HOW FAR WILL OUR HYPOCRISY GO? JOHN McCAIN AND HIS FANATICAL MINISTERS

Barack Obama has of late taken a great deal of criticism about Reverend Wright and his hate-filled speeches and positions. Out of necessity, Obama has broken the ties with the controversial minister who has been Obama’s mentor, friend, and pastor.

But Obama is not the only candidate with a fanatical minister who spouts a hate-filled philosophy. John McCain has his very own version of Reverend Wright. In fact, McCain has embraced two - count ‘em - two controversial ministers - and they have embraced him.

On February 26th of this year, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary.

With Mike Huckabee’s success at co opting the religious right, McCain had to do something - anything - to generate support from that sector. His desperation to land the support of right-wing religious conservatives has led him to throw common sense to the wind and to accept the endorsements of the ranting televangelist Rod Parlsey. The following YouTube clip provides a flavor of Parsley’s philosophy.

Reverend Parsley espouses the notion that government funds are being used to support Planned Parenthood, which in turn provides abortions to African-Americans. His remarks are truly frightening as he urges his constituency to believe that this is a government-financed “genocide” of the African-American community.

Yet, when Reverend Wright railed against the government accusing it of creating the AIDs epidemic to exterminate the African-American population, he was pilloried for his comments. See any similarities?

In February, John McCain was also endorsed by John Hagee, another fanatical right-wing minister leading a mega-church located in San Antonio, Texas. The following is a YouTube clip of Hagee’s philosophy.

Here is my question to all Americans as they muddle through this presidential election year. How do we condemn Barack Obama’s minister and leave John McCain literally unscathed even though he is supported by two ministers preaching hate and violence?

I will wager you that Parsley’s views about the war between Islam and Christianity are held more widely than anyone wants to admit. And I will also bet that deep inside, many Americans are willing to buy into Parlsey’s hatred and fear of Islam.

And Hagee? Not much better as you listen to his ravings about various entities including the Catholic Church. Listen to his outrageous comments about the destruction of New Orleans as God’s punishment for homosexual activity.

Twenty years or twenty minutes. Not a bit of difference when you tie yourself to ministers who espouse hatred. Now let’s see if the American people will condemn John McCain in the same manner and with the same venom that they have condemned Barack Obama.

“STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS” McCAIN PUSHED INTO LAND SWAP DEAL THAT BENEFITS BACKER

John McCain is known to his minions as the “stand-firm”, “straight talk express” candidate whose integrity just simply can’t be challenged. But, all politicians are human. McCain is no different, and we are beginning to see cracks appearing in his shining armor. The cracks will, inevitably, split apart that armor and expose a flawed candidate who is not the leader many think he is and who should not be the leader of this country.

The Washington Post writes about one of those cracks today - a land swap of public land for private land that will benefit tremendously one of McCain’s donors. Land swaps between private entities usually do not draw attention; however, when that land is our land - the public’s land - transactions are scrutinized to ensure that the public is not being cheated by not receiving fair value for its land.

The process began several years ago. In 2005 McCain pushed through a piece of “land swap” legislation that will benefit Steven Betts, a McCain fundraiser and contributor. Betts runs SunCor Development, a Tempe, Arizona, firm that was given the job to build as many as 12,000 homes on the swapped land. Of course Betts denies any discussion of the swap with McCain - even though according to Betts it was discussed “casually” before the bill’s passage.

The 2005 deal is the granddaddy of Arizona land swaps - the largest such swap in Arizona history according to the Audubon Society. More than 55,000 acres were involved, including rare expanses of desert woodland and pronghorn antelope habitat.

The owner of the private land, rancher Fred Ruskin and his Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership, arguing that the process was too complicated for the standard regulatory process governing land swaps, took the matter directly to Congress. Ruskin convinced Arizona Representative J.D. Hayworth to draft a bill proposing the exchange.

