Open Thread: Miscellaneous Notes

In a survey printed in The Herald Sun, each member of North Carolina's congressional delegation was asked whether or not they supported George Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq. With the defection of Congressmen Howard Coble and Walter Jones, support even among Republicans is beginning to wane. What was particularly interesting, however, was Sen. Elizabeth Dole's remark which carefully avoided offering strong support for the increased troop commitment.

I am inclined to support the president's overall plan to make economic revitalization and reconstruction in Iraq a higher priority and to increase the U.S. troop presence to help the Iraqi government impose its authority, weaken the militias, and bolster reconstruction. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee... I want to know more details about the specific missions these men and women will perform, and how this new direction will get the job done, stabilize Iraq, and allow our troops in harm's way to return home.

Does that sound like a ringing endorsement to you?

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In The News & Observer there was a similar poll of how members of congress come down on the issue of federal support for embryonic stem cell research. Note that Rep. Mike McIntyre intends to vote once more against federal funding, but he avoided discussing his personal opinion. Instead the article specifies that...

McIntyre said in an interview last week that Democratic leaders know how important it is for members to be able to vote their constituents' needs. And McIntyre will vote against the measure again, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Looks like the citizens of his district made him do it. Poor man.

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Rep. Patrick McHenry explained his refusal to vote for an increase in the national minimum wage because he felt that the Democrat's suggestion that a family could not live on the minimum wage lacked credibility. McHenry said, "They're talking about providing for a family of ten? It's just empty rhetoric and crazy talk."

Makes you wonder, does Rep. McHenry think a family of five could live on the minimum wage?

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Not to leave well enough alone, Rep. McHenry submitted an opinion piece to The Examiner explaining why he would be voting against federal funding for stem cell research. According to the congressman,

Millions of Americans recoil in horror at the thought of embryonic stem cell research because it results in the destruction of innocent human life. There is no reason these people should be forced to pay for a procedure that they find so morally objectionable. But that is exactly what Congressional Democrats intend to do when they pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act today.

I wonder if Rep. McHenry would accept that same argument as a good reason for not funding the war in Iraq? After all, there are a number of us in North Carolina that recoil in horror at the thought of the destruction of human life, so should we be forced to pay for a war that we find morally objectionable?

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Rep. David Price is sponsoring legislation that will bring new oversight to the activities of independent contractors in Iraq. According to a press release from Rep. Price's office..

Specifically, Price's legislation would expand the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act to include all contractors involved in a military operation...and establish a Theater Investigative Unit of the FBI to investigate and prosecute criminal misconduct.

OOOOOOOOps Haliburton, looks like it's a brand new world!

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Ken Rudin in "Political Junkie" speculates about the 2008 Senatorial elections. The segment of that story that discusses North Carolina reads,

"Elizabeth Dole (R): She got a dismal review for her stint as GOP Senate campaign chair, but I'm not sure what that means in North Carolina. Still, a potential race to watch."

You'd think that her pitiful failure as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee might add up to something unpleasant. Especially if you were an important Republican donor, or your "irresponsibilities" placed you high up in the Republican hierarchy. Shouldn't money be a bit harder for Sen. Dole to raise this time around. Or is that wishful thinking?

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For a change Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are working off the same page, and this time that page is in The New Testament. Carter and Clinton are trying to get their fellow Baptists to accept a new "North American Baptist Covenant" that emphasizes "their compassion rather than the racial, theological and social conflict that has divided them for decades." According to The Baptist Biblical Recorder...

Their goal is to demonstrate Baptist harmony, based around the themes Jesus preached on in his inaugural sermon, recorded in the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord ... has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."

Those themes comprise the core of the North American Baptist Covenant, drafted last April in a meeting at the Carter Center attended by about 20 of the Baptist leaders who announced the 2008 event. At the time, they announced their intention to find a way to unify Baptists around Christ's compassion for people he once described as "the least of these" in society.

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Paul Chesser of the John Locke Puppet Show has an opinion piece in The American Spectator entitled "Trucking South for Future Elections." After a long disquisition as to the political implications of migration to the South, and particularly to North Carolina, Chesser ends with this rather mean spirited characterization of those arriving from the North...

Have the Yankees regulated, taxed, and governed themselves out of their own livability? They may have set their sights on those of us in sunnier climes, seeking new prey to devour with their nanny-statism.

Surely this can't be an example of that vaunted Southern hospitality for which the old South was justly famous. I guess certain old Southern values have a higher priority for Mr. Chesser than others. I wonder which of those old values he holds most dear? Care to guess?

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And finally, file this under "A Small World." Today, China View reports on a poll conducted in Canada about which political party Canadians would most like to see in control of the White House. According to Xinhua, their equivalent of AP, "A landsliding majority of Canadians want their neighboring Americans to choose a Democrat as their next president in the 2008 election..."

Well I'm happy to report that according to polls here in the U.S. a "landsliding majority" of Americans would also like to see the Democrats win the next presidential election.