Let’s Be Honest

After the September 11th attacks we all wanted our government to protect us from the threat of terrorism.  The Bush administration (with the suggestion of several Democrats) created the Department of Homeland Security to do just that.  This week that agency created a firestorm when they released a report called, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. 

The assessment warns that, “rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues,” such as the economic downturn and the election of our nation’s first black president.  In addition, “rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.”

It goes on to say, “Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities and restrictions on firearms ownership and use.”  Later it says, “rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.” Now, everyone seems to be saying this report is offensive to veterans, people that believe in state’s rights and the constitution.  Some even believe the government is keeping tabs on conservatives that don’t agree with abortion.

Even Senator John McCain chimed in, ”I think it’s an insult to the men and women who have served our country in the armed services.”  Senator Jon Kyl added, “I don’t know where they get the idea that somebody who served the country, who’s pro-10th Amendment, pro-Second Amendment, who’s pro-state’s rights, makes them a security threat to the United States.  That’s sort of a belief in the U.S. Constitution in my book.” 

Can I be honest with you?  If you think this way you are over reacting.  Nowhere in this Homeland Security assessment does it say that returning military members are a threat.  It simply points out that a 2008 FBI report found that “some” returning veterans have become involved with white supremacy groups.  That’s a fact.  It’s not conjecture.  Nowhere in this report does it say that if you believe in the U.S. Constitution, if you are pro-life, go to Church or if you belive in the right to own a gun you are an extremist.  It’s just not in there.  The government isn’t watching you.  They don’t have the resources or the time. 

The Department of Homeland Security is doing exactly what we asked them to do back in 2001.  They are studying different organizations to determine whether or not they pose a threat to this country.  DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano called them “routine.”She added, “Let’s focus on what this is.  It’s an assessment of a situation where you have a down economy and other factors that go on that historically have given rise to violence…we (DHS) try to protect against violence all the time.”  The report warns of the rise of extremists groups similar to those that formed in the 1990’s.  It’s not talking about attending a tea party.  So let’s be honest.  Let’s stop trying to drum up fear and make this something it’s not.

You remember the name Richard Poplawski?  On April 4, 2009 he murdered three police officers in Pittsburgh.  He had no real reason to kill them though he thought Obama was going to take his guns away.  He frequented white surpremacist chat rooms talking about a “Zionist occupation.”  He even attempted to become a Marine in 2005, but was discharged after punching his drill sergeant.  Clearly, this murderer is disturbed.  He is the type of person DHS want law enforcement to look out for, not you.

Politics is Tragically Funny

In late 2003, then President George W. Bush asked Congress to approve $87 billion in funding to reconstruct Iraq and Afghanistan.  You might as well have thought the world ended and that was the last $87 billion left on earth.  Democrats cried foul saying the war had already cost too much.  As the war dragged on more and more democrats grew increasingly concerned about the costs of the Iraq War.  Some pegged to total cost of the Iraq War at $1 trillion.

In The New York Times, liberal columnist, Bob Herbert wrote:

It’s not easy to explain just how much money $1 trillion really is.  Imagine a stack of bills worth $1 million that is roughtly six inches high.  (Think big demoniations–a mix of $100 bills and $1,000 bills, mostly $1,000s.)  If the six-inch stack were enlarged to the point where it was worth $1 billion, it would be as tall as the Washington Monument, about 500 feet.  If it were worth $1 trillion, the stack would be 95 miles high.

This was a strange occurrence because you seldom hear Democrats cry about spending money.  Usually that job is left to Republicans.  But, the GOP was mysteriously silent as they rode the national debt up over $10 trillion during the Bush Administration.  In fact, Bush himself oversaw the first $2 and $3 trillion budgets in our nation’s history.  He did it all in only 8 years (yes, to some of you it felt like 80).  That doesn’t seem to fit the bill for the party of “fiscal responsibility.”

In May of 2007, Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill was concerned about a bill authorizing $500 billion in funding for the Department of Defense.  She was also concerned about the nature of the vote saying there wasn’t enough public disclosure.

These requests, which are so often done in secret and without any sort of public scrutiny, are sending the federal budget and our national debt through the roof.

Eighteen months ago, McCaskill was concerned about the national debt.  Today she supported an $838 billion stimulus plan noting the vote put the federal spending priorties in order to “make up for a starvation diet under the Bush Administration.”  The irony is glaring.  Once your party is in power it is perfectly acceptable to spend like a drunken sailor.  If the other guys spend, call them out.  Why not, it’s only a game.

In 2006, it was Herbert that reminded us how much a trillion dollars actually is.  In 2009, it’s the GOP reminding us how high a stack of bills worth a trillion stands.  It was the democrats warning us about the deficit; now it’s the Republicans.  Last year, it was McCaskill and other democrats warning Congress not to act in secret.  Today it’s the democrats that are hastily passing an $838 billion, 800 page law that includes provisions for almost nationalizing health care, billions for colleges and more money so people can make the switch from analog to digital television.  Our President tell us it must be accomplished soon because “a failure to act and act now will turn crisis into a catastrophe.”

With every game there are winners and there are losers.  It just so happens that in the game of politics, the American people are always on the losing team.  The national debt continues to reach unprecedented levels, Congress passes bills quickly, in the cloak of darkness because of an”emergency,” and we have no idea what the consequences will be.  Now is as good as time as any to actually start participating in this game.  It’s only our country at stake.

