A Review of Philip Stiefer’s “The War on Terror and Foreign Aid Cost Too Much”

          In this Blog author, Philip Stiefer, proposes that the logical method to decrease national spending is to cut the two largest government expenses, Foreign Aid and Defense.  Stiefer begins his argument of decreasing defense spending with the often unknown fact that the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in US history, as well as the most expensive at close to $11 billion a month.  His proposal is a withdrawal of all US troops from all theaters of action, and while this may seem like a good idea to some I simply cannot agree.  The removal of US troops from Theaters such as Kosivo, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan would result in those countries being thrown into an even more serious state of chaos.  It would also seriously jeopardize the lives of all those who made the mistake of helping us in those conflicts, as well as seriously threatening our national security. 

           

            I think that a more reasonable proposition would be the downsizing of US Troops in those areas by increasing the UN’s rolls in those theaters.  Readdressing the roles that American Soldiers play in those conflicts is another way to reduce our presence and overall expenses.  By shifting our forces into a training and oversight based roll we can reduce the number of soldiers in harms way as well as the economic footprint these actions leave.  These changes however will have to be done slowly to accomplish the goal safely, a lesson that was learned with human lives after a hasty withdrawal from Vietnam.

            Stiefer’s second argument of reducing and restricting US Foreign Aid is something that I whole-heartedly agree with and an issue that I cannot believe has not received more attention throughout the last election.  The projected spending on US Foreign Aid during 2010 is over 10 TIMES the national budget for education an idea that, in my humble opinion, is completely ludicrous. The author makes a very good argument about the fact that while our nation has the highest Defense and Foreign Aid budget in the World we are falling faster and faster in categories like education and incarceration.  This is a smart, well written, blog and while I may not agree with all the details the idea of reducing these expenditures is one that we cannot afford to ignore any longer.  I hope that you read this Blog and that you find it as intriguing and though provoking as I did, you can find a link to this piece below:

http://philipstiefer.blogspot.com/

An Education Crisis

Pay Now or Pay Later…

            Throughout my time in the military I was fortunate to travel to other countries and experience new cultures, but of all the encounters with locals one saying stuck with me the most, “…if you speak three languages your educated, if you speak two your functioning, if you speak one your American.”  It was reactions like this that lead me to the realization that we, as a nation, are at an increasingly enormous disadvantage to the rest of the world both socially and economically.  For decades we have relished in our social isolation and until recently we also enjoyed the lead roll in the global economy, but as times change so to must we.  With the ever-continuing advancement of technology the world is becoming smaller than ever and our global market place is now more intertwined than ever before.  If we do not take immediate action to improve our public education system, not only with foreign languages but also in math and sciences, we will see our strength in this market continue to dwindle at an ever-increasing rate.

            My proposed legislation for this dilemma is an Education Reform Bill, one that, if enacted, would create the largest change to public education since de-segregation.  My Bill proposes that the Federal Government will, at a minimum, triple its current funding for public education of $46.7 billion to close to $150 billion.  With this increased funding states education boards will extend the school year by two weeks and extend each school day by one hour.  This extra time will be used to accommodate increased education in the fields of Science and Math, as well as Foreign Languages education beginning as early as the 1^st Grade.  Along with current language options it will also be mandatory for all schools to offer, at the least, a basic Mandarin-Chinese course.  Federal-Aid for Education Majors will also be doubled from $7 billion to $14 billion in order to help cope with the personnel shortages education advancements that will need to be addressed to fully implement this program.

            Funding for this endeavor will unfortunately have to come from tax increases, and while no two words in our society bring about as much anger or animosity, in this case they are very necessary.  If there is any doubt about that fact all you have to do is look at studies, published this year, showing that US students placed 21st and 25th respectively in the fields of science and math.  Also the fact that less than 9% of Americans are bi-lingual compared to the much higher international rate of 43%, while those numbers may not sound alarming to some it would be ignorant to assume that it will not have an enormous negative impact on future generations.  While I am as apprehensive as anyone about the idea of increasing taxes, rest assured that every dollar we skimp on now will cost us ten-fold in the decades to come.  So with this I will leave you with a question… Can we really afford to keep putting off the renovation of a clearly inadequate system? So what’s it going to be Pay Now or Pay Later?      

A Great Look at a Bad Subject

Critical Review of: “This Years Attack Ads Cut Deeper” by Molly Ball

            In her most recent blog on www.Politico.com, author Molly Ball looks into the recent trend of increasingly negative campaign ads making incredibly personal negative statements about candidates.  While mudslinging is often a simple fact of life in modern politics, as Ball points out, this year “Candidates have been accused of wanting to gas house pets, inject young girls with dangerous drugs, let men beat their wives and assist child molesters.”  She has taken time to investigate many of the claims that have been made by canidates and party supporters and done an excelent job of staying objective and non-partisan.  She also takes time to point out however that while a claim may be outragious that doesn’t always mean that it is a complete lie, instead that there are often half or partial truths involved in almost all of them.  In the case of Rick Perry and the the “Daughters” ad where supporters of his opponent, Bill White, accuse Gov. Perry of wanting to inject all 11  and 12 year old girls with experimental STD vaccines to make a personal profit.  While Perry did push for a bill to provide HPV Vaccines for 11-12 year-old girls, discribing the vaccine as an “expirimental” drug is more than a bit of a stretch.  The accusations of Perry seeking personal gain through these vaccines are also based on  speculation and monitarty connections to providers have yet to be proven.

