Could Egypt be the Next Iran?

That is an interesting question.

What started as anti-government protests are turning into anti-government riots on the streets of Cairo; protesting the 30 year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Curfews have been declared yet are being ignored. The Egyptian government is responding by "turning off the Internet" as well as calling in the police and military to quell the riots. Some of the video being shown (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE) is rather disturbing.

While Mubarak's government has been friendly to the United States and has recognized Israel, it is a repressive regime, stifling rights and not fulfilling all the needs of the Egyptian people, as per the high unemployment rate in the country.

Jumping into the fray and hijacking the call for freedom of the primary protesters is the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long banned in Egypt, which is sympathetic to Hamas, hostile to Israel and seeks to establish a Muslim caliphate governed by Shari'a law, in place of the secular regime in Egypt. If that were to happen, it would plunge the Middle East into a volatile instability and have dire consequences for Israeli-Egyptian relations, especially with Iran as a close ally of a Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egypt. Many in the world are already fearing this result, as indicated by spikes in crude oil.

Former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, commented on the situation earlier today, spoke of the role of the military and if they don't hold up the government, the uncertainty and grave implications of the situation gripping Egypt.

In this very tenuous situation, if he is to stay in power, Mubarak does need to make reforms, provide his people with more freedoms and decipher ways to create jobs, but most importantly, Muslim Brotherhood cannot come to power in Egypt. It is not about Democracy for them, it is about power and enforcing their will on the region and the world. Governments around the world, including the current government in Egypt, must make sure that another Iran is not allowed to form, and if President Obama does not want to become the next Carter in terms of foreign policy, he would be wise to make this his mission.

With the situation, there is a great fear of the "unknown" because we truly don't know what the outcome in Egypt will be. "The 'Right' Solutions" sends its well wishes and prayers to the people of Egypt that their current situation can be resolved and that everyone works together to make sure Muslim Brotherhood does not come into power in that strategic and important state in the Middle East and the world!

The Historical Significance of January 28

This is a very significant day in American History, and a very sad day. On this day, 25 years ago, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight. This mission was significant as on board was the first teacher in space, Social Studies Teacher and New Hampshire resident, Christa McAuliffe, who was to teach a lesson from space that all of America's school children were going to watch. As a result of the significance, schools were gathered in classrooms and auditoriums to watch the takeoff and witnessed this horrible national tragedy. It was later found out that the explosion of Challenger was caused by the failure of an O-Ring seal in one of the rocket boosters, causing the gas inside to escape into the external fuel tank. Temperatures at Kennedy Space Center on that day were unseasonably cold, and it was also found the O-Ring failure came about as a result of those cold temperatures.

President Reagan cancelled the State of the Union that evening and memorialized those who were lost in the Challenger explosion in a short, graceful and moving speech, which is one of his most memorable, that did a great deal to move the healing process forward.

Bret Baier and "Rapper's Delight"

I greatly admire Bret Baier as a journalist. For those of you who don't know, he hosts Special Report which airs from Washington DC every weeknight at 6PM on the Fox News Channel. He shows himself to be a true professional and an excellent interviewer, as evidenced by his recent (and likely only) interview (part 1 and part 2) with President Obama.

At a recent Bob Hope Foundation fundraiser, Bret Baier brings down the house with his rendition of "Rapper's Delight," which was quite the crowdpleaser.



I have to give Bret Baier a lot of credit and he did a pretty darn good job!

SOTU 2011 Lesson: STAY INFORMED

Just finished watching the State of the Union Address and I have a few observations on it.

First, this speech provides a lesson to all of us: consistently follow the news, not just watching television news, but reading news on the Internet and in the paper! The setting and the material in the speech took those into account who only watch sporadic news and that was deceptive!

On setting...I'm not a fan of a "Date Night SOTU." In light of the Tucson shooting, they did not sit by party, "they mixed in." Colorado Senator Mark Udall proposed this mix under the umbrella of "civility," but the true meaning was to disperse the new majority to make it appear that more members of Congress are giving the president a standing ovation. Democrats did not want to see a majority sitting on their hands, hence this configuration, and the Republicans went along, and unfortunately accepted their false premise.

On the speech and substance...those who "watch" and don't "read" the news would have thought the President is moderating. The unfortunate thing about the speech is that in his own words, it was "just words, just speeches." While he was trying to talk the talk, he hasn't necessarily walked the walk in the past two years. In the speech, he called for a freeze in spending, yet it was this president who pushed through a budget busting stimulus bill that wasted $900 billion and a health care reform bill that will hamper the job creation this country so needs! In terms of the Health Care Bill, Obama further defended it, saying he'd "work with Republicans," but after the 2010 Health Care push, is that believable? He spoke of passing tax cuts, yet all he did was extend the Bush tax cuts. He spoke highly of the troops and their service in Iraq, attempting to take credit for their coming home, yet he expects Americans to forget about what he previously said about our troops, along with his thoughts on Iraq.

