Just a little over one year ago President Obama was sworn into office. I remember having to get up extra early that morning and catch the metro across the river into DC to get to work. I got to the station near my apartment around 5 in the morning and traffic was already backed up noticably in both directions as folks hoped to get a good spot on the mall for the show. There was a definite buzz for those that expected big things from the President and with this kind of atmosphere it was even predicted that Republicans would be in a political wilderness for a generation. One year and some piss poor governing later the polticial pendulum has swung so far so quickly that we recently saw the election of Scott Brown from Mass. to the Senate.
To put that into contex, Mass. has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, and not since 1966 has a Republcan won in an open election. In this past year we saw an second stimulus forced on this nation with the promise from the white house being that unemployment wouldn't go above 8%. It reached 10%. We saw our President go on a apology tour as he went to multiple european nations and seemingly humbled himself and our nation apologizing for many things that frankly, Americans were not sorry for, or felt that with that apology Obama should have also reminded those leaders of the immense positive impact that America has had on the world. We have seen our President dither, yes dither, for three months about what to do with Afghanistan after his hand picked General sent his advice to him. His answer was to take the most politically expediant solution by sending 30,000 troops to Aghanistan, 10,000 short of what McCrystal asked for and already setting an 18 month deadline for our beginning withdrawl from Afghanistan. In chosing this solutioin he has put our military behind the 8 ball in a war that is critical for us to win in the global war on terrorism.
And of course we come to healthcare. Here again the President sought to have Congress give him something, anything they could use by the end of the year. Sadly for him and for America what we got was a bill that mandated health coverage for all and penalized those that did not get insurance. It gave breaks to Obama supporters while leving heavier taxes against those that don't. It skipped tort reform and didn't allow for health insurance companies to work across state lines. More and more Americans turned against this bill again and again all the while a seemingly tone deaf Congress worked on passage of this bill. Only this Tuesday with a GOP win in the bluest state in the country has seemed to finally jar them awake to the massive opposition to this bill. Even than though, some dems have pledged "full steam ahead." Luckily some Senators like Jim Webb and Even Bayh have more common sense and this bill will be revised or ultimatley shelved.
All this in one year has left us with little doubt that Obama's first year in office has been a failure. 2010 is a chance to regroup and redeem himself, but starting out it kindly looks like it will actually be a year that vindicates many things that libs criticised President Bush for. Take GITMO for example, Obama and leftist know nothings thought they could close it in a year. For whatever reason they figured this would be easy because afterall, Bush only kept them there because he doesn't beleive in fairness to terrorists. One year later only about 40 prisoners have either been released or transfered leaving 200 detainees in the prison. The Obama administration has learned, gasp, that their are dangerous people there and that GITMO, while not ideal is exactly what the Bush admin described as the "best of a lot of bad options." As it stands it appears that it will take another year to close GITMO. Perhaps they should just consider keeping it open.
Lastly we come to the economy. The Obama admin is always quick to note how bad it was when they got there and that all the ills should be placed on Bush's doorstep and that all the gains are the workings of Obama, praise be to his name. It is a refocus on this that the Dems first hope to regain some momentum this year, but they sure are doing it in an odd way by very openly talking about EXTENDING BUSH'S TAX CUTS. While just talks right now if that move was taken it would certainly seem to be an admision that tax cuts help spur an economy's recovery, and of course, vindicate Bush's economic policies. That, along with GITMO, also seems to vindicate two policies that the left commonly derided Bush and Republicans in general. Let us hope that they take this tact and that our economy recovers and that those unemployed will find work. Given the current circumstances though, the Dems could go in any such direction.
Whew, shitty write up i know, but hopefully y'all cut me a break on this one.
-Zach
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Haiti, a mess and possibly an opportunity?
It is with a heavy heart that Americans have learned from the Red Cross that 50,000 and likely more Haitians have been killed in a massive earthquake which struck the nation this past Tuesday. Haiti has been a troubled nation for this entire past decade with political turmoil bringing a 2004 coup that ousted the corrupt, but first legitimate president Aristide from office. In 2008 the nations inability to feed it's population lead to food crises and now this.
