When I was a child, my siblings and I regularly played a game called “7-UP”. It is played by bouncing a rubber playground ball in increasingly complex ways until you make a mistake; then it is someone else’s turn. Who taught this game to my brother or sister so they could teach it to me? Who invented the game in the first place?
The games I played as a child were remarkably ingenious. I’m not talking about Sorry or Monopoly here. Those are games invented by adults, for children. I’m talking about the games we inherited from other children, or invented ourselves. They weren’t written down. You didn’t hear about them on TV. They were passed along by word of mouth, through an untraceable network of kids in backyards and public parks, on playgrounds and school blacktops.
There were complex rules for Four-Square, Red Light/Green Light, Kick the Can, and Dead Duck. The games were highly adaptable to the number of players, the ages of the players, and the surrounding environment. They were challenging and fun. They must have been; otherwise, we wouldn’t have played them.
Slightly more than 231 years ago, citizen leaders from the 13 colonies began to plan for a "congress" in Philadelphia to discuss their inability to get the leadership of their government to address their needs and complaints. "Taxation without representation is tyranny," was a key conceptual underpinning to the meeting and the representatives sought to address that problem.
The Jack Abramoff plea bargain, failure of the children's insurance bill, the War in Iraq and other governmental misdeeds throws a laser beam on the fact that the American people are no longer represented by those we send to Washington. Our needs and complaints are unheard; our government is for sale to the highest bidder. So with apologies to Mr. Jefferson I offer the following 14 count "indictment" for consideration.
Aside from the fact that the concern for global warming is a scam, there are many that believe it and are also concerned about our dependency on foreign oil. Why haven’t we heard much from candidates for the U.S. presidency about it? William Tucker, a veteran journalist, has done his homework and has addressed it.1
Energy consumption is on the increase worldwide and that won’t change. Coal is our most common fossil fuel. It’s superabundant, costly to mine and is the most environmentally destructive substance ever utilized. E.P.A. estimates that it kills 30,000 Americans through lung disease annually, (and in China much more).
August first officially ushered in late summer, the season where political campaigns heat up the airwaves with sound bites, press releases, op-eds, and the time-honored tradition of attack ads on television. The presidential campaign period is generally considered the period between Labor Day weekend and Election Day, but late summer is frequently the time when many undecided voters make up their minds.
An op-ed by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann published on August 2nd notes the importance of summer politicking, stating that “Dukakis, Mondale and Kerry were all destroyed in the summer, long before the fall campaign began.” I cannot personally speak for the Dukakis and Mondale campaigns because I was dealing with the infinitely more important issues of teenage crushes, and the anticipation of football games and fall homecoming dances. I do, however, recall the barrage of “swiftboat veteran” ads about Kerry that appeared around this time in 2004, and their effect.
With gas prices topping $4 a gallon, a productive U.S. energy policy has moved to the center stage. According to a CNN poll conducted last month, 48% of Americans consider gas prices “an extremely important” issue. And another CNN poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corp. a few weeks ago, indicates 72% support drilling on the Californian and Floridian coasts.
Barack Obama’s plan to address soaring gas prices essentially involves investments in energy technology research, renewable energy, and in energy efficient vehicles. Like most investments, however, they will not yield returns immediately. Working families burdened at the pump will wait 10-30 years before returns are available.
While some might be undecided on who to vote for this coming Election Day, for others it's a no-brainer. Although the news media would like us to believe otherwise, there is still an enormous political gap between the Left and the Right.
"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins." — William Pitt.
The American people must wake up to the the facts. The Democratic Party has moved well to the left of liberalism, and Barack Obama is — by his record — as far left as one can get in the party.
At the beginning of the election cycle in 2007, the war in Iraq was visibly a black eye on the Republican Party. At the time, violence in Iraq was widespread, tribal factions were on the brink of civil war, and the Iraqi Security Forces were reticent to assume ownership of major military operations. With billions of taxpayer dollars invested and thousands of soldiers returning home in funerary boxes, the American public lost its resolve to finish what she had started. As a corollary, President Bush’s favorability ratings abruptly dropped into near-record lows, and Republicans were aghast about the possibility of sustaining a substantial loss of congressional seats in 2008.
Democrats smelt blood and seized opportunities to milk the Iraqi cow. Senator Barack Obama launched his campaign highlighting foreign policy differences between himself and Senator John McCain. With a politicians’ tongue, he weaponized the politics of the Iraq against his political opponents. He enjoyed the sui generis of opposing so-called “dumb” wars of undermined lengths, costs, and consequences. With polls suggesting that the American public has turned against the war, partly facilitated by the leftist media, Obama’s early opposition to the invasion provided an excellent backdrop of being a candidate of clear vision and adept foreign policy.
When I was a child, my siblings and I regularly played a game called “7-UP”. It is played by bouncing a rubber playground ball in increasingly complex ways until you make a mistake; then it is someone else’s turn. Who taught this game to my brother or sister so they could teach it to me? Who invented the game in the first place?
Slightly more than 231 years ago, citizen leaders from the 13 colonies began to plan for a "congress" in Philadelphia to discuss their inability to get the leadership of their government to address their needs and complaints. "Taxation without representation is tyranny," was a key conceptual underpinning to the meeting and the representatives sought to address that problem.
August first officially ushered in late summer, the season where political campaigns heat up the airwaves with sound bites, press releases, op-eds, and the time-honored tradition of attack ads on television. The presidential campaign period is generally considered the period between Labor Day weekend and Election Day, but late summer is frequently the time when many undecided voters make up their minds.
Democrats smelt blood and seized opportunities to milk the Iraqi cow. Senator Barack Obama launched his campaign highlighting foreign policy differences between himself and Senator John McCain. With a politicians’ tongue, he weaponized the politics of the Iraq against his political opponents. He enjoyed the sui generis of opposing so-called “dumb” wars of undermined lengths, costs, and consequences. With polls suggesting that the American public has turned against the war, partly facilitated by the leftist media, Obama’s early opposition to the invasion provided an excellent backdrop of being a candidate of clear vision and adept foreign policy.