FOLLOWING UP


Let’s follow up on some previous topics covered in this column:

1) Iraq: as I have previously written, the situation in Iraq is inviting the Iranians to covertly take over their long-time enemy. The dithering by the newly elected Iraqi government has allowed more Iranian infiltration of the Iraqi bureaucracy - not to mention that the key Shiite leaders are all loyal to or are ‘owned’ by Tehran due to their years in exile there. The incoming Prime Minister lived for years in Tehran and has continuing ties there. This is a very worrisome development.

2) The Social Security Debate: this is going nowhere for President Bush and the GOP. The more it is talked about, the less popular it is. No wonder Representatives and Senators prefer to talk about steroids or filibusters; the more they do town hall forums defending the Bush privatization plan back in their districts, the less popular they themselves become. So mere political survival dictates that they dump the topic and find something else to talk about.

The President has missed the boat on his second term agenda.

Illegal immigration, the exploding cost of health care and the rising cost of gas at the pump are much more immediate and pressing problems; by almost ignoring them, GW Bush has frittered away some of his hard-won political capital from last year’s election.

3) Illegal immigration: when Hillary is to the right of the White House on an issue you know you’re in trouble.

The Bush position - giving amnesty to illegals already here without calling it amnesty - is very, very unpopular - especially with his conservative base. As the economy slows, the stock market stagnates and gas prices soar, the Bush White House will see its base softening in their support of the lame-duck president.

The Minutemen on the Mexican border and Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s controversial comments about “closing” the border to Mexico highlight the explosiveness of this issue.

And, of course, there is the post- 9/11 Homeland Security issue here, too: how long until AL Qaeda infiltrates more murderers into the US across this sieve of a southern border?

4) Energy: three years ago in this column I projected a July 4, 2002 speech by the President entitled Project Independence in which an oilman president and vice president (Bush and Cheney) would use their post-9/11 credibility to announce a joint government-private industry (Detroit) project to begin in two years manufacturing only hydrogen fuel cell cars, trucks and buses.

This radical proposal - pooh-poohed at the time - would by now already be weaning us from imported oil from Arabs, Iranians, Venezuelans, Russians and Mexicans. How can we rely on those countries for such a crucial commodity? In the name of our national security - not to mention our faltering economic position - it is total insanity to rely on those nations for the oil with which we power our country.

Leading the way on the mass-production of hydrogen fuel cell engines will indeed shake things up. But it will wean us from our addiction to foreign oil, it will radically change our foreign accounts balance (for the good!), and it will go a long way toward cleaning up the environment, too.

Plus we can sell these new cars, trucks and buses worldwide and again lead the way in pioneering a new technology.

We must do this for all these reasons; ‘can’t’ cannot be in our national vocabulary.

5) The so-called hunt for Osama Bin Laden: do you really believe that the United States of America - if her government really, really wanted to - could not track down and capture or kill this international terrorist?

It is a national disgrace that the leader of the 9/11 attacks is still on the loose, still taunting us with audio and video tapes, and still inspiring tens of millions of wayward Muslims to hate the USA.

He must be brought to justice for what he has done.

And the Bush Administration has clearly re-focused itself to Iraq and devoted over $300 billion on that war while Osama remains free.

Can anyone tell me that we have given an equal effort to get Osama?

No!

6) 2008: Hillary is the Democrat and who knows who is the GOP nominee? But it is way, way too early for 2008; we have so many crucial problems to solve now that we can’t be worried about the next election.

Whether we even address these problems will determine what happens in 2008.

And, so far, Washington DC is seemingly oblivious to these problems.

No wonder so many people on both sides of the political aisle - are disillusioned.

HUMILITY



GW Bush is in political trouble; his poll rating are declining and his second term agenda - Social Security Reform - is getting less support the more he talks about it. Gas prices are soaring and the stock market is dropping. A majority of people ‘disapprove’ of his performance as President and an equally large majority believe the nation is on the ‘wrong track.’

Tom Delay, Mr. Bush’s Texas ally up on the Hill as House Majority Leader, is in political free fall with the possibility of legal jeopardy creeping around the corner.

What has happened to these two powerful politicians just five months after being re-elected?

