Guess this is going to be a pretty mundane post since I don't have much to contribute, but it looks like Sen. Ben Nelson is going to support the latest legislation on healthcare after a few rewordings regarding abortion. In my own humble opinion i don't like this current legislation that much because it does nothing to address the need for tort reform which would bring down insurace costs that doctors have to pay and thus reduce cost for the care that they provide. While i think we can be happy that the public option was defeated i wonder how many years it'll be before the government again tries to insert this option through legislation under the guise of trying to help those who have difficulty affording private healthcare coverage.
That along with many more questions makes this a far from perfect legislation and one that i fear will do more harm than good.
-Zach
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Book Review: Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue"
I just finished reading Sarah's book and thought I'd do a quick review for those that maybe interested. Overall I thought it was a very pleasant read that lets people see Sarah in her own words talk about her accomplishments in government, her beliefs on the role of government, and the current challenges that face this country and where we should be going from here.
The book starts out with Sarah as an infant in her mothers arms as her father moved the family from Idaho to Alaska. From there she spends some time talking about growing up in different small alaskan towns before the family settled down in Wasilla. It would seem that in growing up Sarah was a bit of a tomboy who would go out with her father to hunt before school on occasion, and who enjoyed taking part in competitive sports such as running and basketball. The overall theme of this part was just to paint Alaska as a state that is a picture of the need to be self reliant. Being so isolated they don't have very many large grocery stores to call home so much of what they eat comes from what they hunt, fish, or grow themselves.
Forward past that and her college years and she discusses settling down with Todd Palin and starting a family in the late 80's. After Bristol was born she quickly became pregnant again to which her and Todd became excited and hoped for a son. They had went so far to already pick out a name and start planning for his arrival, only for Sarah to have a miscarriage. This was a very surprising part of the book for me not only because i was unaware of the miscarriage, but her reaction to it really seemed so overwhelming. It was the loss of a life that they had come to treat as though it were already there. Later in the book she would relate how she found out at a Governor's conference in New Orleans that she was pregnant with Trig. She found out initially that she was pregnant with a at home test and admits to a fleeting thought of being able to "take care of it" without anyone knowing since she was in New Orleans. At this point she again affirms her stance on abortion as pro-choice as she says this causes her again to think about how we as a society should place more value on life than on perceived "problems" they may cause.
Getting back to government, she talks a bit about her days on the Wasilla city council only to mention that it opened her eyes to the fact that many in charge did not use their positions of public trust as they should. Instead they often sat back, collected a paycheck without doing much for the public, or worse, were corrupt. It was in the spirit of trying to change that that she ran for and was elected mayor. During that time she re prioritized the city budget and was able to reduce property taxes and quickly became one of the more popular mayor's in the state. Later she would be offered a chairmanship in the state oil regulating committee which she accepted. Again she was faced with mounting corruption as she reported possible ethic violations to than Gov. Murkowski, only to have them dismissed or swept under the rug. Faced with little other choice she resigned her position and soon after the guilty parties were cleaned out of elected office in a massive FBI investigation. From here she would eventually be elected Governor on a platform of smarter government spending.
When she got into office she started renegotiating leases on oil rich land held by large oil companies which had so far refused to develop. After some tough negotiating she got these large oil companies to concede and start drilling in these spots, producing more jobs in the state and upping the domestic production of oil for our country. Even more impressive was the work on a project called AGIA, or the Transalaska pipeline that when completed will provide us in the Continental states with a large direct source of energy. This pipeline had been talked about for decades, but ineffectual governors did nothing about it until Sarah got into office and the plans for the pipeline became a reality.
Fiscally she is conservative and as governor she took pride in being able to cut out 85% of pork from the original budget first submitted to her. Over and over again she mentions the importance of letting individuals keep more of what they earn and about government only focusing on items that are necessary such as the maintenance or roads, hospitals, and education. Keep government's roles simple and allow people to keep their individual freedoms and they will flourish.
