Countdown

Vote No on Legislative Grandstanding!

Volume VII, No. 17
Posted on Monday May 8, 2006

Vote No on Legislative Grandstanding!

Today’s expected House of Representatives vote on Palestinian aid has been delayed. While the bill sailed through the hawkish House International Relations Committee, it cannot be voted on by the entire House until two other committees waive jurisdiction. Introduced shortly after Hamas’ election victory, this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bill rescinds the President’s ability to waive sanctions in the interest of US national security (including the results of future Palestinian elections or in the event of a natural disaster) and offers no support to Palestinian moderates. The all-stick-no-carrot approach would maintain sanctions even if Hamas agreed to the Quartet’s requirements of recognizing Israel, renouncing violence, and abiding by previous agreements. Additional sections include a visa ban on Palestinian Authority representatives in the US (even if they are not affiliated with Hamas, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas), restrictions on PLO representation in the US (Hamas is not and has never been a member of the PLO), and includes calls for withholding dues to the United Nations. This legislative grandstanding will do nothing to improve national security, our standing in the international community, or prospects for peace.

Adding Nothing to the Debate

In an article that is malicious even by the standards of the New York Sun, Edward Luttwak offers a bigoted and fallacious view of Islam and the historical relationship between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Luttwak labels Islam’s reputation as tolerant of other faiths and a religion of peace as “myths,” the latter a “creation of Western liberals.” He identifies himself as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a well-respected Washington institution which would seem to be ill-served by his advice. Those who are filled with hatred and bigotry disrupt efforts at reconciliation and understanding between communities, both in the United States and throughout the world. Most disturbing is that the article was distributed by a respected Jewish organization. One wonders what their reaction would have been had similar “myths about Judaism” been circulated?

Do You Feel Safer?

In what is considered lightning-speed for Congress, the Dubai ports debacle has finally pushed lawmakers to seriously consider the issue of port security. Last Thursday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly (421-2) passed a bill which would increase spending on port security by $7.4 billion and includes nuclear weapons and “high-risk” cargo screening. Even more far-reaching is the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s version, which could lead to 100% screening of cargo entering the US, a scenario the Heritage Foundation charges would create “an easily bypassed bottleneck that gives people a false sense of security” and House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) warned “will shut down worldwide shipping overnight.” Critics of the bill charge that it is not comprehensive enough. “While nuclear smuggling is possible, so are dozens of other attack scenarios. Overinvesting in countering one tactic when terrorist could easily employ another is dangerously myopic,” warn Heritage’s Alane Kochema and James Carafano.

Jose, Can You Sing?

Although a bill to reform our broken immigration system has yet to be negotiated in the Senate, some Senators have turned their attention to a subject that really matters- the assault on our National Anthem. According to ABC News, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) “rose bravely on the floor of the US Senate to defend the anthem from those who would sing it in Spanish.” So ABC News went to Capitol Hill to investigate if Washington lawmakers are among the reported 61% of Americans who actually know the song’s lyrics—in English. Some succeeded (Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) sang with “gusto”) and many failed (Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “I am like 61% of Americans. If I had to get up and recite the national anthem, I would fail miserably.”). Although President George W. Bush has taken the side of the English-only crowd, First Lady Laura Bush said she didn’t mind the Spanish version, calling America a “nation of many, many languages.” Diplomat-in-Chief Condoleezza Rice, whose State Department website boasts four Spanish versions of the anthem, said, “I’ve heard the anthem done in rap versions, country versions, classical versions. The individualization of the American national anthem is quite under way.”

Indecision 2006

With the 2006 midterm elections are only six months away, Countdown will continue to provide you with the latest news from the campaign trail…An impressive 11 Arab Americans have thrown their hat into Congressional races in 2006. Congressmen Nick Rahall (D-WV), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Charles Boustany (R-LA) will be running for re-election, while Senate candidate Michael Bouchard (R-MI), and House candidates Sharon Beery (D-CA), Charles Karam (D-MI), Ahmad Hassan (R-TX), and Chris Wakim (R-WV) vie to join the Arab American caucus. Other Arab Americans who ran impressive, though ultimately unsuccessful campaigns, include Barbara Ferris (D-OH), Thor Jacobs (D-OH), and Amir Omar (R-TX)…The road was paved for the election of the first American Muslim member of Congress last week when State Rep. Keith Ellison (D) won his party’s nomination for Minnesota’s fifth district, one of the most Democratic in the country (retiring Congressman Martin Sabo (D-MN) received 70% of the vote in 2004).