At each of the prior two incidents the US had some involvement in a way to say that we had a limited presence in Haiti during Aristide's ouster, and Aristide himself has accused the US of being behind the coup. Likely though, his ouster was simply a way for other politicians trying to reach an agreement with insurgents in the country who found reconciliation with Aristide to be impossible. During this time the US could have played a more active role in Haiti's future, but with the Iraq war drawing so much attention it was not politically or militarily wise to embark on what would have been painted as another nation buiding measure and it is likely the lack of will in America to pursue such an option would have made any attempt a failure. So the situation was allowed to continue and it did appear to get better, until the government's policies, as well as 4 hurricanes, led to a famine in 2008. During that time again America stood up and sought to help the poor Caribbean nation to feed it's people. Again this was an area were we could have at least built closer relations with the government in charge and began a sort of tutorial for the government on the ground so that they could finally catch up economically, and politically, with it's Caribbean neighbors. Again this was not to happen.
A great precedence for this was set in late 2004 when the tsunami hit Indonesia and killed nearly 130,000 people. The massive aid effort which was lead by the US opened up the nation to better relations with Washington and as we see today we have a much better and cooperative relationship with this nation and it's government as it has noticeably improved since the disaster. So we should seek to replicate this progress in Haiti.
After this recent devastation we as a nation will again seek to help out this perpetually downstruck nation and in truth, we should essentially seek to take over the current services of the government as they are clearly broken. From there we could again influence and seek to control and help this nation finally bring itself into the 21st century, but alas, Secretary Clinton has already stated the US will not seek to take over Haiti and it is likely we will give aid until this crisis has passed, than we will move on and forget about Haiti until the next disaster happens.
-Zach
At each of the prior two incidents the US had some involvement in a way to say that we had a limited presence in Haiti during Aristide's ouster, and Aristide himself has accused the US of being behind the coup. Likely though, his ouster was simply a way for other politicians trying to reach an agreement with insurgents in the country who found reconciliation with Aristide to be impossible. During this time the US could have played a more active role in Haiti's future, but with the Iraq war drawing so much attention it was not politically or militarily wise to embark on what would have been painted as another nation buiding measure and it is likely the lack of will in America to pursue such an option would have made any attempt a failure. So the situation was allowed to continue and it did appear to get better, until the government's policies, as well as 4 hurricanes, led to a famine in 2008. During that time again America stood up and sought to help the poor Caribbean nation to feed it's people. Again this was an area were we could have at least built closer relations with the government in charge and began a sort of tutorial for the government on the ground so that they could finally catch up economically, and politically, with it's Caribbean neighbors. Again this was not to happen.
A great precedence for this was set in late 2004 when the tsunami hit Indonesia and killed nearly 130,000 people. The massive aid effort which was lead by the US opened up the nation to better relations with Washington and as we see today we have a much better and cooperative relationship with this nation and it's government as it has noticeably improved since the disaster. So we should seek to replicate this progress in Haiti.
After this recent devastation we as a nation will again seek to help out this perpetually downstruck nation and in truth, we should essentially seek to take over the current services of the government as they are clearly broken. From there we could again influence and seek to control and help this nation finally bring itself into the 21st century, but alas, Secretary Clinton has already stated the US will not seek to take over Haiti and it is likely we will give aid until this crisis has passed, than we will move on and forget about Haiti until the next disaster happens.
-Zach
Saturday, January 9, 2010
the 2000's and how the decade was for me
I think I'm going to be extra selfish with this post and just reminice about how the decade was for me.
It started out with me graduating high school with some very close friends. The graduation itself was bittersweet as I was leaving an environment of normalcy that i had only known in my life. To top it off i was to leave for Recruit training in Great Lakes Illinois in two weeks meaning this third generation Nevadan was about to travel the farthest he'd ever gone to that point in his life.
Bootcamp was a rude awakening for me. The process shocked me as i found myself alone and in a situation where i felt i had noone i could trust. The fear and panic felt overwelming at first and the only thought i had was of going home. I wrote friends and family and although i knew that i would likely regret doing this, i wrote them telling them how i was going to quit and how i would be on my way home. In the end though, i just couldn't bring myself to quit. I had disappointed my father back in the 7th grade when i quite football and i remember the feeling of knowing how disappointed he was as one of the most crushing feelings i ever knew. At that moment i promised myself that no matter what i would never quit again, nothing would ever get the best of me. At boot camp i felt that pledge still sticking strong and writing the letters was a way to try and force me to break the pledge. I couldn't do it though, anytime i thought that this was the time to march in and demand to be sent home i found myself saying, just give it more time i can make it to x point than we'll see. Soon enough, and with some very encouraging letters from those same family and friends i made it through boot camp and went to Meridian Mississippi for my first A school.
