Politics

Martha Raddatz, ABC news chief White House correspondent posed a very interesting question to the american public regarding the war in Iraq since it is so distant and out of mind for many. Should the american public who are not part of the military make sacrifices to engage in war? For instance a tax or something, or a draft perhaps. I think her point is that the public is out of touch with the war, and would we be so willing to wage war if we all had to share in the responsibility in a real way and like the folks in the military do?

If you have high speed you can listen to what she had to say HERE
It's 53 min long but worth it. And I noticed that there is another interesting program at the same site. Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer discuss the value of an independent judicial system for our democracy. What justice Breyer said on the Charlie Rose show about the same subject almost brought me to tears.

O'Connor points out that there is a bill in the state of South Dakota that is called "jail for judges" Judges could be taken to court if the public doesn't agree with a finding. That is very scarry.

Bicycle log has avoided getting political as I'm not really about that. But I'm kind of a student of history. I've been reading a book about the bombing of Dresden. It's called Dresden by Frederick Taylor. He outlines how quickly democracy was undone in Germany prior to WWII, when one party took over a whole country and propoganda played a major role in this. Individual rights and political parties were eliminated one by one. We all know what happened as a result. It wasn't that long ago.