Obama has fired General McChrystal and replaced him with General Petraeus who will be responsible for turning around and (hopefully) winning the Afghanistan war. Many of us recall that during the congressional hearings on the Iraq war "surge" many top democrats including then Senators Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe "bite me" Biden, accused Petraeus of being a liar. Left wing organization MoveOn.Org also ran the famous "General Betrayus" full page ad in the New York Times. To their dismay, Petraeus was successful managing the Iraq surge and left those democrats looking silly.
Now all these top democrats are praising Obama for his "leadership" in firing McChrystal and his "wisdom" in putting Petraeus in charge. Typical Washington hypocritical politics.
Here is a scenario that would truly be a clear definition of "Poetic Justice":
General Petraeus takes control in Afghanistan, reorganizes, manages the Afghan "surge" and wins the war there. Then he retires in 2011, runs for president in 2012 and defeats Obama.
Could happen folks.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
"It's Howdy Doody Time"
OK, I'm giving away my age. As a kid after World War II living in the projects of Buffalo, NY one of my fondest memories was getting our first television set. Black and white of course, but it was magic because before that, our family sat together on weekend nights drinking sodas, eating chips, and listening to the radio.
And believe it or not one of the most popular dinner time programs was a puppet show called "Howdy Doody Time". I and my two brothers watched every night. It was also "live" and you never knew what was going to happen. I remember one evening when the arm came off the puppet and they just continued the program while Howdy commented; "Oh my, my arm just came off"...funny. This was the early 50's so why do I remember this program?
I remember because to me this memory is a metaphor for what we are seeing in our President. He is charismatic, he is an impressive speaker, but he is Howdy Doody...a puppet. We have all heard the jokes about how he cannot make a speech or presentation without a teleprompter, and I remember when he used a teleprompter to talk to some school children. But today after meeting with the BP executives, I was appalled when he came out to make "comments" about the meeting and talked from a teleprompter. This man cannot talk from his mind (or heart). There is a reason he has few impromptu press conferences and when he does, he limits the time and filibusters every answer. If he is a "puppet" I wish I knew who was operating the strings. Someone...maybe a left wing group of powerful people who recognized this guy's oratorical talent, and with the support of the liberal media have been able to pull all the right strings and now he is the leader of the free world. Or he is a "so-called" leader with no experience in managing anything.
I realize this sounds like a conspiracy theory and I don't believe that, but I think history will show that Obama was either a black "Howdy Doody", or the most incompetent president in our history. He and his administration are doing much damage to this country. I don't worry for us; but I worry for my children and grandchildren.
And believe it or not one of the most popular dinner time programs was a puppet show called "Howdy Doody Time". I and my two brothers watched every night. It was also "live" and you never knew what was going to happen. I remember one evening when the arm came off the puppet and they just continued the program while Howdy commented; "Oh my, my arm just came off"...funny. This was the early 50's so why do I remember this program?I remember because to me this memory is a metaphor for what we are seeing in our President. He is charismatic, he is an impressive speaker, but he is Howdy Doody...a puppet. We have all heard the jokes about how he cannot make a speech or presentation without a teleprompter, and I remember when he used a teleprompter to talk to some school children. But today after meeting with the BP executives, I was appalled when he came out to make "comments" about the meeting and talked from a teleprompter. This man cannot talk from his mind (or heart). There is a reason he has few impromptu press conferences and when he does, he limits the time and filibusters every answer. If he is a "puppet" I wish I knew who was operating the strings. Someone...maybe a left wing group of powerful people who recognized this guy's oratorical talent, and with the support of the liberal media have been able to pull all the right strings and now he is the leader of the free world. Or he is a "so-called" leader with no experience in managing anything.
I realize this sounds like a conspiracy theory and I don't believe that, but I think history will show that Obama was either a black "Howdy Doody", or the most incompetent president in our history. He and his administration are doing much damage to this country. I don't worry for us; but I worry for my children and grandchildren.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
"Drill baby drill"
There I've said it...and I am sure I will catch hell from my environmentalist friends.
In Obama's speech last week he jumped on the "clean energy" bandwagon and made his best argument to "rid ourselves of fossil fuels". We heard the typical anecdotes of "Joe the shrimp fisherman" whose livelihood has been destroyed because of oil - a classic political tactic to push through another big government agenda.
