Be Careful What You Wish For, Iran

As I was reading the headlines of the day I happen to read about Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announce new sanctions against Iran. As Rice stated the reason being that the “Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon, building dangerous ballistic missiles, supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israeli off the map.” The Islamic regime announced in advance that approval of these measures would be deemed tantamount to an American declaration of war on Iran and call forth retaliation. As many of you may know, the Iranians favorite chat is, “death to America” which began after the taking over of the U.S. embassy there in 1979. They chant this on a daily basis in their schools and Mosques. All signs would indicate that we are heading for war once again. I would just like to say that as an American, I have nothing against the people of Iran. I have worked with a family from Iran and have found them to be a very good people. When they told me that they had to flee Iran or be killed for being with a certain sect, I couldn’t help but see how barbaric this country still is. I understand that they may have good reason to dislike us because of our policies in the past regarding our support of the Shaw of Iran. Before the overthrow of the Shaw, most Americans probably had never even heard of the Shaw of Iran. After the takeover of our embassy there, is when many of us first became aware of him and the problems that he caused. I believe that perhaps our biggest problem with Iran is our support of Israel. Iran’s next favorite chat is, “death to Israel.” Personally I don’t believe they think there is any difference. I believe that Iran see’s now as the time to make there move because they believe that America is tired of fighting in Iraq. It seems a bit like a deadly poker game where both sides believe the other is bluffing. I’ve read many Iranians comment that they don’t believe that America will attack. It seems almost like a replay of the invasion of Iraq. Saddam was so sure America would never attack, as he was to have said later. Even though we chased him out of Kuwait, he saw us as being too weak because we didn’t kill his retreating army and didn’t go into Bagdad. Perhaps they are incapable of understanding mercy and instead saw it as weakness. Because we are not the kind of people that go to our place of worship and yell, “death to whomever,” as they do, they may believe we are weak. They see our people going to church and saying, “love thy enemy,” instead. Perhaps they can’t understand that our people find yelling for the death of anyone in a place of worship as something barbaric and unthinkable. They seem to have a bloodlust for many different groups that seem unnatural to us. Of course we have people here that seem to believe that the answer to any problem is to bomb them into the Stone Age, but even these people would never yell that in church. They say that there religion is a religion of peace, and with there next breath shout for the death of whomever. For so many years they have been asking God for the death of Americans or Israelis and now seem surprised to finally be getting there chance. So who else should be the ones to kill all the Americans or Israelis? If they truly believed in what they are asking for then they should be happy that we are now heading for this war that they have asked for so many years. When they chant, “death to America,” are we just suppose to wait to be attacked while they are already killing our brothers and sister over in Iraq? Should Israel just sit and wait to be wiped off the map? If someone is pointing a gun at you and they are telling you that they are going to shoot you, should you wait to see if they are telling the truth? We are not the ones asking for the death of Iran. It is they who ask for the death of so many people. Should we believe that they are all liars? Time is running out. This isn’t a threat, just a fact. If the people of Iran don’t find some new leaders with more civilized views on how to settle there disputes, then it will soon be out of our hands, and then may God help us all. '

Everyone Knows It's Hillary

As I was listening to the Sunday talk shows yesterday, I heard an interesting point that was made by someone. I wish I could remember his name, but I believe he worked for a news magazine. He was talking about Senator Hillary Clinton, who just happens to be the person that I’m backing for the presidential race in 2008. He said that most people believed that the biggest problem that a first woman running for this office was thought to have been is having been seen as too soft on national defense. As he pointed out, Hillary doesn’t seem to have this problem at all. I believe that after the debates it has become clear to most people that she seems to have a clearer understanding of what we Americans expect from our leader when it comes to national defense. While serving on the Committee on Armed Services, she has proved herself to be a very capable leader by both parties. When her challenger Barack Oboma talked about invading Pakistan,
during one of the debates, is when people began to see that a vote for Barack may not be the wisest choice. When the question came up about talking to leaders of countries like Iran, she also showed her superior leadership in her answer. Before the debates, Barack seemed to be more of a serious challenger to Hillary. I think people began to notice that Barack seemed to give better speeches while Hillary gave better answers during the debates. On one of my earlier post I was talking about how the republicans were beginning to attack Hillary. Today we now have both republicans and democrats attacking her as if there was no doubt she will be the front runner. It seems that the only thing that can stop her is if she were to make some kind of serious mistake in the future. One of the reasons I gave for supporting her in my early post was that I believed that she has shown that she can take a beating and keep on fighting. This should be very clear to everyone by now. I guess we can thank the republicans and the far left for making her so tough. She is truly a battle harden politician like few we have ever seen. She has had everything, including the kitchen sink thrown at her and she keeps on smiling. I believe that with today’s nasty political atmosphere, being tough should be something we should consider when choosing a candidate. I remember back when I worked with a bunch of republicans, while her husband was in office, that they would attack me almost daily for supporting her husband. Just to piss them off I would tell them I believed President Clinton was perhaps one of the best presidents that we have ever had. I would also tell them that there would come a day when they would be begging for him to be president again. If you can remember how good things were back then compared to now, then it’s not hard to imagine these right wingers on there knees crying to the heavens for Bill to come back and save them before all there money was lost. Perhaps praying may have worked because today we have the next best thing, his wife Hillary. I understand that many of today’s problems were caused by 9-11, but still that shouldn’t excuse the republicans for spending like drunken sailors, as John Mc Cain was to have said. When Bill was in office, he made it clear that he and his wife worked as a team, which made many hate Hillary. Later when Bill got caught with his pants down, many people, like me saw how much pain this caused her and showed everyone her true loving and forgiving side. Seeing this very human side of her, may have helped her for today’s battles because many of us can relate with her pain. What a horrible thing it is to be cheated on by someone you love so deeply. I guess that it’s impossible to understand unless it’s happened to you. Unfortunately, too many of us have had to deal with this situation and understand only too well the permanent scars left by a love one. Hillary hasn’t only had to deal with all of the pain caused by the right and left but also from the one she loved the most. I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t help but feel a great deal of sympathy for her for having to deal with something so private in such a public arena. I have to give her credit for staying with her man through all of this. She has a forgiving heart which is truly a Christian trait which many only speak of. Wanting to bring health care to everyone is also a very Christian trait for anyone truly interested in helping the poor, as Christ himself would undoubtedly have done. Almost no one doubts Hillary would be very tough on defense. Almost no one doubts that she would also be the best friend to the millions of the uninsured who so desperately need a voice in a cold heartless world. In my opinion, she is truly an Extreme Centrist and deserving of the highest office in the land.

