House of Representatives

This comes from Mideast Web via a Green Party listserv. I'm not a Ron Paul enthusiast, although I appreciate his stands on war, empire, and civil liberties.
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THANK REP. RON PAUL FOR HIS COURAGEOUS STAND

On March 5 the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 951, "Condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, and for other purposes," by a count of 404-1.

The lone voice of dissent was Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who not only cast the lone vote against the bill, but rose to speak on his opposition to wording of the legislation that "oversimplifies the Israel/Palestine conflict" and "is more likely to perpetuate violence in the Middle East than contribute to its abatement."

We commend Representative Paul for his understanding of the issue, his commitment to principle, and his determination to speak out. If more elected officials acted with the same clarity and even-handedness with regard to Israel and Palestine, we would be closer to a just and sustainable peace in the region.

Often times when confronted with the cesspool that is modern politics, I am reminded of a line from one of the Star Wars movies. "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." It isn't quite thunderous applause that bothers me as I write this, but rather a 68-29 Senate vote. The Senate has passed President Bush's FISA Bill, complete with Mr. Bush's protection for his precious telecoms. Once again, our spineless Senate has given the Sith Lords in the White House exactly what they have asked for. Once again, politicians who were elected on the premise of standing up to Bush are doing his bidding. But there is, to continue the Star Wars metaphor, a new hope, and that is the House of Representatives. And Mr. Bush doesn't like the threat these Jedi pose.

"People are wondering why companies need liability protection. Well, if you cooperate with the government and then get sued for billions of dollars because of the cooperation, you're less likely to cooperate." President Bush said.

And, of course, businesses cooperating with our government can be a very good thing. But what about when it isn't? What if our government was asking these companies to break laws? What if this was just another overstepping of the powers allotted to Mr. Bush? And why would these corporations have to worry about being sued "for billions of dollars" if they hadn't broken the laws?