President Obama - Afro-American or Euro-American?

First Congressman Wilson of South Carolina called President Obama a liar regarding medical assistance for illegal aliens. The truth is, the congressman is correct. What hospital emergency room is going to kick someone out of the ER if they are dying? No one is going to be asking for citizenship papers, although they will be looking and hoping for health insurance card. If the person is without, they will still get treated and we will foot the bill, just as we do now.

The remark was inappropriate and the congressman apologised.

Suddenly, the congressman being from South Carolina, we are hearing the remark may be racist. After all, President Obama is the first Afro-American president.

Is that true? What denotes an Afro-American? President Obama is also an Euro-American. So, we can say he is just another in a long line of Euro-American presidents. Or we can do the sensible thing. Drop the Afro and the Euro and say President Obama is an American president.

It is had too believe that after all of these centuries we are still so grounded in our past,that rather than wanting to move into the future we continue with the fears and hatreds of the past. Racism is alive only because there are those who are afraid of something different than themselves. Rather than embracing our differences and turning America into a true unified melting pot, all we want to do is harp on our differences.

Let's strive to create a national identity not based on race, religion or ethnic background but rather based on a common desire to create a land of peace, opportunity and justice for all.

Idealistic, yes, but isn't that the goal our fore fathers had for this land, and isn't that the goal we should continue to strive for?

Let's judge one another by our words, deeds and hearts, not by how we look and pray.

Its Common Sense!

New Leadership for Japan

The Liberal Democrats, the conservative and pro-business party that has controlled Japanese politics since 1955 finally lost to the Democrats. I guess the Democrats are the more more liberal party.


The leader of the Democrats will be forming a new government in the next month and plans to improve relations with other Asian countries, especially China. He has also stated that he wants to maintain the relationship his country currently enjoys with the USA.


With the coming of a new government, and hopefully new mind set to Japan, I think it is time for the USA government to begin renegotiating trade agreements that put the USA and Japan more on equal footing as far as imports and exports goes.


For way too long I believe that the USA has been far to generous to the Asian manufacturing giants of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Its time for the USA to be on an equal footing.


Maybe more intense trade will allow less outsourcing and bring labor and real competition to the market place. American products need to be upgraded to compete equally with products coming out of Asia.


Since I doubt we will ever get a fair trade agreement with China, Japan is the place to start.


Its Common Sense!

Replacement for Senator Edward Kennedy

With the death of Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, Massachusetts finds itself with one senator in Washington. The state law is that an election will be held 120 to 165 days after the seat is vacated so the citizens of Massachusetts can choose their new senator.


Prior to his death, Senator Kennedy and his associates were trying to get the law changed. What he wanted was the governor to have the ability to appoint a short term replacement to the senate seat until the special election, thus insuring Massachusetts of total representation.


Sounds good and fair. Of course there are some key votes coming up, especially on Health Care Reform, one of Kennedy's key causes for years. I imagine, though I do not know for a fact, that the Senator or one of his associates, provided the governor with a short list of names of those he felt were "qualified" to replace him for the short haul.

Yesterday many of the TV pundits offered the view that the Massachusetts legislative will probably vote to amend the state law and the appointment of an interim senator will be allowed.


Since Kennedy was in office 47 years, and Kerry has a good number of years as well, I guess the Democratic machine of Massachusetts never foresaw this day coming.


The question is, should state law be changed just because the leader of a political dynasty wants it done? Before the Massachusetts legislature amends and /or changes state law, should a referendum be sent to the people of Massachusetts so that they can decide the procedure they want to follow, rather than leave it in the hands of the politicians in Boston who owe favors to various special interest groups?


I think the voters of Massachusetts need to be part of the process of changing this law.


What's your opinion?


Elected officials work for the the people, not vice-versa.


Its Common Sense

Afghanistan Election Voter Fraud

We may not know the results of the election in Afghanistan for months to come due to the fact that over 500 counts of voter fraud of one form or another have been reported. All of these reports are going to be investigated and only after that will the results be aired.

On the one hand it is sad that there are that many reports of fraud, but maybe that is just one of the prices a new growing democracy has to face. After all, here in the USA we all know the stories of Boss Tweed in New York and the Daily Machine in Chicago. We also know from our own history how some voters were kept away from the polls, and that in parts of our country there were laws to insure that only the "right" people were able to vote.

