Big Questions

Nothing in what follows here should be construed, directly or indirectly, as condoning the conduct of Governor Spitzer in breaking several laws culminating in his resignation as governor of New York. However, several legal minds have raised the issue about the politics, not to mention the timing, of fingering a highly placed Democrat in the sordid mess. From newspaper accounts, it was the Department of Justice that disseminated the damaging information that brought Spitzer down. A highly placed DOJ official provided the identity of Client 9 and insisted on anonymity because it is a federal crime to make such disclosures. A recent study demonstrated unequivocally that the Department of Justice under He Who Would Be King has invesitaged allegations of official misconduct of Democrats 5.6 times more frequently than fellow Republicans. In assessing whether or not this undertaking was politically motivated I have a couple of simple question that needs to be asked; Who are clients one through eight? Why haven't we heard one word about them?

A Cream Puff for Poppa

The title of this monograph requires an explanation. Several years ago, when Artur Rubenstein was being honored at the Kennedy Center, Itzhak Perlman played a special number in his honor. Perlman introduced it as "a chocolate eclair for Mr. Rubenstein." I was struck at the exquisite characterization. I remember that so well this morning as I write something about a very special performer, my grandson Jon. Today Jonathon will perform a piano recital. In the really old days, when I was a kid, playing in a piano recital meant taking a bath that morning, actually combing your hair, putting on Sunday clothes and then stumbling through a piece of music while wishing you were outside playing baseball. The beauty of having grandchildren in one's life is that you learn from them far more than you can ever give back, particularly about no-limits living. I often think that my grandchldren are people that have appeared during this period of time in my life as a gift, a demonstration of the spirit of life in a myriad of ways. Because Jon is in Michigan and I am in Florida, I will listen this afternoon by phone. Not as good as being there, but I will be free to shed tears of joy in the privacy of my home. So you can have an inkling about what I am writing, here is the truly awesome program that Jon will play today; I consider it a cream puff for Poppa.

Piano Concert by Jon Vredenburg

March 12, 2008



Aria (Theme from La Traviata)………………………………Giuseppe Verdi

She Loves Me…………………………………………………McCartney

Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.…….…………………………..Andrew Lloyd Webber

I Want to Hold Your Hand….………………………………..Lennon and McCartney

Linus and Lucy.....……………………………………………Vince Guaraldi

The James Bond Theme….…………………………………..Monty Norman

Over the Rainbow…………………………………………….Harold Arlen

Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead…..………………………….Harold Arlen

Baby Face…………………………………………………….Davis and Akst

Tuxedo Junction……………………………………………..Hawkins,Johnson,Dash,Feyne

Ex Post Facto

"Ex post facto" is a basic concept that law school students learn, generally in the first year. An ex post facto law is a law passed after the occurrence of an event or action which retrospectively changes the legal consequences of the event or action. Two Constitutional clauses are involved. The U.S. Constitution's Article 1 Section 9 states: 'No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed,' and Section 10 says: 'No State shall . . . pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law. . . .' By definition, the recent passage of the law to immunize the telecommunications industry's illegal and unconstitutional conduct in providing warrantless phone communication information to the federal government is illegal and unconstitutional on its face because it does violate these constitutional limitations. It will be argued that the passage of this law is really not ex post facto because the new law does not increase the penalty and consequences of the wrongdoers, but, in fact, eliminates any consequences for wrongdoers. The 'words and the intent' of the Ex Post Facto Clause encompass '[e]very law that changes the punishment, and inflicts a greater punishment, than the law annexed to the crime, when committed.' Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (1 Dall.) 386, 390 (1798) (opinion of Chase, J.).

However, there are two parties to this horrible misdeed; the ones doing the harm and the others harmed by the conduct. In this recent legislation, it is the ones who were harmed, the innocent Americans who have the constitutional right to be free from improper warrantless violations of their privacy. The new law does increase the penalty and consequences for all Americans. The steady erosion of individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution will be the historical hallmark of the presidency of He who would be King. It is truly sad to know that the Democratic Congress, so eager to pander to big business, has joined in this erosion.

Taking Time To Decide

There are a lot of worry-warts out there among the pundits who claim that the longer the Democrats take to select a presidential candidate, the worse it is for the party. I respectfully disagree. The reason for my disagreement is this; the intense battle for the nomination between Clinton and Obama is the de facto presidential election. The winner of this nomination will be the next president of the United States. John McCain, as much as I like and respect him, has a major problem. He must, of necessity, court, woo and pander to the conservative branch of his party through November to gain their votes. Example; yesterday McCain visited He who would be King at the White House whereupon the soon-to-be-departing king proclaimed that McCain would carry on with the Bush approach to the Iraqi war. In other words, the promise is clear. We would be faced with another four to eight years of exactly the approach that has tended to destroy our moral authority world wide. McCain is, thus, in the proverbial catch-22. If he endorses conservative sacred cows, he loses the middle of the road independents. If he moves to the center on issues, his seemingly natural place, he loses the support of the rabid right and every time he makes a public pronouncement in support of the values they cherish, e.g., more and more guns in households, the right of lunatics to brandish semi-automatic weapons, a few more percentage points in favor of the Democratic candidate will be gained. In short, it is my opinion that the presidential election will result in a landslide victory for the Democrats who are bolstered by the independents who recognize and understand the danger that has been created for our country by the current crop of pseudo-conservatives.

