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Ramblings From the Ragged Crumbling Edge Of The Reality-Based Community

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

A Spotty Day For Gordo 

...it's been a truly twisted and confusing last 24 hours for Oregon's Senator Gordon Smith. In the wee hours he came out on the losing - but morally correct side - in the "Big Dick" Cheney-assisted passage of a "deficit reduction" bill that bordered on being oxymoronic, given that its cuts to programs that benefit middle- and lower-income families don't even begin to offset the recently-passed divident and investment tax cuts that will in the main only benefit the most well-to-do Americans. It was the right thing for Smith to do, if only because of the disproportionate impact that the cuts will have on so many of his constituents, especially those East of the Oregon Cascades who in large part consider him to be "their" Senator. Later today, however, he ended up being on the wrong side of the scoreboard again, but this time it was in service to voting against an issue that he has taken pains to champion: keeping oil exploration out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...

For whatever reason (and a few that were publicly stated), he rose to Ted Stevens' bait and voted for closure on a filibuster effort resulting from Stevens' placement of the ANWR drilling provision in a Pentagon budget bill that included money for Hurricane Katrina victims. He said all the right words, speaking all about how properly funding the troops and bringing monetary relief to the Gulf Coast weighed more heavily, on balance, against the ANWR drilling issue. But once again he was on the wrong side, for no good reason, and with no excuse at all. A determined host of Senators was willing to make a principled stand against Stevens' political power play, even though this is a case where the simple lies can later be told about how they "didn't support the troops", and Gordo - occupying just about as safe a seat as there is to hold, was nowhere to be found on this list...

At a certain remove, it looks to be all about the strange dance between the political beliefs of who Gordon Smith really is and the legislative stands that he needs to take to maintain his office in this moderate, nominally blue state. As a state legislator, Gordon Smith was clearly a conservative, but has taken surprisingly moderate stances - even contrary to Republican leadership - on occasion during his time in D.C. Today's events are as good as an example as one can find of this confused dance. Having made the right move for the little people in his losing vote on the budget bill, he finds himself grasping - at least for the moment - for the most readily available and workable excuse for voting for a budget bill that, although important in it's own right, has almost purposely been crafted into a Trojan Horse to carry ANWR drilling to victory. He could have made the principled vote to object to that construct with little personal risk, but instead he has left himself hung out to dry, sitting on the wrong side of a position he supposedly supported, and has reignited the suspicions of those who were uncomfortably suspicious about him all along. All in all, it hasn't been the best of days for Gordo...
Posted by: Jack K. / 9:20 PM 0 comments

Never Say Never 

...despite all the assurances that there was no way in the direst of hells that a majority of Senators would accept an extension of the existing sunsetting Patriot Act provisions, it turns out there was a way, after all. John Sununu and Charles Schumer demonstrated that they had 52 votes to extend the existing expiring elements by three months and the final vote was for a six month extension. Now the heat is going to be directly on the House and Bushco; the ball is all the way into their court over whether those provisions live or die. I'm takin' these guys with me next time I buy a car. I thought I was good, but one must acknowledge true masters...

The House leadership has insisted all along that the White House party line of permanent reauthorization be followed, even though the increasingly invasive changes in these sixteen provisions was enough to make the hair stand up on the arch conservative neck of Idaho's Larry Craig, of all people (or at least would if he actually had any hair on his neck). But they have just lost that game of "Who's Your Daddy" to a bipartisan list of Senators who are willing to talk some more about just how far the sacrifice in personal liberties should go. Those House leaders - and the White House - have also pretty much pissed away any opportunity to twist this into some sort of deceitful campaign issue in the mid-terms the way they did the Democratic opposition to changes in federal employee rights under the Homeland Security Act back in '02. A six month delay, in fact, makes for extremely interesting timing for all concerned, since that will place the next drop-dead date right at the beginning of the serious campaign season. It ought to make for an interesting summer...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:47 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Happy %*^*@# Holidays, Lady 

...sometimes it's not about eavesdropping on Americans. Sometimes it's not even about tax cuts for the rich vs. budgets for the poor or about drilling in ANWR. Sometimes it's about those small, quick human interactions that make you realize that something is well and truly messed up in this season of peace on earth and brotherly love. My moment came today in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Bend...

...yup, I shop at Wal-Mart. Yup, I know all the arguments and I am also fully aware of the grass-roots movement to snuff the proposed Super-Center that Sam Walton's heirs want to plant on the north side of Bend, Orygun. Fact is, I shop there because the current store is conveniently located on the south side of town, allowing me to slip in and out for various quick purchase trips without having to battle the Bend traffic. If they ever do build a Super Duper Mart on the north side of Bend and close the current store, I won't be shopping much at Wal-Mart anymore because I am not terribly price conscious and can't imagine driving past Sears and Penneys and Target and all the rest just to get there. But I was at the 'current' store today, engaged in a complex dance with Mrs. Jack K. and our contribution to the next generation, one of those "split up and meet at the car" episodes that parents know so well. The close-in parking spaces were packed and various hopeful shoppers were circling the lot in schools, engaging in automotive jousting matches for the best spots, one of which I happened by serendipity to occupy. Incredibly, as we were placing our sacks in the back of the family ride, hoards of vehicles descended on us from both directions, sitting with the patience of carrion eaters waiting for their victim to die, eventually crowding in so close that there was no hope of getting my massive un-liberal 4-wheel-drive pickup out of it's parking space. The lady in the nearest vehicle rolled down her window and asked sweetly if I was leaving, to which I responded - while jesturing at the waiting Chevy Suburban opposite her that was blocking my ability to back out of the space - "I don't know how I can with everybody sitting here". Surburban lady, either hearing my comments or correctly interpreting them from my gesture, suddenly adopted an angry expression and "floored it", accelerating through the large snow-melt puddle (courtesy of the recent torrential rains that have melted all that snow we got over the last couple of weeks) that spread out from under my vehicle out into the driving lane...and in which I was standing...

So, yeah, I got a little wet, but the bigger lesson is the lack of Christmas spirit that seems to imbue some of my neighbors. So, to the lady in the brown Suburban in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Bend, Oregon, who decided to retaliate against some unknowable slight at 11:45 this morning, Happy Holidays!! You clearly don't understand "Christmas", so there's no reason to bring that up...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:01 PM 0 comments

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