Rushin’ Toward Reality
May 2nd, 2006If history is our guide, the Russian nation will forever gather all the information it needs to make a decision only to make the wrong one. Sometimes it seems that the Russian nation is destined to be known for making the wrong decisions, like a geopolitical Inspector Clouseau. When presented with the end of Czar rule, they turned to the Bolsheviks. When presented with an end to Soviet Dictatorship, they turned to Boris Yeltsin. Deciding that Democracy and a form of capitalism weren’t good enough, they turned to a dictatorship again (in Vladimir Putin) and love it.
Now, faced with significant American aid to their economy, along with a sitting American government known for its love of the Russian state and admiration for its present leadership, they begin fearing “the West” (read: America) and thinking up a million reasons not to trust America. Russia’s always been an odd state with the character of a mutt, always searching for new territory to mark but backing away when another dog growls. When their leadership isn’t a barking dog, it’s a bear. When that bear hibernates for good, there’s always a badger lying around somewhere pretending that Communist Dictatorship is dead but bringing it back to power.
For years, the Russian state has rushed to do everything it can to court troublemakers and coddle dictators, whether that meant providing them air defense systems or assisting them in preparing for War with America. Now Russia talks of a “Values Gap” between the United States and the Russians. In a sense, he’s right and he’s wrong. There doesn’t appear to be much of a values gap between Putin and Bush, who both love fishing, guns and domestic spying. On the other hand, America isn’t a nasty Dictatorship. It all evens out.
Russians aren’t just happy to engage Iran and Iran under the cover of darkness and on soft sweet beds in Switzerland. They love the Chinese dictatorship. Whoever told you that opposites attract was lying, son. We can look to the nature of Iraq, China and Russia — the unsavory threesome that constitute the world’s greatest roadblock to international cooperation and the spread of human rights — to see that the eyes of a dictator rest best alongside gators.
Despite the Russian rush to hold hands with those who’d do Americans harm, George Bush spoke to Vladimir Putin today on the telephone about the need to prevent the Iranians from gaining nuclear weapons, among other things. Afterward, the Press Secretary told reporters that the two leaders are “united” in their goal of preventing Tehran from going nuclear. Keeping negotiations going is one thing, and to that end, it’s fair enough to temper one’s criticism of another nation in public. But what the Bush White House is doing and has done with Russia by refusing to be critical or acknowledge that they’re an impediment to the world’s security makes me think that, someday, George Bush will declare that he did not have sexual relations with that Dictator.
Until, of course, the Iranians show the world the blue dress, taken from Vladimir Putin’s closet, of course.
Perhaps I’m rushin’ to conclusions on Russia, but I find their political leadership and sense of politics to be backward, frankly. And the facts support that. A nation that goes from dictatorship to a reasonably liberal democracy to a dictatorship isn’t moving forward. A nation that refuses to support the free world against a third world theocracy hellbent on gaining nuclear weapons, joins the worst nations on Earth in supplanting American, English and French efforts wherever they appear, is not our friend. It’s too bad that Bush loves Putin more than reality, and would rather get soft than tough.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:07 pm
i received a reply from chambliss today regarding your pork-berreling question. he didn’t even touch on the subject of pork-barreling:
May 2, 2006
Dear Mr. Delle Monache:
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns
about government spending and the Federal budget deficit. I
appreciate hearing from you.
I agree with you, we need to get spending under control.
As you know, we are in tough budget times. Since 1994, I have
advocated the need for a balanced Federal budget. I was proud to
be here in 1996 when Congress balanced the budget, and we
operated under a balanced budget until the end of fiscal year 2002.
In the years since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the
economy has endured the bursting of the stock market bubble, a
recession, and rising oil prices. Those events have been coupled
with the war on terror that is necessary to protect our citizens and
interests. In 2005, devastating hurricanes destroyed many miles of
the Gulf Coast and displaced hundreds of thousands of families.
As a result, Congress has enacted more than $101 billion in
hurricane relief. A supplemental relief package is currently in
deliberations that would raise the hurricane relief total to over $120
billion. These unexpected expenditures have driven the short-term
deficit higher than previously projected, but have not impeded
Congress from making great strides in reducing the deficit.
Through continued pro-growth economic policies and
spending restraint, the fiscal year 2007 budget keeps us on track to
meet our goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. The budget
builds on last year’s successful spending restraint by again holding
the growth of overall discretionary spending below inflation,
proposing to reduce non-security discretionary spending below the
previous year’s level, and calling for the elimination or reduction
of 141 programs that are not performing.
