This & That!

CONGRESS – This is a busy week for Congress. The institution well known for doing nothing finds itself in the uncomfortable position of considering four very weighty measures.

First up is the contentious trade bill that has Democrats fighting Democrats over not only the details of the bill but the transparency of the negotiations. The Obama administration wants congress to allow the president the authority to finalize a major trade deal with Pacific Rim countries; reserving only the right to vote up or down without any opportunity to amend or filibuster the agreement. But the left wing of the President’s party led by Elizabeth Warren says no way in hell. “The devil is in the details.” She said. “If this is such a good deal for the American people then let’s see the details and have a healthy debate before we sign off on it.”

Congress will also take up a new military spending bill. With the Middle East in flames and ISIS striking civilian targets here at home there are those who will argue for an increase in our military capabilities. They will meet opposition from both Democrats and Republicans who feel that our interventionist policies have proven ineffective and that the country should take a more hands off approach. Noticeably absent will be the long awaited congressional approval for the ongoing war against ISIS. Never go on the record about sending our men and women off to battle if you don’t have to.

Then there is the weighty matter of the renewal of the Patriot Act and the NSA’s controversial data mining operations. Do these policies keep us safe or are they an infringement on our civil liberties.

One would think that these three items would be more than enough to test the limits of a body loathe to accomplish anything. But no matter the number of items on the docket, in a Republican controlled congress there is always time to consider another anti-abortion bill. And so they will. This bill is essentially the same bill offered earlier this year that even conservative female legislators found so off putting the leadership could not find enough votes to push it through. But nothing entices the Republican Party like social issues. Whether it’s at the local, state or federal level; Republicans are always willing to entertain social issue legislation that stands in stark contrast with the majority of the electorate.
JEB DOUBLES DOWN – Yesterday I commented on how I believe that Jeb Bush disqualified himself from ever winning the White House when he named his brother…former president George W. Bush…as his go to guy on Middle East affairs. Yesterday, in an interview on FOXNEWS Jeb doubled down on the issue.

Bush was asked hypothetically if as president, knowing what we know now about the result of the decision to invade Iraq…would he still order the invasion. Jeb said “Yes.”

I understand that it is hard to turn your back on your brother. I understand the need as a Republican candidate to carry the Republican shield of a strong military, American leadership abroad and American "exceptionalism". But being conservative doesn’t mean being stupid. There is no one, other than those in the Bush administration who were instrumental in instigating the war that believes invading Iraq was a policy worth repeating. To look at America’s longest war with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and state emphatically that you would do it all over again demonstrates either a lack of awareness or a level of deceit that is beyond the pale.

Jeb DQ's Jeb

Sometime you can’t just take it back…

The Brits elected their new government last week. The entire process…from the mandatory resignation of the current Parliament…through the campaigns…the actual voting…and the post-election celebrations and concession speeches…took 38 days.

38 days!

By contrast it takes us roughly 600 days to elect a new president. Beginning with the exploratory committees…setting up a PAC…the unending fund raisers…the primaries…the countless debates…the national conventions…the actual campaign season…the voting…and the dozen or so presidential balls…it takes us 600 days to elect a new president.

600 days!

No one can expect any candidate for the presidency to navigate his or her way through the 600 day gauntlet of the most intense and invasive public scrutiny known to man without making a misstep or misstatement along the way. Some faux pas are easily forgiven and forgotten. Crazy Uncle Joe Biden has put together a pretty successful political career in spite of being the poster boy saying stupid stuff.

But some misstatements break through the political veneer and give us a view into the very soul of the candidate. Sometimes those misstatements give us a clear picture of who that candidate really is. Sometimes that view is so damaging that no amount of political damage control can ever erase the vision from our eyes. Mitt Romney’s commentary on the “47%” comes to mind.

Last week Jeb Bush made such a statement.

Candidate Jeb Bush has been forced to endure the inevitable comparisons between himself and his famous father and brother: George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush…our nation’s 41st and 43rd presidents. Jeb Bush has made it his mission to state with great clarity that while he loves and respects his father and brother: “I am my own man.”

As the former governor of the state of Florida no one is questioning candidate Bush’s domestic policy bona fides. But his lack of foreign policy experience has proven to be grist for the mill of the insatiable fourth estate.

Last week while attending a fund raiser he was asked who he would lean on for advice when it comes to the weighty issues of the Middle East.

His answer…former President George W. Bush.