I was there when 9/11 happened. It was amazing to hear the recaps in the news and to try and comprehend the devastation that had just happened. At first my young mind could only comprehend Iraq being behind this. Ironically I remember a newsticker stating that Saddam was already making it known he had nothing to do with the attack. Soon we found out what happened and my service took on a whole different meaning. In a month we heard the invasion of Afghanistan was on and it felt good. We were going to get the bastards that did this and we would keep them from hurting more people in the future.... or so we should have, Rumsfeld's bungle.
I finished off 2001 being stationed in San Diego. A great place to live and a very nice vacation spot, but at age 18 and with that fantastic E-1 pay it didn't offer me much to do. I made good friends though, and made a great reputation at work. The invasion of Iraq started in March of 2003 and i left San Diego in November of that year. All in all not too much to report... or at least not enough that i want to make public. ;) I'll just say that Tijuana was always a good get away during those days and the SDSU girls especially made it a nice place to go.
From there I went to Sasebo Japan and did two years on a ship sailing in the west pacific. Great times were had in Thailand, Singapore, S. Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Bahrain, and of course Dubai. I was able to serve my country by standing watch on a 50 mount during our deployment to the gulf and, ironically enough, i, a paperpusher, was the one who had to fire some rounds at some overly curious Kuwaitis one day. Luckily noone was hurt and those Kuwaitis learned a valuable lesson, when the ship says keep you damn distance, you keep it.
Japan was a deciding point for me, I had to decide whether i was going to stay Navy or take the plung into the civilian life. I knew I wanted to stay Navy. I was proud of the uniform and i wanted to continue to serve, but my job as a paperpusher in aviation had run it's course. I had no interest in continuing at that job and I let the Navy know that it would either give me a different job or i was walking. The Navy responded by giving me exactly what i wanted in a job by working in intell. I was now responsible for keeping track of threats to this nation, and those in harms way on the front line. This was a job that i was made for.
I trained for this job in 2006 and went to my first duty station in Wash. DC also in 2006. Although i would lament certain parts of my stay in DC, i can't deny all the things i accomplished there. I acheived my associates degree and am currently 3 credits shy of my bachelor's all thanks to an environment that allowed me to be very aggressive toward schoolwork during my time there. During my last year there i was allowed to work as an analyst and i found my work more rewarding than anything else i had done to that point. It was a good time and i wouldn't trade it for anything.
I left there in 2009 and i find myself at my current stop down here in Virginia Beach, where i picked up my job 4 years ago. I find the work is great and i look forward to doing my job here, but there is no doubt that the thrill is gone for me as far as serving my country. These days although i want to continue to work in my job i find that i want to settle down with a family more than go off to war. I think i shall remain content to serve my current command to the best of my ability and than i will consider my time all but done in the military.
Although I have written much about my job and my professional progress i assure you the personal life was not lacking. I still have those great Nevada friends along with friends in the military. I have dated many good and great girls, my current status is more a result of my lack of want to settle down than anything else. For whom it concerns, i suppose that is enough said on that.
A very active decade and one in which i grew up quite a bit. I can only hope that this next decade is just as interesting.
-Zach
It started out with me graduating high school with some very close friends. The graduation itself was bittersweet as I was leaving an environment of normalcy that i had only known in my life. To top it off i was to leave for Recruit training in Great Lakes Illinois in two weeks meaning this third generation Nevadan was about to travel the farthest he'd ever gone to that point in his life.