Also, on February 8, 2006, the President signed S. 1932,
“The Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act (DRORA) of
2005.” This legislation cuts mandatory spending by nearly $40
billion over the next five years. DRORA included spending
reduction recommendations from eight Senate authorizing
committees as instructed under the 2006 budget resolution. As
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry, I was pleased to put forth a plan to reduce agriculture
spending by $3 billion over the next 5 years. The Senate
Agriculture Committee will begin writing a new farm bill in 2007
which will address the concerns of American agriculture and will
be dictated by the federal budget.
I believe in fiscal responsibility and that it is important for
Congress to meet its responsibilities without raising taxes. I have
consistently voted to rein in deficit spending, reduce the tax burden
on hard-working Americans, and make government more
accountable to taxpayers. I cosponsored legislation to cap non-
defense, non-trust-fund, discretionary spending; to establish the
Commission on the Accountability and Review of Federal
Agencies which would look out for waste, fraud, and abuse in the
federal government; and to reinstate the line-item veto. Lastly, my
voting record earned a Taxpayer Hero Award from the Council
Against Government Waste. Given my proven record, please be
assured that I will continue to exercise fiscal constraint.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. As
always I appreciate hearing from you. In the meantime, if you
would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest
congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up
via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov .
Sincerely,
Saxby Chambliss
United States Senate
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:12 pm
I intend to enter politics one day, and it’s not that far off. When I do, I would fire my staffers if they ever fired something such as this off that doesn’t even TOUCH on a question. Maybe I’m too direct a human being, but I don’t believe in dodging a question completely.
If you don’t want to answer a question, say so or do it smoothly and with class. Don’t tell someone a million things that have nothing logical to do with your question.
Saxby ought to be ashamed of himself. Perhaps you should tell him that, and sarcastically add that you’re glad he took time out of his day to answer YOUR question. Maybe his robots will give you something worth a damn then.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:31 pm
i did fire back with this:
Senator,
Thank you for responding in a timely manner to my first email. However, you said a couple of things that left me unsatisfied. In your response to my last email you mentioned something about “spending restraint” to keep congress on track in cutting the deficit in half. These “spending restraints” are being imposed at the expense of millions americans, and especially several Georgians. On top of all this the budget for FY2007 does not even factor in the $70 billion to be paid on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Today i saw Newsweek’s list of top 100 high schools in the United States, and there were no Georgia schools listed. According to the budget approved by you, and fellow members of congress, Georgia is going to lose ALL of its vocational and Even Start education programs. Please, sir, tell me what you plan to do about this, and your plans to get the Georgia education system back on track?
I also see that in the budget for FY2006 Georgia is slated to lose $19.1 million in Community Block Development Grants. These budgetary “spending restraints” seem to be aimed at the wrong people senator.
With a national defense budget on the rise, and Georgians owing $2.9 billion on the iraq war during FY2006, I cannot see the deficit being cut in half by FY2009 without taxes being increased, or more significant programs being cut.
Soon I will be an every year taxpayer with a family of my own, senator, I do not want to see the majority of my taxes being used to pay down the enormous deficit, being created right now, at the expense of my less fortunate neighbors.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my correspondence.
Sincerely,
Dan Delle Monache
i am trying to keep it moderately respectful though, because it would be very easy for my email to “accidently” end up in the spam filter and never even looked at. You’re right though, sometimes these goats need to be reminded that it is ME who ultimately decides if they are coming back to work.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Your Senators are hacks, Dan.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:46 pm
i didn’t vote for them…please remember that.
i studied in russia last summer for a month (st. petersburg with a weekend in moscow) and absolutely loved it. however, you can see (especially in st. pete) where capitalism has left its mark, but when i walked through the streets it was like the russian people didn’t want to embrace it. i think deep down the russians like the camradarie that a dictatorship brings. most importantly though the farther away from moscow you get (or the west side for that matter) the worse it gets. in the far away provinces those people have less (stavropol, vladivostok). when the communists were in power everyone had food, shelter, clothes, and a job. they may not have had much of any of those things, but they at least had them, and knew they were going get them. now that the commies are gone they have nothing. this is also why the communists will occasionally show their heads. russia is an interesting state to say the least.
i’ve started a blog of my own Once Upon an Opine and if you don’t mind i would like to add you to my blogroll.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Feel free to add me. You don’t need my permission. And I’ll be sure to include you on my roll as well.