To the Editors:

Atlantic Magazine published a special issue recently on the future prospects of the US. The conclusion of James Fallows, a regular contributor who has spent years in China and other countries, is that our prospects are better than any other country on earth if we can solve one problem, the way our government is working. Most letter writers who have been printed in these pages would agree, I believe, with that assessment.

When I was walking the streets campaigning for election candidates in the past couple of years, the people I spoke with agreed that the lack of honesty and integrity in governing officials is what upsets them most. I think the two perceptions are connected.

Democratic governing can only happen through good faith bargaining and if duplicity and selfish maneuvering takes priority over commitment to the common good, governing itself grinds down to short-sighted positioning based on the latest polls and powerful influences. The far-sighted and often hard choices that constitute good governing just doesn’t happen. I think many would agree that is our current situation.

I am sending to both political parties in the county a modest document to address that situation. It is a Pledge to Voters for candidates to ascribe to. It promises truth-telling and giving priority to the common good, both current and future.

The pledge is general and abstract. It’s hard to imagine anyone who could disagree with it. That is the starting point, where we all agree. But by putting this point of agreement into words and repeating those words over and over, slipping into evasive and self-serving patterns of behavior becomes a little less common. And little by little our level of political discourse should rise to a more cooperative confrontation of the serious dangers to our common welfare.

I ask the readers to urge your party and the candidates to speak the pledge at the beginning of every public presentation. Don’t accept the protest “I already do that all the time.” Insist on the pledge being spoken because unspoken assumptions are more easily ignored. Here is the pledge.

My Pledge to Voters

By electing me to office you the people bestow on me your trust in my integrity and dedication, Therefore I hereby commit myself:

1. to support and advance democracy and the Constitution;
2. to speak and promote truth even while leading citizens to support the common welfare;
3. to put the common welfare, both current and future, ahead of the welfare of any individual or group;
4. to conscientiously discharge the duties of my office;
5. to model good citizenship;
6. to acknowledge when I fall short of these commitments;
7. to practice these principles both during campaigning for election and during my term of service if I am elected.

John Rose

On CNN’s Larry King Live Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge said of the would be Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab:

I take a look at this individual who has been charged criminally, does that mean he’s going to get his Miranda warnings?

Does that mean the only kind of information we want to get from him is if he volunteers it. He’s not a citizen of this country. He’s a terrorist, and I don’t think he deserves the full range of protections of our criminal justice system embodied in the Constitution of the United States. (emphasis added)

So Tom Ridge, our former governor, is the person who determines whether a person is a terrorist. That is great news since the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is in such financial straits due to the Bush recession. We can disband all the courts in the state and save billions of dollars a year paying judges, juries, and other court costs. All we have to do is get Ridge to come back to Pennsylvania and pay him $50 million a year to decide the innocence and guilt of every accused person.

I wonder why Tom Ridge never displayed this super power when he was governor? I worked for the state when Ridge was governor; I never realized I worked for God. I wonder if Governor Ridge can use his divine powers to hold the “criminals” in suspended animation or something until he declares they are reformed or he sends them to hell. That way we can eliminate all prisons and save even more billions.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jonathan Turley Takes on Tom Ridge’s Hackery (videocafe.crooksandliars.com)
• Tom Ridge: Terror suspect doesn’t deserve ‘full range’ of rights (cnn.com)

I found the blog was down when I tried to post an article earlier today. Luckily I had a backup of the blog so I managed to restore all the users and articles after reinstalling the WordPress software. I do not think the blog was off-line for very long. I was working on it last week. I think something went wrong when one of the plugins updated.

If anyone has problems with the blog in the future contact John Harvey, the Blog Master.

HuffingtonPost reports yet anther ethics complaint against Sarah Palin. Andree McLeod, obtained obtained emails and records through a Freedom of Information request for the period after Palin was named Vice-Presidential candidate. The records indicate Palin’s staff used state resources for political purposes during the period.

While the ethics complaint may be interesting, it is just another charge against an official who resigned to avoid impeachment. The real story to me is the subject of the emails and messages going between Palin’s staff and the McCain campaign. Bill McAllister, a communications aide to the governor, sent an email to the McCain campaign asking for guidance about what Palin’s position should be on abortion and sex education.

