"Arlington" by Trace Adkins

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down.
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown.
They gave me this plot of land,
Me and some other men, for a job well done.

There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road.
The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home.
They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad:
"We're proud of your son."

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

I remember Daddy brought me here when I was eight.
We searched all day to find out where my grand-dad lay.
And when we finally found that cross,
He said: "Son, this is what it cost to keep us free."

Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him.
He recognized me on the first day I came in.
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels,
And saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done.
We can rest in peace;
'Cause we are the chosen ones:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, dust to dust,
Don't cry for us:
We made it to Arlington.

I will miss you Hunter Thompson

Sunday evening I finished a greatly underrated book by Fyodor Dosteyevsky, Notes from Underground. It dealt with a man who secretly desired all the things that make us human:friendship, love, respect of his peers, etc, and yet rejected it intellectually, finally turning away a woman who loved him intensely, because she loved him for who he was, and his view of love(or so he proclaimed to believe), was to tyrannize the object of his love. In some strange way this is an appropriate lead-in to the tragic news that left me in tears earlier, the suicide of Hunter S. Thompson. For those of you who don't know anything about HST, he was a writer whose profound genius was both enhanced and possibly hampered by his drug use. His books ranged from "New journalism" about the Hell's Angels in the 1960's, to political satire, which he was writing up to the time of his death. From reading biographies on him, plus close to a dozen of his books, he seemed a lot like Dostoyevsky's anti-hero in "Underground". His life and career centered around rejecting and recreating the norms of our society. In the '50's the conventional way for journalists to earn credibility was by going from small town writer to the bigger publications. What did he do? He moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico for years and worked for a paper there. In the '60's, journalism was only done by looking on, not participating. What did he do? He actively went everywhere with the Hell's Angels, joining in their parties and hellraising. In the '70's, you didn't cover politics from a partial view point(not openly at least). What did he do? He openly supported McGovern in his coverage for Rolling Stone and was even at the party the night that McGovern was crushed by Nixon. The ensuing book, Fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 is a true masterpiece. In the '70's he ran for mayor of Aspen,CO on the "Freak Power" ticket, and came very close to winning. Such was the life of Hunter S. Thompson. Even in his death, in his fortified compound in Woody Creek,CO, he managed to reject the standards of American Society regarding life and death. I'm not saying if it was right or it was wrong, but it was Hunter.

On a side note, when Hunter heard of Ernest Hemingway's suicide in 1961, he sat at his kitchen table and wept. Well, I and probably hundreds of others did the same thing for Hunter Thompson Sunday night. We can give him no better compliment

The President was in Raleigh! So was I!

The day started off cold and windy. Your loyal Republican and her loyal Republican mother set off from New Bern, NC this morning at 6:00 am, bound for Raleigh and seeing President Bush speak on his proposed changes to Social Security. We were packed into a bus full to the brim with happy anti-tax activists from Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) and members of the Anti-OLF movement. Great debate was had and good political stories were shared in the almost 3 hour drive to the Capitol of the Old North State, but none of us were tired when our feet finally hit Raleigh soil. After a few minutes in a line that was anything but boring, as it was right directly across the street from the Wake County Branch of Idiots R Us, who were loudly chanting nearly unintelligible chants, most assuredly very entertaining in there originality. And then, we were finally in the building! Many of us had been lucky enough to get the coveted Red Ticket, which put you on the floor, with a chance of asking our great President a question. Sadly, despite holding my arm up until it ached, I did not get that chance, but many did, and the debate was quite lively. Everyone I talked to was very supportive of President Bush’s proposed revision of the system, and the only wavers I heard before the event, had been almost entirely cleared up during the Q&A session. While on the floor I had a good deal of time to people watch. On the floor along with me were Supreme Court Justice Paul Martin Newby, Senator Phil Berger, Representative Bill Daughtridge, former NCGOP chairman Bill Cobey, and a host of others. I was fortunate enough to meet all of the above today, so I feel the day was a complete success! I did mange to catch sight of NCGOP Chairman Ferrell Blount and his lovely wife Lynda, Representative David Lewis, and his mother (I knew I liked him, he took his mom too!) plus many more I am too sleepy to remember right now. As I remember new facts, or if my camera ever emits forth any pictures (which seems unlikely, it appears to have gotten one of those strange electronic camera flatulence’s that never are fixed, I’m afraid to say),or if I can talk my friend Joel into sending me some of his pictures I will update the blog.

