Peace on Earth Goodwill Towards Man

I know the United States is as bad as any of the rest the countries, but during this holiday season when supposedly we are to think of peace and feel love towards our fellow human beings it is too bad that there are so many people in so many countries at war with each other. If I were to pray for anything it would be for the world population to be at peace with each other. It all seems so senseless for us to kill each other.

The very area of the world that first promoted peace and goodwill to the world is one of the areas that is most caught up in the fighting. The U.S. is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia just had a squabble with Georgia and is supplying Iran with missiles and showing support for Cuba, Israel is fighting with the Gaza strip, the British, Pakistan, and India are all either fighting or building up troupes to fight, the pirates in Somalia, almost everyone is involved in one way or another in various wars and confrontations with other countries. What good is it? What is war good for? Who really profits by war other than the small handful of arms suppliers and how much do they promote war between the different countries of the world?

Think of the world's economic problems, the problems with pollution, the dwindling non-renewable resources. Think of all the money that is wasted fighting each other. Think of the grief war causes in loss of life and limb, and the falling of financial markets. Russia bankrupted itself keeping up the cold war with the United States. It is all such a waste. Think of all the money being spent on the machines of war, the amount of oil used in powering these machines.

Now think of all the good that could be done if all this money spent warring was instead spent trying to find solutions to the world's problems. Think about if all the human resources spent on trying to destroy each other and our resources was instead used to improve the lives of people around the world, how much good could be done and how much better prepared we could all be when oil and other renewable and non-renewable resources does run out. We work together in space with people from the same countries that we fight on the ground.

We are all people, all human beings. We might be different colors and speak different languages, but we are all the same. We all have pretty much the same goals. We all want to find someone to love. We all want to raise our families, we want to provide for our families. We want to take pride in what we do to provide for our families. We all morn when we lose loved ones. We all want to be healthy and have our basic necessities met. We want to have a clean, dry, warm places in which to live, we want to be free of diseases and disabilities. When we take up arms and kill people we are killing people who are just like us in more ways than they are different than us. The people who are killed all have mothers, fathers, family and friends that will miss them when they are gone.

We must all try to figure out how to end this madness.

Obama Wins Election

It's been three days since Barack Obama won the presidential election in the U.S.A. I think it's great that the people in United States has come so far as to elect a black man for president. For a country that has been labeled as a mixing pot it has taken a while for this to happen, I for one am not intimidated by the fact that our new president isn't a white man. I think it's about time. Our country has been built by immigrants and people of all colors it's about time that our highest office in the land reflects this. In the past I think we as a people have been pretty hypocritical as we are all immigrants in this land that was taken from the true owners, the American Indian. We have been often called the land of the free, but we have a sorted past for dealing with people who are not white. The American Indian was pushed across their land and eventually put on reservations. Many Chinese helped build the first railroads connecting the west to the east coasts, but they get a small paragraph in history for their accomplishments, the Japanese were rounded up during WWII and placed in concentration camps because powerful white men in power didn't trust them. As recent as after the 9/11 bombings Arabs have been subject to heightened scrutiny and harassment, maybe now we can, as a country, get past the color of a person's skin. To be a really great country we must provide opportunities for all people not just for people of a certain race. I think Barack Obama will be a person that can understand how to deal with these issues without trying to go overboard to correct past injustices or cater to tip the balances in favor of just blacks. Our country has many problems and issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible I hope and pray that he is up to the task, I believe he is. Congratulations Barack Obama.

Iraqi Government Does What U.S. Government Can't

The Northwoods Politic

I get most of my news from the Associated Press and The New York Times. Today I noticed that the Iraqi Government appears to be doing something that our Congress can't seem to do. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is standing up to President Bush in regards to the Iraqi/U.S. agreement that Washington was trying to get approved by July 31st.

