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Swear the Guy In!

The Democrats in the Senate are playing politics with the appointment of Illinois pol Roland Burris to the Senate, and it seems to be not because his appointment is illegal, but because they think he can't win the seat in 2010.

That's irrelevant! The governor of Illinois hasn't resigned, he hasn't been impeached, and as long as Burris and his advocates haven't shown up on the FBI wiretaps that started this whole mess, Roland Burris should be considered a legitimate appointee to the U.S. Senate.

Let the guy in!

Bush: No Clue

Bush: No Clue

The fact that an Iraqi journalist threw not one, but both of his shoes at President Bush hasn't made a dent in the man; he has no clue of the path of devastation he's left in his wake in the past eight years. It doesn't occur to Bush that the thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths, the millions of refugees living in other countries, and the still very real threat of death every time someone visits a Bagdhad marketplace can all be placed right at his doorstep.

He's leaving soon, and soon his ability to actively harm Iraqis, the economy, the environment, and so on will be at an end. And the Obama administration may well have the skill and the will to untangle the mess Bush has left us. But the willingness of so many people to jump on the Sarah Palin bandwagon and support yet another stubborn, ignorant idealogue shows us that the threat to society is not over.

Let's hope the Obama administration does such a spectacular job fixing the mess we're in that any desire to throw an amiable "Know-Nothing" into the mix fades.

We can't survive another "Aw-Gee-Shucks" George Bush type, in pants or in a skirt.

I'm Ready for a Smart President

Pundits keep asking whether the American public is ready for a black president. I just don't think of Barack Obama in those terms. Yes, I realize he is black; yes, I realize that he self-identifies as black and relates to black culture; and it would definitely be a benefit that little black kids all over the country would grow about two inches the moment he becomes president. But that isn't why I'm supporting him.

Obama is about as intelligent as anyone who has ever run for the office. A graduate of Harvard, the editor of the Law Review, a college professor versed in Constitutional law, and a successful civil rights lawyer, he has used his intelligence and his inherent wisdom about human nature not to enrich himself, but to advocate for the rights of the poor and the dispossessed of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

His policies may not seem to differ greatly from Hillary Clinton's, but the differences that do exist show him to be a thoughtful and compassionate man. When he looks at Hillary Clinton's mandate that everyone purchase health care insurance, he asks, how is this going to affect people who still can't afford health care? When he advocates for easing payroll taxes, he is looking at people at the low end of the economic scale and recognizing that payroll taxes and self-employment taxes, which are assessed on the first penny people earn and are not lowered by Clinton's proposed tax credits, are an enormous burden on the poor. In other words, when he ponders economic issues and possible solutions, he asks himself, "How is this action going to affect the little guy?"

Obama's calm demeanor in the face of persistent and sometimes bizarre attacks from the Clinton campaign, at times from Clinton herself, give me confidence that Obama's steady hand on the ship of state can steer us, peacefully and rationally, through some very difficult times ahead. Not so Clinton, who has proved herself to be erratic, manipulative, and underhanded.

Black? I don't care whether Obama is black, blue, or a kangaroo. I care that he is intelligent, wise, and kind.

I'm ready for a smart president.

Bush Administration Complicit in Israel’s Attack on Lebanon?

While the world is expressing its dismay at Israel’s attack on Lebanon in retaliation for the militant Hezbollah’s kidnappings and missile strikes, the Bush administration is strangely silent about the issue.

Maybe the reason is that the Bush administration is in on the whole deal. This “overreaction” by the Israelis may not be what it appears to be, but in reality could be action calculated to goad Iran and Syria into a response that will give Israel and the U.S. a pretext for major strikes on those two countries.

Unfortunately, innocent civilians in Lebanon are being terrorized, and in many instances are ending up dead or maimed. Roads, bridges, and buildings are being destroyed, which will seriously, negatively impact the economy of that tiny country.

Nobody questions that Israel has a right and an obligation to protect its citizens from factions that would harm them. But to attack an entire country and its people for the actions of a relative few is reprehensible.

There have to be ways to neutralize terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and others without the massive destruction currently going on in Lebanon and Iraq. The same country that tracked down Adolf Eichmann in the sixties in South America and spirited him off to Israel, to be tried, convicted, and executed, should be able to send special units into the south of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip to quietly snag the perpetrators and imprison them without killing innocent bystanders. As it is, the current aggressive actions, far from defeating terrorism, will recruit more angry young men into the ranks of extremist organizations and make everyone less safe.

