The US Constitution is not pick and choose

There has been a lot of noise about a mosque, approved by local planning boards, being built in lower Manhattan being too close to the World Trade Center site. Many people feel that it is too close to the site and it is disrespectful and wrong to build it so close to where such tragedy took place. Well, while the First Amendment allows those people to speak their minds, that same provision allows the Muslims who want to build a mosque. The constitutional guarantees of freedom, including freedom of worship, were not suspended by 9/11, despite the efforts of certain politicians and partisans. The right and freedom to worship, or not, is a key freedom. Despite what some bigots say (and these people are bigots), 9/11 has not superseded the First Amendment.

If the Imam of the proposed mosque is political, take way the mosque's 501(c)(3) tax-emptness. But if the property for the mosque is in accordance with a comprehensive plan of zoning that is allowed for that area and the local planning board and community agrees that a religious building being constructed in the area is appropriate then that should be that. No American has a right to tell someone they can't open a church, synagogue or mosque in a certain area for the arbitrary and discriminatory reason that some of the same religion did something wrong and YOU don't want them to worship in a certain place for no other reason. This is NYC 2010, not Berlin 1940. Polls don't matter.

Yes churches are denied permission to build due to zoning reasons all the time, but the zoning for the lower Manhattan area allows for churches and the mosque. Either all are banned or none are banned. You don't get to pick and choose. That is un-American and un-Constitutional. Period. There is no other argument. And the "real Americans" who say otherwise should be sent back to school for a remedial course in American history.

What next?

While I'm happy to see Sarah Palin head back to Alaska I am not happy about the bashing the Republican party has taken. Instead, I'm hopeful that this lost will lead to their day of reckoning a little sooner so they can rebuild the GOP (or a new party) as a true conservative party that will not pander to the religious loonies on the right, spend like there is no tomorrow but leave the bill until tomorrow and focus on making the majority of Americans poorer while making sure those with the right connections succeed (I'm not optimistic about the later).

The GOP needs to clean house and get the conservative movement back to their base. They used to be the party of small government and business, doing what they thought was best for the country as a whole. Better, they had the ability to debate with the Democrats to show voters why their ideas were correct. Though you may have disagreed with their conclusions, their opinions were generally well thought out and informed-- a good example would be dissenting US Supreme Court opinions where a justice(s) demonstrates how he or she came up with a differentconclusion than the majority based on a different philosophy . Now they seem to argue on fear: the other side will raise taxes (ignoring that they raised the debt so much with their drunken spending that any candidate will have little choice), he hangs out with terrorists, he is a Muslim etc, without the facts to back up their allegations.

They've chased away the best and the brightest in an elite intellectual purge, seeming to prefer the ignorant masses. I'm not saying the educated don't make mistakes: John Kennedy's best and brightest leading us into Vietnam being a prime example. However, there are two sides to every argument and I prefer a well thought out opinion over a "it feels right" approach. Poorly defined, bitter vitriol, complete with name calling, can not compare to a full debate on the issues, though it does make for a better sound bite.

There is nothing wrong with representing the blue collar, unprofessional Americans who live and move in a different world than professionals with different concerns. However, that can't succeed on the world stage. The GOP lost the election in part by scaring away voters, even the Joe 6 Packs, with a woefully inept Sarah Palin. The political qualities that make for a good Governor of a small (in population) rural state such as Alaska do not necessarily transfer well to the national stage. Yet, that could have been overcome with a crash course on current positions. The public would understand that the Governor of Alaska, while well versed in problems facing Alaska, would not be up to date on national issues. However the Governor seemed incapable of adjusting. More scary, the faithful kept lowering the bar, trying to convince Americans that the under study to a 72 year old POW cancer surviving President doesn't need to be smart. Americans, scared at what could happen, refused to support the ticket and McCain lost in a year where it would have been hard for the GOP to win anyway. Yet the GOP thinks the solution for 2012 is to not only go ultra conservative but to pick more empty shells to run for office and to manipulate. The well educated, with informed and reasoned opinions on domestic and foreign affairs need not apply. Meritocracy has no place in the new GOP.

Presidents such as Abe Lincoln or T.Roosevelt would not be welcomed today as they were intellectuals who were somewhat progressive for their day. Nixon would have been impeached not because of Watergate, but because he dared to talk to communist China. Reagan would never be able to have drinks with Tip O'Neil because O'Neil was the Democratic speaker of the house. The party that was less than thrilled with Senator McCain because he wasn't socially conservative enough for them deserves what they get. The sad thing is that blue collar workers, who they profess to love, the college educated professionals and the white collar, but perhaps not educated, middle class in the service industry have many things in common. Yet the GOP has chased away the college educated who could lead the next generation and, frankly, has not treated the white collar middle class that well either so they could focus on the fears of a few who do not like the way the world is changing.