Bootcamp was a rude awakening for me. The process shocked me as i found myself alone and in a situation where i felt i had noone i could trust. The fear and panic felt overwelming at first and the only thought i had was of going home. I wrote friends and family and although i knew that i would likely regret doing this, i wrote them telling them how i was going to quit and how i would be on my way home. In the end though, i just couldn't bring myself to quit. I had disappointed my father back in the 7th grade when i quite football and i remember the feeling of knowing how disappointed he was as one of the most crushing feelings i ever knew. At that moment i promised myself that no matter what i would never quit again, nothing would ever get the best of me. At boot camp i felt that pledge still sticking strong and writing the letters was a way to try and force me to break the pledge. I couldn't do it though, anytime i thought that this was the time to march in and demand to be sent home i found myself saying, just give it more time i can make it to x point than we'll see. Soon enough, and with some very encouraging letters from those same family and friends i made it through boot camp and went to Meridian Mississippi for my first A school.
I was there when 9/11 happened. It was amazing to hear the recaps in the news and to try and comprehend the devastation that had just happened. At first my young mind could only comprehend Iraq being behind this. Ironically I remember a newsticker stating that Saddam was already making it known he had nothing to do with the attack. Soon we found out what happened and my service took on a whole different meaning. In a month we heard the invasion of Afghanistan was on and it felt good. We were going to get the bastards that did this and we would keep them from hurting more people in the future.... or so we should have, Rumsfeld's bungle.
I finished off 2001 being stationed in San Diego. A great place to live and a very nice vacation spot, but at age 18 and with that fantastic E-1 pay it didn't offer me much to do. I made good friends though, and made a great reputation at work. The invasion of Iraq started in March of 2003 and i left San Diego in November of that year. All in all not too much to report... or at least not enough that i want to make public. ;) I'll just say that Tijuana was always a good get away during those days and the SDSU girls especially made it a nice place to go.
From there I went to Sasebo Japan and did two years on a ship sailing in the west pacific. Great times were had in Thailand, Singapore, S. Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Bahrain, and of course Dubai. I was able to serve my country by standing watch on a 50 mount during our deployment to the gulf and, ironically enough, i, a paperpusher, was the one who had to fire some rounds at some overly curious Kuwaitis one day. Luckily noone was hurt and those Kuwaitis learned a valuable lesson, when the ship says keep you damn distance, you keep it.
Japan was a deciding point for me, I had to decide whether i was going to stay Navy or take the plung into the civilian life. I knew I wanted to stay Navy. I was proud of the uniform and i wanted to continue to serve, but my job as a paperpusher in aviation had run it's course. I had no interest in continuing at that job and I let the Navy know that it would either give me a different job or i was walking. The Navy responded by giving me exactly what i wanted in a job by working in intell. I was now responsible for keeping track of threats to this nation, and those in harms way on the front line. This was a job that i was made for.
I trained for this job in 2006 and went to my first duty station in Wash. DC also in 2006. Although i would lament certain parts of my stay in DC, i can't deny all the things i accomplished there. I acheived my associates degree and am currently 3 credits shy of my bachelor's all thanks to an environment that allowed me to be very aggressive toward schoolwork during my time there. During my last year there i was allowed to work as an analyst and i found my work more rewarding than anything else i had done to that point. It was a good time and i wouldn't trade it for anything.
I left there in 2009 and i find myself at my current stop down here in Virginia Beach, where i picked up my job 4 years ago. I find the work is great and i look forward to doing my job here, but there is no doubt that the thrill is gone for me as far as serving my country. These days although i want to continue to work in my job i find that i want to settle down with a family more than go off to war. I think i shall remain content to serve my current command to the best of my ability and than i will consider my time all but done in the military.
Although I have written much about my job and my professional progress i assure you the personal life was not lacking. I still have those great Nevada friends along with friends in the military. I have dated many good and great girls, my current status is more a result of my lack of want to settle down than anything else. For whom it concerns, i suppose that is enough said on that.
A very active decade and one in which i grew up quite a bit. I can only hope that this next decade is just as interesting.
-Zach
Friday, January 1, 2010
Book Review: The War that Killed Achilles, by Caroline Alexander
Caroline Alexander takes an in depth look at the famous Trojan War as told in Homer's Illiad and places certain aspects of that war in contex to what people deal with in current wars. Overall she retells the trojan war with an excerpt to point out similarities with war rage, PTSD, as well as a look into Greek mythology and the different story telling method used where fate is more about choice rather than an inescapable end.
