Orrin Hatch Seeks To Jump Start The Drug Testing Industry

Who says that Republicans are the "Party of No?" No longer can we claim that all the GOP does is block meaningful reform and access to health care and legislation that denies people from being helped back to work. Senator Orrin Hatch, a long-time conservative Senator from Utah has an idea to spur at least one American industry back into action.

From The Huffington Post:

Utah voters have reacted enthusiastically to Sen. Orrin Hatch's legislation to drug test the unemployed and those receiving other forms of government cash assistance, the Utah Republican told the Huffington Post after introducing his measure last week.

"A lot of people are saying, 'Hey, it's about time. Why do we keep giving money to people who are going to go use it on drugs instead of their families?'" Hatch said.

The goal, he said, is to get users into treatment.

What this has to do with anything, no one really knows. So far his Republican colleagues have wisely stayed away from making comments. Democrats have called the idea punitive and pointless.

Senator Hatch though, says that people love his idea. Whether or not he can back that assertion up is another matter of course.

What Hatch is really up to (besides revitalizing the drug testing industry) is trying to score political points by milking the "let's beat up on the poor" card that conservatives have loved to do since Reagan made it popular. Social policy experts however, can point to several examples where programs like this have been tried and quickly failed to make any real difference. Not that that matters to Orrin, he's just trying to get his own welfare....corporate campaign cash that is.

Bush Broke The Law At DoJ....Will Something Be Done, Does Anyone Care?

Republicans are trying to minimize this, but now we have definitive proof that the Bush Administration politicized the Department of Justice from top to bottom. What they did was a violation of the laws of country and this needs to be pursued all the way from investigations to jail time for those guilty of crimes. But, since this is 2008 and the climate in Washington defers to the all-mighty King Executive authority. I'm as worked up as Dan, but I'm not too excited about our chances of actual justice.

Bushie Ambassador Broke The Law For McCain

For some reason, a slew of Republicans have either had no common sense training, or more specifically, never heard of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act was instituted to protect our American democracy from cronyism and corruption but apparently George Bush and now John McCain are having none of that. Their leadership has inspired people like David Wilkins to break the law to raise as much money for their party as possible.

From The Washington Post:

A Canadian newspaper reported Thursday that Friday's scheduled $100-a-plate luncheon speech by Sen. John McCain in Ottowa was organized in part by U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, a former South Carolina lawmaker whom President Bush appointed in 2005.

Democrats pointed out the article late Thursday night, and alleged that Wilkins's actions could be construed as a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits many kinds of political activities by government employees.

The article in the Edmonton Sun, and an earlier one in the Globe and Mail, says that Wilkins contacted Thomas d'Aquino, the president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, to help set up what they described as a fundraiser before McCain's visit. McCain is scheduled to give a speech at the the Chateau Laurier Hotel and to meet with several Canadian officials.

According to the Sun: "Wilkins had been contacted by the McCain campaign about a Canadian visit, and the ambassador wanted to know if some of d'Aquino's group of corporate chief executives might be interested in meeting the Republican presidential candidate. Almost instantly, d'Aquino jumped at the opportunity."

The Hatch Act circumscribes political activity for government employees. According to the American Foreign Service Association Web site, the State Department's ethics office prohibits fundraising activities for its presidential appointees.

Perhaps Wilkins forgot to take his "appointee" hat off for the fundraiser, or more aptly he forgot to cover up his actions and he got caught. It's a real shame that the event was only for $100 a plate (supposedly just to defer costs of the luncheon) but a fundraiser is a fundraiser and now we have a breach of the Hatch Act. Now Wilkins has to go down....that is if anyone still respects the rule of law around here anymore.

Lurita Doan: The Alberto Gonzales Of The GSA

Lurita Doan acts as cluelessly under oath as her counterpart in the Attorney General's office. The only difference is that Lurita is clearly in her position due to the amount of money she and her husband donated to the Bush campaign. Alberto is merely a hatchet man next to her (albeit a very important hatchet man).

Mrs. Doan has clearly violated the 1939 Hatch Act by using government offices for political purposes, yet tries to downplay the seriousness of her crimes while claiming not to remember many details of those crimes. In a nutshell, this is one partisan hack that needs to go. The White House Office of Special Counsel has recommended that she be fired. Of course, this is the Bush White House and loyalty usurps criminal behavior anyday.

From Down With Tyranny:

Like Gonzales, she serves "at the pleasure" of the president and apparently he gets a great deal of pleasure surrounding himself with incompetent crooks and scoundrels whose appreciation of the law is exactly what his own his: nil. Bush and Rove-- not to mention Cheney-- are likely to sympathize with Doan when the Office of Special Counsel letter to Bush criticizes her for defending the meeting by claiming it was attended by political appointees who witnessed a presentation that "would likely be in line with 'their own beliefs.'"

It was clear from the moment Doan took the stand at Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she is a deceitful partisan hack who has been schooled to repeat, ad nauseum "I do not remember."

Of course, let us not forget that Karl Rove had a role in all of this, since he was the one that came up with the list of targeted House Democrats in the first place. With Rove's involvement, I doubt that the White House will even think about firing her. This is yet another case where Congress must act on behalf of a negligent President. Unfortunately for the rule of law, Congress is 0 for 1 when it comes to ridding the government of obvious criminals such as Alberto Gonzales. No matter how much Waxman blusters at her for the criminal activity, the only tool that must be used is impeachment of Doan. Honestly, I'm not holding my breath.