Is it Morally Right to Use Drone Attacks Anywhere We Wish?

Are we now entering our sixth war? But who's counting? We have been using drones in Afghanistan and Iraq for a long time. But now they have been extended to Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and now Somalia. Apparently we can go anywhere we feel there are al-Qaeda, or their friends, and drop a drone on them, even in countries where we have not declared war. Or declared a non war like Libya, or no longer call for a victory, but a success according to the President's speech yesterday. The lines are getting greyer and greyer.

Last week we dropped drones on al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia making our territory now involving Somalia. The attack was actually against al-Shabab who it is believed they are co-ordinating with al-Qaeda. At Panetta's hearing to confirm him as CIA director, he said we are even looking at targets beyond Somalia.


It does make a mark on Obama as he once declared "I am the most anti-war candidate." Often complaining about Bush getting us into two wars. At least with Bush we knew kind of what he was going to do. But with Obama he drops drone attacks where ever he wants. I wonder why other countries don't trust us? Not thinking about is this morally right to drop these attacks on possible innocent civilians. What are we becoming America? Is this also a part of our sick society, that we can do whatever we want under the canopy of the terrorist war, or kinetic operation, or what ever we call it now? Pretty concerning.

Obama's Speech - Lays Hard on Republicans

The President lays it at the feet of the Republicans that it is their fault on no compromise on the Debt Reduction Plan. By not wanting to raise taxes once again on the rich, especially those with jet planes. Not talking much about how much he flies around with our jet plane, Air Force One. And to go after the oil companies by taking away subsidies. But that would only come back on tax payers to pay for discovery and reproducing of oil products

Asking about the Libyan war the President said he would not use the word victory for a win, but rather the word success. Either way just tell us you will lead us to a win in Afghanistan!!

Instead of talking about increasing small business he talks of infrastructure jobs such as roads and bridges, which God knows we need, but growing the government bigger and the government providing jobs will only put us in a deeper hole.

He did finally admit that regulations were harming the small business man and did speak of more monies to help them get a start. That comes out of our pocket also.

All in all he pretty much blamed the Republicans for not reaching a compromise, and called both sides irresponsible for not reaching a ending to the problem sooner, siting his children did better doing their homework. Maybe he could spend a little less time on the golf course himself, and the 35 campaign stops to raise money didn't help either. I don't think it would hurt him to spend more time either on this national problem.

Afghanistan Withdrawal-10,000 by Christmas

After ten years in Afghanistan all of us are wanting to leave. But is it too much too soon? Gen Petraeus has done a great job and really wanted more time to work his plan, and even the President admits this. But we have been there a long time and have only control of one tenth of the country. 1,500 of our precious treasure's have given their all and we have only praise and honor to give to them. We do not want their sacrifice to go to waste.

It is concerning, if we withdraw too soon, and allow Taliban to come back in and take control. The speech did seem political especially when the 33,000 will be withdrawn by September 2012. Right before the election. He is beginning to get pressure from the people as 56% want troops out. It is also interesting that 57% said it was good we went in. 

The battle to many is not yet won, and think it is too soon to talk withdrawal. That we are literally pulling the rug out from under Gen. Petraeus. It has a similar ring to it as the President also declared an end to the war in Iraq and yet we still have 100,000 troops in Iraq. He says we need to end the war responsibly, but other's say more important to end it successfully. We pulled out in the 80's under Reagan and war lords took over, and eventually Taliban came in.

Is the President looking out for himself politically or for us? Withdrawing before Petraeus is ready could be a serious mistake. Only time will tell. But for the time being 10,000 troops will be home for Christmas.

Is Kenneth Melson, ATF Acting Director the Sacrificial Lamb?

Is Kenneth Melson, acting director of Bureau Of Tobacco, Alchohol and Firearms {ATF} the one to take the blame for the now known Program of the Federal Government Operation Fast and Furious? Which sold 2,000 guns to the underground market , which in turn sold the guns to  Mexico's drug cartels? After being questioned they were not able to get an answer the other day in Congress, nor will we probably get to know the answer soon.

