No Dark Path Here

No Dark Path Here

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 29, 2009

Cutting through Nancy Parker’s flowery language and bloviation (Who’s Out of Touch, June 18-24), this nation has most certainly not traversed down a dark path. In fact, this nation has risen above the dark and disturbing behavior of our enemies.

Those imprisoned at Guantanamo are captured enemy combatants. They have been afforded greater human rights than the allegedly free women in their home cultures. They are provided with religious materials, have their dietary laws adhered to and actually live.

The flipside of this dark path to which Ms. Parker refers is the numerous beheadings at the hands of those professing to be people of an allegedly peaceful faith.

It is not, as Ms. Parker asserts, a known fact that those held at Gitmo are neither criminals nor terrorists. Unless she has inside information to which the rest of the public is not privy, the detainees are enemy combatants, thus earning their one-way ticket to a cell. And, as they are not being held on American soil, they are not entitled to that which prisoners on American soil are entitled. Nor do they have a right of due process in American courts.

Ms. Parker would do well to take any BBC production with more than just a grain of salt. This propaganda machine of the left is both anti-American and anti-Semitic. And where are those so-called lawsuits being won against the US government? In an American court? The

World Court

– which has no jurisdiction here?

One needs not be singularly linked to 9/11 in order to be held as an enemy combatant. And I must question Ms. Parker’s sense of logic and reasoning regarding any alleged war crimes supposedly committed by the US where she claims this country has a responsibility to right so-called wrongs. Even if that assertion is true, and I believe it to be based upon faulty logic, righting wrongs does not entitle enemy combatants to the rights granted American citizens and certainly not a free pass.

I will agree with one cogent point put forth by Ms. Parker: “If our government’s priority is the safety and financial well being of the American citizens, we would be much more discreet about who is allowed in and who is not.” That’s true, because clearly, based upon no real immigration policy, our government has not been discreet regarding who is allowed entry upon our shores, nor has it done anything of any valid attempt to curtail the overrunning of our borders by those with no right to be here. That was a major failing of the previous administration only to be compounded by the blind eye of this administration.

(By the way, “their own country has failed them… and they want to make money,” that’s two reasons people are coming to this country, not “one reason, and one reason only,” as stated by Ms. Parker.)

Ms. Parker suggests the detainees “have none of the technical know how to try to escape.” I’m curious how she knows the intimate details of the detainees skill sets. Ms. Parker also said Rep. Moran is asking us, the inconvenienced citizens, “to allow those prisoners… to be housed under maximum security.” Hello, Ms. Parker? Are you not paying attention? Have any of the Gitmo prisoners escaped? Are they not under maximum security? We the people of these United States are safer and more secure with the prisoners at Gitmo where water and 90 miles separates them from us instead of on our mainland – in what most prison guards who have visited Gitmo attest to, better conditions there, than here.

Ms. Parker wants to know why such trials should take place here instead of in New York where the event of 9/11 took place. Here’s a history and geography lesson for you, Ms. Parker – 9/11 events also occurred at the Pentagon – ensconced within Jim Moran’s congressional district as well as in a field in Shanksville, PA. One more piece of historical context – take a look at some photos of Auschwitz before calling your backyard an American Auschwitz – that does nothing but demean the memory of all those who were murdered there.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Keep Local Elections In May

Keep Local Elections In May

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 7, 2009

Run, don’t walk to City Hall this Saturday, June 13 for the City Council Public Hearing. The most important docket item is a resolution requesting a referendum to appear on the November ballot moving City Council and School Board elections from May to November.

As a former candidate for the School Board, I strongly support the retention of May local elections, for although I was on record disparaging the pathetically paltry – 19 percent – turnout, at least the candidates found themselves center stage.

Let’s dispel the notion that moving local elections to November would increase turnout. Sure, more citizens may cast votes in November, but by adding the City Council and School Board races to a ballot that may include presidential, senate, congressional candidates one year, and governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state senate and house of delegate candidates another year, local candidates will simply receive less attention than they deserve.

Most voters are already under the misguided impression that the higher ranking office the more influential it is in our lives. Quite the contrary. The president represents over 300 million Americans before the global community. Members of the House of Representatives represent approximately 650,000 citizens. When someone’s Social Security check has been inexplicably delayed, they don’t call the White House, they call their Congressman.

