feed://ewross.com/rss.xml Columns by Ed Ross at EWRoss.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit RSS Feed Creator Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:55:08 -0500 http://www.ewross.comhttp://ewross.com/EWRoss.jpg"Seek truth from facts", a Chinese expression that dates from the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 25 AD) and used by Deng Xiaoping to reclaim China from Mao Zedong's destruction, should be the Republican Party's campaign slogan in 2012. President Obama and the leadership of the Democratic Party seek to create truth from campaign rhetoric, fear, and deception. If the Republican presidential nominee and candidates down the ticket simply and clearly present the facts and conservative policies they won't abandon in office, Republican candidates will win in a national landslide.http://ewross.com/seek_truth_from_facts.htmSun, 29 Jan 2012 10:55:08 -0500 There is an interesting correlation between the most successful presidents over the past 80 years and those that have had extramarital affairs. Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and Bill Clinton all had extramarital affairs before or during their terms of office. Only Ronald Reagan appears to be the exception to the rule. Is it any wonder that voters may be willing to overlook Newt Gingrich's affair?http://ewross.com/successful_presidents_and_extramarital_affairs.htmSun, 22 Jan 2012 12:41:07 -0500 In every American war there have been those few that will urinate on enemy corpses or degrade and abuse enemy detainees. War is hell, and it can bring out the worst in people. But do those who behave badly do so because of the stresses of combat or because of a propensity for such behavior before they entered the military? As a Vietnam War combat veteran, I can testify that both are true; but instances of the latter, in my opinion, outnumber the former as American men and women in uniform bring with them their personal moral and ethical bearings.http://ewross.com/why_some_american_warriors_behave_badly.htmSun, 15 Jan 2012 11:41:37 -0500 Following the 2008 election Americans learned a great deal more about the man they elected president than they knew about him when they voted for him. The 2012 election will tell us more about ourselves than the man we elect as our president, no matter who he is.http://ewross.com/what_the_2012_election_will_tell_us_about_ourselves.htmSun, 08 Jan 2012 11:51:53 -0500 How is it that Stalinist North Korea continues to survive into the 21st Century when its communist-sister nations evolved? North Korea, now under Supreme Leader number three, Kim Jong-un, is the dinosaur that won't go extinct. The answer is that China nurtures and protects North Korea, preferring it the way it is; and until the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) becomes a greater liability to China than an asset, it will continue to exist as a throwback to another era. The goal of U.S. North Korea policy, therefore, should be to hasten that day.http://ewross.com/the_north_korea_conundrum.htmSun, 01 Jan 2012 13:15:02 -0500 Each of us who celebrate Christmas in America, at one time or another as December 25 approaches, thinks about Christmases past, present, and future. We string Christmases past together in our minds as if they were bulbs on an old strand of Christmas lights. There are those that glow dimly or not at all because they hold unhappy memories; and there are those that glow brightly with happy ones. We wonder how brightly Christmas present will glow when it becomes a Christmas past and how many more bright bulbs we'll add to the string.http://www.ewross.com/christmases_past_present_and_future.htmSun, 18 Dec 2011 12:00:47 -0500 On December 27, 2011, if it isn't cancelled for lack of participants, Donald Trump is scheduled to moderate the Newsmax ION Television Republican Presidential Debate in De Moines, Iowa. The jury is out on whether Trump's P.T. Barnum approach to the 2012 presidential election ultimately will help or hurt Republicans. What's clear is Trump and P.T. Barnum have a lot in common; and "The Donald's" approach to the upcoming presidential election is right in tune with the three-ring circus Barnum invented and American presidential elections have become.http://www.ewross.com/to_trump_or_not_to_trump_that_is_was_the_question.htmSun, 11 Dec 2011 11:01:30 -0500 Newt Gingrich is the shooting-star-of-the-month Republican candidate for president. He's proclaimed himself the front runner based on the polls; and it must be true because all the other Republican candidates have begun criticizing him. But can the chubby, twice divorced, former Speaker of the House with an attitude and a record in politics longer than Moses' trek in the desert win the Republican nomination and the 2012 election? The answer to both questions is yes, and here's why.http://ewross.com/can_newt_gingrich_win_the_nomination_and_the_election.htmSun, 04 Dec 2011 11:37:00 -0500 Is it any wonder why many high-profile Democrats, including President Obama, have supported and defended the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement and continue to do so? It holds out the promise of a return to the heady and influential days of the anti-Vietnam War movement where Democrats, now in their 50s and 60s, cut their teeth. They see it as a tool to rally frustrated Americans to support them in the coming elections. Unfortunately, the OWS protesters are unguided missiles that haven't lived up to Democrat's expectations and expose the weakness of their fundamentally-transform-America argument.http://www.ewross.com/democrats_support_for_ows_and_nostalgia_for_the_anti-vietnam_war_movement.htmSun, 27 Nov 2011 13:37:24 -0500 Budget cuts already proposed by President Obama and those that could take effect if the "supercommittee" in Congress fails to agree on $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction could cut the defense budget more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, devastating U.S. military capabilities. The Congress, as currently configured, is unlikely to allow such deep cuts in defense; but that doesn't mean they eventually won't happen. Despite our debt, America still has vast resources, but there's growing disagreement on what we should spend them on, what threatens us, and the missions the U.S. armed forces should undertake, with one side of the argument wanting to cut America down to size.http://www.ewross.com/cutting_defense_and_america_down_to_size.htmSun, 20 Nov 2011 12:07:32 -0500 Recent media stories tell of an internal Israeli government debate over attacking Iran's nuclear weapons program as an International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) report says that Iran could soon have its first nuclear weapon. Taking out Iran's dispersed nuclear-weapons-related installations--many of which are deep underground--is a difficult task; and Iranian retaliation on Israel and U.S. forces in the region could set off a destructive and costly war. Nevertheless, military action by Israel and or the United States is rapidly becoming the only option, after sanctions and covert action have failed to do the job.http://www.ewross.com/military_strike_on_iran_rapidly_becoming_only_option.htmSun, 13 Nov 2011 11:55:24 -0500 To paraphrase an old Kingston Trio song: They're rioting in Greece, they're occupying America. There's unrest in China, and Middle East hysteria. The whole world is festering with unhappy contrarians The Islamists hate everyone, everyone hates Americans Palestinians hate Israelis, someone hates the Dutch. And no one likes anybody very much. Amidst all this chaos, Americans want a president that will restore order, prosperity, and national security. It's difficult to imagine how we can elect the right person, however, when we spend more time focusing on form than substance.http://www.ewross.com/theyre_rioting_in_greece_theyre_occupying_america.htmSun, 06 Nov 2011 12:10:53 -0500 Karl Rove has many critics. Most are Democrats that were on the losing side of political campaigns Rove managed. More recently, his critics include Republicans like Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain that believe Rove has unfairly criticized them for his own political purposes. So does Rove have a secret agenda--declared and potential Republican candidates he wants to help or hurt--or is he providing objective analysis that the Republicans he criticizes don't want to hear?http://www.ewross.com/karl_roves_secret_agenda.htmSun, 30 Oct 2011 11:47:31 -0400 There's an obvious difference between SEAL Team 6 putting a bullet in Osama Bin Laden's head and Libyan rebels summarily executing Muammar Qaddafi after capturing him. Killing a terrorist with hunter-killer teams, or with precision-guided munitions as the CIA did with Anwar Al Awlaki, have become common occurrences. Ample legal precedent supports killing illegal enemy combatants in time of war. There is no legal precedent, internationally or otherwise, for the summary execution of a captured Qaddafi, nor is overlooking it consistent with the "American values" we've heard so much about with regard to the George W. Bush administration's conduct of war on terror.http://www.ewross.com/killing_qaddafi.htmSun, 23 Oct 2011 13:17:00 -0400 The revelation by Attorney General Eric Holder that elements of the government of Iran were behind a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubier, with an explosive device in a crowded restaurant and set off bombs at embassies in Washington, D.C., takes Iranian provocation of the U.S. to a whole new level. It's time for The U.S. to go beyond sanctions and do what's necessary to bring about a change of government in Iran.http://www.ewross.com/its_time_to_do_whats_necessary_to_deal_with_iran.htmSun, 16 Oct 2011 12:06:38 -0400 Last week was a mind-numbing time for people like me who are addicted to politics and the news. My iPhone alerted me to genuine "Breaking News" stories so frequently that I could hardly keep up with them. Then on Friday, I turned off my iPhone and my iPad, donned my tuxedo, and walked my daughter down the asile at her wedding. Sitting at my computer the day after, I thought about what's really important in life and how my daughter's marriage renewed my faith in America.http://www.ewross.com/renewing_my_faith_in_america.htmSun, 09 Oct 2011 15:17:35 -0400 I support the death penalty. I believe it serves the purpose of justice in a democratic society. Nevertheless, I wouldn't try to persuade anyone who conscientiously opposes it to change their mind. Nor would I actively oppose replacing the death penalty with life in prison without possibility of parole if that's what a majority of a state's citizens or the U.S. Congress in federal cases voted for—as opposed to having state courts declare it unconstitutional. Thirty-four states, the federal government, and the U.S. military still have the death penalty. Does this mean I don't have strong views on the death penalty or an opinion about the Troy Davis case? Absolutely not.http://www.ewross.com/the_death_penalty_troy_davis_and_justice.htmSun, 25 Sep 2011 11:07:45 -0400 In the early 1950s, one of the great debates in Washington, D.C., was over "Who lost China?" It was a highly charged and deadly serious partisan-political blame game to fix responsibility for allowing the Chinese Communist to seize control of China and drive the government of the Republic of China (ROC) to the island of Taiwan (Formosa). The world is vastly different now than it was then; but when it comes to finger-pointing, Washington, D.C. is not; and the seeds of a "who-lost-Taiwan" debate have been planted.http://www.ewross.com/who_lost_taiwan.htmSun, 18 Sep 2011 09:24:49 -0400 Consider the speech given by President Barack Obama before a joint session of Congress Thursday evening along with the one Sarah Palin gave at a Tea Party rally in Indianola, Iowa, the Saturday before. President Obama, a gifted orator, delivered his "jobs plan" with eloquence, passion and determination. Still, even with sweeteners intended to attract Republican support, it set forth the same failed ideas he's pursued for the previous 961 days. Sarah Palin, with her high-pitched voice and quirky Alaskan pronunciation of certain words, "delivered a devastating indictment of the entire U.S. political establishment--left, right and center--and pointed toward a way of transcending the presently unbridgeable political divide."http://www.ewross.com/a_tale_of_two_speeches_obama_oratory_vs_the_palin_paradigm.htmSun, 11 Sep 2011 12:22:54 -0400 To say that 9/11 changed America is a gross understatement. It could well prove to be the lynchpin in a series of events that will determine the course of American history in the 21st century. Like the aggression and rise of nationalism in the early 20th century, which led to World War I, World War II, and the Cold War with it's Korean and Vietnam wars, the 9/11 attack and the Islamic Jihadism that spawned it will have lasting and profound effects on America for generations.http://www.ewross.com/the_legacy_of_9-11_is_about_much_more_than_terrorism.htmSun, 04 Sep 2011 12:03:06 -0400 How many times have you heard someone say, "I like Sarah Palin, but I could never vote for her for president"? If Gov. Palin jumps into the presidential race next month as most now expect, how can she change the minds of enough people who think this way to win the Republican Party's nomination and, if so, the general election?http://www.ewross.com/i_like_palin_but_i_would_never_vote_for_her_for_president.htmSat, 27 Aug 2011 23:43:35 -0400 Western civilization is coming apart at its seams, the United States is on the verge of a depression, the Arab world is in turmoil, and Iran is about to produce a nuclear weapon. But don't concern yourself with these problems; they are the least of our worries. According to a recent study by Seth Baum and Jacob Haqq-Misra of Penn State University and Shawn Domagal-Goldman of the NASA Planetary Science Division, "extraterrestrial environmentalists could become so angry about what we have done to the planet that they may see us as a threat to the intergalactic ecosystem--and take action by attacking Earth."http://www.ewross.com/attack_of_the_global_warming_crusader_extraterrestrials.htmSun, 21 Aug 2011 10:54:31 -0400 Spontaneous and not-so-spontaneous urban riots are not uncommon in the United States. Class-warfare riots reminiscent of the French Revolution like those taking place in Britain, however, are not an American phenomenon; but are they about to become one? From the 1909 Greek Town riots in Omaha to the 1965 Watts and 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, U.S. riots have occurred when incidents involving ethnicity or race have set off pent-up anger and frustration. They got out of hand when people took advantage of those situations to loot stores and attack innocent victims.http://www.ewross.com/will_riots_like_the_ones_in_britain_soon_happen_in_the_us.htmSun, 14 Aug 2011 12:22:04 -0400 I begin my radio show every Sunday evening, ". . . coming to you live from the outskirts of the hub of Western Civilization." The hub of Western Civilization, of course, is Washington, D.C., on the outskirts of which I have lived for the past 32 years. Indeed, it is the most powerful city, not only in the West, but in the entire world. I fear, however, I will live to see the day when it is no longer.http://www.ewross.com/from_the_outskirts_of_the_hub_of_western_civilization.htmSun, 07 Aug 2011 12:30:01 -0400 Every time there's a mass shooting, whether it takes place in the United States or in a foreign country like the one at Norway's Utøya youth camp, it sparks a debate among Americans over guns and the Second Amendment. Gun-control advocates' principal argument is a familiar one. Shooters access to and use of firearms are prima facie evidence of the need for stricter gun-control laws. The lesson we should learn from the Norway shootings, however, is not that more gun control would make us safer--Norway has very strict gun-control laws--but that strict gun-control laws are more likely to result in higher death tolls in mass shootings. http://www.MyWebSite.com/item.htmlhttp://www.ewross.com/the_lesson_we_should_learn_from_the_norway_shootings.htmSun, 31 Jul 2011 11:13:58 -0400 Washington, D.C., these days is a lot like Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881. Two headstrong groups that deeply distrust each other are engaged in a conflict for power and influence that inevitably will result in a historic showdown. That showdown may or may not come on August 2, 2011, when Congress must raise the debt ceiling. More likely, it will come on Election Day 2012. But as sure as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral determined the future of Tombstone, the showdown at the default corral will determine the future of the United States of America.http://www.ewross.com/showdown_at_the_default_corral.htmSun, 24 Jul 2011 11:05:26 -0400 If you are even a little bit confused about what's truth, what's political propaganda, and who's winning the argument in the debate over raising the national debt limit, you're not alone. The facts that most everyone can agree on are that the national debt is over $14 trillion. Given current trends, spending will exceed 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and will hover around 22.5 percent for the next five years. The spending spree began under President George W. Bush and got much worse under President Barack Obama. That's where the consensus ends.http://www.ewross.com/raising_the_debt_limit_separating_fact_from_fiction.htmSun, 17 Jul 2011 11:25:14 -0400 Attorney General Eric Holder is determined to prosecute unlawful enemy combatants (UECs) captured overseas in U.S. federal courts. And he has decided to do so with Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali national accused of terrorism captured in the Persian Gulf region in April and detained aboard a U.S. Navy ship. Bipartisan action in Congress prevented the Obama administration from trying terrorists held at Guantanamo in U.S. federal courts. Now Congress must close the loophole in the law to prevent Holder from trying UECs held on U.S. Navy ships in federal court.http://www.ewross.com/holder_determined_to_prosecute_uecs_in_us_federal_courts.htmSun, 10 Jul 2011 11:12:29 -0400 Every Forth of July American patriots celebrate much more than Independence Day. We celebrate our political heritage, our freedom, and American Exceptionalism. This year, however, if the findings of a new Harvard University study are true, Democrats may wish to avoid the parades and fireworks displays. According to the study; "Fourth of July celebrations in the United States shape the nation's political landscape by forming beliefs and increasing participation, primarily in favor of the Republican Party." I'm a conservative Republican, but the patriot in me compels me to rise in defense of Democrats.http://www.ewross.com/warning_to_democrats_avoid_fourth_of_july_celebrations.htmSun, 03 Jul 2011 12:05:57 -0400 Are Republicans returning to their isolationist roots while Democrats under President Barack Obama become more interventionist? Polling results and recent statements by Republican presidential hopefuls suggest that Republicans are becoming more isolationists. Conversely, while the far left remains staunchly anti-war and non-interventionist, President Barack Obama, in the mold of his post-World War II Democratic predecessors, appears to be leading Democrats, albeit unwillingly, toward greater interventionism. He seeks to maintain substantial U.S. forces in Iraq. He continues the war in Afghanistan. He's intervened in Libya. And he is conducting not-so-secret wars in Pakistan and Yemen. http://ewross.com/isolationist_republicans_vs_interventionist_democrat.htmSun, 26 Jun 2011 12:32:44 -0400 The United States of America does not negotiate with terrorists (individuals or states); at least not the kind that plot and carry out terrorist attacks in U.S. cities or that holds hostages and makes unacceptable demands. It does negotiate with its enemies on the battlefield; and President Hamid Karzai's announcement Saturday that Afghanistan and the United States are engaged in peace talks with the Taliban is a smart move with the right carrots and sticks.http://ewross.com/negotiating_with_the_taliban.htmSun, 19 Jun 2011 12:59:47 -0400 America as we know it faces the ultimate existential threat—a new world order at which America is no longer the hub. I'm not referring to the conspiracy theory talk of 'a new world order' may conjure up for some. I'm referring to the forces of change and history that threaten what America means to the world and goes well beyond the partisan political polarization that impedes us. America has faced many existential threats in its 335-year history. In every case, it has emerged stronger, more prosperous, and better prepared for the next one. Politically, economically, and militarily we have become the hub of the modern world order. That order is now threatened by the confluence of our monumental national debt and military overextension, a global economic crisis, political upheaval in the Arab and Muslim worlds, the rise of China, and the desire by many countries that have benefited from the current order to change it. http://ewross.com/the_ultimate_existential_threat_to_america.htmSun, 12 Jun 2011 11:49:43 -0400 The state of the U.S. economy and jobs are the overwhelming issues that will determine the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. Still, in a close race, national security issues could play the decisive role. Given the inherent advantages President Barack Obama has on national security as an incumbent president and the likelihood that Republicans will nominate a candidate better suited to challenge Obama on domestic issues, Mr. Obama will have an advantage. Insufficient attention by the Republican nominee to national security issues could be a politically fatal mistake.http://ewross.com/national_security_and_the_2012_election.htmSun, 05 Jun 2011 13:12:58 -0400 Media coverage of who's in and who's out of the race for the Republican nomination for president in 2012 has intensified with the withdrawal of Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, and now Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. But despite a Gallup poll showing Sarah Palin as the principal beneficiary of Huckabee's decision not to run and not-so-subtle hints by the former Alaska governor that " . . . I do have the fire in my belly," most Republican and Democratic pundits continue to believe she won't run. I believe that she will run and here's why.http://ewross.com/waiting_for_sarah_palin.htmSun, 22 May 2011 12:01:43 -0400 As we learned following the killing of Osama bin Laden, enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) played an important role in the CIA eventually tracking him to his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound. It's time to stop the spurious arguments about EITs and for Congress to enact a law permitting the President of the United States, and only the President, to authorize the use of well defined and limited EITs when he determines they are essential to the national security of the United States.http://ewross.com/enhanced_interrogation_techniques.htmSun, 15 May 2011 11:27:28 -0400 U.S. military assistance to Pakistan