Looks like Conrad Burns has more competition that we thought. The GOP is nervous about the lobbying scandal surrounding Sen. Burns, so Montana Senator Bob Keenan has announced that he is contemplating running against Burns. Stay tuned … .
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I am all for protecting the rights of defendants charged with a crime, but this is ridiculous. I know that Delay was expected to win the primary but it just seems incredulous to me. How on earth do Texans vote for this guy? Not everyone in his district can benefit financially under his leadership, right? Where are the middle class voters? Do Texans really believe that Delay is innocent and this entire investigation is the result of a left-wing conspriracy?
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The Washington Post ran a piece today on the Democrats’ election non-strategy. The Post put into print what we all have been aware of for the past five years. Democrats can’t come up with an effective strategy to get reelected. They can’t even agree on when to publish their strategy. Here is my advice on messages that might just strike voters and turn the tide in this country.
Message #1: Personal freedom. Your life is your own. You should be the one to exercise control over your body when it comes to your health. Message #1 includes promoting a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, since ultimately the debate surrounding abortion should lie in whether you should have control over your own body. Message #1 also encompasses freedom from the government. Imagine a 2008 where search warrants are once again reviewed by courts and people can marry anyone they want.
Message #2: Personal Values. Your leaders hold their personal value systems dear and will not violate their internal Code of Ethics - or the external Code for that matter. Vote for a Democrat in 2008 and put corruption, kickbacks and bribes behind you. (Sure, this one may be tough to say with a straight face, but try.)
Message # 3: Global Allies. Repair and Renew relationships with our former allies abroad. Make new allies with nations hostile to the U.S. Engage leaders in meaningful negotiations. Develop understandings of what leaders want and expect of the U.S.
Message # 4: The environment. Our glaciers are melting at faster speeds than expected, sea levels are rising and in other parts of the world drying up, and our coasts are sinking. If we do not act soon, all may be lost. Renew talks with Europe and Asia. Develop effective strategies to combat climate change and reduce toxic emissions into the atmosphere. Reduce domestic reliance on plastic. Try, simple things like promoting campaigns charging nominal fees for plastic grocery bags.
Message #5: Withdraw from Iraq. Work with the new government in Iraq to promote peace in the region. This may require negotiating with factions underrepresented in the Iraqi government. Leave the country so that foreign nationals seeking to do harm to the U.S. will leave and Iraq’s citizens can work out the problems exacerbated by the U.S. Yes, civil war may be inevitable. Yes, we are to blame, but staying in the region is not going to change that fact. The longer we stay, the less likely Iraq is to achieve peace.
Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean pay attention. This is one American’s priority list for the upcoming elections.
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Interesting piece by Christopher Hitchens, apparently just back from Iran:
The most touching remark I heard during my time in Iran was from a woman in the wonderfully beautiful city of Isfahan. (It is just outside this cultural treasure house that the mullahs have chosen to place one of their mountain-dugout nuclear sites.) In the family home where I was staying, contempt and hatred for theocracy was a given, but this was a family friend, moreover draped in a deep black chador, who stayed on the edge of the conversation. Finally she broke in to ask shyly, in faultless English, "Would it be possible for the Americans to invade just for a few days, get rid of the mullahs and the weapons, and then leave?"
Hitchens focuses on the United States’ failure to recognize the political benefit to be gained from the pro-American sentiment that exists in Iran.
Culturally, many Iranians identify with western regions. Is the U.S. using that fact in thinking through diplomatic measures?
Will the U.S. work with factions in and outside Iran to overthrow Ahmadinejad and the current government?
Worth a read.
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The Government? The Christian God? Or, perhaps You decide the value of your own life.
In response to Adam Elijah’s post concerning "the continued devaluing of human life," I have one question for him: Why should your personal values provide the standard for whether my life has any value? I think I am the better judge of the merit of my life. If I suffer from depression and wish to terminate my life, so be it. Why do others who are motivated by factors like religion and "faith" - ideas that mean nothing to me- determine whether my life has any merit.
You see the 80-year-old Christian woman sitting in front of Fox News decides that God frowns upon terminating one’s life, so she does not support it. Good for her. Wonderful. She has the right to live in any way she deems fit. Why do her values and morals dictate how I have to live? I cannot think of a single more personal issue then one’s decision to terminate her own life.
Choosing to end your life because you do not wish to endure pain and suffering, of any kind, is not "devaluing human life." Someone suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, sitting in an assisted-living facility, eating mashed peas, unable to move or speak has a diminished value in her life. Putting an end to her life does not devalue it any further. Here is an idea. If you really place such a great value on someone else’s life, why not promote research that might yield productive advances in medical science so that people do not continue to suffer from terminal disease. One more way to preserve the value of human life: make healthcare available to everyone - this includes prescription drug coverage too.
Let’s all be intellectually honest with ourselves, shall we? No one can determine the value of your life, except you.
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