Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

Asking the Hard Questions

Dave Schuler
2

Remembering the attacks on September 11, 2001 and taking note of the increasing tendency of the presidential campaign and campaign reporting to descend into meaningless trivia, Philip Bobbitt and John Danforth, IMO two of the most reasonable guys on the political scene today, address twelve questions to Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama in an op-ed in the New York Times today. The questions address some of the thorniest issues before us today on the international scene:

  • Pakistan and Afghanistan;
  • the future of humanitarian intervention;
  • Iraq;
  • Iran;
  • whether there is in fact a war on terror;
  • the futures of the UN and NATO;
  • the future of WTO trade negotiations;
  • Russia’s invasion of Georgia;
  • the prospects for future global partnerships to address issues like climate change, weapons proliferation and terror;
  • the role of government in guiding energy policy;
  • the future of development aid, particularly to Africa; and
  • how the two candidates differ from each other on national security.

I’m not going to try to excerpt the op-ed. The questions are well-chosen, terse, and to the point. I’d also encourage you to read the op-ed for yourself and, possibly, take a little time to reflect on what you believe about our country and its role in the world. I hope for but do not anticipate some answers from the candidates.

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2 responses to “Asking the Hard Questions”

  1. DOUGLAS FIELD Avatar
    DOUGLAS FIELD

    SENATOR OBAMA,WILL YOU PLEASE GIVE AMERICA ~ A DOSE OF REALITY CONCERNING THIS DIFFICULT QUESTION OF US JUDICIAL INJUSTICE ?????

    LETS ALL HOPE OUR MEDIA FRIENDS CONTINUE TO ALSO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????

    WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL HORROR CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????

    *** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED ***
    THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????

    ***THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.

    ****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY ****
    The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
    Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.

    This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.

    **INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS !!
    This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!

    Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!

    For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.

    It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.

    This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World!

    ***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY!

    A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
    1) YAHOO AND 2) GOOGLE
    MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
    ** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !

    lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com
    (424-247-2013)

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