Congressional Hubris

As the story goes, whenever an emperor or general was given a triumphal parade in Ancient Rome, to honor a recent conquest, a slave accompanied the honoree in his chariot for the sole purpose of murmuring, "Remember, Sire, you are mortal".  The point, of course, was to remind the victor that pomp and circumstance did not alter his earthly state, no matter his opinion of himself at that moment.

Perhaps some humble congressman can slip an earmark into the 2007 FY Budget that provides such a reminder man for each member of the US House and Senate.  The thought arrives in this mortal’s consciousness after reading news stories related to the subpoena, warrant, and search of the office of William Jefferson, D-LA.  Jefferson apparently ignored the subpoena, a Federal Judge issued a warrant, and the FBI then searched his Congressional office.  All this, mind you, after the esteemed Congressman was videotaped accepting $100,000 cash as a bribe for the services of his elected office.

This process of investigating a criminal act has outraged most of the leadership of the House and Senate, who claim that this is but the latest power grab by the Executive Branch (forget, for a moment, the particpation of the Judiciary). Yet again, reason has been trumped by hubris as our elected officials have elevated themselves above the miserable existence of us, their constituents.

Big Lizard has a post that discusses this latest exercise in hubris here.  An excerpt:

The Lords of the District are offended that they may actually be required to suffer under the very laws they enacted for the peóns. How crass and vulgar! The "larger separation of powers principle" evidently also takes precedence over the people’s business — bills on immigration, confirmation of judges and the Director of the CIA, the war, taxes, energy exploration, and every other piece o’legislation that was let hang fire while Congress roared about laws that were a bit too universal.

The American people don’t understand that. But even if you explained it to them, which do you think would concern them more: that Congressmen got their knickers in a twist over being searched (with a search warrant)? Or that Congressmen were taking massive bribes to conspire against the general welfare?

Read it and write a letter.  Better yet, keep a copy and pull it out for review just before you next vote in a congressional election.

Update: Captains Quarters has more in this post.

Further Update: A commenter notes that there exists a process whereby the Sergeant-At-Arms of the House should be included in the processing of any subpoena of a house member.  Further investigation is warranted.  Stand by for updates.

Ralph Peters – GWOT Update

Our readers know that we hold the opinions of Col. Ralph Peters (US Army Ret.) in very high regard.  A best selling author, a very experienced military analyst, and a straight shooter in matters we deem important, Peters has inked yet another column that defines the progress made in the Terrorist War.  Here are some excerpts from his report:

WITH the formation of Iraq’s new government, it’s a good time to take stock of where we stand in our confrontation with Islamist terror. You wouldn’t know it from the outrageously dishonest headlines, but we’re winning.

We could do even better, if we put national security above partisan politics.

Our enemies are far from giving up, of course. But they realize now that Americans won’t quit after suffering the first dozen casualties. That came as a shock after the cowardice of past presidential administrations.

What on Earth?

From Astronomy Picture of the Day comes this most remarkable photo and explanation.  You can see a new photo each day, from the link on the Left Sidebar.

Explanation: A new rock slab is growing at more than one meter a day on the Mt. St. Helens volcano in Washington, USA. The rock slab, growing since last November, now extends about 100 meters out from one of the volcano’s craters. A recently made time lapse movie shows the rock slab growing. Pictured above, a helicopter examines the steaming hot rock slab late last month. Mt. St. Helens underwent a spectacular eruption in 1980 but has been undergoing a comparatively serene eruption since 2004 September. A new volcanic dome has been building which is now about 100 meters above the 1980s dome. The rock slab is visible from the Johnston Ridge Observatory on the erupting volcano.

Amir Taheri on the Iraqi Quagmire

This article by Amir Taheri is all over the blogosphere, and for good reason.  He provides an apolitical analysis of the progress a democratic Iraq is making and suggests that we need to be patient and optimistic.  The key excerpt:

Is Iraq a quagmire, a disaster, a failure? Certainly not; none of the above. Of all the adjectives used by skeptics and critics to describe todays Iraq, the only one that has a ring of truth is messy. Yes, the situation in Iraq today is messy. Births always are. Since when is that a reason to declare a baby unworthy of life?

Hat Tip to Neptunus Lex

The Politics of Oil and Immigration

Further evidence that politics trumps policy every time, and reinforcement of the low opinion voters have of our Congress (yes, lower than President Bush) courtesy of Real Clear Politics and Gateway Pundit.