England Is Great

As I was driving home from work yesterday and listening to the left wing radio political talk program, I heard a commercial that caught my attention. It was made by a left wing magazine whose name I didn’t catch. On this add they talked about how the British were planning on bring home half of there troops home in the near future. This spokesperson seemed to want the listeners to believe that the British were running away from the fight and that America should see this as a sign that everything was falling apart and we should also start running. First of all I would like to remind all Americans that it was the British that sacrificed more than any other country to help us in or time of need. Not only with there troops, but also with there civilians who have lost there life’s and limbs while being targeted by the Islamo fascist at home. Remember it wasn’t only us but the whole world that believed Iraq had W.M.D.’s before the invasion. How could any rational person believe otherwise after seeing all the photos of the hundreds of gassed civilians and knowing that he used them on the Iranians in that war. Today we have countless Monday morning quarterbacks that claimed they knew what the whole world didn’t know. No surprise there. When the going got tough, they stood with us and we should never forget that. We should also remember that we always said that we would be retuning after a freely elected government was in place and power could be safely exchanged. Of course we are bombarded with people claming that we went there for there oil and to colonize and in effect own there country. We have been there much longer than most who believed in are true purpose because of all of the unforeseen problems that we have encountered in trying to accomplish this mission. After the first Gulf War, many people believed that it wouldn’t be as difficult as it has turned out to be. (i.e. - a slam dunk). My point being that we always planned on leaving at some point and even have made it against the law for us to make permanent bases there. It’s also become clear at this point in time that we cannot afford the cost of keeping our own troops there too much longer. We have gone as far as we can go and that’s clear to pro war and anti war people. Today the only debate is how soon to bring our troops home and if we should leave a small group there to help the government if they ask us to stay for support. I don’t believe anyone thinks we can keep such a large amount of troops there for too much longer. The surge seems to have helped but if the different warring groups don’t use this time to come to some kind of compromise, then we have to believe that this is what there people want and we must allow them to war without us. We have already asked too much from our troops and civilian tax payers and can ask no more. Everyone knows this, so it should be clear that our next problem is getting our people home as soon and as safe as possible. This will take some time and can’t be as quick as most would like. This isn’t cut and run, only a withdraw as planned years ago. What will be tough is leaving so many without the protection that they have become accustom to. Some people here say that all the violence will stop when we leave because we are the reason they want to fight. I hope there right but I understand that there hate for one another goes back centuries. If things get better or worst it’s out of our hands. Perhaps this is there cost for freedom now that they no longer have the iron fist of a ruthless dictator to keep them apart. Freedom almost always has a high price. I believe that most Iraqis would rather pay a high price than go back to the old ways again, now that they have had a taste of freedom. Doesn’t it just make since that our loyal British partners should be pulling there troops out before us? Did anyone think that we would pull out while leaving the British there? Of course not. I see the news of the British leaving as a sign that everything is going as planned and a very good thing. Everyone that wants to see our guys start coming home should see this as a good thing. A first step. Maybe then you can understand why hearing this ad made me upset. We always understood that when we were leaving that there would be some people who would pretend that they themselves were the ones driving us out. What socked me is that this wasn’t some of the Iraqis who were glad to see us leave, but instead was an American here at home. It was like I was listening to our enemies trying to pretend that they had defeated our side and now we were running for our lives. This is something that may not have surprised me so much if it had been Americans leaving, but being that it was our British friends instead, gave me a sick feeling deep down. Is this how we Americans should say thank you to our dearest friends who have sacrificed so much to come to our aid? How would we have felt if after World War Two when we were starting to come home and then have some British person on the radio say that we were running away from the fight? I believe that people should have the right to say whatever they want but that also applies to speaking up against something that someone may say that we disagree with. I strongly disagree with this false distortion of fact presented by this left wing magazine. I truly hope that as an American you would also agree with me. To try and present our greatest friends as people who are running from a fight instead of acknowledging there extreme sacrifice and true bravery, is one of the most shameful things that I can ever remember hearing coming from one of my own fellow Americans. And for what, to sell a few magazines? As for myself, I would like to thank the great British people for standing with us as well as falling with us. It’s time for our people to come home now. Together we have destroyed another tyrant from this earth as I sure we will do in the future. Only the historians will understand of the true importance of the sacrifices we have made in ridding the world of evil. If you can’t understand what I’m talking about then consider yourself one of the lucky ones and thank God for all that have given there life and limb to give you your freedom that you take for granted.

Too Many Dribblers

If you’re into watching TV like me, then you may have watched an animated show called, King of the Hill. This show takes place in Texas and being that I’m from Texas I can tell you that these people seem like your typical Texan type of people that I grew up with. I think most of us know people like this which make the show more likeable. There is one person on the show that I’m sure reminds many of you of someone you know or have meet. His name is Dale Dribble. He’s the chain smoker with the red ball cap who has the large bug on top of his truck. To most of us he’s that loveable conspiracy nut that always has some wild theory that usually involves the government. They seem harmless enough, so you just smile and look with interest whenever they try and explain one of there many theories, as to not make them upset. Only a fool would try and argue with someone so out of touch with reality. If you know the type then you know that there isn’t anything that anyone could say to change there mind about whatever unusual theory that they may believe to be the truth. For now let’s just call these people Dribblers. I believe most of us have noticed these Dribbler types when we began to hear all of the different JFK theory’s that began going around, as with the movie JFK. With an unsolved case as important as this one, it’s no wonder people would come up with different theory’s to try and bring some closure to this case. Some people just have to have some kind of answer when confronted with a mystery or a fact that they don’t like. That’s why women can’t understand why men won’t ask for directions when lost. Men are hardwired into believing that they should have the answer for everything. When some caveman’s kid asked his father what the moon was, of course he came up with an answer even though he had no idea. It wasn’t too long ago that people believed the moon was made out of cheese, most likely because some man was asked that question. Even scientists have come up with some silly beliefs that are presented as fact for many years, like with the moon or a flat earth. Years later we had many people say that the Clinton’s kill Vince Foster whom was there close friend. So many on the right had so much hate for the Clintons that these types of stories and many more became fact to these Dribblers. Today we have George W. Bush who’s the favorite target for many Dribblers. They will say that there is no doubt 911 was an inside job. They will point to many articles written by other Dribblers as proof. They believe that if it’s there in black and white then it must be the truth. Of course they will only read what supports there theory and anything else is part of the conspiracy that they believe to be fact. As with the witch hunts of Salem, (which had more to do with ones economic status then with witchcraft), so to is this more modern version of witch hunting. It seems obvious that today its ones political affiliation that is the reason for this newer version of witch hunting. Let’s just for a moment pretend to believe that there were explosives planted in the towers to bring them down. Wouldn’t it be much more likely that it was the terrorist that planted the explosives, as with the first Twin Towers attack? Of course it would. So why then do so many people come to the same conclusion that it was the President? Not only believing that it was our leader, but not even considering that it could be the work of terrorist. Such a giant leap of logic could only be because of ones political beliefs when so many come to the same conclusion almost instantly. As a person that works at one of the largest universities in the U.S., I couldn’t help but notice that even some professors have jumped on the 911 conspiracy bandwagon. I guess it’s not so surprising that we have some of the countries most intelligent people that believe this to be fact, but more surprising is the lack of response by the majority who believe it to be the work of the terrorist. There silence almost seems to be an endorsement of there theory. It doesn’t seem to make any difference that the terrorist have been attacking us long before George W. Bush came into office. Of course it’s not too hard to understand that most of academia leans to the left and perhaps believes that any attempt to challenge this theory may be seen as an attempt to defend the president. As a hard core democrat and no big fan of the president, I can understand this unwillingness to do anything that may favor the president. Because of this, I also understand the dangers of not speaking up for the truth. I am just a hard working stiff who has never been to collage. I’m sure many will dismiss whatever I may think because of this which is the reason I believe it is important that academia should be the ones to speak up for the truth. To keep silent is to allow the witch hunt to keep spreading and to be believed by those of us who are not as lucky as to have a higher education as well as those that are. As I wrote in a MSNBC blog, I believe that it should be clear that the terrorist plan is to divide and conquer, as they have done in Iraq with the different religious groups so successfully. It should be obvious when we listen to the latest recording from O.B.L. He tries to sound like he is giving orders to the democrats when he tells us that we should get out of Iraq. Of course this is what most democrats would like to happen, but in different ways. Some believe that we will always need to have some troops there while others want everyone out. Having him sound like he’s pulling the strings gives the republicans more reasons to hate the democrats. Being that we are nearing an election makes there task even easier. It uses to be that the republican would site the left as the ones that they are displeased with, but today they only site the democrats. More proof that there plan may be working. All they need to do is sit back in there cave while we do there dirty work. Accusing the president of planning 911 is a perfect example of helping the terrorist and doing there dirty work for them. As a young man I listened to the voices of reason here on this campus and demonstrated against the war in Vietnam. We may have been out numbered, but that doesn’t matter when you have truth on your side. Today I’m an old man and now I hear these wild stories being made up and trying to past itself off as truth. The truth is that Bill Clinton’s administration handed George W. Bush an intelligent report titled something like, “O.B.L. ready to attack the U.S.” and then 911 happened. That should be plenty of reason enough to be angry at the current president without making up such wild conspiracy theories. I would like to ask somebody with the resources to simply give some of these Dribblers a lie detector test, and then you will see for yourself that they don’t believe these theories as they would want us to believe. Of course it would need to be done by someone that had the trust of both sides. I’ve had two of these tests in order to get a job. I ended up getting both jobs, by the way. If you stand by your words then you have no reason to fear this test. I’m sure if you could go back in time and could test the people of Salem, then you would find the same result. But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself and let’s see who’s being honest. A poor working stiff like me won’t have the resources to perform such an experiment but I’m sure people in academia would.

