A Too Long-Winded Comment to CW's Immigration Post

[Since comments are limited to some number of letters fewer than what I have assembled below, I had to take advantage of CW's mistake of giving me the keys to the CW Blog. ]

1.  David Brooks is simply not a Conservative.  He may from time to time use some words that sound Conservative but my sense is that he is decidedly more concerned with giving his employeer the sheerest facade of balanced editiorialism while appearing intellectually thoughtful and refined than he is devoted to the conservative principles of this nation's founding no matter what.  I actually have higher regard for the likes of Paul Krugman who make no bones about where they stand.  Quit apologizing for Conservative principles (and principals), David.

2.  The oft repeated mantra that Dem talking heads have been spouting is that the GOP is finished if they don't start to identify with Hispanics and pass this bill.  Since when did Dems become so altruistic about keeping the GoP alive?  That's like Israel consulting with Hezbollah for national security strategies.  Has the GOP "leadership" become so rudderless and unaware of the Conservative principles that gave the Party its few huge successes with Reagan, the first GOP majority in Congress in the second half of the 1900s and the most recent GOP majority in Congress that they feel the only place they can turn for advice is to Chuck Schumer, David Axelrod and the mainstream media? 

3.  This isn't the first time we've drunk from this well.  The Conservative hero Ronald Reagan got swindled on this very issue by that great Republican strategist, Tip O'Neill, when we needed to address those already here in a compassionate way but in exchange for securing the border and ending the continuous flow of illegal immigrants to this country.  Following the Dem's advice back then worked so well that we're now returning to the well to drink the same pissy water that Tip O'Neill served Reagan.  BTW, what Reagan signed into law that granted "one time" amnesty in exchange for a secure border is still in place so I don't see how another law to secure the border in exchange for "just this one last time, I promise, amnesty" is going to be any different. I used to bristle at people calling the GoP the party of stupid but I swear to God the GOP is trying it's damnedest to live into that title.

4. GOP leadership needs to grow a pair (maybe Sarah Palin could lend her's to some of them) and stop allowing the dialogue to be that the GoP and Conservatives (two circles whose Venn overlap is growing ever smaller) are "anti-immigrant".  That's a campaign strategy lie (from the same ones who brought you "pushing grandma off the cliff" and "GoP war on women"), the Dems know it but the idiots in charge of the national GoP just wring their hands and look guilty while the media and Dems (redundancy alert) repeat it.  I've participated personally and actively in helping 12 legal immigrants obtain their US citizenship through the proper established legal pathway to that great privilege and I'm not ashamed to say it brought tears to my eyes each time one of them uttered the Pledge of Allegiance and became a fellow citizen of this remarkable nation.  That is more "pro-immigrant" than 99.99% of those spouting the BS that Conservatives are anti-immigrant.

5.  Our elected officials have an obligation to the CURRENT citizens of this country to pass fiscally-responsible balanced budgets and address the policies that are failing us economically such as the relentless extra-legislative regulations by government bureaucrats that serve more to bring them fiscal sustenance than allow the greatest economic engine in the world to generate wealth for its citizenry.  And as far as wealth, when we unleash our entrepreneurs and generate that wealth, we also do a damned good job sharing it with those in need around the globe  for we are also a generous nation with our wealth when we can be and our lives when we must be.  This is the most immigrant friendly nation on earth but somehow we have allowed the liberals to paint it as some sort of xenophobic hell hole for immigrants.  Shame on all of us.

6. The real question here is what is the pressing need to pass "comprehensive" immigration reform?  I mean it must be critical since John Boehner declared this the most important piece of legislation he plans to pass this year.  Really? The most important legislation?  With a stagnant economy, spiraling out of control debt and an unprecedented march toward a nation of  government overreach and eroding of Americans' liberty and THAT is the most important thing you can come up with?   Not that I care very much for polls, but most of the polls I've seen on this issue from Hispanics place this pretty low on the list of issues they care about--and get this, at the top of their list is Joe Biden's "three-letter word": J-O-B-S.  No kidding.  So even the immigrants this purports to serve are telling elected officials to do something about employment in this country.  But the only jobs our elected officals seem to be hell bent on preserving are their own--and THAT my friends is precisely why they keep telling us we NEED this reform because both sides think this means more voters to keep them in their plush offices and leather chairs with hot young interns stroking their overinflated egos.  The Chamber of Commerce wants it for more cheap labor--is there really a shortage of labor with 7.5% (reported, actual may be as high as 19%) unemployment?  Really?  And if we think it's expensive now to pay for all the services of the "shadow" dwellers, what about the "come to America for free health care, free foodstamps, free college education and free pathway to citizenship" crowd that we will only draw in even bigger numbers than today?  We cannot generate that kind of wealth now and it is highly unlikely that if this nation continues to allow the Progressive's agenda to advance we will ever be able to afford it.  That is precisely what Cloward-Piven proposed, by the way, to collapse the welfare system so that a "more socially just" national annual salary system can be erected in its place.  And if the members of the Chamber of Commerce believe for one minute that once this "reform" passes, that labor will continue to be cheap, they are even more stupid than I thought.

I feel as if I'm watching one of those horror films where seemingly educated people keep walking into dark hallways where you know the ax murderer is waiting and even after they find their buddy's head laying on the floor beside his bloody body, they keep walking through the house looking for Lord knows what instead of saying "we need to go the other way NOW!"  Guess what, it never goes well for those people in the movies.  Sure hope real life works out better.  I doubt it will. 

There's No Such Thing as Media Bias. No. Not at All.

According to this poll, 55% of Americans support gay marriage.

According to this poll, 59% of Americans favor banning abortion after the 20th week.

Which have you heard more about?

On Immigration (again)

David Brooks, house Conservative of the New York Times, had an editorial yesterday in which he exorts Republicans to "Pass the Bill", by which he means presumably the Senate Immigration Bill. 

He makes a few sound arguments about the benefits of the bill, and he shrewdly ties them to Conservative goals, mostly economic. 

In the main, I think he's right.  But like so many other issues, he's right  "...all the way from B to Z".  It's the A to B step he misses.

Republicans want REAL border security, not the kind that is so riddled with holes and provisos as to render it feckless.  THAT is what the bill brings.  Brooks acknowledges as much, saying "The first conservative complaint is that, as Kristol and Lowry put it, “the enforcement provisions are riddled with exceptions, loopholes and waivers.” If Obama can waive the parts of Obamacare he finds inconvenient, why won’t he end up waiving a requirement for the use of E-Verify. There’s some truth to this critique, and maybe the House should pass a version of the Senate bill that has fewer waivers and loopholes. But, at some point, this argument just becomes an excuse to oppose every piece of legislation, ever. All legislation allows the executive branch to have some discretion. It’s always possible to imagine ways in which a law may be distorted in violation of its intent. But if you are going to use that logic to oppose something, you are going to end up opposing tax reform, welfare reform, the Civil Rights Act and everything else."   No David, you're wrong.  Quite wrong.  This is a valid argument, especially when one considers the relationship between the two main goals of this legislation--border security and some path to legality for illegals.  Why in God's name would Republicans roll over on the latter part, and then provide the President with endless options to stymie their main political goal in the legislation.  Brooks simply doesn't get the depth of commitment Conservatives have to doing a better job of closing our border.  

That said, Conservatives are still blowing this.  They are blowing this because of an unrealistic, dogmatic, and ultimately self-defeating stance on how to handle those already here illegally.  Truth be told, there are plenty of Republicans on the Hill whose approach to immigration reform would be to close the border and then do nothing else.  That's not realistic.  So how to move forward?

Republicans and Conservatives need to change the both the ideology and the rhetoric.  We must publicly and sincerely identify with the forces which drive someone to hazard their lives in crossing the border in order to find a piece of our American Dream.  We have to begin to use the language of understanding, the language of empathy.  "Yes.  We get it.  We understand why you came here, and while we find the circumstances of your arrival to be wrong, the circumstances of your presence must be dealt with.  We want you to participate fully in the blessings of this exceptional country.  We want you to live and work and pay taxes and raise families proudly in our country.  We will put aside our aversion to the illegal act that brought you here in order to ensure your full integration into our great civilization."

