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religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.”
-First Amendment, United States Constitution
The View
From My Front Porch
With Larry L. Peel
larry@ioncinema.com
By Lary L. Peel
News Editor
lpeell@my.westga.edu
The hopeless
romantic rides
again
I’ve heard the speech
so many times 1 can almost
recite it. It’s the “I Just Want
to be Friends” speech. I’m
sure many of you have heard
it too, it’s not limited to either
gender, but I seem to get it a
lot lately.
Unfortunately for my
wallet, it always seems
to follow my spending
upwards of S2OO on a single
date (or weekend as the case
may be). I’m not particularly
foolish, mind you. I have
learned a little bit over the
course of my life.
I don’t rush into things
One writer begs the question: "How long does it take?"
By Jacob Lovell
Guest Writer
jlovell 1 @my.westga .edu
How long does it take
to get out of Iraq?
Apparently, for
the democrats that now
control both the Senate
and House, and who
have absolute control on
spending and war efforts,
it takes a lot longer than
seven months.
It’s been seven
months since the new
Congress was sworn in.
Seven months is how long
the democrats have had
to simply stop pumping
money into the military
industrial complex.
Seven months is how
long the democrats have
had to financially choke
the president and keep
him from continuing the
quagmire there, an act
that cannot be vetoed.
Seven months is
how long it took for 722
soldiers of the United
States to die in Iraq, with
many more having lost
limbs or otherwise being
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- at least not intentionally, I
always make sure we get to
know each other very well
before we ever go out at all,
and I am the consummate
gentleman.
Allow me to give
examples. My last two
dates have each been with
women I have known at
least casually for 2 years or
more. With each one I made
sure to spend a great deal of
time talking, getting to know
them a bit more than I had
before, priding myself on
my ability to pay attention
and subsequently retain the
information provided by her
-a rare thing for most males
I am told.
With Lisa 1 spent
well over 30 hours on the
telephone, just getting to
know her. I know this for
fact because 1 used up all my
allotted cell phone minutes
scarred for life.
Ok, so what? 1 mean,
it’s only Congress, right?
As soon as we elect one
of those democrats for
president, we’ll fix the
Iraq problem. I’m sure .Or
not.
Hillary Clinton, a front
runner for the Democratic
Party’s presidential
nomination, voted to go
to war in 2002 and has
continually voted to keep
funding it, as recently
as earlier this year. She
voted for the “PATRIOT
Act” before that. She’s
even helped bang the war
drum about Iran (that’s
with an ‘n’) and North
Korea when she spoke
at Princeton University’s
Wilson School earlier this
year, as well. But she’s
not a warmonger, really.
Honest.
So Hillary isn’t as
anti-war as her supporters
think she is. That’s ok,
though, we still have
Obama, right?
In a speech to the
Chicago Council on
Foreign Relations, Barak
for the month (I am on a pre
pay plan), plus a great deal of
time from my office phone,
speaking to her. Not that I
had any problem with that
at the time, I greatly enjoyed
talking to her.
She seemed open
and friendly, genuinely
interested in what I had to
offer her. We then arranged
to go out. 1 picked her up at
her home and we went to
a local karaoke bar for an
evening of fun and laughing
at people.
I knew something was
wrong when she spent most
of the evening on her cell
phone. Granted her friend
was having problems with
an ex, but it was still quite
rude, and a sure sign of how
the evening would end.
Since my mother raised
me well and proper, I still
paid for our food - though
she did offer to pay her own
-and I took her home. The
next day came w ith an email
“I need to talk to you about
something”. 1 have received
many of these emails in
my life as Single Dad and
have found that it is always
Obama criticized the Bush
administration for getting
us into the (as he had called
it previously) “dumb war"
by exaggerating the threat
SBf-V % 'MM
Photo courtesy of hrazosportnews blogspot .com
Iraq posed. Obama went
on to say:
“I strongly opposed
this war before it began,
though many disagreed
with me at that time.
Today, as Americans grow
increasingly impatient
with our presence in Iraq,
Opinion <1
followed by “the speech”.
No great surprise, I
got the speech. To borrow
from the infamous Visa
campaign - Cell phone calls
$1(X), Dinner/entertainment
S4O, being a gentleman and
having no expectations for
the evening sßare.
