Sick at heart...

I am sick at heart over the violence, and the lives that have been lost, in the countries supposedly liberated in the Arab Spring.

I was disbelieving that our Ambassador to Libya was killed, along with three of his colleagues. Is it not a long-standing tradition that an Ambassador is untouchable? He is the representative of peaceful cooperation between countries. He speaks for his country, and communicates to his country the requests, requirements of the country for which he is a liaison.

It is the ultimate in disrespect for Libyans to take the Ambassador’s life. It is the ultimate disrespect to the country that he served.

I agree with Donald Rumsfeld that these things are happening as “a result of perceived American weakness”.

I believe that the response of the Obama Administration was weak, and slow, and completely inadequate.

But it is nothing new.

I am weary of an administration that seems to gauge or change its response by putting a finger in the air to check which way the wind is blowing. I think we saw their true convictions in their immediate response – which in this event, seemed to be apologetic – but when this response didn’t get the ratings desired, they changed things up, so as not to lose their audience.

Bill Clinton did this all the time too, except there wasn’t Twitter, et al, for the immediate consequences. He had to wait for the polls.

Establishment Republicans are pro-active in their directional determinations, and refuse to risk alienating, not so much their base, but the fence-sitters they think they can’t live without.

I’m tired of it all.

Whatever happened to convictions and men who would act and “damn the torpedoes”! If President Obama’s true convictions are that the US has something to apologize for, I wish he would live by it, wrong as it may be.  If Mitt Romney believes that the President responded completely inadequately, I hope that he will stand by his statement, and not soften it to make himself look more kind and acceptable to the independents/undecideds.

We need leadership. Our country will soon fail without it, and it has become very scarce. We need to reject those men who pose as leaders, but in reality their greatest conviction is that they must succeed at their personal endeavors. These posers have no regard for the common good. All their efforts are self-serving, despite their talking points that we can’t get through life without a “village”.

They are everywhere, not just in our highest offices. We need to be more discerning, and keep short accounts with our leaders. They need to know that we want truth, conviction and action…not just having our ears tickled with pleasant promises and fake hope.

Of course, that means we must be people of conviction, willing to risk confrontation…and there is the rub. But if we truly love our country, and the amazing opportunities it affords us, we must.

As Plato said: “The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.”

I am weary, but I’m not going to give up. God help me find ways to live as a patriot.

I think I have a better idea...

In her interview with Diane Sawyer on the day after her convention speech, The First Lady listed some of her husband's accomplishments.

One she mentioned was that they were able to give young people, up to the age of 26, the ability to stay on their parents' health insurance.

I think I would have preferred that they accomplished an increase in productivity and a boost to the economy that allowed 22-26 year olds the ability to pay for their own health insurance. THAT would be an accomplishment!

I just don't agree that enabling young people to be dependent on their parents longer is something that should be considered progress.

And I certainly wouldn't be proud to list it as an "accomplishment".

Bittersweet...

I think, after what he said on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we can assume the our Vice President would also find hell to be "bittersweet".

Today, President Obama said that his opponent, Mitt Romney, "has a tendency to shoot first, and aim later".

Mr. President, that is a much more apt description of your Vice President...quite perfectly descriptive...except that there is some question whether he ever does aim at all.

"Stand up, Chuck!" comes to mind...

 The errors he utters indicate he is a man who can't focus enough to adequately address the audience of the day, or keep to the party line. I am still quite astounded that someone who "misspeaks" so profoundly and often, is second in line to the Presidency.

It's another good reason to wish the President good health.