AWOL

Sorry about the disappearing act for the past few weeks. I don't have much of an excuse - simply been overwhelmed with being a working father of a 17 month old who insists that she's ready to leave for college next month. By the time I'm done chasing her around at night and get work done for my day job I just haven't had any time to put any coherent thoughts down about the idiotic things politicians in America do or say on a daily basis.

I'm going to come back - perhaps something later tonight or tomorrow. And, from now on, I promise at least one or two posts a week. But, I can't guarantee much more for the time being.

been away

sorry that I've been away for a week or so. Came down with a rather stubborn cold / cough / etc that has completely sapped all my energy. Haven't been able to find the effort to concentrate enough to write anything the last week or so. Will be back on line more regularly starting Monday.

Rep. Jefferson about to lose seat on Ways and Means

The Democratic Caucus has voted to force Rep William Jefferson off the powerful Ways and Means Committee pending the outcome of an investigation into charges of corruption. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed the issue forward.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Jefferson himself have alleged that race was a factor in the effort to have him ousted from the seat on Ways and Means.

Asked if he thought race was a factor in Pelosi's decision, Jefferson replied before the vote, "It's not happened before. The first time it's happening, it's happening to an African-American."
The assertion that race is a factor has already been floated by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Watt, who question why Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, a white Democrat who also is under investigation, was allowed to keep his seat on the equally powerful Appropriations Committee.

I find the accusations that this decision is being motivated by race absurd. It’s being motivated by the fact that the FBI videotaped Jefferson accepting $100,000 in illegal bribes, the fact that the FBI found $90,000 in his freezer, the fact that two individuals have plead guilty to giving Jefferson bribes, and the fact that Democrats want to play the “Republicans have abused their power” card in the upcoming elections – something they can’t do if they don’t come down hard on one of their own Members who is almost assuredly guilty of something (bad judgment if not accepting bribes and lying to investigators) in this case.

Race undoubtedly plays an important role in our country – despite all the progress we have made towards equal rights over the past 50 years not all things are equal. However, in this case, it’s not about race. It’s about corruption.

The party line

CNN is reporting that HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt has taken a government owned jet that is supposed to be used to respond to emergencies for 19 trips to more than 90 cities. I’ll leave the debate about whether or not this is a waste of taxpayer money (it is. He can fly commercial like all the other Secretaries) to others to debate. What I’m more interested in is the response by Republican staff on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has authority over the CDC and HHS.

"The scope of his work has required extensive travel and might not have been possible without the use of a government-owned aircraft," said spokesman Craig Orfield in commending Leavitt’s work.

First, I find it very unlikely that Orfield could tell anyone the details of any of the 19 trips that Leavitt took on the government-owned aircraft. And, secondly, I’m more certain that Orfield is not familiar with the intricate details of the Secretary’s schedule and whether or not the Secretary could have met his government requirements while using other forms of transportation.

In other words, Orfield is simply blindly defending the Secretary without any independent, non-partisan thought. When did politics become about blindly defending members of the party over what’s right? And, while I’m on this topic, the decision by the Congressional Black Caucus to oppose the removal of Congressman William Jefferson from his Ways and Means Committee seat is on par, if it doesn’t exceed, this case of blind partisanship. Jefferson is the target of a federal investigation and was caught with over $19,000 of ill-gotten cash in his freezer. Asking him to step down from his committee seat while the investigation is still open does not set a precedent. Supporting him sets the precedent – a precedent that we should not be setting.

Lieberman in trouble in Dem primary?

The AP is reporting that Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman may consider collecting signatures to run for the Senate in '08 as an Independent as his rival for the the Democratic nomination continues to gain ground in the polls.

If Lieberman is on the ballot, he's a virtual lock to win. This simply demonstrates the undue influence that registered "party loyalists" have during the primary season at the expense of centrist / moderate voters.

Crime & Drugs

As the government has focused efforts over the past several years to prevent terrorist attacks and, more recently, to secure our borders, we are losing the fight on crime at home. Today, CNN is reporting that numerous packages of drugs, marijuana and cocaine, have been found by individuals purchasing vanities at Home Depot (bought one last week myself – no illicit drugs included). This rather humorous story comes days after the FBI released reports showing that our nation’s violent crime rate has seen its biggest increase since 1991 (something not nearly as funny).

Department of Justice officials, of course, have rejected the idea that resources have been taken away from fighting crime to combating terrorism. DOJ officials are also quick to point out that fighting crime has historically been largely a local responsibility, unlike national security and terrorism, which are federal obligations.

What they fail to point out is that during the early and mid-1990s, the Federal government passed a number of laws that required states and localities to send more people to jail for longer periods of time (Truth in Sentencing and 3-Strikes laws). The promised federal funding for these initiatives quickly dried up over the last decade and is virtually non-existent today. In addition, federal funding for juvenile justice programs has been cut by approximately 2/3rds over the past 8 years. Funding for drug treatment and substance abuse programs in jails and prisons is virtually non-existent nationally.

