Ship to Shore

The United States Navy should be commended today for freeing the sea captain who was being held by Somali pirates. It is amazing that a nation with a trillion dollar defense budget found herself paralyzed for days by a few thugs from a nation where because of HIV, malaria. starvation, and a lack of government almost no one survives to thirty. How can the world be brought low by a band of illiterate kidnappers who probably have never turned on an electric light? Obama at least, at last, gave the navy the latitude to end the crisis among his desultory pursuits which today even entailed picking a puppy recommended by successful drowner Teddy Kennedy. It's a shame Mary Jo Kopechne didn't have a Portuguese Water Dog with her on her last night on earth-maybe it would have saved her from a watery death. See Kennedy and the pirates have something in common-they have both killed people in the water and both are interested in separating people from what they have earned and what is rightfully theirs.

Foreign Interventions Redux

While Obama will orchestrate a hasty draw down in Iraq, it is quite possible that he will deploy US forces in Africa to the Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and perhaps back to Somalia. Will the Congress which demanded votes on Bush's adventures be such sticklers when in comes to Obama and military deployments? Democrats have threatened to invoke the War Powers Act should President Bush feel compelled to use force to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Congress will grant Obama great latitude to deploy our forces where the US has no particular strategic interest. He will be able to enter unending African involvement unhindered. His unfettered reach will not solve the continents problems while Iran will arm up and Chavez will export insidious insurgency throughout Latin America. You can only keep your eye on the ball if you know where the game is.