Rage before bed.

[bzarcher]

chaoticgoodnik already pointed this out, but it struck a chord in me.

In the matter of Terri Schiavo, and the "Life is sacrosanct no matter what" debacle, the entire body of Congress and the executive branch convened a special session of Congress and signed through major legislation to law in less than 48 hours, including Congresspersons leaving their home districts in the middle of campaign season on a weekend. They worked a Saturday and a Sunday because of the "importance of the issue."

In the midst of Katrina, and all this aid that the President "desperately wants" to get through Congress? I've yet to hear a WORD about convening a special session, weekend or not. The majority of the cabinet and the Congress are still on vacation, with no comments about changing that aside from Bush returning from his vacation 2 days early.

The more I think about this, the angrier I get.

Comments

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

I heard somewhere - CNN? - that the Senate is going to try to meet and pass something tonight, and the House is going to try to be assembled tomorrow. But still, 4-5 days.

Oh, and I stole it from Jack Cafferty. I probably wouldn't have thought of it myself for a couple days at least. *shrug*

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Still. Tomorrow's good. But it kinda shows where people are apparently stacking priorities in our government, and it scares the hell out of me.

[ardaniel]

Yeah, I heard on CNN around 3pm local that the Senate was coming back tomorrow, and the House of Reps Saturday.

Condi Rice apparently cut her shoe-shopping in NYC short as well.

[flying-landon.livejournal.com]

Well, of course they delayed.

This session will result in spending MONEY.

Where as before, with that mess, it cost close to nothing.

[alathaniel.livejournal.com]

Spending money and looking _really_ bad to everyone if they don't do something.

As opposed to spending next to nothing, and capitalizing on a media feeding frenzy. While looking good to their strongest supporters. (aka the marginally nutball freaks who scream louder than the rest of us because they have nothing better to do)

I have to ask myself - how many of the people screaming to keep her alive have ever had to visit a relative in similar condition? I'm guessing the answer is "Not Many".

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

I probably have an answer that no one wants to hear, but slamming together an emergency session of Congress is likely not as easy as it sounds. Threat assessment and gathering of the proper data is not immediate, and then Congress would need to wait for the President or one of his subordinates to make the request before a session could be held to sign off the cash. Much like the outrage over the National Guard, (http://iraqnow.blogspot.com/2005/09/logistics-of-disaster-relief.html) I think the government is moving as fast as it possibly can, which is sadly not fast enough to save everyone, but a bureaucratic juggernaut such as Congress cannot spring into action like so many Continental Superheroes.

I agree the help is needed now, but that's just not logistically feasible.