SamSaid!

BUSH-BASHERS

      The “hate George” contingent on the left wing fringe just can't accept the fact that we have a world wide war on terror on our hands. They convince themselves that the killings and bombing are blown way out of proportion and are being used as a convenient excuse for Bush's war in Iraq. It doesn't matter to them whether the bombings occur in Moscow, New York, London, Egypt, Lebanon, Germany, France, Bali, The Netherlands, Israel, Iraq or anywhere else. They practically dismiss them as irrelevant   –  and are “peanuts” in comparison to the US military operations in Iraq. They just love to regale us with tales of irreverent ttreatment of the Koran, and then brush off the small matter of beheading prisoners on TV. You know their line, “bad things happen in war”.

     Now the ideological battleground is shifting to the security of citizens versus civil rights. Should we profile middle easterners, or still randomly search Swedish grandmothers? Should we renew the Patriot Act, or should we gut it and make the law enforcement job that much more difficult. Will it take another loss of life in the 2000 range before common sense tells us that we should dispense with niceties and focus on reality? 

    The other day the Brits shot and killed an suspected terrorist. Very messy affair,  since the Brazilian was not a terrorist (although he behaved like one).  But after 4 bombings of trains and a bus, the Brits came down hard on the terrorist issue – “Shoot to kill”. There are 300 million people in the USA, and a lot of them are bad dudes who would happily die for Allah and take a bunch of us with them. You don't deal with folks like that with kid gloves. We need the Patriot Act, we need clear thinkers, and we need to be willing shoot to kill. We won't find these kinds of people at Cal Berkeley, at Harvard or in the offices of the ACLU.  If we are to be really safe and muster our forces to defeat world wide terrorism,  it will take gutsy people in Washington. Given a choice, I'll stick with George.     

GOOD NEWS

     With all of the terrorist bombings and natural disasters, it is more an more difficult to find those good news items that can bring a smile. Sometimes I think that the TV networks and big newspapers have a contest to see who can paint the bleakest pictures and test the limits of honesty and good taste. But all is not lost.

     The shuttle Discovery is back in space after 2 1/2 years, starting a 12 day mission. Tiger Woods won the British Open by being his dominating best. Lance Armstrong did the impossible  — winning the Yellow Jersey of the Tour de France for the 7th straight time. ( I was glad to see him offer the winning toast, “Vive le Tour”, not “Viva le France”). And, of course we now have a first class nominee (John Roberts) for the O'Connor seat on the US Supreme Court. Even though parts of the economy are a bit shaky, the Dow Jones average is still over 10,500, and China re-evaluated the yuan. So, all is not lost. But it is such a shame to have to look for the bright spots in a dismal panorama.

     Best advice  — keep looking!!