Update no.274

Update from the Heartland

No.274

5.3.07 – 11.3.07

Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,
The Press continues to ratchet up the pressure on the Justice Department and the administration regarding the fired U.S. attorneys. [268, 270, 273] Congress has begun taking testimony and issuing subpoenas. We can only hope the impending congressional hearings will expose the decay underlying these actions. Someone dug up the fact that Slick Willy Clinton fired all the U.S. attorneys when he became President, after all, they are political appointees. Nonetheless, the appearances associated with the current episode leave a sleazy, vengeful, arrogant, and almost inept impression of this administration. Even if these terminations are on the up & up, the hacks in power handled them quite poorly, from my perspective. Of course, we must never forget . . . politics are politics, a slimey business to start with.

Three weeks ago, Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York introduced a bill identified as H.R. 1022 and provisionally titled as the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. I read the full text of the proposed bill, and I was not impressed. First, the bill does not address the constitutional question of the 2nd Amendment. [168, 177, et al] Second, the bill seeks to ban small arms of any caliber that look like military assault rifles, but also goes after semi-automatic pistols, rifles and shotguns. Third, despite the title, the bill does nothing directly to protect law enforcement officers as the title purports. This bill is ill-advised, poorly written, an offense to the Constitution, and appears to be simple pabulum for the uber-Left. On the other hand, I am not an unlimited, unconstrained, or blind advocate for the most liberal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, exempli gratia, I have a hard time supporting private ownership of major caliber weapons, id est, rifles with a bore greater than 12.7mm. Further, I can find little bona fide rationale for a citizen to own a functional 106mm recoilless rifle, or a 105mm howitzer, or a 120mm anti-tank gun. We need to watch this legislative action closely. With the persistent push of the Executive toward deeper, broader, and more intrusive Federalism, we should not be tinkering with the 2nd Amendment. As with so many issues, we focus on symptoms rather than the underlying casual factors – we don’t like gun crimes, so let’s ban guns, or we have a few bad apples, so let’s ban guns for everyone.

The hits just keep coming. This week, we learned from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine that the FBI has been using “national security letters” under the USA Patriot Act of 2001, without the intended judicial supervision. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania spoke most succinctly on the issue, “The federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and go far beyond what we have authorized.” Specter added, “The Judiciary Committee will now have to undertake comprehensive oversight on this important matter and perhaps act to limit the FBI's power by revising the Patriot Act . . . since [the FBI doesn’t] know how to use it.” Like several other critical tools in the current War on Islamic Fascism, the administration, in this case the Federal Bureau of Investigation, chose to cut corners and disregard the supervisory controls associated with these extraordinary Executive powers. And then, these guys are shocked at the distrust of the People regarding these direct intrusions and infringement of our most fundamental rights. I am an aggressive advocate for the myriad of contemporary tools necessary to “wage war successfully,” however, I cannot support an Executive that abuses the warfighting authority granted to it by the People,

My military brethren are conflicted regarding the conduct of flag rank officers when they disagree with their civilian, political leadership. Vanity Fair's "The Night of the Generals" by David Margolick, published in the April 2007 issue, offers an intriguing view of the dilemma faced by generals in dissent. I urge everyone to read the lengthy article in its entirety. <http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/04/iraqgenerals200704?printable=true¤tPage=all>
All opinions are welcome.

Most everyone, except perhaps those outside the United States, are probably aware of the recent House action regarding union organizing processes. The House passed the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 [H.R. 800] by a vote of 241-185-9, to amend the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (AKA Wagner Act) [PL 74-198] for broader access to legal support during union organizing efforts. The bill has been placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar. A subtle little point in Section 2(a) of H.R. 800 states: “. . . a majority of the employees . . . has signed valid authorizations designating . . . their bargaining representative . . . .” The oddity in this otherwise innocuous language involves elimination of the secret ballot for employee votes on representation. This little nuance is such a stellar idea; let us extend the notion to all local, state and federal elections. We can list every citizen’s vote for every elected official and every referendum placed before the voters. After all, we have advanced so far down the path of democracy that intimidation, peer pressure, threats, retribution, and other forms of electoral mischief and coercion would never be used against any particular voter or group of citizens to garner their vote for any particular candidate or measure. Sarcasm aside and for those of us who have not witnessed the shenanigans surrounding American union organizing efforts, let it suffice to say, this element of the proposed legislation is a really bad idea for what should be obvious reasons. Nonetheless, odd title, doncha think?

Comments and contributions from Update no.273:
"We got the news we have been expecting. [My son] got orders to Iraq. He had orders to 3rd Infantry Division back in December, and they were due to rotate to Baghdad in April, but those orders disappeared somewhere. Now, he has been given a short notice switch with a more senior Air Defense officer to join a MiTT (Military Transition Team) to be assigned to an Iraqi Division as advisors. This was supposed to be filled with a Major-promote-able or Major, not a newbie Captain, but the officer that got emergency tasked with this was married, four kids and had already been in process of wife quitting job, packing household, etc for a move to new stateside assignment when the tasking came in so [my son] volunteered to save his colleague family turmoil and the Air Defense Branch CG waived the seniority requirement. [My son] must have missed the 'Never Volunteer' class at West Point."
My response:
Yeah, no kidding; guess he missed that class – not an easy assignment. I suspect this tour will be harder on Dad than [your son]. Our hearts and prayers will be with you and your son. May God watch over him.