All in all it was a very good read IMO. Conservative readers will enjoy getting to hear about her accomplishments and her vision of proper government. Liberals may appreciate her open style of leadership where she did govern with an open door for all elected officials to discuss state issues with her. That's all for now.
-Zach
The book starts out with Sarah as an infant in her mothers arms as her father moved the family from Idaho to Alaska. From there she spends some time talking about growing up in different small alaskan towns before the family settled down in Wasilla. It would seem that in growing up Sarah was a bit of a tomboy who would go out with her father to hunt before school on occasion, and who enjoyed taking part in competitive sports such as running and basketball. The overall theme of this part was just to paint Alaska as a state that is a picture of the need to be self reliant. Being so isolated they don't have very many large grocery stores to call home so much of what they eat comes from what they hunt, fish, or grow themselves.
Forward past that and her college years and she discusses settling down with Todd Palin and starting a family in the late 80's. After Bristol was born she quickly became pregnant again to which her and Todd became excited and hoped for a son. They had went so far to already pick out a name and start planning for his arrival, only for Sarah to have a miscarriage. This was a very surprising part of the book for me not only because i was unaware of the miscarriage, but her reaction to it really seemed so overwhelming. It was the loss of a life that they had come to treat as though it were already there. Later in the book she would relate how she found out at a Governor's conference in New Orleans that she was pregnant with Trig. She found out initially that she was pregnant with a at home test and admits to a fleeting thought of being able to "take care of it" without anyone knowing since she was in New Orleans. At this point she again affirms her stance on abortion as pro-choice as she says this causes her again to think about how we as a society should place more value on life than on perceived "problems" they may cause.
Getting back to government, she talks a bit about her days on the Wasilla city council only to mention that it opened her eyes to the fact that many in charge did not use their positions of public trust as they should. Instead they often sat back, collected a paycheck without doing much for the public, or worse, were corrupt. It was in the spirit of trying to change that that she ran for and was elected mayor. During that time she re prioritized the city budget and was able to reduce property taxes and quickly became one of the more popular mayor's in the state. Later she would be offered a chairmanship in the state oil regulating committee which she accepted. Again she was faced with mounting corruption as she reported possible ethic violations to than Gov. Murkowski, only to have them dismissed or swept under the rug. Faced with little other choice she resigned her position and soon after the guilty parties were cleaned out of elected office in a massive FBI investigation. From here she would eventually be elected Governor on a platform of smarter government spending.
When she got into office she started renegotiating leases on oil rich land held by large oil companies which had so far refused to develop. After some tough negotiating she got these large oil companies to concede and start drilling in these spots, producing more jobs in the state and upping the domestic production of oil for our country. Even more impressive was the work on a project called AGIA, or the Transalaska pipeline that when completed will provide us in the Continental states with a large direct source of energy. This pipeline had been talked about for decades, but ineffectual governors did nothing about it until Sarah got into office and the plans for the pipeline became a reality.
Fiscally she is conservative and as governor she took pride in being able to cut out 85% of pork from the original budget first submitted to her. Over and over again she mentions the importance of letting individuals keep more of what they earn and about government only focusing on items that are necessary such as the maintenance or roads, hospitals, and education. Keep government's roles simple and allow people to keep their individual freedoms and they will flourish.
All in all it was a very good read IMO. Conservative readers will enjoy getting to hear about her accomplishments and her vision of proper government. Liberals may appreciate her open style of leadership where she did govern with an open door for all elected officials to discuss state issues with her. That's all for now.
-Zach
Thursday, December 3, 2009
A short review of the President's West Point Address
Ah back to the world of bloggin. I was hoping to keep this a weekly thing with myself just either reviewing something significant that happened in politics or posting about what i considered a significant news report for that week. Alas i missed my last Saturday posting in now must post on a Thursday to appease the Gods o bloggin. There, now that i have that ramble out of the way lets talk about President Obama's speech this past Tuesday.