There were no clear solutions on how the government will assist private industry in the creation of jobs, a further "attached-at-the-hip" mentality with the environmental movement, no clear plan for stopping illegal aliens from coming into America and likely may support amnesty for the children of illegals. Despite his perceived moderation, Obama still has a strong adherence to his belief in a strong and over-reaching federal government. Between infrastructure improvements such as high speed rails, education reform (what seems like without accountability) government stepping in on R&D in industry and energy, makes one question where he is going to find the money he so wants to cut out of the budget. And it's not going to be cutting entitlements, as he did not address that.

On the bright side, the president spoke of tort reform and curbing governmental regulation. Time will tell if he leads on these issues and goes along with the Republicans, but in studying the past two years and using it as a record, I am not readily holding my breath. This is going to be quite a two years ahead of us!

Rematch in the Old Dominion?

Back in 2006, Democrats saw a lot of opportunity to take back the House and Senate and one specific state they focused on was Virginia. They saw then-Senator George Allen as the likely GOP Presidential Nominee in 2008 and made their #1 mission to take him out. After the macaca incident (which teaches politicians never to say a word of which they don't know the definition), liberal advocacy groups, the left-wing media and the Washington Post hammered away to see his defeat. The constant pounding Allen took, combined with the overzealous praise of his opponent, James Webb, along with the fact that it was a Democrat year in the Midterm election in 2006 brought about the defeat of the former Senator.

Webb campaigned as a moderate, pro-military Democrat and wore his Reagan association on his sleeve. The media was very one-sided in support of Webb, as they seldom reported on his own problems with racism.

Nearly six years later, Webb is up for re-election. His record has shown him to abandon his moderate stance and his temper has come out on occasion. With the Electoral results in Virginia in 2009 and 2010, he is in big trouble and has yet to even announce his re-election campaign.

With the current political atmosphere and trend, former Senator George Allen has just declared he will be running to be the US Senate Republican nominee in 2012. He will face a primary challenge from TEA Party backed candidate, Jamie Radtke, but I do not think she will be much of a roadblock to Allen, as he has a strong and consistently conservative record in Virginia as Governor and Senator. He is effective in articulating his record and he can be considered one of the original TEA Party members, as he was articulating smaller government and an appreciation of the founders before the TEA Party was formed. In the end, Allen will likely prevail in the primary.

Considering what we saw in 2006, a Webb-Allen rematch will be one of the more closely watched Senate races in 2012.

Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Let's get it out of the way, as a Giants and Jets fan, I am disappointed over the outcome of the playoffs and the teams playing in the Super Bowl; (I can hope for a Giants/Jets Super Bowl AT THE MEADOWLANDS in 2014) shouldn't be a surprise.

Now that the gripes are out of the way, both teams deserve a well-earned tip of the cap for making it to the Super Bowl.

Green Bay Packers: During the 2010 season, this team was injury riddled, and even had to turn to a backup quarterback in Matt Flynn, against the New England Patriots, but despite the loss, he put in an inspiring performance that showed heart (and also raised his personal stock). With their strong defense led by Dom Capers and the phenomenal play of their starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, the Packers won the games that needed to be won during the tail end of the season and were able to earn the final spot in the playoffs (they really should be sending the Chicago Bears some champagne since they didn't show up in that regular season finale). Head Coach, Mike McCarthy, has significant playoff experience, leading the Packers to an NFC Championship game at Lambeau in 2007, so he was able to impart knowledge on how to survive in the playoffs. They faced some very tough teams in the playoffs and survived each one, earning their trip to the Super Bowl, again, thanks to the Chicago Bears.

Pittsburgh Steelers: I may be no fan of Ben Roethisberger because of his disgusting off-the-field behavior, but they have a darn good head coach in Mike Tomlin. With the trade of Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes to the Jets and the four game suspension of Roethlisberger, Tomlin appropriately filled the quarterback position, held the team together and came away with a 3-1 record before Big Ben came back. He also kept a close watch on Roethlisberger and acted like a mentor to him, and there have been accounts that his off-the-field behavior is improving as a result. With their bruising defense coached by Dick LeBeau and led by the likes of Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, along with an offense that can move the ball and a mobile quarterback, the Steelers performed well in the playoffs (and yes, the Jets played a good game) and despite the criticisms they did not have to play the Patriots, they also earned their trip to the Super Bowl.

With two coaches who are strong leaders, mobile quarterbacks, strong defenses, accurate receivers and potent running games, along with fans who travel well, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will give the world a great Super Bowl! After what they did to the Giants, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm rooting for the Packers to win Super Bowl XLV. We'll see if that actually happens.

UPDATE: The Calling to Lead

It has been a while since I've posted anything relating to my novel, The Calling to Lead, as we've had elections, various political stories and leadership analysis to make its way into the news that warranted comment. It is time for you, the readers, to have an update.

After a fastidious editing session, I have begun to shop the manuscript to agents and eventually hope to gain representation so as to eventually publish The Calling to Lead. The process is long, as I am sending query letters out to describe the plot of The Calling to Lead, some background information, inspiration/experience that led to its writing, as well as effective marketing strategies to put it in the hands of readers, but I have a strong resolve and will not be giving up anytime soon, as I hope to share my first novel with you all in the near future!