Close, But No Cigar

The Giants fell yesterday thanks to a 38 yard field goal by David Akers as time expired, 23-20 final. If you've followed this blog since its inception (or perused the archives), you'd notice several instances where I've offered prognostications. Right or wrong, my words are always available for examination, scrutiny or praise.

Bloggers have fueled 'easy-access' records with accurate quotations and statistics, readily available for any discerning person with a computer and an internet connection. I go to great pains to ensure the accuracy of the facts and figures used in my publication and the same can be said for millions of bloggers posting on whatever tickles their fancy. It's no wonder politicians and sportscasters* hate the blog-o-sphere; their words now hang in perpetuity.

*Personally, I can't stand the 'hot & cold' editorialized analysis of athletes offered by most color-commentators throughout a match. Bill Walton is the classic example: X has a slam dunk, he's an all-star. X misses a shot, he's a bum (jape). But I digress, back to the politicians...

During the previous campaign, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) chided the 109th Congress as a 'do-nothing rubberstamp'. She promised a defining first 100 hours where Democrats would transform the House of Representatives to reflect the new leadership's agenda. Democrats promised Congress would be in session five days a week (doing something, one assumes) and would implement all recommendation of the 9/11 commission (rubberstamping those suggestions instead of the President's).

The first full week of Speaker Pelosi's House has been delayed because the House will not be in session today. The reason? A football game. I can almost hear the Democrat caucus, "But it's the national championship game!" (jape). What about the country's business? It sounds like it's going on as usual.

Then there's the issue of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations... After repeatedly proclaiming they would implement all aspects of the report, Democrats have resisted the reshuffling of congressional committee intelligence oversight. "Of all our recommendations, strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult and important," wrote the 9/11 Commission. "So long as oversight is governed by current congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the American people will not get the security they want and need."

This reorganization would force politicians to relinquish power, which is why it's been opposed on both sides of the aisle. And so, 88 (!) committees and sub-committees will continue their cumbersome oversight activities while bipartisan pleas for streamlining continue to fall on deaf ears. And Mrs. Pelosi's plan? Add another layer of bureaucracy called the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. A bartender once asked a regular, "What'll you have?" and the patron replied, "The usual."

For a better understanding of the priority Mrs. Pelosi places on our national security, one needs to look no further than her choice for head of the Intelligence Committee. Mrs. Pelosi tapped Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) over her fellow Californian and ranking committee member, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA). Mr. Reyes recently displayed his deftness during an interview with Congressional Quarterly when he misbranded Al-Qaeda's Islamic strand as "probably Shiite." Then asked to describe Hezbollah, he silkily responded, "Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah... Why do you ask me these questions at five o'clock?" I'd call this jape, but it's startling and all too common.

Make no mistake: it's politics as usual in our nation's capital.

This isn't the first time Mrs. Pelosi's campaign rhetoric hasn't jived with her empowered actions.