First, I hope all of you had a thankful Thanksgiving.  Today Barack Obama, the President Elect, named the members that will make up his National Security Team.  As expected, Hillary Clinton will take the position as Secretary of State, and Robert Gates will keep his position as Defense Secretary and Eric Holder will hold the position of Attorney General, Janet Napolitano will take position of Homeland Security Secretary, Susan Rice will be U.N. Ambassador, and General James Jones will be the National Security Advisor.

Many believe that his choices show us that he is not choosing based on liberal inclinations, but on the wisdom that the members he has chosen bring to the table.  Remember, Obama has very little experience, and he is going to hold the HIGHEST office in the United States, so must surround himself with older, wiser and more experienced individuals. It appears that this is just what he is doing, and in my humble opinion shows some measure of humility and wisdom on the part of the President Elect.

We will get into the individuals more over time, for now, what does the National Security Council do?

According to the web page on whitehouse.gov, (the photo will change there shortly, by the way), the establishment of the National Security Council took place in 1947, and became part of the Executive Office of the President in 1949.

The National Security Council is chaired by the President. Its regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the statutory military advisor to the Council, and the Director of National Intelligence is the intelligence advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy are invited to attend any NSC meeting. The Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, are invited to attend meetings of the NSC when appropriate.

The team advises the President on matters related to the security of our Nation, and foreign policies, and the coordinating and distribution of the polices to the appropriate government agencies.

Hillary Clinton has said “yes” to the position of Secretary of State, we’ve been hearing about it for days, today it appears to be official.  So that means that Bill and Hillary will be back in Washington…and some are saying the Obama team has the potential of looking a lot like the Clinton team.

The New York Times was first to confirm the news, and it’s spreading from there.

What will her responsibilities be?  Generally a Secretary of the State to the President does the following:

•  They work with foreign countries to bring about treaties, and agreements when necessary
• They inform the Congress and people on foreign relations.
• They help form and maintain friendly relationships, promote economic trade and maintain peace with other nations around the world.
• They serve as the President’s advisor on matters that relate to foreign policy.
• They are the ones that meet with and talk with foreign leaders and officials.

For even more information, here is a link to a book on Google Book Search entitled “Duties and Responsibilities of the Secretary of State“.

Is it going to look a lot like a Clinton White House by the time Obama finishes choosing his cabinet? We shall see!

Is it a lie or an exaggeration when a politician s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s the truth? Like the statement Joe Biden made at a recent speech in Baltimore:

“If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where (Osama) bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me. Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.”

or where he stated at a fundraiser:

“the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan where my helicopter was forced down. John McCain wants to know where bin Laden and the gates of Hell are? I can tell him where. That’s where Al Qaida is. That’s where bin Laden is.”

Impressive until you learn that the helicopter was “forced down” by a snow storm in the mountains of Afghanistan.  According to a quote by John Kerry who was also on the trip:

“It went pretty blind, pretty fast and we were around some pretty dangerous ridges,” Kerry told The Associated Press afterward. “So the pilot exercised his judgment that we were better off putting down there, and we all agreed.”

“We sat up there and traded stories,” Kerry joked. “We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn’t have to do it.”

He added: “Other than getting a little cold, it was fine.”

Or how about when Hillary Clinton claimed that she came “under fire” during her visit in Bosnia, also since proven to be false, including video footage of her smiling and greeting the people of Bosnia?

Are these just innocent little white lies or exaggerations of the truth?  Either way, they are childish, and if you have to do this to win an election, shows a bit of desperation, I’d say?

Though FAR from perfect (who is?), I consider myself to be extremely honest when I state something in a society that seems to find it easy to lie.  Even on a job when a boss or higher-up would ask me to tell someone who called “just tell them I’m not here” or some other lie, I’d find a way to respond to the caller honestly, yet maintaining the integrity of my boss.  I’m not saying I’m perfect, I’m sure a lie has passed through these lips at times, but not without great guilt and making sure I make it right later.  All that to say, I despise dishonesty, no matter what person or party is lying to me.  It makes me suspicious of anything else that comes out of that persons mouth.

If you want to read one of the sources of the info I posted, you’ll find it here along with a few more lies.

I just finished watching the video honoring Hillary preceding her speech, and wow, after the build up today, it really is all about her tonight. The video brought all the memories and feelings back of her campaign, I don’t know how those who voted for her, and still want her to be the Democratic Candidate can come away not being recharged. There’s Bill, in tears in the audience, and saying “I love you”, the applause is not stopping!