George W. Bush…the man under whose watch the country endured the worst attack ever perpetrated on American soil. George W. Bush…the man who chaired the national security team that led our country into one of the darkest periods in American history. The man who to this day, in spite all evidence to the contrary, says the invasion of Iraq was “the right decision.” The man who to this day believes that “enhanced interrogation techniques” do not constitute torture. The man who directed this country to circumvent the rule of law in pursuit of revenge. George W. Bush…the man who spends his days painting portraits of his dog while Iraq still burns. This is Jeb Bush’s go to guy on all things Middle East.

Sometimes there are statements that are so lacking in awareness they can only serve to disqualify a candidate from ever attaining the office he seeks.

This is such a statement.

Conspiracies, Contraceptives & Consequences

CONSPIRACIES – Are you familiar with Jade Helm 15? If not you most certainly will be soon.

Jade Helm 15 is the code name for a series of military training exercises to be held from July 15- September 15 in several southwestern and southern states. The exercises are designed to allow Special Forces units to train in a variety of topographies and climates.

Simple enough! Right?

Not if you are among those in the great state of Texas who believe that the government is preparing to impose martial law and take away all of your firearms. In their eyes Jade Helm 15 marks the initial stages of a conspiracy that these folks have been predicting for years.

And they have proof!

You see they have maps which show that there are closed Wal-Mart stores in close proximity to where a number of the military exercises are scheduled. They also have maps that show that these closed facilities are above large bunkers that that are inter-connected by a series of tunnels. It is their belief that the military will use these bunkers and tunnels to overwhelm law abiding gun owners; impose martial law and take their firearms.

These folks are serious about this. And a number of their elected officials are taking it seriously as well. Rep. Louie Gohmert has spoken out a length about the concerns that he has; questioning the need for the military to conduct military exercises on private land. Sen. Ted Cruz said that he intends to question the DHS at length about its intentions. Sen. Rand Paul said he would do the same.

We are used to seeing the far right lash out at the civilians leading the federal government. Normally the military is considered in high regard. Not this time. The Blackhawk helicopters are coming.

Keep an eye on Cruz and Paul. It will be interesting to see how they walk the tightrope between appeasing the conspiracy crazies who influence the Republican primaries while maintaining an aura of reasonable electability to voters in the general election. But the first order of business is winning primaries. So let the crazy talk begin.

CONTRACEPTIVES – As you may know the United States Congress holds prevue over Washington D.C. law. There is a law in D.C. that says that an employer cannot fire an employee strictly because the employee chooses to use contraceptives. Yesterday the Republican controlled House voted to overturn that law thereby making it legal for a D.C. employer to fire an employee for using contraceptives.

Sen. Ted Cruz said that he will sponsor like legislation in the Senate. Sen. Rand Paul said that he would support such a bill.

When Republicans won control of congress they promised to stay away from the controversial social issues that killed them in the general election. But as I said…the first order of business is winning primaries.

CONSEQUENCES – During Barak Obama’s six plus years as president the United States has become the world’s largest producer of oil. We produce more than Saudi Arabia…more than Russia…more than all of them. We’re #1!

Along with the benefits of producing large quantities of this valuable commodity come the logistical issues of moving it from one point to another. Most of the oil we produce is moved by rail. You have no doubt seen these mile long trains…hundreds of tankers filled with valuable, flammable crude…snaking their way through communities throughout the United States. The problem is that most of those tankers are obsolete and unsafe. And a large portion of the tracks on which they run are in the same condition.

There have been a number of train derailments in recent months; five already this year. When accidents occur the result is a catastrophic economic and environment disaster. The explosion starts with a huge fireball and sends large plums of toxic smoke billowing throughout the surrounding area. The fire cannot be extinguished; only contained until it burns itself out. Whole communities are destroyed or at the very least evacuated. Meanwhile the spill fouls streams, rivers, fields and roadways. The cleanup cost is enormous and can take months.

The most recent derailment occurred yesterday just outside the little town of Heimdal, ND. Ten tanker cars are still burning. The town has been evacuated.

North Dakota is one of the country’s most conservative states. No fan of the federal government, North Dakotans have made it clear that they would like the federal government to keep its nose out of their business. As fiscal conservatives the state legislature has worked hard to balance the state budget without raising taxes.

Most of the firefighters that are working to contain the Heimdal spill are volunteers with little or no training in such a mammoth undertaking. That is because the state legislature slashed funding for first responders by more than half.