A Gesture of Peace Lost in the Violence

Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon came on the heels of an announcement that the Fatah and Hamas parties of Palestine had come to an agreement to recognize Israel and enter into negotiations. That announcement ended up not even being a blip on the screen of world politics, due to Israel’s aggressive actions, first into Gaza and then into Lebanon. The fact that Israel ignored the announcement in favor of a major military offensive is suspect in itself. While it is impossible to know if this announcement was a serious gesture on the part of the Palestinians, a more measured response to the most recent series of attacks on Israel might have set the Israelis on the road to peace, and one has to wonder why they would choose not to explore the possibility.

There is something not being said in this whole debacle; there’s a hidden agenda here. This situation has the same feel as the lead-up to the war in Iraq, and I suspect that George W. Bush and his corrupt administration have their sticky little fingers all over this mess.

Fixing FEMA: Turn It Over to Wal-Mart!

The bumbling performance of FEMA during and after Katrina showed not only a lack of planning but an inability to come up with creative solutions when faced with a disaster of epic proportions. People sat in the sun or in sweltering buildings for days at a time with no food, no water, and no chance for escape from the horrific conditions. Elderly people and infants died of dehydration while FEMA fiddled around with the question of who was responsible for what duties.

Meanwhile, hours after the disaster, Wal-Mart had truckloads of bottled water on its way to New Orleans. These trucks with their lifesaving cargo were stopped and then turned back -- by FEMA.

I'm no fan of privatization; I feel that sometimes the government puts corporate profit ahead of the services it is supposed to provide. But maybe we need to take a second look at Wal-Mart. The company has the most efficient distribution system in the world, able to move vast quanities of goods long distances at top speed. It also has expertise at negotiating the lowest wholesale prices with its vendors. While that has gotten it in trouble with critics, being able to supply essential goods at low prices after Katrina could have saved the government millions, if not billions, of dollars.

Just imagine if Wal-Mart, after watching the TV news -- something apparently no one at FEMA bothered to do -- and finding out about the people stranded at the Astrodome and the Convention Center, had been able to immediately dispatch water, food, medical supplies, and other necessities to New Orleans as well as to other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, to arrive within hours instead of days. Imagine Wal-Mart setting up emergency shelter, and providng fast transportation out of the area where necessary. Imagine Wal-Mart setting up efficient systems of dispensing financial aid not vulnerable to abuse.

FEMA continues to fumble the aftermath of the natural disasters of last summer, and is changing with the clumsy slowness of many bloated government agencies. It's time for a big change at FEMA.

It's time for Wal-Mart to take over.

FEMA Fraud, or a Creative Solution?

The House Homeland Security Subcommittee held meetings this past week on Katrina fraud, waste, and abuse, and cited over a billion dollars in -- well, fraud, waste and abuse. The whole situation was certainly bungled by government officials and taken advantage of by unsrupulous civilians.

But among the discussion of incarcerated individuals getting FEMA checks, debit cards used for massages and strip joints, and double payments for housing, one interesting item was mentioned. Apparently some enterprising soul used relief money to put a down payment on a house in Georgia.

Is that really fraud? Or is it just a really creative solution to a personal crisis? Think about it -- the money was used for housing, which was needed after the disaster, but instead of ensconcing oneself in a hotel for months at a time and sweating out FEMA payments, this savvy individual bought a home, thus coming up with a permanent solution. Presumably he or she also went out and found a job and began a new life to be able to make the paymnts on the home.

I don't know the specifics of the situation; I hope that the person who bought the home was a genuine victim of Katrina and eligible for the help rather than an opportunist uninvolved in the original disaster. If so, I don't think we should pursue this individual for fraud, but give him or her a pat on the back and say, "More power to you!"

Lessons from Haditha and Ishaqi: Nothing More to Win

The news is full of reports about Marines suspected of massacre in the Iraqi village of Haditha, and of other Marines cleared in a seemingly similar incident in Ishaqi. Both incidents resulted in men, women and children dead; one has been declared justified, the other not.

We need to look at what situation we are putting our soldiers in and what we are doing to the emotional and psychological health of Iraqis, including little children, who have to live with the presence of soldiers in their streets, detaining them, and searching their homes. One has only to look at the face of a five-year-old girl as her family waits outside their home, her face contorted in fear as she starts to cry, to realize that no one is winning here.

As long as the U.S. military is in Iraq there will be an endless supply of insurgents angered by U.S. presence and actions. And every confrontation, every firefight, is likely to recruit more insurgents angry at what is happening in their country.

Are the insurgents right to set off IEDs and blow up soldiers and innocent civilians? Of course not. But we are putting our troops through constant stress and demanding actions of them that no one should have to commit, and we are putting the Iraqi people through a daily hell of chaos and fear.

It's time to recognize that war does things to people; it damages the psyches of soldiers and civilians alike; it is a cruel, destructive act that should not be imposed on anyone. It's time to recognize that war itself is evil; and it's time to bring our troops home.