Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

According to an NPR report this morning, members of the 9/11 Commission, and the Victims Families Steering Committee are scattering around the country to campaign for the Commission’s recommendations. This is a “bi-partisan” effort. Personally, I would prefer an non-partisan effort.

The main thing they want is for Congress and the President to implement all their recommendations. In other words, the Commissioners want control. No debate. Just accept what we said and do it. Now. If there was any doubt about the political nature of the commission, this should end that doubt.

Congress, for their part, want the proposed Intelligence Chief to have budgetary power. In the words of several senators and congressmen in the 88 committees and sub-committees that oversee Homeland Security, he or she would have no authority without it. I can’t believe it even after writing it down! And they all want better congressional oversight. Funny, I don’t see anything in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution which gives them “oversight” authority over the Executive Branch. They control the budget, but prefer to have the President submit one each year.

Please save the politics for the campaign trail and simply do the job we hired you to do. Remember, you are our employees, not the other way around.

The really wealthy in this country pay no income tax. The Democrats like to point that out, even though many of them fall into this category. What they don’t tell you is–why. The really wealthy have little or no income. They live off savings and trust funds and perqs (like our senators and congressmen) and have no need for income.

But they do spend. And they spend big. Let’s use the favorite adjective of “antis” everywhere to describe them: BIG SPENDERS. Kinda goes along with Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Big Personal Injury Lawyers.

Just an example that’s been floating around recently–John Kerry’s $8000 bike. And let me clear, this isn’t a slam at Kerry, but of everyone like him. Is a 10% sales tax to replace the income tax a good idea? His bike would then cost him $8800. I think he could afford it. “But sales tax hurts those who don’t have much money.” Only if they buy things. Right now, they pay no income taxes at all. If we restrict a sales tax to limit its application so that things like food and medicine aren’t taxed, there is no suffering involved. It puts you in charge of how much you pay in federal taxes.

Our Curmudgeon has an interesting piece on Hastert’s proposal and its repercussions. Democrats won’t like it even though it taxes the rich in proportion to their spending habits, or maybe because it does so. They also won’t like it because the people they count on to remain in office will end up having to contribute something to “provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare.”

This country operated for more than a century without an income tax. When created, it was supposed to be a temporary measure. Nothing in the Federal Government is temporary.

***UPDATE***
Neal Boortz has more.

Dean has posted An Interesting Question For Conservatives:

Now here is my interesting question: I’ve made myself some friends among conservatives by speaking this way. But I do find myself wondering: how many of you on the right will embrace such a philosophy if John Kerry should carry the election in November?

I will.

I believe in the separation of government and politics. I hate politics. Government interests me. The two are not the same, nor should they be. We elect people to represent us, and we expect them to do what is right within the framework of our Constitution.

Today, the election cycle never ends. Politics continue day in and day out. Political shenanigans are the domestic equivalent of diplomacy, and belong in a small, controlled timeframe prior to an election. No deal-making. No vote buying. Simple representation is what we deserve.

The real question is whether we want a President or a Political Commisar. A President will act in the best interests of the United States, whether it is popular or not. I believe that is what Dubya has done. That’s why I support him. People seem to forget what a tremendous political risk he was taking by first going into Afghanistan, and then finishing up what the UN refused to do in Iraq a decade ago. Those political chickens seem to be coming home to roost, but not because of any failures. We have had many successes, with bumps in the road. The bumps are heralded as failures.

I don’t like Kerry because I believe Ted Kennedy will finally get the White House if he wins, something Ted couldn’t accomplish on his own. We will have the equivalent of Tip O’Neill controlling Jimmy Carter. Kerry would be a political commisar like Clinton. At least Carter had a sincere heart.

My biggest complaint about those who speak ill of our President and besmirch the accomplishments of our troops is that they do it with no sense of how destructive it is to any foreign policy we want to pursue. Divide and Conquer is a valid strategy, and even easier to accomplish when the enemy divides himself, which our enemies clearly understand. Diplomacy only works if you operate from strength. That is what the “Give Peace a Chance” group refuses to understand.

My loyalties lie first with the United States. For all our failings, this is still the best place in the world to live. There is absolutely no comparison. And we are quick to point out our own failings. For the whole world to see. I have been to and lived in (not just a visit) a wide variety of countries with different histories, languages, and cultures. None come close. Not even England, which is as close to us in those things as any other. Not Canada, as much as they would like to be like us.

