Life in the Republican Congress

Where principles reign:

During 14 years in the Michigan Legislature and 11 years in Congress, Rep. Nick Smith had never experienced anything like it. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, in the wee hours last Saturday morning, pressed him to vote for the Medicare bill. But Smith refused. Then things got personal.
Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan’s southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father’s vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
. . .
Republicans voting against the bill were told they were endangering their political futures. Major contributors warned Rep. Jim DeMint they would cut off funding for his Senate race in South Carolina. A Missouri state legislator called Rep. Todd Akin to threaten a primary challenge against him.
Intense pressure, including a call from the president, was put on freshman Rep. Tom Feeney. As speaker of the Florida House, he was a stalwart for Bush in his state’s 2000 vote recount. He is the Class of 2002’s contact with the House leadership, marking him as a future party leader. But now, in those early morning hours, Feeney was told a “no” vote would delay his ascent into leadership by three years — maybe more.
Feeney held firm against the bill. So did DeMint and Akin. And so did Nick Smith. A steadfast party regular, he has pioneered private Social Security accounts. But he could not swallow the unfunded liabilities in this Medicare bill. The 69-year-old former dairy farmer this week was still reeling from the threat to his son. “It was absolutely too personal,” he told me.

Don’t forget the 15-minute roll call which was held open an unprecedented three hours while two Republicans were hammered into switching their votes.
Victory at any cost.

Digging a Deeper Hole

Earlier I mentioned the political-correctness-driven situation in Los Angeles County, where vendors where asked not to use the designation “Master/Slave” for computer components.
According to this story (via Calpundit), things have gotten even worse. County employees were ordered to relabel more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, and now county officials have publicly gone on offense:

Dennis A. Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said an African-American employee who filed the complaint felt it was employment discrimination because the employee was working on video equipment with the label written on it. The office investigated and determined that the complaint did not involve employment discrimination, but the official recognized that the term could be perceived as offensive.
“The issue was the employee had to operate this equipment and look at the term ‘slave and master,’ and given their background as an African-American person, I imagine they had different feelings about it,” Tafoya said.
“We found the terms were antiquated and offensive to individuals and that a more reasonable term could be used. I think that’s what we should do. If it means culture change, then we have to begin someplace.
“This has got some people’s hair up on the back of their neck. They believe it’s a question of being politically correct. It’s not that at all. It’s an issue of valuing diversity, respect and dignity for the individual who comes to work here every day. The issue that resonates in different people’s minds is a very negative connotation.”

Respect and dignity for the individual? Is disk drive nomenclature now the battlefront for civil rights?
We’ve got far more important problems in America than this kind of stuff. A cause, such as racial equality, only has so much political capital to spend, so it’s important to pick the battles it fights wisely. This is a horrible choice.

Following the Money

Here’s an interesting site (via Daily Kos) which analyzes donations made to the presidential candidates. One section ranks the candidates according to donations along several criteria. The other section plots donations on a national map and allows you to sort by zip code, county, and state.
Based on my unscientific browsing, it appears that amongst the Democratic candidates, Tennessee is darkest for Senator Edwards–i.e., relatively speaking Tennessee is one of the stronger areas of financial support for Edwards. This shouldn’t be too surprising, given that he’s from neighboring North Carolina.
Take a look at the map. It’s cool to play with, and in some areas the results are surprising.

Pomp and Circumstance

Not everyone in the world is taking off for a long holiday weekend. Today was the State Opening for British Parliament. I caught a few minutes of the BBC replay on C-SPAN and the event is rife with ceremony and tradition–most of which I probably didn’t grasp.
A part of Queen Elizabeth II’s speech which appears to have garnered a fair amount of discussion regards education:

A Bill will be introduced to enable more young people to benefit from higher education.
Upfront tuition fees will be abolished for all full-time students and a new Office for Fair Access will assist those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Universities will be placed on a sound financial footing.

This comes against the background of wide-spread opposition toward plans to raise university fees.
It seems as if Britain is facing some of the same problems as we face across the pond in America. Apparently a lottery system isn’t always a cure-all.