This is a post that I just put at Democracy Cell Project, which I didn't do as an article - because Jim McDermott is the Congressman from my district. I'm not plugging him in a political sense when I write about him. I'm writing about him in the sense I would write about Martin Luther King or some other hero who represents the common good. It is beyond partisan, but I'm not sure how to make that clear.
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I just went to Congressman Jim McDermott's Potato Feed which he has every year around St. Patrick's Day. Jim's wife is in South Africa with a Professional Development Foundation, working with AIDS patients and helping determine which agencies are beinf the most effective.
He went into politics after working with Vietnam Vets during the Vietnam War (mostly head-injured and he is a psychiatrist). He has visited over 200 countries and done alot fo psychiatric patients, AIDS patients especially in Africa, and for vets as regards depleted uranium and post-traumatic stress, dating from the 1991 Gulf War.
He was one of the few in Congress who voted against the Iraq War, realizing from day one that we would have a flood of head injuries coming back and we are. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Compared with Vietnam, we are saving more soldiers who aren't killed and we know how to fix arms and legs but not brains. The brain can only take so much jostling around (and I've worked as a speech pathologist with head-injured).
Jim has been to a retreat with Pelosi and believes there will be a vote about Iran, and limiting Congressional authorization, because if you give Bush an inch, he takes a mile. They know that now. He told me personally tonight that if we go into Iran, it will be 30 years before we ever get out. I have seen him most every time he is in town and he has really been focussed on stopping them before it is too late.
The audience asked him hard questions, and people in his/my district are devoted, informed and supportive. They do ask about impeachment and he says Bush is impeachable but it would tie up the rest of the time in his lame duck term and the investigations have to happen. Congress has to undue alot of the damage that has been done under the Republicans. & we'd be stuck with Cheney. Now he did say that virtually every committee has investigations to run because this administration has done whatever they wanted for six years. & that if we don't get back our system of checks and balances the way the Constitution intended, then we would be living with an Emperor; that the President didn't need more power.
He said he would be surprised if Gonzales isn't gone by Friday and that Republicans in the Congressional gym consider him a rock around their neck and are admitting it. When he went to the White House to talk about health care, Rove even came back to schmooz with him.
I did also meet a lobbyist for Care International and she was trying to help get Joe Biden enough money to stay in the race. Both of us favored the same people - Biden, Richardson, maybe Obama. Both of us were pissed that the media has determined the top tier before the race should have even begun and that experience doesn't seem to be valued enough. She also was touting the slogan PELOSI in 2007, which I thought was a good idea.
Now to go to this I had to donate (which I never mind) and I missed the protest sponsored by ANSWER but it was mostly the "usual suspects" and I'm going tomorrow to the one by SNOW because it will have all the neighborhood groups and people from all walks of life.
It was really fun tonight with all the food and balloons and beer and to be surrounded with people who care deeply, but also very sobering because Jim is a very hard and relentless worker and always lets us know how high the stakes. It is really a situation in my district where he works for us and we work for him and that's the way it should be.
Slugbug
Saw this bumper sticker as I headed to my car.
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