I pray that all of you have a blessed New Year. May we never stop thinking and pulling the great ship of society toward a center of liberty, peace, and prosperity.
Dennis
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Read this article
I believe this article by Robert Gates, current and continuing Secretary of Defense, represents why he will continue as Barack Obama's defense secretary for at least a little while. A previous post on this weblog talked about the idea of centrism, and I believe that Gates' article represents one of the most centrist presentations on the current and future military I have read in years.
My concern is that very few people are listening to the very practical and forward thinking ideas Gates presents. Without a balanced approach to how we defend ourselves, we risk losing our way in long wars and short ones in the years to come.
My concern is that very few people are listening to the very practical and forward thinking ideas Gates presents. Without a balanced approach to how we defend ourselves, we risk losing our way in long wars and short ones in the years to come.
There's unrest in the toychest...
...there's trouble with the toys.
I thought this was incredibly cool and strikingly poignant considering they're just little plastic army men. This person has made a lot of these, this is just one of them.
I thought this was incredibly cool and strikingly poignant considering they're just little plastic army men. This person has made a lot of these, this is just one of them.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Reigniting an old fire
Clearly, the issues surrounding wiretapping terrorism suspects and using the FISA court are still not resolved. The Wall Street Journal reports that New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly recently exchanged a series of angry correspondence with US Attorney General Michael Mukasey where he accuses the Department of Justice delays and flawed standards in giving non-federal law enforcement agencies access to the FISA court.
Of course, there are all kinds of things we do not know about these cases, but what I believe we can, at least, discern that Kelly believes there is a credible threat of terrorist related activity in New York City's jurisdiction that neither New York City nor, presumably, the federal government is acting against. It is this very kind of scenerio that led me to be skeptical of the changes made to the FISA laws in its latest amendment, and which lead me to believe the potential continues to exist for terrorists operating in the United States to use our own laws against us in the prosecution of their cause.
I agree that there has to be a balance between the Constitutional concerns of the use of powers like warrantless wiretapping and security, but as the recent events in Mumbai showed everyone, the enemies of freedom are still intent on causing harm through their very effective means of terrorism. If we are not going to actively pursue the ongoing threat by using such means, then what is the answer? Doing nothing cannot be the answer we choose.
Of course, there are all kinds of things we do not know about these cases, but what I believe we can, at least, discern that Kelly believes there is a credible threat of terrorist related activity in New York City's jurisdiction that neither New York City nor, presumably, the federal government is acting against. It is this very kind of scenerio that led me to be skeptical of the changes made to the FISA laws in its latest amendment, and which lead me to believe the potential continues to exist for terrorists operating in the United States to use our own laws against us in the prosecution of their cause.
I agree that there has to be a balance between the Constitutional concerns of the use of powers like warrantless wiretapping and security, but as the recent events in Mumbai showed everyone, the enemies of freedom are still intent on causing harm through their very effective means of terrorism. If we are not going to actively pursue the ongoing threat by using such means, then what is the answer? Doing nothing cannot be the answer we choose.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Follow the globe-trotting box
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2008/the_box/default.stm
The Beeb has sent a cargo/shipping box along its merry way (with a smashing paint job and a GPS) to see the effects of globalization. The load it carried to the first port of call in Shanghai? Whisky.
Tally-ho...
The Beeb has sent a cargo/shipping box along its merry way (with a smashing paint job and a GPS) to see the effects of globalization. The load it carried to the first port of call in Shanghai? Whisky.
Tally-ho...
Friday, November 14, 2008
Who's *not* going to get bailed out?
And that is asked in complete sincerity, after the events of the past few weeks.
What's to stop me from not paying my mortgage or my lines of credit? May as well live high, then jingle-mail the keys and default on the credit. To the abyss with responsibility, morals, and the high road.
What happened to sense (I won't even call it "common"), personal responsibility, and the tenets of the free market - if you can't compete, you go under.
Yeah, I am a little bitter and cranky.
What's to stop me from not paying my mortgage or my lines of credit? May as well live high, then jingle-mail the keys and default on the credit. To the abyss with responsibility, morals, and the high road.
What happened to sense (I won't even call it "common"), personal responsibility, and the tenets of the free market - if you can't compete, you go under.
Yeah, I am a little bitter and cranky.
Soft Money Suit
So, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Republican Party has filed a law suit to finally destroy what's left of the McCain-Feingold laws governing soft-money contributions to political campaign
Didn't the 50-state ground game waged by Mr. Obama and Howard Dean just disprove that thesis? Big donations weren't the key to the Obama electoral college landslide... it was the ground organization that put them over. I'm not saying the man got to the Whitehouse without big donors, but it was the small donors, millions and millions of them making small donations made one at a time, again and again by normal people who put him in Washington atop a wave of populism.
I'm the first to admit that - for better or worse - Barack Obama's fundraising juggernaut changed the face of American politics, especially presidential elections. This still seems like the GOP is fighting the last war rather than learning from the thrashing they just took and applying those lessons in the new arena.
Isn't the Republican party missing the lesson of this election? Do they think that "This Candidate Brought To You By AT&T" is going to trump "This Message Made Possible By 100 Million People Just Like You"?
Or am I the one who is missing something here? What's the angle?
"Mr. Duncan, the RNC chairman, said the soft-money rules are too broad and prevent the party from participating in state-level races in which no federal politicians are running for office. The rules as written would also prevent the party from directly participating in state redistricting, which will begin following the 2010 census, and from lobbying on state issues."
Didn't the 50-state ground game waged by Mr. Obama and Howard Dean just disprove that thesis? Big donations weren't the key to the Obama electoral college landslide... it was the ground organization that put them over. I'm not saying the man got to the Whitehouse without big donors, but it was the small donors, millions and millions of them making small donations made one at a time, again and again by normal people who put him in Washington atop a wave of populism.
I'm the first to admit that - for better or worse - Barack Obama's fundraising juggernaut changed the face of American politics, especially presidential elections. This still seems like the GOP is fighting the last war rather than learning from the thrashing they just took and applying those lessons in the new arena.
Isn't the Republican party missing the lesson of this election? Do they think that "This Candidate Brought To You By AT&T" is going to trump "This Message Made Possible By 100 Million People Just Like You"?
Or am I the one who is missing something here? What's the angle?
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