Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Several decades ago I had the opportunity meet, and briefly work in conjunction with then Delaware Senator Joe Biden. It had to do with a change to the U.S. Code that was being sought in order to grant Honorary U.S. Citizenship to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and humanitarian known for his successful efforts to rescue somewhere between tens of thousands and one hundred thousand Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary  during the Holocaust.

I had returned to law school after a decade in the private sector. One of my Professors had been approached by the law firm of Davis Polk to become involved in the lobbying effort needed to add the necessary Code change to pending legislation. Because I had previously co-founded a PAC (Political Action Committee) and had spent time meeting with and advocating before members of Congress, my Professor enlisted me in the project.

Which is how I came to meet Senator Biden.

Prior to that personal experience, I only knew of the Senator as a dedicated father who, after the loss of his wife and daughter in an auto accident, remained in the Senate only upon deciding to daily commute to Washington from his home in Wilmington, Delaware via AMTRAK in order to be there and raise his two surviving sons, also seriously injured in the tragic accident.

I found the Senator to be a decent man, polite, personable and genuinely interested in the issue before him. He readily put his energies behind supporting our goal which was ultimately a success. So it saddens me to see a once respected public servant make a fool out of himself, and the office of the Vice President, by “staying too long at the fair.”

It has been evident for some time now that Vice President Biden has become, like Madonna, someone who was once appropriately positioned in their career choice but, unable to face the realities and natural limitations of the aging process, is unable to timely “exit stage left.” What remains in such situations are self-imposed caricatures of once talented individuals.

In Madonna’s case it shows up as a scantily clad, religion-bashing middle-aged woman trying to look like a teenager. Yet more tragically, in the Vice President’s case, it shows up as his telling a partially African American audience in North Carolina this week that Mitt Romney wants to “put y’all back in chains” and condescendingly saying those words in a speech pattern that mimics how many African Americans often speak. Followed by a pathetic and again, condescending, imitation of the ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter standing nearby.

I would prefer to remember Senator Biden as he was at his best and be done with this travesty of a political figure he has become. That option appears not to be a viable, or likely, as long as this Administration does what it did in reaction to the Vice President’s most recent inexcusable gaffes by “doubling down” in support of such mockery. The President’s refusal to face the reality that the Vice President is no longer fit to serve is yet one more indication that President Obama is out of touch, indifferent to what is best for the Nation, and determined to win at any cost.

Sadly, in this instance, the cost is the ever-increasing humiliation of Joe Biden and the degradation of the Office of the Vice President.

Note: Since publication of this post at 1PM Eastern, a story has broken that Vice President Biden has now gotten the century wrong in a speech given earlier today.

When I was practicing law, nothing frustrated or angered me more than a dishonest or unethical lawyer. After all, aren’t honest inquiry and outcome the method and goal of the Socratic Method?  So imagine the dismay when a President Clinton (a lawyer) lies under oath or plays the semantic game of “it depends on your definition of what ‘is’ is.”

Or…when the highest lawyer in the Nation, Attorney General Eric Holder, needs to be sued in order to comply with the law and cease hiding behind his boss via Executive Privilege.

Truly if this Administration had any shame, or even regard for the Constitution, they would have stopped the political maneuvering months ago (or not begun it at all) and produced, under subpoena, the documents demanded relative to Fast and Furious. But “therein lies the rub” as Shakespeare says. They have neither shame, regard for the Constitution, nor interet in the welfare of the American people.

This Administration is busy either paying off the Unions and its big contributors or demonizing the opposition. For them, it’s not about substance or truth; it’s about obfuscating the facts in order to retain power.

Attorney General Eric Holder is the same man who prematurely dismissed the Civil Rights law suit against members of the Black Panther Party who intimidated voters at the polls in Philadelphia. It seems his propensity for doing what is political rather than what is legal knows no bounds.  Which is why I am encouraged that Congress has seen to file suit against him.

Regardless of the pace of that litigation (for who doesn’t know the snail’s pace at which our Justice System moves) the remedy for an incompetent and/or corrupt Attorney General is more immediate.

Fire his boss on November 6^th.

 

While awaiting Mitt Romney’s live announcement of his Vice Presidential running mate, I watched a 6-minute You Tube video clip of Congressman Paul Ryan taking apart Obamacare, fact by fact, false projection by false projection…and doing so face-to-face with President Obama. Then I watched Congressman Ryan’s acceptance speech. Overall, one word comes to mind.

Fearless.

Whether it was Ryan in the video telling Obama that the overall cost projections in Obamacare were “smoke and mirrors” or Ryan stating that he and Romney will not be about “blaming others but taking personal responsibility” or “that our rights come from Nature and God, not government” I am struck by this 42 year-old’s willingness to speak Truth and, more importantly, Truth to power. It is long overdue.