The Extreme Centrist

On my last posting I had been talking about how people like the infamous Kenneth Starr were obsessed with attacking people for using harmless drugs, like pot. One story that caught my eye in the local Texas news here, may give you a glimpse of what I’m talking about when I stated that I believed evil was behind this. It was reported that a Texas Ranger investigation had concluded that top officials at a juvenile center had molested youths in their custody. Because of this the entire governing board of the Texas Youth Commission resigned. This is the latest fallout from reports that officials covered up claims of sexual abuse in state detention centers. The reason I bring this up is to show just one way in which the government has attacked drug users. I can remember very well a television commercial that ran a few years back which was used to try and deter drug use. In this ad they used a very large prisoner in his cell. The message was very clear. Without saying it in words, they implied that if you were to get caught with drugs then you would be placed into jail with someone like this person and would very likely be raped. This is a very clear case of our government using rape as a tool for law enforcement. Today as I watch our local news I see how people in our government are shocked to find out that there is a huge problem with our young people are being sexually abused in our prison system. Of course this is how they act whenever they get caught. They will make a lot of noise; act surprised and shocked till the story blows over. As someone who has supported our war effort, I have stated in earlier posting how Saddam and other fascist would use rape as a tool of government. It would be wrong for me to point out others sick crimes without pointing out ours. We may not use rape as a tool at the scale of these fascist, but we do use it in a smaller form. So when I see our local officials asking themselves how this could have happen, I have to wonder what planet are they living on. For as long as I can remember they have put people in jail for something as harmless as smoking pot and then encouraged officials and prisoners to rape them. Being treated much worst than someone who may have committed murder even. For years we have been asking how can they do this and get away with it, and never getting a good answer. How could anyone in there right mind not see that this is pure evil at work? How could anyone not see that this is a type of government terrorism that has been going on for decades? What else could make so many have so much hate for something as harmless as smoking pot? Hated even more than murderers and rapist. What else would make people deny someone in pain a drug that could help them through their few last years or days on this planet? Who else but the devil could do something like this to bring pain and suffering to millions. Today we have so many real problems to worry about that it seems unreal that we still have this witch hut going on taking up so much time and money. Perhaps it’s that pot makes people so peace loving that makes the Devil so upset. Perhaps it’s that pot is a gift from God to man that has him working overtime. Whatever the reason may be, it needs to stop. If your like Kenneth Starr and you believe that taking a bong hit is the biggest problem we have, then maybe you had better wake up before it’s too late.

The Extreme Centrist

As I was reading the news I came across an article about a case which is going to the Supreme Court. They will be taking up a case that started when a student named Joseph Frederick and some of his friends held up a banner which stated, “Bong hits for Jesus,” across the street after they were excused from class so they could watch the Olympic torch passing by. The school believes that the high school principal was acting in accordance with the school’s anti-drug policy when she suspended the student. After reading about this I couldn’t help but think about all of my struggles in the past with school officials regarding free speech and drug use. We began supporting the legalization of marijuana back in 1968 when I first started smoking pot. I was only thirteen which was very young for someone back then. Being that it was in Texas it was even rarer for someone my age. . I couldn’t help but noticed that the person taking up the case for free representing the schools side was no other than Kenneth Starr. The same special prosecutor that spent so much time and money going after Bill Clinton. So now he seems to think that this is something that he must be involved with.
I can remember well one time back in 1969 when I and some other guy were having an argument about legalizing pot. I had made a bet with this person that pot would be legalized within a year because I thought that the drug so harmless that it would have to be legalized. Wow, did I ever loss that bet. I also remember that this same person that hated hippies and drugs, turned into a hippie drug user the next year. So maybe you can see why when I read about Kenneth Star getting so upset about this harmless expression of free speech that I have to wonder what’s the real problem here. I’ve seen this kind of reaction too many times over something so harmless. So why is it that we can not even mention something like a bong hit without getting these squares all upset? To me, putting Jesus and pot together makes perfect since because pot makes people so peace loving. It’s like putting pot and Bob Marley together. I believe that not allowing people with medical conditions to have access to pot is a crime. Just think about that for a minute. Just try and imagine if you were in great pain or if you had a hard time eating because of being on chemo therapy as millions of others do for real. So why is it such a great crime to wish for some relief? Just what makes a healthy person want to deny these people this medicine that so many of us know can help them greatly? To me it seems like some kind of devil that wishes to cause harm in a very real way. What else could it be? If someone next to you has there hair on fire and you refuse too give them the bucket of water that you have in your hands, what other reason could it be other than evil. I’ve had a lot of years to think about this and I can see no other reason. Just imagine if pot were legalized for everyone. Crime would fall in great numbers almost overnight. Many people wouldn’t feel the need to have to take dangerous drugs like crake or alcohol because they could afford something better that made them feel so much better. I know someone that’s against pot being legal. I sometimes will bring this person a copy of many articles that talk about the good this drug can do. When I show this person the article and ask them to read it, they will become very upset and refuse to even read it. This is, I’m sure the same kind of reaction that Kenneth Star must have had when he see’s something that may support legalization of pot. I’m sure that’s why he had to get involved with this case. If the same student had held a sign saying, “Jello shots for Jesus” I believe he would not care about this case. It’s just that mention of a bong hit that makes him so upset and willing to work for free. Just try and imagine how many life’s were ruined because of people like him that see pot as being so bad and feeling the need to place these people in jail. To me, it’s like putting people in jail for being Christians. I understand that it’s because people become so peaceful after smoking pot that it’s hard to get people upset enough to change this law. If you studied history than you can see how violent people became when they made alcohol illegal. It didn’t take too long before they made legal again. That can’t happen with pot because pot smokers are too peace loving. I know that pot is not for everybody. Many have tried it and are happy not to smoke it. That’s normal. So why is it that our government seems to believe that a majority of people need to be smokers before they will legalize it? Why can’t there just be a large minority of smokers and still have it legalized? Why after so many years proving how harmless this drug is, is it still compared to much more harmful drugs? I think many of the older people like myself can still remember those silly school movies were they showed people doing insane things after smoking a joint. So what makes someone take the most harmless drug and then treat it like it’s the most harmful drug? Many still today cling to this outdated belief. Like believing the world is flat and nothing can change there mind. If you try and show the many ways of proving that the world is round and having these people refuse to listen to anything that may prove them wrong. The only difference is that pot can help people with there suffering. I think that it would be better to have someone believe in a flat world than believe that pot was bad. If someone would deny someone a drug that could help them then they should not be surprised if they are denied relief in the next life. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you cause someone pain than expect pain in your next life. Is that so hard to understand? Does it give these people some kind of pleasure in bring more suffering to these poor people? Maybe you should ask Kenneth Star.

