Short Attention Span Musing; Raging Cynicism Edition

...Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in an interview with USA Today, after repeatedly ripping into former colleague-turned-accuser Anita Hill (in case you were wondering if he is the type to hold a grudge, the answer is "yep"), he dropped this quote - "We are allowing ourselves to be governed by cynical people. … "

I can't say that I disagree with that sentiment, not at all as a matter of fact, but I think that it would be more accurate to say that "the people that make up the government make it very easy for us to be cynical about them..."

During the interview, and within the new book that he was shilling, he blames racism for the controversy surrounding his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1991.

The NAACP opposed his appointment.

So apparently, Justice Thomas is one of the people that he (and I!) complained about.

Not that I'm cynical.


...Those of us opposed to the war in Iraq should be jumping for joy. Later today, the U.S. House of Representatives is supposed to consider HR3087, a bill that is supposed to "require the President, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military leaders, to develop and transmit to Congress a comprehensive strategy for the redeployment of United States Armed Forces in Iraq."

One minor problem - the bill, even if passed, has already been watered down so as to be utterly meaningless.

As introduced, section 2 of the bill included the following section -

SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR THE REDEPLOYMENT OF THE ARMED FORCES IN IRAQ.

(a) Strategy Required- Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act , the President, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military leaders, shall develop and transmit to Congress a comprehensive strategy for the redeployment of the Armed Forces in Iraq.

However, that has been amended ever so slightly -

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--

(1) nothing in this Act shall be construed as a recommendation by Congress that any particular contingency plan be exercised;

Had to make sure the "non-binding" language got in there; wouldn't want to the President or his water-carriers on the Hill to worry about the Congressional Democrats growing a spine.

The original section 2 is still in the bill in section 3, to be sure, but paragraph 4 of the new section 2 provides cover if the President wants to keep forces in Iraq -

(C) describe the possible missions, and the associated projected number of members, of the Armed Forces which would remain in Iraq, including to--

(i) conduct United States military operations to protect vital United States national security interests;

(ii) conduct counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq and affiliated terrorist organizations;

(iii) protect the Armed Forces, United States diplomatic and military facilities, and United States civilians; and

(iv) support and equip Iraqi forces to take full responsibility for their own security.

And the title has been amended, too (emphasis mine) -

Amend the title so as to read: 'A bill to require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress reports on the status of planning for the redeployment of the Armed Forces from Iraq and to require the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and appropriate senior officials of the Department of Defense to meet with Congress to brief Congress on the matters contained in the reports.'

In essence, a bill that would have originally required the President and his staff to come up with a plan to deploy U.S. troops out of Iraq, but not require that such redeployment actually occur, is now a bill that requires the President and his staff to discuss a plan for such redeployment, and to then tell Congress about it.

HR3087 may not pass as it is being considered under suspension of the rules and will need a 2/3 majority to pass, but it should give the Republicans a great opportunity to 'patriotically' preen while aligning themselves with the President and it should give the Democrats in Congress a chance to proclaim that they are doing *something* to force the President's hand over the war.

And the members of Congress wonder why their poll numbers are so low at 11% approval.

I wonder how the approval rating got so high.

Not that I'm cynical.


...Later this week, the House will consider HR2740, the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007. ("MEJA" is "Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.")

If enacted, the bill would expand the laws covering misconduct by private contractors and mandate that the FBI create units tasked to investigate such wrongdoing, a truly necessary Act in light of the recent killing/murders of a large number of Iraqi civilians by private contractors working for Blackwater USA.

The bill was sponsored and cosponsored by a number of Democrats, including AZ's own Raul Grijalva.

So what do the Republicans think of all this?

Well, first, seven Republicans are calling for a postponement of a Congressional inquiry into the matter. Seems they think that the investigation would be better conducted by Bush's State Department.

Did I mention that Blackwater's Chairman, Erik Prince, has given over $250K to the Republicans?

Oh, and the second Republican response to the bill, one that truly illustrates where their priorities lay?

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) is offering an amendment to the bill that goes after contractors that hire undocumented immigrants.

Killing innocent and unarmed Iraqi civilians? That's ok, or at least worthy of nothing more than a wristslap from the State Department.

Hiring Mexicans? That's a *real* crime.

Why would anyone, even Clarence Thomas, think that Rep. Brown-Waite or one of her seven cohorts were one of the "cynical" people in government?

Not that I'm cynical.

Note: AP, via seattlepi.com, coverage of the bill's consideration is here.


...Read a shocking story from the NY Times - a Texas oilman, Oscar Wyatt, was prosecuted and pleaded guilty in a case stemming from the now-infamous "Iraqi oil for food" UN corruption scandal.

From the story -

In an unexpected midtrial reversal, Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr., the Texas oilman accused of corrupting the United Nation’s oil-for-food program, pleaded guilty today to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2001 to gain access to lucrative Iraqi oil contracts.

A Texas oil man? Prosecuted? By a Bush-controlled Justice Department?

What's this? Could the Bushies be growing some integrity and professionalism in the waning days of the his Administration?

A quick check of the FEC's records disabused me of that notion.

