Another Quarter - Another Afghanistan Mission

Per the AP and Fox News: 'Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the nearly 9-year-old conflict in Afghanistan as fears mount about the war.'  We have consistently failed to establish a clearly stated mission in Afghanistan, adapting tactics to the situation as necessary, and we have yet to properly and fully source any of the stated missions to date.  Instead, we keep redefining the mission, accomplishing little in the way of long-term success as a result.  These are failures of both the Bush and Obama Administrations, and must be rectified if we are to achieve success.  This is not to advocate that we blindly stick with a mission that we're unable to accomplish, or for which there is no political and public will, but we must find a mission that we can and will support.  Otherwise, there is little point to being there.

Send Your Ideas for Limited Spending to the White House (no, it's not April Fool's Day)

The AP is reporting that President Obama wants to hear ideas for limiting government spending from federal workers:
"After all, Americans across the country know that the best ideas often come from workers, not just management," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "That's why we'll establish a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better. We'll put the suggestions that work into practice."

How about: stop putting out gigantic bills that will indebt the next three generations? Of course:
Obama said his administration would make $2 trillion in deficit reductions in the next decade, a pledge he has made repeatedly during his first three months in office. He also said he wants to re-evaluate priorities in the capital and urged Congress to pass legislation that would force lawmakers to pay for new policies and avoid large deficits. He also told agencies they could keep a part of the money they save.

If you're interested, send your comments to: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Michael Steele for RNC Chair

The AP and NPR have reported that Michael Steele has been elected over 6 balloting attempts to be the next RNC chair. He's an interesting man: socially conservative, moderately conservative fiscally but with some populist leanings, and the first African-American to head the RNC. He's been called to reclaim the party's strength with young voters.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/880960.html