GERALD FORD WAS A FULCRUM to my emerging political philosophies as a teen. My paternal grandparents were staunch Democrats of the "New Deal" era. My parents were Republicans as were my mother's clan. It was the compilation of the Viet-Nam War, Watergate and the accession of Gerald Ford to President that drove my parents to vote for Jimmy Carter, and therefore out of the rank and file of the Republican Party. I was pulling for Ford that year (being six months shy of the vote) and couldn't understand why my parents were abandoning the G.O.P. Then my Dad gave me a funny look and said " That man is not the elected President of the United States". Which pretty much summed it up I guess. I think that we all had grown to respect President Ford for his straight-forward-ness and decency.

President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon was nothing less than a self-less act of a true patriot. He put the best interests of the country ahead of his personal ambition. He will be missed.

His last recorded interview insured that his funeral wouldn't be a political ploy for the hacks in the White House. And as we look back upon this man's many selfless and far-sighted accomplishments, shouldn't we harken to his words?

HOWL? I AM NOW GRIPPED IN THE THROES OF A VISCOUS PRIMORDIAL SCREAM that threatens to become a roar of rage. Is there no shame? This President, who hasn't even had the common decency to attend a funeral of a fallen warrior has the gall to insist upon more troops in spite of Generals, Blue-Ribbon panels and the public. And I do mean spite. It's the saddest display of a dry-drunk that I've ever seen.

We must intervene for the lives of the troops and now for the sake of the nation. I have written my esteemed Representatives concerning this matter. We must write, fax, call once a day. I fear that our President is delusional in his quest for personal glory and that his hench-persons (the Secretary of State and the Vice President) are not far behind him, if not in fact, acting as stereo Iagos, spewing poison consul into his ear.

I have learned several things during the past 48 hours: 1) My computer ignorance is far greater than I had originally thought 2) The congressmen not of my districts cheerfully would not accept my e-mails. So now I have to pull out the Big Game Rifle, that monster computer that I have complete with the super-duper fax/copier/printer/dishwasher. It has remained off-line since I've possessed it due to my fear of crashing it. For if they will not accept my e-mail, then by G. Washington's wig they'll get the fax. 3) Here is a good site to find e-mail/fax numbers: http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html ( Hey, I did it!)

In retrospect, it crossed my mind that perhaps a delegation of Governors descending upon the White House wouldn't be a bad idea also. Sort of a two pronged attack as it were. I found this site that covers Gubernatorial addresses : http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/govemail.html.

I humbly offer the following letter to plagiarize at will :

Dear Honorable Sir:

It is with dire urgency that I send this missive concerning the state of the Union which I perceive as being in peril. The recent events of the past five days have forced me to this conclusion. Therefore as my duly elected representative, I implore you to meet as a Kansas delegation and convene on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as soon as possible to persuade the President from the folly of sending more troops into the quagmire that is Iraq.

That the generals in both the Pentagon and Iraq all ascertain that the Army “ is broken” and the Marine Corps “ cannot respond” is scary at best.
That the President refuses to listen and insists on deploying more troops thus further weakening our Armed Forces borders on criminal.
That continuing upon such a disastrous course could, I fear, lead to a constitutional crisis.

Perhaps State delegations descending upon the White House could be persuasive. Take the lead.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely

Now as the sun rises on this gray solstice -day of 2006 I await the opening of the electronics store for the proper hardware. I wish to thank everyone for thier kind comments and help. Oh yes, and have a bloody good Christmas!

WHEN GENERAL COLIN POWELL HOWLS IN ANGST, I listen. And if he concurs with the Pentagon that the Army and Marines are 'broken' due to the 'civil war' in Iraq then I am scared.
The President's decision to send yet more troops is a slap in the face to the troops engaged in this quagmire. As one can imagine, I rarely agree with Newt Gingerich but during his interview on Meet the Press last Sunday (Dec.17th) he had a pretty good idea.

The upshot of his statement was this: That if there was enough hue and cry against his decision, then carloads " of men in gray suits" would visit the White House to dissuade him from this perilous course of action. All yesterday I felt helpless, watching the deja'-vue enactment of the Veit Nam war being played out in the sands of Iraq. Then it struck me that it was time to trot out the strength of the World-Wide-Web and support General Powell and the troops.

By inviting your honorable Senators and the Representatives to the White House for Christmas. And not just the ones you like or agree with but the entire crew. It is, technically, our House and our elected and legally bound Representatives. We have the right to invite them to the check up on the place upon our behalf, and place our justified concerns to the Renter.

