This disturbing headline, "A Congressional Panel, Hobbled in Its Financial Inquiry," is via The New York Times.  Group theory experts would have an interesting challenge in figuring out what went wrong with this commission.  In contrast the 9/11 Commission seemed to have a great deal more success with its widely read and effectively utilized report.  To quote from the Times:

In recent months, a top investigator resigned, frustrated by delays in assembling a staff. Behind closed doors the panel's chairman and vice chairman have had heated disagreements over whether to make public preliminary findings or revelatory documents.

. . .The people appointed to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission last July, six by Democrats and four by Republicans, say they hope to publish, by the Dec. 15 deadline, a volume much like the 9/11 Commission report, which was acclaimed for its narrative sweep and became a surprise best seller.

But that goal seems increasingly out of reach, given what the commissioners themselves acknowledge has been a haphazard approach and a lack of time and resources. Given the delays, the commission's impact on policy could be modest; the House has already voted on a sweeping financial reform bill, and the Senate could vote on it by summer.

Chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Chris Dodd will be retiring at the end of his term. As he leads this Congressional reform effort, he does not need to be distracted by reelection issues. Senator Dodd can comfortably push for regulation reforms that can truly protect the nation, and particularly vulnerable consumers, from another Great Recession. If Congress does not go far enough, the next banking greed bubble-and-burst episode could become the Great Depression-II.

My banking reform  suggestions include: 1) Establish an independent Financial Consumer protection agency. 2) Break up the biggest banks -- who are really investment banks, not banks who serve banking customers. 3) Regulate exotic derivatives.See original Democratic Strategist quote at Amplify.

My own initial take on this Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission story is that, as always, it comes down to the qualities of leadership that appointees and staff bring to the task. People associated with the 9/11 Commission were very outstanding. I did not get that same impression regarding the current commission.  To quote further from the NYT article referenced above:

. . . In an interview, the commission's chairman, Phil Angelides, said the panel was struggling to satisfy a broad mandate to examine the role of 22 factors in bringing about the crisis. He pointed out that the panel had a budget of just $8 million, compared with the $38 million spent by a federal bankruptcy trustee who dissected the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Even though the panel is backward-looking and will not issue formal recommendations, Mr. Angelides said he hoped its findings would be authoritative and useful for future policy makers.

But Bill Thomas, the Republican vice chairman of the panel and a former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged, "We are limited by time."

. . . The commission's executive director, J. Thomas Greene, was named in September but took several months to assemble a staff of 49, leading one investigator, Martin T. Biegelman, an expert on corporate fraud, to resign during the winter. Twelve staff members are on loan from agencies like the Federal Reserve. The commission struggled to hire researchers and investigators with expertise in areas like structured finance or accounting.

. . . Commissioners also said that Mr. Angelides and Mr. Thomas recently clashed over whether to release preliminary staff reports or some of the 500,000 pages of materials that had been gathered so far. When Mr. Angelides floated the idea of releasing some of the materials to reporters, Republicans threatened to look into the panel's work if they took control of the House, a person briefed on the dispute said.

Lack of money cannot be used as an excuse for an overly ambitious congressional mandate, too much political bickering, lack of transparency and obviously poor organizing.  The FCI Commission has until the end of the year to finish its work.  The key to its success will be for members and staff to do the best they can from here on out with the marginal hand they were dealt.  This body's work is,  in a very different way -  of course, of comparable importance to the work of the 9/11 commission.  The Great Recession did great damage to our nation.  We need to know why it happened and how to prevent a recurrence, just as we did with the 9/11 attacks.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: financial news

In some ways, this is another of my celebratory posts.  My regular readers know that I just passed my fifth year of writing my political blog, S/SW.  That I celebrated a few days ago.  Today I am so very thankful that a federal judge has again ruled against the government's domestic spying lawlessness and claims of state secrets, declaring that Bush illegally wiretapped two Americans, as reported by David Kravets of Wired Threat Level (3/31/10). The government had listened in on telephone conversations of two lawyers who represented a Saudi charity that is now out of business. The only reason the lawyers found out about the surveillance, says Kravets, was because the case's . . . 

allegations were initially based on a classified document the government accidentally mailed to the former Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation lawyers. The document was later declared a state secret and removed from the long-running lawsuit weighing whether a sitting U.S. president may create a spying program to eavesdrop on Americans' electronic communications without warrants.

The news almost restores my faith that my nation's core constitutional values still matter under law.  Blogger "emptywheel" (3/31/10) put Judge Vaughn Walker's decision in simple terms.  (See original document: Judge Vaughn Walker's Decision/ al Haramain order (3/31/10) - 45 page pdf. Includes a good executive summary at the beginning. Hat tip to Firedoglake). To quote Marcy Wheeler:

Walker is basically saying, "Well, government, if you won't give us any evidence to prove you legally wiretapped al-Haramain, and given all the evidence they've presented proving they were wiretapped, then they win!"

Here's his argument. The government had a way to defend against al-Haramain's case directly, in camera, but they refused to avail themselves of it.

. . . As I said: the government refused to engage on the merits, al-Haramain made a sufficient prima facie case, so the government has basically conceded the case.

