EU Recession

France and Germany are heading for the same financial solutions as the US - cut spending and raise taxes to reduce the deficit. Germany is in better shape than France. The weaker EU countries; Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy are heading into recession with Greece and Italy leading the way. For the expanded story, see;

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/eurozone-third-quarter-gdp-suggests-bloc-is-sliding-into-recession/story-fnawdwo8-1226196247746

Drone gone

The Iranians say they have shot down and captured a US stealth drone. This drone, possibly a RQ-170, is super secret and can avoid detection.

The unmanned drone can scout the landscape for nuclear weapons. No pictures of the drone in Iranian hands or other evidence to prove the capture of the drone have emerged. Loss of the RQ-170 could leak secret technology to other countries, like China, which could have an opportunity to examine it closely.

The US did admit a drone went missing last week.

We will just have to wait for confirmation and, in the meantime, hope it's not the drone.

The U.S. Coast Guard

I have met a number of people who are current or former members of the U.S. Coast Guard. I have been very impressed by their work ethics and dedication to serving and protecting the United States. It is an extremely dangerous job that they do. The work is continual and the pay needs to be improved.
If you know of anyone serving in the Coast Guard, please send them my love and thanks this holiday season. If you meet anyone serving in the Coast Guard or who served in the past, please give them a big smile, and thank them for all of the work they performed for all of us.
For those who are physically able and mentally able to do the work of the Coast Guard, I urge you to explore the opportunities available. As with all of the military, we will honor our military members and veterans this year and every year for their great work to keep us safe and to preserve our values and our way of life.

Cut embassy costs

Here is an idea I like - a Virtual Embassy. Hillary Clinton says she wants to create a virtual embassy for Iran, since the US and the Iranian government can't seem to reach agreements. She states the embassy will be for people in Iran who have questions about the US or might want to travel here. The Iranian government said they will continue to disrupt electronic computer and phone connections. Hilary calls this the "electronic curtain."
Carrying this virtual embassy idea further, we could cut huge amounts from the US budget if we made a lot of the embassy services around the world virtual. We could still have a few American workers in these countries, but the costs could be cut dramatically. In addition, when a US embassy is targeted in an attack, there would be little in the actual embassy building and all information would be stored outside of the country, so little data would be lost and injuries greatly reduced.
I hope we explore further the virtual embassy.

China emerges - China Summit

I attended the China Summit today and certainly came back with the message that China wants to do business and that China has "worldwide" goals. What these goals are, were left unstated. During the meeting the participants listed a number of problems with the China-US relationship.
I noted during the meeting that the US participants were not fully on board with resolving our US financial problems within the next two years. They had a goal of 3 to 5 years.
This disturbed me because the American people are clammering for jobs and business. Even one Chinese participant said, if you don;t have anything planned now, why not try something with China? One of the US participants answered saying the US is not very welcoming of Chinese investment in the US for various reasons.
It was during this part of the discussion that I realized that the youth of America must make these old millionaires move on or move over. Most families in the US do not want to wait for three years to improve US business and develop jobs. China also has a lot of older immobile people as business and political leaders who are reluctant to change. The youth will have to prepare themselves mentally to take on business and develop these obvious needs of both countries.
This can not be done with ignorance, as Google found out when it tried to develop a Chinese component of  Google. The participants agreed China spies heavily on visitors and steals technology from China-based businesses. It was admitted that, in China, if you are not carrying your important papers, someone is probably copying them.
It was stated the US is hesitant to deal with Saudi Arabia, Russia and China due to cultural and policy differences and the large amount of crime. Of course, many had that same statement about American crime for many years. True, the trust is not there.
China is an emerging giant and it will be up to the youth in both countries to develop the international relationships needed. Oh yes, and American youth must learn Mandarin Chinese.

Syria torturing its citizen protesters

Zainab, Syrian teen killed while in custody. Her body had been burned and mutilated in areas. Decapitated with her arms severed, her body was returned to her family. Zainab was held because her brother was a activist sources say. Her brother was also killed. His body also showed signs of severe torture and gunshot wounds to multiple body areas.

Congress harasses super-committee - Congress Constipated

Congress is again constipated and stuck - unable to govern. Now all of the congressmen are running after the super-committee(SC) trying to lobby and influence the SC members to toe the line for the party. Each party fears one of "their people" will give in on a financial pledge. While congress must publicly state they want the SC to resolve the stalemate and come to decisions that will cut $1.5 trillion dollars from the budget, secretly the congressmen are acting like a pack of dogs to ensure no one gives up any ammunition. In addition, there are lots of veiled threats: "If you have to give up something, it's OK; we will have your back at the next election."
This SC created by the House was doomed to fail from the start and the daily 24 hour pressure will drive the country bonkers and deeper into a financial crisis.