While there has yet to be a determination as to the cause of the accident there is no doubt that the tracks and supporting infrastructure on which trains traversing ND depend is outdated and unsafe. The state legislature slashed the track safety and repair budget by 60%. When state transportation officials were asked how they intended to make up the difference and keep the tracks safe they said they would rely of the federal government to take care of it.

Recently the federal government passed regulations requiring railroads to replace their outdated and unsafe tankers with newer, more properly built models. But the regulations give the railroads five years to comply. Meanwhile billions of gallons of highly flammable crude will make its way through our communities; transported in unsafe, outdated tankers over crumbling tracks and bridges.

No word on Senator Cruz or Senator Paul’s position on the matter.

I have written often about the need for our country to engage in a comprehensive program to rebuild and maintain our crumbling infrastructure. If our elected leaders ever decide to engage in such an ambitious project it will take decades to complete. Meanwhile communities like Heimdal will suffer the consequences of our political procrastination.

My thanks to the staff of the Rachel Maddow Show for bringing these stories to light.

Freedom of Speech Brings Responsiblity & Consequences

“In any war between civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.”
Pamela Geller, American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI)

The American Freedom Defense Initiative believes that our country is in danger of being taken over by Islamic extremists who threaten our way of life. Of particular concern is the threat these “savages” present to our freedom of speech. The AFDI cites the attacks on the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, as evidence of the threat.

So the AFDI decided that an appropriate response would be to stage an event which they billed as “an exercise in free speech.” The “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” invited participants to display their drawings of the prophet Mohammad…good taste not being a pre-requisite for admission.

Two heavily armed suspects approached the event and opened fire on a security guard. The two suspects were shot and killed by police. ISIS has claimed credit for the attack.

When asked if her if AFDI bared some responsibility for the attack, founder Pamela Geller pushed back. She said blaming the attack on AFDI was like blaming a rape on the victim because she wore a short skirt. The fault she said, lies with the extremists who threaten our right of expression: “We will not abridge our freedom of speech in order to not offend savages.”

We are fortunate to live in a country where we have the freedom of self-expression. I believe that along with this precious right comes the burden and responsibility to use it wisely.

Ms. Geller and her organization are well within their rights to stage such an event. She has the personal freedom to refer to followers of Islam as “savages.” Just as she has the right to proclaim on the AFDI website that President Obama is the love child of Malcolm X.


We have the right to express ourselves. We also have the responsibility to consider the consequences of that expression.

We have the right to walk down the streets of Ferguson, Missouri and call every African American the “N” word.

We have the right to stroll through a Jewish neighborhood and proclaim the Holocaust a hoax.

We have the right to walk into a police station and call every cop there a fascist.

We have the right…but there are consequences.

I will forever defend the right of the AFDI to hold its event. I also have the right to question the wisdom of insulting over 1 billion Muslims; 99.9% of whom agree with the AFDI’s views against the extremists.

Why hold such an event? To what end? ISIS will use this AFDI event as a recruiting tool. It will foment more hatred within the extremist community. It will endanger the lives of service men and women serving overseas and American citizens traveling abroad. And it will propagate a lie; that we in this country see ALL followers of Islam as savages and threats to our way of life.

The right to freedom of speech is precious. It must be used wisely.

For there are consequences.

There Is No Excuse For This!

Freddie Gray was murdered in the Sandstown-Winchester area of Baltimore.

The unemployment rate in Sandstown-Winchester is 51.8%. The national average is 5.8%

The median income in Sandstown-Winchester is $22,750. The national median average is $51,000.

A black infant born in Sandstown-Winchester is 9 times more likely to die before the age of 1 than a white infant.

The Eight counties surrounding Sandstown-Winchester have mortality rates that are worse than North Korea’s. The mortality rate in Sandstown-Winchester is worse than the mortality rate in Syria.

Sandstown-Winchester is not alone. There are communities across this country that are just as bad if not worse.

There is no excuse for this.

In the wealthiest most prosperous country in the world there is no excuse for this.

This has nothing to do with police brutality or racism or the laziness of the “takers’ and the 47%.

This is about a conscious decision to focus our resources overseas while entire communities here at home are dying. It’s about spending $1.1 trillion borrowed dollars on an unnecessary and unwinnable war in Iraq while economic despair turns cities here at home into war zones. Add another $2 billion per week for the war in Afghanistan.

