Bluey Blog - Official Blog of Robert B. Bluey

links for 2008-07-08

• We Refuse To Support a Permanent Minority - Richard Wagner & Chip Hanlon, Red County

  Congressional Republican leaders clearly have no idea what we, their fellow GOP members, say to one another when we get together, yet for years one refrain has been constant: our extreme discontent over how the former GOP majority blew it on spending.

  (tags: republicans congress john_boehner mitch_mcconnell)

• So Where’s Murphy? - William Kristol, New York Times

  From the gun clubs of Northern Virginia to the sports bars of Capitol Hill — wherever D.C.-area Republicans gather — you hear the question: “Where’s Murphy?”

  (tags: mccain 2008)

• Energy bill out of gas - Jared Allen & Mike Soraghan, The Hill

  Worried that a floor vote on any energy-related measure would trigger a Republican-forced vote on domestic drilling, the Democrat leadership has scrubbed the floor schedule of the energy legislation that it vowed to tackle after the Fourth of July recess.

  (tags: energy congress democrats)

• Save D.C.’s Vouchers - Margaret Spellings, Washington Post

  Better schools. Higher scores. And satisfied parents. That’s the record of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. It is helping us keep our promise to leave no child behind in America.

  (tags: education washington congress)

Metro Goes Green

On my way home from work tonight, I missed my Yellow line train at Metro’s Gallery Place-Chinatown station by about 30 seconds. It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last, that the southbound train headed for Huntington left the lower platform just as the Red line was arriving up above.

I wouldn’t have been so upset had the next train arrived a few minutes later. But what made tonight’s ride home particularly painful was the next Yellow line train didn’t come for 20 minutes. In fact, I watched five Green line trains pass before seeing the first Yellow. While it is not usually this bad — except on Nationals game days — there are routinely two Green line trains headed for Branch Avenue for every Yellow line train going to Huntington.

Why? Unless a large number of Green line riders are getting on somewhere down the line, the numbers at Gallery Place-Chinatown hardly seem to justify the 2-for-1 system.

I’ve had the same commute for nearly four years, and in that time, Metro seems to be increasingly moving more Green line trains. That means Yellow line passengers are asked to pay rush-hour prices (in my case $3.25) for service that’s comparable to Saturday schedules.

After years of complaints from Green line customers, the tables have certainly turned. It’s time for Yellow line riders to start speaking up, especially as more people in Northern Virginia turn to mass transit to avoid higher gas prices. The opening of a huge new parking garage at Huntington is likely to encourage even more people to park and ride.

If you’re a fellow Yellow line rider, you start by contacting Metro’s Yellow/Green Line Manager Rita Davis at yellow-greenline@wmata.com or (301) 562-4607.

UPDATE — July 8, 11:42 p.m.: Today’s ride home wasn’t nearly as bad, but it was still rather annoying to watch three Green line trains pass before the first Yellow line arrived. Instead of waiting 20 minutes like yesterday, at least I was only stuck on the platform for 10.

Michelle Cuthrell’s Memoir From the Home Front

My friend and fellow Ithaca College alum Michelle Cuthrell appeared on “Fox & Friends” on the Fourth of July to talk about her book about being a military wife and new mother while her husband served in Iraq. I haven’t had an opportunity to write about “Behind the Blue-Star Banner: A Memoir from the Home Front” since it came out in February. Finally I’m getting around to doing something on it — thanks to Michelle’s great TV appearance.

Hat tip to Michael Serino on The Ithacan Alumni Blog.

links for 2008-07-07

• Reuben James evolving, not splitting - Cassaundra Baber, Observer-Dispatch

  The Reuben James is back. But wait … did the folk/rock band ever leave? “A year ago, we thought we were going to be done,” said lead vocalist Ryan Miller. Then, they got the call from the F.X. Matt Brewing Co. to play this week’s Saranac Thursday.

  (tags: new_york_mills music reuben_james)

• The Jesse Helms You Should Remember - Marc Thiessen, Washington Post

  With the passing of Sen. Jesse Helms, the media have demonstrated one final time that they never fully understood the power or impact of this great man.

  (tags: jesse_helms conservatism)

• Ultimatum to the GOP - Robert D. Novak, Washington Post

  When House Republican leaders left Washington for the Fourth of July break, they felt good about having outwitted the Democratic majority. The feeling was not shared 3,000 miles away, where conservative California activists were drafting an ultimatum.

  (tags: republicans 2008 john_boehner mitch_mcconnell)

• I gave up earmarks; why can’t other members of Congress? - Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Examiner

  Congress has yet to make reducing federal spending a priority. With the recent release of an analysis of this year’s congressional earmarks in House appropriation bills, it can still be said that Washington loves to spend the taxpayers’ money.

  (tags: earmarks congress)

• Voucher Valedictorian - Elise Viebeck, National Review Online

  Tiffany Dunston just graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., at the top of her class — but she wouldn’t have been able to attend the school at all without D.C.’s school-choice program, now on the verge of extinction.

  (tags: education congress washington)

• Taking the Initiative - Carl Pope, Sierra Club

  T. Boone Pickens was first known as an oil and gas man and then as a corporate raider, but these days he is jousting to topple Sweetwater from its title.

