What is the deal with the idea that the GOP is finished in 2012 because Sen. John Ensign and Gov. Mark Sanford were caught having extramarital affairs? What has surprised me the most is the number of commentators and pundits of all stripes who are looking at the failures of these two men as the fall of the GOP and the end of GOP opposition to Obama in 2012? The truth is that as much as people may have admired the stances the two men took on a variety of issues, such as illegal immigration and financial responsibility; neither man was much of a serious contender for the GOP nomination process that takes place…in three years! Ensign was not particularly well known on the national political scene, notwithstanding his position as a US Senator, and until the dustup Sanford had over attempting to refuse federal stimulus money for South Carolina not many people outside the state and his region had heard of him. Yet as soon as the two men were caught in their sex scandals, they suddenly became the two GOP frontrunners for the next presidential cycle. Is that because they actually were, or is it because they fell down and can be used to dump on the GOP and their future electoral chances?

I was watching the news today and saw the giddiness of people at the sentence of 150 years for convicted swindler Bernie Madoff, and had to wonder what is wrong with people. Yeah, Madoff deserved some serious jail time for his Ponzi scheme, but 150 years for stealing money seems extreme to me. We give mass murderers less time than this for killing people, yet we go to the mat to slam a thief! My problem here is two-fold: I don’t like judges using a defendant’s sentence to “send a message” to others, and I think that this slamming of Madoff lets his “victims” off the hook for their roles in his scheme. First, I thought a judge was supposed to look at each case before him individually, weigh the merits of that case, and hand down an appropriate sentence. Instead, this judge has done what so many others have done in the past; he has decided that it is his job to make an example of one man in order to scare potential miscreants. Now, if Madoff deserved 150 years in prison…cool; give him 150 years. However, do not sentence him out of anger or public outrage, because that is not justice. Second, most of the “victims” of Madoff’s schemes were willing participants in the scheme. These people saw a deal that was offering too good to be true returns on their investments, and they ignored the ages old warnings about things that are too good to be true and caved into their greed. They gave him their money to play with hoping that they would get a better return than other investors would and instead were burned for being greedy. They, in most cases, bear the burden of their losses since they willingly signed up with a swindler.

I also saw today that the SCOTUS has struck down Judge Sonya Sotomayor’s ruling in the Ricci case. Good for them! The 5-4 majority has decided that discrimination based on race, even if you’re white, is not going to stand in America. Well, I say it is about damned time that the courts recognized that if we are to live in a society that is not based on race then we cannot discriminate against any race for any reason. We would not stand by and allow it if a woman, and Asian, Latino, or black was denied an earned promotion for no real reason, so we cannot let it stand against white men either. Moreover, if the GOP has any sense (which is debatable) they will ignore Patrick Leahy’s statements about this not being an issue and put it right out there for all to see. Being repudiated by the SCOTUS in such a public manner on such a highly charged case is very relevant, and must be stressed in the upcoming confirmation debate.

Finally, this has been a long weekend for the entertainment community. It started with the death of Ed McMahon and ended with the sudden death of ubiquitous television pitchman Billy Mays. But of course, the two biggest names were Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. For men of a certain age, Farrah Fawcett was the “It girl”, and her 1970s poster was one that helped many a young boy move to young manhood. She was a talented actress, and frankly one of the best-looking women we have ever seen in the entertainment industry. Her battle with cancer was in all respects courageous, and it was sad to hear that she ultimately was unable to beat the disease. The death of Michael Jackson was a total shock to the system, and in my household, a few tears were shed at the news of his death. Heck, even I had a lump in my throat when I heard the news. For me, Michael Jackson’s music and videos were a huge part of the soundtrack of my life, and the idea of speaking of Jackson in the past tense still takes an effort. What is even sadder is that it seems that he died in some respects a broken man, allegedly hooked on prescription pain medications, and in increasingly poor health. Nevertheless, I prefer to remember him as the man who wowed me with the “Smooth Criminal” and “Remember the Time” videos; made me smile with songs like “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”; and touched me with songs like “You Are Not Alone” and “We Are the World”. RIP to Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays. My prayers go out to all their families, and they will all be missed.

