Obama deserved the Noble Peace Prize

President Obama has done a number of noteworthy things, which have also generated hope and excitement all over the world. It is true that the policies of the Bush administration created an atmosphere that highlighted Obama's move to the center away from confrontational issues.

Candidate Obama journeyed to Germany to make a speech that most in America condemned as a publicity stunt, but the world was looking for the next president of the United States to fill a void that had, for far too long, been non-existence. Obama’s speech gave promise of things to come. His message indentified an intense desire for the United States to step up, and save the world as it has done in the pass, though peaceful negotiations.

The missile defense system that President Bush wanted to install in northern Europe infuriated the Russians creating an atmosphere that could have started another Cold War. President Obama defused the issue by substituting deployed ships equipped with Aegis missile platform to protect the ME and Northern Europe. A brilliant move, why, because the Aegis missile system is capable of intercepting the short and medium range missiles of Iran without threatening Russia.

The ME policy of getting consensus views from all parties with the intent of reaching an agreement through consensus is a new concept. His ME policy has yet to yield results, but it is better than ignoring the key members in the dispute, as was the way of the Bush administration.

Obama made campaign promises to release the Guantanamo prisoners. He has not done so, but the fault lies with Congress' disapproval of his plan without introducing an alternative. Korea is at the tables and talking with the Six world powers; Iran, with prodding, is now opening the doors to inspections of its nuclear facilities, and the Free World is working together to solve the economic problems initiating by the bad practices of Wall Street and our Banking industry. Obama immediately repealed the policy of torturing prisoners, under the Bush administration; the torturing of prisoners had disheartened the rest of the world and everyone was elated with Obama’s announcement.

World leaders are again looking to the United States to show the way and that is a feather in the hat of the Obama administration. This President has gained the respect and confidence of Third World countries with visits to our neighbors to the South, and with conferences with Canada and Mexico.

Obama has done plenty to deserve the Noble Peace prize. He has given the world-at-large hope!

Whatever Happened to Trust, but Verify?

Over the past two years, beginning with the start of the General election, I have watched with disgust the reactions of citizens to derogatory statements and prevarications by political pundits and elected officials. Slanderous behavior seems to be the norm when it comes to addressing the issues of the day and referencing Joe Wilson’s behavior is a good example.

“The South Carolina Republican left little doubt that he will reject House Democratic leaders' demand that he stand on the floor and apologize to other lawmakers for his "You lie!" shout during Obama's address to Congress last week.”

The rules of Congress forbid Joe Wilson’s outburst. Congress has a legitimate right to demand that Joe Wilson stands on the floor of the House and publicly apologizes for his behavior, but the Congressman from South Carolina has refused. As it turns out, Congressman Wilson and conservatives at-large believe that the President truly was lying about the provisions of the proposed health care bill. Joe Wilson has not, to date, given any reason for his beliefs and therein lays the problem.

Currently, every Republican elected official and pundit has voiced opinions adverse to every position undertaken by this Democratic administration. Many of the adverse positions, which have been presented without any factual evidence to substantiate the position taken. Some representatives of the Republican Party are making statements that are easily refuted with published facts, but those advocating and supporting these statements do not seem to care that they are exaggerations or outright falsifications. Republican scare tactics come in numerous declarations, among them:

· A False Appeal to Women’s Fears - Republican-leaning group claims health care legislation could lead to 300,000 deaths from breast cancer, but uses old statistics, faulty logic and false insinuations.

· 30 Million Uninsured – Republican pundits maintain that this figure includes illegal aliens. We are made to understand that those individuals that lost their jobs for whatever reason were insured under health care plans provided by their employers.

· How Many Protestors - We’ve often observed an odd quirk in the behavior of political partisans; they tend to exaggerate even when they could make their point without doing so

· Twenty-Six Lies about H.R 3200 - A notorious analysis of the House health care bill contains 48 claims. Twenty-six of them are false and the rest mostly misleading. Only four are true.

The Republican Party has an agenda to destroy any chance of a Health Care bill from coming to the floor. In personal statements by various elected officials in the Republican Party, to that effect the national has divided along party lines regarding Health Care reform. The arguments for and against this bill have created an atmosphere of animosity that has farther divided the country. Add to that the brandishing of loaded concealed weapons and you have the beginning of a deterioration of civility brought on by insane reactions to everything that the Republican Party stands for today.

It is indeed unfortunate that conservatives have taken to believing everything mentioned by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. These two individuals are known hardcore drug abusers. While it can’t said that the aforementioned are continuing to indulge in the use of illicit drugs, one should, knowing of the past indiscretions, exercise some caution in taking every word of these individuals as the gossip truth. The oxymoron is that the ranting of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck is believed and written documents refuting their rhetoric are ignored.

Statistics show that hardcore conservatives share a few common factors that collectively are disturbing. Most staunch conservatives are White and have little use for big government; listen to radio talk shows as the leading choice of getting the news, and exercise a high morality. Their elected officials and chosen pundits, however, have not exhibited these morality values in the past nine years, but that fact has not stemmed the adoration of the staunch conservative to continue to believe the untruths fed to them.

The public, in particular the conservative Republican, has accepted a trend that requires some soul-searching. We have to hold our elected officials accountable, not by believing a radio commentator, but by becoming informed through a thorough investigation of the facts and the rhetoric. We owe it to ourselves to be informed!

Contradictions, with regard to the facts, have not changed the minds of staunch conservatives! Conservatives label written documents depicting the truth as lies promulgated by the liberals. Conservative party officials mislead their constituents and find great joy in doing a disservice to the American public. True patriots of this country will follow the Reagan motto… “Trust, but verify”.