Failure is not an Option

I just watched an interview on CNN by their Senior Pentagon Correspondent, Jamie Macintyre with Gen. Petraeus, commander on the ground in Iraq.

Macintyre's questions again confirms that the left and the mainstream media is setting up the US to fail in Iraq to win seats and more importantly, the 2008 Presidential election.

His last question to Petraeus was something along the lines of, "If the surge fails, will you be prepared in September to give this report to the President and more importantly, Congress?"

Why are we asking questions to our Generals about failure? Why is failure an option for us? The answer is because we want to fail, so we can get a new party in the White House.

Mark my words: If we fail, it doesn't matter who is running the country because the consequences of failure to Americans will be disastrous.

This political squabbling over power needs to end. It is and will cost us dearly .

OpinionEditorials.com – Senator Reid Shames His Office - Bell

OpinionEditorials.com – Senator Reid Shames His Office - Bell

Politics as Usual?

Let me just take this opportunity to voice my opinion about the current political climate in this country.

The war in Iraq is not lost, as US Senator Harry Reid recently proclaimed, as if he's some military expert. If this statement is true, this means that al-Qaeda in Iraq has won.

This is all part of the propoganda machine that the left is employing as part of the "get-out-of-Iraq-no-matter-what" strategy. Why do we need out of Iraq? Because that will reflect a glaring failure of Republicans, most notably the President.

Think I'm making this up? In the words of Senator Reid himself: “We’re going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war. Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding.”

How did we come to the point in this country that a major political party would bet its fortunes on America’s losing a war?

This Iraq War funding bill is an absolute joke and the Democratic-controlled Congress should be ashamed that they are playing what amounts to a game of poker with our soldiers' money. This is abolutely unacceptable and I have no tolerance for anybody who says they support our troops and then use them for a political stunt. Last time I checked, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the military and congress should NEVER politicize current military operations. We made this mistake in Vietnam, and this time it will have much bigger consequences...come on people, WAKE UP!!

There is only so much the US can do in the Iraq situation. The Sunni's and Shia in Iraq need to figure out how they are going to resolve their issues. The responsibility is on them. But in the meantime, we need to resolve as a country, Republicans and Democrats to stand behind our President (whether it's Bush or Hillary) and military leaders until THEY decide to bring our troops home.

Not only are we making the mistake of politicizing and embarrassing the leader of the free world, we are also playing into the hands of those who hate us, i.e. bin Laden & Co. They see our weak resolve and this emboldens them more...how can we as a country be so blind not to see this? THEY ARE DIVIDING US.

On January 8, 2006, CNN reported, “An Arabic language news network has aired a video of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, in which he called on U.S. President George W. Bush to admit defeat in Iraq.” Well, we're half way there. If the wrong leaders continue to be elected, it's ony a matter of time that we will accept defeat as a nation.

Bush and his cabinet made mistakes in the war, which they will admit; but that does not justify the behavior of our "leaders" in Congress.

Support our troops and our mission until the President decides to bring them home. That afterall, is his job, not Harry Reid's, Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton's.
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Ok...I'm off my soap box.

Rebekah and I went to the Rangers game with our friends, David and Julia. They played the A's and amazingly won. This can be attributed to David's "lucky underwear" that he was sporting during the game. I really didn't ask for any more details. So here are the pics from the game.

In other news: I am flying out of DFW now which is awesome!! No more commutes to Chicago. The crash pad was starting to get a little raunchy with 12 guys.

We're not in Kansas Anymore...We're in Toronto, I Mean Montreal

"Folks, from the flight deck, welcome aboard flight 382, service to Toronto."

The ride out of Chicago had been a bit choppy as we climbed through the overcast layer that blanketed the city. The sun was just beginning to peak above the low-level cumulus clouds on this daybreak flight. The ride reports from other early morning flights indicated that the ride at 37,000 feet was smooth as I reached to turn off the fasten seat belt sign.

"Our ride into Toronto should be a smooth one, so we will go ahead and shut off the seatbelt sign. We ask that if you remain seated that you leave your seatbelt fastened in the event we encounter any unexpected bumps along the way," a clause that we always add to protect the passengers and us.

"Currently the weather in Toronto is cloudy, temperature is -1 degree Celsius and winds are blowing from the southwest at 6 knots," as I glanced at the current weather report that had just printed from my ACARs. "Looks like there is a little bit of light snow falling."

"Once again we would like to welcome you aboard flight 382 and we will have you in Toronto as quickly and safely as possible."

Satisfaction. A friendly, solid, organized PA that any First Officer, let alone a brand new one, could be happy with.

Ding Dong. The familiar intercom chime from the flight attendant...so soon after the PA.

"I must have done a really good job on that PA," I thought, as I reached to answer her call.

"What's up?"

"Hey the passengers are all asking if we are really going to Toronto. Isn't this a Montreal flight?"

Yep. I'm the genius who told the passengers we were going to Toronto, that the weather in Toronto was windy, cold and cloudy, and that we would get them to Toronto as quickly and safely as possible.

This, in fact, was a flight to Montreal.

The good news: the plane was on autopilot at 37,000 feet heading to Montreal. The FO (me)was obviously in need of a strong cup of coffee and a slap in the face.

I humbly anounced to the passengers we were heading to Montreal, not Toronto, and that we would be there in about an hour and a half.

The captain had a good laugh. I'm glad somebody did.

I actually thought it was pretty funny. It was a great lesson. Before flying to Canada, know where I'm flying. The confusion for me was the three letter identifiers used to identify the airports in Canada. They all start with the letter "Y" and don't resemble the actual name of the airport. Whereas, in the U.S., BUF means Buffalo, JFK is New York Kennedy, DFW is Dallas-Fort Worth; in Canada, Montreal is YUL and Toronto is YYZ.

As we were de-planing in Montreal, I heard it all from the passengers as they walked past the open cockpit door.

"Are we in Toronto yet?"

"This doesn't look like Toronto."

And my favorite, "Should we stay on the plane until we get to Montreal, eh?"

Live and Learn.