'Owl' Be Darned! I'm Totally Whigged Out!

I knew if I alluded to it often enough, or called for it long enough I'd find it. As the people who founded it say, "The Party for the rest of us."

There is is a party for moderates just getting cranked up. They call themselves The Modern Whigs. I've been doing a lot of searching since I saw the article about them in this mornings Wall Street Journal. They are a real organization with an extensive web site and they have the obligatory page on facebook .

They've chosen the owl as their symbol after the original Whig party. A sign of wisdom. Let us hope!

Of note are the people who have pulled this organization together - soldiers, according to the Journal, who were tired of the bickering that filled TV screens in Iraq and Afghanistan. Have you been wondering how the soldiers feel? Well, a group of them are certainly letting it be known how they feel! They're even having some small successes running candidates.

For you who are dissatisfied with the current political situation, it may be worth checking them out. I like the idea that they are young and from the few profiles I've scanned, they've attracted some people with pretty substantial credentials. If there is substance behind the credentials there may be some promise. I'll be looking at that, having been totally hoodwinked once.

I love owls. There's something regal about them yet unobtrusive. Dignified.

I'm going to read more.

Take Your Grubby Hands Off Me!

We give up our right about being searched without cause when we agree to fly. First it was wanding and removing a belt. Inconvenient but one could live with it even in airports where such precautions were ridiculous. That was back in the days of hijacking where you might end up in Cuba.

Then came 9/11 and those with the power to regulate went mad. Absolutely mad. And we allowed it. We bought in to the "keepin' us safe" mantra. Please. Come to your senses. It has gotten more and more intrusive over the years to the point where we have whole body scanners! They've already been abused, it's seldom reported but it is reported. In one instance it was among TSA employees with one of their own, belittling a man's lack. Nice huh? These are the same people who have the right to give you a pat down.

I'm funny about who touches me and where. It does not include a total stranger at an airport from random selection. Can it get worse? You bet.

"Big Sis" is experimenting with the ultimate insult in Boston. Screeners can now do a slide down of your body with their palms down including your private areas. An "enhanced pat down" they call it.

I'm sorry. I do not believe that under any circumstance this is necessary. Whoever the Neanderthals are that made this legal in order for people to fly should have to experience it themselves. That includes everyone from "Big Sis" Napolitano to Nancy Pelosi. Can you imagine Pelosi taking it? From Harry Reid to Barack and Michelle Obama.

I don't know what can be done, but it's really time for the American people to say "Enough! We'll take our chances." No more removing shoes, no more having your luggage rummaged through and items that don't fit ridiculous specifications confiscated. No more items from your luggage stolen. No more luggage that never catches up with you. No more pat downs nor full body scans.

I want to be free again. Like it was when flying was fun and people wanted to do it. To travel and explore far away places without having to spend extra hours, hours, being manhandled by strangers who seem unable to use the tools they've been given in the first place. Instead of adding more, just stop.

War Takes It's Toll On Our Civilians Too!

I understand Karzai being concerned about the number of civilians being killed in the war. It is, however, part of the price. Civilians die.

We have our own issues with it. Often the aftermath of service. Something snaps, as happened with a 23 year old Iraq veteran in Michigan. A mother about to give birth, a 13 month old girl and three dogs perished before the young man took his own life.

As I watched the troops crossing the border into Kuwait last evening, I wondered how many of them will have trouble re-adjusting to civilian life. The life they're leaving behind in the war zone was one for which they were ill prepared before deployment. It's not the fault of their training, it's the manner of war. No human should be asked to do to another what is required by war. But we wage them never-the-less.

This young man enlisted before he had even graduated from high school. What could possibly have prepared him for what he would face. And then, free from the actual presence in it, something snapped. Who knows how frail the human psyche can be. How much with which one is able to cope.

Even the comics address it. Look at Wally Winkerbean. It gives you an idea. Every loud noise makes you jump, you wonder who in the crowd may be a suicide bomber. How do you shake it? You're home. You're safe. It doesn't always compute.

