Had I the chance to speak to Mr. Obama, here are a few questions I might ask:

Concerning the MPAA, would you consider an entity who pays Third-Party Companies to force their way into your computer in order to search for “Copyrighted Materials” without a Warrant or even Due Cause to be a criminal entity? Up until 4 years ago, I really believed I was living in The Land Of the Free and that my property was protected from undue search and seizure according to the Constitution of The United States. Sure, if an individual is suspected of illegal activities, the law provides a due process to investigate these activities, but the last time I checked a Judge had to review the evidence and decided for themselves whether or not to allow your property to be searched. If I were to search the FBI’s database to determine if any agents had posted copyrighted material on any one of the message boards, would that be admissable in court?

I consider you our first YouTube-President (that’s right folks, I coined that!) and am pretty impressed with your ability to see the electronic world around you that some other politicians have ignored. So does this mean that you are willing to help protect sites such as Social Networking sites where the user-generated material actually dwarfs the creator’s material? Should we really be concerned about China taking over YouTube because they have laws against certain material that YouTube users put up?

Of course, there are other questions I might ask, however this is not a political blog and such questions have no merit here. But perhaps a few of our readers might have some questions of their own and may post them in the form of comments to this post. I would just like to point out that these are user-generated content and that neither myself nor the site owner can be held responsible if someone mentions a copyrighted phrase without duly crediting the copyright holder and paying royalties for its use…

The Chinese government certainly has no love lost with our own here in North America, however they seem to have periodic brain farts when it comes to the American Military. I am sure everyone remembers the “spy plane” incident back when Clinton was POTUS, that very nearly could have lead to an armed conflict had Clinton decided to forgo diplomatic negotiations and sent in the Marines ala the Operation Eagle Claw of April 24, 1980, which concerned the Iran Hostage Crisis. One has to wonder if the Politburo Standing Committee which manages international affairs for the Mainland is aware that they are now dealing with a POTUS who would be more than happy to go to war over such matters as not complying with international treaties?

Many are speculating that the reasons behind the spur-of-the-moment decision to turn away our battle group are centered around our protective stance concerning Taiwan and the recent visit to Washington by the Dalai Lama, who received a Congressional Gold Medal from G.W. Bush. Of course, this should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the madness that erupts spontaneously from time to time from the Chinese Politburo, such as the recent threat to destroy our economy by dumping what amounts to 1.3 trillion dollar. And the Chinese Government should also keep in mind that regardless of who is in power, the citizens of the USA will never stand idly by while their livelihoods are being disrupted, as evidenced by the massive recycling, rationing and bonds-purchasing during the worst parts of WWII.

Further clouding the already murky political waters, the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently traveled to China where both sides “agreed to establish a hotline between the two military commands and spoke of other ways to strengthen ties and build confidence“

To be kind to China, they did change their mind and offer to host the battle group after all, but not until the whole group was close to crossing the Taiwan Strait, which the US considers international waters and China of course claims as their own. However, egos bruised and tempers soaring, the group continued on to Japan, snubbing the offer as they pranced through the Strait. Thankfully I am not Admiral Timothy Keating, as I would have had all hands on deck during the traversing of the Taiwan Strait, all standing at attention and giving the ol’ one-finger salute to the Mainland whilst singing ‘Dixie’.