Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Gonzales, Holder, and Perjury

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Back in 2007, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (R) stood before the Senate Judiciary Committee and testified about two headlining controversies: President George W. Bush’s (R) firing of seven U.S. attorneys and the administration’s domestic wiretap programs. In reality the attorney firings were a complete non-issue (since presidents can fire their appointees for any reason they wish), and the wiretap programs were not particularly noteworthy. The hearings were little more than an opposition gimmick designed to score cheap political points, but that’s just par for the course in Washington.

It soon became clear that elements of Gonzales’s testimony did not align with information in White House documents, and other administration officials had provided contradictory testimony. Gonzales had mislead congressional investigators. The chief law enforcement officer of the United States, the head of the Department of Justice, had committed perjury. Regardless of how baseless or trumped-up the controversies may have been that brought Gonzales to Capitol Hill in the first place, once he was there he was required to tell the truth. His only other option was to refuse to answer questions by citing his Fifth Amendment protections or executive privilege. Lying under oath was inexcusable.

At the time, I called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales’s testimony and, if he had indeed lied, bring appropriate charges against him. I don’t care if somebody is Republican, Democrat, conservative, or liberal; criminals don’t belong in high office. Gonzales resigned soon thereafter, and he was never prosecuted for what he did.

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It’s Not About Health Care

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These are the final days before what is almost certain to be the most monumental U.S. Supreme Court ruling in decades. Some time in this week or the next, we will find out what the court’s nine justices have to say about Florida v. United States Department of Health and Human Services—in other words, they will be deciding the constitutionality of the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,’ colloquially known as ObamaCare, which is being challenged by twenty-six of our fifty state governments.

To hear the law’s proponents describe it, what’s at stake here is universal access to health care—which is a clear public good. To them, a Supreme Court rebuke would mean that the ‘conservative’ wing of the court had used its right-wing political beliefs to overturn the will of the people (expressed via Congress). ‘This is the worst kind of judicial activism,’ will be the refrain. ‘How dare the justices take health care away from poor, needy Americans?’

This is misdirection of the worst kind. The questions before the court have nothing to do with health care, but with the limits of federal authority under the U.S. Constitution. If the court overturns ObamaCare, it may indeed ‘take health care away from [some] poor, needy Americans,’ but that will not have been the court’s fault. If you want to blame government entities for how our health care system works in this country, there are fifty statehouses I can refer you to, since regulation of health care is their job.

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The Joys of Air Travel, and Draft Election Site

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Melissa and I returned Monday from an excellent Bradford family reunion in Hood River, Oregon, which is about sixty miles east of Portland. We saw a lot of really interesting and fascinating sights in the area and, more importantly, spent a lot of quality time with my extended family. But unfortunately, that meant I had to fly.

I managed to avoid the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) nude photos and feel-ups, but only by sheer luck. Agents at Dulles International Airport were subjecting almost all travelers to these Fourth Amendment violations, but I was randomly pulled-out of the line and sent through a regular metal detector. At Portland International Airport, only about half of the travelers were being violated while the other half went through normal metal detectors; I happened to be in the lucky half. Yes, it’s a brave new world here in America.

Anyway, somebody must have been carrying a virus on one of our two flights back . . . which United Airlines kindly recirculated over-and-over through the cabin. Half of our travel party was ill within a few days, myself included. From mid-day Wednesday through to today I’ve been spending most of my time resting and drinking fluids, although I’m finally starting to feel a bit better today.

I did accomplish one thing though: I built out most of my election night live coverage site, complete with an electoral map and liveblog. It’s going to be much easier for me to update in real-time than the setups I’ve used in the past, so you’ll get your live results faster and with fewer errors than before. You can get a look by going to http://election.scottbradford.us/.

Vacation Day 6: The Grotto

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On day six of our vacation—the last full day—Melissa and I went solo to Mass at the Grotto in Portland, Oregon.

The Grotto is a sixty-two acre Catholic shrine dedicated to Our Sorrowful Mother. Without diving too deeply into the theology, that simply refers to Mary, the mother of God, with a particular emphasis on her sorrows and trials—especially that of watching her son die on the cross. It is meant to be a quiet, secluded, peaceful place for prayer and contemplation, even though it is located right in the heart of the city of Portland.

We attended Sunday Mass in the Chapel of Mary, and afterwards went on a walking tour of the Grotto grounds. It is a really beautiful place, filled with Catholic statues, shrines, artwork, and more. You’ll find many photos from our excursion below.

Afterwards we had lunch at a small Hawaiian restaurant nearby, and took the scenic route back to Hood River, Oregon via the Washington side of the Columbia River. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with family back at the house, and beginning to get everything packed up for the trip home tomorrow. All-in-all, it’s been a great trip.

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Vacation Day 4: Mt. Hood Railway and Columbia Cruise

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For the fourth day of our vacation the whole family group took a ride on the Mount Hood Railroad and, later, a dinner cruise on the Columbia Gorge sternwheeler.

The historic Mount Hood Railroad runs about twenty miles south from Hood River, Oregon—a mid-sized town nestled against the Columbia River—to the tiny town of Parkdale, Oregon, almost in the shadow of Mount Hood. Along the way you pass through one of only five switchbacks still in-use across the United States. Built in 1906 and 1909 the line served commercial traffic in the area until Union Pacific threatened to shut it down in 1987, at which point it was purchased by private investors. It continues operation primarily as a tourist line, although it still serves a handful of small commercial customers. Although the weather was quite overcast, we still got a good look at some of the local sights.

Then, after a rest back at the house, we drove out to the town of Cascade Locks, Oregon, to board the Columbia Gorge sternwheeler for a dinner cruise. The food was okay, but the views of the cloud-covered Columbia Gorge (and a different angle on the Bonneville Dam) were pretty impressive.

Photos from day four are below. Don’t expect any from day five, since it is shaping up to be a quiet day at the house with the family. We’ll be in Portland on day six.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.