Preventing terrorism starts at home. Those who are sent to our nation’s jails and prisons should be given a second chance (the President’s term, not mine). If they are not given opportunity these people could become the next generation of recruits for organizations dedicated to destroying America.

A government handout at a strip club?

The GAO is reporting that FEMA funds distributed after last year’s hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast were "not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs."

A lot has been made about the handling of the disaster recovery by the Department of Homeland Security and it’s too easy to pile on after this latest development. We should remember that DHS is designed to prevent terrorist strikes. FEMA, which was rolled into DHS, was originally designed to respond to the aftermath of disasters (natural or man-made). There is a contradiction in missions that only Members of Congress and the Administration can be held responsible for causing.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed by US airstrike

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is was killed killed in a U.S. air strike yesterday.

al-Zarqawi has been a target of the US for his role in leading the uprising in Iraq for several years and his death will undoubtedly undermine the structure of al Qaida's leadership and, at least in the short-term, limit the organization's ability to carry out missions against the US military and the Iraqi people/government.

There will also be many people trying to fill al-Zarqawi's shoes. The death of the leadership of al Qaida will not win the war and ensure a lasting peace in Iraq. The death of al-Zarqawi is a posititive step for peace, but there are many more steps we need to ensure happen.

Fear wins over nothing

Yesterday afternoon I listened to former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson discussing immigration policy. He threw out several statistics that demonstrated that the number of immigrants who have entered this country since WWII outnumbers those who entered our country from the time of the founding of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia until the start of WWII. He then discussed how these immigrants – both legal and illegal – were changing our country irreconcilably. He believes that in order to leave our country in better shape for our children than the country we inherited from our parents we must stop immigration.

This rhetoric is the rhetoric of fear. A politician tells the public what they want to hear and provide a group to focus on and blame for the nation’s problems. This gets votes and drives poll numbers, but does little to solve our nation’s problems. Unfortunately, the Republican Party – and not just Pat Robertson – is reliant upon this type of rhetoric.

The president has defended the collection of information about citizen’s phone calls to prevent a terrorist strike. He has endorsed the building of a fence along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration. And, today, he claimed that we must adopt a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage or see our country undermined. In short, the president is leading us based on partial truths, mistrusts, bigotry and, most importantly, fear. His is not a vision of the future, but a vision of how great our country was in the past before all these “problems” emerged.

Unfortunately for our country, the Democratic Party is simply void of fresh ideas and the ability to connect with average Americans. And, when faced with the choice between a vision of grand times of the past and no vision at all, Americans will chose the vision of the past.

Is marriage under attack?

The president held a news conference yesterday to endorse a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The president believes that this action is necessary because “activist judges” are taking this issue out of the hands of the American public.

The president believes that marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization and that it should not be redefined by activist judges. He stated his belief that the union of a man and women in marriage is the most enduring relationship in human history. That this traditional union is crucial to the well being of families. He spoke of the important role that families play in raising our children and in passing along values to the next generation of Americans. And, the president stated that “changing the definition of families would undermine our society.”

Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization. But, it’s place in our society has evolved greatly over our nation’s history (not to mention the history of the human race). In fact, much of our society has changed remarkably over the past 50 years – the number of marriages ending in divorce and the number of single parents have both soared.

But, neither of these facts is a compelling argument to ban same sex marriage in our country. It is too simple in today’s society to define a marriage as simply a union between a man and a woman. It is much more than that. It is a loving, committed relationship in which two individuals pledge to stand together as one. It is a relationship that our government should be encouraging – regardless of the sex of the two individuals who are entering into that relationship.

By claiming that the recognition of same sex marriage is being driven by the courts and “activist judges” rather than the people, the president is failing to recognize the role of the courts as the protector minority rights in our nation. Even if a majority of Americans do not approve of gay marriage it does not make a ban on those individuals entering the bonds of matrimony right.

If the courts were silent during the 1950s and 1960s would black Americans still be second class citizens relegated to segregated water fountains and bathrooms?

As the president himself said “every American deserves to be treated with tolerance, respect, and dignity.” It is time that our society recognized that two women can enter into a loving, committed relationship, that two men can be good parents who will raise their children to be virtuous members of our society, and that it is wrong to ban same sex marriages.

National building a tough task

I’ve written before that I believe that the US government failed to understand the long-term impacts of removing Saddam Hussein from power and was unprepared to win the peace in Iraq. Troop levels were significant to win the war, but assumptions that stability would return quickly and that the people of Iraq would flock, peacefully, to democracy were short-sighted. The fact that insurgent groups have flocked to Iraq from neighboring states has fueled the violence and discontent.

The result of this lack of preparation and foresight is that the US now faces a nearly impossible task of winning the peace and building a stable government (ideally democratic, but even stable will be hard to achieve). Rival factions within the government have little incentive to cooperate absent a strong central government and the Iraqi military and police forces have been unable to prevent violence.

The longer that US troops are required to provide security the more resentment there will be (the latest incident bound to fuel resentment occurred last night when coalition troops killed two women, one in labor, while on their way to a hospital) and the more difficult it will be for us to shape the future of Iraq.