As promised, here is a link to my friend Joel's pictures of Bush's visit to Raleigh. I do hope you don't care that i'm putting your pictures up Joel.
Pictures

REPUBLICANS LOSE ON OPENING DAY

.

By Representative John M. Blust

January 31, 2005

Republicans were the big losers on opening day of the 2005 legislative session on January 26
when the House passed a resolution, with no debate allowed [!!!] which elected Jim Black
(D.- Mecklenburg) as Speaker and Richard Morgan (?-Moore) as Speaker Pro Tem.

It was already bad enough that Republicans are in the minority in the NC Senate by 29 Democrats to 21 Republicans and in the NC House by 63-57. These Republican minorities in this solidly red state resulted from a Democrat gerrymander of the legislative districts - more North Carolina voters actually voted for Republican candidates in both the state house and state senate races last year.

The Democrat gerrymander passed in November 2003 with the help of some Republicans in the state House led by Rep. Richard Morgan. These Republicans felt it was more important to obtain perks for themselves during the 2003-2004 legislative session than to loyally represent the people back home who sent them to Raleigh. One big reason why the Morgan Republicans voted for the Democrat gerrymander was that it gave them safe Republican districts in which they believed they would not have to be accountable to the voters. Morgan and his followers got such perks as prime office space, seats toward the front of the House chamber, plum committee assignments, paid trips to conventions, more meals paid for by lobbyists, more special interest campaign money, and maybe a tiny bit of pork barrel spending in their districts.

Morgan became co-Speaker with Black last term by effectively undercutting his Republican colleagues. Republicans won a majority of the House seats in the 2002 election, but a party switch by a Republican resulted in a 60-60 tie in the House. Morgan’s group of twelve secretly cut a separate deal with the Democrats which undermined Republican negotiations for equal power sharing. Morgan and Black were made Co-Speakers, but Black retained about a two to one edge in actual power in the House. The Morgan group (which continued to grow as more Republicans sold out to be cut in on the perks) also helped Black and the Democrats pass an enormous tax increase and redistricting gerrymanders designed to leave Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature through the rest of the decade.

Unfortunately for Morgan and his acolytes, the very redistricting plan they helped the Democrats pass enabled the Democrats to regain the majority in the House, even in a year when President Bush carried North Carolina by 14 percentage points. This effectively ended the Co-Speakership reign of Morgan and all of the other perks Morgan and his allies had come to enjoy. For example, Morgan would fly around the state on the state helicopter at taxpayer expense and dole out tax dollars for pet projects in the districts of his loyalists.

In order to salvage something for himself, Morgan secretly negotiated with Black after the 2004 election. Some House Republicans supported Morgan in these efforts hoping to retain some perks for themselves. Black, a savvy politician, knew that he may need more of a working margin to pass another mammoth tax increase this session to plug the massive 1.2 billion dollar structural hole in the state budget that resulted from the failed Co-Speakership arrangement.

More importantly, Black knew that a nominal “coalition” of Democrats and Republicans in the House would give valuable political cover to the Democrats for the coming tax increase and any other policies he may wish to pursue this term. So Black agreed to a nominal “coalition” under which Morgan will get the title of Speaker Pro Tem, which has always been just a ceremonial post. (There wasn’t even a Speaker Pro Tem last term). [!!!]

In essence, the Democrats in the House now go from an arrangement last session where they shared power on about a 65-35 Democrat to Republican basis, to an arrangement where they share power on a 99.9 – 00.1 basis. This is a coalition in name only. The Democrats had to give up virtually nothing because of the desire of Morgan Republicans (actually, that term is an oxymoron) to have some small tokens of present advantage. However, by calling this a “coalition” and with the mainstream old media fawning over “bi-partisan cooperation,” the Democrats will be insulated to a great degree from bearing political responsibility for their actions in this new legislative session. This is a huge advantage for Democrats as they perpetuate the same liberal tax and spend approach they always follow.

