Archive for March, 2011

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March 13, 2011

Catastrophe at Sendai

by Steve Dana

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching video of the earthquake, tsunamis and melt-downs at the nuclear power plants near Sendai, Japan.  I wouldn’t say that I was mesmerized, but I could hardly believe what I was seeing almost as it occurred live on television and I searched the internet for even scraps on current news.  Any one of those events would be a catastrophe on their own, but to suffer all three is unimaginable.

Watching the video footage of the destroyed coastal towns was heartbreaking.  Watching the second and third lines of waves coming ashore had to be terrifying to the folks who survived the first barrage.  The photo of the wave breaking over the tops of thirty foot tall trees said it all.

When you know someone from a country being devastated, you seem to take more interest than when you don’t.  I have a friend from Sapporo so I always check to see if her home town is being impacted whenever there is an event in Japan.  Fortunately, they are all safe that far north, this time.

I spent Saturday in Abbotsford, British Columbia attending a Kiwanis Zone Conference with eight other Kiwanis members from our club.  Among them was Terri-Jo Countryman.  We learned on our trip north that her family hosted exchange students from Japan for about twenty years.  Several of them were from Sendai.  She also shared with us the fact that she went to live in Sendai for four months when she was in high school.

Terri-Jo was more than a little interested in what had happened in Japan.  All of us who rode with Terri-Jo felt the anxiety she felt as she waited to hear word from anyone about her loved ones.  It may be days before she knows for sure.

We also live in a seismically active area.  The Pacific Ring of Fire follows the east coast of Asia north around the Aleutian Islands and down the west coast of North America.  It is possible that we could suffer a similar earthquake here in Snohomish.  It makes you wonder how our landscape would look after an event like that.

There is no doubt that the earth is in an active phase.  Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and now Japan have all suffered serious earthquakes in the past year.

I don’t know about you all, but it makes me feel pretty darn insignificant. 

I think I will light a candle for all the victims of these terrible events and pray that God will look after them.  I doubt any of us has the power to do any more.

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March 9, 2011

NPR Off the Dole!

by Steve Dana

What are we to think about this current flap at National Public Radio?  The guy who is at the center of the controversy was not a low level employee in a remote location that strayed from the company line; he was a highly placed executive responsible for fund-raising at NPR.  It is not unreasonable to conclude that others that worked for and with Ron Schiller may have shared his views in their efforts to raise money for the organization.

That concerns me.

When NPR terminated Juan Williams a couple months ago for making comments about his personal feelings, NPR said that company policy limited the types of comments their commentators could make and Mr. Williams violated that policy.

Executives at NPR lost their jobs following the Juan Williams controversy and now top executives are again losing their jobs suggest that the organization has serious problems at the very top of the heap.

You would think an organization called National Public Radio would offer diverse opinions about issues of interest to all Americans; a mix of liberal, moderate and conservative staff that provided something for everyone.

Apparently the National and Public parts in the name just have to do with who pays for it.  The federal government gives NPR $400 million per year to an organization that has demonstrated a couple times now that they have more than a liberal bias, they have serious animosity about anyone who doesn’t share their views.

It’s too bad that our public money is given to organizations clearly not supporting mainstream public benefit causes.

I hope the government suspends future federal contributions to NPR.  I don’t object to a private organization having their opinions, but I don’t want public money paying for it.  I suspect liberals don’t want to pay for conservative media either.

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March 8, 2011

Squishy or Slippery, That is our President!

by Steve Dana

I was listening to Dave Ross this morning as I was driving on the highway.  Since Dave added Luke Burbank to his show, the content of that 9am to Noon time slot has gotten even more liberal.  I would not characterize the change as a positive one.

Dave and Luke were talking about how disappointed they were that President Obama has decided to move forward with military tribunals at Gitmo even though in the campaign he was clear about closing the prison and trying the inmates in civilian courts.  Rather than being upset that he made a commitment to voters and reneged like he has done on about every important issue in the election Dave and Luke were talking about how much they admired the President for being flexible when presented with information that led to a different action.

Luke Burbank characterized Obama as being squishy.  He like the fact that the President was squishy.

There have been a number of times when the President has “realized the error” of his campaign  rhetoric and directed his administration to act 180 degrees different from the promises in the campaign.