Way back in 10/2/2003 I had sent in a letter to a news agency which didn’t get printed. This was just after hearing about the Valerie Plame’s outing. As you may know the wheels of justice move very slowly here in the states, so perhaps this letter may be of more interest today now that we are beginning to see the truth of what really happened in this case. I thought that I may share this letter with you, so here it is. “As most of us know by now, gathering intelligences is the best tool for fighting this new kind of war we find ourselves in today. How could anyone in the Whitehouse believe that outing such an important undercover agent could help us in this fight? I believe that if I were an agent in the field that I would be worried that my name could be leak also. Why should anyone want to be an under cover agent after this? I truly hope that there's a better reason for this outing other than just playing politics. I understand that both parties play the leaking game, but this time they are playing with peoples life’s in a very real way. I believe we should support our agents in the field as we would support our troops. Russell Berwick, “ As I recall, I had to tone down my letter because I was pretty upset at the time. Now that four years have passed, I have clamed down some, but I would still like to have my question answered, none the less. As I was reading the report about Valerie Plame speaking to congress today I noticed that she also had some of my same concerns as well. To quote her, she said; “If our government cannot even protect my identity, foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency and providing needed intelligence would think twice.” Let’s think about this for a second. When we wonder why our intelligence was so wrong concerning the WMD’s and Iraq we have to come to the conclusion that we need better intelligence. This should be our number one concern. We need people in the field that have reliable information and the only way we can get that is to have more and better agents in the field. We need more agents that can penetrate our enemies and be able to understand the language. Surly anyone can understand that? So why in the world would people in the White House do something that would prevent this from happening just when we needed it the most? Why in the world would any foreigner risk there life and there families life’s in bring us some important information now? Would you? So it’s not hard to see how this may harm us the next time we need to prevent another 911 from happening. To me this is just more proof of what I call rapid devo that seems to be happening today. Like rapid evolution only in reverse. It’s almost as if our enemies were working in the white house to hurt us. I know that may seem a bit far fetch, but I wish someone could tell me were I’m wrong. I know I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I can’t help but wonder if there are any intelligent people in that white house after hearing about this. Just when we need someone to throw us a lifesaver we have the Capitan of the ship throw us the anchor. Like I said in my letter, we should support our agents as we would support or troops. The agents are like the eyes and hears of our troops. I truly hope that there is some good explanation for this that I am not seeing. I’m not one of those Democrats that believe President Bush is the cause of every problem that you can think of. I have given him much of my support because I support the troops. It is for this reason of supporting our troops, that I find myself getting angry over this. Even after four years I have claimed down some but still have strong feeling about this. If it turns out to be, as I feared in my letter, some case of playing politics then some heads need to roll. We need to make it very clear that this can not be tolerated. If you had read one of my earlier posts, I had talked about when I was a young man in Texas. I talked about how we were threatened with life in prison for having only one joint in our pocket. Today I was reading about how Governor Richards of New Mexico was poised to sign a bill to make New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana. I think that this is a very wonderful thing which is very long over due but maybe you can see how I find it hard to understand how outing one of our agents should be a lesser crime than having a joint in your pocket. How can I grow up with the threat of life in jail for a joint and believe that outing one of our agents should be not a big deal? We need to get our priorities straight. Before it’s too late.

Maybe you saw or read about the visit of King Abdullah recently to the United States. I have a great deal of respect for this leader of Jordan because he is truly a good example of the kind of leadership that is needed in the Middle East today. I see him as being like myself in that he is a centrist which is what is needed if we are to ever have peace in the Middle East. He talked about bringing the Israeli – Palestinian conflict to come to some kind of agreement in order establish a two state solution. He also stated that he believed this was our last chance. I couldn’t help but feel a kind of hopelessness because we have been through this before too many times. If you are aware of the other times we tried this, then maybe you are like me in feeling this way. The first thing that comes to mind is why waste our time and money in going through this yet another time. It seems that these groups have so much hate and distrust that nothing will ever change. So what, if anything can be done? It seems like we have talked and talked about this for so long that we are at a dead end. From what I can tell the only way forward is if the enemies of Israel come to recognize there right to exist. So what can be done in order to make this happen before it’s too late. When the king of Jordan talks about it being our last chance he is talking about not only the Israeli and Palestinian problem, but the whole Middle East falling into a true nightmare of unimaginable turmoil. He pointed to the problem in Darfur as an example of the type of extremism that is spreading and needs to be stopped. I couldn’t agree more and have spoken up for years hoping to change things, like so many have already. I know only too well how so many have worked so hard for peace only to see it shattered every time. You work and work to build something only to have it destroyed so quickly. So of course we have to ask ourselves, what’s the point of building yet once again. The king stated that America needs to be involved in the talks if they are to be successful. I believe that before we start any new talks that we need to have the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist. Without that recognition there can never be a true peace. If they refuse to do that then they need to state just what it is that they would have them do. Would they have them pack up there bags and leave? Is this the only way they would avoid a war? If so, we need to know. If this is the only way then I’m sure that Israel would rather fight and die than lose there homeland. I can’t speak for anybody but myself but this is what I believe they would do rather than face another WWII situation. If it’s a two state solution that will prevent a war then they need to say so. Even President Bush has said that he believes in the two state solution. This is also what I believe to be the answer. Surely there must be some kind of answer to prevent war. Like the bumper stickers I see that say,” war is never the answer.” If not war, then what? I wish one of these people who always have all the answers could tell us just what it is that needs to be done before it’s too late. We would surely love to know the answer. Of course things are seldom as simple as the mindset of a bumper sticker person believes them to be. I guess it’s just some words to make them feel better about themselves. It sure is easier than to have to actually have to come up with a true answer. I think that I would feel better if we had a Democrat running things here. One of the first things that I noticed about President Bush is that he’s no President Clinton when it comes to bring the world together. In a way I can’t blame him for not wanting to go through this dance again. Even if we were able to have an agreement, who really believes it would last? We’ve had our hopes up too many times in the past just to see them destroyed. It makes it very hard to even get something started when you feel that you’re doomed before you’ve even begun. Still I can’t give up and I hope you won’t give up also. I can’t stop thinking about all of the children that will suffer because there grownups refuse to come to some kind of agreement. Perhaps it’s the children who will finally be the ones to solve this problem sometime in the further. I just hope the King of Jordan can forgive us for feeling so tired of this problem and never give up on us. We surly need more leaders like him and pray for his success.

