Saturday, October 06, 2007

Letter Writer Asks, "Do Fresnans Even Care That We Are At War??"


My letter showed up in the Bee today. (On a side note, we saw In the Valley of Elah last night. The films stars Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron and is a great commentary on what fighting in Iraq is doing to many of our troops. Check it out!!!) Anyway, back to my letter....


I agree with Sean Boyd's recent letter [Oct. 3]. He points out that stories about the Bulldog mascot took up the front page while updates on the Iraq war were relegated to the back pages. The fact though that more people do not share his outrage shows that the American people have no real interest in the war anymore, if they ever did.

While watching the recent PBS special on World War II, I was fascinated to see the hunger for knowledge about wartime events on the part of ordinary people everywhere. Practically everyone was studying maps in the paper and regularly gathering around the radio for news updates each day. The fact that most people are so uninterested in Iraq just begs the question as to why our troops are continuing to die there.

It appears to me that one of the most unpopular presidents in history is using the troops as his personal playtoy to recklessly tinker with world events. Apparently, most Fresnans are too blissfully preoccupied with the Bulldog mascot to give a hoot.


Jeffrey W. Eisinger, Fresno

Friday, October 05, 2007

San Francisco Mayor Makes Sense


(CBS 5 / KCBS) SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed the nation's war on drugs a total failure and insisted the crime rate would go down if the government spent money on treatment as opposed to jailing people with drug problems."If you want to get serious, if you want to reduce crime by 70% in this country overnight, end this war on drugs," he told reporters at City Hall on Thursday. "You want to get serious, seriously serious about crime and violence end this war on drugs."The mayor maintained local jails are overcrowded with people incarcerated for drug offenses, taking up room that could be used to hold more violent criminal offenders. He said violent criminals with lengthy felony records are being turned loose, too often.


San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey, who has run the county jail for 28 years, told CBS 5 that 60 to 75 percent of the 2,000 inmates currently held are there for drug crimes or have underlying substance abuse problems.He also agreed with Newsom."No, the war on drugs is not working. The war on drugs is not working because we are relying on law enforcement instead of on treatment," Hennessey said.In a ten-minute tirade about the drug war's failure, Newsom told reporters that most politicians - including those in his own party - just don't have the guts to admit the obvious."It's laughable that anyone could look at themselves with a straight face and say 'oh,we're really succeeding.' I mean it's comedy. And as I say, shame on my party, the democratic party, because they don't have the courage of their private thoughts, because we don't want to appear weak on this topic," Newsom said.

Harmonic Convergence Among Republicans


This story is just to hilarious/amazing if accurate:


The male escort responsible for the downfall of Christian evangelist leader Ted Haggard is now alleging that embattled Senator Larry Craig also came to see him.
While promoting his new book during a radio interview with KNWQ-AM in Palm Springs Wednesday night, Mike Jones hesitated from making the allegation on the air.
Management for the radio station says Jones told them he would reveal something about Idaho Senator Larry Craig on the "Bulldog Bill Feingold Show."
While he hesitated doing so on the air, a NewsChannel 3 camera was rolling when he made the accusation during a commercial break.
Feingold asked whether the Senator had seen Jones in a hotel room.
Jones responded, "No, he came to see me."
Jones then added, "His travel records to Denver have been documented. That's what I wanted to say."

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Can He Be This Stupid???


Here is a quote from Bush back in the summer. How can any educated person think that emergency rooms are an effective way to provide sound medical care to people?????



“The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private insurance plans. I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.”

Did somebody actually write that line for him? Was it adlibbed? In fact, it was the latter; Bush’s event was kind of a town-hall style speech. He didn’t have a podium or a teleprompter, so this was the president without a net. His comments on healthcare reflected whatever thought popped into his head.