Screaming Penguin

Chuck Hagel is seriously one of the best Senators the United States has, regardless of party, period. I do not agree with every viewpoint he has but he is consistently articulate and well versed in various issues and he stands up for what he believes in regardless of the current popular party line. Chuck has stated that an immediate cease fire must happen in the middle east Lebanon/Israel mess - and he is absolutely correct. The Bush administration keeps insisting that is not the best path. Key Republican breaks with Bush on Mideast This is a complicated geopolitical situation (though many conservative pundits paint it black and white with an evil UN and an appropriate response of force - we all get that Hezbollah is despicable - no argument - we all get that when terrorism affects us we are pissed and a natural response is to want to hit back immediately - but some of us, about third grade or so, realized that an immediate force response, whether capable or not, may not always yield the best long term consequences when various issues and players are in the mix - regardless of justification - its a long complicated mess but suffice to say force will simply never solve a cultural/ideological difference, especially one that involves any religious political party) and further escalation will not serve the interests of Israel, the United States or the entire planet.