The Extreme Centrist
Posted on January 9, 2007 at 1:11 PM
Hello everyone, I hope you all had a good holiday and a happy new year. I’m so glad that many of you have voted for democrats and have given us both houses. Thank you very much. I hope it will be a long time before the republicans take control again. I just hope people can remember just how bad the Republican Party were and how they lied so easily to even there own people. I just hope they didn’t screw things up so bad that even the democrats can’t fix it again. What a mess. I’m sure by the time we do fix things that people will forget and the republicans will have another chance to screw things up. It seems like voters have such short memories. Of course I can’t blame everything on the republicans. Like the war on terror. It started long before W. Bush came into office. If you were to listen to some people, you would think W. Bush started it himself by going into Iraq. Yes I believed Colin Powell when he spoke to the U.N. as did most people. Many things went wrong which lead to our being there today. Many mistakes were made after our taking over that country. No matter how many mistakes were made it’s important to remember that we are at war which was started before W. Bush came into office. I can remember well after the first Gulf War how so many people criticized Bush 41 for letting Saddam escape back to Bagdad and claim victory for not being killed. I remember that I was one of the few people who supported Bush 41 for not going into Bagdad at that time. My reason for supporting not going into Bagdad was because we told the world that our mission was to chase Saddam out of Kuwait. We didn’t say anything about going into Bagdad. If we had gone in I’m sure all the people who said that we should have gone in would be the very same people who would be the ones saying that we should not have gone in after hearing the worlds reaction to our invasion. I remember well how we could have killed most of Saddam’s army while they retreated. Can you imagine what the world would have said if we did kill his retreating army? I can remember well how Saddam agreed to let the U. N. inspectors in if we showed mercy. Well be broke his promise and in my opinion this was the main reason for us being there now. Today we have some 3000 plus Americans dead because we showed mercy in the first Gulf War. Perhaps W. Bush wouldn’t have invaded if Saddam had not tried to kill his father, as I’ve heard many say. I’m sure Saddam thought that all he had to do was to survive until Bush 41 left office. I hope that all tyrants who believe this have learned an important lesson about our system of government. In my opinion when we found out how Saddam tried to have Bush 41 killed that that should have been reason enough to have gone to war. When did trying to kill one of our presidents become no big deal? Or when did trying to shot down our planes almost daily become no big deal? What do you think would have happened if Saddam had shot down one of our planes before the second Gulf War or managed to have killed Bush 41? Just because we are the super power of the world doesn’t mean that we are to do nothing when attacked. The only reason the Islamo fascist are at war with us is because they believe we are weak and can be beaten. Who can blame them when we do nothing when attacked? It is for these reasons and many more that I can not blame W. Bush for making his decision to invade. Being a democrat, it would be much easier to blame everything on the Bushes to make my side look better. After all that’s how we play the game. Always blame the other side. The only problem is, is that this is not a game. We may win this war on terror some 100 years from now, but nobody really wins. If we fight back, we are war mongers and if we do nothing we are morons. After 9-11, I remember writing to my wife who lived in China at the time. I had told her that we would first take Afghanistan and then Iraq. Everything has happened as I told her now. I remember well how I felt after 9-11 when people wondered who did this to us and how I felt upset because they didn’t understand that this wasn’t the work of just one person. To me all of the people that would bring harm to my people were guilty. I think that this is how W. Bush must have felt also. Another reason that I felt we should invade Iraq was that after the first Gulf War Saddam would rattle his saber and we would have to drop everything and run back to Iraq whenever he felt like it. Saddam was playing games with us because he saw our weakness and would exploit it when ever possible. Because of this I knew after 9-11 that Saddam had to go. We had to show the world that we weren’t as weak as they thought we were. If we were to have another attack like 9-11 I’m sure many people would say that it’s all Bush’s fault for making people hate us. I’m sure most Americans can’t understand why anyone should hate us before 9-11. We do so much good around the world. How could anyone hate us? I didn’t understand it myself. Now after listen to some of the reasons by some of our enemies I see that it’s because we are richer then most countries. Many of them have a love/ hate kind of feeling that has taken me a while to see. Like some of the poor people who hate the rich but would love to be rich. When they see the rich being knocked down they feel happy because they feel like they deserved it somehow. This is why Saddam can kill millions and it’s no big deal, but when he is hanged people cry out and say how could you do this. It’s a kind of mass madness that we need to deal with. I have read many people saying that things would have been better if we just left him in power. In other words, millions die no big deal. When I hear this kind of talk I wish that I could find one of Saddam’s many mass graves and then rub there nose in it. I wish that they could witness all of the unthinkable things that he did to people and then see how much they love him. I guess that this is part of the the weakness that they see in us. This kind of weakness reminds me of something I heard in a speech once. The speaker said that the opposite of love was not hate but indifference. People can hate Saddam and after seeing him hanged can have strong feelings about it. Then these same people can look at some of the photos of the people that Saddam has killed and have almost no feelings about these poor people. To be honest, I believe that W. Bush did rush to war. I also believe that he wanted to believe the bad intelligence that was given to him to justify going to war. Not so much as wanted but would believe all the bad stuff and over look anything that may have favored Saddam. As with me, he must have felt that Saddam had to go and he let himself believe that he was the dangerous person that most of us though back then. After all, a man that could gas his own people should have no problem gassing his enemies. Like a man holding an empty gun and pointing it at the police. Holding a gun and saying that it’s not loaded while standing on a pile of dead bodies. Not only that but we ask the man if the U.N. person could look to make sure that there are no bullets and him refusing to let them check. After refusing we can only believe that he must be lying. Only a fool could think otherwise. Even though I believe that he did rush to war, I cannot say that I would have done anything different to a mass murder that tried to kill my father. As with myself, I believe that W. Bush felt strongly that he could no longer tolerate his refusal to cooperate with the U.N. and had to show the world that we are serious about what we say. Libya is a good example of what I’m talking about. Another thing that most people may not think about is that things are much different today then the past. The world is much smaller and smarter then in the past. Today atomic weapons can be made in the size of a suitcase. I may be different than others when they wonder if the U.S. could be hit with an atomic weapon. I believe that it’s not ‘if’, but when and how many times. I do not wish to wait around until we are hit before getting serious about this problem. That’s why I believe it’s very important to let the U.N. inspectors do there job. After all, the U.N. represents the world, not just the U.S. I’m sure you must have heard many times people ask, “What makes the U.S. think it’s the world police?” I believe the answer to this question is that after two world wars that we didn’t want to be a part of, we found that we had to enter. Being that we are the only superpower of the world, it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to do the right thing. Too many people gave there lives for us to forget the lessons we’ve learned. This isn’t just about the 3000 plus lives that we’ve already lost in Iraq, but also about all the lives we’ve lost after World War One. Just because we have cameras that show us the horror of war in seconds doesn’t mean that we should forget about all of the other Americas who gave there lives so we can be where we are today. If you were listening to the reports about the recent hanging of Saddam you may remember the first filming without sound. At that time it seemed like everything with well. Not long after that we started seeing the camera phone pictures where you could hear the voices of the witnesses which got so many people upset. Just think if that second film was never made. I don’t think there would be so many people upset in the Middle East because with the second film you can hear the people shouting insults. Just think about that. This man named the Butcher of Bagdad can get so many people upset because he was hanged in a very human way. This so called person who would do so many unthinkable things to so many people should have these people cry and protest because a few people shouted some insults. How dare these people think that they are so much better than the rest of the world. These people that shout with joy after 9-11. These people that cut off our peoples heads, beat, drag and hang there dead bodies with so much joy. These people that use rape as just another part of government. How in hell could anybody believe that these people have anything to do with God? Theses sick perverts of religion. I for one will not keep silent because I believe that if there is a God, he would want me and everyone else to speak up for him. These people that believe that if you don’t join there religion that you should have your head cut off. How many of there people would be with another religion if they didn’t have this threat. Before you go to meet your maker you had better recognize this difference, I believe. Either God is a kind merciful God or he is a hateful merciless God. I believe that if someone turns in to a Muslim because he doesn’t want his head cut off, that this is truly not a real conversion. If a person cannot use there free will to decide such an important decision then it can not be considered real. So if someone tells you that you can join there religion or have your head cut off, then go ahead and say that you will join because the true God would never consider this legitimate. These people are obviously using God to legitimize there sick violence. Sure we have sick people here that use God also but not anything like these people. I know that most Muslims worship God in the proper way and I’m sure that these people have nothing to fear from God. I have a great respect for anyone who worships God in the proper way. After all, we all have the same God no matter what religion you may be with. I believe we have so many religions because we are not meant to know the true God. I don’t think anybody has a monopoly on religion. To me religion is set of laws that are formed after many years of civility. Take just one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not kill. Was it ok to kill someone before having this rule. Maybe it was but in time people understood that this was not something that God would want. In time of war we also know that it’s alright to kill so we can survive. Also we punish people for murder. Is this not the same as killing during a war? So this rule can not be taken literally. We should know the difference. After all if we were to take it literally we would most likely starve to death. The only thing we could eat would be fruit and some vegetables; as long as it didn’t kill the plant. Even Jesus is said to have feed his group with fish which I’m sure were living at one time. Lets face it, we live in a eat or be eaten world. Just imagine if we didn’t kill unwanted cats and dogs. We would see poor suffering animals all around us. I love animals and that’s why I support the humane society and the dirty job that they must do. Perhaps you feel differently. Perhaps you would prefer to live in a world full of starving animals so that you could feel better about yourself. If you’ve ever seen a poor starving dog like I have then I’m sure you would change your mind. I’ll never be able to get that sad scene out of my mind as long as I live because I love animals so much. So why should I have so much love for a dog that I saw and not for the poor people killed by Saddam? Just because I didn’t see one of these poor people with my own eyes doesn’t mean that I can’t love them also. Nobody ever had to tell dolphins that they should be kind to humans. A dolphin just knows because there born that way much the same way as humans understands that thou shall not kill is something we should all understand in our hearts. If that same dolphin saw a human trying to kill there mate, then I’m sure that they would have no problem in defending there mate and try and kill that human. Humans, I believe are the same way. When I see someone like Saddam killing my fellow humans then I attack like my dolphin friend, if at all possible. If I could go back in time, then I would have no problem in putting a bullet through Hitler’s head because I understand when it’s alright to kill. How many of you could say the same thing? If you could not then that’s understandable. Not everyone could kill another human. What I can’t understand is the person that would try and stop me from killing this monster. That’s the difference between me and someone with a holier than thou attitude like so many of us have. If you were to be able to go back in time and find yourself with a loaded gun and looking at a young Hitler perhaps you would not kill him because you believe that it is wrong to kill and you may go to hell. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you didn’t want to loose your life. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you hate the Jews or you just didn’t care about them. Maybe you just don’t care about all of the allies and civilians that will be killed. Which category would you fall under? I believe that most American would fall under the ‘just don’t care or indifference category. As with Iraq, I believe most people would think that these are not Americans, so why should I care. I think that most people only care about themselves or there own people. The problem is that we are fighting people who strap bombs to themselves believing that this is what God would want them to do. Much like the W.W.II Japanese kamikaze pilots only these people target civilians. Just what do these people want? What will it take to make them stop? Do they really think that we are just going to run and hide and wait to be attacked? Do they really think that we are all going to become Muslims in order to stop there attacks? Perhaps they would stop if we were to stop helping Israel so they could drive them into the sea. Even if they were able to drive Israel into the sea do you really think that they would stop there? They would just see America as the new Israel. The only thing that will stop these people is to be able to start World War III and the only way to stop that is to give them a taste of just how bad war really is. I understand that what we do today will not be appreciated for many years to come. Just look how much the French love us after liberating them in WWII. Were still waiting. It’s one thing to give lip service and another to put your life on the line for the freedom of others. It’s not hard to understand why so many Americans would prefer to just slap an ‘American for peace’ bumper sticker on there car and blame Bush for 9-11. It’s sure is easier to blame Bush than having to try to understand the truth.

