Unconservative and Unconstitutional

Bush Plans $1.5 Billion Drive for Promotion of Marriage By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, NYTimes

Administration officials say they are planning an extensive election-year initiative to promote marriage, especially among low-income couples, and they are weighing whether President Bush should promote the plan next week in his State of the Union address.

For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain “healthy marriages.” …

Without waiting for Congress to act, the administration has retained consultants to help state and local government agencies, community organizations and religious groups develop marriage-promotion programs.

I thought conservatives thought government had no business promoting social policies. I thought conservatives believe the government should stay out of people’s lives as much as possible. Somehow, conservatives will find another $1.5billion which will end up in the pockets of church groups. How conservative is this? mjh

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Giving Up Freedom for Security

Keeping Detentions Secret (NYTimes Editorial)

The Supreme Court made it easier this week for the government to drape a cloak of secrecy over the imprisonment of people accused of crimes when it rejected an appeal seeking the identity of hundreds of men rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks. The freedom of all Americans is diminished.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear this appeal comes as the Bush administration is increasingly asserting the right to conduct law enforcement in secret. …

”Those who would give up essential freedoms for security, deserve neither freedom nor security.”Ben Franklin

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Bush’s Problems

TheStar.com – O’Neill backtracks on Bush broadside TIM HARPER

The book [The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind] is replete with stories of a president who appeared zoned out at meetings and said he operated on ”instinct” and ”gut,” not briefing books.

In the book, O’Neill laments the fact that as a 65-year-old man he had to be given a nickname, a Bush habit.

The president immediately began calling him “Pablo.” Later he started calling his treasury secretary “Big O.”

He said Bush called Secretary of State Colin Powell “Balloonfoot.” …

[I]n an interview to be published in Rolling Stone magazine, Dean — without specifically mentioning the war in Iraq — said Bush had some type of obsessive need to please his father, who allowed Saddam to remain in power after the 1991 Gulf war and lost his bid for re-election.

“This president is not interested in being a good president,” the former Vermont governor said. “He’s interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father.

“He is obsessed with being re-elected, and his obsession with re-election is hurting the country.”

In the 60 Minutes interview, O’Neill said Bush’s habit of giving nicknames was indicative of his bully-nature, while most suggest it’s because he’s not too bright; both are probably true.

Note that Suskind wrote for the Wall Street Journal, which is for conservatives what they think the New York Times is for liberals. Now the WSJ is trying to discredit Suskind as a “well-known Bush antagonist.” mjh

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Bush is ‘breathtakingly arrogant’

Kennedy: Bush Broke Faith with Americans on Iraq By Vicki Allen, Reuters

[Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts] said the administration ”has broken faith with the American people, aided and abetted by a congressional majority willing to pursue ideology at any price, even the price of distorting the truth.”

He also said the Iraq war has made the effort to stop terrorism more difficult. ”We knocked al Qaeda down in the war in Afghanistan, but we let it regroup by going to war in Iraq,” he said of Osama bin Laden’s network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. …

“War in Iraq was a war of choice, not a war of necessity. It was a product they were methodically rolling out,” he said.

Kennedy branded the administration as “breathtakingly arrogant,” convinced “they know what is in America’s interest, but they refuse to debate it honestly.”

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Cut

Every year for some time now, I’ve cut my hair on 1/13; Merri cuts it, as she does the few times throughout the year that I have it cut. January 13th is the anniversary of my Mother’s death. Ernestine Justice Hinton died 19 years ago. The grief is no longer crushing, but still nearby. My Mom may have loved everything about her kids (Elizabeth, Danny and me). But, with me, it was always my hair that seemed to make her light up. And, so I cut it.

This year in memory of Mom, I did something different (after my ritual haircut). I stepped into a parallel universe, where Merri and I have 3 kids. I picked the kids up from school in the minivan. Donald, who is 6 1/2, had a better day than yesterday (which was “the worst day of my life” — I refrained then from telling him much worse days will come). Dean, 5, was very talkative once I startled everyone by driving home a different way (he doesn’t like change — too bad). At the neigborhood day care center, little DJ, 2 last week, washed his hands in the little sink after his diaper change — they say he’s the best kid they have (they probably say that to all the parents, but I believe them). We went to the park and frolicked (from the German word for ‘happy’, I didn’t tell them). On her way home from the grocery, Merri stopped by with super-cheddar goldfish cuz she knew we’d be hungry and getting cold. As the sun set, I drove the kids home. Dean showed me his wildlife coloring book; DJ kept bringing me different toys; Donald changed into a TV zombie.

The boys real mom, Lavern, came home with McDonald’s for dinner; dad, Donavon, will be home in a couple of days. I slipped into the darkness, walked out of that parallel universe back to mine. No real regrets in this world, except that Mom never saw it. mjh

01/13/2003: Ernestine Justice Hinton

Ernestine Justice Hinton taught me to love quick wit, language and laughter. …

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Political Security

Clark: Bush more concerned with ‘political security’ than national security TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark on Tuesday criticized the timing of an investigation of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and suggested President Bush was more concerned with ”political security” than national security.

Campaigning in New Hampshire two weeks before its primary election, Clark called for a full congressional investigation into why the United States went to war in Iraq.

“We don’t know what the motivation was. We just don’t know. We’ve spent $180 billion on it, we’ve lost 480 Americans, we’ve got 2,500 with life-changing injuries,” the retired general told reporters. …

Clark contrasted the speed of the O’Neill investigation with the slow pace of an inquiry into who last summer divulged the name of a CIA official whose husband had criticized the president’s Iraq policy.

“They didn’t wait 24 hours in initiating an investigation on Paul O’Neill,” Clark said. “They’re not concerned about national security. But they’re really concerned about political security. I think they’ve got their priorities upside down.

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"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams