BloggeRhythms

Just a quick update on the incumbent’s platform and promises going into his re-election.

 

The nation’s now coming to grips with the ramifications of the health tax fraud sold to them with the often-repeated assertion that “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” The fact-checking organization Politifact has named this one their “Lie of the Year.”

 

Then, next week, the House will vote to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress next week, Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office announced last Thursday.

 

According to Politico, if the Republican-controlled House approves a contempt charge, as expected, the vote would be the most serious repercussion against any IRS employee handed down as part of a nearly yearlong probe into the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

 

And just yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner announced that he intends for the House to vote to create a new select committee to investigate the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans. 

 

His website posted a statement beginning with the following paragraph: “Americans learned this week that the Obama Administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the People's House. These revelations compel the House to take every possible action to ensure the American people have the truth about the terrorist attack on our consulate that killed four of our countrymen.  In light of these new developments, the House will vote to establish a new select committee to investigate the attack, provide the necessary accountability, and ensure justice is finally served.”

 

So, as many leading Republicans have been saying lately, it looks like the chickens are finally coming home to roost. But the saddest part of the whole scenario is that the nation is saddled with horrendous problems, home and abroad, caused by an administration so mired in politics that good governance is never considered. Which means that the entire population’s paying the price forced on them by one who never had any intention of providing effective leadership. And even if he did, doesn’t posses the governance skills to apply them.

 

And then, on another issue,  former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has withdrawn from the Rutgers University commencement ceremony because of student and faculty protest.

 

The first paragraph of her withdrawal letter says, “I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as (its) former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."

 

Her decision was made because on Monday, roughly 50 Rutgers University students staged a sit-in at a school administration building in New Brunswick to protest the school's invitation to have her appear at the university's commencement because of her support for the Iraq War and Bush policies in the War on Terror. 

 

After reading the article, I looked up some facts and found that as of  May 4, 2011, the most recent info available according to Rutgers website, total enrollment is 56,868. That number breaks down to 42,327 undergraduate students (74.4 percent) and 14,541 (25.6 percent) at the graduate and professional. What’s more, there are more than 390,000 living alumni.

 

I list the statistics because it seems incredible that a relatively few can squelch “free speech and the exchange of ideas.” If you calculate the known dissenters (50) as a percentage of total enrollment, the percentage is .00087923 or less than a tenth of one percent.

 

So, while I can certainly appreciate the Secretary's not wanting to dampen the day in any way for those celebrating what should be a joyous occasion, it seems a shame that a handful of protestors can dissuade a consummate professional from presenting her ideas, ideals and opinions. 

 

Yet, that always seems to be the position of dissenters, which precludes any kind of exchange of ideas, preferring instead to object and complain rather than yield an inch whether they have any first-hand knowledge or not.  

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios