North Korean Missile Launch: Merely a Sign of More Trouble to Come

North Korea is launching a missile. One it claims is for putting a satellite into space. Yeah, whatever. Most of us know that a missile powerful enough to put a satellite into orbit is also powerful enough to put a nuke into Kansas City. Or anywhere else on the planet, for that matter.

So we can all agree (for the most part) this rocket launch in just over a week is a not-so-thinly veiled threat.

Are the North Koreans going to drop a nuke on us? I really, really doubt it. So does everyone else who matters. In fact, Defense Secretary Gates made it clear there isn't any military action planned.

(Side note: I'm linking to Fox News against my better judgement. I'll explain below).

While the Fox News program makes it sound as if we're not able to shoot down the missile, we totally could. Admiral Keating said we were prepared to, and I don't doubt for a minute we have the capability to shoot that tin can out of the sky.

Political will to shoot it down? THAT is what's lacking. The Obama Administration isn't prepared to commit an act of war, and I think that's the right stance. North Korea knows no good will come from open violence, so they aren't going to commit any. Why should we shoot first?

We shot first in Iraq, and see where that got us? Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

As this AP story says, the issue is the breakdown in disarmament talks. Once the missile is launched, North Korea is in violation of UN agreements on balistic activity. Then, the world can either ignore this blatant disregard for international law...or add sanctions against North Korea.

North Korea made it clear that if sanctions happen, they won't continue with the nuclear disarmament talks. THAT is a problem...but not one we can solve easily by starting a war.

Rock and a hard place. This is why all Presidents turn grey and wrinkly after only a few years in office.

Strickland: Wrong Governor for Era?

I like Ted Strickland. I think he's done a solid job as Governor, and I'd probably vote for him again without too many qualms.

...but this year, he seems to be on another planet. Or maybe just another era. It almost seems like he's been nursing these big legacy projects for a while, and the fact the state is out of money won't stop him from finally going ahead.

I'm talking about two big proposals I've heard in the news in the past couple months. One is all about transportation, and the other is all about education. Both of these are VERY important, and will be the cause of our nation's continued health (or total collapse). And the plans aren't really all that bad, IMO.

So what's my beef? Simple; they're expensive, and complicated, and based on tax revenue picking back up really soon. I don't think this is the time to launch a massive restructuring of the transportation and education systems all at once.

• The Plans:

For education, Strickland would flip the funding formula on its head. Basing costs on things such as the size of schools, the student-teacher ratio, and how much teachers are paid (using an index including poverty level, property value, and college attainment of school) the idea is to get away from building a school to be "a good school" and moving toward a system built to serve students. Changes are to be phased in over 8 years, and rely on quite a bit of unsecured, one-time federal stimulus money to get rolling. The Newark Advocate has full details.

On the transportation front Strickland was equally ambitious. He proposed (and got passed the House) a bill including provisions to allow local governments to build toll roads, create passenger rail between the major Ohio cities, and use right of ways near the Ohio Turnpike to build solar and wind farms. The Senate did what Senates do and put the brakes on most of it, cutting out anything they felt was "half-baked." Several new safety laws were also nixed by the Senate, such as cameras to catch speeders in construction zones. The Columbus Dispatch can give you the full story.

Do I disagree with either of these plans? Not really. There's quite a bit of merit for designing school funding around educating students (as if that should be innovative...nevermind, that's for another post). I really like the idea of passenger rail connecting Ohio. There are elements I don't really agree with, of course...cameras in construction zones (or anywhere really) give me the willies. But really, it's not the plans themselves that worry me.

It's the SCOPE of them I take issue with. It's the fact revenues are down for the state, and not likely to pick up anytime soon. I worry about how a lot of the education plan assumes stimulus money as a big chunk of the funding. We're talking about systemic changes without systemic funding. That's just not the sort of governing I'd like to see when times get rocky.

It's not fiscally responsible, and there's too many citizens relying on state support to not be smart with tax dollars.

New Format?

I don't know about a new format, but I am trying to take things in a different direction. I've had one vision in my head about this blog for the past four months or so, and it hasn't been easy to do for a lot of reasons. Mostly because I'm not that interested in what the vision was...go figure that one.

So now, instead of having some bizarre mix of civics, non-politics, and semi news that I write up on a weekly basis I'll be trying to take a more spontaneous, opinionated approach. We'll see how that works...maybe it'll keep my interest a little better, and by extrapolation YOUR interest. Since that's kinda the part that matters.

Thanks for checking in!

Vacation

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts the past two weeks.

I'm currently on vacation, visiting family in Colorado. That meant no time for posting this past weekend.

The weekend before, when I should have been creating filler material? I was off travelling, visiting a friend of mine who's going to be vanishing off to sea for nine months.

So...poor planning means I've let you blog readers down. But on the plus side, I think my priorities aren't TOO much outta whack.

Thanks for the patience, and regular posting will resume next week!---John

Your Take: "I'm Just Not Political" Recap

Here's what everyone had to say about the question of whether it's really worth it to be an involved citizen.

Joe commented on the post:

For each person, life is all about something different, and for each person, a different passion is the pilot light in their furnace of a brain. For some people, helping others is their passion, and so they go to third world countries to get their hands dirty helping others to live decent lives, then come home to try to spread awareness and convert others to their cause.

For some others, it's music, like a guy I work with who is a member of two bands, and a producer for one of those as well as one more. He is a walking encyclopedia of musical knowledge and the overhead radio that plays oldies almost always leads to a quip that makes you wonder how anyone would know it. For example, "Did you know that Parliament Funkadelic was actually two separate bands with the same members, but called different names because of disputes with different recording companies?"

For others still, it could be business research, or the economy, international relations, or political issues. Whatever the subject matter is, these concentrations often stretch beyond points of interest or hobbies. Moreso, they form the identity of a person--who they are, what they strive for, and their own personal reason for existence--their 'sense of belonging' if you will.

So for some, politics just "isn't their bag," to quote the great Austin Powers, and for those, perhaps it's best that way.

Sorry for the LATE LATE update, but things have been crazy around here the last few weeks. Thanks for the comment and we'll see you all soon!

Bi-Partisan Support?

Not so much. The ginormous stimulous package passed the House...but without a single Republican vote in favor. Not exactly bi-partisan, if you use the standard definition.

The GOP blamed house Democrats for shutting them out of discussions, not being open to debating elements, etc etc. I think there's a lot to that. Pelosi and other Congressional leaders knew they had enough votes to pass the bill. That sort of kills the instinct to negotiate. Whatever efforts the President made to get everyone together, he ran into one of the checks and balances of our government...and this time, not for the best.

The Senate, however, is another story. The Dems can't just ride rough-shod over the GOP. (Although I seriously doubt Harry Reid's ability to ride rough-shod, period...that's neither here nor there.) In the Senate, we're already seeing debate, like the one on school funding as a part of the stimulus.

I'm not worried about bi-partisan support yet, because the House version will not be the final version. Because the Senate will have to debate the issue to get it passed the bill WILL change. Then, Senate leaders will have to sit down with House leaders and hammer out yet another version. That third version will very likely be more acceptable to House Republicans, giving us a bi-partisan bill at last.

If the House Dems decide to stonewall the Senate leaders, THEN I'll be concerned.