Miscellaneous

In “What Went Wrong?”  Bernard Lewis describes the rise of Iran, beginning in 1501 with the rule of the founding Shah, Ismail Safavi.  He converted the country to the Shiite sect, as opposed to the Ottoman Sunnis, his great enemy.  Over the course of the next few hundred years, Shiite Iranians fought Sunni Turks for control of the Middle East.  The Iran-Iraq War of 1980 to 1988 was just the latest chapter of a conflict that remains unresolved after 500 years.  (Iraq is mainly Shiite, but its leader, Saddam Hussein, was Sunni.)

These people seem to hate each other with an intensity it’s hard for us to appreciate.  Back in the day, maybe it was like this between Catholics and Protestants, but that was long ago.  For a people consumed with their religion, it’s the most important thing on earth, worth dying for.  For every westerner recently killed by Islamic fanatics, there are a thousand Sunnis and Shiites who have been slaughtered by their Muslim rivals.  You get the feeling this won’t end soon.

For humanitarian reasons we don’t like seeing Sunnis and Shiites killing each other, but we should nonetheless realize that this conflict is the most important in the Middle East, and we should take advantage of it.  We want the balance of forces led by Shia Iran to balance with those led by Sunni Saudi Arabia, currently allied with Israel, our one friend in the region.  We must accept Iran’s existence in its current form.  Regime change would be nice, but the Ayatollahs would only be replaced by hard core Iranian nationalists, devout Shiites.  And we aren’t in the regime change business any more, so we deal with Iran as it is.

Israel will always want to be more secure than it is.   It’s perfectly understandable, but they must accept the fact that there is risk in every balance of power arrangement.  And isn’t that the best outcome in the Middle East, an equal Sunni-Shia balance of power?Along with the Russians, we could play the role of balancer, trying to prevent either side from gaining a decisive advantage over the other.

Right now we’re tilted, hard, on the Sunni side of this equation, since they seem to be the ones under attack.  But it’s complicated, because ISIS is Sunni, and they are our number one target.  Once they’re eliminated, we might be able to have a more even handed policy.

My friend Dan Fleming brought four of his friends to my place for a Super Bowl party, and, as is traditional, left the morning of the game.  We got over to Calaveras County, the heart of the budding marijuana industry of California.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of growers, and they are under attack.  The Board of Supervisors called a special election for May 2nd, and if the referendum passes all these growers will be out of business.

I’ll be looking into this.

I’m a veteran observer of Republicans In Name Only, like Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.  The State she represents is very conservative, so she can’t afford to show her true colors too often, or too close to an election.  She’s not up until 2022, so she figures she can afford to reveal her liberal inner core right now.  To her, it’s virtue signaling.  But if she does vote against Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary, she’s making a huge mistake.

The State of Alaska is in very deep trouble, in just about every way. 75% of the budget is coming from cash reserves, and 75% of the Alaska pipeline is running empty.  The two are related.  To maintain the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed (pay no taxes, have an enormous State government, and give yourself cash dividends) Alaska needs to fill that pipeline, and there’s only one way to do it.  And the time is now.

Eighty miles or so east of Prudhoe Bay and the pipeline sits the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve, or ANWR.  It’s virtually devoid of life, and is one of he most godforsaken places on earth.  But it’s the best prospect for oil in North America.  When petroleum geologists first looked at the data from the northern Alaska plain, back in the 50’s, this was the most promising prospect.  The fact that the damn stuff leaks on to the surface was a clue.  But the Department of Defense said it was off limits.  This is where NORAD was going to put its long range radar to detect a Soviet attack.  So the oil companies were forced to go to the west, to Prudhoe Bay.  They did just fine there.

ANWR is locked up right now, and it will take an act of Congress to open it.  Now is the time, with complete Republican control of Congress and the Presidency.  The problem is in the Senate, and the filibuster.  There’s a way around it, but it would require the active support of the Trump administration.  And Lisa Murkowski may be in the process of getting the Trump people pissed off at her, and thus not inclined to do any favors for Alaska.  Muy stupido.

The legislative maneuver which would be used would be the insertion of a clause opening ANWR in the budget reconciliation bill, which is not subject to filibuster.  This was done successfully in 1996, but Clinton vetoed it.  If it was done again, and sent to Trump, he’d sign it, ANWR would be opened, and the State of Alaska would reap a bonanza.

In order to do this, all the Republican leadership, House, Senate, and White House, would have to actively support it.   As Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, Murkowski could claim some of the credit.  But if she votes against DeVos, it will never happen.

My Article V mentor, Lew Uhler, called me late last night to ask me to send a message to Murkowski  — if you vote against DeVos, you will have a well funded primary opponent in 2022.  This is a vote that the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action, and many other organizations are watching very carefully, and will remember.

