Times are hard in Detroit. With the restructuring, lay-offs, and over all economic turmoil, employment opportunities are far and few between. Not just for the industry workers, also the professionals that provide services to those workers. Doctor’s, laywer’s and insurance adjusters, amongst others, all suffer when one industry fails. The state and local governments suffer loss revenue due to loss wage, social programs lose funding due to budget cuts, but more importantly, the state loses knowledgeable and skilled workers and professionals. Those with valuable skills will seek employment in another town or another state.

Take that philosophy global. Iraq and Iran are neighbors. They have shared peaceful times and times of war. Iran remembers a time when they could look down upon the people of Iraq. Though neither could claim complete freedom, Iranians chose their government. Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist.

With the assistance of hundreds of thousands of brave AMERICANS, the picture of these two countries has changed dramatically. Now, every Iraqi is free to vote or run for office, without closed door approval or fear of death. Iraqi women can vote, hold office, become a doctor, teacher, or any other occupation that will provide non suicidal dreams for her children. Iraqi sports teams can back the candidates of their choosing without losing the right to represent their country.

And Iranians are taking notice. If you think they can twitter and facebook with guns in their faces and not be abreast of the current conditions in Iraq, you are truly underestimating the savvy of the Iranian people. I believe, they truly believe, America is responsible for a lot of the problems in the Middle East. I also believe they understand and yearn for freedom, that brings true cultural diversity, exchange of ideas, and potential for economic growth. They don’t want to choose total westernization but they do want to feel like their government is paying attention to their wants and needs.

So, if they can’t get that freedom and chance for a brighter future from their government, they will seek it elsewhere. Giving respect to the Iranian peoples’ pride of country, they won’t move willingly. It will be a necessity. As economic numbers and advancement improve in Iraq, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an influx of Iranians into the country. Not to become citizens but to get a real sense of what it’s like to be able to assemble peacefully and not have bullets flying towards you.

This is a double edged sword to the people of the Middle East. They are beginning to see a Muslim framed democracy take hold and they see an opportunity to follow suit. They also see the price of Democracy and Freedom. They know the number of American lives, Iraqi lives, and now Iranian lives that continue to add up in the cost of liberty.

No dictator or group of dictators (the Sheiks and Ayatollahs) will ever give up power willingly. In my opinion, this is why Obama won’t come out stronger against the Iranian government. This administration is all smoke and mirrors. When President Obama says, “He doesn’t want to meddle”, I think he’s praying this thing goes away quickly and quietly. Twitter explodes and now he is faced with a dilema. How can you condemn the concentration of power and inclusiveness in Iran, at the same time the American government is concentrating power and authority.

This is not a human rights problem. This is a “people who stand for liberty and justice, in remembrance to all those who died for those principles” problem. This is not an American fight. This is a ” worldwide recognition of an individuals right to fight” fight. This is not an Iranian issue. This is a “reason to get Acorn active and in the street” issue.

You would think the former community organizer and champion for the little people would understand that. No corporate interest or ideological mandates should cause you to lower your voice. No C.E.O. or Board of Directors should make you hold your tongue. No oppressive force should hold you back from saying what needs to be said or doing what needs to be done.

These days President Obama spends more time with C.E.O.’s and Boards of Directors’ than he does with the little guy that got fired from a GM dealership. He spends more time making corporate decisions behind closed doors, than he does answering criticism from the American people. Today, he spends more time waiting for a reaction from the Iranian hierarchy than he spends championing the “community organizers” in Iran willing to die to be heard.

That’s a change I didn’t see coming. Is that why he wanted the Iraq War to fail? To see it succeed would calm the hate talk from the people at the bottom towards the United States and in effect curb our own criticism of the freedom and justice we hold in our boarders. Would the American people look at Iraqi citizens and the individual power they now hold and be jealous, just as the Iranians now are? Or was he scared that the people of the region would step up and fight for freedom, no matter the cost in blood, and he would have to lose popularity with the people on top, to support the people on bottom.

For the last two weeks, all eyes in the political realm have been focused on Nancy Pelosi. What did she know and when did she know it? Did the C.I.A. lie or is Pelosi’s nose starting to grow? If she did know and she didn’t say anything, isn’t that worse? Blah! Blah! Blah!

Trust and believe, I am no fan of Nancy Pelosi. I understand the Republicans left in the House and Senate, see this as the first wave in starting to crumble the Democrats lock hold on power. If they can get one of the main faces of the Democratic Party to have to resign, it will create the buzz that maybe she isn’t the only one that’s being untruthful, you know with all the tax cheats and appointees fresh from indictments.

But here’s the catch. While focusing on Pelosi, we are forgetting that the world is still turning and it’s not a pretty picture.

President Obama did his apologetic world tour and they are laughing at us. They see our financial system in ruins and as nations that existed way before us, they already know where we are headed. They know you can’t spend your way into a solid economic future.

Iran is continuing to work towards it’s nuclear ambitions. Isreal is flying run throughs of it’s attack routes towards Iran. North Korea desperately needs money, especially since walking away from six party talks, and are willing to sell in capabilities to anyone willing to pay.

Did I forget the Taliban 60 miles away from Pakistan and it’s arsenal of Nukes? Not to mention, India and Pakistans’ problems that could further escalate the sitiutation.

And we are talking about Nancy Pelosi. Maybe this is the problem with the Republican Party. We know the Democrats are going to self destruct under their own arrogance, pun fully intended. Instead of focusing on making them fail, we should be focused on making sure America doesn’t fail while they are in power.