has been much debated since U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden not far from the front gate of the national military academy in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and only a short drive from downtown Islamabad. It's inconceivable, many knowledgeable people believe, that the Pakistan government, or at the very least its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) organization, didn't know Bin Laden was there. How can we continue to give Pakistan billions of dollars in military assistance each year if they are knowingly harboring our worst enemies?http://ewross.com/us_military_assistance_to_pakistan.htmSun, 08 May 2011 12:11:17 -0400 President Barack Obama has named CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and GEN David Petraeus to replace Panetta. My April 18 column discussed the kind of person that should replace Gates and concluded that Panetta may not be the right person for the job. What about Petraeus; is he the right person to lead the CIA in these troubled times?http://ewross.com/general_petraeus_to_cia.htmSun, 01 May 2011 10:13:26 -0400 During his recent visit to Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the troops it likely would be his last visit to the war zone as Secretary. Gates departure from Defense has been long anticipated, and there has been much speculation on whom President Obama will appoint to replace him. At the moment, CIA Director Leon Panetta appears to be the leading candidate, but is Panetta the best person to lead Defense given current circumstances, and if not, who is? What kind of person should replace Gates?http://www.ewross.com/the_next_secretary_of_defense.htmSun, 17 Apr 2011 10:53:36 -0400 Ladies and Gentleman, children of all ages, welcome to the greatest show on earth--the United States federal government, Washington, D.C., three-ring circus. I'm not talking about the three branches of government. I'm talking about the star performers--the aerialists, the jugglers, the clowns, and, on the track around them, the people riding elephants. All of them were in top form last week in the showdown over the government shutdown, but who knows what thrills, spills, and laughter today's performances might bring.http://www.ewross.com/the_greatest_show_on_earth_the_washington_dc_three_ring_circus.htmSun, 10 Apr 2011 12:10:04 -0400 President Barack Obama will kick off his reelection campaign this week with an announcement followed by a series of fundraisers in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles with a growing gaggle of GOP candidates forming up to run against him. Sorting them out by their ranking in the polls is the traditional approach. I prefer, however, to look at them another way.http://www.ewross.com/sorting_out_the_republican_candidates_for_president.htmSun, 03 Apr 2011 18:14:00 -0400 Moammar Gadhafi once again is wreaking havoc. This time it's not over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland, in a night club in Germany, or just in the cities and villages of Libya. He's wreaking havoc on the American political conscience. With a reluctant president and the far left and the far right ganging up on the middle, the debate often resembles the chaos of a Marx brother's movie. The situation, however, is deadly serious. How we deal with Qadhafi sends a message to repressors and rebels that will have a major impact on the course of events. And the sooner we have a doctrine that forms the basis of coherent strategy in the region, the more likely "Arab Spring" won't turn out in Libya and other countries like "Prague Spring."http://www.ewross.com/qadhafi_wreaks_havoc.htmSun, 27 Mar 2011 13:25:42 -0400 The principal lessons Americans should learn from the Japan earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster is that no country, no matter how large, prosperous, or technologically sophisticated, is safe from disasters that overwhelm government rescue, relief and recovery resources; and that life or death may depend on how practically and psychologically we prepare for them. Knowing there is only so much government can do to prepare for and protect us from the unpredictable, and because mega-disasters are relatively rare, Americans generally don't prepare for them, especially if we don't live along hurricane-prone coasts or in tornado alley. Now, however, might be a good time to start.http://www.ewross.com/the_lessons_we_should_learn_from_japan.htmSun, 20 Mar 2011 13:59:13 -0400 With all we see on our TV screens these days--union protests in Wisconsin, upheaval in the Middle East, the devastating earthquake in Japan--it's no wonder that only die-hard China hands are paying close attention to the evolving status quo in the ongoing Chinese Civil War. Which civil war is that? It's the one that began in the 1920s between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists and was never settled by an armistice, peace treaty or surrender. It's the one that resulted in three major Taiwan Strait Crises (1954-55, 1958, and 1995-96). It's the one in which, today, China arrays 1500 short- and medium-rang ballistic missiles and its armed forces along the Taiwan Strait aimed at Taiwan, even as China and Taiwan enjoy an unprecedented level of cross-strait interaction. And it's the one many U.S. policy makers wish would just go away.http://www.ewross.com/the_ongoing_chinese_civil_war.htmSun, 13 Mar 2011 15:01:44 -0400 Barack Obama has an aversion to labeling people who attack America in the name of Islam as terrorists. As conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer observed, on March 2 when President Obama made his brief appearance before the White House press corps to speak about the two U.S. airmen killed and two wounded at the Frankfurt airport in Germany, "he talked about it as if it was like a bus accident, a tragedy." As he did following the shootings at Ft. Hood, Texas, and other recent incidents, he couldn't bring himself to call the attacker a terrorist. How can the President of the United States successfully lead America in a war against terrorists if he refuses to accept them for what they are?http://www.ewross.com/obamas_aversion_to_labeling_terrorists.htmSun, 06 Mar 2011 13:05:05 -0500 Amidst the turmoil spreading across the Middle East, Americans are once again faced with a spike in oil and gas prices; and we are hearing the same old arguments about U.S. dependence on foreign oil and what we should do about it. Oil crises, however, haven't been long lasting in the past. When gasoline prices have approached and exceeded Americans' threshold of pain—today that's around $4.00 a gallon—calls to loosen restrictions on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) abound; but as soon gas prices drop back below that threshold, the clamor subsides. We're on our way to $4.00-, perhaps $5.00-a-gallon gas. Will the powerful coalition of Democrats, environmentalists, and “green energy” advocates continue to prevent the exploitation of America's oil reserves, or will they finally wise up?http://www.ewross.com/five_dollar_a_gallon_gas_time_to_wise_up_and_drill.htmSun, 27 Feb 2011 17:04:04 -0500 It's obvious why public-sector union members and leaders have taken to the streets in Wisconsin. They want to block legislation that is a real and present danger to their benefits, collective-bargaining privileges, and union power. It's also obvious why these protests will fail. Voters understand that government can't keep spending money it doesn't have, and they don't see why their tax dollars should fund salaries and benefits for public-sector union employees they don't have. Not only will these classic union protest tactics fail, but they will further weaken the Democratic Party, with which the unions are so closely aligned, and they will change the landscape for the 2012 presidential election. That's why President Obama is so concerned.http://www.ewross.com/unions_and_democrats_in_the_streets_a_lose_lose_proposition.htmMon, 21 Feb 2011 17:59:48 -0500 The sense of relief in the Obama administration and in Washington, D.C., was palpable the day after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt under Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (75) assumed power, promising free and fair democratic elections in September. Fears of the infamous Muslim Brotherhood's ascendency waned and hopes for the spread of freedom and democracy were encouraged. The media, for the time being, will focus its cameras elsewhere; and Americans can return to worrying about jobs, deficits, and the economy. The outcome in Egypt, however, is far from settled, and the implications for governments from Algiers to Teheran ensure we will soon go down this road again. Washington now must assess multiple situations and scenerios and move intelligently and effectively to influence them.http://ewross.com/caliphate_coups_or_constitutions.htmSun, 13 Feb 2011 16:17:32 -0500 Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday Sunday provides an opportunity for people who respected and admired him to talk and write the President and his legacy. Some recall his great achievements--his role in ending the Cold War, Reganomics, and the revival of conservatism. Others reminisce about his acting and political careers before he became president. Others remember his storytelling, his boundless sense of optimism, and his deep and enduring love of America. As someone who arrived in Washington, D.C., the year before President Reagan and who worked in the Department of Defense during his eight years in office, I remember a president who inspired and empowered the people that worked for him, didn't require or create a bloated national-security bureaucracy, and who you didn't have to analyze to understand. What you saw is what you got.http://ewross.com/ronald_reagan_what_you_saw_is_what_you_got.htmSun, 06 Feb 2011 10:53:33 -0500 Whatever the eventual outcomes of popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and other Islamic countries in the region, historians likely will mark January 2011 as the month the political tectonic plates suddenly shifted in the Islamic world. Will they note also that it was when Islamic fundamentalism began wresting power from pro-Western, secular, albeit autocratic, governments; or will they record it as the indigenous birth of freedom and democracy?http://www.ewross.com/us_levers_of_influence_in_egypt_military_ties_are_critical.htmMon, 31 Jan 2011 08:30:00 -0500 The U.S. Armed Forces are on the verge of allowing women to serve in ground combat units beneath the brigade level. Women already are serving and dying (over 110 in Iraq and Afghanistan) in many hazardous military jobs. They serve as fighter, bomber and helicopters pilots; and they serve in ground combat-support units that put them in harm's way. Why shouldn't they serve in front-line combat units?http://ewross.com/women_in_combat_the_long_term_implications.htmSun, 23 Jan 2011 11:14:50 -0500 Henry Kissinger's January 13, 2010, column, appearing in the Washington Post, "Avoiding a U.S.-China cold war," lays out the former Secretary of State's vision for the future of U.S.