| October 9, 2006
FLASH!
North Korea proves it has a nuclear bomb. No one wants North Korea
to have the bomb, but just like the bumblebee doesn't know it can't fly,
North Korea seems not to understand it can't have a bomb, so it goes ahead
and has one anyway.
Now what? To Japan's alarm, North Korea tested
delivery capability on July 4, 2006. China's attempt to defuse a looming
North Korean crisis by peaceful means has failed. The U.S. and other
nations are condemning North Korea's nuclear test, and North Korea's
paranoid, megalomaniacal, tin pot dictator celebrates joining the nuclear
community. Should we take comfort in the fact that North Korea's
intentions are at least more clearly stated, more open, and more honest
than those of Iran, whose sole purpose for gaining nuclear capability is
to make new baby milk factories? (Okay, I'm being facetious).
FLASH!
Representative Mark Foley (R - FL) resigns in disgrace after it is
revealed that he is apparently a child predator hiding in the open.
Interestingly, he was also chairman of the Missing and Exploited
Children's Caucus. In subsequently released statements, he indicated that
he is gay, an alcoholic, and a victim of child molestation by a priest.
House
Speaker Dennis Hastert and others are in hot water for not taking action
when they knew or should have known of Foley's activities. "The buck
stops here" takes on new meaning as everyone scrambles to avoid
taking responsibility and the related fallout.
Obviously, some of our elected officials have too
much time on their hands, and it seems no one is minding the store. What
were we paying them for, again?
FLASH!
Senator Jon Kyl (R - AZ) and others from the morality squad believe they
have a moral imperative to further extend federal control of your
activities in your own home. Senator Kyl couldn't get his internet gambling
bill to pass on its own merits, so it's been attached as a rider to a port
security bill that is destined to become law.
The merits of gambling, online or otherwise, are NOT
the real issue here. The REAL issue is the intrusion on your privacy by
political hypocrites using backroom shenanigans under a moralistic cloak.
Many politicians are already raising questions over the way this measure
was attached to an unrelated bill at the eleventh hour.
One of the stated objectives of Senator Kyl's bill
has been to protect folks from online gambling addiction, but it's
interesting to note that it doesn't ban ALL forms of internet gambling
(for instance, online betting on horse races will remain legal) -- after
all, Senator Kyl needs help from the competition to support his cause! One
wonders if another Jack Abramoff incident isn't in the offing.
Some have asserted that politicians who back this
bill are doing so to show that they are not under the influence of folks
like Abramoff, yet by limiting competition through selective regulation,
this bill accomplishes exactly what Abramoff wanted. How's that for
bureaucratic logic?!
Online shopping addiction and shopping mall addiction
have been recent topics in the news. Are they next? The moral purists who
brought us Prohibition also brought us the Roaring 20's. Senator Kyl
apparently failed U.S. History.
One note of caution to Senator Kyl and his allies:
when you set yourself up as moral arbiter of the universe, you'd better
make sure your own house is in order. There are recent, unnamed examples
of those who have found that truth the hard way.
Perhaps Senator Kyl and his cronies could better
spend their energies monitoring the activities of folks like
ex-Congressman Foley. Whatdya think?
Okay, here's the point to my rambling. The
United States government seems bent on telling everyone else what it can
and cannot do, all the while our leaders continue to have one scandal
after another, and fail to do what we, the voters, put them in office to
do in the first place. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, it is a
serious failure by those in whom we vested authority. I'm no fan of Iran
or North Korea, but it's small wonder that such countries believe we are
being hypocritical when we deny them that which we allow ourselves.
Let's look at a small sample of leadership failures
from recent Presidents.
-
Bush invades Iraq on faulty intelligence, then
refuses to alter an obviously flawed approach. The Bush Administration
continues to assert its right to unfettered, unauthorized, blanket
wiretaps under the premise of national security. Anyone who disagrees
with current policy is deemed "un-American." (Does anyone
hear echoes of Senator Joseph McCarthy?)
-
Clinton's administration contributed to the
Chinese wall erected between intelligence agencies that led to 9/11 while Clinton had a
fling with Lewinsky and the Republican-led Congress pursued him at
every turn from almost the first day he took office in what many would
label as a congressional witch-hunt.
-
Before Clinton was Bush 41 and Reagan and the
Iran Contra affair.
-
Before Bush 41 and Reagan was Carter's inept
handling of the economy and the Iran hostage crisis.
-
Before Carter was Nixon and Watergate.
it never ends.
As for recent examples of Congressional leadership
failures, try these
-
The one-two punch of the congressional banking
scandal and congressional post office scandal swept Democrats out of
power and brought us the Republican "Contract with America."
Simply examples where Congress habitually exempts itself from the laws
it imposes on the voters, then can't even follow the rules it imposes
on itself!
-
Politicians, such as Senator Kyl, who seek
support from moral "purists" continue to try to invade our
homes and engage in Prohibition Era tactics. At the same time, some of
these politicians and moral purists turn out to be Representative
Foleys and Jack Abramoffs in cheap disguise.
-
A 700-mile fence is being authorized to protect a
2,000 mile border. Since when did a fence keep out a tunnel? Spending
boondoggles like this fence are primarily passed to keep the voters
off political backs, divert attention from political activities, and
provide a safe haven for tons of pork barrel spending.
-
Perhaps most insulting of all is the
representation that the looming failure of Social Security is the
caused by the sheer number of Baby Boomers. Anyone remember 1968?
Congress couldn't find the moral will to adhere to a balanced budget,
so it passed an "automatic trigger" bill which was later
struck down as unconstitutional. Faced with the serious consequences,
our leaders "found" the money in the Social Security fund.
Voila! They "balanced" the budget and had a surplus! From
that day forward, politicians have robbed the Social Security fund
blind with one pork barrel project after another -- and then they have
the unmitigated audacity to blame the Baby Boomers for being born!
If our leaders would spend more time doing what we sent
them to do, if we spent more money and time on benefiting our own children
and elderly, if we spent more money and time on helping disaster victims
here at home -- perhaps our goodwill and credibility overseas wouldn't be
at all time lows, perhaps our children and elderly would have better
health care, perhaps much of the Gulf Coast wouldn't look like the
aftermath of an atomic blast at worst and a recovering slum at best.
The situation is North Korea is not going to get
better "just because we said so." James Baker, a
respected senior official in several Presidential Administrations and
recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, advocates the U.S. talking
to North Korea. Opening a dialogue -- what could it hurt?
As for the war in Iraq -- don't get me wrong, I
believe strongly in defending this nation, but I don't totally buy the
"elephant repellant" approach either. You know about elephant
repellant, don't you? You know it works because you don't see any
elephants. That same argument is being made concerning terrorists to
justify our current presence in Iraq; that same argument is being made for
violating the personal freedoms of our citizens. I agree we must
aggressively pursue the terrorists and others who would harm our citizens,
but don't expect me to blindly sign off on blanket wiretaps that surrender
our freedoms and don't expect me to blindly give you the lives of our
fighting men and women as so many toy soldiers. They are not toy soldiers,
they are our nation's children and one of its most precious resources.
So let's sum it up. Our policies don't seem to work
very well, and neither do many of our politicians. What's wrong with this
picture? How do we fix the problems?
Contact your political representatives, but don't be
surprised if you get a form letter that ignores everything you wrote. The
only way to really get their attention -- if only for a moment --
is to VOTE.
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