Sunday Editorial

Well, I am giving up on the podcast thing for right now. Still looking for a free or low priced server if you have any recommendations. I will post the most of the text just so all my hard work won't go to waste.!
We have said for some time that Iraq was an immoral war and a diversion that was making terrorism worse not better. Certainly Saddam was immoral himself but is what we see today any better? Has it helped us defeat those that would do us harm. There is no looking back but just imagine what might have happened if we had continued this struggle in Afghanistan and continued to pursue Osama bin laden with the entire world on our side. ...Which brings me to another point.
The radical right likes to note how they perceive the left is aiding the terrorists. How much more help could we give them than to present them as world beaters and someone the US should be frightened out of their wits of. .This for those who really do hate America emboldens them more than anything I can imagine. For those that would follow us makes us look like we are easily frightened and not exactly the strong leader one would want to follow. For the thick of head, lets use a real world example. Lets say you work for a very well financed and powerful company. 3rd quarter result come in and a small very modestly financed company has great results and took a little of your market share. How would you expect your boss to react.? Would you want him to panic and start spending huge amounts of the companies money. Warning you that your company is in serious danger and if you don't do whatever he says and if the share holders don't agree with his path that the company will go belly up and everybody will lose their job. ....Or would you prefer the one that stated the truth and said that the company had left open a hole that someone had slipped in and steps would be taken to close the holes. We are number one for a reason and part of it is the people that make it work. You do your part and we will do ours and we will easily weather this storm. Our challenge is to make it happen and I have confidence we will. ...Maybe he could list some things that the individual employees could do so they could play a part. He could incentivise departments to come up with specific solutions. ......What do you want in your workplace, panic and fear or confidence and understandable solutions?
Back when I was doing the radio show it was a popular meme that one thing people liked about George Bush is that he was a strong leader. I expressed my dismay at this statement. Beyond his bullhorn moment I haven't see any indication that he was anything but a confused bumbling bully. I know the solidly red area I live in was appalled that I would dare say such a thing but I think many more would now agree that success and solutions are not a part of his makeup. ..He is a horrible example of a leader and his lack of ability has had detrimental implications on a global basis.
I saw someone on a conservative site the other night point to a Brookings institute study on how there is now 40% unemployment instead of 60, more cars , and better or more of this or that. I have no doubt that some things have moved forward. The question is it in relation to the effort and sacrifices we have suffered. I would be curious to see how well my state of New Mexico would be doing if the government was giving us somewhere around 100 billion a year. Certainly the situation is different with a war in Iraq but did we or the Iraqis get our moneys worth. Was it properly spent. Are we anywhere close to accomplishing what needs to be done. If you think so ..how? I dare you to challenge me that the answer is yes to any of those questions. It is clearly no and an entire program can and might be done on why. Additionally We now have more terrorists and terrorism than ever. The Iraqis are establishing relations with Iran and Syria whom we perceive as enemies. The world is more fearful and distrustful of America..the most heavily armed country in the world than they are of the terrorists we all started out agreeing to fight.A great leader would have continued to use the 9/11 situation to work with those around the world tired of terrorism. To strengthen our security at home on ports, chemical plants, nuclear facilities and other infrastructure. To push a Manhattan type project to move off any dependence on foreign oil and back towards self sufficiency on other products and goods. Instead what we got was a non leader who ...lost focus on the agreed to mission with a purpose that was clear to all and switched priorities to an unfocused mission that the worlds share holders seriously disagreed on. He then preceded to say that only his way would work and everyone else was not only wrong but wanted the country we all had a stake in ..to fail if they disagreed. He stated he needed to do things that were outside the bylaws to insure survival. It shouldn't be to hard to tell the difference between bravery and resoluteness and panic and authoritarianism. It would have been far better to work quietly on the terrorism issue and minimize and marginalize the opposition instead of turning them into world beaters in the eyes of the public. That and so much more, most notably his lack of progress and obvious signs of failure on so many fronts make it obvious that a leader he is not. For those in the loyal opposition that keep saying government should be run like a business and proclaim to be the best of managers it is quite sad that they were among the last to see it. And when for years we pointed out that these people were not conservatives they continued to poo poo us as wacky liberals. Now even Rushbo has said that the republicans have lost there way. I'd say that was putting it mildly. What they have done is not only nonconservative or unrepublican it is unamerican. They concealed it by using their rightwing screechers on radio and tv and the internets to proclaim that it was the other guys that were such. A good number of us were never fooled and thanks to those that made enough noise to make it clear to others. Here is what El Rushbo said the day after the election. He said he felt liberated..He said he would say things he didn't believe in because he didn't want the democrats to win. If that doesn't say that he is purely partisan I don't know what does. He talks about the need to reform and change the party but he didn't take it upon himself the be real and be a part of it. He would continue to shill something even he didn't believe in until you yourself figured out how wrong it was. What purpose does the bum serve. How could anyone listen to him after that and think they were hearing anything that was authentic or honest? How will even those that want to believe him know if he is just debating for the sake of debate or if he really thinks what he is arguing has merit? His career should have been over a long time ago.
I promise you you never have and never will get debate for the sake of debate from me. If there is something that seems suspect to me i will say so no matter who is pushing it. Until there is more openness and debate in the republican party instead of the universal rubberstamp for the most powerful in the party I cant see supporting them to run our country.