The Larry Kane Report

Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, has stunned the political community with a new commeercial airing in Iowa and New Hampshire. The commercial has stirred up his aggressive campaign by appealing to Evangelical Christians. The spot, very upbeat, has Huckabee saying, “What really matters most is the celebration of the birth of Christ.” Many people would agree with that, especially his campaign advisers, but most of all, millions of people who feel that the holidays sometimes miss their real meaning.

Never before has a national candidate embraced religion so deeply in a primary campaign.

Huckabee is now tied with Rudy Guiliani who is under fire from conservatives and those questioning his personal life. Part of his appeal is his firm religious conviction, but some of the pundits are questioning whether his fervor and his religious commitment to politics, may backfire on him if he wins the nomination.
In the meantime. only one of the GOP candidates has taken aim at Mike Huckabee for putting Christ in his commercial messages.

Ron Paul, that master fund raiser from Texas, offers this statement: ” Sinclair Lewis said that ‘when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in flag, carrying a cross.”

The other candidates won’t even get close to blasting Huckabee on the subject of religion. Mitt Romney has troubles of his own, but he is pressing hard with religious value speeches as he tries to counter Huckabee.

One thing is clear though. Religion will play a big role in campaign 08, at least in the primaries.  The question is : “Who’s religion?”

This is going to be an interesting two weeks till the Iowa caucuses.

Comments(25)

I reported on this problem about 6 months ago. I am still distressed and concerned. I will not give the location of the concourse or the name of the personnel, but I will tell you exactly what happened. The incident occurred in the last few days.

First of all, this is not an indictment of all the hard working security officers in Philadelphia, but just a few who could cause a calamity.

The first line of defense in the Transportation Security Administration’s war on terror are the TSA people who check your photo ID and your boarding pass as you enter the security line. As I waited in line on my latest trip, there were two checkers, one on the left and one on the right. The one on the right was having a spirited conversation with two other people. As the people in line passed through, this worker looked at the name on the ID’s and the name on the tickets. SHE DID NOT LOOK AT THE PHOTOS AND THE FACES.

SHE DID NOT COMPARE THE FACES TO THE PHOTOS.

She did not to her job.

As I approached the checker, I offered my driver’s license and boarding pass. She looked at both documents, and waved me on. Her head was down. She never looked at my face.

After going through the metal detector and collecting my belongings, I reported the lax security to a supervisor who said he would check it out.

I am deeply concerned about this. All the screening equipment in the world won’t mean a thing if those first line defenders do not compare the faces with the pictures on the photo ID’s. I am stunned at how casual some of these ID checkers are.

This is not an isolated problem. I have seen this laziness and lack of vigilance at airports around the nation.

I would recommend that TSA officials at Philadelphia International Airport mandate that all first-line ID checkers review their work assignments. I hope they do it quickly.

For all the talk about airport security, and all the officers on hand, it amazes me how vigilance is avoided by some of these checkers.

Can we afford this?

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“Murdered By Mumia”, the book by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish, has been touted and publicized for the last few weeks. It is selling faster than even the publishing industry expected. But how good is it? And where does it make its mark on society?

This author finds “Murdered by Mumia” a powerful narrative that puts true justice in the cross-hairs of two focused and dynamic authors. If I didn’t know this was a true story, I would view this as a murder story ripe for a novel or a movie. But, make no mistake about this – this story is a riveting , gripping and detailed story of what can happen when a man kills in cold blood, and the forces of revisionism try to rewrite the story through a superficial and lost cause.

Nowhere in the modern history of political activism do social do-gooders look as bad, uninformed and clueless as they do in this book.

The main villain is of course Mumia Abu Jamal, the fiery ex journalist who executed police officer Daniel Faulkner in the heart of downtown Philadelphia in late 1981. The only part of this story that I don’t like is the reference to Mumia by his first name. By using his first name, supporters are trying to reflect a sense of empathy with a murderer who, through his writings and other forms of communication, has rallied a strange cadre of activists and intellectuals who are obviously not informed of the facts in the case.

The secondary villains are those supporters, many of them from the world of Hollywood and the arts who have tried to take Abu Jamal to sainthood as some type of martyr to the cause of injustice. The book shows how they were duped by Abu Jamal’s supporters, and this book is a reflection of how just how their credibility has been shattered.

But the most powerful part of the Maureen Faulkner-Michael Smerconish effort is the startling narrative of Faulkner’s ordeal. In self exile in California, the young widow tries to revive her life but the reality of the murder and the grief of the loss are compounded into a compilation of living nightmare and frustration as her husband’s killer is celebrated by the rich and famous, and as the killer’s lawyers try to vacate his conviction.

She becomes determined , at first a lone and solitary figure, and finally, aided by broadcaster Smerconish , lawyers and the solid fraternity of American police, to launch a campaign for truth and justice that rivals anything like it in the modern era.

