The largest (legal) heist in US history

Not so long ago, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, joined by Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, proposed a strategy to Congress for dealing with the financial crisis.

As I recall, Paulson and Bernanke said the biggest and most immediate problem was liquidity: unless the federal government took action, lending by banks to other banks and to consumers and businesses, which has stopped, would not begin again. In fact, the banks took the money and did not lend it to consumers and businesses, but are purchasing other banks. What an outrage. The largest heist in America's history, only it's legal.

Sarah Palin deserves respect

Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face. Referring to middle class America as Joe-Six-Pack and to herself as a hockey mom, she debated last week with veteran Senator Joe Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years and knows his way around Washington. I have never met Governor Palin. I have known Joe Biden for many years. I really like Joe and share his positions on most issues.

I admire Sarah Pain's spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" I thought it unfair. Why? I consider myself to be knowledgeable on foreign affairs and I did not know what the Bush Doctrine referred to until later when it was described as support for preemptive military action. However, that term -- Bush Doctrine -- has also been applied to other policies of the administration. I certainly do believe in the right to take preemptive action to thwart an enemy's attack upon us. Sarah Palin later explained when she learned what the Bush Doctrine stood for, that she did too.

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Georgia, Russia and Kosovo

War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation.

First, the war. Responding to Russian provocations, Georgia and its president, Mikheil Saakashvilli, unwisely began to fight, which was just what Russia was hoping for. Two of Georgia's provinces,  South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are seeking independence and are being encouraged by Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin is incensed that Georgia, a state that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, is not only a good friend of the United States -- it provided 2,500 troops to assist us in Iraq, the largest contingent after Great Britain -- it is also seeking to become part of NATO.

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Obama's mistake

Last week, I wrote of the recent successes of Senator Barack Obama -- his trip abroad to Iraq and Europe and his reception in Germany where 200,000 people came to hear him speak and cheer him. I compared Obama with Julius Caesar, evoking Caesar's boast of "Veni, Vidi, Vici."

But Caesar also made his share of mistakes. This week, I'm writing about a gaffe by Senator Obama, in which he appeared to be playing what has come to be known as "the race card."

On August 1st The New York Times summed up the situation: "Senator John McCain's campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing 'the race card,' citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he 'doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'" The Times went on to state, "The exchange injected racial politics front and center into the general election campaign for the first time, after it became a subtext in the primary between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton."

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Bush is one of the few who really understands

We are now getting down to the homestretch as we wrap up the Democratic primary and begin the race to the November general election. We will be electing the next president of the United States, and almost everyone expressing an opinion, informed or uninformed, believes the Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama.

I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton, but I too believe the odds of her defeating Barack Obama are overwhelmingly against her.  It looks as if Senator Obama will prevail in the Democratic primary before or at the Democratic convention.

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America's health system

On March 12th, a front-page story in The New York Times caught my eye.  The headline, "Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls," should make America's blood run cold. The article reported on a nationwide study of "four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women [and] found that at least one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases."

The article went on to state that "Nearly half of the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study - human papillomavirus (HPV), Chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite. The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers."  The article stated that each disease "can cause cancer and genital warts." The lead author of the report, Dr. Sara Forhan, extrapolating from the findings, "said 3.2 million teenage women were infected with at least one of the four diseases."