If you didn’t know enough about his record or his political leanings before the election in 2008 to vote for him you were looking for a reason to choose one candidate over the other.  You were listening to the words he was speaking so eloquently and were convinced he was your guy because of those words.  When he said he would close Gitmo and that was your issue, you decided to vote for him.

So how do you feel now?

The reason Dave and Luke characterize Obama as squishy is because he is not afraid to say what you want to hear but act completely different when a decision has to be made.  Think about how many times he promised to act if you voted for him but when push came to shove, he flip-flopped.  Is that the president you thought we elected?  Is that the kind of man we want leading our country?

If there was ever a “bait and switch” president, this is him.

We have a huge task before us to hinder him from delivering any more of his true agenda during the remainder of this term of office; and to replace him with a candidate who stands behind his words.  Where I am more likely to support conservative candidates, some of you might just want a candidate of your own persuasion that is not a prevaricator.

In the remaining months of his presidency Barak Obama will make every effort to convince voters that he is a moderate with his words like he does so well.  What will be important is to watch what he does.  His actions are a much better indicator of his political agenda than his words.

If he has any leadership he should be showing it now.  Skyrocketing fuel prices caused by the crisis in the Arab world; two significant issues requiring leadership.  What is he doing to address either?

In the State of the Union speech he talked about cutting the deficit.  The Republicans in the House sent a bill to the Senate addressing last year’s budget with 60 billion in cuts.  If the President is serious about his words in the speech, he works to get the Democratic Senate to approve the House Bill.  Let’s see what kind of leadership he has with his own party?

During his campaign, he talked about putting on a comfortable pair of shoes to walk the picket line with union members because everyone is entitled to union representation.  State Budgets are hemorrhaging red ink because of commitments to made to unions and the President is more concerned about the workers.

Leadership is what we need and this guy doesn’t appear to have any.  He is a good looking smooth talking politician but a leader he is not.

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March 7, 2011

What Does a Legislator Cost These Days?

by Steve Dana

Even after a couple of weeks, the stalemate in Wisconsin persists.  Government is at a stand still.  Patience is wearing thin.  So what is next?

I am surprised that Republicans and the independents in Wisconsin have been as patient as they have.  I’m not sure I would have been so restrained.

The issues haven’t changed a bit so what is changing?

The unions are working overtime to tie the governor’s actions to private sector business owners who may have contributed to his campaign.  When you don’t have anything substantial to add to the debate, you attack your opponent.  Where else have we seen that tactic?

But since they brought it up, what’s the connection between public employee unions and private sector contributors?  Or maybe more important yet, what are the implications of public employee unions contributing to elected officials.

When the unions contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to elect Democrats don’t they have expectations that something will be delivered?  Who advocates for the taxpayers when the unions elect the guys that negotiate their contracts?

I heard Governor Walker talk about contributors to his campaign and he acknowledged receiving contributions from business owners, but he received most of his money from citizens who may or may not have been big business in any way.  Take a look at the Public Disclosure documents if you really want to know.  Rules for individuals and businesses are different for unions and PAC’s

Check the PDC’s for almost any Democrat in the land and you will see the majority of the money comes from either unions or political action committees because rules allow unions and PAC’s to give in greater amounts.  I wonder who negotiated that advantage?

What is so surprising to the Democrats in the Mid-West is the stunning upset they suffered in the 2010 elections and they are still reeling from it.  It has to be a bitter pill after all their years in the drivers’ seat to see everything they worked for come crashing down because of their failure to properly read the sentiment of the people.

In Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio, the legislatures and governors have changed because voters in those states realized that union sponsored candidates were serving the unions and not the citizens of their states.  And that is really the issue here. 

Taxpayers in these states and others are finding that they have been used by entrenched Democrats to serve unions and their special interests and they’re finally getting wise.  The problems being exposed by the bad economy are shining a really bright light on the Democrats and they are uncomfortable.

While I have been critical of Democrats I’m not suggesting that Republicans are always straight shooters because they have been just as greedy and/or corrupt as Democrats at times.

A lesson for voters everywhere might be that we have an obligation to be vigilant, to watch our elected officials and make sure that when they make promises in their campaign they deliver or are held accountable in the next election. Elected officials are called public servants for a reason.  Let’s make sure ours serve the public and not the special interests.

We can only hope that voters in our state will begin to see the parallels between these mid-West states and our own and dump the liberal progressive tax and spenders from our legislature.

So what camp are you in?

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