Best Unasked Question For Presidential Debate

Since President Reagan’s famous “Star Wars” speech in 1983, the U.S. has spent at least $120 billion on missile defense making it the most expensive military procurement program in history. The Pentagon has requested another $62.5 billion. Particularly controversial is the proposal to establish missile defense in Europe with interceptors in Poland , a fixed radar in the Czech Republic , and a second portable radar somewhere in southeastern Europe (location TBD).

The premise behind the system proposed for Europe is to defend Europe against a missile attack from Iran which is code words for Russia , China or another rogue state or non-state.

Critics point out U.S. missile defenses can’t now deal with decoys and countermeasures or involving multiple missiles. They say an adversary willing to build more missiles could overwhelm what they call our “scarecrow defenses.” So, they reason enemies would be encouraged to build more missiles, and then the U. S. would build more anti-missile missiles, and so on and so forth.

What Obama or McCain would do about missile defense should be asked of them at the next presidential debate at Hofstra University , Wednesday evening.

Critics of the proposed system say it is causing the Cold War with Russia to reignite because the proposed U.S. missile defenses in Europe threatens it. They do not explain how a defensive system is a threat except it neutralizes Russia offensively, and proposed space-based missile defenses more so, as well as China .

How will the next U.S. president balance the need for Russian support in energy, in dealing with Iran and other difficulties in the Middle East , and with the threats from terrorism?

If elected president, will Senator McCain or Senator Obama forge ahead with missile defense over Russian objections? What is the risk in terms of military conflict with Russia ? Russia and China know the Space shuttle program ends in 2010 and will not be replaced for 5-years

Former Senator Sam Nunn has said it best: “National missile defense has become a theology in the United States , not a technology.” The next U.S. president will decide whether defense or offense are priorities, and if wrong a cataclysm could occur. Adversaries are betting on a U. S. retreat; allies fear it, and politicians avoid it.

BBC’s James Reynolds recently recalled this anecdote:

Right now, China might want to remember Cordelia Gummer.

In 1990 Britain was worried about infected beef and "mad cow disease". The government insisted that no-one need panic - Britain’s beef was fine.

In order to make the point in a dramatic way, Britain’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister John Gummer decided to feed his four-year-old daughter Cordelia a beefburger in front of the cameras. It was a slightly curious, much criticised and derided tactic.

Reynolds wondered whether any Chinese leaders would step up and drink a glass of milk to prove its safety.

None did. This, however, is close:

Via China Daily.

Every time I click on the picture it leads me to an article about China’s spacewalk, so here’s a screenshot for you:

Biden also said he opposes any new diplomatic or military actions against Iran.

Last Monday Israel’s Army Radio reported details of the alarming and revealing comments Biden made when he met with “senior Israeli officials behind closed doors” telling them to:

a.) accept a nuclear armed Iran;

b.) sanctions would do no good, and

c.) he “opposed additional military and diplomatic fronts against Iran.”

Israeli officials were understandably shocked by Biden’s comments. Biden is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee giving his comments additional importance because they reflect at least part of official U. S. policy.

Now, because Biden is Obama’s VP pick this is seen as a troubling signal of future acts. Obama continues to give mixed signals on the Iran threat. During the Democratic primary he argued for direct negotiations with Iran and to argue for his Rodney King-like foreign policy. Last Monday Obama said he would continue to use diplomatic means to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Obama has avoided making any suggestion the U.S. should take military action against Iran.

Within Israel, a consensus across the political spectrum has developed on the Iran matter. Iran’s president Ahmadinejad has stated that he will wipe Israel off the map, making clear his use weapons of mass destruction against the Jewish state.

Biden has been seen as pro-Israel, and his public statements conflict with the recently released “closed door” comments that most see as anti-Israel or even pro-Iran.

