Psy-ops on US Senators

Rolling Stone magazine reports that the head of the "psy-ops" unit in Afghanistan-Lt Col Michael Holmes-was ordered by his superior- Lt Gen William Caldwell-to "perform psychological operations" on visiting US senators, congressman and other officials in order to get them to approve more troops for the war in Afghanistan. Holmes refused to go along. Those involved were John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Carl Levin, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Admiral Mike Mullen. We are told that Gen David Petraeus has ordered an investigation; I am not holding my breath. The article in the magazine-not on the stands yet-was written by Michael Hastings and titled "Another runaway General: Army deploys psy-ops on US Senators".

I have seen nothing other than this CNN article about this issue in The Record, NY Times or on NBC Nightly news with Brian Williams. Where is the "liberal media" when you need it?

(Source: "Rolling Stone: Army manipulated visiting VIP's in Afghanistan". cnn.com on 2/24/11).

High Stakes Chicken

It seems like the major sides in Washington are playing that old game of "chicken". In the 1950's two cars would race toward a cliff with each driver trying to be the last one to jump out before the car went over the cliff. I believe that scene was in "Rebel Without a Cause". In DC today the conservatives are backing military spending and tax cuts for the wealthy while the liberals are in favor of spending more on domestic programs and easing the burden on the less well off. They are playing "chicken"; which side will give in first. If neither side does we have a major economic crisis on our hands, which I have to believe neither one really wants. In my opinion the liberals-or in this case the democrats-are not as committed to their core values as the conservatives-or republicans-and will try "chicken" first.

Congressional "Intelligence"

GOP congressman Christoher Lee of Western NY state has recently resigned his seat in the House. It appears he posted his picture-bare chested-and his real name on Craigslist looking for women. He is married and been in Congress since 2008. He described himself as "a very fit fun classy guy...I promise not to disappoint". The immorality of his actions are bad enough and I am sure he has caused his family considerable harm. But what about his stupidity. He is a public figure who was identifible by a google search, he used his real name, his picture and lied about his marital status to seek out women. How could someone so incredibly stupid get elected to congress? It doesn't say much for those who voted for him.

Recent Legislation

I have read of some votes of interest coming out of the Congress recently. One involved GOP legislation that would begin the debate on cutting $ 60 billion or more from the budget for 2011. It was approved by a vote of 256 to 165. However, the democrats wanted a provision added that would "deny federal contracts to any company that the Department of Labor finds to be outsourcing its jobs". That provision was defeated by the GOP including Scott Garrett from my district. Why would the GOP oppose a plan to keep jobs in this country? This was in HR-38. Another piece of legislation that failed due to GOP opposition was a provision to require "TV attack ads and other campaign spots to identify the corporation, union or foreign government paying for it". The vote was 228 to 173. The bill is H 359. Votes in the Senate were also disturbing. They both were on filibusters. The first vote defeated legislation that would have required Senators to be "present and talking" while conducting a filibuster that was aimed at "killing a bill or nomination". Does this mean a senator can be in the "john" while filibustering? I guess he can fart it to death. This was SR 21. The second bill would have allowed for the reduction of votes needed to end a filibuster from 60 votes to 51-a simple majority. It failed by a vote of 84 to 12 with one of the 12 being Frank Lautenberg of NJ. Maybe this is what passes for bi-partisanship in the Senate.

(Source: "North Jersey Tally: How your US lawmakers voted" In The Record on 1/30/11)