In the continuing saga of the "partisan" media making up items and hoping they stick to the wall, Newsweek joins CBS News in getting a story wrong. This time, after claiming that our interrogators took pages from the Quran down at Gitmo and flushed them down a toilet, they backed off the story today.
What I find interesting is that Newsweek never seems to take the time and energy to go over to Iraq or Afghanistan and talk about all the good happening. If nothing else, the rape rooms are gone and metal shredders are being used for their appointed purposes instead of becoming killing devices as they were under Saddam. Just seems like anyone who whispers anything bad about conservatives and/or the U.S. military will have his story believed.
Speaking of the military, I saw a story about the howls of protest regarding base closings, including a statement from Wesley Clark today. Add that to the Congressmen and states lining up against the closings and it's a wonder any cut of government is even possible. I'm shocked that the liberals aren't speaking out in favor of this - after all, it is a cut in the military. When Clinton was President, wasn't that where most of the government job cuts came from? One thing I did like about the idea behind the closure was the consolidation aspect - putting separate branches of the military together at installations makes sense to me.
I especially thought it apt when I saw a picture of a protest at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard closing - wonder what those guys think of their union now? Now, I know it's going to be tough on those communities but to me it shows what happens when towns put their economic eggs in one basket. And what government can give, government can taketh away.
Little noticed in all this was a idea by President Bush to build oil refineries on closed military bases. While it's not the panacea to every large base and installation closure, think Groton or Portsmouth (both within the energy-hungry Northeast) would turn up their nose at these jobs given the choice? Yeah, they are both in blue states, I bet they would. Ship and submarine building is such clean work, we don't want those dirty oil refineries here. Better to blame Bush for hard times because he picked their base for closure.
Ever notice that Congress is now too gutless to do this base closure thing themselves? They have to pick a commission to do it, that way they all go back to their districts and can say, "hey, it wasn't my fault that the government closed Fort (fill in the blank)."
Now my question: what actually happens when these places close? Does the government keep the land? This ties in with my comments about Maryland selling off state land. I'm all for putting it back in the private sector!
One final note before I call it a night, on one of my favorite subjects. Today in the Daily Times there was a letter from my state senator, J. Lowell Stoltzfus, regarding his opposition to the "Fair Share Health Care Act" (aka the "Wal-Mart bill"). It was a well-written letter and I e-mailed him a short note of appreciation:
Dear Senator Stoltzfus:
Right on! I emphatically agree with the sentiments you shared in the letter regarding Wal-Mart. I have myself contributed to the Daily Times "Grapevine" on the subject (regarding and agreeing with their editorial in April) and also sent a letter to Governor Ehrlich imploring him to veto the "Fair Share Health Care Act" despite the likelihood of an override.
Your letter nicely ties together a lot of the pro-business arguments that fell on deaf ears among those on the left side of the aisle in Annapolis. It certainly is a reminder that government at the behest of special interests provides little to the average Free Stater.
And, something you may not know: far from being a minimum wage employer, Wal-Mart's wages are relatively decent. I was shopping in the Fruitland store today and they were advertising in-store for new cashiers, paying from $7.15 to $9.15 an hour (based on experience). So it's not just the Somerset distribution center that will pay a fairly decent wage for the work and skills required.
I shudder to think what would happen to the local and state economy if Wal-Mart suddenly decided to pull out of Maryland. Hopefully the business savvy that has led them to succeed this long (despite fierce union opposition in a lot of markets) will continue even with this possible setback.
Again, kudos for having your voice of reason heard today in the Daily Times.
Sincerely,
Michael Swartz
I honestly think that this issue will not go away quietly. With the anti-business slant of the Maryland General Assembly quite apparent now, I see this as a possible 2006 issue. We just need a strong leader on it, but sadly I'm not sure Governor Ehrlich has enough pull on it, nor is he going to get any help from the partisan media (Baltimore Sun - "Light for All, unless it makes us liberals look bad!") Tough to deal with this from such a position of weakness. In Maryland, I sometimes feel like I do when I lived in the city of Toledo - sitting in my Alamo while the overwhelming force of liberalism shoots cannon at the walls of common sense and limited government. In both cases, liberals and their union allies are manning the guns.
