September 23, 2008
AN OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS
Subject: Don't you dare!
Don't you dare vote for the Administration's $700 million bailout plan. It's worse than flawed; it's flim-flam squared. Have you learned nothing during the past seven years?
It's the accountability, stupid.
From ignored pre-9/11 warnings, to the shame of Abu Ghraib, to the abandonment of New Orleans, to the current economic meltdown . . . no one has been held accountable! Some received the Medal of Freedom, others were merely demoted. Some went into private practice and command huge fees on the pundit-circuit or as lobbyists.
And now, the Administration wants to memorialize its doctrine of non-accountability in tablets of stone. Just read Sec. 8 of the plan:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
Sound familiar? It's Executive Privilege, and the Unitary Presidency rolled into one and writ large. It's the USA-PATRIOT ACT with lipstick: No accountability, no oversight, and no review
Frankly, I'm astonished that the Administration would try this crap again. And, I'm terrified that you folks will pass it. Your record of principled resistance is less than stellar.
I really shouldn't be taking time out from my job-hunting (11 weeks and counting), but this is so . . . what's the word? Oh, yeah: "blatantly insulting," that I just can’t let it go by. Actually, "blatantly insulting" is two words, but that's beside the point. You know the old-old: "Screw me once, shame on you; screw me twice and you'd at least better leave cab-fare."
If this bill goes through without serious revision, it'll take a lot more than cab fare to calm this elitist, over-educated, starry-eyed idealist-liberal down.
And, don't buy the Administration's line that it has to be passed immediately: there's no "mushroom cloud" on the horizon this time. And, speaking of "mushroom," I'm reminded of a line from a Travis Tritt song: "Them politicians treat me like a mushroom / They feed me bull and keep me in the blind.
The song is called "Lord, Have Mercy on the Working Man."
Still hopeful,
Roger Scimé
Ps. If you get a chance, read Maureen Dowd's Friday NYT column. She absolutely nails it.
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