Crime and Moral Punishment

Joe Sullivan has been in jail for 19 years.  He was found guilty of raping a 72-year old woman in Pensacola, Florida in 1989.  According to the New York Times, Sullivan and two others broke into her home to rob her when one stayed behind to rape her.  The victim couldn’t identify her assailant and could only say he was “a colored boy” who “had kinky hair and he was quite black and he was small.”  She also said she “did not see him full in the face.”  Nonetheless, a jury found Sullivan guilty of rape.  The presiding judge said, “I’m going to send him away for as long as I can.”  He did.  Sullivan was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at the age of 13.  He doesn’t deny the robbery, but adamantly maintains his innocence on the rape charge.  Sullivan says an older boy he was with committed the crime.  That older boy was not tried as an adult and served his sentence out in juvenile detention, while Sullivan was send to the big house.

Now, the Equal Justice Initiative has come to Sullivan’s defense.  The organization “provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.”  Their lawyers have appealed to the Supreme Court arguing his sentence violates the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause in the Eight Amendment.  According to their statistics, only two 13-year olds have been given life without parole in the U.S. for a non-killing offense.  Sullivan is one.  In fact, there are only 8 children in the entire world serving life sentences for crimes committed at the age of 13.  All of them are in the United States.

There is plenty wrong with this case.  Sullivan is described as being “severely mentally disabled” whose health has deteriorated so much in prison he is confined to a wheelchair.  As mentioned above, the victim couldn’t identify him in court as the rapist.  Sullivan’s lawyer at the time gave no opening statement and his closing statement was only a few paragraphs long.  This lawyer has been suspended by the state of Florida and it “not eligible to practice law” there.  Sometimes, juries get it wrong.  Sometimes judges get it wrong.  The EJI isn’t even appealing Sullivan’s innocence.  They are appealing the sentence.  Several different statistics show that very few rapists end up serving life in prison for their crimes.  The U.S. Justice Department says, in 1992, the average sentence for rape was 117 months and that only 56% of those sentences were served (other stats put the average sentence between 8 and 9 years).  Yet, a 13-year old boy sits in jail 19-years later on a shaky conviction.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but on more than one occasion our justice system has let child rapists back out on the street who go on to commit more horrific acts.  Why not make an example of out one of them instead of this kid?

Don’t get me wrong, this country has to be tough on crime.  Rapists should be jailed and jailed for a long time.  But, you can’t tell me a 13-year-old deserves a longer sentence for the same crime committed by a 35-year-old.  Keeping Joe Sullivan in jail to serve out the rest of his days is overly excessive and morally incorrect.  While we remain tough on crime, our justice system should also employ common sense and heed the words of Ben Franklin, “it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.”

Progress!

While watching Barack Obama become the 44th President of the United States, I couldn’t help but think how great of a country this really is.  When my mother was born, in 1952, the thought of a black man becoming the world’s most power leader would have been laughed at; well the reaction probably would have been worse.  Back then “separate, but equal” was how America treated race.  Blacks drank out of separate fountains, used different bathrooms and sat in different sections on the bus.

Yesterday, we watched progress.  Progress that has taken place in a mere 56 years.  That is less than one person’s lifetime and it’s nothing short of amazing.  We have changed how we view race enough to elect Barack Obama president.  Something President George W. Bush admitted he never thought he would see in his lifetime.  He turned 62 last July.

Let me be clear, the history of this nation is scarred by slavery and second-class treatment of blacks in particular, but a great nation will not only learn from its mistakes, it will correct them.  Over the course of the past 60 years or so, the American people have worked to heal the wounds of our past.  In 1954, Brown V. The Board of Education effectively ended “seperate, but equal” in schools.  From there, it was leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and four college students who dared to sit at the Woolworth’s lunch counter knowing they weren’t going to be served.  It was people like these that spurred an entire movement to wake up America’s conscience.  We finally told ourselves that “separate, but equal” was not acceptable and goes against our American creed that, “all men are created equal.”

Of course, racism will always exist in some form and there is still plenty of heavy lifting to be done.  But, with each passing generation, the load gets lighter and lighter.  Let’s keep it up America.

Running On Empty

I’ll admit it, I used to be a political junky.  In my younger days I would have been considered a liberal Democrat.  A few years later after some soul searching I became a conservative Republican.  I then realized I don’t have enough in common with the GOP to be a Republican.  I’m much more of a libertarian, but mostly I just feel lost.

President Bush appeared on Fox News Sunday over the weekend and he said, “during the darkest days of Iraq, people came to me and said, ‘You’re creating incredible political difficulties for us’ and I said, ‘Oh, really? What do you suggest I do?’ And some suggested retreat, pull out of Iraq.”  This is exactly the type of politics that doesn’t only make me feel lost, but makes me sick of the entire process.  Is politics only as important as winning the next election?  Look, I know elections have to be won in order to carry out your agenda, but what happened to standing up for your principles.  In politics, they just don’t exist.  Politicians continually turn to polling in order to form their beliefs and form them around what those polls say.

This isn’t about the war either.  If you thought American troops should have pulled out of Iraq long ago–good for you.  If you think they should stay–good for you.  It’s about the fact that someone in the Republican Party came to the President and asked him to retreat in Iraq only to score a political victory.   That’s shameful.

President-elect Barack Obama held a press conference last week in which he said we should expect trillion dollar deficits for years to come.  So much for change.  Obama has two young children.  He and all the other politicians in Washington are writing checks that they will have to pay.  Again we see politicians mortgaging the future of this country in order to win another election.  Who cares about tomorrow?  It’s sickening.

I’m optimistic by nature.  I love this country.  I believe in it as I believe in the American people.  I know we can solve any problem that comes our way.  The people we elect have an amazing ability to crush my optimism and make me look at this half empty glass.

-Rob Hunter is the producer Ankarlo Mornings