TERRE HAUTE —
Assessing the tough decisions
As I see our Pretender in Chief running campaign ads touting “his” success in killing bin Laden, and “his” tough decision to OK the raid (although a general was already waiting in the wings to blame, should a “Carter” moment happen and the mission fail), I recall another man in charge, a leader who had made really tough decisions and was running for re-election, George W. Bush. He had chosen to go after bin Laden and the enabling Taliban, chose to send men to fight and die for America — true tough decisions.
Once the Taliban were removed from power, he made a harder choice and opened a front in Iraq, not just to depose a terrorist aiding tyrant, but also because this would draw al-Qaida out of the brutal conditions in Afghanistan into a country where we could expose them (unlike our current brilliant strategist and his wrong war theory).
He made this tough decision despite being fully aware of all the consequences, not just the minor political ones that our current “leader” values above all else. He knew that it would endanger more brave American soldiers. He made further tough decisions: the proper moral choice that captured terrorists should be interrogated with all the means within the law, including the same treatments we used on our own soldiers in training — water boarding and the decision that terrorists were not enemy soldiers and should be detained in facilities where they could and would do no further harm indefinitely — Guantanamo for one.
It was at this point, seeking his second term that he made a campaign ad showing a few seconds of 9/11 footage. The major media and the Democrats were outraged. How dare he use this for “political gain”?
Fast forward to today and you have the current politician in charge advocating “his” success, despite the fact he opposed not only the interment of prisoners, their interrogations and the methodology, in fact he opposed the entire war which led to the capture and killing of bin Laden.
If he had his way, none of the tough choices an actual president made that led to Obama saying OK would have happened. Then to go further, Obama makes the incredible leap and charges that Romney would not make such a choice because he had said in 2007 “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”
Obama knew full well he was saying that we needed to keep the focus on al-Qaida, not one man. To Romney’s credit, he responded with a direct and accurate comparison to our current president and stated “even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.”
Maybe to some, Bush was wrong with his ad, although it seems like he had earned some leeway there, but in this case there is little doubt whose “success” it was — the hundreds of intelligence agents involved, the interrogators, and most of all the soldiers. Bush’s symbolism was a minor infraction compared to the major slight Obama has given to the special forces and intelligence services whom he had opposed at every turn prior to his election (and many say, since his election) with this outrageous grandstanding grab for unearned valor.
It does remind one of the opponent Bush faced in 2004, John Kerry and his “purple hearts” earned under shaky circumstances. Fitting that those who brought that to light are also pointing out Obama’s hypocrisy or search (Obama Spikes the Bin Laden Football) on YouTube. One might also point out the next time the Democrats rip Romney for his “money” that their candidate in that election and still tax-evading boat owner, Sen. Kerry, is multiples of times wealthier than Romney. Nothing quite like the hypocrites in the major media and the Democrat Party.
— Michael C. Sherrill
Marshall, Ill.
Take another look at school schedule
Aug. 14? Really? Are you kidding me? What has happened to summer vacation?
Each year the Indiana school year seems to start earlier and earlier. Traditionally, and in most other parts of this country, the school “year” ends around Memorial Day and begins again right after Labor Day. That is why it has always been called summer vacation, or summer recess. The summer season starts June 21 and ends Sept. 21 and sometime between are the “dog days of summer” when it’s brutally hot and all you want to do is be at the pool (or inside with air-conditioning, if you are so lucky).
In fact, public pools around the country are often scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend and close at the end of Labor Day weekend. That makes sense. August is often the hottest month of the year. Here however, we have a different “logic.” Start school early in August when it could well be burning hot outside, turn the air-conditioning systems on at our schools (never mind the cost) and close the public pools when school starts because the summer lifeguards are back in school and of course with school back in session no one has time to go to the pool anymore. Right? Wrong!
Would someone at the Board of Education, or school corporation, or whoever is responsible for the school year schedule here in Indiana, please put on their “thinking cap” and honestly and intelligently assess real contributing factors such as these:
n Air-conditioning is typically more expensive than heat and for many is a luxury, not a necessity. Our schools should seek to minimize the use of AC, which obviously means not having session during the hottest months — summer.
n Not everyone is from around here. Many here have families in other parts of the country and would like to visit them during the summer months. Since summer vacation is often about family trips, it makes sense that to accommodate this common summer activity, Indiana’s school schedule should roughly coincide with that of most other parts of this country, east and west.
n Indiana recently adopted daylight-saving time (i.e., most of Indiana has) and it’s not a coincidence that daylight savings is in effect during all summer months (yes, it is actually longer, and was even recently expanded or lengthened to start earlier and end later for economic reasons, so we are told).
“Kids need to be kids”, and they need recreation. That is why a school day includes time for recess. I am sure no student wants to go back to school when it is sweltering hot outside and their friends or relatives elsewhere are still swimming, playing, and celebrating their waning summer freedoms, through Labor Day.
— Douglas Elia
Terre Haute
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