premise

We have heard for months the chest beating of Darrell Issa, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Now it’s gone from chest beating to down right slander:

The Republican congressman who is taking over responsibility for congressional oversight calledPresident Obama's administration "one of the most corrupt administrations" on Sunday and predicted that the investigations he is planning over the next two years could result in about $200 billion in savings for U.S. taxpayers.

It sounds to me like Issa has already passed judgment without as much as a hearing or seeing evidence. The really makes for an impartial judge (NOT!).

And while on this subject, something that really irks me is that Republicans love using the power of Congress to enact oversight on the administrative branch, but when the administrative branch enacts oversight on the legislative branch, generally through the DOJ and criminal investigations, they label it as a “political witch hunt”.

It’s also funny how Republicans, like Issa, warned against investigating George Bush, warning the Democrats would suffer the same way Republicans did when investigating Clinton. Yeah that whole premise went the way of common sense in Washington. Of course I also blame the Democrats for falling for that whole BS line. But perhaps President Obama should take a page from the George Bush playbook and start claiming executive privilege on everything. Let that happen and you can bet the Republicans will be crying foul instantly.

There’s been a lot of talk about the South Fulton, Tennessee fire department standing around while Gene Cranick’s house burned to the ground all because Cranick didn’t pay a $75 subscription fee to the fire department, but I think there is one key point being missed here; what’s to come.

First off, as a former fire fighter, this story enrages me like there’s no tomorrow. It really is America at its worst and if we continue down this path then this country is lost. From all the reading I have done, the fire fighters are not to blame on this, but rather the city of South Fulton. The Cranick’s home was outside of the actual city limits, which is what prompted this “subscription fee”. When I was a firefighter we covered a lot of unincorporated areas and never did anything like this. It fell under a system that has been around since the start of this nation and has worked wonders; a system called “mutual aid'”.

But what has lead us to the point where the basic premise of governments responsibility to protect its people and property is overshadowed by the mighty dollar? The biggest contributor is Republican economics. As our economic disparity continues to rise, cities are seeing the coffers dry up. Less income for the residents means less taxes collected. It’s economics 101 and it’s ugly. Let’s take a quick look at the demographics of South Fulton:

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 2,517 people, 1,081 households, and 729 families residing in the city.

[SNIP]

The median income for a household in the city was $27,462, and the median income for a family was $35,608. Males had a median income of $27,458 versus $20,212 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,983. About 15.0% of families and 16.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.2% of those under age 18 and 18.1% of those age 65 or over.

Hillary told Tim Russert that Bush would have gone to war against Saddam with or without a resolution. Excuse me, but WTF? That's not a good statement for someone who wants to be President to make. Congress declares war - not the President. If he would have gone to war without the resolution then that is a serious ground for impeachment.

So her logic is that Bush would have done what he wanted so they might as well give him what he wants? That very logic totally nullifies the premise of checks and balances.

I keep wanting to lean towards Hillary when it comes to my support, but comments like this push me back to Obama. How I wish Edwards would have a break out moment.