Excuses, Lies, And Responsibilities

Excuse us if we're a bit slow today. Over the weekend our staff members took a break to recharge their physical, mental, and emotional batteries. We slept in, spent time with family, got out and exercised - even built a bookcase. We did a little work too, as we began to look over Mitt Romney's taxes, which we'll likely tackle tomorrow.

We also ran into a few friends over the weekend, including a veteran of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's what's jokingly called a "short-termer" by at least a few of our more recent veterans, having only spent two tours of duty "over there," one in each foreign nation. Having been deployed overseas more than once, our friend is back home now, but still a part of the Army Reserves.

What amazed us is that he's also thinking about re-enlisting as a full-time soldier and going back for yet another tour of duty. His current employer, fed up with all the time off he's had to give our friend, is making the vet's life a living hell. At least his employer has followed the letter of the law (so far) by holding our friend's job open for him when he returns from his tours of duty, something many employers have not done for other returning members of the military.

How America has treated our veterans over the last decade - especially over the last few years - is more shameful than most Americans know or should accept. We're more than willing to admit, though, that conditions for our returning vets are not nearly as shameful as they were for those who returned after serving during the Vietnam war.

That said, too many Americans - especially those putting party over country like Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns - still aren't willing to work as hard for our service members when they return as our military volunteers have worked for us when we send them "over there."

Last week was a perfect example of this kind of cowardice currently on display in the U.S. Senate.

After helping to craft a bill that would have assisted returning members of the U.S. military to get jobs, rejoin the regular workforce, and help cut the unemployment rate, four Republicans in the U.S. Senate - including Nebraska's own Senator Mike Johanns - decided to block the vote against the same bill they helped create. Each Senator seemed to give different excuses for their changes of heart.

The biggest excuse given was the false claim that the bill wasn't paid for. The bill was indeed paid for, in the same way virtually every bill in Congress is; over time, not all at once. Just as almost no individual pays for a house completely, up-front these days, multi-year government programs are also not paid for up-front, out of the current year's budget. That's not how either business or government is run in America today - and has been the case for longer than the life of anyone reading this commentary.

Both current Sen. Ben Nelson and U.S. Senate candidate Bob Kerrey - a veteran himself - were livid at the Republican voting blockade. They each noted that any procedural excuse that was made was something that could have been worked out, had the Congressmen been willing to put the needs of our service members above their slavish devotion to the Republican party.

To us, this sorry episode reminded us that some politicians are willing to act like our service members, fulfilling their responsibilities even when it's hardest - like in an election year, with an economy still struggling upwards.

Others, like Senator Johanns and his chickenhawk Republican cohorts, are still ducking their responsibilities to our military, and their own constituents, because of their fear of the extremists who currently control the Republican Party.

With an atmosphere like this, how any responsible American could vote for a Republican for Congress this year is beyond our understanding.

Friday Funday: Autumn, Again!

As the weekend approaches, and we look forward to time away from the keyboards and the drawing board, we noticed a small note on our calendars that gave us some extra reasons to smile today.

Saturday is the official start to the fall season, one of our favorite times of the year.

Our staff generally enjoys autumn, and the many changes that come with it. The weather finally welcomes football season, even as it begins to say goodbye to baseball. A chill has already begun slipping into the air - especially in the evenings - which means we finally can dig out some of our favorite clothes.

The colors change in the trees too - at least outside our Nebraska and Washington, DC offices. There often seem to be autumn surprises too, like the great news late last night that all 33,000 U.S. troops originally sent to Afghanistan for the surge strategy have now left that nation. Hopefully, some of those service members will be welcomed home with a fall harvest feast.

Unfortunately, thanks to one of the most worthless sessions of Congress in history, millions of Americans won't be celebrating with them. They'll be going hungry instead.

The reason they'll still be hungry boils down to Senate Republicans abandoning their duty to the American people by putting off until after the November election the passage of the Farm Bill. As today is Friday, and we traditionally try to keep things positive, we won't delve too deeply into the reasons House Republicans have held up a bill that not only helps farmers but controls the food stamp program, and other food assistance measures for millions of poor and working poor Americans.

Suffice it to say, those members of Congress are headed home to campaign - and we hope some of them get what's coming to them from their constituents.

All things considered, we're glad that it's fall. Political debates have begun in earnest, like the one in Massachusetts last night, where Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren wiped the floor with Republican incumbent Scott Brown. More debates in Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland and Florida between other candidates are coming up too.

For many of the candidates we support, the most recent polling has been looking positive too, headed into fall.

Summer isn't quite done yet though, with Major League Baseball still going strong. There's a distinct chance this year for the Washington Nationals to go to the World Series - the Nats did clinch a plyoff spot last night -  so we may be paying attention to baseball well into the heart of the fall season.

In short, it's autumn again - a great reason for us to look forward, and smile.

Marching Off The Cliff

There are times in life when - no matter how much you'd rather be focusing on something else - you have to push ahead. That may even require holding your hand up to your face and looking between your fingers, as you cringe and look forward.

It's especially hard when the view you're seeing includes people you care about marching right off the cliff of political extremism.

We're not just talking about the Romney campaign, though.

Republicans in Congress - many of whom are headed home this Friday for a week of campaigning - will have few successes and many failures to answer for these past two years. You can include in that list the GOP Senate filibuster Wednesday that killed a jobs bill for veterans.

Worse than that, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell - the same man who said the Republican Party's top priority was to make Barack Obama a one term President -  admitted Wednesday that he wished Congressional Republicans could have obstructed the President and Democrats more these past four years.

No one can say we haven't been ringing the bell and banging the drum about the fractures in the GOP. We've been talking with each other about an  internal Republican Party "civil war" for much of the last ten years, even before we began this publication. Mitt Romney, with his pompous fundraising speech about the 47%, may have done what all our warnings never could - namely force the Republican Party to deal with its incompatible divisions.

As usual, Mitt's methods have created more destruction in their wake than he'll ever take responsibility for. According to Gallup, voter reactions to Mr. Romney's "47%" comments have been overwhelmingly negative.

In newspapers across the country, in stereotypical "red" regions, as well as "blue", Mitt Romney writing off half the nation has been devastating to Republicans. Romney's hubris this election season has forced many so-called "down ballot" candidates to run not just against their opponent, but also away from Mr. Romney, and even the Republican brand. Even Fox News is desperately trying to bail Mr. Romney out of his mess.

Voters and candidates aren't the only ones running away from the effects of Mitt Romney's extreme arrogance. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans delivered their prepared remarks, and then bolted for the doors, like they were jumping off their own cliff. It was obvious the Republican Senators were trying to avoid questions about Romney's 47% comments, as well as their own vote against jobs for veterans.

The scattering of Congressional Republicans at their own press conference doesn't surprise us, either. According to a slew of polls, at both the state and national levels, things are not looking good for the GOP.

Even Republican Senator Tom Coburn - a longtime veteran of political battles on Capitol Hill - admitted he's so tired of the gridlock and short-term focus on elections, he can't stand the lack of progress in any direction by Congress.

Meanwhile, the extremists in the Republican Party keep banging their drums, forcing Mitt Romney and many Congressional Republicans to march right off the edge of the political cliff.

You can't say we didn't warn you.

It's time to face the music, Republicans.

Forty-seven days and counting...