Embattled Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig finally resigned after it was pretty clear to him that he was losing his party’s support. The Republican Party is not comfortable with sexual indiscretions by its senators, and quite clearly, this is a trap of their own making. They have always sought to rule on a moral basis, and any such indiscretion by a Democrat would have brought them out in full force appealing against a ‘moral vacancy’ in Democrats.
The Senator had pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct related to a sexual advance on an undercover policeman and then did not reveal these details. However, the fact is, American society has an unhealthy obsession with sexual morality of its politicians. Anything out of the ordinary, whether it be an affair, a one-night stand, a letter to somebody outside marriage, all of them are enough to make the media and talk shows latch onto these and essentially put so much pressure on the politician that they are eventually forced to resign. Read this:

Embattled Republican Sen. Larry Craig resigned his seat Saturday after a weeklong political maelstrom triggered by revelations he was convicted of soliciting sex in an airport bathroom stall. Amid unceasing pressure from his party’s leaders, the 62-year-old Idaho senator said he feared fallout from the scandal would not allow him to “devote 100 per cent of the time and effort” to his job.

continue reading "Focus on sexual indiscretion pushing people out of politics"

In a scathing criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers, and generically of the way that the various Government institutions such as Congress and Senators representing the state of Louisiana operate, TIME has published an article talking about investigating why the flooding of New Orleans happened after hurricane Katrina, and the prime reason seems to be because of defective policy by the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a great deal of bad allocation of funds by Congress to meet electoral (political) and other needs rather than a good deployment of these funds over a period of time. This is a good article, a must-read:

continue reading "Katrina, New Orleans and the Army Corps of Engineers"

It seems the recent meeting between General Musharraf and former Primer Minister Benazir Bhutto in Dubai led to an agreement between them, steps of which are being played out now. The Pakistani media is buzzing with the news of a compromise that will allow Benazir to come back without the threat of cases against her, and in turn, Musharraf will be able to get re-elected, and in an important question, remain as Army Chief. This last point is very critical for Musharraf, given that power in Pakistan literally flows from the barrel of a gun, and there is no other position as secure in Pakistan as the Army Chief. The one who holds the army controls the policy making and is always in a position to bring down the Government.
But, Benazir is not going to have it easy. She has had the reputation of being a fighter when in the opposition, and to suddenly make a deal with the President is going to cause a lot of her supporters to scratch their heads and wonder whether this was a right or wrong thing to do. For sure, other parties are not going to be very supportive of her. She seems to have made the first step to arrive back in the country:

continue reading "Benazir and Mesharraf deal"

The debate between crime, the Justice Department, and the separation of powers is an ongoing one. It gained fresh currency last year when the FBI raided the office of Rep. William Jefferson’s Rayburn office as part of a corruption investigation, leading to cries from Congress about the Justice Department violating the privilege of a member of the legislative side, while the FBI claimed it to be a simple investigation about a crime. Well, now a court has ruled on some of these points.

The FBI broke the law when it searched Rep. William Jefferson’s Rayburn office in May 2006 and viewed legislative documents, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. The court ordered the Justice Department to return any legislative materials taken as part of a corruption investigation of the Louisiana congressman, but allowed it to hold on to documents unrelated to legislative matters.
While the search itself was constitutional, the court said, the FBI overstepped its bounds in taking privileged legislative materials.

A split decision, which nonetheless allows the FBI to raid the office in pursuit of a criminal investigation, but at the same time asking the FBI to return legislative material. This is actually a decision worthy of being made by a politician, since it tries to keep everyone happy except for Rep. William Jefferson.