In other ways this post harbors a ton of regrets.   I regret that my area of specialization brought us almost nothing but heartbreak for all the years I have been covering the subject.  My reading and writing passion has been coverage of the erosion of civil liberties and flouting of the rule of law, following the tragic 9/11/01 attacks on the USA.  (See "Previous S/SW posts" below). Bolstered by excess secrecy, hubris, paranoia and trauma reaction, the Bush and, yes, the Obama administrations have trampled our civil liberties in the name of national security.  For almost 10 years civil libertarians had reason for despair.  Yesterday's court case decision, however, was a bright spot for all of us who have long known that the government ran an illegal program and got away with it.

Of course it is not over 'till it's over.  We do not know yet whether the Obama Justice Department will appeal the case or not.  Marcy Wheeler thinks not, because "I think Walker has crafted his ruling to give the government a big incentive not to appeal the case."  She cites two additional parts of the ruling favorable to the government.  One, that the judge refused to rule on the merits of the case and, two, that he dismissed the part of the suit that named FBI Director Robert Mueller a defendant.  Wheeler is ". . . betting that the government will be willing to accept the ruling that it illegally wiretapped al-Haramain in exchange for the ability to leave details of how and what it did secret, leaving the claim of State Secrets largely intact." 

I recommend Glenn Greenwald's very fine piece at Salon today, "The criminal NSA eavesdropping program." It is in his usually fierce constitutional advocate's style, pulling no punches about the larger current implications of Judge Walker's courageous decision.  He discusses how the ruling reinforces that facts that Bush administration officials broke criminal law, that three federal judges now have said the eavesdropping was illegal and that the Walker "opinion was actually a scathing repudiation of the Obama DOJ," who had taken "the imperial and hubristic position [in the suit] that the court had no right whatsoever to rule on the legality of the program," the state secrets argument.  Greenwald effectively lays out some of the pro/con reaction of the media to the ruling in his closing paragraphs, as well as the history of the discovery and revelation of the program by the New York Times.*

My conclusion is an ambivalent one.  I am extremely glad the ruling came down as strongly as it did, and that the Obama administration has not yet said whether the ruling would be appealed.  I am extremely sad that there is no clear trend in the Obama administration towards upholding the rule of law here. We have no proof whatsoever that standard civil liberties protections have been restored.  And we have little hope that anyone will ever be held accountable for breaking criminal law.  It does not have to be this way.  The question of civil liberties protection vs. national security never should have been allowed to become a zero sum game.

*New York Times articles reveal existence of warrantless wiretapping program:

• Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts, by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau - December 16, 2005 Note this quote: 
  

  The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.

• Spying on Ordinary Americans - editorial: January 18, 2006

Previous S/SW posts on this subject:

• Warrantless wiretapping still out of control, defensive in court - April 18, 2009
• What's happening with FISA? - March 15, 2009
• National Intelligence Review - February 15, 2009
• Conflating torture, detention, warrantless surveillance and civil liberties - October 26, 2008
• FISA bill signing post mortem - July 12, 2008
• When does the rule of law not apply?! - July 7, 2008
• FISA revision revisited - June 10, 2008
• The state of "the surveillance state" - April 15, 2008
• "Like an ubiquitous spook" - Part III - September 10, 2007
• Domestic Intelligence or Domestic Spying? - September 22, 2006
• National Security Drama in the Senate - March 14, 2006
• Civil liberties have staying power in the long run - December 31, 2005
• How do Americans view domestic spying? - December 27, 2005
• NSA Surveillance of Americans: NYT - December 18, 2005
• Patriot Act may be extended - December 9, 2005

 

Because it feels like a very important day, I must try to express it, however feebly.  The health care bill signing ceremony at the White House is the occasion for my full heart.

 

Almost 5 years ago I started writing my blog, South by Southwest.  I had a lot to say then, not so much now.  And much of what I had to say about politics and the circumstances of my country was pretty negative.  I came to learn the meaning of the blogosphere term "rant."

 

In recent years I haven't had nearly as much reason to rant, because my party captured the leadership roles in Congress and the White House.  For whatever reason, I developed an internal calm about the potential well-being of our country with Democrats in power.

 

Today marks one of the reasons I had confidence.  It is the day that health care for all Americans becomes a right and no longer a privilege for the "haves."  It will need to wait on Senate reconciliation action this week to be in its more proper form.  But, even if it has to go back to the House for another vote, it will happen, because it was supposed to happen.  It is now high time.

On this bright morning President Obama dedicated the occasion to his late mother.  He also recognized many others from the past and present who had helped to make the long awaited new health care law possible. It came too late, however,  to help his mom and others in attendance who had lost loved ones before this momentous signing day. Let us hope that it has not come too late for "Natoma," who came to symbolize the plight of thousands of very ill people who do have not the benefit of health care insurance.

 

At last change has come however.  The promised change will happen incrementally, and with fits and starts.  It will be accompanied with hand wringing "No!"s by those motivated by loss of power, anger at "others" and fear of change.  Narrow visioned pundits will spend countless hours examining the miniscule bits of so-called "news," casting everything in the light of politics.  And members of my party will make many more mistakes as they try to do the right things and hold on to power at the same time.

 

In time, in other words, everyone will be exposed as merely human.  God bless us all.

