Earlier today a huge 8.8 earthquake hit Chile in the area of Santiago, causing devastating damage to that area and spawning tsunamis.  A huge tsunami will be hitting Hawaii within a short time and with all the world watching.  All webcams in Hawaii are being inundated with many servers going down.

The wave headed towards Hawaii is said to be traveling at 500 miles per hour.  Sirens are blaring warning tourists and residents alike to move to higher ground.  Gas stations are jammed with people scrambling to get gas quickly and get on their way.

This recent earthquake in Chile is being compared to the 2004 earthquake that hit the Indian Ocean and spawned the catastrophic tsunami where more than 100,000 people were killed.

President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union Address tonight.  His main points were the importance of creating new jobs, reducing government spending, and health care.  There was really nothing new in this speech, and it was typical of Obama’s past speeches.

President Obama can’t seem to resist the urge to slash the past administration and tonight was no different.  I think the American people are tired of hearing our President play this blame game.  It’s getting really, really old.  He’s been President of the United States a full year now and still continues to blame former President Bush for just about everything.

One spectator said President Obama is a great conservationist because he keeps recycling his campaign promises over and over!

What is our current state of affairs going into 2010?  Considering that someone tried to bomb a passenger plane while flying to America, it seems pretty clear that security is one of the most pressing problems today.

President Obama was quick to speak out about this incident, and he was clearly not happy with the events.  The guy bought a one way ticket, paid with cash, and had no luggage.  Helllllooooo!  No one thought to question this guy?  Obviously the “seasoned” employees weren’t working on Christmas Day.

President Obama is back doing what he does best — campaigning.  He recently took to the campaign trail to offer support for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.  During Obama’s speech to an enthusiastic and adoring audience, he offered supportive reasons by Corzine should be re-elected as New Jersey’s governor.  Then he brought out the ever-ready hatchet for the former administration with criticism for our current economic crisis.  Obama complained the current economic crisis “didn’t start under Jon’s watch. It wasn’t a consequence of Obama policies or Corzine policies that we went into this hole.”  Obama went on to complain, “This crisis came about because of the same sort of lax regulation, the same sort of trickle-down economics that the other guy’s party had been peddling for years.”

I wonder how President Obama will feel when his own policies and “lax regulations” get criticized just as much by the next administration as he feels it nececessary to criticize the Bush Administration.

What our country needs is positive leadership, not mud slinging and constant criticism aimed at the former administration.  What our country doesn’t need is a leader who throws mud and constantly blames the former administration’s policies while his own are as bad or worse.

President Obama wants to speak to the children of America.  Why is there such an uproar over this?  I think it’s a great idea for the President of America to speak up and say something important to American children.  There are too many bad influences in the lives of young people, and often parents are too busy doing their own thing to really give their kids the attention they need.  So many kids are doing what’s cool rather than what’s right.  Parents should be thankful to have a President who wants to say something positive to children and give them something to work towards.

Many parents are upset over this Obama’s speech to kids because they feel it is a bipartisan move to indoctrinate the children.  Some say it’s socialistic.  And of course the media is all over this and making matters worse as usual.  The media loves to get things stirred up and start controversy so they can get more people to watch their news stories.

I think it’s about time one of our leaders takes an interest in the children and tries to do his part to inspire them to work hard and believe in themselves.  What’s wrong with that?  Would it be better to have leaders who just stay out of things and keep their mouths shut because they might offend someone if they speak up?  President Obama should continue to speak to the children of this country, and other leaders should take an interest in them as well.  Parents who disagree with what they say can speak up themselves — to their children.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted when she was 11 years old as she walked to catch the school bus.  Her stepfather watched in horror as a car stopped beside her, and a woman grabbed her into the car.  He called 911 immediately, but the kidnappers were not found.

This week, 18 years after her kidnapping, Jaycee Lee Dugard has been found.  Her abductors kept her in the backyard, and Phillip Garrido, a sexual offender, fathered two children with her, ages 11 and 15.

This is an unbelievable story and so sad that this child was robbed of her childhood, her education, and of having any freedom or power over her own life for 18 years.  Phillip Garrido and his wife are in jail on kidnapping and rape charges.

Sadly, Jaycee’s parents separated due to pressures and emotions surrounding the ordeal.  Hopefully they can all find peace and start healing.

This is a horrible story of injustice against a young girl, and I hope they throw the book at the sick pervert who kidnapped her and basically made her his sex slave for 18 years.

A strong earthquake as hit Japan and shaken Tokyo and surrounding areas.  A professional baseball game was halted for a time, and trains were shut down temporarily until the earthquake subsided.  According to reports, the earthquake hit at 7:56 p.m.  The quake has been measured at 6.9 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and 7.1 by the United States Geological Survey.  It hit about 200 miles south-southwest of Tokyo.

At this time no reports of injuries or deaths have been reported.  Japan is prone to earthquakes; in fact, about 20% of the world’s earthquakes occur in Japan.  Some experts believe Japan has a 90% chance of being struck by a major earthquake within the next 50 years.  An earthquake that struck Japan in 1995 measured 7.2 and killed 6,400 people.

Mark Sanford’s affair with an Argentinian woman is wrong, of course.  After all, he’s Governor of South Carolina, a married man, and a father.  What was he thinking when he ran off to Argentina to see his girlfriend?  I think he should resign.  But then, I also thought Bill Clinton should have resigned after his affairs were brought to light.

Sanford’s lying is wrong too, of course.  The leader of the State of South Carolina should be held accountable for his behavior.  Whatever happened to governors and presidents being held to a higher standard of behavior?  Sanford has brought shame on himself, his family, and the great State of South Carolina.  That’s what I say anyway.

Yes, Mark Sanford had an affair with Argentinian woman but the real problem is his lying.  He left the country and presumably no one knew where he was. As a governor, I’m sure he knew he was accountable to the people of his state for his actions or missing in action as you will. His staff had to lie for him since they had no idea where he was.  His affair is the least of his problems. I have more problems with the way he behaved by leaving the country, not telling where he went, and forcing his staff to lie for him. That is totally unacceptable for a leader.  I don’t care what party he is with (BTW, I’m a strong conservative). 

Mark’s and Maria’s emails are written well and beautiful to read. It sounds like they are really in love but he still had commitments to meet. I’m talking about professionally not even mentioning his family at this point. Just focusing on his governorship.  Family is a whole other subject. I never even heard of this man until this scandal broke out yesterday. Early in the week, I was aware of his missing. I personally was thinking something horrible happened to him. Boy was I wrong.

My opinion - his affair isn’t as bad as his lying.  Let’s face it many people have affairs so at least it wasn’t with a prostitute ring. The emails read like they really do love each other. 

Sanford should step down as governor for his lying to his staff and not capable of thinking clearly. Just my opinion

Bill Maher went on a rant on his HBO television program Friday night, and he criticized President Obama for being obsessed with appearing on television. Maher accused Obama of not doing enough — or hardly anything — to get our country on track. Amazingly, Maher said Obama should be a little more like George Bush, but it still turned into a backhanded insult to Bush.

More and more people, including Obama’s supporters, are starting to stand up and criticize him for his lack of leadership and socialistic policies. And people are noticing that every time you turn on the television, Obama is on it!

The media, other than Fox News, act like Obama’s cheerleaders and just keep giving him a pass for making bad decisions and being out of touch with middle America. As more and more people continue to speak out, maybe the media will start to hold Obama accountable for his actions.