Americans are only 4% of the world's population but use some god-awful percentage of the world's energy, surely "more than our share." And some of it is wasted--by someone else's standards--though, fortunately, in America, the person wasting it usually pays for it. Idling a car while your son plays hockey on the pond might be a bad use of fossil fuel--by someone else's standards--but it gets the heat where you need it.
Meanwhile, our 4% of the world produces 100% of the world's key new industries, life-saving technologies, and cultural trends. Some of our fossil fuels we have wasted. Some have gone to develop your iPod, the amazing new harmonies it plays, the Blackberry with which you avoided having to fly to Seattle, and the portable MRI without which you would be too dead to whine for The Planet. Do you really know which use of energy is a waste?
We did not do this by being the most industrious race--obviously, as we are not a single race. Our efficiency is not inherent; it is a result of limited government that left personal decisions to the person. We conserve energy because we have always looked for ways to work faster and easier, confident that any resources we save, we will own. The Soviet Union invented none of the above things, nor ever would have, nor would a Soviet America, no matter how well-intentioned or carefully implemented.
We led the world by believing that "you cannot help the weak by weakening the strong." Now we believe in "thinking globally"--that is, following fashion--and "acting locally"--that is, ignoring what we used to believe and coercing our neighbors. The highest value is to "make a difference," which merely means, to make everyone else look at us and see who we are: Coercive thugs, cowards who can't speak for ourselves but want to hide behind a herd and silently manipulate it.
Gadflies now propose, on hundreds of fronts, that your gasoline, your business, your house lot, and your children, are not yours but are at the whim of strangers (because it is their "environment" or their "community" or their "heritage"), and ultimately under control of foreigners in a world government we have never seen not behaving corruptly. They propose to curb supposed excesses of the United States by ruining the individual autonomy that made it the marvel of the world. They grew up in the "shining city on the hill" and will be the ones who put out its lights.
Get to know these vandals. You will never come closer to the face of evil.
Spike Brentwood
To the Editor:
The D.J. Bakie CHAMPS Father/Daughter Dance took place on April 11th and the evening was a huge success with blockbuster attendance! What a special event as we watched dads, uncles, brothers and grandfathers dance with their beautiful girls.
Thank you to all attendees and to the moms behind the scenes who helped get the girls dressed for the dance. A special thank you to Michael and Debbie Ulbrich of the Krystal ballroom Dance Studio in Salem for donating their time to teach the Fox Trot dance to the attendees. It was a heartwarming sight.
Thank you also to the following: Matt McElroy, DJ; Rebecca Hallisey, Photographer; the Key Club girls from Sanborn High School; Deb Bamforth, D.J. Bakie Principal; Annie Rutherford, Vice Principal; the folks who baked goodies and donated other supplies; and to the Atkinson Country Club for their donation.
Together we raised over $1,300 for our CHAMPS International Campaign, which assists young land mine victims in foreign countries. We truly appreciate everyone's participation and thanks for a memorable night!
Diane Bortone On behalf of CHAMPS Father/Daughter Dance Planning Committee
P.S. Check out www.champskids.org to learn more about CHAMPS programs.
To the Editor:
McCain is the only Option
In this years Presidential race, I have found it funny to watch the pundits from both sides of the isle argue over the precarious spot that the Republicans or Democrats are in. One side will say that the right secured a candidate so early because of a weak field and the right will counter that it has a superior primary process which vetted candidates in an expedient manner. The other side will say that they have two strong candidates and that is why it is taking so long to decide on a nominee, which will be countered by republicans saying that there is chaos within the Democratic Party precisely because both candidates have numerous questions regarding their ability to lead.
I say that we have three very weak and flawed candidates and that the election of one over the other will only create problems for America going forward, it will be a matter of degrees. I have to think of where the problems may crop up and in what areas to gauge the overall damage to my children’s future. I know that with Clinton, I can expect populist tax and spend policies, while generally bullying (their) way through negotiations towards their objectives but I don't think that I have to worry about a radical foreign policy that will endanger America unless a poll says they should do so, and then all bets are off.
I believe that with Obama you will receive a climate of passive American guilt in foreign negotiations, a severe lack of patriotism and left wing judges who would love to gut the constitution as well as inexperience, ineptitude, and socialist policies delivered on a silk pillow. I know that some of the polls say the country has moved left of center but this man is the most Liberal Senator in the country.
In John McCain we get a left of center populist who is conservative in a few areas but some of them are important. McCain is generally right regarding foreign policy, is able to reach across the isle (too much for my tastes) McCain is somewhat solid on taxes and is a straight shooter whether you like him or not. Look up the recent pig book on congressional earmarks and he is one of the only senators with a Zero, at least he puts his money where his mouth is.
In this day and age of weak presidential candidates, one will have to vote their conscience; all are weak kneed on immigration, muddled on economics, wrong regarding the global warming hoax, and god forbid any one of them has to appoint a judge to interpret our constitution. But at least McCain has a track record, is honest and actually cares for American traditions, so I will hold my nose and vote for him because Ronald Reagan isn't walking through that door.
Dave Somers Hampstead
To the Editor:
General David Petraeus testified earlier this week to Congress that the troop surge in Iraq has been a success. I owe my life to the troop surge. But one American life is not worth ten others. Political progress by the Iraqi government, not hard fought military gains by our soldiers, is the only benchmark to measure the success of the surge. The recent uprising in Basra by the Mahdi Militia is a testament to the truth that the surge has been a failure. There are currently 20 combat brigades serving in Iraq and that number will be reduced to the pre-surge level of 15 combat brigades. This reduction is not a reflection of the success of the surge, but of the simple reality that the military is on the verge of breaking. The only way to sustain the current level of combat brigades in Iraq is by a draft.
In the fall of 2006 I was serving as a combat advisor to an Iraqi infantry battalion. Our battalion had deployed to Baghdad in response to the sectarian violence that had spiraled out of control after the Samarra mosque bombings that previous spring. The deployment of my battalion to Baghdad was part of Operation Together Forward. Operation Together Forward was the administration’s previous failed strategy that was accompanied by the famous utterance ‘as Iraqis stand up, we will stand down’. My advisor team was the only Americans in the neighborhoods of Shaab and Ur, in the Adimiyah district of Baghdad. Shaab and Ur had become a virtual annex to Sadr City, with the population of Sunnis having dropped from forty percent to twenty due to the daily kidnappings and murders committed by the Mahdi Militia. Ninety percent of the Iraqi battalion we were advising was more loyal to the Mahdi Militia than to the Iraqi government. We were fortunate on days when one of our Iraqi soldiers would warn us of an impending ambush. The troop surge brought with it an infantry battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division to replace my Iraqi battalion, and the surviving members of my team, in Shaab and Ur. The change of mission essentially made my Iraqi battalion the protectors of Sadr City. My team spent the last six months of our tour trying to protect the very entity that was not only responsible for multiple attacks against us, but for numerous catastrophic strikes against our American replacements in Shaab and Ur.
President Bush announced today that combat tours in Iraq would be reduced from 15 months to 12 months. The extended tours of the American troops currently serving in Iraq will not be impacted by this announcement. Furthermore the reduction is not due to the situation in Iraq improving. Like the cutback in combat brigades, the curbing of tours in Iraq is because the thin green line is about the break. It is time for Senator Gregg and Senator Sununu to stop blindly following the failed policies of President Bush and Senator McCain. If continued, the path that Senator Gregg and Senator Sununu are meandering down will not only lead to the self-destruction of our armed forces in Iraq, but prevent the correct war from being properly waged in Afghanistan.
Joshua David Denton VoteVets.org NH State Team Captain