Thus, the Democratic primaries are, in essence, the real race for the presidency. It is good that the selection process is taking time. The more that Clinton and Obama are forced in the heat of the battle to particularize their respective positions, the more that such transparency will present the opportunity for the public to assess them.

The Tarnished Instrument of Truth

I play a couple of musical instruments. As a result, to my wife's consternation because of the space they occupy, I own more than a couple of instruments. Each of these instruments needs to be played and tended to on a regular basis. Those made of silver alloy tarnish easily without attention and too much unattended exposure. Because the presidential primaries occupy a substantial part of my attention span these days, it was easy for me to think about Obama's current status as a potentially fading front runner in the terms of a tarnished instrument. For sure, there was a substantial period of time during the current campaign when his halo was bright and shiny. I was not immune from the impact his rapturous phrases had on the people of America.

Last month I had my first moment of disappointment of the man and the principles he claimed. This moment (Illusion or Delusion, Feb. 16, 2008) occurred when he backed off his specific promise to accept only federal campaign funding should he become the Democrat's candidate. I wrote then " . . . this latest positioning and posturing suggests to me that the illusion I have had about the man, shared by most if not all of his enthusiastic supporters is, in fact, a delusion." Currently, there are a couple of issues that are on the table; the extent and nature of his relationship with a man on trial in Chicago for, among other charges, bribery of public officials and the revelation that one of his economic advisers was reassuring Canadian government officials quietly that Obama didn't mean what he was saying about NAFTA.

The substantive nature of these charges are not my concern. What troubles me (greatly) is the emerging conclusion that the bright and polished Obama is simply another politician who says what he thinks people want to hear. Contrast his current status with McCain, as an example. When McCain campaigned in Michigan, he stated quite emphatically that Michigan's automobile-based jobs were not coming back and that it would be necessary for Michigan workers to undergo job re-training to respond to a changing world. Nearly everybody in Michigan wanted to hear something else (just as those in Ohio apparently wanted to hear that NAFTA was responsible for its current economic crisis) and Romney's promise to get those old jobs back won the day for him. What was remarkable is that McCain refused to pander to obtain votes. Just yesterday I read that the deal for the Obama house and adjacent land was obtained from the purported briber of officials in 2005, not exactly ancient history and certainly while Obama was a member of the U.S. Senate.

The net result of all of the above is that this morning I am reassessing the candidates. If Obama is simply another politician who says one thing and does another, then his lack of experience emerges as a big negative. We are currently administered by He who would be King. We have been told enough lies by that man to demand that the current crop of candidates tell us the simple truth about where they stand and who they are. Clinton is unique in that no one expects her to do that. McCain is unique because he does. In the next few weeks Obama has got to get the polish out and remove the tarnish if he is going to stand a chance of becoming the next president of the United States. If he is real, the time factor is on his side. He needs to attend to the instrument of truth. The next concert is in a couple of weeks.

McCain Again

This comment to Frank Rich's Sunday morning Op-Ed piece On March 2, 2008 appears in the on line edititon on that date:

Last April I wrote about McCain's presidential candidacy. http://tombleakley.blogspot.com. Not much has changed since then as Mr. Rich so adroitly describes. I said at the time that "Senator John McCain does some things I don't like. He takes a position on Iraq which, in my opinion, is doomed to failure. He sidles up to religious fundamentalists in a manner that suggests pandering on a street corner. I would expect 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney would summarize my feelings about McCain in the following manner; 'I like McCain about 80% of the time; the other 20% I can't stand him'. I have given a lot of thought about who should be the next president of the United States. In my opinion, George W. Bush (He who would be King) has been the worst president ever. His smug superiority complex has badly damaged the institutional structure of our way of life and form of government and the next president needs to be a states person of the first order of magnitude to repair the damage both at home and abroad. I sense that millions of people in the United States are precisely at the same station. We sense that a re-grip on the fundamental principles upon which this government was founded requires a first rate person who can move beyond platitudes. Is McCain that person? I don't know, but his five years at the Hanoi Hilton establishes a high bar in terms of life experiences that a 'states person to be' can bring to the table in contrast to, say for example, a four hundred dollar haircut candidate. My mind is open. I am listening." I am still listening.

Borrowing Ideas

A great deal has been made as of late of the phrasing of certain speeches by Barack Obama. HRC has gone on the record accusing Obama of plagiarism, most particularly with her infamous "xerox" analogy. A basic requirement for being the next President of these United States, it is intimated, must apparently be that only original thoughts and words are permitted. I beg to disagree. Inventors and writers aside, who in this universe does not routinely borrow thoughts and ideas from others? On second thought, it is wrong to separate out these classes of individuals. Last week I had an illuminating conversation with one of my (too bright) grandsons who claimed that all the good music has now been written and asked what people would do in the future when they get tired of listening to what passes now for the end point of music , i.e. rap music. I can understand where he is coming from, but as the Taco Bell advertisement suggests, we should all think outside the box on occasion. What this entreaty presupposes is the existence of the box itself. I heard a speaker claim once that 95% of what we do on a daily basis is done by habit and not by choice. It is submitted that this pattern is applicable to thinking as well as acts. In order that choices, good choices, can be made it is necessary to take what is in the "box" and expand on it (whatever the source). The borrowing of ideas from others (with proper attribution of course) is the stuff of advances. Who has not said "I wish that I had thought of that" when they hear about the creation of Google, a funny joke, the light bulb, etc., etc.? The list is as long as life itself.