Wasting Precious Time
From the same US Congress that brought you “Freedom Fries” and long hearings on steroid use in Major League Baseball comes another great waste of time and taxpayer dollars, condemning an ad in a newspaper.
On September 20th the US Senate voted to condemn the Moveon.org’s full page ad in the New York Times that heavily criticizes General David Patreus’s performance in the Iraq war.
Senate Amendment S.AMDT.2934 to House Bill H.R.1585 is the note of condemnation.
The text of the amendment is the following.
To express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.
The US House followed suit on Wednesday, September 26th with a 341-79 vote on H.J. Res 52 during house roll call 910.
So, my question is what exactly is the point of this condemnation? There doesn’t appear to be any teeth to either act. Yay, Congress disapproves of a newspaper ad.
Is this what our government is in the business of now? Condemning every remark from a dissenting group and responding to newspaper ads with debate and votes?
Maybe I should count my blessings. Any minute of Congressional time spent debating and voting on opinions is better than a minute of time plotting how to increase the size of government.