Conservatives All

In a relatively short February campaign speech, Mitt Romney used the word "conservative" 26 times. Does anyone know what that word means? Conservatives don’t know? For some reason they just want to hear it.

“Conservative” used to be a personal style, connoting a relatively staid demeanor and opposition to change. Republicans applaud Teddy Roosevelt, who championed conservation and reined in corporate greed.

As recently as the sixties, the philosophy was relatively clear. There was no question about what “conservative” meant to Barry Goldwater, in contrast to Lyndon Johnson. They were both eloquent in drawing out opposing visions for this country.

What a “conservative” stands for now is vague at best. He claims he will shrink government, but actually expands it, without raising taxes; he says derogatory things about government, wanting it out of his life, but into your bedroom; he seems to endorse solid, American values like baseball, lapel pins, apple pie, Chevrolet and guns, oh, and war, and is very responsive to corporate issues. In campaigning, these conservatives carefully say nothing specific about policies; they only smear their opponents, be they Democrats or fellow “conservatives,” who oppose their electoral objectives.

In scrutinizing politics, the editorial staff of Robbinsense has never before experienced anything like what has occurred in the last six months. Politics on our national stage has turned into comedy. One cannot tune in to the national news, be it CBS, MSNBC, CNN, or FoxViews, without being stunned into laughter.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive candidate, doesn’t fill squares for the "Tea Party" a loosely-packed bunch of whackos, most of who don't like black people and are resentful that we have a black president. While pandering to these offshoot zanies, the Republicans have presented a parade of marginal candidates, who have then been systematically shredded by each other, who are all awash in money presented by the Supreme Court, which seems to be the “legal branch” of the Republican Party, courtesy of "Citizens United.”

In response, Romney has contorted himself into the laughing stock of the country. He has chosen both sides of almost every important issue, sometimes contradicting himself in the same sentence: abortion, birth control, war/peace in the Middle East, bank bailouts, the Blunt Bill, health care, gay rights, Presidential apologies for American international atrocities. The only things that this man has not changed course on are 1) his insistence that he will undermine Social Security, 2) his determination to “balance the budget” on the backs of the poor, and 3) a defense of “American Exceptionalism.”

The up-coming election should be one of the most interesting in history---no “Tweedle-dee” and “Tweedle-dum” here. Obama is a known commodity: a measured, conservative man, with a slightly liberal agenda, driven by political expediency. The Republicans present a fascinating turn-around in their politics over recent times. Twelve years ago, the GOP cared only about winning. They stampeded behind George W. Bush, with a prominent pedigree and a hefty war chest, who promised to be a bland, conservative technocrat, but he turned out to be a radical in every sense of the word---and arguably the worst president in the modern era. Romney, aside from shamelessly pandering to his base and proposing the same policies as Mr. Bush, is literally promising to be more radical and an even worse president than he was! We know that a hard core of 20% to 30% will vote the Republican ticket no matter what. It will be interesting to see how many of the American people can forget this circus, and come to consider him as a viable candidate to lead our country. Good luck!

The Face of Tragedy

by C. O. Jones

In all the hoopla over the tragedy of Trayvon Martin, perhaps the most cynical comment comes from (would-be) news correspondent, Geraldo Rivera: “Parents, don’t send your children out with hoodies.” WHERE is the national, political, social outcry (in the face of the NRA during an election year) suggesting that parents: “Don’t send your children out with guns!” This includes our 15, 28 and 60-year-old children! There are millions of “George Zimmermans” out there whom we cannot order off the streets. George Zimmerman, and those now stepping forward to vouch for his “sweet” nature, is not the problem. The problem lies with US! We allow people like him to prowl the streets with guns. States like Florida, with comical laws, even encourage it. Arizona has gun laws now more permissive than the law whose enforcement led to the legendary gunfight at the OK corral in Tombstone in 1881.

Florida gun laws endorse a “vigilante” system of bounty hunting, with tacit immunity to what would otherwise, clearly be second degree murder. This self-promoted “protector of the community,” was clearly instructed by the police dispatcher to stand down. This incident is one more piece of a puzzle in which violence in our culture has become more and more accepted, to the point of veneration. Our street thugs who find glory in pounding each other to a pulp now make mega-bucks on TV in (respectable?) “Ultimate Fighting” leagues. I would rather watch a cock fight. Young people attend “slam dances,” in which violence is part of the fun(?) The U. S. Army now endorses “cage fighting,” in which many of the women, encouraged to participate, are carried off on stretchers.

Violence in sports runs the gamut, from the NBA, where it’s strongly discouraged, to the NHL, where it’s openly encouraged….to attract more fans. Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, was praised for his tough stance against the New Orleans Saints coaching staff for imposing stiff sanctions in a “bounty hunting” scandal. Fines and suspensions? Am I missing something? We’re talking mob violence here, with bosses and goons. These men, passing out “contracts,” are guilty of assault and battery at least. They belong in jail, banned for life! Hey, Pete Rose just had a gambling problem; he wasn’t hurting anybody. Instead, our prisons are filled with people who want to smoke an occasional joint…or with kids whose only hope to escape inner-city madness is the drug culture.

Our children are encouraged to sit in front of television sets from age 1, where they watch violence and mayhem that makes Roadrunner Cartoons look like “.…a Jolly Holiday with Mary (Poppins.)” Is it any wonder that we, (THAT’S YOU AND I) are tolerant of our government conducting multiple wars all over the planet, killing thousands of innocents including assassination of our own citizens, for the sake of protecting commerce and our prerogative to dictate to these people how they should run their lives? Our so-called “liberal” president is just as guilty as the last ignoramus we ran out of office, with the help of term limits.

Take note, my friends, of the many forms and the degree of violence that permeates our culture and take a stand against it.

C. O. Jones is a Robbinsense staff writer

Immigration "Justice"

Jackson Dave,

reporting from Los Angeles

Many of you may have missed this. Akio and Fukado Kawashima came to Southern California from Japan in 1984. They (legally) operated three popular sushi restaurants in The Valley and Thousand Oaks. Like many good citizens, they under-reported their income in 1991. For this they paid a hefty $245,000 for back taxes, interest and penalties, along with four months in prison. Nothing too interesting here.

Where this picks up steam is, in mid-February the U. S. Supreme Court, our Uber-watchdog of Republican (Party) interests, handed down a 6 – 3 ruling which allowed the INS to declare such a miscue an “aggravated felony.” Aggravated felony includes crimes of “fraud or deceit” that cost the miscreant more than $200,000; this subjects the offender(s) to automatic deportation.

The couple’s appeal went through the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals, then to the Supreme Court. Still sounds pretty ho-hum, you say? Well, speaking for the court was our own Prince of Darkness, The Honorable Clarence Thomas, Esq., Mr. Mum: “…the Kawashimas knowingly and willingly submitted a tax return that was false and therefore had committed a felony that involved deceit.” ---off with their heads!

Ok, the kicker: six months ago, the IRS discovered that, Virginia Thomas earned over $680,000 from that venerable, conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, over five years, a group says. But Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did not include it on their financial disclosure forms.

"It wasn't a miscalculation; he simply omitted his wife's source of income for six years, which is a rather dramatic omission," Gillers said. "It could not have been an oversight."

The Supreme Court is "the only judicial body in the country that is not governed by a set of judicial ethical rules," Gillers added.

Some quick mental calculations give us unreported income of $680k, with a marginal tax rate for a couple in this bracket around 30% Federal, would yield a tax of approximately $204,000, plus five years of compounded interest and penalties. Get the picture? Justice Thomas should be deported to the closest Federal penitentiary and impeached for high crimes and “aggravated felonies.”

Number One: Thomas should have recused himself from the case.

Two: This man rarely speaks out on anything. What sordid irony would bring him to announce the decision?

Three: This man is a menace to our country, if not our society.

Four: What will it take to bring this court to its robed knees?

Five: For those who think George H. W. Bush was a pretty decent president, think again. Thomas is still only 63.

Regrets due here, as your editor is speechless in the face of indignation that accompanies this story: “Words fail me, my lords. Nothing that I might utter could possibly match the depth of my feelings on this matter.”

Jackson Dave is a Robbinsense staff writer