Honoring Pledges

Barak Obama seems to be quietly and quickly fulfilling his campaign pledges. On the first full day of his new employment he commanded that his generals conduct the "planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown” from Iraq.

Source

If, like me, you think that Iraq is a quagmire for our troops and a drain on the treasury, then you are quite pleased to see action in the right direction.

If, like Bush, you think that Iraq will eventually adopt democracy and then serve as a shining beacon of freedom in the Middle East, you are no doubt disappointed, particularly if you also believe Iraq is the "central front in the war on terror".

The thing about being president is, it is more than an intellectual exercise. We shall soon see what future awaits Iraq.

Was Carter wise?

Sometimes you have to wait out wise words to understand that they were wise. Here is former president Jimmy Carter talking about energy:



I imagine we would be in a much better situation today if we had recognized the chains upon us and faced the new dawn. It must be that he was not the leader we needed.

"Can we hear him now?", I wonder.

A New Day

To boding sacred awe night's shadow
Awakes the better self in men.
Now lie aslumber savage urges
With every vehemence of deed;
Now love of man for man resurges,
The love of God is stirred and freed.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Dee-Aye!

Mixing George Bush's exit with Barak Obama's entrance is like putting gravy on cranberry sauce. I prefer not to mix my entrances and exits. Today, therefore, I shall think of as George W. Bush's denauguration. I feel like a parade, perhaps with crowds of midgets singing and dancing.

Goodbye George Bush, Goodbye!
We hope you don't expect us to cry.
We might shed a tear
For one we hold dear, but
In your case we'll just say bye bye.

Goodbye George Bush, Goodbye!
We grew weary of all of your lies.
You trembled in fear
For seven and one year, and
We'd rather see your back than your eyes.

How's about?

I thought of another way to manage these bank bail outs and it goes like this.

The federal government offers homeowners a refinance loan at 2% fixed interest. This puts money in the pockets of homeowners, while also capitalizing the banks. It takes a bottom-up approach that bypasses the bottlenecks in the financial system (i.e. Bank of America, AIG, and pals). What it does do is make sure that American Taxpayers get bang for their bailout buck.

Concur not conquer

I recently spent time in Grenada and as far as I could tell from talking to the people I met, they view the Reagan invasion as a salvation. I toured an old airport with rusting relics of the Soviet Empire and saw graffiti celebrating the removal of the K.G.B. (my favorite was "K.G.B. Behave!")

I started to think that it was good to travel abroad as an American citizen and not be identified solely with the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I also started to think that maybe there is opportunity for mutually beneficial trade in the ECU (Eastern Caribbean Union).

In Grenada, for instance, they grow delicious bananas that aren't as big as baseball bats. They have lots of spices, like nutmeg and a particularly excellent Cinnamon. They make rum and have breadfruit and papaya. They have a warm climate and white sand beaches.

Maybe the US should spend more time with nations that want our presence and less with nations that don't going forward?