WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
What do you do with a former chairman?
Rumors have begun to circulate that Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who because of term limits recently had to pass the gavel at the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, is angling to keep a couple of the investigations he started at the full committee level alive through the 108th Congress.
One is not controversial. As GROC chairman Burton led an inquiry into FBI corruption in Boston. The committee uncovered substantial reason to believe that at least one innocent man was sent to prison for a capital crime rather than compromise government informants inside organized crime.
The second investigation is slightly more sensitive. As GROC's chairman, Burton led several hearings that looked in the problem of American citizens -- particularly children -- being held against their will in Saudi Arabia. These hearings also touched on the issue of Saudi influence in Washington, with Burton going so far as to subpoena some of the lobbyists for Saudi interests to give testimony before the full committee.
Burton was in line to take over as chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia -- which would also play a key oversight role in U.S. activities in the Persian Gulf -- but it looks like he is not going to get it. According to a source familiar with IR Committee's inner workings, Burton is choosing to take a GROC subcommittee that will be created for him -- dealing either with health care or terrorism, the latter being related to but not quite the same thing as the problem of missing children being held in Saudi Arabia.
The rumor mill says that decision was influenced by those "at the top" inside the U.S. House who aren't really interested in pursuing any high profile investigations during the next year. Others say it was actually all in Burton's hands -- regardless of what the rumor is -- and that he was permitted to select his new assignment. Burton's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The last word...
The American Dialect Society's announcement that "weapons of mass destruction" and its abbreviation, WMD, is its 2002 phrase of the year has started a debate over other words that ought to be included on the list. Washington attorney and former Republican National Committee General Counsel David Norcross suggests "like" needs to be singled out for special consideration.
"This word is similar to -- not 'like' -- kudzu," Norcross says. "It has spread and spread and spread and has poisoned the ability of millions to express themselves with -- like -- any degree of -- like -- succinctness."
"I was appalled recently as I was sitting in a booth behind a young teacher whom I could not help but overhear; she was going at -- like -- five 'likes' a sentence." At present, an attorney in the Washington office of Blank Rome, Norcross avers that he is deathly serious about this. "They should highlight this wretched usage before we are -- like --strangled," he says.
Class warfare?
Some of the political opponents of another Gulf War have stooped to class war in an effort to increase popular resistance to U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein. During the 2002 campaign, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, running for U.S. Senate in Texas as a Democrat, suggested at least once and probably more that, if elected, he would try to get the Congress to vote on a resolution specifying that a certain number of troops to hit the ground first in the next war come from upper income families -- a not so subtle way to assert that wars to benefit the wealthy are often fought by the poor.
Now Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C,. and Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., are moving ahead with their joint effort to promote their legislation to reinstate the military draft.
The Hollings-Rangel would reinstate a draft to compulsory military or alternative national service for a war with Iraq. According to a statement put out by Hollings' office in both names, Hollings and Rangel "are in complete agreement that, if military action is considered necessary, then the burden of carrying out that action must not be limited to any one segment of the population."
Some read this as another not-so-subtle suggestion that a war to remove Saddam Hussein from power would be fought by the poor and by minorities -- the popular conception of just who makes up the soldiers of the line in the all-volunteer army -- for the benefit of the rich.
Memories of the smiles we left behind...
Demonstrating that she has a charitable side to go along with her political face, diva Barbra Streisand has selected the Alzheimer's Association to receive the proceeds that will be generated by the auction of a platinum heart-shaped pendant she designed, the association has announced.
"There are currently 4 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease and another 18 million family members and friends affected by its devastation," Sheldon Goldberg, the Alzheimer's Association president, said. "This generous public gesture sends a powerful message of hope that they are not alone in their suffering or in the fight to find a cure."
Streisand, whose late mother suffered from Alzheimer's disease, is atop the list of celebrities participating in the 2003 Platinum's Women With Heart celebrity pendant design and auction, sponsored by the worldwide platinum industry's marketing folks.
Got an item for Capital Comment? E-mail it to [email protected].
