Where is the party of reform?

From www.tray.com

Mark Dennis Zachares, a former staff member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is expected to plead guilty this afternoon to one count of conspiracy for his acceptance from Jack Abramoff and his lobbyists of a stream of things of value, intending to take and be rewarded for taking, a stream of favorable official actions.

For his official actions Zachares was rewarded with $10,000 from the Capital Athletic Foundation, a paid trip to Scotland, $30,000 worth of tickets to Washington, D.C. area sporting and entertainment events, free meals and rounds of golf.

On Renzi and Doolittle...

Roll Call reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided on Thursday afternoon the offices of Patriot Insurance Agency in Sonoita, AZ. The company is an asset of the wife of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), with an asset value of between $1 million and $5 million. Later in the day Renzi stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee. This raid follows one last week of the home of Rep. John Doolittle. Doolittle then stepped down from his seat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Corruption Assumption...

Well, House Republicans are on their way again...

Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona has stepped down from all of his House Committee assignments as a result of an FBI raid on his business.

Representative John Doolittle, the House Republican Conference Secretary, recently had his house and his wife's office raided by the FBI in conjunction with the ongoing Jack Abramoff scandal.

Plus, a Republican House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee staffer with ties to Jack Abramoff this week pled guilty on corruption charges and is believed to also helping prosecutors.

Let's see, who else? Republican Representative Tom Feeney of Florida is under investigation too for his dealings with Jack Abramoff.

So, if there is another shoe to drop, drop now. Better yet, these Members of Congress should all do the right thing and resign immediately from Congress and fight their battles outside of the people's House.

SB 43

The State Senate was scheduled to consider a bill (SB 43) that would have allowed employees to carry their guns to work in their cars. The bill would have further prohibited employers from prohibiting these guns on their grounds. Additionally, it would have made the employer liable should any incident occur as a result of the gun brought on the premise that the employer "should have known about". Last time I checked, I don't think many people are able to predict crime.

The 2nd Amendment is an important part of the freedoms that make our society so unique. However, private property rights are also important. This bill would have trampled over those private property rights and created a libelous situation for property owners and business operators that would have been a trial lawyer's dream.

Thanks to the common sense leadership of Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and other Senators, this bill was allowed to meet the fate it deserved. It wasn't even brought to a vote.

Hopefully, common sense will continue to prevail while our General Assembly is in session.

Seen From Savannah is back!

Sorry for the delay in posts. I have no good excuse. But, I'm back!

Tomorrow is crossover day in the Georgia General Assembly. One of the more assinine bills up for consideration is SB 43, the "Take your gun to work bill."

This flawed piece of legislation is being promoted by the special interests at the National Rifle Association. It would essentially prohibit any employer from prohibiting employees from lawfully carrying and possessing firearms in motor vehicles in employee parking areas.

Damned to hell those private property rights!

As well, the employer would then be liable if any incident arises out of an accident with the gun, if the employer "should have known the crime was going to occur and could have prevented it." Funny thing about crime, none of us know when it is going to occur, if we did, well, there wouldn't be crime! Duh!

This is a piece of legislation that was not needed and will only cause needless divisions amongst Georgians. I'm all for guns and the 2nd Amendment, but this piece of legislation is just assinine.

SFS Wants to know why!

The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to require earmark disclosure and adopt pay as you go budget rules. This is a step in the right direction in getting Congress back to reality.

However, 152 Republicans voted against this bill. Before you claim partisanship, 48 Republicans voted for the adoption of these new rules, including the former Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

So, my question, is what is the reason for voting against earmark disclosure? What is the reason for voting against pay as you go budget rules?

GOP 2008 - Merry Xmas

Borat at Republican party meeting in Arizona.

'The Psychology of Bush's Nicknames'
By: Ronald Pies MD, eTalkinghead

What are we to make of an American president who refers to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as "Pootie-Poot"? How are we to understand President Bush's christening of advisor Karl Rove as both "Boy Genius" and "Turd Blossom"?

The President's penchant for nicknaming both friends and foes recently grabbed headlines in his now infamous remark made to then FEMA Director, Michael Brown, during Hurricane Katrina: "Brownie, you're doin' a heck of a job!" But what lies behind the president's habit of bestowing such monikers as "Stretch" (Dick Keil, Bloomberg News), "Frazier" (Sen. Diane Feinstein), and "Hogan" (Sen. John McCain)?

I believe that the explanation goes deeper than the "frat boy" attitude sometimes attributed to George W. Bush. (An article in Wikipedia opines that Bush may have picked up this habit during his days in "Skull & Bones", the secret society at Yale that gives every member a nickname). I believe, rather, that to understand the President's nicknames, we need to dig a bit into the nature of naming and re-naming, as an enduring pattern in human history.

