It’s Time for Holder to Run

By William L. Garvin

“You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler”

When employees get in trouble and are about to be disciplined, some request to resign in lieu of being disciplined. Some human resource managers allow this in order to avoid the costs of appeals and litigation. The quid pro quo for the employee is the HR manager promises to “seal” the personnel records. Any competent background investigator for law enforcement or military security clearances immediately sees this as a “red flag” and knows to start digging in order to find out what’s really going on. After all, how many people would really say “gee, I have so many awards, medals, commendations and honors that I should probably seal my records in order not to be unfair to my competitors or bias the investigation.”

The current case of “executive privilege” may be cut out of the same deceitful bolt of cloth. Since the President has declared the privilege, it now raises the question as to what involvement and/or knowledge he had of the “Fast and Furious” operation. Did this “hands on” president (who personally manages the “Kill List”) have the same level of operational involvement with the Department of Justice gun walking? After Eric Holder stonewalled the Congressional oversight committee for a year and a half, this sudden presidential intervention has the appearance of impropriety and raises the spectre of a cover up.

Keep in mind that during the Nixon administration, Watergate was a third-rate burglary of a Democrat office. It was the cover up that was much worse than the crime and brought down a sitting president. In the present “Fast and Furious” imbroglio, that cannot be said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry have both been killed as well as many Mexican citizens. “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention, as the Attorney General in Mexico is so concerned, she’s made the point that at least 200 Mexicans have been killed with these weapons and probably countless more,” said Congressman Darrel Issa. This is quite probable as it’s estimated that DOJ allowed 2500 weapons to “walk” into Mexico and only 600 have been recovered. Sadly, two AK-47s from the operation were recovered at the site of Agent Terry’s murder.

Marisela Morales, Mexico's Attorney General, told The LA Times that she first learned about “Fast and Furious” from news reports. She added that no U.S. officials have ever briefed her on the operation or apologized. "At no time did we know or were we made aware that there might have been arms trafficking permitted," said AG Morales, Mexico's highest-ranking law enforcement official. "In no way would we have allowed it, because it is an attack on the safety of Mexicans."

In a similar vein, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), which represents all 17,000 “nonsupervisory agents” of the Border Patrol, has called for the resignation of AG Holder for his part in the failed gunrunning operation. According to the Washington Times, Council President George E. McCubbin III said the AG’s handling of the case was “a slap in the face to all Border Patrol agents who serve this country.” He also said Holder has failed to provide any leadership within his department. “It is time for AG Eric Holder to show the least shred of responsibility and leadership and resign his post. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry deserves nothing less.” McCubbin also corroborated AG Morales when he noted that a Border Patrol agent is prohibited crossing into Mexico without approval from U.S. and Mexican government agencies. From his viewpoint, there is no way “Fast and Furious” could be carried out without knowledge and direct approval from the Justice Department and the Obama Administration.

There is no reason to believe that the DOJ files contain anything other than evidence of operational incompetence. Ordering private citizens to violate the law and sell weapons illegally, ordering law enforcement personnel to ignore their oaths and training and turn weapons over to Mexican cartels without even a tracking device can only be seen as gross negligence. This is just the latest in a long litany of embarrassments. Mr. Holder, it’s time for you to fold ‘em. And please don’t walk away, it’s time for you to run!

The Imperial Presidency

By William L. Garvin

Has there ever been a president with so little regard for the United States Constitution?  The supposed Constitutional-Scholar-in Chief is either unaware or deliberately disregarding the cornerstone document of this exceptional country.  If it were an isolated situation, there might be a way to rationalize his behavior but this is an ongoing pattern of disrespect for the Constitution, Congress, and our Republic.

Stepping back and reviewing his performance to date, one can only shudder at the prospect of his having “more flexibility” upon reelection.  What happens to our system of checks and balances when an imperial president decrees which laws will be enforced and which laws will be disregarded?  What happens to a nation dedicated to a rule of law when a single man can dictate what is “the right thing to do” versus what is constitutionally legal?  This country recoiled from the  “divine right of kings” when it was founded and it certainly doesn’t need a pretender to the throne today!  Worse yet, contempt for one law breeds contempt for all laws.