Turns out Oscar Wyatt Jr. has given nearly $400K in campaign contributions, almost 75% of which has gone to Democrats or Democratic causes.

Partisan prosecutions??

Now *that* the Bush Justice Department that we've all come to know.

Not that I'm cynical.

:)


Later!

Good night on Comedy Central tonight...

With Al Gore on The Daily Show and Raul Grijalva on The Colbert Report.

Grijalva didn't do to badly, though I'm not sure he had any idea of what he was in for with Stephen Colbert.

Does anybody know if Gore's book tour includes a stop in the Phoenix area?

Later!

Quarterly FEC reports are in...

...and I'll let others write about the presidential candidate numbers.

Some of the FEC's quarterly financial reports for active Congressional candidate committees in Arizona.

Incumbents bolded, challengers italicized.

Note: "PAC" numbers include all contributions from non-political party committees. Generally speaking, Republicans had a lot of corporate contributions; Democrats had a lot of union contributions.

CD1 -

Democrat Ellen Simon raised $4,295.54, more than $4K from herself.
Republican Rick Renzi raised $117,698.70, $76,950.00 from PACs.

CD2 -

Republican Trent Franks raised $40,031.00, $9,000 from PACs.
Democrat John Thrasher raised $4,340.00, $3,000 from himself.

CD3 -

Democrat Bob Lord raised $137,968.15, $0 from PACs.
Republican John Shadegg raised $19,338.57, $4,500.00 from PACs.

CD4 -

Democrat Ed Pastor raised $11,650.00, $1,000 from PACs.

CD5 -

Democrat Harry Mitchell raised $234,768.46, $107,162.35 from PACs.
Republican JD Hayworth raised $136.00.

CD6 -

Republican Jeff Flake raised $84,065.00, $3100.00 from PACs.

CD7 -

Democrat Raul Grijalva raised $26,843.86, $25,500 from PACs.

CD8 -

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords raised $325,252.61, $104,966.17 from PACs.
Democrat Jeff Latas raised $900.00, all from himself.


Active during the quarter, but no contributions received - Bob Stump (R-CD3), Ron Drake (R-CD7, committee termination report filed), Eva Bacal (D-CD8), Jim Kolbe (R-CD8), Larry King (D-CD5), Herb Paine (D-CD3, termination report filed 03-01-2007),

Brief observation: By far, Mitchell, Giffords, and Renzi were the most active incumbent fundraisers this quarter, but that's no surprise - they are all targeted for defeat in the next election; Mitchell and Giffords because they are in their first terms, and Renzi because of his ethical and residency issues.

Brief prediction: Expect Shadegg to get his fundraising organization into gear after the showing of Bob Lord (top fundraiser among the non-incumbents, #3 overall) this quarter.

And the rankings are in...

Thanks to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for the heads-up on this...

...courtesy of the National Journal.

[Note: I wasn't going to do this post as it's the type of post that Stacy at AZ Congress Watch usually does, and does very well. However, she skipped this one and covered the Humane Society's Congressional report card.

...Guess she thinks that puppies and kittens are more fun than ideology.

...Guess she's right. :)) ]

The National Journal has published in 2006 Congressional vote ratings and has ranked Congressfolk on a most conservative/liberal scale.

AZ Summary: Trent Franks (with the now-departed JD Hayworth close behind) was among the most conservative of all of members of the House; Jon Kyl was nearly the most conservative in the Senate. Raul Grijalva was among the most liberal members of the House.

The AZ delegation's numbers at a glance:

In the Senate (ranked as 'most conservative) -

Jon Kyl is the more conservative of our two U.S. Senators. He ranked 3rd overall, coming in as tied for the most conservative on economic policy, 19th on social policy, and tied for first on foreign policy;

John McCain is the 46th most conservative. He was 36th most conservative on economic policy, 53rd on social policy, and 42nd in foreign policy.

In the House -

Note: As new members, Gabrielle Giffords and Harry Mitchell are not part of these rankings.

[Key: overall ranking, economic policy votes, social policy votes, foreign policy votes]

Republicans, ranked as 'most conservative':

Rick Renzi (CD1) - 177th, 160th, 159th, 186th

Trent Franks (CD2) - 37th, 67th, 13th, 80th

John Shadegg (CD3) - 144th, 114th, 138th, 144th

JD Hayworth (CD5) - 46th, 88th, 15th, 82nd

Jeff Flake (CD6) - 216th, 182nd, 230th, 230th

Jim Kolbe (CD8) - 166th, 15th, 248th, 188th


Democrats, ranked as 'most liberal':

[Key: overall ranking, economic policy votes, social policy votes, foreign policy votes]

Ed Pastor (CD4) - 75th, 117th, 19th, 102nd.

Raul Grijalva (CD7) - 3rd, 25th, 3rd, 2nd


The only real surprise in all this?

I didn't realize that Jeff Flake is the face of the "reasonable conservative" in D.C. This isn't a dig at him or at his 'conservative' cred; have no fear, I think he is verrry conservative and disagree with him on most social and political issues.

I just didn't realize how much he votes the issue, his constituents, or even his conscience over the party line.

