My old friend Brian Wagner sent me an interesting email regarding the capture of Saddam Hussein. I thought it was worth sharing with others. Brian granted me permission, so here it is....
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Hey there,
A strange thing happened this morning. For no good reason, I woke up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning (remember that I'm on Central Time). Those who know me understand that I don't like waking up that early on any day of the week, less so on weekends.
Realizing I wouldn't get back to sleep, I turned on the morning news and saw the announcement of the capture of Saddam Hussein. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to hear the news and suddenly wasn't so upset about having woken up so early.
Over the next few hours I watched the commentary, flipping between CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox (I don't have cable). One comment I heard over and over was about how this positioned Bush so well to defeat whomever the Democrats choose to run against him in 2004.
Okay, you probably know I have opinions. Usually I keep them to myself until asked. This time, however, I'm speaking up.
To be honest, I have no idea how I'll vote next year. It's usually not along any party line and I don't expect it to be different this time around. That said, there I things Bush still has to answer for before he can win my vote:
* Manipulation of intelligence
* Osama bin Laden still running free and financing terrorists
* Complete and utter lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction
* No-bid contracts for Haliburton
* Blustering arrogance towards NATO allies
* Lack of reaction to North Korea (always a bigger threat than Iraq).
* Donald Rumsfeld
* Four hundred billion dollar deficit (there was a surplus when he took over, now he's going Reaganesque on us)
* Pre-emptive war - known to the rest of us as Aggravated Assault and Battery, a felony.
* Guantanamo Bay and the lack of due process
* Pushing for FBI wiretaps without court orders
* Giving tax breaks to American companies to move jobs overseas.
* We're still the only industrialized nation that doesn't provide Universal Health Care for children. (Both sides of the aisle need to explain this horrendous situation.)
You may agree or disagree with me as you choose. Feel free to offer back opinions. As always, remember that I love debating this stuff and will respond to anything you offer back.
Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas everybody!!
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Brian Wagner