Bookworm

Short-Sighted Leadership?

"It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer’s travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country. . .

But here’s what’s scary: our problem is so much worse than you think. We have no energy strategy. If you are going to use tax policy to shape energy strategy then you want to raise taxes on the things you want to discourage — gasoline consumption and gas-guzzling cars — and you want to lower taxes on the things you want to encourage — new, renewable energy technologies. We are doing just the opposite."

~ Thomas Friedman, New York Times

Spitzer

"Even as the Dow was on its way to notching another triple-digit loss, whoops of joy erupted from the dispirited trading floors today on news of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's disgrace. Spitzer, who rose to prominence as a scourge of Wall Street, uprooting corrupt practices, coming down hard on bad actors and establishing a new moral order, was laid low by reports that he had been involved in a prostitution ring.

Details are still emerging, and it's unclear how this will all shake out, but one thing is immediately clear: Spitzer has been hoisted on his own petard, brought down by the same kind of investigation he pioneered as a prosecutor. The analogies between Wall Street and prostitution aren't perfect. (On Wall Street, for example, the transactions involving favors for money are generally conducted when both parties are fully clothed.) But he may have fallen prey to the same types of circumstances and dynamics that led to his astonishing rise." [Spitzer Sex Scandal | Newsweek Voices - Daniel Gross | Newsweek.com]

What a disaster.  New York finally gets a Democratic governor after two terms of Pataki and he lasts a year.  What does this do in the state senate, which is thisclose to attaining a majority in the Senate and rooting out Joe Bruno?  What, if anything, does this do to the presidential chances of the national Democratic party? 

What Spitzer is accused of demonstrates a very human failing, tragically reminiscent of another Democratic executive of recent memory.  He acted stupidly, selfishly, arrogantly, and immorally, with no apparent regard for his family, the people who work with him, the people who supported his campaign, the state, the voters, or the party. 

Bob Herbert on Uninsured Children

"The Congressional Budget Office and most researchers have agreed on the six million figure for the number of youngsters who are eligible for government-sponsored health coverage but remain unenrolled — roughly four million for Medicaid and two million for S-chip. This has not been controversial.

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services began circulating a study that tries to make the case that the total number of eligible but uninsured youngsters is a mere 794,000, an absurdly low figure.

If you can wave a magic wand and make five million poor kids disappear, you no longer have to think about caring for them." [Link: When Dollars Trump Compassion]

NYT Op-Ed: Justice Department no ordinary agency

"Congress has to save the Justice Department, something President Bush shows no interest in doing. It should pass a resolution of “no confidence” in Mr. Gonzales, and push for his removal. But it also needs to insist on new leadership that will restore the department’s traditions of professionalism and impartiality, and re-establish that in the United States, the legal system does not work to advance the interests of a political party." [Why This Scandal Matters - New York Times]

I voted today -- did you?

Consolidating Food Safety

"According to the United States Government Accountability Office, the federal responsibility for food safety is scattered across some 15 separate agencies. . . Over the years, the idea of merging all those pieces of our food inspection system into a single food safety administration has surfaced again and again. It’s a good idea, and it has gained some momentum thanks to the recent E. coli outbreak caused by contaminated spinach.

Yet the legislation that would create a single food safety administration always seems to get devoured in committee. . . The National Academy of Sciences has recommended an integrated food safety system, and the G.A.O. has reported on the generally positive results of consolidation in other countries. . . Congress needs to make sure a new agency is not only well-organized but has the powers and authority it needs to control the American food supply in a way that keeps everyone safe." [NY Times]

IRS Said to Improperly Restrict Access

Continuing a trend seen with government data from other agencies:

"The Bush administration has illegally stopped making public detailed tax enforcement data, which has been used to show which kinds of taxpayers get the most and toughest audits, a noted tax researcher says.  Syracuse University Professor Susan B. Long said in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle late last week that since Nov. 1, 2004, the Internal Revenue Service has violated a 1976 court order requiring the release of the data. . .The. . . order listed 38 types of IRS reports, including five produced quarterly, that Long was entitled to receive "promptly" and regularly under the Freedom of Information Act. . . Despite filing regular FOIA requests for the material, the last data Long received arrived Nov. 1, 2004 and covered only the first six months of fiscal year 2004, through March, 2004. . ." [Washington Post]

Our Potential Next AG

"A number of senators clearly believe, as we do, that Mr. Gonzales bears partial responsibility for decisions that have led to shocking, systematic and ongoing violations of human rights by the United States. Most apparently intend to vote for him anyway. At a time when nominees for the Cabinet can be disqualified because of their failure to pay taxes on a nanny's salary, this reluctance to hold Mr. Gonzales accountable is shameful. He does not deserve to be confirmed as attorney general. . . According to the logic of the attorney general nominee, federal authorities could deprive American citizens of sleep, isolate them in cold cells while bombarding them with unpleasant noises and interrogate them 20 hours a day while the prisoners were naked and hooded, all without violating the Constitution. Senators who vote to ratify Mr. Gonzales's nomination will bear the responsibility of ratifying such views as legitimate."  [Washington Post Op-Ed]