Maybe they really ARE serious… ;-)
I don’t really believe that he was actually serious when Congressman Bill Young (Republican, Florida) suggested that Guantanamo detainees could be placed on Alcatraz (in the heart of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s district), when the detention facility at Guantanamo is shut down.
But hey! I thought that the idea of uranium mining adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park was a bad joke, too! 
Then, Senator Kit Bond (Republican, Missouri) agreed with the idea of using Alcatraz (which is a National Park and a major tourist attraction) for the Guantanamo detainees.
All sorts of quotes ran through my mind. “I believe because it is absurd.” Abraham Maslow‘s quote that “People are not evil; they are schlemiels….” And even Hanlon’s razor, which states that we should “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity….”
One of my greatest concerns right now is that Congress will continue with political hijinks (high jinks) and antics as usual, rather than working together to support an economic package to help pull the United States out of the current financial disaster (and it IS a disaster, at this point). (Note added February 1, 2009: It is nice to hear President Obama use the word “disaster” to describe the situation recently, as well.) Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the support of Congress for his “New Deal.” This weekend, I was discussing the California budget deadlock in Sacramento with an artist friend of mine. She stated simply, “That’s because they are all extremists.” At a time when cooperation at the national level is necessary, when we need pragmatists rather than ideologues, Congress seems to be mimicking (definition 1) the California Legislature (which is not a good “role model,” even for elementary school children).
I don’t believe that I am alone in thinking that “We the People” are getting a little tired of “politics as usual.” If folks in Congress would check the news today, they might notice that:
- Home Depot is cutting 7000 jobs.
- Sprint Nextel will cut 8000 jobs.
- Pfizer will buy Wyeth and cut jobs.
- IBM and Microsoft are cutting jobs.
- Sun Microsystems is cutting jobs.
- (Note added 7PM PST January 26, 2009: I don’t know how I missed this but Caterpillar is laying off 20,000.)
- California’s unemployment rate in December 2008 was 9.3%, up over 2% from December of 2007.
- 30 counties in California have over 10% unemployment, and the last I heard, we were generally only in a tie for third in unemployment nationally.
- A vast majority of 105 economists polled by CNN (NABE’s January 2009 Industry Survey) believes that “the country’s gross domestic product will continue to sink in 2009.”
I could go on, ad nauseam, but you get the point. (Note added January 26, 2009 7:20 PM PST: CNN Money is calling today Bloody Monday and calculates 71,400 jobs lost TODAY. So what if it’s not totally accurate… plus or minus a few thousand… it’s still HUGE!)
“Politics as usual” won’t “cut it” right now. Let’s get to work.
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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