Roskam's Second Week

So, how did Peter do this week? A review of the votes shows that he voted against raising the minimum wage, against empowering Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, and against funding stem cell research (this one is no surprise and fully in-line with his campaign promises). In all these cases, he was on the losing side of the votes. He did cross party lines and joined 68 other Republicans in voting to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission (Rep. Hastert voted against this - probably to save face as much as anything since he did little when he had the power to bring this forward).

And now a bit about my week: in various meetings and gatherings, the topics were devastating cuts to social service programs; decreasing affordable housing not just in DuPage County, but in Illinois; County and State budgets that are broke and in big trouble; US military strikes in Somalia; and, of course, a pledge from our President (with the backing of many Republicans) to "surge" in Iraq which is increasinlgy looking like an expansion and unspoken declaration of war with Iran. On top of this, I am preparing to leave for Kenya with a heightened awareness that current US efforts to fight terrorism are making the world not safer, but far less safe. An Al Qaida leader was quoted as encouraging expanding their presence in the poverty-stricken parts of Africa because the desparation is great fertile ground for converts. Hmmm; perhaps this is something the Democrast should consider instead of cutting funds for Global poverty-relief programs. In fact they might do well to bring that up once in a while as they consider voicing opposition to war expansion: the first line of attack to truly end terrorism is poverty eradication.

But back to Peter: he did manage to send out a glossy e-mail about the excitement of his swearing-in the previous week. That's great, but we've got some serious problems that are going to need some serious bi-partisan solutions. If our congressman is going to be a part of the solutions, he probably should get busy finding some common ground with his Democratic allies in Congress and his progressive constituents at home.

I'm off now until early February, and will catch up then.