Our View - Friday

JIMMY CARTER'S LOVE OF BULLIES

Former president embarrasses U. S.

   Former presidents don't get more embarrassing than Jimmy Carter, a man so annoying the Israeli Secret Service won't even protect him during his visit to their country. If Carter is in bed with Jew-killing terrorists, after all, then why would he need to be protected by the official state?

   Visiting the Israeli West Bank city of Ramallah this week, Carter attended a closed reception with Nasser Shaer, a senior leader of the Hamas terrorist organization. Participants, including Shaer, reported to the media that Carter hugged and kissed the terrorist leader as if greeting a dear old friend.

   "He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception," Shaer told the Associated Press. "Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel. I told him the possibility for peace is high."

   That's like a teacher approaching the playground bully, after he's initiated a bloody attack, hugging him and saying "how can I help, my dear friend?"

   Carter foolishly believes members of Hamas are just plain old ordinary folks who need a bit of good-natured lovin' from a former American president in order to start behaving well.

   One could pass Carter's weird crush on terrorists as a sign of dementia, if it weren't for the fact he acted at least this naive 30 years ago as president of the United States. At the height of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at America's population centers, Carter continually dismissed fears of communism as "inordinate," downplaying the need to improve national defense. He was complicit in sustaining Iran's Pahlevi dictatorship, and left his one-term presidency with the legacy of hostages in Iran and a military so weak and out-ofdate that it couldn't manage a successful rescue.

   Carter's foreign policy was always based on a premise that nobody is evil or bad, we're all basically the same, and presidents are best just to smile and shake hands with enemies. Peace through strength was a concept he didn't get. It's a concept he still doesn't understand, even after Ronald Reagan put on an eight-year clinic that showed how strength could crumble communist walls.

   Carter's foreign policy was custom-crafted to please our enemies. The assumption was that bad guys become good guys when the good guys treat them well. It's a belief that bullies are mean because their victims have easier lives, which must be unfair. To evil terrorists, Carter was the inept, frightened substitute teacher who didn't have a plan for keeping order and provided opportunity for mayhem.

   Ahmed Yousuf, top political adviser for Hamas, explained how much the terrorist organization loves Carter. Yousuf told World-NetDaily that Carter is "open-minded and has a very noble cause to come and meet with all people." Yousuf went on to explain how much he hopes Barack Obama becomes the next president of the United States, ostensibly so he will carry on like Carter did.

   "We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections," Yousuf said, as quoted by WorldNetDaily. "I hope Mr. Obama and the Democrats will change the political discourse."

   So here's a sit-rep for Carter and other Democrats who think Hamas is nice: Hamas is sworn to destroy Israel, possibly America's most important ally. This organization Carter loves has carried out dozens of suicide bombings that have killed more than 250 Israelis in the past 20 years. Hamas is evil to the core, hating Jews, hating Christians, hating Israel and hating the United States - just as bullies hate well-adjusted, successful students. Bullies don't change with a wink and nudge and a few kind words. Typically, they're inherently mean for life.

   Mr. Carter, stop embarrassing the United States. American soundly rejected your logic nearly 30 years ago, whisking you from office in disgrace. Your policies didn't work then and they won't work now. Go back to pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity. It's a good cause, and it's something you do well.


FEDERAL WORKERS ABUSE SYSTEM

   The details were titillating enough, but the sheer volume of credit card abuse by federal government employees is what really catches one's attention.

The Government Accountability Office has come out with what appears to be an annual report by now. A program that was supposed to streamline government purchasing by issuing purchase cards to selected government employees - the government equivalent of corporate credit cards - so they could buy essential items without going through the paperwork of getting bids, issuing purchase orders, getting approvals up and down a complex chain of command, and the like, has been radically abused - again.

   The idea was that purchases of less than $2,500 could be handled quickly, and even if there was a little waste there would still be savings. Purchases are still supposed to comport with federal guidelines and be monitored. Unfortunately, some employees treated the cards like their own personal lines of credit, with the taxpayers footing the bill. The GAO has issued reports documenting such abuse regularly since 2001, but nothing seems to be done to halt or even slow down the abuse.

   The best story the GAO documented was a U.S. Forest Service employee in Oregon who wrote "convenience checks" totaling $640,000 (from 2000-06) to a live-in boyfriend, who used the money for gambling, car expenses and mortgage payments. The fraud was undetected for years until somebody blew the whistle.

   At least she's now serving 21 months in prison.

   Fully 300,000 government employees had these open-ended credit cards. In a society with a constitutionally limited government, there shouldn't be a grand total of 300,000 government employees, let alone any with open-ended lines of credit.

   Members of Congress from both parties will fulminate and introduce legislation to improve oversight. Next year a new report will show that abuses continue. Nobody will seriously consider reducing the size and scope of government.