But there must be a cost for this concession.  A political cost.  And that is, Democrats MUST agree to measures that more appropriately protect our borders.  Real ones.  Without loopholes.  With means for the ways to do so.  David Brooks wants Republicans to roll over on what to do with those already here for the dubious promise of an administration that has double-crossed time and again, one whose approach to its own power is of growing concern.  Republicans must stand their ground on border security, and make it the cost Democrats pay for a new Republican approach to legalizing those already here.

Thoughts?

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Sorry I'm a little late, folks.  Had an optometry appointment this AM.

What's got you down?  One day back in the big leagues and you're hurt again?  Your signature piece of legislation falling apart piece by piece? 

Share your pain with your friends.

The Topic for Today

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

More Obamacare Buffoonery

Liberal blogger Ezra Klein wants to see the employer mandate repealed, rather than delayed.  Read his rationale here.  

Funny how liberals all of a sudden begin to understand how taxation impacts economic behavior when one of their sacred cows is on the line.

The Incomparable Remy, for Independence Day

Obamacare Employer Mandate Slips A Year

Suddenly adopting a pro-business attitude, the Obama Administration will, through unilateral regulatory authority granted it by a pliant Democratic Congress under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (puke), delay the "Employer Mandate" provisions of the law one year, to 2015.  See this Weekly Standard piece on the ins and outs of the decision. 

While the Administration is pinning the slide on its desire to be responsive to the complaints of the business community, this is of course, rubbish.  This move can more correctly be called the "Save Harry Reid's Job as Majority Leader" delay, as the Democratic Party did not want to have to participate in mid-cycle Congressional elections with this hanging over their heads.

That said, while the employer mandate slips, the individual mandate remains in place.  That alone offers political hay to the Republicans.

Twenty Years Later....

I woke the morning of July 1st, 1993 with a splitting, hangover-induced headache.  You know, the kind that I got a few times a week for that entire year.  My drinking really became epic after Julie moved out in February; I'd stop at the Giant on the way home and buy two six packs of Labatt's for dinner.  Just the beer.  I'd set my the alarm in my bedroom before I started drinking, so I'd get up on time the next morning.  Set one in the living room too in case I didn't make it to the bedroom.  I brought method to my drinking, let no one say otherwise.

On this particular morning, I was waking from a doozie gained the evening before at some random bar at Tyson's Corner.  I think it was called "Champions" or something like that.  On the way out of the parking lot the night before (had to get to bed so I could get up and get driving--was going home to New Jersey for the July 4th weekend), I had a little fender-bender.  The good news was, the guy I hit (or who hit me, neither of us knew) had been drinking right near me for several hours.  Neither of us wanted the police involved, so we agreed to take care of our own minor damage.  Come to think of it, he was a good dude.  I surely didn't need a run-in with the police, no not me.  I had a security clearance.  I was going to BE SOMEONE SOMEDAY.  Besides, the two times I'd been stopped for suspicion of drunk driving in the previous month were clearly enough for one person, right?  The first time happened about 100 yards from my house, so the guy told me to park it and walk.  The second one happened RIGHT in front of my house.  He said I was "driving too close to the curb".  "Looks to be part of the road to me" was my smart-assed answer. I blew under the limit.

But this particular morning, I was in serious pain.  Middle of the head pain.  Not one of those wussy temple headaches.  No--this one was deep.  Brain stem stuff.  But I had to drive 150 miles to New Jersey.  On a bright day.  This was going to be agony. So I hopped onto the Beltway and began my journey. 

I drove for all of about ten miles, before I started crying.  Not an emotional cry, mind you.  A cry composed simply of agonizing head pain.  I pulled over on the inner loop, to the shoulder of the road.  Some of you may be familiar with this stretch of DC road.  Pulling over on the shoulder gives one the amazing sensation of having your car rock while people drive by at 80 miles an hour.  I sat there in my car, rubbing my head, crying.  Thinking.  I'm 28 years old.  I've got a responsible job that I do ok in.  I'm an Admiral's aide, for Chrissake. I've got good friends--really good friends.  Sure, I destroyed a marriage, but hey, that's what happens when you're too young to be married, right?  And my family--well hell, they mostly like me.  I can get a little mean when I drink, but hey, who doesn't?

What the hell am I doing.  Why am I doing this to myself?

So, I did something I hadn't done in quite some time.  I said a prayer.  I remember sitting there thinking about George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life--my favorite movie.  His prayer.  "I'm not a praying man...." .  I started out kind of like that.  And I asked God to help me, with a very simple request.



I'd like to stop drinking for 30 days.  Just a month.  Dry out, so to speak.  Show the booze who the boss is.  Yep.  That's it.  Thirty days.  I prayed hard for this, through the pain, through the tears.  God I hoped that a cop didn't show up.

Then I got an idea in my head.  If I stop for 30 days, day 31 then becomes a bender.  So what have I accomplished?  Nothing.  Why waste God's time with that.

And so I did it.  I went for the fences.

"God", I asked, "I need your help to never drink again.  From this moment forward.  Never again.  I may ruin other relationships in my lifetime, but it will be through some new and innovative device.  Not alcohol.  Please God.  You help me, I will hold up my end of the bargain."  That was it.  And those were the words, more or less.

And I sat there, thinking about what a life without alcohol would be like.  Would I still be interesting?  Was I ever? Would I be an outcast in my own cohort?  Could I actually do it?  Do I really want to do it?  What are the ramifications of breaking a deal with God?

I asked myself questions like this for about five minutes.  And then I looked up at the road....and realized I didn't have a headache anymore.  None.  Zero.  In fact, I felt GOOD, better than I had in months.  I shook my head violently, just to see if there were any residual pain.  None.

And then I really started to cry.

I realized then and there that I had gotten what I had prayed for.  A chance.  An opportunity.  Some help.  Some cosmic help.  I cannot blow this.  I have to follow through.

And so I drove to my parents' house, turning over in my mind the supernatural event that had happened in my car, alongside the DC Beltway.  Soon after getting home and exchanging pleasantries, I asked my Dad for a private conversation.  We went out on the back porch, and I told him "I have a drinking problem."  I told him, because he had several years before stopped drinking of his own accord, and I told him in order to seek wisdom.  "You're Goddamn right you do" was his answer.  Ok, I guess I deserved that, after my performance at the last family function.  So I told him I had decided to quit drinking--cold turkey, never again.  I didn't mention my chat with that which there is no greater than and the bargain struck as a result.  I asked him if I needed AA, or to go to a doctor.  "No", was his answer.  "Just stop.  You can do it."

He was right.  That chat happened twenty years ago today.  I have not had a drink, not even one, in those twenty years.  I can't say I haven't been tempted, but the temptation is never very strong.  I miss red wine, when I'm cooking.  That's about it.

People have asked me many times, "Why not give it a try again?  You're older and more mature now, you could handle it."  That argument has never held water for me.  They may be absolutely right...maybe I could handle it now.  But that's not the point.  If I can't keep a promise to God, what good am I?

So here I am, twenty years later.  I'm not perfect, Lord knows.  A few people love me, some like me, many tolerate me, a few can't stand me (and they have good reason).  But I have kept my promise and I aim to continue to do so. 

And you know what?

I remember that day like it was yesterday. 

What Last Week Means to Conservatives

Last week is generally considered to have been a tough one for Conservatives.  In two separate decisions, the Supreme Court appeared to clear the way for unrestricted gay marriage in America.  In the Senate, an immigration reform bill that many Republicans believe will do nothing to secure our borders but will provide a boost in Democrat voter rolls was passed with Republican help.  I talked with Mudge earlier in the week, and we were both glum.  Me for not quite clear reasons, Mudge for very clearly articulated reasons.


