Right jab left jab the fight goes on

The democratic congress and the republican administration are at each other all the time.

Congress asked for a report on the success of the 100 million spent by the administration to teach only abstinence from sex to teenagers. The study indicated that teenagers that had pledged abstinence had as much sex as those that hadn't. This will initiate a budget battle over the $ in the present budget.

The dogs are also after Wolwowitz. presently head of the World Bank for the last two years. Before that he was the architect of much of the war strategy under Rumsfeld and had a large part to play in the attack of Iraq. He was rammed down the throat of the Europeans. Democrats opposed his nomination but they were not in charge of Congress at the time so couldn't do anything. His main push was corruption, no money to any government that was corrupt even if people were starving. This was a shift from the previous focus on poverty, government got money for people that were starving even if they were corrupt.(need to think about that.) The old guard at the World bank got a little disturbed when this focus got lost for countries that were "fighting terrorism" even if they were corrupt. That is he didn't always follow his own rules. The Democrats have been waiting to find something to hang on him and now they have. Apparently he helped his girlfriend get a pretty good job. (I think US$ 200,000/year). I am not sure that he was that much in the wrong but the knives are out. He may end up having to resign. I thought he had escaped but there may be justice after all.

OOOps as part of the Gonzales muddle, the White House now says that they have lost four years of emails and can't provide the data Congress wants. The estimate is 5 million emails, but there is no way to know how many. Apparently the top level at the White House has two accounts, one for government business, which the law says must be preserved, and one for Republican political business that can be deleted. So which one do you use??? Even so I don't think you can lose them. They are on a server somewhere. Democrats are crying cover up, just like Nixon and the tapes.

The president has cast one veto in six years, against federal money for stem cell research. So Congress has just passed a bill still to be reconciled before going to the President that put federal money back in for stem cell research. With a proviso that stem cells can only come from embryos that are going to be discarded. The president has said he would veto it. Let's see what happens.

The Administration has gone to congress and has asked for increased surveillance power under the Patriots act. Something the democrats are against. It is only since democrats took control that the administration has said it would comply with the law. The president maintained that he had the power to do what he wanted since he was Commander in Chief in wartime. Unprecedented Presidential power.

So now the attack dog Vice President Cheney gave an interview and maintained that Democrats raise taxes, surrender in war and expose the US to new dangers. The Democratic dogs are saying the President is hunkered down in the White House like Nixon, losing emails, and not connected to reality.

Right jab, left Jab. What a mess but needed to get the country back in the middle.

The other interesting thing is that a lot of the drama is played out at the Congressional Committee hearings. Many are broadcast live on C-Span. I will be watching the Committee quiz Gonzales on Tuesday April 17.

Right jab, left jab many more rounds to go. It's hard to wrestle the wheel from the driver.