[Image credit: Wordle.net]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: health care reform congress obama

A suicide car bomb killing at least 12 people was intended for the Indian embassy in Kabul, according to the New York Times (10/8/09).  The previous day the same paper published an analysis by Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt that says the Afghan war debate now leans to a focus on a campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan.  It is not known whether this view is accepted by the Obama war cabinet.

The central question hinges on the nature of the current relationship between the Taliban and Al Queda.  Therein is the question.  The predictability of the future of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has to be settled by the President.   Recent successes with surgical strikes against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan may make it less central to U.S. strategy.  The administration pointed out to the Times in an anonymous interview that there are fewer than 100 Al Qaeda fighters left in Afghanistan.  Another anonymous official characterizes the strategy as one of viewing the Taliban, militants local to Afghanistan and jihadist Al Qaeda as very different.  President Obama has reiterated that his goal is to protect the United States and to prevent the jihadists from getting safe haven.  Mark Knoller reported on Twitter that "a WH official says Obama received a 'comprehensive intelligence and counterterrorism assessment' on political & diplomatic situation in Pakistan."

President Obama requested an early look at General McChrystal's troop request from Defense Secretary Gates, according to McClatchy Wednesday.  The President wanted to see it before the top military officials reviewed it so that it would not be leaked to reporters as was McChrystal's Afghanistan assessment. This may suggest friction between the military and the commander in chief.  And there has certainly been friction between General McChrystal and his superiors because of his public stances, and because of the leak. 

Similarly Pakistan's army has objected publicly to the conditions in the $1.5 billion U.S. (Kerry-Lugar) aid package still to be signed by the President, McClatchy reported.  This pits the military "against the fragile civilian government of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has championed the U.S. assistance deal," as well as the opposition in parliament.  The bill has a number of requirements including, "monitoring and certification of Pakistan's action against terrorism. . . requires the country to work to prevent nuclear proliferation and to show that its military isn't interfering in Pakistani politics."  This objection, according to McClatchy caught the administration by surprise and comes at a time just prior to a planned offensive towards militants in the border region of Waziristan.  Pakistan's Foreign minister on a trip to Washington played down concerns over the bill, while acknowledging that the language could have been more sensitive to Pakistan's sovereignty.  Marc Ambinder posted this on Twitter:"RT @nickschifrin: Is the Pakistani military statement of doubt about the Kerry-Lugar bill in #Pakistan a game changer?" It was linked to a related BBC News story explaining more about the nature of the Pakistani military's objections.

Finally, many of us remember Charlie Wilson's War.  Huffingington Post reports that Wilson now thinks that we ought to consider a new strategy regarding the war in Afghanistan.  "I'd probably shut it down, rather than lose a lot of soldiers and treasure," noting the President's "very tough situation."  See the Scranton Times-Tribune

References:
"Gross: Massive Fraud in Afghanistan Election," is by Nasrine Gross at Juan Cole's Informed Comment (10/7/09).
"Robert Kaplan on the Regional Dimensions of Afghanistan," is from Steve Clemons' The Washington Note (10/7/09).
"Guest Post by Michael Cohen: The Trouble with Counter-Insurgency," is from Steve Clemons' The Washington Note (4/1/09).
"Battle of Books rages in Afghan debate," is from The Wall Street Journal at  Memeorandum (10/7/09).  Regards Lessons in Disaster and A Better War.
" 'Code Pink' rethinks its call for Afghanistan pullout," is from the Christian Science Monitor at  Memeorandum (10/7/09).

This has been a conflict ridden week in politics.  The conflict obscures good governance.  The biggest fight, of course, is that of reforming the health care system.  The coverage of it eclipses almost everything else in the media.  Democratic Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus fought back Thursday against the delaying and obstructing tactics of Republican members of the committee working on health care reform.  And President Barack Obama is remaining very visible as the White House fights against pundit opinions hat he is becoming over-exposed.    But a few other news items are worth noting.

Fighting for 60 -- Massachusetts quickly fought to change the law and fill the vacant seat left by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.  Paul Kirk, Jr., was then appointed by the governor to be Kennedy's interim replacement.  He will be sworn in Friday.  And Senator Robert Byrd is out of the hospital convalescing at home after a fall at his home that necessitated treatment for "early signs of an infection."  According to a Congressional Quarterly story on Thursday, Senator Byrd said he, "is looking forward to engaging in the upcoming debate and votes on health care reform - one of the most critical issues facing this Congress."

Governor Paterson will not go without a fight -- The more light shed on this story the more it looks like a no-win situation for Democrats.  New York Democrats at both the state and national level were the ones who pushed the Obama White House to urge Governor David Paterson not to run for reelection, according to Politico on Thursday.  They fear the unpopular governor will be a drag on the ticket in the 2010 elections.  And, though it is still a no-win in approval ratings for members of the U.S. House and Senate, a recent poll revealed an increase of approval from 12 percent to 22 percent, as reported by CQ Politics.

ACORN fights back -- A conservative "sting operation," by filmmakers O'Keefe and Giles against the Grass roots organization ACORN, stands a chance and to ruin the reputation and shut off government funding of this network of  longtime liberal neighborhood groups. The offending ACORN staff members have been fired, an internal investigation has begun, and leaders of the organization are mounting a media and congressional lobbying blitz to try to recover, as reported by Politico.  Republicans are, of course ecstatic about the outcomes and continue to offer de-funding bill amendments to keep the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now story in the public eye.