Another contribution:
“One of our premier nationally famous TV/Radio reporters was a junior enlisted man in that fight for the Ia Drang Valley. Not sure if wounded, and don't remember his name offhand. But he was there.
“That fight was one of the most memorable in that whole sorry, sad, 10+ year long war. I fought in a couple of the memorable ones too. But in only a small way. And, at least in MY opinion – from the relative safety of a jet plane's cockpit. As contrasted to a Grunt's position in the thick of it on the ground.
“I saw ‘We Were Soldiers.’ Good movie. Showed war a lot like it is, and showed it as more than the war I personally saw on the ground in Vietnam. Though I did see some ground combat."
My reply:
I don’t recall a former soldier, now national reporter, who fought in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. A number of memorable battles during Vietnam. “We Were Soldiers” was a fair and honest movie . . . contrary to the likes of “Platoon,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Apocalypse Now,” and such.
P.S.: Later, I found two relevant participants.
Joseph L. Galloway, senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers, served as an imbedded combat reporter during the battle, and co-authored the national bestseller, “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young,” along with Lieutenant General Harold Gregory “Hal” Moore, Jr., USA (Ret.) [USMA 1945][Moore was the commander of the under-strength battalion (1st of the 7th, 450 men) during this battle and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross].
Also, Specialist 5 Jack Prescott Smith, USA, received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for combat injuries while serving with the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. Jack Smith, son of broadcast news pioneer Howard K. Smith, went on to a successful broadcast journalism career, winning two Emmys and a Peabody Award. Jack died of pancreatic cancer and a stroke in 2004.

Another contribution:
"Regarding Iraq being worse now than under Saddam-hard to believe, but true for the average Iraqi. Iraqis -- both Sunni and Shia are saying that. We just don't get much reporting in the U.S. media. The only people who are happy now are the Kurds, and that might change soon. Iraqis are living on partial electric power and no running water in many, many areas -- their living conditions are much worse than they were four years ago. It is also incredibly dangerous for Sunni and Shia to move about -- just getting to work is an ordeal. Going to school is dangerous for children and college students. Iraq is now the world's largest refugee problem, according to the UN refugee people and NGOs. And the annual death toll over the past three years is much greater than Saddam--again, hard to believe -- but with at least 60-100 people being murdered each day through sectarian violence it is true.
"Check on the Newsweek story regarding the U.S. Attorney firings.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17438150/site/newsweek/
"And this (Deputy AG McNulty might be in real trouble for lying to Congress)
“Royal Flush - The purge of U.S. attorneys (partially) explained.”
by Dahlia Lithwick
posted by Slate, Friday, March 2, 2007, at 6:08 PM ET
"They awarded -belatedly for sure- LtCol Crandall the Medal of Honor -- what about the other guy that flew the missions with him-in another helo? He did about the same thing."
My response:
First, thank you for the article on Jared Landaker. We are blessed by such patriots.
There was at least one other Medal of Honor (MoH) recipient during the ’65 Battle of Ia Drang Valley -- Captain Edward Freeman, USA. I’d be willing to bet good money that other awards to various crewmembers were substantial as well. Pretty rare to have two MoH recipients in the same action.
I’ve been tracking the fired U.S. attorney situation – still stinks.
We shall be arguing whether the Iraqi people are better off or not for quite some time. I can fully appreciate the multitudinous examples of how their lives are worse off now. Only time will tell the true story. However, I think we can liken the current Iraqi situation to those of the Japanese and Germans in Spring 1945; I am certain if we had polled them in that time, they would have said they were far worse off than just a few years earlier. I imagine there are former East German citizens who may still feel the same today. Further, Saddam Hussein maintained HIS law & order, as all dictators do. And, Hitler accomplished extraordinary public works projects for the benefit of the German people, e.g., the Autobahn, electrification, hydro-electric power, enhanced rail network, et cetera. Yet, we do not credit him for his accomplishments in the face of the destruction he wrought. Are we to say that Saddam’s destruction was largely confined to local, national and regional venues, so we can laud his accomplishments? I respectfully suggest our judgment regarding any potential benefit of the Battle for Iraq to the Iraqi people should be made some years hence – 5 years, if we are extraordinarily lucky; 20-40 years, more likely. This is not to say that the passage of time will ever make Iraq look better. We did not attack Germany to liberate the Germans from Hitler; we did not attack Saddam to liberate the Iraqis.
P.S.: Captain Jennifer J. Harris, USMC [USNA 2000] (the aircraft commander), 1st Lieutenant Jared M. Landaker, USMC (co-pilot), three other Marines and two Navy corpsmen were shot down on 7.February.2007, while flying a CH-46 Sea Knight medivac mission in al-Anbar Province, Iraq.

Another contribution:
"Back in the 90s with all the Clinton scandals, some were asking, 'where's the outrage?'
"Well, something popped into my head the other day. What happens in this country when, say, a cop is killed in the line of duty or some walking pile of javelina crap rapes and kills a child. There is a huge outcry from the public to go after the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
"In Iraq, more walking piles of javelina crap are running around setting off bombs and killing our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Why do we not see a mass outrage against the perpetrators of those attacks? Why don't more people yell at the President to unleash every resource we have to track down these vermin and (in the words of a SEAL interviewed on the Discovery Channel) 'remove their vetted existence from our planet.' Instead, it seems the many are content to blame us for all the bombs that go off in Baghdad and all the soldiers and civilians who die. Huh? Excuse me, but isn't that akin to blaming the rape victim for being raped, or saying we'd have no bank robberies if it weren't for all the damn banks that exist? Maybe I have a simplistic good & bad view of things, but I think a lot of the anger in this country is misdirected. At least, that's how I see things."
My reply:
Your questions are direct, incisive and spot on, and more appropriate when viewed as rhetorical. Indeed, where is the outrage? The same argument applies to anti-abortionists and gun-prohibitionists. Keep the faith.

My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)