INEVITABLE

So, the Administration has ordered the removal of the CEO of GM. I am not surprised, only saddened by this action. If I were the CEO of any company in this Country, I would resist taking any assistance from the Government because of the foregoing actions. GM should have folded and gone into bankruptcy rather than take money.
Similar things have happened to states because they accepted Federal Government handouts, but, I have not seen any blatent attempt to remove a Governor from any state,YET. The States have had to give up many States Rights guaranteed by the Constitution because they accepted money and benefits from the Federal Government. The loyal opposition better get some backbone and resist the continued efforts of the present Administration to make this country a one party state dedicated to socialism.

How about some assistance from the NEWS media in resisting the pending takeovers???

DIFFICULT TO IGNORE

It is quite difficult for me to ignore the implications of what will or may happen if the US is directed towards the "changes" that the new Administration is attempting to adopt.
The people will suffer greater loss of freedom than ever before as posed by any other Federal Administration. The latest in the big move towards Socialism is the Administration's attempt to sieze any Company based upon some real or imagined fear of that company failing. This is another attempt at Nationalization and should not be allowed. The only justification for siezing a Company or its assets would be one to secure the security of the nation during a time of "all out" war; and then, only with very strong proof of the need.

So, now, our leader(?) is going to speak to us on National television (by preempting normal prime time viewing) and tell us what is good for us. Note that he does not propose to negotiate with us, but simply tell us what to do, how to think, and accept the consequences without question. Remember one of his first statements as President was "if you don't like it, then deal with it. We won".

Without adequate real representation from Congress or the Supreme Court, this Country's outlook appears to be rather bleak, and, I am not usually such a pessimist.

MAGIC SHOW REVISITED

Towards the end of February I talked about the almost transparent sleight of hand act that the new administration was engaged in. Today, after about a month has passed, it is even more obvious. At first we were going to send in a large contingent of military personnel into Afganistan and reduce the combat forces in Iraq to zero. Next we were going to send in a large number of civilian experts to Afganistan with no mention of the buildup in troop strength. Now, there is very little being reported about activities in either Afganistan or Iraq, including the once everpresent casualty list of military killed during operations in either place.
Then our attention was directed at the need for a bailout of financial institutions which was accomplished, but, lo and behold, the Administration messed up, knowingly, on some specific details that angered a lot of people. So, then it was the greedy wall street types that needed to be brought to task by a very punishing tax on bonuses. But wait, if you do that, so others who may be innocent bystanders will also be taxed; but wait; the businessmen in charge are all a bunch of greedy uncaring individuals; so, we need to have the Government take charge of these people and their salaries (and businesses?) to make things equitable. So, really, we need to NATIONALIZE businesses??? Take a clue from Venezuela (SP?) And President for life Chavez!!

Again, what are the leaders of this country's real intentions???

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

I thought it rather strange that our new President gave a rather insensitive and neutral toned gift to the British Prime Minister on his first visit. Now , it turns out that his gift of 25 DVD movies were unusable in Britain because of the Country coding embedded in the DVD and associated British player.
Having never knowingly obtained any foreign DVD's, I did not know that such coding existed; however, a gift from the US President to a foreign leader should have been evaluated prior to it being given.
This is just another sign of the immaturity and lack of aptitude on the part of the US President.

In another show of inexperience and ineptitude, the US President's overtures to the Iranian leadership should not have been made . The Iranians have made a great deal of positive press for Iran by being able to snub the US. It is as bad or worse than the case in which the Iraqi (arab?) journalist was able to throw his shoes at our previous President and only be given a token punishment.

Now, the Secretary General of the United Nations, has been very unkind and biting in his public remarks about the US as well.

Unfortunately, the only thing that is understood and respected by most foreign powers is negotiation from a position of power and not showing weakness. The USA is now being laughed at and will soon be ignored in other ways due to the new US foreign policy efforts.

LEADERSHIP ?

During recent discussions with Brazil's President, President Obama quipped that he believed that the Republicans wanted him to get lost in Brazil. It was intended as a light hearted comment.

It was a statement that should have never been spoken especially in the presence of a foreign head of state. This country should always protray itself to the world as being cautious and sometimes internally contentious, but never divided and petty.

It is a very strong indicator of our President's lack of good judgement and maturity. He needs a great deal of education and coaching in his deportment and speech. Or, maybe he needs better managers controlling his teleprompters, or just better managers (advisors).

POOR DECISIONS

The Government is attempting to change its image in foreign policy in ways that are not understood either overseas or here in the US. Many of these changes may sound like "feelgood" ideas but are really sending the wrong message. Most of our potential advarsaries do not respond to soft or passive relations. They are used to interpreting such activities as weaknesses. We (the USA) should not back down to any demands for retreat. The Chinese (People's Republic) are demanding that the US Navy remove itself from the South China Seas. We should very emphatically reject such an idea and respond wit the insertion of armed vessels in the area and continue to perform our surveillance activities. Our few friends left in the world do not understand our intentions except that it may be viewed as another retreat by us and an example of how the Americans cannot be trusted to keep their word anymore.
We have essentially given up on Taiwan (Republic of China), Tibet, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and defense of Europe. And, we are soon going to allow open borders with Mexico by being soft on illegal alien presence in the USA and not defending our borders. There are indications that the Federal Government may stifle efforts by our law enforcement agencies to find and deport these illegal people.

DIVERSIONS

Not that they need it, but, a recent commentary suggested other ways that the present Administration can deflect public criticism from many of their more serious changes in the direction that this country is being taken. Although I believe that there are some really bad future consequences to these moves, a little light humor may prove to be useful. So, here are those 10 suggested diversions:

1. Do we know definitively how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
2. Alitalia loses luggage like Drew Peterson loses wives. They need to be punished. Severely.
3. I was promised flying cars at some point in the new millennium.
4. Update Great Britain’s official DVD collection…oh, wait, never mind.
5. I hear the upstairs bathroom outside the Lincoln Bedroom is a pigsty.
6. Put a ShamWow, Chop Slap, and the Snuggie, that wizard-like blanket with sleeves, in every household across the country.
7. Stop neglecting Facebook page and Twitter — keep those presidential status updates fresh.
8. Take advantage of tanking airline industry, and go on that long overdue second honeymoon with Sandals Royal Bahamian all-inclusive “Romance Package.”
9. Pen second autobiography.
10. Get Rod Blagojevich his own NBC Variety Show.

PROMISES

The latest administration promise has been seriously compromised.

I did not agree that we should have inserted troops into Iraq when it was first started; but, now that they are there, they require support and our (US) protection.

The President has supplied a definite (sorta) timetable for withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq of approximately 18 months with a firm ending date. This information will probably be used by our enemies to their advantage and should have never been provided.

The biggest lapse in the President's promise is that he is really not going to withdraw all combat forces (all troops?) from Iraq at the end of 18 months. He is going to leave approximately 50,000 troops there to be assigned to various vague tasks such as training of Iraq forces (50 K troops for training???) and possibly for insurgent fighting. This number is not even close to what he represented during his election campaign! And there has been no rumblings from the majority who voted for him on this violation of his promise.

Why? Because he does not have the power to remove all troops from anywhere and he does not have the concurrence of his handlers for such a move.