-China relations on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States. In classic Kissinger style he offers a geo-strategic vision for how the world's two dominant powers of the 21st century should get along. "The aim should be to create a tradition of respect and cooperation so that the successors of the leaders meeting now continue to see it in their interest to build an emerging world order as a joint enterprise." A lofty goal, to be sure, but is building a new world order with China as a joint enterprise in America's best interest?http://ewross.com/the_future_of_us_china_relations_the_kissinger_perspective.htmSun, 16 Jan 2011 10:59:27 -0500 On January 5, Representatives Michele Bachmann (R. MN) and Steve King (R. IA) introduced H.R. 141 to repeal Obamacare. A vote on the bill, scheduled for this week, has been postponed because of the shootings of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 17 others in Arizona. When it does come up in the House, it will pass; but even if it also passed in the Senate, the White House has said that President Obama will veto it. The question then becomes, what can Republicans in Congress do to thwart the implementation of Obamacare while they work to elect a Republican president and a Republican Senate in 2012 so they can repeal it in 2013?http://ewross.com/replace_then_repeal_obamacare.htmSun, 09 Jan 2011 11:28:39 -0500 Comeback kids in politics, as in sports or any other competitive endeavor, are those that truly surprise us. The more the media labels someone a comeback kid before the comeback, or a politician claims to be one, the more likely the characterization, win or lose, will turn out to be untrue. The media has been replete with stories of late anointing President Barack Obama the Comeback Kid following his ostensible reversal of fortunes during the lame-duck session of Congress. Notable among them was conservative Charles Krauthammer's December 17 column “The New Comeback Kid.” In it, Krauthammer opined: “If Barack Obama wins reelection in 2012, as is now more likely than not, historians will mark his comeback as beginning on Dec. 6, the day of the Great Tax Cut Deal of 2010.”http://ewross.com/deserving_the_comeback_kid_title.htmSun, 02 Jan 2011 18:34:09 -0500 At Christmas time we give presents to those we love. So, if you love America, what are you giving her this year? Men and women in U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving her their blood, sweat and tears. Some are giving their lives and limbs for her. Their mothers, fathers, spouses and children are giving her their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Every family in service to America at home and abroad this Christmas, at the very least, is giving her their time.http://www.ewross.com/christmas_presents_for_america.htmSun, 19 Dec 2010 13:19:10 -0500 Wikileaks has declared war on America. Will President Obama be our Commander-in-Chief or a conscientious objector? With the third and most recent release by Wikileaks of classified information--sensitive State Department communications--Attorney General Eric Holder "opened an investigation." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was "an attack on America's foreign policy interests" and an attack on the "international community." So far, however, President Obama has been AWOL. He has shown little interest in Wikileaks, and he has given little indication how he will respond to this blatant breach of U.S. national security. http://ewross.com/wikileaks_war_on_america.htmSun, 12 Dec 2010 12:45:26 -0500 The fat lip President Obama received last week on the basketball court is similar to the fat lip America has received from the latest Wikileaks release of sensitive State Department communications. Both are embarrassing because they reveal vulnerabilities and actions best not made public. Neither is a debilitating injury when properly treated. The President's fat lip only required a few stitches. America's fat lip, however, requires major surgery.http://www.ewross.com/wikileaks_another_fat_lip_for_america.htmSun, 05 Dec 2010 10:37:49 -0500 Political junkies on the left and the right require their daily fix. No sooner do they awake each morning than they turn on their computers, iPads, and smartphones and inject their favorite political narcotic directly into their brain through their eyeballs. When their brains have absorbed all they can tolerate, they go about their daily routines, returning to their source throughout the day and evening for just enough dope to maintain their high. Immediately before and after elections, however, they are prone to overdose on the bad along with the good. Beware political junkies, there's a lot of bad stuff out there!http://ewross.com/political_junkies_beware.htmSun, 21 Nov 2010 13:43:44 -0500 U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screeners literally have their hands full these days groping the flying public. Travelers that refuse screening by newly installed full-body “naked” scanners are subjected to invasive pat-downs that include touching children's and adults' genitals and women's breasts. Is all this really necessary, or are there better ways to keep terrorists from blowing up airplanes?http://www.ewross.com/tsa_screeners_have_their_hands_full.htmSun, 14 Nov 2010 16:25:59 -0500 President Obama departed Washington, D.C. last week for a 10-day visit to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan following the Democratic Party's historic defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections. It's a routine foreign trip, like others the well-traveled president has made since he took office, unless it marks a new beginning of President Obama's personal involvement in foreign policy. It's not uncommon for presidents, when opposition-party majorities in one or both houses of Congress stymie their domestic-policy agendas, to spend more time on foreign policy. It's the domain of presidential power least fettered by Congress. President Obama can use the second half of his term to build a list of foreign-policy accomplishments he can run on in the 2012 election as Republicans seek to dismantle his domestic-policy agenda at home. There's only one problem—there must be some extraordinary foreign-policy accomplishments.http://www.ewross.com/foreign_policy_the_last_refuge_of_a_diminished_president.htmSun, 07 Nov 2010 12:24:09 -0500 It's a common reaction during election campaigns. If your candidate is ahead in the polls, the polls are accurate. If he or she is behind, they're inaccurate. Most polls tell us Republicans will win big on November 2, gaining as many as 50 to 60 House seats, 7 or 8 Senate seats, and 7 governorships. Some Republican political operatives predict that their party will do even better, picking up 70-plus seats in the House and ten or more seats in the Senate. A few pollsters agree that's within the realm of possibility, but most estimates are more conservative. We'll soon know who got it right, but if the higher estimates prove correct here's the most likely reason why.http://www.ewross.com/predicting_the_wave.htmSun, 31 Oct 2010 16:39:17 -0400 Bill Gertz of the Washington Times in his October 20 "Inside the Ring" column reports on the current China-policy debate within the Obama administration. He identifies two opposing groups--the "kowtow" group, and the "sad and disappointed" group. Twenty-five years ago we called them the "convert-them-to-Christianity-and-democracy" group and the "let's-just-outsmart-them" group. The U.S. players in the perennial China-policy debate change as administrations come and go, but the fundamental differences between two classic approaches to China remain the same.http://www.ewross.com/the_perennial_china-policy_debate.htmSun, 24 Oct 2010 15:01:38 -0400 In Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's Wars, he reveals highly classified and sensitive information about lethal CIA clandestine counterterrorism operations, including drone attacks and secret CIA-run "counterterrorism pursuit teams" to kill terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Woodward does not reveal the identities of CIA covert operatives, but his and other revelations, including that President Barack Obama has authorized the killing of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, suggest that one or more "assassins" not unlike Vince Flynn's fictional Mitch Rapp are out there.http://www.ewross.com/killing_terrorists_is_there_a_real_mitch_rapp.htmSun, 17 Oct 2010 15:32:06 -0400 Americans will wake up on November 3 to a changed political landscape. Republicans will celebrate. Democrats will recriminate. The underlying fear of America's downfall that motivated voters to redistribute seats in the House and Senate, however, will remain. The question they asked themselves before the election will still beg an answer. Is America's decline inevitable, or can we avert the disasters so many are predicting and restore the American Dreamhttp://www.ewross.com/after_the_election_restoring_the_american_dream.htmSun, 10 Oct 2010 13:28:39 -0400 Speaking at Duke University last week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressed his concerns about the cost of maintaining an all-volunteer force and too few Americans bearing the burdens of war. But is he sending Americans a mixed message that, coming as it does in the midst of the growing U.S. fiscal crisis and two prolonged and controversial wars, risks adopting solutions to one problem that only make the other problem worse?http://www.ewross.com/bearing_the_burdens_of_war_something_other_people_do.htmMon, 04 Oct 2010 06:00:00 -0400 Is America in a state of permanent war, or at least a war that will span generations? From the First Gulf War to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, to the military operations to enforce sanctions on Iraq, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all our covert military operations in response to terrorist attacks on us in between, we've been at war for 20 years, and there is no end in sight. Is this our new reality? Bob Woodward, in his new book, Obama's Wars, quotes General David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan: “You have to recognize also that I don't think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. It is a little bit like Iraq, actually. . . Yes, there has been enormous progress in Iraq. But there are still horrific attacks in Iraq, and you have to stay vigilant. You have to stay after it. This is the kind of fight we're in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids' lives.” http://www.ewross.com/permanent_war_is_this_our_new_reality.htmSun, 26 Sep 2010 14:42:51 -0400 If Republicans want to completely blunt the Obama agenda and set the country on a different course, they must win the White House in 2012. To do that, they need the right nominee; and, like her or not, the potential Republican presidential candidate talked about more than any other is Sarah Palin.http://www.ewross.com/The_2012_Election_Handicapping_Sarah_Palin.htmSun, 19 Sep 2010 19:36:16 -0400 In his 1998 book, "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order," political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote that "cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world." Nine years after 9/11, Huntington's thesis has become a reality. The attacks on 9/11 and the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and with al-Qaeda that followed are part of a larger conflict with a growing segment of the Muslim world that adheres to cultural and religious identities that are antithetical to and threaten Western philosophy and values.http://ewross.com/The_Clash_of_Civilizations.htmSun, 12 Sep 2010 14:23:56 -0400 You know who they are, those Democrats who routinely play the bigotry card—accusing Republicans and conservatives of bigotry when it's not warranted. Certainly, not all Democrats play that game, but the Democratic Party's anti-Republican, anti-conservative narrative has become so replete with the bigotry bogeyman, both implicit and explicit, that it taints the party as a whole. Two-thousand-ten, however, may well prove to be the nadir of this tactic.http://www.ewross.com/Playing_the_Bigotry_Card.htmSun, 05 Sep 2010 17:09:08 -0400 What are we to make of Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28? Was it a religious revival meeting? Was it a Tea Party rally? Was it a patriotic demonstration? Or was it simply a massive outdoor Glenn-Beck-Program fieldtrip? The event that drew upwards of 300,000 people to the National Mall and sent shock waves through Washington, DC, and across the country was all the above and more.http://www.ewross.com/Glenn_Beck-Preacher_Professor_Pundit_Patriot_Performer.htmSun, 29 Aug 2010 15:57:07 -0400 The ongoing controversy over whether or not Muslims should build a Mosque near “Ground Zero” in Lower Manhattan fits conveniently into a false narrative perpetuated by biased reporting and misinformation that confrontation, not dialogue and cooperation, is the hallmark of America's relationship with Muslim Americans and the Islamic world. It also exposes the fallacy that political correctness and pandering to Muslims is the best way to build bridges to them.http://www.ewross.com/The_Mosque_Muslims_and_Building_Bridges.htmSun, 22 Aug 2010 16:05:44 -0400 Secretary Robert Gates wants to make sweeping budget cuts in overhead at the Department of Defense (DoD). For starters, he has proposed eliminating Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia, a 10 percent cut in contractors, the reduction of at least 50 generals and admirals, and the elimination of 150 Senior Executive Service (SES) civilians. I applaud Gates for his initiative. Not only will it save money for the needed modernization of weapons and equipment necessary to maintain our military capabilities, but it will make DoD more efficient and effective.http://www.ewross.com/Reducing_the_DoD_Bureaucracy-Less_is_More.htmSun, 15 Aug 2010 19:07:58 -0400 The visit Sunday to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, cruising off coast of Vietnam, by high-ranking Vietnamese military and government officials was not a big story in the United States. Teams of U.S. military personnel have been conducting MIA-remains-recovery operations in Vietnam for 20 years. U.S.-Vietnam relations have been steadily improving since 1995 when the two countries normalized diplomatic relations. A U.S. warship visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2003. It was, however, big news in China, especially in the news reports circulated among China's ruling elite.http://www.ewross.com/The_US_and_Vietnam.htmSun, 08 Aug 2010 21:06:10 -0400 As soon as Wikileaks posted the 91,000 reports they call the "Afghan War Diary" online, some people immediately compared them to the "Pentagon Papers." Daniel Elsberg's 1971 leak of a top-secret Vietnam War study revealed 20 years of presidential-administration deception about American involvement in Southeast Asia. The Afghan War Diary is a reprehensible and damaging revelation of secret intelligence sources and methods that places the lives of U.S. warriors and Afghani informants at greater risk, but the Afghanistan war's "Pentagon Papers" it's not.http://ewross.com/Afghan_War_Diary.htmSun, 01 Aug 2010 14:59:15 -0400 Things haven't been going well for Democrats lately. President Obama's poll numbers are tanking. They're at risk of losing control of the House and Senate. Their policies are unpopular. And they're so jittery that last week they threw an African-American Department of Agriculture employee, Shirley Sherrod, under the bus before they had all the facts because they're afraid of Fox News. Some people say this is all Barack Obama's fault. He's too ideological, too inexperienced, and too self-centered, and he's led the Democratic Party astray. I disagree. I think Democrats have just lost their groove.http://www.ewross.com/Democrats_Lose_Their_Groove.htmMon, 26 Jul 2010 19:24:06 -0400 With Democrats headed for a man-made disaster in November and the Obama presidency increasingly looking like a quagmired domestic-contingency operation, speculation about Hillary Clinton running for president in 2012 is on the rise. We know Mrs. Clinton has a strong desire to be the president, but will she step down as secretary of state and challenge Barack Obama, the first African-American president and a fellow Democrat, and if she won her party's nomination what are her prospects for winning the general election?http://www.ewross.com/Clinton_vs_Palin_in_2012.htmSun, 18 Jul 2010 11:03:30 -0400 Democrats are in for a historic defeat in November. Republicans may recapture both the House and Senate. Barack Obama may even lose the 2012 election. But before Republicans, conservatives, and Tea Party supporters draw too much encouragement from these prospects they should read "Demographic Change and the Future of the Parties" by Ruy Teixeira. The paper, put out by the Center for American Progress, that's the progressive think tank funded by George Soros and run by John Podesta, lays out Democrat's current and future strategy, and it contains some sobering facts for Republicans.http://ewross.com/Demographic_Change.htmMon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400 I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” said Captain Renault to Rick in Casablanca as a croupier hands him a pile of money. The police captain had the good sense to at least feign indignation when he found himself in an awkward situation involving illegal activity. Renault, of course, condoned the gambling by participating in it. Obama administration spokesmen, on the other hand, weren't the least bit indignant last week, feigned or otherwise, when the Justice Department announced, on the heels of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the White House, that 11 people were accused of being Russian spies. Their reaction was just the opposite. They described the incident as “a mere bump in the road to better relations with America's former Cold War foe.http://www.ewross.com/Nice_Guys_Lies_and_Russian_Spies.htmSun, 04 Jul 2010 15:14:21 -0400 Since President Barack Obama took office, the U.S.-U.K. “special relationship” has been in free fall. The first manifestation of this decline, shortly after the President's inauguration, was Obama's sudden return of the Winston Churchill bust from the Oval Office, loaned to the U.S. by the British people as a gesture of solidarity after 9/11. A series of incidents followed. Now, the British even see the Obama administration's treatment of BP in the wake of the Gulf oil spill in this light. Rough periods in the relationship are nothing new, but this one is different and likely will prove very difficult to undo, if it isn't already too late.http://www.ewross.com/Saving_the_US-UK_Special_Relationship.htmSun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400 General Stanley McChrystal's resignation following his strategic blunder—granting an interview to Rolling Stone magazine—comes two weeks after the war in Afghanistan became America's longest war, exceeding the 104 months of the Vietnam War. These two events, along with President Obama selecting General David Petraeus to succeed McChrystal, should give us pause to rethink U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. http://www.ewross.com/Rethinking_Afghanistan.htmSun, 27 Jun 2010 11:29:27 -0400 China's on-again-off-again approach to U.S-China military interaction and Beijing's refusal to allow Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to visit China during his recent Asian trip reveals a dysfunctional military relationship that's the result of much more than Beijing's displeasure over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. It reflects fundamentally different national strategic objectives and the changing locus of leverage that result from China's growing power and influence relative to the U.S. http://ewross.com/US_China_Military_Interaction.htmSun, 13 Jun 2010 18:14:55 -0400 President Obama's critics have called him many things. Now, criticizing him for his reaction to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, they've begun to call him “incompetent,” comparing him to Jimmy Carter. If that label sticks, the Obama presidency, like Jimmy Carter's, is doomed. Even worse, if President Obama doesn't act decisively and quickly to stem the tide of destruction, the oil spill will cause irreparable damage to millions of people's lives and to the country.http://www.ewross.com/Oil_Spill_in_the_Gulf.htmSun, 06 Jun 2010 13:47:04 -0400 Forty-three Memorial Days ago—four wars ago now—I was a second lieutenant artillery observer with the 9th Infantry Division's Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. The day I set out for that incredible combat zone five months earlier, I began a journey to an unknown destination, a place inside myself I had not yet discovered.http://www.ewross.com/A_Soldiers_Journey.htmMon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400 The resignation of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Dennis Blair, is a symptom of a more serious problem within the Obama administration than the failures of the DNI. It's a problem that won't disappear with Blair's departure. Fixing it requires more than appointing the right replacement. It requires a hard look at the DNI position itself and how President Obama and his White House oversee it.http://www.ewross.com/Blairs_Resignation.htmSun, 23 May 2010 19:28:11 -0400 Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, which opened to mixed reviews in American movie theaters on May 14, is an excellent educational film for current and future conservative American politicians. It reinforces the importance of championing limited government, individual rights, and freedom over the pursuit of self interest. If you haven't yet seen the film, this may confuse you. The countless versions of Robin Hood, from 1938's Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood onward, portrayed the medieval hero as a liberal. Robin always had the right talking points, but his main activities were the pursuit of his own interests and the redistribution of wealth. He pursued merriment with Lady Marian and his merry men. He fought for his beloved but absent King Richard the Lionheart and to recover his lost estates. And he taunted the Sheriff of Nottingham for entertainment. Most important, he took from the rich to give to the poor—a defining liberal characteristic.http://www.ewross.com/Robin_Hood.htmSun, 16 May 2010 15:40:36 -0400 Every war requires a unique grand strategy, but certain strategic principles never change. They apply to all wars and are essential to victory. So why is the Obama administration deliberately avoiding the one most essential to wining the war with Islamist-Jihadism? In the sixth century BC, Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War (????: Sun Zi Bing Fa), "Know thy self, know thy enemy; a thousand battles, a thousand victories."http://www.ewross.com/Defeating_Islamist-Jihadism.htmSun, 09 May 2010 16:24:20 -0400 A Vietnam veteran, on April 30, the 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, I reflected on my two tours of duty there. On May 1, “Immigration-Day,” I watched protesters on television march in opposition to Arizona's new law on illegal immigration and the failure of the federal government to enact “comprehensive” immigration reform. They reminded me of anti-Vietnam-War protests and got me thinking about what they have in common..http://www.ewross.com/Vietnam_to_Arizona.htmSun, 03 May 2010 09:03:35 -0400 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' leaked memo to National Security Advisor General James Jones (USMC Ret) that said the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran's continuing movement towards a nuclear weapon capability raised some eyebrows. And so it should. But neither the American people nor the White House should need