When those efforts failed, Ruskin hired lobbyists to “open communications” with McCain. Those lobbysits included the following:

• Mark Buse, a former McCain staff director at the Senate commerce committee
• Michael Jimenez, another former McCain aide
• Wes Gullett, an aide in McCain’s Senate office and deputy campaign manager for his 2000 presidential run

Ruskin’s efforts using former staff members and aides were successful and McCain introduced his land swap legislation in April 2003. The legislation was signed into law by Bush in November 2005.

McCain continued to spout platitudes about protecting the environment while pushing legislation to complete the largest land swap deal in Arizona history - legislation that will result, ultimately, in potential development ranging in the area of $250 million to Fred Ruskin.

But Ruskin isn’t the only one to benefit. Steven Betts, a McCain donor, will benefit - despite all the denials by Betts and McCain. And just when did Betts decide to express interest? After the legislation was passed by Congress and just one month before it was signed into law by Bush.

Betts will capitalize by constructing subdivisions located on prime Arizona property sitting astride a major interstate. Despite public outcry and opposition, McCain failed his constituency by caving in to pressure from lobbyists and politically powerful Arizona figures.

When questioned about the lobbyists, true to form, McCain simply states that he does not recall being lobbied by his former aides and staffers. Isn’t that what his pat response was to the allegations in reference to Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist who had become very close to him?

I have watched him on the Sunday morning political programs, and his answer to many questions is, indeed, becoming “I don’t recall.” Perhaps McCain should now carry the moniker of “I don’t recall” McCain instead of the laudatory labels attached to him. McCain’s armor is cracking, and soon it will fall apart.

MITCH DANIELS WORLD OF FANTASY

I can’t help but marvel at the audacity of Mitch Daniels. His commercials - with supporters touting his “achievements” ad nauseum - are nothing more than glorified efforts to pander to Hoosier voters with his farm cap and long-sleeved shirts.

With all the commercials floating about, it must be quite a shock that Indiana’s unemployment rate jumped in March to 5.1% - the highest seasonally adjusted rate since July 2006.

The half point jump from 4.6% in February put Indiana in a tie with California for the second highest month-over-month increase nationally - right behind Louisiana.

I am sure this can’t be welcome news for a governor who has tried to deflect attention from Indiana’s continuing job-loss predicament by news conference after news conference flashing announcements of new jobs two and three years down the road.

But Daniels is good at marketing techniques according to Jim Miller, Reagan’s OMB director from 1985 to 1988. On learning of Daniels’ appointment by Bush as OMB director, Miller commented that “Daniels would be an unconventional OMB director inasmuch as he would be much more a marketer than a number cruncher.

Apparently, Miller was right. Daniels left less than three years after his appointment when he saw his efforts to maintain some semblance of a budget unraveling before his eyes as Bush sank the the country farther and farther into debt. Daniels, try as he might, was unable to manipulate budgetary figures to cover the bloated deficit.

He came back to Indiana where he has, once again, succeeded at marketing his “accomplishments” in a way to cover the realities of job losses, failed privatization policies, and far-off promises of employment. His marketing techniques of smoke and mirrors certainly are suitable to his fantasy world where reality doesn’t quite seem to materialize.

VA TO VETERANS - WE WON’T HELP YOU REGISTER TO VOTE

In what has to be one of the most illogical, unreasonable, hypocritical, and downright disrespectful decisions made by the new VA Secretary James Peake, the VA will not allow voter registration assistance in VA facilities. The National Voter Registration Act was passed in 1993 and imposes an obligation - indeed, a duty - on federal, state, and local governments to promote the exercise of the citizens’ fundamental right to vote.

VA Secretary Peake has a different take on promoting the right to vote, especially when those citizens are veterans. Peake’s position is that:

“the VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission.”

Diverting of substantial resources? Voter registration forms can be downloaded from the internet and copied in a matter of minutes. I have helped at several different events where we registered voters, and helping with the form must take a whole 2 or 3 minutes. If VA personnel are asked to spend a few extra minutes with VA patients, I bet they would gladly do it. To think otherwise is to dishonor those who have served our country and those who serve our veterans.

Peake also insists helping veterans to register to vote is “partisan.” Voter registration does not require that the registrant declare a party. Obviously, he does not know the definition of partisan which means allegiance to a party or cause.

