The Debt

Today I spoke with an old friend. His name is Seth and is currently deployed in the United States Army in Afghanistan.  He and I have a interesting relationship as we both went to vocational school together years ago. Today I am getting ready to finish college, as he is ready to come home from war. We discussed things and literately exchanged information so to speak.

He tells me of horrible events he has witnessed overseas that I have heard no news reports of. Then I tell him news reports of things he has never heard of. He tells me how things really are over there while I tell him what things are really like here.

Sadly we are sure about one thing. The government is making huge cuts in its budgets and is doing no apologizing about it.  Seth was told by his commanding officer that cuts were being made and nobody was getting a raise anytime soon in his platoon.  I echoed that reality as I told him about looming government shut downs and proposed cuts in the State government.

We both ask each other… how did things get so messed up? How are we going to fix this? Aren’t we supposed to be the ones with the answers? Young minds in positions where we should be making things better. Maybe we aren’t responsible to make things right but we both feel helpless, as we aren’t able to do anything.

A great illustration of these cuts in spending is well explained in this video I’m about to share with you by Rep. Ryan of Wisconson.

http://youtu.be/Xwv5EbxXSmE

West africa struggle

There is a revolution going on right now that you may not have heard of.  Not in the middle east or north Africa. But in west Africa right now there is a disputed election. The current president who has already had a full term in office has been voted out. But he refused to leave his position. Laurent Gbagbo  is a defiant little dictator that has taken the capital by force with troops loyal to his regime. 

The internationally recognized president of the country of 20 million citizens  Alassane Ouattara  declared a curfew in this capital and fierce fighting has been taking place. Citizens are reporting hearing loud gun battles and smoke in the streets. Citizens of the capital city of Abijan are afraid for a full blown conflict.

It has been reported by CNN that top ranking military officials inside the old regime have fled the country and are asking for asylum. They claim “The Army does not want to fight for Gbabgo against its own people”.  Its expected that the primary crises for the besieged city will be a humanitarian crises with shortages of food, water and basic civil services. 

The Naval response to the crises in Japan

Disaster in Japan

            To understand the size and scope of this you really have to use your imagination. For those who were in Japan it’s very easy for them to understand. Because a 30 foot high wall of water just pushed the entire coastline inland by six feet. The Earthquake that devastated New Zealand not so long ago was not nearly as powerful as the one off the north east coast of Japan. 8.9 Magnitude is an historic quake as powerful of one in over 100 years. History has only recorded four other earthquakes larger than this one.

            The very word Tsunami in Japanese means “Harbor Wave”. Imagine sitting on the beach and then to see what looks like a bump in the water coming closer. The horizon could be playing tricks on you and you squint to see. But ever so closer this wave comes. As the wave comes closer inland it grows in size. You’ve seen larger waves but this one is different. Suddenly it grows nearly 30 feet tall and is as wide as the coastline. This 30 foot tall wall of water slams into the coast and pushes everything in its path under it.

            The disaster in progress was unfathomable in reality when the first reports of casualties in the hundreds which was very inaccurate. Current estimates of deaths are 9500 with 16,000 missing. Estimated death tolls could eventually equal of up to 15,000 casualties.

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2011/03/japan-struck-by-major-earthquake-tsunami-–-day-13/#18

            The United States Navy immediately began what the New York Times reportedly called “ Operation Tomodachi or (friend in Japanese). The U.S. Aircraft Carrier Ronald Reagan along with 19 other United States Naval vessels made a course change for the ravaged coastline.

            Operation Tomodachi is a U.S. Aide and Diplomacy effort to save civilians by using helicopters and other resources who now are refugees from the disaster. One Japanese woman was reportedly saying “They look like gods coming out of the sky!”. U.S. helicopters began dropping off crates of food and water and clothing amongst other supplies.  These rescuers are sometimes veterans of other rescue operations of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.  The Navy reported they have donated over 194,000 lbs. of food to people in hard hit areas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/asia/23reagan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Regional Riots

The Spreading regional riots in Africa and the Middle East


The spreading unrest in the Middle East and Africa came as a surprise to some but to others it was very predictable. The spreading violence committed by police against civilians in these countries is a testament to the illegitimacy of these governments. People that are deprived of opportunity, education and legitimate representation will inevitably rise up against oppressive forces. This is not a phenomena limited to the current riots and demonstrations in the Middle East and Africa.

hour and a half debate on NPR on spreading Democracy by the sword

The debate really is if America should spread democracy by force. The link above is a great hour and a half debate on the subject. In 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq, one of the admitted goals of the operation would be a stabilized and freely elected government free of a dictator. Sadly the end result has been a country divided by ethnic and tribal lines that has prevented the government from passing crucial legislation to bring true economic and political stability in Iraq.