The Imperial President and Constitutional-Scholar-In-Chief didn’t think the Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional so doesn’t defend it.  Keep in mind that he was a junior associate attorney for only about four working years, handled only about thirty cases, and never argued in front of the Supreme Court.  He also unilaterally decided that some states do not have to follow the No Child Left Behind federal education law.  Likewise, after all the shenanigans necessary to get the constitutionally questionable Affordable Health Care Act (sic) enacted (Cornhusker Kickback, Louisiana Purchase, midnight vote, and “we have to pass it to know what is in it”), he has now by Imperial Decree granted 1,500 plus waivers to mostly unions, favored companies and of course, AARP.  Then there’s the famous “prosecutorial discretion” he gave to the Department of Justice when it came to states that enacted medical marijuana laws.  Given his high school days as a self-proclaimed “toker-in-chief” status, that came as no surprise.  The media has yet to clarify exactly when he stopped smoking dope but that comes as no surprise either.

It must be that same “prosecutorial discretion” that allowed the New Black Panther Party to skate on voter intimidation charges.  If the Department of Justice had used a little more discretion in their ill-advised “Fast and Furious” give free guns to Mexican gangsters fiasco, Brian Terry would be alive today.  Given their track records, DOJ, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security should probably have a lot less latitude rather than more discretion.  It is these agencies that carry out the Imperial Decrees.  It is these agencies that forbade Catholic institutions to follow their own religious rights of conscience and imposed governmental mandates on first, the church, and secondly, on private insurance companies.  Of course, if the commerce clause can be used to take over one-sixth of the private sector economy and impose purchase requirements on all citizens, what’s a little speed bump of religious freedom along the way!

When the federal government proves unable to secure its own borders and states must take the necessary measures to protect themselves, it is prosecutorial discretion that allows DOJ to join forces with Mexico to prosecute Arizona.  It’s that same discretion and presidential guidance that allows DOJ to prosecute states for legally enacting voter identification laws under the canard that being able to prove you are who you say you are is some sort of inordinately heavy and/or discriminatory burden. 

The latest Imperial Decree allows prosecutorial discretion to Homeland Security when it comes to deportation of young illegal aliens.  Cynics naturally expect that those of voting age who receives reprieves will immediately receive absentee ballots with one imperial name already checked.  Naturally, Janet Napolitano would never abuse her discretion.  Oh, wait… it’s the same sort of discretion that allows Ms. Napolitano to deny the State of Florida access to her data base to verify the citizenship of voters on Florida rolls and simultaneously allows DOJ to sue Florida for purging their rolls of ineligible voters.  At this stage of the game, there is only one person who profits by keeping ineligible voters on the rolls.

When laws are held in contempt, chaos and anarchy will ensue.  In times of social or financial chaos, don’t be surprised when a dictator emerges to bring things back to “normal.”  It’s the history of our world.      

Character and Consequence

By William L. Garvin
"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men." Samuel Adams
In his influential book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Steven Covey points out that the literature on success for the first 150 years of this country focused on a “Character Ethic” as the mandated foundation. Attributes such as integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and of course, the Golden Rule, were represented as the essential building blocks for true success and enduring happiness. As John Luther noted, “Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece, by thought, choice, courage and determination.” Covey then notes that shortly after WW I, the basic view of success shifted from the “Character Ethic” to a “Personality Ethic.” To paraphrase a popular commercial, “image became everything.” Public relations, advertising, positive mental attitudes, and outright manipulation, even deception, were all tricks of the trade to be mastered to influence or dictate successful outcomes.


Matt Patterson, a columnist for the liberal Washington Post, aptly characterized the election of Barack Obama in 2008 as just such a disastrous shift. “How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present"); and finally an unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. It is easy to imagine a future historian looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president? …Obama himself was never troubled by his lack of achievements, but why would he be? As many have noted, Obama was told he was good enough for Columbia despite undistinguished grades at Occidental; he was told he was good enough for the US Senate despite a mediocre record in Illinois; he was told he was good enough to be president despite no record at all in the Senate. All his life, every step of the way, Obama was told he was good enough for the next step, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.


What could this breed if not the sort of empty narcissism on display every time Obama speaks? In 2008, many who agreed that he lacked executive qualifications nonetheless raved about Obama's oratory skills, intellect, and cool character. Those people - conservatives included - ought now to be deeply embarrassed. The man thinks and speaks in the hoariest of clichés, and that's when he has his teleprompter in front of him; when the prompter is absent he can barely think or speak at all.”
Covey points out that as a society, we are falling into a reactive “victim paradigm.” Patterson reinforces this observation in his concluding comments: “…And what about his character? Obama is constantly blaming anything and everything else for his troubles. Bush did it; it was bad luck; I inherited this mess. It is embarrassing to see a president so willing to advertise his own powerlessness, so comfortable with his own incompetence.