Other recent reports also contradict Biden’s pro-Israeli stance by tying him as “a great friend of the Mulahs” according to statements by Kaveh Mohseni of the anti-Iranian theocracy STUDENT MOVEMENT COORDINATION COMMITTEEE FOR DEMOCRACY IN IRAN. (SMCCDI) its website says consist of students inside and outside of Iran, as well as Iranian professionals who share the students’ vision of a free, independent, democratic, secular and industrialized Iran. The group is exiled and is headquartered in Texas and is one of the strongest anti-Iranian groups.

Mohseni has exposed numerous ties between Biden and Iran including accepting tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from pro-Iran individuals and groups with very close ties to Iran.

Includes excerpts from NEWSMAX.COM; Jerusalem Post and SMCCDI website.

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he number of Americans who believe getting the troops home from Iraq is more important than winning the war there has fallen below 50% for the first time since Rasmussen Reports began polling on the question in May. Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters still feel that way, while 42% place more importance on winning the war in Iraq.

Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans say that winning the war is more important and 72% of Democrats giving the higher preference to bringing the troops home. In recent weeks, Americans also have shown record confidence that the United States is winning the war on terror.

If Democrat Barack Obama wins, 63% say it is likely that U.S. troops will be home by the end of his first term, versus 38% who think that is likely if Republican John McCain gets elected president.

But 54% believe that the United States is likely to win the war in Iraq if McCain is elected, while only 25% think that is possible if Obama becomes the next president.

Americans also still trust McCain far more on national security issues than Obama. In the latest survey, the Republican leads 52% to 40%, up from the eight-point lead he held the week before.

Paris Hilton issued a ‘tart’ response to the McCain ad featuring her.

uring a “town hall” meeting last week at Baldwin Wallace College near Cleveland, Ohio a man wearing press credentials asked Barack Obama why he had not opened the meeting by leading the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance. Obama countered by asking the man to do it himself and he did.

Asked why he had interrupted the event, the man said: “He (Obama) said it was a town-hall meeting” and open to the public. He expressed dismay that Obama hadn’t called for the pledge himself, saying, “You all learned the pledge in the first grade.”

Obama’s staff said they did not know the man who was equipped with a “press badge” and carrying a professional looking telephoto lense and did not know what news organization he represented, if any.

In addition to reopening the “flag” issue raised earlier when Obama muffed his response as to why he was not wearing a flag lapel pin and later started wearing one.

The “reporters” question raises the question of whether or not Obama, who attended a Muslim and for two years a Catholic elementary schools from the time he was six in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is unlikely he learned the Pledge of Allegiance to the United State flag there. His step father was a Muslim and mother an avowed atheist or agnostic. His mother sent Barack back to the United States when he was 11 or 12 although that is unclear.

In 1988 Dukakis was defeated in part because he vetoed a bill requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance so the issue shouldn’t be dismissed. This incident is almost certain to resurrect a video clip of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in which Obama did not place his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem at a campaign event in Indianola, Iowa.

Monday in Independence, Mo. Obama went out of his way to make a point he will not permit criticism or even questioning of his patriotism and then inexplicably left the door wide open a day later in Ohio.

There is no evidence that the “reporter” was sent by anyone and Obama’s camp has not alleged that.

By Wednesday the McCain campaign was offering an Obama Tire Pressure gauge to anyone who contributed $25 to the campaign. Obama has said that inflating car tires could save more oil than can be produced from offshore drilling. Keeping tire properly inflated does save fuel and if everyone did so that amount could be saved but it would take from 110 to 180 years but such calculations about a “Drakes equation” equivalent of speculative logic.

hite House reporter Helen Thomas, the “Crazy Lady Who Won’t Stay in the Attic”, celebrated her 89^th birthday on August 4^th. Born in Kentucky in 1920 to Lebanese parents, reared in Detroit a 1942 Wayne State University graduate (then Wayne University) she has been a lifelong journalist. Thomas has covering the White House as UPI White House Bureau Chief for 25-years and Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H. W. Bush , Clinton and G. W. Bush with her signature “Thank you, Mr. President” closing every news conference.

