Politics: May 2008 Archives

Where to start? I guess I'll start with what is on CNN now. This from former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's new book entitled "What Happened", that was just released...

President Bush has always been an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader. He is not one to delve deeply into the possible policy options-including sitting around engaging in extended debate about them-before making a choice. Rather, he chooses based on his gut and his most deeply held convictions. Such was the case with Iraq. [...]

What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.

In American slang terms, "the chicken has come home to roost." For my non-American friends, that means that the truth of this morally and intellectually corrupt administration is coming out. We went to war in Iraq for nothing more than OIL and PROFIT. This schmuck sent our young men and women to war based really on nothing, except his own interests. This will be his legacy. But I'm not worried about his legacy. That man has the intellect of a mushroom. I can forgive not being that smart (I'm not that smart myself), but, I have enough smarts to ask the right questions to the people who have the smarts. There are two differences between me and President Schmuck. 1) I THINK. I ask questions. I evaluate. I act. 2) I wouldn't bring down a whole freakin country based on what I wanted to do out of some feeling of revenge, or what I thought the American people wanted after 9/11, or any other factor WITHOUT THE FACTS.

You will probably say, "we acted on what we knew at the time." I'm so sick of hearing that crap. When you send young men and women into war, you assume nothing. You take nothing for granted. You make damn sure that there are no other options. President Schmuck didn't do that. And the worst part of it is, we are all going to pay for this schmuck for a very long time to come. And how many Iraqis were killed? How many of our brave soldiers were killed? And here we are at home complaining about the cost of gasoline. You don't really think this all happened in a vacuum, do you? Fasten your seat belts. The next 40 years is going to be a bumpy ride!

THE GOOD NEWS is that this is all coming out now. That is where healing begins. Perhaps we can start to put all of this together and move forward. This is why, in my opinion, our country will stand or fall based on what we do in the next presidential election. In the entire history of our country, we had good and bad Presidents (same goes for Congress). But I believe this is the breaking point. This is the one pivotal election in the history of our country. If it goes badly, we will loose our ability to be the country we all grew up knowing.

VOTE. AND VOTE INTELLIGENTLY, LIKE YOUR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

Well, I went off on a bit of a ramble. I'm still passionate about my country. I have more good news. It appears that I will continue living more. I went for a check up with my doctor today. I love my doctor. He's great. Aside from being incredibly handsome, smart... you get the idea... he's actually very good at taking time to sit down and talk to you about your check up. My God he is such a hunk!! But I digress...

A few months ago, I went in to see him on a routine check up. It didn't go so well. I had put on some weight, had high glucose, high blood pressure, and my cholesterol wasn't what it should be. My doctor warned me of diabetes, heart disease, etc. I decided to do something about it.

I started watching what I eat, and I walk two miles a day as I listen to my iPod. I do this during lunch. The result is the following:

Weight at the time I started: 225
Weight today: 212

Readings on 2/22/2008:
Cholesterol levels: 192 (normal range 158-199)
Triglyceride: 177 (normal range < 150)
HDL: 30 (normal range >= 40)
LDL: 127 (normal range < 160)
Glucose: 113 (normal range 70-100)

Readings on 5/28/2008:
Cholesterol levels: 181 (normal range 158-199)
Triglyceride: 152 (normal range < 150) Yes!
HDL: 32 (normal range >= 40)
LDL: 119 (normal range < 160) Yes!
Glucose: 99 (normal range 70-100) VERY PROUD OF THIS!

My doctor said, "This is awesome!" I feel good about it. Loosing the weight is just an added bonus because it gives me an excuse to buy new clothes. Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up martinis (I'm not stupid). ;-) But I now stop to think about what I'm eating. If I really need those salty fat-fried chips with salsa, I'll allow myself to have 12 chips instead of half a bag. And I take in each one. After that, I'm done.

Life is good!

I heard about this on the news on my drive into work this morning...

The case was brought by Maj. Margaret Witt (pictured), a flight nurse at McChord Air Force Base, near Tacoma, Wash., who served in the Air Force for nearly two decades, and received several medals for, among other things, saving soldiers in the Middle East. In 2004, the Air Force suspended her without pay after receiving a tip that she’d been in a longterm relationship with a civilian woman. Witt was honorably discharged last year, after having put in 18 years - two short of what she needed to receive retirement benefits.

In 2006, Judge Ronald B. Leighton, of Federal District Court in Tacoma, dismissed the case. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, disagreed, reinstating Witt’s substantive and procedural due process claims (but affirming the dismissal of the equal protection claims) and returning the case to Judge Leighton for further proceedings. Here are reports from The Recorder, the NYT, the AP and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Click here for the Ninth Circuit’s opinion.

The Ninth Circuit didn’t strike down “don’t ask, don’t tell” (known as DADT) but it said the Air Force must prove that Witt’s dismissal furthered the military’s stated goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion — the goals that DADT was meant to further when Congress passed the law in 1993. “When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals,” Judge Ronald M. Gould wrote, “the government must advance an important governmental interest, the intrusion must significantly further that interest, and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest.” (source)

Don't Ask Don't Tell should go! This policy has done more harm to our military than the events at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. We've lost too many good people to this stupid, homophobic policy. I love what one of the commenter's stated:

I agree, DADT does not work. I was in a combat unit in early 2003, and it was quite interesting. As we were ramping up for deployment and subsequent conquest/occupation of Iraq (sold to Americans as “liberation”), we needed every soldier we had available, and DADT suddenly didn’t matter. In my unit at least, it was deliberately ignored (as in, the unit did not seek to separate known homosexuals) Sure, non-tactical, high level units still separated good soldiers because they were gay (linguists, e.g., who are often in the news), but most of the units that had boots on the ground in the fight consciously ignored DADT so that we could keep those great Americans with us. Funny that the policy is meant to maintain unit cohesiveness, morale, etc, during our war-fighting missions, but most units wait until after their deployments to start enforcing it again, when they no longer need every available soldier for a real mission. Comment by former Army Captain, current lawyer. - May 22, 2008 at 10:08 am

I can't tell you how many gay soldiers I've talked to online. They are currently serving in Iraq. We talk in code. I know what they are saying, but they can't say it. They know that even if it comes out about their sexuality, they are there to stay. The military will not discharge them, NOW. There are times, when they start trusting me as a friend, they start talking more openly. I give them a stern warning, "Be Careful!". They shut up about it. If they are found out, discharge proceedings will be held against them WHEN THIS WAR ENDS AND THEY ARE NO LONGER NEEDED (you didn't really think the military would forget about it, did you?). What the hell kind of a backwards county would do that?

My question is this. The year is 2008. We live in a "free" country where everyone is supposed to have so-called "equal rights". It's all bull. There can be no equality unless we are ALL equal. This country can not and will not be free until the freedom that the Constitution dictates is actually carried out throughout this land FOR EVERY SINGLE CITIZEN. It's not that hard to do. When are we going to get off our butts and just DO IT?

Until that happens, the United States is no better than any other third-world country that gives no regard to the rights of it's citizens.