Back in November, or maybe early December, when I was just getting this blog thing under my fingers, I posted a small item about how MY Congressman seemed to be involved with the allegedly crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Tom Feeny is a Republican, and represents Altamonte Springs as well as other parts of Metro Orlando. Apparently, the Irish Pols lean Right around here, just as they did in Philly when I was a kid. Actually, Feeny is from the Philadelphia area, so perhaps it's no surprise.
At the time, I thought I was being so "cutting edge" as I localized what was to become a national story, but that's the kind of thing they're supposed to teach you in J-School.
So now I hear this ever growing Abramoff thing is really a "bi-partisan" scandal, gathering up Democrats as well as Republicans in its net of corruption. CNN and the Washington Post have said that Democrats are involved, as well as Republicans.
Well, boys and girls, that's simply not true.
According to an article by William Rivers Pitt (one of the best, yet least known, writers in America today), all of the people who got money directly from Abramoff have one thing in common...can you guess what it is?
Here's your clue;
I have pasted Mr. Pitt's list here...(actually, it isn't HIS list. It is a list compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics) of everybody who has been given cash by Jack Abramoff since 2000. See if you can spot what all these fine, upstanding Representatives of you and me, and Patriotic organizations, have in common;

Tom DeLay (R-Texas). John Ashcroft (R-Mo.). Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ). Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). John Ensign (R-Nev.). Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). Charles H. Taylor (R-NC). Chris Cannon (R-Utah). Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Mark Foley (R-Fla.). Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.). Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Doug Ose (R-Calif.). Ernest J. Istook (R-Okla.). George R. Nethercutt Jr. (R-Wash.). Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.). Tom Feeney (R-Fla.). Dan Burton (R-Ind.). Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Suzanne Terrell (R-La.). Rob Simmons (R-Conn.). Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. (R-Miss.). Connie Morella (R-Md.). Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.). James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). James M. Talent (R-Mo.). John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.). John Thune (R-SD). Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.). Bob Smith (R-Fla.). Bob Ney (R-Ohio). CL. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho). Carolyn W. Grant (R-NC). Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). Heather Wilson (R-NM). J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.). Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). James V. Hansen (R-Utah). John Cornyn (R-Texas). Kimo Kaloi (R-Hawaii). Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). Mike Ferguson (R-NJ). Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). Ralph Regula (R-Ohio). Ric Keller (R-Fla.). Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). Dave Camp (R-Mich.). Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). Tom Young (R-Ala.). Bill Janklow (R-SD). Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.). Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.). William L. Gormley (R-NJ). Bill McCollum (R-Fla.). Bill Redmond (R-NM). Bob Riley (R-Ala.). Claude B. Hutchison Jr. (R-Calif.). Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). Francis E. Flotron (R-Mo.). George Allen (R-Va.). Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-NC). Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Bob Smith (R-Fla.). Joe Pitts (R-PA). Charles H. Taylor (R-NC). Bob Ehrlich (R-Md.). Charles R. Gerow (R-Pa.). Ed Royce (R-Calif.). Elia Vincent Pirozzi (R-Calif.). Jerry Weller (R-Ill.). Mark Emerson (R-Utah). Tom Davis (R-Va.). Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.).

Also:

Americans for a Republican Majority, Leadership PAC of Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Republican Majority Fund, Leadership PAC of Don Nickles (R-Okla.). Keep Our Majority PAC, Leadership PAC of Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Leadership PAC, Leadership PAC of Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio). Rely on Your Beliefs, Leadership PAC of Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Friends of the Big Sky, Leadership PAC of Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). Senate Victory Fund, Leadership PAC of Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). American Liberty PAC, Leadership PAC of Bob Ney (R-Ohio). Battle Born PAC, Leadership PAC of John Ensign (R-Nev.). Fund for a Free Market America, Leadership PAC of Phil Crane (R-Ill.). Team PAC, Leadership PAC of J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.). The Republican Party of New Jersey.

Also:

George W. Bush (R).

If you said, "umm...gee..gobshite...they all have that "R" next to their names...I guess that means they're ALL REPUBLICANS!", then you are absolutely right, (ding-ding-ding) and win the Grande Prize!*

Now, I don't mean for this to be some cheap shot from a disgruntled liberal. I am simply trying to say that this is what happens when one party controls the White House and both branches of Congress...
Abramoff didn't try to influence Democrats, because it simply wasn't cost effective.
And stop blaming it on Indian Tribes...I am talking about money moving directly from Abramoff's hand to somebody's pocket here.
Does that mean Democratic Congressmen are all pure and holy?
Oh, Pul-l-l-l-l-ease!
If Abramoff thought they were worth buying, most would have been bought and sold like a Velvet Elvis at a flea market! (I have always contended however, that there just isn't enough money in the world to "buy" a Kennedy, a Rockefeller, or a John Kerry, for that matter.)
What I am hoping you agree needs to happen, regardless of how you lean politically, is that the people in the above list need to be brought down HARD!
It's time to make an example of elected officials who are bought and paid for...at the very least, they should be removed from office and never be permitted to represent the American public again.
The time has come to vote out corrupt representatives!
What could be more patriotic than that?


