Iran needs to get a grip

Really Iran ? Really ? As if the US Navy would stop traveling through the Straits of Hormuz just because you said not to....Iran needs to get a Grip.

These fools need a reality check. Iran is not in the position to dictate where the US Navy travels. Old Beady Eyes and the Mullahs must be smoking some pretty powerful stuff if they think this type of "warning" will amount to a change in tactics from the US Navy.

UPDATE - The Pentagon on Tuesday pushed back on Iranian warnings against returning a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.

"The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement sent to Yahoo News Tuesday. "These are regularly scheduled movements in accordance with our longstanding commitments to the security and stability of the region and in support of ongoing operations."

"The U.S. Navy operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of high vigilance in order to ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce," Little's statement continued. "We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region."

Bravo Zulu to our US Navy - To Iran, pound sand.


At end of drill, Iran army chief warns US aircraft carrier not to return to Persian Gulf

By Associated Press,Tuesday, January 3

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s army chief on Tuesday warned an American aircraft carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf in Tehran’s latest tough rhetoric over the strategic waterway.

Gen. Ataollah Salehi spoke as a 10-day Iranian naval exercise ended near the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf. The drill was a show of strength at a time when Iranian officials have warned they could try to shut down the vital oil passage if the United States enacts tough new sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.

“We recommend to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to Gulf of Oman not to return to the Persian Gulf,” Salehi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

Motives behind Salehi’s statement were not immediately clear.

He said Iran’s enemies have understood the message of the naval exercises, saying, “We have no plan to begin any irrational act but we are ready against any threat.”

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet has said that USS John C. Stennis and another vessel headed out from the Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz last Tuesday, after a visit to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port. The Fleet did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Salehi’s comments.

On Thursday Iran said its surveillance planes and vessels recorded video and photographed a U.S. aircraft carrier during Iran’s ongoing navy drill near a strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf.

Gen. Shahrokh Shahram, an air defense commander, said Iranian forces had warned off several foreign aircraft that he claimed entered Iranian airspace during the drill. He said the craft left the airspace after warnings from Iranian air defense units. He did not say which country the aircraft belonged to.

Iran had said the sea maneuvers would cover a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch of water beyond the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, as well as parts of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

A leading Iranian lawmaker said Sunday the maneuvers served as practice for closing the strait if the West enacts sanctions blocking Iranian oil sales. Top Iranian officials made the same threat last week.

"GUARD THE CHANGE??" - I feel we need to guard the American way of life and many others agree....

I am a firm believer in calling it straight - say it like it is, and you will never worry about being grounded in reality.

The president stated the following in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, " It's not surprising that a lot of people may not be feeling that energized or that engaged right now," - REALLY? No - say it isn't so Mr. President.

"The last election was a changing of the guard -- now we need to guard the change" - Which change were you talking about, Mr. President ??? The 95000 people that lost their homes to foreclosure in August 2010 (on top of hundreds of thousands of others who preceded them) - The millions who have slipped into poverty over the last year?? The BILLIONS of $$$ you handed off to Public Employee Unions instead of the majority of job-less workers in America (just for the record, only 7 % of Americans are Union workers) - The change of DOUBLING the National Debt in the short span of your term in office??? IS THAT the "change" you were talking about???

The FACT that more Americans find this man to be wholly unqualified, taking the country in the wrong direction and as partisan as any other President we have ever had, shows that he is just another empty suit who fed the voters a bunch of Bull and asks us to follow him blindly. No way, sir - YOU & your cohorts (Pelosi, Biden, Politano, etc.) make the previous administration look like Brainiacs (no small feat).

We need to guard the American way of life from YOU & your minions....get a grip, Mr. President because you are going to be re-grounded in reality when the American Voters tell you " ENOUGH " by voting down your party in November along with its misguided views of what our country should be.

CHANGE is coming, Sir - that much is certain. Changing your ability to inflict your idiocy upon the American people while still thinking we will believe what you say or blindly follow you down the wrong road.

Obama urges blacks to vote and "guard the change"
By Alister Bull -Reuters– Sun Sep 19, 7:15 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, seeking to fire up an important part of his support base ahead of November's elections, told black leaders on Saturday he wanted their support to "guard the change" he was delivering.

"I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can't wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now," he told the Congressional Black Caucus.

The words of America's first black president showed a deliberate effort to recapture the enthusiasm that had helped him win the White House in 2008, after polls showed African- Americans much less likely to vote than whites this year.

"It's not surprising that a lot of people may not be feeling that energized or that engaged right now," he told an annual awards ceremony hosted by the organization representing black members of the U.S. Congress.

"A lot of folks may be feeling like politics is something they get involved in every four years when there's a presidential election, but they don't see why they should bother the rest of the time," he said.

Republicans could make big gains in November as high unemployment and slowing growth turns voters away from Obama's Democrats, potentially costing them control of Congress.

A Gallup survey in early September found only 25 percent of blacks had given 'quite a lot' or 'some' thought to the November 2 congressional ballot, compared to 42 percent of whites.

This represents a much larger gap than during the presidential election in 2008, when the two groups were about equal in their intention to cast a ballot.

High turnout in the African-American community, together with the enthusiastic support of young voters, was a striking feature of the 2008 election and an important part of Obama's strategy in securing the White House.

Success in repeating at least part of that performance in the upcoming midterm poll, when voter turnout is traditionally low, could make a big difference to congressional Democrats running in close races. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 37 of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs.

"The last election was a changing of the guard -- now we need to guard the change," Obama said.