The Blog | Jane Smiley: Notes for Converts | The Huffington Post

What she said.

I heard something of the radio this morning that got me thinking.

When you are elected to public office, it is not only your own personal integrity that is held up to the light. It is the integrity of your staff. The people YOU have selected to manage your office, to write up the laws and amendments that are submitted in your name, to interface with special interest groups, to deal with constituents, to make your public life easier. These staffers who feed at the the public trough. It’s sort of like the chain of command in the military, the ones at the top are responsible for what the underlings do, even if they didn’t countenance the actions.

Conrad Burns contention that Abramoff didn’t influence him, personally, is irrelevant. Abramoff clearly influenced someone on Burns’ staff. Earmarks were legislated that were of no possible benefite to Burns’ state, and of no apparent benefit to the United States, but were of benefit to Abramoff clients. And they were earmarked in Burns’ name.

The Forrest Gump, or GWB, defense is not a valid defense for a public official. It is not unfair for opponents to point out that it happened on your watch, whether you were awake or not. The fact that you are as dumb as a stump and that the staff around you betrayed you and let these undue influences corrupt your office is not a valid defense. It is, actually, a very good reason not to re-elect someone to public office.

Personal aside:

People, just on general principle don’t re-elect an incumbant. For Party Stalwarts, this means ousting the incumbant in the primaries. (Can’t very well ask a died-in-wool-Republican to vote Democrat or vice-versa, now, can we? Although I would remind folks that are ARE more than two political parites in most places.)

Love Me, I’m a Liberal

Phil Ochs was really, really good.

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I’ve grown older and wiser
And that’s why I’m turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

Update on Evangelism at the U.S. Air Force Academcy : Melbourne Indymedia

I did a google on MRFF and discovered that I didn’t really need to hear about the Moroccan Royal Football Federation or the Midwest Regional Fun Fly or the Mongolian Rugby Football Federation.

So I googled “Military Religious Freedom Foundation” and got surprisingly few hits. Evidently, MRFF has just gotten organized and hasn’t established a web presence yet. But the Aussies seemed to have heard about it first. Amazing how small our world is becoming.

A quote from the Mikey’s Army article grabbed my attention:

Like many of the foundation’s members, Bragman says the current political climate in the United States is alarming. Many members of Congress don’t want to be perceived as anti-Christian or anti-religion. Bragman says he’s not surprised that the Bush government “is getting away with so much.”

These Congressmen that don’t want to be perceived as “anti-Christian” or “anti-religion” would rather be perceived as anti-American. And why not, those very same Americans keep voting them back into office.

CSIndy: Mikey’s Army (March 9, 2006)

This is a continuation of last week’s article. Interestingly, I went by my local spot to get the Independent this past Monday and it was all gone. I stopped at several other stores that carry the Independent over the next few days and couldn’t find a copy. I wonder where they went?

The CSIndy comes out on Thursdays and I usually stop by the local store and get my copy Thursday evening. I didn’t do that last Thursday and wasn’t able to get tothe store until Monday evening. Now, normally, this store still has some copies of the CSindy in stock until Wednesday. This must have been a really popular issue.

CSIndy: Mikey’s Mission (March 2, 2006)

Our local weekly newpaper is doing an interesting article on the AFA religious fight. Best of luck to Mikey.