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"Beautiful Scandalous Night"

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the Holy mountian
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross, justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Saviours side

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

The four horsemen of the apocalypse have arrived

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the big easy :: what i saw

the big easy

I am sitting here at Murky, 30 min before I have to start heading to the Metro and then on to the airport. Destination--the Big Easy. It will be my first trip to New Orleans, but it will be super quick. I am producing a hearing for my boss re: Hurricane Katrina recovery and contracting. My boss will be looking into reports of excessive layering of subcontracting, unreasonable overhead, and unacceptable price inflations---zeroing in on three programs: Blue Roof (putting tarps on roofs at the cost it takes to put new roof on), debris removal, and using travel trailers for temp housing.

We have 9 witnesses and 5 members of Congress participating. . .which means it will be a loooooong hearing (each witness gets 5 min for opening statement and each Congressperson gets 5 mins per panel for questioning. . .there are two panels. . .do the math).

Anyway, I will fly in tonite, go grab some food and check out the location we will be using for the hearing (making sure I can figure out how to drive there on Monday when I have to arrive on time!). . .and a local state representative who is one of our witnesses will take me and my staff director to a "New Orleans" restaurant and show us around. The hearing is in the place called "the French Quarter," which I hear is one of "the" places to visit when in town. We'll see. I am bringing my camera, so if there is anything worth seeing, I will post here.

My next hearing is only a couple of weeks away (no pressure) on the 25th---the topic is "North Korea: Illicit Activity Funding the Regime." The hearing will take place during North Korea Freedom week in DC. I am still sorting out witnesses and information to be presented and explored at the hearing. . .but it is already slated to be a fascinating look at the desperate and sinister methods of survival for one of the most evil regimes in the world--ie, look-up "evil" in the dictionary, and just below hitler, you will see a picture of Kim Jong-il.

I am hoping the result of these hearings will prod the debate closer to workable solutions and better policy. . .if all it turns out to be are echoless diatribes and soap-box-stands for November's elections, it will be quit a let down. But, such is the nature of politics--much nothing about ado.

insomnia

Last night, around 3am--yet once again--Joe's television woke me up. Joe is my upstairs neigbor---nice old guy who works as a lawyer for the Dept of Ed. This has happened so many times, I lost count. Near the beginning of this scenario, I had made up my mind to write a nice note just letting him know his volume was keeping me up at night--I hear it when I try to drift off asleep. . .I hear it when I wake up at 3am. . .I hear it when I am getting ready for work at 6:30am. Usually, it takes me a good 20 min or more (just a guess since you really never know when you fall asleep---if you are counting, you probably won't be sleeping any time soon). . .it takes a while for my brain to stop anticipating the change in the voices--like if the characters on tv are having a conversation. Well, being the forgetful person that I am, once I am up and at work, my mind is so engaged, I forget to write the note---well forget until around 3am in the morning.

Well, now that spring is upon us, I have a new dilema. For the past six days, Joe's television has awoken me around 3am--the time in the early morning that the nightningale--or the Mocking Bird--is in the middle of it's overnight concierto. She is not directly outside my window, but very close---still loud enough for it echo in my room. So now, my brain has to get over the dull sound of Joe's television AND the winged diva.

Now, I really, really like Mocking Birds. They are my favorite---and not just because they are the Texas state bird. They are some fo the most unbird-like birds. They run around the ground--run not hop--hunting for their prey. In the heat of the hunt, they run in spirts, stopping to immediately raise their wings in jerky movements above their head, then running a few more steps to repeat the process. They do this to scare a grasshopper or some other bug into flight--and when this hapens, they chase it down with extreme prejudice and lightning accuracy.

But this past week, while my anger was perculating at the sound of Joe's television and the song of the bird, I tried to devise a plan where I could sneak into Joe's apartment, smash in his television with a bat, then run outside and shoot the mockingbird and return to my warm bed within 10 min--to facilitate my sleeping as fast as possible.

