Idiot of the Week

"Funny how members of Congress, including some from Oregon, define an emergency: Overextended investment firms, banks and automakers, yes; cash-strapped states and unemployed, overwhelmed families with children, no."

What do you know? The Oregonian's Editorial Board gets one right.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, usually a pretty reliable old-fashioned liberal, has taken the middle-road on this, calling for cuts elsewhere to offset increased social spending.

You know he'd like to see defense spending slashed, but he's dreaming on that score.

And naturally the lone Republican among Oregon's delegation in the House, Rep. Greg Walden, has his head buried in the Central Oregon sand. His district, covering half the state from Hood River to the Idaho border and south to Ashland, is cowboy country, with an admixture of rich retirees and developers whom for years have tried to cash in on one of the great open spaces left in the American West.

He once told me in an e-mail that I should read Judith Miller if I wanted perspective on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction as Bush and his cohorts prepped for their disastrous war.

Subsequently, Miller was exposed as a fraud of course, which is but one of many reasons why Greg Walden wins this week's coveted Idiot of the Week badge.

Congratulations Mr. Walden! I suggest you find a new favorite author. You might start with the selected works of Noam Chomsky.


TS