Israel's Response Should Be Proportionate. You're Kidding!

It is amazing listening to the MSM and the usual suspects in the international community criticize Israel's response to the attacks from Hamas as not being "proportionate." Excuse me, but this is war. War is a terrible thing but once troops are committed the only goal can be total victory. That means defeating the enemy in the swiftest and most thorough manner possible. Should Israel allow Hamas to do as much damage and kill as many people to satisfy the "proportionate" standard being promoted by many in the international community? Should the World War II Allies have taken a proportionate approach in confronting the aggression of the Nazis and Japanese? Let's get serious and let Israel totally prevail.

The Root of All Evil

One of the first serious acts I engage in every morning is to walk to the end of my driveway prior to my daily jog and read the headlines of the Wall Street Journal. Since mid-September the WSJ headlines have described the collapse of the financial markets and individual acts of corruption that are hard to imagine. Reading the usually restrained WSJ is almost torture as page after page is filled with stories describing faltering economies in virtually every country in the world and the efforts of desperate government officials to deal with the global meltdown. At the same time major corporations and industries are all feeling the pain and the word "bailout" has become the most used and hated term in recent weeks.

I strongly support the essentials of the capitalist system--free markets and free trade--But integrity is the coin of the realm of the free enterprise system and trust and transparency are necessary to sustain it. The current economic meltdown did not happen overnight, but it is the result of a steady decline in personal and corporate morality and affirms the admonition of two thousand years ago that "the love of money is the root of all evil." The fact that Bernard Madoff could fool some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people for years and create a $50 billion Ponzi scheme reminds us that wealth and education have nothing to do with wisdom (the ability to determine right from wrong). We are also witnessing first hand the inability of the best and brightest to effectively deal with the crisis and in many ways their policies are making things worst.

It is not too extreme to say that the world is looking for a Messiah and much is being written about the hope that many have that the President-elect has some silver bullet to solve the current crisis. It is not going to happen. Scripture does tell us that someday The Messiah will reign and show us how government should function. It will all be accomplished without hedge funds, tax increases or acts of Congress. That day will come, but until then things will get worse before they get better.

With Friends Like These---

The arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (to be referred to as Blago) for seeking to sell the U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama for a bribe underscores just how difficult it will be for the mainstream media (MSM) to cover up the President-elect's past and his associations. While the MSM gave Obama a pass for his associations with Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers while trying to find out if Sarah Palin was guilty of jaywalking in Wasilla, Alaska, during the general election they now have to deal with the reality of Obama's Chicago ties. That is because the tapes that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald produced revealed Blago to be such a blatant crook and identified many other Illinois political figures all of whom are associated with the President-elect.

Initially the tapes seemed to clear Obama of any deal making regarding the seat, but at this writing it is becoming clear that the President-elect's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was involved in discussing the issue with the Governor. Don't forget Emanuel, Obama and others were heavily involved in getting Blago elected in 2002 and Blago in turn supported Obama when he ran for the Senate in 2004. At this point it is hard to exactly forecast what is going to happen, but here are a few predictions.

1. Patrick Fitzgerald has a lot more evidence to make a case than he has shown. He will use this as leverage to bring down as many high ranking wrongdoers as possible. He has already put the previous Governor in jail, caused Scooty Libby to resign from the White House and tried to find evidence to cause Karl Rove and Dick Cheney problems in the Valerie Plame case.
2. When faced with serving 30 years in jail Blago will make the best deal possible for himself and turn in everyone he knows including Obama (if there is a problem) to save his skin.
3. If there is a case against Obama the President-elect's more fanatical fans in the media will still defend him saying that because of all the problems he will face as President he deserves a pass because he needs to focus on those issues. Attacking Obama will be viewed as an unpatriotic act. At the same time some of Obama's supporters who backed him because of a desire for "Change" may finally realize that they have elected a Chicago machine politician and that is not a good thing for the country.
4. The real test for Obama will come when he becomes President and has the option of replacing Fitgerald as U.S. Attorney in Chicago. If that happens there will be a firestorm of protest and Obama will have to seek ways to change the subject.
5. It now appears the person filling Obama's senate seat will be chosen through a special election rather than being appointed. While, Illinois is a blue state, the Republicans might have an outside chance if they picked a candidate who was clean and had charisma. This person could run on a clean government platform which might succeed given what has under under Blago.

