A Super Fat Tuesday: Picking A Candidate before Lent???

I am not a practicing Catholic, so don't go thinking I have "found Jesus." (I didn't know he was missing...)

With the super pre-election process coming to a frothy end, at least on the Republican side, I guess I'll step out on the plank and pick a candidate: Barack Obama.

I believe all the candidates have "their diseases" not revealed to their wives or husbands, in the case of Hillary. But I also think it is not sound to just ignore it, or not "change it", or otherwise, not vote for it.

I think Barack Obama can and does stand for a change in the policies that have decidedly led the United States into a pit of delusion, mediocrity and rabid preachiness at the cost of its soul.

Among other things, I believe he can see the Environment Issues in a whole new light, if directed well. He comes from a state that uses Nuclear Power heavily, which, even give a skeptics point of view, is more ecologically friendly than coal, oil or other means devised currently by man. (And he did not rule it out in the Nevada debate, unlike Senator Edwards who took the easy route on Yucca Mountain.)

A book about this subject, written by a former, anti-Nuclear proponent is currently in my possession. Power to Save the World:The Truth About Nuclear Energy by Gwyneth Cravens tells of the fallacies spread about Nuclear Power Industry and Radiation Scares that are overblown. The extremely efficient nature of the beast - and why even the Sierra Club, once a supporter, became anti-nuclear and spread misinformation.

But back to Barack.

He has more than "energy" that I like. I think he could be great president. He seems geniune about his feelings toward people. And his gravitas can make up for inexperience that Hillary & McCain will attack like a pit bill.

In one interview on BET, he actually spoke logically about the criminal justice system and the propensity to put a disproportionate number of African-Americans & economically-poor people behind bars. And more to the point, the inability to educate or improve their lot before they are released again. (His website buttresses this idea.)

Iraq. He wasn't at the front of the line or willing to let his political party's weakness deter him from opposing the war from day one. Having those instincts, as we have faithfully come to realize, are apart of becoming a good President. If due diligence had been done by the alphabet Agencies, Congress, "The Media", we might all be more secure today than we are under the Bush administration.

Barack Obama: "I made a different judgment. I thought our priority had to be finishing the fight in Afghanistan. I spoke out against what I called "a rash war' in
Iraq. I worried about, ‘an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined
costs, and undetermined consequences.’ The full accounting of those costs and
consequences will only be known to history. But the picture is beginning to come
into focus.”

Foreign Policy. Diplomacy. This is a word that can mean many things, and in the case of Bush, nothing at all. I do believe you have to talk to people, friend or fiend. If anything as Barack's message states:

"Not talking doesn't make us look tough – it makes us look arrogant, it denies
us opportunities to make progress, and it makes it harder for America to rally
international support for our leadership. On challenges ranging from terrorism
to disease, nuclear weapons to climate change, we cannot make progress unless we
can draw on strong international support."

In all, I think Barack is a way to the future. Not without flaws, or policy deficiencies, but at least a vision I can get behind.

(Note: He wouldn't want my support if solely on the basis of my personal flaws, background and shortcomings. But I hope that does not deter him in receiving my endorsement, such as it is.)

Washington Unrest: Crime & Punishment

Crime and Punishment...sounds catchy, I bet it would make a good book title???

I didn't follow this story too closely, but Idaho Senator Larry Craig must feel like a total fool. First for his incident in a Minneapolis airport, then for the comments related to his sexuality.

"I'm not gay."

Like making a declaration in public ever really solves anything.

It is good to see little changes in world when Senator John McCain and CO. come out of their woods of integrity to say, "resign,"(you fool.) In part because he broke the law. In the greater reality because he makes the bible-thumping, war-mongering party of Lincoln look like a bunch of 3rd rate pedophiles/sex fiends. (No offense to the the real peds and fiends.)

His buds in the Republican political arena, Norm Coleman, Mitch McConnell and McCain, barely let the door open to reasoning before kicking out Craig without even a real ethics investigation. Why? Because the wounds of the 2006 election, with Republican Rep. Mark Foley doing the near catastrophic damage to an all ready easy target, the President, his congressional foils, dupes and yes men, was nearly too much to bear.

In a brutal symmetry, both were heavily invested in preaching an anti-gay, anti-sexual predator platform while engaging in their odd ball behavior.

I don't have any political stance on what should be done...Frankly, Congressman, Senators, Advisors, Judges, Lawyers, Police are nearly all cut from the same cloth. They take power to an extreme; operate on the ethical/moral edge and usually fall off; and judge others by standards they refuse to uphold in their own lives.

In America, roughly 2.3 million people are sitting behind bars. With an estimated 5.7 million out as ex-cons. 1 in 37 people are considered "people not to know." Given the illegal immigrants that so, so many people despised, another 12 million people are likely lawbreakers by being here, if estimates are accurate. So that's 20 million people you wouldn't want as neighbors, or roughly 1 in 15 people in America.

It shouldn't surprise us that 4 or 5 Congressman (I'd say more like 15 to 20) are deviant lawbreakers, hell bent on covering it all up. Just like it shouldn't surprise us that 5% of your police force, public officials, priests, psychologists, teachers, firemen, librarians, social workers, lawyers and judges are parasites of some form or another.

And don't think for a moment you haven't broken bread with characters without character.

Even criminals have seen these folks in action --breaking the laws and bending the rules of morality --just they don't have a voice anyone will listen to.

Bad behavior knows no bounds. It doesn't matter what your religion, creed, sexuality or current income is, people are bound to have something amiss.

But with ALL that being said, it doesn't mean we should never give people opportunities to rehab their lives. Or find out what THEIR story is. It may be far more telling or revealing if we did, and we may find the choices in the road were not so easy to navigate.

The Ultimate punishment is to neglect any hopes in men. To assume he has no soul or compassion or understanding about anything. That after the crime, and repayment to society (even the murderers that will stay forever locked up) we figure, "That's all. Nothing more to ventured on that person."

As much as evil consumes our world, it must have good somewhere in all of us. It may not be the clear good of the soul, but it may be good of occupation or talent that somehow assists the Earth in righting the Ship of Fools it has become to our eyes.

A common term used by our friends in "the system" is that prisoners are a "Recycleable Resource." Meaning they come back, and therefore, provide "The System" with a ready-to-use and abuse means to stay in a healthy business. If it didn't, many would invoke more laws to get people back.

The "Resource" should be constructive, not destructive. Yet, to hear solutions piped over the airwaves of America, we just want to throw away the key on millions. Millions of people - Nearly the population of Canada - because we just want OUR world to be safe.

It isn't that easy folks...it is never just that easy.