A Thought about Berman-Sherman and Democrats

Aside from sharing a line in Randy Newman’s hit song “I Love LA” from his Album “Trouble in Paradise”, the South Bay and the Valley have very little in common, but I cannot help getting drawn into the Berman-Sherman race, which for  me is just as important as the Bloomfield-Waxman race in my home district.

There is definitely trouble brewing for the Berman-Waxman machine, which is facing its first test since the two incumbents came to power decades ago.

I got quite a charge out of the heated exchange between Brad Sherman and Howard Berman at Pierce College. “You wanna get into this?” Whoever wins that contest will have to explain to voters why two Democrats who have descended into name-calling and school-yard bullying deserve reelection.

After four years of Barack Obama, I wonder why any Jewish voter would give four more years to that incumbent, who has no record to run on, and has launched nothing but attacks at Romney. After frequent exchanges like the Berman-Sherman explosion, I wonder why so many Jews insist on voting for any Democratic candidates, since they advance nothing but empty hopes, little change, and a lot of mudslinging with no attention to details.

President Obama Has Abandoned North Carolina

Begala Admits Defeat
in North Carolina

state swung for blue state Barack Obama four years ago! Paul Begala, a leader for the pro-Obama Super-PAC Priorities USA Action, has declared in an October 22 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that President Obama has given up on North Carolina, now turning his attention to six other swing states, including Colorado, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

I am not surprised to see the bright red resurgence of conservative Republican principles burst forth from the Old North State. From its established status as colony to statehood to the present day, North Carolina has stood up to entitled elites and centralized control. From the very beginning settlers in South Carolina who resented the plantation aristocracy moved north, taking with them an attachment to individual liberty and private enterprise, setting up log cabin individual, smaller farming operations, and a lesser attachment to large-landed slavery. So began North Carolina, an extension of life and liberty for those who were looking for it.

After the American Revolution, North Carolina stuck to its rugged experience, ratifying the constitution much later than her fellow states (number 12). She was one of the latter states to secede from the Union during the War Between the States, in large part because small farmers and individual artisans had no interest in being pulled along to fight a war for landed slavocrat gentry at the expense of the rest of the South.

How can we forget native son President Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President of the United States, who started in poverty, autodidact Johnson prospered into a master tailor through Southern politics to become the Vice President on the Union Party ticket with Abraham Lincoln. He stood steadfast behind a policy of peaceable reconciliation with the seceding states, and protected the constitutional check and balances of the Presidency against a Radical Congress. Then there's Southern and conservative apologist Jesse Helms and even Red Cross' Elizabeth Dole, two gentle yet powerful figures who did not hide their allegiance to state independence within the federal compact.

Both "right to work" and "right to life", North Carolina has been a right-red state then and now, committed to a legacy of individual liberty, private enterprise, and traditional values. Just this year, the Tar Heel state stuck to the recognition of traditional marriage by constitutional referendum, a position which President Obama openly repudiated, in large part because of his gaffe-prone Vice President announcing Obama's support for a policy out of step with 60%+ of North Carolinians.

I am not surprised that North Carolina is resurrecting its conservative core and rejecting the Obama mantra of "hope and change" which has changed the hope of economic recovery into a more distant verity. With North Carolina's unemployment at 9.6%, the Obama Administration has pursued trillion dollar annual deficits, with failed currency and diminished investment it their wake. ObamaCare, a health insurance mandate with a crippling tax, will hit six million families in the next year, followed by rising premiums, diminished access, and more hospital closures. Let's not forget the aborted Cap and Trade Bill, the failed 2009 stimulus, and a failed energy policy which blocked Keystone and off-shore drilling.

The political climate is shifting against President Obama, whose challenger Mitt Romney has signaled to voters across the country that he has the skill and the will to bring back prosperity to this country. Still, I was surprised that Obama supporter Paul Begala would so freely admit that Obama's election map chances are getting smaller by the minute. Nevertheless, Romney supporters and anti-Obama elements throughout the country should rejoice and thank the voters of North Carolina for shifting support away from four more years of failure and into a new direction of limited government and individual liberty.

Thank you, North Carolina!

Libertarian and Conservative Independents -- Vote for Romney!

I am aware of the “Live Free or Die” motto of the Granite State. I am also well-aware of the “Live and Let Live” Conservatism that dominates the state.