What we as a nation need, more than anything, is a reality check combined with leadership that exemplifies that “the buck [really] does stop here.” It is time for each of us to roll up our sleeves and get back to the work of creating, not destroying; uniting, not dividing, and believing, not doubting.

Paul Ryan said it best when he said America is “more than a place…it’s an idea. The only country ever founded on an idea.” The idea he spoke of is a compound idea composed of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and mutual reliance.

A bacteria infected our Nation about 100 years ago and reached a critical stage of development during the current Administration. It is predicated upon deceptions that contradict the very idea of this Nation. These deceptions are that individuals are subject to government, that irresponsibility has no consequences and that we cannot trust one another to look out for the best interest of one another.

It’s taken awhile, but as with all infections, American intelligence and ingenuity has discovered a cure.  Mitt Romney, by his choice of Paul Ryan, has made a bold statement we cannot afford to overlook. The choice of Paul Ryan is the throwing down of a gauntlet to Barack Obama and others who continue to spread the disease by not believing in the uniqueness and exceptionalism of the American Spirit.

My only regret is that we have to wait until November 6^th to line up and begin the recovery. Until then, I look forward to the healing words of Truth that Paul Ryan seems more than capable of delivering.

There is nothing extraordinary about President Obama’s announcement that “undocumented workers”( a/k/a illegal aliens) will be able to buy their way into a minimum two- year extended stay in the U.S., after which time their status will need to be renewed. The cost is $465. Even fee waivers will be available under “limited circumstances.”

Bypassing Congress to afford special status to certain individuals isn’t new. However, it’s usually done by Executive pardon by an outgoing President and granted to the rich and influential. To wit: Mark Rich. You remember. He was the fugitive financier and husband of a large contributor to Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library who was convicted of securities fraud then fled the country to evade incarceration. When his wife “petitioned” the Clinton Administration, it resulted in Rich’s pardon by Executive pardon as one of Clinton’s, literally, last acts as President.

The only difference between what the Obama Administration is now doing and the usual route via Presidential pardon in this “pay to play” amnesty, is one of cost. It’s Obama’s latest implementation and variation on redistribution of wealth. It’s redistribution of patronage. Now gaming the system can be accessed by those less rich and less influential. Unless, of course, you dismiss the influence that Latino’s will have via their vote come November 2012.

I saw “The Dark Knight Rises” this past weekend and I was struck by how much the horrific tragedy in Colorado unfortunately obscured and overshadowed the prophetic message of the movie. Gotham was driven to the brink of extinction by political corruption and manipulation of the masses through class warfare and the continual lowering of both the ethical and moral bars.

Sound familiar?

Obama isn’t the first. He’s the inevitable result of our allowing greed, corruption, deceit and indifference to flourish not only in the political arena but in our own lives as well. When each of us lives Gandhi’s message to “be the change you want to see in the world”… only then will we be able to lift ourselves, the culture and the Nation out of the ethical and moral morass we’ve created through self-interest, apathy and our endless desire for more of everything.

While many are making much of what happened yesterday in Arkansas and Kentucky, it’s no surprise to me.  That’s because I’ve been saying, for quite some time now to anyone who will listen, that Barack Obama is finished.  He will not be re-elected.  The reason for my optimism is that we’ve reached the tipping point. A sufficient number of Americans are now awakened to the reality that 1) he has no leadership capability and 2) he has no core.

This President was elected on a hope and a prayer….not hope and change. He was successfully marketed and insufficiently vetted.  The inevitable outcome of that carefully crafted combination was that we elected not only a man without qualification, but more importantly, one with a political and social agenda that flies in the face of what it means to be an American.

Neither three years of on-the-job training nor the stated preferences of the American people have caused this President to waver from his anti-capitalist, anti-western, anti-personal freedom stance.  He has brought a hubris and arrogance to the office that was obscured, for quite some time, by the limelight of being the first African-American President.  That light has faded to reveal a vacuous, condescending and opportunistic man.  Which is why recently in Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia an out of state lawyer, an “uncommitted” and a felon, respectively, nearly matched Obama’s vote totals in the Democratic primaries.

I am heartened by this timely and needed turn of events. I am, as stated at the outset, not surprised.

One of the characteristics of the unprecedented global change in Consciousness we are transitioning through is the inability to sustain deception. Simply put, there are no more secrets.  True Light, the Light of Creator, does many things but perhaps none more meaningful than unveil the shadow side of things. Absent the shadow, Truth emerges. Therein lie the basis for my optimism.

Yes, we are transiting some difficult circumstances. Yes, we all feel the challenges. Yes, there is much being asked of us and, likely, more to come. But the shadow has been unveiled for all to see and many have now opened their eyes.  It is not Obamacare that will be repealed in November but Barack Obama himself and what he tried to do. And failed.