According to what I've read, the UN agreement for troops being in Iraq ends at the end of December, but the Bush Administration has been pushing Iraq for an agreement to allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq before the end of July. The reason for this is obvious, Bush wants to get a concrete agreement with Iraq before he leaves office at the end of the year. According to the Bush Administration, they claim that they don't need Congress approval even if they decide to have full status of forces agreement with Iraq. The administration has been pretty mum about what the points of the U.S./Iraq agreement not wanting to have a bunch of resistance from Congress until after the agreement is signed.

Most of what we hear about the proposed agreement is coming from the Iraqi side, our government won't inform us of what they want with Iraq for stipulations. Some of the points that the Iraqi government has taken offense to are:

1.) The U.S. authority to carry out military operations within Iraq.
2.) The ability to arrest Iraqi citizens without Iraqi government's permission.
3.) Getting legal immunity for private security contractors.
4.) Control of Iraqi air space.
5.) Setting a time table for U.S. troop withdrawals.

It sounds like Washington might have dropped the immunity stipulation in regards to the private contractors, but nothing is set in stone yet. Washington has been pretty secretive about what it wants compared to what the Iraqis want. The Iraqis want control of their airspace and basically want the U.S. out of Iraq as soon as possible it sounds like. Even with Iraq talking about wanting withdrawal timetables, U.S. Ambassador Crocker has said, "We are looking at conditions not calendars, and both sides are in agreement on this point. So it doesn't appear like anyone in the U.S. is listening to what Iraqi leaders are wanting. I guess that they are just supposed to trust our government not to infringe on Iraqi rights just like we are supposed to trust our government to follow our constitution. Washington continues to say withdrawals would only be linked to conditions on the ground.

In the last couple days Iraq leaders have made headlines in their standing up to Washington against their perceived danger of turning into indentured servants of the United States. Some of the headlines are:

1.) Iraqi Raises the Idea of Timetable for U.S. Withdrawals
2.) Iraq Demands Pullout Timetable in U.S. Defense Pack Talks
3.) Iraq Insists on Withdrawal Timetable

The United States might bring the Iraqis factions together after all, but it will probably be done by pissing them off about us so much that they will unite against us.

While Iraq and the United States are trying to make some sense out of what to do with the agreement, Israel, the United States, and Iran are having a pissing contest in the gulf. First Isrial carried out maneuvers showing that they could feasibly get to Iran to start a war, then the U.S. and Iran both announced that they would do maneuvers in the gulf with a chance of starting an international incident. Iran stated that it would close out the traffic from the gulf if attacked, so the U.S. sent a convoy to the area to show that they would attack if any sign that the Iranians would put up a blockade. It's kind of like watching a bunch of young boys playing in a playground except that the stakes are much higher.

Barack Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination

As most people probably know, Barack Obama has the Democratic Nomination for the presidential election in the fall. What a historical event the primaries have been, first woman and first black American to run for president. This morning I have read that Obama's first order of business as the Democratic presidential nominee was to instruct the Democratic National Committee to adopt his policy against accepting donations from federal lobbyists or political action committees... Now that is change.

I have great faith that Barack Obama can and will restore the United States' reputation with the rest of the world. I believe that Obama is honest, truthful and sincere when he speaks. I don't envy the work ahead of him when He wins the presidential election in the fall. I think we are all aware of how the Bush administration has politicized every branch and government agency and controlled what information has come out of those agencies, and how our constitutional rights have been trampled. I think it will be years before we are even aware of all the damage the Bush administration has done. With that in mind, I hope that Obama insures the Bush administration is held accountable for it's illegal actions and that any and all perpetrators are brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

There is a lot of talk right now about whether Obama should offer Hillery the vice president position on his ticket. On one hand I can see where that might help to bring Hillery's supporters to his side, but on the other hand she is tied into big business more than Obama, and I got the impression during the primaries that she was willing to say about anything to get votes depending on what group she was talking to even if it meant stretching the truth or telling the truth at all. For this reason I personally hope that Barack Obama finds another candidate for his vice president, one that closer shares his political values and ethics. I also think that having Hillery as his vice president and by default having President Clinton involved would give McCain and the Republicans negative fodder to use against Obama in the presidential race this fall. These are my personal opinions though, what do you think?