When Bill and Hillary Clinton were in the White House bringing the office of President into disrepute with their myriad scandals and illegalities, I am pretty sure that we all thought it would be a long time before we saw the likes of that again in the Oval Office. Bimbo eruptions, getting blown on federal time, semen stained dresses, purloined FBI files, and perjury were just the lowlights of the Clinton administration, and it was a relief when George W. Bush took over as POTUS because an adult had finally returned to the White House. And for eight years the only scandals emanating from the Bush administration were basically created by the media, who became sworn enemies of Bush and company when the Goracle managed to blow the election by not even managing to win his home state of Tennessee. And the scandals the media attempted to blow up were all minor league issues that involved no scandal at all; the ‘outing’ of Valerie Plame, the firing of the USA’s, and the constant mantra of “no-bid Halliburton contracts” were all media stories that led nowhere…except in the trumped up perjury charges against Lewis Libby.

So we come to the 2008 presidential campaign and we are treated to Barack Obama assailing the Bush administration and GOP led Congress on their alleged culture of corruption, and his claims that he was going to restore ethics to the executive branch. Gone would be the days of former lobbyists holding high positions in the administration, and gone too would be the days of ethical lapses emanating from the White House. Indeed, Obama promised to deliver on Bill Clinton’s pledge to run the “most ethical administration in history.” Yes, these were to be heady days indeed, if you are a fan of highly ethical government and were wishing to see government cleaned up and straightened out.

But the reality is far different from the rhetoric; instead of an ethical paradise the Obama administration seems more like Chicago-on-the-Potomac. In just the first six months of the Obama reign we have seen a plethora of unethical and/or illegal conduct. Here’s just a quick rundown of the stench emanating from the Hope & Change Express:

·         Instead of locking out all lobbyists the Obama White House began carving out exceptions to the very rules they instituted. While there is nothing wrong with former lobbyists working in the government to begin with, the Obama Bunch promised that any lobbyists hired would not work in areas that they had lobbied in recent months. Yet we have an assistant secretary at the Defense Department whose last job was…wait for it…lobbying for a defense contractor! That’s not the change we had hoped for!

·         The Obama Bunch has openly ignored the established rules of bankruptcy in the cases of General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler in order to reward its political patrons. The Obama Bunch (and the federal courts) allowed the secured creditors of the two companies to be paid pennies on the dollar for their interests in the companies, while the UAW was paid up to twice as much as the secured creditors. And all the while, the Obama Bunch was also threatening the secured creditors with serious repercussions, including setting the White House press corps on them to destroy their reputations, for having the temerity to oppose the hosing they were about to get.

·         The Obama Bunch also continued the illegal policy of the Bush administration in giving money from the TARP to the auto industry in blatant violation of the statute that created the program. The money was specifically appropriated for the purpose of bailing out troubled financial institutions in order to keep the entire system from crashing, yet both the Bush administration and the Obama Bunch misused those funds to prop up failing auto companies. Neither group attempted to even hide their illegal actions, no one from Congress stood up to oppose it, and the media cheered the move (probably the second time they cheered any Bush era move). So Obama took the ball and ran with, dumping even more money down the GM/Chrysler rat holes until he could successfully nationalize the companies.

·         The Obama Bunch has also caused severe tensions between the US and UK after bribing the Bermudans to take some of the Uighur terrorists (yes, they’re terrorists…why else would they have been caught in an al-Qaeda camp?) off our hands. The problem with that little action is that Bermuda, as a British protectorate, has no ability to make those types of foreign policy decisions; all of Bermuda’s foreign policy is supposed to run through No. 10 Downing Street in London. The Obama Bunch had to know this, yet they willingly circumvented the system in order to score some cheap political points by relocating some of the “harmless” terrorist suspects still housed at Gitmo. This may not be illegal, but is sure as hell is hot an unethical move…and they damned well had to know it was unethical. And they did it anyway. That should tell you a lot about the people we have in charge for the next three-plus years.

·         Finally, the Hope & Change Express decided to fire Inspector General Gerald Walpin for having the gall to actually do his job. He discovered that Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson had misused federal money allocated as a grant to his St. HOPE charity, including using the money for attempting to influence the outcome of the local school board election. When Walpin blew the whistle on the whole mess the Obama administration went Chicago style politics on him; they demanded that he either quit or be fired. To his credit Mr. Walpin took the honorable way out and forced Obama to fire him, and fired he was…in violation of a law cosponsored by then Senator Obama that mandated a 30 day notice before termination, and for having a cause for the termination. When challenged, the Obama Bunch opted not to really defend their illegal action; instead they tried to paint Walpin as on the verge of senility by releasing a report that claimed he was “confused” and “disoriented” during one of the meetings he conducted. The first act was blatantly illegal, while the subsequent actions all smack of the “politics of personal destruction” that liberals always scream about…while being the main practitioners of said tactic.