A bad idea that worsened when it became known that Patrol Agent Brian Terry's death was connected to  Project Gunrunner, a sister program to Operation Fast and Furious. We now know that more than 150 shootings are connected to these programs and that the government has divulged that they really don't even know where 2/3rds of the guns are.

Rep. Darrell Issa compared the scandal to Iran/Contra during the Reagan presidency.

By letting Melson take the rap, unless he talks, the public will have to be satisfied with the sacrificial lamb. And we may never know how far up the chain this went. This from the President who glowingly proclaimed in his run for the presidency, we will be the most transparent administration.

The President said in March. "There may be a situation here where a serious mistake was made. If that's the case then we will hold somebody accountable."

I doubt we will soon know the real truth as to who issued the Program Operation Fast and Furious, and for the moment we may have to be appeased by the sacrificial lamb who has been brought to make the atonement for some one's sins.

Father's Day - Another Day of Rememberance

I have for some time now been trying to think what are we going to do for Father's Day. How do you celebrate Father's day without him? And what are we going to do for Father's Day? I have to admit the last few weeks I have been a little down thinking about he isn't here, and we can't go a buy 
him anything.

Actually, I was thinking he's probably at peace and glad after all the father's day presents we have tried to give him. You have to admit, sometimes men are hard to buy for. Usually when I would bring it up he would say just get me some new underwear. Now, that is something I refuse to buy for a present. So, it became a joke between us. The kids would say, Mom, just buy him what he wants. It would be a few weeks after Father's day and I would find my gift stuffed away in a drawer. Him not wanting to tell me I didn't hit what he really wanted. I admit, I do have my list of failures. The spinning tie rack that took an hour to put up and broke immediately. Is it my fault he had over a hundred ties? And I still have them. The little containers I would buy for him to put is stuff in and he never used.The electric buffer for his shoes that didn't buff. One year I actually hit one and he said he actually liked it. I fell over. He said, I actually can use this and I like it. It was a mustache trimmer. I really didn't want to buy that, but that is what he wanted. The truth, what I wanted was for him to trim the mustache off. That didn't happen either.

Whatever you do be thankful if you still have your father and husband. Make sure to spend time with him and tell him you love him. That's all he really wants. Your visit or call, you can't give him anything greater.

Thank you my husband for all the years of love and support you gave your family. For instilling christian principles in our children that make them such strong people today. And most of all to teach them to serve God and put him first in your life. Happy Father's Day

Why Obama visited Puerto Rico - Florida, Florida, Florida

The President has studied his maps well and knows he cannot win the election with out the Florida vote. So he is going the extra mile and went to Puerto Rico. Not since 1961 when President John Kennedy went there has a president visited. Kennedy went there for another reason. But the Puerto Rican vote has always been a high denominator in Presidential elections.

There are 800,000 Puerto Ricans living in Florida, and they are not like the Puerto Ricans in the north, these in Florida can and do switch their vote often. Voting is very important with Puerto Ricans.

Not until election night 2012 will we find out if this extra effort paid off, but I am sure it made difference to some and may swing the vote his way, and could make a difference. This state right now it is not clear which way it will go, and will be pivotal in 2012.

New Hampshire Vote Crucial For Romney Campaign

A lot hangs in the balance for Mitt Romney tonight. New Hampshire is a keystone to his presidential election. Some say if he loses the Granite state primary again his campaign will fail.

The voters are not quite as picky this time around for the presidential election.  Most say no matter what we must beat Obama. For many this means they will vote for the front runner. Right now this is Romney's advantage. Even though he has the lowest percentage of the vote of any previous Republican front runner. His primary experience is his economic background and job creation ability. This is what the American public are, of course, most interested in this time around.

His Achilles heel of course is Romneycare, which closely resembles Obamacare. If he would renounce it his chances would rise, but he stands behind it.