I was going to spend the day here, installing banners, links and the other stuff I don't understand about blogging but the Security of the Nation and Constitution must take precedence. I am now going to engage in a blitzkrieg tactic of composing invitations to afore mentioned Representatives. 2) Creating form letter for those to busy to to compose 3)Trying to con a video director in assisting me with this project 3) posting or linking said invitation to this blog.
We must mobilize quickly. Our Armed Forces are in harms way. Now to the keyboards........

THIS IS A BOOK REVIEW OF SORTS, of two books that I've recently stumbled upon. " A FEW BLOODY NOSES" by Robert Harvey ( found mine in the half-price bin of one of those CD/DVD/Game/Coffeehouse-chic boos\stores) is a fascinating study of the American Revolution from a British perspective. His prose is lively and his research appears to be concrete. I was reading it during that last wild week-end of the mid-term elections and the comparison Mr. Harvey draws between The Revolution and Viet-Nam was a surrealistic deja'-vue.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was stuck in that horror of watching history repeat itself like some blood-crazed Golem run amok in Iraq.

The next was a novel discarded by the local high school library and snagged by my daughter. "Give Me Liberty" by Noel B Gerson is a splendid even-handed jewel-of-a-book. Written in 1966, the author notes " Only a few books have been written about Patrick Henry through the centuries." A true pity. I admit that prior to reading this book I thought I had a fair understanding of Patrick Henry. It seems my ignorance knows no bounds. I was reading this just at about the time that Newt & Co. began their brazen campaign to censure free speech.

As I read both these books, I noticed that usually I could be distracted by a new story from the radio or web cast except for certain passages of writing that riveted my eyes to the page. And as I pondered this Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair once again began their spins to the press , the 'New Way Forward'. A live news feed; but the utter genius that is the prose of George Washington captivated me instead.
It dawned on me the great juxtaposition of honest simple communication and greed-driven mass communication. These simple-minded men that can't even read their Orwellian-hack speeches have the audacity to dismantle the Constitution and Magna Carta in the name of security?

"Give me liberty, or give me death," -Patrick Henry, March 1775

"WELCOME TO MY HOUSE," OUR ESTEEMED SENATOR FROM KANSAS BROWNBACK shot at Senator Barack Obama, at the recent AIDS conference at Saddleback Church in Orange County California.

"It's my house too," rejoined the junior Senator from Illinois. And thus am I reminded of one of my grandfather's favourite adages; 'Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.' Which to me is primary fascination I have with the Senator from Illinois, his intellect. I happened to catch his speech at the Democratic Convention, and was amazed at his elegance of speech. I enjoy watching his
agile mind logically explain his middle- of -the- road positions and convictions in concise and concrete English.

And if you missed these blurbs about the conference look'em up. It is a fascinating story about what religion could do in the political world. Congratulations to all involved.

I ALMOST CALLED THIS BLOG DEMOCRAT WITH A GUN......but I didn't coin the phrase so therefore I went with HOWLS FROM KANSAS. However it pretty much sums up part of my political ideology. That and Don't Tread On Me from the American revolution......


Now as the Democrats begin to hire interior designers for their new offices on The Hill I'm beginning to hear murmurs from the conservative news-mouths about 'gun control' Democrats. Which was a topic avoided during the last election as far as I could ascertain. We should keep it so. Obviously Katrina proved that government can't provide security in a disaster natural or otherwise. The National Guard for all real purposes, is either in Iraq or building a long armadillo fence in Texas-New Mexico-Arizona. Gen. John Abizaid is asking for more troops as Iraq spirals into the civil war of the Bush Administration's creation. Estimations of desertions of the New Orleans Police Force during Katrina range as high as 30%.

Now the former Speaker of the House is calling for an abolishment of the First Amendment to the Constitution. ( There will be some that say I misinterpret his speech in New Hampshire but to me a civil war is a civil war and censorship is censorship.) The Second Amendment is the cornerstone that supports the Constitution for it lends to the powers -that- be that tangible belief that we will not be cowered like the peoples of Germany in the 1930's by tyrants like Newt & Company. It is therefore an internal defense mechanism to give would-be depots and power mongers reason to pause before they willy-nilly suspend the Constitution in the name of Homeland Security. The specter of Korean, Viet-Nam and Iraqi vets rising up to defend their rights is surely in the back of their twisted-minds.

And the point? As I've said before it's often the silence that screams the loudest. The Democratic party should stand for all civil liberties. Therefore it should view the gun-control debate as a sure way to drive many one-issue voters unwittingly back to the folds of the fascists.