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Blogs by Dana Reed
How An Eagle Scout Changed A Law 10/12/2007 7:12:34 AM
And other worthy/unworthy news items. 100,000 people a year request a Capitol Flag along with a Certificate of Authenticity, meaning the flag flying over the Capitol has to be constantly raised, then lowered, sometimes indoors as well, to appease all since there's only 365 days in a normal year. The program began in 1937, wherein citizens would contact lawmakers through their offices or send a request directly to the acting Architect of the Capitol for a flag that was flown over the Capitol along with a certificate, according to Jim Abrams of the Associated Press.
However, since 2003, the word 'God' was removed from the certificate accompanying the flag because it allegedly violated a policy banning religious and political expressions on the certificates. That all changed when a 17-year old Eagle Scout wished to honor his grandfather's "love of God, Country and Family," with a flag and received his Certificate of Authenticity with the word 'God' missing.
Rep. Michael Turner (R) Dayton, was contacted about the missing word and led a protest against the ban. Turner pointed out the numerous references to God in the Capitol--from morning prayers to inscriptions on the walls. Backed by several lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D) Calif., Turner is going ahead with legislation that would permanently allow the acknowledgment of God in certificates accompanying Capitol flags. Sen. Jim Demint, (R) S.C. is sponsoring an identical "Andrew Larochelle God, Family and Country Act of 2007" in the Senate. Andrew Larochelle is the name of the Eagle Scout. Who doesn't believe that David brought Goliath down? You go, Andrew.
Surprised that our federal budget deficit fell to $162.8 Billion in 2007, the Bush Administration is patting itself on the butt like football players going over the goal line. George, who insists on taking the credit by cutting taxes, claims those tax cuts led to consumer spending. Those tax cuts are to end in 2010 and the Republicans intend using the rise in our ecomony and the lowering of the federal budget deficit to their advantage. Their line will be that Democrats will again put us into hock.
However, and you knew there would be a however when it comes to George, however, I recall a president named Bill Clinton who lowered the national debt on his watch to a little under $3Trillion dollars. Please don't confuse the national debt with Bush's federal budget deficit. One has nothing to do with the other. Now listen up, after Clinton served his two terms and Bush got in, the $3Trillion national debt of 2001 climbed to $9Trillion today. So naturally George in his mania is again doing a hoe down and giving ass pats to his merry band of co-conspirators, while hiding the true problems that are bankrupting our country. A $6Trillion increase is a helluva an amount to add to our existing deficit, prompting Senate Budge Committee Chairman Ken Conrad (D) N.D. to say that Bush will "go down in history as the most fiscally irresponsible president ever."
And believe it or not, George blames every mess he's created on an unsustainable growth in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the social programs he keeps cutting. And if you don't believe that, listen up: At the end of every year, seniors receive a cost of living increase in their Social Security checks. When Clinton was in, seniors benefited by having a few bucks so they could afford groceries for the entire month. Now, the increases are being gobbled up by Medicare Insurance. So, if you receive a $20 increase, Medicare Insurance rises by $20. So George ain't giving us nothing but grief, along with his smoke and mirrors act. He constantly tries to baffle us with BS like an old college prof of mine as he sets out to prove that he's the all powerful, knowledgeable, Wizard of Oz. Well, at least he exists in Oz in his mind.
Yesterday I read a column that was extremely interesting by Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe. The title--"Death Penalty Case Focuses On Method Only." Her point, the Death Penalty debate raised by two Death Row prisoners in Kentucky doesn't ask whether the penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Rather it's about the methods used in executions. So now everyone, including the Europeans who led Wednesday's Day Against the Death Penalty are running down the wrong alley. The executions themselves aren't being deemed cruel and inhumane by prisoners, rather it's the methods used that are in question by the killers.
We went from executing killers by drawing and quartering them to hanging and the firing squad to the gas chamber and the electric chair. Each time something went terribly wrong during an execution the method used was changed in the interest of finding humane methods of execution. Now lethal injections are being questionned due to many fowl-ups.
Lethal injections are a mix of three injections, as most people are aware. The first injection is supposed to put the prisoner to sleep, the second paralyzes him while the third stops his heart. However, many times the first needle doesn't contain enough of a dose to work. Meaning the prisoner is paralyzed but wide awake when he dies in a pain that he is too paralyzed to express. Bear in mind that the men administering the doses aren't doctors since the American Medical Associated banned doctors from performing executions. The laymen administering the injections sometimes make mistakes with dosages. So another gentle, yet effective, method of killing killers has to be found. I have the perfect answer. When Vets euthanize animals they use injections that are fast working and painless. Why not use these injections to put animal killers who walk on two legs instead of four to sleep?
Too bad all of this time isn't spent on finding a more sensitive method of killers killing us. We could even strike a deal-prove to the courts that you took every precaution to see that your victims didn't suffer and we might sentence you to life without. How's that? Use a rubber ballbat and you'll only get 20 years. Kill your victims with a gun containing a tranquilizer that first puts the victims to sleep before killing them. I vote for a more humane method of killing us and to hell with the way the killers get theirs. Throw their asses off the roofs of prison buildings for all I care. They should be dead by the time they hit bottom. If those buildings aren't tall enough, try the Empire State Building.
Correction: In my article about the two washers that cost us millions, I had my figures wrong. The defrauder was a small company in South Carolina who sent two washers to a base in Texas. But they didn't charge $900,000 apiece for both washers. They charged a total of $999,798 for both washers. They didn't charge $2Mil for the shipping costs. Rather they charged $2.5Mil for the shipping costs. So it cost us close to $3.5Mil for 2 .19cent washers. Pentagon investigators discovered this in August, but there's no word yet on whether or not we recouped the money. There's also no word on the idiot child who cut the check. I know the Defense Department has a policy of automatically paying any bills marked, 'Priority', but you know, guys, once in a while you need to look at what's written on the bill. This is about the thousandth--is that a word?--time I've seen this nonsense in the papers. I vote for studying the bill before paying it. This should be part of an amendment during our next election. Plus throw the defrauders off the roofs of prison buildings along with killers. The defrauders are killing our economy. Anyway, it made sense when I first thought of it.
