Scatter Shooting

With all that is going on currently in the world and my seemingly out of touch position relative to much of it, I have to rant a little. This enterprise, no matter how meaningless, is desirable to me to keep my sanity. It's like "defraging" your hard drive.

Here are some questions for my liberal friends.

- Why is referring to McCain's age by comment or inference O.K. while comment or inference relative to Obama's race or religion a cardinal sin.

- Why is Senator Obama's pastor, his wife's utterances, his international experience, his associations in the past, his reference to the blue collar folks of Pennsylvania off limits.

- Why has the main stream press not publicized the progress in Iraq?

- Why has the planet cooled for going on two decades and this has gotten no press.

- How is it that Al Gore's trust has a 8% plus interest in a company that sells cap and trade credits?

- When we are supposed to be "color blind" and beyond race we should agree it is time to focus on issues. But yet Senator Obama seems to want special dispensation from discussing issues. Why ?

Excuse my frustrations but maybe this will help me to get it off my chest. If there are comments I would like to hear them.

Half a Loaf

There is an old adage, "half a loaf is better then none. Or as my banker used to say,
"part of something is better than all of nothing."

This is what is facing us as Republicans. To us, John McCain is bringing to this campaign a lot of baggage. His votes as a senator on drilling in the Alaska wildlife preserve, global warming, the proposed cap and trade energy bill, election reform, etc have not just been anti-conservative, they have been "in your face" anti-conservative.

My first election interest was the 1992 election. I was really impressed by Robert Taft and his conservative philosophy. I have been a conservative ever since. Unfortunately most of my adult life, relative to presidential elections, I have ended up voting against someone instead of for someone. Ronald Reagan gave me my first opportunity to vote for a winner with whom I shared strongly their political philosophy.

This year we are faced with a grim dilemma. Obama is unacceptable. His speech on defense shows his desire to gut the military capability of this country, practice appeasement, U N supremacy and ,in essence, national suicide. Add this to the total liberal, big government and elitist beliefs and you spell disaster. To imagine having a president in time of war who will not wear a flag lapel pin or put his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem and you wonder if we have awakened in George Orwell's "1984" world.

So what about McCain. As I indicated in the title to this piece, something is better than nothing. What can we pretty well count on with John McCain? In national defense we would have a leader we could feel would not sell out America. A man who by his courage in combat has shown his love for his country and his devotion to duty. In John McCain we would have a person who would fight run away congressional spending and by my observation would use the veto pen to back up the bully pulpit. We have a candidate who has pledged to appoint strict constructionists to the supreme court - and who I think we could rely on to keep his word. I think we would have a president who would veto bills which expanded the power of government in economic affairs.

This is certainly speculation. But we can't accept the alternative. So all of us should get off of our hands and push for the election of McCain. America as we know it can not survive Obama.