a memo to alert them to this reality. As Fredrick the Great said “Negotiations without arms are like notes without instruments.” The Obama administration's Iran policy has no melody because it has no threat of arms.http://www.ewross.com/Stopping_Irans_Nuclear_Weapons_Program.htmSun, 25 Apr 2010 20:26:21 -0400 On October 31, 2008, at a campaign rally at the University of Missouri, candidate Barack Obama said “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Not everyone took him literally. In the fourteen months since he became president, however, he has clearly demonstrated that is precisely what he intended to do. It's what motivates his supporters and infuriates his opponents. It is the standard by which Americans ultimately will judge his presidency.http://www.ewross.com/Transforming_America.htmMon, 19 Apr 2010 15:17:24 -0400 I wasn't going to write about President Obama's new nuclear weapons strategy--a central tenet of which is that the US would not authorize a nuclear strike against a nonnuclear country in retaliation for a chemical or biological attack if that country is in compliance with its nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Then, on Friday, April 9, I listened to Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn tell Laura Ingraham, sitting in for Bill O'Reilly on the Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, that people like Sarah Palin who oppose the president's new strategy (principally conservatives) aren't smart enough to understand it.http://www.ewross.com/Obamas_Nuclear_Weapons_Strategy.htmSun, 11 Apr 2010 23:10:10 -0400 Target-rich environment is a term that describes a combat situation in which a militarily superior force is presented with a large number of highly desirable, poorly defended high-value targets all at once. In politics, it's a situation in which a political party, believing it has the superior position, is presented with many things its opposition says or does that are exploitable all at once.http://www.ewross.com/Target-Rich_Environment.htmMon, 05 Apr 2010 14:39:51 -0400 Is a US Central Command (CENTCOM) briefing team from General David Petraeus, rather than Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and Vice President Joe Biden's embarrassment in Israel, at the heart of the current rift in US-Israel relations, or is it just an excuse?http://ewross.com/Obama_and_Israel.htmSun, 28 Mar 2010 17:51:23 -0400 Do President Obama's attitudes toward Israel simply reflect his own biases or do they reflect a shift in broader American attitudes toward Israel? It's a fair question to ask.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 28 Mar 2010 17:47:51 -0400 Now that congressional Republicans have lost the battle to prevent President Obama and congressional Democrats from imposing government-controlled healthcare on Americans, what strategy should they pursue to regain control of the House and Senate in the November mid-term elections? Of course, that's their goal, but what's the best way to achieve it?http://www.ewross.com/Obamacare_Passes.htmSun, 21 Mar 2010 23:38:52 -0400 he receiving end of anti-government protests. I was besieged by anti-war protesters when I returned from Vietnam. I've been in the Pentagon when protestors threw blood on the building. I was personally attacked by POW/MIA conspiracy activists when I ran the Defense POW/MIA Office. Before last Saturday, I never participated in one. As much as I have written in opposition to Obamacare, I had no plans to participate in the noon Tea Party rally on Saturday, March 20, until I received a call from my sister-in-law in Kansas. She said she was flying to Washington to participate in it. Neither a Tea Party activists herself nor someone who had ever participated in a protest, she, like so many other Americans, felt she had to do something.http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 21 Mar 2010 23:37:22 -0400 In a final attempt to pass Obamacare, it appears that Democrats will resort to legislative obfuscation to convince a handful of House Democrats they're not committing political suicide by voting for it.http://ewross.com/Slaughter-House_Suicide.htmSun, 14 Mar 2010 16:04:21 -0400 On Saturday, March 13, newly elected Senator Scott Brown (R MA) gave the Republican weekly response to President Obama's Saturday address. Articulating Republican taking points, his appeal was aimed more at undecided Democrat House members than the American people who have already made up their minds.http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 14 Mar 2010 16:01:33 -0400 The Hurt Locker, a somewhat controversial movie about an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team in Iraq directed by Kathryn Bigelow, tied with her ex-husband James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar for nine Academy Award nominations. Last night it won six, including best picture and best director. This low-budget war movie that only earned $12.7 million domestically certainly will benefit from the publicity this recognition will bring it. Despite the controversy and it's poor showing at the box office it's an excellent film, reminiscent of when good war movies were about warriors and not about politics.http://ewross.com/The_Hurt_Locker.htmMon, 08 Mar 2010 08:43:02 -0500 How many of your favorite 'war movies' are on this list of selected Oscar winners?http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmMon, 08 Mar 2010 08:41:18 -0500 On February 25th, President Obama hosted a healthcare summit at Blair House to break the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans on healthcare reform. It wasn't successful. Now, in a last-ditch effort, Democrats appear ready to use the infamous reconciliation process in an attempt to pass their bill over Republican opposition, believing they will be better off passing an unpopular bill than if they pass no bill at all. Democrats may or may not have the votes to pass Obamacare using reconciliation. To do that the House must first pass the Senate bill before the Senate can pass a reconciliation version with 51 votes; and many House Democrats don't like the Senate bill for a variety of reasons. Beyond that, there are major procedural obstacles to overcome in the Senate. Let's assume, however, that Nancy Pelosi holds her troops together in the House, Harry Reid overcomes the obstacles in the Senate, and the President signs Obamacare into law. Just how will Democrats be better off? Does this mean, as Democrat leaders and pundits suggest, that they will lose fewer House and Senate seats in November than they otherwise might?http://ewross.com/Passing_Obamacare.htmSun, 28 Feb 2010 16:47:01 -0500 TIn 2008, Gregg Bergersen was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison for selling secrets about US-Taiwan Military programs to Tai Kuo, a Louisiana businessman who turned out to be a Chinese spy. Now a video of Bergersen taking money from Kuo is part of a February 28, 60 Minutes segment on Chinese espionage in the United States.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 28 Feb 2010 16:45:10 -0500 Sarah Palin's return to the spotlight with her successful book tour, her contract with and frequent appearances on the Fox News Channel, and her speech at the National Tea Party Convention have sparked a new flurry of speculation about her presidential ambitions and prospects. Tea Party conservatives love Palin. But according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 70 percent of Americans believe she isn't qualified to be the President of the United States. The left incessantly ridicules her. And members of the Republican establishment make comments that reveal their doubts about her. Are her prospects really as bad as some would lead you to believe? Perhaps not! http://www.ewross.com/Palins_Presidential_Prospects.htmWed, 17 Feb 2010 19:20:55 -0500 The arrest on February 8, 2009, in Karachi, Pakistan, of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's top military commander, in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is a major achievement. It strikes a serious blow to the Taliban leadership as US forces conduct a major offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan. It also signals a new level of cooperation between the US and Pakistan's ISI against the Taliban. The ISI has long been accused of sympathizing with the Taliban and providing it sanctuary.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmWed, 17 Feb 2010 19:18:45 -0500 Why have President Obama's approaches to the treatment of captured terrorists and attacking terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen been fundamentally inconsistent? On one battlefield he concedes the advantage to the enemy. On the others, he gives them no quarter.http://www.ewross.com/Obamas_War_on_Terror.htmWed, 10 Feb 2010 16:45:02 -0500 This week's column was delayed by the historic blizzard that hit the Washington, DC, metropolitan area beginning Friday evening, February 5. It's still snowing as I write this on February 10 from a second major storm. Total accumulation outside is around 35 inches. Our power has been back on for about 42 hours after 41 hours without it. To people from places that routinely get this much snow, 35 inches is no big deal. To those of us who are long-time residents of the National Capital Region, however, this is, as President Obama and others have phrased it, "snowmaggedon." Residents of this area have a reputation for panic at the first signs of the smallest snowfall. Drivers struggle to control their vehicles, as snow tires and chains are a rarity. Supermarket shelves are emptied for fear of days without access to them. This time their panic was justified. As with all natural catastrophes, however, the men and women who must respond to this situation, as usual, have a a magnificent job. Snowplow drivers, power-company employees, policemen, and fire fighters are working long and difficult shifts. I salute them. Forty-one hours in the 19th century gives one a renewed appreciation for them. Looking on the bright side, the federal government has been closed for three days. It likely will be closed tomorrow and even Friday. Perhaps administration officials, senators and congressmen will take this time off to consider how much better off we all would be with a little less government.