Catching up on the Al-Alawahi killing, Niggerhead and Gov. Christie...
Its been a few days since I was able to do much writing. Time to catch up...
1) Anwar Al-Alawaki was ended last week. The United States literally dropped a 100 lb. Hellfire drone on him and his associates as they walked across a parking lot to their cars in Yemen last Friday. You might say they all went to pieces. There's been some comments from all sides of the political spectrum that suggest President Obama has taken us down a very dark lane by authorizing this killing of a US citizen. The concerns from progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Rachel Maddow. Even Libertarian and candidate for the GOP nomination Congressman Ron Paul of Texas is distressed by this. Kucinich and Maddow are apparently worried about a lack of due process, as is Mr. Paul. Mr. Paul, however, goes on to suggest that Obama may have subjected himself to impeachment proceedings with his decision.
There's virtually no debate that Al - Alawaki was a known terrorist. If you believe he wasn't, then stop reading now. If you believe he was, then let's move on. This was a bad guy, a radical guy who loved to recruit new members to Al-Qaeda for the purpose of doing harm to the US and her allies.
The Obama administration loves the drones and has used them more than five times ALREADY than President Bush did during his time in office. That's not a shot at Mr. Bush, just a comparison. There's already been at least 225 drone missions, resulting in the deaths of over 1500 people. Very safe for the military to use these. yes, there's been a few tragic mistakes, but all in all...they work, they work well and they go along way to keeping our servicemen out of harm's way.
When President Obama wanted to try terrorists in US Courts, he was widely criticized for providing foreign terrorist suspects the same rights as US citizens. How the tables have turned. Now, he's getting heat from all sides for NOT giving this terrorist due process and a day in court. For all intents and purposes, Al-Alawaki had already forfeited his US citizenship by fighting with Al-Qaeda against US interests.
I say President Obama handled it exactly as he should have. Kept the risk to US soldiers to a minimum, and still got rid of a bad guy. Not a lot of endzone dancing, its not Obama's style. This won't produce much if any bump in his polling numbers, but at least this time I didn't hear of any one obsessing about the number of "I's" of "me's" in his remarks about the killing.
We have nothing to worry about when it comes to Obama dropping bombs on any other US citizens here in the US. Unless they behave really, really badly and threaten the rest of us. I haven't sunk to the point just yet where I have such little faith in this man's moral fiber and believe he's capable of attacking us right here in the States.
2) Niggerhead is a rock. An old rock on a hunting ranch that was leased by Texas Governor Rick Perry's family almost thirty years ago. A rock near the entrance to the camp that had the word "niggerhead" on it. At some point in time, the word was painted over, in an effort to remove the offensive term. As the years passed by, it seems the paint faded a bit and the word became more legible. Some people commented from time to time that this could be a problem for Gov. Perry someday. Some day came earlier this week.
The word Nigger was at one point in our history, a common term. That doesn't make it right, of course, and times have changed. Most of the former locations around the Country with Nigger in the name have been changed to "Negro." An example would be Nigger Skull Mountain in North Carolina, which was changed to Negro Skull Mountain back in the early 1960's.
I think anyone trying to make the case that Governor Perry is a racist because of this rock is making a mountain out of a mole hill and insulting the real issues of racism where they once existed and to a lessor degree, still exist today. Mr. Perry named the first African American Chief Justice of the Texas State Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson, which is an odd thing to do if you don't like black people.
Should the rock still be there? Of course not. Its a clumsy detail thing that should've been removed long, long ago. Call Perry on his insensitivity I guess, but to me its pretty weak sauce to build that old rock into a case for him being a racist.
I think some of this zeal with which the left ran around in circles earlier this week is shameful. I've hated it when those on the right gin up some fake controversy when Obama or so Democratic leader does something stupid but benign. I can't ignore it when I see the left doing the same thing to a figure on the right. It's absolutely no better and an insulting diversion to the real issues of the day.
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3) Governor Chris Christie finally put the rumors/hopes to rest yesterday by announcing he will not be seeking the GOP nomination for President this go round. "Now is not my time" he said in an afternoon press conference. If he says its not time, then that's good enough for me. He's mid way through his term, and upside of quitting your job as Governor isn't so high politically. Financially, he may have done well ala book tours, bus tours, etc, but its clear to me that Christie likes his job and doesn't want to leave it.
I like Chris Christie. He sounds real to me. While I'm sure he doesn't just say anything that comes in his head, he does speak with a certain freshness, that the other GOP leaders of the day seem not to have. Maybe Congressman Thaddeus Mccotter (MIC-R) speaks in the same way. Its easy on the ears and sounds, to me, more real, more credible.
I also like him for his ability to occasionally embrace a non Republican talking point like when he defended his appointment of Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim, to the NJ state court earlier this year. He blasted those as "crazies" who suggested that he was basically enabling Sharia Law to creep into the NJ courts. That took some guts and the ease and irritation with which he had to defend Mohammed, impressed me. I have a hard time seeing some of our other GOP candidates doing something like that.
I like his character, and I like his realness. I'm not so wild about his politics, but some day I may be looking for a moderate conservative to consider and Mr. Christie may very well be worth a look.
Sources:
http://www.politico.com/rogersimon/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/us/politics/for-obama-success-battling-terrorists-seems-to-mean-little.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_three_ways_to_lose_your_citizenship
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/opinion/gov-perrys-rock.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_B._Jefferson
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/politics/opting-out-of-race-christie-says-now-is-not-my-time.html?ref=politics
http://www.christianpost.com/news/gov-chris-christie-defends-muslim-appointee-against-crazies-53461/
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