The party seems to have embraced a policy that the more uneducated you are, the more qualified you are to lead the nation. By that logic Andy Taylor is as qualified to be the Supreme Court's chief justice as John Roberts. There is appeal and there is the ability to lead the nation. Just because you are successfully running your small computer business does not mean you have the skills to immediately be the second in command at IBM, yet that is what the GOP expected the Kool Aid drinkers to accept. 8 years of go by your guts and not weigh the consequences of alternate options has left this country in a horrible mess. It is one thing for your local leaders to be a Joe 6 pack, it is another for the national leaders.

As to Palin herself, not only was she unqualified at the moment, but she seemed to show a lack of intellectual curiosity. You don't need to have a Harvard or Yale degree to be intelligent. Heck, you do not even need to go to college, I've known many incredibly intelligent people over the years who did not go to college. I've also known plenty of college graduates who I thought were idiots. However, even those without a formal education stayed up on current events and could question what was being said.

I do not want the man or woman running our country to be the one I most want to hang out with, I want the one who has the ability to do the best job, whether they went to Columbia University, Queens College or Newark High School. Palin, who could barely be bothered to read briefing papers before her debate, was not that person. I may not agree with John Roberts, Pat Buchanan, Sam Alito or Newt Gingrich, but their positions are generally well thought out. They could properly frame an argument with a well balanced position. However, if they were starting their careers today, I wonder if they would be welcomed in the GOP of today? Perhaps, or perhaps they would be chased away because they are intellectual elitists.

All of us, liberal, conservative, moderate whatever are stronger when both sides can frame an intellectual argument to try to convince us of their points. We need people from all sides of the political spectrum with intellectual curiosity, analytical talents, and problem-solving skills typical of intensely intelligent people to be our leaders. Anything less is inadequate. Disdain for the intellectual, creative thinking base is not a good thing. If we think two party rule is bad, wait until we have one party rule.

Is this how freedom dies?

Not unexpectedly, the gloves have come off in the Presidential campaign as Senator McCain continues to fall in the polls. Attacks on Senator Obama have gotten nastier, but that is part of politics. What I find worrisome is the attack on the press. The McCain camp seems intent on killing the messengers.

I speak of a recent rally in Florida where Governor Palin pretty much turned a mob against reporters covering a rally by blaming Katie Couric's "tough" questions for her less than stellar interview, and not her own incompetence. Next thing you know, the mob has turned on the press waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse.

What is wrong with these people? Don't they understand freedom of the press is one of the elements of our liberty? Government officials inspiring a mob to turn on reporters in the US? This is beyond getting ugly, this is the GOP turning against the freedom of the press. This is how freedom dies.

Next time on a very special episode of John & Sarah ...

I don't know whether to be amused or sad that the McCain/Palin campaign want to rip off the plot of The Birdcage and have Gov Palin's teenage daughter marry her baby daddy just before the election for ratings. Of course it will be a shotgun wedding as Gov Palin has already admitted she shoots things.

Me thinks this campaign has jumped the shark. You can always tell the ratings are tanking when producers go for the wedding, though they at least shook things up by having pregnancy episodes before the wedding episode. And of course Sarah will have to cut time out of her schedule for important things like security briefs and interviews with the press to plan the wedding and decide what lipstick to put on. I wonder what hijinks they have planned to go wrong that day for the traditional cold feet scene.

I think the season will end as a cliffhanger with Palin's son being shipped off to Iraq & the daughter going into labor. Left unanswered will be the important questions: Did Sarah or Todd have an affair? Is John ill? Did Sarah abuse her power? Will Levi be written out? What about Trigg? There is a real danger we won't find out what happens next if John & Sarah get canceled by voters in November, so vote McCain if you want to keep this soap opera running.

Caribou Barbie

Did you see the interview Sarah Palin had with Katie Couric on CBS? Yikes!! No wonder the McCain campaign is keeping her from the press, which finally seems to be waking up to this problem. More disturbing though is the thought she could be President one day. While I don't expect her, a governor suddenly thrust onto the national stage to be as well versed in national issues as Senators McCain, Obama and Biden after just a few weeks, I would expect her to at least be able to answer a question with a rudimentary, basic answer. That she can not disturbs me. It is not so much that she didn't know the issues facing this country that bothered me as her seemingly inabilityto still understand them. She is not qualified to run for the second highest office of this land.

