Two Powerful Pieces

I'd like to draw your attention to Riverbend, an Iraqi woman, and Kevin Tillman, brother of Pat Tillman, the former pro football player who enlisted in the Army and was killed. Both speak powerfully to what a situation we find ourselves in here in America, fighting an immoral war led by a corrupt, cynical administration.

I try to avoid exaggeration and hyperbole in criticizing President Bush and this administration. In general, I try to assume that even politicians I disagree with completely still care about America and hold America's best interests at heart. However, President Bush and the current Republican leadership has overwhelmed me. I used to consider myself a moderate. I used to be one of those people who votes for the person, not the party. No longer.

I can't say I'm inspired by the current Democratic leadership, which has shown little courage in standing up to the Republicans. But at this point, I'd vote for the most cowardly, stupid Democrat before I'd vote for any Republican. At least if the Democrats were in control of Congress, maybe they could slow down the President. "Moderate" Republicans like McCain, Spector, Hagel, and Graham are jokes. They talk about stopping torture and defending habeas corpus, but when it comes time to act, they always cave. They always find a "compromise" that gives President Bush everything he wants.

Republicans are trying to scare voters by talking about the possibility of Speaker Pelosi. That sounds a whole lot better than Speaker Hastert to me. It feels like the first step toward restoring the Constitution that the Republicans have trashed.

I won't have the pleasure of voting against a Republican incumbent this November, but I hope if you are currently represented in Congress by a Republican, you take full advantage of your opportunity to "throw the bums out."

Speaking of soft...

The shooting of the Amish school girls is provoking neither fear nor hatred among the Amish:

The Amish have also been reaching out to the family of the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, who committed suicide during the attack. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.

"I hope they stay around here and they'll have a lot of friends and a lot of support," Daniel Esh, a 57-year-old Amish artist and woodworker whose three grandnephews were inside the school during the attack, said of the Robertses.

Huntington, the authority on the Amish, predicted they will be will be very supportive of the killer and his wife, "because judgment is in God's hands: `Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Would that there were more of this in the world!

A Convenient Hiding Place

Declaring yourself an alcoholic and disappearing into rehab for thirty days seems to have become the latest convenient hiding place when scandal erupts. First Mel Gibson (though he was at least drunk when he precipitated his scandal) and now Mark Foley - 30 days, no reporters, just issue a few appropriately remorseful statements through your lawyer, and wait for the news cycle to move on to the next scandal.

So, which rehab center is going to borrow Southwest's ad campaign: "Need to get away?"

Soft on Terror

President Bush continues to paint the Democrats as being soft on terrorism and national security. Okay, fine. Has being hard on terror gotten us anywhere?

Maybe it's time to consider the possibilities of being soft, which is to say, treating other people, even Arabs and Muslims, as human beings. We already know the current strategy is creating terrorists faster than we can kill them.