Chrenkoff is the most famous of our blogging group. With reason. His “Good News” series for both Afghanistan and Iraq have provided information to us all that is seldom heard or read. He collects it all and presents it in a coherent fashion.
He has much this time about the election, and from the perspective of someone who has lived under a tyranical regime. Well worth the time.
As in all national elections, the issue of government spending and taxes comes to the fore. They are false issues. They obscure the real one: What is the true role of the federal government?
I read about Tom Dashle’s reelection bid, and how one activist plans to vote for Bush and Dashle, because Dashle brought the money home. All else was secondary. But the role of a legislator was never intended to be bringing money home in the form of pork. Their role was defined as being representative voices in Congress. The concept was that on all issues before Congress, the congressmen and senators would represent their constituents’ opinions.
The federal government, personified by Congress, has become a distribution center for money. This has become the focus in elections.
What we should really be talking about is how the federal government does the things it is chartered to do by the Constitution. I want to be clear that the Constitution applies only to the federal government, not state and local. The whole point of its ratification was to plainly state what powers and authority it has. All other authority was to reside in the various states.
We talk about conservative and liberal in code to discuss spending and taxing habits. Rather, we should be talking about involvement of the government in our personal affairs. How much involvement in your own life do you want the government to have? It has become clear that neither major party is interested in scaling back the intrusion, but Democrats seem to me to be far more interested in expanding government action in our lives.
There is nothing in the Constitution to even hint at a need for Housing and Urban Development or Education. Health Care? you must be kidding. Environmental issues? States and local governments are more knowlegeable.
The federal government was established to provide for defense and negotiate treaties that would allow for commerce with other nations. It was to eliminate any tariffs between states so as to promote commerce. Beyond those things, it has little authority.
We need to focus on that. And we need to get the major political parties to focus on that. We need to quit asking our representatives to give us something, and demand that they get the government out of our lives. We, as voters and citizens, need to rein in our Congress, not ask for more intrusion. It is oxymoronic for “progressives” to decry the losses in freedom because of the Patriot Act, yet insist on further government involvement through health care and Social Security.
Any government involvement in your life is a loss of freedom.
This is my grandson. He is 21 months old.
Look at those legs. He will be a linebacker and catcher just like his dad. I think he’ll probably play for the Cowboys and Astros, and in his spare time earn a couple of Pulitzer and Nobel prizes.
But I’m just a grandpa. What do I know?
Alan Nelson was invited to speak to the AP Managing Editors and educated them to the potential for the use of blogs as associates in reporting and commenting on news. He really covered everything quite well, and I hope they paid attention and take his suggestions to heart.
What really had an impact on my thoughts regarding newspapers and television news was the opportunity for local outlets if they grasp the significance. No longer do they need to “waste space” in international covering issues.
Local newspapers, in particular, waste far too much front-page space on national and international topics. Most local newspapers rely on feeds from a news agency like AP and do nothing but cut and paste the story. That information is readily available, and already accessed by folks who care, through such outlets as national news shows, both network and cable, or on the internet. The local television stations also collect and regurgitate stories. A lot less time could be spent on these, or expansion of a story with a local tie-in.
The changes in information access over the last decade are still alien to many in the local news business. Sites like Command Post can provide them access to all the national and international news they need.
So where is the value for the newsroom of the future?
It might be in doing little to no national or international coverage
Kofi Annan is still mad that his sugar daddy is gone.
Annan also dismissed any suggestion that France, Russia and China had been prepared to ease sanctions on Saddam Hussein
Think about this soldier next time you complain about that task.
Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq, living in a big sand box. He asked his wife to send him dirt, fertilizer and some grass seeds so he can have the sweet aroma and feel the grass grow beneath his feet.
If you notice, he is even cutting the grass with a pair of a scissors. Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don’t stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Please say a prayer for our soldiers that give (and give up) so unselfishly for us.
Somewhere on the internet yesterday a pundit wondered how President Kerry would be able to continue the WoT considering how military folks view him. He intends to increase the size of the Army by two divisions, but the writer didn’t see that as within the realm of possiblility.
It is. What it would mean, though, is understrength divisions–divisions on paper. Or else he would have to activate the draft.
I didn’t see any need for a draft at all until I read that. I can see the point now, though. In 1992, we began a draw-down of the military. It was a benefit of the Peace Dividend–the implosion of the Warsaw Pact. Bush 41 and his Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, had a plan for demobilizing many units to better reflect what would be needed in the future, and putting the men and money where they could be used most effectively.
Then Bush lost to Clinton. The plan pretty much fell apart, not because of any change in it by Clinton, but because many military professionals decided the time had come to retire or separate. The personnel strength dropped dramatically. Clinton often stated that the government had shrunk under his leadership, yet every government department except DoD grew. The net decrease was the result of reductions in the military.
People in the military apparently feel the same today about John Kerry as we did about Bill Clinton. We didn’t particularly dislike Clinton, but he often spoke of his disdain for anyone in uniform, and folks didn’t want to work for a boss like that. Kerry’s status with the military is similar.
If elected, President Kerry will potentially drive many experienced people out simply by being their Commander-in-Chief. We could see, once again, an exodus. It would make it quite difficult for the Army to add two divisions.
And maybe that’s what Kerry already understands. Perhaps his harping on a draft at this time is preemptive. If he does need to bring it back, he can always blame Dubya for leaving him with an incomplete military.
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