Being governor of Alaska, a state with a population smaller than Brooklyn, is not the same as being a governor of New Jersey, Texas or Arkansas. She basically has the same executive experience as one of the many mayors of New Jersey's small towns. My father in law has executive business experience running his small radio communications company, that doesn't mean he has the skills to suddenly run CBS tomorrow, even though he watches the network on a regular basis. If Governor Palin can't handle Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric or even her own supporters throwing softballs, how can she handle Putin when he bombs Georgia again? How will she work with foreign leaders who already see her as just eye candy like Pakistan's leader did?

I'm not a Dick Cheney fan, but I wouldn't be too worried if he was suddenly President. He has been engaged in national and international issues for decades and would be an adequate President. Same for Al Gore if something had happened to President Clinton. Even Dan Quayle, who was also thought to be a lightweight, had some experience with national issues and, as I recall, was at least able to answer reporter questions (though not spell potato). But Governor Palin? Maybe 8 years from now, but not today. And, after this last round with Couric I think I am being generous.

Whether you agree with her or not is not as important as whether she can actually be President. Her running mate is a 72 year old former POW cancer survivor running for the most stressful job on the planet? Will he still be here in 4 years? What happens if we really do get a President Palin. As I said before, picking Palin was a great political move, but is it good for the country?

Yes, the role of the VP, which constitutionally is just to make sure the President is breathing and break ties in the Senate, doesn't require much, but when there is a chance that VP may be President, it is time to worry. And, as the recent financial meltdown has shown, we will need a leader who is not only engaged but also can understand what is going on. Senator McCain is intelligent and knowledgeable, Palin is not. Governing a nation such as our requires skills and an ability to make the right decision based on an understanding of the facts to make complex decisions, not just simply doing what your advisers tell you to do because all you are is an empty figure head. It requires a leader prepared to understand the issues facing him or her, able to partake in serious thought. I have yet to see a view from Governor Palin that would convince me she has these skills.

I like John McCain, though not his campaign (which reminds me of Gore's 2000 campaign filled will missteps because the handlers wouldn't let the candidate be himself). If he had won the nomination in 2000, I may have voted for him over Gore, but then I may not have. Though there were polices of his I disagreed with, I never doubted his ability to be President then. However, it is now 8 years later. He is 72 and has had health issues. While his mother is still around, both his father and grandfather died at much younger ages. While though those could be blamed on the stresses of WWII and Vietnam, both the stresses of our financial mess and Iraq will not be going away anytime soon and I worry about a President McCain making it to 2012.

There is a reason why some of the left leaning blogs came up with the nickname Caribou Barbie for Governor Palin (I think, I'v heard it many places). These are dangerous times, we can't afford an incompetent person running the show. As long as Governor Palin remains on the ticket, I will not vote for McCain. There are many competent conservatives who, while I may not agree with politically, are competent to step into the role of President if the need should sadly arise.

The hypocrisy reeks

Well the media has had its fun with Republican Vice President nominee Sarah Palin, the Governor from Alaska, a state with a smaller population than Brooklyn, NYC, and her family, including her pregnant teen daughter, redneck future son in law, drunk driving husband and questions about the divorce of her husband's business partner. It's been an amusing sideshow but it also led the public's attention away from Palin's social conservatism, her views on Alaskan independence, troopergate and her general lack of experience. Forget her conservative views for a moment and look at her resume - a little weak don't you think? It makes Obama's resume look much more impressive. We're expected to be believe that a 2 year chief of a small, rural organization is qualified to run a trillion dollar operation? These are the issues we should be discussing.

While the job of the Vice-President is basically to make sure the President is still breathing, I am a little more concerned about who is warming up in the bullpen when the President is a 72 year old cancer survivor. But hey, don't let that worry the Republican party. The GOP has an election to win in November and another President and Vice President to inaugurate on January 20th.

I'd like to have someone competent on the 21st on January. Unfortunately too many voters think character issues are important when you're about to entrust someone that amount of power, as if the "nice" guy is so innocent. They'd rather have the hockey mom over the "elite" Senator from Chicago because she is more like them. That kind of thinking is what got this country in so much trouble. We wasted tons of resources basically investigating Clinton's sex life then elected an inferior candidate because he seemed like a nice guy.

