I read this article below by Joe Biden and it makes sense to me. Perhaps the devil is in the details or the backroom deals but I don't see anything better coming from either side. There is a big chance Iraq will eventually partition anyway. The Kurds will take care of themselves and it was not a well designed country to begin with. How do you put Sunni and Shiites together when they will kill thousands of each other for centuries old disagreements? It would be like Lutherans killing Catholics today for the events of Martin Luther's time.   

And if Chris Gabrielli wins the Democratic primary in Massachusetts I plan to vote for him and not Kerry Murphy Healy, the Republican. Lord help me! Could any of you set me straight?  



                                A Plan to Hold Iraq Together

Thursday, August 24, 2006; Page A21

I was in my car today listening to Toby Keith and Willie Nelson sing "Whiskey for my men and beer for my horses." One of the lines talked about hanging criminals and it got me to thinking about capital punishment. I always thought I was for it.  I don't see a biblical/ moral prohibition against it. But I also don't see a biblical/moral imperative. Where is the moral high ground?
There are a couple of comical capital punishment moments. The first was Bill Clinton as the anti capital punishment party's presidential candidate rushing back to Arkansas to sign a death warrant for a retarded prisoner on death row as governor. The second was the movie David Gale, which I think had an anti capital punishment bias trying to say that innocent people get put to death but which had such a complex and contrived plot that it seems to me came across as saying just the opposite. And the 3rd and best was John Kerry in the 2004 campaign saying that he was opposed to capital punishment since life in prison was a much worse punishment. And then 10 seconds later saying that he would put terrorists to death, thus implying that he would treat terrorists better than normal criminals. And some people say he flipped flopped.
Anyway his point that life imprisonment with no possibility of parole is harsher than the death penalty is not borne out by the evidence. Every death row inmate, except Timothy McVeigh, exhausts every appeal over 10-15 years before execution. They have found inmates on death row who have been exonerated by modern DNA test though they have never proved an innocent man has been executued. It makes sense though that it has happened. So where do I stand. With modern DNA testing lowering the chance of an innocent person being put to death, some of these creeps deserve whatever we do to them. For some crimes an 50+ year time out probably isn't enough, especially if it isn't hard time. And polls show that the majority of people are in favor of it--probably as big a % as are against the Iraq war. But it's not an issue that I'm strident about. The death penalty for those guilty of horrible crimes is fine with me. And I agree with John Kerry---terrorists deserve it. But if we don't have it, I'm OK with that also. Let's just protect innocent citizens and worry less about criminals.

That goes without saying, doesn't it? The slaughter of innocents to achieve a political advantage by creating terror in the hearts of your enemy is not in a gray area of morality. It is wrong. That's why I was surprised that those 80 or so Hollywood types took out an ad in the LA Times to take a stand against terrorism. I never assumed they were in favor of terrorism.  Now they seem like the beauty contestant during the interview phase of the beauty contest when the judge asked her what issues were important to her. She replied world hunger and world peace. When the interviewer asked her to expand on those issues she said, I'm in favor of one of them and against the other but I can't remember which is which right now. In my opinion that is whyso many on the left seem unpatriotic at times. The thing you can count on them being against at all times is George Bush, regardless of where he stands on an issue. It is our duty to question the actions of our government. That right is guaranteed to us. But, you cross a line when you root against the success of the US because it would be better politically for you. I disagree with George Bush on a variety of important issues. Immigration and the size of government. I was sure he was drinking again during the Harriet Miers episode. But Iwant the US to succeed and if the US is successful, even in areas where I disagree, I will celebrate. We need more of that on the left. I keep harping on the fact that the republicans supported Bill Clinton's plan for regime change in Iraq and his plan to bomb them and Afghanistan unanimously in the Senate despite the fact that a cynic could have believed that he was just trying to change the subject from his Lewinsky problem. They supported it even though it helped Clinton. Amazingly it was unanimous in the democratic ranks also. They were in favor of regime change and I don't think they were silly enough to think Saddam was going to be voted out of office, do you? If everyone is against terrorism why doesn't it feel like we are on the same team? Why does it feel like some are more against George Bush than terrorism? Being critical of the administration carries no consequences here. They may disagree and hurt your feelings but you aren't going to be arrested, or beheaded or given a Time Out. You just should defend your position so that when you have a point we can all have the advantage of your thinking. Not your feelings, your feelings are no more valid than mine, but your thinking. And let's unite against terrorism-not George Bush!