  (tags: energy oil environment)

This Is Georgetown

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that was certainly the case this weekend during my brother Matt’s visit to D.C. We had a great time watching the Fourth of July fireworks Friday night from the Heritage rooftop. But earlier in the day, we spent time in Georgetown, visiting his alma mater and scoping out the scene on M Street.

I took this shot of Jack the Bulldog on campus as we headed back to the car. It was a picture-perfect moment. You can see more shots of Georgetown on my Flickr account.

Stay tuned for more photos of Nationals Park. We took a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium Saturday.

Jesse Helms, R.I.P.

I was never lucky enough to meet Jesse Helms, the great U.S. senator and conservative champion from North Carolina. But I felt a deep sense of loss this morning upon hearing the news that he passed away at the age of 86.

Helms and I had a bond that dates back to my junior year of college, where in professor Marty Brownstein’s Legislative Behavior class, I played the role of Senator Helms during the spring semester. The class was set up like the U.S. Senate — each student was entered into a lottery at the beginning of the semester, and based on the draft, picked a role. The top pick was usually the Senate majority leader (or some other powerful committee chairman), while those picking at the end were left with freshmen.

My lottery pick was pretty bad, but after negotiating with classmate Jon Byman, I managed to secure his selection. (I actually had to kiss his shoe, which was absolutely disgusting, but well worth it in the end.) When it came my time to choose, I got the senator I wanted: Jesse Helms. At the time, Helms was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But more importantly, his conservative views and values for freedom were perfectly in line with mine.

At that moment I became the rare conservative at Ithaca College willing to argue with an overwhelmingly liberal politics department. Even in a class that had to be divided roughly equally — given the Senate’s 55-45 Republican advantage at the time — many liberals were forced to play the role of Republicans. Still, the class was a fun exercise in how the U.S. Senate operated. We held hearings, debated legislation, gave floor speeches.

Together with my good friend Jason Subik, who played the role of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), we made the most of the class. It turned out to be one of my favorites in the four years at Ithaca. The final class was one of the happiest moments at Ithaca when Brownstein awarded me the Arthur Brown Award, an oil can, which reflected the Senate’s reputation as the world’s greatest deliberative body. I was a journalism major and editor of The Ithacan at the time, yet Brownstein chose me for the highest honor. I was humbled.

I tried to meet Helms during a trip to the U.S. Capitol in March 2000, when my then-girlfriend (and now wife) were in Washington for spring break. I saw his motorized scooter outside the Foreign Relations Committee hearing room, but never saw him. By the time I arrived in Washington in the fall of 2001, Helms was winding down his career. He retired in 2002.

In retirement, Helms wrote an outstanding book, “Here’s Where I Stand.” After speaking on a panel with John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center, several years ago, I received an autographed copy of the Helms book in the mail. I will forever treasure it as a reminder of the great man and true conservative champion.

As Heritage’s Ed Feulner remarked today, “July 4, 2008, like July 4, 1826, and July 4, 1831, will long be remembered as a very special day in the history of American independence. On the Fourth of July 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died. On the Fourth of July 1831, James Monroe died. On the Fourth of July 2008, another great American patriot, Jesse Helms, died.”

UPDATE — July 5, 9:48 p.m.: I heard back from Brownstein about the Arthur Brown Award. I always wanted to ask him how it got its name and why he gave me an oil can. Now I know.

Arthur Brown was the congenial, attentive professor who ran things amiably and with near-total efficiency behind the scenes. The oil can refers to his/your ability to lubricate the coils of legislation. And you certainly earned yours!

Political Junkies Will Love This Quiz

Kudos to my friends at the Sunlight Foundation for coming up with PoliQuiz. Give it a try.

links for 2008-07-03

• The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire - Patricia Cohen, New York Times

  When Michael Olneck was standing, arms linked with other protesters, singing “We Shall Not Be Moved” in front of Columbia University’s library in 1968, Sara Goldrick-Rab had not yet been born.

  (tags: academia liberal)

• Which way for liberty in the new world? - Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner

  It’s not often that one gets the opportunity to be among and converse with several hundred of the smartest people in the world, but that is precisely what I was able to do last week as a participant at Personal Democracy Forum 2008.

  (tags: technology politics)

• Patriotism For (Democratic) Dummies - Danny Glover, The Next Right

  It says something about liberals that a tip sheet on how to behave in public on Independence Day is even necessary, but here’s a sampling from the guide posted at MyDD.

  (tags: democrats liberal)

• Why We Went to War in Iraq - Douglas J. Feith, Wall Street Journal

  A lot of poor commentary has framed the Iraq war as a conflict of “choice” rather than of “necessity.” In fact, President George W. Bush chose to remove Saddam Hussein from power because he concluded that doing so was necessary.

  (tags: iraq bush)

My Furry Friend

When I saw my friend David All at tonight’s American Solutions happy hour at Top of the Hill, I told him how impressed I was with his photography. As the owner of a new Nikon D300, David has taken some great pictures during recent trips to New York and Chicago.

His photography inspired me to break out my Nikon D50 this weekend to take some pictures around the house and at the Nationals game. I already showed you the latter. I also snapped several shots of a friendly squirrel who hangs out in our yard. I was using a 300 mm lens, but I was still amazed at how close I could get without him running away.

links for 2008-07-02

• Obama Got Discount on Home Loan - Joe Stephens, Washington Post

  Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust.

  (tags: obama 2008 housing)