Russian military technology, while still lagging greatly behind the worlds lone superpower, is still very advanced and something that China, the worlds most populous country, greatly covets. Over the last eight-years, while we've been increasing the area we expect our military to cover, the Russian's have taken a page out of the American playbook, and have been building a huge military and economic alliance with some of the largest, hungriest nations on earth.

Outgoing President Vladimir Putin has been aiming at an alliance that would counter U.S. supremacy, and would dwarf the NATO alliance, his targets are China, Brazil, India, and South Africa, and don't discount Iran who receives a lot of support from China and Russia. This alliance would control most of the worlds resources, and three-quarters of the worlds population, and Putin knows that Russia's part in the alliance would be indispensable because of her technology and one of the worlds largest oil reserves.

Recent Iranian, Chinese, and Russian harassment of our armed forces is not accidental, and should open our eyes to what is coming. China has been expanding their offensive weapons as fast as possible in areas that could only be used against one power with great effect- us! These areas include missiles designed to destroy satellites, and computer warfare technology that will take advantage of the World Wide Web.

Their strategy will be one of containment, as we reach a point where we will not be able to cover all of our interests, our allies will be forced into a submissive state, made easier due to the fact that American forces have been providing their security for years, and many of our strongest allies, Japan, Germany, and France, have very small defense forces because of our protection. Currently, Germany and parts of Europe already depend on the Russian oil pipelines, and will reach a point when Chinese goods and Russian oil are more important then American security, especially if that security requires them to get drawn into a war with this new Super Bloc.

You will hear many Americans in the coming years who will be almost giddy at this, feeling that our country has finally got what was coming to it, these people have forgotten what this nation has done for the world, and for them, they don't realize how blessed they are just to be born here. If you are one of them, here are some things to remember:

America entering World War Two not only saved Europe and the world from German concentration camps, but also prevented the possibility of the Soviet Union controlling all of Europe, those of you who remember that we were allied with the Soviets should also remember that it was an alliance of circumstance, and that the rape of eastern Europe under the Soviet yoke was as bad as anything the Nazis would have done, need an example?

After the fall of the Czar, the people of the Ukraine felt that at last they would have an opportunity at having their own country free of foreign rule, but to their chagrin Lenin's Soviet Union took it upon themselves to appropriate all of the lands that had been part of Czarist Russia, and the fertile Ukraine was on the list, and after four years of war they became part of the Soviet Union in 1921. In 1929 Soviet leader Josef Stalin, in an attempt to subdue growing resentment over Soviet rule, had 5,000 high profile Ukrainians shot or imprisoned without trial, much like the nationwide officer purge he directed. But this wasn't the end of Stalin's purge, he sent groups of undesirables to Siberia, and then turned all of the privately owned farms that made up the Ukraine into a collective farm owned by the state, where the once private farmers were now slaves working for the Soviet state and kept working in factory like farms at the point of a gun. The spirit of the people of Ukraine was yet unbroken, and in 1932 a plan was set into motion that would finally break them, Stalin had started increasing the grain quotas and was sending most of it into foreign markets to generate the funds he needed for his vastly expanding military complex, when the Ukrainians, verging on the point of starvation complained, Stalin sent in over one-hundred-thousand soldiers to purge the Ukraine of any Soviet opposition, the borders were closed creating an inescapable prison, and soldiers went house to house stripping them of all the food they had stored claiming it as property of the Soviet state. When they had finished, over seven-million Ukrainians perished, children and the elderly died first, while Soviet grain stockpiles almost overflowed as they awaited transportation to the rest of the country behind barbed wire and protected by soldiers, even the cattle was fed as some Ukrainians went insane from hunger and some cases of cannibalism have been recorded where adults ate their own children. This was Soviet Communism, and what would have met the rest of Europe without American security.

If you are one of those who are not concerned with the great freedom that exists in the world, and you don't care about the millions who have not perished in the wars that had been a matter of course in Europe before America stepped onto the world stage, remember that the next war will not be one that we choose, to borrow an analogy, there are two drivers involved in a head on collision, and generally one, not both of the drivers is at fault. An America that lets the rest of the world fall to the powers of evil will be isolated, and the resources that we depend upon for security and prosperity will he choked off like the grain Ukrainian farmers produced with their own hands. We've already thrown ourselves upon the altar of world trade, and depend more and more on foreign sources for even our most essential needs, some of which we may not be able to recover. Anyone who thinks that the world's powers have all grown up and that we will never see a major power act aggressively to subjugate another civilized nation hasn't learned from history, doesn't understand man, and is oblivious to the largest world military buildup of all time that is taking place. This may all seem like doom and gloom, but there is still a bright side, we are currently the most powerful and free people ever to walk the face of the earth, and the time has not yet passed where we can secure our freedom and prosperity for our generations and the good of mankind, and some of these solutions will be touched on in part II of this article. Thank you all for your time and patience and God Bless America!

