The Hightower Report

Obama's War

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to war we go! Pound the drums loudly, stand with your country proudly!

Wait, wait, wait – hold it right there. Cut the music, slow the rush, and let's all ponder what Obama, Gates, McChrystal & Co. are getting us into ... and whether we really want to go there. After all, just because the White House and the Pentagon are waving the flag and insisting that a major escalation of America's military mission in Afghanistan is a "necessity" doesn't mean it is – or that We the People must accept it.

Remember the wisdom of Mark Twain about war-whooping generals and politicians: "Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."

How many more hundreds of dead American soldiers (and thousands more who will be mangled and shattered) does the government's "new" Afghan policy deserve? How many more tens of billions of dollars should we let them siphon from our public treasury to fuel their war policy? We've been lied to for nearly a decade about "success" in Iraq and Afghanistan – why do the hawks deserve our trust that this time will be different?

I had hoped Obama might be a more forceful leader who would reject the same old interventionist mindset of those who profit from permanent war. But his newly announced Afghan policy shows he is not that leader.

So we must look elsewhere, starting with ourselves. The first job of a citizen is to keep your mouth open. Obama is wrong on the war – dead wrong – and those who see how wrong he is have both a moral and patriotic duty to reach out to others to inform, organize, and mobilize our grassroots objections.

This is no time to be deferential to executive authority. It's our country, not theirs. Stand up. Speak out. We are America – and ultimately, we have the power and responsibility.

Federal Execution Commission

The Federal Election Commission might as well be renamed the Federal Execution Commission, for it repeatedly and ruthlessly takes election reforms down a dark hallway in its building and executes them.

The latest hit by the FEC was on a reform that the Senate passed in response to the Jack Abramoff scandal. Abramoff, the ultrasleazy überlobbyist of the Bush years, used the corporate jets of his favor-seeking clients to create "Air Abramoff." At a moment's notice, he could provide a luxurious, superconvenient shuttle service to key lawmakers who needed a ride to fundraisers or other political events. Congress critters paid only a token amount for these VIP jet rides – during which Abramoff and other influence peddlers got invaluable private time with their grateful passengers.

Even by Washington's rotten ethical standards, this high-flying coziness was too stinky to defend, so senators voted in 2007 to require that any members taking a corporate ride had to pay the prohibitively high rate for chartering the entire plane, effectively stopping the practice.

However, the FEC has now gutted this reform by autocratically and erroneously declaring that the reform law allows senators to pay only the token rate when they are traveling on behalf of party committees. You don't have to be smarter than a senator to see that lawmakers and their lobbyist buddies could fly a 747 jumbo jet through this mammoth loophole, which makes a mockery of reform.

To have an ounce of ethical credibility, Senate leaders of both parties must quickly overrule the FEC and revive the ban on accepting corrupt, cut-rate corporate travel. And, while they're at it, lawmakers need to overhaul the FEC itself, freeing it from the iron grip of party hacks. For more information, contact Common Cause at 202/833-1200 or visit www.commoncause.org.