Resolved

I am watching a fascinating episode of Frontline regarding the makings of the current financial crisis and just how close we came to absolute disaster. This is the second time I’ve watched this and it’s just as riveting this time as it was the first time.

So, the big news of the weekend seems to have been President Obama’s appearance at the commencement ceremonies of the University of Notre Dame. In case some people have been living under rocks for the past four months, Notre Dame, a Catholic institution, has been roundly criticized by a particularly vocal group of Catholics and pro-life organizations for granting a pro-choice President an honorary law degree and allowing him to address the graduating class. The way cable news covered the weeks leading up to the speech one might have expected the pope himself to arrive from Rome with a literal army of cardinals, bishops and 700 Club members, ready to retake the sacred institution from the defilement of the presence of the President of the United States. However, as so often happens in these situations, the adults threw tantrums, acting like children and it was left up to the kids to remind them how to act like adults. While grown men tried to shout down the speech, pushed strollers with dolls covered in fake blood along the quad and flew banners with images of aborted fetuses over the campus, the students (95% of whom supported extending the invitation to Obama to speak) respected the office of the President, applauded when appropriate and showed the rest of the country that Americans are more than capable of civil disagreement without resorting to the demonization of the opposing point of view. Cheers to Notre Dame for inviting the President to speak. Cheers to Barack Obama for showing up and tackling serious issues with tact and diplomacy. And cheers to the Fightin’ Irish class of 2009 for demonstrating a dignity so often lacking in our society.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele found himself back in the news this week, vowing to take President Obama “head on” in the coming weeks. In remarks to an RNC meeting in Maryland, Steele told Republicans that “the era of apology is over,” and that a Republican resurgence is beginning. “This change comes in a tea bag,” he declared. Sigh. Still with the tea, huh. The one benefit Steele does seem to bring to the GOP is that he is often an amusing distraction from the ideological and intellectual cannibalism consuming the Republican party. Taking his tea-bagging message to the hip hop precincts.

Speaking of Michael Steele, the RNC as adopted a resolution demanding the Democratic party “stop pushing our country toward socialism.” This is a slight modification from the original resolution demanding the Democratic party rename itself the “Democrat Socialist Party.” Two things. First, you tried this already, remember? Black radical, Weather Underground, Obama sounds like Osama, fascists are communists are Democrats? You lost by eight million votes. Second, you might want to spend a little less time grandstanding and trying to define your opponent, and a little more time trying to define yourselves. Doesn’t matter who your opponent is if you don’t know who you are.

President Obama has selected Utah Governor Jon Huntsman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China. Huntsman, a Republican fluent in Mandarin, was more than a little surprised at his selection, yet accepted the post anyway – pending confirmation by the Senate. Huntsman was considered by some to be a strong senatorial candidate in 2010 and perhaps even a presidential candidate in 2012. But he has decided to put those ambitions on hold for a while to serve in the administration of a political rival. Utah’s a lit like China, right? Sparsely populated, nothing but small towns and a leisurely pace of life. He should feel right at home.

Most Democrats cheered when on only his first full day in office, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year. They would finally be rid of this legally dubious public relations nightmare carried over from the previous administration. They didn’t care how it happened, only that it did. But after a brief respite from the politics of fear, rumors and accusations began to swirl, accusations were made and panic set in on Capitol Hill. Republicans began to shriek about the President wanting to “release terrorists into the United States.” And instead of rationally refuting the insanity, Democrats all scrambled to be the first to cower under their desks in fear of unfounded accusations. Well done Democrats. That’ll show ‘em.

