Joint Chief's Comments

This week's story about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard operating Naval ships in the Persian Gulf, is one that is worth keeping a close eye on. The manner in which the story was released (through a speech that Admiral Michael Mullen was giving at the army War College) seems inadvertent, but surely does the trick to alert the public that some naval action may be on the horizon. It is fair to assume, that the U.S. will not make the same mistake the British did in allowing the Iranians to take hostage their naval personnel in the area. A more likely scenario to come, should the Iranians operate in close proximity to U.S. Navy Ships would be a conflict and a use of force. One that might be costly to the Iranians.

Obama and his flag pin

Self proclaimed Media Watchdog "Fair" (Fairness and accuracy in reporting), ran an article this week, commenting that coverage of Mr. Obama's missing flag pin was a trivial matter, distracting voters from the real issues. Fair Makes a good point, but Obama's response to questions (that he took off the pin shortly after September 11th, because he saw fit to show his patriotism through his words instead of the the flag display) , reveal an issue that is not trivial. At a time when the nation was pulling together to show unity and support, (even foreign visiters were wearing the flag) He puts his away. What kind of advisors does this light weight politician have working with him? The term "out of touch" comes to mind. I'm sure our Veterans groups loved that response.

It wont be trivial when he falls further behind Mrs. Clinton in the polls.

Katrina aftermath

It is possible that The Katrina disaster has had less of a changing impact on the region than first thought. The media focus on the failures of the Government in the disaster aftermath, did not focus on anything but the Federal response. The long lasting issue now points out what was clear to emergency management professionals immediately, that a disaster occured other than the hurricane - and it originated on the Local and State level. The Katrina disaster showed us many flaws in the Federal Government leadership that responded. It also showed us a total breakdown of State and Local leadership, guidance, preplanning, emergency planning, corruption, and misuse of Federal funds. After all of this, the City re -elected its Mayor. The Mayor being re-elected sends a message that he is not going to held accountable for his failures. There is no recognition on the local level that the city completely failed it's citizens. The city will not be prepared in the future, unless it sees that it must stand up for itself, and better prepare its citizens and it's communities. Fema responds and supports what a community has in place. It augments an area or regions emergency capability. It was designed as a coordinating entity and was therefore unprepared to take over and run an area with a total
collapse in preparation and leadership. With so many multiple levels of failure it is difficult for any issue to gain real traction and stay in the focus of taxpayers minds. Politicians pushing "we need to do more" do not have a specific enough goal for divergent groups to grasp, and divergent groups must work together with a common goal to effect real change.

National Intelligence Estimate - more confusion ?

National Intelligence Estimate

The recent stories on the National Intelligence Estimate report, make an inference to the Al-Qaida group using its contacts in Iraq to mount an attack in the United States. The parts of the report, available for reading, make reference to increased threats, from within “radicalized” groups, and indicates that the United States still faces threats, but also points to the fact that these threats may also be coming to us without a “centralized terrorist organization.” This aspect of the report got very little play in the media, which skews the story a bit. The headlines associated with the report, were sensational and surprising - the report itself is not.

Re visiting the Duke case

Monday, December 25, 2006

Duke Case Flowchart

posted by al chervik @ 8:22 AM

Cataracts and Politics

The Grant Of Executive Clemency that was given to Lewis Libby, surprised some today, predicting a pardon, and others predicting that the administration would steer clear of the issue. The fact that Libby’s prison term was commuted, and the rest of the sentence (fine, supervised release) was left in tact, lends some insight into how the President views his role. A pardon for a convicted Felon, would no doubt show contempt for the process, ( as the Clinton Administration displayed with its 11th hour pardons) A commutation of the prison portion of the Libby sentence shows us that the administration is clearly loyal to its footman, but also shows a level of detachment from the taxpayers. It may just be, that politicians playing at this level of competition, with all the money and deal making that got them to where they are, really believe they are on solid ground, even when standing in quicksand. Although it’s nice to think that our elected officials stand behind what they believe in, it is disconcerting to think that the result of such devotion to ones beliefs is a type of political cataracts

The End of the Duke Case ??

No surprise here, as the truth comes out on the Duke case. The issue now should focus on the culpability of the prosecutor - lets see how vigilant the criminal justice system will be in the follow up to this travesty. The prosecutor should be removed from office, to prevent others from falling victim to his incompetence.