Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif) died Monday from complications of cancer.  He was 80.

Mr. Lantos cosponsored the bipartisan H.R. 4060 the Peace Corps Safety and Security Act of  2004.  The legislation would have established an ombudsman, an office of safety and security, and an independent Inspector General for the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps opposed the legislation, and it passed the house but not the senate.  But for a time, the safety of the volunteers was very much in the public eye and the Peace Corps was forced to make some internal changes as it tried to marshal arguments to fight this legislation. There is still more that could be done, but the support Mr. Lantos showed us in this battle has made the Peace Corps a safer place for the volunteers who will follow us.

Thank you, Mr. Lantos.

Liberals may decry Republican double standards, citing the proliferation of prostitution whenever the Republicans are in power. I say,  bring back the hookers.  It lets the interns off the hook.

There were many who said that Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions were a personal problem and had nothing to do with the way he was able to govern the country.  I thought that too, until I became part of the federal government through the United State Peace Corps.

Think of this: Monika Lewinsky was an employee, an intern.  Bill Clinton was her boss.  Is any employee ever really free to turn down the boss?    And when the CEO of a corporation is doing something, can the rank and file ever really say there is anything wrong with someone else doing it?

The culture within the federal government during the time I was associated with it said no.  If you turn down one of those Washington types, the current wisdom went,  your career wouldn’t last. Maybe that’s why the Peace Corps publicizes it’s surveys about “feelings” instead of the actual number of assaults or its fifty percent attrition rate, which they try to hide from the public.  Sexual harassment within the agency is a totally taboo subject–the people most likely to do it are the same people responsible for reporting and stopping it. Maybe that’s why Peace Corps volunteers feel pressured to find a romantic interest with local clout as soon as they are in country. Or why the Peace Corps–and Chris Dodd–worked so hard to defeat the Peace Corps Safety and Security bill that would have established an Ombudsman for volunteers as well as an independent Inspector General.

Can you imagine–the IG, the guy responsible for oversight of the agency, reports to the agency’s director.  That might be all right for agencies where those making judgments have some job security in the form of civil service protection, but Peace Corps is under a five-year rule. Most employees have their contracts renewed every two and a half years, up to a maximum of five years, a good formula for producing rubber stamps.

Bill Clinton didn’t just have an affair, like former President Harding and presidential hopeful McCain.  He got involved with an employee, and he got away with it, creating a predatory atmosphere for female employees throughout the federal system.  His actions paralyzed his administration and its ability to enact any of its ideals in his second term.  Hillary Clinton did not have any good options.  If she stood by her man, she would be an enabler of something corrosive in the political system.  If she didn’t, she would lose everything she had worked for in her entire political life, as well as the opportunity to make a difference in the future with her considerable talents. I have nothing but admiration for the way Hillary Clinton has carried herself and served the country.  But I have a bad taste in my mouth about bureaucrats who are sexual predators and the corporate cultural that lets them get away with it.

Let’s get that out of the government offices and back into the brothels where it belongs.

While I have yet to see any official announcement saying Chris Dodd is no longer a candidate for president, I don’t see his name on the list for the New Hampshire debate Saturday either.  I had sort of hoped that he would add his voice to those standing against the current erosion of freedom.

But some of have not forgotten his role in killing S.2454, the safety and security bill for Peace Corps volunteers, either. The bill passed the house, was introduced in the Senate by Republican Sen. DeWine and Democratic Sen. Durbin, but was killed in Dodd’s Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.

Chris Dodd could have gotten that bill out onto the Senate floor for the vote it deserved.