We shouldn't look to quickly past a great victory for the Constitution, and that was the Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act.  What several southern states had to go through in order to get even the most basic changes to voting procedures was akin to Reconstruction. 

As for the gay marriage cases, I think we (Conservatives) are simply on the losing end of this one.  Simply put, the younger you are, the more you support gay marriage.  Even if that support subsides over time (which I doubt it will), the support will be far greater than a majority in the years to come.  There really is a "freedom" issue here that many Conservatives overlook while they are busy "Conserving". 

With respect to immigration, the story is mixed.  I don't think we are doing ourselves a service in broadening our voting base by so stridently opposing comprehensive immigration reform that includes some way of gaining legal status for those already here illegally.  My view?  Give the Dems exactly what they want--a clear path to CITIZENSHIP, not some other hazy status.  The price?  A fence.  A closed border.  Real border security. 

What does this all mean?  To be honest, I don't know.  I find myself thinking that the public is moving in our direction on economics, budgeting, and fiscal matters, and if we spent time talking about those things, we'd be in good shape.  The President -- while proving to be an utter failure as a President -- is doing a masterful job as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party and Liberal cause.  His phone call to Marco Rubio (to congratulate him on the Senate immigration reform plan) was a stroke of genius, even if Rubio was unable to take the call.

We've got to figure out how to get out from under the "you hate" weight.  "You hate women", "you hate gays", "you hate Mexicans"....etc.  We can howl about media unfairness all we want, but the fact is, many Americans see Conservative ideas and the Republican Party (different things, I know) as agents of a status quo that doesn't include them.  Gotta figure this one out, friends.

The Conservative Wahoo Turns Another Year Older

                                                          

 Not the blog, but the man himself.   Happy birthday buddy!

 

Five Years Later....

Here we are folks, five years after the start of The Conservative Wahoo.  I thank those of you who read this blog, those of you who write for it, and those who do both.

Perhaps someday, I'll look back and read posts over the last five years and determine that what I and others have been doing was to chronicle the decline of our Republic. 

But I am more hopeful than that.  I continue to believe in American Exceptionalism and I am convinced that the eight years of Barack Obama will be replaced with something better for our country.

Let's keep trying to make it happen here in our little corner of the interwebs.

Bryan

"The Government Plantation"

 

Louisiana State Senator, Elbert Guillory, recently switched from the Democrat Party to Republican Party. While I daily lose faith that the Republican leadership in Washington will subordinate their personal ambitions to our party's principles, if more of them can start  countering the media's and DNC's disingenous descriptions of the Republican Party  the way Senator Guillory has here, we might get away from having to commit political and national suicide with ill-thought legislation that only the leftest leftists would ever propose.  But I doubt it. And can we just trade Lindsay Graham to the Dems for a future draft pick?


Big Fat Friday Free For All

Well, friends---how's it going?  Got anything you'd like to share with the wonderful, supportive readers of this blog?

Too few show up at your Brandenburg Gate speech?  Sun get in your eyes when you gave it?

Bitch friends.  Better out than in.

6/10:  197.8 (new fat record)
6/14:  196.2
6/21:  193.6

Marco Rubio is Getting Hammered

I'm a fan of Marco Rubio's, but my support for him is a lot like that of those who elected Barack Obama President in 2008.  I think he's upbeat, he and I agree on a lot of issues, he looks good on TV and he can give a good speech.

But I've got to wonder--is there one more thing about him that is like Barack Obama--and that is, he may not be ready for prime time yet.

I haven't followed the immigration story as closely as I should, but I do stay up on the media of the vast right wing conspiracy.  Needless to say, it has not been kind to the Senator from Florida.  But it isn't as though they've been making things up--they're killing him with his own words, and they're killing him with the company he keeps.  (i.e. Chuck Schumer).

This is a big, complicated issue, and for a guy who is trying to lead the Republican Party in positive directions, Rubio has chosen a decent place to start.  I wonder though, has he been snookered by an atmosphere and processes that he wasn't wise enough to consider?  Did he simply not understand "the rules of the game" in Washington deeply enough, as a Senator of some two years standing (sound familiar?)

I need to watch this more closely; I still believe Rubio's the real deal.  But it might not be for 2016.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Well friends, it's that time of the week again.  Time to get your worries off your chest, time to share your problems with your homies.

How can WE help YOU?

Stay Out of Syria, Mr. President

It appears that the President is going to use his Commander-in-Chief authority to supply  Al Qaeda the rebels in Syria with an as yet undetermined stock of weapons in their fight to throw over the Assad regime.  Presumably this is in part due to the reports last week of Assad's forces once again gaining the upper hand in the conflict.  The precipitating action however, is Syria's reported use of chemical weapons, resulting in the deaths of at least 100 people.

The administration should not have announced this move, for it is unwise.  Here are a few reasons why.

1.  If the deaths of 90,000 Syrians from means other than chemical weapons were insufficient rationale for American involvement, however slight, then the use of chemical weapons (reported) seems a ridiculous distinction to make for the trigger of US involvement.
2.  We will surrender the right to lecture the Russians not to re-supply the Assad regime with advanced weaponry.
3.  We really do not know who the rebels are, or what they want, or what kind of country they wish to or are capable of creating.  We are choosing chaos and mayhem, over a devil we know.  I don't see it as a good choice.
4.  If we were to supply the rebels, it should have been done clandestinely.  There is an argument that says it is in our interest for this conflict to continue, bleeding Syria (and its Hizbolllah/Iranian allies) at the same time Islamic militants are bled by Assad's forces. 
5.  Our interest in the area is the security of Israel and Jordan.  We should only act if we believe these interests to be threatened.

Now is the time for the US to keep its powder dry for larger, more important things (read: Iran).  We cannot continue to dissipate our power on sideshows. 

I Am Fat

With nine straight weeks of limited exercise and unlimited gluttony, I have achieved a record state of corpulence.  And while I knew this would be the case given the work schedule and the trip to Israel, there is a not insignificant tinge of disappointment in my report.  Not that I am fat, mind you.  That is obvious, known in advance, predictable, etc.  No, my disappointment stems from the fact that even with all of the excess of the last two months, I was not able to crack the mythical "2 Bills" (200 lbs) mark.  My post-sloth weigh in on Tuesday morning in fact only beat my previous high by two tenths of a pound, at 197.8.

And so, I began two days ago yet another quest to drop a few pounds and exercise a little more.  Since I'm on a semi-sabbatical right now, I'm finding the sledding easy, with little excuse to blow off the weigh in and access to a lot of good, healthy choices for meals.

Some of you may know that I have made an important career choice; I will still be in the defense consulting business, but it will be through my own little firm called The FerryBridge Group.   I will still be associated with the wonderful people at Delex who gave me my start in the business, but not on a full-time basis.  Building up my base of clients will take a bit of time and effort, but the plain fact is that things slow down a bit in the summer anyway, so the opportunity exists for me to lessen my own pace a bit, before a full throttle effort later in the summer.    Perhaps by then, I won't be as fat.

Summer Rite of Passage

The ManCave is my refuge, my office, my home theater, and my monument to the life I led before pitching my tent here on the Eastern Shore.  Truth be told, many of my worldly possessions, if not most, fit right here in this 15' x 25' space.  I've got a storage unit for some kitchen stuff and some big furniture, but most of the rest is right here with me.

A three-bay garage gave up one third of its space for this idyllic place.  It is lightly insulated, unheated and uncooled.  I have a little radiator I use during the cold months, and during the summer, a window air conditioner.  Today is the day the AC makes its appearance.  It is a rite of passage.

Each summer, a point arises in which sitting in front of my computer with sweat dripping down my face becomes unbearable.  Today I reached that point.  I have some important work to do, and the thought of plodding through it in the heat was a non-starter.

