JOHN MCCAIN'S FLIP-FLOP MAY COST HIM

As a former Alaskan myself, I find McCain's pick of a female vice-president from my home state to be baffling as much as it is a shock.

It comes as no surprise that the GOP aren't a big fan of women or women's rights in general.

McCain clearly has every intention of restricting women's rights on abortions--with more federal restrictions on the way. He also views gays and lesbians as 'second-class' citizens of America--and harbors little doubt that he'll bomb Iran the first chance he gets. (Just so he can show the world that America means 'business'.)

But what baffles me about McCain's pick is that Palin has zero experience on the national stage.

While his supporters are claiming otherwise--it's become all that painfully clear that this young female candidate of his was more designed to placate Hillary's supporters (to show that he's all for women voters) than anything else.

To satisfy his minority social conservative base, she was the best pick because of her anti-abortion stance.

To satisfy the Christian right, a little cute story about her son with Down Syndrome being carried to full-term.

But her youth and inexperience is what shuts the door on John's attacks on Obama about his own youth and inexperience--labeling him to be more hypocritical than anything else.

How can McCain now continue to attack Obama on his lack of experience when he now has a candidate who is less experienced than him?

If you don't have a migraine now over this general election, you will have one soon enough.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

STATE ISSUES MORE COMPLEX THAN DINO THINKS

Coming online today, I got a glimpse of a campaign banner on my homepage which Rossi declared he would:

• Lower Taxes
• Reduce the Deficit
• Fix Our Transportation Problem
  

Trouble is, President Bush also promised a lot of things when he ran for office in 2000 and again in 2004.

He lowered taxes for the rich, but increased it across the board for everyone else. (How else is he planning on paying for his nearly $10 trillion dollar spending spree so far? The rich certainly won't be picking up Junior's tab.)

As a consequence, the lack of higher tax revenues by our government has forced it to spend more than it could take in on a yearly basis--raising the deficit by leaps and bounds.

How does Rossi plan on reducing a state deficit that's in part due to the souring economy and falling state tax revenue? Does he plan on making it all "go away" through some magic hat trick, or will he just tell us that "deficits don't matter"--and spend away like Bush did these last 8 years?

Our transportation problem here at home is simply another symptom to a much larger truth that we badly need to revamp our national transportation grid to the tune of $1.5 trillion dollars.

The fact that we haven't gotten any further (or anywhere in some cases) points to the complexity of the issue overall--and requires time to iron out.

Something that Dino hasn't quite caught onto just yet.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

WHY ISN'T THE HOMELESS AND POVERTY THE MAIN FOCUS?

The foreclosure crisis has claimed us as the latest victims in the ongoing rental squeeze.

For the last six years, my wife and I have been on housing primarily because of my disabilities. After losing our jobs to 9/11--we've had an especially difficult time getting back on our feet and finding decent jobs.

But the 30% increase in our basic rent over the last 4 years has pushed the two of us closer to the homeless fringe than we ever have since I was single back in 1996; where I spent 14 months out on the streets and in the Everett Men's Mission.

We don't know what to do or who to turn to for help in our latest crisis. City services are tapped out and housing is at its absolute limit in giving us flexibility in where to live.

However, our latest credit check came back rejected and because of that, we don't have a real place live in the six weeks we have left here.

I don't want to face the specter of being homeless or continually living on limited income, but through this, I wondered why isn't our two Presidential candidates addressing the two main issues of poverty and homelessness here in this country--instead of focusing on oil drilling and wars in the Middle East?

I guess my problems just aren't "big enough" to be considered a top priority for either the Democrats or the Republicans these days.

Or anyone else for that matter.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

IRAQ WAR SHARPLY DIMINISHES US INFLUENCE ABROAD

Don't recall who said it first, but either Petraeus, Gates, or Donald Rumsfeld made boisterous claims that the US could and was "able" to meet any threat that comes up on the horizon--even though we were mired in Iraq.

Like Katrina, the Russian conflict with Georgia made it painfully clear that the US isn't able to respond at all to any disaster, threat, or conflict which has clearly risen to the forefront.

Why?

Because of all the years we wasted spinning our wheels and chasing our collective tails in Iraq. Wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer monies, manpower, and equipment--all to prop up a discombobulated government which clearly has less power than the people whom ran it before it became what it is now: A shadow government for Iranian interests only.

As such, our military heads and our government reps were unable to get the Russians to stop their invasion of Georgia, let alone reverse course in good faith.

All they did was rebuff us, laugh in our faces, and keep marching on.

As someone whom grew up during the Cold War, I never thought I'd see the day when we couldn't even get Russia to play nice.

But I never thought I would see just how little influence we now have on the international stage these days either.

All thanks to the Iraq war. All thanks to one George W. Bush.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

STOP BLAMING CONGRESS AND BLAME YOURSELVES!

I for one am getting sick and dog-tired of people whining about how high gas prices are going and why Congress and the Democrats haven't done anything about it.

It's no secret that this nation hasn't had an energy-policy worth mentioning for as long as I have been around. But to shift the blame to the Democrats and to Congress when gas hits well over $4 a gallon--is beyond ridiculous.

Neither Congress nor the President controls the price of oil. Get that through your collective heads!

What drives this finite commodity is supply versus demand. I'm sure everyone reading this letter took a course in Home Economics. I know I did.

I learned that when supply is low, demand is high, you get expensive gas. So trying to pin this one on everyone else but ourselves is about as childish as it can get!

WE the people--of this United States of America--have an insatiable addiction to oil. And that's not going to change anytime soon. We also do not have an adequate supply to meet the demand of a nation that so far has refused to even accept change in our daily driving habits or the status quo.

All we can do is blame the Democrats, blame Clinton for not drilling in the mid-90s, or anyone else--but ourselves--for the energy crisis which we now face today.

We caused this problem to happen! But instead of embracing new ideas and new sources of energy, most Americans just believe that 'drilling our way out' will solve everyone's problems!

The sad part is: We don't have enough oil to go around. And that's a truth that few people are willing to accept these days.

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX

US GOVERNMENT TRAINED THE TALIBAN TO FIGHT THE SOVIETS

It's astonishing to see so many people with such short memories these days.

Not that I don't blame the letter writer of a recent letter ("Extremists pose an enormous threat") for forgetting and all.

Most Americans these days don't want to face down the consequences of our own actions during the Cold War: We trained those extremists that we are now fighting today.

Yes, it's true.

While the writer gives such historical examples of how much death and carnage caused by the Taliban and blames an entire peaceful religion on the acts of a few nuts on the international stage, not once did he also explain why things have gotten so bad as they have these days.

These extremists didn't just "pop up" all of a sudden and declare war on the US--as some claim. These extremists that we are fighting today are a direct result of foreign policy decisions carried out by a single US President and the CIA during the 80s.

In order to fight the bad Communists in Afghanistan, Reagan and the CIA covertly funded and trained Osama and his people to hold the Soviets at bay in that country. And it worked.

As a result of the stalemate, the US government ceded Afghanistan over to the Taliban as a reward for their actions--where the latter seeds of 9/11 were sown.

Because of what Reagan and the CIA did, today we are fighting those same extremists we once trained and funded.

Wonder what the American people would think of that--if they knew this truth? Or the boomerang effect that we now have to deal with today as a result of our own government's actions back then?

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

(XXX)-XXX-XXXX