Below is letter sent from 27 University of Texas professors recently. That only represents about 1% of the faculty but where is the other 99% standing up. It's like the Muslims in this country, enjoying freedom and liberty, not protesting the terrorists actions. At some point you appear to agree with them or are too afraid to stand up and be counted. Fortunately through our history, from the Founding Fathers forward,  we have had heros made of better stuff. Anyway back to the professors. I no longer wonder why the football and basketball coaches make all the money on campus. They think for themselves. 


 We write to you out of growing dismay about the escalation of violence by Israel in Lebanon, which with U.S. military and political support threatens to spread into Syria and to engulf the region. As educators we are compelled to remind you of a fact of which you are well aware of the thousands of Americans in Beirut, several hundred are U.S. students studying in Beirut who have been evacuated. However, our concern extends to our students, former students, and colleagues who remain in Lebanon and Palestine/Israel, indeed to all the citizens of these countries, because they are from the region and have no place else to go. Daily bombing raids continue, increasing the death toll of children and other civilians, civilian infrastructure (including the airport) has been destroyed by the Israeli army with U.S. munitions, and the refugee crisis inside Lebanon is so severe that many are without food and water. There is no doubt that the scale of Israeli military response to Hezbollah military activities is unjustified and disproportionate.

At all times - especially in times of war and conflict - University faculty, and those of us in area studies, and international studies in particular, have a special obligation to protest U.S. foreign policy when it endangers the educational mission of the University. Unconditional U.S. support for Israel at this moment not only endangers the lives of our students, colleagues, Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli civilians, but undermines the purpose of training students to do international work that can contribute to greater cross-cultural understanding and respect, and equipping them to become the next generation of leaders in international relations. Not only this, but we firmly believe that the social, political and economic costs of an unprovoked and illegal war in Iraq, coupled with U.S. support for Israel at this time only serves to isolate the United States in the court of world opinion and is not in the long-term interests of the people of the United States. We call for the U.S. government to suspend arms shipments to Israel, to call for an immediate cease-fire and to participate in an internationally brokered settlement arrived at by all parties at the negotiating table that is not pre-determined by the greater military strength of one party over another.

Just a quick thought. There is some speculation that the recent airline terror case, uncovered in Pakistan, was helped along by torture. That's just not right. To make it right set those terrorists free immediately since the evidence that stopped the plot was fruit of the forbidden tree and violates their civil rights. and to further make it right, the people who were scheduled on those flights, along with the terrorists, should take off and get blown up. Otherwise the terrorists have won.

At least we should stand united against the United Nations. They have evolved from a worthless organization to a harmful organization. I can not support a politician who will not demand proper reforms of the UN. You don't need uncommon sense in light of the Oil for Food scandal, the various genocides that have gone on the last 15+ years where the UN has either not done anything or where their troops committed horrible crimes, and now the failure to protect Israel and enforce their own resolution with a true peace keeping force in Southern Lebanon. The real question for our politicians today is not if you knew back then what you know now about WMD would you still vote the same way. The real question is if you knew back then what you know today about the general corruption in the UN and specifically the Oil for Food Program would you subject our security to approval by the UN or as John Kerry so eloquently put it--a Global Test. This is an issue that should unite all Americans for our safety. The ineffectiveness of the UN caused the Iraq War not George Bush. Saddam's flaunting of the resolutions and the UN not enforcing them other than through economic sanctions which the French, Germans, Russians and UN officers then cheated on caused the war. If the UN had been effective, thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children would be alive today. As would 2600 American heros. Our anger should be directed at the UN and it should unite us.