I tried calling the Chairman of the Republican Party of Alaska, Tuckerman Babcock, but he didn’t pick up, so I texted him  the message from Lew, to pass along to Murkowski.  He’s probably getting a lot of calls right now.

After I left the Senate and went to the House, my secretary, Anne Williams, decided I needed a new secretary, which was Mrs. Tuckerman Babcock, whom I’d never met.  The thing was, she had this little boy, around 18 months, and she couldn’t afford day care.  So Anne took about a third of the office and made it into a play room for this kid.  And then she said she had a job in some other legislator’s office, and left me with Tuckerman’s young wife.  And the kid.  I didn’t mind.

We were in an annex a block from the Capitol, and very few people ever came to my office.  I didn’t encourage visitors.  I didn’t like being  bothered.  At this time I was scheming the downfall of Gov. Bill Sheffield, and I really wasn’t interested in anything else.  He had reapportioned me out of my Senate seat, and the main reason I even ran for the House was to try to figure out a way to destroy him.

This is when I met Tuckerman, over 30 years ago.  He came by to pick up his wife, and kid.  The little guy got out of his play room when his Dad came.  I was talking to Tuckerman when the kid punched me right in the groin.  I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but later I realized that this kid saw me as a threat to his mother, so he punched me.  I like kids like that.

 

California wants to secede, ballot language has been approved by the Secretary of State, and I intend to sign the petition.  Secession, of course, will never happen, but there are some interesting possibilities that should be explored.

I live in, but am not of, California.  I’m in eastern California, in the foothills of the Sierra, just 60 miles from Nevada.  Culturally, this is the western border of the Far West.  To my west, toward San Francisco, is a different world, and different people.  I grew up and went to school there, but as soon as I went to Alaska I knew I didn’t belong there.  I had to go back for a law degree, but a week after I got it I was on a plane back to Anchorage, and I never looked back.

I want to continue to be an American, and the land I live on to be American.  Therefor I propose a compromise.  Every county in California, all 58, would to have a referendum on separation, or segregation, from the United States.  If a county votes against secession, it remains part of the United States, a new State, the State of Jefferson.

There’s a move afoot to create a new 51st State of Jefferson from the northern and eastern parts of the California.  Here’s the link    The problem is, they need the approval of the California Legislature.  But the Legislature won’t do it, unless they’re forced to.  Congress can grant California some sort of segregation, or separation.  Not full sovereignty of course.  We need California for our national defense.  But they could be like Puerto Rico, or Guam, or the American Virgin Islands, or something. But the counties that voted to stay in full statehood would form a new 50th State, the State of Jefferson, with two United States Senators, and the proper number of House members.  It would be up to the California Legislature to decide.

This would be a boon to the Republican Party.  It would be like taking 40 or so deep blue electoral votes, and amputating them from the body politic.  All of a sudden the electoral college is a lot more Republican.

As I’ve mentioned before, our rival organization, the CoS, is on its last legs.  They were all excited about getting out of the Wyoming House Judiciary Committee last week.  It was a big triumph for them.  And then they got crushed on the floor vote.  This is the same House that passed our bill two weeks ago, 37-23.  And they were up for a vote in the Arkansas Senate and got whipped again.  The sooner they fold their tent, the better.  At this point they’re just a nuisance.

For people that live in the part of the country that I do, Trump is on a roll.  The fact that he’s flying to Dover to honor a fallen Navy Seal is very significant.  It’s absolutely brilliant.  This has Bannon written all over it.   This guy looks like he knows what he’s doing.  They’re riding a political tide, but they’re riding it well.

Once you’ve held your breath until you’re purple, butted your head against a wall, and rolled around the floor kicking your legs, what’s your next move?  Trump promised extreme vetting, and we’re going to get it, the hissy fits of the left notwithstanding.  Whoever he appoints to the Supreme Court will get the same reaction, as will the repeal of Obamacare, tax and regulatory reform, and gutting the EPA.  The list goes on, each, to the left, an outrage.  Each equally deserving of another hissy fit.  They’ll keep coming, each less impressive than the last.  Who said politics wasn’t fun?

Americans are a pragmatic people, and will judge Trump on results.  Will terrorist attacks in this country get worse, or better, under Trump?  Will  American soldiers be getting killed around the world, or not?  Will the economy be revitalized, and its benefits more equitably shared?  This is how Trump wants to be judged, and will.  The Democrats are in a hole, digging furiously.  If they keep this up they’re going to get crushed in 2018.  Maybe that’s what it will take for them to come to their senses.

