Good morning, afternoon and evening everyone. After battling with the cold that my good friend Tannan and his wife gave me during the Fourth of July weekend, I am back to being 100%. I know, you really don't care but then again, this is my blog and I can write what I want (assuming I remain compliant with the Patriot Act and on Homeland Security's good side). I have begun my detailed preparation for the LSAT that I hope to take within the next few months with school starting in the fall ('09). I am still applying for both my MPA and now I am really pressing to going back to school for my JD.
If I go the route of the JD, I will do something useful with it by studying a topic that matters. At this point it probably will be business or real estate law. I can tell you that it will not be anything "environmental" or "social" as I really could care less about those topics. I took a practice test and scored in the 150's, which isn't bad but I want my scores to get up to the high 160's or the 170's before I take the test for real. It will take me three to four years to graduate and I will take the bar but not sure if I will go to a law firm after that or stay in the public sector. Money will play a role in it but I also love the public sector.
Anyway, I am hoping to get up to Montana in late August or early September but I am waiting for my good friend Tannan to get his and his wife's act together. I will need road trip buddies as it is a 17 hour drive that I really do not want to do on my own. I still think that Montana is the land God forgot but I have not been there so for me to express an opinion is premature. I am looking forward to it but I always love a good car ride. I cannot spend too much money as I need to save my money for school, a house, and to pay off my debt. Too much need, not enough income. In other news, I heard this country's wonderful speaker of the house talk about how George Bush and his administration a total failure. Hmmm, I don't know, getting Lybia to give up its hopes at WMD's, helping the Northern Alliance to de-throne the Taliban, getting North Korea to begin dismantling the nuclear program, now sitting down with Iran and opening up a diplomatic presence there, cussing out a reporter during his first campaign, and bring Air Force One and himself to Miramar where I got to be there, 20 feet away, not necessarily a total failure. Yes, there was the whole Iraq war, a war that I supported but not because of the "wmd" excuse. I supported it to get rid of Saddam. Has it been handled well? Of course not. Have there been a lot of failures, absolutely but I wouldn't call it a total failure.
Total failure would be a congress that continues to bow down and pass bills that a majority of its members publicly denounce, yet they keep voting for them and bitching when the President signs them into laws. Pssst. Here's a hint. If you don't pass the laws you don't want, then they cannot be signed into law.
By the way, I come from the school of thought that the US Constitution applies to US Citizens; otherwise it would be very arrogant to think that our laws apply to anyone. I do not see how an alien (no matter what nationality) is covered by our constitution… as long as they are not within the physical boundaries of the US or its territories. Gitmo and the prisoners would be covered because it is considered sovereign US Soil. I strongly disagree with the US actions and support the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding the treatment of prisoners. In all the wars, past, present, and future, the US is/should be better than others in their treatment of prisoners. This is a moral ground that should never be altered, no matter what the "National Security" threat.
3 comments:
Let me start by saying that I am 100% behind you on the whiny bitches in Congress. They keep passing legislation that they then complain about. Whether Republican or Democrat controlled, they've really been just a rubber stamp and they bear just as much responsibility for the last 7 years as Bush does. So I'm all for gang-beating them and cutting Bush some slack. It takes two to tango, and they were willing partners.
I may not like Bush, but I do agree with you that not every policy has failed. Iraq, No Child Left Behind, hunting bin Laden, U.S. energy policy, the national debt, "security policy" (Patriot Act, FISA, domestic spying), and environmental policy have all been horrific failures of a magnitude not seen since Ulysses S. Grant. But there were some successes sprinkled in there. The coalition development and attack on the Taliban was one of those. In fact, the initial response to the events on 9/11, up until Iraq was brought into the equation, I thought was handled well. And his handling of Libya was also well done.
I won't include the diplomatic overtures in the last few months, namely North Korea or Iran. After 7 and a half years of hard-line rhetoric, he waits until election time to put a positive spin on Republican foreign policy? That's bull crap. He had 7 years. To be fair, we were in talks with North Korea until they pulled out, so maybe I won't count that against him after all. But Iran is in no way a success, especially since they've given up nothing of their program and we have no proof it's for anything other than peaceful purposes (which we all know it's not, but we need at least some mild evidence of weapons before making accusations).
I'll also agree with you on Iraq- I was initially pro-war, not for WMDs but because Sadam was a dick and I was tired of him not following international agreements and decisions. But my initial reaction was incorrect and that's what I get for reacting based on emotion and without studying any available evidence. As just one example, let's not forget Myanmar, Zimbabwe, China, or any of the other dozens of countries operating under despots and tyrants. Why didn't we go after them? We're torturing prisoners, pulling out of ICBM treaties, and developing new nuclear weapons, all while telling everyone else they can't do those things. We've lost the moral high ground, if we ever had it at all.
He lost my respect when he refused to admit that going into Iraq with no game plan was a mistake. Whether the invasion was warranted or not, the aftermath has been a travesty. Yet he still says America was right and we will win. The refusal or inability to admit mistakes, to me, is a sign of poor leadership. I wouldn't say the whole administration is a failure, but it's pretty bad. For every success I feel like there are two more failures. Whether he was right in the long run remains to be seen, but the short term consequences have been less than promising. I truly believe he's not all bad and that he really did have bad advice and bad counselors. Maybe it's too harsh to say he's a failure. But it's hard to see the good sometimes.
I see your point on the Iran thing. As a general Bush supporter, he has done things that really pissed me off, like not admitting his mistakes. The treatment of the prisoners is probably my number 1 thing that pissed me off. We are better than that. The US does not do that to people.
Road trips sound fun. Make sure not to take whinny crying kids though - sure to ruin it :). I had a roommate for two years who was from Montana - she swore it was the best place on earth. But I must admit I have no idea your opinion on wild life and the part she was from there was plenty.
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