Frankly, I am a big fan of libertarian political theory. Like Paul the apostle, I believe that the sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15: 56). As men are not angels in themselves, laws and governance are needed, but the fewer laws, the better. Free markets, competition, persuasion instead of coercion are the better means for the well-being of a community. As Murray Rothbard believed and received following the dissolution of the Soviet Union

I respect all voters who have registered themselves as libertarians. Less government, more local control, less spending, lower taxes, limited government: I love every little bit of it.

I support an enhance franchise across the country, as well, one in which more states would adopt the same Congressional District method to apportion electoral votes, the same way that Nebraska and Maine have adopted. Two electoral votes for would go to the Presidential candidate who wins the statewide popular vote, while every other electoral vote would be awarded based on winning the majority vote in every Congressional district in the state. This method honors the authority of the states and the people, would put larger, “spectator” states in play, like “liberal-locked” California and “Conservative-caught” Texas, while giving third-parties greater opportunities to win the Presidency.

In the mean-time, two-party dominance is here to stay, and on this note I appeal to every Libertarian and American Independent voter in New Hampshire to forgo their allegiance to their registered party and cast their deciding votes to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

I know his role in implementing a state-wide health insurance mandate in neighboring Massachusetts may offend you, yet at least he outlined a telling and compelling contrast and contradistinction to ObamaCare in the first debate.  I never thought he would bring up ObamaCare in the debate, and I had believed that the issue was enough to sink his chances of winning the nomination. Yet Romney has pledged to repeal ObamaCare once in office, then to implement more market-oriented reforms which will drive down costs while opening up access and competition for greater quality and efficiency.

Over the past month, I have learned much more about Romney the man as much as the candidate. He is a loving father of five sons and a dedicated, honest wife. She will be the first pro-life first lady since the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade! As CEO of Bain Capital, Romney epitomized everything that defines capitalism: taking failing companies and helping them thrive, improve, or close through creative marketing, innovation, or destruction. He got rich through his wealth and investments, and his leadership skills have been put to the test, first by saving the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, with a profit, then administering the state of Massachusetts without raising taxes and working with a state legislature dominated by a Democratic supermajority. During his tenure, he vetoed eight hundred bills, demonstrating a hard-line in enforcing his conservative principles. He has remained pro-life, refusing to sign into law a bill to authorize embryonic stem-cell research.

Romney cares about business, respects free markets, wants to repeal Dodd-Frank.  He may not line up with the unlimited libertarian line, as he has considered rescinding the much-needed draw-down of troops in Afghanistan, yet Romney is anarcho-capitalism compared to the incumbent Barack Obama, whose failed domestic policies have decimated our currency, stagnated our economy, and burdened our future with annual trillion dollar deficits.

New Hampshire’s former governor John Sununu has been leading the charge for Romney across the country and on the Mainstream Media, where the pundits and journalists have nothing but empty talking points to take down the former Governor. In the long run, no libertarian or conservative independent will be throwing his vote away or compromising his principles by voting for Romney. Libertarians and freedom fighters and cautious conservatives of New Hampshire, do not split the vote and give your state to the President who never met a spending bill he did not veto or a tax increase he did not like. Cast your vote for liberty, vote for Romney, and bring back the “Live Free or Die” love of life that this country so desperately needs to see return to us.

Josh Mandel for US Senate

Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel
for US Senate

Ohio is a bellwether state – as Ohio goes, so goes the Presidency – at least, that has been the case for the past fifty years!

And Ohio is going red, conservative, and center-right, just like the rest of the country.

 In 2006, Independent Republican Mike DeWine could not run from his party, a losing brand which also lost control of Congress for the first time in twelve years. His replacement, Sherrod Brown, is an unapologetic progressive, a legislator whose values are out-of-step with the Midwest. Now facing his first reelection battle, Brown has embraced his stock with Barack, to his greater hurt.

Understandably, the state swung for Obama in 2008. Even top-ranking Republicans were commenting that if the GOP was a brand of dog food, stores would have been taking them off the shelf in large quantities. A party which strayed from its message of limited government and constitutional rule, conservatives and Republican voters were seeking “hope and change.”

After four years, voters realize that President Obama has brought change all right, but in the wrong direction. Four years of high unemployment and anemic growth, health insurance mandates which are crippling the industry while driving up costs, and a fiscal policy that is eroding our currency while harming industries across the country must be stopped.

