Whose mess is it to solve? Iraq, Infrastructure, Social Security

Given the current troop levels in Iraq, the extended tours of duty our troops have undergone this past year and comments from many generals that are retired and can freely speak their mind, we are more exposed than ever in defending America. Should there be a need to address our treaty obligations with other countries in the world, we are in peril of being defeated as a Nation, unthinkable just 7 years ago. But it is a real concern today.

No matter whether you are for continuing this war, whether you think we did the right thing going after Saddam, or whether you think we should never have gone into Iraq in the first place, our military resources are in a state of disarray, needing repair or replacement. The only war we could fight now is one where we only could use the Navy and Air Force.

What does this mean for the future of this country? It means that for the next decade, we will need to rebuild the military. That means that we will have increased Military budgets and no money left at a time when we can ill afford a recession. WE have painted ourselves into a corner that we will not be able to get out of. And we have done this while our own currency has dropped over 30% in real value as compared to the Euro, over the past 5 years. We have pressing problems to address such as rebuilding worn infrastructure in this country such as bridges and roads, funding and securing Social Security system, ensuring Medicare doesn't go bankrupt, addressing the countries needs in Education to ensure our competitiveness in the world, and finally addressing our own homeland security by securing our own borders from terrorists who wish to come here and destroy our way of life. This, at a time, when the influx of both legal and illegal immigrants are swelling our cities, putting strains on our healthcare system and causing deep divides between us. This is causing many to rethink our entire attitude of whether we are a place in the world that is still open to immigrants to come and partake in the great American dream or will we close our doors and become anti immigrant.

Many of these issues have been facing us for decades. But over the past 6-7 years President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the rest of this Administration has squandered our resources, decreased our ability to respond effectively to crisis here at home (i.e. Hurricane Katrina) by using our National Guard in Iraq, and have divided our country to such a degree that permanent damage may have been done in our ability to come together once again as a Nation and word together in a bipartisan way for the good of the country.

Is there a solution to this problem? I don't know. We will definitely have another chance and I pray to God that we have a leader that is truly someone who can work for the betterment of the people here and the country. But in this poisoned environment, it will not happen going down the same paths we choose daily to engage each other. It will take something to jar our conscience into rethinking our choices and raising the level of discourse so that we listen to the wise elders in our midst.

We had a chance back on September 11, 2001. We were united then, as was the world. Unfortunately it may take another tragedy to give us one more chance before our luck has run out. Will it be written by historians that as the last superpower standing after winning the Cold war, that we threw away our chance to be the Nation most admired, loved and praised in the world. The choice is in our hands to decide. The problem is that we have hitched our wagon on greed and the almighty dollar and on actions that divide us economically, socially and spiritually.

In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, staring Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, one scene particularly stands out to me. The scene was when faced with choosing the cup used by Christ, when the greedy evil character chose the wrong cup, tasted the water from the fountain and since it was NOT the cup of Christ, melted and dissolved before our eyes, the Knight exclaimed, "He chose poorly!" Then Harrison Ford looked at all the cups on the table, picked the one he thought might have been the one from a poor carpenter, as was Christ, and dipped it into the fountain and drank from it, wondering if he too had chosen poorly was surprised that the water was fine. Then the Knight exclaimed, "You chose wisely!"

That is what we must do. Not just when we elect our candidates from each party for this election for their Primary. We must start now by getting involved as if this were really our country, our choice as to our future. It's time we stop blaming our elected officails, as WE voted, them into their office. WE must blame ourselves and do something about it. I know you don’t feel that the rest of the free world depended on you to make the right choices, but it does rely on each of us. I'm to blame as much as anyone else. Remember, we can't fix something unless WE own it. The first step of the 12 Step process is admitting we have been in Denial as individuals, that we have given away our power and choices to change things, especially when less than 50% of us actually vote in any election and that a mere 26% of us choose who will become our next President. We must admit that this is our problem to fix, NOT someone elses! Don't like the debates? Start providing better questions to them to ask. Write to your candidates or during this campaign season, go where they are and have the courage to ask your question to them.

Republican calls for Impeachment- News that's still relevant

Editorial by a top Republican calls for the Impeachment of Presdient Bush. First the Editorial and then my comment:

"A National Emergency


On Aug. 12, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency 'due to a chaotic situation involving illegal alien smuggling and illegal drug shipments' on his southern border. Three days later, Gov. Janet Napolitano followed suit in Arizona.

Reason: the crisis on the border. The ally-ally-in-free immigration policy of George Bush and Vicente Fox, beloved of corporate America, has created a hell on our southern border.

