JoseB Blog

Its apparent the election is over and McCain-Palin will win. The economy and financial markets are in a tailspin yet at the same time the so called 'undecided' are going to McCain. How could this be? The press all seems to think its because of Palin. While that makes for a great story and seems plausible, after more thought, I dont think so. What is happening is that really there are two kinds of 'undecided' voters. The kind that don't care about the color of a presidential candidate have been in Obama's camp for a long time given the economy, the two wars, the lack of an energy policy, and the environmental policy. The 'undecided' who have been waiting have been looking for an excuse not to vote for a black man. And the election is near so they are now falling under McCain-Palin (or whoever else the Republicans would have nominated). There is nothing Obama can do about this, so its over. I predict the election will not be close and both Ohio a...

Lets think about this. Did sending 30k additional troops to a country of 27 million bring about the recent reductions in violence? Well, when the bombs were going off every day in Iraq, it was said that the only way to achieve peace was thru political means, not military means. And what happened in 2007? The Sunnis starting shooting at AlQueda instead of us (the so called Sunni Awakening) Al Sadr signed a ceasy fire silencing the Shiite Militias So you tell me - was it the 2 things above or was it the surge that reduced the violence? Oh, you say the surge enabled those 2 things to happen. Well, I go back to logic. You tell me that 30k troops in a country of 27 million can make that difference. I support our troops. But I don't think the surge could have had much of an effect.

The past seven and a half years have been like a nightmare and soon it will all be over. Irregardless of whether McCain or Obama win, the main point to rejoice about is that soon we will be rid of the most ignorant president this country has ever had. Here is the legacy of the W era. The suppression of scientific reasoning. Bush's denial of global warming will be one of his greatest follies. The suppression of stem cell research. The rise of 'intelligent design' theories and attempts to teach creationism in science classes at school. The attack on the environment. Removing the US from the Kyoto Accord. Repeal of the Clean Water Act. Removing federal land from National Park protection. Loading the EPA with former business executives who have done all they can do favor business at the expense of the environment. Softening up laws to increase gas mileage. Intollerance of opposing points of view. Questioning the patriotism of people who disagree with the Iraq war. Lab...

Yesterday was a sad day. Tim Russert, one of the best political reporters passed away very unexpectedly. He was one of the few out there that was objective and did not participate in sensationalized overblown reporting. But here at our house, the baby bird that Rebeca found under the palm tree alomost 2 weeks ago died. It was unexpected as he was eating well and growing, then the day before yesterday he stopped eating and died the next day. Rebeca was at Josefina's house when it died so I had to tell her the sad news when I picked her up. Rebe just sat there quitely in the car and her big eyes got red, filled with tears and she whimpered softly. I have to say I was proud of the way she handled it. She cried for about 10 minuts and then she held my hand and spoke about the bird and wondered about things. About why he died, whether we will see him again when we die. She was told by someone that animals and people go to seperate heavens. I assured her that was not the case. ...

It has been about 2 years since my last post. Unfortunately everything I said about this stupid Iraq war has turned out to be true. It has truly turned into a quagmire very much like Vietnam. With one notable exception. About a month ago there was a drive to raise food and supplies for the troops in Iraq where I work. Large boxes were placed at the entrances to work for people to drop in canned goods and anything else for the troops. To my surprise those boxes were always empty. I checked them from time to time and I tell you, no one donated anything. I have a theory as to why no one cares and it leads to the one major difference between the Iraq war and the Vietname war. In the Vietnam war we had the draft and the soldiers dying were the young kids of middle classes parents all across America, many of them college educated people. That is why the public support for the war was so low, given that our soldiers were dying for a questionable cause. The war was affecting a signifi...

It has been 2.5 years since the end of the 'official' Iraq war. Tonight Mr Bush Jr went on TV to give a rah rah speech to the American public about how noble our cause is and how we must persevere and win the war against the 'terrorists'. President Bush is learning how fickle the American public is. Less than a year ago he narrowly won re-election (a 51% majority vs 48% for Kerry), and now the public grows weary of a war that kills on average 700 American soldiers each year. Not much compared to Vietnam but enough for Bush to see his slim 51% majority hold turn into a minority. Remember Vietnam? We were there to spread Democracy against the evil communists that were going to take over the world (the domino theory). We would leave once South Vietnam could take over the war and defend itself (remember Vietnamization?) Lets compare to Iraq: We are there to spread democracy to the Middle East, which will cause the demise of the 'evildoing terrorists'. And now for t...

When Carl Bernstein was interviewing George W Bush for his book, 'Drumbeat to War', he asked Bush what he thought his legacy would be concerning the Iraq war. Bush replied something to the effect, 'it doesn't matter, we'll all be dead.' So we have a president who doesn't care about his legacy. So it doesn't matter if he screws up! The thing about his comment that perplexes me is that Bush, supposedly being a devout born-again Christian, has to believe in an after life. So why does he not care about his legacy? After all, in the after life he will be able to see what kind of legacy he left behind. Or maybe he let it slip that he doesn't believe in an after life, in which case that makes him a complete hypocrite. Either I'm missing something here, or he's as dumb and mixed up as I think he is.

This is my first blog entry. Why does JoseB, a person who does not really fancy himself a writer, start a blog? Well, several reasons. First of all I have a lot of things I need to get off my chest. I really think a blog will help me to release some frustration about things that bother me. And lately a lot is bothering me. Secondly, it will be a record that will hang around (hopefully) after I am dead and gone  that will be read and perhaps even enjoyed by those to come. At the very least I think my future family may be interested in knowing about the trials and tribulations of their great-grandfather? I know I would be if I could read diaries by my ancestors. Lastly, I have a hard time expressing my feeling directly to people - especially to family members. Don't know why, but that's just the way it is. So this will be my outlet to talk about things I normally wouldn't. Its a lot easier to write down your feelings than to explain them to somebody. Especially when you are n...