The Hope and Change Cabinet: Secretary of State

The Job:
The Secretary of State is the highest ranking member of the Presidential Cabinet. He/she is the head of diplomatic efforts and official foreign affairs.

Contender #1: Governor Bill Richardson
Biography
Bill Richardson is a 60-year-old Latino and self-described Roman Catholic. He was born in Los Angeles California, but spent his youth in Massachusetts, where he attended Middlesex H.S. in Concord, then Tufts University in Medford, where he earned a B.A. in 1970. He subsequently earned a M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford in 1971.

After college, he immediately went to work for Massachusetts Congressman F. Bradford Morse. He then worked on congressional relations under Henry Kissinger, then Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon. He moved to New Mexico for the first time in 1978 to run for Congress as a Democrat in 1980. He lost. He tried again in 1982 and won this time, in a newly-created Congressional district. He served as a U.S. Representative from 1983 to 1997. In 1997, he succeeded Madeline Albright as U.N. Ambassador under then-President Clinton. He served in this post until 1998 when he was named Energy Secretary – a post he occupied until G.W. Bush took over in 2001.

He then returned to New Mexico, and began to work in several academic and corporate positions, until he ran a successful campaign for Governor in 2002, a position in which he remains. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Democratic nominee for President in 2008.

Positions on Life, Liberty, Property

Life

• Supports abortion on demand during any trimester for any reason
• Supports experimentation on human embryos

Liberty

• Supports the radical gay agenda and special protections for alternative lifestyles
• Supported and signed medical marijuana legislation in N.M.
  

Property

• Opposed Kelo v. City of New London, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that vastly expanded communities’ rights of imminent domain over private citizen property holders
• Supports punitive progressive and redistributionist taxation policies

Positions on Bill of Rights
Amendment 1:
o Opposes free speech & petition through lobbyists / special interests
o Supports free speech through a free and open internet
Amendment 2:
o Supports right to keep and bear arms
Amendment 4:
o Supports through resistance to Patriot Act domestic surveillance
Amendment 5:
o Supports through resistance to Kelo case
Amendment 9:
o Undermines by supporting special rights and protections for alternative lifestyles and minorities.
Amendment 10:
o Undermines by supporting large and powerful central government

Qualifications for job
1. Closeness to President? YES
Richardson ran against Obama in 2008. After suspending his campaign however, he eventually turned on his long-time friends, the Clintons, to support Obama, a decision for which he was labeled a “traitor” by long-time Clintonista James Carville. The two seem rather close, bonded more completely by this show of faith by Richardson.

2. Effective communication with diverse audiences? YES
Soft-spoken and calm, almost to a fault, Richardson gives the impression of a cool head under pressure.

3. Acceptable face of American foreign policy? YES
No stranger to the world diplomatic stage

4. Aggressively pursues American interests? NO
His two previous most high-profile diplomatic efforts in Sudan and Palestine/Israel were both complete failures.
His one notable success was in diminishing U.S. sovereignty by more completely tying us to ridiculous U.N. mandates for environmental goals.

The Hope and Change Cabinet: Introduction

It’s been said that you can know someone by the company they keep. Since our new President-elect has chosen not to reveal much about himself over the past 21 months of campaigning, we’ve had no alternative but to use this old axiom to try and define him. In that process, names like Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, and Louis Farrakhan kept popping up.

In the interest of moving forward, though, let’s just pretend that didn’t happen. Let’s just look forward to our new President’s administration. Over the next few weeks will follow what I hope will be a series of investigations into the people that are being mentioned for the main cabinet posts. Maybe by seeing what they’re all about, we’ll get a clue to the character of the Enigma in Chief.

Congratulations are in order.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Barack Hussein Obama
President-elect of the United States

Don't fret, my friends. Long after this slimy Chicago marxist is gone, we will, God-willing, still be here. Still "bitter". Still "clinging" to guns, "clinging" to religion, and "clinging" to our antipathy to people who aren't like us (i.e. Commie terrorist apologists who think that the nearly 50% of us in this country who voted against him are simply ignorant rubes who stand in the way of his rightful ascendancy). Who knows? If we are strong, we may still even cling to that old, tattered wisp of the Constitution that remains after all his attempts to discredit and destroy it.

This fight is not over. It is now joined. Until and unless we are denied our God-given right to "petition Government for a redress of grievances", this blog and hundreds of others like it will continue to expose, continue to criticize, and continue to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign...and domestic". We will subject him and his socialist ideals and radical colleagues to twice the scrutiny we have endured during these last few dark years. One difference - we will actually tell the truth about what he says and stands for. And the set of ideas that make us unique and special will survive. Somewhere in the world, Liberty will survive. May God ordain that it will be here on this land.

Welcome to hell, Barry. You earned it.

