My Opinions, per requests

Since leaving this site over two months ago, I have been routinely emailed by people merely asking for my thoughts about current events, history and politics in general. I apologize to those who I did not always get back to, but the reason why I had to take a break from blogging was because I was too busy with work; hence also too busy to answer my emails. A lot of my emails were from people who rarely left comments on the site and people that I didn’t even know read, but people who wanted some insight on some issues facing the day.

Rather than writing out emails, I thought I would use some space here and try to answer (with my own opinion) some of the questions presented in the emails. I probably won’t hit every question because I’m not going to answer personal questions- at least not on the site. But I will try the best I can.

Samuel Alito

He will be confirmed. He doesn’t need to be, but unless something unusual happens he will be confirmed. I oppose Alito for two reasons. One is because George Bush picked Harriet Miers to be the next Justice and said that Miers was the best and number one choice for the job. If Alito is second to Miers, I don’t want him. I believe by selecting Miers, George Bush “forfeited his right to be trusted as a custodian of the Constitution.”

If Miers is the best person for the job, then I don’t want to see who comes after her, and in this case it’s Alito and by Bush’s own incompetence I oppose Alito. I’m also amazed that the Dems never did realize that the only way to stop the Alito nomination was to keep the debate about Miers. Simple things confuse me sometimes.

My second reason for opposing Alito is because of Roe v. Wade. I think it should be left alone. I am personally opposed to abortion, mind you; but I think Roe should be left alone because I know not everyone believes the way that I do and often times circumstances dictate more than someone else's opinion who has never walked a step in your shoes.

Iraq

It’s time to come home. It appears that a Shia Muslim faction is the majority of government and that a semi-strict Islamic state is on its way. The much-touted December elections are over and January ’06 has been one of the deadliest months for American troops since the war began. The first Gulf War lasted 100 days. It proves what American long-term planning, military strategy with an exit plan and competent government can do. How erroneous it is to forget history, recent history at that. Our men and women deserve better. It’s time to come home.

Bush and Domestic Spying

I always love the neocon argument that Bush spying on Americans is okay and routine for presidents. That what Bush is doing is protected by past precedents set by other great wartime presidents such as Lincoln, Wilson and FDR. There is one major flaw with that argument: we are not at war, not according to the Constitution at least. And with Lincoln, oh wait I’m not even going to try and argue against comparisons between Bush and Lincoln. Trust me, Bush is no Lincoln.

I will say this: right after 9/11 President Bush had to do whatever necessary to keep the country safe. After his stint of reading children’s books while the country was under attack, Bush had to man-up and protect us. People flying airplanes into our buildings was enough reasonable cause for Bush to do what he did. I think there was a window there where Bush had to do some major maneuvering in order to protect the Constitution even if that meant sometimes ignoring it. Depending on the circumstances that window may be brief or long and with Bush’s circumstances it probably ended when he decided to invade a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. And if not then, then the window closed for good when he nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. It’s all over but the crying.

The Republican Scandals

Abramoff is a Republican scandal plain and simple. Not one single Democrat took money from Jack Abramoff. This is only the beginning of this one. Abramoff is a registered Republican and a registered Republican lobbyist. With the indictments of Congressman Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby and Congressman Duke Cunningham (all Republican) and the federal investigations of Senator Ney, Speaker Hastert and Senator Conrad Burns (all Republican) for accepting bribes from Abramoff, and Senator Frist (Republican) for insider trading, and many others that I’m forgetting, I don’t see how this is anything but a culture of corruption. It’s time for all of them to go home too.

With that said, I must also say that I hate politics like this. I hate that people think the only way to gain power is by the indictment of someone from the opposition party. Whatever happened to voting people out of office? Why does it take huge scandals to remove someone from an office that was never meant to be for full-time employment? People we can blame the politicians all day, but they will never change themselves, it’s the nature of the game. We are the government, they work for us. We are the people, and all the blame and shame is surely our own.

2008 Presidential Election

I always get a lot of people asking for my thoughts about who the next president will be. And of course they always want to know how I feel about Hillary. I’m going to make my predictions for ’08 and we’ll see how it all adds up later. I see a return of Al Gore. Call me crazy, but I see Gore as the Democratic nominee in ’08. Though if Hillary decides to run it will be tough. I think if Hillary wants to be the nominee she will be it. Party primaries are always about favors and the Clintons are owed more favors than anyone. If Hillary decides to run, I think her and Gore better do some talking. If it’s Hillary, the only way she will win the general is if the Republican nominee is Jeb Bush. She would mop the floor with that guy. Other than that, I’m sticking with Gore. And yes, if Hillary is the nominee I will vote for her. I’m a Democrat, what can I say. I’ll vote my Party.

Opening This Blog Back Up

Soon. Maybe.

Remember these are my opinions here. People asked and I tried to accommodate.