Iraq will be a very long and sadly bloody problem for American foreign policy makers for another decade. Although things have calmed down in the country it is far from being a flourishing place for freedom and trade. The example American purists would argue would be Japan and South Korea. After American occupation and development both countries rank in the top 10 or 20 in things like education and GDP growth. Although the difference between South Korea and Iraq couldn't be bigger. But the fundamental foundation being provided to them is no different. Perhaps it will take a few generations before we see Iraq rank along side Japan but if we hold true to our original goals, that could be a real thing we see in our lifetimes.

Where this policy has failed miserably of course would be the bloody jungle war in Vietnam that was a nightmarish and hell on Earth scenario for the U.S. Military and Government. The only good thing that came from that conflict is how badly the taste of a draft is in the mouth of American public opinion. The desire for the Pentagon to have a purely volunteer military has been good for U.S. interests. It keeps a high moral in the ranks and it keeps anti-military arguments dull and without a point since nobody is being forced to wear the uniform of our country.

How this all relates back to the spreading of Democracy and the regional riots and revolutions across the middle east is that its now happening naturally. Violence is always a last resort for U.S. Policy and diplomacy is always the first. Sadly we are better at Warfare and Diplomacy most of the time. So we always will talk to countries and try to convince them to allow free elections and let go of theocratic or fascist styles of governance. We sometimes don't to the best job at making that case clear. Sometimes we are faced with hostile actions and we as policy will always defend ourselves around the world wherever Americans are.

These revolutions spreading across the middle east are happening in my opinion only because it's come to that boiling point for the common man. When America had it's revolution we tried to negotiate and adapt to British rule that was both tyrannical and without representation. It was until the frustration grew to a point where the common man would risk his life for his freedom that his freedom was achieved. The courage to demonstrate and rise up against these oppressive regimes across the mid-east has come from the example America has set in 1776 by overthrowing English rule and in 2001 invading Afghanistan to not spread democracy by the sword, but to protect democracy abroad.

Dictatorships and Theocratic rule has no place in the free world. Slowly and naturally the old ways of Monarchy and Military rule over the people will slowly degrade and go away. As people cry out and demand and demonstrate for there rights to their own pursuit of happiness.

2012

2012: A presidential election and the end of the world.

            Everybody is talking about 2012. In fact the campaign for the presidency of the United States in some ways began as soon as the 2010-midterm elections ended. Sadly in my opinion the time between 2010 and 2011 should be for working for the American people. But politicians suck most of the time and tend to be only concerned with getting re-elected.

            Something else that is supposed to occur in 2012 is the end of the world. The Mayans have a calendar that predicts the coming of the 9^th planet that is in elliptical orbit around our solar system. This Planet is called Nibiru and is home to the Abunaki that will come down like they did 50,000 years ago and enslave the human race and interbreed with them to create hybrid man-aliens. Then after they have stripped the majority of precious metals from the earth’s crust they will leave us to our own devices in a drastically destroyed and changed planet.

           

            But since I’m not an idiot I know that the big thing that’s going down in 2012 will be the presidential election. Obviously President Barack Obama will be the incumbent running against a Republican Candidate.  For a complete list of candidates fallow the link below.

 CLICK ON ME FOR THIS AWESOME LINK!

Personally I like General David Petraeus or Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. The awesome feature in this website is that you can actually compare candidates profiles against each other and even compare it to the current president Barack Obama.

            

Corruption in congress

Corruption in Congress

It seems like every few months we see in the headlines some new scandal arrising out of the halls of Congress. The American people sadly are desensitized and apathetic to the conditions that our lawmakers have left our country in. Campaigns seem to begin the day after elections. After an election traditionally it's the time to set aside politics and go to work for the American people. Sadly power and wealth seem to currupt and poison the work of even the most senior and honorable public servants.
Just today I opened up to the online sources of information I usually go too and I discover a Republican congressman just stepped down in western New York. Congressman Christopher Lee (R) of New York was caught posting shirtless pictures on Craigslist seeking a girlfriend. The man is a married congressional lawmaker and he is just exposed himself to adultry. For somebody who taughted Republican principles and beliefs it's highly unnaceptable for him to behave in this manner. He stepped down of his own will but I garuntee that the rest of the congress would have asked him to step down.

This sadly is not the worst that our public elected officials have been caught doing. According to the Huffington Post

COOL HUFFINGTON POST LINK!