On the state level, the governor in Richmond is not called to report a pothole, instead City Hall is contacted. Retaining May for local elections is vital for voters to become familiar with the candidates and the candidates to spend time hearing the concerns of their potential constituents.

Governance at the most local level is the most effective. Elected leaders are closer to their constituents, live in the same neighborhoods and are affected by the same issues. Moving local elections to November where the candidates and the issues can be lost within the shuffle of the seemingly more “important” offices will allow the majority party to become complacent, and responsibility and accountability to the voters would, in essence, disappear.

This is not a Democrat versus Republican issue. Instead this is a non-partisan issue that should give the voters a serious level of consternation. Even the League of Women Voters and local NAACP have expressed concern with the potential date amendment.

Those unable to attend the June 13 hearing due to religious observance, contact the City Council at 703-746-4500 or via the City website at www.alexandriava.gov. As the great radio talk show host Bob Grant says, ending his program, “your influence counts – use it!”

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria.

Hughes' Struggle Not Uncommon

Hughes’ Struggle Not Uncommon

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

May 26, 2009

That Alexandria City Councilwoman-elect Alicia Hughes (I) is struggling to make ends meet may be a concern to her and those who care about her well-being, it certainly should not be grist for the mill of public opinion.

Defeated Councilman Tim Lovain (D), who commented on the eve of his defeat that in a city like Alexandria, no Democrat should lose, or words to that effect. Playing on his sour grapes mindset, he has set out to attempt to reverse a decision made by an electorate who obviously had enough of one-party rule in Alexandria.

In an unfriendly economic climate such as the one experienced by most Americans, Hughes fell behind in her rent payments, but at the same time did not shirk her financial responsibilities and has made good – according to both Hughes and her property manager. This same climate has dictated that a home owned by Hughes has yet to be put on the market – a smart financial decision made by someone entrusted with raising and spending the taxpayers’ money.

Lovain’s assertion also lends credence to the notion that only people of financial means should run for and serve in public office. That is just the elitist and arrogant attitude that cost him his seat.

It is also a might suspicious that eviction notices given Hughes allowed her a less than reasonable amount of time in which to respond. “Sheriff’s officials said they notified Hughes on April 24 that she would be evicted May 12.” (TWP, B1) An overly paranoid person might wonder if forces beyond her control were at work just two weeks prior to Election Day in Alexandria.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Moran Out Of Touch On Many Levels

Moran Out Of Touch On Many Levels

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

May 26, 2009

Congressman Jim Moran is out of touch – with both his constituents, and quite frankly, as well as with reality. Several weeks ago, Moran opined in another publication that the United States should not only close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but that the detainees would be accepted by the good people of Alexandria – a major city within his Congressional District.

“By and large, Alexandrians are civic-minded people and are ready to do their duty if it serves the greater good,” wrote Moran.

It is not our duty to take prisoners of war, at best, and blood-thirsty terrorists hell-bent on destroying the United States and Western Civilization as we know it, at worst, out of a secure detention center for the purposes of giving them trials for which they are not entitled, on American soil where potential danger is an unnecessary possibility. When did it become the duty of non-uniformed citizens to be purposely put into harms way, Mr. Moran? This is not the kind of sacrifice civilians make during wartime. Cutting back on energy, raw materials, buying war bonds – these are the sacrifices civilians make in support of a war effort as our history has demonstrated.

Alexandrians “have shown this public spirit time and again. The ‘20^th hijacker,’ Zacarias Moussaoui, who participated in planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, was held and prosecuted in the Alexandria courthouse,” wrote Moran.

As a former resident of the Carlyle Towers condominiums located directly across the street from the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse and Detention Center in Alexandria, I can attest to the media circus that gathered day after day, not to mention the inconvenience of the simple exiting and entering our homes on a daily basis while the hearings and trials occurred. I can also attest to the fact that the overwhelming majority of residents opposed those activities, many of whom spoke their minds at a town hall-type meeting hosted by Moran in an effort to assuage people’s concerns.

Several years later, and with the advent of the Patent-Trademark Office and its population, such trials will be a bigger nightmare than Moran can imagine. And he demonstrated his lack of imagination when he wrote “taking the easy route and joining the chorus of those crying ‘not in my back yard’ is appealing. But that’s not the Alexandria I know and have represented in Congress for nearly 20 years.” This, clearly, is not 1989.