 2010 was a sign of better things to come. Rob Portman took the Senate Seat from resigning moderate George Voinovich, more a thorn in the side of his fellow Republicans than the opposition in the Senate. House Rep John Kasich took the Governor’s mansion, signaling a further conservative resurgence.

Ohioans sent a loud message to Congress, with five Congressional seats flipping to the GOP column. Following the federal census and reapportionment, the Buckeye state lost two seats, which forced one of the most outspoken liberals, two-time Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, out of office following a brutal primary. His defeat is the canary in the coal mine for Obama and his progressive brand of liberal politics, the new brand of dog food that is going off the shelf and into the ash heap of history.

 Senator Brown is soon to follow Kucinich. A brief review of his voting record should be enough to dissuade voters from giving Brown a second term.  At the top of the list, Brown voted for ObamaCare, an overblown and underfunded insurance mandate, now a crippling tax per the Supreme Court, which has driven up the cost of premiums while decreasing the number of available policies. This law imposes overwhelming regulatory burdens on employers and insurance companies. Other deleterious effects of the law include the growing number of illegal immigrants seeking care, yet who cannot be tracked down by the IRS to pay the mandate-fee-tax.  Hospitals are closing because of ObamaCare’s raid on Medicare, including three hospitals in Pennsylvania. ObamaCare failed to deal with the lawsuit abuse that is crippling hospitals, preventing them from purchasing insurance to protect themselves.

 Other notable failures on Brown’s legislative record include the following:

Appropriations, Tax Law Amendments, and Unemployment Benefit Amendments ("Stimulus Bill")

The most misapplied name of all – the “Stimulus” that did not stimulate!

Financial Asset Purchase Authority and Tax Law Amendments – i.e. TARP – Brown voted against free market and a ready recovery by authorizing hundreds of billions to bail out “too big to fail” financial firms, a bailout gone too far.

Earmark Moratorium – Even Missouri’s Claire McCaskill supported ending earmarks!

Offshore Drilling in Virginia – an easy move to bring more energy independence to this country. He also voted against Keystone , putting his party ahead of his state and the best interests of the country.

DREAM Act – a poorly conceived bill which would do nothing to assist undocumented children, instead placing them in a more legally precarious position in this country

Stem Cell Research Hope Act of 2007 – immoral legislation which authorized researchers to take embryos  -- conceived children in vitro.

Brown, one of the most liberal members of the Senate, also supported subsidies for Amtrak, yet refused to support limits on spending. He also voted against closing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two of the prime instigators in the sub-prime mortgage crisis which created the Great Recession.

Sherrod Brown’s challenger, Republican Josh Mandel has served as both state senator and treasurer. He led the charge to divest Ohio funds from Iran, a flagrant civil rights violator with ties to international terrorism. As state treasurer, Mandel ensured that the Buckeye state never passed the buck regarding financial stability and pension protection. While other states saw their investment ratings go down, Ohio retained the highest rank. Protecting Ohio state workers, Mandel terminated  contracts with two banks who were later indicting for overcharging clients. Mandel wants to repeal and replace ObamaCare with a 10 Point Healthcare Plan. He wants to simplify the taxcode and stop the wasteful spending in Washington, something that Brown has failed to do. His keen attention to fiscal matters, protecting the future of taxpayer and the fiscal well-being of his state both signal that Mandel can handle the Senate.

On November 6^th, vote for Josh Mandel for US Senate.

More on Combatting the Heresy of "Baptism for Salvation"

One of the most frequent heresies from taking the Word of out of Christ and context is that men and women must be baptized in water in order to be saved.

Yet even in the Book of Acts, which is a matter of history and not just doctrine, a growing number of instances outline that salvation comes by faith, not by anything that we do.

Peter cut right to the chase about the Gospel:

"6And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." (Acts 15: 6-11)

Peter assembled with other believers when the Judaizers -- of which  "Must be Baptized" belong -- claimed that believers had to abide by the Law of Moses, including circumcision and baptism, in order to be saved. Peter could not have made it clearer: "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved!" Not one mention of water dipping! Water on the outside cannot purify the heart on the inside -- faith does that, for by grace through faith are we saved!