An interesting twist in the whole debacle is that armed forces recruitment offices are mandated to develop and implement procedures to ensure that those registering at the recruitment offices have the opportunity to register. The following is a section from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993:

ARMED FORCES RECRUITMENT OFFICES- (1) Each State and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly develop and implement procedures for persons to apply to register to vote at recruitment offices of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(2) A recruitment office of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be considered to be a voter registration agency designated under subsection (a)(2) for all purposes of this Act.

Since the passage mandates recruitment office voter registration assistance, I decided to call one of the local Army recruitment offices to see if they provided voter registration assistance, and, yep, they do. I spoke to a recruiter and asked one simple question, “Do you have voter registration forms?” His reply? “We sure do.”

The hypocrisy is staggering. The Bush Administration sends our military to fight and die in needless wars. Volunteers are provided the opportunity to register at the front end as they enlist. But at the back end, as our wounded return to lives filled with adjustments and frustrations and physical and emotional therapy and missing limbs and suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, the Veterans Administration denies help with one of the very basic rights that our veterans fight to protect - the right to vote.

Could it be that after service in wars, our veterans are more likely than not to vote against those who sent them? Keeping faith with our veterans requires more than laudatory speeches - it requires matching those speeches with actions.

Photo Credit: About.com

A young soldier in DaNang, Vietnam - August 3, 1965

McCAIN AND HIS DOUBLETALK GOBBLYDYGOOK

Hillary Clinton has recently been pilloried for her representation of her trip to Bosnia as dangerous. So of course Hillary Haters have made sure a video of the Bosnian trip was plastered all over the internet to show what a “liar” (their words - not mine) she is. Well, get a load of John McCain’s doubletalk and lies.

Pay particular attention to the one were he says the Iraq war can be won easily and quickly and then turns around and says that it will take a long time. Which one is it?

McCain originally thought the Iraq war would be easy. But note how he has changed his mind. Wow, either a colossal loss of memory of what he said back in the early days or an outright lie. Will the real John McCain please stand up?

McCAIN - LOSS OF MEMORY OR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING?

John McCain made a huge gaffe while visiting in Jordan last week. McCain has based his campaign on his foreign knowledge expertise, but as this cute video shows, Joe Lieberman had to correct him. And, the correction was pretty obvious.

Boy, you would think that if you were going to talk to the cameras, you might want to make sure you had your information correct.  And from a presidential candidate to boot!

I am not sure which is worse - loss of memory or a lack of understanding.  Neither one is a good excuse for a man who touts his foreign policy experience and that he can best protect us from the terrorist threat.  Won’t be much protection if he can’t figure out which group is which.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - DANIELS TO MORPH ONCE MORE

Well, we all expected it, and we knew it was coming soon to a theater community near us.  Daniels has dug out his farm hats and dusted off his down-home looking shirts and is all set to travel the state again with his dog and pony show.  Gone will be the polished suits and the CEO style that surfaced the day after his election in 2004.  Back are those quintessential Hoosier items - the farm caps - the rolled up simple cotton shirts - the “aw shucks” demeanor.

But will he travel the state again in an RV, or will he be more conventional this time around?  His RV One must be in mothballs by now although it seems I remember a flap some time ago about his use of the vehicle to attend a political event.  

With his TV commericals beginning soon, we will once again be treated to his attempts to act like “one of us.”  He simply isn’t one of us, and the sooner Hoosier voters realize that, the better off they will be. 

He no doubt will tout his accomplishments from the first couple of years when he had the support of his Republican-controlled General Assembly.  But he won’t have much to talk about for the last two years because he pretty much disappeared after the Democrats took control of the House. 

Ah, let the fun begin!

SIDESTEPPING SENATE VOTES - OBAMA’S RECORD WORST OF REMAINING THREE CANDIDATES

A measure of leadership is taking responsibility for appearing and voting for bills and resolutions.  Of the three remaining candidates, Clinton has the best record, and Obama has the worst.  Obama has been in the Senate the shortest amount of time, yet he has the worst Senate voting record of the three candidates.

