The Saga Continues...

I apologize in advance if this blog is rambling, it's been a long day.
Good news is that I've made it to the main doctor again... bad news is the doc I need to see is booked up for a couple of weeks.

Now I'll get to the point- Senator Chuck Hagel today said that a US draft may be unavoidable if the war in Iraq continues.

I feel that if the war had not been mismanaged in the first place, this wouldn't even have to be considered. If you remember, we went to war on the promise of finding WMD's in Iraq, and NONE were ever found. Later, the reasons became the "War on Terrorism" and "Fighting the Global Axis of Evil." Now don't get me wrong, Saddam Hussein was a nasty guy... but look at the lives (civilian and military) that have been lost for a war that the basis for was fictitious. Wouldn't it have made more sense to send in a Special Forces team to take him out, or even try and negotiate with him? Pres. Bush says that the US doesn't negotiate with terrorists. If you don't negotiate with the people that you fear, you become overwhelmed by the fear itself. The old saying, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," carries real weight. In my experience, it will more often be your friend that stabs you in the back, and not your enemy.

If we continue this pattern of invading and avoiding people that we don't agree with, nothing will be gained and so much will be lost. Last spring, I spent an amazing and eye opening day with kids from military families and several service members that have been in Iraq. The kids don't understand why their family members are sent to a war that they see is pointless. The service members called Iraq, "A disastrous bloodbath."

I ask you, what have we gained with this war other than destroying lives and international relations? Access to one of the world's top oil suppliers so that the oil companies won't have to pay as much?

At what price of lives, American, Iraqi and Afghan, does it become too much? Ten Thousand? A Hundred Thousand? Would we accept the civilian deaths that we are now accepting in these wars if they were happening in the United States?

What world are we leaving our next generation?

Andrew Meyer- Where's Our Free Speech Rights Now?

Most of you know the story of 21-year old university student Andrew Meyer from Florida who got tasered at a John Kerry political rally.

The news says he was reportedly pulled away from the microphone after "loudly and repeatedly trying to ask Senator Kerry questions at a campus forum." It's not the tone he was asking in, it was the questions he was asking. Campus police pulled him away after he asked about impeaching Bush and whether or not Kerry and Bush were a part of the Yale secret society, Skull and Bones. Senator Kerry was going to answer the question and even can be heard saying on the video, "It's all right, let me answer his question," as campus police seized Andrew Meyer. Do we really live in a day and age where a person can't ask a question about the standing President without spending a night in jail? No other president in history has gotten away with this level of secrecy.

Have our free speech rights gone completely out the window? Jeff and Nicole Rank, who live in Corpus Christi, TX, were arrested at the President's Fourth of July speech for wearing Anti-Bush shirts. They were charged with trespassing. How were they trespassing if it was a public event? Will the next generation of American's be known as the "censored generation?" Will we just become accustomed to our free speech rights becoming, "We support free speech, but not really, you can't wear anything that criticizes prominent people."

Just some food for thought.
-Mer