SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

I was asked if I have any opinions or thoughts on the new nuclear START treaty - which looks like it will be ratified today - that it would be interesting to know if there is anything about the treaty that the media has missed.

Of course, this is predicated on the notion that I have actually READ the thing - and quite honestly over the past week-plus Daze of Confusion of moving into the new Villa de Tempest . . .

. . . I seem to have mislaid my courtesy copy of the treaty that the Senate shot over to me. So I consulted the greatest living American philosopher - Rush Limbaugh - and surprisingly enough his thoughts on the matter mirror mine exactly: any treaty with the Russians isn't worth the paper it's written on.

To quote the Great Ronaldus Magnus:

"Trust, but Verify . . ."

While we're on it, the same crowd was asking me to chime in on the whole Don't Ask Don't Tell scenario and I deferred - on the grounds that this is not directly related to national security - but just for the record let me say that I have no problem with homosexuals serving openly in the military . . .


. . . comment?


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PRESIDENTIAL VEHICLES

A progression?


President Truman in the Lincoln made for President Roosevelt




1950 Lincoln with first bubble top - Eisenhower's idea




1961 Continental X100 - Kennedy was shot in this vehicle





1972 Lincoln - Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan




1983 Cadillac – Reagan




1989 - Used by President George H. W. Bush




1993 Cadillac - President Clinton




2001 Cadillac DTS - President George W. Bush




GUESS WHO ? ? ?




I can't lay claim to this piece of ingenuity: a friend & Charter Member of Team STORMBRINGER; Code Name CLADIDDLEHOPPER sent this in response to my piece on Racial Profiling:


I sent this in recognition of your post dealing with racial profiling. Of course, the Bernardine Dohrn questioning addresses a different aspect of profiling such as its fallacy but, oh well . . .

I think that like so many other things in life, profiling is a great thing in moderation. In Israel for instance, its highly depended upon for "initial assesments".


To those of you who like to throw the tired, old "racist" stereotype out there - be advised: CLADIDDLEHOPPER is an old comrade-in-arms going back to the early 90's, at one point he was the Equal Opportunity NCO for the US Army Special Operations Command, and without getting too personal I can tell you there is no way on God's Green Earth is he a racist - and neither is this post. In fact I bet right now there's a whole pack of soul brothers out there laughing their asses off because it's just . . . plain . . . FUNNY ! ! !


SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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RONALD REAGAN . . .

. . . from the 1950's




Too bad, it may be too late . . . . . . S.L.

WHAT CHANGED?

Twenty years ago this month Chinese citizens were mowed down, run over by tanks, for the crime of peacefully assembling in public and speaking out for freedom in their country.


This same incredible year – 1989 - saw the collapse of a number of Communist governments around the world.

I was working with the British Army in Hong Kong at the time: I and my counterparts all agreed it was nothing short of miraculous. We were soldiers of the Cold War era; none of us ever expected to see the Berlin Wall come down without a shot being fired.

But come down it did – and the weapons that brought it down were not bombs or bullets but rather words and ideas –– spoken by brave men and women across a generation.

John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, given June 26, 1963 in the Rudolph Wilde Platz near the Berlin Wall:


“There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.”

And of course, Ronald Reagan’s famous words, given in Berlin, June12, 1987:


“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Fast forward to the present. Untold thousands of Iranians seeking freedom for their country are being brutally repressed by a totalitarian regime as evil and insidious as any of the Iron Curtain countries. They are being struck down in the streets with truncheons and tear gas, water cannons and even live ammunition.


Where are the brave words and ideas to embolden this latest generation of freedom fighters?

You are the President of the United States, Mr. Obama. The people of Iran look to you for inspiration, to validate their cause. Now is the golden opportunity to add some real chutzpah to that “Hope and Change” slogan. Say SOMETHING.