Egypt

President Mubarak is gone.  The Military is in charge.  The people do not want a Islamic Republic, but some type of democracy.  I applaud what has happen and the people for their courage and patience.  All Americans must be vocal in their support of a peaceful transition.  We also must be patient and helpful to them.  We must remain friends and not abandon them when there is trouble or turbulence. 

It is obvious that the people do not want a Islamic republic, how ever they will be part of the process and this is fine.  By being active and welcomed then they are controlled.  It is obvious the people do not want any type of autocratic government again.

The Middle East

The disturbances and protests in the Middle East have been a long time coming.  Most goverments in that region are not democratic.  President Bush knew this and he knew what would happen if a democracy/republic can take hold in the region.  It took other events then Iraq to be the match to the fuze.  Maybe or maybe not the wikileaks influenced events.  But now you had events in the last 6 months in Iran, Jordan, Eygpt, Tusinia and Yemen.  These events need to be allowed to happen.  We need to encourage but not influence these changes.

We as Americans must be vocal in our support.  So future generations in these countries may have it better.

MD-11F

I think it would be in the best interest of the US Air Force to start getting rid of the KC-135 as soon and as fast as possible.  With the Air Force already having around 90 KC-10, supplementing that with another 30 to 40 MD11F (KC-10R?) with both boom and Hose & Drogue systems.  You then can Remove a equal number of KC-135s.  No building of aircraft is necessary, you just need to buy them from the open market and modify them.  You assign them to Air Force Reserve and Air Guard unit to take advantage of pilots you fly this aircraft in their civilian jobs.  I believe you save on long term maintenance cost and flight restrictions.  We can also assigned  1 squadron to each the Pacific Air Force and USAFE.

This also protects the Air Force from anymore further delays in the KC-X program.  If the Air Force does not want to keep that many aircraft over the long run, then you can sell the excess to other countries.  Examples would be Spain, Brazil, Poland, Chile and PPortugal.

When the KC-X is in full swing we must start removing the KC- 135 from the active inventory aggressively.

Sarah Palin

I think the media and democrats realize that they stepped on it with harping on the Republicans and civil discourse.  I believe they realized they screwed up.  The American people saw it for what it was.  Especially when more information on the shooter came out.

The medias and Democrats attack on Palin shows me two things.  They are scared of her strength and influence.  That attacked her for being a joke, a idiot and all that.  Well as we all know if that was true, we all know they should not bother attacking her. 

The recent elections shows where her influence and power is.  I think it would be a big mistake on her part and will damage the republican party.  I think the last election, shows where she is the most effective.  I will even go on a limb that she should not endorse a republican candidate  during the primary.  She is a lighting rod and she would be more influential endorsing congressional candidate in 2012.  Democrats hate her and blame her for everything.  We need to leave it that way.

The shooting of a congressman

This shooting of a congressman in Arizona is an unacceptable act of violence.  The fact that a child and 5 other people died as result of extreme action of a individual should not be tolerated.  This act is the responsibility of the individual committing it.   Lets not get in the frenzy of blaming a political movement and/or talk radio.  Lets investigate the shooting and take appropriate legal action against all who are directly involved.

We all must fight for positive change in government.  We must demand more of our political leaders.  if we are not satisfied with our governmental leaders; lets remove them from office by voting. 

New year in congress

The GOP has the majority in the House of Representatives.  They have cut down the majority of the Democrats in the Senate.  However this does not guarantee nothing.  The GOP faces great challenges that can doom them in 2012.  The party is basically divided in to conservatives and moderates.  Both sides are important to the survival of the party.  Who every is elected as the Republican candidate for president needs a partner who is on the other side of the party.  Conservatives might not like to hear that but Conservatives really do not have the numbers to guarantee sucess all the way to the White House.

Things must get accomplished in the house.  Bills must get passed and sent to the Senate and hopefully to the President.  The House of Representative must produce.  Bills must get passed.  The growth of government must be slowed.  We must return to pay as you go, so their is responsible fiscal government.  This includes DOD.  Reform must be introduced to all aspects of government purchasing and procurement.  Out dated agencies must be shut down.  Duplicated agencies must be merged.  Good stewardship must be shown with the taxpayers money.

It can not be smoke and mirrors.  it will hurt the party and the country.  We need bold thinking and leadership.  Unfortunately I do not see it in the Republican Party.

D. McNabb benching

While I believe that the trading of D. McNabb to the Redskins was a signal that they felt they could not win with him.  I was never a big fan of McNabbs.  While I believe was a great quarterback, I felt something was missing.  He reminded me of Jim kelly of the Buffalo Bills.  He could not wing the big one.  I do not understand the choice of the Redskin's picking him now.  That said, Shannon totally mis-handled the situation.