Instead of the super-ethical administration we were promised, we are seeing some of the dirtiest politics we have run across in a long time. I mean, even the Clinton’s made it longer than six months before they were caught up this many scandals! Yet Obama continues to act like he’s as pure as the wind driven snow and that his crap doesn’t stink. But if we are lucky, the people are watching and the new media will be able to keep a running account of what is going on leading up to next year’s congressional races. Maybe by then the GOP leadership will pull their heads out of their collective bung-holes (that means you Mike Steele!) and can use this to make some hay on election day. Because not even the most fervent followers of the O-bomination thought they were signing up for an administration that looks to put even the Clintons to shame when it comes to ethical obtuseness.

As everyone knows, the United States and Iran have a long and tangled history dating back to the middle 1950s. It was then that the CIA helped to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq and reinstall the Shah of Iran as the leader of the country. The thinking at the time seems to have been that Mossadeq would have moved the country into the orbit of the Soviet Union, while the Shah was very open to an alliance with the West. During the height of the Cold War it was almost inconceivable that an American administration would allow such an important ally fall to the hated Soviets, and the US went to the mat to prevent that from happening. So the Shah was returned to power and all was well with between the US and Iran… until the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

It was in 1979 that President Jimmy Carter (D-Ga) decided to abandon the Shah in the face of the Iranian Revolution that was being led by the religious conservatives in the nation, and who drew their spiritual inspiration from the long exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. President Carter reasoned that the Ayatollah Khomeini would be a wise and benevolent ruler, especially since he was such a religious man. Unfortunately for the Iranian people, the Ayatollah Khomeini was a hard line Islamic cleric who instituted Sharia law, seized control of the press, and became a power hungry dictator…while wrapping his megalomania in the veneer of religious piety. And the Ayatollah bequeathed to the Iranian state several things that plague the nation to this day: a theocracy that subjugates the people and that seeks to export the “revolution” by making Iran the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They bankroll Hamas, Hezbollah, and the “insurgents” in Iraq that work so hard to destroy the budding democratic government in that country.

But to the complete and utter shock of the ruling mullahs the Iranian Revolution has come full circle, and now the Iranian people seek their ouster. In 1979 the young people of the country took to the streets to demand the end of the Shah’s tyrannical reign, shouting “Death to the dictator”; today the young people of Iran take to the streets seeking the death of the religious dictatorship foisted upon them by Khomeini. Then the young people were confronted by the police and security forces of the shah; now they face the thugs sent after them in the name of the Ayatollah Khameini. The 1979 revolution ended with the splintering and replacement of the Shah’s regime, and we can only hope that this revolution meets with similar success.

From the moment that the mullahs attempted to certify a clearly fraudulent election result that would return their hand selected puppet Mahmoud Ahmadenijad to the presidential office, the Western world had been open in recognizing the election for the fraud it was. The European Union, the Germans, the British, even the United Nations has openly questioned the election results in Iran. Yet the leader of the free world, one Barack Hussein Obama has done his best to appear both strong and noncommittal at the same time. His reactions have been lukewarm at best, starting with some pap about “vigorous debate” within Iran to his most recent statement that lets the mullahs know that “the world is watching.”

What Obama seems not to understand is that the world is not just watching the happenings in Iran, but that the world is watching him as well. Our allies are watching him to see how he handles a crisis, and what the United States is willing to undertake in the defense of freedom around the world. Our enemies are watching to ascertain the same things, and to see whether the president is strong or weak. And so far they have seen nothing from President Obama but abject weakness. He seems bent on being non-offensive so that the Iranian junta will be willing to sit at a conference table with American diplomats, instead of supporting the forces that could overthrow the very junta that he seeks to engage.