Alexander also uses her review of the war to point out that while typical Greek meathods usually extolled the virtues of a hero who went into battle, war, etc. unafraid of demise and whom actually looked forward to it as a way of sealing glory. In Achilles we see the most likely candidate for such a character but after a rift with Agamemnon he continually states his regretes for coming into a war he has little reason or cause to fight, and at one point refuses an "apology" of gold and other treasure from Agamemnon in favor of leaving to go home and live a life without glory. Contrast that to todays societies which often will glorify those that go off to fight wars in foreign lands and sometimes pay the ultimate price. While today's hero's are no less honored the emphasis is placed today on the hope of their swift and safe return rather than death for honor.
The book also takes an interesting look into what maybe described by some as war rage. This look is taken after Achilles close friend Patrocles is killed in battle by Hector. Achilles reacts by going on an epic rage in which he kills numerous trojans without mercy, at one point he comes across a prince of Troy whom he'd previously captured and ransomed back to the Trojans. In this exchange the prince pleads with Achilles to again contact his father in order to obtain another ransom for his release. Achilles states that his mind and attitude has changed and that their will be no escape for him this time and indeed, there is not. Alexander contrasts this with an excerpt from a Vietnam vet in which he talks about draging some VC into a paddy and killing him sometime after a friend had been killed. "I just lost it.... I felt better with everyone of them i killed because I made them feel what they had done to me." It's that same personal attachment that Achilles feels in the war that he is now fully committed to.
The book also goes over the new style of story telling taken by Homer where he tells of the trojan view of the war as seen by Pram, Hector, Paris, etc. In most other tales they would simply be some hethan enemy worthy of being stuck down in the harshest way, but in the illiad Homer portrays them as a people bravely defending their homes from an invading force. Numerous scens show us Hector with his wife and infant son as he laments what will likely be his death before his son reaches maturity. While rather common in todays books and holleywood movies, it was a little less common in 600BC Greece.
Overall not a fantastic read, but not exactly a boring one either. I'd recommend it for those interested in a book about the continuing similarities with mankinds need for war and the symptoms of those conflicts which continue to this day.
-Zach
Alexander also uses her review of the war to point out that while typical Greek meathods usually extolled the virtues of a hero who went into battle, war, etc. unafraid of demise and whom actually looked forward to it as a way of sealing glory. In Achilles we see the most likely candidate for such a character but after a rift with Agamemnon he continually states his regretes for coming into a war he has little reason or cause to fight, and at one point refuses an "apology" of gold and other treasure from Agamemnon in favor of leaving to go home and live a life without glory. Contrast that to todays societies which often will glorify those that go off to fight wars in foreign lands and sometimes pay the ultimate price. While today's hero's are no less honored the emphasis is placed today on the hope of their swift and safe return rather than death for honor.
The book also takes an interesting look into what maybe described by some as war rage. This look is taken after Achilles close friend Patrocles is killed in battle by Hector. Achilles reacts by going on an epic rage in which he kills numerous trojans without mercy, at one point he comes across a prince of Troy whom he'd previously captured and ransomed back to the Trojans. In this exchange the prince pleads with Achilles to again contact his father in order to obtain another ransom for his release. Achilles states that his mind and attitude has changed and that their will be no escape for him this time and indeed, there is not. Alexander contrasts this with an excerpt from a Vietnam vet in which he talks about draging some VC into a paddy and killing him sometime after a friend had been killed. "I just lost it.... I felt better with everyone of them i killed because I made them feel what they had done to me." It's that same personal attachment that Achilles feels in the war that he is now fully committed to.
The book also goes over the new style of story telling taken by Homer where he tells of the trojan view of the war as seen by Pram, Hector, Paris, etc. In most other tales they would simply be some hethan enemy worthy of being stuck down in the harshest way, but in the illiad Homer portrays them as a people bravely defending their homes from an invading force. Numerous scens show us Hector with his wife and infant son as he laments what will likely be his death before his son reaches maturity. While rather common in todays books and holleywood movies, it was a little less common in 600BC Greece.
Overall not a fantastic read, but not exactly a boring one either. I'd recommend it for those interested in a book about the continuing similarities with mankinds need for war and the symptoms of those conflicts which continue to this day.
-Zach
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Healthcare reform to pass, mixed feelings
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
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
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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