Though it's been a terrific year for the Democrats - from winning back the House and Senate against an incompetent and corrupt foe, to the rock-star kind of excitement surrounding Obama and Hillary with nearly no way to lose this election. Right?

The problem is that all the problems have been kept from sight.  No vetting has been done.  The tough questions have been left for later.  And a day of reckoning could be coming this summer.

Here are the potential problems - one of which will surely arise and could be huge

1. Obama's pastor seems to be a world-class bigot and Barack is very, very close to this man.  It would be like McCain being close friends with David Duke.
2. Obama's church is loyal to Africa - not America - both from their mission statement and the statements of their minister.  Obama's refusal to put his hand over his heart during the national anthem and his wife's comment about her lack of pride in America cannot be ignored much longer.  Sooner or later, those things will matter a great deal.
3. Obama's long-time business associate is currently under indictment and appears to be intensely crooked.
4. Hillary and Obama have been running some very ugly ads against one another and will surely throw off all restraint as the biggest prize in the world comes close enough to touch.
5. All those who have come into this political process for the first time, and believed for the first time, and worked for the first time, and contributed money for the first time, will revolt if they believe the Presidency was stolen from the one they invested so much in.  An entire generation could be lost to the Democratic Party - not that they'll become Republican, they'll just ignore it all in utter disillusionment.  Which is worse to lose, working women, the young, the minority community?

In all the euphoria, it's tempting to ignore the warning signs.  But they mean something.  How much is anyone's guess until November.

sharp

Our Congress is now controlled by the Democrats after corruption and a poor attention to the public interest by the Republicans left the country wanting a change.  The Democrats promised major ethical reforms.

But, not so much.

John McCain supported legislation that would end earmarks for good.

The Democratic controlled Senate killed it.  I don't remember Hillary of Obama supporting the legislation, though they might have, but the truth is that they both benefited while John McCain refused to take part in it for ethical reasons.

The House failed to pass meaningful ethics reform.  And several missteps by Nancy Pelosi herself have shown that this session of Congress, while certainly different in politics, is business as usual in other ways.

What would really bring about change?  The Republicans winning in 1994 only brought about the same kind of political perspective change and certainly not ethical change.  The Democrats seem unwilling to bind themselves to meaningful ethics when they are in power.

I propose this. 

Let only the party out of power vote on ethics legislation and make it effective for 20 years.  At which time, the party that is out of power would vote on a revised version.

Maybe that would work.  Maybe not.  But you can't let the fox set the rules for the hen house.  That certainly won't work.

sharp

I noticed an AP story on MSNBC about Iraq. The headline caught my eye. It said the increase in deaths was casting doubt on the surge.

But when I read the column, it didn't say that anywhere in the column.  It simply noted that a suicide bomber had killed several soldiers and that a total of 10 had died in the last week.  That's absolutely horrible, as one soldier's death would be, but the characterization seemed to have a political aim, rather than the goal of telling the truth.

It further noted that there had been an increase in civilian deaths per day, but then a near-afterthought was dropped in that mass graves were counted when they were found, not when the people died.  A mass grave was found this month.

America is fighting AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) in Mosul, south of Baghdad, where the British used to be.  That fighting will surely result in casualties, just as the continued presence in other Iraqi cities will.  But Mosul is the last stand of AQI and I would expect the fighting to be bitter. 

In the end, my perspective is only what I read, but I know enough to seek those who are there rather than those who are crafting stories from a New York office building.  Here is what I would recommend to anyone who would like to know more about the war in Iraq - the good and the bad.

Michael Yon - embedded independent reporter

The best I can tell, the MSNBC article was intended to deceive.  I can't imagine how else you can get from the facts they presented to the conclusion they told you to make.

Sad.

sharp

They've found the teens responsible for killing that oustanding young North Carolina coed last week. They killed her, left her body in the street and then went off to try and withdraw money from her bank account.

Blood runs cold and we all cry for justice.  I'm the first in line.

But in the big picture, this is a very brief spot on the path of eternity.  The trouble is that the rest of eternity is highly dependent upon what happens here. 

To that end, the most important thing at the moment is the souls of those two young men.  Long after we're dead and gone from this earth, the consequences of what they've done will be felt.   Unless they turn to Jesus.

Then, just like me and my pathetic example, they can find cleansing and eternal life. 

Justice on this earth is fleeting and imperfect.  Justice in eternity is to be avoided at all costs.  Mercy is the only way.  Let the courts do what they will, I pray for these young men and all others who have chosen so poorly.

sharp

The story of Eliot Spitzer is blared from every overwrought 24-hour news network and stains the living rooms of all of us. 

He had made many enemies.  In fact, some of his tactics were said to be clear abuses of power in unequaled zeal of arrogance.  His threats were called unethical and beyond the bounds of the law he purported to enforce.

But his demise is sad.  This is hardly a time to celebrate.  His wife, his children, his brothers and sisters and friends all are shocked and humiliated.  It's another sad story, but not a unique one in human history.

I feel terribly for him and his family.  They now have to deal with falling far below the homeless, the disrespected, even the criminal.  Nowhere in this story is there room for celebration. 

No one is made better by his fall.  No good is served by his suffering.

I pray for him and his family to get through this horrible ordeal.  And I change the channel to leave his disgrace to his own private purgatory.  Where it belongs.

sharp