This debate should be more interesting as we now have the heavyweights in, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rep Ron Paul. former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Senator Rick Santorum, and Georgian businessman Hermain Cain. John Huntsman decided not to come.

There still is a lot of concern that the candidates present a weak field, that remains to be seen. One who is a sleeper but could creep up is Tim Pawlenty. He is slowly coming up as more people hear him speak and learn his record. It is still anybodies party. And as one person put it, we still don't know who the American people will chose to send to the prom.

History of My Car's Accidents

Here is a brief history of my cars accidents. I might say before we got this car I never had an accident. That's why I say, it's the car.

First accident I backed into the church doors. I tried to straighten the car out, but that didn't work so I backed up and hit the doors again. My husband just stood there watching, when I got done and had finally got the car going, a kid standing by my husband said "I could have done better than that."

Second accident I was on I-94 headed for the Taste of Chicago. I was going about 60 mph when a thud came from the back of the car. I thought it was a tire blew or something like that. Then my daughter said, Mom I think that truck hit us. And that is what happened. There was so much traffic we couldn't even stop or get next to the edge of the road and the truck just kept driving. He hit us pretty hard, but fortunately I was able to maintain control of the car.

Third accident I was at a May Kay meeting. I came out and backed up and heard this crunching sound. I stopped. I never saw the car. It was a Directors car. Yes, I back into a pink Cadillac. These three accidents happend very close to each other. My body shop man said it was a secret between him and me. His lips were sealed.

Forth accident I went down town to a Karl Rove Book signing. Why he had it downtown I will never know. I knew I was in trouble when there were protester's outside the building. This prevented me from finding the garage to the building. I decided to find city parking. A few blocks away I saw a door, I drove up and honked like they told me to. I went inside and the garage went immediately down and the road curved. I tried to find a spot. It did  look close. Did I mention there were a lot of pillars . Yes, I hit the pillar. An attendant came and was yelling for me to stop. Did I hear him no. I tried to pull the car out of the spot and yes, hit another pillar. Now two or three attendants were yelling at me. They begged me to get out of the car and let them drive. I conceded. I still have the Karl Rove markings on my car. I show them to people, that is from when I went to see Karl Rove.

Fifth accident I hit a car from behind. I came down a hill. Two cars at a stop light and it turned green for some reason the first car stopped. Second car stopped. But I did not see they had stopped. People ask me why did he stop when the light was green? We will never know because he drove away. This happened in February. This was my worst accident. I just got my car back about a month ago.

And now last night a man hit me in a church parking lot. You can see the car has a history of accidents. When I call my agent, the secretary just says. it's Marna again. They know me well.

The Thing We Feared has Come to Happen-Egypt Legalizes Muslim Brotherhood

Remember during the Egyptian revolution many reported including Sean Hannity that the door would open for the Muslim Brotherhood. And the liberal left said, "you are prophets of doom, it won't happen."  But as Job said in Job3:25 "The thing I greatly feared is come upon me." Folks the thing we feared has come upon us. Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest and largest organisation, has been legally recognized and is called the Freedom and Justice Party of Egypt. It's name is deceiving and a total lie. It is nothing about freedom and the justice is Islamic law or Shariah. While they say they support democratic principles, their main thrust and reason for being is wrapped in their famous slogan "Islam is the Solution."

While Mubarak was in power they were banned and held down by The National Democratic Party of President  Mubarak. When the movement started out it was to spread Islamic morals and good works, it soon became political in taking out the British colonial control and ALL WESTERN INFLUENCE.

Now Egypt has set them up for a run in the parliamentary election in September. Built upon a social welfare network, they won 20% of the Parliament in 2005. For this fall , they hope to have candidates in half of Egypt's districts. The only thing they had to do to qualify as a party is under new regulations open their doors to Muslims, Christians and women. The party has at this time 9,000 members.

So did the revolution help, or make a worse Egypt? With our lack of help, we left them in the hands of those who are not so democratic, and opened the door for the Muslim Brotherhood to flood in.

