The Colonel's Forum

I have decided to move my political ramblings back to my blog. I think my friends are getting tired of seeing all that stuff on facebook. This disappoints me, because I like to think of my friends as more politically savvy than most, but in reality I understand that 1) not many people share the interest in politics that I do, 2) people have good reason to believe that their views on the issues are irrelevant because the morons in Washington have to please more than just the electorate these days and 3) everyone is busy these days, and following current events is just not a high priority for some people. Today's note is quite simple. This is a great article from Evan Handler. Yes, it's on the wacky liberal Huffington post. Get over it. I found it via Google news, which means bazillions of internet users (that's a technical term) found it interesting enough that some computer program flagged it as "popular." In it, he points out exactly why Joe Wilson is a

I'd like to take a quick review of South Carolina politics this year. 1) Republican Governor Mark Sanford hikes the Appalachian trail to Argentina , where he happened to run into his mistress. 2) Republican Senator Jim DeMint says “If we’re able to stop Obama on this [health care] it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” Nice. 3) Republican Congressman Joe Wilson calls the President a liar . 4) Republican Senator Lindsey Graham pulls an [Mythbuster] Adam Savage in describing the President's speech to Congress this week, going for the "I reject your reality and substitute my own" approach. Graham hit the press with repeated claims that Obama was "combative" and showed "little sign of compromise." Really? If anyone reading this is a resident of South Carolina, could you please see that the Palmetto state puts some brighter people in office? Otherwise, we may need to take away your electoral votes. Thanks.

There was a news story that came out today which did not receive much press, but yet it's the kind of new story that should be front page news. This story is related to a court case brought against our government by a US citizen. This citizen, let's call him Dave, a married man with two children, was arrested at a Dulles International Airport ticket counter. He was handcuffed, taken to the airport’s police substation, and interrogated. Over the next sixteen days, he was confined in high security cells lit twenty-four hours a day in Virginia, Oklahoma, and then Idaho, during which he was strip searched on multiple occasions. Each time Dave was transferred to a different facility, he was handcuffed and shackled about his wrists, legs, and waist. He was eventually released from custody by court order, on the conditions that he live with his wife and in-laws in Nevada, limit his travel to Nevada and three other states, surrender his travel documents, regularly report to a probatio