WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks has released approximately 250,000 diplomatic cables from the past 3 years. The cables are fascinating reading but one has to wonder what, other than proving you can do it, is the point?

The release has initiated a criminal investigation by the Justice Department into exactly how the whistle blowing website managed to obtain the documents.

So what do I think about all this? It’s hard to see what the benefit is to anyone. It’s not preventing someone from being falsely prosecuted, it’s not releasing anyone unjustly imprisoned and it’s not exposing unjust wars nor nefarious plots. If anything, it’s jeopardizing a number of peace initiatives.

Did you really think that all diplomatic negotiations were open to public scrutiny? You can be sure that the most critical, and the most potentially productive, are being done under a shroud of secrecy.

So what has WikiLeaks accomplished? Absolutely nothing of value. I’m all for freedom of the press but the press has to be responsible as well. If they did anything illegal to obtain this stuff, I say throw the book at them.

Barbara Bush says "Stay in Alaska"

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted anything on my poor neglected blog in almost three weeks. This one snapped me out of my lethargy.

It seems that Dame Barbara isn't impressed with the erstwhile darling of the Tea Party Sarah Palin. Apparently, in a CNN interview, she expressed the opinion that Palin should stay in Alaska.

Too bad she didn't convince little Georgie to stay in Texas.

Election Night 2010

Well, as expected, the Democrats got taken behind the barn for a good old fashion whooping. I’m not going to say they didn’t deserve it, because they probably did.

However, if you look behind the headlines, you will find both disturbing news and rays of hope.

The disturbing news is that three judges in Iowa, among the seven that voted unanimously to legalize gay marriage, were defeated in their re-election bids. The sole reason for this removal appears to be that vote. The anti-gay marriage forces campaigned hard against them and this was the first time that sitting judges were removed by popular vote.

I never could understand the concept of having judges being elected. This sort of runs counter to the concept of an independent judiciary that can protect the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority. Still, several states do it. I know New York does.

The removal of the judges is by far the most disturbing aspect of last night’s election. Not only does it jeopardize the independence of the judiciary, it clearly demonstrates that the country still isn’t ready for gay marriage.

Ok, now for the good news. The three biggest morons ever nominated for the U.S. Senate, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Joe Miller in Alaska, all appear to have been rejected by the electorate. The only race still up in the air a bit is Alaska where “Write-in” is ahead. This of course is Lisa Murkowski, who is also a moron, but not nearly as big a moron as Miller.

I think we can all take enormous satisfaction in the fact that Angle and, especially O’Donnell, will not be headed for Washington. Here’s hoping they’re headed for obscurity instead.

So now what? Hopefully the Republicans will focus on the economy and financial issues while ignoring, or at most playing lip service to, social issues and the Democrats will meet them half-way. The most important issue over the next two years will be to get some fiscal responsibility in place.

The Democrats didn’t really understand that, perhaps the Republicans do. Personally I doubt it. I’m betting the Republicans do nothing for the next two years other than work at making Obama look bad and blaming the Democrats for everything.

Let’s hope the American Electorate isn’t stupid enough to buy it although I’m pretty sure it is stupid enough.

In the meantime the lame ducks have to wrestle with the fate of the Bush tax cuts. This should be entertaining.

Thoughts before the 2010 Elections

Well, the Democrats are about to get clobbered. Why? It’s the economy stupid.

The Democrats made two fundamental mistakes. First they did not attack first and foremost the issue bothering the country the most and second they did not EXPLAIN to the electorate what
they were thinking and trying to accomplish.

They neither listened nor communicated.

So now the fickle electorate is about to return the Republicans to power. Or at least to half power.

We have some serious economic and fiscal problems that need to be addressed and my fear is that a partisan and fractured government will be unable to do anything constructive.

My second fear is no matter what the government does, the results are not going to meet the electorate's expectations because those expectations are unrealistic . The days of economic boom may very well be over and we may need to rethink our definition of an economic recovery.

I guess we shall see what we shall see.