I was in my friendly, neighbourhood Borders bookstore a few weeks ago, picking through the World music section, when I ran across a bizarre CD. It was a CD of communist anthems. Now, I spend my days scrutinizing what communists round the world are up to and I'm currently deployed to South America where all the cool street vendors are selling bracelets, t-shirts, and touques with Che Guevara's face plastered on the merchandise.  The more I learn, the less I understand the Left's enchantment with communism.

This is a philosophy that has killed more people long before Hitler ever came onto the scene and continues to kill people today. Movies about the terror of the McCarthy era are legion (Good Night and Good Luck) and the message seems to be that the fear of communism is more evil than Stalin himself. Nobody on Earth has suffered like Hollywood stars. The only movie I can think of off the top of my head highlighting the terror communism has actually visited upon the world is The Killing Fields.

What's freakish is the number of celebrities who are speaking their undying admiration for communist leaders and countries. Harry Belafonte embraces Hugo Chavez and calls Bush the world's biggest terrorist. Alec Baldwin loudly announced that he would move to Cuba if Bush were elected. It's six years later and we're all still waiting, Mr. Baldwin. Promises, promises. He also said that Henry Hyde should be stoned and his wife and children killed. Dictators have always been big on generational sin and retribution.

A few premises about communism and it's logical conclusion...

1. There is no god. God is a creation of man and the qualities attributed to God are really qualities of humanity. The logical conclusion; we're all gods unto ourselves and every decision we make is inherently good and right. And of course being gods, our every desire should be satisfied. Hence, the Ceaucescus and Kim Jong Il. Nicolai and Elena managed to wallow in obscene amounts of wealth and the Chonger still does so. They lived the Marxist version of the American Dream, the Worker's Paradise--their subjects did all the work while they lived in paradise. For the Ceaucescus, paradise ended abruptly on Christmas Day.

2. Materialism; nothing exists other than what we can see with our own eyes. There's no heaven or hell and our ideas are nothing more than our own creation. There are no transcendent truths. Marx believed that people's ideologies prevented them from clearly seeing the material conditions of their lives. This is why a book like What's the Matter with Kansas can be written and the writer is genuinely incredulous that people will continue to support a principle when it fails to contribute to their overall quality of life. Quality in this sense is being rich and having stuff.

3. Because our personal belief systems are what keep Midwestern yokels like myself from seeing our material conditions and knowing what's good for us, we need elephantine government programs, eminent domain, and politicians like Nancy Pelosi telling us we don't have the sense of a radish to know how to take care of our own money.

There's a basic idea believed by many that the more you get, the more you want and the less satisfied you are. Maybe this explains why the wealthiest and most famous people in America are so dissatisfied with the current state of affairs and so enchanted by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. In spite of the fact that these movie stars are reaping the fruits of capitalism, they're still not satisfied. By their words and actions, they spit on the graves of those who spilled their blood so they can maintain the right to perpetuate their own extravagant lifestyles. Communism is the essence of ingratitude. When you divide the world into the haves vs. the have-nots, the have-nots will never have enough no matter how much they get. So, maybe it's not such a mystery why Hollywood liberals are so charmed by communism after all.

And what would happen if these people realized their wildest dreams? What if Bush were impeached and imprisoned, the press became impenatrable to any conservative influence, pastors that preached against homosexuality were dragged into court and punished, and the state decided what was best for your children? Of course once you're in power, you must hang onto it at all costs. Silencing dissenters is key--just ask The Chonger how important this is.

Alec Baldwin could be named head of the secret police--he's obviously well-suited for the job.

Integrity first.
Service before self.
Excellence in all we do.

Every person in the USAF knows what the AF Core Values are. However, knowing what they are and applying them to their daily lives are two different things.

I once had a commander who had the attitude that rules and AFIs were for suckers and that people who followed them were uptight. The man also cheated on his fitness test and when sexual harrassment allegations were brought against a squadron member, he "fixed" the problem by moving the offender to another squadron. And this was from a squadron commander.

So why is senior leadership so floored when cadets are busted for sexual assault, drunken stupidity, or cheating on tests? When I was in tech school at Goodfellow, everytime we had a commander's call, the CC would be beside himself becuase of Something Else That Happened.

The problem is that you're bringing cadets, OTs, and basic trainees from a world that tells them the end justifies the means. If concepts of right and wrong are all in the eye of the beholder, then the Core Values are nothing but a 2 hour lesson to kill time during training. Leadership can't expect that a few hours during ROTC or basic training will make up for 18 plus years of moral relativity, especially when airmen and lieutenants see the same behavoiur coming from their squadron commander.

I started thinking about this more last week after I met my new boss. I didn't have my M-9 card to deploy with because I wasn't told I needed it until the day before I left. Mobility was running around with their hair on fire trying to find a way to get around it. The boss asked later that day what Mobility was doing about the M-9 issue and asked me, "They're not doing anything wrong are they?"

He said they better not be doing anything illegal or immoral to get it done. I know I looked at him kind of weird because I didn't assume that they would. But maybe we'd all be better off if more people asked that question. By the way, I did get a waiver (all above board).

The jury's still out on the new boss--I haven't made up my mind yet. Maybe he's a good guy or maybe he just another patch-wearing, zipper-suited jerk that doesn't give a flying crap about the BDU wearers. Time will tell. But the fact that he took the time to think about whether something was right or wrong puts him well ahead of a lot of people.