*by the way, there is no grande prize...I just thought it would be fun to promise something and not deliver...not that it was a lie, or anything.

I didn't set my alarm clock (made in Japan) last night, as I like to sleep in on Saturdays.
I still got up around 8.
As the house was a little chilly, I put on some sweat pants (made in Mexico) and a zippered sweatshirt that has "England" written across the back. It was made in China.
I went into the kitchen, and dumped some organic Brazilian coffee into my Krups coffee grinder (German name, also made in Mexico), pushed down the top for a few seconds, and placed the ground coffee in a unbleached paper filter and put the whole thing into my Mr. Coffee machine (made in China).
While the coffee was brewing, I turned on my Hewlett Packard computer (made in Mexico)and tuned into the BBC while I looked through the New York Times on line. The soft sounds of classical music from London wafted out of my Boston speakers (made in Malaysia).
One article that caught my eye was this one, about how Winchester rifles won't be made in the USA anymore. The factory in Connecticut will close at the end of March, and the rifle that "won the west" will be made in Portugal or Japan.
Can you imagine this guy with "made in Japan" on his rifle stock?
"That'll be the day..."
The coffee was done, so I went and grabbed a china mug, actually made in France, with "Bushmills" written on it.
"Well, whatta you know", I said to myself..."the paper coffee filters were made in the USA."

It's 5 o'clock on a Friday evening, and it's time for the weekly ritual.
I walk briskly out of the State Offices, and hop into the trusty black miata. It doesn't look like rain, so I put the top down and head out onto Washington Street. I can see the Citrus Bowl and the blue topped bank tower as I hang a left at the Orange Blossom Trail, before making a right on Robinson Street. This is usually quicker than following route 50 crosstown through "Little Saigon".
I'm on my way, surrounded by rush hour traffic, to the Panera's at the Fashion Square Mall on East Colonial. It's Friday night, and I'm going to meet my Mom and Dad for coffee, dinner and (lately) a discussion of politics.
While both are in their 70's, they are intelligent people who's intelligence has not dimmed with age. Each has had some college, with my Mom picking up an Associates Degree at Camden (New Jersey) Commercial College. My Dad was studying chemical engineering at Temple University in Philadelphia, until a certain event forced him to quit his studies and look for work.
My being born was that event.
While I order something different each time, they are somewhat set in their ways. Mom always gets the Boston clam chouder, while Dad prefers the Ham and Swiss on Rye with no mustard. We all get coffee.
I do the ordering, and Dad does the paying, so it's a pretty decent arrangement for me.
Before I even take my first sip of coffee, Dad asks if I know what "That Idiot" has done now.
He is, of course, referring to the current resident of the White House. Mom takes a different tack, going straight to the body language. She says the man's smirk, and the way he leans on his podium "like he was standing at a bar", is what really irritates her. They both agree NSA wiretapping of American Citizens, without warrants, is something the Gestapo might have done...only this time, the technology is better.
I should state that these people, who I've known all my life, have never been "Left-Wing-Commie-Symp-Pinko-Radicals". Sure, they were big Kennedy supporters...we have home movies of JFK Rallies. I saw the late President in person when I was a child. I remember being with my Mom, when she managed to snap a photo of Ted Kennedy sitting on the back of Bobby Kennedy's funeral train, as it rolled through Philadelphia in '68. Dad went by himself to an Al Gore speech in 2000, and they both really enjoyed seeing John Kerry and John Edwards speak when I took them to the TD Waterhouse Center in 2004.
Yet, I've never seen them as worked up about national politics as they are now.
They are remarkably well-informed...and they are frightened.
They aren't afraid of what Osama might do...they believe the recent tape of the tall Saudi has been "on the shelf" for awhile, and only released now because the Bush Gang is in trouble at the polls. (See the latest post by my friend Mokie Joe for a better "take" on all this).
I think two things contribute to their sense of unease.
First, they both lived through World War II, (my Dad and I each missed being drafted in the "War of Our Generation" by a year or so) and they remember what Fascism looked like.
They seem to think Today's America is looking alot like Germany of the late 1930's.
Secondly, they have a grandson of draft age.
They think that if this President is permitted to march into Iran, a draft will be needed, and Mom has already said she will pay to send my nephew to Canada.
Are these two people really so different than others of their age?
Looking around Panera's, I have to think they are not. Yet, this sameness among seniors could mean something really interesting is going on in America today.
The older, maybe the oldest, generation is being radicalized.
It isn't just the perpetual war, their shrinking buying power, lack of healthcare, or a medicare "plan" that is confusing to all and useless to many. It's what they see as a fundamental change in what America has always meant to them. For the first time in my lifetime, the young may be forced to follow the lead of the old to a better world.
Perhaps the Greatest Generation will have to step up, just one more time, and defend the Boomers and Gen-Xers, their sons and grandsons, from something they have fought once before;
Fascism...
...only this time it's the American variety.