Undaunted, and forever
the romantic, I brushed my
heart off, put it back on my
sleeve and tried again the
next weekend with another
girl I have known for a
number of years.
I have had a crush on
Amber since I met her at
work a few years ago, but
she had always been elusive.
She finally said yes to a date
the Wednesday following
my catastrophe with Lisa
and we spent the next couple
of days playing catch up on
our lives since we last saw
each other.
Friday night found us
back at the same karaoke bar
that Lisa and 1 had attended,
though this time it was for
a concert with a local rock
band. She introduced me to
her friends as her boyfriend
(my heart skipped a beat at
voices I respect are calling
for a rapid withdrawal of
our troops, regardless of
events on the ground.”
A little too weak for
my taste, but I like the
sentiment. He’s against
the war, right?
In an act of political
doublespeak that would
impress Ingsoc’s Big
Brother, Obama followed
up with this statement:
“In sum, we have to
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that one), and we spent the
evening together having a
grand time. We arranged to
go out the next night and to a
wrestling match on Sunday
(yes I actually attended a
wrestling match just to be
with her).
Saturday night came
and we again had a great
time. She stayed the night
with me -1 was the complete
gentleman, only kissing her
grxxinight mid making no
attempt for more -and we
got up and spent Sunday
together.
We got a hankerin’ to do
something new on Sunday so
we shot up to Tennessee on a
whim and went to the top of
Dxikout Mountain. Along
the way I was so distracted
by talking to her that I failed
to notice my speedometer
and so got a sllO speeding
ticket in Bremen.
We returned home in
time to get to the wrestling
match by 6 (never mind how
fast I was going on that trip),
and I saw my first live bout.
That is fcxlder for another
column in itself!
She told me many
focus, methodically and
without partisanship, on
those steps that will [...]
contain and ultimately
extinguish the insurgency
in Iraq” (emphasis mine).
Good to see Obama
has set up a timetable for
Iraq: “forever”. That’s
even longer than seven
months. This terrorist
threat in Iraq that Obama
says was exaggerated
is apparently important
enough to sacrifice
American blood and
money to “extinguish” it,
however. Face it, folks:
Obama is pro-war, just
like Hillary Clinton.
The only presidential
candidate worthwhile is,
amazingly,a republican. A
military veteran, 14-year
congressman. 08/GYN,
and gentleman, Texas
House Representative
Ron Paul has been voting
against the war since Billy
Clinton’s “Iraq Liberation
Act”. He’s never voted
to raise taxes or his own
salary. He’s never taken a
government-paid junket.
He doesn’t want to invade
times over the course of the
evening what a great time
she had and I thought all
was well until Tuesday. She
came by the house asking to
borrow a bit of gas money
- which I gladly gave her
-then it happened. The
Speech...again.
For as high as my
heart was before, it sank
then. I actually told her that
she needn’t bother with the
speech because I had heard
it so many times before
anyway.
This time the experience
cost me a lot more (SBO in
gas, S2O wrestling tickets,
S3O at the Border, S2O
“loan”, sllO speeding ticket
and various expenses on
the trip to Tennessee) but at
least I had a snuggle buddy
for a night. I like snuggle
buddies...depending on the
person, it can be better than
sex. With her it had been.
So you may ask "Have
you learned anything,
Larry?” and the definitive
answer is no. I still have my
heart on my sleeve. I am still
a hopeless romantic, and I
get paid Friday. Any takers'?
your privacy, your life, or
your paycheck.
Dr. Paul’s stance on
the war is straightforward
and to the point: The
Iraq War was the wrong
prescription for the
wrong disease, and ttie
continuation of the war,
for any excuse, is wrong.
Ron Paul supports
withdrawal as soon as
is logistically possible.
No, that doesn’t mean
stick around to make
sure chaos doesn’t erupt
- it’s erupted already,
after all. It doesn’t mean
using American troops as
tools to train the new Iraq
military. It doesn't mean
a continued presence at
the $1.2 billion a year
embassy we’ve built
there. It doesn’t mean
more blood and money. It
means that he wants our
troops back home. Now.
Vote Ron Paul for the
republican nomination,
and then vote for him
again in the national
election.
It doesn’t take long to
vote.