Obama must realize that at some point, his ‘above the fray’ posture needs to give way to a more realistic position in the foreign relations arena. Pretty words at an Egyptian university do not excuse the President from taking a stand on issues that scream for his attention. The President and his advisors, who are so keen on European opinion, can this one time look to the Europeans and follow their lead. He can follow them in their support for the freedom of the Iranian people who so obviously are demanding their liberty from a repressive, backwards regime. A government for, by, and of the young people of Iran could be the greatest engine of democracy in the Middle East ever seen. These are people who are not antagonistic towards the Western world, who are actually looking to us as a model of what they can be, and ask only that our leadership let them know that they are not alone in standing for freedom. The Senate and the House have answered the call by passing resolutions that affirm that they stand with the people in their fight to be heard and respected by their government, so now is the time for President Obama to finally take a stand for freedom.

Concerns about past acrimony and shop worn bromides about ‘diplomacy’ should be cast aside in favor of taking a stand for freedom. Mr. Obama has plenty of words for his friends at CBS, CNBC, ABC, and the White House Correspondent’s dinner, so why not a few for people who are risking their very lives seeking their freedom? We are waiting to see if Mr. Obama is eloquent in the defense of freedom, or simply grandiloquent in the pursuit of his own power. I pray that the President will find his voice and start to become a leader on this issue.

Now is the time for the President to live up to the words of the Marine’s hymn, “to fight for right and freedom.” Now is the time to lead Mr. President, the world is watching, and history will be your judge.

This Spade posting is going to be a bit different from the norm, because this one is going to be written by someone else. I usually don’t give space up here to other writers, unless they have something to say that I think is very powerful, cogent, and may be missed by my usual readers. I have given up space to a writer from the American Spectator, a local columnist in my area, reprinted an interview with Justice Clarence Thomas, and most recently reprinted excerpts from Ronald Reagan’s 1975 speech at the CPAC conference. And for the most part, that has been it. So it should tell you something that I am giving up space to someone else to actually write a post on my little blog.

The person that I am going to turn the Spade over to this time is my 13 year old son. He listens to me talk politics…ok rant…all the time and he has started forming his own political identity. You see, my wife is a Democrat, as are his grandparents whom he loves very much, respects, and listens to. Yet he has compared and contrasted their political views with mine, and he has come down on my side of the ideological fence. His reasoning as stated to me on many occasions basically boils down to this: When his mom and grandparents talk about politics it all boils down to feelings and emotions. Whenever he asks why they support a certain position they lead off with emotions and seem to end with the standard “Democrats are for Black people” sentiments that so many people have come to believe. When he talks to me, even when I am in my most worked up state of mind, I am able to explain to him WHY: WHY a policy won’t work, WHY a decision is faulty, WHY I hold the views I hold. And it never devolves into an emotional response or an attack on the other Party. So he has decided that conservatism simply makes more sense, is more logical, and can be expressed and defended much better than liberalism.

Last night he and I stayed up late shooting the political bull, and I began to ask him questions about the current president and why he thinks so lowly of him. You see, since the campaign season and definitely since the election, my son has expressed many times that Obama actually scares him. So I started to probe him last night on just what it is that scares him so much about Obama, what it is that he dislikes in the Dear Leader, and what he wants to see happen in this country. See, we adults are always saying that we are worried about the future of the Republic and that we are worried about the future that our progeny face…but we often don’t ask them about the future they would like to see. So I asked him about his feelings for Obama, his thoughts on the Obama foreign policy, what he wants to see in a leader, and where he wants this country to go…because it is, after all, his country too.

So while many of these thoughts and opinions are going to be familiar to you, please take the time to read and ponder them closely. This is the next generation of our nation and of our movement speaking to you. This is the voice of the people we work so hard every day to nurture, to protect, and whose futures we are striving to safeguard. So without further ado, and with a tremendous amount of pride, I yield the Spade to my son, Christian.

FOREIGN POLICY

President Obama is a coward when it comes to world affairs. He will not come out and say what he means or thinks because he does not want to be offensive. NEWSFLASH! Some people won’t like us no matter what; some people love to be offended because they love to be in the spotlight. DO NOT sugarcoat things because Iran, China, North Korea, etc. won’t sugarcoat their feelings about us! As president, Obama can’t show any weakness or our enemies will move to exploit them.

MEDIA ADULATION

The press loves our president and everyone knows it. For example, on June 17 during an interview he swatted a fly and John Harwood {the interviewer} was so excited that he killed a fly(!) he nearly jumped out of his chair! My father has killed flies, spiders, and other insects…but that wasn’t on the news for two days straight! The media talks about Obama all the time, and it is never anything negative. Fox News is the only place you can get straight news without the anchor offering an opinion, while NBC News pats Barrack Obama on the back so much it’s a wonder his back doesn’t get raw!