In fact, as long as there are Republicans like Morgan in the House, the Democrats need never fear losing majority control. Morgan made an acceptance speech in which he gushed that there would be “coalition” rule in the House at least for the rest of the decade. Make no mistake about it, “coalition” means Democrat control with Republican shared responsibility. [And blame!]

This coalition approach is bad for Republicans because an opposition party is supposed to play the role of proposing alternative solutions to give the voters a choice between policy approaches each election. [!!!]

Republicans in the legislature ought to be uniting behind spending controls, more efficient use of tax dollars, and ultimately, lower levels of taxation and regulation. This will enable North Carolina to have a robust and dynamic economy with growth and opportunity for our citizens, while still addressing the vital needs in education, public safety and other critical state functions.

Instead, about half of the House Republicans have now conceded permanent control of the House to the Democrats by allying themselves with Morgan in the vain hope that they will get to keep some the perks they had come to enjoy above all else.

Think of what would have happened if Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey and the other Republicans in the U. S. Congress had taken this Morgan coalition approach in the early 1990s! A Tom Foley (or Jim Wright)-Gingrich coalition between Democrats and Republicans in Congress would have prevented the Republican victory in 1994 and every year thereafter by blurring differences between the parties. Voters would have had no reason to vote Republican. There would have been no Contract With America and no Republican majorities in Congress. But Gingrich would have gotten a bigger office suite and lots of personal perks.

The liberal press would have profusely praised such an arrangement which would have unilaterally disarmed Republicans. Instead, the mainstream liberal press called Gingrich and his allies in the House “bomb-throwers”, “extremists,” etc., as he and his House allies set the stage for the dramatic 1994 Republican takeover of Congress

North Carolina Republicans now face a situation in which a “coalition” means there is no Republican leadership in the House. The nominal House Republican “leadership” has been silent on the Steve Troxler situation, for example. House “leadership” has also been silent on the Democrat attempts to stifle new Republican state Auditor Les Merritt. Morgan and his Republican followers dare not be critical of the Democrats at all lest their small remaining perks be lost.

The result is a meaningless, marginalized, and mute Republican House caucus paralyzed by passivity, and fettered by flaccidity, fecklessness and fear. Any Republican House member who takes any stand that is remotely based on principle is subjected to the same epithets the mainstream press used to describe the Republican minority in Congress.

There is cause for hope, however. The Republicans in the Senate have remained united through all the turmoil caused by Morgan in the House and have remained resolute in standing for Republican principles. There is also a group of courageous House Republicans who have stood strong in the face of adversity.

And just like we are seeing at the national level, where the mainstream old media has lost its monopoly as more and more alternative sources of the facts are becoming available, this same thing can happen at the state and local level. There is no reason why the Dan Rather-like reporters of Raleigh should be able to keep Republicans around the state from knowing what their representatives are really doing.

A network is being developed this year to get the truth out to people around the state. [!!!]

There is also something called a Republican primary that can be used to weed out those Republicans who act one way in Raleigh, but still talk like conservative Republicans back home.

One reason the Morgan Republicans believed they could get away with undercutting their own team is that they occupy seats that are safe Republican seats. . But the Republican primary voter can end all of this. Ten Morgan allies were eliminated during the last primary, and Morgan won by only 249 votes against a political neophyte, despite outspending her by almost ten to one. After this session, there will be even more evidence and more votes to demonstrate the disloyalty of the Morgan Republicans.

Not all of the 37 Republicans who voted for the resolution in the House next week are Morgan supporters who need to be primaried. About 20, including Morgan, are true RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).

About ten are just not willing to risk the enmity of Morgan, who has sought revenge against Republicans he feels are his enemies by depriving them of any clerical help, committee assignments, assigning them crummy office space and seating them in the back rows of the House chamber. And about seven still haven’t figured out what’s really going on in the House. These others who are not Morgan loyalists should be given time to come around and do what they have told people back home they would do in Raleigh.

But make no mistake about it: the people back home hold the key to the future of Republican efforts in Raleigh.

I hope each reader will resolve to get involved.

Senate Democrats 'Circle the Wagons' to protect

Senate Democrats 'Circle the Wagons' to protect
nervous conservative Democrats

Raleigh – Jan. 26. As has been reported in the Charlotte Observer, and elsewhere, changes made in the Rules governing the state Senate, at the opening of the 2005 Session, have raised some eyebrows. Democrat leaders have given themselves a way to provide cover for their embattled conservative Senators without prompting a revolt among their expanding liberal numbers.