 

Reading a couple of stories recently confirmed my feeling that one of the major and important differences between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives behave like adults, liberals behave like children. The first was the story that the liberal candidate in Mexico was complaining about cheating in the election. Does that ring a bell? The other was the interview of Madelyn Albright about the N. Korean missile tests and the Clintonistas spinning that this was George Bush' fault, forgetting that they negotiated the Agreed Framework which the N. Koreans promptly cheated on and which last year Ms. Albright admitted they got fooled but now it's not their fault. Weren't there missile tests in the 90's? Bill Clinton's desire to leave a legacy of peace in the Middle East caused him to negotiate with and be humiliated by a savage terrorist--Yasser Arafat. His desire to cretae a legacy for himself--taking the easy way like a child--caused the deaths of countless Israelis and Palestinians. Anyway here are some examples of why I feel this way.

1)When kids lose a game, they blame the refs or cheating. When liberals lose elections they do the same thing. 6 years later they are still complaining about the 2000 election-settled in their favorite place-the courts. And after all kinds of studies showed that almost no matter how they counted the votes, Bush won in Florida. And 2004 wasn't really that close, but with no evidence, just the willingness of Rolling Stone to publish a liberal hit piece from a Kennedy they continue to whine.

2) When they get caught doing something wrong they lie. It's like a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar, if cookie jar is a euphemism for Monica Lewinsy, and hand is a euphemism for Bill Clinton's--well you can fill in the rest. Other stories such as Kerry caught lying about throwing his medals over the White House fence and then saying that ribbons are the same as medals are laughably immature if he weren't a candidate for president and if the MSM had not abdicated their responsibility to humiliate him for that shamelessness. They were willing to use forged documents on George Bush.

3) They call people names when they disagree. I'm not concerned here with Michael Moore or Ann Coulter or Al Franken or Rush or Hannity or Dan Rather. I don't have to support their endeavors. I am concerned about the rhetoric from elected officials like Kennedy, Kerry, Reid, Pelosi and the party leader Howard Dean. I see no such name calling from Republican politicians. And when childish places like DailyKos or HuffPo control their party, they are showing childish cowardice by not being able to stand up to the other children.

4) Which brings us to the next childish quality of liberal politicians. When someone disagrees with them they claim people are accusing them of being unpatriotic and then they scream that whoever disagrees is homophobic or bigoted or wants old people to starve. You can't discuss things with children or liberals. They act like their little feelings get hurt if you disagree. Every arena where liberals have unchecked power-- think of public education, higher academia, the MSM-- we have tyranny. Speech codes, the absence of true intellectual diversity and no discussion of alternative ideas. Children can't really defend their ideas so they have to be protected.

5) Liberals, like children, have this cult like worship of celebrity, Hollywood. Kerry and Edwards refused to condemn a vile performance by Whoopi Goldberg at a fundraiser. It's like they want to make sure they don't lose their seat at the cool kids table at lunch. It seems they think rewards should come from belonging to groups like the Democratic party, the NEA, NOW, NARAL,NAACP, and others, not from excellence achieved by hard work and ability. They seem afraid to compete or anger their liberal benefactors. Michael Moore sitting next to Jimmy Carter at their 2004 convention showed perfectly what they value.

6)They exaggerate their own importance. Al Gore is a prime example--think Internet and Love Story. They over do their gestures--think Bill Clinton blowing kisses to Hillary while cheating on her or the extra long kiss with Al Gore and Tipper. Childish acts meant to fool people. They come across as self centered like a child. I heard Jimmy Carter state last year that if he had gotten another term, he would have solved the Mideast problem. It's possible. We could now be the most western province of Iran living under Sharia law. He certainly would have solved our Gay Marriage debate with the Mullah's running things. And we wouldn't have to argue over whether English should be the national language. I bet we wouldn't even have the 12,000,000 immigrants who came here illegally. Is that what Jimmy meant?

