Haynes.tv

Nancy Pelosi has decided that she must take it upon herself to solve the problems in Iraq. How is she going to do this? You might think it is something brave and courageous but you would be wrong. She has decided to backstab the White House and create discussion with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A statement put out by her spokesman, Brendan Daly says that she is going “As recommended by the Iraq study group…” the statement then goes on to say that she “intends to discuss a wide range of security issues…” Is it just me or does the fact that Nancy Pelosi is going to Syria since relations deteriorated seem like a security issue. Not only does this create a security issue but it undermines everything the administration is trying to do in the Middle East.

What type of message does this send to our allies? That the U.S. is going to negotiate with known supports of Hezbollah and Hamas. That is not it either; they are also aiding the Sunni insurgency in Western Iraq. This must be very perplexing to the U.S.’s allies in the Middle East, one day we make claims against Syria and the next we are going to talk to them about security?

It is impossible to negotiate with Syria. They do not want the same thing the U.S. wants in Iraq. Maybe Nancy Pelosi should have read all of the Iraq study group report. If she did she would have come across the passages that say “Syria is also playing a counterproductive role.” And the goal for Iraq is to “govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.” Maybe she does recognize the difficult issues involved but I highly doubt that she will be able to resolve them.

My suggestion to Speaker Pelosi is drop the act. She has not done what she has been elected for. Since the elections she has not kept any of her promises and now she is trying to save the world. Maybe if she remembered how Senators Kerry and Dodd already tried to challenge Syria to play a more constructive role in the region she would know that she is actually playing a deconstructive role. She needs to try to start a discussion between her party and the Republican Party before she can create discussion with Syria.

The town of North Kingstown has entirely too much drama for a suburb of Providence. This applies especially to our school department. By the amount of accusations and unfavorable news reports about the NKSD, you would think that our daily lives are scripted by television writers. However, the biggest character that dominates North Kingstown cooler talk is the Kingpin, Dr. James Halley. He is a public official that answers only to himself, and his public allies answer only to him. He thinks he lives in a special bubble outside of public opinion. In the minds of the parents and students he has been running the North Kingstown School Department like this for the past 12 years.

The drama involving Dr. Halley has recently come to a head over the report concerning $245,000 of misappropriated funds. ABC 6 reporter Jim Hummel has been following (harassing) the story for the past several months. Needless to say, Halley is not a fan. Their confrontation finally became physical at a March 28 school committee meeting in which Hummel followed Halley around the auditorium, smashing him with difficult (for Halley) questions about the report. An obviously distressed Halley puffed out nonsense responses saying that the media has no right to cover the meeting, despite that fact that every meeting is broadcast in North Kingstown on Cox Channel 17. And after the meeting Halley went to the North Kingstown P.D. to file assault and harassment charges.

I believe this whole disastrous meeting demonstrates Halley’s inability to perform his job effectively (as well as ethically) because he cannot handle the pressure, he has made actions detrimental to his image and reputation, as well as that of the town’s school department, and he is being chased like an injured antelope from a lion on the savanna of truth. We let him make his own decisions, but now its time for us to tell him its over. The recent paid suspension should give him time to think about the function of a public official. What the word public means. He should ask himself whether he has any honor and dignity left, or will he continue to rely on political alliances and the threat of lawyers to save his wounded rear end (which we know he will). This claim of assault on Jim Hummel demonstrates no matter how hard he falls, his senses are completely disconnected from the real world.

As a side note, I am a North Kingstown resident and from now on I will follow all the important issues facing north Kingtown in future articles. I read the North East Independent and the South County section of the Providence Journal and I will share my opinions about artices as well as add my own insight. I attend many town meeting and am very involved in the town.