Maintaining a ban on laptop computers grabbed more attention but Democrat leaders changed the way the Senate does business in fundamental ways. Greater power over the Senate agenda has been placed in the hands of Democrat Senate Leader and Rules Committee chairman Sen. Tony Rand (D-Cumberland). To some this appears to be an attempt to protect worried conservative Democrat senators from North Carolina voters increasingly at odds with the liberal pronouncements of the national Party.

The changes did not go unnoticed by Senate Republicans. Andrew Brock (R-Davie) even commented that the parliamentary changes brought into question whether the state Senate was still "a deliberative body."

As the first order of business for the 2005 Session, Republicans tried to amend the Democrat's new Senate Rules, but attempts to reverse the autocratic direction of the majority were defeated along party lines, as Democrats circled their wagons. The effect of all this on Senate Republicans will likely be minimal, but the effect on popular bills being heard and voted on may well be significant.

In years past, when a Republican bill disappeared into a committee chairman's attic, hope was still not lost. All bills filed were required to be sent to at least one Senate committee, and the possibility remained of a "discharge petition," signed by three-fifths of the 50 Senators, forcing the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. The latest Senate Rules, however, say only that the Rules Committee chairman "may" refer a bill to a committee, meaning bills can remain in limbo, literally in a single senator's pocket, creating a new way for one legislator to veto any bill and destroy any hope of it ever being considered or of their constituents obtaining any record of how their representatives actually vote on controversial issues.

If the new "option" of referring a bill to a committee, the new Senate Rules also increase from three-fifths to two-thirds, from 30 to 33, the number of Senators required to enforce a discharge petition.

It's speculated these new restrictions are directed at the Defense of Marriage Act, a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, filed by Senator Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) last summer, and already reintroduced this session by Forrester and Sen. Fred Smith (R-Johnston). It is estimated that better than 70% of North Carolina’s voters would support the measure; it is not, however, popular with liberal Democrats.

Last summer, there were not enough Senate Democrats willing to join Republicans in discharging the Defense of Marriage Amendment when only 30 were needed. If the Defense of Marriage Act is sent to Committee, the need for additional signatures makes discharge more difficult, and overriding the wishes of liberal Democrat leaders, who don't want a Defense of Marriage Amendment to actually reach the Senate floor, much less likely.

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/24/2005 | SUPERLATIVE!

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/24/2005 | SUPERLATIVE!: "A FEW HOURS afterward, when the stands stood empty, the confetti sparkled like glass shards, embedded there among the cleat marks on the frozen dirt of Lincoln Financial Field.

Those little strips of green, silver and white plastic were part of what Donovan McNabb had envisioned, imagining this day, and he looked for them, when the final score of 27-10 was official and the Eagles were really, finally, totally, and at long last, the champions of the NFC.

'I was waiting for the confetti to start flying. It took a while for that to happen,' quarterback McNabb said after leading the Eagles past the Atlanta Falcons and into Super Bowl XXXIX, the second Super Bowl in franchise history, arriving a scant 24 years after the first. 'It's just a great feeling for the city of Philadelphia.'"

GO EAGLES!!!!!

Volunteered

Being fitted for exciting new bombing runs for the North Carolina Senate Republican Caucus, I was enlightened to the deteriorated condition of Senator Hugh Webster's website.

Any comments or suggestions of what should be done with this precious product, so rare in North Carolina politics, an authentic Conservative with a voting record to prove it, would be very welcome.

FULL STORY

Could U.S. aid to survivors alter anti-Americanism among Muslims?