 860,000 people lost their homes in foreclosure in 2008. 3,000,000 people forclosure notices were sent out. 11,000,000 citizens are out of work. What does congress do? they give themselves raises and ask the American taxpayer to pay for their homes in washington and the districts they represent. When most congressional officials are wealthy in their own right they ask the taxpayer to burden the bill for most of their expenses.

From Charlie Rangal, John Edwards, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Bill Frist, Scooter Libby... all these high ranking public officials have violated code of conduct and broken laws and have smudged forever their public image.  Power breeds curruption out of a desire to use it. Men since the dawn of time have lacked the morality and self control to really display real leadership. It seems only in the darkest of times and national emergency is when these people come out and do the right things... when it's needed the most. But when things are calm and nobody is looking... good lord knows what kind of back room dealings and curruption occurs when we don't know about it.

Congress has a 30% approval rating most of the time. My own personal opinion of congress is really low as well. I approve of the job our congressional leaders from Maine are doing. They in my opinion do a good job representing the opinions and beliefs that Mainers hold. If I could have one piece of legislation passed it would be either a flat tax system or a roof do our national Debt.

How Wikileaks is good and bad for America

Julian Assange is the founder and owner of what is known as Wikileaks. Wikileaks last year released thousands of classified documents that were only intended for State Department and Pentagon eyes. These documents pertain mostly to the conflict in Afghanistan. These documents portrayed the American effort in Afghanistan as no longer "winning hearts and minds". It depicted the conflict as a special op's operation without an end in site. With night time assasinations and IED's as the normal standard. 

Ever since Vietnam America has always had wars brought to the television screen showing the horrible violence occuring overseas. The person responsible for bringing this information to light was a private in the Army. This private is currently in prison for commiting treason. So why isn't Julian Assange being put on trial? Not because he is a Journalist or claims to be one. Because he is not an American Citizen. Only Americans can be tried for treason under American law. In fact only Americans who are employed by the Government or Millitary can be held responsible for not disclosing state secrets. If a civilian journalist discoveres dirty laundry, nobody can stop him from airing it out for everybody to see.

Although I understand Julians motivations as too expose how horrible the situation is in Afghanistan to try and promote popular opinion to end the conflict. This has had a opposite result in my opinion. By releasing these classfied documents that describe in detail the horrific nature of conflict. It defintly has the desired effect of turning off the American public, but it also makes them aware of how dangerous the situation is. Also some information was classified because it was important to the war effort that certain places and documents were kept secret because as soon as these reports went public, they also fell into enemy hands. 

Julian also dropped a big egg yok on China exposing the communist states opinion of it's proxy North Korea. "A spoiled step child" being the words chosen to describe the rouge communist nation that shelled an island off the coast South Korea that killed Civillians and Marines. This helped the United States and South Koreas position in defiance too North Korean hostility. With it's dictator (Kim Jong Il) aging and ready to be replaced we must watch the korean peninsula closley . His son hopefully will not be as close minded and prone to Nuclear weapons as his Father. 

Julian is not a Journalist in my humble opinion. He is a owner of a special interest group that is motivated to aquire classified and private documents as to expose private business decisions and sensative state information. This "transparency" theory is very popular and cries out for Governments to have no secrets and all it's operations to be in public forum. This sounds great but in reality it's horrible way to operate your Government. The United States needs to have the ability to keep secrets and opinions private. This "expose" or "ambush" style of so called "Journalism" really just creates more world instability and makes it harder for the State department and other agencies to work on the relations they have with foreign countries. With people predatorialy seeking out secret information will automatically have the opposite effect on Government. If Uncle Sam knows you have the ability to intercept cable transmissions from Embassys abroad to the Pentagon, Uncle Sam simply won't use those cables anymore. In fact they will keep information more tightly gaurded and make it more difficult for accurate information to be gathered via traditional means. More harm than good may come from Julian and his Wikileaks. 

Egypt in chaos

Walk like an Egyptian

The news is filled with pictures of men wailing in the streets standing on tanks and defying police. This is all due to a dictatorship that has lasted for over 30 Years. President Mubarak has been in power too long and the people defiantly and violenty protest his rule. President Mubarak is the successor to millitary dictator  Anwar Al-Sadat who was assasinated during a millitary parade that left the entire country shaken in 1981. Mubarak was his successor and has somehow remained in power over several assasination attempts on his life. This isolated Mubarak further and made him recusive and paranoid of any public appearances. Can't really blame the guy.

I can certinatly blame him for all of the violence that we have seen over the past couple weeks. Mubarak has demonstrated his inability to be a leader and rule. The president who is in his 80's has announced that he will not seek re-election in september. This at first was seen as a victory but it left most peole unsatisfied. The Egyptian people continue their protests as they call for him to step down immediatly and hold special elections. The people cry out for equality, Job opportunity, civil rights and Democracy to be the rule of law.

