Monday, June 30, 2008

Is the US Infiltrating Iran?

Granted, I really have no idea if the claims regarding Iran and the US infiltrating are real or not but it scares the hell out of me. If Iran is doing the same thing to us in Iraq and they are undermining our progress then it only makes sense, but if Bush is somehow trying to prep us for a war with Iran before he leaves office, then it is high time Congress steps in a puts a stop to this immediately.

It’s too bad impeachment is off the table at this late date.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

An open letter to Senators Obama and McCain

I am a 42 year old male who is completely fed up with today’s partisan politics and I am concerned that neither one of you is going to be able to bring change to this process. Perhaps I have been jaded after years of watching the same promises come and go like the wind, but I have serious reservations believing either one of you can make any changes to our political climate. If I may, I would like to point out the challenges contributing to this problem; these are things that need to be seriously addressed if we are ever going to make real changes in America.

The media, specifically biased talk show hosts, contributes to the Us vs. Them mentality that has permeated the country with it’s partisan stench. As much as I would like to point fingers at some of these people and blame them for all of our problems, the fact remains that party leadership is the genesis of these media cretins. If you listen to these so called leaders, you will hear the Republicans vehemently defending their decisions or ideas while the Democrats are on the other side doing the same thing. Both parties cannot be right yet each would have you believe they are right and the other is wrong. This is true about every single topic and you never hear them admit to making a mistake or being wrong. I ask you; how can this be possible? How can either one of these parties feel they are exclusively right about everything? The answer is, they cannot.

There are probably several reasons why these ideas and attitudes have occurred. These would include outside influences like money, special interests, and the desire for power, but perhaps it is time we look at our two party system. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have as many ideas and positions available for us to examine? I ask you; why is there always an agenda? And shouldn’t that agenda be to do what is best for the country and not what is best for the party? Who really cares if the Republicans come up with an idea to deal with the economy or if the Democrats come up with an answer for our energy crisis? Does it really matter who comes up with the ideas as long as it is the best thing for the country? Shouldn’t that question be on the minds of all of our lawmakers when they raise their hands to vote? Alas, no. Most are thinking of their party (or other) obligations rather than what is best for the country. If you think I am wrong about this, then I ask you why are we in such a mess if all decisions are being made in the best interest of the country?

I would also like to suggest that it is time to consider term limits and get rid of our career politicians. It seems to me that two terms is long enough to make some changes and do some good for the country rather than staying in office their entire lives. Granted there are lawmakers who have been in office for many years who have contributed to important decisions, but do you think these people can still relate to the every day family? Additionally, if people knew they were only going to be in office for a limited time, I would argue most would try and be as productive as possible in the time they have and not worry about other obligations.

I would challenge each of you to seriously embrace change and while my last comment may seem extremely risky, it takes a brave people to change and this suggestion is going to require brave leadership to affect this change. I would ask that you be willing admit you are wrong when you make a mistake. The stance that the President of the United States must never be wrong is a thing of the past. In today’s world of global communications and media scrutiny, there are going to be times when your mistakes are caught and rather than avoid them, let’s deal with them head on. I understand national security concerns, but I am talking about day to day topics like the economy, taxes, health care. Let’s admit our mistakes and find a way to fix them. Let’s pause before we use these mistakes to punish our leaders to say that we were right and they were wrong. Let’s be the adults we all say we are and deal with the problem. People make mistakes and the last time I checked, the President is a person too.

It should not be Us vs. Them it should just be US.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Obama asks Supporters to Help Hillary

Admittedly, I am a Hillary Clinton supporter and while I appreciate what Obama is doing here, I have to wonder what the motivation is here. Why even do this? I know Hilary loaned her campaign millions of dollars but so what? No one forced her to do this?

I just have to ask myself, as the two of them are going out on the campaign trail this week, why? What kind of backroom deal have they worked out that is prompting him to do this for her?

Obama talks about not taking money from special interest groups but if they have worked out some kind of a deal where Hillary gets a place in his administration, why is this different that taking money from special interests? I think the President of the United States should take the office uncompromised and owing no one; otherwise what is the point? How can the integrity of the office be intact if the President owes people favors before he is even sitting in the Oval Office?

Hopefully I am wrong. Hopefully there is no deal, but if there is, then how many more ‘favors’ has Obama already promised?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Do 90% of Americans Really Belive in God?

I read this article and just sat there in stunned silence. I couldn’t help but wonder what was the point or motivation behind this article? And who is the Pew Forum on Religion?

On their About the Forum section of their site (http://www.pewforum.org/), they state “The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, launched in 2001, seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs”. This statement confirmed my suspicions; it is another website trying to push religious agendas into politics.

While I am not going to get into a history lesson here, I would like to point out that while there has always been a debate surrounding religion and politics, the addition of religion to the Republican platform is a relatively new addition and has not always been part of their ideas. The bottom line is that our founding fathers pulled religion out of the equation for a reason; government must be representative of the people. I am going to say this again because I think it is important. Government must be representative of the people. Would a Christian influenced government be representative of the people? No. It would not.

Let’s assume this poll of 36K people (the number polled by Pew) is a good sample size and representative of the US population, and let’s also assume that 90% of the population believes in God. That does not mean that everyone is Christian. This poll does not talk about the fact that Christianity is just barely the majority religion in the US. Only 52% of the religious population is Christian, and that is not 52% of the population but only of the people who say they are affiliated with a religion and this number is dropping year after year.

When you think about these things, the motivation behind their survey becomes clear. They are trying to push their agenda and convince everyone that the vast majority of the population is religious and therefore religion has a place in politics. That’s not really what their survey says, but that is what they would like you to believe. I will say again, a government in bed with any religion would not be a government that was representative of it’s people.