The Battle For Georgia

On December 2, four weeks after the general election, the people of Georgia went back to the polls and reelected their senior senator Saxby Chambliss in a runoff election that had significant national implications. The following is a summary of that race from someone who was involved in the process and some thoughts about where we go from here. As a result of the November 4 general election not only did the Democrats win the White House, make gains in the House of Representatives but they were very close to reaching the filibuster proof number of 60 seats in the Senate. The last two roadblocks were in Minnesota where the incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman holds a precarious lead in an endless recount with Al Franken and in Georgia where Chambliss had been forced into a runoff with Democrat Jim Martin.

Because of the importance of the Georgia race both parties threw huge resources into the contest. Millions of dollars were spent in negative advertising and by the end of the race it was impossible to turn on the radio or TV and not hear terrible things about Chambliss or Martin. Both parties also brought in their big names. McCain, Rudy, Romney and Huckabee for Chambliss, Bill Clinton and Al Gore for Martin. Obama did not come but he made a radio commercial and robo calls for Martin. On the day before the election the two sides brought in their rock stars: Sarah Palin for Chambliss and the rapper Ludicrous for Martin.

My late father took me to my first political rally for Dwight Eisenhower (I was a babe in arms) and since that time I have attended many political events for famous and not so famous politicians. Without question Sarah Palin can generate a genuine frenzy of support from a large crowd to a greater degree than any political leader I have ever seen. She had traveled to Augusta, Savannah, Perry and the stop in Duluth was her final appearance. Her high energy level, her stress on the importance of the election and her appeal to use the election of Chambliss as a springboard for the restoration of the conservative movement energized the crowd. The final polls showed that Chambliss was leading by 3-5 points. He won by 15 and though Palin's appearances for him were not the only reason for the large margin, everyone, especially Chambliss, understands how big a factor she was.

On election day I worked as a pollwatcher at a precinct 9C in the west side of Atlanta. A pollwatcher represents a political party to insure that the pollworkers in a given precinct handle the voting in a honest manner and follow the rules. As a GOP pollwatcher I was sent to a heavily Democratic precinct. In some cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia Republican pollwatchers have been abused and harrassed in trying to carry out their duties. Thankfully this was not my experience. I had been a pollwatcher at the precinct located in a large African American Baptist Church for the Presidential election, and I volunteered to go back to same precinct for the runoff. The pollworkers were all highly professional, the rules were followed (be thankful for photo ID) and though I was a true minority I was treated with respect. The precinct has about 2,500 registered voters. During the presidential election about 1,000 voted early and 754 voted on election day. Of those Obama got 732 to McCain's 20 (really brave people). On the day of the runoff Martin got 800 to 21 for Chambiss. However, just over 100 voted early. Therefore, I knew that the Democrats had not delivered their base for Martin in the numbers they needed to win. I strongly recommend that those reading this blog consider serving as a pollworker (you get paid for that service) or a pollwatcher (you don't get paid and it requires some courage) as way to contribute to your community. It will also give you a great chance to see that our system works fairly for all.

The election of 2008 was truly historic even if did not have the outcome many of us would have preferred. The election of Obama was understandbly a huge source of pride for the voters at precinct 9C. At same time during my two poll watching experiences it was obvious to me that the voters I met for the most part were devout, church going individuals who shared a strong belief in faith and family. Thanks to the overwhelming support of the African-American community the pro-marriage Proposition 8 won in California. Every poll shows that the African-American and Hispanic communities are among the most pro-life sectors of our society. I hope the GOP is wise enough to make values a cornerstone in their restoration efforts. It would also be a wise thing to elect Michael Steele as head of the RNC. Symbols are important and Michael Steele's election would remind people that the GOP is the party of Lincoln.