Those Southwestern states are being inundated by illegal aliens trashing ranches, killing cattle, committing crimes and eating up tax dollars. The traffic in narcotics and human beings from Mexico is a national scandal and a human-rights disgrace.

What is true of New Mexico and Arizona is true of our nation, which is now home to an estimated 10 million to 15 million aliens who have broken our laws and broken into our country. It is a mark of the cowardice of our leaders that they are so terrified of being called 'bigots' they tolerate this criminality. The moral rot of political correctness runs deep today in both national parties.

A president like Teddy Roosevelt would have led the Army to the border years ago. And if Fox did not cooperate, T.R. would have gone on to Mexico City. Nor would Ike, who deported all illegal aliens in 1953, have stood still for this being done to the country he had defended in war.

What are these Bush Republicans afraid of? Dirty looks from the help at the country club?

The question of whether America is going to remain one nation, or whether our Southwest will wind up as a giant Kosovo – separated by language and loyalty from the rest of America – is on the table.

Where is Bush? All wrapped up in the issue of whether women in Najaf will have the same rights in divorce and custody cases as women in Nebraska. His legislative agenda for the fall includes a blanket amnesty for illegals, so they can be exploited by businesses who want to hold wages down as they dump the social costs for their employees – health care, schools, courts, cops, prisons – onto taxpayers.

Not only have Richardson and Napolitano awakened – they are on the front lines – so, too, has Hillary Clinton, who has spoken out against illegal immigration with a forthrightness that makes Bush sound like a talking head for La Raza.

Why is a Republican Congress permitting this president to persist in the dereliction of his sworn duty?

George Bush is chief executive of the United States. It is his duty to enforce the laws. Can anyone fairly say he is enforcing the immigration laws? Those laws are clear. People who break in are to be sent back. Yet, more than 10 million have broken in with impunity. Another million attempt to break in every year. Half a million succeed. Border security is homeland security. How, then, can the Department of Homeland Security say America is secure?

Who can guarantee that, of the untold millions of illegals here, and the scores of thousands ordered deported for crimes who have disappeared into our midst, none is a terrorist waiting for orders to blow up a subway or mall and massacre American citizens?

Most of these illegals come to work to send money back to their families. They are not bad people. But because they are predominantly young and male, they commit a disproportionate share of violent crimes.

Why should U.S. citizens be assaulted, robbed, raped and murdered, and have their children molested, because their government will not enforce its own laws?

Is this not an indictment of democracy itself? What dictatorial regime would put up with this?

The Republican Party claims to be a conservative party. But what kind of conservative is it who, to cut a few costs or make a few bucks, will turn his family's home into a neighborhood flop house?

In a recent poll, 40 percent of Mexicans – 40 million people – said they would like to come to the United States, and 20 percent expressed a willingness to break in. Time to cut the babble about how NAFTA is going to solve the problem. This is a national emergency.

Twice, George Bush has taken an oath to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution reads, 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion.'

Well, we are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion. Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging George W. Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against 'invasion.'

It may be the only way left to get his attention, before the border vanishes and our beloved country dissolves into MexAmerica, what T.R. called a 'polyglot boarding house for the world.'"

Now my comment:

This Editorial commentary was written by Pat Buchanan, the former Republican Presidential candidate, on Aug. 29, 2005. We should have listened then to his call for impeachment, as nothing has really changed regarding Border Security, or should I say Border Insecurity. Then add on all the illegal wire tapping, the redefinition of what torture really means, the 800 signing statements ignoring laws that are passed and the same course of action in Iraq, and you have plenty of additional valid reasons for pursuing impeachment, even at this late date. Both Bush and VP Cheney should be impeached as it is not a waste of time but rather would tell the world we aren't all crazy here.

Republican Presidential Debate: What's missing?

Tonight, the one candidate, who would make this Republican Presidential Debate most interesting, isn't going to be there. That candidate is Senator Chuck Hagel. The major issue for the country right now is the Iraq war and Hagel is the only Republican candidate that that has a different position than his colleagues and his voice will not be raised in what appears to be a more dull evening than the Democrats were. At least they had Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who not only favors cutting off the funding but also favors impeaching VP Cheney. He certainly isn't considered mainstream but it is good the Democrats represent both ends of the spectrum, Far left and the Center, with most Americans favoring a pullout from Iraq. The real question is whether those Republicans that oppose Amnesty for illegal aliens voice this concern and push their colleagues on another popular position with the majority of the American people. What the country is begging for is a candidate of either party that wants us out of Iraq and that want real Border Security before Amnesty is even considered.