Wouldn’t it be nice if both the Republicans and the Democrats could somehow grow up and stop with all of the childish name calling? Recently John Edwards has come under attack for not firing two campaign employees who'd criticized Roman Catholics and religious conservatives, on there blog. As I understand it, this was there personal blog but they are being paid by the Edwards camp. I’d rather not repeat what it was they said because it was just too stupid to mention. I guess with all of the angry words being said on blogs, it should be of no surprise. I think the surprise to me is that these two were not fired right away. It seems as if his camp would like to start a religious civil war here at home like with what we’re seeing in Iraq today. Let me just state that I am not a Catholic or a member of any organized religion. I do however believe that Jesus was a brilliant person for seeing the importance of being good and doing good things. To me all religions that fall under this category are to be respected even if I don’t believe in everything they may say. Whenever I hear one of these ignorant comments coming from whoever’s mouth, it make me upset to think that we still have people out there that think in this hateful way. As you can imagine, I get upset a lot. I have to admit that I listen to the talk radio shows of the left and right whenever I drive around my town. I enjoy listening to the good points being made by reasonable people. I also have to admit that whenever I hear someone start with the name calling I feel the need to switch the channel. Being a centrist, I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with both sides on many subjects. I have to wonder if there are other people like myself listening to these talk shows. To me it seems that whoever wins the centrist usually wins the election. Of course I understand that these talk show wouldn’t be as entertaining if they were centrist and not so far left and far right. The thing that has always turned me off is when the name calling starts. If only we could have a debate without having to stoop so low. Many times I would be listening to a point being made with interest when all of a sudden the whole point was lost because a name was called by one side to the other. Not only name calling but outrages claims being sold as fact. Like with the Edwards camp calling Catholics and religious conservatives fascist. I’m sure there are a few Catholics and religious conservatives’ fascist types out there, but to call everyone that is Catholic or religious conservative’s fascist is just ignorant. It’s this very same kind of ignorance that we can clearly see happening in Iraq and many other parts of the world. Like when we hear that in many parts of the Middle East children are taught that all Israelis are pigs. If you have studied your history then you know that this is what Hitler did to dehumanize a whole population as to make it easier to hate and even kill them. Only an idiot would believe that the Israelis were literally pigs. What I hate about the Edwards affair is that when some Democrat calls a whole group of people fascist then you can almost hear millions of Catholics and religious conservatives moving over to the Republicans side. How can you blame them? I wish Democrats could remember when John Kerry was running and all we needed was a few votes to beat Bush. So many thought at that time that he was too much to the right so they wasted there votes on the Green Party. If only they were able to remember that far back then perhaps they would have learned an important lesson and we wouldn’t have to repeat it again. To think that Gore was too far right may seem hard to believe today but that’s what happens when the name calling begins. Can you imagine how different things would have been if only a few of those wasted votes were given to Gore? I blame those people that deserted the Democrats for all of the problems that we have today more so than some loyal Republicans. So here we go again. Democrats should easily win the next presidential race, it would seem, but how can we win when a few people can insult a whole religion in the name of our party, and nothing be done about it. Sure there are a few people out there that will get there rocks off by attacking the Catholics and religious right, but you can’t win races with only a few. We need to start thinking like a party that wants to win the centrist population. When Bush was governor here in Texas, many people, like myself, wanted to dislike him but couldn’t because he showed respect to our side. I have to give him credit for that. Perhaps behind closed doors he may have called us names, but that doesn’t matter when you show respect in public. How much I wish the Democrats could treat the Republicans with respect in this way. Say whatever you like behind closed doors but in public, show some respect. That’s called being smart. When the Edwards camp insults millions then it’s not only they who must pay, but all of us Democrats. I would hope that the Edwards camp would distance themselves from anyone who insults our brothers and sisters no matter what they may believe. After all it’s not the few loud groups that will get us elected but the majority of centrist that can go either way at this point. You can almost never get the far right to move to the far left. You can almost never get the far left to move the far right. But you can get them to move to the center. That’s how you win an election. I understand that we are bombarded with insults by the right but we shouldn’t want to be like them. We are Democrats and should act like it. Let’s let them make the mistakes this time unless you don’t mine having another eight years of another Bush to deal with.