I know. I dated a Ranger who did three tours in Vietnam. He was, to put it mildly, a mess. The relationship didn't work out. I was afraid of him.

But a wife. A little girl. Dogs. The family support mechanism. No longer recognized, no longer trusted. Dead. Those are our civilian casualties. There are far too many of them.

To whom do we complain?

Lies, Misplaced Words And The First Amendment

I would probably have missed the story all together - the Connecticut Senate race - if I hadn't at one time played tennis with the current Republican candidate, Linda McMahon. The story wasn't about Linda, but her shoo in opponant, AG Richard Blumenthal, and his "misplaced words" regarding his military service during the Vietnam War.

He claimed to have actually served in the Marine Corp in Vietnam. Wrong on both counts. A technicality, to be sure, but the Reserves isn't quite the same unless you actually are deployed to the war zone. Nor is serving stateside after five deferrments. Oh my. Talk about "dancing with the politician", this was a beaut and of course he took full responsiblity for those "misplaced words." I wonder if he need have bothered.

A court case has just been decided in favor of a Pomona, CA man who claimed he was a retired Medal of Honor Marine. He wasn't. He plead guilty with the provision he could appeal on the basis of his First Amendment rights.

He not only lied, he violated the 2007 Stolen Valor Act. I need to misplace a few words of my own in writing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, 2 to 1, that the law was a violation of his free speech rights.

That being the case I wonder if all the "misplaced words" and outright "lies" that we are constantly being subjected to really require the breast beating penitence they are given when found out. Save it! The courts are giving you free reign to say what you'd like.

Interesting, isn't it, that both these men were or claimed to be military men. Obviously there is a lot of honor involved with having served. As well there should be. No wonder the Marine's are always looking for a "few" good men. They aren't always easy to find.

As for claiming the Medal of Honor in a lie and getting a pass, what can be said? Those who are legitimate recipients did so, many losing their lives in the effort, to give one the right to lie?

Wow.

We Used To "Finnish" FIrst!

Yep. We used to be on top of the world thanks to the likes of the little guy standing therel like he owned it. But then something happened. We got lazy and greedy and let our integrity slide. We even elected a man President who'd rather have us as a member of the pack than leading it. He even went so far as to travel the world apologizing for every wrong, perceived or otherwise, for which we'd ever been blamed.

It seems he got his wish. We aren't the country we once were. We keep out the educated, many who have studied here, yet won't expel those who come to take rather than give. Rather than disciplining our penchant for spending sprees we print more money or borrow it from dubious allies.

I saw a commercial the other evening. I don't know what it was advertising but it was flashes of young men and women, probably students, from various countries touting their areas of expertise. What caught my attention was the one who claimed first in math and science. Finland.

Well, it's long been known we no longer hold that crown, if we ever did. What I didn't know is that it wasn't China or Japan. Finland. Are Finnish youngsters so very different than our own? Nope. But their education system is.

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.

How's that for starters? They also do not have with them in their classrooms iPods or cell phones. Imagine.

They do, however, love shopping, Desperate Housewives and just like our kids, wear outlandish, to us, clothes, dye their hair and may even wear dreadlocks.

This puzzlement of achievement doesn't stop with education. It has carried over to how the entire country functions based on a number of criteria put together by Newsweek.

In this study Finland finished number one. Number ONE! We didn't even make the top ten! We came in eleventh. So who was ahead of us? The usual suspects plus a few surprises. Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Japan and Denmark.

Maybe it's because so many of those countries have long dark winters and the kids have little else to do but study. I don't think so. After all we have Alaska. Interesting. Eight of the top ten are such countries. They all rank above us in matters that count. Education, quality of life, health care, political climate and climate for business to name a few. What do we have with Alaska? An oil field we won't tap and Sarah Palin. Is there a lesson here that we should be learning?