Random Musings!

5/16/06

War On Terror?
I find myself surprised that I am defending the government. As a Libertarian, I usually tend to support lesser government. However, since 9/11, I have to suspend that thought in many cases. I believe that we are embroiled in a world wide struggle for the hearts and minds of the world. This is a long and costly war. It is not going to go away any time soon.
That being the case, it is necessary to compromise some of the rights I would normally fight for. I cannot be upset that the government monitors the calls from overseas phones to citizens as long as the origin is from suspected terror origins. I am not in the slightest upset that they are running pattern recognition software on telephone record. Recording internal conversations without warrants is a different matter.
I think that biggest problem in this country is the fact that the left does not believe that we are engaged in a war. They seem to think that we are in a crime. Lets send an extradition order to Afghanistan for Ben Laden--that should show him. Seriously, this is a serious problem. When the American left and the press spend all their time shouting that Bush lied or is a fool, it gives comfort to our enemies.
I understand that some may not be willing to part with their "liberties" as they see it. They think since our Constitution protects them normally that it does so during time of war. See Lincoln, Roosevelt, et al. This war will last a long time. I have no doubt that the American public will awaken again, hopefully before another major attack on us. Probably not. It will probably take a Nuke or dirty bomb before they realize that we are at war against radical Islam. Worldwide. It is not a war we can wish away or ignore. These people have told us many times that they want to kill us. All of us. Unless we complete convert from the Western Civilization we have and become 12th century Muslims they will not give up.

Immigration-Illegal style
I hear the House passed a bill to allow Pentagon to protect borders. That is nice. The president will speak tonight. Most pundits seem to think he will order the National Guard to the border to seal it off. I doubt he will put enough teeth in it to satisfy most conservatives.
Update.
I listened to the speech and it was pretty good. The most important thing to do is CLOSE the border. He said send National Guard. Not large numbers but, I think, enough. He said they were not to be used for detention or law enforcement but rather administrative and He probably put that in to satisfy the Posse Comitatus people. No one knows exactly what they will be doing but the word infrastructure comes to mind. This is a good thing. He mentioned technology. That is good.

The only really controversial thing to his base was the pathway to citizenship. A small minority will still see that as an amnesty. If in fact the restrictions he mentioned are followed, it will be an excellent process. As long and the illegals do not get put in front of the legals, no problem. Pay the fine, pay the taxes and get at the end of the line.
The rest of the speech was not so clear. The employers that knowingly hire illegals must pay a serious fine. One that would make them think long and hard about hiring them.
He made an obligatory reference to the "melting pot" and said we need a guest worker program. Maybe, but I have seen some of the results of guest worker programs on the nightly news in France and the rest of Europe. That program has it’s own problems. If we have a formal guest worker program, it needs to be strictly temporary and enforceable. Probably the best idea I have heard on that idea is that the program needs to be run from inside Mexico.
The speech is a good start. Overnight polls show widespread acceptance. It is, however only a starting point. The National Guard issue needs to be fleshed out and the other points require details and study. The devil is always in the details.
Tony Snow started Monday.
I haven’t heard much on Tony Snow but I hope it is the start of a new offensive for the White House to fight back against the Old Line Media. I have seen that he has sent memos to some of the media indicating that he will not be a pushover. He has sent emails to CBS, NY Times and The USA Today indicating that he understands what I see as liberal bias in their reporting. I hope he pushes on.

General Michael Hayden's nomination
I have heard the complaint the General Hayden should not be chief of the CIA because he is military. Well, I am not sure why that would disqualify someone. He would be under civilian control twice. The military in this country understand the concept of civilian control. That is why the president is also the Commander In Chief. He runs the military. These positions in the cabinet are to be filled at the pleasure of the president and the consent of the Senate. There is no requirement about the military status of the designee. He seems to be qualified in many ways and I think that unless there is a specific reason to reject him he should be accepted.


Is President Bush disenchanted?
It has been a long time since the I have seen any lively responses from the White House. It begins to seem that the president is committed to the concept of "let’s just all get along". I haven’t seen anyone really defending the president or his policies since the Harriet Miers nomination. I am afraid that the President is overly consumed with the Iraq situation. He has been pounded so long and so hard by so many people that I am afraid he is gun shy. This speech last night sounded good but we need to see if there is a follow up of any type. It is truly about time that he attacks back against the vicious and sometimes slanderous charges placed against him. That he lied about WMD has been said so many times without rebuttal that the general public seems to completely believe it.

That this war was mishandled is a charge that is possibly true but certainly not without precedent in history. Find me a properly handled war that took more than an month to prosecute. It hasn't happened. Wars are by nature impossible to manage without mistakes and usually fatal mistakes.
Should we think that the horrible Clinton administration was better than the Bush administration? No. But I will admit that Clinton had a much better spin machine than Bush. Is our country better off with spinning or doing what is right even if it causes criticism? NO. We must stay the course and do what we have determined it the right thing. If the Democrats take the fall elections, all of the good done in the last 6 years will be undone. There will be constant investigations and threats of impeachment. If they win the presidency in 2008, the tax breaks will end and many of the progress in the War On Terror will be reversed. We need to be strong and generate large turnout in the elections. Although a lot of conservatives say that there is no difference in the parties now, they should remember what could happen.

He may be disenchanted but hopefully he can rebound and spread the good aroung!