In the first half of the 19th century, all the nations in Europe sat back waiting for this experiment to fail so they could then come in and pick up the pieces that suited them. No representative government like ours had ever survived. In 1861 we surprised them all. We fought a war, one of the bloodiest in history, between ourselves. Europeans thought the end was near. What surprised them was not that we had a Civil War, but that the entire nation was mobilized–fiercely. We had larger armies fighting one another than they could ever dream of building. We had muscle and commitment like no society had ever known. We were united in our division, as strange as it sounds. At that point, the US became a force to be reckoned with. Still something we need to project overseas if we ever want to succeed diplomatically.

That unity of purpose is what we saw in the one or two days after 9/11, which dissolved quickly once people saw Dubya was looking too good to suit them. We cannot survive in this world operating that way. As long as Kerry, if elected, acts like a President I will support him as one. Too bad Dubya wasn’t given that opportunity.

The 9/11 Commission officially released its report today. One of the recommendations is that a new cabinet-level position be established for a Director of Intelligence.

That may not be a bad idea. What are they going to eliminate to form this new department?

You know the answer. The Federal Government grows. Always. Well, Clinton often spoke of reducing the size of the monster, and actually did. That is, if you count heads. The number of Federal employess declined at one point during his Presidency. Every department actually increased in size except one: the Department of Defense. Our military was depleted so that other departments could continue to grow while still reducing the total number of people employed.

That is the nature of our Government. It will continue to grow, and grow. No Department is ever eliminated. And every Department always feels it is short-handed. It is time for some lawmaker or President to stand up and say, “That’s enough.”

To be truly efficient, the Government needs to prioritize. When a new program is proposed, some other program must be eliminated to provide the manpower and budget for the new one. If there is nothing which is less important than the new proposal, then it fails. Period. Unfortunately, everything is the top priority in Washington. What that really means is that nothing is the top priority. Everything is equal. And everything is equal because each program is the most important in the world to someone.

But not the most important to the country. And that is the sad fact. Our “representatives” in Washington don’t look at what is best for the United States. You’ll hear them say they do, but their actions speak much louder if you’re listening. They are interested in what benefits them or their constituents. I can live with that. But I don’t want them trading things away to satisfy someone else’s constituents. Heresey, I know. But as soon as you are willing to trade your vote for someone else’s, you’ve bloated the bureaucracy and made every program the top priority.

I know that won’t change. And I know there isn’t a politician in Washington who would propose a bill to make things change by requiring a review of existing Departments or programs before approving a new one to replace one. Inertia in politics is huge. It has a very low velocity, but the mass is tremendous.

And the mass continues to grow.

Sandy Berger is a liar and a thief, at the very least.

I waited to comment on this issue because I’ve been mulling it over in my mind. Of course, Democrats are already out in force talking about “timing” and “partisan politics” as if they knew nothing of such things. What I have to say will probably be condemned as such, even though I will simply point out fact. Because fact indicts a member of the Democratic Party and National Security Advisor to the current Democratic candidate for the Presidency, it does not automatically imply partisanship.

I have spent a great deal of time in both the National Archives and the Library of Congress Manuscript Division doing research. I understand procedures in the open areas. The classified areas have even more stringent controls. When you enter you are asked to leave all your folders, cases, and bags at the main entry. The US Government provides pencils and paper for you to take notes. You are not allowed to bring in your own. When you seat yourself at a table, you fill out a form requesting specific boxes of records. If you know what you are looking for, it is relatively easy. Otherwise, you go through a series until you locate what you need. You are welcome to take notes, although this would not be allowed in any classified area I’m familiar with.

When you depart, you pick up your belongings at the front desk area. The attendant checks your papers to be sure you haven’t “inadvertantly” included anything which belongs to the Government, and the people of the United States.

You walk into the reading area with nothing, and leave with nothing more than notes written on paper provided. In a classified area, you leave with nothing. Period.

Okay. Tell me where calling Berger a liar and a thief is partisan.

Bill says much of what I believe regarding the Federal government, and explains it in a way which makes a lot of sense.

Annie Jacobsen writes in WomensWallStreet about a domestic flight she was on recently.

So the question is… Do I think these men were musicians? I’ll let you decide. But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly airplanes into buildings, couldn’t 14 terrorists learn to play instruments?

I like this lady. She has a logical mind. Probably better than some of the agents doing the investigation on this case.

****UPDATE**** I’ve sworn off watching the news on TV for a while. So I tend to get current events updates on the web. This story is one which should be broadcast. Apparently it wasn’t. But, as Sarah noted, it is all over the internet.

The mainstream media have had a stranglehold on news reportage for so long, I don’t know that it’s possible for them to change. It is kinda like the buggy whip manufacturer who insisted people still needed his product long after horses no longer provided pull power for the majority of Americans.

They had better evolve.