Gravitas

The idea of an open and communicative government is wonderful. However, all of the childish prattling coming out Washington about who is at fault for creating the nation's debt and who is at fault for prolonging it is absolutely appalling. Op-ed columnists are naturally going to write the kind of pieces that will whip the American people into a furious lather, and that may be a good thing—Americans should pressure the government into making long overdue changes. In fact, it would be nice, if unlikely, to have that pressure result in meaningful, productive dialogue between the people and the government. Alternatively, I think the people should be able to realistically expect meaningful, informative disclosure from our duly elected officials as discussions progress. The dispassionate yammering currently issuing from members of Congress and, indeed, the Office of the President amounts to little more than the finger-pointing and name-calling tactics schoolchildren use to settle a playground dispute. It has become commonplace on the American political landscape, and it needs to stop. The people deserve a little more gravitas from the country's highest levels of leadership.

Off Limits

Call me a skeptic, but when I hear a government official say, "Nothing is off limits," with regards to budget cuts, I hear, "Only the obvious things are off limits."

Cause for Celebration

People are celebrating the demise of Osama bin Laden. It seems to me that a man's death should never be cause for celebration. While the abstract principle of "justice served" is worth celebrating, we should bear in mind that killing bin Laden was not really about justice. In the U.S., justice is decided by due process. It's an impartial examination of facts leading to a legal determination of what is fair.

The U.S. conducted a military operation inside Pakistan (with whom we have an extradition treaty) without even the courtesy of a heads up. I wonder how the U.S. government would feel about armed soldiers dropping into a city the size of Albany, and killing a known terrorist. How would ordinary citizens feel? If the U.S. wanted to "bring him to justice" as President Obama stated, shouldn't they have at least notified the Pakistani government of their plans?

I think, rather than justice, what Americans got was vengeance. I can't blame people for feeling some small amount of grim satisfaction that the self-admitted architect of the September 11th attacks will never cause such destruction again, but the ebullience, bordering on exaltation, that people have expressed is a bit alarming.

The United States just assassinated killed a man (maybe they tried to bring him out alive, but I doubt it). This isn't some great accomplishment. It isn't as if we discovered a vaccination for HIV or the proverbial "cure for cancer". The vast majority of humanity (and in this day and age, shouldn't we be thinking on a global scale?) won't see any clear benefit from this man's death. I know, many Americans seem to believe that Osama bin Laden's death signifies the end of terrorism, but the truth is, bin Laden was a symbol for terrorism, just as Saddam Hussein was a symbol for oppression. Oppression didn't die with Hussein, and terrorism has not died with bin Laden. Perhaps, instead of jubilantly basking in the elimination of a single terrorist, we should take a good, hard look at terrorism, and try to eliminate that.

Heads in the Sand

It seems like the government could be doing more about the BP oil leak. If a private citizen were caught dumping a single barrel of crude oil into the ocean, I'm fairly confident that he would be taken to court, fined, and possibly jailed. Why isn't the federal government, perhaps under the auspices of the EPA, being more proactive with BP? A hefty fine, per day or per gallon, should be incentive enough to get the job done.

On a slightly less realistic note it would go a long way towards building good faith if some of the other oil companies publicly stepped up and offered a hand. Exxon, I'm looking at you. I remember Valdez. That's probably too much to hope for. You don't see commercials for gas stations on TV too much these days. No, everyone is trying to distance himself.