I woke up shivering at 5 this morning.
The uncontrollable vibration of my entire body was something I hadn't experienced since I lived in the Catskills in the early 80's, and had to drive to work in sub zero weather at 5am. My car took fifteen minutes to heat up in mid-winter, and the drive took 20, so by the time I got to the radio station, I didn't want to leave the car.
I eventually got a second set of car keys and tried going down stairs half dressed under a heavy coat, starting the car, and just letting it run with the doors locked. I would then run back up to my apartment and finish dressing. This worked well for a few weeks, until late one snowy Saturday night in March.
The police called and politely asked me if I had loaned my car to anybody, since they had found it abandoned at the bottom of a steep hill, with a telephone pole buried halfway into the hood. I expressed the expected outrage, but was too embarrassed to tell them that somebody must have noticed the second set of keys.
"So this is the final symptom", I thought, as my teeth chattered.
I have spent the last two weeks building an influenza jigsaw puzzle, getting one symptom at a time, but never more than two at once. First it was the runny nose, like an alergy. Days later it was a coughing fit, as I wandered my local Borders Bookstore. The headache began at work yesterday afternoon, with an overall body ache moving in later that evening. With the pre-dawn chills, my puzzle was complete.
The best decision I've made all week was to call in sick today.
Still, I was hoping to get a few things done with my day off.
I wanted to follow up with all the Blogstreamers who were kind enough to comment on my last post. I was going to talk about kids and schools and how this state needs 30,000 NEW teachers by the time the new school year begins in August. I was thinking about posting a run down of all the other weird stuff that has been happening in Florida lately.
In reality, all I really feel like doing now is grabbing an extra blanket, taking one of the blue generic contac pills, and wishing you all a very good night.
I have to be at work in 14 hours.

No matter where you live, I suspect you have already heard of the shooting of an eighth grader a few miles up the road from where I live.
15 year old Chris Penley was shot once by a Seminole County Sheriff's deputy, in a middle-school bathroom in Longwood, Florida.
They will likely shut off the boy's life support system tonight, so they may donate his organs.
The reason I bring up the incident is not that it affected me directly. I didn't know the boy, and couldn't even give you directions to his school.
It's just that this is an incident where the usual Liberal talking points fail me.

"He shouldn't have had a hand gun"
Well, it wasn't a real hand gun. It was a pellet or BB gun. When you painted over the red or orange coloring around the tip of the barrel, it was indestinguishable from a real 9mm hand gun. If I wanted to, I could go a mile up the road to Wal-Mart tonight, and buy one of my own with nothing more than my VISA card. I could even buy ammunition and the spray paint to cover the barrel tip...one stop shopping.

"The cops over-reacted and used excessive force."
I don't know. I wasn't there. I do know that the Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy who did the shooting is no rookie. Lt. Mike Weippert is a 20 year veteran, who has been on the SWAT team longer than Chris Penley was alive. I am frankly surprised he only fired once.
On the other hand, up to 40 members of the SWAT team had converged on the school by the time it was all over. That strikes me as a lot of heavily armed men against one kid with a gun.

There are no easy answers to this one, so I'm frankly looking to other Blogstreamers to help me understand what all this really means.
Perhaps it is just an unfortunate incident, unlikely to happen again, since this was one troubled child out of 1,100 students in the school. He reportedly made threats last year to blow up a school bus.
Perhaps it is symptomatic of what's wrong with public schools in America today. Maybe there are thousands of Chris Penley's around the country, some in your town, just waiting for their opportunity to "get back" at teachers, bullies, the system or their parents.
I don't know, but I want to understand.
I believe you can find the best account of events here, at the Orlando Sentinel. (I've knocked them before, but I think their reporter did some good work this time.)
I don't usually solicit comments, but I feel I really need to hear from others along the Blogstream on this.
I don't care if you read the article in the Sentinel or go by what you've seen on CNN...I just need to hear what you think.
Thanks.