Democracy is the prefered direction we would like to see the Egyptian government  take. Although that seems to be a long road to walk for the Egyptian people. Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood are at work in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is a secret muslim organization that dates back to 1929 that calls for Islamist style government and sharia law. Sharia Law is condemned in Saudi Arabia and practiced in places like Iran and the was practiced in Afghanistan before the American invasion.

It's hard to predict how democracy will divide Egypt as supporters of Mubarak were reported to be responsible for heavy machine gun fire in the capital last night as protestors defied marshal law and curfew.  Reports of battles between protestors and government supporters for the first time were reported all across Egypt.

I applaud President Barack Obama for calling upon Mubarak to step down and hold special elections.  He has done the right thing by speaking out on a situation that needs a calming authoritive voice. Obama has also done the right thing on making it clear to President Mubarak that aide and assistance to Egypt recovering from this destructive violence will depend upon how co-operative Mubarak will be with the incoming transitional government.

This transitional Government doesn't even exist yet. In my humble opinion no progress or ground can be made on resolution before Mubarak steps down and the violence and protests stop. The "Angry Mid-East Crowd" is usually a staple for news agencies to jump on and get pictures to sell ad's but in this situation it has turned on them. Anderson Cooper of CNN and his camera crew was attacked and assaulted as they attempted to make their way threw Cairo demonstrators. Violence upon journalists is universally condemed by almost every country as they should not have an agenda other than too report facts.

Egypt is important to the entire world. How the next few weeks and months are going to unfold will set the tone for future Middle-east relations. If we see a successful Democracy come out of Egypt that is fair and efficient, this will embolden those in other countries who feel that the chains of theocracry or dictatorship need to be forever broken.

Immigration, Freedom vs Security

Immigration, Freedom vs Security

            I feel that this subject is sadly the most politicized subject in our national dialogue right now with both sides painting each other as immoral or nefarious intentions on policy. When in my humble opinion it’s one of the important issues we need to come to a serious conclusion about. Because we are so undecided on what laws to enforce or if to enforce them at all it leaves the American people at a disadvantage and the foreign person at the mercy of our political instability.

            The United States on average admits 660,000 legal immigrants per year (1988 figures). 55% of all illegal aliens come from Mexico with 20% accounting from other Latin American countries.  The illegal immigrant population is growing by about 275,000 people each year.  The INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) is responsible for Border patrol as well as interior enforcement. One of the hardest questions to answer is how many legal immigrants too allow and how many illegals we need to prevent.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Immigration.htm

Democrats want all undocumented illegal aliens to have a path to citizenship. Undocumented people in our country face the threat of unlawful labor practices or human trafficking and drug smuggling to be forced into part of their daily lives as a means to get an income while in our country without a social security number. Democrats believe that people need to have the ability to come out of the shadows and speak out and not be penalized for trying to just get into the most developed and civil countries in the worlds history.

Democrats also want reform of the INS to help backlogged immigration application as old as two months to two years old to be brought to the front and be heard first before new ones are.

Democrats also want to prosecute employers who illegally recruit and take advantage of these immigrants who aren’t educated under our laws of what a reasonable place of employment is and what isn’t.  Also grant political asylum to anybody fleeing violence from any government.

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Democratic_Party_Immigration.htm

Republicans want to use biometric data to better track foreign travelers. This system has been used at more than 115 airports and is presently being implemented at land border crossings. Reconnaissance cameras, border patrol agents, and unmanned aerial flights should all increase at our borders. We need to strength our Border Patrol force to stop illegal crossings, and we will equip the border patrol with the tools that would give them the ability to do so. There will be harsh penalties for those who smuggle illegal aliens and those who sell or distribute false documents. State local and federal law enforcement will all work in a cohesive manner in making our borders air tight

Republicans would only allow legal documented migration though tightly controlled borders. This way in Republicans eyes it’s done in a legal, safe, orderly and humane manner. This also supports measures to ensure that the immigration system is structured to address the needs of our National Security.  This allows for better verification of the identity of who is coming into our country.

Republicans want powers to deport illegal aliens with borer patrol without having to go threw the hearing to an immigration judge. Republicans want the law to be enforced to the letter and welcome immigrants who wish to come here by legal means.

Republicans also want priority given to spouses, children and family members of Americans when it comes to admission to the country.

            Republicans also feel that Amnesty encourages illegal immigration.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Republican_Party_Immigration.htm

            Immigration is deeply debated and discussed in the halls of congress on how this matter should be dealt with. I was encouraged after my first blog post to write more on my own personal opinion. As I said earlier I am an admitted conservative and will speak on the matter when asked.