I need to verify what’s being said on the governor’s behalf regarding two social issues," McAllister writes. "On abortion, she is pro-life, but does she oppose exceptions for rape and incest? On sex education, does she favor an abstinence-only approach or does she allow for contraceptives? [Emphasis added]

The email does not ask what position the campaign wants Palin to take. It asks what her position is. This seems to indicate that even Palin’s aides did not know what her position was on hot button social issues. Or they were willing to say anything the campaign wanted them to say about issues on which the candidate had already spoken. An even more troubling implication is that Sarah Palin is willing to say anything to get elected.

I was glad to hear that HR 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act had passed in the House of Representatives. However, I was very disappointed to learn that Tim Holden had voted against the bill.

I would suggest that you concider doing what I did. Go to Tim’s web site. Send an email using the form. In addition to expressing your reaction, ask what would have to change for him to vote for the bill if it passes in the Senate. Do not just criticize ask what we can do to change his mind. What would Tim Holden need from Senators Specter and Casey?

Final 1-06-09 Where Do We Go From Here

Published Lebanon Daily News January 8, 2009
Reprinted here with permission of the author

A Republican friend (I do have them!), asked me how bad things are and if the economy will ultimately recover. This is what I wrote him back.

Sure, “the economy will ultimately recover.” This is not the end of our empire. It is not 410 AD and the sack of Rome. Think rather the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD when the Roman army lost it first major battle to the barbarians. It is not the end but it is not the same as it was. The real question is where do we go from here. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, a friend encouraged me to write a blog entry about community gardens. We had talked about the issue many months ago, prior to becoming involved in the local Obama campaign, and to be honest, I had actually forgotten about it.

What does this have to do with being a Democrat in Lebanon County? The connection, for me, relates back to a conversation with another friend about the differences between Democrats and Republicans. His opinion was that a Democrat’s motto should be “what can I do for my community?” and I feel fortunate to live in a place where the spirit of community caring and giving is high, regardless of one’s affiliation (or non-affiliation).

We’re living in some hard times, to be sure. One solution (I think) to hard times is self reliance and a helping hand, which is something Lebanon Countians are already pretty good at and it brings me to the fond memories of my childhood when all of old folks had their gardens “out back”. This was probably just a holdover from there upbringing, but they too lived through some hard times.

Not wanting to complain or commiserate without offering solutions, I propose we think about community gardening.

It helps cut down on grocery costs, fosters neighborhood connections, and provides healthy and environmentally safe food (assuming you don’t use too many pesticides). To me, it sounds like a win/win/win situation.

If you tried to get into the blog earlier this evening you may have had problems. Something happened that broke the blog. Apparently, one of the plug-ins I installed did not work right. It seems to be working again. I uninstalled all the plug-ins and activated them one by one.

The one that seemed to have not worked was one to let people change the theme of the blog to suit their own preference. It is a nice feature but not essential. After I installed several plug-ins, including Theme Changer, suddenly all h*ll broke lose. Yes, I know you should never install multiple things at the same time. Everything seems to work fine again.

One new feature that did survive is one to allow writers to make the edit screen take up all the browser window. One user found the text running off the screen when she wrote a post. There is a button near the right side of the toolbar at the top of the edit window. It looks slightly like a computer screen. If you click it you will get rid of the two sidebars that take up some of the screen. Press it again and everything is back to normal.

The other new button on the toolbar is one that looks like a bar chart. It allows you to add a poll to what you are writing.

The Vice-President has admitted publicly that he was involved in the decision to use torture. For this he should be prosecuted for war crimes. I suspect if he was facing life in prison Cheney would turn on George W Bush in a heart beat.

He claims the CIA came to him for guidance on what tactics could be used. I am convinced the truth is even more sordid. Why would the CIA come to Richard Cheney if they wanted to know what tactics they could legally use? Read the rest of this entry »

We all understand the historical urgency and imperative of holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their grave crimes against our own country and all of humanity.

And we haven’t got a lot of time to move on the particular action in this alert so please go to the Obama change site TODAY (voting closes 12/31 at midnight), where there is already a question calling for a special prosecutor, and

1. Sign in at http://change.gov/openforquestions
2. Search for “Fitzgerald”
3. This will display several similar questions, so look carefully for “Bob Fertik” (who started the question)
4. Look right for the checkbox, mouseover it so it goes from white to dark, then click to cast your vote

And let’s all vote for the SAME question (don’t start another new one) and demonstrate to our new incoming administration that letting the crimes of the past slide without retribution is NOT an option. Read the rest of this entry »