John also declared what Jesus did for us:

"1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 1-2)

If we sin, not "if we confess", but if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus! This same Jesus is  -- right now! -- the propitiation, or the mercy seat for our sins! He has paid for all of our sins. It's up to us to believe that.

And that is what is going on when we read in the Gospel of Mark:

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16: 16)

John the Baptist explained this fully at the beginning of the same Gospel:

"I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." (Mark 1: 8)

Another account in the Book of Acts outlines that faith in Jesus Christ saves, not getting dipped in water:

"31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. " (Acts 16: 31-34)

Paul told them plainly: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!"

Believe! That's it - and that is just too simple for many of us!

Another element which crucially dispells this nonsense about getting dipped in water in order to be saved is that the man who believed washed Paul's stripes, then got baptized. If water baptism were essential to salvation, I imagine that he would have demanded to be dipped in water before washing the missionaries of their wounds!

Another passage outlines that the water baptism did not save anyone,  for the baptism by water does not impart to us the Holy Spirit:

"1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. 7And all the men were about twelve." (Acts 19: 1-7)

These disciples were not yet saved, because they had received the baptism from John, a baptism which was a mere type of the Holy Spirit -- and when Paul laid hand on them to receive the Holy Spirit, as they were then baptized in the name of Jesus -- they received His Holy Spirit, and were saved!

We do not need to be baptized in order to be saved. We get baptized as a sign to the world that we have received saving faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, that He is the propitiation for our sins  -- all, all, all!

So, when I confronted men and women who were convicted that you have to be dipped to be saved, I now realize that they simply did not believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins! So simple, yet so essential. In other instances, I have met men and women who have been told such damning heresies like this one, only to be brought into bondage!

Paul had this to say to such Judaizing elements:

"I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Galatians 5: 12)

Anything more added to all that Jesus has done -- let them be accursed! (Galatians 1:8-9) Paul repeated it so that the Galatians did not forget it!

Later, he explained why the same Judaizers did what they were doing:

"For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh." (Galatians 6: 13)

Oftentimes, man's pride more than anything else pushes him to believe that we must do something else in order to be saved. Mankind simply refuses to believe, all too often.

Receive the grace of God by faith, and Jesus by His Holy Spirit will live in you forever!

My Turn: Disappointments Turn into Opportunities

Life is full of tragedies, no question about it, but I am learning to see how the darkness of my past has made the light of today so much brighter around me.

Before I graduated from high school, UCLA rejected me. I went to UC Irvine, where I majored in two subjects, minored in a third, and learned from world-renowned French thinkers who lectured nowhere else.

I wanted to be a lawyer, but instead I became a teacher. Since then, I have seen it all, and now I write about it, to great acclaim!

My mother abandoned me at the airport when I was fourteen. When I told students in juvenile hall what I went through, they received the comfort of knowing that they were not alone in being abandoned, and that life was far from over for them. My mother passed away this year, but I was at peace with her and myself about it.

I was harassed by one kid as a long-term substitute, only to meet the kid later and shake his hand: “I forgive you!” The next day, he actually walked up to me and shook my hand.  He was the quietest student in the room, the first of many students with whom I not only reconciled but improved my standing. Nothing short of a miracle.

I had a terrible time at another long-term assignment, so bad that on many nights I could not sleep. I thought I would die from the stress and the frustration, so lost and confused was I during those dark times. Even my best friends could only agree that nothing was going right. When I just couldn’t take it anymore, when I just accepted that all was a wash, then I stopped being angry. When I stopped striving with circumstances, I found that I could thrive in spite of them.

The next year, I confronted another abusive student from the past, one who brazenly mocked me for what he had done. I knew who I was then, irrespective of what I had endured, and I put him in his place: “How dare you talk to me like that! I did not deserve to be treated like that!” He trembled like a leaf and sat silently, unprepared for the new me. Then I wrote two Hebrew words on the board: “Manasseh” – Causing to forget; and “Ephraim”  -- doubly fruitful: the two sons of Joseph, betrayed by his brothers only to become the Prince of Egypt. We forget the bad so that we can enjoy double good. I refused the shame and receive the fame. The students respected me then.

I have lost many jobs, only to learn that my only job was to take it easy, and then everything else comes easily to me. I don’t even have to look for the bare necessities anymore: just “Let not your heart be troubled”. One boss even cut me loose without warning. In the long run, I discovered that I never really liked that job in the first place, and now I do what I want to.