A dedicated Democrat and self-avowed liberal she laments press corp efforts at unbiased, non-partisan coverage. Now in her dotage and long called the “Sitting Buddha” her increasing truculence and intransigence has consigned her to purgatory by the current White House, and to avoidance by many around Washington D. C. In July 18, 2006 she attacked the later White House Press Secretary Tony Snow demanding the U. S. intervene in the then Lebanese War provoking him to respond “Thank you for the Hezbollah view.”

Thomas developed a stomach infection in May 2008, and has not appeared in press conferences or written her weekly column since. She is expected to recover and return to work as the longest serving reporter to report on the White House in American history and will continue to try to gum conservatives to death.

Forty-six percent say affirmative action program discriminate against white men.

ard Connerly, the former University of California regent who is bankrolling the Arizona initiative and similar measures in Nebraska and Colorado to ban affirmative action is a black man who opposes affirmative action calling it counter productive.

The initiatives would amend the state constitutions to ban any hiring practices, university scholarships and other public programs that favor one group over others. Arizona and Nebraska officials are still verifying petition signatures while Colorado has the initiative slated for the November ballot.

Connerly’s group, the American Civil Rights Initiative, already has been successful with similar initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan. And he plans to continue four years from now in other states. Ultimately, Connerly said, “the goal is to try to get either the Supreme Court or the Congress to get the policy changed at the national level.”

Connerly said his ballot initiatives would attack programs like the Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise Program in Tucson. It allows minority and women-owned businesses to bid more for city contracts than other groups and requires prime contractors to make a serious effort to hire them for work.

“Those clearly would be outlawed,” Connerly said of the Tucson program. “Any standards that are applied to groups based on race. Any jobs where there are different standards for admissions.”

Connerly’s opponents in Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska criticize him for billing the initiative drive as a civil rights cause. They say thousands of voters were likely duped into signing petitions because the initiatives were described as a ban on discrimination instead of an attack on programs that help women and minorities.

Pro-affirmative action activists from Detroit have filed for an injunction in Arizona to keep the initiative off the November ballot.

Presumed Republican Presidential nominee John McCain focused national attention on Connerly’s efforts in late July, saying on ABC’s “This Week” that he endorsed the Arizona initiative — although he added that he had not read the details of the proposal.

An increasingly impotent and disfavored Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) declared last Wednesday he will sign no more bills until lawmakers pass a state budget, and the Legislature responded with a collective yawn and a few raspberries

hile most Democrats give her high marks for her conduct only 43% of Democrats say Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton to be his vice presidential running mate, although nearly the same number (42%) think she should be on the ticket. When likely Obama voters are asked, 40% favor choosing her, but 46% are opposed. Voters overall say no to a Clinton vice presidential selection 50% to 31%. In June 51% said Obama should pick her.

63% of Democrats – and 62% of all voters — think it is likely that Clinton will run for president in 2012 if Obama loses this November. Voters overall are skeptical – and evenly divided with 40% saying Clinton wants Obama to beat Republican John McCain, but 35% say she doesn’t.

Overall, voters by a 47% to 34% margin say Obama will do better against McCain than Clinton. Democrats agree – 56% saying Obama will do better, 34% that Clinton would. For half of unaffiliated voters (50%), Obama is the stronger candidate against McCain, but 31% of unaffiliated voters prefer Clinton.

Friday, August 8, 2008 Hillary Clinton made her first solo appearance on Obama’s behalf. The controversy over her statement her delegates should be heard at the Democrat Convention is still bubbling.

orty-eight percent told the Pew Research Center poll say they’re hearing too much about the Democratic candidate, according to a poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan center. Just 26 percent said the same about his Republican rival, John McCain.

According to an ongoing Pew study, Obama has appeared in more news stories this year and more people say they have heard more about him than McCain, the longtime Arizona senator who also ran for president in 2000.

Two-thirds of Republicans and about half of independents said they’ve heard too much about Obama, as did a third of Democrats, a significant number.

