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Showing posts from June 8, 2014

The Needle on My Disgust Meter is in the Red Zone

The needle on my disgust meter is far into the red zone. Last night I watched the replay on C-Span of the grilling the House Armed Services Committee gave Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel yesterday. It was another display of crass political gamesmanship. I hadn’t gotten very far into the hearing until it became obvious there wasn’t any real interest in getting the testimony of Secretary Hagel. And among every single Republican on the Committee there wasn’t one single instance of interest in Sergeant Burgdahl either, an American soldier held in captivity for five years by the Taliban. The sole interest was about how Congress got its feelings hurt because they weren’t consulted before the prisoner transfer. Some of the Democratic members also questioned the judgment of the decision to release five Taliban prisoners for Burgdahl. But their questioning was reasonable and respectful. But one Republican after another angrily peppered Secretary Hagel with silly scolding and p