I don't want a leader who is like me, my friends or family. I want someone who is better than us. I don't care who a leader sleeps with or prays to. I don't care if he/she is a nice person or a total jerk during off hours. I do care about what he or she will do on the job. Give me a slut who is an intelligent leader over a tea sipping fool who doesn't know what he is doing any day. What happens in a leader's bedroom (or whatever bed he or she is in) is none of the public's business.

Personally I don't care that the potential future Vice President has a teen daughter about to give birth to a baby out of wedlock. What I do care about is the Governor's competence. However, it's all about power and keeping it, not what doing what is best. What I'd find really amusing, if the situation wasn't so serious, is how the GOP went from Dan Quayle bashing Murphy Brown for having a child out of wedlock 16 years ago to how wonderful that the Palin family is not having an abortion, who cares about a 17 year old being pregnant. And of course, their own little pitbull, Bill O'Reilly, who so upset that Britney Spears 15 year old sister was pregnant this past spring has changed his views to Palin's becoming a grandmother is a private family issue. Personal responsibility? That's not for Republicans apparently.

Still, you have to admire a party with so much chutzpah that they can go for jugular of a person from "the other side," but then cry foul if their person is attacked for the exact same thing. It's bad when the other side has sex out of marriage or nominates a candidate with little experience, it's ok when we do it. The hypocrisy reeks.

Great another lightweight

She is 43 years old, has tried marijuana, eats moose burgers and has a husband who works for BP (the oil company). Let's give it up for Sarah Palin! What is it with the GOP and placing unqualified lightweights at the top (or second from the top) of the ticket when there have got to be better choices? Is the GOP trying to say that a first YEAR governor, Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) of a state with 600,000 people in it, is the best Republican available for the vice presidency? Boy, that says a lot about the qualifications, or lack thereof, of every other Republican.

Dan Qualyle, George W Bush (say what you want but the party leaders, and not the people, chose a governor of a state where the legislature doesn't even meet every year, over McCain in '00) and now Palin. In each case the GOP could've chosen more wisely. After the last 8 years, I want qualified people in both the 1 and 2 slots (and yes, though I disagree with him, I think Cheney was qualified to be President).

Regardless of your political view, you have to agree this does take away McCain's inexperience/age argument against Obama. McCain has been saying Obama is too inexperienced and now he picks someone who is even more inexperienced, and with fewer accomplishments than Obama, for his vice-president. Before becoming governor she was a city council member and then the mayor of a community of under 9,000 people from 1992 to 2002 and then served as a statewide commissioner on an Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. That's it? My god, that just described quite a few mayors in New Jersey. I can't understand why the GOP would take an opponent's relative inexperiece and make him look like a senior statesman by picking someone with even more inexperience (aside from going to least damage to the ticket -- other candidates like Romney would've brought baggage).

Maybe Palin is qualified, I don't know much about her, but what I do know bothers me. Alaska is not the rest of the country. She has been governor of a wide spread state with fairly few people for only a year; that is not the same as being a Senator, both state and US, from a populous state. While she may have done much good, and has the potential to do more, she just does not have the experience at this time to run the country. Say what you will about Sen. Biden, he is qualified to lead the country if something were to happen to a President Obama. I don't have the same confidence about a potential President Palin. Add in Obama's relative inexperience and McCain's age and all I see it that the GOP really blew it by picking another pretty face without much gravity.

Just goes to show that the GOP is all about being elected while the Democrats actually care about leading the country. Now they are picking a vice president based not on her qualifications, but because most potential GOP voters do not hate her? I may not agree with the other potential VP candidates but at least I felt they had the experience that is qualified to run the country in case something happened to a President McCain. While raising a family of 5 for the last 2 decades gives great life experience, it does not give governing experience. By picking a half-term governor from one of the smallest, and least populated states in the country, the GOP has made a half-term US senator from one of the more populated states in America look much experienced.

Palin may have excellent judgment and may be a good potential President. However her resume is quite thin at the moment, even thinner than Obama's. Yes she has executive experience, but so did George W. Bush -- and we saw how well that worked out. I have executive experience from my job, I've managed a million dollar budget for over a decade, am a board member of my temple and make decisions that affect many on a regular basis. That does not qualify me to be president.

I'm voting for judgment and by picking someone so inexperienced McCain just showed me his judgment, or at least the GOP's judgment, is thinner than I thought. The Vice President is an under study who could get the staring role at any time. We can't let the GOP place another inexperienced person in position to run the country. The GOP did this to us in 2000 by giving us George Bush over a much more qualified John McCain. We can't let them do this again.