 

It’s pretty obvious why “The Avengers” has hit a financial home run in its opening  weekend. Perhaps our political candidates running in 2012 would do well to pay attention.  The message is that people are 1) looking for leaders, 2) heroes and 3) anyone capable of cleaning up the mess.  Without real life satisfaction, they are flocking to theaters to get lost in the escape of watching it on screen.

Beware.

While it’s a good sign that people are finally fed up with the deceit and corruption that we’ve permitted and, in too many cases, participated in… threshold moments such as this one have historically been “ripe for the pickings” by less than altruistic individuals.

If we are to survive and establish an ethical and moral code that reflects who we really are and what we are capable of, then we’ll have to be fully conscious and personally responsible in order to avoid being seduced by those who would take advantage of our collective frustration and anger to manipulate us into an even darker reality.

We became a consumer society. As such, we became accustomed to being taken in my promises and marketing ploys that have as their end game making you want to buy what someone else has to sell. In our quest for authentic leadership we bought “Hope and Change” in 2008 with less scrutiny than we buy a car. That abdication of personal responsibility got us where we find ourselves today. To make the same mistake twice will be fatal to the culture and the Nation as we have known them each to be.

Change is filled with opportunity.  This is a time in our history, both national and human, when creative thinking is called for as is the “heavy lifting” required by each of us to see the world through this transition. Metamorphosis is never an easy process; however, when properly accomplished, it’s always a beautiful one.

We each hold in our hearts and our minds the potential for unprecedented growth. The question is “Do we have the wisdom and courage to make good use of it?” We can succeed but only if we, as individuals, identify the hero within and then act accordingly.

I am hardly in the dark when it comes to politics, the news generally and Israel specifically. After all, I write this blog post regularly, do three hours of talk radio a week and I’m a Jew. Which is why I was so surprised to hear today, for the first time ever, the term “Israel-Firsters.”  I had no idea what it meant or whose agenda it was supposedly furthering. It turns out the term may have been created by MJ Rosenberg, writing for the Left’s  Media Matters financed on-line blog “Political Correction.” I am not certain whether Mr. Rosenberg originated the phrase or just likes to use it a lot. But use it he does.

I am somewhat familiar with Mr. Rosenberg from my work several decades ago that involved interaction with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (A.I.P.A.C.). Back then, Mr. Rosenberg had a diametrically opposed position on American-Israeli relations than he has today. While I have no idea what caused his political “conversion,” he is now the prototypical convert. He is a zealot for his new belief system. In his case, that belief system is founded upon a disdain (a mild choice of wording for sure) for all Americans who support the right of Israel to exist as well as any strategic interest common to both the United States and Israel.

Israel-Firsters apparently refers to those Americans who allegedly put the interest of Israel before the best interest of the United States and see it as “Israel first and above all else.” This term is thoroughly expounded upon, in the negative, by Michael Scheuer in a post titled “Turning The Tables on The Israeli-Firsters.”

I’d like to address two points to both Messrs. Rosenberg and Scheuer.

First, when a position is so extreme that it can’t help but be conveyed with a mean spiritedness, such an undertone belies both objectivity and any assertion of neutrality. Both Messrs. Rosenberg and Scheuer cannot help but write about Israel without sounding as if they have either some axe to grind or political agenda to advance. So much for intellectual honesty.

Secondly, Mr. Scheuer’s assertion that the U.S. is inappropriately enmeshed in a “religious war” between Jews (Israel) and Muslims (the Arab world) is another attempt to reframe the reality in order to advance a political agenda. While it is true that the Koran, and thereby Arab nations, seek the annihilation of the State of Israel and all Jews on religious grounds, Israelis and Jews generally simply seek to live in peace within the borders of their state without imposing any religious agenda on those whose belief system is different from their own. Any insertion by the United States into that conflict is for the sole purpose of obstructing the stated intention of the Arab nations to eradicate the only democratic government that remotely resembles and supports principles and values similar to those held by the United States. Simply put, like attracts like and friends stand up for friends.

As a guardian of the Constitution and free speech, I defend Messers. Rosenberg’s and Scheuer’s right to publicly state their opinions. Unfortunately, both are giving voice merely to their “estimates of reality” based upon very limited perspectives and as such, reach conclusions that are grossly imprecise.

I, personally, prefer to draw my conclusions based upon fact, not opinion.

 

This post will be shorter than most. Mainly because I am speechless (perhaps “wordless” is more accurate under the circumstances).  I just read the headline story on Fox News.com that President Obama issued the following “stern warning” to the Supreme Court regarding their decision on Obamacare due in June. It reads, in part as follows:

“I’m confident this will be upheld because it should be upheld.”

“Ultimately, I am confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”[…] and compared the court’s rejection of the law to “judicial activism.”