Fighting for net neutrality -- The new chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski was successful in getting Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to hold off in her fight against the FCC's implementation of new rules "prohibiting ISPs from selectively blocking or slowing content and application," as reported by CQ Politics on Wednesday.  Chairman Genachowski promised to "address her concerns," as Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The mainstream media, of course, loves a good fight.  And observers in the public will often fight for the underdog in a conflict.  What has amazed me is the success that Republicans are having in their perpetual fight against Everything Democrat.  They lost most all the recent elections, remain decidedly in the minority, look awful as the "loyal opposition," and still pull down most of the airtime and word space.  I guess it has nothing to do with merit and everything to do with merely the fight.  And here I am sucked into it myself.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Paul Kirk Jr.: Ted Kennedy's Replacement in Senate (time.com)
• After Obama's Speech, It's Back to Wooing the Skeptics (time.com)
• More fights ahead in Congress over health care (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Posted via email from Southwest Postings

It began with Labor Day. To be sure, the week felt markedly like a transitional one. During the week President Obama spent a great deal of time at the podium, making a number of very significant speeches. NASA watched over its STS-128 mission and released a number of spectacular images on Wednesday from the newly refurbished Hubble telescope. On Friday, the anniversary of 9/11/01, the President and First Lady spent time giving service to the community, as did thousands of people across the nation marking a National Day of Service. The week's news was full of stories about the politics of health care reform in a Congress now back to work, opinion about the growing divide amongst the electorate, and uneasy reports about the future of the war in Afghanistan, as well as the future of the U.S. space program.

What has changed, if anything? There is a bigger divide between members of the two major parties, evident in the behavior of Republicans during the President's speech Wednesday evening to a joint session of Congress. There seems to be growing opposition among many Americans, as well as rank and file Democrats, to the war in Afghanistan and its climbing casualty figures. This may have caused President Obama to say in his 9/11 speech at the Pentagon that he does not want Americans to forget the true nature of al-Qaeda, reports Scott Wilson of the Washington Post.

Opposition to health care reform has now grown to the point that organizers were able to stage a 9/12 march on Washington. Tens of thousands (according to the Washington Post estimate) of a loosely organized coalition of conservative "tea party" protesters marched on the nation's capitol Saturday. Jeff Zeleny of the NYT, summarized the tone:

Their anger stretched well beyond the health care legislation moving through Congress, with shouts of support for gun rights, lower taxes and a smaller government. But as they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns like "God Bless America," sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Mr. Obama and Congress.

At the same time a crowd of over 10,000 people came to enthusiastically stand and cheer at President Obama's health care rally at Minneapolis' Target arena. The President told the crowd that now is the time for action and warned against the scare tactics being employed by the opposition, reports Reuters.

What has stayed the same? A year later, little has changed on Wall Street, according to the New York Times' Alex Berenson. Big banks have not really restructured, financial stocks are on the rise, complex derivatives remain in play, few hedge funds have closed and executives are still pulling down huge bonuses. For instance, "30,000 Goldman Sachs employees will earn an average of $70,000 this year." Worst of all, the Obama administration's proposed regulatory changes have gone nowhere in Congress. And the passage of time decreases the chances of significant crisis-driven reform.

The space shuttle Discovery completed another highly successful mission to resupply the International Space Station Friday, landing safely at Edwards AFB in California after battling bad weather in Florida for a couple of days. To quote Reuters:

Discovery had carried more than 7.5 tons of food, laboratory equipment, science experiments, spare parts, a new treadmill and crew quarters for the space station. The outpost is a $100 billion project involving 16 nations, which is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction.

NASA is turning over crew transport to the station to Russia, at a cost of about $50 million per seat, as it begins phasing out the shuttle. The space agency is also considering hiring U.S. commercial firms to ferry its astronauts. . . NASA has six flights remaining to finish outfitting the station and then plans to move on with development of a capsule and rocket that could ferry crews to the moon. Barack Obama considers the results of a study that has determined NASA's lunar ambitions exceed its budget by about $3 billion a year.

What could change -- "Humans aren't going to Mars -- or anywhere else -- without more money," is the story from Wired-Science (9/8/09). Another headline, "Panel's report threatens NASA's mission," comes from The Hill (9/10/09) via Twitter. The article opens:

A report suggesting that NASA's space travel goals are too ambitious for its budget is imperiling efforts by Florida and Texas lawmakers to win more money for the agency's budget.

"The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete" is also via Twitter from NASA_HSF, the U.S Human Space Flight Committee. Look for it to be released in early October.

What will not change is the mainstream media's fascination with conflict, with who is winning or losing, or with the latest little dust up of the day. Too many have the mistaken idea that any old lie is merely the viewpoint of the opposition. So we get precious little journalistic analysis of the really important issues. The President seems to have regained his stride, but the right wing crazies are redoubling their efforts to keep him and the Democrats off stride. Congress has its hands full with health care reform and has no time for financial regulatory reform, nor perhaps the stomach for it.

