Sen. Obama (D) and Sen. Hagel (R)

Today the Senate hearings continued with Petraeus and Crocker and it heated up with some outstanding rhetoric from the left-side and right-side of the aisle, click Barack Obama and Chuck Hagel to view their assessment of the non-strategy in Iraq. What your thoughts with regard to the comments made by Obama and Hagel?

In Search of a GOP St. George

Iowa Republicans will tell you that the Devil does not wear Prada; she wears a pantsuit, low-heeled shoes and a sunny, I-told-you-so smile. Karl Rove insists that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a "fatally flawed candidate," and many Democrats agree. In a new book, "The Neglected Voter," journalist David Kuhn charts the party's waning appeal among white men—a debilitating trend Clinton seems ill-suited to reverse. But Iowans aren't reassured by Rove or flow charts. They assume Clinton will be the nominee, and, with typical earnestness, are searching for the right Saint George to take on the dragon lady. More of Howard Fineman's article from Newsweek...

The Road to Partition

Musawi’s words are just one more piece of evidence that Iraq will not be put together the way it was. It’s one more piece of evidence that America’s best course is not to reunify Iraq, but simply to inhibit the violence as Iraqis feel their own way to partition.

What we’re really trying to build, in other words, is a road to partition. We’re trying to build a pathway to separation that involves the sort of low-intensity civil war that Iraq is enduring right now. We’re trying to prevent a pathway that is even worse — a high-intensity genocide.

As I was watching yesterday’s hearings, I was thinking of the sensible yet sectarian Musawi. How many American lives is it worth to save those like her? Is it realistic to think U.S. troops can help Iraqis move on that less barbaric path? To read more of David Brooks thoughts...

In Memory of...

How do you feel our government has done in its efforts to capture and bring to justice Osama Bin Laden?

Mt.Hood, Oregon

Mt Hood, Oregon from Lawrance Lake Rd

Steelers Bruise Browns, 34-7

The Cleveland Browns opened the season with hopes of a successful season but those hopes quickly turned into a chorus of boos as their offense struggled against a Steeler defense that looked like they were in mid-season form recording six sacks in the game including collecting five Brown turnovers. The Steeler offense was outstanding early as they took advantage of a short field multiple times and lit up the scoreboard with 17 points in the first quarter. Overall, Ben Roethlisberger threw for four touchdowns, a career high for Big Ben and on the ground "Fast" Willie Parker ran for 109 yards. Next week the Steelers home opener has the Buffalo Bills coming to Heinz Field. The Buffalo Bills lost their home opener 15-14 as Jason Elam kicked a winning field goal as time expired to give the Broncos the win. Steelers 1-0!

Election 2008 National Head-to-Head Polls

It is the greatest race in America. The stakes are high. The candidates are announced, the media is tracking every step, and the pollsters have the latest numbers.

CIA agent says we're letting Bin Laden win

So on this 9/11, we must accept this sad and infuriating reality: Bin Laden is winning. He has defied us, attacked us, eluded us and inspired new threats we cannot begin to enumerate.

To be victorious in this long war, we must get smarter and more ruthless. That means reducing U.S. intervention in the Muslim world, keeping policies essential to U.S. security and unloading those that undermine it — like energy dependence on the Saudi and other Gulf regimes. This will start to deflect Islamist and Muslim ire onto their main enemy, the Arab world's Islamofascist rulers. To read more click Michael Scheuer.

Bernanke, the Fed and 2008

If the economy falters, as it increasingly looks as if it will, it would undercut one of the few positive developments President Bush and the Republican candidates have been able to cite in appealing to the public to keep the White House in conservative hands. A sharp rise in home foreclosures and a fall in home prices would also hurt, reinforcing the Democratic argument that Republican policies help the rich while leaving the middle class less secure and the poor worse off. Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke

Political Cartoon

What’s Missing in Baghdad

One of the most troubling lessons of the Iraq invasion is just how empty the Arab dictatorships are. Once you break the palace, by ousting the dictator, the elevator goes straight to the mosque. There is nothing in between — no civil society, no real labor unions, no real human rights groups, no real parliaments or press. So it is not surprising to see the sort of clerical leadership that has emerged in both the Sunni and Shiite areas of Iraq.

But this is not true in northern Iraq, in Kurdistan. Though not a full-fledged democracy, Kurdistan is developing the key elements of a civil society. To read further...Thomas Friedman

Ducks Fly Over Michigan

Boy, was I wrong on my prediction! Oregon dominates the Wolverines in Ann Arbor for a 39-7 win. It was clear at halftime this game could have been called for a lack of competition by Michigan. The storied football team has seriously stumbled out of the gate here in 2007. First, losing to I-AA Appalachian State University and then getting trounced by Oregon. Will Michigan bounce back to have a winning season? Can the Ducks maintain the momentum or will they fall flat after an emotinal win in Ann Arbor as they go against a tough Fresno State team that enters Autzen Stadium Saturday?

Oregon Enters The Big House...

After Appalachian State University embarrassed Michigan last week, the Ducks enter the Big House filled with 107,000 rowdy Michigan fans and some very angry Wolverine players...my expectation is that we are going to see a bunch of duck feathers on the field Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor. Final Score: Michigan 38 - Oregon 20
Some notable facts about the Michigan-Oregon matchup

That One Is Going To Leave A Mark!

Senator Susan Collins (Maine) is getting attacked for her support of President George W. Bush's Iraq War Policy. Presuming that conditions do not improve dramtically prior to the general election in 2008. Do you think this type of commerical will be influential to voters in 2008?

Wailea Sunset

The glow in the center is the Island of Lanai off the South Maui Coast.

The New Social Contract

Health care the elephant in the room...that no one wants to talk about. An interesting take by an Englishman as presented by David Brooks of the New York Times. For more in depth look at Stuart M. Butler's thoughts on American Health Care go to The Hamilton Project.

The Case for Pragmatic Idealism,

James A. Baker, III writes an insighful take on America's position in the world today and in the future. Mr. Baker does not believe in all of the gloom and doom that seemingly surrounds our nation internationally.

THE PRINCIPLES that guide American foreign policy during the coming years will determine how successful the United States will be as it addresses the complex global challenges that confront us. A foreign policy simply rooted in values without a reasonable rationale of concrete interests will not succeed. But our foreign policy will also fail if it too narrowly focuses on the national interest and disregards the role that democratic ideals and human rights play in establishing a more secure world. These truths will confront the next president regardless of his or her political party. He or she will face an international environment in which the use or misuse of American power in all its manifestations—military, diplomatic and economic—will bear decisively on our national security and on global stability.

Click here to read his viewpoint on America's bright future. Mr. Baker has served our nation as the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury for President Ronald Reagan, including Secretary of State for President George H.W. Bush.

New England Fall Colors

Cartoon of the Week

Sizing Up The GOP Front-Runners

Could it be that the Evangelicals like a social moderate like Rudy Giuliani? What gives? When the GOP social conservatives have other candidates (e.g.) Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback...could it be that the GOP has moved foreign policy to the front seat and the social/moral issues have been pushed to the back seat? Your thoughts after reading further...