The United States is not without their submarine tragedies. In the 1960's the US suffered the loss of the USS Scorpion (most likely due to a hot run from a torpedo) and the Loss of the USS Thresher (due to condensation build up in the high pressure blow system). In the 1980s the US almost lost the USS Bonefish (an old Diesel boat that had a battery fire, very dangerous and I had friends on the boat). There was the USS Greenville that hit and sunk a Japanese training boat off of Hawaii. There was also the USS Ashville that hit an underwater sea mount and killed a young sailor. It was a miracle that the US didn't lose the USS Ashville, these submarine sailors kept the sub afloat even though the forward ballast tanks could not hold air.

The Russian navy has experienced their submarine tragedies. In the mid 1980s a Yankee class submarine had a missile explosion off the coast of North Carolina and sunk while being towed back to Russia. The Oscar II class submarine sunk in the Barents Sea while doing naval exercises, killing everyone onboard. And recently the Akula II class mishap in the Sea of Japan.

A submarine is a very dangerous place. This danger is not from the Nuclear reactor either. The danger is from the very nature of what a submarine does and what it has to accomplish in a combined space. For instance the number one cause of fires on a submarine is from the clothes dryer! This is due to the fact that a submarine has a closed ventilation system with no way to expel the lint from the dryer. Therefore if sailors do not continuously clean the dryer lint from the filters, it will heat up and catch fire. The refrigeration plants require Freon gas (just like your refrigerator) if Freon leaks, it displaces oxygen, if this is undetected, people can suffocate. The fuel required to run a torpedo must be self oxygenating, it if ignites (very rare) it produces hydrogen cyanide gas. If seawater gets in the battery compartment the battery will also produce hydrogen cyanide gas. Submariners are fully aware of these dangers and we train continuously on them.

In my opinion some of the troubles the Russian navy has experienced are due to the Cold War and not sharing technology or information on mishaps. For instance the missile explosion that occurred on the Yankee submarine was due to design of liquid rocket propellant mixing. When the two liquids are separated, it works fine, but as the missiles age and rust occurs, the two liquids might mix. NATO countries learned this and stopped using liquid rocket propellants in the 1960s. The Kursk explosion in the Barents is rumored to have occurred due to the Russians testing a hydrogen peroxide torpedo. The hydrogen peroxide exploded causing the submarine to sink. In the 1960s the British had an explosion like this causing a submarine to violently explode pier side. Due to this explosion NATO countries stop using hydrogen peroxide.

As for the Akula II fire extinguishing system, it is still unclear about what was contained in the automatic fire extinguishing system. This submarine's keel was laid down in 1991 meaning that the design occurred during the Cold War. Moreover Akula II submarines first appeared in the late 1980s. I do not want to believe that the Russian Navy would use Freon and not Halon to put out a fire. However, due to some systems like high pressure hydraulics, Freon and not Halon might have been the designed gas. It is more believable that there was a small fire in the machinery compartment that caused the seals on the refrigeration plant to leak Freon. It is time for us to share experiences and technologies.

Submariners have learned a long time ago to never trust any' automatic' system, nothing beats human reaction and human decision making to stop a fire and defend the ship.

Starting with a military career wrought with mediocrity and nepotism and culminating in a despicable and fraudulent presidential campaign (even for a Republican) that the likes of Satan himself, Karl Rove, has denounced as failing the “truth test” with ads that go “too Far”, McCain has proven over and over that the only thing greater than his ambition is his ability to sell out his entire political career.

But the corporate owned media seem unable to place any of the facts together and present for the American people a true picture of the man who laughingly refers to himself as a Maverick & an American Hero.

For Instance:

John McCain is not a “Maverick”

His checkered past reads like that of another spoiled millionaire brat from a powerful family -- George Bush Jr.  

First, he did not have an unvarnished military career. He barely graduated 894 out of 899 from Annapolis Naval College in Maryland and he repeatedly leaned on his family who are military royalty (his father & grandfather are 4 star admirals) to get into or be kept from getting kicked out every school he attended. Without his family’s connections McCain most certainly would have been dismissed long before Vietnam came along to ordain him as an American Hero.

Phil Butler, a classmate who attended Annapolis naval college with McCain & roomed across the hall has said, "He was a huge screw-off," recalls Butler. "He was always on probation. The only reason he graduated was because of his father and his grandfather — they couldn't exactly get rid of him."