The definition of “arrogance” in Wikipedia will now necessitate a photo of the President to accompany the definition. In fact, why don’t they drop the “Of Hope” from the next printing of his autobiography and just title it “Audacity.”

Where I come from its called “chutzpah.” Whatever you call it…exactly who does he think he is?

 

The latest disclosure in the Trayvon Martin killing appears to be that NBC selectively edited then aired the 911 call made by George Zimmerman resulting in the impression that Zimmerman voluntarily identified the suspect as “black” rather than responded to the dispatcher’s question as to whether the suspect was “black, white or Hispanic?” So the facts turn out to be different than the illusion.

Funny thing about facts. They often do that.

As a former practicing attorney, I can tell you that the facts are seldom apparent. They require a diligent and determined effort if they are to be uncovered. It’s why we have pre-trial investigations, a formal process of discovery, trials by judges or juries who act as arbiters of the facts as presented. Even after all of that, we remain conflicted when the death penalty is at stake because we know, in our hearts, that even after the most thorough effort sometimes facts, and therefore the truth, still remain undetected.

But undetected facts are quite different than deliberately obscured facts.

What one or more persons at NBC did in editing that 911 call was deliberate. It was either a knowing falsehood, with the intent to mislead, or it was incompetence. Either way, there’s no justification and no excuse for the damage done.

I frequently speak professionally to organizations on ethics. In fact, I developed a system called Ethics-To-Go© because, in a highly technological and rapidly shifting world where trends change daily, we need “user-friendly” ways to hold onto what we value.

Everywhere you look, we are deficient in ethics. There is an absence of ethical behavior in both our public and private leaders. These individuals, however, are not the cause. We are. We get the leaders we deserve. So long as we do not demand of ourselves the highest ethical (and moral) behavior we can expect no more from those who aspire and rise to positions of authority and power. They are merely our reflection.

NBC, by its malfeasance, has contributed not only to the lowest common denominator but also to the violence erupting nationally. By their act they bolster those who believe this crime was all about race rather than about fear and aggression and in so doing, fan the flames of racial hatred and violence.

Thus far, there are several take-a-ways from this as yet unfolding story.

1. We are not a nation of vigilante justice.
2. Violence begets violence.
3. Allowing the process to unfold is critical.
4. Manipulation of the truth results in staged chaos.
5. We cannot reply upon the media.

I suspect there are more take-a-ways yet to come.

In the meantime, let’s be grateful that there’s enough light around to illuminate all this darkness. Let’s also be committed to being the Light so we enlighten ourselves and others. It is only by embracing personal responsibility that we can hope to someday get the leaders we want and deserve.

There are two kinds of chaos. One works in your favor and one against. As we go through personal and global change on so many levels, it’s helpful to be able to distinguish them so you know which one to embrace and which to avoid.

I’ll call one “natural chaos” and the other “staged chaos.”

Natural chaos is the byproduct of anything, or anyone, moving from one state of existence to another. All life exists as a pattern or series of patterns. (In fact, we know that when a pattern is detailed and self-repeating it’s called “fractal”). When an existing pattern is caused to change any aspect of itself, the period of re-organization or self-organizing is chaotic by definition. This is because in the absence of one pattern, and in advance of the formation of a new pattern, a period of uncertainty ensues.  Natural chaos is internal in origin, whether internal to a single organism or a society. It is also a necessary and natural phenomenon indicative of dynamic transition.

Staged chaos is externally driven by applying excessive pressure or strain upon an existing condition for the purpose of confusion and disruption leading to disintegration and/or destruction. It is artificial in origin and manipulated to affect a given outcome. Staged chaos is man-made. It is most often and easily seen in the breakdown of a society where a few individuals band together to create conditions that ultimately benefit them at the expense of the many. Staged chaos is also generally accompanied by force and/or violence.

We humans periodically go through evolutionary leaps in knowledge (information) and conscious awareness (spiritual insight). Such leaps are natural and re-occurring. We are in just such a leap now and so we are experiencing the resulting natural chaos both personally and as co-inhabitants of a global community. The leap is tenuous and fraught with challenges but it will lead to new understandings of both our physical and spiritual existence.

However, it’s important to distinguish between what natural development is causing us to do and what political agendas, powerful financial organizations and tyrants would cause us to do.  The way to make this distinction is to ask yourself if external force and artificially generated pressure are the means to the end. If the answer is “yes” then avoid such chaos. Refuse to participate. Refuse to be manipulated. When the mob says “Go” make certain you remain very, very still.

When you are able to make this distinction for yourself, and when in each situation use your Free Will to choose your response, you will remove yourself from the effects of staged chaos. You will no longer be the puppet dancing to someone’s pulling of the strings.

So, now, which type of chaos is accompanying the Trayvon Martin saga?

And how will you respond?