What I like about the situation in Afghanistan is that with all of the yelling of corruption and fraud, an investigation is taking place. How intense and thorough the investigation is we will have to wait and see, but at least an effort is being different.

That's a lot different than the recent "democratic" election in Iran where millions of ballots were counted in hours, and protests and shouts of fraud were met with violence.

Afghanistan has a long way to go. What we in the west need to remember is that they need to develop the democracy that is best for them, which is not necessarily what was best for us.

My hope is that our government will increase the amount of educational and reconstruction aide, so that our military commitment decreases as the Afghan people take charge of their lives and future.

Its Common Sense!!

World Wide Unrest - Is There A Conspiracy?

It appears that unrest is spread across the globe. The Uighurs, an ethnic minority in the Xingjiang Province of western China and the majority Han Chinese are clashing over jobs and land in this mineral rich area. Chinese troops have been sent in to put down what appears to be a rebellion, which the Chinese government states was incited by a Uighur woman living in the United States using the Internet to spread rebellion.

As they have been doing in Tibet, the Chinese government is responding with a heavy hand. No doubt human rights violations are ocurring, but is the government of the USA protesting? Where is Hillary Clinton to make a statement?

In Iran it now appears that there is dissension in the ruling clerical body, with some of the imams coming forward and disagreeing with the Supreme Leader's decision on the recent election. Could these clerics be planning to join with the dissidents? Is civil war in Iran's near future?

Honduras also looks like it could be heading for a civil war. After the ousted president was unable to land his plane yesterday, rioters took to the streets. It is evident that the working class of this Central American country is not happy with the military take over and that they could get support from other Latin American countries, most notably Venezuela, to stage a revolt of their own.

And finally, there is North Korea shooting off missiles. Are they really crazy? What is their goal?

I know I left out other hot spots, the Balkans, the Sudan, Somalia, Thailand, etc, unrest appears to be everywhere, and one needs to ask, what is going on?

Is this just normal life, or are there forces behind the scenes manipulating things for their own profit and power? Is there a conspiracy out there somewhere? A multi-national conglomerate out for world power?

I know, you're thinking I've read too many Robert Ludlum books and seen too many shows like "Prison Break". Maybe you're right.

On the other hand, maybe I'm right. More than twenty years ago I read a book by Taylor Caldwell entitled "Captains & Kings", about international financiers manipulating world occurrences for their own benefit. Maybe the same is happening now.

Just because someone is paranoid, doesn't mean there aren't conspiracies.
Who really has the power?

Its something to consider carefully.

Independence Day July 4, 1776

Today we celebrate an event that happened 273 years ago in the city of Philadelphia in the then English colony of Pennsylvania. A group of men, representing voting men from their colonies, met and threw down a challenge to the British Empire. Meet our demands or we will fight for our independence.


History records many such revolutions, some successful, some failures. Today, as we celebrate the action that set the American colonies on a course of action that would lead to the creation of what would become a world leader nation, I think we need to reflect on what those men hoped to achieve, and see if our country has maintained those goals.


We all know that our country still needs to improve in areas of equal rights, for a variety of minority groups - ethnic, race, gender, & sexual persuasion.


We still struggle with trying to interpret just what is meant by the Constitution. I believe that our fore fathers intended the Constitution to be a guide only, after all they saw the world changing in their time, and the majority were intelligent enough to know that change would continue.


So, as we toast those brave men, and the women who stood behind and supported them, let us reflect on how we as individuals try and live according to the goals laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and what we can do to improve those goals and help bring about true democracy, equality and freedom in this land we love.

Its Common sense!

Iran _ Crack down continues

Iran's leadership continues to take a hard line. According to reports the Iranian government arrested nine Iranians working for the British embassy and are going to take them to trial as being part of a conspiracy to to bring down the current government by supporting the dissidents. In addition, it appears the message they want to get out is that both Britain and the USA played major roles in trying to to disrupt the "unity" of their Islamic Republic.

One of the more interesting quotes to come out of this is the following. Ayatollah Jannati, one of the Supreme Leader's top advisers remind Iranians that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, stated "anyone disrupts unity has not only committed a sin but also has committed treason against the Islamic Republic and the system."