McCain himself described his time at Annapolis as a  "four-year course of insubordination"

From being dragged into court on a profanity charge (WTF ?) his sophomore year to a dark misogynistic streak which led him to plot a course for Rio so he could “get laid” (this while being married with children) according to John Dramesi a fellow pilot. McCain has led anything but an exemplary life of service suitable for the future leader of the free world.

"I enjoyed the off-duty life of a Navy flier more than I enjoyed the actual flying," McCain writes. "I drove a Corvette, dated a lot, spent all my free hours at bars and beach parties." 

Not only is he not Abe Lincoln. He isn’t even Grover Cleveland.

McCain is not the war hero he pretends to be

FACT: McCain was shot down over Hanoi and held captive there as a P.O.W.

However, the image of the brave American soldier who sacrifices himself for his country and reveals nothing to his captors is one that does not apply to McCain. John Dramesi was an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also shot down, held captive and even attempted to escape twice for which he was tortured even more severely than McCain never provided any information to the enemy. He described McCain’s image as a selfless American hero who placed his country 1^st as definitely misleading.

“This business of my country before my life? “ Dramesi says, “Well, he had that opportunity and failed miserably. If it really were country first, John McCain would probably be walking around without one or two arms or legs — or he'd be dead."

The U.S. military's Code of Conduct for Prisoners of War dictates that P.O.W.‘s are bound to give only their name, rank, date of birth and service number — and to make no "statements disloyal to my country." 

McCain knew that his status as son of a navy admiral would be very valuable to the enemy. So he did what any red blooded American hero worthy of the presidency would have done. He volunteered the information himself. Very heroic.

"I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital," he later admitted pleading with his captors. He also later admitted in his book that “ my fathers identity was directly related to his survival.”

Now if it had been me I’d have told them anything they wanted to hear from giving up the secret recipe for Twinkies to how I single handedly started the Korean war but then I don’t believe in anything as limiting as a country or borders. I believe in people. But I also don’t go around claiming to be an American Hero either.

John McCain is a Flip Flopper

He has flip flopped his way into the Republican nomination & throughout this campaign.

So why can’t the media come out & say so ? Or the Democratic Party for that matter ?

John Kerry was all but crucified in 2004 for having a change of heart on a legitimate matter. John McCain is not even remotely the same politician he was at the beginning of the Bush Administration. In fact, he seems to be reinventing himself every week.

He has turned his back on many of the stances that caused his campaign to contrast sharply with George Bush when he ran against him for the Republican ticket in 2000.

Now he is almost an exact replica of Junior, he being the worst president in American history.

Anyone with a memory that can reach as far back as 8 years should be able to recall that McCain stood against Bush with regards to tax breaks for the wealthy, drilling in Alaska & torture. Now John McCain is in favor of all of them. He has flip flopped on all of these important issues. 

"On all three — sadly, sadly, sadly — McCain has flip-flopped," says Lincoln Chafee, the former GOP senator. And forget all the "Country First" sloganeering, he adds. "McCain is putting himself first. He's putting himself first in blinking neon lights."

McCain has even gone so far as to hire Bush’s old campaign team including Karl Rove himself whose politics he had piously derided in 2000. This team  contains some of the most vile men ever to don a 3 piece & are the same men who smeared McCain & his family in 2000 ending McCain’s bid for the presidency & hurling Bush towards his date with infamy.

The Old McCain also spoke out against the Right’s unapologetic coveting of the unthinking fundamentalist vote. But the New McCain obviously was somewhat influenced in his choice for VP by selecting .. you guessed it, an unthinking fundamentalist.

With his choice of Sarah Palin (or Bible Spice as Alec Baldwin coined her) he is also apparently trying to outdo George Bush Sr. for his relatively tame 1988 choice for VP Dan Quayle. By selecting a stewardess he barely even knew to be 2^nd in command in the most powerful nation on the planet, McCain has nearly flip flopped himself out of the White House.

She’s a very scary small town Hockey Mom whose foreign policy expertise even I can surpass by virtue of the fact that I do own a passport. Her official title as Savior to the Right, or Queen of the Shitheads depending on who you ask, has been bestowed upon her by that discerning bunch of middle Americans who still believe in the Boogie Man bcuz …. they say they saw themselves in her. Enough said.  

If you can say to me that someone with $370 glasses & a $150,000 wardrobe (courtesy of Joe SixPac the donor) is small town then I’ve got an amazing investment opportunity for you. This woman who has seduced the average American with her everydayness despite stumbling her way thru every interview she has ever done, all 5 of them, is about as qualified for the presidency as Katie Couric. Wait, that was a low blow. Ah, Katie can take it.  Simply, her candidacy has lowered the already low standard for American politics.