Such naming rituals go back at least as far as the Hebrew Bible or Tanach, usually called The Old Testament. A change in name, in this ancient biblical context, usually signifies a change in spiritual status or moral character. In the Book of Genesis, we find that after Jacob wrestles with an "angel" or divine messenger, his name is changed to Israel--variously translated as "one who struggles with God" or "turns the head of God." Notably, it is God who changes Jacob's name, as is the case with Abram (re-named Abraham) and Sarai (re-named Sarah). There is a message in this: changing someone's name is a sign of dominion over that individual. Our children do not name us (though they may use unkind nicknames behind our backs)--we name them. The knight does not "dub" the King, Sir So-and-So--it is the king's dominion that allows him to christen the knight.

The rabbis of the Talmudic era were aware that, when mortals misuse such powers, the results can often be destructive. These sages were especially disturbed by the use of derogatory nicknames. The Talmud tells us, "All who descend to Gehenna [Hell] will come [back] up, except three...one who sleeps with a married woman; one who shames his friend in public; and one who calls his friend by a cruel nickname." [Bava Mezia 58b]. Any child who has come home from school in tears, having been taunted with a nickname like "Fatso" or "Butthead", understands the destructive power of such nicknames.

But, we may protest: aren't many of the President's nicknames merely affectionate short-hand labels, bestowed in the spirit of good-natured joshing?

And haven't nicknames always been a part of American political culture and campaign rhetoric, at least since the time of "Honest Abe" Lincoln? To be sure, such nicknames have always been a part of American politics. Recently, some have surfaced in the form of so-called portmanteau titles: "Billary", for Bill and Hillary Clinton; or "Scalito" as a fusion of Scalia and Alito. And yes, such names may start out as humorous or even affectionate monikers--but there is almost always a hint of derision concealed within them. Writing in the New York Times, Damien Cave notes that, "...most political portmanteaus...are intended to insult..." the named person or persons. Cave points out that whereas initially, Bill and Hillary Clinton rather liked the name "Billary"--the implication being, we were getting two fine politicians rolled into one--they eventually came to resent it as derogatory. So, too, with seemingly affectionate nicknames like "Stretch", "Superstretch", "Corndog", and other monikers the President has bestowed on members of the press or Congress. (A comprehensive list prepared by writer Daniel Kurtzman may be found at About.com Political Humor). And we may rightly ask: did the President first seek the permission of these named individuals to be so christened? Or was it, well--an act of dominion? Imagine the stir at a presidential press conference if a reporter objected, "Mr. President, I really wish you wouldn't refer to me as 'Stretch'". Not all recipients of Mr. Bush's nominal largesse have suffered in silence, of course: witness Maureen Dowd--christened "The Cobra" by President Bush--and her acerbic columns for the New York Times.

How then, should we understand Mr. Bush's proclivity for nicknaming? I believe the key lies in a scene from the 1962 movie, "Hatari", directed by Howard Hawks. Basically, the film revolves around John Wayne (Sean Mercer) and his entourage, who trap wild animals in Africa and sell them to zoos. After one of the characters introduces himself with a preposterously long and pompous French name, Wayne looks at him with a mixture of irony and contempt, and says, "'Chips' will do." Substitute "W" for the Duke in the role of Sean Mercer, and you will get the picture.

Nicknames serve an important function of "dominion" for all of us, of course: they define and delimit another's powers and status. Nicknames put people in their place. In the case of Mr. Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, this is apparently an exalted place--she has earned the nickname, "Guru." Others, such as Maureen Dowd, are not so fortunate. Naming of any sort serves an important ritualized function in human culture: it is the first step in gaining control over a potentially dangerous or malevolent entity. A frightening category 4 hurricane is nicknamed, "Katrina". Osama bin Laden is christened, "The Evil One" by the President of the United States. In a world filled with complex and terrifying forces, it should not surprise us that an anxious American president would look for ways to reduce potential adversaries to manageable sound bites. The danger lies in imagining that this actually reduces the danger--and in supposing that nicknames do no harm.

The writer is a psychiatrist in the Boston area, and the author of "The Ethics of the Sages", an interfaith commentary on part of the Talmud.

