For a long time, I thought the President was a lot smarter than the Left was leading us to believe. Certainly, he’s a lot smarter than AlGore….or is he?

We’ve been assured for years that, when the Republicans get the Presidency, coupled with their control of the House and Senate, government would really begin to be brought under control. At any rate, quite the opposite is the case. Spending is completely out of control, and federal law enforcement is completing the destruction of the Bill of Rights and has lost all respect for due process. Because of all this and more, George W Bush has lost my vote in his reelection bid. I’d like to see the Republicans run someone else for President this year--not that I think there’s any chance that’ll happen.

To earn my vote, the following is what the President should have done.

Upon taking office, he should have ordered his staff to go through all of President Clinton’s Executive orders to find the ones that violate the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They should be repealed immediately.

President Clinton’s tax increases should be repealed completely.

President George HW Bush’s tax increases should be repealed completely.

Spending should be reduced to effect a balanced budget to reflect the tax changes, first by identifying and eliminating obsolete, unneeded and useless government programs, then by cutting all other programs equally to finish the job.

Of course the President has Congress to contend with, and would have a hard time getting much of this by them, but he can still talk about it, explain the reasons and benefits to what he wants to do, and the reasons for it. I’d bet he could sway public opinion enough to scare Congress into at least partial compliance (he does have a majority, after all).

Were he to start moving in that direction, he could regain my vote. Otherwise, I’m staying home.

Col. Hogan

I wrote this to my nephew in response to an email he forwarded to me suggesting that the reason for the 9-11-01 terrorist attack is somehow caused by some sort of a lack of faith on the part of Americans. I hope he doesn't believe that crap.


Hi Justin,

Ok, now let me make you think.

First, prayer belongs in the home, and in church. There are many people in this country and they are of many religions and some have no religion at all. Why is it that members of one religious sect think they have to inflict their beliefs on people who think differently? I'd be most happy if we all kept our religious views, or lack of them, to ourselves.

The terrorist attacks (the one on 9/11/01 was only one of many) are caused by these religious differences. Baptists can't stand Jews, who can't stand Catholics, who can't stand Lutherans, who can't stand Muslims, and on and on and on. Just about every war that's ever been fought has been, in some way, over religion.

Catholics, and many Protestant sects used to harass, torture and kill people even if they suspected a lack of faith. A certain amount of ostracism still exists among the many religions of the US. There's a fundamentalist Christian compound not far from here that is trying to run nearby stores out of business because they sell things of which these Christians don't approve.

We in the US are a Constitutional Republic. The Constitution warns against the state's establishment of an official religion--plainly stated in the First Amendment. I know they don't very carefully teach the meaning of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in schools anymore, but the men who wrote the document had personal recollections of places (just about anywhere in Europe) where being the wrong religion could get you killed in a very unpleasant way.

Religion should be rigorously kept out of places of government, particularly government schools. Children should be kept out of government schools as well, but that's a whole different story.

Best wishes and love, Wayne

Col. Hogan