*BREAKING NEWS*

"I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

- Barack Hussein Obama

Berlin, 2008

In a shocking development, reported by scientists in Australia, then confirmed by their colleagues across the globe, beleaguered Earth herself seems to be readying itself for the ascendancy of Senator Barack Hussein Obama to the position of President of the United States of America.

Since 0500 GMT yesterday, the oceans have dropped an average of 14.5 inches worldwide. An advisor close to the Obama campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that this was indeed the moment that the final poll results were in, and the Senator's win appeared finally to be inevitable.

"We kept trying to tell people", he said. "Maybe they will finally hear Mother Gaia's voice crying out now".

An Unprecedented Change:

Dr. Sydney Perthman, a climatologist and geologist working with the Australia Survey Project, spoke about the shocking findings. He and a team of researchers have been in the Australian outback since 2004, monitoring satellite images of Australia's coastline and comparing them with on-the-ground data and GPS locations.
"It was bizarre...shipwrecks have been popping up for the last couple of days at low tide. I don't know how to explain it." Dr. Perthman was reluctant to confirm whether he thought that Senator Obama's rise to power and prior promises about its effects on climate had anything to do with what he's been seeing. "It's a bit early for that sort of speculation", he said.

Change that brings Hope:

The ocean levels aren't the only thing changing. After recognizing the clear parallels between the dropping oceanic levels and improvements in Obama's chances, a series of other Obama prophecies have been examined. It appears that sick people, who have been without any care since mid-January of 2000, are now being seen by doctors again. Doctor groups are overjoyed. Adam Freidman, MD, assistant to the President of the American Medical Association, said "We've been sitting around for 8 years - just hoping and praying for something to do. Doctors had almost lost all touch with reality. Our art was dying. Then yesterday, like a flick of a switch, sick people. Lots and lots of sick people. All getting care. I don't know where they've been. I guess just riding out the last eight years in sick misery. Thank God it's better. This is truly a hopeful change!".

It doesn't stop there. In a stunning reversal to the lay-offs and corporate greed that have been the hallmark of recent months, the largest 10 companies in the U.S. announced that they would be offering 6- to 7-figure salaried V.P. positions to hundreds of currently jobless people. The time of the announcement sent shivers up the spine of the new VP for management at Pfizer corporation, Mark Groves, sitting on his old park bench covered with a newspaper - "This is just unf******believable, man. Truly, bro".

Stories are also coming out of the Brazilian rainforest as missionaries and environmentalists reach communication. They report that the rain forests, previously thought lost to irresponsible agricultural expansion, have experienced what has been described by some as a "Jack and the Beanstalk" kind of overnight growth. "The earth is actually starting to heal itself", said one ecologist with National Geographic Society's permanent facility in the region, "thank God America made the right choice."

Hope that brings change:

An unorthodox theory has been proposed by Dr. Charles Swootz, a professor of applied psychology at MIT. "It is at least possible that Obama has actually been correct in saying what had previously been thought a simple rhetorical flourish. We have been researching the possibility that positive thoughts effect the environment. Perhaps with this election process, the American people have actually begun to change their environment - through hope".

A muslim cleric, Louis Farakhan, disagrees. "The Earth simply is receiving its Mahdi - it's messiah. This was all foretold. The oceans and trees are celebrating with all humanity, the arrival of The One. Oh, and just wait until Inauguration Day - the crippled will walk, the blind will see...Oh. And whitey will be destroyed."

Regardless of the cause, this turnaround is truly phenomenal. We await more information.

The Fix is In. Those of You Who Love Liberty - Brace Yourselves

I shall not openly admit that this is over. Though it appears that things look bad. The Enemies of the Constitution have apparently gained the opportunity to "remake" our 232-year-old Republic into something that our forefathers would not have recognized. "How?", you ask? Through a successful combination of

(1) 50 years of race-baiting,

(2) 40 years of class-warfare-baiting,

(3) a government complicit in a fraudulent election a la A.C.O.R.N., and

(4) a public, largely so media-obsessed that they presented no resistance to the smooth operation of the empty eggshell of a campaign run by a self-described Marxist, class partisan, and terrorist symptathizer.

No, I shall not openly retreat. As a former Marine, I prefer to "attack in a different direction" (Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, Korea, 1951). I also swore an oath to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic". Because I take that very seriously, and because I sincerely believe that Barack Hussein Obama and the rest of his socialist atheist democrat colleagues are a threat to our Constitutution, I will try and prepare you all for what an Obama Administration can and very well may do to (and despite) our beloved Constitution.

Incidentally, here's a much better and more comprehensive treatment of Obama's record on the Constitution than I could ever produce.

