Another Interesting Few Days....

The French President, Mr. Sarkozy, is an interesting fellow. He rose to be President in a society where it is tough to pull yourself up. Yet, he did. My hat's off to him. He is passionate about France--as he should be. He is France's best cheerleader. BUT, I think he's a bit full of himself. This came home to me during the G-8 Conference. All the leaders were walking together and the only guy on the phone was The President of France. Some of the other leaders are, I am sure, just as busy and engaged as well. Furthermore, he does not have the best record anyway. The riots in 2006 are a black mark. Although, apparently, the French People gave him a clean bill and elected him anyway.

I am also disturbed by the push the President of France is making on Iran. In this case, he's trying to outflank George W. Bush. Again, the present government is not the issue. Every attempt must be made to avoid war. Yet, Mr. Sarkozy would want to do otherwise.

As for President Bush, he keeps feeding us this fiction on "things are getting better in Iraq." Yet the killing seems to go on. What is bothering me is that George W. Bush misled us and will not be held to account. He says he is the decider. Well, nobody crowned him King. The drumbeat towards war does continue. It does not help when guys like Glen Beck do "research" on the 12th Imam and the end of time and keep pushing the drumbeat on war. Glen Beck had a pastor on his show on CNN Headline Prime. I heard the guy speak for a minute about building up the government of Iran and creating this myth of a government that is going to attack us tomorrow and putting it in biblical terms. I am glad I only saw a minute of it only. He is entitled to his opinion. But, they should not silence those of us who have questioned the wisdom of this policy which has been misguided and has cost so much in lives and treasure. It is a policy that has cost us dearly in our personal liberties.

Now, onward to Iraq.....General Petraus had a interview on CNN. He openly accused the Iranian Ambassador of being a member of the Quds Force--and by implication a terrorist by U.S. Government Standards, telling the world that there is "no question". We are supposed to believe him. But, no one questions the honorable General about the PKK. Yes, Sean McCormick did condemn the cross border raid and the resulting death of 13 Turkish Soldiers. But, The government of Kurdistan (because Iraqi Kurdistan is for all practical purposes independent) allows the PKK to operate at will. This is another example of a policy that is a non-policy. The chaos is mind-boggling.

I can't end this thought without talking about Afghanistan. I had talked about the fact that the apparent gains made by NATO forces were pretty much gone. Beyond that, one of the things that further bothers me is that Afghanistan continues to break all record in poppy production..another success story by President Bush....

We do have a vibrant stock market....unemployment is steady.....interest rates are for now reasonably under control....but, world challenges do remain.

I look forward to my contribution to Blog Action Day on October 15. We have to do something to preserve Spaceship Earth (as Jay Barbere of NBC News reminded us on Meet The Press this past Sunday). Hopefully, this is a small step!!!

Despite all the challenges, I'll continue to keep the faith....I have no choice....