Clinton has missed 7% since 2001, McCain has missed 17% since 1997, and Obama has missed 18% since 2005.  Many of the missed votes have come during heavy campaigning with all three candidates’ records showing a spike in the last half of 2007.

The following charts show the voting records of all three candidates since their election to their Senate seats. 

• The absentee rate is in red.
• The lower black dotted line shows the median value for all Members of Congress in that time period.
• The upper black dotted line shows the 90^th percentile. That is, a member above the upper dotted line is in the company of just one out of ten of his or her peers in missing that many votes.

 

Obama’s Senate voting record - missed 18% in 3 years

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McCain’s Senate voting record - missed 17% in 10 years

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Clinton’s Senate voting record - missed 7% in 6 years

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When employers look at potential employees, one of the most important factors - if not the most important factor - is reliability and showing up for work.  We should expect no less from a candidate.  While it may be physically impossible to campaign and completely fulfill the obligation to appear to vote when necessary, Clinton’s voting record shows that she has managed to balance the two competing forces much more efficiently and effectively than Obama.

An employer would not keep an employee if that employee missed almost 20% of the time.  Fortunately, voters have the luxury of knowing the voting records ahead of time and can decide whether demonstrating leadership in the performance of senatorial obligations is, indeed, important or not.  Personally,  I think it is. 

16 MONTHS - A HALF MILLION DOLLARS - AND NO VA REPORT

Sylvia Smith has kindly uploaded the controversial redacted report about our VA Hospital. The report cost taxpayers $530,000 - over a half million dollars. And what does the public get? A 78-page report with three-fourths of it unreadable. Of the 78 pages, only 21 were released through an FOIA request by the Journal-Gazette. Of those 21 pages, about half were withheld in their entirety and others were subject to black lines through entire paragraphs.

The following is a refresher of what has happened over the past four years since the initial announcement that the inpatient beds would be closed:

• May 2004 - Anthony Principi, Secretary of the VA announces the inpatient beds at the local VA hospital will be closed pursuant to a recommendation by the Capital Asset and Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission decision.
• August 2004 - Congressman Souder holds public meetings to address the issue of ending inpatient care at the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• August 2004 - Veterans for Better Health Care (VBHC) is established as a grass-roots organization to combat the closing of inpatient care at the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• August 2004 - November 2007 - VBHC participates in parades, writes letters, hands out thousands of flyers, and holds a rally at the World War II Museum in Auburn and is joined by the public in protesting the closing of the inpatient beds
• November 16, 2004 - Anthony Principi submits letter of resignation as VA Secretary and steps down from post
• February 1, 2005 - Jim Nicholson sworn in as new Secretary of the VA
• July 2005 - VA Secretary Nicholson promises new study of Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• June 2006 - Congressman Souder announces new study of Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• September 2006 - Congressman Souder announces his belief that Fort Wayne VA Hospital has a “great chance” of remaining open
• November 29, 2006 - BAH undertakes new study of VA Hospital and holds private meetings with various veterans groups in the morning and a public meeting in the evening -study to be completed and be on VA Secretary’s desk by May 2007
• May 2007 - no BAH Study released
• September 2007 - Final Report by BAH given to VA but withheld from release
• September 2007 - February 2008 - no information on study forthcoming to the public
• October 1, 2007 - VA Secretary Jim Nicholson officially steps down from position
• December 20, 2007 - James Peake sworn in as new VA Secretary
• February 2008 - VA announces another study of the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• March 2008 - VA refuses to disclose original report findings, skirting the disclosure by redacting three-fourths of the report

The February 2008 announcement that the VA would now contract for a follow-up study of outpatient services caught us by surprise. Focusing on the outpatient resources could mean one of two things - either the VA will keep the inpatient beds and beef up the outpatient care in an effort to provide better services to the hospital’s clientele, or the VA will discontinue inpatient care and use the facilities for outpatient services only with inpatient care contracted out to area hospitals. I certainly hope it is the former and not the latter.

