THE LEE LETTER, November

Remember a Veteran.  Last month was the deadliest for the US Military in Afghanistan.  Over fifty-five died, mostly to roadside bombs. Whatever we may think of our policy in that desolate landscape, we must always honor the military members who follow orders to implement that policy regardless of the extremely difficult conditions.  As the general populace becomes more detached from the military, we should never forget the sacrifices made by others to protect us. 

This month celebrates Veterans Day, also known as Armistice Day.  Every person in America should know that WW I ended at the 11th minute, at the 11th hour, on the 11th day in the 11th month which is November.  Remember a veteran and imagine the brutal hardships endured:  Valley Forge, Guadalcanal, the Chosin Reservoir, Fallujah. 

I attended a veteran’s funeral in McHenry Cemetery.  It just so happened that the burial plot was next to the location of a ten year old girl who had recently died.  According to the family members who were visiting, the parents were looking for an appropriate location to bury their daughter.  They found the grave of a Marine who was born in 1984 and died in 2004 and decided he would be able to look after their little girl.  You can see portraits of them both on the stones, side by side; her in a dress and him in uniform.  “Men willing to do violence so we may sleep peacefully at night.” 

RINO’s and the GOP. It has been my view for some time that the only way to improve things is to replace our representatives (“representatives” used figuratively, of course).  Those in Washington ignore our letters, phone calls, and protest signs.  The heady days of Tea Parties and Town Hall Meetings are a memory and we now find served as a mere speed bump in delaying passage of the Democratic Party priorities.   We may want to blame the President, but he would have no power save that which Congress gives him.  If we don’t enlist and support the candidate of our choice, we will get whatever the political parties choose for us.  And the track record of the Republican Party has not been encouraging. 

After a dozen candidates announced they were running for the US Senate to replace Roland Burris, Mark Kirk jumped in, and was immediately the front runner and the darling of the GOP establishment. National Chairman Michael Steel gushed “I’m so excited about Mark Kirk and his race!” Party spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski claimed “Kirk is a strong leader and the Party is lucky to have him.”  Illinois chairman Pat Brady said, “I’m personally for Kirk”. All this, BTW after the Tr8ter

Cap-N-Tax vote

The GOP establishment chose Gov Crist of Florida over the conservative Mark Rubio.

In New York, they chose a Republican with a Conservative Union rating of 15 over conservative Doug Hoffman. NOW after spending 900K on her, the “Republican” dropped out and is endorsing the Democrat! The issue for the Party is to have someone who is a “moderate” who can “Win”.

I think they are missing the point. The problem with electing these RINO’s is that you can’t trust how they will vote and they may switch parties anyway. Being in the Majority is much more fun anyway, especially with those who’s priority is the accumulation of power. I just don’t understand why the GOP has a party platform but then ignores it like a cheap date for short term political gain.

Cash taken from future car sales and used to generate a political and temporary up-tick in GDP:

The local newspaper has printed my Letter to the Editor: (http://www.rrstar.com/opinions/letters/x1693434574/Program-is-a-clunker )

and now an article in Edmunds.com (http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/159446/article.html) has calculated that the true cost of the CARS program was $24,000 per vehicle.  They arrived at that figure by determining the number of vehicles that would actually have been replaced by the incentive, and subtracting the derelicts that were on their last legs and waiting to be replaced. My friend Dave Leigh has an extensive analysis in his Ruminations blog:

http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2009/10/cash-for-clunkers-behind-24k-per.html

Boom and Busts.  October 29th marked the 80th Anniversary of Black Tuesday, the 1929 crash of the Stock Market.  If you read that history, you will find the conditions today to be very similar. Instead of easy credit being used to speculate on stocks, today huge incentives are offered to buy houses with little or no investment made by the buyer.  The recent bail-outs have masked the problems and only delayed the inevitable reckoning. 

Next issue:  The breakdown of “Cap & Trade” and AGW.

PAST EVENTS:

Oct. 8th   Introduced myself at the Republican Assembly of Lake County monthly meeting in Mundelein.

Oct. 10th  Attended the McHenry County CFL monthly meeting.

Oct. 15th  Attended a GOOOH (Get Out of Our House) meeting in St. Charles and met and spoke to the originator, Tim Cox of Texas.  Their goal is to replace the 435 members of the House of Representatives in one election.  The concept is well formulated and possible.  You can learn more by visiting WWW.GOOOH.com and writing to ILGOOOH@hotmail.com.

Oct. 26th:   Concerned Citizens of America (CCA) sponsored a US Senate Candidate forum in Rockford.  The top three picks were Pat Hughes, Don Lowery, and Eric Wallace.  A report can be found in Illinois Review. http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/10/hughes-lowery-and-wallace-top-three-in-rockford-straw-poll.html