Captain Dylan Hunt: [counting down to fire] You know what? I’ll count again 1… 2…
[his opponents start diving for cover/shooting]
Captain Dylan Hunt: 3 !
Beka Valentine: So, uh, counting to three, kind of tells them when to shoot.

            – Andromeda (2002) : Season 2 Episode 16 : In Heaven Now Are Three

In other news Ken Mehlman will be stepping down as RNC Chairman in January as was announced today.

They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!

Capt Jean-Luc Picard – Enterprise-E – Star Trek: First Contact

For some reason I have been wanting to post that quote for weeks. Everytime that I read/watch the news especially when it is relating to North Koreas and their nuclear testing, Iran and their nuclear technology aspirations and any news story relating to terrorism seems to trigger it. It seems like the last few decades there is a general inclination to avoid conflict….ANY conflict, and if for some reason there is a conflict to end it no matter what.

It seems that after World War II, once Japan attacked us and pulled us into the fray, that no one except minor terrorists dared to attack us. Now it seems to me that we have lost our reputation. Think about North Korea’s failed ballistic missle test that was supposed to fly towards Hawaii, but not hit us. Think about Mexico challenging us because we decided to build a border fence on our own soil.

I don’t say this to piss people off or to say that we should go to war and prove that we are not weak. I say this to show that the general impression that we have been giving off is that we like running away from a fight, especially when it gets to hard or the media, and in turn thepublic, doesn’t like it. Like I said these are just the thoughts that have been swimming through my mind threatening to drown me unless I let them out.

Although I personally haven’t decided whether I still agree with the war in Iraq(I did initially for the record), I still believe it is of the utmost importance to finish what we started. If we run away from Iraq now leaving it in the chaos then the next time we are attacked, either by another country or by terrorists, the war will be over before it even begins.

P.S. The title is a joke not a suggested course of action!!!

In all seriousness though, exit polls were never the problem. The problem came that some one looked at their exit polling data and decided to call the election and claim the election was over, before the the ballots had even been brought back to the elections commision to be counted. Just give me back my hourly exit polling so I have something…..anything and this time WAIT until the official results have come out before you claim anyone has won.

In Dunn’s case, just recently this Reuter’s article has her lawyer saying:

“These charges are being brought against the wrong person at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons…. They are the culmination of a well-financed and highly orchestrated disinformation campaign.”

And then later in the article, it’s reported that

Dunn has said she regrets the way the probe was handled, but does not take personal responsibility for any deceptive methods used.

Now did I miss something or didn’t Dunn order the investigation and guide its progress? You can’t order something to be done, be briefed on methods, guide other parts of the investigation, and then claim no responsibility.

Now Mark Foley on the other hand, so far as I have read, hasn’t actually denied sending his messages. Instead he has relied upon making excuses for what actually caused his behavior. So far, he has blamed alcohol and being abused when he was a kid. I can’t speak for his being abused as kid, but it was still his conscious choice(s) to do what he did. Alcohol on the other hand doesn’t have the ability to change a type of behavior, usually alcohol will only release/lessen the inhibitions of a person.

Unfortunately I am not a mind-reader and I cannot tell you why both of these people have made the decisions they have. Though one of my theories and, i think a plausible one, is that because both of these people are high-profile and more susceptible to lawsuits, they’re being cautious in denying responsibility. After all, anything that is said publicly or privately can come back to haunt them in a lawsuit. If they deny everything and provide excuses, then those words can’t later come back as evidence against them in some future lawsuit or campaign.

The only problem with this argument is that it falls flat on its back when applied the general public. Although there is still a possibility of a lawsuit, but it is far more remote. Sadly the reasons that the everyday Joe Schmoe won’t accept responsibility are far more simple. It’s easier to blame someone else for your own problems rather than accepting responsibility for your actions and their consequences.

UPDATE: Special thanks to Peridyd for his proofreading and reformatting on this post.

The first problem that needs to be addressed is the Parties (basically the two parties: Democrats & Republicans). Why do these need to be addressed? The very existence of these parties is interfering with any/all decisions/investigations in which either side has a particular view point. As I understand it the parties came about to make it easier to find like minded individuals with certain political viewpoints. But as it has evolved those parties should really be be split into multiple parties from there. There are about 5 different classifications that spring to mind within the Republican party itself. In actuallality it is probably closer to about 15 in each party. Unfortunately the party system has done what all good party systems do. Think back to your high school days, then the parties were much more accurately referred to as cliques. Don’t believe me? Think about it for a sec, the senators/representatives that we have voted to represent us aren’t doing their job at all. Depending on their party affiliation they will most likely vote with their party not in the interest of their constituents. You see it wouldn’t do to have the other party get credit for getting a bill passed that their constituents may want, because then the other party can’t come back and save the day on that issue later when they are in power. Do you see what I mean, it is just like High School, only this time instead of a budget of a few hundred or a few thousand. It is a budget of a few billion or a few trillion.

The second major problem is term limits, for example Strom Thurmond served as a senator for South Caroline for 49 years. I’m not saying he did good or he did bad while he was in office, I’ll leave that to the historians and future generations to decide. But in my opinion serving in a position of power for such a long time will inevitably lead to the taking for granted the powers/responsibilities of that office. In 1951 the 22nd amendment was ratified to limit the number of times that a person could hold the office of President of the United States. Although not officially law most Presidents did not attempt to run for more than two terms before Franklin Delano Roosevelt out of tradition. FDR was elected to 4 terms in office(the last of which he he died a year after being re-elected) which prompted Congress to propose an amendment to ensure an elected president does not become a lifetime benevolent dictator. Unfortunately, Congress has never seen fit and will never see fit to limit their own terms. I believe this is long overdue and much needed to protect the American people much the same way that the 22nd Amendment was adopted to protect the US from creating a dictatorship. In my opinion Congress will never choose to limit itself which leaves the only option for such an amendment to be brought up by at least two-thirds of the states as allowed for in Article Five of the United States Constitution.

All of this may seem a bit drastic, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Consider everything we have seen over the last 20 years or so. From my own state of Utah Senator Orrin Hatch ran on a platform of 18 years is too long to oust he encumbent Frank Moss in 1977, he has now been in office for 29 years. At least every few weeks there are stories of corruption or special treatment in regards to members of Congress for instance William Jefferson just this last week and Patrick Kennedy’s crash a few weeks ago. I’m not picking on just them, but they are the most recent ones that come to mind.

What would I do, since I can can’t do anything about the parties legally I would only try to better educate the people on just what is done and hold the members of Congress accountable. It is being done now, but it needs to be increased. It is unforgivable that so many laws/need/bills/etc are essentially stopped only because one party doesn’t want the other party to succeed. Only to bring up the same thing a few years later because they are in power. Second term limits must be amended to the constitution, specifically the Representatives should be held to a limit of 3 terms of 2 years each. Senators should be held to a limit of 2 terms of 4-6 years each staggered such that there is always at least one experienced senator in office at any given time. 3rd and not major, but necessary, stricter adherence to the Robert’s Rules of Order and other rules governing the conduct and procedures that Congress must follow. For Example it used to be that for a filibuster to continue on and not be defeated the members filibustering were not allowed to leave whatsoever(except for maybe bathroom breaks, but I am not sure). If they did leave their forfeited the filibuster. Unfortunately with the laxness of the rules/conduct currently, a filibuster can last for weeks, but there is no requirement that I have seen that the filibustering members must stay. This would allow for much more to be accomplished and less filibustering for filibusterings sake.