DUMB DECISIONS

Take GITMO as an example: GITMO is going to close, so you send these terrorists in training to Bermuda?! Heck, I know law abiding citizens that would LOVE to go to Bermuda, but they can’t go…but the government pays for the Uyghur’s to relocate there. Hey, why not just send a serial killer to Hawai’i? This is one of the dumbest things ever! And speaking of dumb decisions, I don’t think the founders wanted the president to take over private companies like Obama has done with GM and Chrysler.

TRULY SCARY

Face it, Obama is a big boob! He has no plans, and whenever he does he can’t explain it. He has no experience and it scares me that we have three more years or more with him as our president. He has a hissy fit anytime someone disagrees with him, and the person disagreeing is quickly labeled as a racist. He doesn’t understand that the government of Iran doesn’t like us; the leaders there still call us “The Great Satan”, yet Obama wants to sit down and talk with these people. And he refuses to realize that Islam is not a ‘religion of peace’ as he claims it is. Islam is divided into the House of Islam and the House of War; basically that means that if you are not a Muslim you and infidel who must convert…or die. We cannot find peace with people that think that way.

WHAT A PRESIDENT IS SUPPOSED TO BE

I believe that the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing and I believe that Americans should be free. I think the president should be strong in foreign affairs and in domestic affairs. I want a president who isn’t going to beat around the bush about issues, but can be blunt without being bellicose. Lastly, a president should be honest, straightforward, and not buckle under the least bit of pressure. In other words, the president shouldn’t be a thin-skinned ego hound who constantly needs his ego stroked!

So there you have it, the thoughts, fears, and ideals of the next generation of conservatism. So don’t believe the libs when they say that we are losing the nest generation, they just haven’t looked hard enough to find them. As long as we teach our kids that America is great, was great, and it is up to them to maintain that greatness, conservatism will continue to thrive!

Eric and Christian

As  a follow-up to an article I wrote about the granting of Miranda rights to terrorists captured in Afghanistan, I would like to point you to a series of articles by Andrew McCarthy at National Review. The first two are up already, with the first exploring the history of the Miranda decision and other related decisions, with the second dealing with some of the ramifications of that Obama decision to mirandize high value detainees and the threat to national security that is inherent in it. If you don't have the address for National Review there is a link to the site on the blog roll. This is a great read and very informative, and I highly recommend it to all readers at the Spade.

Bitter as it is to accept the results of the November election, we should have reason for some optimism. For many years now we have preached "the gospel," in opposition to the philosophy of so-called liberalism which was, in truth, a call to collectivism.

This is no time to repeat the shopworn panaceas of the New Deal, the Fair Deal and the Great Society. John Kenneth Galbraith, who, in my opinion, is living proof that economics is an inexact science, has written a new book. It is called "Economics and the Public Purpose." In it, he asserts that market arrangements in our economy have given us inadequate housing, terrible mass transit, poor health care and a host of other miseries. And then, for the first time to my knowledge, he advances socialism as the answer to our problems.

Shorn of all side issues and extraneous matter, the problem underlying all others is the worldwide contest for the hearts and minds of mankind. Do we find the answers to human misery in freedom as it is known, or do we sink into the deadly dullness of the Socialist ant heap?

Those who suggest that the latter is some kind of solution are, I think, open to challenge. Let’s have no more theorizing when actual comparison is possible. There is in the world a great nation, larger than ours in territory and populated with 250 million capable people. It is rich in resources and has had more than 50 uninterrupted years to practice socialism without opposition.

We could match them, but it would take a little doing on our part. We’d have to cut our paychecks back by 75 percent; move 60 million workers back to the farm; abandon two-thirds of our steel-making capacity; destroy 40 million television sets; tear up 14 of every 15 miles of highway; junk 19 of every 20 automobiles; tear up two-thirds of our railroad track; knock down 70 percent of our houses; and rip out nine out of every 10 telephones. Then, all we have to do is find a capitalist country to sell us wheat on credit to keep us from starving!

Our people are in a time of discontent. Our vital energy supplies are threatened by possibly the most powerful cartel in human history. Our traditional allies in Western Europe are experiencing political and economic instability bordering on chaos.