When it seemed as though everything was working against me, lo and behold all things are working together for my good. I stopped trying to make things right and let the kinks iron themselves out. Laissez-faire  let me enjoy the ride.

Now more than ever, I am convinced that the bad times in our lives, by the grace of God, turn into mighty miracles which we would never receive if not for those tragedies. Although I cannot explain it, all I have to do is believe it.

Joe Walsh for US Congress

Congressman Joe Walsh (R-08) joined the Tea Party caucus in Congress following the 2010 shellacking of the Obama  juggernaut of government mandates, trillion dollar deficits, and federal overregulation. He has differed with the leadership of his own party while setting of upset from the opposition.  He is the only Congressman I know of who is not afraid to shoot from the hip, even if it means shooting off his mouth or even shooting himself in the foot. At least someone refuses to give up, even if it means going down with all flags flying.

Repeatedly he acknowledges the growing distrust of voters for politicians. He has pushed for the Balanced Budget Amendment; Cut, Cap, and Balance; he does not shy from the fight, he does not hide his outrage, and refuses to hide his heated rhetoric under a bushel.

Joes Walsh – the first Congressman who demanded not just attention along our borders, but the medieval  proposal of loosing crocodiles  throughout the Rio  Grande. He is the only Congressman who slammed the President for seeking the opinion of celebrities instead of sitting down with the statesmen in Washington to secure the borders then enact comprehensive immigration reform.

Walsh is the freshman Congressman who audaciously declared:  President Obama, Quit Lying! He posed before the camera, demanding that the President stop playing “budget-chicken”. He called the President on his bluff to stuff payments to Social Security recipients and veterans if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised. Walsh then and now has stuck to his pledge not to spend one more extra dollar that further bankrupts this country and impoverishes his children and grandchildren.

Walsh accuses Obama of not being serious. Obama’s calm demeanor has yet to forge lasting compromise and care for our nation’s precarious financial situation, and the Illinois freshman refuses to let these matters go away.

His constituents should admire his thorough yet respectable exchange with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He shared the scared sentiment of businesses in his district, who are frightened by the lack of stability and certainty in Washington’s shifting fiscal policies, from ObamaCare to incremental extensions of tax cuts.

Walsh mopped the floor with Chris Matthews during one edition of “Hardball,” a spectacular take-down by a Congressman vs. the liberal media. Matthews snidely labeled Walsh an acolyte of Grover Norquist. True, Walsh pledged not to raise taxes, but he refused to let Matthews pull him from one question to another without letting him answer. “I’m a freshman who came to here to change the way this town does business by structurally reforming spending.” Finally! He planted responsibility squarely on the President for playing politics and taking no serious lead on bringing down the spending that is killing this country. “Cut, Cup, and Deceive”? Indeed!

“Your President, who sends a tingle up your leg . . .” Walsh fired on Matthews. Wow! This guy started asking the questions, not afraid to paint Matthews as megaphone for the Obama administration.  Taking control of the debate, Walsh refused to concede the fundamentals of his mission: stopping the federal government’s spending addiction. In another interview, Walsh confirmed his damning appraisal of the President acting like a ten-year old. Obama is over his head, playing golf and scooping up campaign funds while Walsh voiced the growing concern of voters in his district and throughout the country who want leadership in Washington.

Joe Walsh – the only Congressman who openly chastised  his own constituents for continuing to claim the Mainstream Media thread that the Big Banks caused the economic collapse of 2008, when in fact it was and is and ever will be Big Government. We need more legislators like Walsh, men and women who are not afraid to tell it like it is. He was angry, and we need leaders who will get angry with him.

In his May 2012 debate with Congressional challenger Tammy Duckworth, Walsh slammed the distracting social issues which the Obama administration and the Democratic Party have thrown up like a smoke screen. During that debate, he refused to pander to Ms. Duckworth’s hollow accusations of privatizing Medicare and ending Social Security. He defended the freedom of conscience regarding contraception, then shifted away from wedge issues. He delivered an expert explanation why he voted to permit student loan interest rates to rise. Cogently he pointed out that keeping interest rates low would benefit future students by saving them seven dollars a month while dumping on the country $6 billion in debt: one bad deal.