Nearly four in 10 said they’ve been hearing too little about McCain _ about four times the number who said so about Obama. About half of Republicans, four in 10 independents and even a quarter of Democrats said they’ve not heard enough about the GOP candidate.

Montgomery Scott, who played Scotty the engineer on Star Trek’s ship Enterprise wanted to have his asses launched into space but the rocket failed and he and 400 others’ asses plunged into the Pacific ocean.

ighty-seven percent (87%) of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain, while those who watch CNN and MSNBC plan to support Barack Obama in November 65% of CNN viewers and 63% of MSNBC.

52% of Americans say they watch local television news for information on the campaign at least several times a week, including 37% who say they watch it every day. Half (50%) say they watch cable news for that information during the week, including 26% who watch daily.

Those who watch local news every day support Obama over McCain 52% to 42%. But for those who say they watch several days a week but not every day, it’s McCain over Obama 50% to 43%.

Those who read a print newspaper during the week are fairly evenly divided. Among those who read the same papers online, Obama has the edge as do those who get their campaign information from online sources in general, again time spent is the key. Those who go online every day are evenly divided, but over half of those who go online one or more times a week plan to vote for McCain.

Talk radio is also McCain territory. More than 60% of those who listen at least several times a week plan to vote for the Republican versus less than a third who say they will vote for Obama. National security also polls as a much stronger concern among those who listen regularly to talk radio than it does to voters overall.

Those who watch the the three major television networks support Obama as follows: 70% of those who watch CBS’ Katie Couric every day plan to vote for Obama, as do 71% of the daily viewers of ABC’s Charles Gibson and 67% of those watching NBC’s Brian Williams. The bad news for Obama is when asked specifically about the networks and their star news anchors, well over half of Americans say they rarely or never watch Couric or Gibson for information on the presidential campaign. Just under half (49%) say they rarely or never watch Williams.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters believed that most reporters are trying to help Obama win the presidency. Only 14% thought they are trying to help McCain win.

Why did the 400 pound blue chicken cross the road near Kennewick, Washington? Nobody seems to know but would be thieves did but apparently gave up on stealing it and abandoned the effort.

he fear of violence by radical Muslims is provoking Random House to cancel publication of “The Jewel of Medina,” a debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, 46, was due to be published on August 12 and suspend an eight-city publicity tour that had been scheduled.

Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said in a statement the company received “cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.” He did not say from whom the “advice” was received.

The decision has sparked controversy on Internet blogs and in academic circles. Some compared the controversy to previous cases where portrayals of Islam were met with violence.

Protests and riots erupted in many Muslim countries in 2006 when cartoons, one showing the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban resembling a bomb, appeared in a Danish newspaper. At least 50 people were killed and Danish embassies attacked.

British author Salman Rushdie’s 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” was met with riots across the Muslim world. Rushdie was forced into hiding for several years after Iran’s then supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, proclaimed a death edict, or fatwa, against him. Rushdie autographed his latest book for me three weeks ago during a visit to Santa Barbara.

The novel traces the life of A’isha from her engagement to Mohammed, when she was six, until the prophet’s death. Jones said that she was shocked to learn in May, that publication would be postponed indefinitely.

“They did have a great love story,” Jones said of Mohammed and A’isha, who is often referred to as Mohammed’s favorite wife. “He died with his head on her breast.”

A Rhode Island man got more than he bargained for when he bought a used 2004 Ford Crown Victoria police car on an online auction from a Connecticut department – plastic bags of cocaine under the seats. Nobody knows how it got there – well somebody does but they ain’t talking.

n the 16 days between the time 4-year-old Jahmaurae Allen was beaten to death and Sacramento Child Protective Services publicly released portions of its records this week, the case file was altered to change the original finding in the case, The Bee has learned.

One early version of the report from the social worker, who began handling an allegation of abuse involving the 4-year-old on June 19, described the allegation as “unfounded,” two sources who read the document told The Bee this week.