This book is breathtaking in its scope, and so clear and readable, that I would put it at the forefront of contemporary non-fiction.

This is not a book about liberal or conservative, black and white, or the polarity of division. This IS a book about the difference between right and wrong, and the conviction of society to make sure that future generations have a full understanding of the meaning of justice.

Lastly, this book is a tribute to the men and women, the police officers of America, who steadfastly and with raw courage, protect our freedoms every day.

This is must-reading, and should be on the reading list of every high school in the nation.

I congratulate the writers, who are donating the proceeds to a foundation to help family members of murder victims, a just and lasting legacy to a Philadelphia Police officer and to those who succeeded him in the war against crime.

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And you thought Karl Rove threw hardball?

First, for you super-sensitive left and right wing advocates, I do not endorse candidates.

The story is about how insinuation becomes MUD. Hillary Clinton fired two staffers who tried to link Barack Obama to Islamist Jihadists. They are gone, but now the false rumors are the talk of the nation. Dirty tricks!

Then, Senator Clinton said that Obama’s drug use in his earlier life was not an issue. That means it IS an issue because she brought it up again, didn’t she?

When the Clinton’s are on the underside of polling, batten the hatches and put on your safety vests. I don’t honestly think that Senator Clinton is dealing dirt, but the insinuations and the public buzz has been spread by her campaign. For his part, John Edwards has resisted these attacks.

For Obama, this not-so-subtle mud slinging has seemed to help his battle, but the headline on the big wire service was “Obama Fights False Rumors.” The story suggested that he was faced with phony reports that he was linked to radical Islam and is dangerous to America,

Give me a break! This is an old-fashioned smear campaign with the trick of just getting the buzz “out there”, and letting the rumor mill do the rest.

If I were Barack Obama, I wouldn’t be so shy about reacting to it. He should go on the counter attack and let his opponents have it.

But I am not Obama, and he’s much better qualified than me to make these judgments. I have learned one thing about politics: If you are attacked and you don’t fight back, you will get hurt in the end. The Clintons learned that when Bill was smeared all over the floor by Bush One in 1992. Bush Two used the Clinton tactics as he tried to make a garbage heap of the Al Gore campaign in 2000 and when he looked the other way on the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry in 2004.

I knew this would happen, but I thought the Republicans would sharpen their knives first. I never expected that the Obama-Clinton battle would get this ugly and so fast.

It is muddy out there. But this time the mud may cause a voter backlash.

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Joey Vento, proud and defiant owner of Geno’s steak place in South Philly, faced an adversary Friday, eight hours of grilling (pardon the pun) by the Philadelphia Human Relation’s Commission.

First, a disclaimer. I like Joey, and to be very honest, it is not because of his product, because I don’t eat red meat. Joey does a lot of philanthropic work that goes unnoticed. Now the Commission, which has a very spotty record in fighting bigotry in Philadelphia, is trying to chew Joey up and spit him out. I might add that the commission’s chairman, the Reverend James Allen Sr. , is also an amazing community activist and deeply respected.  Joey’s defenders include a non profit legal group and high priced attorneys. The Commission has hired its own big time lawyers, at what I presume to be considerable expense to the taxpayers.

The issue is whether Joey’s famous sign is a case of extreme prejudice, or just a man saying what he feels like saying. The sign reads, “This is America – When Ordering Please Speak English.”

If I were to re-write the sign, I would propose the following language: ” Although we will take orders as best we can in any language, we prefer you order in English. If you can’t speak English, we will help you order.”

I think THAT sign would have served the purpose.

But Joey, whether he likes it or not, has become a lightning rod for an anti-immigration wave across the country.  I think Joey and I would not be here in this great country if some of these people were around in the early part of the last century. When I advised Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, running for President as an anti-immigration activist that his grandparents came from Italy, he said, “That was different. They were hard working people.” That, of course was a slight against current immigrants. Prejudice has many faces.

The problem with this controversy is that it risks dividing people. Joey has never refused to serve anyone. The Human Relations Commission has good intentions, I’m sure, but has more serious problems to contend with, like racial violence and insults. If the Human Relation’s Commission were interested in fighting racism head-on, it would take a hard look at the racism that pervades the public school system, or the fear of new immigrants moving into certain neighborhoods.

The Joey Vento sign consists of words. The words are offensive to some, and meaningful to others. Words can cause pain and discomfort. They can also inspire. I will not judge the words, but I will ask for some reason.

The Commission members might be better off sitting down with Joey over a cheesesteak and working out a decent compromise instead of dragging on a fight that no one wins. And yes, they should order in any language they want. I have full confidence that no one will be turned away

If Joey does lose his license, highly unlikely, he will no doubt move to the suburbs where he will clean up, big time.

In the meantime, I suggest a private meeting with Joey and the chairman of the Commission. The only winner here is division on both sides of the racial divide.

These type of arguments are a no-win situation. But when reason prevails, everyone wins.

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