We should take every opportunity to talk about Nancy Pelosi and turn it into a talk about the dangers going on in the world. Let the C.I.A. handle Pelosi, you know she placed the target on her own back, and let’s talk about keeping America safe in the up and coming struggles ahead.

We allowed our heads to be buried in the sand while we were worring about who Bill Clinton slept with and Al Queda was plotting and planning. We won the White House but we lost the Twin Towers, was it worth it? And any Republican that says it was, you are not a Republican I would associate myself with.

If we are going to be the party of National Defense and Fiscal Responsibility, then we need to make those issues first and foremost. They talk Nancy Pelosi, we talk Islamabad and the world’s refusal to help with the situation.

They say C.I.A., we say while you were apologizing to the world, who offered help with Afghanistan or getting Taliban out of Pakistan. The press is not asking the tough questions, we should be.

Republicans, refuse to talk about Pelosi. Talk about real issues. Let’s learn from our mistakes.

I got a bit of a shock yesterday. I met a man that blew my mind. Let me paint a picture for you.

6′3, about 200 chiseled lbs., mouth lined with gold teeth, black hat, black coat, black pants, black Timberlands, and even black gloves on his hands. I tried to imagine the number of tattoos under his clothing but lost track in my own imagination.

After introductions, the first word out of his mouth, Barack Obama. If I wrote every time I talked to a black person about why I didn’t vote for Obama, that’s all that would be on this blog. So you know some thing surreal happened.

He says, “It’s like the dumb following the blind.”

I shut up and let the man speak. I had my own pre-concieved notion and since I obviously was wrong, I owed him a certain amount of respect.

He told me how his grandmother owned three acres of land. She was in a retirement home now, so no one farms on the land any more. He said the Government had came and tried to buy the land from his family. Him and his siblings said no and now get harassed by cops and officials who try to find fault on the property.

The more he talked, the more I started to get the notion he was a conspiracy theorist. He questioned why Obama’s new limo is called “the beast”. (Like mark of the Beast) He also brought up some things about the number 13. He was starting to lose my attention when he said some thing else I wasn’t expecting.

He said, “At least Chavez was smart enough to start Socialism when his country had stockpiles of money. Our government is so backwards, they want to start giving away stuff when the coffers are already dry.”

He said, ” I want to give my daughter the world, I feel she deserves it, but if I rob, steal, or kill to get it, all I do is devalue her worth, because I devalue mine.”

Knowledge nuggets dropped at my feet.

While I was still trying to wrap my head around his previous thought, he had moved on. Now he was talking about the value of Gold. He said the smartest thing any of us could do was buy as much Gold, Silver, Platinum, or any other precious metal and stockpile it.

He questioned the numerous commercials you see on T.V., Gold for Cash. He pointed out, “They want you to send in gold, that will only grow in value, for the American Dollar that loses value every day.”

The thought wasn’t shocking, yet again the source was.

Then came the ranting and raving when the subject was brought back to his grandmother’s property. He threatened the day the government would tell him and his family they had to share their land because they owned to much. “That would be the day America died and revolution would begin.”

Normally, I would diffuse the situation. Who am I kidding? I would light a rocket under it and send it to cosmic level but in that moment, I understood.

This is the pulse of America right now. A lot of people gave their trust to Obama and are expecting solutions because he was praised as the Messiah, the Savior of all things. Attitudes change when kids are crying because they are hungry or families are stripped of land.

We are a country not afraid to protest. It’s one of the pillars of our foundation. When our words are ignored by those tho think they know better than us, we will not take it lightly. When they impose huge taxes on us while stripping us of our right to bare arms, we will not turn a blind eye. If political censorship or even the hint of such a concept, comes from the White House, I fear for my country.

This goes beyond any label you could put on yourself. Democrats, Republicans, Independents and everything in between will not allow our country to fall without a fight. I’m just saying.

Since we’ve been going through this Economic Crisis, little else has made it’s way into the main stream news. Except of course the Candidates. I’m wondering while McCain is losing ground talking about the Economy, why isn’t he pointing out the activity of the terrorist groups all around the world. Our interest abroad have been attacked twice since 9/11 and you barely hear anything about them on the News.

The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen was attacked Sept. 17th. There were no American causualties, but we were still attacked. Does it matter the size of the attack? Or should we look at the smallest attackas build up to something more.

Just because Al Qadea was late releasing it’s 9/11 video with it’s claims to cause more distruction to U.S. interest at home and abroad, should we think of them as no longer a threat. I mean I didn’t think of them as a threat until after 9/11, 2001. Did we forget the lessons already of discounting anyones ability to attack us?

Now over the weekend, the terrorist decided to strike the heart of Pakistan. Or at least western interest there. The Marriott Hotel is one of the safest buildings in the Islamic World, just because of the amount of western people who stay there while visiting Pakistan. A truck was allowed to make it to the final check point and blow up, with enough explosives to ripe a massive hole in the earth.

They are still out there. They still want to cause harm to America and it’s citizens. I hope we don’t get so caught up looking at a pocket books that we forget to pay attention to what’s going on in the rest of the world. As well as the perception that when our wallets go bad, we take our eyes off world policy and terror groups. Because next time they might put one and one together and hit our pocket books directly and watch us self implode from the selfishness they accuse us of. I’m just saying.