Why are they declining in popularity?

Why can’t Mr. Bush expand his support the way Ronald Reagan could when he won re-election in 49 states? With re-election out of the way, why can’t he successfully appeal to the other half of the nation and get them to support him or at least to like him?

Why is Mr. Delay under daily bombardment and criticism that is now beginning to spread into his GOP flock up on the Hill? Why is he the target for things that many other politicians do all the time?

The answer to all of these questions - in Biblical terms - is simple: pride.

Or, in secular terms, arrogance or hubris.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

All the Bushes - parents and GW Bush - have a problem with their arrogant demeanors. Having dealt with them, I can tell you that they are dismissive, condescending, rude and frosty to those they deem ‘disloyal,’ meaning those that dare to disagree with them. As Dick Cheney once remarked, “You don’t want to cross the Bushes; they have the longest memories of anyone in politics.”

The first President Bush used to rip apart staff with this quote: “If you are so smart, how come I am President and you are not?”

This President Bush has alienated virtually everyone he has met who did not agree with him. Scores of foreign leaders can’t stand him because of his dismissive treatment of them. Political leaders here who criticize anything Mr. Bush has ever done or said are immediately frozen out and never invited back.

Ronald Reagan could charm those who disagreed with him and often even win over the other side; GW Bush doesn’t even try.

The so-called debate over Social Security is a perfect case example:

GW Bush’s aides urged him in January not to take this fight on as the centerpiece of his Second Term; he dismissed them.

His staff arranges phony town halls all over the nation where the President answers ‘questions.’ But it has been revealed that these ‘questions’ are pre-screened, the audiences are selected from local GOP groups and they even have a dress rehearsal the day before. And no dissenters are allowed inside.

No wonder this ‘debate’ over Social Security is a failure!

If a President cannot hear all sides - or refuses to - he is missing half of the nation.

This is a pride or an arrogance that displeases God. And it fails politically, too.

The same applies to Tom Delay. He is caught up in the vortex of media criticism, possible legal troubles and plummeting public opinion polls. Why him - and not dozens of other Member of Congress?

Because he is arrogant and brusque and rude and full of himself.

There is not a shred of self-deprecation or humility in the Tom Delay people see; instead there is an inflexible hardness and arrogance that turns people off.

Both George W. Bush and Tom Delay love to quote the Bible. But they need to behave as Jesus taught: be humble.

It may already be too late for both.

THE BUSHES AND THE CLINTONS



It is now clear: the George Bushes and Bill Clinton are genuine pals.

The former President George HW Bush has often said of Clinton, “I like the guy!”

Now it is clear that the current President George W. Bush also likes his predecessor so much that he now asks him for foreign policy advice and last week even praised Clinton’s own proposed Social Security reforms.

Last week in Rome for the Pope’s funeral, the President even invited Clinton to sit in on his morning CIA briefing and asked his advice.

What ever happened to W’s 2000 campaign mantra, “I am going to restore honesty and dignity to the White House”?

Here is what happened:

1) W - and his Dad - never had a problem with the Clintons; they just cynically played on the anti-Clinton- Monica-Impeachment Fever to win the 200 campaign. Proof? How the Bushes never pursued any investigations of the Clintons’ criminal behavior in selling pardons for cash for their Presidential Library and for stealing and/or destroying White House property when they left office.

2) American politics has devolved from a meritocracy into two simultaneous dynasties - the Bushes and the Clintons. The Bushes ‘own’ the GOP machinery; the Clintons ‘own’ the Democratic establishment and fund raising machine.

3) Just as the two major parties - with isolated examples of winning third party candidates - control who can win elections, these two family dynasties control who can be nominated inside their respected parties.

4) The Bushes and Clintons use each other - to each family’s benefit. Example: W’s Social Security campaign is floundering. Polls show that Republican voters are lukewarm supporters while Democrats totally oppose it. So what does President Bush do? He praises Clinton’s proposed reforms from a decade ago and strategically leaks this to the media. His hope is to broaden his plan’s appeal and to start to pick up Democratic support for his privatization plan.