So to the attic I go, for the annual dance with death that is the AC installation.  I carefully choose my footware, as 21 years in the Navy reinforced for me the wisdom of wearing the right shoes for the job.  I then walk the route from the AC to the window in which it will perch, moving aside the various trip hazards that have accumulated since the fall when I stored it for the winter.  The radiator I have for winter use forgoes this journey, as it sits quietly and unassumingly in a corner of the ManCave, wheeled and attractive in the spot it occupies when it is in use.  It is light, even, unlike the AC which seems to get heavier each year...apparently like its owner.

But there it is, humming away and filling the space with becooled air, and challenging me to become productive in the atmosphere it so unselfishly provides.  Damn you, air conditioner. 

Israel Wrap-Up

During a conversation yesterday, I was informed that I had "left (my) readers hanging", without an appropriate entry describing the trip home, etc.  This person was particularly interested in my travel rig and was shaken when I told him it was khakis and a polo.

But I am nothing if not responsive to the cries of my readers, so here goes.

We arrived at the airport well inside my standard 3 hours prior to an international flight, which had some of us a bit concerned.  This was driven by the performance of the evening's dinner restaurant, which was superb, but a bit slow.  I had a lasagne bolognese that was to die for, and I am not joking when I tell you that it was the size of a standard US red brick.  Kinda looked like one too.

Even after a number of trips to Israel, I had never flown out--before, a lovely warship conveyed me from its shores.  So this was my first interaction with vaunted Israel airport security.  We had a number of "checkpoints" at which we were pleasantly interrogated--prior to getting to the X-ray screening which seemed less intrusive than in the US (shoes on, liquids in the carry on). 

As we had discussed, the international legs of the trip were on United Business First, though this time I was in a window seat, which was not optimal.  At one point, a stewardess asked me if I were willing to move to another window seat (apparently there was some movement afoot), and I said no thank you, I would move only for an aisle as I was quite comfortable.  A few minutes later, one of the women from our group came up to the empty aisle seat next to me and said, "I heard you don't like windows--I don't like aisles--want to switch".  Heaven.

Because I was in the Holy Land, I was particularly aware of the cardinal sins that I was committing, especially gluttony.  I decided to make the airplane flight my first step toward self-improvement and eschewed the gourmet dinner that was served at midnight, deciding instead to revisit the latest Bond film (classic) and then go to sleep.  Which is what I did, waking up a short 3 hours from our destination and almost immediately having a flight attendant offer me a cup of coffee.  I finished with Bond, was served breakfast (I passed on the "main course".  Who eats breakfast courses, by the way?), chatted pleasantly with my seat-mate and then the flight was over.

We arrived at Newark at 0400 in the morning, so the trip through customs, etc, was short.  I was the second person to enter the complex.  My flight to National Airport was scheduled for 0918, but a well-meaning fellow traveler said that there was an earlier United Express flight (0630) and that she had sometimes been able to get on it.  So I raced from international arrivals to the A concourse, only to be told when I got to the United Express counter that no such flight existed and my 0918 flight was the first one.  Oh, and it is back in the terminal from which you just came.

Back to terminal C for the five hour wait for my next flight.  Except it wasn't five--it was 8.  On a beautiful Sunday morning across the entire eastern half of the US, United STILL managed a three hour delay our our flight, the second leg of the day for this particular plane.  So the morning was spent reading, emailing, chatting with friends and having a random conversation with Bill Cowher, former Steelers coach, while in the United Lounge.

We eventually made it to National, I got into the Jag, fired up the AC and drove to hearth and home, where I've been luxuriating since.

Some closing thoughts on Israel:

--I'm in the tank, and always have been. This trip did nothing to change that.
--I got a much better sense of the strength of the magnetic draw of Israel to the world's Jews.  Something I simply hadn't considered before.
--Because the Palestinians are split--physically (Gaza, West Bank) is not nearly as important as their political split (Hamas, Fatah).  I don't have much hope for Secretary Kerry's energetic ramblings in the region.
--A tour bus with WiFi is a gift from God.

Israel Day 8: Jerusalem: Closing Thoughts

We have three blissful hours to ourselves this afternoon after a solid week of planned activities--ok, that's a little bit of a lie--we've had a bit of free time here and there.  But it has been pretty busy nonetheless.  We will gather in three hours to head  out to our farewell dinner, then to the the airport to await our twelve hour flight home. I just discovered that I have a window seat, so I'll try and trade with one of my new homies for an aisle.

Some of the group have gone out to enjoy one last walk through the Old City.  While we are still in the Sabbath--meaning the Jewish Quarter is largely shut down, the Arab and Christian Quarters remain open for business.  I have yet to figure out what the fourth "quarter" is.  Yet another mystery of the Middle East. I have eschewed the afternoon walk, as it is mighty hot out and I have happened upon another serendipity.  I  called the hotel spa today as soon as we arrived from the Dead Sea (more on that) to see if they had an opening on the massage table this afternoon--and was disappointed to find out that they had nothing until after 7PM.  So I made myself a cup of Nescafe (yum) and sat down to begin this post.  Soon thereafter, the nice man from the spa called to tell me he could fit me in at 5PM.  So I have about forty minutes or so to screw around on the internet before going to my room to pack, as there won't be a lot of time in between the end of the massage and our departure.

In this morning's post, I skipped over the wonderful dinner experience we had last night in the home of two lovely Israelis, Jonathan and Naomi.  Parents of 5 children (only one of whom was home, bright and social David, 10), David is a Professor of Classics and Naomi is a worker at a non-profit.  They conducted for us a traditional Friday evening Shabbat supper, replete with prayers, singing, superb conversation, and a ridiculous amount of really good food.  Pretty much worldwide on Friday evenings, observant Jews do pretty much the same thing.  It is a grand ritual, and something to be considered for implementation in my own routine.  We couldn't have asked for more gracious hosts to help most of us experience our first Shabbat.

Both David and Naomi emigrated from America.  Both are outgoing, friendly, and admittedly politically liberal.  I had a wonderfully comical back and forth over dinner with Naomi, telling her about a TV show in America called "Family Ties" in which two very liberal parents have among their children a very conservative son.  I pointed at David and told her of my high hopes that David might be the next "Alex P. Keaton" of Israel.  She laughed and assured me that I didn't have to vest my hopes in young David, as her oldest was currently working at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan and was an ardent capitalist.

Which brings me to another sticky situation I've encountered here in Israel.  I simply don't know what to make of the American immigrants.  I am really conflicted over the concept of dual citizenship.  Here's what I mean.

I am an American of Irish extraction.  But the thought of emigrating to Ireland does not ever cross my mind, nor am I aware that there has ever been a significant "back to Ireland movement" akin to Zionism within the extended worldwide Irish diaspora.  We have met several people in our visit who left the US for Israel, some meaning to stay permanently and some who came temporarily and decided to stay.  Most left the US shortly after high school or college.  In order for anyone to understand what I'm going to try to convey here, I have to stipulate that the experience of the Jewish people worldwide throughout history and their historic tie to this land trump most other ethno-religious connections.  There simply isn't within the concept of "Irishness" a magnetic cultural and religious yearning which draws successive generations back.  I get that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I have a tremendous amount of respect for the State of Israel--and that I cannot quibble with the individual decisions Jews have made over the years to move here--I have a problem with their retention of American citizenship and the concomitant extension of that citizenship to THEIR children (presumably ad infinitum).  Put another way, I find myself saying "you made a choice. Stop hedging your bets".  This feeling flows from my own sense of place--and that is, the United States.  I cannot conceive of my attachment to the United States and all that it stands for being any less strong than the forces which drew full-blooded native born Americans to Israel.  There is room for no other loyalty, at least in my tiny world-view.  Jonathan said at the table that he feels "fully American".  And as the rules of engagement at the table were Israeli cage match variety, I took him on, and told him flat out that such a statement was inconceivable.  He was clearly not fully American.  If anything, he was mostly Israeli.  After a bit of back and forth, he conceded my point, and even went as far as to say that as an immigrant, he will never feel completely Israeli.

