57. On service

A few days back, I posted a picture of America's Second-In-Command Darth Vader, aka Dick Cheney, speaking aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in Japan. I made the comment he was trying to get as far away from Scooter Libby as he possibly could. Scooter's trial was beginning that day, and today, Mr. Libby was found guilty on four of five counts of obstruction of justice and perjury. The Vice President's former Chief of Staff has been involved with at least one other high profile criminal, Marc Rich. Remember Mr. Rich? He was a bondtrader, among other things, pardoned by former President Bill Clinton hours before he relinquished the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW to the Usurper Bush. Rich's attorney during most of his prosection was Mr. Libby. Rich never appeared in court; he has been on vacation in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland since sometime in 1983 when charges were first brought against him then-United States Attorney Rudolph Guiliani. Isn't it a small circle the rich and powerful seem to always run in?

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's office, Guiliani clerked for United States District Judge Lloyd MacMahon, of the Southern District of New York. As an undergraduate and law student, Mayor Guiliani managed to avoid the draft and any military service. Of course, went on to become America's Mayor for his heroic efforts in response to the events of September 11. Last week, in a poll of the conservative wing of the Republican Party, at its Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Guiliani placed second, behind Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

At one time Guiliani and Romney shared similar views on subjects like gay rights, abortion, and religious tolerance. Giuliani hasn't wavered from his left-of-center and well left of most in the GOP views on these subjects. Romney, on the other hand, seems to looking for a home amongst the right wingers, flip-flopping on a number of issues, apparently convincinlgy enough for 21% of the voters in the CPAC poll, placing him first among the GOP contenders. But then you get to the #2 choice of the CPAC pollees and you must then ask yourself, "do these people have any real values?" The put the flip-flopper first. Their second choice was the socially liberal Rudolph Guiliani. Maybe they were thanking him for going after Marc Rich back in 1983. After all Rich's wife and in-laws were large contributors to Clinton and the Democrats a decade earlier. Short of that, it is hard to say why 17% of the CPAC voters want Guiliani to be their next president.

More votes were cast in this year's poll than in any previous year. I'm not too worried - last year these same voters put George Allen at the top of their list. The conservative star Allen, who has been married twice, like Guiliani also managed to avoid any service in the Vietnam War, for which he could have given some time. While he won the CPAC poll for president in 2006, his home state voters who knew him better defeated him in his reelection bid to the United States Senate. A large part of that defeat was predicated upon his racist comment toward S. R. Sidarth, a University of Virgina senior who was filming Allen's campaign on behalf of Jim Webb, Allen's opponent, and the eventual winner of the race.

The truth is, there are lots of "George Allen" types in the Grand Old Party. Not only is it the party of Gas, Oil, and Petroleum; it might also be called the party of Xenophobes, Homophobes, Racists, Bigots, and any number of other less-than-socially acceptable examples of poor behavior and attitudes. Here in Kentucky, we have folks like State Senator Dick Roeding who called gays the "wrong kind of people" for Kentucky. Martin Cothran claims to be against anyone using the Courts "for purposes that short circuit the democratic process” yet lauds President Bush's support of Intelligent Design, Bush being the poster boy for using the courts to short circuit the democratic process.

The bottom line here is that lots of politicians from both sides of the aisle seem to be hypocritical at times, and overwhelmingly so in some cases. On a political blog here in Kentucky, I've been criticized and called a hypocrite over my support of Jonathan Miller for governor, given that I had previously supported Steve Henry, and for continuing to post on another blog ran by a guy who has encountered some legal problems over his failure to pay taxes. That's called being judgmental in my book. The difference between how Democrats do it and how Republicans do it seems to be the amount of hubris involved. Republicans are holier than thou - and holier than most, on many matters. But their records tend to be hole-ier than that. Lapses of judgment, off-color comments, and just plain rudeness are hallmarks of how they operate. I like to think that I am not like that.

The Gospel of Saint Matthew, in the Seventh chapter, beginning at the First verse, says "Nolite iudicare ut non iudicemini" -- "Judge Not, that you be judged." Judgment should be left to others charged with such a task. Christians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible - and not all of us do - consider the judgment of God as outlined in Revelation, Chapter 20, as a final judgment, that day when the dead stand before God and the book of their lives and deeds allows God to make such a judgment as to their eternity. On a more earthly level, we have systems of judgment here on earth; rites, rules, and rituals in place for centuries allowing a jury of one's peers to determine judgment for the wrongs inflicted upon society by an individual or a group. The idea of a jury, as I wrote my email-associate Nick Stump this morning, finds it roots in Athens in ancient Greece. It was outlined in writing as early as the Magna Carta in 1215, at Article 39. Those rights granted to the ciizens of England carried over in forming the system of laws in our sovereign Republic.

My friend Stump has been on "jury duty" for a few weeks. I commended him for his service, his duty to his fellow citizens. All of us have different ways to serve, some by election to political or public office, others by service on a jury. In the days of the draft, some were called involuntarily. Most who were went ahead and did their duty. Others took off to Canada, only to be later granted an amnesty of sorts by Republican President Gerald Ford, who served his country in the United States Navy, leaving the service as a Lieutenant Commander. A more general amnesty was granted by Ford's successor, Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Like Ford, Carter served in the uniform of the United States Navy on submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, although his service fell between two of the 20th century's conflicts, WW2 and the Korean War.

Among those for whom neither President Ford nor President Carter ever had to concern themselves about a request for Amnesty in avoidance of fighting on foreign shores in defense of our country's people and beliefs are the following:
George W. Bush, Big Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, Bill Frist, Dennis Hastert, Lindsey Scott, George Will, Bill O' Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Reed, Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent, and Anne Coulter. Why? They never enlisted for a foreign affair, thus they never went.

As a disclaimer, I didn't either. I am 46 and while there were no foreign wars when I was of the age to go, I did venture up to the Okolona Post Office, then located on Pinecroft Drive, and fill out the little card required of eighteen year olds at the time. It was my duty to do so and I did. Some of my classmates voluntarily entered the service - Tim Jansing and Scott Shearer are two names that come to mind - and Scott spent twenty years there, retiring at age 38 while living with his family in Tokyo. My father was an Army reservist, although he is now a big peacenik. George Bush's war caused my father to give up his lifetime as a registered Republican, as he switched to Independent in 2003. My grandfather who raised me was in the Seabees, specifically the 627th, 628, and 629th Divisions of the 114th Construction Batallionsof the United States Navy. My brother and I grew up with a flag outside our home and many of our social activities revolving around the calendar of the VFW Post 8639, on Lambert Avenue in Okolona. I have a great deal of respect for any of those who have or do serve. But I needn't pour any of that respect out on the current members of the junta controlling the residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW as they did not fulfill their duty.

Six Hundred Eighty five days remain in the term of George W. Bush, the Usurper. Redemption draweth nigh.