Let’s be perfectly clear about a few things. NO ONE in the Obama administration has EVER advocated RELEASING TERRORISTS into the United States. Contrary to what former vice president Cheney would like us all to believe, not everyone detained in Cuba committed or supported acts of terrorism against the United States. More than a few detainees have been determined over the course of their hearings to be of no threat to the safety or security of this nation. Of those that have been determined to be combatants or support terrorism, not one would be released to roam the highways and byways of the American countryside. The Justice Department proposal would deport some to whatever foreign countries are willing to take them and move the remaining prisoners to the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or the ADX federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Leavenworth is situated in the middle of a U.S. Army base populated by 3,500 soldiers, and ADX Florence currently houses convicted terrorists Ramzi Yousef, Terry Nichols, Ted Kaczynski and Omar Abdel-Rahman to name a few. (Not to mention the brand new, high-tech, maximum security and completely empty prison in Hardin, Montana.) No rational human being could argue that either of those facilities is less safe than the glorified kennel at Guantanamo Bay. Yet instead of taking a stand and permanently burying the politics of fear, Democrats caved in to the NIMBY mentality and now stand willing to oppose out of one side of their mouths the very policy they’ve been cheering from the other side for the past two years. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Voters in California have rejected all special-election ballot measures designed to close a 20 billion dollar state budget gap. So now, California lawmakers will be forced to return to the legislature to try to hammer out some sort of agreement on massive spending cuts and tax increases to balance the budget. And that went soooo well the last time, didn’t it. There is an old saying, that citizens get the government they deserve. Nowhere in America is this truism more accurate than California. The Golden State’s propensity to litter its ballot with initiatives and clutter its calendar with special elections contributes in no small part to the perpetual paralysis in Sacramento. Before any bill or proposition or initiative is given an opportunity to produce a result, it is superseded, nullified or repealed by another in a special election. The direction of public policy in California depends entirely on which side of the bed the electorate rolls out of on any given morning. For crying out loud people, choose a candidate based out what he/she stands for, vote for him/her, and leave him/her alone to do the job you pay them to do. At the end of his/her term, if you like what he/she did, give him/her a second term, if you don’t, throw the bum out! Please, leave the ballot initiatives to people who actually know what they’re doing.

After being ordered to have her 13-year-old son treated with chemotherapy for his cancer, a Minnesota mother has disappeared with her child rather than obey the court order. According to the doctors, chemotherapy is 95% effective in treating his type of cancer. But his parents opted instead to treat him with holistic medicine, and due to the fact that the holistic treatments were not improving his condition, the court stepped in and ordered the chemo. These cases are always difficult. As a parent, you have the right to raise your children as you see fit. However, at some point, the state has the obligation to step in and protect the welfare of children who are not being protected by their parents. Hopefully someone finds the kid before it’s too late.

Ex-Atlanta Falcon Michael Vick was released from prison yesterday after serving his 18-month sentence for federal dog-fighting convictions. As part of his post-prison rehabilitation program, Vick called the Humane Society and asked to work with them to develop programs aimed at eliminating dog-fighting. Like many people, I’m a little suspicious of Vick’s conversion from animal abuser to animal rights activist. The fact that a demonstration of remorse is a cornerstone of his re-instatement to the NFL cannot be ignored when considering his motives. But there are two other possibilities. One is that the loss of nearly two years of his life, his professional career and 100 million dollars actually brought home the reality of how serious and cruel his actions were, and because of that he has undergone a sobering change of heart. But the other is that maybe his motives don’t really matter all that much, as long as he accomplishes the goal of helping to reduce and eventually eliminate dog-fighting. To paraphrase the Humane Society, “there is a certain segment of society that we can’t reach because they aren’t listening to us, but if they are willing to listen to Michael Vick, then this is a venture worth pursuing.” I tend to agree. I sincerely hope Vick has had a change of heart. But even if he hasn’t, if he can get results where others have failed, more power to him.

Finally, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and defensive Player of the Year, James Harrison declined the invitation to travel to the White House with the team to meet the President. The decision was not all that unusual. More than a few athletes on championship teams have declined similar invitations. In fact, Harrison himself declined a previous invitation issued the last time the Steelers won the Superbowl. What made this stand out was the asinine reasoning Harrison offered for his decision. “If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Harrison said, “invite us to the White House when we haven’t won the Superbowl. I fully believe he would have invited Arizona had they won instead.” Um, yeah. That’s how it goes Jim. Winner goes to the White House, loser goes to the golf course. Why did you have to say anything? Why not just say you didn’t want to go and save yourself from looking like a complete imbecile. Football players have a hard enough time convincing people they are more than over-paid, muscle-bound buffoons without having you confirm the stereotype.