Yet John McCain chose her.

"Let's face it," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true."

Yet millions of Americans don’t seem to care about any of this.

While McCain (the man the Native American community lovingly refer to as Old Man River with Too Many Teepees Who Knocks On Death’s Door) has had to recently face a disappointing numbers drop in regards to his perception by the American people & is trailing in the polls, tens of millions of Americans will still vote for him … tens of millions. Simply bcuz he is white. That is enough for most Americans.

Of course it doesn’t help that he is running against a black man. Not a Harvard educated, pull yourself up from your bootstraps kind of American success story we say we love to hear about. But a B-L-A-C-K man. That is all a great portion of America sees when they see Obama. Ok, that’s not all they see. To be fair they also see an Arab & a muslim although he is neither.

If Obama is elected president, it will be a monumental day in American history & hopefully a turning point for all Americans.

But if he isn’t elected president & John “flip flopper”

McCain & Sarah “Pig in lipstick” Palin win … I hear they have free healthcare in Canada.

The police have a job of not only gathering the normal every day-to-day pieces of information regarding communities---but also gathering the necessary information to protect America.

Another issue in protecting America in should be considered is the media's role in messing up any protection America has to defend herself. The media needs to work with the police and not against the police by any means. This entire philosophy regarding joining hands with the police---as people of the press needs to happen---so the police can do their best in protecting America---in the struggles of fighting terrorists.

Police have already re-conceptualized their roles in society and are working hard already in the roles they had before. Police work even harder now and should be further compensated for all their hard work they perform to protect society from the enemy---terrorism.

It amazes me, we can give away billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to foreign nations and financial mismanagement on Wall Street but, we become very stingy when it comes to giving the average John and Jane Doe here any of those funds. I’m not saying don’t help those in need but remember, charity starts at home. We have citizens here that have been devastated by hurricanes and they have to go through tons of political red tape for what amounts to pennies. Greedy insurance companies that are more than happy to collect their monthly premiums then use every loophole in the book in order not to pay their policy holders.

It happened during Katrina, Rita and now Ike. Most people have lost everything that they own and are faced with the grim task of starting over from nothing. Why can’t the government give them money to rebuild their homes and lives? Mostly because, there’s nothing in it for the political fat cats and lobbyists. We just keep working, paying taxes and watching the government squander it. Whoever, the next President is should think about putting the people, who elected them first for a change.

The women of The View have made several controversial statements lately -- Elizabeth Hasselbeck talking about Michelle Obama's refusal to discuss several things behind the scenes on the show and Joy Behar talking about how the media has fallen in love with Sarah Palin.  John McCain looked like he didn't know what hit him when he appeared on Friday's show.  Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who assures him that he has her vote and nearly always takes a very right wing conservative viewpoint, asked McCain some tough questions.

Barbara Walters hammered away on what exactly was the change and reform that Sarah Palin and he were espousing.  She asked for specific instances of what Palin was trying to reform, even at one point asking if she was going to reform him and his party.  Joy Behar began talking about McCain's very controversial political ads claiming that Obama wants to teach sexual education to children and that Obama was referring to Palin when he said "You can put lipstick on a pig".  She called both of these commercials outright lies that said they were endorsed by him.  When she asked if he did endorse them, he said they weren't lies and that he did indeed endorse them.  He said that Obama chooses his words very carefully and that he should not have said the "lipstick on a pig" comment.  When Barbara Walters said that McCain had used the very same term when describing Hilary Clinton's health care policies, McCain asserted that he was not referring to Clinton but her policies.  He said this even while saying that Obama was talking about Palin with the exact same quote.  His ads claiming that Obama wants to teach kindergarteners about sex ed were no longer talked about on the show as they moved onto other things.  Obama asserts that he wants to warn kindergarteners of sexual predators and give them talks about appropriate touching -- he's not exactly handing out condoms to five year olds.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck, his staunch supporter, went on to ask him about his opinion of Rowe v. Wade.  Surprisingly, at least to me, he stated that he believes the supreme court made the wrong decision on Rowe v. Wade.  He stated that he is pro-life and that he believes that life begins at conception.  Later when his wife, Cindy McCain, joined him, she went on to say that she too is pro-life but has exceptions for cases of incest and rape.  This is oppositional to Sarah Palin's views of abortion who believes in no choice under no circumstance.

