Generalities: November 2004 Archives

It's time for the annual Christmas letter to be written. I just found last years letter, which we didn't write until after Christmas. We never did end up sending it out. Ah well, it's never too late for good news from 2003 if you ask me. I'll have to print on thin paper to avoid stamp problems this year.

In the USA, we celebrate Thanksgiving today.

I've always believed that a little gratitude goes a long way in helping people to realize how great life truly is.

So in recognition of this day, I would like to list a few things I am thankful for. I've always believed that a little gratitude goes a long way in helping people to realize how great life truly is.

• Close friends.
• Loving family.
• Healthy, happy family.
• Food to eat, a roof over my head, a job I love.
• Living in a country that is so good, that doctors and professionals leave their home countries to come here and become taxi cab drivers and bus boys and parking lot attendants, so their children can grow up here.
• Good books. Special thanks due to Owen and Biff this year.

Since other bloggers are doing it, I might as well.

Today, I endorse G.W. Bush for President.

I am not especially happy to vote for Bush. Here are some reasons why I'm not happy with Bush.

• His administration rushed to war against Iraq, without clear planning and with bad intelligence. I've no problem about the war in Iraq, but it could have waited a lot longer. It could have been fought for reasons other than WMD.
• His administration is far too secretive.
• His self-admitted lack of reflection frightens me.
• Sometimes when he speaks I am frightened of what will come out.
• The Patriot Act is something he is proud of.
• He has expanded the Federal government in ways I don't approve of.
• Kerry Endorsement from the Economist.
• He isn't my kind of conservative.

So why then am I voting for Bush?

• My other choice would be Kerry? A liberal democrat from Massachusetts . (Q. When will we send a man to Mars? A. Whenever Ted Kennedy volunteers.) Since when would that be a viable option for me?
• Democrats have a recent history of containment and appeasement through regulation, international agreement, and pressure. I do not think that this will work against the current terrorist threat.
• I can't stomach Kerry's post-Vietnam anti-war activity.
• Kerry's too reflective and appears to flip-flop on issues that matter to me.
• Kerry didn't do much in the Senate.
• Kerry didn't release his service records, but ran on them anyway.
• I don't think I would like Kerry's nominees for Supreme Court. In an era when the congress doesn't take much leadership, this is crucial to me.
• He broke it (Iraq), he bought it. Bush should fix the situation.
• I think his foreign policy has been more nuanced than people think. Libya, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea have all been handled in very different ways. This wasn't by accident.
• John McCain isn't an option. Although if we could get an Electoral College tie, maybe the electors would bolt for him.
• Monica is right and most of the U.S. media is wrong.
• I don't share John Kerry's values. I don't think the country should go the way he envisions it.

P.S. I do fear the Bush administration if given a second term will end up in some scandal that will make Watergate and Teapot Dome look like a tempest in a teapot. I hope I'm wrong about that. It's just gut instinct.

P.P.S. I sure think Bush should consider hiring a few more centrist, pragmatists in his next administration, the kind of people his dad hired. I would like McCain to be Secretary of State for one, since Powell is leaving.