We reap what we sow!

Click on the title above for a link to an old video. I remember getting it back in the old days from a friend at Lockheed who was ecstatic about killing Soviets. To my everlasting shame, I joined in the glee. Never before has the old saying been so right, "you reap what you sow" or perhaps, "what goes around comes around". I fear the farther we get from our own time on the battlefield the more we forget that it is boys on both sides that are getting blown up as well as women and children.

I made this suggestion once for Iraq. I make it again here for Afghanistan. We have no business in Afghanistan any longer but we have some obligation to those Afghani who supported us during our time there. When we leave the inevitable retaliation will occur. I suspect that this is one of the reasons that President Obama feels it necessary to remain there. Here is my suggestion, we offer every Afghanistan citizen who wishes it, a relocation package to the US. If we transported them here and gave them each $100,000 dollars we could bring in 100,000 for just $10 billion. At least the guilt would be removed and we would gain risk takers and believers in the US to add to our work force needed to build solar power plants in the desert and transmission lines across the west.

And it ends our kids being blown up and killed in a useless part of the world.

Peter's complaint about Rules of Engagement

I find this piece by Ralph Peters to be hypocritical. He talks about caring for the troops but where was he 4 years ago. This piece is designed to attack the present administration nothing more. This is an administration that has done more to support the troops in Afghanistan that Bush ever did.

It is also an administration that is undertaking a thorough evaluation of our mission and purpose in Afghanistan. The internal debate has been reported on widely and I say it is a good thing and long overdue. Our troops deserve a clear mission statement, a definition of victory and an exit strategy. We did not have this with the Bush Administration and I agree with Peters that that was immoral but where was he then?

On Feb 4th of this year I wrote: 

William Krystol let the cat out of the bag today when he said that the Republicans need to defeat this bill not because it is bad but because they need the momentum to stop healthcare legislation down the road. They are fighting the bill for partisan reasons not economic reasons. Should they succeed then the patient may die and worse measures will be needed.

The comment applies today to the healthcare debate and bill. I have no doubt that the energy bills will be the treated the same way.  This is not how our two party system has always worked in the past.  Negotiation and compromise used to be name of the game. It seems that way of doing business in the US Congress was left behind sometime during the Clinton Administration.  I blame my old party, the Repubicans. Not only have did they leave the death of compromise behind but they no longer are representative of the values of Goldwater that first brought me to the party.

Economic Recovery Plan Needed!

This is not a stimulus plan. A stimulus plan is for a patient that just needs a bit of motivation. In spite of what Rush or Dobbs says our economy is on the emergency room table fighting for life. Go talk to a car salesman, a real estate agent, a school board member or a city council member. They will tell you that times are bad. One of the most respected Republican governors, Gov Crist of Florida say that the Economic Recovery Plan is a good bill.

William Krystol let the cat out of the bag today when he said that the Republicans need to defeat this bill not because it is bad but because they need the momentum to stop healthcare legislation down the road. They are fighting the bill for partisan reasons not economic reasons. Should they succeed then the patient may die and worse measures will be needed.

No one wants this country to go into more debt. this attitude is not owned by Republicans. In fact this last Republican administration borrowed more money than any administration in our history and the Republican lead Congress went right along with it and most of the money was spent outside of this country. Why $800 million in dollar bills was lost in Iraq, no one knows where it went just like the $375 Billion that the Bush Administration handed over to the banks with no oversight.

No the Republicans are not against debt they are just against any Democratic administration's efforts. The problem that this time they are playing with the welfare of millions of US citizens and their families.

Most economists say this plan is needed and will help. No one says that it will damage the economy in the short term. Why risk not doing anything? And two years from now if it does not work then the Republicans can make a strong run in the Congressional elections.

Please let's make this happen, call your legislators!