Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Leave the man alone
As a liberal, I find myself in the rather curious position of defending a Republican, but I've listened to the tape and know that Sen. Larry Craig, R-ID, didn't try to pick up an undercover police officer in a public restroom.
A guilty plea to disorderly conduct for the June 11 incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport involving the Idaho Republican and the undercover officer has led to calls for the three-term Senator's resignation. Even GOP senators are suggesting that Mr. Craig step down.
The calls for Mr. Craig's resignation vary and are indicative of the perfidy of the GOP. Whether Mr. Craig was entrapped or not seems immaterial to these critics. The fact that he plead guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge—not too dissimilar to a waiverable traffic offense in that paying the fine and pleading guilty will get you out of jail—doesn't matter.
The Republicans are willing to sacrifice this man to the pillory of history to win the 2008 presidential election, but one would expect no less from the party that sacrificed the Constitution—not to mention the limbs and lifeblood of thousands of Americans—for nearly five years to give the current occupant of the White House anything he wanted.
I know little of Mr. Craig's legislative history. I'm certain that he and I could agree on very little, but on this issue I support him. All of this nonsense about hand gestures and where a guy puts his bag while using the stall wouldn't amount to a hill of beans to a jury. Even if Mr. Craig was cruising for sex, nothing in the police report or the plea agreement—wherein Mr. Craig agreed to pay $575—rises to the level of scandal that the GOP has foisted on the world under the banner of the War on Terror.
A guilty plea to disorderly conduct for the June 11 incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport involving the Idaho Republican and the undercover officer has led to calls for the three-term Senator's resignation. Even GOP senators are suggesting that Mr. Craig step down.
The calls for Mr. Craig's resignation vary and are indicative of the perfidy of the GOP. Whether Mr. Craig was entrapped or not seems immaterial to these critics. The fact that he plead guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge—not too dissimilar to a waiverable traffic offense in that paying the fine and pleading guilty will get you out of jail—doesn't matter.
The Republicans are willing to sacrifice this man to the pillory of history to win the 2008 presidential election, but one would expect no less from the party that sacrificed the Constitution—not to mention the limbs and lifeblood of thousands of Americans—for nearly five years to give the current occupant of the White House anything he wanted.
I know little of Mr. Craig's legislative history. I'm certain that he and I could agree on very little, but on this issue I support him. All of this nonsense about hand gestures and where a guy puts his bag while using the stall wouldn't amount to a hill of beans to a jury. Even if Mr. Craig was cruising for sex, nothing in the police report or the plea agreement—wherein Mr. Craig agreed to pay $575—rises to the level of scandal that the GOP has foisted on the world under the banner of the War on Terror.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Editor's note
After several months hiatus—okay laziness—I will again attempt to post daily columns. Thanks to the two of you who have continued to ask for more.
Kidding us or Killing us
They have got to be kidding.
The New York Times reported today that the Bush administration is considering adding the Revolutionary Guard—a branch of the Iranian military—to a list of terrorist organizations. The Revolutionary Guard is thought to be the largest branch of Iran’s military.
It's the equivalent of France declaring the U.S. Marine Corps a terrorist organization. It's silly on the face of it and insulting diplomatically.
One of the reasons given for such a move—something no other administration has done (in fact, no other government in the world has done)—is that it will mollify those members of the administration who are calling for more aggressive action against Iran. Talk about appeasing special interests.
All this because Iran is said to be enriching uranium in an effort to become a nuclear power. Twenty years haven’t passed since the end of the Cold War, and it looks like the world is again heading for a nuclear Armageddon. Only this time, the casus belli has nothing to do with threats of world domination. Instead, it’s the domination of the next world that seems to be the concern.
Iran’s government is only loosely republican, more accurately it is a secular theocracy, and our government seems to be heading that way.
Except that giving spiritual motivation to this administration gives it a tiny philosophical prop that it doesn’t deserve. It may seem cynical to doubt the religiousness of politicians, instead calling it religiosity, but that again grants to them some infinitesimal legitimacy that they don’t deserve.
This administration is not driven by ideology. The ideologues of this administration are being used to feed the greed of Dick Cheney and his ilk. No one has ever mentioned the vice president’s faith as being his guide because there is little or no evidence that he has any. But there is ample evidence of his greed, his duplicity, and his unwillingness to comply with the law. There is ample evidence that his power remains unchecked in the White House.
And so it goes. To mollify the greed of the military industry—the KBRs, Blackwaters, and Erinys—and others, the administration will rattle a sword instead of seeking diplomacy.
The most disturbing thing is that the opposition in this country doesn’t have a clue about how to respond. It doesn’t even have the fortitude to know that such a move merits a response because in the end this is all seen as politics. Politics is what is killing us.
The New York Times reported today that the Bush administration is considering adding the Revolutionary Guard—a branch of the Iranian military—to a list of terrorist organizations. The Revolutionary Guard is thought to be the largest branch of Iran’s military.
It's the equivalent of France declaring the U.S. Marine Corps a terrorist organization. It's silly on the face of it and insulting diplomatically.
One of the reasons given for such a move—something no other administration has done (in fact, no other government in the world has done)—is that it will mollify those members of the administration who are calling for more aggressive action against Iran. Talk about appeasing special interests.
All this because Iran is said to be enriching uranium in an effort to become a nuclear power. Twenty years haven’t passed since the end of the Cold War, and it looks like the world is again heading for a nuclear Armageddon. Only this time, the casus belli has nothing to do with threats of world domination. Instead, it’s the domination of the next world that seems to be the concern.
Iran’s government is only loosely republican, more accurately it is a secular theocracy, and our government seems to be heading that way.
Except that giving spiritual motivation to this administration gives it a tiny philosophical prop that it doesn’t deserve. It may seem cynical to doubt the religiousness of politicians, instead calling it religiosity, but that again grants to them some infinitesimal legitimacy that they don’t deserve.
This administration is not driven by ideology. The ideologues of this administration are being used to feed the greed of Dick Cheney and his ilk. No one has ever mentioned the vice president’s faith as being his guide because there is little or no evidence that he has any. But there is ample evidence of his greed, his duplicity, and his unwillingness to comply with the law. There is ample evidence that his power remains unchecked in the White House.
And so it goes. To mollify the greed of the military industry—the KBRs, Blackwaters, and Erinys—and others, the administration will rattle a sword instead of seeking diplomacy.
The most disturbing thing is that the opposition in this country doesn’t have a clue about how to respond. It doesn’t even have the fortitude to know that such a move merits a response because in the end this is all seen as politics. Politics is what is killing us.
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