What everybody needs is a day off to catch their breath. How about today? It has been a big week.

Posted via email from Southwest Postings

It was worth the wait!  NASA has posted the first new images released by the Hubble ERO folks, following the refurbishment of the space telescope.  Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) had the honor of presiding at this long awaited unveiling.  With the help of Digsby, Twitter and NASA's award winning website, I was able to grab one of several wonderful images for your viewing pleasure.  The image above is called "Stephan's Quintet - Galactic wreckage."

STS-128 has completed its mission to the International Space Station, exchanging members of the ISS Expedition 20 team, and resupplying the space station.  With good weather in Florida, the crew will land early Thursday evening.

Supplemental links -- Hat tip to my regular contributor, Jon, for the links marked with a (#):

• "Astronauts pack Buzz Lightyear for ride home#," is from Yahoo! News (9/7/09).
• "Space Sights and Smells Surprise Rookie Astronauts#," is from Yahoo! News (9/5/09).

Links in boldface are important new elements to the NASA stories to be explored in a subsequent post.  The links indicate the Augustine Commission's recommendations to the Obama administration regarding the future of U.S. space flight, jeopardized by a lack of money.  I highly recommend the NPR article (below) as a first look at the panel's findings.  And here is the intro to the  Augustine Commission's Summary Report.  To quote:

Summary Report   A summary of the report from the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee was provided to the Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NASA Administrator on Tuesday, September 8. The summary's text is consistent with presentations made during the committee's final public meeting on Aug. 12. The summary has been posted on this website for the public.

Transmittal Letter for Summary Report (pdf, 32K)

Download a copy of the Summary Report. (pdf, 152K)

For media questions regarding the Summary Report, contact Dr. Edward Crawley at MIT at 617-253-7510.

The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete. NASA is working with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other representatives of the Executive Office of the President to plan the next steps leading to a decision by the President about future U.S. human space flight policy."

Related articles:

• Panel Tells Obama Moon Return Is A No-Go (npr.org)
• New Look at a Colossal Cosmic Collision (space.com)
• Refurbishments Complete, Astronauts Let Go of Hubble (nytimes.com)

More simply put, we went from Texas to Wyoming and back in a pick-up to be with my family of origin.  The directions could be confusing to anyone wanting to follow my route.  South began in North Central Texas.  The 8000+ feet high elevation's northern destination was near South Pass, not far from Atlantic City.  Being with one's family of origin can sometimes be as confusing.

Visiting family members' homes meant hearing a wide variety of types of news coverage of the memorializing of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.  Some are Fox News folks; some were watching CNN.  Some are in semi-permanent boycott of the news.  None of us could speak coherently about what would become of any health care reform legislation.  Polarization seems much worse

Along the road we saw signs that a recession has been in progress.  Many small towns had smaller populations and more empty buildings.  Some seemed to be surviving better because of good crops brought on by plentiful rain.  Plentiful grass tempted grazing cattle in New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.  Not all oil wells are pumping, but all windmill farms had grown.  Fewer travel trailers and motor homes appeared until the Wyoming border.  Then it seemed the state was every traveler's destination.

Mile after mile after mile of road re-doing was our driving norm.  The federal stimulus money is flowing out across the land in the form of asphalt overcoats for interstate highways, and small town main streets.  Occasionally, some dollars went for curbs and sidewalks.  We can assume the projects were items that were "shovel ready."  Wyoming seems relatively unaffected by the recession.  Colorado homebuilding seemed to have slowed a bit.  Rural Texas has been hit hard, except for the big agribusiness acreages now planted largely to corn for fuel.  Cattle feed lots are largely empty, but baby calves abound in most pastures.  Wildlife was abundant: camels in the Panhandle, buffalo in Texas and Wyoming, prairie dog towns, healthy deer with big racks, antelope from Texas and New Mexico to Wyoming, and big fat Canadian geese cleaning seed from harvested grain fields. 

Our family is rather tame so we do not qualify as wildlife.  And now my siblings and I are the oldest members of our family.  Our parents are no longer with us.  My dad's birthday would have been today.  Natives of Wyoming and Nebraska, respectively, my dad and mom loved the wide open spaces of both Texas and Wyoming.  And now they are at rest on a hill that looks west to the Rockies.

Legislators are generally beholden to a number of constituencies, including just plain  citizens.  But far too often loyalties lie with other segments of constituents, such as lobbyists, party and other special interests.  Thus my  interests go unrepresented unless I belong to a special interest group.  In the case of health care reform legislation, my Republican senators and Republican U.S. Representative ignore my needs.  The Democratic Party, my party is split into liberals and conservatives.  I often feel left out of the Blue Dogs' stance.  I cannot afford a lobbyist.  But I do belong to some special interest groups:  Democracy for America, Organizing for America, Social Workers, and the AARP.  And I am a part of the liberal blogosphere community.

So who will represent me in this? All my special interest groups are doing a good job so far, but their power is limited.  For example, DFA's Howard Dean has been unflagging in his optimism regarding the future of truly comprehensive health care reform that includes a public option.  But he is not in the inner circle of legislative power.  Thank goodness, however, he has been seen smiling and firmly pro-reform on several TV news shows recently including Rachel Maddow on the night of August 20.  Rachel's tweet cited a recent poll supporting the public option that Dean referenced during his interview.