Walters asked Mrs. McCain about the media coverage of John McCain not knowing how many houses they have.  Mrs. McCain asserted that their number of houses played no role in the campaign and did not answer the question either.  She stated that they were very fortunate and shared their fortune with others, which is well recorded.  They discussed Cindy McCain's humanitarian roles and even showed a clip of her visiting Georgia last week.  In regards to Georgia, Cindy attested that Russia was "the bad guy" in the situation and that women and children were dying at their hands.

Barbara Walters asked John McCain about his assertion that Sarah Palin would be the best Vice President ever.  McCain jokingly said that politicians are never given to over exaggeration and conjecture.  He went on to say that Palin was a great running mate and had a stellar record of reforming spending in Alaska.  He says that he made the right choice picking her as his running mate.  He said that he wanted to go "head to head" with Obama and that he has invited him to appear on shows with him or at town hall meetings.  He said that these appearances, which Obama has refused, would change the entire tenor of the presidential race.

Whoopi Goldberg asked McCain if he believed in the separation of Church and State.  McCain asserted that he did but went on to say that America is founded on "in God we trust".  He talked about Palin's speeches referring to God, saying that he agreed with what she was saying.  That they had to follow God's will and that they had to be the best people they could be to follow God's plan.  Goldberg asked McCain if Palin could really be the President if, God forbid, anything should happen to him.  McCain asserted that Palin would make a terrific President.  He said that she was more than capable of running the country.

In the end, I think McCain appeared much like a deer in headlights.  The women on the show asked tough questions with no holds barred and he didn't seem to be expecting that.  His wife had to come to his defense on certain points, clarifying what he didn't say but should have.  He said that he would reach the youth of the country through his website and by appearing on shows that young people liked to watch.  The clip of him recently released, being returned to America after his years as a POW was shown to him.  He said that he learned to put his country before himself during those years.  While he is definitely a hero, I'm unsure that he is prepared to handle running the country if he can't even win a verbal sparring with five women.  He definitely loves his wife, his children, his God and his country.  On those points he was absolutely clear.  While Cindy states that the number of houses they have is irrelevant, I wonder if he still doesn't know the answer.

That to me is the most vain statement ever, so we have more weapons than other people, big deal. Fire power is not what makes a nation great, and all this talk of "my pop is bigger than your pop" will eventually bring unwanted problems to our doorstep, that's trouble we don't need.

Does anybody recall 9/11/2001? Remember those that died that day? We don't want de ja vu of that. With that said, war to me is the most idiotic thing, people kill people...and for what? Their own human vanity and ego? It's ridiculous.

I am not knocking our men and women in uniform, if war has any place in existence, I believe it should be used strictly in defense after all other options are exhausted. Now, I am not one of those optimists that asks "can't we all just get along" because the fact is, everybody will always have differences. Sometimes, those differences may cause debates and stuff but if they can be resolved without war that's better for everybody.

The prototype, named BigDog, has already become a huge hit on YouTube, receiving over a whopping 6 million views.  This robot is dog shaped and can run, climb through terrain, and carry heavy loads.  It is powered by a gasoline engine which drives its hydraulic system.

In its initial trials, BigDog was able to run at speeds of 4 mph, climb 35 degree slopes, and navigate rubble while carrying a 340 pound load.

It is currently controlled by remote, but future developments will include sensors that allow BigDog to make basic movement decisions.

The project was sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Have we become a nation of mindless puppets that are glued to ever story of political indiscretion and rumor. There are more important issues that we should be talking about for instance the economy, the housing market and jobs. We would rather turn a blind eye to the issues to focus on what’s going on in someone else’s home.

I personally, don’t care that Mrs. Palin’s daughter is pregnant, how many homes Mr. McCain owns or the fact the Mr. Obama is biracial. What I and everyone else should care about is can they get this country back on the right track. Can we solve the social and economic problems that we’re facing everyday.

The media only promotes this type negativity in order to distract the masses from the real issues going on in the world. We know more about movie stars and politicians lives the we know about the world in general. It scares me that future generations will become as numb to what’s going on around them and in the world as we have.

Why is it that the media never reports on the homeless in America? Partly, due to the fact that it’s depressing. Depressing, that we live in a country that doesn’t in any way try to help it’s fellow man. We have adopted a kick them while their down mentality which, in the long run will come back to bite us. We have men and women serving in the military that have less than sufficient health care but, we choose to close our eyes to that fact.

Open your eyes, stop buying into the media distractions. Why can’t the media report the real news? Simple, bad news and controversy is what keeps us glued to the tube and buying newspapers. If they showed and printed real and relevant news stories, we’d shut off the tube and quit reading papers and bury our heads in the sand. We are happen to settle for being misinformed and left in the dark but, when the truth comes out we get all up in arms about it.