Again, I'm being obtuse.  Here's the point:  Israel is worth living and dying for.  Most of these folks who emigrated served their requisite three years in the Army and many have seen combat.  Commit to it. THIS is your country.  Whatever reason you continue to hold an American passport for is not that you continue to be an American.  Now I do understand that both Israeli and American law permit this--but it rubs me the wrong way.  I understand the desire to be an Israeli--I simply don't understand the desire to do it half way.

Ok, enough heaviness.

We awoke this morning early and headed to Masada, site of a great battle in 73 AD between rebellious Jews and the Roman Army.  Some of you may know the outcome already--but in the end, the 967 Jews committed suicide rather than submit to the Romans.  Herod the Great constructed the citadel as one of a network of 7 such installations outside of Jerusalem, but this battle occurred long after Herod had died.  Sitting atop a large mountain, Masada appeared impregnable.  As we toured, I continued to wonder how the Romans force the Jews to suicide, and I suppose I settled on their having starved the Jews out.  But this is incorrect; the Jews committed suicide with full larders, in essence saying, "we will die now with full cupboards rather than submit to slavery".  As incredible an accomplishment of engineering and architecture as Masada was, the Romans topped it--by building a "siege ramp" from the base of the mountain to near the ramparts of the fortress.  This was done under fire--every day, day after day, over the course of what must have been months.  Quite an accomplishment.

After Masada, we continued south along the Dead Sea to a spa where we all put on our bathing suits and floated in the Dead Sea, something the Russian and Russian/Israeli tourists found quite entertaining.  If this had appeared on my bucket list, it was now crossed off, but I'm not sure that it did.  Glad I did it though...good bonding experience with my group homies.

And now the trip consists of a massage, a dinner, and a flight.

Thank you to the America Israel Political Action Committed and the America Israel Education Foundation for having me along on this fascinating week.  Thanks to Tom and Esther who served as our minders, and Avi, our wonderfully informative tour guide. And thanks to Richard Goodman, whose family foundation helps to fund AIEF.

I've got to go.  Need to get ready for my massage.

Israel Day 8: Saturday Morning, Tel Aviv

This is our last day in Israel; later tonight after a full day, we'll decamp to the airport for another blissful overnight business class conveyance home.  We'll have a farewell dinner as a group, so I won't feel any obligation to stay awake even for a little bit of the dinner they'll serve at an ungodly hour.  No, as soon as all the silly announcements are made, I'll be flattening to horizontal and heading off to la-la land.

I awoke yesterday at the hotel at Nof Ginosar Kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee.  Our day was spent primarily in two pursuits--the first was to experience Jesus' ministry (which occurred primarily in this area) through visits to various sites associated with that time (Sermon on the Mount, when he appeared to the Apostles for the last time), and second was a trip up into the Golan Heights to talk about the Syrians.  We'd previously been down south to talk about the border with Gaza and tangentially Egypt (with whom Israel has a peace treaty), and up north at the Lebanese border.  Now we focused on Syria.  This was made somewhat more difficult by the ongoing Syrian civil war and the fact that on Thursday, several rockets had been fired into the Golan. So we did not go where we originally were scheduled--which was to Eastern Golan where we would have a view of Syria, concentrating instead on a scenic overlook from Western Golan looking down into the fertile Israeli plains below.

Israel took the Golan from Syria in the 1967 War, with the intent to make it a security buffer.  Like the Sinai Peninsula, it provided them with strategic depth, and also a bargaining chip for future peace negotiations. Unlike the Sinai--which went back to Egypt as a result of the Camp David accords, the Golan remains very much Israeli territory.  Though I believe they deal this away too for the right peace treaty with Syria.  Syria however, remains a problem, and its current civil war does not make things easier.

We finished our day with a wonderful Shabbat meal at the home of an Israeli couple, something I'd like to tell you about but must save for later as we're leaving early today to get started in order to beat anticipated heat. 

This Administration is in Trouble

News yesterday and today about Verizon having to turn over daily cellphone records (presumably other carriers received the same order) and many social media servers being back-doored by NSA contributes to the serious bleeding that the Administration is suffering. Add this to the IRS issue, the AP/Fox News over-reach, and the cover-up of the Benghazi response, and we're left with a picture of a Presidency in trouble.  But there are cautions here for Republicans.

First, there can be no disputing it.  Mr. Obama's view of a positive and benign federal government--is increasingly coming under fire. This is because he has so broadened Uncle Sam's scope and reach into everyday lives, that when excesses occur, they are truly excessive.  That's some of what we're seeing now. 

Additionally, he continues to be exposed as an opportunistic hypocrite.  The man ran in 2008 on a platform that continually criticized the sitting President for his over-reach in the war on terror--and in office, he has not only continued Bush's programs, but he has amped them up.  This is undoubtedly what we will find in this Prism/NSA issue. 

But a word of caution to Republicans--unless you are a libertarian, I'd recommend restricting criticism of the President to the hypocrisy charge.  With respect to the Verizon and Prism issues, I am pretty certain the record will show that the administration followed the law and obtained valid rulings from the FISA court. The laws in question are ones Republicans supported enthusiastically, save for our Libertarian friends.  Let's not all of a sudden try and convince ourselves that we didn't support the Patriot Act.

Israel Day 7: Friday Morning, Sea of Galilee

Sorry to have kept you, but I was busy enjoying myself in the company of the delightful people with whom I am traveling.  I deem them thusly for two reasons--first, because they are.  Irrespective of our widely disparate political ideologies, this is a literate, conversational and incredibly interesting group of traveling companions. Their company is wholly acceptable. Secondly, I write this because several of them have become readers of the blog, at least for period of this trip.

Additionally, our tour guide (Avi), previously identified in this blog as a "50 year old" from "Manhattan" wishes for the record to be corrected to indicate that he is "48" and from "Brooklyn".

Our day started out yesterday with a visit to Yemin Orde, something known here as a "youth village".  The best I can describe it is to compare it to my understanding of what "Boys Town" does or did in the past.  A place for at risk youth, Yemin Orde provides a comforting, supportive, structures and loving place for kids who might otherwise wind up on the margins of this society.  From what I could tell, the students were dominated by two groups--Ethiopian immigrants and Russian Immigrants.  To understand modern Israel, one has to understand the large influx of two groups which have added immeasurably to the polyglot society here.

The first are the Ethiopian Jews.  I gotta tell you, the sight of a young black man walking around in a yarmelke makes one take a second look the first time one sees it.  Google "Ethiopian Jews", and "Operation Moses" to read about the Herculean efforts undertaken in the 1980's to bring this group of Jews to Israel.  At some point in history, Judaism came to a group of Ethiopians.  There are several theories as to how, but the point is they were largely cut off from the rest of Jewry until the late 18th century, and remained largely isolated from the rest until the 80's.  Considered to be not fully Ethiopian by the Ethiopians, most of the people who grew up Jewish in Ethiopia believed that they were the last remaining Jews in the world.  When Operation Moses (and other events) brought them to Israel, many of the young kids were shocked to see all these white Jews.  To hear them tell it is a very funny story.

The second group of immigrants were Jews from the former Soviet Union, a million of whom emigrated after the fall of the Wall, increasing Israel's population by 20%.  Think about what a 20% increase in people would mean in the US.

Yemin Orde's mission is to help at risk youth of all Israel, but particularly from among these populations.  I found the visit to be incredibly uplifting--good people trying to make a difference in the lives of kids in a place where they may not naturally feel they fit in very well.

After Yemin Orde, we headed North--about as far north as one can go in this country, where we visited an Army outpost near where Israel, Syria and Lebanon all come together.  The area is, as you can imagine, a place where there has been much mischief in the past.  UN Forces "occupy" a buffer between the Israelis and their neighbors--who appear to be either peaceful Lebanese and Syrians or Hizzbolah terrorists.   In many cases the distinctions are fuzzy.  We were briefed by an IDF Major, a man of about 35 or so who struck me as a hardened combat veteran.  Articulate and well-informed, he gave us a pretty straightforward assessment of the situation, a who's who in the zoo so to speak. 