[Hey, it's either that or the Republican Party has moved so far to the loony end of the political spectrum that a staunch social and fiscal conservative like Flake looks like a moderate by comparison.]

Of course, the nutjob wing (aka - 'Coulter Wing') of the Repubs may look at the National Journal's numbers (and this post!) and run someone at Flake during the next primary as punishment for his backsliding.

Good God, I think I just complimented a Republican; even though the compliment is of a 'back-handed' nature, I must be tired.

Good night!

Nancy Pelosi's visit to ASU

In the overflowing Arizona Ballroom in ASU's Memorial Union, protected from the drizzle and wind outside, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, along with U.S. Reps Barbara Lee (D-CA9), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7), Ed Pastor (D-AZ4), and Harry Mitchell (D-you know where :) ) spoke to over 700 people of all ages about efforts in Congress to make a college education more affordable for America's working and middle classes.

After being introduced by Elizabeth Simonhoff, Vice-President of the ASU Undergraduate Student Government, Speaker Pelosi started off by letting the assemblage know that it was a great personal and political pleasure for her first non-district trip as speaker to be to Arizona. The personal part is that her daughter and her family live here; in fact, her son-in-law teaches in Tempe and her grandchild attends school in Scottsdale. [Note: she'll be visiting that school tomorrow.]

She also gave a plug for the AZ Congressfolk present, as well as Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8), for their work to make higher education more affordable.

Pelosi spoke for a while on the importance of education, and educational opportunity, to achieving the American dream, and to the greatness of America throughout our history.

She moved on too talking about the Democrats' 1st 100 Hours agenda, and how the passage of that agenda signalled a change in Washington. She also noted the bipartisan support in the House for reducing education's financial burden on America's families.

Pelosi promised that what has been done so far (lower student loan interest rates from 6.8% to 3.4%) is "only a start" and that there's more to come.

When Harry Mitchell rose to cheers and a chant of "Harry! Harry! Harry!", he talked about how the average ASU grad started with a debt of $15,000 and that number is rising, and that expanding access to education is a prime goal of this Congress.

Ed Pastor drew the biggest laugh of the day when he mentioned "compassionate conservatives," noting that most of their compassion is for the very rich. He noted that under this administration, Pell Grant funding has been reduced, student loan interest rates were increased, and the wealthiest got a tax cut.

He compared Congress' passage of the continuing resolution to fund the government (after the "do-nothing" 109th Congress failed to do so), a CR that contained an increase in Pell Grant funding with the President's latest budget proposal, which includes an increase in Pell Grants, but takes the money from other financial aid programs.

Pastor drew a loud round of cheers when he told the audience that Congress would tackle immigration in March, and that their immigration reform act would include the DREAM Act (link to 2004 bill; I'll post a link to the new one when I can find it.)

Raul Grijalva got a chuckle at the beginning of his speech when he admitted that "maybe everything has been said already, but *I* haven't said it. He spoke about some of the goals of this Congress, which include increasing funding for loans, lower interest rates, a goal of a $5100 Pell Grant and a loan forgiveness program for people who go to work in areas of need.

He said that it was time to "stop the raid on higher education" and talked about how 400,000 students per year delay or forgo their education due to the cost, and the need to change that.

Barbara Lee bonded with the crowd by letting us know, that like Speaker Pelosi, she has family living in Arizona, including her mom, dad, and an aunt.

She advised us that her career in Congress can be credited to student financial aid - the education that placed her on the path to public service and elected office that she received at Mills College and UC-Berkeley was only available to her because of financial aid.

She also called for America in general, and Congress in particular, to "reorder our priorities so that education stays at the top of the national agenda."

After the guests of honor finished their speeches, they took some questions from the audience before adjourning, letting the crowd out into the pounding sprinkles.

Notes from the day:

...A broad cross-section of Democratic Party notables was present today - before the session, Attorney General Terry Goddard, Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, and former Senator Dennis DeConcini were introduced. Others in the crowd, and I'm pretty sure I didn't everybody who attended, included new Kyrene Constable Jon Levenson, MCDP Chair Mark Manoil, State Representative Ed Ableser, and State Representative David Schapira. Governor Napolitano had a scheduling conflict with the afternoon event, but was supposed to meet with the Speaker in the evening, and Congresswoman Giffords is in Iraq.

The notices about the event advised attendees to arrive an hour early to ensure a seat; I arrived over 90 minutes before the start of the forum, and there were already hundreds in a line that snaked around that level of the Memorial Union.

Highlight of the day, pre-event: walking by the ASU Republicans' table outside the MU, with four Republicans seated at it, talking to each other. They *had* to talk to each other - no one else was at the table. :))

Highlight of the day, post-event: meeting the Speaker and talking to her for a moment. I made a crack about how I would have introduced her as "The First Italian-American Speaker." She laughed, saying that she was also "The First Californian...," and "The First Marylander..." among other firsts.

It was seriously cool. :))

Geo at Geo's Precinct 134 has his coverage here.

Overall, it was a great day, but the right-wing media is already starting its spin:

The Phoenix Business Journal's story about the event focused on the appointment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) (of the $90K cash in the freezer fame) to the House Homeland Security Committee, not on the event itself.

Later!