The Honorable Politician
Sunday, Februrary 7, 2010On this Super Bowl Sunday, I’m finding it more than a little ironic that I’m writing today on the subject of honor in politics.  Oh, well.  The game doesn’t start for several hours, and even the pre-game hype is over three hours away.

Ever since I associated myself with the Wesley Clark for President movement, I’ve thought about the concept of honor.  After all, Gen. Clark’s alma mater’s motto is “Duty, Honor, Country.”  One of the reasons I’m so intrigued by honor is that I’ve always wondered if I had much of it.

Last night, I asked myself what it would mean to have honor in politics these days.  What attributes or characteristics would an honorable politician display?

Well, I've been predicting it for months, and now the proof has arrived. Kudo's to Mary for the great find.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aid=0.0.131319

This isn't the first report we have had of troubles in the wind industry...

In the primaries I was in the tank for Obama even though  Gen. Clark endorsed then Senator Clinton. So what I'm about to say may come as a surprise to some. I was wrong about Barack Obama, dead wrong, not that in retrospect that I'd have voted for Hillary instead, I honestly might have abstained from the whole process. In truth I am disgusted with the Democratic party, and party politics in general.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through my eighth tour through the 49 or so hours of video of "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" series. In what I watched last night, Lt. Byron Henry (Hart Bochner), the submariner son of (at the time) Capt. Victor "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum), was serving on the USS Moray, whose captain was Lt. Cdr. "Lady" Astor (Barry Bostwick). The Moray had found a Japanese convoy of a a troop ship, two freighters, and a destroyer. After dispatching the destroyer with a down-the-throat tube shot, the Moray was able to deal with the three other ships leisurely.

Wow, it's remarkable that Obama prevailed last night by having made maximum use of the internet for attracting contributors and volunteers. Far more powerful than Howard Dean, and that was no small feat. Gov. Dean's 50-state strategy both two years ago and now are among the prized results of "netroots rising".

(Proudly cross-posted at C4O)

On Monday, I talked a little about what's at stake in this election. And today, I'd like to expand on that some more. Now that the stupid scandals are gone and we're all focusing again on the economy, now's the perfect time.

I mentioned in an entry on the open blog that I do not like politicians. Even the good ones have dirty hands and have no doubt over all I have always felt Charlie Rangle is a good one. But then things like this come along that reinforce my distrust and dislike.

Rangel rents N.Y. apartments at bargain rates

We all know that CCN split into 2 large parts when Wes Clark endorsed Hillary Clinton.

We all know that CCN still exists as 2 large groups of people - Obama supporters and Clinton supporters.

What I wonder is this -- what do we still have in common besides being supporters of Wes Clark?

We all want George W Bush to leave office (and in my case, go directly to jail).

We all want the Iraq War to end as quickly as possible.

We all want a Democratic majority in Congress in January 2009.

We all want a more secure economic future for our families.

What else do we all agree on?

I've spent a lot of time the past few years pondering the way the winds of life can blow us into unexpected, and sometimes unpleasant places. Places that in our wildest dreams (or darkest nightmares) we never imagined we would be.

The only constant in life is change, they say. Like death and taxes it seems inevitable.

Each of us here have changed since we first came together in the name of Wes Clark.

I am the Flag

by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America.

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.

There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.

My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.