Waveflux's blog

From yesterday's Associated Press article on a U.S. House committee's quest for honest answers for two military families:

"After successive failed Department of Defense and Army inquiries, only a comprehensive, unrelenting congressional investigation can do justice to Pat's memory, and restore service members' confidence in their chain of command," said Rep. Mike Honda, a Democrat who represents the Tillman family's San Jose district. "I will not rest until the unvarnished truth - no matter where it leads - is brought to light."

If only Mike Honda represented the Florissant, MO family of Pfc. LaVena Johnson.

It's Monday, and leading Missouri papers like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star have yet to ask GOP Majority Whip Roy Blunt what he knew and when he knew it regarding the Mark Foley predatory email and IM scandal. Where are the investigations from vaunted "news leaders" such as KSDK? Blunt was not only part of the Republican House leadership at the time the story was first broached to that same leadership, he was in the the top chair as interim Majority Leader and fighting to keep the position, as the National Journal's Hotline reports:

Sen. Barbara Boxer's PAC for a Change is asking for your vote to help determine which Democratic Senate challenger will get its financial support. Three days ago, Bob Casey in Pennsylvania had a huge lead in the poll, but Claire McCaskill has since surged from well behind at 7% to take the lead by one percentage point over Casey (17% to 16%). 

McCaskill needs your help to gain the support she needs to fight a tightly-contested race. The poll ends on July 21. Make sure to vote, and to spread the word to friends and family.

Here's what Missouri Senator Kit Bond, member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, had to say earlier about CIA nominee Gen. Michael Hayden:

General Hayden is more than qualified for the position of CIA Director. The job of CIA Director is to track down and stop terrorists. That’s exactly what Gen. Hayden has been doing. His exemplary military background and his recent assignment running America’s ‘early warning’ terrorist surveillance system are clear strengths that only highlight the critical intelligence experience that Gen. Hayden brings to the CIA. I look forward to the confirmation process, but see no evidence that Gen. Hayden is anything but highly-qualified for the position.

In the wake of the big NSA call-tracking story and Hayden's likely involvement, here's what Senator Bond has had to say so far:

There's an interesting proposal afloat regarding the latest bit of GOP pandering, the "$100 gas rebate check":

If the hundred dollar checks are indeed disbursed pursuant to an Act of Congress approved by the President, all who are opposed to the Republicans pledge as follows: Upon receiving the check for the sum of One Hundred dollars ($100.00), I shall immediately sign the back of the draft and send it to the non-Republican political party or candidate of my choice.

A good idea, but one that can be improved with just a bit of focus. Inasmuch as the rebate scheme is the brainchild of desperate incumbent Senator Jim Talent of Missouri, I humbly suggest that everyone donate their $100 check to Talent's opposition in the coming election, Claire McCaskill.

Like the Michigan Congressional delegation that argued on behalf of automakers decades ago, Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, has repeatedly put hurdles in front of regulators. Mr. Bond operates from a position of strength in these matters. He is chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that controls the budgets of agencies like the E.P.A. and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

While Briggs & Stratton is based in Wisconsin, it has two factories in Missouri. The possibility that increased costs will squeeze tight profit margins has led Mr. Bond to argue that tightening small-engine standards nationally would take 1,750 jobs from his constituents and send them to China.

 Story Continued »

When it comes to the "global war on terror," the judgment of the senior senator from Missouri never fails to fail. First Kit Bond went on a pro-torture media tour, defending exempting the CIA from interrogation guidelines that would prevent torturing of suspects. Now he's back on the trail on behalf of the White House, faulting the media as endangering America for exposing George Bush's use of warrantless surveillance - wiretaps performed without applying for a warrant under FISA.

Bond was certainly free with his pro-torture talk before. Let's hear from the senator now.