By Barbara Slavin and Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — The U.S. servicemen have been logging 24-hour shifts in sweltering humidity, but their voices bubble with enthusiasm as they describe the welcome they've received in the most conservative Islamic province of this Muslim country.
By Choo Youn-Kong, AFP
"We get lots of smiles, lots of thumbs-up," says Chief Petty Officer Matthew Schwantz, 29, of Beaufort, S.C. He's part of a squadron that has been flying off the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to bring aid to victims of the tsunami that struck Dec. 26. "The people are very appreciative." (Related audio: USA TODAY reporter tours damage)
The reception being given to U.S. troops bringing aid to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and the one hardest hit by the massive earthquake and tsunami, is making a big impression half a world away. In Washington, some officials wonder if they've stumbled upon potent new weapons in the war against terrorism: food, water, clothing, medicine and the millions of dollars pouring from Americans' wallets.
Government leaders are reluctant to discuss the aid in terms of potential strategic benefits. They don't want America's generosity to be misinterpreted. "The best way for us to help ourselves is to do what's right, without regard to how people feel for us," says former president Bill Clinton, co-chair of a private relief effort with former president George H.W. Bush. "Just do it. And it will happen."
By itself, the outpouring of U.S. aid to tsunami victims won't be enough to counteract anti-American sentiment that has intensified in much of the world — especially in Muslim nations — since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Indeed, some Internet sites and Egyptian media have gone so far as to report that the tsunami was actually caused by an American nuclear test.
In Jerusalem, Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Waqf, a religious authority, says the U.S. role in Iraq undermines any positive benefit from the aid effort. "You can't give an apple in one hand and a rocket in the other," he says.
But some Americans say that without the outpouring of U.S. generosity, the situation might have been much worse. "Were the leader of the free world not to come through for the largest Muslim nation on Earth, it could be devastating," says Sen. Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat who will travel to South Asia this week.
There are indications that the relief effort is at least prompting some Muslims to re-evaluate their attitudes toward the United States. "Some of our students who used to be quite aggressive have become more moderate now," says Fadil Lubis, a professor at the State Institute of Islamic Studies in Medan, a city on Sumatra, the Indonesian island closest to the epicenter.
U.S. relations with Indonesia have been strained in recent years. Though most Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam, the country is home to a number of extremist groups that have advocated violence against Christians and other non-Muslims. The U.S.-led war in Iraq prompted protests in some Indonesian cities; a group known as the Islamic Defenders Front claimed to have signed up 400 volunteers in "jihad registrations."
But in Aceh, the province where Islam first took root in Indonesia and where a less tolerant, more conservative form of the faith is practiced than elsewhere in the country, residents this week were showering praise on the Americans who have come bearing instant noodles, water and other supplies.
"I really, really appreciate the U.S. coming," said Cutbang, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. "We look in the sky and see only U.S. planes."
In the USA, the positive reaction to the U.S. aid program is giving new ammunition to those who argue that America's foreign aid is as important in fighting terror as its military might.
"Remember that the struggle is really a struggle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world," says Lawrence Korb, a top Pentagon official in the Reagan administration. Adds William Cohen, who served as Defense secretary in the Clinton administration: "In a time of crisis, a helping hand can be just as powerful as a fist of iron."
'What's the right thing to do?'
Geopolitical gains should not be the primary reason that the world's wealthiest nation reaches out to the destitute, American political leaders insist. "I don't think we should measure this by, 'OK, the Muslim countries are going to like us now,' " says Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. "We should measure this by what's the right thing to do. And the right thing for us to do is to help those in great need."
Nonetheless, as a new Congress convened this week, there was palpable enthusiasm about the opportunity the United States has to rehabilitate an image that, according to Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, "is almost exclusively muscular." A senior member of the House International Relations Committee, Leach celebrated the high-profile role that U.S. troops are playing in a speech on the House floor. "Our military has become an instrument of peace in the world," he said.
As of Wednesday, about 13,400 U.S. military personnel were involved in the relief effort. The Pentagon said 28 cargo planes were flying transport missions, and the number of helicopters would be doubled to about 90. The military has delivered more than 610,000 pounds of supplies.
At a news conference this week in Indonesia, where he was leading a delegation to assess damage, Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that the United States was acting "regardless of religion" to address desperate human needs. "America is not an anti-Islam, anti-Muslim nation," Powell said.
Some political leaders in Washington are trying to underscore the point by contrasting America's military aid and $350 million pledge of cash assistance to the relatively smaller responses of some predominantly Muslim countries. The top-ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, California Rep. Tom Lantos, calls it "an outrage" that oil-rich Arab nations haven't done more. At the same time, however, three countries — Australia, Germany and Japan — have pledged more than the USA.
Even those who maintain that the United States should act out of pure altruism acknowledge there could be strategic benefits. "It's an important foreign policy moment," Brownback says.
