Florida Pilot

A compendium of random thoughts from a former Washington Beltway insider who is now having a lot more fun flying small airplanes in Central Florida.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

delayed reaction

Many people were outraged by the way the Republican party attempted to gain a political bonus by taking advantage in the Terri Schiavo case. Terri Schiavo was not able to reverify her opposition to be maintained alive by artificial means that had been established by the courts and reviewed ad nauseum for over five years.

The outrageous behavior included an attempt by Florida governor Jeb Bush to marshall a groups of armed agents to literally kidnap Schiavo from the hospice were she was staying. That attempt was apparently only thwarted when the governor's men realized they were likely to be outnumbered by local authorities who had been prewarned and were ready to enforce the rule of law.

For their part, congressional Repulbicans rushed through a private bill in an attempt to stop Terri Schiavo's wishes but the federal courts stood up and found no basis for additional delays.

Where were the democrats when all this was going on? Well, there was principled opposition by some democratic house members but not one democratic senator attempted to stop this outageous Federal intrusion into a purely private dispute.

Now comes Howard Dean who, apparently after reading the polls, has decided this should be an issue for his party:

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Friday that his party would wield the Terri Schiavo case against Republicans in the 2006 and 2008 elections, but for now needed to stay focused battling President Bush on Social Security."

Well Dr. Dean, where was Hillary Clinton and John Kerry when the Senate was passing through the inappropriate private bill? We are told that a single senator can delay a pice of legislation but the senate version of the odious Schindler private bill (named for Terri's parents who ironically led the fight to deny their daughter her rights) was passed in the middle of the night with not even a roll call. Maybe the democrats should develop the principles before the fact rather than after everything is done and the polls are out.

Friday, April 08, 2005

Clinton is right this time

"President Bush on Friday said that attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II was 'one of the highlights of my presidency' and made clear that he disagrees with former President Clinton's assessment that the pontiff leaves a mixed legacy.
'I think John Paul II will have a clear legacy of peace, compassion and a strong legacy of setting a clear moral tone,' Bush told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Rome to the United States just hours after the funeral. He said he wanted to amend his remarks to add the word 'excellent.'"

Where was George Bush when all of the revelations about the widespread pedophilia amount Roman Catholic preists and the cover-up by church higher-ups became publically known? I've read that the Pope was busy at the time opposing the war in Iraq. A bit strange since not only did the bishops and cardinals work for the Pope, he actually had appointed most of them!

Friday, April 01, 2005

special treatment

The fact remains that, if you are well-connected, you can pretty much get away with stuff that would result in some serious consequences for most people.

So, a few months after the election, Sandy Berger, certainly a well-connected Washington insider, is going to have to take a little tap on the back of his hand for the theft and destruction of classified documents.

The loss of his security clearance for theee years is meaningless since, as a John Kerry advisor during the election, it is unlikely he is going to be considered for a goverement position during the remainder of the Bush administration. As far as the $10,000 fine, it is a pittance to him.

The event in question occured in 2003 but did not become publically known until the midst of the election campaign a year later. In fact, this matter looks like something that would have just have been swept under the rug in normal times. In this case, one has to suspect that Berger's up-front participation in the Kerry campaign during a time he knew he was under criminal investigation was probably was led to the issue being publicized and what ultimately led to his little punishment. Perhaps he can ask Teresa Heinz-Kerry to reimburse him for the fine and legal costs he incurred due to her husband's campaign.