Coronation

Tuesday January 20th will see the costliest and most extensive presidential inauguration in history.

It is easy to forget that we will witness the swearing in of a new president instead of a King or Tsar. Thorough media coverage, the presence of tens of thousands, concerts and who knows what else will accompany the ritual agreement to preserve and protect the Constitution. Presidents are supposed to be something like a temporary version of the original Roman ideal of princeps, or First Citizen. This celebration is more like that to mark the rise of a dominus, the imperial title claimed by the autocratic Emperor Diocletian. This word means "master" or "owner."

All this over exuberance is over one of forty four men who have held the position of president as of tomorrow, not a demigod despite the desire of some to continually portray him as The One.

To his credit, Obama had the grace to look displeased at the inauguration concert when U2 insisted on politicizing the event.

We all must remember that this is a President of the United States, not a ruler of the people, but their servant.

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Hopefully Governor Manchin, with his inauguration behind him, can forge ahead with cutting West Virginia's bloated state government. With anemic population growth and the amazing capabilities of modern technology, surely we can find ways to shrink and make more efficient our state government.

Cutting the size of our bureaucracy should be a priority over the next four years. This will contribute to our continued fiscal strength.

Mexican Standoff?

One of the last warnings of the Bush presidency told us about the dire situation south of the border.

According to a recent national security statement, Mexico's government is in danger of collapse. The drug cartels have sucked at the Mexican body politic like massive parasites. In nature, parasites usually take enough to live, but do not threaten the host. In the case of Mexico, corruption, assassination, the undermining of democratic government have all sapped the ability of the state to function.

Prime evidence of Mexico's possible collapse has come in the form of private militia groups rising to defend the people in cities such as Ciudad Juarez. A government has two basic functions, protect innocent life and protect property. Mexico's government has lost the capability to do either.

They need help. In some form, American intelligence must step in. National security means that we must address problems before they become a threat. Mexican collapse constitutes a threat to our national security. Do we want twenty-first century Pancho Villas attacking US cities, provoking armed responses?

The FBI has experience infiltrating and destroying dangerous organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and various Mafia groups. If we are to lend a hand to protect Mexican authority, much less democracy, this is not the time to take rough measures off of the table. Mexican drug gangs are among the most ruthless criminal groups on earth. It is time to target and eliminate them.

Energy Supplies and Robert Redford's "Racism"

Robert Redford's decision to attack President Bush's plan to open over a hundred thousand acres of the West to energy development drew fire recently from East Coast based black advocacy groups.

Redford described the sale of leases as "morally criminal." CORE spokesman Niger Innis shot back by arguing that increasing supply brings down prices. Innis asked that Redford relinquish his wealth and try "living like a poor person." He went on to say that high prices were functionally discriminatory and praised efforts to increase supply and reduce the burden.

This is another example of traditionally left wing groups battling over energy policy. Some left wing groups emphasize the condition of people, others want to de-emphasize the importance of people. Black advocacy groups worry about the poor heating their homes. Environmentalists have warm homes and ask what about the caribou who might have to pass by an oil well once a year.

Closer to home the debate over windmills pits clean energy advocates against those that value the preservation of every mountain view. One suggestion argued that individual homeowners ought to be encouraged to purchase their own windmills instead of allowing large windfarms.

Environmentally speaking the impact made by massive numbers of small windmills versus moderate numbers of large ones would be significant. It takes more energy to produce and transport smaller windmills. Those that fear the occasional bird death have much more to be concerned about when it comes to a vast multitude of windmills with smaller, harder to see blades.

More importantly, wind farms mean more property tax receipts. Wind farms mean better funded schools with less reliance on fundraising. Wind farms mean that the rest of us do not have to carry as high a burden to keep schools and local government running. Wind farms mean that more money comes from outside of the state directly into the pockets of locals who will turn around and buy more stuff, eat in local restaraunts more often, and deposit more money into local banks. We are historically used to an outflow of cash. An influx would be nice to see for a change.

An Open Letter to Obama

Mr. Obama today you will become the 44th President of the United States. I wish you and your family well on this day. It is yours and you earned it.

I would like to remind you as you move forward. You will be a leader of a nation that has diverse views and many of those views you do not share, but you must respect those views.

I want you to be a leader and a true leader leads. He understands that sometimes his views are the minority view and the nation may be best served by yielding to the majority. There will be times when the opposite is true. You must try to identify those and make the right decision. You will not always be right and when your wrong we will let you know.

You must respect our military and their sacrifice to freedom. Many have paid the ultimate price to allow you to become president. They fought wars past and present that you may not have agreed with, but they fought them for all of us. Do not forget their sacrifice when you make your decisions.

Some 200 years ago very wise men wrote the US Constitution. Use it when you make your decisions. Don't go by what some historian tells you about it, read it yourself and the papers of the founding fathers. See the nation through their eyes when you make your decisions.

While they will call you the leader of the Free World, the reality you are the leader of the United States of America. Always put the interest of the nation first.

I wish you good luck over the next 4 years. I never voted for you, but you will be my President. I will support you in that role, but I will also disagree with you from time to time. You are my president and you will have the respect from me that your office deserves.

"I now know what -47 feels like"

I got this message from my cousin in Chicago this week. I wonder if Obama plans to give any major speeches on global warming in the Midwest anytime soon. If anyone anywhere still believes in that tripe, they may be tempted at this point to gas up the SUVs and drive around in circles. It was only fifteen years ago that temperatures dipped well below zero in West Virginia. I lived in Huntington at the time and remember my car freezing up for almost a week. Even if I could get out, my little rear wheel drive sports car would simply flail on the snow and ice covered roads until it got hung up somewhere.

If you listened to the global warming people at the height of their movement, this winter was not something we were ever supposed to see again. The uncommonly warm winters we saw there for a few years were supposed to be permanent. Interestingly enough, when the earth showed signs of cooling, some scientists rushed out to claim that colder temperatures resulted from global warming. That just does not meet the smell test.

Fact is that Arctic ice has extended back to the levels of the supercold late 1970s (when Newsweekinsisted that carbon emissions were causing an ice age.) Polar bear populations have grown in larger numbers than expected. All is right with the Great White North.

Global warming has been exposed for what it always has been, a front for neo-Marxists to curb capitalist development. Unfortunately the tide of Democratic success swept some of these people into the Congress and Executive Branch. The so-called climate czar supports taxing American prosperity heavily and redistributing it to Third World nations. This individual feels Americans live too well.

Now more than ever America needs the GOP to stay strong.