When All Else Fails - Cheat!

Rick Santorum shouldn't crow too loudly about how narrow Romney's margin of victory was in Michigan. Why?  Because he had to cheat to get there.

It was the robocalls to Democrats and Independents encouraging them to get out and vote against Romney.  Oh, yes, it was an open primary.  Anyone could vote, but for a candidate to encourage those of other parties to vote against one of his own reeks of dirty politics.

His excuse?  Romney did the same thing in New Hampshire.  Do two wrongs make a right?  I guess Mr. Santorum thinks so.  This is the man who wears his religion, his piety on his sleeve. The man who is so sure of what's good and what's evil never misses a chance to let us know.

Can he have it both ways?  Can he inundate us with beliefs he holds true that many of us do not then turn around and encourage people of another party to vote with the sole intention of skewing the results to his benefit?

Whatever it takes.

Perhaps we should compare what Santorum has said about more religion being needed in public life against what John Kennedy had to say.

Santorum: The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.

Kennedy: I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist. We have separation of church and state in the United States of America.

One gets it.  One does not. Then there's me.  Kennedy 'cheated' on a personal level; a private matter between the parties involved.  Not the country.

As far as I know the 'church' frowns on cheating on all levels, but when it comes to swaying the outcome of an election, it is no personal matter.  It concerns the country.  Somehow I can't imagine any church condoning such behavior even considering Mr. Santorum's curious interpretations of doctrine.

The Thanks We Get

Every time I turn around it seems Americans are being blamed for all the ills facing the nations of the world ruled by radical Islamists.

It certainly gives one pause to listen to Ron Paul and just stay away!  Even if we get involved, say in Syria, it should be made clear it's for the sake of humanity; that no government has the right to slaughter it's own people.  Depose the government then get out.

We should be doing it now.  Other countries, like Turkey are willing to get involved but are waiting for some leadership from America.  Well, with this administration, forget that.

It brings us around to the current cycle of violence against us in Afghanistan.  Where days after the fact our soldiers are still being targeted for having burned some Korans. Desecrating the holy books is punishable  by death. To the infidels!  Us. They seem to forget that their own people are the ones who desecrated them, not our soldiers.  They had been written in and were being passed around to relay messages of jihad.  But it's so much more enjoyable to blame Americans and kill them while shouting God is great!

I was thinking about what symbol of ourselves we hold most dear.  Our flag.  How many times have we seen it burned by unruly mobs who hate us.  Yet we do not go out and slaughter them in return.

We have even seen it happen by our own citizens.  They are protected under the first amendment.  Freedom of speech, or if you will, expression.  It rankles our sensibilities to be sure, but somehow to our way of thinking it's a right that we have, no matter how distastefully it's being utilized.

I must agree with those who are encouraging more diplomacy in the handling of Iran, more people of the same ilk as the Afghanistans.  Should a war break out over Iran's nuclear ambitions it's lose lose for everyone involved. And we will bear the brunt of the blame whether or not we deserve it.  It's the nature of the beast and the depth of the hatred.

How many American lives is it worth losing for a mindset we cannot change?

To Run Or Not To Run

Have you ever wondered why some candidates run?  Like Mitt Romney.  He's been running since the last time he ran and doesn't seem to have learned anything from the experience.  Is it just for the title?  One more addition for the trophy case?

Both Dole and McCain had an 'it's my turn' demeanor about them.  Obama probably wanted to be the first president of color for the historical value; he certainly has had no interest in governing.  Newt acts as though he's entitled.  Paul is frustrated because no one takes him seriously, insisting he can't win yet he continues to try.  I have no idea where Santorum is coming from.  The field leaves the Republican party in dire straights against a president who is so weak I could blow him over with my breath.  Yet unless something miraculous happens, he will win.

Now Jeb Bush, who is one of the many thought able yet declined, is worried about his party and it's candidates.  He feels that they are running on people's fears and emotions.  He's right but not for the real reasons.  People's fears?  Right.  They fear one of these guys might actually win.  Well, one will, be he Democrat or Republican.  Emotions?  It's frustration and disappointment that this is the best the country can come up with.  It's frightening.

Bush is wrong too.  The ideology of fear, hatred and division he feels the Republicans have pushed too long is what is being resonated isn't, unless he's looking at the candidates attitudes toward each other.  The nastiness of the super PAC ads is certainly causing division among themselves.  They want us to hate their opponent yet all I detect really is self loathing just as a superiority complex often hides an inferiority complex. That they have had to stoop to such a low in tactics says little for their vision or leadership abilities.  Fear.  As I said before.  One of them will win.

Asked if he might run as a consensus candidate Bush said absolutely not.  So he'll leave it to those who at least had the guts to get into the race to bumble along alienating their base as well as the independents they so sorely need.

The whole problem goes way beyond party loyalty.  It goes to the understanding of the political animal.  Why they choose to run and why they don't.  No matter who wins the Republican nomination, look for an inconsequential vice presidential choice.  Everyone touts Marco Rubio, but why would he want to tie himself to a weak presidential candidate while the others are sitting on the sidelines waiting for 2016?

