The journey from there to here
Gideon MacLeish's Articles In Politics » Page 21
March 6, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
While politics have always been heated because of conflicts of various sides, our ability to succeed has always been contingent on a minimum level of civility. Sure, many conflicts have been less than civil, but at the end of the day, politicians should make decisions as to the best interests of their constituents. The current flap with President Bush is no exception. Bush won his second term as president in 2004, and his term of office expires in January of 2009. After that, he cannot hold t...
March 1, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
As the debate rages on about the UAE ports deal, I have found a very interesting fact as I have listened to where various pundits fall on the issue. Oddly enough, opinions on the ports deal are NOT falling along party lines. This is probably the first area of politics I have found where Michael Medved, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter can all be found on the same side. I will be the first to admit, when I first heard about the ports deal, I had a bad feeling about it. VERY bad. And, in fact, had...
March 1, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I just finished reading "Protecting Children from Child Protective Services" by Alan L. Schwartz. This is not the ravings of some anti-government conspiracy theorist against CPS, but of a worker who has seen the system from the inside and has several strong solutions. While Mr. Schwartz and I disagree on many issues, mainly the fundamental one of whether CPS should even exist in a perfect world, we have a common goal of the best interests of the children and families. One of the things that...
February 27, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I've watched with interest the debate over the deal that would sell several ports in the United States to the United Arab Emirates from a British company. Although I must admit the deal had several alarm bells ringing in my head when it was first announced, I am starting to believe that this deal should, in fact, go through. While it is true that several terrorists have hailed from the UAE, it is irresponsible to consider that as reflective of the mood of the nation. Just as Lynndie England i...
February 19, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
When the cartoons satirizing the prophet Mohammed were published in a Danish newspaper and the Muslim community acted with outrage, we took notice. But was the outrage of the Muslim community genuine, or was it a staged attempt to feed the media examples of Islamic "persecution" to justify to the Western world the motivation of an Islamic suicide bomber, which is, for the most part, wholly incomprehensible to us? The fact is, I would be willing to wager a fair sum that not one individual read...
February 17, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
The biggest threat to the United States of America is not the Muslim terror cells that are believed to be operating in this and other countries with intentions of attacking us in large scale operations. It isn't right wing militia groups who hoard weapons in rural compounds and train their members to ward off a government attack. It isn't even the swarms of illegal aliens coming across our boarder, aided and abetted by their own governments, to make money to send home to their families in their ...
February 16, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I participate in several Libertarian discussion groups. On one, I asked for references to businesses that make campaign materials, preferably those owned by Libertarians. I was directed to a business card company and a bumper sticker company. Yesterday I called the bumper sticker company, and discussed what I wanted for the campaign. We discussed sizes of the bumper stickers, colors, and wording. I left a lot of the decisions up to them, as I am not a designer (the extra cost for them to prod...
February 14, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Link Oh, brother, this is nuts. Now, members of the media are questioning why Vice President Dick Cheney never took hunter's safety courses, implying that that was part of the reason the accident occured. There's one teeny weeny problem there: Texas state law, at least (he was hunting in the state of Texas, remember?) does not reuire hunter's safety for anyone born before 1972. So either the Veep is too young to hold the office (and has a case of progeria) or this law doesn't apply.
February 13, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
OK, pop quiz. True or false: as a United States citizen, the government gives you certain rights, as enumerated in the Bill of Rights? If you've been paying attention here, you would know the answer to that question is: false. While this is a commonly held assumption, it is, in fact, a misunderstanding that has led to our enacting numerous laws that are, in fact, in violation of the United States Constitution. The truth is, the Bill of Rights details rights that we HAVE as US citizens, tha...
February 12, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I have often made the quite legitimate accusation against certain foreign bloggers that there are dynamics of our American society that they don't understand, and that they write in ignorance of some of those dynamics. Now I have to plead guilty to doing that myself. You see, in the recent uproar over the cartoons published in a Danish newspaper, I applied AMERICAN constitutional standards to my opinion, not those of Europe, or specifically the Danes. While my assessment of the situation w...
February 8, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
Well, today I had to stop in at the county courthouse and use a notary. They're becoming familiar with me down there. I had to get my Personal Financial Statement notarized so I could have it mailed before the Feb 13 deadline. The Personal Financial Statement, for those who are unaware with this bureaucratic nightmare, is the draconian byproduct of campaign finance laws. In the state of Texas, it is an 18 page detailing of everything you've owned and everywhere you've worked in the previous y...
February 8, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
When we were discussing Islam and its tacit tolerance of the riots that have come to pass over the recent Danish cartoon fiasco, one blogger suggested that Indonesia was a model of Muslim tolerance and a refutation of the idea that Islam is by and large a destructive force. I would be interested to have that same individual explain to me why it is that the government of Indonesia is urging Danes to leave the country ( Link ). Why they do not stick up for the rights of these citizens, who had...
February 8, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I want to be fair here. Not all liberals defend Islam. In fact, most that I know do NOT (except in the sense that they defend the rights of all humanity). But for those who do, their defense of Islam is inexplicable, considering their traditional political positions. Let's go over a few "liberal" positions for analysis, shall we? The environment : Liberals are quick to condemn our dependence on fossil fuels in the west. They are quick to decry our environmental atrocities, while failing to h...
February 5, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
I couldn't come up with a creative title for this one, so I decided to put it under the title of "campaign update". Not a bad idea, though, it's good for my filing system when I go to put the book on the campaign together. I am currently poring over the 24 (YES, 24!!!!) pages of paperwork I have to fill out for my personal financial statement. I can't finish it until tomorrow, though, because I have some questions that I can only ask in "real time". It is the first of many deadlines I will fa...
February 4, 2006 by Gideon MacLeish
In reaction to the publication of an offensive image of Mohammed, Protestors have taken to the streets, lighting the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on fire. Apparently ignorant of the concept of free speech, this violence is in retribution for the governments allowing the publication of the offensive cartoon. When discussing the outrage, pundits have rightly turned to the now notorious "Piss Christ" in order to establish relevance in our majority Christian society. It is an apt co...