Just Stop (Guest Posting)

Today I'm reposting (with permission) a post by a friend of mine who is serving in South Africa as a Foreign Service Officer. He has been all over the world in various posts and we share the same position on this topic. Please read on.

Just Stop

To Politicians on both sides of the aisle and the press: Just stop.  Stop using dead Diplomats to make political points.  Just stop.

Stop saying that more should have been done to protect the Consulate in Benghazi when Congress cut the security portion of our budget by a lot.  Just stop.

Stop saying that the US Marine Security Guards should have been at Benghazi.  First of all, learn what the MSG program is actually all about before spouting that nonsense.  The majority of our Consulates, and some Embassies, do not have Marine Security Guards.  We don't in Johannesburg.  MSGs are only in place where top secret classified processing is done.  Their primary job is to protect the Classified info and equipment.  (The joke in A-100, our "How to be a Diplomat" class, was that if you wanted to rescued by the Marines, strap yourself to a classified computer.)  They will defend in the event of an emergency, but even large Embassies only have 6-8 Marines for internal defense.  We depend on our contract guards and the local police to help us in emergencies.  So until you actually know something about this, just stop.

Stop with going through a dead man's diary looking for a news scoop.  If you're reading this, you probably know me.  Please imagine I had been one of those people in Benghazi.  Think of how much hurt it would cause Lovely English Lass, Crazy Little Man and Lovely Little Girl, not to mention my parents and family.  Would you be able to look them in the eyes after something private was scoured through for a breaking news story?  I'd hope not.  Remember, these men died serving their country, and they are heroes.  (BTW, everything I'm saying here for Diplomats goes the same for our men and women in uniform.)  Just stop it.

Stop acting like this is the first time someone in the Foreign Service has ever died on duty.  Go to the actual State Department in Foggy Bottom, and go to the lobby.  On two walls facing each other there are names of Foreign Service officers that have died in the line of duty.  I can tell you in took almost two hundred years to fill up the first wall, and less than 40 to fill up the second.  We've been stereotyped to be these effete snobs drinking wine and eating canapes in European capitals while wearing our pin-stripped suits.  Maybe before World War II, but certainly not any more.  Go read those names.  Read the names from Dar es Salam and Nairobi, when Al Qaeda blew up two of our Embassies in East Africa.  That was 1998.  Now ask yourself why more people don't know about that.  Ask why you don't know the names of some of the others on that wall.  Say a prayer thanking them for their service to our country.  And then just stop.

Finally, and again repeating myself, just stop using dead diplomats for political purposes.  It's bad enough that the Department of State lost bright and talented officers that would have continued to make a difference in the world, but the families of these officers have lost their loved ones.  While they deserve answers to their questions about what happened to their loved ones, they don't deserve to be used as political pawns.

Just stop.

List of Things You Need to Secure the Nomination for President

Rather this is a list of things you should try to avoid if you plan on putting your name on a state's nominating ballot.

1) Multiple marriages with accusations of walking out while your wife is battling serious illness. I don't have an issue with multiple marriages per se, you and your partner (and your mistress) should be happy. But you can't walk out TWO different times on two women while one is fighting cancer and the other has just been diagnosed with MS. One of the reasons that the primary season is so long (it could really be done in just one day...another post coming on that) is so you can decide if these people are able to lead the government. I'd remind some of the candidates that you can't just walk out on the presidency to take up the reigns of Canada just because they are a younger country.

2) Spending the better part of your political career representing a moderate New England state where many of your polices were anything but "conservative", then trying to paint yourself as a right wing, bible thumping, Conservative. It doesn't work like that, at least not since the advent of the recorded word. Don't you realize that if you contradict your own words, you will be called out on it. The same goes for the other side of the equation if you proclaim to be more right wing then the KKK don't try to claim your a moderate if you actually win the nomination.

3) Get a firm grip on the Constitution and the general gist of how the Federal Government operates. I might even recommend watching "I'm Just a Bill" for clarification. I'm so sick of hearing wild proclamations about which laws will be repealed and how something is Unconstitutional just because you day it is. As a point of reference, the primary voters may also want to attend this session, because they seem to be quick to cheer when one of those above proclamations are issued.

4) Hypocrisy is a real word. Go ahead, open up Websters and look it up. Religion is a great thing but if you don't want the government interfering in your Sunday sermon, then your pastor doesn't get to use biblical quotes to set government policy. There are a few governments that use religion this way. I hear that Iran has some cheap real estate. And if you are a candidate and start quoting the Bible, you may want to read on a little bit further. Like the part where it says Love Your Neighbors, Feed the Hungry, etc.

But I have to think that the broadcast networks may want to consider hiding the debates on Saturday nights. This is prime entertainment value and I'd love to see it on demand with slow-mo replays. Hey it's got to produce better highlights then the Knicks Pacers game.