Or are they?  Are they just too afraid of the challenge of the job and the personal persecution from the press that comes with it? It's much easier to sit on that sideline and criticize.  Heaven knows enough us do it. But then we're not politicians nor leaders, merely citizens looking for leaders. If  those who were thought to be the better men for the job won't step up to the plate we're doomed as a country.  That's a stance that encourages grabs for power, imperial presidencies,  shunning the constitution and eventually dictatorships.

We couldn't possibly be on that road.  Could we?

War And The Cultural Divide

Over the past year, thanks to the in your face reality brought to us by today's technology, we've watched time and again the slaughter of civilians by their leaders.  It is gut wrenching to say the least.  Even more so when we are shown the mutilated bodies of women, young children and babies.

Those leaders have fallen like dominos. Now it seems to be Syria's turn.  We've involved ourselves in some of the conflicts but not others.  Why is this?  Political expediency and self interest for the most part.

As difficult as it is to watch I wonder if we should have been involved in any of them.  None directly threaten our national security, not even the ones pending like Iran.  Iraq was entered into under false pretenses as was Afghanistan.  The pretenses being supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan - where he wasn't, but rather being sheltered by a supposed ally, Pakistan.

What happens in war?  People get killed.  All ages, sexes, religions and a myriad of other charateristics too numerous to list.  Entering into one should be one of the most difficult decisions ever made by our leadership.  Why is it then that the last time the government actually declared war as laid out in the constitution was in 1941?  Everything since then has not been a declared war but rather an armed conflict or as in the case of Korea, a police action.

If the constitution had been followed perhaps many of the conflicts could have been avoided all together and thousands of our young men and women would still be alive.  Let's face it, we have not accomplished much.

Setting aside Korea and Vietnam, let's just look at Iraq and Afghanistan.  Neither country nor any of their neighbors like us.  We've put into political power people who have never intended to live up to our expectations, but rather their own.

Take the recent burning of Korans.  They supposedly contained extremist inscriptions intended to incite those who passed them among themselves.  So they were confiscated.  What was to be done with them?  Put them in storage?  It would have been the only acceptable way to get them out of circulation and even at that Karzai would have found a reason to call his people to riot - and kill ours.

Well, that's what happens in wars.  People get killed.  The reasons for them escape us these days.  The people we're fighting for don't want our presence in their land.  All they want is our money of which we seem to have a bottomless supply.  They're making their own pacts with the devil as we sit haplessly by. We cannot appease these people.  We do not understand their culture, how they think or why we can't make them come around to our way.  It's really pretty simple.  They don't want to.

This is what happens when we have no set foreign policy, no set guidelines to follow on the road to war and no congressional debate to determin whether or not a war may be a worthy one. If there is such a thing. The President may be the commander-in-chief but he does not have carte blanch when committing us to war.  It's time we elect one who not only realizes it but respects it and will follow the protocol of the constitution.

Our military deserves no less.  What they don't deserve is an apologist.

Thumbs Up? Am I Crazy?

While  the presidential candidates are consumed with showing us why none of them should be nominated, it's refreshing to be able to reflect a bit on two members of Congress who are actually doing their job - for us.

An odd couple indeed, Senator Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat and Representative Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican have formed a two man coalition to get something done, especially when it comes to Medicare issues.

More important than the subject of their efforts is the fact that they are making one, together, including compromises, that work for all sides.  I was going to say both sides but realize there there aren't just two sides.  Congress just wants us to think that way.  It's the gray area in the middle that matters most.

In Kimberly Strassel's recent Wall Street Journal column, The War on Wyden , it's obvious Mr. Wyden is taking his lumps from fellow Democrats.  He's been called a 'useful idiot' by Paul Krugman, to wanting to help Mitt Romney get elected to no longer being a Democrat not to mention he was taking away a key argument from the Democrats.  It's obvious to me that Mr. Wyden gets what his party does not.  Without effort and compromise, nothing gets done.

Mr. Ryan, too, has taken his lumps and is often dismissed as being little more than a numbers wonk.  The description is probably more accurate than not but it should be worn as a badge of honor rather than derision and I think that's just how Mr. Ryan feels.

So here we are. Two men out of the entire House and Senate doing what they were all elected to do.  I wish I could be more positive when I say it's a start, but I can't.  It's only two men.

Unless the tea party adherents realize they must do the same rather than digging in their heels and the remaining Democrats are willing to follow suit nothing will move forward.  Especially when leadership won't bring bills to the floor for a vote or if they do they're filled with extraneous rubbish.

This stubborness is shared by both parties as well as a payback mentality when the majorities change hands.  It's what the people are so angry about.  Even the President does it.  His way or no way.  Until this behavior is changed we will forever muddle on just as we are now.

Can two men as diverse in nature as Ryan and Wyden light the way?  Perhaps.  One can hope.  Because at the moment there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  Just a dark dead end.