by Dr. Larry Moses
No one asked me but…As the young Marine stood at the corner with his companion, he was well aware of the dangers the city provided. He was not a rookie; he had been there before. He was well trained and followed the directions of his immediate superiors. He had been warned that American military men were prime targets. He took all the precautions he had been warned to take. He had survived his first tour of duty in Iraq. He had survived bullets and bombs in Bagdad. But the bullet that entered his neck led to his death. He was familiar with the city and knew its dangers, but this did not protect him on the mean streets of Cleveland, Ohio. He was home on a thirty day leave, a short break from the dangers of Bagdad. His company commander had instructed him to carry a bank card rather than cash along with his military ID while in America, as military men had become targets of thugs in American cities. His assassins had him empty his pockets and they found eight dollars, a bank card and his military ID. His killers told him, “Since you are a Marine and don’t have any money you don’t deserve to live” and shot him in the neck.
Rep. Steve King, Republican from Iowa, looking at the situation in Iraq asked two questions. “… if you were a civilian in Iraq, how could you tolerate that level of violence?” and “What really is the level of violence?” Using Pentagon statistics cross-checked with independent research, King said he came up with an annualized Iraqi civilian death rate of 27.51 per 100,000.
While that number sounds high – astonishingly, the Iowa Republican discovered that it’s significantly lower than a number of major American cities, including the nation’s capital.
According to Pentagon sources 45 violent deaths per 100,000 occur in Washington, D.C. Other American cities with higher violent civilian death rates than Iraq include: Detroit – 41.8 per 100,000, Baltimore – 37.7 per 100,000, Atlanta – 34.9 per 100,000, St. Louis – 31.4 per 100,000. The American city with the highest civilian death rate was New Orleans before Katrina – with a staggering 53.1 deaths per 100,000 – almost twice the death rate in Iraq.
Maybe the young Marine was safer in Iraq with his body armor, his weapons and his fellow Marines. With this being said I am not able to bring myself to condone the violence in Iraq. I can only lament the fact that there are places in America that are more dangerous. Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield apparently understood that he was born into a dangerous society. He had left his mother to live with his aunt fleeing from the troubled Cleveland inner-city school to safer surroundings in the suburbs. Upon graduation from the suburban high school, he fulfilled his dream by joining the Marine Corps. He was preparing to return for a second tour of duty in Iraq and had gone into this dangerous neighbor to say good-bye to his mother.
As we read in the Vegas papers and see the common place nature of violence in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, one must wonder what sickness has overcome our society. If you go to national evenings news and see the violence across the country, one must believe we should be concentrating on solving the violence in America before we run around the world making the world safe for democracy.
No one asked me but… As the Democratic Primary has drawn to a close in Montana and South Dakota, it appears Barrack Obama is going to be the Democratic Candidate when the party meets in convention in Denver. Hillary Clinton has offered to be the Vice-President. If she really wants to help the party she could suggest someone like Governor Richardson from New Mexico as Vice President. She could then throw her support behind that ticket. Interesting enough, one of the best Obama quotes is “America is the greatest country in the world, help me change it.” She would be of more help as the Democratic Senator from New York helping pass the legislation the Democrats feel will be necessary to make this change.
At this point, I don’t care if a Republican or a Democrat is elected President; just give me a leader. What a great time in American history for third party or no party candidate to step forward and take charge of this country. I continue to wonder where the leadership is in this country. Our very own Senator Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, was asked on a morning news show what the Democratic controlled Senate is doing and Harry said “we are on hold”. On hold? You are there to lead not sit on hold. If you are on hold, let me suggest you hang up and when the American people call again, answer the call.
It might be pointed out that most of the problems Americans are facing today began to materialize after 2006. That was the year Americans voted Democrats in control of both the House and Senate on the promise of change. Well change we got, gas prices sky rocketed, the housing market collapsed, and the stock market fell. While we are not yet in a recession, the economy has slowed, and inflation is running rampant.
Don’t get me wrong. I will not lay all this at the doorsteps of the Democrats. This is not a Democrat or Republican problem, they are both inept. I saw the President on TV the other day explaining that Congresses’ efforts to stop oil from going into the national reserves as a means of making more gas available to the public will not work. I found my self shouting at the TV. I really hate it when I do that. Mr. President, don’t tell me what won’t work. You are the leader of the greatest nation in the world, tell me what will work. If you don’t know, find someone who does. Any one with the intelligence of a slightly retarded armadillo knows the basis of the economic problems of America is the fuel prices. It has cause the rise in prices in all the other areas. Solve that issue and we are well on our way to solving the economic problems facing America today. If the eco-nuts won’t allow us to open Anwar, or to do off shore drilling (why we listen to them is beyond me) let us use what we have an abundance of – coal. If we gasify coal and the price of gas doesn’t go down, which I believe it would, at least the money we are spending would stay in the country instead of going into the pockets of the very terrorist who wish to destroy America.
But the gas issue is a symptom of the disease, not the disease. The disease is there is no leadership in Washington, none. Where are the likes of George Washington (Federalist), Andrew Jackson (D), Abraham Lincoln (R), Teddy Roosevelt (R), Franklin Roosevelt (D), Harry Truman, (D), John Kennedy (D), Ronald Regan (R)? What a great opportunity for a leader to rise from the unwashed masses and take charge of this country. Just give me a leader who is more interested in America than a political party. When I hear a candidate say we must have a Democrat or Republican for our next President, I know we don’t need him. I really don’t care if the candidate is a Democrat, Republican, Independent or no party – just give me a leader. I sure don’t see a leader among the two choices the major parties are going to offer. Give me a candidate who understands America must come before the Party.
Thought of the week….Abraham Lincoln did not go to Gettysburg having commissioned a poll to find out what would sell in Gettysburg. – Robert Coles
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