Waste

If you haven't checked out the front page article from yesterday's Poughkeepsie Journal, I suggest you do so. However, if you do not have the time, I will simply quote the first sentence for you:

"Dutchess County spent $1,092 for each of 27 desk chairs for use at the county's Emergency Command Center in the Town of Hyde Park — a room used sparingly as a coordination and control facility during natural or man-made disasters."

What!? Are you kidding me!? Do I really need to bloviate on about how terrible a decision this was? I think not.

And people wonder why taxes in our county are so high.

In the wake of Wednesday's New York State Senate defeat of a law that would have legalized gay marriage in our state, I would like to post for the 3rd time:

"I believe in 50 years, our society will look back on the fight against gay marriage the same way we now look back at the civil rights movement of the 1950s, or interracial marriage, or slavery, our country's original sin. 'They were fighting over this?' they'll ask. On a long enough period of time, social progressives will overcome social conservatives every time. And if our textbooks are any indication, history will not judge well those who try to keep others from enjoying the same freedoms."

The majority does not have the right to limit the rights of the minority.

The Escalation

I watched President Obama's speech from West Point last night with skepticism, and I don't believe my opinion has changed at all. I believe that Afghanistan is a quagmire, and I do not think the escalation of 30,000 additional US troops is going to solve the problem for 3 main reasons:

First, the point of the war is to destroy Al Qaeda and its ability to use Afghanistan as a safe haven. However, many of Al Qaeda's forces -- supposedly including Osama bin Laden, himself -- are not located in Afghanistan, but rather Pakistan, a country whose territorial sovereignty we cannot breach. With the Pakistani government and military in the constant state of turmoil that it is, how can we expect them to secure their own land?

Second, the Afghans as a whole have no confidence in their central government. How can we be expected to stabilize a people and a government when the people don't have faith in the government?

Third, history. From December 1979 to February 1989, the people of Afghanistan were able to withstand the invasion of the Soviet Union. That's almost 10 years. We've been there just over 8. Do we really expect a different result? These people will wait us out. No matter how long we stay, they will wait longer. They will wait forever.

So, because I am extremely skeptical of our ability to accomplish this goal, I am also extremely skeptical that the withdrawal of US forces will be able to occur in 3 years. In a meeting with top members of Congress prior to last night's speech, President Obama was pressed by Senator McCain on the timetable he was laying out, and President Obama conceded that any troop movements would be based on conditions on the group. This mean if it comes time to start withdrawing and conditions aren't favorable, we won't. Rest assured that this war has no end in sight. President Obama may be telling us where the end is, but believe me when I say that neither he, nor the military, nor anyone else can actually see it.

When Osama bin Laden orchestrated the attacks on September 11, 2001, the goal was to bring the United States to its knees -- politically, financially, militarily. More than 8 years later, where are we? We are stretching our political clout throughout the world to the limit. We are hemorrhaging money that we don't have, sinking deeper and deeper into debt. And our military is under pressures that are pushing it steadily toward the breaking point.

I imagine he's feeling quite good about himself right about now.

The Palinites

Oh, how they swarm.

Irrational Hysteria

The irrational hysteria shown by many in this country never ceases to amaze me.

Take, for example, the proposal to move a large number of the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to a sparsely-populated maximum security prison in a sparsely-populated town called Thompson, IL. The majority of people of Thompson seem to want such a proposal carried out, as it would provide jobs at the Thompson Correctional Facility which has never been fully staffed due to budgetary reasons. There are some, however (the vast majority of whom are on the right side of the political spectrum and unfortunately get a lot of media attention), who feel that moving these individuals to an 8-year-old, maximum security prison in the middle of rural Illinois would somehow put the American people in unnecessary grave danger. According to the CDC, there were over 30,000 gun deaths in the United States, and these conservative talking heads think moving these detainees onto American soil is what is going to put Americans in unnecessary mortal danger? Give me a break. Do they expect these men to escape, find refuge, plan an attack, and then carry out said attack? Keep dreaming. Irrational hysteria.

This morning on CNN, I saw a piece on militia groups who arm themselves to the teeth with semi-automatic weapons and train for a confrontation with...I don't know who. The government? President Obama himself? One militia member raised the prospect that President Obama was "dangers for the nation." Another hoped that their presence makes lawmakers in Washington take "pause." I don't understand. Is he suggesting that he wants lawmakers to think, Gee, we were going to pass this law, but those militia members may come after us, so we better pause and think twice? And another reason why the militia members do what they do? Baseless fear that President Obama is going to take away their guns. Irrational hysteria.

Irrational hysteria is nothing new in this country, dating all the way back to the witch hunts of the 1600s. And I guess it's too much to expect everyone in the country to grow a brain and instead exhibit rational calm, so we'll just have to keep putting up with it. Only in America.

Paterson Runs

With 12 months to go before the 2010 election, Gov. David Paterson has begun running reelection ads. If you have not seen any, you can check them out here. I have seen the "Some Say" commercial numerous times, and I have to tell you I think it is very effective. Whoever decided to make Gov. Paterson's campaign slogan "The People First" made a good move, portraying him as bucking the system and doing whatever he feels is right for the state. But with the size of the climb that he's facing, will any good idea be able to make his reelection happen? I guess we'll find out over the next 12 months.

Brothers Under the Bridge

Saigon, it was all gone
The same Coke machines
As the streets I grew on
Down in a mesquite canyon
We come walking along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Campsite's an hour's walk from the nearest road to town
Up here there's too much brush and canyon
For the CHP choppers to touch down
Ain't lookin' for nothin', just wanna live
Me and the brothers under the bridge
Come the Santa Ana's, man, that dry brush'll light
Billy Devon got burned up in his own campfire one winter night
We buried his body in the white stone high up along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Had enough of town and the street life
Over nothing you end up on the wrong end of someone's knife
Now I don't want no trouble
And I ain't got none to give
Me and the brothers under the bridge

I come home in '72
You were just a beautiul light
In your mama's dark eyes of blue
I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come Veterans' Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues
I held your mother's hand
When they passed with the red, white and blue
One minute you're right there ... and something slips...
-Bruce Springsteen