Date posted: May 30, 2008 - Friday
Title: TW3 05/30/08
Current mood: discontent
The Brutalization of Politics
Early in the week another flap developed over remarks by Hilary Clinton.
Attempting to explain her tenacity in staying in the race for the Democratic nomination, Clinton made a reference to previous campaigns that were still in doubt up until the June primaries. She cited her husband's campaign in 1992 and that of Bobby Kennedy in 1968.
There was an immediate uproar accusing Clinton of poor taste in citing the campaign of Kennedy who was assassinated immediately after winning the California primary. I read one blog that essentially accused Clinton of staying in the race just hoping someone would kill Barack Obama and she would become the Democratic candidate by default.
Clinton issued apologies and clarification of her point, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
I have no great love for Hilary Clinton, but the commotion which developed over her remarks just seems outrageous to me. Her point that some candidates have not be decided until late in the campaign season was completely lost in the bitter rhetoric that followed her remarks.
We have become so "politically correct" in this country, so politically vicious that every word uttered by a public official, personality or just an ordinary citizen is open to massive misinterpretation. Each utterance by the candidates running for office is subject to "spin" and outright false interpretation by those who oppose his or her candidacy. And the resulting atmosphere of paranoia paralyzes politicians and leaders into a catatonia, a state of inaction designed to win elections or hold onto office once elected.
Later in the week there was testimony to this paranoia and stubborn opposition to modifying an entrenched position. Former Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan produced a book which documented the misinformation and outright lies members of the Bush administration used to promote a war and later defend their earlier propaganda. McClellan describes an atmosphere where top advisors to the president used the press secretary to manipulate the press in the time leading up to the Iraq war. And McClellan described how the attitude around the White House was resistant to outside influence or evidence which opposed its' position.
There was, of course, an immediate outcry of denial from former and current members of the Bush administration. The response to the negative criticism of the administration was so orchestrated that one press report termed it a "beltway echo chamber."
And McClellan's accusations were supported later by a CNN reporter, Jessica Yellin. While working for MSNBC Yellin says the press corps was under tremendous pressure from corporate executives to echo the White House line and make sure the war was presented, "in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval rating."
Both McClellan and Yellin have since been described as "disgruntled ex-employees"; the kneejerk catchphrase used to defuse negative stories and discredit their veracity.
Taking all this into account, my point is politics in this country has become a blood sport. No longer is there any hope of reasonable and intelligent discussion of the issues that face the country. We are bombarded with sound bites, catch phrases and negative comments about candidates to the point where you can't believe in any of it anymore. Those negative portrayals of the candidates stick in the memory of the voters and undermine the ability of any government to function once in office.
Can I Have My Billion? I Have An Invoice.
An internal audit released by the Pentagon last week showed nearly $15 billion unaccounted for in the conduct of the Iraq war. Congress blasted the report as "shocking."
There was a 95 percent failure rate in basic accounting for $8.2 billion in taxpayer funds paid to defense contractors for weapons, vehicles, construction equipment and security services. $7.7 billion of the funds could not be properly accounted for and there was no record if the goods were delivered or the services rendered.
The record of accountability for Iraqi assets was even worse. Some $1.8 billion dollars was expended with "absolutely no accountability". Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said, "Investigators examined 53 payment vouchers and couldn't find even one that adequately explained where the money went."
In one instance $320.8 million in Iraqi currency was authorized on the basis of a single signature and the words "Iraqi salary payment" on an invoice. There were instances where Iraqi assets were doled out as stacks of cash on a pallet.
So here we stand. The Pentagon is conducting an unpopular war that is playing havoc with our economy and it can't even account for how it is spending taxpayer dollars in doing it. Maybe we can all improve our income by presenting an invoice for payment at the Pentagon.
A Legacy of Illness
When history determines the legacy of the Bush presidency there's a good chance it will be a legacy of sickness.
Ignoring the things this administration has done, or not done, to improve the health of the American people, the incredible blunders of the post-Katrina efforts may contribute the health problems for years to come.
In a rush to make up for its' initial unresponsiveness to the plight of the hurricane victims, FEMA bought nearly $2.7 billion worth of trailers and mobile homes with only a 25-line specification.
This lack of detailed requirements led to the purchase of housing for hurricane victims that was constructed of cheap materials, including plywood imported from China which far exceeded the standards for formaldehyde emissions established as safe.
To date some 17,000 people have filed lawsuits against mobile-home manufacturers and the federal government alleging health consequences from living in the temporary housing. A CDC report this month said Hurricane Katrina led to increased complaints of respiratory illness in 144 children studied in Mississippi. It did caution this study couldn't be generalized, but it is now conducting a five-year study of the storm's health impacts on children of the Gulf Coast.
Quickies
On Thursday Commissioner Reva Goetz met with Samuel Ingham, the court appointed attorney for Britney Spears, Spears' conservator (her father) and his attorney. At the meeting Spears' representatives argued her diagnosis is not complete and her participation in the July 31 probate hearing could be harmful to the pop star. Spears has been under conservatorship for four months now.
I wonder just what Ingham and her father have done to help Spears if her diagnosis isn't complete yet? Just how long does it take to determine what is troubling the girl and what can be done to help her?
And in all that time just how much are the people appointed to look after her interests being paid for their efforts? I suspect it is a nice piece of change. And if they are getting a bundle of money, just what are their incentives to see she gets help and can take care of herself without a conservator?
Looks like the children taken from the polygamist compound in Texas will be returned to their parents soon. After an appeals court said they were taken improperly, the state welfare agency appealed to the Texas Supreme court. The high court ruled in favor of the appeals court decision later in the week. The decision only applies to about 126 of the over 400 children taken into protective custody, but lawyers for the families expect it to mean all the children will be returned to their families soon.
So apparently in Texas it is OK to marry off young girls to older men if it is carried out in the name of religion.
War produces a lot of things. Massive profits for companies that supply weapons and equipment. Incredible waste of taxpayer money -- at least in the conduct of the Iraq war. And a huge demand for burial plots.
Veterans are being buried at a record pace. The veterans of WWII are dying, but increasingly it is also veterans of the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts that are being buried. It is estimated 686,000 veterans died in 2007. About 1,800 veterans are dying each day. National cemeteries are holding about 100 burials a day.
The peak years for veterans dying off will be 2007 and 2008 and six new national cemeteries are under construction. The 2008 fiscal year budget for the cemeteries is $167.4 million and that is triple the budget for the previous year. "We are still in a growth mode right now," said Bill Tuerk, undersecretary for memorial affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "we're in a very high-demand time period, and we're trying to respond to it."
And how are they doing?
Despite the rapid pace of burials the National Cemetery Administration has the highest customer satisfaction score of any government agency and any private sector company.
At least one part of the government is doing its' job right.
They're dropping like flies. This past week there have been an unusual number of deaths of celebrities and famous people. Sydney Pollack and Harvey Korman just to name a couple.
Here in the San Diego area a local television personality, Bob Dale, passed away. He was a fixture on the CBS affiliate for years, doing the weather and hosting a Saturday movie show. He had an infectious smile and an old fashioned charm that seems to be totally
