Daily Archives: February 25, 2006

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Jerry Lewis Staffer….err… Marine Officer Recalled

California Congressman Jerry Lewis (CA-41) is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. As such, he had oversight responsibility for members of his committee. Members such as Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who was using his position on the committee to ensure that his “friends” Mitchell Wade (pled guilty Friday) and Brent Wilkes (soon to be pleading) could steal millions from U.S. taxpayers.

Turns out that Lewis was stealing from U.S. taxpayers as well.  According to The Hill, Lewis was utilizing a Marine officer, Lt. Col. Carl Kime, as a staffer in his congressional office to help manage earmark and defense appropriations. The very tools that Cunningham used to run his bribery scam.

Kime held an influential position in Lewis’s personal office and had oversight on requests for earmarked funds in the defense appropriations bill, the largest of the annual spending bills, according to sources familiar with the workings of the House Appropriations Committee. Kime held the title of appropriations associate, the only aide to hold that title in Lewis’s personal office, according to the House directory.

[…]
Kime’s service for Lewis appeared to violate the Members’ Congressional Handbook issued by the Committee for House Administration, which defines a detailee as a “non-congressional federal employee assigned to a committee for a period of up to one year.” The handbook also states that “detailees may not be assigned to a member office” and cites the relevant section of U.S. law: 2 USC Section 72a(f).

Lewis defended his aide when alerted about the apparent violation.

“I’ve had military detailees since I’ve been in the Congress, almost every year, and they’ve been responsive to me,” he said. “I don’t read the handbooks, but I know who they work for and they respond to my interests.”

Kime’s service also appeared to violate a Department of Defense regulation that mandates that detailees “be limited to performing duties for a specific duration, in a specific project and as a member of a staff of a committee of the Congress.”

Jerry Lewis apparently thinks that he doesn’t have to follow the rules in Congress. Just like Duke Cunningham, he places his interests ahead of the American people.

No wonder Lewis and his “free” staffer didn’t find anything wrong with Duke’s earmarks. Duke was following the “Lewis Rule” – take everything you can get.

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[From NCP] Prop 73 modifies the state constitution to define abortion as infanticide

[Originally posted 11/05/2005 on NorCal Politics by LSchwark.]

Beyond the criticisms of the proposition as being detrimental to the health and safety of California teens, Proposition 73 is also a stealth initiative to criminalize abortion, amending the state constitution to define abortion as infanticide.

From the text of the initiative (emphasis mine):

This initiative measure is submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of Article II, Section 8 of the California Constitution. This initiative measure expressly amends the California Constitution by adding a section thereto

…

(1) “Abortion” means the use of any means to terminate the pregnancy of an unemancipated minor female known to be pregnant with knowledge that the termination with those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born.

I would have thought this was obvious to Californians by now. Unfortunately, the LA Times conducted a poll this week that indicates Prop 73 is running at 51% approval by likely voters.

This is not the first go around with notification laws. In 1953, the constitution was amended to allow minors to have the same access to medical care as adults, without notification. In 1987, the legislature added a parental notification amendment in the case of abortions for minors. The state supreme court struck it down as being unconstitutional. So, now they anti-choice forces are trying to amend the constituion.

As they always do, the anti-choice agenda is acting by stealth because people in the US, and even more so in California, are pro-choice. Therefore, they’re trying to nibble away piecemeal the underpinnings of abortion access and availability. Much like the Intelligent Design advocates argue they just want to allow their side to be heard alongside evolution to get their foot in the door, the same is the case with parental notification. Conservatives understand the game, moderates are often fooled into supporting the idea as if that were the only issue involved. But it’s not the only issue, it’s just part of an ongoing campaign. The graphic snipped from the LA Times poll shows why this tactic can work. While pro-choice voters outnumber anti-choice voters 58% to 39%, there’s a swing 19% that is open to some limitations on abortion. If they can be convinced that one measure or another is reasonable, the anti-choice forces can sneak through a trojan horse.

There are plenty of conscientious and well-meaning people who take a principled stand against abortion. Many of them are also against the death penalty and concerned with the general social welfare. But the anti-choice activists who put things like Proposition 73 forward are the people who also oppose birth control, sex education. These anti-abortion activists are now debating whether they should oppose the addition of the HPV vaccine that prevents most cervical cancer to the routine child vaccination schedule. Their argument, predictably, is that immunizing girls aginst HPV will encourage sexual activity. You see, HPV is communicable much more easily than most STD’s and thus condoms aren’t effective. So the fear of cancer is their ally in promoting abstinence only education.

There are plenty of other arguments against Prop 73.

  • It most affects the vulnerable teens who live in abusive or unstable home environments.
  • It institutes a government bureaucracy that receives notifications of teens seeking abortions. Think about that one for a minute.
  • The measure criminalizes doctors and health care providers who provide abortions to teens unless they participate in the notification bureaucracy.
  • Expecting vulnerable teens to go to court to get a waiver is ridiculous. Imagine yourself as a poor 16 year old with an unstable home environment. Are you going to be going to court to get a waiver? Again, the idea is ridiculous on its face.
  • Most teens seeking abortions do, in fact, already discuss it with their parents.
  • The state Supreme Court, in rejecting the last attempt at notification laws, included the opinion that such laws do, in fact, put teens in danger.

Vote NO on PROPOSITION 73.

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Cunningham’s Military Training Led Him to Lie, Cheat and Steal

Convicted felon (and former San Diego) congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s propensity to lie, cheat and steal were, in part, the result of his military training. That’s the theme of a psychological report on Cunningham prepared for and distributed by his legal defense team.

The full report is here.  The summary from the San Diego Union Tribune is here.

A psychiatrist says Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s fall from Vietnam War hero to corrupt politician grew out of “an outsized ego and a mantle of invulnerability” that allowed him to rationalize his behavior.

That mindset evolved from a military career in which Cunningham was taught to embrace aggressive tactics and ignore danger signs and enabled him to perform heroically during the Vietnam War, the doctor said.

Those traits, imperative for fighter pilots, were so engrained in Cunningham that although he was expected to behave differently in Congress “the psyche cannot make such a U-turn easily,” said Dr. Saul Faerstein.

[…]

Faerstein said Cunningham’s “extraordinary deeds in the service planted a subconscious sense of entitlement which fed his rationalization to accept these gifts for his sacrifices.”

[…]

He recognizes now that Wade and others in Washington were part of a culture of corruption and that good motives may lead to bad decisions when that corruption infuses the relationships of the people involved in the process,” he said.

OK. Here’s the deal. Everyone in the military – every branch and every military occupation specialty is trained first as part of a fighting force. And, fighting in the military sense is all about doing things that your brain say are bad ideas – avoiding “danger signs” (being shot at and bombed) and “aggressive tactics” (attacking instead of running away).

If the psych report on Cunningham is accurate, then why are we not in the midst of an extraordinary crime wave as former soldiers, sailors, marines, airman, etc. run wild exercising their “subconscious sense of entitlement?”

I’ll tell you why. Because, every office and non-commissioned office in our military is trained to accept responsibility, both for their own actions and for the actions of their subordinates. Second, because every officer and non-commisioned understands that the welfare of their subordinates is their primary duty.

Duke Cunningham was a good fighter pilot. He was not a good officer. He never understood the part about taking responsibility and, in congress, he put his personal welfare above those he was elected to serve.