I do not desire that the Democrats play nice. Remember the last six years. Republicans not only shut the Democrats out of the legislative process; in many instances they did not even let Democratic members of committees know where committee meetings were being held. It was like double-secret governance or something.
Enough alredy indeed. Time for oversight to return.
I can think of a few things the Democrats need to start investigating the very minute the 110th congress convenes in January.
I want answers about a lot of things. Where have our pension and retirement funds been going? What really happened to lose Iraq? Why was pre-September 11 intelligence ignored? How widespread is the NSA's domestic spying program? Is "big oil" using those oh-so-creative Arthur Anderson accounting methods? By the way, we want a look at the Vice President's super-secret energy task force documents, too.
Retirement funds: Due diligence must be done and retirement funds must be managed properly. For years, corporations have been underfunding their pension funds, and shifting the risk from the corporations to the workers through the proliferation of 401k and 503c funds that are tied to the market. The Securities and Exchange Commission is too understaffed to apply due diligence, leaving policing of the funds mostly up to the administrators of those funds. Can you say fox in the hen house?
Big Oil: Why did gas priced shoot to $3.00 per gallon right after Hurricane Katrina? Refining capacity was not dramatically affected. The impact on extraction from off-shore rigs was a blip at best. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that the gulf coast refineries are not operating at capacity, which indicates that there is actually some slack in the system. This internal Texaco memo is pretty telling, however:
supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline.Say it out loud, you know you are thinking it...Price fixing is going on and price fixing is illegal. Period.
The last serious investigation into the oil industry was concluded in 1952, a full decade before I was born. I think it is high-time they get scrutinized. Darth Cheney's energy task force would fall into this category, since so many petrol people were on it...Supposedly. One of those for the public good things that has been kept from the public. Why the hell would that be? (Plans to invade Iraq to get their oil are, perhaps, lurking in those documents?)
September 11: Investigate further what happened to the run up to the terror attacks of September 11 2001. More than one ball got dropped there. An informant for the FBI rented an apartment to two of the highjackers. The CIA had followed the two Saudi nationals to Malaysia and lost track of them before they left for California. But they remained off the FBI radar, even though they rented from an FBI informant (who was also a Saudi spy).
They had the August 06 2001 daily briefing that was dismissed with that immortal aWol-ism "okay, you have covered your ass now."
Oh yeah. I have a lot of unanswered questions about this cock-up that cost 3000 American lives.
Domestic Spying: I for one have seen this movie before. The cast of characters included the Church Committee, the Pike Committee and COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO was a domestic spying operation that targeted the peace movement. Now we have the FBI and local law enforcement spying on groups that oppose the war. Once again, they need to be brought to heel.
The NSA wiretapping probram is the part of the iceberg above the water line. The real danger lurks beneath the surface.
Iraq: We have a fuck-up of monumental proportions on our hands. Iraq had nothing to do with September 11, and now we know that plans to invade Iraq were laid before September 11 occured, if not before the boy king was installed. This absolutely must be investigated thoroughly, and if war crimes have been committed, the perpetrators must be surrendered to The Hague.
There you go. A handfull of investigations that should commence immediately. Representative Waxman, your country awaits and we know you will not disappoint. Give 'em hell, Henry.
