April 2, 2009 – Page 2 – Capitol Hill Blue

Ted Stevens: Powerful victim of injustice

April 2, 2009

Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has been so ill served by the criminal-justice system that his guilt or innocence of the actual charges is almost irrelevant.

Stevens, 85, was, until his defeat last November, the Senate’s longest-serving Republican and an institution in his home state, which had re-elected him almost automatically since 1968. He was willful, highhanded and totally unabashed about the vast amounts of federal money he earmarked for Alaska, including that lasting symbol of pork politics, the $320 million Bridge to Nowhere.

Mexico: Too much violence, too few agents

April 2, 2009

The startling rise of violence in Mexico and along the southwest border of the United States has sharpened the focus on a long-existing problem neither Congress nor a succession of presidents has been willing to resolve — the startling lack of manpower in a key agency in what promises to be a long battle.

Obama’s bloated entourage

April 2, 2009

The heads of government in London for the G-20 summit are discussing serious and weighty issues, which in time will be duly reported on, but right now the British press is entranced by the sheer size of President Obama’s traveling entourage. And no wonder.

Obama arrived with 500 staff in tow, including 200 Secret Service agents, a team of six doctors, the White House chef and kitchen staff with the president’s own food and water.

A disturbing caricature

April 2, 2009

Let’s not call the political cartoonist Pat Oliphant an anti-Semite or even an Israel-basher. Let’s just be clear about what he is doing: encouraging those whose intentions are genocidal.

Change you can bereave in

April 2, 2009

I know, I know. He’s only been on the job for two months. Give him a chance, give him a chance.

I’ve seen enough. Actually I had seen enough halfway through the campaign, but that’s another story.

We are hemmhoraging jobs like a suicidal hemophiliac with a razor blade in an empty room.

Reuters is reporting that US job losses in March totaled 742 thousand.

Unions Pressing for Bargaining Rights for TSA Employees

April 2, 2009

Border Patrol agents can do it. So can federal protective officers and U.S. Capitol Police. But Transportation Security Administration officers, who screen passengers at airports across the country, are not allowed to engage in collective bargaining.

Ex-Senator’s Friends Say His Victory Is Bittersweet

April 2, 2009

Ted Stevens, not the U.S. Department of Justice, should now get to write the last chapter of his storied political career.

House Republicans Unveil Revised Budget Proposal

April 2, 2009

After getting blasted last week for presenting a budget plan light on details, House Republicans yesterday unveiled a more complete proposal that would cut taxes for businesses and the wealthy, freeze most government spending for five years, halt spending approved in the economic stimulus package…

Lugar Urges Obama to Open Talks With Cuba, Ease Restrictions

April 2, 2009

With momentum building in Congress for a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, Sen. Richard G. Lugar called on President Obama to appoint a special envoy to initiate direct talks with the island’s communist government and to end U.S. opposition to Cuba’s membership in the Organization of American…

Obama, Medvedev Pledge Cooperation

April 2, 2009

LONDON, April 1 — President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the start of negotiations Wednesday on a new strategic arms-control treaty that would cut each nation’s long-range nuclear arsenal further than previous agreements, inaugurating what both men indicated would be a more…