Good Samaritans, Bad Laws, And More

I was just reading the story of the good samaritans who helped after a roll-over accident on Interstate 80.
Julie and Brian Davie as well as their 4 children were traveling home in Normal, Illinois, after a camping trip in Lincoln, Nebraska, when the camper they were towing began to swerve and threw there Ford Expedition into the ditch. She said that a large highway sign stopped their towed camper from rolling over their vehicle after they went into the ditch.
She was so happy to see a young man’s face after the accident and commented how everyone remained calm as they did whatever it took to get her family out of the vehicle. She said “ It was an amazing chain of events that happened just the right way.” as reported in the Iowa Press-Citizen.
Davie said she and her husband always been sticklers for their children to wear their seatbelts. Everyone was buckled up when the crash took place, she said
A short time later, Davie said paramedics arrived and took the family to University Hospitals. Davie, who is six months pregnant, and her son, Alex, 9, stayed at the hospital overnight for observation. Alex had a slight concussion and some stiffness, but other than that, Davie said everyone escaped with a few scratches and bruises.
I believe the best in people until they prove otherwise, and I think that good samaritans are the rule, not the exception. We more often than not read or see the stories about the rude and bad people, because that is how news works. I have always thought that more news should be about the good and positive things which occur daily, but do not get reported on, so I was very happy to see such a good story when I checked the local news from the Iowa Press-Citizen today. This is good for us all.
One thing I wish we could have done in our community and in particular on Interstate 80 is to have much more law enforcement. This should be at the on ramps where truly rude, obnoxious driver’s, semi-trucks in particular almost always refuse to move into the left lane so that you can merge on the interstate. They fly past here in excess of 80 miles per hour and rarely is their a law enforcement presence. If they wish to enforce some laws it would be nice if they started there instead of giving tickets to people riding bikes on sidewalks, or young people skateboarding, which I have seen often when I lived downtown. In fact, one day when I was downtown, their was an officer ticketing two skateboards, while a person went the wrong way on washington street, went around the block and did it again, all the while the officer was writing the ticket and did nothing to stop the more dangerous person.
So please give us a little help and police the more important roads once in awhile.
__________________________________________________________________________

I just finished reading that nearly 4,300 people signed a petition seeking to set the age limit in Iowa City bars to 21, organizers said today.
Members of the Committee for Healthy Choices submitted 4,258 signatures to the City Clerk's office at 1 p.m. That's almost 28 percent more signatures than the 3,333 they need to force the City Council to act on the measure.
The group wants to make it illegal for people younger than 21 to be in Iowa City bars after 10 p.m. The current ordinance puts the age limit at 19.
The City Clerk's Office will take until the end of the month to verify the signatures. If the petition is deemed sufficient, the council would have 60 days to either enact an ordinance or send the decision to voters.
This is a perfect example of people who have too much time on their hands. I would like to see how old these people are as I would bet the majority of them were able to drink at age 18 and have now turned into everyone’s nanny’s as they get older and more bitter. It is insane that a young man or woman can go and fight for and possibly die for their country, but they cannot consume alcohol legally. If this is the law , which it is,then they should not be able to join the military until they are 21 and the people who pass these laws should be mandated by law to be in the military for at least two years, possibly more. This would insure that our politicians were in the pool of service members and perhaps there would be less conflicts if they were potentially being sent to fight and die.
If they can get a petition to stop anyone under 21 from entering bars, can we get a petition with more signatures and allow the existing law to continue without the city councils meddling. I don’t know, if you do please let me know.
__________________________________________________________________________
I am a committed supporter of the troops overseas and urge all citizens who feel this way to write your elected officials, because right now the only ones getting any voice our the anti-war nuts that think if we leave Iraq all will be right with the world. A view which will cause the deaths of thousands if not millions if their view is allowed to prevail.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was saying yesterday that Senator Grassley needs to support withdrawing from the war in Iraq and called on Iowans to force Senator Grassley to help in Obama’s and other democrats efforts to help the Al-Queda terrorist’s and Iraqi insurgents in defeating our american troops.
Do you really want to listen to a defeatist like Obama or to anyone with Hussein as a middle name. Trying to help our nations enemies used to be called treason and if you took actions to insure that defeat it was sedition and now its’s called getting more seats in the next election. What nonsense how can anyone in Washington think that we will let them get away with not funding the troops and allowing the terrorist’s to not only win in Iraq, but cause the neighboring nations to be destroyed as they rush toward their ultimate aim of conquering all civilized nations and succeeding in restoring the Caliphate. The Caliphate is the one ruler over all Muslims and the last one was during the Ottoman Empire which ended after World War I and the broken into the nations which exist today. We do not want a world run my Islamic fascists which is what we will get if Obama and fellow traveler’s Senator Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi are allowed to help the terrorist’s defeat our troops by bringing them home now. Wake up people we do not have much time to do the right thing, please do so today, and thank you in advance for being good americans.

