I honestly do not know what sort of mental block I have when it comes to writing the Person of the Month entry every 30-ish days. My goal is always to complete the task in the last couple days of the month or no later than the first day of the new month. Somehow though I always run a few days late. I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not getting paid to do this…yet. When that day comes I will have to be more mindful of deadlines.

It seems like we are constantly breaking new ground here, which is fine by me. For May 2010 we will once again be selecting two POMs, but this time it is entirely by choice and not because I played a practical joke last month. Also, the two people we will be honoring are both politicians, which is sort of like giving the key to the city to an IRS agent or letting a stripper babysit your kids. However, I have retained just enough of my idealism to believe that there are still decent people whose goals are mostly selfless and untainted. As Padme  Skywalker said to Obi-Wan Kenobi about her husband Anakin…right about the time he was morphing into Darth Vader…”there is still good in him”. Admittedly my overriding cynicism will only allow that belief to be very limited, but atleast it’s something, right??

Our first honoree is a guy I am really growing to like and respect. In the past month I have seen countless video clips of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and in every one of them he absolutely owns the room he is in and the people who have the audacity to challenge him. He has taken on thin skinned media weasels, teachers unions, tax & spend liberals, and all manner of other critics. He is direct and does not mince words. Governor Christie is a statesman, not a typical 21^st century politician. I do not live in New Jersey so what happens there does not affect me in the least, but when I see Christie speak it leaves me wishing my home state of West Virginia and our national government in Washington DC had such strong and effective leadership. This is a man who appears to have a deeply ingrained set of conservative core principles and the wherewithal to not back down from a fight. Governor Christie is fairly new to the spotlight but is already being touted by some as a possible 2012 Presidential candidate. He has stated that he has no interest in a run for the White House, and that’s fine by me. I would have no problem with seeing his career progress for another few years, whether that means another term as Governor (a tough proposition in liberal New Jersey), or maybe some other prominent position. One thing is for sure…Chris Christie is not some soft spoken moderate like John McCain or someone that people will refuse to take seriously like Sarah Palin. Folks do and will pay attention to him no matter what his job title may be, and that can be nothing but positive for conservatism in America.

Our second POM is another Governor, this time from the other side of the country. Jan Brewer was Arizona’s Secretary of State until then Governor Janet Napolitano was chosen by Barack Hussein Obama to become Secretary of Homeland Security. The line of succession made Brewer the new Governor and she is up for election to a full term in 2010.

Despite having been in office only a little over a year, Brewer has already been thrust into the glare of nationwide scrutiny.  In April she signed a state law that will…gasp…actually enforce immigration laws already on the books. This law has spawned widespread whining and temper tantrums from liberal politicians, pansy ass celebrities, the idiotic drive by media, and various sectors of an increasingly wussified American public. Protests, boycotts, and threats abound. Accusations of racial profiling have bleeding hearts wringing their hands and complaining, which is what they’re good at instead of actually solving problems. The law specifically states that police can “question people about their immigration status if there is reason, other than race, ethnicity or national origin, to suspect they are illegal immigrants after they have been stopped, detained or arrested for another crime or suspicion of another crime.” So, first of all, if you are in the country legally you have nothing to worry about. Secondly, even if you are already committing the crime of being an illegal immigrant you still having nothing to fear as long as you keep your nose clean and don’t commit another crime. That sounds pretty fair to me. I do not want to go off on a tangent about illegal immigration right at the moment, but I do not understand what all the consternation is about the issue. Yes, our Statue of Liberty is inscribed with the statement “”give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me”, but that does not mean chaos should reign. There is a process. You want to come to The Melting Pot?? Fine…but dammit you better be willing to melt. In my mind that means going through the proper procedure of legally entering the country and following the steps that have been laid out. My paternal great grandparents both came from Italy in the early part of the 20^th century, and both went through Ellis Island and did what was right and what was expected of all new citizens. They did it, so why should people entering from Mexico or wherever else in 2010 be any different?? Why is doing the right thing such a difficult concept to grasp these days??

Thus far Governor Brewer has stood strong and faced the vocal opposition to the law she signed. She even met with President Obama and apparently did not give in. Tom Petty once sang “I won’t back down…you could stand me up at the gates of hell but I won’t back down…gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around…I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down…there ain’t no easy way out in a world that keeps on pushin’ me around but I’ll stand my ground”.  As long as the Governor sticks to her guns she will be another shining example of conservatism done right.