Both President Bush and Congress appear intent upon seizing it. After being accused of responding lackadaisically in the initial stages of the crisis, the president has upped U.S. aid contributions and appointed two former presidents to head private fundraising efforts. Korb, now a resident fellow at the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress, also credits the president for including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the delegation that Powell is heading in South Asia. "The fact that he sent his brother is incredibly important," Korb says.
On what has been a bitterly partisan Capitol Hill, Democratic and Republican leaders were unanimous in their vows to provide aid to the tsunami-stricken nations, even in the face of mounting budget deficits and financial obligations in Iraq. "We in the Congress will work together on a bipartisan basis to get the necessary relief to those in need," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Tuesday.
In for the long haul
The reconstruction in South Asia is likely to be costly and time-consuming. But Cohen says that it's important that the United States stay in for the long haul. Now head of the Cohen Group, a global consulting firm, he's sponsoring a conference next month of Muslim leaders to discuss attitudes toward the United States. Cohen says many in the international community have become skeptical about America's stick-to-it-iveness. "What too often happens is that once the klieg lights are off and TV cameras focus on the next crisis, they feel like they are walking in darkness," he says.
There are already signs that some in the American public are balking at a sustained commitment to a region that, as Leach says, "is a long way from home." On the first day of the new Congress, a number of callers to C-SPAN questioned the aid pledges. One asked why Jeb Bush was in Asia when damage in his own state from last summer's hurricanes had not yet been fully repaired. The region also offers plenty to provoke American xenophobia: Earlier this week, CNN aired a photograph of an Indonesian man who was receiving a U.S. aid package — while wearing an Osama bin Laden T-shirt.
Supporters of long-term aid for the tsunami-stricken nations say that's precisely the reason the United States should take a leading role. "Wherever there is turmoil, you find fertile soil for terrorism to take root," says New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the top-ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that funds foreign aid.
Lowey and other U.S. policymakers see the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings of two nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, which killed 202 people, as a sign that al-Qaeda already has made inroads into the region. Some of the poorer nations affected by the tsunami are "potentially great hotbeds for a new generation of terrorism," says Corzine. "We need to respond first and foremost for humanitarian reasons, but also for strategic reasons."
Others warn that if the U.S. doesn't respond, its enemies will. "These terrorist groups do provide things for their people," Korb says.
A generous U.S. response to tsunami victims doesn't guarantee a positive response throughout the Muslim world. In Iraq, some residents see the U.S. relief effort as diverting attention from their country, where problems still run deep. "Every nation should be doing something to help them," says Mohammed Jossim, a shop owner. "But we here in Iraq need American help. It is now one and a half years (since the American invasion), and we can see little improvement." Abdul Hamid Munim, a government employee, says the relief effort is misplaced. "Why don't they send these supplies and aid to the Fallujah people?" he asks.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, says that U.S. aid is a more powerful weapon than bombs. "Our power has never come from the barrel of a gun," he says. "It has come from the power of our generosity." But Zogby contends that the biggest factors spawning "anger and disappointment with America" in the Arab world are the war in Iraq and the perceived U.S. indifference to the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli rule. "The more we do for these (tsunami) victims, the more it stands in contrast to our failure to rescue the people of Gaza and the West Bank from a crushing poverty," he says.
Still, Zogby notes that the U.S. generosity in south Asia is having one positive effect in the Arab world: It has prompted debate in Arab papers about whether those countries should do more. "It's really significant that we, by example, are prodding others to do more," he says.
Not the first time
There are historical precedents for American generosity thawing frosty relationships. Cohen recalls a 1998 trip he made to China as secretary of Defense after a powerful earthquake struck north of Beijing, leaving about 10,000 homeless. He offered help, and the Chinese permitted U.S. Air Force planes to ferry in relief supplies. "The Chinese media showed U.S. aircraft landing and American pilots and flight attendants distributing assistance," he recalls. "It was a very positive development in our relationship."
A week later, Cohen and his Chinese counterpart signed a military maritime cooperation deal, and Cohen was permitted to visit a Chinese air force base that had never been seen by a foreigner.
More than 50 years of U.S.-European cooperation were arguably built on the indelible memories that an older generation of Europeans have of American G.I.s and Red Cross aides handing out chocolates and fruit. Leach cites the evidence in Iowa's Herbert Hoover presidential library, where one room is filled with embroideries, all done on the recycled gunnysacks that were used to ship U.S. food aid to Europe after World War I. The designs show Europeans receiving food aid. The inscriptions read: "Danke." "Merci." "Thank you."
Today, American policy leaders say the nation should contribute to tsunami relief whether anyone says thank you or not. "The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who maintain indifference in the face of suffering," Cohen says.
But they can't help but hope that generosity will be repaid. "They've seen our resolve in dealing with terrorism. They also need to see our compassion," Brownback says. "It's the goodness of America that leads to its greatness."
Onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, such diplomacy is also on the mind of Michael Cook. The South Bend, Ind., native, 24, is among more than 2,000 crewmembers who volunteered for the mission to Banda Aceh. He thinks only of the devastation he's seen. "Hopefully," Cook says, "we can make some small impact."
Slavin reported from Indonesia, Kiely from Washington. Contributing: Andrea Stone in Jerusalem; Sabah al-Anbaki in Baghdad; Judy Keen and Dave Moniz in Washington; James Cox in McLean, Va.; Eric Unmacht of The Christian Science Monitor in Lamno, Indonesia.

