Campaign Blog
Gary Nolan's
Campaign Blog
Didn't Cheney Get the Memo?
Apparently, Vice-President Cheney didn't get the memo about Iraq and 9-11. President Bush has publicly stated that there is no evidence indicating that Iraq had anything to do with the 9-11 attacks. Yet Cheney continues to talk as though such a link is an established fact.
Cheney apparently made up his mind that Saddam and Iraq were involved in the 9-11 attacks well before the U.S. invaded Iraq and doesn't want to be confused by the facts. That's a dangerous attitude for someone charged with protecting the security of America, an attitude that makes him unfit to serve as Vice-President.
Another Cabinet Department?
You've got to be kidding. Retired Army General and Presidential candidate Wesley Clark is proposing that the U.S. create yet another Cabinet department. According to an article in yesterday's Washington Post, Clark in his new book, Winning Modern Wars "calls for a major expansion in U.S. foreign assistance programs and establishment of a Department of International Assistance to manage the initiative."
Clark's got it completely backwards. We need to be eliminating foreign aid programs, not expanding them. And, we need to get rid of some cabinet departments as well. The federal government has grown way too big, wields far too much power, and is consuming too much of our national income. Instead of upsizing the cabinet yet again, we need to start downsizing the entire federal government and returning money and power to states, local communities, and individual Americans.
Isn't it Ironic?
A year ago, President Bush was talking about the irrelevance of the United Nations. But now, he's seeking their help in dealing with the mess created by his preemptive war in Iraq.
Getting the U.N. involved isn't the answer. Neither is another U.S. exercise in nation-building. I believe the least-bad option available is to turn control of Iraq over to the Iraqi people as rapidly as we possibly can, and bring our troops home.
Is this a perfect solution? No. Will the Iraqis make mistakes? Of course. But at least the mistakes will be theirs, not ours.
If we believe in liberty and self-government, then we have to start practicing what we preach. Iraq is as good a place to start as any.
pot calling the kettle black!
Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean said in a speech to supporters that next year's election was about protecting American democracy from "a narrow band of right-wing ideologues" who were trampling the U.S. Constitution. He is right, they are. However the Democrats have been doing that too. From "gun control" to "social security" they've whacked the constitution when it suited their needs. If you REALLY want to protect this country and its constitution you've got to vote Libertarian.
Safer in Missouri
The folks in Missouri have regained (sort of) their constitutional right to own and bear arms. Criminals in Missouri have to be more careful now because they don't know which potential victim will be armed. While this is a step in the right direction, forcing gun owners to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon should not be necessary. Criminals will not apply for concealed carry permit. If you are poor and living in a major urban area you probably cannot afford the cost of the required class's and permit. The irony here is that you need self protection more than suburbanites and can afford it less.
For more information regarding the failure of gun-control I would recommend reading "More Guns Less Crime" by Dr. John Lott.
General Clark
Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, entered the presidential race today, he is seeking the Democratic nomination. He's a one trick pony. He thinks Pres. Buch was wrong to go into Iraq. He is correct about that. We should only use the military when there is a threat to national security. But when President Clinton was in office, was he a willing participant in Bosnia and Kosovo. (He was the commander of NATO forces in Kosovo.) hmm..
9/11 and the Patriot Act
On this, the second anniversary of one of the most tragic days in our history, we must all remain committed to the pursuit of those responsible for the attacks on our fellow citizens.
However, we cannot allow President Bush to turn the war on terror into a war on the Bill of Rights. We need not destroy the Constitution in order to provide for a secure nation. His advocacy of the expansion of the Patriot Act is both troubling and dangerous.
As a result of the Patriot Act, Arab and Muslim Americans are LESS likely to report suspicious behavior. The fear that an innocent might be swept away without benefit of legal representation or the right to tell their families what has happened to them will keep them silent.
Let's not make ANY of our citizens "second class citizens" and let's keep the lines of communication open.
87 billion more...
I listened to the President last night and his plea for more money. He said "In Iraq, we are helping the longsuffering people of that country to build a decent and democratic society at the center of the Middle East. Together we are transforming a place of torture chambers and mass graves into a nation of laws and free institutions. This undertaking is difficult and costly--yet worthy of our country, and critical to our security."
While I agree that it must have been a terrible place to live, I didn't hear ANYTHING about "weapons of mass destruction," nor was the threat to our national security ever made clear. The cost of this war is much higher than the dollars it takes from our taxpayers. There is the cost of lives lost in this endeavor and our reputation as a nation. Let us return the country to the Iraqi people and bring home the brave men and women who risk there lives everyday and let's do it ASAP.
Dick Gephart is right – President Bush has been a miserable failure.
The President’s Iraq policy has certainly failed. Saddam continues to elude capture, his alleged weapons of mass destruction are nowhere to be found, and our troops are being picked off one-by-one. The expected price tag for occupying and rebuilding Iraq next year alone: $60 to $70 BILLION DOLLARS, with no end in sight. Let’s face it, Mr. President, we are hip-deep in another foreign quagmire.
Of course, the "solutions" proposed by Gephart and the other Democrats are no better. Their idea is to bring in the United Nations. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
Here’s a thought: since one of the supposed purposes of this escapade was to liberate Iraq, why don’t we LIBERATE IRAQ. Let’s turn things over to the people of Iraq as rapidly as we possibly can and BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. It isn’t our job to dictate how they should govern themselves or how they should rebuild their country. After all, it’s their country, not ours.
If I were sitting in the Oval Office, I guarantee that our troops would be on their way home and the Iraqi people would be in charge of their own destiny. But as long as it’s Bush or any of his Democratic rivals sitting there, I predict we will continue pouring lives and money into Iraq with no end in sight. What an incredible waste.
The size of government
For those of you that still think the Republicans are the "party of small government," there's an enlightening article in today's The Wall Street Journal:
"While the number of official government employees declined slightly after President Bush took office, the Brookings study to be released Friday finds the number of full-time employees working on government contracts and grants has zoomed by more than one million people since 1999, bringing the overall head count to more than 12.1 million as of this past October."
The report "finds that the growth is happening entirely outside traditional civil-service hiring channels. According to Brookings Institution scholar Paul Light: "The Bush administration is overseeing a vast expansion of the largely hidden federal work force of contractors and grantees..."
The cost of this growth in government will be born by not just our most productive citizens but by our children and grandchildren, too. We cannot continue to burden generations to come. We need to make choices that will lessen their burden and enhance the likelihood of their success.
Promising more government services in order to get reelected may be great for the careers of politicians today but the costs will overwhelm our children tomorow. True leadership requires making tough decisions and basing those decisions on what's best for the country, not what will best get incumbent politicians re-elected.
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