Perhaps that’s because you, Mr. Moran, are out of touch with your constituents and no longer know what is on their minds. You win reelection every two years like clockwork without breaking a sweat and often times taking voters for granted. In an unscientific survey of liberals, conservatives and neutrals alike, 84 percent of the people I communicated with are opposed to the shut down of Gitmo in the first place. Then, to top it off, 93 percent of the folks I communicated with oppose holding trials for terrorists in American courts such as here in Alexandria. Granted this is admittedly a non-scientific poll, but the honest, patriotic, generous people of Alexandria running the spectrum from right to left are speaking out, and you, sir are not listening.

Mr. Moran noted JFK’s call to accept challenges for a higher purpose, but this is not such a purpose, nor did he envision al Qaeda or the Taliban. The Soviet Union was tame by comparison.

When people have a mission to take innocent life, they cease to be part of the community of man and surrender the right to be treated as men. The home countries of these miscreants don’t want them back. That Obama wants Gitmo closed my mid-January 2010 is purely an arbitrary decision and deadline, which as more and more members of his own party have come to realize, makes less and less sense as there is no legitimate place to put these terrorists.

Guantanamo has been working out nicely, and to a person, those who have inspected it have commented that it appears in better condition that mainland prisons. The prisoner’s religious observances are being adhered to along with their dietary needs and they even have more exercise and prayer time with their fellow prisoners than if they were in a supermax prison in the US. Gitmo is a far cry from Auschwitz.

Mr. Moran uses as a reason to close Gitmo that both Obama and GOP presidential candidate Senator John McCain (AZ) pledged to shut it down. Fine, so they were both wrong. Using McCain as part of the defense is disingenuous at best, especially since he did not really represent the heart of the Republican Party during the 2008 election.

Further, the Congressman makes the mistake of writing that the enemy combatants are entitled to habeas corpus. Enemy combatants are not entitled to habeas corpus. As for the rules regarding the Geneva Convention, enemy combatants may be held until the cessation of hostilities.

Representative Moran referred to Guantanamo as a “stain” on the reputation of the United States and “on our national character,” when in fact, it is his and this administration’s appeasement to Islamo-terrorism that is the stain on this nation. Closing Gitmo will not endear the United States to the fanatics whose goal is to kill us. Appeasement failed miserably for Chamberlain and it certainly won’t work today.

Priority one is the safety of American citizens, not worrying about what other countries think of us. If our reputation is so tarnished, why then are millions of people trying to enter this country, not flee – and by any means necessary (another topic for another day). This is still the greatest and freest country on G-d’s earth.

We are at war against a flagless, borderless, nationless enemy – a war, by the way, Mr. Moran publicly blamed on the Jews just a few years ago. September 11, 2001 is not just a passing historical fact – the Pentagon is in Mr. Moran’s district, as is Arlington National Cemetery – the memories of those who rest there are being sullied by Congressman Moran’s callousness.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Two Strikes Enough for DC Gov't

Two Strikes Enough for DC Gov’t

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

May 4, 2009

Like petulant three-year-olds arguing over their favorite toy, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and the City Council should be ejected from their cushy-tushy box at Nationals Park and made to sit with the constituents they claim to represent. In this case, two strikes should be enough for the out.

For the second year in a row, 86 season tickets are the bones of contention. Several members of the City Council assert that Fenty is ostensibly holding the council’s tickets hostage – tickets that neither the mayor nor the council paid for. These are tickets to stadium suites and parking passes valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; at 81 home games, that’s a total of 6,966 tickets. The notion of a government body accepting such gifts smacks of nothing short of graft. If the mayor or members of the council want to take in a Nationals game, and they are encouraged to do so, they can pay for their tickets like the rest of the grit-eating community.

Councilman Kwame Brown had the smart idea of auctioning off the tickets – 67 of which are allotted to the mayor and the remaining 19 to the council. Let’s face it, most of those seats remain empty throughout the season. Quite frankly, most seats around Nationals Park are empty with the product that’s being put on the field. Perhaps instead of auctioning the tickets, they should be given to honor role students for setting a good academic example. Perhaps they could be used for Make-a-Wish style give-aways. People are not clamoring for seats to Nationals games. John Lennon and George Harrison could rise from the dead and the Beatles couldn’t fill that stadium. The only prayer of filling Nationals Park was when Pope Benedict XVI paid a visit last year.