Chris of Rights blog (excellent reading, incidentally)

_____________________________________

If the campaign and his past votes, statements, and actions are any indication, we can expect

1. An administration that squelches free speech (especially free speech that is disagreeable to him - that's "hate speech", by the way, punishable by law).
2. We should prepare, once again, to defend our right to bear arms - quite literally to the death, if necessary. May God forbid.
3. We should prepare for a further erosion of our civil liberties and civil rights...unless, of course, we are one of the "Special Americans" identified as fertile ground for unquestioning Democrat votes - homosexuals, minorities, atheists, and communists.
4. We should brace for a massive expansion of the central government and
5. We should prepare to see a massive increase in the amount of money we must give them to spend on their pet causes that undermine our economic and physical security.

Those of us who continue to believe in the ideals upon which this country was founded must make a decision, now. What will we do to best serve our nation and our families? Wait for the mid-term elections and hope for a 1994-style Gingrichesque backlash? Go survivalist and await the nearly inevitable decline of our society when Reed, Pelosi, Frank, Schumer, and Obama can not resist the temptation to raise taxes? Secede?

I don't know what to do or what to advocate. But I do know this. I will continue to teach my son about the country as it should have been. He needs to know what was great about our Republic before we gave it away to the worst kind of American - one who wants to make us mediocre like everybody else. And I will remain ever-vigilant, hoping to see some sign of life - like the first tender green shoot to spring up in the wasteland following a volcanic eruption or something - the undeniable evidence that Freedom and Liberty are growing in a new land. Then I will go there and help, and teach my children to help. And we will try not to repeat the mistakes that have led to this tragic loss of Liberty. Maybe we'll get it right next time.

Is it too late to give Hawai'i back?

I was perusing www.rove.com looking at our dire straits when I noticed something interesting. Everybody's favorite socialist leads in Hawai'i by 41 percentage points. What accounts for that? If you already live in paradise, what can Obama offer you? I suppose you could always hope for more free time to enjoy your surroundings. Come to think of it - that would be pretty sweet...no job to worry about, your bills payed by the "rich" mainland suckers...They already have more than their fair share of the honeymoon industry eternally wrapped up. And they probably like him because he spent a couple of months there on sabbatical from his childhood in the Asian madrassahs.

So allow me to be the first to say that I am starting the movement to give Hawai'i back to the Hawai'ians. I will no longer willingly financially support their non-stop luaus, lousy college football, and snobby insistence on pronouncing their state name with its original inflection. I guess they could remain as a territory, but that would give them at least some voting rights, and they've demonstrated that they don't deserve to participate with the rest of us grown-ups. I mean, even Massachussetts only gives a little over 20 points to the commie. Shameful.

So stock up on bananas and mosquito nets, Hawai'i. A veritable typhoon of ill will is on its way.

The Straw Man Debates, No. 2: Socialists are Ignorant

MOCKBADOC: Any political or social movement has to start with the recognition of a problem. Socialism is no different. If you read about the history of the Socialism movement, it started with the recognition of an inherent inequality between the workers and the people who benefited from their work. It must be understood, however, that the times in which this realization was made were fundamentally different from our own.

Flowerchild: What do you mean, exactly?

MOCKBADOC: Well, let's look at the places where socialism really took root - Europe in the 1800s. The biggest hotbeds of political unrest were Great Britain, Russia, and Germany. In all these cultures, the power was wielded by a noble aristocracy, and the vast majority of the population lived not as citizens, but as subjects.

Flowerchild: So?

MOCKBADOC: In a culture that is aristocratic, there are two distinct classes of people - the nobles and the non-nobles. A typical worker could never hope to achieve much of anything that was outside his or her class. If you were unlucky enough to be born the son of a coal miner, you were incredibly unlikely to become anything else. The acquisition of property and the securing of a good education and the means with which to use that education to better yourself all were controlled and doled out by a central, often tyrannical power class which received that power through no work of their own, but as a birthright.

Flowerchild: I don't see how this is relevant.

MOCKBADOC: Exactly my point. We in the U.S. saw this inequality as problematic almost a century before these other countries, and we decided on a course to stop it - our Revolution against Great Britain. We solved this problem of inescapable class structure by giving all our citizens (ideally) access to whatever they could achieve by their own hard work. We abolished royalty. The people who became wealthy in our country did so by working hard and making good decisions. In this way, we solved the problem the Socialists sought to solve, but by a different, and I believe a superior method.

Flowerchild: But we still have poor people. We still have those who work but don't get to succeed. Surely some sort of leveling of the playing field must be done.

MOCKBADOC: You seem to believe, like many liberals, that Socialist countries have solved the problem of having poor people. You are wrong. In the U.S.S.R., people were assigned to duties based on what their government thought their capabilities were. They earned little or no income, and as such, had no chance of rising to a higher level. In fact, the whole idea of rising to a better life was anathema to the Communists, because to do better for yourself meant that their "egalitarian society" was made void. So, if you were assigned the job of coal miner, you could hope for nothing but to remain a coal miner for life. You were still poor, you just had the twisted comfort of knowing that all your peers were poor, too. Except, of course, for the Party Elites. They had a pretty sweet deal.