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmWed, 10 Feb 2010 16:42:00 -0500 Amidst the barrage of criticism leveled at President Obama in recent months over his decisions on healthcare reform, trials for terrorists, and the US economy, he made at least one decision last week that is worthy of praise from his critics. On Friday, January 29, he notified to Congress the sale of $6.4 billion worth of arms sales to Taiwan.http://www.ewross.com/Selling_Arms_to_Taiwan.htmSun, 31 Jan 2010 19:33:27 -0500 You have to wonder if the Obama administration officials who came up with the idea of establishing the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) weren't overly influenced by Hollywood. It's a familiar, action-packed concept. Highly-skilled interrogators work out of Washington, DC, under the direct supervision of the White House. They deploy around the world to obtain critical intelligence from newly captured high-value Islamist-Jihadist operatives in the nick of time to prevent a catastrophic terrorist attack. It would make a great prime-time TV series. If Hollywood were to produce such a program, however, they'd have to write scripts that had little resemblance to the real one. Few Americans would tune in more than once to a series in which the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were read their Miranda rights, provided a comfortable cell with a copy of the Qur'an, and asked politely if they would cooperate with US Intelligence before their lawyers arrived. Americans would much prefer to watch protagonists that behaved more like 24's Jack Bauer or Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapphttp://www.ewross.com/The_HIG.htmSun, 24 Jan 2010 15:26:50 -0500 We repeatedly hear that the reason we must close Guantanamo and refrain from the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" is that they do more harm than good. "They are a recruiting tool for al-Qaeda." Indeed, they are one of many on a long list that Islamist-Jihadist use to convince radicalized Muslims to become suicide bombers. But no one has yet produced evidence to prove that without them the there would be any fewer terrorist attacks. What we hear instead is that the terrorists themselves tell us this, so it must be true. On the other side of the argument, however, there is considerable evidence that the interrogation of captured terrorists after 9/11 provided information that resulted in the thwarting of terrorist attacks in the United States and Great Britain. Former Bush administration speech writer Marc Thiessen in his new book, Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack, makes the case for the Bush administration interrogation practices. In his book and the video above he argues that we are no longer capturing and interrogating terrorists and that the Obama administration is denying the intelligence community the ability to acquire the information it needs to prevent another 9/11. This week the administration itself confirmed that it has no such capability. The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) does not yet exist; and when it does, given its limitations, it's not likely to be effective.http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 24 Jan 2010 15:23:18 -0500 Seldom has the outcome of a single state-wide election determined the fate of an American president or his administration. By all accounts, the outcome of Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts may help do just that. If Republican Scott Brown defeats Democrat Martha Coakley and becomes the 41st Republican Senator, Obama's ambitious liberal agenda to transform America could be stopped cold in its tracks. What's more difficult to predict is then what? That, of course, depends on how Democrats and Republicans react; both parties have a penchant for shooting themselves in the foot.http://www.ewross.com/Brown_vs_Coakley.htmSun, 17 Jan 2010 19:56:34 -0500 DoD released its report on the Fort Hood Shootings last week, "Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood." The independent review headed by former Army Secretary Togo West and former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral (Ret.)Vern Clark is enlightening. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in his press conference when he released the report, DoD's policies and procedures for dealing with internal threats is still rooted in the Cold-War. He acknowledged that DoD has to change and make them more relevant to the threats posed by people like the "alleged perpetrator," referring to Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The report's 47 findings and recommendations address shortcomings in DoD's personnel policies, force protection, emergency response, and support to DoD healthcare providers. Like the 9/11 Commission Report this one should go a long way toward correcting the problems and mistakes it highlights. One recommendation in particular caught my attention, and, I believe, has great saliency for those outside DoD charged with protecting us from terrorists. Finding 3.7 states, "DoD installation access control systems and processes do not incorporate behavioral screening strategies and capabilities, and are not configured to detect an insider threat." and "Detecting a trusted insider's intention to commit a violent act requires observation of behavioral cues/anomalies." It only sounds logical to me that if behavioral screening will detect people like Hasan we should use it to detect people like the underwear bomber. Are terrorists attempting to surreptitiously board commercial airliners not insider threats? I hope Secretary Gates sends Janet Napolitano a copy.http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 17 Jan 2010 19:52:27 -0500 From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to Christmas-Day 2009, the term most often heard in the aftermath of attacks on the United States and our interests abroad that we were unprepared for is 'intelligence failure.' Time and again we discover that it's not what we couldn't know but what we should have known that would have prevented catastrophe. And it's become an American tradition in the wake of these events to focus on the shortcomings of organizations and agencies in government more than the people who run them. Intelligence failures, or as President Obama calls them, 'systemic failures,' are almost always leadership failures.http://ewross.com/Intelligence_Failure.htmSun, 10 Jan 2010 16:52:23 -0500 A US Army Lieutenant Colonel I knew in Vietnam was relieved of his battalion command because one of his artillery batteries accidentally dropped rounds on a friendly unit during a combat operation. One of the battalion's batteries was firing in support of an infantry company engaged in an intense, close-quarters battle with a Viet Cong unit. The forward observer with the infantry company that called for the artillery fire was adjusting it as best he could under difficult circumstances. One volley landed on his own company killing and wounding several US soldiers. What struck me as odd at the time is that the colonel wasn't even commanding the battalion when the incident occurred. He was on leave in the United States. The battalion executive officer was in command. The exec, the battery commander, the forward observer, and the battalion commander all were reassigned. When I saw him a few weeks later after he had returned to Vietnam, I told him I was sorry that he had been relieved and questioned the brigade commander's decision. He quickly admonished me. He told me he would have made the same decision had he been the brigade commander. He said it was his battalion and he was responsible for everything it did or failed to do, regardless of whether he was on leave at the time or not. "When we pin on our insignia of rank, we become accountable for our actions and those of the people we command," he told me. "Don't ever forget that." And I never have. It may not always be appropriate to apply the same standards of accountability to civilian officials that we apply to military officers in the United States. Where the lives of American citizens are involved, however, that difference should be very small.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 10 Jan 2010 12:06:30 -0500 On Christmas Day a combination of luck, incompetence, and quick reaction prevented the scattering of 300 bodies from Northwest Flight 253 across the Michigan landscape. The breakdown in security that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the aircraft and reports that there are hundreds more like him in Yemen waiting to martyr themselves should serve as wake-up call to President Obama and his administration. It also provides him an opportunity that he should not fail to take advantage of.http://www.ewross.com/The_Failed_Christmas-Day_Attack.htmSun, 03 Jan 2010 12:29:40 -0500 Air travelers have come to expect airport security screening as a necessary inconvenience in today's world. Commercial aircraft are just too tempting a target for terrorists; and after 9/11, we all know too well what can happen. Despite the inconvenience and annoyance it has caused us, however, it has provided a general sense of security to the flying public. The Christmas-Day attempt to blow up Northwest Flight 253, however, has made us acutely aware of the illusion that sense of security was. No security system exists that can't be penetrated, bypassed, or deceived by someone who is determined and dedicated enough to find the flaws in it. Reports out of Yemen reveal that al-Qaeda uses the latest security scanning equipment to practice deceiving it. Full-body scanners have been around for several years but not in widespread use. Now airports around the world will scurry to buy and use more of them, but they too are not foolproof. The most effective airport security systems, like the ones used at Israeli airports, do not rely almost exclusively on technology (metal detectors, x-ray machines, and body scanners). Screening by well trained security personnel with access to the latest intelligence and who employ multiple techniques, including questioning passengers and profiling to supplement scanners, are the most effective. The US and many other countries avoid profiling for political reasons and routinely delegate questioning passengers to untrained airline employees. If we truly want better airport security they we will have to accept more than security officers viewing our private parts on full body scanners.http://ewross.comSun, 03 Jan 2010 12:27:46 -0500 Nearly two feet of snow fell in Washington, DC, over last weekend, setting a record for a December snowfall and guaranteeing a white Christmas. Senate Democrats couldn't wait, however, and they braved the blizzard, exchanged Christmas presents early, and got the 60 votes they needed to invoke cloture and ensure final passage of their unpopular healthcare-reform bill in January. Democrats should enjoy their new toy when it arrives. All they are likely to find under their Christmas tree next year is a notice that their House and Senate have been repossessed.http://ewross.com/Christmas_Presents_for_Democrats.htmMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:21:11 -0500 The first unit of the 30,000 troops President Obama has ordered into Afghanistan, 1500 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, will arrive before Christmas. Many of them have spent Christmas away from home before in Afghanistan or Iraq. They'll join thousands of others who have done the same. It goes with the territory. It's no big deal, unless it's your first time. For me that first time was Christmas 1966. A brand new 2nd LT assigned to the reactivated 9th Infantry Division at Ft. Riley, Kansas, six months earlier, I deployed on 2 December with the 3rd Brigade aboard the USNS General William Weigal out Oakland, California. Twenty-one days later we moved by truck convoy from the port of Vung Tau, South Vietnam, to the 9th's new base camp at Bearcat southeast of Saigon. I spent Christmas eve sitting on a sandbag wall, cleaning my M-16 rifle, looking up at the stars, and thinking about my family 11,000 miles away. I'll never forget that lonely night because it made me aware of what Christmas is really all about--family, friends, and shared beliefs. A lot has changed in 44 years--the troops today have have email, cellphones, digital pictures, and video. What hasn't changed is that America's young men and women must still go in harms way to defend our freedom. Remember our troops this Christmas. They'll be thinking about us.