Let's Call for a Strike By Secret Ballot - What to Do About Iran

Well, I see that employees can now vote by secret ballot if they'd like to form a union at a company, and therefore take it over, hold it all for ransom, and perhaps change the entire dynamics of a business that's many decades old. Well, if employees can vote by secret ballot, why can't the U.S. Congress do the same thing when it comes to the proper solution for Iran?

It is amazing to me how many articles I've seen in the various national newspapers, and how many segments on TV with regards to Iran's nuclear weapons program. You see this has been going on for over 10 years, and all the suddenly the media is interested in it again. Why is that you ask? Is Israel and their influences in the global media behind some of this? Is the Obama Administration finally ready to act and get serious about it, and therefore they are planting stories in the media?

Is it the Republicans and the GOP, as they realize this is also a campaign issue, and that since the Obama Administration has faltered on their duty to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, that they are pushing and prodding the media to do more stories on this? Is it Iran its self which is getting giddy because it's getting so close to having their first nuclear weapon that they are suddenly emboldened to talk about it?

Is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia making waves through the back door of the Obama Administration to get the US to do something; increase sanctions, or even do a preemptive strike? Is it all of these things and are people just now realizing that the IAEA report, the NIE, and the UN have finally come to terms that the international community has reached the end of the line in their diplomatic efforts, and realize we've reached political impasse? It seems to me that it is some of all of these things, and each side probably has their own agenda and point.

Foreign Affairs had an interesting article in it the other day titled; "Why Obama Should Take Out Iran's Nuclear Program - The Case for Striking Before It's Too Late" by Eric S. Edleman, Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. and Evan Braden Montgomery which was published on November 9, 2011. Amongst many other key points of contention and factors the article noted;

"The closer Iran gets to acquiring nuclear weapons, the fewer options will be available to stop its progress. At the same time, Iran's incentives to back down will only decrease as it approaches the nuclear threshold. Given these trends, the United States faces the difficult decision of using military force soon to prevent Iran from going nuclear, or living with a nuclear Iran and the regional fallout."

Even the RAND Think Tank came out with a new report just the other day on what to do about the situation calling for sanctions of the central bank, and the challenges of a preemptive strike by the US, Israel, and reciprocal responses from Iran or vice versa.

The reality is this is a very serious issue and it's time to do something about it. If the Obama Administration cannot make a decision (voting present), then maybe they are unfit to lead, and in essence, and I hate to go so far as to say this, but in some regards they are; aiding and abetting the enemy for their failure to protect the United States, our troops in the region, our allies and partners, and our interests. Seriously, shouldn't we be thinking here?

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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In Connecticut, Big Races on the Ballot - New York Times

Those are just some of the themes in play as voters in Connecticut head to the polls on Tuesday.

Connecticut residents are choosing a new United States senator and a new governor, along with a new attorney general, comptroller and secretary of state. They will also decide whether to re-elect the state’s five members of Congress, many members of the State Legislature and the state’s treasurer.

Democrats have historically fared well, but in a volatile year, with Republicans poised to make big gains nationwide because of anger over the economy, many political analysts caution that anything can happen.

Here is a summary of the major contests.

Senate

Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, has led in the polls over Linda E. McMahon, the Republican, in the most expensive Congressional race in the country. So far, Ms. McMahon, a former executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, has poured in $42 million, and Mr. Blumenthal an additional $6 million.

Mr. Blumenthal, the state’s attorney general, has been a popular figure for decades, but he stumbled after The New York Times reported that his claims about having served in Vietnam during the war were not true.

Even so, female voters, in particular, have been turned off by the sheer volume of Ms. McMahon’s advertising (one facetious billboard on Interstate 95 reads, “Linda: Because She’s Bought Everything Else!”) and by her ties to an unsavory industry. Small wonder, then, that Ms. McMahon has recently sought to soften her image, first with a minutelong advertisement in which she says, humbly, that “I’m running because I’ve lived through some of the same hardships many of you are facing,” then with an advertisement featuring her daughter.

Governor

Dannel P. Malloy, the Democratic nominee to succeed the departing Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, has led in the polls against Thomas C. Foley, the Republican. Mr. Malloy was until recently the longtime mayor of Stamford and was closely associated with its revival. Even Mr. Foley, whose campaign headquarters are located there, acknowledged in his first televised debate with Mr. Malloy that Stamford was a great city.

In a race marked by few mistakes, Mr. Foley, a wealthy businessman, has remained within striking distance. He has outspent Mr. Malloy by almost two to one, mostly with his own money, and offered a business-savvy, cost-cutting pitch. He has benefited from concern among some voters over making Hartford, where the Legislature is controlled by Democrats, a one-party town.

Mr. Malloy has also been hurt, perhaps, by an issue on the minds of many Connecticut voters this year: the death penalty. The state has been riveted by the trial of Steven J. Hayes, who was convicted last month for participating in a home invasion in Cheshire, in which a woman and her two daughters were killed. Mr. Foley supports the death penalty, and for this particular case, so do most Connecticut residents. Mr. Malloy, a former Brooklyn prosecutor, opposes it.

House

Two seats that were recently claimed by young Democrats, swept into office by anti-Bush and pro-Obama sentiments, could return to Republican hands. Like so many Congressional races nationwide, they have become plebiscites on Washington.

In the state’s Fourth Congressional District, which is dominated by the suburbs of Fairfield County and the industrial city of Bridgeport, Representative Jim Himes, a freshman Democrat, is trying to fend off a spirited challenge from State Senator Dan Debicella. Mr. Debicella has sought to tie Mr. Himes to Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, while toning down his credentials in the Legislature as a conservative favored by groups that oppose abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Mr. Himes, meanwhile, has positioned himself as an independent, and supports a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which disproportionately affect his district.

In the state’s Fifth Congressional District, which covers the northwestern part of the state, Representative Christopher S. Murphy, a Democrat who won in 2006, is battling Sam S. F. Caligiuri, a Republican state senator who has benefited from a large infusion of advertisements from outside groups. Once again, the candidates have sparred over national issues like health care, the economic stimulus and debt.

In contrast to the relative civility of the Himes-Debicella matchup, this race has been nasty. One advertisement from Mr. Murphy that was eventually taken down tried to link Mr. Caligiuri to Philip A. Giordano, the former Waterbury mayor who is serving a 37-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two young girls.

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