But really, what were we to expect? The man has never been responsible for anything, so how do we expect him to act responsibly? In short: our president is a small and small-minded man, with neither the temperament nor the intellect to handle his job.”
While Patterson’s view may be harsh, it is inescapable that this President is in over his head. It is inescapable that the country can survive one term of incompetence. It is unclear whether this country can survive a voting population that might elect him to a second term. When voters are unable or unwilling to separate style from substance or form from function, when the choice is dictated by who is cool versus who is capable, results are predictable and perilous.

Dems Double Down on Dumb

By William L. Garvin

One of the more memorable characters to emerge from the Seinfeld television series was the “Soup Nazi.”  His catchphrase was the infamous “No soup for you!”  Apparently, he made quite an impression on the mayor of New York who is doing his best to be the self-appointed “Soda Nazi” and declare “No large sodas for you!”  New Big Apple rules prohibit soft drinks larger than sixteen ounces being served in restaurants.  Sixty-five percent oppose the Soda Nazi intervention but to the omniscient nanny-state, no detail is too small to escape government intervention and regulation.  Meanwhile, New York City is $75 billion in debt.  There are those who continue to strain at gnats while swallowing camels!

Another example of obsessive belief in inherent government superiority is California with Governor Jerry Brown’s irrational and fiscally irresponsible “Bullet Train to Nowhere.”  This green fiasco is also supported by President Obama.  By now, you should know that the estimated costs of the project have doubled to nearly $100 billion dollars and will probably not be completed until 2033.  In addition, fifty-nine percent of the voters would vote against it if they had a do over.  So, do the servants of the people recognize that times have changed and consent to the will of the people?  Not on your life.  In their infinite governmental wisdom, it’s damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.  Stand aside you ignorant unwashed masses and submit to the will of your superior government masters.

Furthermore, Emperor Brown now declares that he will “fast track” the project by “easing legal scrutiny under the state’s landmark environmental law.”  Critics of the rail project say all the projected ridership data is radically overstated but the facts don’t deter governmental leaders who are so sure of their righteous course.  Never mind that these governmental rulers are the ones who have pursued the same irresponsible fiscal course as their European counterparts and who have failed to curb any of their Grecian Formula spending binges.  Honestly now, how many people do you think will drive the eighty-five miles from Los Angeles to Victorville (about an hour and a half on a good day) to catch a train?  Dumb and double dumber!

But the height of doubling down on dumb is the presidential assault on Bain Capital and private sector venture capital.  First of all, Bain Capital used their own money; they were not using taxpayer monies.  Secondly, the Obama GST Steel commercial makes no reference to the steel workers strike, the fact that they would have gone under years before without Bain Capital intervention, or the fact that Mitt Romney was off running the Winter Olympics when GST went into bankruptcy.  No wonder Democrat Cory Booker called the ad “nauseating.”  Additionally, Jonathan Lavine (an Obama bundler for more than $100 thousand) was a Bain principal in 1999, and apparently bears no responsibility but Romney, who had already departed, is somehow culpable.  Even Bill Clinton admitted that Romney had a “stellar business career.”

It is also worth noting that Governor Romney graduated with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1975 (in the top five percent of his class) and simultaneously graduated (cum laude) from Harvard Law School.  When he became CEO of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, he not only refused a salary but he also contributed $1 million of his own money to the cause.

According to both ABC and CBS News, President Obama’s “green gamble” (WITH TAXPAYER MONEY!) has not been nearly as successful as Bain Capital.  The infamous Solyndra has been joined in bankruptcy ranks by Ener1, Beacon Power, Solar Trust, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, Mountain Plaza, Eastern Energy, First Solar, and Nevada Geothermal.  What’s even worse is that many of these taxpayer subsidized companies paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to executives just before declaring bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, the stock market tanks after an abysmal May jobs report.  Predictably, the “glowing” March and April figures were also revised downward.  Unemployment ticked back up even though millions of workers have given up and left the work force.  We suffered thirty-six more U.S. casualties in Afghanistan in May, the worst month of the year.  The national debt is now at $15.8 trillion and 43 of the most influential Catholic institutions have filed lawsuits against the government.  These are real problems that need real leadership but the President’s campaign talks about nothing but Bain.  That’s doubling down on dumb!