A few minutes later in the same debate, Walsh displaced the distinction on social issues. As an unofficial spokesman for the Tea Party Movement, the outspoken incumbent identified the movement as “ the silent majority” who are tired of “Big Government” spending money we don’t have, which will turn our nation’s kids into “indentured servants”.

As Walsh claimed, Congress is filled with people who just want to get elected, so they make promises. He refuses to join the “spend now, save never” crowd in Congress. I admire his courage, and so should the voters of the 8^th Congressional district of Illinois.

Sequester Kaine – Elect Allen

To the voters of the Commonwealth of Virginia:

As a resident of the Sunny Golden State California, I envy your swing-state status. Presidential contenders are crisscrossing your state trying to get your vote. You also have a contentious senate race, one which pits two former Governors vying for the opportunity to represent that Mother State in the upper chamber of Congress. In California, aside from some crusty incumbents who presume that they do not even have to run for reelection, the only reason national candidates visit the West Coast is to raise some easy campaign cash either from Silicon Valley of Hollywood celebrities. Your state is central to the battle for the future of this country. Then again, where else would one find politics so fraught with conflict and destiny but Virginia, the same state where the British formally surrendered to the continental forces at Yorktown, the same state where the Civil War began and then ended.

I have shared my sentiment before on this matter: George Allen is your man. He has represented your state on a local and national level. He served as your Senator once before, and the only reason he lost the election was because he was running in 2006, a bad year for Republicans all around, tied down with the dying brand of “compassionate conservatism” which hurt the GOP brand of limited government and less spending. Still, Allen knows how to work with the opposition; he has the stability of the military and the fiscal solvency of the country in mind. He wants to protect the Bush tax cuts that spur growth and enable economic recovery.

Governor Tim Kaine loves his country, too, and I know that he loves Virginia, too;  however, he endorses a vision of leadership that embraces tax increases on job creators. He was the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a party which has titled further left since President Obama took office, a party which vocally considered removing “God” and “Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel” from its platform, the same party which ended up expanding the occasion and the subsidy for abortion. In the final year of his gubernatorial post, Kaine attempted to pass billion dollar tax hikes on the Commonwealth, which a bipartisan opposition stopped. He views revenue increases and government power as the answer to our country’s ills. Yet after four years of “hope and change” from the President whom Kaine openly championed during his 2008 run, Virginians know beyond any doubt that they will be sending a Senator who will repeat the same four years of failed stimulus, government overreach, and higher taxes.

The matter of sequestering has arisen in this very close campaign. The federal government originally pressed for a bipartisan commission to create a compromise of spending cuts and revenue increases. Since they failed to craft a final bill for full Congressional approval, a “sequester” of automatic spending cuts to military and non-discretionary spending has been slated to take place next year. Although I believe that the federal government must consider cuts in every branch of government, including the military, Governor Allen’s pledge to protect military jobs in Virginia while pushing for entitlement reform is the correct approach, one that will keep Virginia competitive yet infuse the country’s economy for greater economic recovery. Austerity must focus on cuts, not revenue increases, since the United States government does not have an intake issue, but a problem with spending and allocating funds for the future.

Mr. Kaine does not understand this issue. He is a patriot, no doubt about it, but his views and values do not reflect the greater good or the better interests of this country. Instead, Kaine should be sequestered with his like-minded liberals in a think-tank or a private interest group. His views do not belong in Congress, which has already invested in spending, engaged in frivolous fraud, and yet refuses to face the looming crises of unfunded entitlements and national debt.

I know that I am just one voice from the West Coast appealing to the Commonwealth of Virginia,  yet we have in common a great deal of wealth derived from a Constitution based on the Separation of Powers, limited government, individual liberty, and private enterprise. Governor Allen respects these fundamental dynamics more effectively.

Governor Mitt Romney is breaking for the win in Virginia’s presidential election. The former Senator is alike in will and skill with Mitt. Come November 6^th, please elect George Allen for the US Senate.

"Is Your Children Learnin'?" -- The Legacy of George W. Bush

Bush: Mouth Closed was Best Pose

From the contentious 33^rd Congressional District race to the momentous Presidential election, Santa Monica Bay voters -- Democrats and Republicans, and disaffected Independents -- have looked over and lambasted the legacy of former President George W. Bush. Their reflection is timely because even though elite liberal interests cannot defend their incumbent Obama by attacking the previous presidency, their remarks deserve candid respect in evaluating the current Republican nominee, whose record of moderation and professionalism distance him from the previous GOP standard bearer.