Isn't that a fascinating statement? Who defines "unity"? Evidently the party in power. If disrupting "unity" is a sin & treason, then all good citizens would have to act as sheep do whatever their leaders, "elected" or not, tell them to do.

How is that democracy? Where is freedom of speech? How arrogant are these clerics that they think they know what is best in every area?

Centuries ago, the leaders of England thought they knew what was best for their colonies world wide, and thirteen of those colonies joined together, composed, signed and sent the document who's signing we celebrate in the United States tomorrow.

In a democracy, freedom of speech is paramount. You follow the law, but you have the right to try and change any laws you feel are unjust through protest.

The leaders of Iran need to take in a world vision of history and not just their little place. Too many people now can access to the world view, for the majority the "dark ages" are over.

Maybe if the Iranian leadership opens up an honest dialogue with the dissidents, they will find areas of compromise, satisfactory to all, and the chance for Iran to emerge as a true leader of Islamic Reform, rather than Islamic Isolationism.

Its Common Sense!

Cuba

President Obama, after meeting with Mexico's president to discuss many topics, principally how to deal with the drug war on our common border, is off to Trinidad for a meeting of the countries of the Americas. One hot topic is the USA relationship with Cuba. The vast majority of countries feel it is time to end the embargo and for the USA to open normal trade relations with Cuba.

Now I know, Cuba is a communist country, ruled by a dictator and has a poor record on human rights. Thank God we do not have trade relationships with other countries who fall into that category. (Forget about China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Not to mention those that aren't communist but a definitely are run by dictators and have no human rights.)

I think the time has come for the USA to let Cuba back into the fold. After all, some of the most successful business people in southern Florida are Cuban. Let them head home and maybe they can help stimulate the economies of both countries. If we open relations with Cuba, the Castro boys will be forced, slowly but surely, to relinquish power, just like it happened in all of the Iron Curtain countries.

The time has come to forget about being mad the CIA misjudged that Castro would oust Batista, the nose bleed of the Bay of Pigs and the bad mouthing Fidel has given us for decades. Let's grow up and move forward. For our economy to revive, we need good trading relationships with our Americas neighbors. Opening up trade and travel with Cuba is an enormous good well gesture that will cost us very little in the long run.

Its Common Sense!

New Afghanistan Policy

Yesterday the Obama Administration stated its new policy regarding the "war" in Afghanistan. No longer is there talk of the creation of a democracy, fighting the Taliban or bringing any kind of peace among the warring factions in the country.

Rather, or at least my interpretation of what President Obama stated, is that the US objective now is solely to eradicate Al-Qaeda where ever they are. The war is focused solely on this terrorist organization and perhaps - although I do not want to make assumptions - any groups who support Al-Qaeda.

I thought this was the original plan back when Bush asked the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan to turn over bin Laden and they did not cooperate. I always thought that the war against terrorism should be focused on the terrorist, not the countries where the terrorist dwell.

We all know the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism. That was Bush getting even with Saddam Hussein for putting out a hit order on his father. (And of course oil control).

Afghanistan was always different. Unfortunately the US policy operated under the misconceived notion that if the government was controlled everything else would fall into place.

As many experts have pointed out multi-tribal societies such as Afghanistan function totally different than the USA. Different history, different traditions, different mentalities. Unfortunately the USA leadership usually fails to study the enemy, rather putting them in the same bucket as the USA, which generally leads to tragedy. (Viet Nam, Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan just to name a few.)

If the Obama Administration is serious on focusing solely on taking out bin Laden and Al-Qaeda I wish them good hunting. I think they need to make the necessary diplomatic actions with Afghanistan and Pakistan to receive permission for their hunt, but at the same time stating the USA will stay out of the internal workings of these countries.

I know the reality is that US & NATO forces operating in any country are seen as invaders. However, hopefully if they show their sole objective is the eradication of Al-Qaeda, the Afghans and Pakistanis will allow them to operate and even assist, so they can get the foreigners out of their countries and things can go back to how it was before the USA showed up.

There is no ideal solution. At the same time, I believe that the USA and other nations should provide funds to Afghanistan to rebuild and educate the country so that future decisions in development will be made on learning rather than who has the better armament.

Maybe with cooperation among all parties working to eliminate terror and bringing peace and prosperity to the people things will take a positive turn.

I know its Common Sense, but will anyone actually see it that way?