February 28, 2004
Home At Last!
Whew! A full month has flown by and I’ve neglected to post a single entry out here. Some months are like that…
February has brought good news to our doorstep. My nephew Daniel is safely home back at Ft. Carson after spending a year in Iraq with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Division. I’ve had an entire year to think about the circumstances that sent him over there to risk his life, and I’ve got to say that I still agree it was a job that needed doing. That’s not to say that Congress doesn’t need to investigate the intelligence breakdowns that lead Bush to conclude that the WMD danger was imminent – they do, and I support the right of Congress to exercise oversight.
This political cycle is going to be a nasty one in my opinion. The country is so polarized – red states vs. blue. Personally I think that President Bush has done an OK job on terrorism but his domestic agenda has me wondering if it’s all just a payback to his cronies. Hey, I’m for lower taxes but not in the face of monumental deficits and a lack of willingness for the legislative and executive branches to reign in spending. This is a huge issue with me, and one that has long-term implications for me, my daughter and her children. So what are we talking about now? A constitutional amendment to prevent gay marriages! Moral and social ills don’t rise to the level of a constitutional amendment. Besides, aren’t the Republicans all for states rights? We tried that with Prohibition and it was a bad idea then and a bad idea today.
I actually went out to the Kerry and Edwards web sites this week to read up on what they’re all about. I could tolerate Edwards as president. His web site has some lucid descriptions of what he supports and what his policies would be. Kerry’s is another story… I’m sorry, if you can’t spell out what you believe in and what you’d do in plain English then you can’t have my vote. And don’t try to sell me on the idea of a Kerry / Edwards ticket. As John Nance Garner said, the office of the Vice Presidency was "not worth a pitcher of warm spit."
But I’ve got all summer to worry about the ups and downs of the presidential campaigns. Right now I’m tickled pink that my nephew is safe and at home with his wife. As I sit here drinking my Rolling Rock and listening to the Talking Heads, I’m filled with a sense that no matter what happens, things will work out as they should