Flowerchild: Okay. I'm really going to have to insist that you get to what this has to do with us.

MOCKBADOC: All I'm saying is that we don't live in autocratic 19th century Europe. If you are a coal miner and hate it, you have the choice to use your liberty to get out. Additionally, you have immensely better conditions than they did. Finally, you make an income that you can use however you want. You can buy a new house, a new car, whatever. This is hardly the hopeless set of circumstances that were being fought against by the original socialists. And to try and make the case that the workers need to rise up against the bourgeois in this time, and in a country where opportunity exists for anybody that wants to exercise their liberty, is more than silly. It's idiotic.

Flowerchild: Why shouldn't workers demand better pay, then? And what about all the people that make huge salaries, like oil and gas executives, while the roughnecks bear all the life-and-limb risks and make only a small salary? And what if you're born into a poor family? Surely you can see that you have a harder time becoming a millionaire as an inner-city kid than as a Rockefeller, right? I just think that everyone should have a truly equal opportunity to make it big. I'm not a Communist. I just think that everyone should have a truly equal opportunity.

MOCKBADOC: You just walked right into it. There is no way that you can ever achieve the sort of equality you are speaking of without taking rights away from people.

Flowerchild: That is a ridiculous claim.

MOCKBADOC: No. It is the exact reason that Marx called the kind of socialism that Europe still practices today a "halfway point" between aristocratic capitalism and true equality through complete Communism. No half-measure of Communism can benefit anyone. Take education, for example. We've spent several decades trying to ensure that every single person who wants to try college can get a college education. The result? Lots of jobless people with degrees, and a critical shortage of skilled workers like machinists and carpenters. These good-paying jobs must be sent overseas while the people with a B.A. in political science work to pay off their college loans as managers at Taco Bell. We've flooded the market. The fact that people can't see this is proof that socialists are ignorant.

Flowerchild: So what are you suggesting? That only certain people get access to a college education?

MOCKBADOC: Yes I am. The ones that show aptitude for college-type pursuits. In the same way, people who are skilled and have a passion for carpentry or mechanics should be allowed to do those things. We have allowed ourselves to become victims of a sick mindset, preached to us by the liberal intelligentsia, that only intellectual pursuits are valid or have value. Because they look down on machinists as being some sort of sub-human, then we have begun to act that way, too. Go to any construction site. What do you see? Latinos. Are they inherently better carpenters, masons, plumbers, and electricians than their American competitors would be? No. It's just that all the people who would have made a very good living doing these occupations are off in some junior college somewhere struggling in vain to be accountants or something. To believe that you can make a happy accountant or doctor out of everyone is ignorant, and shows a thinly-veiled contempt for everyone who doesn't go to college.

Flowerchild: So let me get this straight. You want to rob poor kids of the chance to go to college, and instead assign them to a life of construction work. Real compassionate.

MOCKBADOC: First of all, who said anything about the poor? Lots of poor kids could go to college, if they show through their test scores and interests that they have the raw material to be doctors or architects or accountants. Lots of rich kids, on the other hand, might end up choosing to be electricians or carpenters. And again, you tip your hand. Your disdain for construction work is evident when you say things like that. I can tell you, people who are good at construction make a very good living, and have a good lifestyle free from college debt.

The trick is to realize that all jobs have value and to make all these jobs attractive to the people that are inclined to do them.

Flowerchild: How do you plan to do that, then?

MOCKBADOC: If people who are naturally inclined to be doctors get the opportunity to be doctors, and people who are naturally inclined to be machinists get the opportunity to be machinists, then we will be the proud home to the very best doctors and to the very best machinists on earth. People who hire machinists will be able to attract the best of the best by paying more. In this way, the market benefits the employer and the employee alike. The worker is thus empowered, making socialism unnecessary.

I advocate excellence. Socialists elevate the idea of "equality" as if by making everybody equal, you make everybody happy. I disagree completely. I think that forcing people to be something they are not makes them unhappy. In fact, I think that forcing people to do anything at all is evil, and should be avoided. Additionally, I disagree with the entire premise that you can ever achieve true equality. Even under the most "equal" of systems - Communism - there were still people who did construction and people who were engineers. Was this equal? No.

This is why I think socialists are ignorant (but not the only reason). They think they can insure that all people are happy by forcing their views on everybody. I prefer to have the freedom to choose for myself what makes me happy, then go out and get it. Anything that stands in the way of that is a "human rights violation", to use the language of your twisted philosophy.

Flowerchild: You, my friend, are a fanatic, a loon, and a philosophical dinosaur. You should be careful. You'll be one of the first sent to one of Obama's re-education camps.

MOCKBADOC: I'm sure you're right, friend. I'm sure you're right.