War in Iraq

As you might imagine, people want to know my position on various issues. I'll try to address a few in this blog. Please drop me a line about specific issues you would like me to address.

One person recently asked where I stood on some national issues, which is a pretty big topic. So I figured I'd focus on one national issue: the War in Iraq.

First of all, I have the greatest respect for our uniformed services. These are people who are willing to place their lives on the line in order to protect us. At a minimum, they make huge sacrifices to their families and social lives. Those in power have a sacred duty to not waste that sacrifice.

And that is what upsets me over the War in Iraq. We, the American people, were lied to in order to get us involved in that war. In 2002-2003 when Bush was touting the Weapons of Mass Destruction, I knew we would not find any. Because we had the receipts for all the weapons we had sold to Saddam in the 1980's. He used them on the Kurds. Then we defeated him in the Gulf War and neutered his army. If there was one place on the planet where we could be secure of that there were no weapons of mass destruction, it was Iraq.

I'm not a pacifist. I believe that war is sometimes necessary. But is must be entered into as a last resort and with a clear goal. Frankly I think we invaded the wrong country in 2003. Ask me in person and I'll be happy to share my thoughts on THAT subject.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! And belated Happy Holidays!

The campaign website has undergone a significant upgrade courtesy of the tireless efforts of Julie and Spencer. Julie spent her holiday break programming html and getting all of the pieces of the website to work together. I would like to publically say thank you.

Consequently I have not posted an update for several months. On the other hand, the holidays were about family and taking it easy. Not a whole lot to report.

I would like to share two things that made me happy.

One: I received a gadget to recharge Wii controller batteries by induction. It blows my mind. Usually I have some idea of how things work, but this baffles me. Power just magically goes from the pad into the battery. No wires. The future is pretty cool.

Two: While I am outraged by the recent attempted-bombing on Flight 253, I am thrilled by the response of the passengers. They saw that something wasn't right and they acted upon it. And by acted upon it, they physically restrained the bomber, put out the fuse on the bombers body, and then they proceeded to beat up the bomber. Even though the passenger who took the lead was Dutch, it still makes me proud to be an American.

2010 is upon us. The election is a mere eleven months away. The primary is only nine months away! Vote Chiappelli.