            Mrs. Ball also notes that with these wild claims often follows an unexpected backlash, after all there has to come a point when common sense kicks in and voters realize the rediculousness of the ads.  I really enjoyed the common sense outlook of this blog and the authors objective appoach to it, she takes time to point out accusations across the party spectrum.  To end the piece she leaves us with a question, as November gets closer you have to wonder is it only going to get worse or will the American pubic finally call for an end to this negitative and corrosive practice? I would love to say that we will finally take a reasonable stance in politics, but I just don’t thnk were that ready to give up our tabloid-esk love of politics.

Read the Blog at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43698.html

Editorial Review of Paul Thornton's "Pledge to America" Assessment

With political polarization at an all time high and voters desperate for change in an abysmal economy, each party is struggling to gain a secure foothold in voter support for the upcoming November elections.  Accordingly the GOP has been working hard to identify its policies and agendas for 2011, and did so in the highly discussed “A Pledge to America”.  The Los Angeles Times’ Paul Thornton took time to dissect this “pledge” from a different angle in today’s editorial, “The Republican 'Pledge': Who does the GOP think Americans are?”. 

This is a very interesting new look into the assumptions of party politics without getting caught up in endless policy discussions.  Thornton’s assesments of the all to common fear driven jargon that has continued to consume the right wing is right on point.  I espicailly liked his coments on the assumptions of many Republicans that come November, Tea Party supporters are automaticly going to be Republican supproters.  This is an idea that I believe could prove to be devistating to Republican hopes, much like in the recent Delaware elections.  Thornton also discusses that while recent polls show that the majority of respodants would vote Republican, that this is not nessiccarily because of party or value based ideals.  Instead voter have shown their allegiences to be with economic policies and promises.

This is a brief, but well writen, editorial with an insightful outlook on a topic that is moving to the front of the political world.  I hope you enjoy it, and take some time to read the different party policies and agendas before making your decision.

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2010/09/gop-writers-are-no-thomas-jefferson.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpinionLa+%28L.A.+Times+-+Opinion+Blog%29

Desperate Times… The Texas Governors Race

      

    As the old saying goes “Desperate times call for desperate measures”, this may also prove to be true in our states upcoming elections.  For the over a decade there have been a few things in Texas that can always be counted on; April showers, August heat,the Cowboys looking great right up until the playoffs start, and Governor Rick Perry sitting on the hill. 

            Well, April saw plenty of showers, and August was defiantly hot, but according to the New York Times former Houston Mayor, Dem. Bill White, may have something to say about Governor Perry’s seat on the hill.  According to New York Times political analysts, White has now closed the gap on Gov. Perry to within 6% in all poles, giving Democrats hope for a victory in what is consistantly a very conservative state.     

            So why the sudden change, where did this sudden support come from? It has been sparked by same events that have driven our country to so adamantly seek change in the governing bodies of our nation, the recession.  When times get tough the people look for new leadership, something that Bill White promises to give but something that Governor Perry warns against.  Perry remains ever insistent over the successes of his conservative policies and is avidly Anti-Obama in almost all matters.  Former Mayor White, on the other hand, is a slightly more than conservative democrat, one who is very supportive of the recent Recession Act legislation and wishes to use more policies like those to help boost the waning Texas economy.  While White’s victory is still considered to be a long shot, it’s still a shot, and one that Democratic Party members are still a little skittish to hop on board.

            This is a very well written segment that provides all the usual mud that tends to follow modern politics but also some of their policy and political history.  I urge that everyone reads this article and does research into the options that are on the table in the upcoming election.

                             http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/politics/17texas.html?_r=1&hp

Important decisions should never be made uninformed…Take time and learn about the issues before making this one…

Giving The Man His Dues....

     Glenn Beck... One of the most polarizing figures in politics today, his over dramatic and often soap opera-esk antics have made him a right wing hero and the face of “evil” for most democrats and liberals. I myself tend to fall into the later; I find his antics and rants to be nothing more than cheap, poorly thought out, short sighted divisive rhetoric. With that being said, I fully expected his recent Restoring Honor Rally to be another all day Tea Party convention. Yet for all the expectations, the visions of anti-Obama, anti-Democrat, "the way it used to be" chants never came to be. While still clearly conservatively and christian based, Mr. Beck and the other speakers stayed true to their promise of avoiding any purely political agendas. Instead they focused more the idea of restoring traditional religious and moral values, and warned of the possible consequences facing our country if we fail to do so.

    

     To be honest I really only have one major complaint about the event; I believe that the choice of time and location for this rally was unbelievably disrespectful and nothing more than a “Head Line” stunt. For the individuals involved to schedule the event on the anniversary of the Civil Rights March is degrading and insulting to the legacy and memory of Rev. King and all those who took part in what was clearly one of the defining moments in our nations history.

     With all things considered though, I really must give Glenn Beck his dues I thought much too less of him prior to this event to take any statements or promises given by him even remotely serious. He showed a great deal more restraint and consideration than I gave him credit for,

… and for that Mr. Beck I applaud you, well atleast until the next time we have to endure another teary-eyed Fox News highlight.