We then headed back south to the area of the Sea of Galilee, to our hotel--the lobby of which is providing me the wifi I currently exploit to write this post.  We dined at a nice restaurant right on the water last night, and because we did not have a speaker, the conversation amongst group members was very lively, fueled by what was commonly believed to be tasty Israeli wine.  The group dynamic continued back at our hotel, where the friendly barkeep was solicitous to the group's needs. 

We are nearing the end of the trip, and I'm getting the feeling I always get when I rent a place at the Outer Banks...damn, it's nearly over.  The weather has been sublime, the speakers uniformly interesting, the company first-rate, and the logistics superbly executed.  A lot has been packed in thus far, and I have accreted a great deal of information around an already fairly solid core of understanding. 

I must to the room to pack up for today's movement.  We'll be walking in the footsteps of Jesus today.

Israel Day 5: Wednesday Evening, Tel Aviv

It is a good thing that I decided not to begin anything resembling a diet and exercise program before coming on this trip.  I am eating to excess and exercising not a whit.  And enjoying myself immensely.  It is nearly 10:45 PM Israel time, and I just returned to the hotel from yet another wonderful, gut busting dinner.  Our speakers were two members of the Israeli Press, very good friends and colleagues who worked well off of each other.  Both were experts in the not insignificant number of security challenges Israel has.

We started the day with an interesting and ethically challenging interaction.  We headed south toward Gaza, home of Hamas and the source of innumerable rocket attacks on the cities and villages near them in Israel.  We stopped first in Sderot and talked a bit about living constantly under the threat of rocket and or missile attack.  It was a beautiful, sunny peaceful day, and I have to admit to thinking things a little surreal.  Life was going on around us, children playing, etc.  But take a look at the Wiki article I linked to above, and read about the traumatization that is occurring there.  From Sderot, we headed to a kibbutz that is even closer to Gaza; there we were met by a woman who gave us a very personal idea of the toll that the rocket attacks are taking on the people of her kibbutz (the last attack having been 2.5 weeks ago).

What was ethically challenging about the event was the degree to which I judged this woman.  Let me explain.

She grew up in a peaceful, happy kibbutz before the Oslo peace accords gave the Palestinians control of Gaza.  Their life was a socialist workers paradise, and they enjoyed what sounded to be peaceful relations with their Arab neighbors in Gaza.  She went off to the Army and remained away from the kibbutz for eight additional years, during which time she married, had a child, worked in Tel Aviv, and (presumably) divorced (there was a mention of many family members, but no mention of a husband or father to her child).  She decided at some point to move back and raise here son in the kibbutz where she grew up.

When Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally in 2005, the attacks on her kibbutz began. These are rocket and mortar attacks, with short time of flight and virtually no warning, at least for the first volley.  These attacks over time had taken their toll on this woman.  I'm not a trained mental health professional, but within about ten minutes of her talking, I whispered to one of our merry band, "this woman is damaged."  The more she talked, the more she reinforced this notion.  Eventually, she simply came out and admitted as much. 

What I found so ethically challenging was the fact that she was raising a son there.  She then began to tell us of his various psychological problems, each of which she attributed to the atmosphere in which he was growing up.  Here is where I really began to judge her.  She as an adult, with agency, can decide to come and go as she pleases.  She has chosen to stay in a kibbutz that the IDF is challenged to protect (more on this in a second), and it is obviously traumatizing her.  But her son has no choice.  He has to stay.  She could have moved and raised her son in an area of Israel less in the line of fire.  Then she told us that her information was that 70-90% of the children raised under these conditions have developed behavioral issues directly attributable to growing up under fire.  This really got to me.  There she stays, growing more and more traumatized as her son grows up with troubling behavioral and psychological problems. 

But she stays.  She stays because "this is my home".  She stays because of the baked in Israeli phobia stemming from "never again".  In this case, not about the Holocaust, but about being kicked out of their homeland.  There is a powerful, magnetic draw to Jews around the world to this place.  It is more than a place--it is an idea.  And I believe this woman was willing to die for that idea and to take her son with her. Again, this is the judgment I have been wrestling with. 

Basically speaking, all of Israel is in range of somebody's missiles or mortars.  So when I raised my qualms about this woman's choices with our hosts, their answer was essentially, "where would she go? Everywhere is in range of someone".  Yes, this may be true.  But there is a basic physics problem that leads to a basic military problem--that is, the closer the target is to the servicing weapon, the more difficult it is to defend against.  Israel is loaded with sophisticated systems designed to shoot down long, medium and short range ballistic missiles--but mortars and short range rockets are an entirely different military problem.  And in the short visit to the area that I was part of, I assessed that there was an insufficient level of defense of the area to provide this woman--and presumably others like her--a sense of safety.

Now part of this is a function of "what is sufficient"?  She pointed to this during her talk, in that the if an attack appears headed into an open space (that is, does not target a structure or critical infrastructure), it is not aggressively intercepted.  While this may be militarily sound, the explosion it causes in the vicinity of structures (people, houses, schools) contributes to their growing traumatization.  To her, there is little difference in an attack that hits a house and one that hits the yard surrounding it--because we're dealing with terror weapons whose target is the will of the population. 

I came away from this visit a little shaken, wondering why it was that the Israeli government didn't just shut this kibbutz down and evacuate its people.  This is the American in me.  This is the pragmatic military man speaking.  But I'm not an Israeli.  I don't have the psychology of an Israeli.  And I probably won't be able to get my arms around why that woman stays there.

After a hearty lunch at the kibbutz, we bussed back to Tel Aviv, with much of the bus napping for much of the trip.  Once back, we met with a Major General in the IDF; infantry, special forces.  Right out of central casting.  The kind of guy you want on your side.  Whatever your side is.  He discussed with us the various military challenges associated with defending a country of Israel's size, with as many groups around it that wish it ill.  He was the kind of guy who probably gives Israelis a great sense of confidence in their military.

Then it was back to the hotel for a bit of shopping, a nap and dinner.

Many of you probably face the same challenges I do when it comes to the buying of trinkets for your loved ones.  Simply put. my taste appears to conflict with all three of the Kittens.  Interestingly enough, this extends to all spheres and all trinkets.  I sometimes feel that I shouldn't spend too much time and energy deciding on what I get them, as I will invariably select something that will find its way to the Church Sale.  That said, I got my game face on and shopped for the three of them, selecting baubles that I hoped would be acceptable to them and that were very nice to my ill-trained eye.  My return on Sunday will determine if my nearly unbroken record of shopping failure continues.

Ok--long day tomorrow.  Don't know if I will have internet tomorrow night, so you may not hear from me again until Friday night Israel time.

Be good.

Israel Day 4: Tuesday Evening, Tel Aviv

I sit with my back to the patio of my beachfront room in Tel Aviv, a bustling, modern city on the Mediterranean Coast.  The sliding door is open, and I am treated to the competing sounds of surf and city, which combine in a not displeasing way.  We arrived here about an hour ago after a full day, about which I will write in a bit.  We leave for dinner with some Israeli think tankers in about an hour, so I should be able to squeeze this out without rush.

As we neared the hotel, I asked one of our Israeli hosts about nearby cigar shops, hoping to nab one or two of my beloved Macanudo Portofinos.  His eyes lit immediately, as he is an aficionado.  Less than a quarter of a mile's walk from the hotel, he described a fine shop, one that he himself would hit at some point during our visit.  As soon as I checked in, I proceeded with alacrity to the shop.  Of course, with access to Cubans, why would I hope for my brand to be in stock.  It wasn't of course, so I asked for a very mild cigar and was sold a Montecristo Open.  Cubans tend to make my head spin, so I'll tell you how this works out.