Veto Part Deux

We are going to revisit the Bush veto as we heard from the President and the nonsense that the Democrats are going to pull by only funding the troops until July is not going to go anywhere.
The warnings came as Gates also told reporters that his evaluation of force levels in Iraq in September will not lead to a rapid troop withdrawal, and that at least some U.S. forces are likely to be in Iraq for a protracted period of time.
He said he didn't know if it will take 25,000 troops or another number, but it would probably include intelligence officers, logistical support and air power, and they would be needed to maintain stability in the war-wracked country.
"The evaluation in September will not lead to a precipitous decision or actions, but would point us in a new direction ... either because the surge is working, or because the evaluation is that it's not," said Gates. Earlier Wednesday he told senators he would consider reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq in the fall if the Iraqi government begins to make progress.
The developments occurred as officials disclosed that 11 moderate House Republicans had met unannounced with the president and top aides at the White House on Tuesday. Several participants described a remarkably blunt discussion in which lawmakers told the president the war was unsustainable without public support and was having a corrosive effect on GOP political fortunes.
Rep. Charles Dent of Pennsylvania said he told the president that many of his constituents are "impatient, and in some cases have a sense of futility" about the war.
Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia said he presented recent polling data from his suburban Washington district showing Bush's unfavorability ratings exceeded his approval ratings.
"We asked them what's Plan B. We let them know that the status quo is not acceptable," he said. Davis said the president responded that if he began discussing a new strategy, the current one would never have a chance to succeed.
Defiant Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, wrestled with how to support the troops but still challenge Bush on the war. Bush has requested more than $90 billion to sustain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September.
"With this latest veto threat, the president has once again chosen confrontation over cooperation," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
House Democratic leaders are pushing legislation that would provide the military $42.8 billion to keep operations going through July, buy new equipment and train Iraqi and Afghan security forces. Congress would decide shortly before its August recess whether to release an additional $52.8 billion to fund the war through September.
"In essence, the bill asks me to run the Department of Defense like a skiff, and I'm trying to drive the biggest supertanker in the world," Gates told senators Wednesday. "And we just don't have the agility to be able to manage a two-month appropriation very well."
The veto threat came from White House spokesman Tony Snow, traveling aboard Air Force One with Bush to tour tornado damage in Kansas.
"There are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill," Snow said.
House members planned a vote Thursday, just two days after David Obey , D-Wis., chairman of the Appropriations Committee, briefed White House chief of staff Josh Bolten on the plan.
The stern White House response reflected the high stakes involved for Bush, who is struggling to beat back congressional skepticism about his Iraq strategy. In recent days, Bush has tried to shore up support by personally reaching out to moderate Republicans and Democrats.
Democrats face their own uphill battle. Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., say they want to provide troops the resources they need. But other Democrats are pushing to cut off funds for the unpopular and costly war.
Democratic leaders acknowledge the new Iraq bill might pass in the House only to sink in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slimmer majority and are more reluctant than their House counterparts to restrict war funds.
In testimony before the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Gates left open the possibility of bringing troops home soon, even as the Pentagon orders deployments that could maintain a buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year.
"If (we) see some very positive progress and it looks like things are heading in the right direction, then that's the point at which I think we can begin to consider reducing some of those forces," Gates said.
Senators pressed Gates on when a decision will be made.
"What are the prospects for having some light at the end of the tunnel, to see some encouragement which would enable the Congress to have the fortitude to support the president and go beyond September and the full funding of the $500 billion?" asked Sen. Arlen Specter , R-Pa.
Gates replied: "I think that the honest answer is, senator, that I don't know."
Gates told the panel that proposals for a short-term funding bill would be very disruptive and "have a huge impact" on contracts to repair and replace equipment. And if Congress votes in July to pull the plug on war funding, "I would have to shut down significant elements of the Department of Defense in August and September because I wouldn't have the money to pay salaries."
So we can see by this turn of events that they should not even waste our time to play more political games. The troops have already been treated with such contempt and disrespect by the Democrats over this issue that there should be no more showboating.
I sent an email to Hillary Clinton over her recent remarks to undo the war and told her in no uncertain terms that a once strong supporter is no longer a supporter. She is humiliating herself by kowtowing to the hollywood elite cowards and the far left nut bags who think you can reason with the terrorists. They want to kill us! Do not let yourselves believe that if we surrender and leave Iraq that these people will stop killing americans. Just the opposite will be the effect. There will be open season on all of us and this time they’ll be coming to our homes to kill us, not on the other side of the world.
There are brave men and women trying to keep that from happening and they deserve our support and the funding that they will need to see this through to a successful, stable Iraq.
Write your representatives and Senators and tell them to stop disrespecting the troops and fund them. If they want to fight with Bush that is fine, but not on the backs of our troops in harm’s way.