Well, that will never happen. So, a more realistic challenge is to figure out a way to remember to write Joe a note--preferably during a time of the day when my mind is not seriously considering how to vandelize his apartment. I think, if I am lucky, that I just migth do this today. . .Don't hold your breath, but maybe--just maybe--when I get home, I will remember, find a blank peice of paper (which is a challenge in and of itself), and write out a nice note to Joe--taping it to his front door.

In closing, and completely off topic, I have decided to describe a little what I do for work. . .I think the past 10 conversations I have had with old friends and acquantences have touched upon the question of "so, Trey, what do you do now again?" It is really quite simple. . .I work for a subcommittee in the United States Senate. I cover a set of issues for my boss, and if there is any need of oversight (ie, investigating cases of waste, fraud, abuse) in the federal government that touches upon those issues, I pitch a hearing idea to him, and if he bites, then I produce a hearing. A hearing is nothing more than a research paper that is acted out. You start with a thesis, you get a nice opening paragraph, you fill the middle with both sides of the argument (being sure to stack your side of the argument), you pose some prosecutorial style questions, and you throw in a nice conclusion. The only difference is that all the peices of your paper are acted out by people--many of whom whose vested interest is to win the argument. The goal for my boss at each hearing is to ultimately cut out the waste in government and save tax payers from having to foot the bill from overpayments, un- or misused unobligated funds, out-of-control programs with no acceptable mission, etc. . . My boss is there to ask the tough questions that are not politically correct to ask--why are we spending this money, what is the constitutional authority for this program, should we be redistributing other people's money in this fashion, is this agency necessary or behaving appropriately, etc. . .

What this means for me is that about every other week, I am having to dive headfirst into uncharted waters--to immerse my self and become an over-night expert in all sorts of varied topics--from modified water projects of the army corps of engineeers, to katrina recovery contracting, to illicit activities of north korea's kim jong-il, to formulas of the community development block grant program, to the capital master plan to rennovate the united nations, to the unclaimed poltical activites of unions (and their back taxes due to the IRS), to immigration/refugee assylum requirements of the new REAL ID Act passed last year-----the list goes on.

Suffice to say, my job is intense. . .I am constantly on the prowl, constantly reading, constantly trying to snoop around for new topics to fill my hearing schedule pipeline. It is what I came to DC to do. . .probably not too many other jobs would allow me to engage the issues like this. But it is also mentally and physically and spiritually draining. . .Which is why I tell people that when I am done in DC, I am soooo DONE. I have no long term aspirations, no desire to "advance" in this town (whatever that means and looks like). I have no idea how long this will last--a couple years, another decade. . who knows. But I do know one thing, this is not my end. . .it is only a means . .to something else--ANYTHING else.

Well, that's it. . the effects of my iced-chai-aguilera-style is running through my veins and I need to move around before my bobbing leg runs off without me.

PS--iced-chai-aguilera-style = an iced chai made with two shots and skinny milk. . .the aguilera refers to the fact that this chai is a "dirty cha" but also made with skim (skinny) milk. . .had I wanted a iced dirty chai with whole milk, I would have ordered it spears style (ie, fuller/fatter)

vs.

With nations as with people, love them or lose them.

Peggy Noonan wrote probably the most thoughtful column on the root to the problem of not only immigration but also a whole host of other cultural and political ills plaguing our nation. Seriously, you really need to stop for a second and read her words.

Today, I feel like. . .

this is not ok

"Immigrants" protesting this past week/week-end are making two mistaktes. First, they support the undermining and breaking of US law. Second, they are frantically waiving Mexican flags.

On the first point, they will not recieve any sympathy from me nor most US citizens--we are a nation of laws and we do (well, we SHOULD) not tolerate lawbreakers.

On the second point, if they are trying to rally a case for letting lawbreakers receive citizenship or permanent status in the United States, they should have thought through the idea about waiving a freaking Mexican flag.

If Mexico is so great, why are they trying to break our laws to get in here? Why not reform their own country, clean up their corruption, establish individual rights and responsiblities? Mexico has been a den of corruption since they gained "independence." It's about time they cleaned up their act.