For the past few months since General Stanley McCrystal went public with his request to the white house for additional troops there has been the consistent speculation over what the white house would do. It was assumed that some sort of troop increase would be approved by Obama as he had labeled Afghanistan "the forgotten" or "the neglected" war during his campaign a year ago and could hardly be seen dithering in the face of a clear and concise request from a general he appointed to fight this war. The trouble politically for Obama though was that he was also propelled to the Democratic nomination last year because of his stance on the Iraq war which he used in most circles to paint himself as a sensible leader who understood the folly of the war before most other politicians did. In the anti-war circle, they saw him as a man that perhaps would end the US involvement in both wars. As Obama took his time making his decision it seemed clear to me that the politics of the decision were clearly becoming a big consideration for Obama as I have a hard time believing that a military decision would have taken as long.
Prior to the speech when I was one of the ones vocal with my concern over the time being taken to make a decision I stated to some that when the decision was made I did not want to see a speech of half measures. A speech where Obama sought a solution that most would support instead of the one that gave our country the best chance for success. I wanted to hear that he was making this decision because he believed that it was one that gave our country the best chance for success in this war and I wanted to look and see in his eyes that he was in this war, that he was determined to win it and that defeat would not be an acceptable option.
So on Tuesday I sat down with my steak dinner and beer and listened as the President spoke. He first addressed the time taken to make the decision and stated that the earliest deployments brought to him would have sent additional troops no earlier than January 2010, so there was no delay in the time he took. Okay, I can accept that. He than went on to state that he would send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, 10,000 short of McCrystal's request. He said the first of these troops would be sent in January 2010 and that they, along with anticipated additional troops from NATO countries would accelerate training for Afghan troops and the police so that we could begin transferring the fighting responsibility to the Afghans by mid 2011. Alright a few problems here. First off I still haven't seen how exactly these extra troops are to be used. As far as I've been able to tell Gen. McCrystal hopes to use them as additional security to secure large population centers across the country while continuing the current planned pull outs from remote locations across the countryside. I don't like this plan as it cedes the territory to the Taliban for almost complete control on the ground where they may traverse, plan, and carry out attacks on the city. This will limit our ability to respond to the attacks and as they even occur will lower the moral of our troops and cause the Afghan citizen to doubt our commitment and their support for their government. This quite literally makes me think we are going to make the same mistake the British made in their failed attempt at occupying Afghanistan when their lead general summed it up nicely stating that their control of the countryside extended to the range of their cannon and no further. We need to project strength throughout the country and if we are to pull back their needs to be an alternate strategy for integrating these small communities into the country. You cannot hope to win by abandoning to the Taliban and hoping they'll just turn against them on their own.
Secondly, why the time table? Wars are fought in stages and as such we should not place a time table on our troop commitment until we are past the stage of securing the country to the point of transferring power. By announcing the time table for withdraw before a single additional troop is sent we let AQ and the taliban know that they can mark their calenders and sit us out. Heck, the President even tried to mention Iraq while trying to sell this on Tuesday. He mentioned that we are doing similar things there and that we should be able to turn it over to the Afghans as well. Of course he neglects to mention that we had a surge first, one he didn't support as Senator, and that once it was clear the surge worked, he still has never acknowledged it worked, the Bush administration negotiated the SOFA agreement with Iraq that set the current timetable for our eventual withdrawal of combat troops. Point being it was done in stages. You pull out once you have secured victory. You don't hope for victory and say when you're going to pull out at the same time.
All in all the speech did have it's good moments. Obama is a very good speaker and I believed him as he spoke about this war as one that cannot be abandoned and one that the US along with our NATO allies will continue to fight for as long as it takes. Those are very important things i needed to hear from him, but his actions have me questioning his ability to lead in this war. In the end I am left with the familiar feeling of hoping that I am wrong and that this decision and McCrystal's handling turn out as intended and the war turns around for this country.
