Today marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Apple's then CEO, Steve Jobs.  While you may think with the general election date so close, why am I writing about Steve Jobs instead of politics?  Simple, I am giving tribute not only to Mr. Jobs and his contributions to American Exceptionalism, but also to the case of why now is the time for Mitt Romney.

Many of you know the story of Apple and its humble beginnings where Jobs was a co-founder, but did you know he left the organization in 1985 and made great contributions to companies such as Pixar Animation Studios and Disney.  He returned around 1996 to a company almost on the verge of collapse and through his visionary leadership as CEO he turned Apple, Inc. around and once again in 1998 the company began to thrive.  We all know the story from there with the letter 'i' in front of pod, phone, pad and a line of computers that many of use each day to deliver our own sense of entrepreneurship.  We lost a man of great business leadership and one who truly lived the American dream on October 5, 2011.

As I pondered today this one-year anniversary, I thought about why Americans such as Steve Jobs represent so much to so many.  It is because we live in a nation that was founded on capitalism and the opportunity for the American dream.  While we may not all reach the same levels of success if you base it solely on fame and fortune, we all have this great opportunity as Americans to pursue a life and to go venture into our own creation of business success.  And, sometimes that comes in the form of taking a failing dream and turning it around.

Mitt Romney spent a career of creating companies and jobs, while turning around losing propositions with his leadership and insight to make them once again profitable.  Our country has faced some of the most strenuous economic times, and we cannot afford another four years of economic and business inexperience.  We need the guy who has the proven abilities to turn it around and make it what it once was, a nation respected for its leadership in both domestic and global economies.  It is time for America to have a new president, a CEO if you will, to lead and not apologize or blame someone else.  We need a president who will inspire us with the vision and confidence that we can make this nation profitable again.

Thanks Steve Jobs for all you contributed as a visionary in the world of technology, for the jobs your created, for the products I use each day that allow me to be productive and profitable.  Thanks for your hard work and attention to detail that paid off, and for living the American dream.  In November I believe we have an opportunity to bring back that type of business leadership and vision to the White House with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.'  (Wayne Gretzky)

In tribute to Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011)

President Obama has been enormously successful in changing many people's somewhat subconscious perception of the world into that of a high-school atmosphere-- constantly trying to portray himself (and, consequently, the United States) as the "cool kids" by continuing to support radical regimes around the Middle East with hopes of becoming even more "popular." While reading his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, I found myself thinking many of the same thoughts I have thought before while watching his speeches: I agree with most of his words, but his actions don't match up to those words. As much as I liked the empty speech, there a few key points that he hasn't seemed to pick up on. This high-school theme was displayed in parts of the President's speech yesterday, and I want to go through this "high-school drama" piece-by-piece; in his attempts to become the cool kid in this high-school-like world we live in, President Obama is becoming more and more like the impetuous high-schooler who's desperately hoping to be voted homecoming king.

Traditional names are often under attack with changing times and much of this stems from an all inclusive, ease the pain of the somewhat unfairness of life mentality.  Such is the case in Rhode Island where a recent event has led to a request to change the traditional name of the father-daughter dance to 'family dances' to alleviate gender bias.  Or at least that appears to be the premise for the request by a single-mother in Cranston, RI who complained to the American Civil Liberties Union that her daughter was unable to attend a 'father-daughter' dance.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/25/rhode-island-school-committee-seeks-end-to-banned-father-daughter-dances/

Tradition defined as a specific practice of long standing is under attack frequently by the ACLU in what often appears as an attempt to equalize everything so that no one is ever excluded or offended.  I am not saying I don't feel empathy for a child without a father or one who doesn't care enough to attend the father-daughter dance, but I think that our traditions are often under attack by a minority of individuals who care little about anything but their singular lives.  I grew up in a single-parent household and it presented some difficulties, but I never once remember having a thought that events should change to accommodate me.  Maybe I was fortunate to have family and friends who could stand in and fill the role if even for one night.  My life was different, not unfortunate or excluded.  Did this single mother ever think about another approach?  Is there a grandfather, an uncle or mentor who might accompany her daughter to the dance?

We teach kids today not to keep score, to be politically correct and we teach them that life is so fair that instead of working for equal achievement we can instead bend the rules.  We don't all start at the same place and we don't all reach the same end result, life isn't fair that way.  We live in a nation of equal opportunity, not equal achievement.  Teaching children there are no winners and losers, isn't realistic.  Because traditionally there will always be someone who achieves more or less than you as an individual.

I am not certain if any tradition is safe anymore as we see case after case challenging the name or purpose of a tradition by the one individual who feels they have been treated unfairly by life so everyone else must invoke change to make life easier for them.  Maybe I sound a little tough because I worked to overcome rather than bend the rules.  We kept score and I learned how to lose and how to work harder to win.  I hope the school district in Rhode Island and their state legislature do the same as they work towards a resolution.

They only respect strength were the words of a political commentator today while discussing the violent murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens and embassy staff members.  Given the barbaric nature of radical Muslims who daringly stormed a US Embassy and committed horrific acts of violence and murder, I will wholeheartedly agree.

The notion that these individuals were somehow offended by a social media post that hurt the feelings of those whose religion was "denigrated" by such, and then led to a perceived right to commit murder should be a wake up call.  Americans the hatred of radical Islam towards us is beyond comprehension.  We are not programmed to think as they do, not brainwashed into such a radical state of existence that we as rational sane individuals could even begin to come close to understanding their actions.  Strength in our foreign policy is indeed the only thing they will understand, and we as Americans need to make sure we do not elect a president or congress that is weak on foreign policy.  The future of our national security depends on it.

Both Christians and Jews will find mockery on Facebook and certainly groups who spew hatred towards our religions, but the difference between radical Islam and us can be summed up by noting they are barbaric, we are not.  This Arab Spring seen through the eyes of the Obama Administration as the Middle East freedom fest is simply not the case.  It has produced loosely governed nations, chaos and an opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood to become more powerful.  Each event of violence will only escalate the hatred.  Simply put they want to kill those who are not like them and who speak out against their perverted form of the Muslim religion.

As the chaos spread to Cairo and our flag was burned and replaced with a black banner, many questions continue to swirl around these events.  POTUS and the administration apologized to Muslims for an offensive social media post in an attempt to halt the escalating riots by those offended.  Political correctness and apologies are not working Obama.  Stop the campaign and send a message not of contrived rhetoric, but rather of strength.  Reagan understood peace through strength, why can't you?