Something to Talk About

The other day, Wednesday to be precise, I was up far earlier than any person need be, especially one who has the entire day off with nothing to do. Given that my options at that point were watching Matt Lauer's sexual discomfort with his new co-host or watching the Fox morning gang giggling about whatever it is that those darned celebrities are up to, I put on C-SPAN while I ate breakfast and then when I sat down to read (and since this all makes me sound like a grandparent, I then bought a cat and knitted an afghan throw). Sometimes its interesting to see the day-to-day process of governing that most people don't hear about because it doesn't involve aborting immigrant emryos with burning flags at a gay wedding.

Anyway, during this day of varied debates including issues of disclosure of federal funding and "Indian" gaming (and isn't it stupid that centuries after we realized this wasn't India as Columbus thought, we still refer to them in legal Congressional records as "Indians"?) there was extensive debate on HR 994.

What exactly is House Resolution 994, you might ask? Well, for those in the know, not only does the House of Representatives vote on things like bills and appropriations, but they sometimes vote on Resolutions that simply make a statement, such as showing support for Black History Month or the color Green and its importance in American history. In that way, HR 994 was a resolution recognizing "that the American people will never forget the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the loss of innocent lives that day, will continue to fight the war on terrorism in their memory, and will never succumb to the cause of the terrorists."

And they spent hours debating that. I'll quickly jump past the fact that its fool hardy to think (or in this case imply) that without the House of Representatives on top of this that Americans might actually forget the significance of Sept. Eleventh, or might in fact decide to invite the terrorists over to America to take over and maybe have a spot of tea with us. Also, imagine listening to hours of debate in which most of it was Congressmen recounting the facts we already knew and finding new ways to add adjectives to the word "tragedy". It was a terrible day, we all remember that, and we don't need you repeating it over and over which will, as they say, "wear it out". The more you mine it for political gold, the more desensitized we become.

The reason there was so much debate was because wedged in the middle of this Resolution, which no one in their right mind would vote against because then it looks like they are personally saying "screw you" to each and every widow and parentless child, were some incredibly partisan and manipulative statements. Namely, apart from recognizing the valiant efforts of rescue workers and the terrible sacrifice of ordinary Americans, this resolution recognizes legislative acts such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. So, unless you want to vote against recognizing the heroism of Americans who died on September 11, you also have to vote to recognize all the wonderful things Republicans are doing to make us "safer" while those damn Democrats are selling nuclear secrets to Osama.

Republicans know that Democrats have problems with some of these bills which allow people to be held without trial or have their phones tapped, so they put it in this resolution in order to force Democrats to show support for them. If ever their was a sick, election-year ploy, this is one of them (don't worry, there are more to come). The resolution essentially states that the House of Representatives will support everything the President has done and will do to fight the "War on Terror". Oh, and did I mention that the resolution also refers to the war in Iraq as being on the "frontlines of the global war on terrorism", which is funny since most of the terrorists in Iraq showed up AFTER we invaded the country and dismantled their army and infrastructure. I guess it is now on the frontline, a frontline we created.

Nancy Pelosi gave a great speech that day about how we should be coming together across party lines to recognize the tragedy and to come up with real solutions for making us safer, which we certainly are not (despite what the resolution states). She even points out while she's speaking that "of course" the Democrats will vote in favor of this resolution (and nearly all of them did), but that they did so to recognize the heroes who died that day, and not the accomplishments of this administration which has put us in greater danger, not less. And I agree.

Growing up near the end of the Cold War, there was always a palpable feeling of threat and destruction. People were paranoid; annihilation seemed plausible. And then the Cold War ended and, for a brief while, things seemed to be getting better. In the past five years, that palpable feeling has returned, and every action taken has not made us feel more secure or decreased the terrorist threat, it's increased it. Even progress we were making, such as the toppling of the Taliban and improvements in Airport security, have been rolled back. Afghanistan is still not a stable country, and the Taliban is making inroads every day, and as you can learn by watching just about any special report on any news station, contraband still gets through at airports. Five years later, and we're not safer, and yet our Government is wiping away a tear with one hand and patting itself on the back with the other. I cannot wait until midterm elections.