I refuse to honor the conspiracy theories about the Bush Presidency, from the "rigged" elections in Florida to his “prior knowledge” about the 9-11 attacks. These sophistries are insulting and irrelevant. I believe that George W. Bush won Florida and the 2000 Presidential election by the slimmest of margins. The Supreme Court properly ruled in Bush v. Gore that Florida could not recount the votes in one county without conducting a comprehensive recount throughout the state. Besides, Bush commanded enough respect that "Hardball" Chris Matthews voted for him, and he also a tingle up his leg when Obama clinched the election eight years later. Bush was his most presidential shortly after the 9-11 attacks, but from that moment on, the Presidency was just too much for this son of a President from Texas.

Surveying the 43^rd president’s eight-year presidency during the “Naughts” (01-09), George W. Bush made more gaffes than Vice President Biden, yet only got more press because he was a Republican. I never believed that “Dubya” was a stupid, but his philosophy of government, from “Mission Accomplished” vs. nine years and counting in Iraq, to “I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system” exposed a leader who was a walking contradiction.

The source of this double-speak, in which many times his lips could not catch up with the message, stemmed from his domestic policy of “compassionate conservatism”. I cannot think of a legacy more crippling to the cause of constitutional rule than this Orwellian double-speak, which is neither compassionate -- two world wars unfunded and still depleting this nation's coffers and prestige around the world; nor conservative -- exploding government with deficit spending and largesse.

The Bush Administration’s initial accomplishment, “No Child Left Behind”, outlined an outrageous agenda of 100% literacy in our schools by 2014. With declining revenues and moral breakdown in our schools, one wonders how “more testing” would have improved public education. More like “Every Child Left Behind”, the President should have advanced a policy of “Leave Public Education Alone” instead of the barrage of standardized testing and dizzying curricular mapping. Rarely do I applaud President Obama, yet his “Race to the Top” and waivers for NCLB deserve greater recognition than they have received.

Following his 2004 reelection, Bush’s abortive pleas to “privatize social security” dispelled any political capital that he had to spend. The 2005 Transportation “bill” – more like “political payout”--dumped multimillion dollar pork perks from land speculation in Illinois to the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska.

I resented his federal government intrusion into the Terry Schiavo case, in which a Florida husband wanted to pull the plug on his incapacitated wife after fifteen years of chronic care, but the federal government passed a last-minute bill of attainder to intervene – both immoral and unconstitutional, neither compassionate nor conservative. His poor response to Hurricane Katrina extended his preceived lack of leadership. Following the breakdown of the New Orleans levies, which flooded the Ninth Ward and pushed a punishing temporary diaspora across the South, President Bush looked like an executive who exuded little authority.

His greatest legacy, and this nation’s greatest loss, was his decision to occupy Afghanistan and invade Iraq. Combining the short-term vision of displacing terrorists, Bush attached an aggressive program of “nation-building”, crippling our national budget while stretching our armed force to the breaking point. “The War on Terror” excused bipartisan pork-barreling with expanding bureaucracies: the “overburdened” Department of Homeland Security and another intelligence director for the disconnected FBI, CIA, and TSA. Bush’s positives include tax cuts and conservative Supreme Court appointments, yet he remains a Republican “Lyndon Johnson” who fostered a "Not-So-Great Society" of exploding deficits and diminished national prestige.

Understandably, voters do not want four more of Bush, nor do we deserve four more years of Bush on steroids: Barack Obama. If nothing else, Mitt Romney is not George W. Bush. After an early career of fulfilling religious missions and running sound operations at Bain Capital, Romney salvaged the 2002 Winter Olympics with a profit. Contrary to the arguments about his “flip-flopping” on social issues, Romney ran Massachusetts with a conservative assiduousness, vetoing 800 bills and refusing to raise taxes. He can talk, and not talk down to voters. He can walk without tripping on his own arguments.

Notwithstanding this year’s election, the public’s recriminations about the Bush Presidency are legitimate. I only hope that we have learned the lesson from the “Naughts” without settling for four more years of overextended military ventures combined with record deficit spending. “Is your children learnin’?” should not dominate our thinking or our future when voting this year, but our vote should engage real leadership for the next four years.