Make no mistake, it’s great that the nation’s capital finally has a team after 31 years of dormancy, but this was not an expansion team, but instead the move of an existing team – the team formerly known as the Montreal Expos. And as nice a stadium as Nationals Park is, public/government funding of stadiums is a big no-no. Teams should be footing the bill for their own ballpark; after all, who reaps the rewards? The team owners. If taxpayer dollars are utilized, then the taxpayers ought to be shareholders entitled to dividends, or in this case, tickets.

For as nice as the ballpark experience is, and it is, it’s just too much of a hassle to wait for Metro before and after the game in crowded stations, or afford the parking lot fees, plus the cost of food not to mention the outrageous notion of charging $29.95 for a book of 100 blank scorecards, as advertised while watching a Nationals game on television one night last week. One announcer shamelessly endorsed the blank-paged book by saying there are helpful hints on how to keep a proper scorecard. Folks – here’s a nickel’s worth of free advise: go online, print out a scorecard, bring it with you to the stadium. If you want some helpful hints as to how to fill it out, I’ll post them to my website for free. There you go; 30 bucks saved; buy your friend Sanford a kosher dog next time you see him at the ballpark.

Another Nationals-related travesty is the recent decision that the city will pay the costs to keep Metro running overtime when the Nationals play into the wee hours. This should have been a no-brainer. That should be an E-DC. The Nationals organization should without a doubt be coughing up the dough here. Could the city be kissing the team’s tuchus any more?

Ultimately, when Metro raises it rates to cover the overtime to the tune of $27,000 an hour, all Metro riders will pay the price. Two hours of overtime could pay an experienced teacher’s salary for a year. Apparently the city has been paying the freight on overtime since the return of baseball to DC in 2005 as the Nationals have refused to pay for the service. Nationals fans already pay enough to attend a game as it is. The team is the one entity raking in the bucks during rain delays, extra-inning affairs and double-headers, not that a real double-header exists any more.

The District ought to reverse its call, demand the team fork over the dinero for the overtime or see its fans stranded. Angry fans do not revisit ballparks when the team is the cause of their ire. The team cannot afford to alienate any more fans as it is. It’s high time the Washington Nationals remember their first name is Washington and become a homer.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA. He is a lifelong New York Mets fan.

Obama, et al, Need Sensitivity Training

Obama, et al, Need Sensitivity Training

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

April 28, 2009

In plain English, what the hell is the matter with this pinhead masquerading as a leader? An unannounced fly-over Ground Zero in Manhattan for the purpose of a photo op near the Statue of Liberty by a plane serving as a backup to Air Force One not to mention the accompaniment of the fighter jet escorts. As Chandler Bing on Friends would say, could that BE more insensitive?

Thousands of people working Monday, April 27, in New York City, on a calm, clear spring day, when unnecessary panic ensued thanks to an overzealous administration simply trying to provide a media photo. Apparently the flight was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, but the FAA ordered an information blackout. The needless scare sent multitudes running for cover in what could have turned into an injury-laden panic.

Hey, while you’re at it Mr. Obama, why not send some brown-shirted goose-steppers into the local synagogue and a few guys in white hoods traipsing through a Selma church.

Therapists all around the New York metropolitan area are working overtime to begin with, now this idiotic decision, which White House spokesman Robert Gibbs claimed no knowledge. This is actually believable considering the man couldn’t find his own tuchus with both hands.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called this “a terrible mistake,” rightfully chiding the Obama administration. “If it had to be done, all kinds of public announcements should have been made. Why are we spending money on this?” After all the self-righteous talk criticizing the use of private planes, added “America’s Mayor.”

The price tag for this moronic stunt has been estimated to be $325,835, said Tom Schatz with Citizens Against Government Waste. And even I, your humble scribe and avowed technotard, have heard of Adobe Photo Shop.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called this event “appalling… knowing full well that New Yorkers would still have the memory of 9/11 sketched in their minds.”

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) said he was “furious” that he had not been given an advance heads up and that if he had, he would have fought such an insensitive act.

There is no doubt a public announcement should have been made days in advance via multi-media sources to quell a potential panic, but this is typical of the thoughtlessness coming out of the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, while the apologist in chief is gallivanting around the world criticizing his own country and making nice with despotic dictators, back at home he has a Secretary of Homeland Security who should no longer hold her post.

Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor, had the audacity to call honored military veterans right wing extremists and potential domestic terrorists on the heels of a successful peaceful tax day protest. A government document, for which Napolitano offered a disingenuous apology, all but accused veterans of greater criminal activity than non-veterans and that conservative activists in general are the cause of national security problems. Additionally, this alleged intelligence assessment targeted conservatives in general, but more specifically any American opposing Obama’s social engineering, as well as those who oppose abortion, same sex marriage, and supporters of the Second Amendment. Additionally, Napolitano has called on local and state law enforcement to investigate such “miscreants.”

Napolitano has also said that strict border monitoring is not yet necessary. So it really should not be a surprise that she said “crossing the border illegally is not a crime.” Napolitano is referred to Section B, Title 1325 of the U.S. Code that states otherwise. As the former governor of a border state with Mexico, she of all people should be painfully aware of the trials and tribulations Arizonans, Californians, New Mexicans and Texans have endured. The Phoenix-metropolitan area is now the ranked as the worst and most likely place to be kidnapped in the United States, and Napolitano isn’t rankled by this horrifying piece of information?

Meanwhile, as Napolitano is ineffective as Homeland Security chief, she is now trying her hand as Secretary of Health and Human Services speaking out about the swine flu situation. Perhaps she can insult that away. She should not be holding either of those jobs.

Yet, sadly, the new HHS secretary is no more fit for that position than Napolitano. Former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, is a strong supporter of abortion rights to the point of siding with, and receiving, campaign contributions to the tune of thousands of dollars from late-term abortionist George Tiller, a.k.a. Tiller the Baby Killer. Her appointment will put a radical stamp on HHS.

Sebelius won Senate approval on Tuesday by a 65-31 margin with three senators not voting. Shame on the eight Republican senators who voted for Sebelius. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Maine RINOs did not surprise anyone with their support of Sebelius. Neither did George Voinovich (OH), Judd Gregg (NH) or Richard Lugar (IN). However, yea votes from Kit Bond (MO) and both Kansas senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts were surprising and disappointing, especially from ardent pro-lifer Brownback who hopes to succeed Sebelius in Topeka. Had the eight Republicans stood together as the Democrats did, Sebelius could, and should, have been sent packing.

With continued administration insults and insensitivities toward more and more Americans, the GOP had better be in the trenches laying the groundwork for a strong offensive in 2010.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

RINO Specter Officially a Jackass

RINO Specter Officially a Jackass

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

April 28, 2009

This just in: former RINO Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has made it official just moments ago that he is leaving the GOP and returning to his Philadelphia Democratic Party roots, in what is no doubt a desperate attempt to hang on to the Senate seat to he currently clings.

Specter announced he will run in the 2010 Democratic primary. Quite frankly, if Specter had any integrity, he would do as Phil Gramm did years ago when the then Democratic Congressman, first elected in 1978 and won two subsequent reelection bids, resigned in January 1983 to run in a special election a month later as a Republican. Gramm also served in the Senate from 1985 to 2003.

Specter should resign immediately and a special election should be held. If the voters want Specter to serve them as a Democrat they can return him to the Senate; if not, he ought to be replaced. Pat Toomey, an announced GOP challenger to Specter will probably find a clear path to the Republican nomination.

Barring that, Specter should take the challenge of the Republican primary. If he is defeated, Specter should then run as an independent as Senator Joe Lieberman did in 2006 when he lost the Democratic primary, yet won the general election that November.

Specter has served in the United States Senate since 1981 as an unreliable Republican whom I have criticized in the past for his disastrous votes on issues such as the budget, bailouts and the support of numerous political appointees for whom support should not have been given. He, along with both Maine RINO Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe secured passage of much of the pork-laden projects and bailouts shoved down the throats of the American people since the beginning of this administration.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has welcomed Specter, whom he has been courting for half a decade, with open arms, and probably a big wet, sloppy kiss to boot.

Specter’s coffers are brimming with contributions supporting the senior senator’s reelection campaign. Everyone not approving of Specter’s jumping ship, politically, certainly not philosophically, should demand their contribution be returned at once. This is, as they say in TV land, Specter jumping the shark in a last desperate attempt to retain his seat. He is the ultimate opportunist’s opportunist.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.