It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
 | Sam and Walter’s Excellent Adventure |
Thanks to the Legistorm service (free for now, by subscription soon), I’ve stumbled upon the strange trip of North Carolina Republican Congressman Walter Jones and Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback to Columbus, Ohio back in October of 2005. Congressman Jones and Senator Brownback had their way paid to speak before the Center for Moral Clarity, a group organized by Pastor Rod Parsley to register fundamentalist Christians to vote and shape their voting choices.
Records indicate that the Center for Moral Clarity bought Senator Sam Brownback a hotel room for one night at the cost of $654.76. This is not a hotel room in Manhattan, mind you. It’s a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, a city where space is hardly at a premium. Sam Brownback stayed one night, a Friday night in October. I can find hotel rooms on a Friday night in October for as little as $38. The most expensive hotel room I can find for a Friday night in October in Columbus is $228 at the Columbus Hilton, and I had to really poke around for that one. Brownback was there to perform a Republican Party duty, endorsing the candidacy of Ken Blackwell for Governor. But neither he nor the Republican Party paid the expense. Pastor Parsley’s church organization did that duty.
Then there’s Rep. Walter Jones, the man who devoted his considerable skills and talents in the Congress to changing the name of French fries to “Freedom Fries.” Boy, that sure showed ‘em, didn’t it? Representative Jones took a puddle-jumper of a flight from Greenville, North Carolina to Columbus, Ohio to speak at the same event. He brought a personal aide to travel along with him. The expense listed for the flight from Greenville to Columbus was $7,240 — $3,620 each for the flight of Rep. Jones and his personal aide. All expenses were paid, again, by Pastor Parsley. Pastor Parsley, by the way, had earlier in the year done Rep. Jones the political favor of showing up in Washington, DC to promote Jones’ legislation at a press conference on Capitol Hill. That’s just a coincidence, I’m sure.
Sam and Walter sure did have an excellent adventure, and they didn’t pay a dime — at least in Caesar’s coin! Where else might their amazing journey take them next — and who plans to pick up the tab?
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