7) They have no resolve. When the going gets tough, children and liberals quit. Their current stance on timetables for exit from Iraq show their true colors. The war got tough, every little detail didn't turn out as planned so let's 'cut and run.' Think about he message that would send our allies. And to say there is no plan is childish--the plan is and has always been to stand down as the Iraqis stand up. Knowing the way adults behave I'm sure that the Bush people have told the Iraqi government, now that there is an elected government, that we aren't there forever so get going. But childish political reasons would be the only reason to announce it. To show how big and important you are( another childish trait), not to get the job done even when it is tough. The current hunger strike perfectly illustrates their resolve. It is a rolling hunger strike--you fast 3 or 4 hours--then pass it on to someone else. I guess I am joining them since I ate breakfast at 7:00 and I won't eat lunch for another 15 minutes. That's 5 1/2 hours. I rule at liberal hunger strikes. Overnight tonight I'm going fo 10 hours of fasting--a liberal record.

Some Republicans slip into this behavior occasionally but as a group they behave maturely. A really good example was 1998 when the Clinton Administration ask for a resolution calling for regime change in Iraq (yes regime change in Iraq was a Democratic program but as we know children don't have the resolve to finish things) and permission to bomb them because of the WMD( yes everyone knew they had weapons but the liberals now have forgotten this fact like children). It was reasonable to think that President Clinton was just trying to change the subject from his Lewinsky problem and some Republicans did mention it, but when it came time to vote, like adults, the Republicans put aside their petty political issues and voted unanimously-as did the Democrats--the vote was 98-0--to support the US position. You could never get today's Democrats to do that. Like children they want the glory. I have coached basketball for years. A bad situation is when your best player would rather score 25 points in a loss than 5 points in a win. That's immaturity and it is bad for the team. That's where we are with today's Liberals.

    Hi! This is my first attempt at blogging. I retired recently and have the time now that I never had before. I worked 36 years for the same insurance company right out of college--the University of Michigan. I've grew up in Ohio, lived in Illinois, California(15 years) and for the last 16 years Massachusetts.  For business, I have spent significant time in Indiana, Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. I married my dream girl in 1968 and have 3 sons ages 25-37.  I am a Christian, a common  man and want to express some views here with more than common sense. I want to look at things with uncommon sense. 

Let me  start today with immigration, particularly the illegal kind. I don't hear anyone who has a problem with legal immigration. Those newcomers add a lot of skill to our workforce and we have a chance to investigate their records. I think we should increase the number of legal immigrants allowed each year.

But most of us, probably 80% plus, would like to see our borders and ports more secure. That is the #1 problem. Politicians had a chance to unite us. With 80%+ in favor of enforcement of our borders and ports and enforcement against employers taking advantage of undocumented workers they should have started with enforcement not a comprehensive plan. We want to prevent terrorists, drugs, weapons, other contraband, and yes, hardworking Mexican immigrants from coming here illegally. Then after 2 years of enforcement, if they are doing their job of securing the border and prosecuting employers who are hiring undocumented workers and those workers who use forged documents, we can come up with a plan to legalize the residency of those 12,000,000 here illegally. America will always be just. There are many different ideas of how to be fair to these people, after we are fair to our citizens and taxpayers and those waiting legally to come here.  All ideas should be heard and discussed. There is no emergency. Closing the borders is the key item.I would prefer some sort of legal residency short of full citizenship. There should be no reward of citizenship for breaking the law. But  they will get protection from employers taking advantage of them, they will be able to live a full life in the greatest country ever developed on earth, their children born here will be citizens, they will pay taxes and participate in programs like Social Security, in state tuition, etc . They should not be able to bring others in, except as allowed under current programs and under a reasonable total limit. English fluency should be required and i would be OK with a path to citizenship for honorable military service. I'm sure there are a lot of really good ideas.

When a politician accuses someone of wanting to divide us, remember in a situation like this they had a chance to unite us and chose to try to further their own political agendas. Teddy Kennedy is just as guilty as George Bush in this case. Maybe they know that they aren't actually going to enforce the borders so they want a comprehensive plan before we realize what they are doing. They just think we don't care and will go along.  At any rate, I think they are uniting us. This McCain-Kennedy Immigration Plan, the corruption we have seen, and their statements that they are above the law regarding perfectly legal searches of their offices tells me that we need better representation in Washington. I'm sure a lot of you are united with me. Don't be fooled by their rhetoric, enforcement first unites us.