RiteOn Blog

GEOPOLITICS FROM "HOOTERVILLE"

Click on tis link for a graphic history of Middle East Empires: LINK

Occasionally, one must ask whether the folks in "Hooterville" will ever understand the "big picture." Or, will they continue to give political opportunists the green light to undermine long term, carefully crafted U.S. geopolitical strategy in order to win elections. It has always been possible to make a potent argument against U.S. "involvement" overseas and to take advantage of public ignorance about foreign policy. Critics who advocate that the U.S. should "pull out" of the Middle East are once again resurrecting that argument and advocating that the U.S. should become a second rate power!

The following excerpts from a statement (located at the end of our commentary) given by Martyn Davies, the director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at the University of Stellenbosch, S. Africa, illustrate our point... (read more)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY TO EVERYONE

MISSOURI TURKEY

DEMOCRACY IN ST CHARLES COUNTY, MISSOURI

It has become obvious to many who attend public meetings that some elected officials have an over reactive need to “feel in control.” Of course, public participation that might be a vehicle for criticism is greatly feared by some politicians and they predictably over react to suggestions that they aren’t “in control.” People sometimes leave meetings angered and dissatisfied with political leadership that engages in restricting lawful freedom of expression. St Peters public meetings are as good an illustration of what we have described as any in the County, but other political bodies are also guilty of dramatically restricting freedom of expression.

Free expression is killed by the enactment of elaborate rules accompanied by phony assertions such as, "restrictions are necessary to maintain order," or dumb actions like roping off sections of seating (as in St Peters), drastically limiting or changing speaking times and having members of the public “escorted” from the room for exercising the right of free speech. FOX News investigative reporter Elliott Davis recently... (read more)

SMART GROWTH IS STILL VITAL

Monday night's meeting of the St Charles County Council seemed to substantiate the view that the Smart Growth movement still has vitality. We make this observation because some politicians and the Suburban Journal apparently looked at the results of the recent Primary and General elections and decided that Smart Growth was dead.

Undoubtedly it must have been a giant surprise when Joe Brazil convinced 3 other members of the County Council to pass the tabled water protection Bill (2973) after poorly reasoned pleas against it by...(read more)

DANCING IN THE HINDU KUSH

Below are excerpts from a must-read piece by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Steyn:

...As it is, we're in a very dark place right now. It has been a long time since America unambiguously won a war, and to choose to lose Iraq would be an act of such parochial self-indulgence that the American moment would not endure, and would not deserve to. Europe is becoming semi-Muslim, Third World basket-case states are going nuclear, and, for all that 40 percent of planetary military spending, America can't muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV. (read on!)

IMMIGRATION AND THE ELECTION

Since Tuesday's election, many in the main stream media are aiming to convince politicians that, now, anything pro-immigration is a big winner, so they should support pro-immigration issues or, at a minimum, cease opposition. They point to losses such as J. D. Hayworth in Arizona and say that proves that getting tough on illegal immigration is a political loser. They eagerly point to election results and say Americans support illegal immigration and want to give immigrants "super citizenship," including some benefits that U.S. citizens do not have.

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT TUESDAY'S ELECTION

Nationally, the major media has informed us all, at least a zillion times now, that Republicans were beaten to a pulp and Democrats are back in power...in a big way! National Democrat leaders are going out of their way to smile and say "unifying things" about their legislative intentions. This is certainly the smart thing to do and we will watch carefully to see how their "intentions" pan out.

Locally, the election was interesting. Here in St. Charles County, the voters sent several "messages." First, the Republican "get-out-the-vote" campaign and its constant telephone calls were annoying. In talking with people, both before and after Tuesday, many Republicans said they were so irritated by this tactic that they actually voted for Democrats just to "send a message."

The Winners

Congratulations to the winners!.. and especially to the losers. It takes a lot of sacrifice to run as a candidate in most any election these days. Putting yourself "out there" for the folks to judge can be a devastating personal setback for one's ego or a big boost but it seems that win or lose, it is always a big personal sacrifice. Just from a financial perspective, if you go to the Missouri Ethics Commission web site (www.moethics.mo.gov) and look up the debt service committees registered by both winners and losers you can quickly see what a financial burden is taken on by those who run for office. Many deeply committed candidates put personal money into their campaign or borrow to fund it and in cases where these people are not well off, competing can become a near tragedy.

Thoughts for Tuesday

When the former Saudi resident known as Usama Bin Laden looked at the way the U.S. Airline system was structured, he came to realize that it had evolved in such a way that made it highly vulnerable and, therefore, the U.S. economic system was also vulnerable. He and his advisors organized an attack using the classic Middle East terrorist weapon, known as the suicide bomber. Not a new concept (Japan’s Kamikaze in WWII, etc.) but refined in strategy and technology by Yasser Arafat. He knew this was a concept alien to western societies and particularly not understandable at all by U.S. citizens and political leaders. Therefore...

Finally!

Well, well, John Kerry FINALLY got the word. News reports have him heading back to DC so as to "not be a distraction" to Democrat candidates running in close races this Tuesday. I guess when you have really big bucks in your pocket the screw-ups are really big too. Hiring the wrong advice OR ignoring it is a lot easier when the comforts of home are as "cushy" as Kerry's are. Just a casual survey of the media commentary today would lead one to the conclusion that Kerry's Presidential aspirations are finished, at least for '08 and maybe forever. The consolation prize is that he gets to be another blowhard blathering from a Senate seat because who would it be in Bean Town that would have the money to run against him? Anyway, it appears that the Beanies love what he says...but our advice is not to try out those "talking points" in "flyover" country. It seems like it took Hillary about 10 seconds to summon the media in order to denounce Kerry's failed "joke." I'm sure she felt awfully bad in doing so since the goof all but eliminates one of her main competitors for the '08 nomination. I would bet that Bill phoned up and said, "Hey, let's give this thing some legs." We would too, under the circumstances. Kerry's remark, sorry as it was, sends a warning to any politician who badmouths the troops that he/she should avoid it, stop it, don't do it, or else!... and rightly so!