The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2008, which extends the registration period for the guard and reserves, as well as the modification of the VA benefits booklet to include the guard and reserves, makes closing our inpatient beds fly in the face of logic. With the increase in National Guard and Reservists coming home to northeastern Indiana, we need increased care not diminished care.

Photo Credit: National Guard website

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THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF FISCAL YEAR 2008

As I noted, two factors should work in favor of keeping inpatient beds open and increasing outpatient care. First, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of Fiscal Year 2008 signed by President Bush on January 28, 2008, extends the period of enhanced enrollment opportunity for health care eligibility provided to veterans who served in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998 - commonly referred to as combat veterans or OEF/OIF veterans.

The enhanced enrollment minimum duty requirements are as follows:

• Currently enrolled combat veterans will have their enhanced enrollment period automatically extended to 5 years from their most recent date of discharge.

• New enrollees discharged from active duty on or after January 28, 2003 are eligible for this enhanced enrollment health benefit for 5 years after their date of their most recent discharge from active duty.

• Combat Veterans who never enrolled and were discharged from active duty between November 11, 1998 and January 27, 2003 may apply for this enhanced enrollment opportunity through January 27, 2011.

Second, the standard VA federal benefits booklet for veterans and their dependents has been updated to include those in the National Guard and Reservists, who previously had been excluded from receiving benefits based on past general eligibility requirements.

The 2007 Federal Benefits booklet limited general eligibility to discharge from active military service under other than dishonorable conditions. Active service meant full-time service, other than active duty for training. Under the 2007 guidelines, Guard and Reservists were not eligible for benefits.

However, the 2008 benefits booklet changed those requirements to read:

“A person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable may qualify for VA health care benefits. Reservists and National Guard members may also qualify for VA health care benefits if they were called to active duty (other than for training only) by a Federal order and completed the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty.”

The newly included reservists and national guard will expand the number of veterans who need services in all areas of the country. Indiana has more national guard members on duty than any other state in the Union and that includes larger states such as Texas and California. Many of the 4,108 members - 3,200 - now on active duty are from the 76th Brigade Combat Team located in Warsaw, Indiana. Those 3,200 members will come home to this area and will need care and services just as many others from northeastern Indiana now receive.

Northeastern Indiana not only has the highest number of national guard members on active duty but also is home to the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard based at Fort Wayne International Airport. The 122nd Fighter Wing - known as the Black Snakes - recently acquired land for an expansion needed to absorb fighter jets and crews from Terre Haute, Indiana, and Springfield, Illinois.

Logic dictates that we should keep our inpatient beds. Yet the actions of the VA in withholding the Booz, Allen & Hamilton study do not fill me with a sense of security. We have spent 16 months waiting on a $530,000 study funded by the taxpayers which has resolved nothing and has created a sense of, once again, being bamboozled by the government.

SOMETIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A NUT - BUT NOT IN THE WHITEHOUSE

John McCain makes no secret of the fact that he will keep us mired in the Middle East for decades to come if he assumes the office of the presidency.  While many have talked about the similarities between Vietnam and Iraq, one major difference exists - oil.  Anyone who thinks this foray into nation-building isn’t about oil hasn’t been paying attention to our history with the oil producing countries. 

With oil rising at an almost unbelievable rate, what better course to take than to occupy our own private oil fields in Iraq?  The Bush administration has built the world’s largest embassy in Iraq in order to maintain a presence for an undetermined number of years.  In addition, Bush and Maliki are in the process of negotiating the terms of an agreement which will keep U.S. forces entrenched in Iraq until …. freezes over.  

McCain will simply continue a misguided and disastrous course of action a la George Bush.  Should McCain be elected, Bush will no doubt be smiling broadly as he exits the White House in January 2009.  George Bush, along with his neo-con cohorts, manipulated an American crisis into an invasion of a country which had no connection to 9/11.  But John McCain has no intention of manipulating anything - he blatantly and arrogantly says he will keep us there.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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We have had close to eight years of a president who is out of touch with reality and who has never let sanity and logic interfere with his quest to conquer Iraq.  The last thing that is needed is another tunnel-visioned president who sees Iraq and Afghanistan as nothing more than future American bases.