Race Baiting

Jonah Goldberg was writing about how the Democrats see race when that is not really the issue.  He took the example of the Republicans saying that Obama uses the Chicago way of politics.  Two Democrats have said that this remark is racist.  I agree with Jonah it isn't racist.  Where I disagree with Jonah is that it is a statement that implies corruption.  The "Chicago Politics" comment harkens back to the machine politics of a past generation which doesn't exist anymore than saying that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are disciplines of the Chicago School of economics.  Which may be true if you look at their policies.  But, I fail to see an equivalent for the corrupt politics charge against Obama.  Is the President and his minions working to suppress the vote to get elected? Appears to be Republicans.  Is the President working to create pro Democrat voting districts to deliver a majority in Congress?  Again it would appear to be the Republicans.  Is the President using stimulus to create loyal workers?  Yes, but in States led by Republicans they are turning the money down.  No the President is a shadow of the political bosses of old, but the Republicans are looking very much the part and they are looking like Chicago School of Economics disciples as well.

Time to Reconsider Afghanistan

I've been meaning to write this for a couple of days now but today's announcement that girls at a high school had been poisoned really cemented my opinion of this war. First on Sunday, John McCain was making a case for more intervention. He stated that the Taliban aren't that much of a factor and we can defeat these remaining members. Then later on Sunday, the remnants of the Taliban were able to launch simultaneous attacks in Kabul, 3 provinces, and Pakistan. Is this a movement that is nearly defeated? No, the parallel here is the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Prior to that we were told that the North was nearly defeated. After the American people realized that we were being lied to. The same holds for Afghanistan. Our military controls the cities except of course when the Taliban decides to attack. It is time for us to leave. We installed a government that is not only corrupt but has failed to meet the needs of the people. We have tried to instill some of our values in terms of equal rights and educating girls. The problem is that the religious fundamentalists don't believe in this and control much of the local government and police. This allows the poisoning that just happened to occur and the perpetrators to go unpunished.

Maybe, if we had invaded, occupied, and run the government things might be different. It is too late to revisit past decisions, but the time is right to leave before there is anymore loss of American lives or innocent civilians.