Think where we would be right now had we invested that money into our communities…into good paying jobs, education, research and infrastructure.

There is no excuse for this.

J-O-B-S

“This is not new…and we shouldn’t pretend that it’s new. It is a situation that we have been dealing with for decades.”

President Barak Obama

The president is right of course. The clashes between the police and the public that we are witnessing in Baltimore are only the latest in a series of similar incidents that have plagued our society for decades. And as we have done for so many years, we talk about the police brutality and the violence as if by addressing these issues we can solve the problem. While these conversations are relevant they miss the far larger point. Police brutality, lawlessness and violence are not the cause of unrest. They are the result of an inherent problem woven deep into the fabric of our society.

Imagine if you had to take 3, 4 or 5 different buses to reach a dead end job that didn’t pay you enough to feed your family. Imagine if you had to send your children to a school that due to underfunding and poor teachers you knew was not preparing your child to build a better life than you had. Imagine if the gentrification of your neighborhood resulted in not the raising of the value of your property but its elimination to make way for a new ballpark or convention center or entertainment district. Then imagine if you found yourself profiled not just for the color of your skin but because you and your family were considered “less than” by society. How would you feel?

What we are witnessing in Baltimore and Ferguson and thousands of cities across this country is what despair looks like. It is what happens when people, regardless of race, see no hope…no way out. We can weed out the bad cops and require police officers to attend sensitivity training classes. We can incarcerate the looters and the arsonists and ramp up the social safety net programs. None of this will begin to solve the problem.

There is an undervalued segment in our society that is being ignored. Only by helping them value themselves can we lift them out of that despair. Only by helping them to respect themselves can we help them to respect the rule of law. There is only one way to do that and it is spelled J-O-B-S.

There will always be rogue cops who exploit their authority. There will always be looters and arsonists and thugs who want to foment violence. The only way to reduce them to the minority they are is to raise up the quality of life of the communities. The only way to do that is through good paying meaningful jobs. Only by helping individuals to earn their way out of despair can we uplift these communities and quell the violence and bigotry.

To those who would politicize this issue for political gain, as Ted Cruz did yesterday, I would suggest that they remain silent less their words illuminate their ignorance. This is not a conservative issue. Reducing taxes on the wealthy and expecting the benefits to trickle down to the masses doesn’t work. Nor is this a progressive issue. Adding another social safety net program doesn’t work either. You have to find a way to give people an opportunity to help themselves. The only way to do that is by providing them with the opportunity to work at good paying jobs. Private industry can’t do it by itself. The problem is too big. It is up to the government to find a solution.

Since the death of Freddie Gray we have heard one politician after another speak out against the violence in Baltimore. But yet not one has announced that he/she is sponsoring a comprehensive jobs bill that will put people to work. Not one has done his/her job by offering the only long range solution to the problem.

If we are serious about wanting to eliminate the brutality and blight and violence that plagues so many of our communities then we have to find a way to help people help themselves.

J-O-B-S!!!

The Supreme Court Weighs In

Over the next 48 hours the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on two landmark cases that will ultimately alter the very fabric of our society.

Today the Court will entertain the debate over whether same sex marriages should be legal under federal law and whether a legal union in one state should be recognized in all states. At present 37 states have legalized same sex marriages. 70% of the American population reside in those states. Recent polls show that 58% of Americans believe that same sex marriages should be made legal across the country.

Tomorrow the Court will hear oral arguments over the states’ use of lethal injection to execute prisoners. State penal institutions are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain the three drugs necessary to administer the lethal injection protocols. Many pharmaceutical manufacturing companies opposed to the death penalty have ceased manufacturing the drugs. Several state corrections agencies have attempted to purchase non-FDA approved drugs from foreign countries. Oklahoma has considered manufacturing the drugs by creating its own state run pharmacy. Add the four horrifically botched executions in 2014 and you can easily understand why the Court has decided to weigh in.

But first up…same sex marriage.

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank and self-proclaimed defender of individual liberties against the evils of big government. The Foundation does not believe that the Supreme Court should have agreed to hear this case stating: “The Supreme Court has no better insight into the repercussions of same sex marriage than the individual states.” That may well be true. But as the self-proclaimed defender of the Constitution the Foundation should be well aware that in this country the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter in those instances where the states cannot agree. Evidently in the eyes of the Heritage Foundation the defense individual liberties only applies to heterosexuals. Member of the LGBT community need not apply.

It’s going to be a very interesting couple of days.