Hurricane Gustav Relief Efforts…

Yesterday, the video appearances of First Lady Laura Bush, Cindy McCain as well as Florida Governor Charlie Crist underscored the fear that most Americans felt that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was heading toward certain destruction as a result of Hurricane Gustav. While the storm thankfully did not become the monster that had been predicted, it was certainly the right call for national leaders to stand on alert while coordinating potential disaster relief.

Upon learning that I was from Florida, many of the delegates that I spoke to seemed genuinely interested in learning how we cope with hurricanes each year. As a native, I have certainly seen my share, from Kate and Elena in the mid 80’s to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the Category 5 storm that blew my grandmother’s house in South Miami almost completely away. I told them that we Floridians are a resilient bunch and that after a while, it simply becomes routine to stock up on food, water, fill up the car and get batteries for the radio and flashlights.

In the wake of Gustav and the pending Hannah, it would be interesting to see both presidential candidates take interest in a problem that Governor Crist has valiantly fought to solve in Florida, which is the number of national insurance companies that want to issue auto insurance policies while refusing to issue homeowners insurance. Emergency relief aid is great, but insurance coverage to rebuild is even better.

Republican Platform taking shape…

One of the more interesting aspects of yesterday’s convention was the development of the party platform. Of particular interest was the prong concerning warfare which read that “waging war-and achieving peace-should never be micromanaged in a party platform. In dealing with present conflicts and future crises the president must preserve all options.”

At this point it is a given that party loyalists on both sides are going to vote for their standard bearer. After last week’ Democratic convention I got the sense that there would be very few “McCain Democrats” jumping ship this year. I am equally convinced that there will be few “Obama Republicans” this year either.

As such, the fight over the next 60-plus days is to win undecided voters. As a lawyer that is trained to parse words, I am concerned about the “present conflicts” language. This undoubtedly refers to the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem is that the language certainly does not acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of Americans are ready to end the war in Iraq.

Iraqi Leader Nouri Al-Maliki has been adamant in his requests for our withdrawal. Democratic nominee Obama has run on a plan to conduct a phased withdrawal. Even President Bush has conceded that the time is ripe to consider a draw down.

Everybody it seems, but Senator McCain.

As an aside, depending on the complexion of Congress after November, we may see attempts to alter or narrowly define the War Powers Act to deliver more authority to Congress when it comes to war waging. Still, McCain should also note that the great conservative icon Ronald Reagan pulled out of Lebanon without achieving half of what our military has accomplished since the troop surge. Accordingly, to combat the idea that he is a warmonger that refuses to budge or listen, McCain could steal some momentum on this issue by declaring that he is open to the possibility.

Other highlights from yesterday’s platform include:

Constitutional Amendment to ban abortio...:

Clearly Republicans are betting that a McCain victory, coupled with reclaiming a majority in the House, would be a substantial step toward delivering such an Amendment. This is not only a long shot but a political red herring. The truth is that any ultimate ban or restrictions on abortion will actually be resolved by the states. With several United States Supreme Court vacancies likely to occur within the next four years, a McCain victory will obviously result in a conservative dominated Court.

From there, a number of states dominated by GOP legislatures will likely implement laws banning or restricting abortion, thus beginning the requisite legal wrangling that will ultimately land in the Supreme Court. A conservative dominated court will almost certainly uphold the first narrowly tailored law that achieves the long awaited goal of social conservatives---the end of abortion.

Deportation of Illegal Immigrants Convicted of Crimes...

As a veteran criminal defense attorney I can attest that the old Immigration and Naturalization services, and currently the Department of Homeland Security, certainly deported and deport a great number of immigrants charged with certain felony offenses.

What will likely be advocated by Republicans is a way to streamline the process, as certain County Jails are overflowing with non-citizens awaiting due process in our courts. What we may see is a process in which immigrants charged with certain minor felonies will have swifter preliminary hearings to determine whether they have asylum. If not, they would be deported. As for those charged with more heinous crimes, obviously the state would have an interest in seeing them punished. But their should be a better dual track system that would allow for a quick resolution of their deportation proceedings so that they can be boarded on a plane or boat immediately upon completion of their prison terms.

No New Taxes...

The GOP has long advocated tax cuts and no new taxes. While McCain has a bold plan to drastically cut taxes on business by nearly 15%, the idea that taxes will not be raised draws certain questions. Particularly with respect to energy, where the great push for drilling will help alleviate short term demand, ultimately the new push for alternate energy sources will cost money, big money. How would President McCain pay for the research and development for such fuel sources? With military spending to remain level or increasing under his watch, it will be interesting to learn how we avoid certain new taxes.