Yesterday morning, we had a breakfast with an Israeli official with deep experience in negotiating with the Palestinians.  You'd think that after nearly twenty years of it, he'd be jaded--but he had a great attitude and steadfastly maintained that some talk is better than no talk, even if there look to be no results in the offing.  The talks on this trip are off the record, but I can characterize them as I wish.  This guy was the real deal--very smart, very knowledgeable, and very likely a skilled negotiator.

After a trip to the holy sites of Jerusalem, we proceeded to the Knesset where we met with three different members of the 120 seat chamber (unicameral).  All were very impressive, and they gave us a great tour-d'horizon of Israeli domestic and foreign affairs issues.  One was from the government, a member of one of the coalition parties (not Netanyahu's), and the other two were of the opposition Labor Party.  The final guy we met with was this fellow, Issac Herzog.  I'm naming him only as a way of thanking him--because he really went out of his way to make the group feel special, leading us on a tour of the building and taking us into the Knesset chamber while it was in session. 

Our dinner speaker was a former investment banker turned Israeli entrepreneur.  Like many of the people I'm meeting on this trip, he's a dual citizen, born and raised in the US.  He'd been in Israel for 16 years and raised his family here.  Brilliant guy--sorta the classic broker/banker type--enthusiastic, very social, very interesting.  He gave us a great presentation on the booming Israeli economy, and at one point, I got him to say something that was really, really meaningful to our ideologically mixed group (there are a couple of good  folks from liberal think tanks with us). He was running down all the reasons for the growth of the Israeli economy, and I said to him, "yeah, but those have always been features of Israeli society--why now?"  He answered very clearly..."the government turned from socialism to capitalism".  I wanted to cheer.

This morning we piled onto our bus for a trip to Yad Veshem Holocaust Memorial.  Wow.  Unreal.  A powerful, powerful place full of a catalog of unparalleled evil. We had little headsets on over which our tour guide talked us through, but we had only two hours so we moved very quickly.  Too quickly.  I could have lingered over the photographs for hours.  Scary.  Haunting.  The place was full of young IDF soldiers and we were told that every recruit visits with his unit, and every senior NCO and commander visits.  Since everyone serves in the Army, this means they all come through.  I found myself really considering the merits of national service, seeing all these young men walking around in a museum central to their nation's history.  I realize it is easy for me who volunteered to serve to feel this way, but I couldn't help but feel there would be merit in national service in the US.  Though on a practical level, I wonder how it would work.

After this, we got off our posh Israeli bus (wifi equipped!) and got onto a posh Arab bus.  Why?  Because we were driving into Ramallah, a Palestinian West Bank town to have lunch with the outgoing Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, Salam Fayyed and we couldn't take an Israeli bus in!  An instantly impressive man. We had talked about him on the way there, hearing about his five years at PM and the fact that he had recently resigned, soon to be replaced.  He was apparently a "make the trains run on time" kind of guy, who lowered crime, improved health and education, and improved the economy.  But he had no PLO cred, he wasn't a member of Hamas or Fattah, and he never really had the love of the people or the President (Abu Mazzen).  I really enjoyed this meeting.

Afterward, we sat with a renowned pollster of Palestinian public opinion, who seemed to reinforce my growing sense that for the time being, nothing really important is going to happen between the Israelis and the Palestinians, irrespective of Secretary Kerry's energetic diplomacy.

Well, there are forty minutes left until I have to meet the group for dinner.  Maybe a short nap.  Until tomorrow, friends. 

Israel Day 4: Tuesday Morning

Gotta make this one quick, as the tour overlords want us to deliver our bags down in the lobby in fifteen minutes.

Yesterday was a whirlwind...we met with some incredibly interesting folks--started out with breakfast with a guy who has spent a great deal of his life negotiating with the Palestinians and others.  Probably one of the smartest, most interesting guys I've ever met.  Then it was off to the Old City to tour--Mount of Olives, Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, etc.  I've seen it all before, but it remains a meaningful experience.  You could spend days in Jerusalem--I have--but a few hours was all we got. 

The point of even going was to demonstrate the confluence of the three great monotheistic religions--they are all there, right on top of each other.  Within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, there are probably three or four different Christian denominations who can't even seem to get their act together with respect to who is in charge of what.  A mess.

After lunch in Jerusalem--we headed over the the Knesset--the Israeli parliament. More on this later.

Dinner was at a restaurant in town with a duel Israeli/US entrepreneur who gave us a great talk on "Start-Up Nation"--the serious revolution in high tech going on in Israel.  The guy was fascinating.  Probably more on this later too--gotta go.  Luggage guys will be pissed...

Fifth Anniversary of The Conservative Wahoo!

Well folks, this month marks the fifth anniversary (June 25) of the very first CW post.

How should we solemnify the this grand occasion?

Ideas?

I'd personally like to see Goldwater's Ghost return as a guest blogger....place hasn't been the same without him.

Israel Travel Log--Day 3: Early Morning, Jerusalem

The little clock on the bottom of my computer says 3:56 AM.  It is only this late as I write you because I laid in bed for at least nearly an hour refusing to accept the fate that jet lag had dealt me.  Alas, I am its victim, and my first full day of events in Israel starts in about a three hour hole.

When last we spoke (wrote? typed? read?), I was in the United Club awaiting the departure of our flight.  In the interim, we flew, landed, checked-in, dined/discussed, walked about and slept.  Which brings me to now.

Let's start with the flight.  As I preened the other day, the good folks at AIEF sprung for Business Class, which on this particular 777 is "business/first" combined.  I can't even begin to tell you how sublime it was.  Not only because it was wonderful, but because I slept for nearly eight of the ten hours of the flight.  Having earlier in the evening had a petite filet, the gourmet dinner waiting for me pretty much went to waste.  There were three presumably wonderful entree choices available, but I asked only for the shrimp cocktail and a glass of water.  These consumed and removed by the helpful flight attendant, less than an hour into the flight I reclined my seat/bed to its full, flat position.  I awoke to the sound of a breakfast-like meal being served and the plane heading southeast over Greece.  I cannot begin to tell you how happy I was--bagging nearly eight hours of sleep and waking in time for a meal.  That friends, is good fortune.  So I had a cuppa joe, a little omelet and fruit, and prepared myself for landing.


Flying into Israel, one could be convinced that the topography was actually Southern California.  Heavily built up, areas of desert populated with great expanses of green for as far as the eye can see.  This is a bustling, busy, on the move country.  Things get done here, and it stands in stark contrast to the condition of many of its neighbors.  We landed at the beautiful Tel Aviv airport and cleared customs without much trouble.  Although the young man who interrogated me seemed put off that I didn't have my boarding pass with me. Nor did he appear to accept the explanation that in my view, the boarding pass had served its purpose already.

About half of our group checked a bag, half did what I did and stuffed everything into a carry on.   I thought it would be cool to have shipped five or six empty steamer trunks so that as we stood around baggage claim I could make a big ruckus over my baggage train like some Hollywood star, just to get things off on a good foot with the others.  We collected ourselves up into our little think-tanky band and got on the bus for the ride to Jerusalem.

We have a "tour-guide" for our bus travel, a guy of about fifty with a heavy New York accent.  He is wonderfully educated (MA at UVA, natch), friendly and chatty, qualities I respect in a guide.  Born and raised in Manhattan, he emigrated to Israel twenty five years ago or so.  I am going to enjoy his role in this week.

We made a little loop around the newer parts of Jerusalem en route to our hotel, stopping at a scenic overlook to gaze upon the Old City in the distance.  This really is a beautiful place.  The Old City is quite a small part of modern Jerusalem, sprawling over several hills and through many neighborhoods of various ethnicity and faith.  I am not including photos out of a bit of a logistics problem.  I have a digital camera, but no way to get the trons into the computer.  I have a cellphone with camera, but no way to charge it--having left the charger at home because I figured I wouldn't need the cellphone.  So you'll just have to use your ample imaginations when I describe things to you.