            The word “Illegal” carries with it the penalty of a crime being committed. If you are an illegal immigrant you have violated the sovereignty of the United States. If you have come here without going threw the appropriate channels you are breaking the law. Therefore I am against any amnesty or path to citizenship unless you were a minor when you crossed the border. As an adult you were in full knowing that what you were doing was a crime against the United States. You also recklessly put yourself in danger to be at the mercy of those who help smuggle you across. The legal immigrant has the right to all the privileges and rights the U.S. constitution grants.  I also feel that any employer that gives a job to an undocumented worker should face strict and harsh penalties. We shouldn’t harshly punish illegal immigrants, but we should swiftly deport them. We should harshly punish anybody encouraging or helping them cross the border.

Key differences

                Welcome to the first blog entry of mine. This Blog I hope will satisfy my goal of writing about politics in way that is simply informative and not controversial. I hope to give an unbiased measure of what is going on and take very complex multilayered issues and give you both sides of the isle’s perspective. To be unbiased in my opinion is to check your admitted bias at the door. I am an admitted conservative on most issues, but on others I can be very moderate and if not even liberal myself.

                Let’s talk about that because the words Liberal and Conservative get tossed around a lot when people discuss matters of politics. These two terms often refer to the respective extremes on both sides of our two party system. This first blog post will primarily focus differences between Democrats and Republicans that respectively hold Liberal or Conservative ideals.

I’ll give a brief  break down of couple principles they disagree on.

Economy

Democrats: Democrats are the Robin Hood of Nottingham and Republicans are the big bad Sherriff and King in their minds. They feel that the wealthy Americans got rich off the poor and their hard work. They feel that Government not only has the right but the responsibility to give all Americans unlimited opportunity to fail and succeed in making money. They also feel that Government should tax the wealthy heavily and that the richest people should pay for Government services that everybody can use. They believe that Rich people are not to be trusted with all this money. That they will only serve their own interests and by that will just perpetuate their own wealth and will not create jobs for people to get out of poverty. Democrats believe in a lot of Government regulation in private business for a few reasons. One reason for example would be regulating a bank to make sure it doesn’t loan money to a person who never could repay it.

Republicans: Republicans believe that the individual should be held responsible for their actions when it comes to money. People became rich or wealthy because they innovate and work hard or contribute to society. Government gets in the way with regulation because it slows the process and tells private business what to do. People that have a proven track record with money are the ones who should be trusted with said money. By de-regulating private business, they will inherently be successful enough to create more jobs for the people to obtain a position where they can acquire their own wealth. Government does not have the right to take all your money; you have the right to keep most of your earned wealth. Government tends to spend frivolously and irresponsibly when the individual could use it to better their individual life or employ somebody else with it.

Role of Government

Democrats: Government has the responsibility to all individuals even if it means having Government telling the individual they must be subordinate to Government will as opposed to entrepreneurial desires and initiatives (drilling in Alaska for oil for example). Democrat administration desires for centralized power in Washington D.C. with only secondary consideration to the will of communities and individuals. Democrats favor Federal-level interventions that replace community-based solutions to community problems. These regulations tend to put control in the hands of unelected bureaucrat agencies causing erosion to local authority in exchange for centralized federal authority (DHHS case worker as opposed to a community outreach program like a homeless shelter.)

Republicans: Each person is responsible for his or her role in society. Government should enable people the ability to secure the benefits of society for themselves, and their families and for those who are unable to care for themselves. Government should have a limited ability to intervene. It’s lack of authority should be a catalyst for individual prosperity. Government only should step in during specific cases where society cannot deal with things on an individual level. Destiny should be in the individual’s hands, Government power and resources should be kept close to people through their state and community leaders… not centralized in distant federal government agencies.

Immigration

Democrats: As the world superpower, it’s a responsibility for the United States to provide unconditional aid to foreign nationals. Open borders, unconditional amnesty, and laws that are on file get ignored in certain cases to provide legal forms of ID to foreign Nationals and also non emergency assistance.

Republicans: Lack of security along our borders contribute to the flow of Narcotics trafficking, gang violence, and the yearly forced servitude and slavery of over 50,000 women and children from foreign countries by human smugglers. Republicans want to fallow laws to the letter and immigration policies should be enforced securing our borders to ensure safety of our citizens and prevent those seeking opportunity aren’t taken advantage of by American companies looking for cheap illegal labor or Human traffickers selling slaves.

For a more complete list of differences on key issues… please read the following links.

http://www.ontheissues.org/askme/dem_rep.htm

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican