Peter King and Live Fire Politics
Posted: Friday, March 11, 2011
by Walter Rhett
Charleston Perlo
Today I felt healed by Keith Ellison's tears. My I Ching reading said, “nurture others as you would feed yourself. Endure and good fortune will come; seek not to cultivate the inferior parts of your nature.” But will you help Rand Paul find a toilet that works?
On Capitol Hill, Rand Paul blamed the Energy Secretary for “restricted choices,” saying, “Frankly, my toilets don't work at home, and I blame you.” This came during a hearing about standards for energy efficiency for appliances. Paul thinks we can build a better world if we volunteer. Such was the day in American politics: Sincerity, spin, indecision, and according to Shelia Jackson Lee, a constitution in pain.
On the Hill, against protests, Long Island, NY Representative, Peter King, volunteered his Homeland Security committee for a hearing on “American Muslim radicalization,” or why folk who pray five times a day want to blow you up. Or want to recruit youth to blow you up. Or as a caller on CSPAN put it, why “Democrats support terrorism,” since, she opined, the Congregationalist minister Jeremiah Wright took money from the Qaddafi foundation which financed elections and ended up in the White House. Maybe it recycled some of the $8 billion Bush shrink-wrapped, loaded on pallets, and flew on Air Force C-5A's to Iran--where $3 billion in cash was immediately misplaced.
According to one congressman at the press conference, the King-chaired hearing provided two anecdotal cases that were evidence of the threat facing our children and the country. Not since “Lucy,” the skeleton found by the Leakeys (African born Louis, Margaret, and son, Richard) in Tanzania's Oldupai Gourge has so much been read into so little. And like Lucy. who had both human and ape characteristics, the hearing ignited a fire storm about how the evidence, minor but eye opening, should be evaluated, matched and shipped for public view. Even when it comes to terrorism, we pick over the bones.
Confused, I remembered Dickens: “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” More: “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, . . we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, . . some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
With this template, against the sweeping arc of live fire politics, Illinois abolished the death penalty the day after Ohio executed an inmate with a drug used to euthanize animals.
Countries where Islam is the major religion continued their protests to establish democracy over sharia law. But SC congressmen Duncan Hunter publicly proclaimed his concern for sharia bracket creep, fearing its embrace in states no even close to an Islamic majority by rich (will the Koch brothers share alms?) and poor (another religion in which they pray for better) alike.
Many declared that “Only” a miniscule of American Muslims were a threat, but examined Islamist extremism as the major American terrorist threat. Meanwhile, rebels were being massacred in the streets and neighborhoods of Libya not by terrorists but by the state. Entering Wisconsin's state house became a criminal act. The Wisconsin legislative boycott met the inevitable, which took the Republicans weeks to figure out, despite its similarity to the way that federal healthcare reform was passed.
In a country based on a constitution, our legislative process grows increasingly concerned with sharia law, while ignoring constitutional violations and the genocide of civilians by well known foreign enemies. The one dictator in power for forty years who admits to aiding the downing of a passenger flight with American citizens on board seems safe since we can't agree to enforce a no-fly zone, “an easy military problem,” according to a former Air Force chief of staff, over areas he no longer controls.
Texas congress member Al Green pointed out he is often mistaken for an Arab at airports. Yvette Clark of Brooklyn pointed put her district confronts radicalization by gangs who prey on youth. One witness urged the committee to support organizations that would help convince mosques to teach Jeffersonian democracy. A leader of Minnesota’s Somali community feel along and helpless, beyond the mainstream. A Tennessee man grieved his son, accused of killing and wounding US military recruiters in Little Rock. The Los Angeles County sheriff builds trust to turn back threats.
I guess constitutional “protections” have many dimensions. Yet American democracy is feeling more like it's for the privileged than for the people. And recent politics, as evidenced by actions at home and abroad, in the name of budgets and safety (but not the safety net!) stifle freedom and are definitely more about command and control.
On Capitol Hill, Rand Paul blamed the Energy Secretary for “restricted choices,” saying, “Frankly, my toilets don't work at home, and I blame you.” This came during a hearing about standards for energy efficiency for appliances. Paul thinks we can build a better world if we volunteer. Such was the day in American politics: Sincerity, spin, indecision, and according to Shelia Jackson Lee, a constitution in pain.
According to one congressman at the press conference, the King-chaired hearing provided two anecdotal cases that were evidence of the threat facing our children and the country. Not since “Lucy,” the skeleton found by the Leakeys (African born Louis, Margaret, and son, Richard) in Tanzania's Oldupai Gourge has so much been read into so little. And like Lucy. who had both human and ape characteristics, the hearing ignited a fire storm about how the evidence, minor but eye opening, should be evaluated, matched and shipped for public view. Even when it comes to terrorism, we pick over the bones.
Confused, I remembered Dickens: “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” More: “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, . . we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, . . some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
With this template, against the sweeping arc of live fire politics, Illinois abolished the death penalty the day after Ohio executed an inmate with a drug used to euthanize animals.
Countries where Islam is the major religion continued their protests to establish democracy over sharia law. But SC congressmen Duncan Hunter publicly proclaimed his concern for sharia bracket creep, fearing its embrace in states no even close to an Islamic majority by rich (will the Koch brothers share alms?) and poor (another religion in which they pray for better) alike.
Many declared that “Only” a miniscule of American Muslims were a threat, but examined Islamist extremism as the major American terrorist threat. Meanwhile, rebels were being massacred in the streets and neighborhoods of Libya not by terrorists but by the state. Entering Wisconsin's state house became a criminal act. The Wisconsin legislative boycott met the inevitable, which took the Republicans weeks to figure out, despite its similarity to the way that federal healthcare reform was passed.
In a country based on a constitution, our legislative process grows increasingly concerned with sharia law, while ignoring constitutional violations and the genocide of civilians by well known foreign enemies. The one dictator in power for forty years who admits to aiding the downing of a passenger flight with American citizens on board seems safe since we can't agree to enforce a no-fly zone, “an easy military problem,” according to a former Air Force chief of staff, over areas he no longer controls.
Texas congress member Al Green pointed out he is often mistaken for an Arab at airports. Yvette Clark of Brooklyn pointed put her district confronts radicalization by gangs who prey on youth. One witness urged the committee to support organizations that would help convince mosques to teach Jeffersonian democracy. A leader of Minnesota’s Somali community feel along and helpless, beyond the mainstream. A Tennessee man grieved his son, accused of killing and wounding US military recruiters in Little Rock. The Los Angeles County sheriff builds trust to turn back threats.
I guess constitutional “protections” have many dimensions. Yet American democracy is feeling more like it's for the privileged than for the people. And recent politics, as evidenced by actions at home and abroad, in the name of budgets and safety (but not the safety net!) stifle freedom and are definitely more about command and control.
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