Another version obtained by The Bee described the allegation of abuse of the little boy as “inconclusive.”

But the portions released by CPS to The Bee this week under a new public records law do not reflect either of those findings. Instead, those files indicate the allegations of abuse were “substantiated,” a finding listed as being “effective 7/21/08″ - the day Jahmaurae was beaten to death, allegedly by his mother’s live-in boyfriend.

A top county official said today she was unaware of the varying case files until The Bee raised questions, and that an inquiry had begun.

“We’re pulling computer records right now to find out what’s happened,” said Lynn Frank, director of the county’s Health and Human Services department, which oversees CPS.

The existence of differing versions of the case file sparked outrage among children’s advocates who work closely with the agency. Some had been instrumental in getting the new California law passed, which forces county child welfare agencies to open the files of children who die on their watch.

In an interview recorded by the BBC, in Africa, Bill Clinton told people there to practice monogamy, and that we need to control unprotected sexual relations with unlimited numbers of partners. The minute he said that, members of the Secret Service wrestled him to the ground and said, “Who are you, and what have you done with the real Bill Clinton?” - Leno

ormer Senator, Gore VP nominee and onetime Presidential wannabe John Edwards is a first class hypocrite admitting to a sexual affair with a campaign aide but denying he “knocked her up.” Edwards who is as popular around the Democratic Party now as dog poop on a dinner plate admitted to the sexual tryst after weeks of extravagant epithet laced denials.

Edwards confessed to his adulterous relationship with a campaign aide and admitted to visiting her at the Beverly Hilton Hotel a week ago to convince her to remain silent but, he said there was no pay off.

Turns out his campaign has been paying off the unemployed woman to the tune of $15,000 a month enabling her to rent a $3,000,000 homes in an exclusive gated community in Santa Barbara but Edwards “didn’t know about it.” Edwards now says he will take a paternity test.

In a further bizarre explanation on Saturday’s Good Morning America Edwards explained that he became a self-absorbed, narcissistic, nincompoop because of his success as a lawyer and politician. He says the sexual relationship with the aide ended in 2006 so he couldn’t possibly be the child’s father because the baby girl was born February 7, 2008 and the math doesn’t work. Edwards says he told his wife of 31 years in 2006 and she was furious which is about the only believable part of his fairy tale.

New Jersey’s fat cat has a home. A family in southern New Jersey will get the 44-pound “Prince Chunk” next week, according to the Camden County Animal Shelter. The shelter won’t disclose the family’s identity.The 44-pound abandoned cat named “Prince Chunk” made famous on shows like Regis & Kelly has a new home with a New Jersey family who will take custody next week. Authorities won’t say who or where the “kitty” will live.

atholics are overwhelmingly pro-life and anti-abortion and McCain has sprinted out to a 46-40% lead among them because of the abortion issue. So Obama is crafting a monster flip-flop to disguise and obscure his pro-abortion stance, and lure them to him.

It is an extravagant kabuki-like dance including resurrecting the politically excommunicated pro-life Governor Bob Casey in the person of his son to speak at this month’s Democrat Convention Democrats are trying to balance on an abortion knife’s edge.

Robert Patrick Casey, Sr. (January 9, 1932 – May 30, 2000), was Pennsylvania’s 44^th Governor (1987-1995) his son “Junior” a Pennsylvania Senator has been tapped to nail a still unmilled milled sorta-pro-life but still pro-abortion plank into the platform without upsetting the adamant left while tricking Catholics into supporting it.

Casey, Sr. lead the pro-life wing of the Democratic Party, and took the lead in fighting Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a major Supreme Court course case that upheld almost all the prohibitions on abortion that he signed into law. He was reviled, exiled and castigated for it.

In the biggest flip-flop yet Democrats are struggling with the issue to keep heavily Catholic States like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio from throwing the election to McCain.