Fraud!!

Looks like Rossi was the legit winner of the Washington state election, only having victory snatched away from him by the Democratic fraud machine that tries to steal elections everywhere in America. Their were about 10,000 votes over the total ammount of voters who are registered to vote in the 3 most populous counties in that state. The hopeless RINO, Sam Reed doesn't seem want to do anything about it. We should sue him, and the state if he refuses to budge.

Letter to The Washington Daily News

To the Editor:
The proud citizens of Beaufort County have a choice to make in the coming weeks. Will they continue to allow the underhanded liberal trickery of the RINO progressive liberals to continue unchecked, or will they stand up to these commissioners as is their right as the electorate?
All through the ages we have allowed the unchecked behavior of renegade elected officials to repress the personal liberties of their fellow men. And why was it allowed to continue? Sadly the conventional thought remained; that eventually they will come to their senses and these rogue elected officials will treat their constituents with the respect they deserve. Like Commissioners McRoy and Tetterton they never do, and if they continue to get away with this egregious attempt to deprive their duly elected fellow commissioners of their constitutional right to have the same input on the monthly agenda as the others, where will they stop? They will stop when they have finally subverted the conservative trend that has started in Beaufort County entirely. Voters voted to put the true conservative Hood Richardson back in office for yet another term, and to reinstate another true conservative, Stan Deatherage by his side. Why did they do that? Because the voters of Beaufort County are turning more conservative, as is the state on the whole. Thousands of voters count on Commissioner Richardson and Commissioner Deatherage to be their voice on the Beaufort County board of commissioners. All the commissioners on the board, regardless of party, have sworn to uphold the Constitution and the best wishes of the citizens who elected them. To subvert that will of the people is to subvert the will of the Constitution.Will you, as citizens submit to the will of McRoy or Tetterton's wishes to limit the ability to assist in governing of their fellow commissioners, or will you stand up for what is right?In 1936 President Franklin Roosevelt (not a conservative himself by any stretch) said this about true conservatives "The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning." Are you a true conservative?
JOY-MARIA J. LEE
Hamilton

Nice Render

Appreciated getting the word about Robert. Let me know how he is since I'll be ankle deep in New Member Orientation, tomorrow.

JoyMaria and Steve Troxler at Justice Paul Newby's swearing in ceremony, December, 2004. Please vote for Steve if that statewide revote happens!

Rats from a sinking ship. Is a scandal wave about to hit the Basnight boat?

NCCBI hires Basnight's chief of staff to replace Bevacqua Coman
Rolf Blizzard, the chief of staff for Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, has been named as the new vice president of Governmental Affairs for North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.
Blizzard will replace Leslie Bevacqua Coman, who recently left NCCBI to go to work for Capstrat, a public relations firm in Raleigh.
In addition to his lobbying duties, Blizzard will serve as staff for the NCCBI Council of Local Chambers and for NCCBI's public policy committees on tax and fiscal policy and environmental concerns.
NCCBI is the de facto state chamber of commerce and state manufacturing association. © 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.