Obama was very disingenuous in one part of his speech saying that, "We are running out of places to find oil". That is pure BS. The reason that oil companies have been moving to deeper water is because of the power of the environmental lobby that have made it impossible to drill in shallow water and on land. There are billions of barrels of oil in Anwar that would only require a footprint of a few acres to drill and in the event of a "rare" blowout disaster (like we are now experiencing), the blowout could be shut down in a matter of hours or days.
The liberals (progressives) want "clean" energy, yet we haven't built a new nuclear power plant in more that 20 years. And remember, even though nuclear is "clean", can we recall the Three Mile Island accident or Chernobyl in Russia where the land around that failed reactor will be radioactive for a few thousand years?
We have all seen this picture depicting the tragedy of hundreds of birds being killed by the oil spill. It is emotional to anyone that looks at it...even me. But this is where the media, the environmentalists, and even this liberal administration of ours shape our opinion to fit their agenda. Here are some interesting statistics from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service (http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf):
- Communication towers kill 4-5 million birds each year.
- Transmission power lines kill tens of thousands of birds each year.
- Cars kill 60 million birds each year.
- Pesticides kill an estimated 72 million birds each year.
- Domestic cats kill an estimated 39 million birds each year.
- And wind turbines (that magical "green" energy source); kill an estimated 33,000 birds each year.
Here's my point - I am not trying to minimize the oil spill disaster, just trying to keep things in perspective and show how the media can use a few well placed pictures of birds covered with oil to shape the emotional impact of a story.
The oil spill is a disaster and will affect many lives. But it is the result of the short cuts taken by BP to save money and get that well on line. I am not making excuses for the oil industry but I know something about that business and there is NOTHING that will replace oil for many years (maybe decades). This oil spill is the first major accident in 60 years of drilling in the gulf.
The problem is BP not oil.
The last thing we need is a new "cap and tax" energy program that will give the government more control over our lives, hurt the economy, and do nothing to help our dependence on foreign oil. What we need is a long range energy plan that explores every possible energy source, but for a long time we will need oil, and I believe we should drill for our own instead of being dependent on countries that hate us for our future energy supplies.
In Obama's speech last week he jumped on the "clean energy" bandwagon and made his best argument to "rid ourselves of fossil fuels". We heard the typical anecdotes of "Joe the shrimp fisherman" whose livelihood has been destroyed because of oil - a classic political tactic to push through another big government agenda.
Obama was very disingenuous in one part of his speech saying that, "We are running out of places to find oil". That is pure BS. The reason that oil companies have been moving to deeper water is because of the power of the environmental lobby that have made it impossible to drill in shallow water and on land. There are billions of barrels of oil in Anwar that would only require a footprint of a few acres to drill and in the event of a "rare" blowout disaster (like we are now experiencing), the blowout could be shut down in a matter of hours or days.
The liberals (progressives) want "clean" energy, yet we haven't built a new nuclear power plant in more that 20 years. And remember, even though nuclear is "clean", can we recall the Three Mile Island accident or Chernobyl in Russia where the land around that failed reactor will be radioactive for a few thousand years?
We have all seen this picture depicting the tragedy of hundreds of birds being killed by the oil spill. It is emotional to anyone that looks at it...even me. But this is where the media, the environmentalists, and even this liberal administration of ours shape our opinion to fit their agenda. Here are some interesting statistics from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service (http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf):- Communication towers kill 4-5 million birds each year.
- Transmission power lines kill tens of thousands of birds each year.
- Cars kill 60 million birds each year.
- Pesticides kill an estimated 72 million birds each year.
- Domestic cats kill an estimated 39 million birds each year.
- And wind turbines (that magical "green" energy source); kill an estimated 33,000 birds each year.
Here's my point - I am not trying to minimize the oil spill disaster, just trying to keep things in perspective and show how the media can use a few well placed pictures of birds covered with oil to shape the emotional impact of a story.
The oil spill is a disaster and will affect many lives. But it is the result of the short cuts taken by BP to save money and get that well on line. I am not making excuses for the oil industry but I know something about that business and there is NOTHING that will replace oil for many years (maybe decades). This oil spill is the first major accident in 60 years of drilling in the gulf.