The Koch brothers will be spending 300-400 million dollars in the next election cycle, and some of it will do some good.  They might get 10 cents of results for every dollar spent.  These two well meaning men have probably pissed away more money on politics than anyone in American history.  (Although George Soros is gaining on them).  They’re nice men, and very intelligent in business.  But because of their loyalty to their father, and his crackpot John Birch ideas, they are a serious obstacle to the real, constitutional reforms that are possible in Article V.  They refuse to give the BBA movement the time of day.  But worse, they use their influence within organizations like the Heritage Fund, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and others to poison the waters for our movement.  Well meaning amateurs, screwing things up with their blind ignorance.

Our resolution will be before Committee in the Arizona House, and it’s wired.  Loren Enns will be there, along with uber-lobbyist, Constantin Querard.  When State Senate President Andy Biggs left for Congress, and Querard signed on, things turned completely around in Arizona.   Querard isn’t really a lobbyist, he’s a political consultant, by far the best in Arizona.  Most of these State Legislators have hired him to get elected.  And he’s a true believer, a committed constitutional conservative.  With Constantin on the case, I’m counting on Arizona.

The confirmation hearings for the new Supreme Court Justice will be fun to watch.  One of my vivid memories is the hearing for Samuel Alito.  Ted Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, was being handed notes from his staffers, and these were the questions the dope was asking Alito.  Alito’s wife, a law librarian and a very sympathetic looking woman, was seated right behind her husband, directly in the camera eye.  Kennedy started accusing Alito of some shady investment scheme, and Alito’s wife visibly cringed, with the look of a woman whose fine, decent husband was being vilified by a moral coward.

Say whatever else you want about Ted Kennedy.  He was a complete jerk.

 

How much of a hassle are we willing to inflict on people coming here from nests of Islamic fanatics, in order to prevent another San Bernadino massacre?   If we have to keep 1,000 peaceful Muslims out, in order to stop one terrorist, that’s what we need to do.  Non-citizens seeking entry to this country have no rights.  They don’t get a presumption of innocence.  As far as I’m concerned if you’re from one of these hell holes you’re presumed guilty until proven innocent.  Call it extreme vetting.

And such an uproar!   But how many deaths have resulted from Trump’s order?  None.  How many terrorists will it keep out, and how many American lives will be saved?   We’ll never know.  Better safe than sorry.  You have to give this to Trump, he doesn’t back off.  He mocks Chuck Schumer for crying.  Horrors!

But won’t this make Muslims mad at us?  What are they going to do, march around shouting “Death to America!”?   Oh, wait, they already do that, along with trying to kill us any chance they get.  But what about all those moderate Muslims?  Are they now going to become terrorists?  Is this what pushes them over the edge?

When you push people far enough you get pushed back, and the American people have been on the receiving end for far too long.  We need to make a deal with these Moslems.  You leave us alone, and we’ll leave you alone.  We’re not going to invade any more Moslem countries to overturn governments and build democracies.  But we will go anywhere in the world that we need to go in order to kill terrorists.  Within a year ISIS will be in shreds, and we’ll bring our soldiers back from the Middle East, and we’ll stay away unless we need to come back and kill some more lunatics who pose a threat to us.

My family post yesterday was full of errors, and I need to set the record straight.  Ten years ago I got all this Pettyjohn research off the internet, and it was an in depth genealogy.  And there they were, three Thomas Pettyjohns in a row.  I compared this professionally done research with a Pettyjohn family tree that I have, which has three straight Thomas Pettyjohns in it, and I assumed they were the same.  But it turns out I am not descended from Revolutionary War Veteran John Pettyjohn III and his offspring, Thomas Jefferson Pettyjohn, Thomas Jr., and Thomas III.  My line starts with James in 1635, then his son John, grandson James, and his great grandson Thomas, followed by two more Thomases.  A different line of Pettyjohns.  They stayed in Delaware for four generations, and then moved on to Indiana and eventually South Dakota.

I got in touch cousin Ted, with one of the South Dakota Pettyjohns, today, and hope to see him in Jackson, Wyoming for the August 21st Great American Eclipse.  If you like this blog, you’re invited as well.  Come one, come all.  Unfortunately all the rooms are booked, so you may need to bring a camper.

I remember telling my Uncle Fritz about becoming a lawyer, and he said the only Pettyjohn from our family that was a lawyer was shot in the back in Dodge City for being a horse thief.  Ted sent me a link to a book that basically confirms what Uncle Fritz said.  Grant Pettyjohn, one my great grandfathers brothers, was a lawyer, and a small town newspaper publisher in Taloga, Oklahoma in the 1890’s.  He’s mentioned  as part of a criminal gang in Getting Away With Murder On the Texas Frontier.  One of his partners was on trial for murder, and he was charged with suborning jurors, $100 per juror.  They all got off scot-free.

It’s nice to know some of the stuff Uncle Fritz told me was true.