The group at the fulcrum of change right now numbers 6. The only committee with work left to do is the Senate Finance Committee.  What they are considering is some sort of nonprofit cooperative as the public option. The six "negotiators" plan to meet occasionally during the recess.  And these senators represent only a very small number of the American people.  Following are the 2008 estimated state population figures along with the percentage of the total U.S. population (source Wikipedia).  The senators include:

• Finance CommitteeChairman Max Baucus (D-Montana, Est. pop: 967,440 - .31%)
• Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, Est. pop: 3,002,555 -.98%)
• Mike Enzi (R-Wyo, Est. pop: 532,668 - .17%)
• Olympia Snowe (R-Maine, Est. pop: 1,316,456 - .43%
• Kent Conrad (D-N.Dakota, Est. pop: 641,481 - .21%)
• Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mex., Est. pop: 1,984,356 - .64%).

These figures  total only 8,444,956 people or 2.74% of the total estimated population of the entire United States and its territories.  By sheer force of numbers, not to mention politics, there is no way these six could be considered to be representative of all of us or our wishes.  First I do not live in any of these states and second,  nor does 97.26% of the rest of you.

The House of Representatives' position right now is the closest match to my own views on what reform should look like. Here, courtesy of Michael J.W. Stickings' tweet, is a Bloomberg story on what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning when Congress comes back into session.  To quote: "U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won't be able to pass health-care legislation in her chamber if the measure doesn't include a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers."

So now we wait for Congress to come back in session.  We wait for the next report of a disrupted town-hall meeting.  We wait for President Obama's next speech to clear up misrepresentations put out by other special interest groups.  We wait for Labor Day.  And we wait to see what the Senate leadership will decide about legislative tactics that will get us health care reform without the Republicans participating.  How about a cool drink while we wait?

It looks as if President Obama is only reluctantly getting more out in front of the health care debate. Many have been urging a more active role in recent weeks as the congressional recess dramas play out on the 24-hour cable channels. The task has been to clear confusion, allay fears and dispel misinformation. And there is nothing like the written word to do that.  (Image: Wordle.net)

So President Obama wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times Saturday telling the nation "Why We Need Health Care Reform." Retaining the most frequently made points from his speeches and town hall gatherings, the President laid out his main arguments in what sounded like his own "voice." He used familiar phrases and stories about people he has told before, Steve Benen notes in his excellent analysis describing what will be the strongest elements of the new op-ed. (Hat Tip to Memeorandum and Mark Knoller's tweets for this information).

Reinforcing the apparent let-Congress-lead stance of the administration, Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, according to Reuters, revealed what we always suspected, that the government-run health insurance option is not an essential to health care reform. She added that the non-profit member-controlled cooperatives being considered by a Senate Committee could also fulfill the goal of creating robust competition for private health insurers, probably to the utter dismay of liberals.  The next day, predictably, Secretary Sebelius reiterated that "nothing has changed."

Sticking to enunciated principles, rather than sending up an administration bill to Congress, has made President Obama's leadership open to question by the chattering class. But he seems determined to stick with the legislative process and, typical of his leadership style, is looking to a less immediate time frame for his strategy to succeed. He seems truly confident that something useful that he can sign will pass. He is using his bully pulpit to give credit for small successes to others, to remind the big stake holders of the obligations of their agreements, and to teach the public what they must learn about complex issues.

As if to emphasize the health care reform issue as front and center, an LA sports arena hosted a health clinic of last resort for thousands seeking free health care. The clinic housed in an old sports arena will continue through Tuesday. The clinic, Reuters reports, is run by the nonprofit Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps as part of its mission to provide free health, dental and eye care in needy spots around the world." RAM is best known for its work in Third World countries. People have waited in line for days to attend.

The President's bully pulpit will be used as necessary to do what Mr. Obama sees as his unique role in the political process. He is well advised by his people and he won the presidency by being good at politics. I remain optimistic about what will happen, even if it is less than the 1000% we assumed it had to be.

Bonus Reference: TPM Photo Gallery carried "Behind the Scenes: Summer 2009 at the White House."

Former Vice President Richard Cheney is working on his memoirs and assuring its success with a good deal of news making prior to its publication. Thursday's Washington Post article by Barton Gellman adds to the breathless anticipation of Cheney's potential reading public by promising revelations of previously unreported opinions and events. Here's a Hit Tip to journalist Mark Knoller, who posted several insightful tweets about the article, along with a generous suggestion to "buy the paper" to read the story.

The Cheney piece heads the current list of "most viewed political articles" on the WaPo website. And I read it immediately, too. Headlined, "Cheney uncloaks his frustration with Bush," it reveals more little juicy tidbits guaranteed to keep us all panting to read the published tome from cover to cover. One of the most interesting to me was this aspect of Cheney's frustration with Bush, whom he evidently thinks "went soft." To quote:

Cheney's disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.

"In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him," said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney's reply. "He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice. He'd showed an independence that Cheney didn't see coming. It was clear that Cheney's doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times -- never apologize, never explain -- and Bush moved toward the conciliatory."

