January 17, 2008 – Capitol Hill Blue

Arkansas Lawmakers Reject Themselves

January 17, 2008

by Maggie Van Ostrand

There’s so much more out there than primaries, caucuses and election coverage. There’s Arkansas.

Just when we thought the theft of our personal freedoms had added yet another level of frustration right along with no smoking in a saloon, no guns even though you’re getting robbed, and no place to buy products made in the U.S.A., we learn that all is not lost. America is still full of it’s own particular brand of humor and just plain don’t-tell-us-we-can’t-do-that attitude. There’s news, and the news is big.

Arkansas lawmakers have rejected a ban on snuff.

All depends on your point of view ,I guess.

January 17, 2008

This blog entry started as another blast at the political madness of our present age…and was going to attempt to find logic or damnation in the fact that those we elect spend more time (and more of our money) in the pi$$ing contests known as “the primary”, than what they’re being paid to do in the first place.

I can’t get serious today. I’m supposed to be getting ready to go to my next event. (We, my wife and I, are partially self employed) She’s working hard, I feel guilty…mostly.

Just for the record

January 17, 2008

Just for the record, Is there anyone out there that still believes that the Federal government tells the truth?

A new spin on the CIA tape scandal

January 17, 2008

The new Republican spin on the destruction of CIA tapes that showed torture of terrorism suspects has a familiar ring to it: An underling took it upon himself to take criminal action against the wishes of his superiors.

It’s an old Washington game called scapegoating: Having someone take the fall to protect those higher on the food chain.

GOP Rep. Pete Hoekstra laid the foundation for the new spin Wednesday, telling reporters that closed-door testimony revealed that a lower-level CIA official gave the order to destroy the tapes against the direction of his superiors.

GOP’s nightmare: Deadlocked convention

January 17, 2008

Republicans, after three different winners in three primaries, worry about the possibility of a deadlocked convention.

Perhaps it is appropriate that the party that has become the symbol for gridlock in Washington could find itself gridlocked when it comes to picking their next candidate for President.

Will Rogers used to say “I’m not a member of any organized political party…I’m a Democrat.” Nowadays, the same thing could be said for Republicans.

‘Don’t throw us in that brier patch!’

January 17, 2008

In an interview with TV host Tyra Banks, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton likened the White House to a prison, raising the question of why she would want a job that requires her to live in it.

Most of us, it is safe to assume, would be delighted to have a job that comes with a free mansion and staff at a prestige address convenient to good shops and fine dining, and would readily say so.

Inflation becomes the new comeback kid

January 17, 2008

An unwelcome visitor to the economy is back — inflation.

The year-end figures for 2007 show an inflation rate of 4.1 percent, up from a relatively restrained 2.5 percent for 2006 and the highest in 17 years. And another index shows that the problem isn't over yet. The producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, went up 6.3 percent, the highest since the economically awful year of 1981.

He shoulda been a contender

January 17, 2008

Here's a movie treatment worth pitching Hollywood.

There's this guy running for president. He was born in the United States to a mixed-ethnic couple and received his early schooling outside the country. Then he was admitted to a U.S. prep school and attended one of our best universities. He found himself in a political world and soon distinguished himself within his party and legislatively before running for president.

The perfection of inexperience

January 17, 2008

To live into adulthood in our era is to be in a constant state of amazement. Everything is in a constant state of flux and what seemed preposterous in one age is commonplace in the next.

I was reminded of that by a story in the Sunday Business section of The New York Times the other day. Headlined "Having a Little Work Done (at the Mall)," it described a trend of medical spas that have sprung up in shopping malls to offer services such as chemical peels, laser hair-removal, Botox shots and wrinkle-filler injections.

The future of America

January 17, 2008

The future of America will be determined by one thing….whether we still believe in the values stated in the original document of the Republic of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence.

Since this is an election year, perhaps we should discuss exactly what the Declaration of Independence says. Then we can accurately gauge where we stand as a free people.

So let’s have fun and start with just the First Sentence in the Declaration of Independence.