Half of those under 15-years of age regularly watch extremely violent videos. 80% of black males of that age do.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777 making this the 231st anniversary.In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

George Morris of Hartford, Conn., is popularly given the credit of suggesting “Flag Day,” the occasion being in honor of the adoption of the American flag on June 14, 1777. The city of Hartford observed the day in 1861, carrying out a program of a patriotic order, praying for the success of the Federal arms and the preservation of the Union.

Flag Day is not an official federal holiday but a commemoration of the formal act of adopting the colors and design of the America flag.

The first American flag design that was displayed was a combination of the British flag and 13 stripes one for each of for the original colonies. It was displayed by General George Washington and American troops through out the Revolutionary War. Tradition says it was first raised aboard Continental Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins‘ flagship Alfred on the Delaware River on December 3, 1775, possibly (according to his claim) by the ship’s senior lieutenant John Paul Jones. That flag closely resembled the flag of the East Indian Company so a new design was sought.

A popular story credits Betsy Ross for sewing the first flag from a pencil sketch by George Washington who personally commissioned her for the job. However, no evidence for this theory exists beyond Ross’ descendants’ much later recollections of what she told her family. Another woman, Rebecca Young, has also been credited as having made the first flag by later generations of her family. Rebecca Young’s daughter was Mary Pickersgill, who made the Star Spangled Banner Flag.

In 1795 two stars and two stripes were added to the flag. It was this 25 stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled banner that became the national anthem. In 1818 it was decided on a 13 stripe flag with one star representing each state.

Many years ago I met a descendent of Mary Pickersgill, while working at ANDOVER-NEWTON who told me the story. I actually went to Betsy Ross’s home in Boston and ask about it- kind of “cool” reception. Later I was having lunch with a brilliant American history teacher at Bowdoin College (can’t recall his name) who told me Betsy Ross likely did NOT make the first flag but did get paid to make flags adn as such was American first flag maker but likely not the first to make the flag. He had a 15-star flag in his office and told me how the original flag from Fort McHenry. I saw that flag at Smithsonian, amd it had 15 stripes - I counted them.

According to the Library of Congress, “on June 10, 1898, U.S. Marines landed at Guantánamo Bay. For the next month, American troops fought a land war in Cuba that resulted in the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Western Hemisphere. Cuban rebels had gained the sympathy of the American public while the explosion and sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, widely blamed on the Spanish despite the absence of conclusive evidence, further boosted American nationalistic fervor.

Popular demand for intervention in the Cuban-Spanish conflict led Congress to pass resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Spanish armed forces from Cuba, authorizing U.S. aid to effect this, and promising American support for Cuban self-rule. Spain declared war against the United States on April 24, 1898, and the United States promptly replied with a counter-declaration.”

Learn more about that early projection of US Military power.

Certain confusion seems evident about the dates and who declared war when between the above description and the information contained in this additional very interesting link also from the Library of Congress.

History has been made, as the personally gifted and politically talented Obama, self appointed agent of “Change” has been proclaimed by news agencies as over the top in delegate count for the 2008 Presidential Nomination for the Democratic Party defeating the once seemingly certain nomination of Hillary Clinton.

While not ceding defeat her surrogates including husband Bill and Terry McAuliffe and others have signaled what can not be said while she is still trying to get a deal from Barack. That may be happening in back channels but it is not obvious that she will get what she wants anytime soon.

She wants to be offered or rejected for the VP slot and Obama will probably not make that decision soon. Hillary really has insufficient leverage to force him to accept her with Bills baggage right away at least.

Campaign funds are also likely on her mind as she and Bill have donated maybe $10 million or more to her campaign. Obama can arrange to have his campaign pay off her campaign debts, meaning she gets the money back.

On going power and presence at the top of the party hierarchy is also on her mind. If she isn’t VP, she could be in the cabinet, she could become Senate Majority Leader and she could have some “pocket vetoes” so anyone lobbying Obama for any position or appointment, will feel some pressure to lobby her at the same time.