. . . The former vice president remains convinced of mortal dangers that few other leaders, in his view, face squarely. That fixed belief does much to explain the conduct that so many critics find baffling. He gives no weight, close associates said, to his low approval ratings, to the tradition of statesmanlike White House exits or to the grumbling of Republicans about his effect on the party brand.

Cheney's intrigue -- What is it that keeps us all fascinated with this man, who guarded his privacy so jealously until now? As a retired psychotherapist, I am interested in his psychological make-up, particularly his apparently persistent paranoia. Others have their own reasons. But there is no doubt that his book will jump to the top of the charts when it comes out, which will please his daughter Liz, at whose suggestion Cheney is writing the book, despite past disdain for officials who wrote "tell all" books upon leaving office. It appears that he is not "frozen in place" on this issue.

Richard Cheney appears to have acquired fixed beliefs that are frozen in place, however. The first is in the concept of the "unitary" presidency, born after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. And the second is in a very dark world with enemies waiting to pounce and destroy him and the nation. With a model like that, is it any wonder that there is such fear mongering and craziness associated with Republican opposition to everything Obama.

My Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites. See also Behind the Links.

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Where are they now? The House is out; the Senate is in. Today the Senators will probably cast enough votes to approve Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the United States Supreme Court, and GOP Rep. John McHugh, nominated as Army Secretary. And it is possible that an additional $2 billion will be added to the wildly popular "Cash for Clunkers" program. The Senate can be very pleased that some things are working out well.

On health care reform -- The Senate Finance Committee has not yet reported out a health care reform bill, but Senators are still hard at work on the issues, this week it regards Medicaid. Predictably Politico reports that top Senate Democrats have decided to move ahead in the fall, with or without Republican support. As background we are reminded, according to CQ Politics, that "Nearly four dozen members of Congress have spouses employed in the health care industry--ties that lawmakers acknowledge are influencing their thinking about how the health system should be overhauled." The only big question seems to be how comprehensive the reform will be, not whether something or other will pass and be signed into law this year.

News of select individual lawmakers -- U.S. Representative Joe Sestak (D-PA) is officially set to take on Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) in the 2010 election. Reports are that he loves being the underdog. And U.S. Senator William Jefferson of Louisiana was finally convicted of 11 of 16 criminal charges of accepting bribes, racketeering and engaging in money laundering. He could get more than 20 years in prison. He will be appealing and is free on bail.

Recess planned next week -- Town Hall meetings marked by organized Republican disruptions may have people from both the far left and right complaining about health care reform by now, according to CQ Politics and Politico. Legislators might adopt virtual town halls as an alternative. And millions of dollars' worth of paid advertising by stakeholders will saturate the airwaves during the recess. Unless you have something to say to your Senator or Representative, you may as well declare a congressional news blackout until they come back into session. It is going to be just awful out there.

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

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Who knows what will happen to the biggest item on the Obama agenda for change, health care? No one can tell for certain but a few are willing to hazard guesses. This is the last week Congress will be in session before the summer recess. CQ Quarterly predicts that the Senate Finance Committee will not report out a health care reform package Due to the inability to reach a bipartisan agreement, as well as the press of much other business, work will resume in September. Prediction: A decent bill will be ready for the President to sign before the end of the year. And President Obama will weigh in with his final requirements only late in the game.

Republicans remain uncooperative -- Taegan Goddard points out that we are still waiting for the Republicans' Health Care Plan. It is a safe bet, in my opinion, that there will be none forthcoming. Prediction: What will be forthcoming from Republicans is fear mongering about raising your taxes, plus everything else they can think of to "throw against the wall."

Progressive Dems vs. Blue Dogs is a continual pull and tug between special interests and voter constituents. Prediction: Progressives will not get a pure public option, but a public plan that is nonprofit "co-op" based. The following piece illustrates that the key swing Blue Dog Democrats could play the largest role in how reform legislation emerges from Congress. To quote Politico.com:

President Barack Obama's signature proposal, a public plan option to introduce more competition in private markets, would be significantly weakened, reflecting pressure from Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans that dominate many rural states and that were a source of millions of dollars in campaign contributions last year. The small-business lobby, itself a political powerhouse, carved out a larger exemption for operations earning up to $500,000 annually. At the same time, families are asked to dig deeper to afford the promised coverage to be bought through public exchanges.

House Democrats have proposed a sliding scale of subsidies so that new health insurance mandates don't impose a disproportionate -- and ultimately unaffordable -- burden on working- and middle-class families. Without that feature, Democrats would risk a serious backlash if costs become too great and households rebel against the health care mandate. And the House maneuvering is important as a preview of the larger battle ahead in the Senate, where the Finance Committee is proposing far less generous subsidies.

The other chamber's conservative Democrats, such as Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), are being heavily lobbied via huge donations from health insurance companies and stand to cast votes this year that will reelect them to the Senate in 2010. Progressive Democrats are already using targeted ads to try to force the adoption of a public option by wavering Democrats from conservative districts. To be sure the debate will get noisier as Congress heads home to hear what the folks in their districts have to say. Prediction: The major ad campaign, featuring things of which you should be afraid will encourage timid constituents to seriously pressure lawmakers to either stop entirely or compromise severely.

