Jessica Schreindl, guest columnist: Site ‘invents’ differences

Columns

Discussion

October 23, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Oct 23, 2009, 02:20 PM CDT

A new Web site created by none other than the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, is aggressively attacking President Barack Obama’s “weak” foreign policy.

The site, keepamericasafe.com, believes that “the United States can only defeat our adversaries and defend our interests from a position of strength.” This position of strength includes continuing the Bush administration policies that have apparently “succeeded in preventing any further attacks on the American homeland.”

Keep America Safe describes Obama’s foreign policy as “radical” and lists its faults, including:

* Treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter.

* Giving foreign terrorists the same rights as American citizens.

* Launching investigations of CIA agents.

* Cutting defense spending.

* Breaking faith with our allies and attempting to appease our adversaries.

In actuality, Obama’s foreign policy really isn’t that different from the Bush administration’s.

Although Obama was attacked by conservatives for “cutting” the defense budget, Obama actually increased overall defense spending as he promised during his campaign. He proposed a $534 billion defense budget for the fiscal year 2010; an 8 percent increase from 2009 and equal to what the Bush administration budgeted for 2010.

Barack Obama has also continued the Bush policy of using private contractors such as Blackwater to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, increasing their numbers by 23 percent. And he has escalated the number of troops in Afghanistan, sending more than 17,000 new men and woman to the war-torn land.

As a senator, Obama voted for the renewal of the PATRIOT Act and, as president, supports extending controversial provisions in the bill due to sunset in December.

And Obama’s dealings with Iran are all too similar to the fashion in which George W. Bush dealt with Iraq: Pressuring access to the country’s private facilities and giving verbal ultimatums.

The truth is, Obama’s foreign policy isn’t all that different from Bush’s. But perhaps Keep America Safe and others would like us to think it is.

Jessica Schreindl is a Missouri Southern State University senior. She writes a blog for The Joplin Globe called Redheaded Politics. Find it at www.joplinglobe.com.

Text Only

Columns

Irrigation system upgrade begins at Eagle Creek
Will Clark will be putting in a lot of hours over the next month or so while keeping an eye over a major upgrade of the irrigation system at Eagle Creek Golf Course.

March 4, 2012
Grizzled veterans may be best at telling tall tales
I saw Jim Barr and Larry Eggers this weekend at another swap meet.
Barr will be at our swap meet on March 17 at the Brighton Assembly of God gymnasium at Brighton Mo. Jim Barr and I have similar backgrounds. We both grew up on the Big Piney River, both of us spent most of our boyhood years fishing from wooden johnboats, and we both were doing some guiding on the river when we were just kids.

March 4, 2012
Federal stimulus money allows Cherokee County to buy foreclosed houses COLUMBUS, Kan. — A grant through the federal stimulus program will allow the Cherokee County Commission to buy three foreclosed houses from a county bank.

Nancy Lamb, deputy emergency management director for the county, provided information Monday about that grant and other grants on which she has been working.
March 9, 2010
Guest column, Allen Shirley: Copy a winning example Last October, I published a column in The Joplin Globe documenting three failed attempts involving the states of Maine, Massachusetts and Tennessee and their efforts to implement “Obamacare” in their states.
January 11, 2010
Anson burlingame, guest columnist: Living within our means “Mainly, we are going to have to live within our means and be very careful.”

That is the most resounding sound bite I have heard from a politician in a long time. If only that sentiment can grow and resonate, politically, to turn the tide of incessant and extraordinarily dangerous growth beyond our means in government.
January 11, 2010
Jim Stone, guest columnist: Paranoia shouldn’t impede freedom The afternoon of Dec. 30 brought news that eight American CIA agents and four Canadian soldiers at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan had been killed by a suicide bomber.
January 9, 2010
Dan Ray, guest columnist: Bills can still be terminated We still have an opportunity to terminate the health care bills that have been passed in the Senate and the House.
January 9, 2010
Dave Woods: Global warming fires up debate on Adams doesn’t believe in global warming.

I have to say, when it’s 3 degrees below zero outside in Joplin and we’re headed for our third week without a thaw, global warming theory is a tough concept to wrap my head around.
January 9, 2010
Jack Kaminsky, guest columnist: Remembering a ‘classic’ Last week Editor Carol Stark asked me to write something about my dad and the Kaminsky Classic, the annual Joplin High School basketball tournament which ended on Saturday.

Even as I started writing, I began crying, and have had tears in my eyes all day.
January 9, 2010
Carol Stark: We all need someone’s hand to hold I was always a nervous little kid and while others my age went through life without a care, I held back, imagining that the worst was about to happen.
January 2, 2010
More Columns Headlines

New features ready at Cunningham Pool

Columns

Search Results

Discussion

Jessica Schreindl, guest columnist: Site ‘invents’ differences

At the request of Republican lawmakers, taxpayers are funding a 24-hour security camera to watch over a Rush Limbaugh bust in the Missouri Capitol. Do you think this is needed?

Site Map

Contact Us