For someone like myself, the problem in Darfur is hard to understand what we should do because of the “dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t,” reality of American politics. Again we are seeing the merciless tactics of the evil terrorist spreading like wildfire. Once again the world looks to us to solve the world’s problem. (i.e. police of the world.) We have yet to hear all of the objection that will surly follow if we were to take more action. Again the world has there head in the sand while they practice there “we hate America because they are doing what we should have, speech,” like with the Europeans with Bosnia. Once again we are heading toward saving millions who will surly come to hate us for it. I remember about ten years ago I was telling someone that I understood that as Americans our purpose was to save people that will repay us by hating us. One need only pick up an American history book to see this. The sooner we can come to see this, the sooner we can understand just what it is to be an American, I believe. As with Iraq, people here are reading and seeing about the unthinkable things being done to people over there. The same people that endlessly complain about being in Iraq are the same ones that are asking why we are not fighting there. They will say that it’s because the people there are black or there’s no oil interest. Because they do have oil, these same people will be saying that we are over there because of the oil if we were to attack. Mark my words. The only thing they hate worst than seeing innocent people being killed is seeing Americans being killed. The ideal thing would be if the U.N. were to take the lead. If only other countries would form a large force like they are hoping we will do. But of course, like with Bosnia, they will only give lip service. If they wouldn’t do anything to stop ethnic cleansing in there own backyard then how can we ever hope that they would do anything in Darfur? If anyone doesn’t care about black people, it’s the Europeans or other parts of the world. So the question is, what should we do. This is a time when we look for a leader that will make the tough decisions. To me that leader is Hilary Clinton because she has shown to be someone that can take a beating from all the critics and keep on fighting. You can already hear the right and even the left beginning to start there attacks on her. Like myself, she is a centrist which is the enemy of the far left and far right. You can hear them criticizing her for being too tough. I’ve heard people from the left say that they hate her but love her husband. You get the feeling that they are barley tolerating her because of her husband or maybe because she could be the first woman president. People on the right hate her for all kinds of reasons including because she’s a woman. When Bill Clinton was president she was attacked almost daily by the right like no first lady that I can recall. I remember how they would even go after there daughter like with our current president and there daughters. I remember how sick this made me, like today when I hear people go after Bush’s daughters. There used to be a time when a president’s family was off limits and people understood this going back as far as F.D.R. They went after F.D.R.’s wife Eleanor because she had a true desire to make things better for all Americans which made may Americans hate her. Sound familiar? From what I’ve heard from the right, Hilary’s worst crime seems to be her trying to bring universal health care for everyone in America while Bill Clinton was in office. The same people that call themselves Christians hate her the most for trying to help the poor and helpless. Say what? Maybe they should go back and read the Bible and how Christ wished to help the poor. Somehow I don’t think that that would make any difference to them. I can’t say that I understand it because I believed in what Christ wanted others to see. I don’t believe that he walked on water and all that, but I do believe in his message that changed the world regarding the poor and the weak. So how is Hilary any different? Ask yourself, what would Jesus do. Would he want to help the poor or would he say that that’s there tough luck? The answer is clear. I’m not saying that you should give money to everyone with there hand out. That’s like feeding the bears. That may make you feel good but that really only makes things worst in the long run. What I’m talking about is as with myself, when you go buy a prescription and only one of your many refills cost more than a hundred dollars if you didn’t have insurance, or the cost of a hospital visit. I’m lucky because I have insurance so I can only imagine if I did not. I think most of you know what I’m talking about. Health care costs are way out of control. So how in the world can we expect the poor and old to deal with this reality? The right may say that universal health care would only bring up the cost as if we weren’t paying way too much for all of the uninsured already. If you’re in a boat and you have a leak you can either keep bailing out the water forever while you slowly sink or you can plug the hole. We need to plug the hole because our country is sinking. For this reason and many more, I believe Hilary is the real deal, or the new New Deal of our time. Just like with Eleanor, so many hated her for doing what had to be done. What kind of country would we have if people like herself hadn’t given us the New Deal? How long would the soup lines be today? I’m glad we don’t have to know the answer to that thanks to people like her. To me Hilary has shown herself to be a leader that knows what needs to be done more so than others. Like her, I believe that we need to now start to begin to withdraw from Iraq because we have done almost all that can be expected of us there. Hopefully in better shape than when we found it. Of course that’s up to the Iraqis now. Or fine men and woman in the military have done more than anyone could expect them to under the condition. No one understands this more than they. They are the ones who truly understand the importance of there mission there. That’s why they are upset with all of the critics over here. They have seen the faces of the all the people who have fallen into too many years of hopelessness. They know only too well the senselessness of ignorant hate which is like a monster that needs to be killed once and for all. The same monster that the people of the world wonder what should be done with in Darfur. The same monster that looks at America as it’s most feared enemy. The same monster that sees ethnic cleansing as a good thing. Today’s Hitler’s make no secret of there ethnic cleansing wishes toward the good Jewish people. It is they and not us who wish to start a new world war. As with Hitler, they see now as the time when we have no stomach for war and so they see now as being the time to make there move. They never learn. Too bad. They truly have no idea of what they are headed for. War mongers rarely do. I just hope that when all hell breaks loose, people here can remember that it was us who would have preferred a peaceful solution. I just hope that they can remember that it was the Americans that couldn’t stand by while the helpless were being slaughtered again. I believe we will be the ones to have to rescue the helpless again because I just can’t see how we can ignore this problem when even the left cry out for something to be done there. Of course the same left that will be calling us warmongers and many other hateful names like today. That’s just to be expected. It just couldn’t be any other way. If you were to read our history books about our own American revolution you would think that everyone in the states sided with the Americans but it was the British who had most of the support by our own people. I’m very sure some two hundred years from now, people will think that all Americans supported our side. Today we know better because we are living in an important time in history. Only we can see that those of us who are fighting to do the right thing have to battle here at home as well. Battling people who claim to be for peace but can’t understand that if they win that there will never be peace on this planet. I’m like you, I don’t have all the answers and that’s why I will be supporting the best person for the job which I believe is Hilary Clinton. I’m sure she doesn’t have all the answers as well which is why it’s so important that we pick the best person for the job. A person that’s more of a true Christian than all of the haters that pretend to be.

Maybe some of you saw Meet the Press on 2-4-07 with John Edwards like I did this last weekend. I voted for John Kerry and John Edwards as many of you may have. As with all the Democrat front runners, he is opposed to the surge of troops to Iraq. There are some differences that seem interesting. First we have Barack Obama who was clearly always against sending troops to Iraq. As of now he is still not officially in the race but seems to be heading in that direction. Then we have Hilary Clinton and John Edwards who were for sending troops as most were back then. Even a year and a half into the war when we knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction that have been found, John Edwards still supported his vote for going there. Now that he is trying to become the Democrats choose for President, he has made it clear that he now wishes that he had voted against going there. Then we have Hilary Clinton who as of yet has not stated that she regretted her vote which the Edwards camp seems to wish to point out in hopes of being more appealing to the left. There’s something distasteful to me about someone who wants to tell people that he now wishes he had voted differently and that everyone else that voted to give the President the power to deal with Saddam, should do the same as he has. To me it seems that most people would have voted differently if they had known the truth. That’s just the nature of politics. That’s the reason we elect people to make the tough decisions. If they should vote to do something that later turns out to have been a mistake then they should be able to explain why they voted that way without sounding like a flip flopper. Like some like to say, a politician who holds up a wet finger to see which way the wind is blowing today. I believe that Barack Obama is showing a great deal of class because he doesn’t seem to be acting like Edwards in this way. His message seems to be that both parties should stop attacking each other and come together for the good of the country. If you have been reading my blog then you may have seen that this is also my message. Like Hilary and Edwards I too believed that Saddam was too dangerous and needed to be dealt with. In this way I was not like Obama. I believe that Hilary is also showing a great deal of class as well. Perhaps it would be smart of her to distance herself from her decision like Edwards has. By seeing her not making excuses, she seems to be a stronger leader. It’s easy to now look back and see that so much information from our intelligence was very wrong. It’s a much different thing to have listened to all of that bad information and been able to somehow have known what nobody did. I believe that Edwards and Hilary had more information with regards to Iraq but still they were wrong. The one thing that does bother me about Obama is that even though most of us believed that Saddam had WMD’s, this didn’t seem to be a problem with him. I understand that he may have been right but he had no way of knowing what the truth really was back then. This tells me that he must be a very anti all kinds of wars kind of guy compared to most of us. It’s harder to tell if this is true because he hasn’t been around as long as the other two. If I were an anti war person of today then Obama would most likely be my choose because he was right and very anti war. I hate wars like most people, but not so much as the kind of people that hate almost all wars for whatever reason. When the host asked Edwards about the predictions from our intelligents of the blood bath that would follow if we were to leave at this time, Edwards didn’t seem to care about the Iraq people as much as I would have liked. To me, if you made a mistake then you should be more responsible for your actions. (i.e. You break it, you buy it.) If we had found WMD’s like we had hoped, then maybe it would be alright to say, “To hell with these people, there on there own.” I just can’t see how we can go into there country and cause so much damage and find nothing and then say, “To hell with them,” and leave. We all understand that we can’t be in the middle of a civil war but we should also not do anything else to make things there any worse. If we can do something for the government there to help bring order than we should do whatever we can. Of course it breaks my heart to see all of the good men and women that have sacrificed so much so far, but how will we feel when we start seeing the pictures of thousands of deaths after we leave. Maybe you could look the other way and say that at least it’s not our problem any more. I have a much harder time doing this because I supported the mission and I can’t forget that. I believe that today we put too much important in the WMD factor when truly much of the importance was to overthrow Saddam because he was so bad to the Iraq’s in general. I think that not finding WMD’s was more of a surprise to most of us. (i.e. Slam dunk) The fact that he used WMD’s on his enemies and his own people is something many seem to be over looking today. The message would seem to be that as long as we didn’t have any WMD’s to worry about, then others didn’t matter. I have no doubt that if Saddam had thought that he could have used WMD’s against us and had any chance of winning then he would have used them. I don’t believe that he somehow had a change of heart and disposed of any WMD’s because he knew it was wrong to have them. It would seem more likely that he saw that using WMD’s against us would have been suicide and therefore a bad idea. He must have also felt that having people wonder if he had them would prevent them from attacking. If this was his thinking then it didn’t work. Unless there are still some WMD’s that have yet to be found, then this would seem to be his logic. When you play poker and you call someone’s hand, then it’s because you believe they may be bluffing or you have the better hand. Knowing Saddam’s history, we had no reason to believe he was bluffing. He clearly seemed to be someone who never bluffed so why should we think that he was now? Surly Saddam must have felt that we would never believe he was bluffing and so we would never attack. From statements I’ve heard coming from him, he did feel that we would never attack. This seems hard to believe after we ran him out of Kuwait, but that’s what he said later. Whatever his thinking was, I can’t see how we should feel bad because we didn’t find any. Would it have been better to have lost 3000 lives in one attack and then have moved in? Just because he wasn’t suicidal and he got rid of the weapons that we all knew he had at one time, doesn’t make him the innocent victim. If we had decided to not attack, one things for sure, Saddam would still hate Israel and anyone in the West that didn’t play his get rich with the money from the oil for food program. He’d still be laughing at us and our weak allies. Thousand would still be filling the mass graves. To believe that everything would be wonderful if only we had not attacked seems very naïve at best. We are just now beginning to understand just how complicated the problems are that we face in the Middle East. Saddam was just one of many problems that we will need to deal with sooner or later. The later we wait, the worst the problem will become. We should listen to Obama and stop fighting each other and start facing the true problem. Like it or not, we are at war which started before 9-11.

