Tuesday, June 28, 2005

"I Want My SUV"     Today's vote on a new energy program passed by the Senate today came down to a matter of priorities.  Our reliance on foreign oil is increasingly a break on economic growth, and a threat to our economy, to the global environment, and our national security, the last because much of the oil we buy comes from countries that finance terrorism.  That's right, we are giving money to the people who are trying to kill us.  So the new Senate plan came down to which was more important:  keeping the economy going, protecting the environment, and striking a blow against terrorism; or do nothing about the root causes of spiraling fuel consumption and declining vehicle fuel efficiency, thus defending everybody's right to drive an SUV.  Put like that, it's obvious what decision the Senate would make, and the way the Senate voted came as a surprise to no one. The Senate voted 85-12 in favor of an expensive and toothless plan that does nothing to reduce consumption and little to increase energy production.  Much of the oil comes from countries that support the terrorists.  That's right, not only are we giving money to the people who are trying to kill us, but we're doing little to reduce the amount of money.  But SUVs are safe; our economy, and the lives of Americans are as nothing next to the right to own a really huge vehicle.  Americans have died for less. It was as if the Senate had heard the nation cry out as one:  I want my SUV. 5:44:53 PM    comment []

Stop Waiting for Rehnquist to Retire, Everybody   Chief Justice William Rehnquist was deathly ill at times in the past year.  He was diagnosed with cancer, and for a time the treatments left him so weak he was forced to use a wheelchair, and he didn't quit his job.  Now, he looks much healthier, and his health has improved sufficiently that he's walking again, although with a (fairly cool) cane...but they think he'll retire.  He has a love for pomp and ceremony perhaps unmatched in the history of American jurists, and would be extraordinarily unlikely, if he was planning to retire, not to use an opening or final session of the Court to make his announcement.  The final session has come and gone. Nonetheless, all the reports still seem to expect him to retire any day now.  My mother heard a report last weekend that spoke of his retirement with such certainty she thought he'd already made the announcement.  Many of the same legal analysts who are breathlessly waiting for his retirement did the same thing last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.  It's no wonder their mental acuity is somewhat impaired.  Depriving the brain of oxygen can cause brain damage, and some of these reporters have been holding their breath waiting for the Chief Justice to retire for years. 11:21:08 AM    comment []

Colleen Rowley to Run for Congress   The woman who caught the 20th conspirator in the 9/11 attacks and was a Time Person of the Year, former FBI agent Colleen Rowley, has announced she will run for Congress next year against Republican Rep. John Kline.  Also, in 2003, she presciently predicted that the war in Iraq could lead to an explosion in international terrorism.  John Kline is a vociferous advocate of the mismanaged war in Iraq, so the issue should be front and center in the campaign.  The district trends Republican, but she will enjoy a name recognition advantage over the incumbent Congressman, and he's going to have a hard time out law-and-ordering a woman with 24 years of service to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.  She's going to begin her campaign July 6th, with a pancake breakfast to be held in her front yard.  Rep. Kline's spokesman refused to comment on Rowley's candidacy.  I'd be sulking to if I was stuck running a political campaign against a Time Person of the Year. 7:56:49 AM    comment []

Quote for the Day, 6/28/2005   "Elections, my dear sir, Elections to offices which are great objects of Ambition, I look at with terror."   -John Adams   I was re-reading the letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and I lacked the patience to save this quote for an election year.  Adams was a wise man. 2:13:29 AM    comment []