Obama Administration Cancels Missile Defense Program on 70th Anniversary of Soviet Invasion of Poland: Timing of Announcement SUCKED

Poland is reacting very badly to the cancellation of the U.S. missile shield that would have been partially based on Polish territory.

For whatever reason, the Obama Administration decided to announce the change in plans on a dark day in Polish history: the 70th anniversary of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, which lead to decades of eventual Soviet rule, once the Nazis were driven from Poland.

The Poles are still very sensitive to the symbolism of this day, and our government chose this day, out of 365 days available in the year, to leave the Poles feeling like we're abandoning them. Again.

Couldn't they have chosen a better day?

President Obama Shouldn't Use Last Administration's Poor Spending Record to Justify His Own: Make Some Cuts

President Obama made the statement during his speech to Congress that he had a $1 trillion deficit as soon as he walked through the doors of the White House due to the last Administration's spending spree, including invading Iraq, etc. And the Democrats in Congress cheered.

Yet this is the same President Obama whose Office of Budget and Management says will add another $10 trillion in debt by the end of his two terms in office, at a minimum.

We're looking to President Obama to restore financial sanity in Washington, not use excuses like he made before Congress (see the first paragraph) to engage in his own budget-busting spending spree.

Someday a President will be forced to make catastrophic cuts in order to keep the country out of bankruptcy. And those cuts will be massive, and painful. It would be better to make cuts now and keep from reaching that point.

President Obama needs to shift gears, put the health care stuff on the back burner, and make some cuts. Get the budget under control and reduce the debt before adding more to it via this costly health care proposal that Obama is keen on passing.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Twists Things Around: Representative Was Correct in Pointing Out Loophole, Though His Approach to It Was Highly Inappropriate

I was just flipping through the channels and stopped on MSNBC when I saw that Rachel Maddow was doing some commentary on the "You Lie!" situation in Congress. She got a couple of points incorrect.

The situation started when President Obama was making his speech to a joint session of Congress on Congress's health care bill, when Representative Wilson, reacting to a statement that President Obama made during the speech regarding whether this plan would cover illegals, stated that it wouldn't.

That was when Representative Wilson stated that Obama had lied, which lead to a huge political storm in Congress, which lead to Representative Wilson calling the White House before midnight on that evening to apologize.

It was a tactless statement on his part, but then news broke that the Democrats were closing a loophole that Representative Wilson was aware of, and was reacting to when Obama made his incorrect statement. A loophole is a loophole. Congress is notorious for creating loopholes in legislation, which leads them to go back and take care of it later on.

In this case, the GOP had tried to amend the problem twice, but both amendments were rejected by the majority Democrats.

Rachel Maddow stated that Congress was taking action to make sure that the "make believe" loophole would address his issue. That's pure political commentary based that is being parroted by the liberal media, who don't see it as a problem. That's nothing more than the liberal press imposing their views on things, nothing more.

Congress needs to close these loopholes.

I don't think Wilson won; decorum should be maintained. His apology was correct.

And if it wasn't a loophole, then why are the Democrats bothering to fix it?

Soviet Buran Space Shuttle Could Be Revived to Replace Retiring American Space Shuttle Program

This news report appeared in Russia Today and has sci-fi fans positively drooling. Russian and American scientists are looking at reviving the Soviet-era Buran space shuttle program to replace the retiring American space shuttle program.

The Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor are to be retired in 2010; the Orion orbiter is not expected to get off the ground until at least 2014, and is already rumored to be on the Obama Administration's list of programs to be cut.

(Adjust your volume downward at the beginning of this report, then adjust it to your comfort level).

If they can modernize the Buran design with today's technology, it would solve a lot of issues and could get off the ground relatively quickly. Buran had a larger cargo capacity as it didn't have a need for it's own engines--the Energia booster rocket provided more than enough lift to launch it into space.

Since the original Buran was destroyed in a hangar collapse in 2002, they would have to restart the program from scratch.

This probably won't happen, but it's a fascinating scenario. I like the idea.

Presidential Advisers Should Go Through Stronger Vetting Process: Current System Allows Unqualified Candidates to Advise the President

One of the most perplexing parts of the government is the Executive Office of the President, which was created in 1939 by FDR, and continues to this day. The advisers are appointed by the President and under the day-to-day management of the Chief of Staff.

The appointees are not subject to Congressional review, which I'm uneasy with. These people are advising the President.

The President's cabinet officers do require confirmation by a simple majority vote of the Senate. But this is a separate body of politicians than the Executive Office of the President. The media has taken to referring to these advisers as "czars."

The offices that are in the Executive Office of the President are:

• Council of Economic Advisers
• Council of Environmental Quality, which has been in the news quite a bit lately with one of the appointees resigning under fire due to his radical communist views.
• Council on Women and Girls
• Domestic Policy Council
• National Economic Council
• National Security Council (Congress should definitely have some input here as the last several appointees by the last three Administrations were not so hot).
• Office of Administration
• Office of Management and Budget
• Office of National AIDS Policy
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Office of the Trade Representative
• President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
• President's Intelligence Advisory Board (should be combined with the NSA)
• White House Military Office (position vacant due to Air Force One flyover of New York and subsequent resignation of the chair).
• White House Office

Each of these departments have sub-departments, so it's a pretty complex system. And very few are vetted by Congress. And in the case of Van Jones, the former "Green Czar," he didn't fill out the 63 question background questionnaire, which would hopefully have lead someone to raise some red flags.

The system needs to be strengthened, and background checks need to be performed. Or they should be voted on by Congress, following a question-and-answer session by a select committee.