Little Brother Forum

Note: Ms. Frances Fragos Townsend was appointed Homeland Security Advisor by the President on May 28th, 2004. Ms. Townsend chairs the Homeland Security Council and reports to the President on United States Homeland Security policy and Combating Terrorism matters. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.

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Press Release:

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 3, 2005–Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) announced today that Preston M. ‘Pete’ Geren resigned from Anadarko’s Board of Directors in order to accept an appointment as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force. His resignation was effective July 28.

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Mr. Chairman:

Your hearings come at a critical juncture in the U.S. war of choice in Iraq, and I commend you and Senator Lugar for scheduling them.

It is time for the White House to come to terms with two central realities:

1. The war in Iraq is a historic, strategic, and moral calamity. Undertaken under false assumptions, it is undermining America’s global legitimacy. Its collateral civilian casualties as well as some abuses are tarnishing America’s moral credentials. Driven by Manichean impulses and imperial hubris, it is intensifying regional instability.

2. Only a political strategy that is historically relevant rather than reminiscent of colonial tutelage can provide the needed framework for a tolerable resolution of both the war in Iraq and the intensifying regional tensions.

If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large. A plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran involves Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks; followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure; then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a “defensive” U.S. military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

A mythical historical narrative to justify the case for such a protracted and potentially expanding war is already being articulated. Initially justified by false claims about WMD’s in Iraq, the war is now being redefined as the “decisive ideological struggle” of our time, reminiscent of the earlier collisions with Nazism and Stalinism. In that context, Islamist extremism and al Qaeda are presented as the equivalents of the threat posed by Nazi Germany and then Soviet Russia, and 9/11 as the equivalent of the Pearl Harbor attack which precipitated America’s involvement in World War II.

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Filed by Michael Roston/The Raw Story, January 15,2007
In an overlooked hearing last Thursday, the head of a government watchdog agency warned of looming disaster for America’s economy if an effort isn’t made to control spending, RAW STORY has learned. Adding that decision-makers in Washington suffer from “tunnel vision and “myopia,” he said that getting the budget under control could even require steep tax increases if action isn’t taken now.

“The picture I will lay out for you today is not a pretty one and it’s getting worse with the passage of time,” said David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, in a Thursday morning hearing of the Senate’s Budget Committee. “Continuing on our current fiscal path would gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living, and ultimately even our domestic tranquility and our national security,” he warned.

Walker heads the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the independent, nonpartisan watchdog of Congress that evaluates the spending of American tax dollars and advises Congress on improving government programs.

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Roscoe Bartlett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland’s 6th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 5, 1993 -
Preceded by Beverly Byron
Succeeded by Incumbent

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Born June 3, 1926
Moreland, Kentucky
Political party Republican
Spouse Ellen Louise Bartlett
Religion Seventh Day Adventist
Roscoe Gardner Bartlett, Ph.D. (born June 3, 1926) is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 6th district (map) of Maryland since 1993. He often refers to himself not as a lawmaker but rather as a “citizen legislator.”

 Early life, career, and family
Born in Moreland, Kentucky, a suburb of Louisville, Bartlett completed his early education in a one-room schoolhouse. He attended the Seventh-day Adventist Columbia Union College and graduated in 1947 with a B.S. in theology and biology and a minor in chemistry. He had intended to be a minister, but he was considered too young for the ministry after receiving his bachelor’s degree at the age of 21.

Afterwards, Bartlett was encouraged to attend graduate school at the University of Maryland, College Park. He studied anatomy, physiology, and zoology, earning a Master’s degree in physiology in 1948. Bartlett was then hired as a faculty member at Maryland and taught anatomy, physiology and zoology while working towards his Ph.D. in physiology, which he earned in 1952. His academic career included lecturing at the Seventh-day Adventist Loma Linda School of Medicine in Loma Linda, California (1952-1954), and serving as an assistant professor at Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C. (1954-1956). He also pursued careers as a research scientist, inventor, business owner, and farmer.

Bartlett and his wife Ellen have ten children and twelve grandchildren, and are members of Seventh-day Adventist Church. He has since retired from teaching and building homes, but continues to raise sheep and goats on his farm.
Congressional career
 
Rep. Bartlett (center) (R-MD) joined Reps. Ben Cardin (podium) (D-MD) and Jo Ann Davis (left) (R-VA) in calling for a study of homeland security needs of the National Capital region, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.In 1982, Bartlett was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. Ten years later, however, he was successfully elected to Congress by the sixth district of Maryland—the western and more conservative part of the state. The popular 10-year incumbent, conservative Democrat Beverly Byron, had been defeated in the primary, and many conservative Democrats switched their support to Bartlett in November. The district includes Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties, as well as parts of Baltimore, Harford, Howard, and Montgomery counties.

A vocal proponent of the Hubbert peak theory, Bartlett argues strongly in favor of preparation for a decline in the production of fossil fuels. He is far and away the most conservative member of the Maryland delegation, and probably the most conservative congressman to represent Maryland in a long time. For example, he is the only member of the Maryland delegation who is pro-life on abortion issues. He also voted against the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act.

In 2006, he defeated Iraq War veteran Andrew Duck and won reelection.

Committee assignments
 
Earlier photo of Congressman Bartlett.As of May 2006, Bartlett serves on the following House committees:

Chairman of the Projection Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee. Lost chairmanship when the Republicans lost control of the House in January 2007, and is now the ranking member of that committee, which has been renamed the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee.
Vice Chairman of the House Small Business Committee.
Senior member of the House Science Committee.

Quotes
“I’m not interested in politics, I’m interested in my country. I am a conservative who wants to help restore the limited federal government envisioned and established in the Constitution by our nation’s founders. I want to ensure that future generations of Americans will have the same opportunities for success that I did.”
“Upholding the Constitution, including the entire Bill of Rights, and maintaining a strong defense should be our priorities. If we don’t get these priorities right, nothing else will matter.”
“One barrel of oil, 42 gallons of oil, equals the productivity of 25,000 manhours. That is the equivalent of having 60 dedicated servants that do nothing but work for someone.” [1] (Page: H1412)
“Not much over a third of [the scholarships] went to students that would represent the normal American. … About a third [of the recipients] had American names.” –March 3, 1993, remarks to a group of Maryland state officials at the U.S. Capitol regarding links between high-school performance and ethnic background (he later explained that he was contrasting “American names” and “Oriental names”)

David M. Walker became the seventh Comptroller General of the United States and began his 15-year term when he took his oath of office on November 9, 1998. As Comptroller General, Mr. Walker is the nation’s chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), a legislative branch agency founded in 1921. GAO’s mission is to help improve the performance and assure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Over the years, GAO has earned a reputation for professional objective, fact-based, and nonpartisan reviews of government issues and operations.
The long tenure of the Comptroller General gives GAO a continuity (more…)