Happy Thanksgiving!

In these times, when it is very, very easy to find news that can make us forget that we STILL live in the best country in the world, I want to let you know 10 of the many, many things for which I’m thankful this year (and certainly not in order of importance).

1. Chocolate martinis.
2. Still having a job at least through year-end. I know that I can handle whatever is put in front of me.
3. Getting another major holiday with those who realistically may not be here next year (my Mom, Dad, brother-in-law, and Dexter).
4. The ability to see a glass as half full.
5. My weird sisters! (They are all weird!)
6. My weird nieces and nephews! (And, the ones who aren’t weird!)
7. Jep!
8. Grace.
9. Forgiveness.
10. Forever friends.

I could go on and on. My list is pretty obvious. I challenge you all to find thanks in everything and something to love in everyone. Have a wonderful holiday! There is going to be a lot of food at my sister’s house, so if you are in Karlstad and need a great meal and some football (of course, there will be some side-bets), give me a call! There is always space at our table!

The fate of GM -- what do you think?

I found this article and subsequent comments interesting. What do you guys think? Should the government bail out GM, too?

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/14/is-general-motors-worth-saving/

If I Were President -Part I

War mongers strike first, then try to justify later. Hitler attacked Poland in 1939 and Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 under this premise. Decades later, America’s fear of communism created an environment that allowed LBJ to use the Gulf of Tonkin incident (later proved false) as an excuse to escalate military action in Vietnam. Governments use fear of “inevitable” war as an excuse to justify “preemptive” strikes.

Likewise, Bush and the Neo-cons made up the false threat of WMDs in Iraq as an excuse to create a preemptive strike on Saddam. The Neo-cons used our anger over 9/11 and the fear of inevitable war with terrorism to convince (or at least, confuse) us that it was justifiable. We the people (or should I say “sheeple”) allowed it to happen. We elected spineless politicians into congress. They, Democrat and Republican alike, rewarded us by shunning their responsibility (only they have the power to declare war) and handed over unlimited power to the Presidency, thus moving us closer to becoming a democratic dictatorship.

We should not be in Iraq. We never should have attacked Iraq in the first place. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mandate the United States to be the world’s policeman. Yet, that is what we have allowed the Neo-cons to make us.

For all the lip service, I have no faith the Democrats will be any different. After all, they were the ones who got us into Vietnam. Big government philosophies love military actions because it gives the government more power. In this way Neo-cons and Liberals the same. They both love big government and they both want the government to have more power, albeit for different reasons.

Against common sense, governments always turn to military might to try and spread their influence. Yet, we know on the most basic of levels that the real way to influence others is through engaging them in other ways. The free flow of trade, ideas and interactions create a bond that make it difficult for governments to convince us that we should be killing each other. You have to look no further than China and present-day Vietnam to see that this works.

Many people confuse the Libertarian stance that we should follow our Founding Fathers’ advice to stay out of the entanglements created by foreign alliances and military adventurism as “isolationist”. We are not. We are “noninterventionalists”. Big difference.

Big government’s approach to attack first, ask questions later has made us more isolated, not stronger. Common sense should tell us that we gain more influence by creating friends than by isolating ourselves through arrogant, mindless unilateral military action.

Our military was created to protect us, but, instead our government has used it to build an empire and take away our rights under the guise of “protecting” us. It is arrogant to think our military bases all over the world make us safer. How would you feel if Russia or China had military bases here? And how would that make them safer? It would just make us despise them.

Ironically, because of our choice to base our foreign policy on military strength, we are now weaker, not stronger. Our influence in the world, our military resources, our economy at home and our moral authority have all been significantly diminished. Just as importantly, the blow-back of our military adventurism will be creating unpredictable consequences for years to come.

America should stop reacting to the world based on anger and fear. And our military strength should only be used when we are attacked, not as a tool for ideologues to spread their perverted versions of “freedom”. America’s ability to spread real freedom can’t be achieved through the barrel of a gun, but through the shining example of who we once were. Let us hope that we as Americans can learn to stop isolating ourselves through our military actions and can start engaging the world in more positive ways through the noninterventionalist approach our Founding Fathers envisioned.

If I were President, I would concentrate on making our nation stronger by returning the military to it’s role as protector of American interests and away from it’s current role as empire builder for whichever ideologues that happen to hold power. I would also work to rescind all acts the government has used to take away American individual rights in the name of “protecting” us, such as The Patriot Act. And finally, I would strive to return the power of declaring war back where it belongs, with congress.

Silly ideas, I know, but I can dream can’t I?

Let's take a little break while Dane continues to work on his "if I were president" entry

I wanted to share with you a book I've been reading call Three Cups of Tea. It's an inspirational true story of a man named Greg Mortenson. He grew up with his missionary parents in Tanzania, but attend high school and college in Minnesota and now lives in Bozeman, Mont. He doesn't believe that the war on terror can be won in a battle. He's fighting terrorism by educating children in Pakistan; building schools for boy and girls so they can know more about the world around them. They are not trying to "westernize" them, but to teach them by their own people, their own culture. Children who don't get this education have the option of being "educated" in madrassas -- which are militant "schools" that don't teach academics, but extremism. And of course, provide food and shelter, which is something most of their parents can't provide. It's a book that will inspire you, if nothing else, to tell your friends.... Here's his Wikipedia entry that links to the book and more....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson

Bleery-Eyed Observations

So, it is all done (except for the Coleman/Frankin fiasco). Obama will be our next president. I’m surprised at how much I really don’t care. I guess I gave that up when I graduated from college and my youth left me. Those of you who have known me for years know how passionate I used to be about politics.

Anyway, I think that the Obama win does bring up some very interesting, albeit early, observations. Here are three of many.

1. Little criticism of how poorly the Republicans competed in this election. I was waiting to hear some pundits acknowledge what a mess the Repub’s are and what a bad job they did. Instead, I hear gums flapping on Fox News about how the Dem’s don’t have a mandate to govern. Huh?! No wonder the Repub’s lost! If the Repub’s don’t pull their collective heads out of their a****, they had better get used to losing. They can’t live in their “la-la land” forever. Bad choices. Bad organization. Bad execution. Terrible. They really need to return to the core values of the party and relate to people how those core values apply to everyone, not just rich, white folks or white folks who aspire to be rich.

2. Will there now be a shift in affirmative action? I’m not for affirmative action. I do think that, historically, it did have its place. Minorities would have not had the same opportunities without it. I, as a female, have likely benefited from it. However, Obama ascending to the presidency, in my opinion, has placed affirmative action into a different light. A major barrier has been removed. Obama would have never been elected without votes from white people. It will be more difficult for minorities to use the race card. I’m not ignorant enough to think that racism will disappear. You wouldn’t believe the racist comments and jokes I’ve heard over the course of this election. However, I think that it will be more difficult to use the ‘poor me - pity party’ excuse as an obstacle to individual success.

3. Will Obama be able to deliver on the promises? Likely not. Neither would McCain if he had been elected. I’ve survived party changes in office before, and, guess what?! Not much ever seems to really change. Most pundits and talking heads tend to over dramatize the actual effects that a change in party in office actually brings. Economically, we seem to have more serious issues to deal with than I can remember, but we have survived. We have been involved in unpopular wars before and have survived. People can still own their hunting rifles. I can still spew forth my goofy opinions and not be jailed for them. The pendulum of our country has always swung from left to right, right to left, back and forth, and we have survived. Promises or no promises, we will survive. Isn’t democracy great! And, no, people, we aren’t going to become a socialist country. Another ‘buzz word’ used to scare people. Scare tactics generally seem to work pretty well, but it didn’t for the Repub’s this time. (See #1)