It’s a bit hard to read Michelle Obama, she stands to applaud each time the mention of uniting the party is given, but I haven’t seen a smile yet. Ah, there it is, she smiled at “Barack Obama is my candidate”. Now it’s back to “you and me”, focusing on herself. Oh my, is it ever about herself, all the “I will always remember…..” memories from her campaign. Then back to Barack. I guess you could say she’s flip-flopping back and forth between promoting Barack, and herself. Well I suppose she has a right, she did win many, many delegates, and even if I don’t agree with everything, she is a gifted speaker.

Well I’m going to take in the rest of the speech now, and we’ll see how tomorrow night goes…will the 100’s of Clinton supporters that are outside the Pepsi Center holding Hillary signs and saying vote McCain cause a little trouble during the delegate count? Stay tuned…this is getting fun! Oh, the hubby-into-politics I’m married to? He went to bed, has to get up early, and will listen to the details tomorrow on Rush Limbaugh.

One more thing, hubby had a few good laughs at the following video…lines from Hillary that just keep on giving if you’re a Republican:

Like anyone who is following the election, I’ve been pondering a lot of things, but most of all, who I think the best running mates will be for each of the candidates.  This is just my humble opinion, the wife of the man who is into politics, or used to be, and I may be way off, but it just seems that for the Republican Party, Mitt Romney would fill in the wide-open gaps that John McCain has.  As a republican would this be my ideal?  This election I am afraid is falling short as far as there being ANY ideal, again, JMHO.

For the democratic side, it probably goes without saying that Hillary Clinton would be the best choice for Vice President.  The mantra this election is CHANGE, how much change can you get than the first black man and the first woman elected as President - Vice President.  Do I want that change?  No way, and it has nothing to do with race or gender, not one bit.

I am not excited about the coming election, lack of excitement leads to lack of blogging.  I don’t see excitement in my husband, either.  So I’m contemplating a change in what this blog is going to be all about.  Watch and see, some changes may be on the way…they are still coming together in my mind.  I’m thinking of moving toward an even more “opinionated” format, and some may not like it, but that’s okay.  More exciting that way.

I guess it’s pretty obvious by now I’m a casual blogger, not jumping on every issue that comes down the pike, and blogging when I’m inspired to do so. Maybe keeping up with several other blogs has a bit to do with it as well.

To state the obvious, in the 10 days since I last posted, Hillary finally said her reluctant “goodbye“…and she really has been silent, hasn’t she? Of course all wonder what her next move will be, will she be on the ticket with Obama, the “dream team” as some democrats and the media like to call it? The thought of it turns me off, not because I am a republican, but because I think that she is far too manipulative, and might do all she can to overshadow Obama.

In the past 10 days a familiar, smiling face will no longer smile at us in person, but only in our memories, through pictures and television…of course I am referring to Tim Russert, who’s wake was in Washington DC today, a closed casket…I like that, it is best to remember him as he was, alive, full of energy, smiling. What a loss, my prayers are with his wife, son, and his father, Russ, made famous by Tim’s book, “Big Russ and Me”. What deep loss must be felt by all. It was kind of a blow to me as my hubby, the inspiration for this blog, suffered a heart attack (he’s doing fine) one year ago ON Father’s Day. I’m feeling extra fortunate to still have him with me.

There have been some town hall meetings…I’ve watched a couple, until the two candidates are face to face, they will be “more of the same” to me….rehashing of the same things over and over again, with slight changes and variations as they form their positions…at least I assume they are still forming them.

Stupidest (is that a word?) thing I saw was just today, the new anti-McCain ad by MoveOn.Org, it’s on their site if you want to view it. It’s based on the idea that McCain will keep soldiers in Iraq for an undetermined amount of time..shows a mother appealing to McCain on behalf of her baby boy who is sitting on her lap, as if when he is a man, McCain will TAKE him from her. Since when are we TAKING soldiers? We haven’t had a draft since Viet Nam, and no one is twisting the arms of soldiers to enlist in the service. They join by CHOICE. Stupid, stupid ad.

In the meantime, prices of oil keep rising, natural disasters keep happening, now airlines will be cutting back dramatically, the stock market remains unstable, the far-reaching affect of so many things is hard to predict.

But still, America is the greatest nation in the world, I really do believe that, we’ve been through hard times before, and God has blessed us. Do I dare say that if we keep forgetting Who has blessed us, keep forgetting to thank Him, keep expecting men to do what only God can do, some of that blessing may be removed? That’s a topic for another day. Good night for now.