Senators will speak from experience -- Senator Chris Dodd, who spearheaded the H.E.L.P. Committee's health care reform bill has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He sat in for Senator Ted Kennedy, himself ill with brain cancer. Lobbyists have paid tribute to Senator Kennedy's heroic fight by donating generously to causes that he supports. Prediction: Using their own health care challenges as either spoken or unspoken backdrops to their reform leadership, several key senators, including Senator Specter, will be articulate and passionate spokesmen for significant reform.

Reference: CQ Politics launched the CQ Election Map for 2010 House races.


My all-in-one Home Page of websites where I post regularly: Carol Gee - Online Universe

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Intro - Haiku by "betmo" --

family circles
grow forming communities-
sharing mother earth.

Why is it that so many of us reading and writing online stay "plugged in" to the news, to our blog friends and to current events?  And why do others get discouraged and drop out? We know there must be payoffs or else the behavior would not continue.  Only masochists continue to do things that produce merely negative reinforcement.  Therefore I am assuming that I have too much of an apparently optimistic style to attract any masochists.  So what are the payoffs for those of us who do this on a regular basis for a long time, despite frustration?

What is it we want? Nancy Perry Graham, in AARP The Magazine piece summed it up well:  "Good health, financial security, family and community, giving back, having fun."  Because we are self-interested we use the Internet as a resource by which we find out vital information about our well-being.  And we are willing to take advice from those whose opinions we respect.  Over time we learn who is trustworthy and who is not -- who will tell the truth and who will shade it, or outright lie.  This applies to the regular obscure bloggers we read as well as the authorities with larger audiences.  In the process we also learn who is "up" and who is "down, politically" or as celebrities, depending on our interests.

With whom do we associate? We like to know about, or to actually be where the action is; we are activists.  Being associated with a bunch of like-minded people adds  to our sense of belonging.  I suspect that we also enjoy "associating" with powerful or famous people.  And many of us want to try to make a difference in a troubled larger world.  Whether we are faith-based or nonbelievers with a strong sense of morality, it is human nature to want to make things better.

Where we  hang out depends on individual preferences.  Over time we develop a list of favorites we read, the most trustworthy news sites, people in whom we are interested, communities to whom we belong and references upon which we regularly call.  And of course we are habituated to routines and tools that help us stay ahead of information overload.  Tasks such as catching up on the news, deleting outdated saved material, answering e-mails, editing our web pages, sorting favorites and providing regular posts keep us busy at best, and overwhelmed at worst.

When we surf the Internet is also a very individual choice, often dictated by circumstance.  I am lucky because I am retired.  Work and family requirements must be worked out.  Writing at the times when we are most alert serves our readers well. Doing a variety of things serves our moods well, and taking regular breaks serves our minds and bodies well.  I read bloggers who post while on vacation, when they are sick, after surgery, when they are sad or when they want to celebrate.

Celebrating us!

Walter Cronkite passed away on Friday. The voice of the nation for so many years was 92 years old. From the time he was named the "anchor" of the CBS evening news program, he began to build a reputation for honesty and integrity than set a standard for all the major news anchors who were to follow in his footsteps.

His legacy for me was one of congruence. For decades his reports on so many of the key events here and around the world turned out to be congruent with the eventual meaning we all took to be the core significance of the most important events. In both emotional tone and the facts, his reporting was in agreement and coincided with that of most of the rest of us.

As a kid from the country in Wyoming, I did not experience television until I moved to Texas as a nursing student in 1955. From my first black and white, small screen television viewing I was hooked. And I was always drawn to the hard news. Like millions of others I wanted to know what was happening. I has a curiosity and a need to know, so I always watched the evening news. My choices were NBC and CBS. NBC got on the list because that was the network that would come in on our radio growing up. But CBS quickly became a close second as I listened to Edward R. Murrow, and then watched, his weekly broadcast.

Walter Cronkite succeeded Murrow. The managing editor of his own program, he was trained as a print journalist and comfortable on camera, a dynamite combination. And we soon found that he could tell us what was happening in ways that were congruent, clear, unbiased, simple and believable.

It was Walter Cronkite who told me that John F. Kennedy was dead, and showed his own devastated feelings silently and without shame. He was openly angry when his news crewmen were roughed up on the floor of a Democratic Convention in the searing sixties. He went to Vietnam and said out loud the truth of that awful war. President Lyndon Johnson was convinced of the reality of his lost leadership by that broadcast. Walter Cronkite went to the moon's dusty surface with the astronauts with the rest of us. He gaged it as a most significant event for humankind. But he missed by just a few days the 40th anniversary celebration of the moon landing that will be coming up on Monday. I am moved by the congruence of that. Last night the new NASA administrator, Charles Bolden released a lovely and poetic tribute to Walter Cronkite, noting that it was Walter Cronkite who inspired him to want to become an astronaut so many years ago. And I am moved by the congruence of that, as well.

Walter Cronkite, according to a contemporary, was not happy about having to retire. But he did it without public complaint. Acclaimed by most everyone, he popped up every now and then until he was well up in years. He was a sailor and loved to have the wind at his back and the bow of his craft splitting the waves. He lost his beloved wife, Betsy a few years ago. He was one of a kind and I feel grateful that I was able to find much of my truth from his take on the significance of all those momentous life changing events.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive.  And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

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