Politics

Review: Crisis of Character

~ wheelhelmina ~ Leave a comment

I recently read Gary Byrne’s Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate. I thought I was in for some exciting red meat-style dishing about political scandal. Although a part of the book told tales about Bill’s dalliances with White House staff, it wasn’t what I was expecting. In fact, the book only made fleeting references to Hillary giving Bill a black eye during an argument and mistreating administration staffers.51uz1Izzz5L._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Instead, a much larger portion of the book focuses on the Department of Justice (DOJ) forcing the author to testify during the impeachment situation. Apparently the author is no fan of the DOJ nor even the Secret Service, which wasn’t particularly helpful in advising Byrne when his career was on the line.

The book is basically an autobiography of the years Byrne served his country in the Air Force, Secret Service, and eventually as an air marshal. He frequently discussed the ineptitude of bureaucrats, and suggested that middle management positions are rarely awarded on the basis of merit. Moreover, he shared scary anecdotes about how management repeatedly lowered standards for those serving as protectors of the American people in the interest of political correctness or laziness.

If you are looking for a book that bashes the Clinton Machine, other books are probably better suited to that end. However, if you are looking for an insider’s perspective on federal bureaucracy and service, this book is worth a read.

The Left Advocates Discrimination on Basis of Disability

~ wheelhelmina ~ Leave a comment

Last week Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed House Enrolled Act 1337 into law. Pro-abortion advocates on the left instantly began howling that Pence, a cold-hearted Republican, is encroaching on women’s rights. However, many of the same advocates refused to acknowledge that the Act forbids discrimination on the basis of disability. Indiana Code 16-31-2-1.1(1)(K) now provides:

That Indiana does not allow a fetus to be aborted solely because of the fetus’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, or diagnosis or any potential diagnosis of the fetus having Down syndrome or any other disability.

Those on the left argue that Pence and fellow Republicans are using these protected classes to further their agenda, without actually caring for members of those classes. To their credit, I don’t know that parents traditionally opt for abortion based on factors like ancestry. However, mothers do regularly abort fetuses with diagnosed disability.

The numbers are startling. For example, 87% of fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.  Another site puts the number at 92%.  If this is not obvious discrimination against the disability community, I don’t know what is. And I am horrified that local disability organizations are more interested in pushing a liberal agenda then celebrating steps taken by the General Assembly to reject eugenic ideals.

Many expect that the new law will not stand up to judicial scrutiny. We shall see.  But I am jubilant that Indiana, the first state to adopt eugenics laws, is now on the forefront of protecting disabled fetuses. (I’m experiencing a bit of schadenfreude, too, now that liberals have been cornered into choosing which traditional voting block – e.g., fertile women or people with disabilities – to which they will pander.)