5) Bill Clinton - never to be trusted for one nanosecod - should never be underestimated either. He is using the Bushes, too. By going with the former President Bush on the Asian Tsunami Relief effort, it keeps Clinton in the news and on the road. Thus his speaking invitation and fees are increased. Plus, by hanging out with the Bushes, he is helping Hillary seem more mainstream for her 2008 presidential campaign.

6) Hillary’s entire focus the last six months has been a cosmetic ‘move to the center.’ First she claims she wants to “find common ground with the Pro Life Movement.” This from the most ardent abortions rights advocate ever to run for public office.

Then she comes out against illegal immigration while the President offers quasi-amnesty to illegals already here.

Then she attacks the Hollywood entertainment community for pushing sex and violence in children’s entertainment - even though she and her husband annually raise tons of dough from these very same Hollywood lefty fat cats.

And then this weekend she goes to Minnesota and unloads on the “right-wing robots” who run Capitol Hill - but never -ever - mentions Bush by name.

She, too, is playing the two-dynasty game!

One family scratches the other’s back.

Conclusion: it just isn’t American to have only these two political families dominating American politics.

It isn’t good for the country - and it isn’t good for the two political parties, either.

The whole thing is so cynical and hypocritical.

Liberals supposedly love diversity - except when it comes to their party’s nomination.

And Republicans supposedly believe in merit - except when it comes to who runs every aspect of their party.

You know what?

It is time for a change.

MESSENGERS FOR GOD




The death this week of Pope John Paul II is serving God’s purposes yet again:

This wonderful man personified all that is good in mankind: kindness, compassion, tough-minded persistence in the face of adversity, a selfless belief in helping only others, and an impish and self-deprecating sense of humor.

The world-wide outpouring of grief and respect - and celebration of his life - is an even larger version of what happened last June when a very similar man, Ronald Reagan, died.

Those two travelers - the Polish Pope and the former Hollywood actor-turned-anti-communist politician - changed the world despite heavy carping and criticism from the Left. And despite facing death, too.

In 1981 these two God-sent Messengers of Truth were both the subject of assassination attempts - as was a third equally crucial figure, Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat, who was killed that year by radical Muslims, led by a man who today is Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man, Ayman Al-Zwahiri.

The fourth member of this Divine Leadership Class - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - was also the target of an assassination attempt at a Conservative Party conference.

The so-called mainstream media - which tilts way to the left - is already concentrating on changes in the Catholic Church - gay marriage, abortion and birth control, and women priests - and is down-playing the real legacy of Karol Woityja: the ending of the Soviet Empire from within without firing a shot!

This was the reason God gave us this Pope and Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Any and everything else they may have done pales by comparison.

For forty years Moscow had been the major threat to the West - and trillions of dollars were spent in hopes of ‘containing’ this massive threat (the author of this ‘containment’ policy, diplomat and scholar George Kennan, just died 2 weeks ago at the age of 100).

With Reagan and Thatcher leading from the free West, the Pope’s miraculous ascension to the Papacy from behind the Iron Curtain after Pope John Paul I’s mysterious death after only 31 days as Pope, was indeed Divine Providence. God had a Plan - and that plan was to take down the Evil Empire without a mass slaughter of innocent people.

And when evil - in the form of a Soviet KGB-ordered and Bulgarian-hired assassin shot the Pope - it was Moscow’s desperate attempt to stop the internal unraveling that they knew would ensue from John Paul’s charismatic ability to inspire millions.

For years here the mainstream - i.e. left-wing - media pooh-poohed the Soviet connection as if to say, “How could anyone believe Moscow and the KGB could do such a thing?”

Indeed, this is how the Soviets - and now the Russians - have behaved for decades! Just ask new Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko about the dioxin poisoning he suffered last August - clearly at the hands of Russian agents desperate not to lose control of the vital Ukraine.

The death of this wonderful Pope is more than the end of another papacy; it is the culmination of further proof that God indeed has His Hand in our affairs - in a crucial fight against the Devil.

This fight is still raging with radical fundamentalist Islam now our main enemy - with Chinese Communism rapidly gaining.

We need new leaders who understand the threat - and how to combat it.

We must never back down - and we need to emulate the Pope: the truth will win out. We are on God’s side in the epic battle.