Take a chance on me...

Abba has been selected to be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Quick: spell Abba backwards. Personally, I’m pleased that they will be honored. Platform shoes, plaid suits, and rather hot ladies have finally been recognized and given their rightful place in modern musical history. If my fading memory hasn’t deceived me, I seem to recall that in their early years of international recording, Abba sang the English versions of their songs phonetically because they didn’t speak the language. While I was pondering this little factoid (or fantasy-toid), I heard on the news that the Senate version of the Healthcare Reform Bill had not yet been written. Or if it had been committed to paper, then Senate Majority Leader, Harry (Dimbulb) Reid had it safely sequestered in an undisclosed location (probably in Al Gore’s Social Security lockbox).


Whoa, what a coincidence! As I listened to the various senators, pundits and newscasters discussing the Senate bill, I was struck with the nagging sense that they were just like Abba. They were mouthing the words, but they didn’t know the language. How mind-boggling is that? A bill that is more than two thousand pages (we suspect) that may contain measures that will radically alter one-sixth to one-fifth of the U.S. economy, and they do not know what’s in it. I have this mental picture of Senator Reid with a humongous bottle of White Out in his hand, opening the lockbox, pulling out the pallet of paper and making his daily alterations. The point is…how can a mystery bill of such great magnitude be rationally debated if only a few people know what’s in it? What’s wrong with this picture? I know what the Majority Leader is doing. He is attempting to secure sixty or more votes for his proposal before submitting it to open examination and condemnation. So, what we have is the American Beef Producers discussing Jello. Instead of a thorough analysis of real meat, we have duck and feint shadow boxing. Meanwhile, the majority staff diligently labors to produce a far reaching document that is all things to all people (at least 60 of them) while siphoning more droplets of freedom from the people.

On a related matter, I’m quite concerned about the power of congressional staff people. Members may come and go (not frequently enough), but staffers stay there forever…unless they run for their former bosses old seat. It has been a “red light” for me for many years, but I was reminded anew by a note in www.Redstate.com by Erick Erickson. He identified a communications weasel for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee named Brian Walsh. Basically, Erick suggested that Walsh preferred to have the committee support moderate or liberal republicans at the expense of more conservative ones. The SRCC is not an official committee of the Senate, but is wholly controlled by the republican members. If an entity under the purview of the more conservative party cannot refrain from supporting liberals and moderates, how can one expect the staffs of the formal committees of the Senate to be cognizant of conservative policies? How can we expect those staff members to endorse personal freedom when the power of the collective is so appealing? How can we expect entrenched staffers to cherish liberty when they fervently promote larger government?

Can we term limit congressional staff? If Members of Congress can catch Potomac Fever, then what do we do about staff members who contract Potomac Fossilization? If you suspect that I am overreacting, then peruse the voting results from The District, Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia. Permanent staff and federal bureaucrats are clustered in those areas. Overwhelmingly leftist and pro-big government, they trek into the city everyday to wreak their havoc, and then retreat to their safe havens after demolishing our personal freedoms. There must be an answer.

Romans 8:15 informs us that “Abba” means Father.

Father, help us.