Military Families...

As a decorated war hero McCain understands better than most the sacrifices that military families make during times of war. What I look forward to hearing is how the government plans to recruit more men and women to join our services. The recent Russian aggression shows the need for greater manpower with our forces currently engaged in Iraq, Afghanistan. While most Americans remain opposed to the reimplementation of a draft, what measures exist to replenish troops already on their third and fourth tours of duty?

A friend of mine who is in the Army has told me that the military has relaxed many of its restrictions and is even allowing some ex-convicts to sign up. Maybe it is time to consider some present-convicts as well.

One of the bolder moves could actually be a “Back to the Future” so to speak, where we go back to the old days in which criminal punishment sometimes included military service. There are thousands of able bodied young men and women who are currently serving time that would jump at a chance to join up to avoid sitting in a tiny cell.

Of course I am not talking about individuals charged with crimes like murder, sexual battery and the like, but there are a number of men and women aged 18-25 that are sitting in jails and prisons throughout our nation for low grade felonies such as driving with suspended licenses, some serving as much as two or three years in prison because they are “serial drivers.” Now I am certain that some will argue that driving with no license is evidence of an inability to follow orders, but I do not necessarily buy that. Plus, military boot camps have a unique way of instilling discipline and decorum.

There would have to be other measures---mental health exams to make sure that folks are fit to serve comes to mind--- but with the prospects of future conflicts still remaining, our force levels in both active duty units as well as Reserve and National Guard components must increase.

Palin stops the rumors...

Kudos to Governor Palin for issuing a press release about her daughter’s pending pregnancy. There are still some conspiracy theorists out there believing that this too is a ruse to throw us off from the true parentage of young Trig Palin, the five month old baby suffering from Downs Syndrome. This morning, Senator McCain called the media's reporting on the subject "offensive." I totally agree with his sentiments. The truth is that Palin's bold admission, while asking for the country to respect her family's privacy, should be the end of the story. Sadly, with today’s tabloid style journalism on both left and right wing blogs, those on the left will almost certainly refuse to honor the governor’s wishes to make her and her husband appear to be bad parents, which is simply unbelievable and incredible.

One of the more compelling comments I read yesterday was an email from a dear friend, Anne Marie Mingo, a FAMU graduate who is earning a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion at Emory University. Mingo suggested that while she dislikes the gossip-like nature that has resulted from what has become known as “baby gate”, she would like to see this result in greater dialogue from Republicans on the issue of teen parenting “to bring about change in that area.”

I agree.

While abstinence has long been a part of GOP policy, we cannot ignore that a number of young teenage women have been heavily influenced by Jamie Lyn Spears as well as the movie Juno in which the fictional teenage title character decides foregoes an abortion in lieu of placing her child up for adoption. Earlier this year, 17 young girls made a pregnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts, probably as homage to Juno.

This does not even begin to cover one of the lesser reported phenomena of the abortion battle, which is the fact that many poor black and Latino girls actually give birth because few can afford an abortion, an option that is not funded by Medicaid.

Nevertheless, while young girls that decide to have their babies should have their decisions respected, the truth is that more can be done to alert them that parenting is tough “grown folks business” to paraphrase Big Boi from the music group Outkast.

Childhood essentaly ends at the moment that one becomes a parent. Far too often I have witnessed young minority girls and women having their children removed from their homes by the courts because they are not prepared for the real life responsibilities of parenting. Many of these children suffer from a cycle of neglect and abuse. This begs me to ask what would McCain/Palin do to address these concerns? Catchy slogans like “It’s better to wait” may be true, but they fall way short of providing the crucial mentoring needed to reverse the trend.

Gun Control...

I am also interested in hearing more about how a McCain/Palin administration would address an issue that Senator Obama has taken the lead on, which is balancing Second Amendment rights with the need to clean up inner city gang violence. I am a strong believer in the Second Amendment and a gun owner. However, I am also an educated citizen who, at an early age, was taught by my father to properly load, use, maintain and respect the power of firearms.

Sadly, most of the young men and women that are committing crimes, the drug dealers and the thugs if I may, have no business ever brandishing---let alone owning, weapons. Over the years we have created restrictions to legal gun ownership for felons and yet in many cities, the criminals remain better equipped than the police officers fighting indefatigably to arrest them.

Each week there are families in minority communities burying children from gang violence? Again, catchy slogans are not enough to address this problem. What initiatives would McCain/Palin take to respect the rights of gun owners and manufacturers while addressing the violent crimes that are holding good people hostage while killing thousands in neighborhoods across America?

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