What if it was your daughter?

It is always sad to see the death of an American icon. If you've read any of my posts, you'd probably realize that I was no fan of Sen. Ted Kennedy. He certainly served his country for 40 years and, while I don't agree with most of his positions I do admire that. Of course it can also be said that he never had a "real" job. A family fortune gives one that liberty.

Now I would never begrudge anyone the benefits of the family fortune. The rich are not the enemy; they are the builders of this country and have an obligation to only give back where and when they can. And that's what Ted tried to do.

But I was totally surprised this morning when the first article I stumbled upon was entitled "Chappaquiddick: No Profile in Kennedy Courage" This story unveiled a couple surprises.

First of all that this story was posted on ABCNews .com. You can find it here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8212665 . What surprised me was that it shook my belief that ABC is a left leaning "news" organization. I would never have dreamed they would let this story get published, especially so soon after his death. However, the majority of comments posted about the article reaffirmed my belief about ABC or at least the people who read/watch it. The vast majority blasted it.

Second, the true story of Chappaquiddick. I am a little too young to remember it when it happened and I never really took the time to learn what took place. This article showed me what a tragic mistake Kennedy made. No one knows if he could have saved 28 -year-old Mary Jo Kopechne's life but he clearly left her to die worrying only about himself and his future.

So Ted Kennedy carried his guilt around all these years and devoted his life to service. Again that is admirable. But does that absolve him of Mary Jo's death? Obviously his fame and fortune let him get away with it. That was his cross to bear (along with the Kopechne family) and all will find their just rewards so I do not intend to judge here.

But as people relive Sen Kennedy's life, his accomplishments, and his legacy they need to ask themselves one simple question:

What if that was my daughter in the car on that fateful night in 1969?

So I go on vacation . . .

For a nice full week. I purposely avoided the news and enjoyed the time with my family. Now that I'm back I see that not much has changed. In the spirit of government run programs, the Cash for Clunkers program was woefully under funded so Congress simply appropriates another $2B (that's billion).

This doesn't bode well for government run health care. I see that Obama is still pushing hard but even he is now willing to sacrifice some of the liberals core principles. And I see that the good people of this country that oppose this massive expansion of government are now considered radicals.

So, as I said, not much has changed. But this story really bothers me - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/14/florida-police-question-suspect-obama-joker-poster/

The kids were hanging posters of Obama with his face painted like a clown. Now the only "crime" I can fathom is vandalism. I'm not too up on such laws but I know I see posters of all kinds of things on telephone poles and bulletin boards, etc. The fact that Florida police are gathering suspects and evidence and possibly looking to make arrests frightens me.

As much as I abhor the the thought of someone burning an American flag, I will defend their right to do so. Freedom of speech needs to be held sacred and that's all speech.

Where was the outrage when people made pictures of George Bush with a little Hitler mustache? Where was the outrage when MoveOn.org took out a full page ad calling a great general General Betray Us?

And don't even get me started on this whole rat-out-your-friends-to-the-White-house via e-mail if they dare speak out against health care reform. I see that e-mail link is no longer available. Maybe they're learning.

Now there's change I can believe in.

Good job Bill Clinton

I will admit that I haven't said that too often. As history does show however, Bill Clinton has proved to be moderate compared to Obama. Of course the Republican congress had a lot to do with what Clinton got done.

Anyway, I think it's a good thing he was able to free the two female journalists from North Korea. There could be some negative, unintended consequences such as legitimizing a rouge lunatic or raising the stakes the next time this happens, but thank god those women are out of that hell.

In general I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who voluntarily put themselves in harms way. Only are fine service men and women can use "It's my job" as a valid reason to do so. Those hikers that crossed over from Iraq to Iran by accident - why were they there in the first place? Mountain climbers ignoring weather warnings and forcing rescue workers to risk their lives - no sympathy. Flood/hurricane victims stuck because they ignored their warnings - again no sympathy.

But I saw the video of these two women coming home and it moved me. They are Americans, they have families and I am glad Clinton got them out of there. It is interesting that his wife, the Secretary of State, wasn't asked to do so or even the vice president. I am not surprised that nobody called George W. He and Kim Jong il weren't really on speaking terms.

I do have one question though. How the hell does Al Gore tag along on this? I've seen Bill and George H. Bush pal around but I haven't seen Bill and Al doing so lately. Every time he falls into a nice obscurity he has to resurface. I think it's a sad statement on him that he would insinuate himself into this feel good story.

Maybe Gore is just looking for another Nobel prize!