Among the nicknames he uses are:
Self
Dubya, 43
Family
Poppy, 41, Old Man - George H. W. Bush [2]
Bushie - Laura Bush (this is a mutual nickname) [3]
Foreign leaders
Pootie-Poot - Vladimir Putin, President of Russia [4]
Landslide - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [5]
Dino (short for Dinosaur) - Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada[6]
Bandar Bush - Bandar bin Sultan, ambassador to the United StatesSaudi Arabia [7] from
Steve - Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada [8]
Staff
Boy Genius (positive), Turd Blossom (negative) - Karl Rove, Senior Advisor [9]
The World's Greatest Hero (positive and negative) - Colin Powell, former Secretary of State [10]
Big O (current), Pablo (former) - Paul O'Neill, Secretary of the Treasury [11]
Ari-Bob - Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary [12]
High Prophet, Hurricane Karen - Karen Hughes, Special Advisor; Director of Communications under Texas Governor George W. Bush [13]
The Blade - Mitch Daniels, Director, Office of Management and Budget [14]
Big Country - Joe Allbaugh, FEMA director [15]
Brownie - Michael D. Brown, DHS undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response (FEMA director within DHS) [16]
Tree Man - Unnamed forest service official [17]
Politicians
Pablo - Paul Wellstone, Democratic Senator, Minnesota [18]
Big George - George Miller, Democratic Congressman, California[19]
Freddy Boy - Fred Upton, Republican Congressman, Michigan [20]
Congressman Kickass - John Sweeney, Republican Congressman, New York [21]
Speak - Dennis Hastert, Republican Congressman from Illinois and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives [22]
Big O - Olympia Snowe, Republican Senator, Maine [23]
Nellie (former), Benney (former), Benator (current) - Ben Nelson, Democratic Senator, Nebraska [24] (Daily Show, 02/28/05)
Ellis - Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senator, New York[25]
Bama, Rock - Barack Obama, Democratic Senator, Illinois [26]
Journalists
The Cobra - Maureen Dowd [27]
Stretch/Little Stretch - David Gregory, NBC [28][29][30]
Stretch - Dick Keil, Bloomberg News [31]
Super Stretch - Bill Sammon, Washington Times [32]
Factor (current), Big O (former) - Bill O'Reilly
(actual nickname claimed to be unprintable) - Dana Milbank of the Washington Post

Post November Oh Six

House Democrats and Republicans toed the lines and voted their collective paid for consciousness to decide on leadership following the national November elections. On the boot heals of what seemingly was a call for sweeping reforms both parties decided not follow suit. Accordingly you still see the faces of Boehner and Blunt and Pelosi and Hoyer remaining in line, bags still full with spoiled groceries to be doled out the next two years, for their party leadership positions. If you look at the cycles of power on the Hill you will see that it takes on the House side at least approx. 8 years to move upward towards the leadership positions. This cycle gives those in current positions at least one presidential cycle to further their ambitious goals and 4 cycles for things like term limits, checks and balances, realignment and the such. Having worked with the four aforementioned congressmen I can tell you this much about them, they are all very motivated men and women who unlike many ‘aren’t just happy to be there’.

Nanci Pelosi reminds me much of Tom Delay during his stranglehold of GOP leadership. If she starts handing out pocket constitutions and hiring women with shorter skirts she will morph into his Democratic clone pushing the party and it’s allowed sphere of influence far too much to the left for the overall good, especially in 2008. The threats of 'vote with me or get the office adjacent to the Longworth latrine' was often the mantra of DeLay and seems to be thus far the mantra of Pelosi and her hand of will. Given the fact she lost the Hoyer/Murtha leadership race by backing the more liberal Murtha is telling either that she isn't as powerful as DeLay was, even in his weaker days, or that she merely used this fight for face time with the American people. It is still too early to tell what type of Speaker she will be.In looking at the GOP side you have in Boehner a man with extreme political ambitions, think Willie Stark of 'All the King's Men' fame without the craw fish and political accent. He is sharp, attentive to the pulse of Americans and more importantly attentive to the pulse of his fellow congressman. He also looks the part which in these times of ‘Factors’ and ‘Hardballs’ does in fact matter on the national scene. He also plays ball with the rogues, the party animals, the Christian Coalitionist and even on occasion the other side. Given the bell jar nature of his home state of Ohio and the fact he has risen through the ranks where many of his allies have fallen over the years (John Linder, Tom Davis, Dennis Hastert at one time, etc...) it looks to the naked eye that he is positioning himself as the second coming of a Newt Gingrich type, which also if steered too far to the party extremes could spell disaster in 2008.

To a lesser degree and along the same political timing, socializing and fundraising lines as Boehner is Roy Blunt, a powerful GOP fundraiser throughout the years. He has for many years led the push as part of the fundraising arm of the NRCC and to a lesser extent the RNC and GOP party as a whole. It is these dealings with money and his fellow congressmen that has made congressman Blunt a player in today’s GOP party.

The essential problem facing both parties today is such that in order to win within the party you have to push so far to the extremes (the far right for the GOP and the far left for the Dems) that you ultimately lose touch with the populous of this country. This tenuous relationship of state and national politics is no different in the House of Representatives where congressman are a similar as patrons on the average #7 subway train. You get all kinds and indeed with this year’s elections let us all hope that all kinds are cognizant of the real constituents and not those most apt to help them in the short term during this dog and pony show known as placement of congressional leadership. Let us hope they remember the November elections for longer than just the month of November.

- RWC
11.29.06

We Must See Through the War in Iraq

The War in Iraq, however misguided and mismanaged it's been, must be seen through to a successful resolution. In order to accomplish that goal, more troops must be deployed to the region.

President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld failed our country by not deploying enough troops in the initial war to secure the country. We are now paying the price for their mistakes.

Let there be no doubt about America's resolve, we must be successful in Iraq and the only way to do that is for more troops on the ground to secure the country.

Then, our stubborn President must accept reality and open a dialogue with Iraq's neighbors about how best to stabalize the region.

This isn't the crusades, we can't recreate America and should get rose colored glasses about the mission, we need to stabalize the area and then get out of the way.

Plain and simple, that's how I see it.