Enery policy shenanigans Here, and Vote here.

Immigration policy switch here.

We are not sure which is worse; the notion that politicians will say anything to get elected, or that their petty politics of animus are more important than their voters’ needs.

Sheesh.

Immigration – Say What?

Color us dumbfounded, and even more convinced that we need a major overhaul of how we elect members of Congress.  Witness for the case is this post, excerpted here:

But here’s the substance of the debate– Should ILLEGAL immigrants, once made legal by the McCain legislation, be entitled to receive the Social Security benefits they have paid into the system while ILLEGALLY using FRAUDULENT Social Security numbers STOLEN from actual, legal citizens of the United States of America.

The fact that this is even up for debate is just beyond insane. Everyone knows we will never have enough Social Security funds to serve, you know, actual citizens.

Every single one of those senators knows that, and they’re debating whether we should extend such non-existent, unsustainable, budget-busting, generation-saddling benefits to millions of people who fraudulently entered the system by stealing the identities (and sometimes ruining the credit) of legal Americans?!?

Sen. Ensign, God bless him, offered an amendment suggesting illegals should not be eligible for Social Security benefits accrued while illegal.

The U.S. Senate voted to kill that amendment, 50-49.

The roll call is here. 

Let’s recap for emphasis.  The Senate just voted to credit illegal aliens for contributions made to their phony social security accounts!  Reason has left Washington, DC and was last seen heading for Mars.  And, by the way, our very own Lindsey Graham voted in favor of this nonsense.

UPDATE: Poweline provides another angle here.

The Solution

Recently I wrote about the state of politics and corruption.  Earmarks, bribery, ethical lapses, and nepotism seem to be the hallmarks of service as an elected official, at all levels in our country.  To be sure, there are many, many honest and hard working elected officials at all levels of government, but the bad guys seem to have gained the upper hand (recognizing that many informed critics of our political scene have been making the same charges from the earliest days of our country). What is perhaps equally as dismaying is that, once elected, our politicians seem to forget, or reject, the reasons we voted in their favor. Can the lure of the Beltway cocktail circuit be more powerful than our beautiful state, or district, or city?  Apparently so, because it’s awfully tough to get them back home.

Collectively, our disgust with the situation is reflected in the abysmal approval ratings we give to our elected officials.  I would suggest that our negative thoughts have no impact without offering a solution, so, as promised, here is my proposed solution to the mess.

Bush Poll Numbers in Context

Much is made of the "abysmal" numbers related to President Bush’s approval ratings. Fortunately for us, the folks at Power Line have done the research and provide comparable approval ratings for presidents since LBJ.  Things may not be as bad as some in the media would have us believe.

Link: Power Line: Some Context on Those Poll Numbers.

Wretchard on Blogging

Wretchard, of the Belmont Club, can always be counted on to give another perspective (usually thoughtful and provocative) on any issue that he deems worthy of consideration.

Given that a group of bloggers in our community just gathered for the first time to share identities and to socialize, his words are appropriate.  As we talked and drank and shared our stories of the blogosphere, a small community was born.  Now we must decide if our meeting had any purpose beyond the superficial.  We need to understand that we will never have all of the answers to all of the questions (try as we might), but what will sustain us all is the community we create by acts and thoughtfulness in our own small groups.

Wretchard states the case in his usual eloquent way:

For these somewhat fanciful reasons I hope that the blogosphere will become less a cockpit of argument and ideas — though it will always be that — and more a forum for action: a place to facilitate meetings between real people, develop actual applications and accomplish physical tasks. There never was a flower, a glass of beer or a child’s laugh that was ever truly futile. Et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Read his post here.

Lost in the Blogosphere – But Connecting with the Lowcountry Bloggers

Used to supplying information to our readership, always looking for questions that need to be answered, we now find ourselves asking for help.  For the last 48 hours or so, Agricola has been unable to sign in on Typepad.  Typepad support has been available, but remote, and the solution process is taking longer than we like. 

So, we are logging in from another location, which now makes us think the issue lies within, not without.  Time for a little (more) self examination.

Last night, in a beautiful setting overlooking Charleston Harbor, some of the Lowcountry’s bloggers met for the first time.  What fun to meet the faces and names behind the posts!  A Hat Tip to Bill Hawkins, Dan and Janet Conover, and Joan Perry for organization and support.  Let’s do it again!