Giving Thanks

As we celebrated Thanksgiving in years past, our thoughts generally turned to family, to tables laden with food, to the daily bounty we too often took for granted.

This year as we prepare to give thanks with family and friends, many of us are thinking about loved ones who can’t be with us, tables less bountiful, a future where nothing (but taxes) can be taken for granted.

When the pilgrims gathered with their neighbors for that first Thanksgiving in a rough clearing in the wilderness, their thoughts focused not on bounty but on adversity overcome.

As they shared the fruit of their first harvest with the Native Americans who had made it possible, their thankfulness was intensified by the hard times they had endured.

Never again would they ignore a child’s laugh. Too many of their children lay silent in the alien soil.

Never again would they waste precious resources. They knew too well what it was to go without.

Never again would they take friendship lightly. They understood that they owed their survival and their future to the kindness of strangers.

Perhaps the true meaning of Thanksgiving is found in recognizing our blessings in the face of hardship.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joey’s Take: Time for Transparency

A lot of the barking in the Beltway dog park these days is about transparency. While the White House does a lot of tail wagging about it, Congress basically acts as the playground police to make sure everyone else follows the rules. But Congress itself is, by law, immune from those transparency rules that apply to the executive branch, federal agencies, the military, law enforcement, and state and local governments. (Keep in mind who makes the laws.)

That’s why former Congressman-turned-inmate William Jefferson was able to keep the FBI out of his congressional office – even though he had been caught with $90,000 in cold, hard cash (kickbacks) stashed between pie crusts in his home freezer. It’s also how several congressmen were able to keep it quiet – until a brief, unintentional leak – that their principal place of residence was no longer the district they represented but Maryland. (It saved them a few thousand dollars in property taxes.)

In exempting themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, Congress expects us to believe that it is inherently trustworthy, that we don’t need to know what deals went into crafting the laws the rest of us have to live by, and that its political shenanigans are none of our business. Besides, transparency is unnecessary, many congress(wo)men insist. What’s important is that they can still look themselves in the mirror. Arf!

As a member of Congress, my plan is to become the congressional watchdog. I will insist that Congress be subject to every law it imposes on others and that it conducts its business in the glare of the public spotlight. And I won’t waste time admiring my reflection in the mirror.

I’m Joey. I’m running for Congress. And I approved this message.

Joey's Take: Tail Wagging

One of the campaign tasks I find most challenging is figuring out which of the zillions of issues out there to bark about. I blame this on technology. The 24-7 news frenzy has to have something to barf up; that means a lot of comments and events get exaggerated, twisted and sensationalized. Talk about the tail wagging the dog!

It’s not all the media’s fault. The anonymity and ubiquity of the internet also are to blame. (Yes, I know some of these are big words for a dog, but because of my species, I have to work twice as hard to get people to take my campaign seriously.)

Have you read the hatred spewing out on some of these online comment boards? I can tell you, the worst of it is not from conservatives. The most offensive name-calling, vitriolic rhetoric is coming from so-called “tolerant” liberals. When I read this stuff, I wonder if we can ever be one nation under God.

Of course, it’s one thing for people to verbally bite each other on an anonymous forum in the name of public discourse. But, as a candidate for Congress, I draw the line at our representatives and senators standing up on the floor of their chamber and reading lies and gutter talk into the Congressional Record. Are the words of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) really the legacy we want to leave as the archives of our time?

Arf! Here’s where the media come back in. Grayson has learned that as a freshman rep without rock-star status, he gets no attention when he’s just doing his job. Nope, the only time he gets his 15 minutes of fame is to engage in Hugo Chavez-inspired speeches. If the media would stop rewarding him with mic time, he’d focus on his job instead of his sound bites (pun intended).

I can assure you that if I’m elected to Congress, I won’t have to pull a Grayson to get my 15 minutes.

I’m Joey. I’m a rock-star dog. And I approved this blog – even though it doesn't carry the White House seal of approval.