A great op-ed piece from David Gergen, A Deepening Leadership Crisis
A Deepening Leadership Crisis – David Gergen
This is a really insightful post of the lack of trust amongst the leadership of our country today. Not only a trust in our President, but trust in the leadership of all levels of government and most of the private sector.
Where will our next great leader come from? Is it one of the candidates running for President? Is there someone else out there?
We need a great leader to come forward. I hope they come soon, because we definitely need it.
An interesting video, CatholicVote.com
Here is an interesting video from CatholicVote.com. Take a look.
http://catholicvote.com/cv_homepage_theater_live.swf
I am Catholic, but I am wondering if focused on one issue is too narrowly focused. Should they be focused on all of them?
Denver welcomes the country to the DNC at DIA
Denver welcomes the country to the DNC at DIA, originally uploaded by Peter S on Flickr.
Marble for Unknowns tomb just sits
Marble for Unknowns tomb just sits – The Denver Post
This is where the government procurement policies and procedures have gone wrong.
The marble of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is failing and needs to be replaced. A retired car dealer, John Haines, has donated a piece of marble from the same quarry and has even lined up donated transportation to get it to Arlington National Cemetery for free.
But Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Army are balking at the free donation. Instead they have estimated it to cost $2.2 million, including $80,000 to just accept bids on the project.
In the article, this is what Thurman Higginbotham, Deputy Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery had say about the donated marble.
“It’s not doable. A citizen can’t just give us any piece of marble and say, ‘This is what we’ll use to replace the tomb,’ ”
As a taxpayer and a citizen I think the Army and Arlington National Cemetery need to investigate whether the marble will work for the tomb or not. Not just dismiss it outright.
If it works, great. You have a free piece of marble that will save you the $90,000 you think it will cost to purchase and transport. If it doesn’t, that is fine, but at least look at it.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a special place and means a lot to people. They were doing this out of respect and have found a special piece of marble to serve as the replacement. Arlington National Cemetery should recognize that.
University of Idaho researcher faces deportation back to Poland
Local News | UI researcher faces deportation back to Poland | Seattle Times Newspaper
I just want to say that this is the most stupid things that I have heard of. A Univesity of Idaho researcher who is studying bioterrorism defenses for the FBI was denied citizenship because she illegally worked for 8 months because the immigration and Naturalization Service didn’t like the photo she submitted.
This is horrible, wrong, and many other things including expletives.
Not only is it affecting her, it is affecting her husband and their son. Her husband is researching ways to fight diseases such as AIDS, can longer receive grants to do that work.
Their son is stuck because he can no longer receive tuition reimbursement from his work so he can’t go to college.
The kicker is that they weren’t doing anything wrong. They were playing by the rules and doing everything you were supposed to do. Where they got into trouble is that the INS didn’t like the photos that she submitted, so it delayed her annual work permit.
When they finally got a photo they liked, her annual permit had expired. She ended up working eight months without a permit. She tried to do the right thing and checked, but got some bad advice.
This is just plain stupid and wrong. Our country is and Immigration and Naturalization Service is wrong.
The INS is a horrible organization. There are many people who have come here illegally and they do nothing. But a family who is doing everything by the book and doing tremendous research to help this country and the world is denied citizenship and shipped home because the INS didn’t like her photo is wrong and needs to be corrected.
No wonder immigration is screwed up in this country. Something needs to be fixed and fixed now!
I’ll miss Tim Russert
I just want to say that I’ll miss Tim Russert.
I enjoyed watching “Meet the Press” and listening to his thoughts and insight into political activities on NBC News and MSNBC. It was quite entertaining and he made it fun because he enjoyed it.
For those of you who don’t know, he passed away today at the age of 58.
I remember back to the Bush-Gore election and Russert was on the news speculating on the electoral college and who was going to win. It was back-and-forth and he kept erasing his white board. I was up late that night and Tim was still there with his white board.
I had the opportunity to see Tim speak in person at the PRSA International Conference last fall in Philadelphia. It was quite a speech and most of it spoke of the upcoming Presidential election. But he was most proud when he was talking about his book and his dad.
Tim Russert will be missed, especially as we go through this upcoming election. He made politics fun while educating us and providing a look into the campaigns.
Burma – the Junta should be charged with crimes against
The rejection of aid by Burmese government should be a sign and trigger that the Burmese government leaders should be charged with crimes against humanity.
They are knowingly killing people and no one can do anything about it. It is just sad.
The world community should do whatever they can to get these killers out of there.
Who can do that? China.
They are the only country that has a slimmer of influence over them. But will that happen? I doubt it.
You can see China’s influence on Sudan and their repression of Tibet. They could care less and also don’t care what happens to people, especially in countries where they carry a significant amount of
influence.
China wants to be a world power and influencer in the world, they should begin to act like it.
Right now, let’s hope the military junta comes to their senses and begins to let in aid to help the hundreds of thousands of people who need it.
Douglas Bruce in trouble again
Representative Douglas Bruce’s tenure in the Colorado House continues to be a tumultuous one.
It started with him kicking a Rocky Mountain News photographer, using a remark against seasonal workers, and now being accused of sexual harassment.
In the latest issue, a complaint was filed against Bruce for sexual harassment. But in an interview with KHOW’s Dan Caplis, Bruce said that he was only smiling at the woman. Continue reading “Douglas Bruce in trouble again”
2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced
The 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners have been announced. I don’t agree with who won, but the Idaho Statesman being named a finalist for their coverage of Larry Craig? Give me a break.
This was neither breaking news or good coverage of the the story. It was sensationalized with some elements of truth built in. The Idaho Statesman has always been out to get Larry Craig. What I find funny is that they did not break the story.
Rumors have always flown around about Larry Craig, but there hasn’t been that much of proof. This story provided an insight and the Idaho Statesman went for the jugular.
Now this mediocre newspaper is claiming victory by being named a finalist for a Pulitzer.
Mile High Soapbox 