-Zach
For the past few months since General Stanley McCrystal went public with his request to the white house for additional troops there has been the consistent speculation over what the white house would do. It was assumed that some sort of troop increase would be approved by Obama as he had labeled Afghanistan "the forgotten" or "the neglected" war during his campaign a year ago and could hardly be seen dithering in the face of a clear and concise request from a general he appointed to fight this war. The trouble politically for Obama though was that he was also propelled to the Democratic nomination last year because of his stance on the Iraq war which he used in most circles to paint himself as a sensible leader who understood the folly of the war before most other politicians did. In the anti-war circle, they saw him as a man that perhaps would end the US involvement in both wars. As Obama took his time making his decision it seemed clear to me that the politics of the decision were clearly becoming a big consideration for Obama as I have a hard time believing that a military decision would have taken as long.
Prior to the speech when I was one of the ones vocal with my concern over the time being taken to make a decision I stated to some that when the decision was made I did not want to see a speech of half measures. A speech where Obama sought a solution that most would support instead of the one that gave our country the best chance for success. I wanted to hear that he was making this decision because he believed that it was one that gave our country the best chance for success in this war and I wanted to look and see in his eyes that he was in this war, that he was determined to win it and that defeat would not be an acceptable option.
So on Tuesday I sat down with my steak dinner and beer and listened as the President spoke. He first addressed the time taken to make the decision and stated that the earliest deployments brought to him would have sent additional troops no earlier than January 2010, so there was no delay in the time he took. Okay, I can accept that. He than went on to state that he would send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, 10,000 short of McCrystal's request. He said the first of these troops would be sent in January 2010 and that they, along with anticipated additional troops from NATO countries would accelerate training for Afghan troops and the police so that we could begin transferring the fighting responsibility to the Afghans by mid 2011. Alright a few problems here. First off I still haven't seen how exactly these extra troops are to be used. As far as I've been able to tell Gen. McCrystal hopes to use them as additional security to secure large population centers across the country while continuing the current planned pull outs from remote locations across the countryside. I don't like this plan as it cedes the territory to the Taliban for almost complete control on the ground where they may traverse, plan, and carry out attacks on the city. This will limit our ability to respond to the attacks and as they even occur will lower the moral of our troops and cause the Afghan citizen to doubt our commitment and their support for their government. This quite literally makes me think we are going to make the same mistake the British made in their failed attempt at occupying Afghanistan when their lead general summed it up nicely stating that their control of the countryside extended to the range of their cannon and no further. We need to project strength throughout the country and if we are to pull back their needs to be an alternate strategy for integrating these small communities into the country. You cannot hope to win by abandoning to the Taliban and hoping they'll just turn against them on their own.
Secondly, why the time table? Wars are fought in stages and as such we should not place a time table on our troop commitment until we are past the stage of securing the country to the point of transferring power. By announcing the time table for withdraw before a single additional troop is sent we let AQ and the taliban know that they can mark their calenders and sit us out. Heck, the President even tried to mention Iraq while trying to sell this on Tuesday. He mentioned that we are doing similar things there and that we should be able to turn it over to the Afghans as well. Of course he neglects to mention that we had a surge first, one he didn't support as Senator, and that once it was clear the surge worked, he still has never acknowledged it worked, the Bush administration negotiated the SOFA agreement with Iraq that set the current timetable for our eventual withdrawal of combat troops. Point being it was done in stages. You pull out once you have secured victory. You don't hope for victory and say when you're going to pull out at the same time.
All in all the speech did have it's good moments. Obama is a very good speaker and I believed him as he spoke about this war as one that cannot be abandoned and one that the US along with our NATO allies will continue to fight for as long as it takes. Those are very important things i needed to hear from him, but his actions have me questioning his ability to lead in this war. In the end I am left with the familiar feeling of hoping that I am wrong and that this decision and McCrystal's handling turn out as intended and the war turns around for this country.
-Zach
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