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I don't want the pat down nor do I want the image scanning! Its all an invasion of privacy

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Morning all! Ugh a myriad of computer problems here today.. One machine is having petit mal seizures, one of the laptops has died completely and I've been locked out of Quickbooks since I got here.

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Another quiet morning on Das Blog.

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Morning.... just.... Morning....

January 12, 1954



Dulles announces policy of "massive retaliation"

In a speech at a Council on Foreign Relations dinner in his honor, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the United States will protect its allies through the "deterrent of massive retaliatory power." The policy announcement was further evidence of the Eisenhower administration's decision to rely heavily on the nation's nuclear arsenal as the primary means of defense against communist aggression.



Dulles began his speech by examining communist strategy that, he concluded, had as its goal the "bankruptcy" of the United States through overextension of its military power. Both strategically and economically, the secretary explained, it was unwise to "permanently commit U.S. land forces to Asia," to "support permanently other countries," or to "become permanently committed to military expenditures so vast that they lead to 'practical bankruptcy.'" Instead, he believed a new policy of "getting maximum protection at a bearable cost" should be developed. Although Dulles did not directly refer to nuclear weapons, it was clear that the new policy he was describing would depend upon the "massive retaliatory power" of such weapons to respond to future communist acts of war.



The speech was a reflection of two of the main tenets of foreign policy under Eisenhower and Dulles. First was the belief, particularly on the part of Dulles, that America's foreign policy toward the communist threat had been timidly reactive during the preceding Democratic administration of President Harry S. Truman. Dulles consistently reiterated the need for a more proactive and vigorous approach to rolling back the communist sphere of influence. Second was President Eisenhower's belief that military and foreign assistance spending had to be controlled. Eisenhower was a fiscal conservative and believed that the U.S. economy and society could not long take the strain of overwhelming defense budgets. A stronger reliance on nuclear weapons as the backbone of America's defense answered both concerns--atomic weapons were far more effective in terms of threatening potential adversaries, and they were also, in the long run, much less expensive than the costs associated with a large standing army.

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just working away



Really seriously, Thom is just pissing me off with the negative lately. I know things aren't perfect - there is no such thing as perfect. and Obama is not Superman, he will not fix all our ills in 12 months let alone 4-8 years. Can we atleast get 4 years down the road and see what's going on?

I am feeling this too.



I love Thom, he is smart as all get out, but sometimes I think he loses sight of the big picture in all of this.



Nothing is perfect, it never will be. It seems as tho Thom assumes that this admistration isn't working toward perfect.



I think it is.