Randy and Me Last Segment Randall Neil Ritchie Dec.18,1953-June 6, 2009

Continuing on up the coastal road we finally came to the Red Wood Forest. And there Dad was right, a tree we could drive the car through. These gigantic trees are really unforgettable. We hit a little before Christmas and were told about the yule log that is lit up and goes over Yosemite Falls. We stayed here the longest time of all and camped in several places. I remember running and playing until late at night and then Dad would build a big fire. Somewhere there was a park with swings, and lots of trails. But most of all the amazing trees. I liked this area the most, because we were free to run and play. There weren't that many quests this time of year, but of course there are bears and one time when we came home they were going along the camp ground trying to find crumbs. They went away the minute they saw the car. But this was a signal to Mom and Dad we needed to move on. I remember crying when we left the big trees and watching them disappear  from the back window as we drove away. I can see this quite clear in my mind even today, I didn't want to leave.

There was talk in the car about going up into Canada, but they decided another time. We did do this several years later. We went up into Oregon and saw Crater Lake. I remember the water was very blue and Dad said the lake was very deep. We camped a short time and decided to come back into California. On our way back we hit a very bad stretch of road going up hill. They were working on paving this area. but some of it was still dirt roads. Randy and I were in the trailer sleeping, or trying to sleep. The trailer was slanted and you could hear Dad having some trouble with the road. It started raining very hard. I wanted our parents, this was a little scary. You could tell Dad was having a hard time making it up the steep slope. We hit something, a rut or whatever and all this stuff started falling on us. Our parents had stored items up above us. The door came open and everything started falling on us. Finally I had it and used the big flashlight Dad had given to make a signal. I was flashing it like crazy trying to get their attention. Dad came and we got in the car. They made a new rule, no more sleeping in the trailer while traveling.We drove all night and I remember waking up and my mother was upset. I was only eight, but I kind of realized the problem.

Dad had been driving a long time, trying to get us as close to L.A. as he could but we were still pretty far. Mom was wanting to stop because it was getting towards evening. Finally, Dad got out of the car mad. Dad did have a flash temper. Although he never harmed me with it. But it was scary at times. My mother turned to me and told me there was no money left. Dad had used it all up on the trip. Today was Randy's birthday and she wanted us to stop and eat. Even though I was pretty little, I understood pretty well what she was telling me and I was scared.

Dad returned, and had a little bag. I have told this story before. Dad opened the bag and inside were Hostess Twinkie cupcakes and some candles. Dad took the candles and stuck them in the cupcakes. We all laughed. We lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday to Randy. I always remember this birthday although Randy had many more and much nicer. And how Dad taught us you really don't have to have very much to have a birthday. He had also bought some cheap toys and Randy and I played with them until we stopped for the night.

The next few months we ended up living right along the ocean, where we could play in the ocean every day. Dad finally had to call my Grandmother and she sent us money to come back to Denver. She was furious when she found out I had been out of school for most of the year. She went and put me in school. But I was too far behind and had to take the year over the next year.

Dad is right, I remember this year of my childhood more than any other part and have had the memories of this trip in my heart and now finally get to share it with other's. Maybe it was right, maybe it was wrong, but I have learned as an adult, sometimes you have to throw fate to the wind and take off and do something you never dreamed you could do. I think that is what my Dad did, and I am glad for it.

Will Deadly E-Coli Come to America?

The threat is growing more serious that this could possibly come to America. Ten countries in the EU now have cases the most serious being Germany. 18 deaths and 1700 cases have now been diagnosed. They believe it is coming from raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Many of the cases have developed kidney complications that can become deadly.

From  laboratory in Shenzgen said " the strain seems to be a combination of two E-Coli.  WHO told Associated Press. "the new strain has various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin producing" than the many E-coli  strains people naturally carry in the intestines.

Russia extended a ban on vegetables and many in the EU  are following. Symptoms are aches and pains in the stomach, bloody stools, neurological symptoms, numbness in limbs. Only course of treatment are blood plasma transfusions and antibiotics.