We are not a people who fear the future

Happy 4th of July everyone! Earlier this week I started sketching out a blog posting about today about all the people we need to thank for our freedom and independence we first earned 233 years ago.
But I’m currently joining about 650,000 of my fellow Alaskans in processing the puzzling news of [...]

Reason 18 to Vote Obama: Eight is Enough!

Today is November 3, 2008. Tomorrow is Election Day in these United States of America. Eighteen weeks ago I dedicated myself to giving you a reason a week to vote for Barack Obama for our next President. Today is my last post on this subject.
All of the 17 reason I’m listing at the end of [...]

Reason 17 to Vote Obama: Restore Foreign Policy

Ideally, I’d like to see American foreign policy mostly conformed to what Fareed Zakaria outlined in his book the Post-American World, which envisioned a strong United States successfully managing the “rise of the rest” to remain a leading power and center of innovation and ideals.
Because of this I am voting for Barack Obama for President. [...]

Reason 16 to Vote Obama: More Effective Military

What I see as one of America’s biggest problems today is the mismatch between the United State’s military capability and the tasks we set for it. As a result too many servicemembers are seeing third and fourth back to back tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and other global hotspots. This takes an unacceptable toll on our [...]

Reason 15 to Vote Obama: Ending the Occupation

One of the first things that attracted me to the candidacy of Senator Obama was his opposition to the Iraq Occupation. We’ve had disagreements — he believes we should make the Iraqis use their surplus to rebuild Iraq and I believe we owe Iraqis reparations for our invasion and our initial failure to secure anything [...]

Reason 14 to Vote Obama: Meaningful Homeland Security

Update 10/9/2008 – Link to quoted material provided.
Before I get into reason 14 to vote Obama, a brief plug for the book Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation by Stephen Flynn. Flynn is a national security specialist who started out in counterterrorism. Watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina convinced him that there were [...]

Reason 13 to Vote Obama: He Understands Technology!

My “Baker’s Dozenth” reason for you to vote for Barack Obama on November 4th is because America needs a President (and a Congress!) that really understands technology and the internet. We need informed policy on the internet and other technology from people who are comfortable with it. Senator Obama understands both the risks and benefits [...]

Reason 12 to Vote Obama: Help Rural America

I live in Juneau, Alaska. The population is a little over 30,000. As a native of Los Angeles, Juneau feels kinda of rural to me every once in awhile, even after ten years. But the truth is that Juneau is the third largest city in Alaska. Many, many towns and villages in Alaska have populations [...]

Reason 11 to Vote Obama: Engage the Country

Last week, Senator McCain and Senator Obama put politics aside to speak at a September 11th forum on national service. Since national service is in the news, it seems like a good time to highlight Obama’s plans to expand opportunities for people to make a difference in their communities, their country and the world at [...]

Reason 10 to Vote Obama: Better Care for Vets

No matter your stance on the Iraq Occupation, we all agree that all servicemembers deserve the best care and full benefits once they become veterans. Sadly, this isn’t happening. The Government Accountability Office has 98 reports on problems in veteran care going back to 2003, the start of the Iraq war.
Our next President needs to [...]