The problem is BP not oil.
The last thing we need is a new "cap and tax" energy program that will give the government more control over our lives, hurt the economy, and do nothing to help our dependence on foreign oil. What we need is a long range energy plan that explores every possible energy source, but for a long time we will need oil, and I believe we should drill for our own instead of being dependent on countries that hate us for our future energy supplies.
"Man-made-disaster"
President Obama, now 57 days into this oil spill disaster is down in the Gulf proving that he is "engaged", while at the same time trying to determine "whose ass to kick". It's comforting to finally see our leader taking control of the situation. Not only is he now an expert on tar balls, but ate a shrimp salad for lunch yesterday to "prove" that seafood from the Gulf is safe.
Tonight he will address the nation and you can be sure that as Rahm Emanuel has said many times; "This administration will never let a crisis go to waste". And I predict Obama will use this crisis to try and push forward his global warming/climate change/energy bill and all the new taxes and government control that go along with it.
So this evening from the oval office we will have one "man-made-disaster" reporting to the nation on another "man-made-disaster".
Tonight he will address the nation and you can be sure that as Rahm Emanuel has said many times; "This administration will never let a crisis go to waste". And I predict Obama will use this crisis to try and push forward his global warming/climate change/energy bill and all the new taxes and government control that go along with it.
So this evening from the oval office we will have one "man-made-disaster" reporting to the nation on another "man-made-disaster".
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
"Did the Robot Plug the Hole Daddy?"
Now that Obama has had his photo op on the beach, and enjoyed his oil field "fifteen minutes of fame" last Friday as he showed us all what a tar ball looks like, it's time for him and the rest of the government to get the hell out of the way, and let the oil experts do their job.
As a former President of a company that pioneered underwater robotics, and someone that worked in that business for 30+ years, all I can say is what BP and their support companies are trying to do is amazing. Yes, the blowout should not have happened, and yes the oil spill is a once-in-a-lifetime disaster, and yes it will probably get worse. But it "is what it is" and the problem they are trying to solve one mile underwater with just robots, is truly impressive.
To put things in perspective, we have all seen astronauts leaving the space station on a 100 foot tether cable and working in a weightless environment. We have seen how difficult that is, and how long it took for the astronaut to do each task. Can you imagine trying to do what those astronauts have done, with just robots? And instead of the problem being 100 feet away, try solving it underwater and a mile below the control station.
The robots working on that oil leak are working in a weightless environment just like an astronaut, probably with not a lot of visibility, and the man operating the machine is a mile above and controlling everything while looking at a TV screen. The water temperature is freezing, and the water pressure is more that one ton on every square inch of that robot.
BP is to blame for this oil spill, and so are the drilling company and government regulators that monitor drilling operations, but instead of directing anger at the people that are trying to stop the oil leak we should be amazed at the technology that can even try to solve this problem, a mile underwater where no man, not even in the most sophisticated space suit could ever survive.
As a former President of a company that pioneered underwater robotics, and someone that worked in that business for 30+ years, all I can say is what BP and their support companies are trying to do is amazing. Yes, the blowout should not have happened, and yes the oil spill is a once-in-a-lifetime disaster, and yes it will probably get worse. But it "is what it is" and the problem they are trying to solve one mile underwater with just robots, is truly impressive.
To put things in perspective, we have all seen astronauts leaving the space station on a 100 foot tether cable and working in a weightless environment. We have seen how difficult that is, and how long it took for the astronaut to do each task. Can you imagine trying to do what those astronauts have done, with just robots? And instead of the problem being 100 feet away, try solving it underwater and a mile below the control station.
The robots working on that oil leak are working in a weightless environment just like an astronaut, probably with not a lot of visibility, and the man operating the machine is a mile above and controlling everything while looking at a TV screen. The water temperature is freezing, and the water pressure is more that one ton on every square inch of that robot.
BP is to blame for this oil spill, and so are the drilling company and government regulators that monitor drilling operations, but instead of directing anger at the people that are trying to stop the oil leak we should be amazed at the technology that can even try to solve this problem, a mile underwater where no man, not even in the most sophisticated space suit could ever survive.
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