I found the following facts, courtesy of Fox News, on Robert Gates, Rumsfeld’s replacement to the role of Secretary of Defense. While he is not a name many of us remember from his tenure in the CIA, he dose sound to have a solid background – and he is an Eagle Scout.

Past performance is the best indicator of future behavior. He looks to have the history and the guts to take up where Rumsfeld has left off. He has inherited the second hardest job in the Whitehouse; God be with him.

Dr. Gates is currently the 22nd President of Texas A&M University, a position he assumed on Aug. 1, 2002.

Dr. Gates served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999-2001.

He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. In this position, he headed all foreign intelligence agencies of the United States and directed the Central Intelligence Agency. Dr. Gates is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to Director.

He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at The White House from January 20, 1989 until November 6, 1991 for President George H.W. Bush.

Dr. Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional, serving six presidents. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, The White House, serving four presidents of both political parties.

Dr. Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has twice received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received CIA’s highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

He is the author of the memoir, “From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War,” published in 1996.

Dr. Gates serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Council on Education, the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He is President of the National Eagle Scout Association.

Dr. Gates serves as Chairman of the Independent Trustees of The Fidelity Funds, the nation’s largest mutual fund company, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc. and Parker Drilling Company, Inc.

A native of Kansas, Dr. Gates received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University, and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. Dr. Gates is 62, and he and his wife Becky have two adult children.

I thought I would start this thread, to be saved for consideration a year or two from now. Today the American people voted the Democrats into control of the congress. It is important to set aside some of the natural bias that partition politics brings and look instead at the raw numbers. So, for future consideration, here are the economic and domestic factors which the Democrats have inherited from Republican leadership.

Unemployment: 4.4%
DJIA: 12,127
NASDAQ: 2377
NYSE: 8833
Personal Income: $10.7 Trillion (per Department of Commerce)
Trade Deficit: $64.3 Billion

I know there are more numbers I could site, but those are the top key and easy to track numbers.

It should be interesting to see how well our economic prosperity is cared for, under new leadership, in the months that follow.

Well, the democratic victory in the mid-term election is complete. It is the iceing on the cake, and I can hear the dancing in the streets now.

The terrorists, the UN, and the Democrats all got there wish. What exalted company our current congressional leaders find themselves in.

From CNN:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

The development occurred one day after congressional elections that cost Republicans control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate as well. Surveys of voters at polling places said opposition to the war was a significant contributor to the Democratic Party’s victory.

President George W. Bush was expected to announce Rumsfeld’s departure and Gates’ nomination at a news conference. Administration officials notified congressional officials in advance.

I am sure Rumsfeld, who realizes funding for the war depends on congress, could see the writing on the wall. There have been consistent calls from the left for Rumsfeld to step down. This places more and more responsibility in the party who, so far, has nothing to offer but rhetoric.

Also Reporting:
Hot Air
Revealing the ACLU
Wizbang
Michelle Malkin
Outside the Beltway

Brian Maloney over at The Radio Equalizer offers us 6 reasons why we conservatives have reason to be optimistic after this mid-term election. They are pretty good points, and I thought I would share them here with you.

• For several years now, conservatives have grown exceptionally frustrated with the GOP leadership on a number of issues, especially illegal immigration and out- of- control government spending. We’ve seen so little progress on these pressing matters that the loss of Republican Congressional control doesn’t sting nearly as much as it should have.
• Rather than being won by Democrats, this election was lost by Republicans. Neither party made a good case for itself this year, but anti- GOP sentiment was strong enough to toss them out.

  Quick: what issues did the Democrats run on this year? Other than on the idea of opposing Republicans, there were almost none. In the long run, that doesn’t bode well for their party.

• This defeat finally gives the Republican grassroots a chance to be in the driver’s seat. Pressing for new leadership will be easy now. Over time, the GOP will be much stronger than it is today, through elected representatives who are more principled than what we have now.
• The real race is in 2008. It’s going to be much easier to get a Republican elected in the presidential contest than it would have been had the party prevailed last night.

  And the Democrats aren’t going to control Congress by much, so it won’t be especially difficult to overturn that result in two years if the party gets its act together. Some of the seats lost to scandals last night are in districts that will be hard for Dems to maintain beyond one term.

  The 2008 election cycle officially begins today!

• We’re not going to miss some of those who were booted last night. Will any tears be shed for Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee? No, he’s been a sad joke for years.

  Note that Ocean Staters re-elected GOP Governor Don Carcieri, who is fairly conservative, but rejected the Senate’s most liberal Republican member.

• Conservative talk radio should get a real shot in the arm from these losses, as will the blogosphere.

Good points, thanks for the bit of an uplift Brian.

Hamas, in addition to being a terrorist organization, is the duly elected government of the Palestinian territory. While there is a “government wing” and a “militant wing”, we should remember than they are essentially the same organization with the same goals and common core leadership team.

From the AP:

Hamas’ military wing called Wednesday on Muslims around the world to attack American targets following reports that an Israeli tank strike killed 18 people in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government distanced itself from the call, saying its fight was with Israel.

Hamas militants have historically directed their suicide bombings and rocket attacks only against Israeli targets.

“America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons,” Hamas’ military wing said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

Notice that the Hamas Statement was sent specifically to the AP - wonder why?

The US and Israel are obviously correct in labeling Hamas as a terrorist organization. This call shows the underlying militancy of the organization as a whole. Perhaps the Hamas government would like to explain the rockets they are launching into Israel, the rockets which brought the tanks into Gaza in the first place. The blood of those people are on the hands of Hamas, not on Israel and certainly not on the US.

I am sure Hamas sees it differently. However, calls like this undercut the view of Hamas as a government to be taken seriously on the international stage. The separation, real or perceived, of the government and militant arms of Hamas do not come into account – nor should they. Hamas needs to get its house in order.

The moral high-ground belongs to Israel though our media spin may hide that from the average American.

In a very tight vote, Missouri Amendment 2, which legalizes cloning for scientific research (more on Amendment 2 here), passed popular vote yesterday. The Amendment to the Missouri constitution passed by a very slim margin of 1.4%, or 27,500 votes.

I am saddened that Missouri, a normally conservative state, would take such a step. I cannot help but wonder if the vote was an informed vote, or just a show of success for politics which include high profile celebrity adds and cleverly disguised amendment wording. In my original post warning of the dangers of Amendment 2 I placed my hope in educated voters who would see beyond the shiny wrapper of Amendment 2 into the dangers within.

Well Missouri, you now have the product of the democratic process, and the consequences come with the right to vote.

Your voting has provided your future generation with the following benefits:
1. You have made cloning a Missouri constitutional right, a right that 76% of your opposed when asked a directly.
2. You have created protections and ensured the profits of Missouri biotech companies who place ethics a distant back seat to profits.
3. You have provided that you tax dollars will now go to promote research in cloning.
4. You have hand-cuffed the legislature in the regulation of these biotech companies.
5. You have created a steeping stone to foster cloning on the rest of the US, a stepping stone that large companies and there hefty legal departments are just waiting to step on.

I am sure many if not most Missouri voters who voter for this bill where sucked in by the misleading label of “A Ban on Human Cloning”, though it is nothing of the sort.

Good luck, Missouri, your going to need it.

Well, America - you asked for it. On the upside, finding material for Blogging just got a heck of a lot easier.

H/T to Go Pundit Go

“Man is unique in that he has plans, purpose and goals which require the need for criteria of choice. The need for ethical value is within man whose future may largely be determined by the choice he make” - George Bernard Shaw