Recently the British broke up a terror cell whose plan was to capture a Muslim British military person and film him being tortured and beheaded. This may be a clue to how the terrorist will attack us next here in America. After seeing how afraid people are to even draw a comic of Mohamed, it’s not hard to see why they may wish to attack us this way next. Most people here are literally afraid to stick there neck out in any way that may upset the Muslim masses. They truly have a powerful weapon by using fear to intimidate millions and nobody understands this more than the terrorist. In the Middle East it’s common to attack the Christens and Jews in ways that would never be tolerated by the Muslims. They are told that the Jews will kill there young in order to make there traditional food. This is believed by many of there followers without question. It may be hard for people in the West to understand that so many people could believe something so silly, but just look at how many people here believe in Big Foot or the Lock Ness Monster. Just look at how many people believed Hitler and all of the claims he made about the Jewish people. Just look at how many of the Japanese would kill themselves instead of being captured by the Americans because they believed some lie told to them by there government during WWII. People will believe almost anything you want them to. By using technology they can bring fear to millions in seconds now. As with 9-11, they can do this by using only knifes instead of bombs or guns. No need for large armies either. By killing a Muslim military person they can also bring fear to the Muslims that are on our side. I’m sure they are hoping to get some Muslims on our side to switch over to there side out of fear. Now we must spend millions for our army’s equipment, like smart bombs so we can kill the enemy without killing innocent civilians while they can do there job with a knife and camera. This is the problem that we face with this new kind of war. The enemy can import bigger better bombs from places like Iran while we do nothing to stop them. We keep hoping that we can somehow avoid an all out war with places like Iran while they promise to wipe Israel off the map. Maybe an all out war could be prevented if there were more people in the Middle East that would stand up against the war mongers, but these people also would like to keep there heads. Some of you may remember when we obtained a letter sent to Al Zawahiri by Osama Bin Laden in which he asks him to stop beheading people. It seems to me that this latest cell shows us that Bin Laden is not calling the shots as many believe. There side seems to be doing whatever they please and using his name only. More proof that Bin Laden is powerless and in hiding somewhere, if he’s even still alive. Zawahiri didn’t listen to him so why should we expect some other terror cell to listen. I’m sure that there reasoning would be that they believe that Mohammad said that if someone didn’t convert then they should have there head cut off. They would say that they are obeying Mohammad instead of Bin Laden. This may be true if they were to ask there prisoner to convert and give them this chose, but they are not. In this latest case they were hoping to capture a Muslim and behead him. This is clearly against what Mohammad himself was allegedly to have said. So it seems clear that the terrorist are going against the orders of Mohammad and Bin Laden. They seem to have no leader but the Devil himself. What I can’t understand is why can’t the Muslims see this. Are they truly Muslims or are they Muslims in name only? When it comes to having your head removed they should be pro choice. There is clearly no choice being given here so this has nothing to do with Mohammad. They clearly are going against the wishes of Bin Laden so this has nothing to do with him either. As sick and twisted as it may be, I can see how a Muslim may believe that they are doing something that Mohammad wished, but this is clearly going against his wishes. So we seem to be facing an enemy who has no soul and no respect for even the religion they pretend to be a part of. This is truly a sign of the times and what we are now facing. This wouldn’t be the first time we faced a soulless enemy. Too bad that they can’t understand that when you go against God that you can never win. Maybe you can win for a short time but in the end you can never win. That’s why so many people are counting on us to save them from the darkness of dictators and bring them freedom. Lennon and Marx were almost right when they said that all governments will fall and should be replaced by Socialism. What they didn't see is that even Socialism will fall and can only be replaced by a mix of Capitalism and Socialism, as proven by Russia. I’m sure that if Lennon and Marx were still alive today that even they would have to admit this. Socialism may have been a noble idea but we can now see that we need a mix of Capitalism and Socialism like we have here in the U.S. today. The problem with the Middle East is that they haven’t yet learned that the government should be above all religions if they are to survive and prosper. Also they need to learn that people should have respect for all religions. Like I stated before, I believe no religion has a monopoly. Like our Golden Rule states, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or in this case, respect other religions as you would have them respect yours. I remember the other day when my wife, who is from mainland China, was shocked to learn that we have a Communist party here in America. She was even in more shocked when I told her that we even have a Nazi Party here as well. Seeing how this was such an unbelievable thing to someone outside of the States, it made me think about how different some other countries are compared to us. Free speech is something that should be respected if you are to truly consider yourself free. I recall one time when I was in China and a couple asked me how China could be as successful as the U.S. Being a little too honest, I told them that they could never be as successful until they had a right to vote and a free press. I told them that in the U.S. we tell the government what to do where as in China it’s the government that tells the people what to do. I could tell that they understood what I was saying was the truth. I remember when I was saying this that a crowd began to from around me. You could tell that they had never heard anyone talk like this in public. I think it gave them hope that maybe one day they could be as free. As an American we could never even imagine how quickly change is spreading over there. To me one way to look at it is if a country were a garden. If you want your garden to flourish then you need both Socialism and Capitalism with a good respect for the laws of the land. We like to say here that we are a country of laws. No one should be above the law. Just imagine if you owned a billion dollar company. Would you rather have your company in a country where no one is above the law or in a country where your company could be taken away by someone because they feel they can take it for whatever reason? Of course you would want to be in a land where you have some protection from the powerful. If China were to somehow become like us in this way, I believe that we would find ourselves falling behind them. Of course many here believe that we are already falling behind them because we import so much from there. What I’m saying is what if even the poorest man in China had equal protection under the law as we have here. Then we would truly find ourselves falling behind like we can’t even imagine. Imagine if you would feel safer having your billion dollar company in China because you could see that they had better laws in protection of your company. If that were the case then China would be ten times the country it is today. The only thing keeping this from happening is the greed and ignorance of the people in power there now. The good of the people comes second to the good of the powerful. That’s not to say that we are perfect over here, only fairer. If only the people in the Middle East could come out of the dark ages that they seem to be stuck in.