Merry Merry Merry REAL Christmas!

There's More... Expand Full Post

Contract Post...

My Obama disappointments as his first year draws to an end.

A: Health Care reform - um, I suppose the bill that looks like it will land on the president's desk in a couple weeks will at least do away with pre-existing conditions, lifetime insurance payout limits and other barbaric insurance industry practices but it seems to be falling far short of what many wanted. You yourself may not agree with the so called "public option" but 60-70% consistently polled as supporting that option, yest it has been excluded from the bill along with several other, much needed reforms. If the existing insurance industry does not face new competition of some kind it will continue to drain the pockets of average Americans in order to fill the CEO s and other up[per management of the insurance companies with obscenely undeserved bonuses. Who has ever done 500 million dollars of work in a single year? Certainly not the paper shufflers at the top of the heap, rather, they pocket these obscene bonuses (in addition to their normal salaries) year after year no matter whether their companies have turned a profit or have had to be bailed out due to poor management. How is this fair? How is this in the spirit of the Christ the Republican party so often invokes, yet who was also the Christ who drove the money changers out of the Temple and told the rich that it is harder for them to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle? Sorry Barrack, but i think you need to sack up a little and be more willing to play the hardball that former President Bush played when he was able to ram innumerable questionable "reforms" through congress and all without your "super majority" in both houses of Congress. :(

B: Iraq and Afghanistan - I do understand that you made it clear during the Presidential debates prior to your election that you
would withdraw troops from Iraq after 18 months of becoming President and that you would transfer some of the resources from Iraq to Afghanistan, however, the 18 month deadline draws near, and based on your poor performance delivering on health care and gay rights, which i will cover shortly, I have begun to brace myself for the 18 month Iraqi deadline to come and go without significant action. Please feel free to redeem yourself and prove me wrong. What I would now like, is a withdrawal deadline for Afghanistan as well please? Don't be the Kennedy or the Johnson to today's Vietnam.

C: The Homos - I voted Republican in a Presidential election once: 1996, Bob Dole. I did so because I wanted to send a protest vote to Clinton who also came into office with a long list of to-do's and quickly failed to produce on many of them. Health care reform? Fail. Clinton's promises to end the military's prohibition on gay recruits? Fail. Clinton's classic "slick willy" move was to change the military's policy from "witch hunt and expel" to "don't ask. don't tell." There are several problems with don't ask don't tell (DADT). Of primary relevance at this time are the numerous expulsions of otherwise exemplary soldiers, during time of war, who's specialties are in short supply, for the simple reason that they were discovered to be interested in members of their own sex. A secondary concern is that "don't tell" is the exact opposite of "free speech," which is among the very first, and therefore, one would assume, the most important of Constitutionally protected rights? So far President Obama has not delivered on his promise to end DADT, a change which, unlike his clearly stated stance against gay marriage, he did insure his gay constituents he would implement. He is in a particularly strong position to do this since, in his position as Commander in Chief of the United States Military does not require him to consult Congress on this matter. He could eliminate this anachronistic relic of puritanism with a single signature on an executive order. That is exactly how the ban on black and white troops was overturned, an executive order in a time of war. The precedent is there, use it?

D: well, this is basically not a disappointment YET, but I do hope that the economy turns around before the 2012 Presidential elections or I may have to face another nail-biter between him and Sarah Palin, or perhaps some worse example of political competence that the Republican party manages to dig out of the woodwork. Oh well, those are things I had hoped a President Obama would deliver on; one (health care reform) seems to have turned out to be a half assed crumbs from the table sort of compromise, the second awaits any action whatsoever, and the third has seen action but I am only willing to wait so long before signs of economic change begin to become apparent or I will be tempted to throw in the towel on that core issue of Obama's Presidential campaign as well.

I don't want to be politically apathetic, but come on people, how many sad sack, wimpy compromised administrations can a good progressive endure before he starts to give up his last remaining hopes for American political progress?

There's More... Expand Full Post

Contract Post...

High afghan soldiers not a good sign for US withdrawal

The U.S. marines training the Afghan army come across as consistently frustrated by how unfocused, and often high, many of the Afghans are. They complain repeatedly of soldiers coming to training without a lot of their gear, including their helmets.

One U.S. Marine summed up the situation succinctly by saying: "Ultimately, it effects their ability to protect their nation and get Afghanistan on its feet."

Good Lord! It seems like trying to herd cats. If they do not take their own security seriously why are we? :(

There's More... Expand Full Post

Contract Post...