President Obama , “Optimal”, and the Optimistic Election of Mitt Romney

Obama Not in "Optimal" Form on the Daily Show

“If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal, and we’re going to fix it.” –  President Barack Obama, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth over Romney’s flubs with “47%” and “Binders full of women”. In the spirit of equal access and opportunity, I would like to showcase one of many smart quips from the Romney camp lampooning President Obama, and one comment from President Obama which received a great deal of criticism from the normally accommodating Mainstream Media.

Last week, the two Presidential candidates attended the Alfred Smith Catholic Charity dinner, a tradition among Presidential candidates every election. The two politicians customarily spar sparingly, but one zinger from Romney deserves particular note:

“In the spirit of Sesame Street, the President’s Remarks are brought to you by the letter “O” and the number 16 trillion!”

“Bwah Hah Hah!” laughed the Count, who gave up counting after one trillion, I am certain. I am sure that many will find the humor in this quip, for all of its bare truth and mirth. Big Bird does not have to worry about ending up on the bread line, I am certain, but the 23 million out of work are probably wondering why the Obama administration is wasting time on petty attack ads featuring the fulsome fowl all covered in yellow instead of leading Congress to enact budget reform, tax cuts, and spending reductions.

The Mainstream Media commentators are abandoning their posts as surrogates for the Obama Administration. For example, Romney surrogate John Sununu blasted through Mitchell’s failed attempts to salvage President Obama’s outsourcing issues.

Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC co-anchors criticized President Obama’s appearance on the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Normally, I am not a Jon Stewart fan, but I have to admit that he is willing to challenge Democrats and Republicans on the issues, and President Obama, now more than ever, has nothing to stand on to defend his lackluster performance with the economy and his disastrous foreign policy, one which makes former President Jimmy Carter’s last days look like V-E Day under FDR.

Stewart pressed the President on the terrorist travesty that overtook Benghazi, then chided the President for the lack of security at the site: “Not the optimal response, at least.”

President Obama responded: “Here’s what I’ll say – if four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.”

US Senator and previous GOP Presidential candidate John McCain jumped on this poorly articulated response: – “The optimal line is regrettable, sad.” McCain then described the President’s excuse, that the Obama Administration had received adequate information about the security of the American Embassy in Libya, as “disingenuous statements”.

Even Mitchell comment that the Embassy and the White House were in contact with real time information – open lines were available from Benghazi as the attack was taking place.

The Commander in Chief, who has failed to command debt reduction, job creation, and national security with any panache or permanence, doffed Stewart’s question by repeating the word “optimal.”

 “Why  would he repeat the word “optimal”? He has to understand – politicians at the (presidential) level usually don’t make that mistake,” also retorted MSNBC reporters.

Apparently, President Obama did not care about the interview. He anticipated some soft-ball questions from the Comedy Central Host, more likely, since his appearance on the show was meant to shore up his liberal base.

Let’s talk about other issues that have not been “optimal” under the Obama Administration:

He supported massive auto bailouts to GM, but not to Chrysler, likely because GM includes big contributors like the United Auto Workers.

The President’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is forcing businesses to downsize or resist hiring new employees. The provision requiring hospitals to provide contraception, whether it wars against the teachings of a faith community, has put the Presidency at odds with religious groups in the United States. The law imposes a huge tax on working families, raids Medicare by $716 billion dollars, and is forcing hospitals to close while increasing costs and diminishing Americans’ access to health care.

President Obama has fostered a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan, even while our armed forces are still maintaining some semblance of order, all while American-trained Afghan forces are now firing on our own troops.

The President first declined against then came out supporting  gay marriage, a social policy which puts him at odds with his African-American base as well as the majority of voters in the country.

Domestic and foreign threats have gone almost unheeded, from the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 to the nuclear threat of the fanatical Iranian regime. This nation’s relationship with Israel has strained over the last three years. For all of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu’s blatant protests, President Obama has distanced himself from imposing and enforcing tough sanctions, instead choosing to visit the morning talk show “The View” then “Late Night with David Letterman”.

President Obama’s administration has not been optimal for the country, and times will look more optimistic when Governor Mitt Romney is elected the next President of the United States.