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 13 Dec 2009 15:11:18 -0500 Like the recent case of US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, are the pending courts-martial of three US Navy SEALs for allegedly punching captured terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed, the purported planner of the 2004 Fallujah killings of four Blackwater security guards, another case of political correctness displacing common sense? In Hasan's case, fear of accusing a Muslim officer of highly questionable behavior allowed him to escape the scrutiny common sense dictates he should have gotten before it was too late. Now, many suspect that fear of detainee-abuse allegations may have led to charges against the SEALs that are not warranted.http://www.ewross.com/Navy_Seals_Courts_Martial.htmSun, 13 Dec 2009 15:09:23 -0500 As a US Army Captain, I was stationed on Oahu, Hawaii, in the mid-1970s. Our house in Pearl City overlooked Pearl Harbor. In the military and later as a civilian working for the Department of Defense, I visited Hawaii dozens of times until I retired from government service in 2007. Living there and visiting so often, I had a different perspective, of course, than the tourist who only visits Hawaii once or twice. Still, I couldn't drive by the USS Arizona Memorial or, after 1998, the battleship USS Missouri without remembering the events of December 7, 1941. And I couldn't stand on either and look down at the sunken hulk of the USS Arizona with oil still seeping from it and where bodies of 1102 of the 1177 sailors remain entombed without thinking about what it must have been like that day. I was only a few hundred yards from from the Pentagon on September, 11, 2001. I heard the plane crash into the building, saw the column of smoke, and smelled the burning jet fuel. A few months later when I visited Hawaii, I went again to the Arizona Memorial. This time I had an even deeper understanding of the shock and surprise the men of the Arizona must have experienced. With each passing year, the memory of that "day of infamy" fades further in the American consciousness. For many, the Arizona becomes just another tourist attraction. A nation at war, America would do well to keep the memories of the attacks of December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001 alive.http://www.ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 06 Dec 2009 18:06:40 -0500 By now, unless the only place you get your news is from ABC, CBS, or NBC, you know what “Climategate” is all about. The hacking and dissemination of more than a thousand emails from the influential Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, revealed wholesale deception and data manipulation to support global-warming trends that don't exist. Curious minds want to know, what impact will it have? Considerable impact; more I suspect, than most people believe, not only on the climate-change establishment, but on the scientific community in general, the alternative energy industry, the so called mainstream media (MSM), and Democrats. The emails themselves were explosive enough; however, their full effect will take time to play out.http://ewross.com/Climategate.htmSun, 06 Dec 2009 15:29:52 -0500 The hacking and dissemination of thousands of emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England that reveal deception and data manipulation may be a game-changer. They don't prove that long-term global warming isn't happening or that humans aren't responsible for some of it. What they reveal is that the paleoclimatology branch of climate science has become politicized to the point of engaging in "unethical and probably illegal behavior." They should serve as a warning to countries around the world on the eve of the Copenhagen Climate Conference that it is premature to plunge headlong into binding international treaties that limit CO2 emissions and permanently impinge on individual freedom. The real "inconvenient truth" is that former Vice President Al Gore and many of those who preach from the pulpit of the "church of climatology," have been serving up tainted Cool-Aid. They've been using junk science as a tool to bring about a fundamental change in the world order--massive redistribution of wealth and global governance. I'm not a climate change believer, nor am I a climate change denier; and I believe that pumping too much "stuff" into the atmosphere that we weren't pumping into it 150 years ago isn't a good idea. Before we take drastic steps based on unsettled science, however, we should demand more compelling evidence. Honest, ethical, and objective scientists have discovered much about our world and our universe. They've made us aware of how complex it is and, when it comes to the odd six-mile-wide asteroid, how quickly life on earth can change. They've also shown us what true scientific research is all about--withstanding the most critical debate and skepticism without resorting to deception and the demonization of people with contrary views.http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htmSun, 29 Nov 2009 15:53:06 -0500 On December 1, President Obama will announce his decision on troop levels and the way forward in Afghanistan in a speech to the nation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Media reports indicate that he will approve something less than, but close to, the optimal 40,000 troops that General Stanley McChrystal requested more than three months ago. He also likely will announce "benchmarks" for measuring success and an "exit strategy" for getting US forces out of Afghanistan. But if this is all he does, even if he gives McChrystal most of what he asked for, our prospects for winning the war in Afghanistan aren't good.http://ewross.com/Obamas_Afghanistan_Decision.htmSun, 29 Nov 2009 11:50:07 -0500 Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue, An American Life, is flying off bookstore shelves, and thousands are lining up wherever Palin appears on her book-signing tour. Her interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, and conservative radio and cable TV talk-show hosts have drawn huge audiences. Will Palin's book and public appearances improve her political prospects? What to they suggest about her intentions?http://www.ewross.com/Sarah_Palin_Going_Rogue.htmSun, 22 Nov 2009 11:47:26 -0500 Attorney General Eric Holder's controversial decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo detainees accused of the 9/11 terror attacks in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York will take America down a path it will likely regret. America, not just Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cohorts, is going on trial, allowing misperceptions of world opinion and US national interest to put America at risk.http://ewross.com/Khalid_Sheikh_Mohammed_Goes_to_Court.htmSun, 15 Nov 2009 17:16:30 -0500 What motivated US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan to open fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood's Soldier Readin Center on November 5, 2009? Is he a "terrorist"--mounting evidence suggests Hasan's actions were premeditated and ideologically motivated--or is he just an Army medical officer who snapped under pressure? That's the central issue investigators and military courts must ultimately determine.http://www.ewross.com/Nidal_Malik_Hasan.htmSun, 08 Nov 2009 13:17:21 -0500 The resignation of White House “green-jobs czar” Van Jones because he signed a “truther” petition calling for an investigation of US government involvement in the attacks on 9/11 reminds us of the prevalence of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Large numbers of Americans believe them. In doing so, wittingly or unwittingly, they do a great disservice to the millions of dedicated men and women who serve them.http://ewross.com/Conspiracy_Theories.htmMon, 14 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0500 Do you ever get the feeling, watching the news out of Washington, DC, that you've been transported to the Twilight Zone? Wouldn't you be relieved if suddenly Rod Serling appeared on your TV screen and said, You're traveling through another dimension--a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop: the Twilight Zone! Then you'd know for sure that what you're seeing and hearing wasn't real, it's just science fiction. Unfortunately, that's not the case.http://ewross.com/The_Twilight_Zone.htmMon, 02 Nov 2009 19:18:59 -0500 In a recent Washington Post poll, only 21 percent of Americans identified themselves as Republicans. Overwhelming Democrat majorities in Congress marginalize Republicans in government. Still, Democrats continue to run against the last Republican administration as they attempt to rush transformational legislation through Congress, worrying about Republican gains in the 2010 election.http://ewross.com/Democrats_vs_Republicans_vs_Conservatives.htmMon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 What can I say about the Norwegian Nobel Committee's award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama? Statements of shock and surprise have poured in from around the world. Even Obama's fellow travelers were surprised. The president himself could hardly believe it. Perhaps we might pause, however, before we scratch our heads and move on, and consider the “teachable moment” here. Why are so many people saying this is all about George W. Bush; and what does this tell us about America's European critics and how we should consider what they say and do?http://ewross.com/Obamas_Nobel_Politics_Prize.htmMon, 12 Oct 2009 08:30:00 -0500 We hear conflicting reports about troop morale in the US armed forces. High-profile people who visit our troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places report that morale is high. After eight years of war since 9/11, however, years more of war ahead, and the US strategy to win it uncertain, others report that troop morale is low. Whatever the situation, now, more than ever, it's important that American leaders and the American people not take troop morale for granted and exercise great care not to squander this most precious commodity essential to success.http://ewross.com/Troop_Morale.htmMon, 19 Oct 2009 08:30:00 -0500 After several months of intense national debate about healthcare reform, it's clear that there's a common-sense approach which would go a long way toward solving the problems inherent in the current system. It's also clear that the debate is as much about ideological differences and political power as it is about healthcare. As long as that's the case, common-sense healthcare reform will continue to elude us.http://ewross.com/Common-Sense_Healthcare_Reform.htmMon, 05 Oct 2009 08:30:00 -0500 In Frank Capra's classic 1946 movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," guardian angel Clarence gives suicidal George Bailey the opportunity to see what the town of Bedford Falls would be like if George had never been born. George, played by the self-effacing Jimmy Stewart, discovers what a profound positive impact he's had on the small town, keeping the malevolent and greedy Mr. Potter from depriving its people of hope and opportunity. If only those Americans who are ashamed of their country and believe it is the source of the world's problems could have such an experience. They would see how much better off the "American" people and the world are because of America.http://ewross.com/Its_a_Wonderful_Country.htmMon, 28 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0500 President Barack Obama says he cancelled the land-based interceptor missile-defense program with Poland and the Czech Republic because he has a better plan. People who believe he made a bad decision say he made it to appease the Russians. They say it tells the former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe, including new NATO allies, that they can't trust the United States, and it demonstrates US fecklessness to Iran. Did the president make a difficult but smart decision, or did he make one of the worst decisions of his presidency? Either way, it's worrisome.http://ewross.com/Obamas_Missile-Defense_Decision.htmMon, 21 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0500