned for the dance, so the couples do not make a misstep.

The poll numbers, at this point, mean absolutely nothing! The numbers mean a great deal to “polling firms”, dollars and cents, and to the political operatives whose jobs depend on the numbers. To the rest of us, they are so much trash.

The Democrats, though choreographed, still have a chance to “shoot themselves in the foot!” If the leaders of the Democratic Party can’t make up the minds of the American People, resolve the issues and get on with the campaign, the American People will once again choose their own President possibly to the detriment of both parties?

The War on Terror – forgotten?

March 28, 2008

U.S. COMMANDER OF COALITION FORCES

Note: the following statements are paraphrased from his statements in a Canwest Global article March 27.

Gen. Dan McNeill, the commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, believes International troops will need to assist the Afghan Government with security and stabilization efforts until at least 2012. If the Afghan Police can catch up to the rate of The Afghan Army it may not take 5 years.

Gen. McNeill commanding the 47,000 troops from 39 countries also stated requests from Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his top Gen. Bishmullah Khan, along with many others in the Afghan Government, “to be patient with the training of the National Army and Police.” Government sources echo Gen. McNeill’s timeframe of 2012 before the army and police are fully capable to stabilize and defend the nation.

This is understandable after an entire generation-plus of war; invasion and insurgency have destroyed any semblance of government, infrastructure and society. Coalition governments must arm, equip, train and supply a national army of 80,000 men and a national police force of a further 82,000 men.

Comment:

Coalition forces, combined air and ground, will be required for decades to assist with potential security threats. To properly defend itself, in this region of the World, any country requires air power. This takes long term training to establish an air corps, put in place training schools, airfields, etc. It will require long-term security arrangements with a variety of governments, key being the U.S. and NATO. The provision of arms and equipment will be a large but necessary expenditure for all involved.

Election 2008

March 27, 2008

OBAMA-CLINTON-McCAIN

Gandalf’s prediction: Senator Obama will get the nod for the Democratic Presidential nominee, with overall popular support. Senator Clinton will not take it well! The machinations of the Democratic political machine, behind the scenes – read “closed doors”, may cause some strife that divides the party and gives Senator McCain a temporary rise in the polls – temporary. The Republican Party has no chance of retaining The White House, none whatsoever!!!!!

The decision by the Democratic National Party do disenfranchise Michigan and Florida voters was “a kick in the teeth” the type of move voters become incensed over and do NOT forget. The inflexibility, inadaptability of a long established political organization cries out for election reform – in a major way. This organization has lost elections in the past, recent and aged, because of the inability to adapt swiftly to changing situations.

To carry this thought further, the inability of the Democratic Party to quickly adapt to changing security threats globally has once again ensured the mantra of “we will pull the troops out of an unpopular war”, a politically correct response prior to an election. The average citizen that sees daily casualty numbers on TV, sees the chaos, thinks the only way to end this is to “pull out and it will all be over.” Not so! The War in Iraq was a mistake from the start. That is not to say that pulling out precipitously will magically make it all go away, it will not. Not for decades!

The Republicans on behalf of The American People have made the commitment, to fight this battle. If the Democrats were to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq before the Iraqi Army, Navy and Air Forces – equipped with sufficient hardware, training, etc were able to resist Iran and Syria together – the United States Military would be re-engaged in far greater numbers than have been seen to date. Like it or not, the Republican Party has committed U.S. Forces to Iraq for decades to come and countless Billions in Military and Economic aid packages.