The last few days have seen an interesting, lopsided debate rankle American politics. This debate is one that pits the majority of the public against the majority of the country’s leadership. Continue reading “Stay Focused”
The Shining Star
These days, Afghanistan is held aloft by the Bush administration as the shining star of democracy’s inexorable spread. Truth be told, since the American-led war that ousted the Taliban three years ago, the signs of life coming out of Kabul and the wider country at large are encouraging, but Afghanistan is a test case for the difficulties inherent in the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Continue reading “The Shining Star”
Ends and Means
The election in Iraq is a success to this point. The large numbers of Iraqis that turned up at the polls shows that I was mistaken when I wrote earlier that the Iraqis may not be ready for, or even want, democracy. They turned lives that had been lived under a brutal dictator, without a nascent movement for democracy, into a clamor for democratic self-rule within a matter of months of the beginning of the American occupation. Many people were surprised at the fervor shown by so many Iraqis not just on election day, but in the months leading up to it. The political mood in Iraq can easily be characterized as one of vigorous debate. Continue reading “Ends and Means”
Don’t Be So Damned Smug
The Republicans are a pompous group of blowhards who revel in their power by smoking cigars and exhaling mirth in the direction of their vanquished foes, the Democrats. They are the perfect, unrestrained example of the sore winner. Their gloating, their absolute belief that providence has led them out of the shadows of American politics to lead this nation towards the bright future of conservatism, is an amazing contradiction for a party that professes faith above reason. The Republicans are guilty of the sin of pride. Continue reading “Don’t Be So Damned Smug”
Selah
The method never worked for me. The last I remembered was arising in the late afternoon with one of those vicious, evil hangovers. You know, the type that moves its way down the back of your neck and makes the walls painful to look at. Every part of my body felt bathed in poison. It had been one of those nights. How long had I been asleep? Were the stars still out when I finally crawled into bed, or had I decided to push the envelope until morning, bringing on this frightful bout of forgetfulness, remorse, and crapulence? Continue reading “Selah”
Hopping on the Bandwagon
The president has overreached.
Ever since he outlined his plans for reshaping the future of Social Security, he can’t buy good press. Every day at least a dozen articles hit the pages of newspapers across the country and on the internet, lambasting his misguided attempts to gut the most popular government program in the history of the country. Liberal pundits, op-ed columnists, reporters, commentators, even the publicly-expressed doubts of Republican senators and representatives, have all served to make this a difficult time for the Bush administration. Today, in fact, conservative legend Alan Greenspan cast doubt on the president’s Social Security plan in his regular testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Mr. Greenspan has a large amount of credibility in this country and abroad when it comes to money, and it is encouraging to see him, maybe, throw off the mantle of being a Bush yes-man and get back to the business of fiscal responsibility. But praising Alan Greenspan is not my reason for putting pen to paper today, as it were. Continue reading “Hopping on the Bandwagon”
No Exit Strategy
The cries have begun in earnest. Almost two years into a war that was supposed to last for only a few short months, talk of an exit from Iraq has become commonplace in the arena of public debate. Continue reading “No Exit Strategy”
Globalization Marches Forward
Yesterday, the second term of President George W. Bush began. There is no doubt that the focus of his administration’s foreign policy in the next four years will continue to be the spread of globalization. Continue reading “Globalization Marches Forward”
A Holiday in the Midwest
I spent a week this holiday season in Ohio. I grew up there. I still have family and friends there. I went back to celebrate Christmas and then the New Year, but since this was my first return to the land of my youth since the summer, I wanted to find out what went wrong in November. Continue reading “A Holiday in the Midwest”
The Invisible Enemy
The latest estimates from the pentagon place the number of insurgents in Iraq at around 15,000, a tenth of the 150,000 on the American side. Step back and think about that number for a second. If 15,000 is an accurate assessment of the amount of men our military is fighting, then I would not wish to contemplate what would happen were we facing an enemy equal in number to our own forces. Continue reading “The Invisible Enemy”