Our hotel is a nice one, modern, with free wifi (I am getting militant about paying for wifi--I realize I sound like a high-tech welfare queen, but the better the hotel in the US, the more likely you are to have to pay for wifi. Ridiculous.).  We had only a short time between arriving and having to gather for our first discussion and dinner--both of which turned out to be enjoyable.  We met with a wonderfully sociable Israeli newspaper editor who helped frame the major issues and challenges facing modern Israel.  Poor fellow had a tough time finding the opportunity to take bites at his feast, as the policy wonks surrounding him at the table had a stream of questions for him (yes, including me.  I embrace my inner wonk).  Afterward, we went for a stroll around the neighboring part of Jerusalem before calling it a night.  Our hosts told us that they do that (the evening stroll) to extend the day a bit further, as they found that if guests went right to sleep after the first event, they wound up waking up at 0200.  Well, they were right.  The hour long walk bought me another hour.

Some observations?  First, I love Nescafe.  I should have written about this last summer when Tom and I traveled to South Africa--but I didn't.  I love the way much of the world continues to take its coffee through little instant packs of Nescafe.  Do you remember when Nescafe was popular in the US?  I do.  Instant coffee used to be EVERYWHERE.  But we've become coffee snobs, what with our single serving Keurig command centers dutifully producing a perfectly brewed cup of Free-Range Cobra Black Fair Trade Coffee within seconds of replacing the spent cartridge therein.  The rest of the world is still tough--pouring a little hot water into a mug with the brown shards of instant magic on the bottom.  And the taste?  Wonderful.  I grabbed a cup before dinner as our group was assembling last night--at a table provided (I soon came to find out) for another group at the hotel and their meeting.  Seeing the bounty (of Nescafe) on the table, I sidled over and poured myself a cup.  No problem.  Though I apparently started a trend, as others in my group tried the same thing and were shooed away, as the much sought after Nescafe was NOT FOR US.

Next, pushing two separate beds with separate bed linens together does not make a larger bed. It makes for a larger floor covering, but you can only sleep in one small bed at a time.  Love this hotel, but I am sleeping in a twin bed, for all intents and purposes.

(Just poured Nescafe #2--sublime.  Smells like heaven)

What's up with "shower gel"?  Who actually uses it, and why would one choose it over a bar of soap?  I took a quick pre-dinner shower last night and was disappointed to only find shower gel. How inefficient it is. This morning, I espied a bar of soap that I had overlooked last night, so I'll be saved from the indignity of trying to spread a liquid rapidly dissipating through my fingers over my estimable girth.  Speaking of girth, I will eat, drink, and be merry this week, for when I return to Easton, it is time to get serious.  No, really.  Serious.

Ok, that's all for now.  Perhaps a little later at the end of a long day.

Israel Travel Log--Day 1: Saturday Night Newark Airport

Flew out of National Airport earlier this afternoon and just finished a steak dinner here at Newark Airport with one of my fellow travelers, a guy I know from the DC Navy and Political scenes.  We're now seated in the United Club, awaiting the departure of our flight to Tel Aviv.  Flight is a little over 10 1/2 hours, right through the midst of my normal sleep cycle.  I'm quite sure I'll sleep through most of it.

As I indicated yesterday, I am--as is my custom--in full dork travel rig.  A white UVA ball cap, a white t-shirt from my trip to St. Croix three years ago, the ever-present Adidas track pants, brown walking shoes and a blue blazer.  The blazer really comes in handy because of all the pockets, great places to stow stuff as I work my way through security.  I am undertaking this trip in true Tom McGrath style--just a simple wheeled carry on bag and a smallish knapsacky kind of thing for my various computing devices.  I have this laptop, an iPad, an iPod, a cell phone, and a digital camera.  I've got more computing power than the entire North Korean nuclear program with me.

I am here in the splendor of the United Club not by virtue of the usual $50 payment, but on the basis of the kind seating arrangements the folks from AIEF have arranged for us to fly to and from Israel.  Biz class both ways, baby.  That means club access.  Flat seats.  Wide aisles.  Helpful flight attendants ("can I take your jacket, sir?") When I was invited to take part in this trip, I must admit that I hoped it would be thus, but I did not expect it.  A great way to travel.

This is a nice airport, Newark.  Easy to get in and out of.  Good places to eat, and plenty of shopping for those so inclined.  I like flying in and getting a good look at the New York skyline--including the new World Trade Center.  Such a powerful looking city.  I think that if I die without having lived there (Manhattan), I will not consider it a true "regret", but it is somewhere on the list of things I'd like to do someday.

A few minutes ago, I read  that the President played golf today.  Good for him.  He deserves to get out and hit a few.  What surprised me was that the round took 5.5 hours, and was played on a military course at Fort Belvoir. Since I cannot believe that he doesn't have a hole ahead of him and a hole behind him to himself--or at least that there isn't a foursome right in front of him--my sense is that he has the course essentially to himself.  How the hell does it take 5.5 hours to play a round of golf when no one holds you up and you are driving golf carts?  Quite a few Mulligans, I suspect.

As I am missing the older Kitten's graduation, I must be careful not to cause undo churn upon my return.  This means that I will likely remain clean shaven throughout this visit.  Were this not the case, I'd get a head start on the two weeks of vacationish downtime I'm planning when I return from this trip and get a good beard going.  The women of my house consider the growing of a beard to be an act of great defiance on my part, a follicular  "thumbing my nose" at their view of all that is clean and wholesome in mankind.  I, on the other hand, believe a week or two's worth of growth adds a rakish angle to the cut of my jib.  I can assure you, if the Kitten goes through with her plan of doing a little travel this summer, I will grow the full Monty.

On the three TV screens above the bar are three different sporting events; the NHL playoffs, the NBA playoffs and a Yankees/Red Sox game.  I could not care less about the hockey.  I have no idea who is playing of in what stage the playoff is.  I am mildly interested in the outcome of the basketball, as I've come to be a pretty fair LeBron James fan (is that how his name is spelled by the way?).  But my eye keeps wandering to the baseball, not even a third of the way into the season.  I am determined to watch more baseball this year.  And to golf more.  Haven't done either, but both are goals.  I am going to a minor league game later this month, so I got that going for me.

Ok, that's enough for now.  I don't think I'll get around to another entry until tomorrow night (Sunday) just before bed.  But by then, the journey will be well underway.  Until then....

Definitely One of the Coolest Things I've Ever Seen

Kit's name is Titus.  What a great name.  I may change mine.

A Passage to Israel

Tomorrow afternoon, about a dozen foreign and defense policy wonks and I will begin a one week trip to Israel, courtesy of the American Israel Education Foundation.  During the trip, my compatriots and I will spend each day in meetings and briefs designed to baseline us on what the current security issues are there on the ground.  We'll meet with political types, foreign policy types, press, and defense experts.  We'll meet with Palestinian representatives. We'll meet with entrepreneurs.

I've been to Israel several times before, courtesy of the U.S. Navy.  I do very much enjoy it there.  And as readers know, I'm a vocal proponent of a strong U.S./Israel partnership based on mutual interests and obligations. 

The folks at AIEF asked me to do this trip last year, but I had to decline due to a work conflict.  When they called again this year, my work schedule was clear--but there was a huge personal conflict.  Kitten #1 is graduating from 8th Grade during the trip.  I spoke with the Kitten about the trip, and she remembered that I had to turn the trip down last year.  With her blessing (and Kitten #1), I got my travel pass.  Very mixed emotions about this, made even moreso by the announcement this week that Kitten #1 will be one of two featured graduation speakers :( 

I inquired from the AIEF people whether a bloglog of this trip would be acceptable with them, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds me, so to speak. Aside from some common sense privacy and security considerations, I got the green light--so look for a series of posts in the week to come. 

For those interested, I will travel betracksuited.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

What's got you down, Bub?  No one coming to your off the record interview?  Can't find any Conservative groups to harass? 

Get it off your chest, Mate!