A SUMMER EXPERIMENT

Since we launched To The Point at the end of March, 2003, we have issued the TTP Weekly Report every single week for the last three+ years.  I'm really proud of that and have every intention of continuing this record.

It's going to be challenging to do so this summer, so here we go with an experiment.  I haven't been stuck in DC for these past three years straight, but wherever I wandered off to in the world during that time, it's been for a short while, like a couple of weeks or so here and there.

This summer is different, for I'll be out of the country for all of July and August.  Sometimes I'll be in places where there will be an Internet connection, and sometimes not.  Wherever I'm in the former, you'll hear from me – but there may be a gap or two when I'm in the latter.

The TTP staff will make sure that the Weekly Report gets out in time, and with our brilliant regulars like Joel Wade, Michael Ledeen, Jack Kelly, Neal Asbury, Dagny D'Anconia, and Dennis Turner. 

As for me, I'll be providing at least a "sitrep" (situation report) on each country I'm in.  As of now, that will be:  Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Israel, Croatia, Montenegro, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Spain.  Plus a surprise or two.

I have to tell you I'm looking forward to be away from the American National Zoo here in Washington for such an extended time.  The only way you can tolerate the insanity of this place is to pretend you're sitting in a box seat watching the funniest circus show on earth.  If you don't do that, you'll go as nuts as everyone else is in DC.

Actually, there are a lot of truly decent pro-American folks here.  One of them is my next-door neighbor who's the chief of staff of a solidly conservative Republican senator.  Here's an example of how cool he is:

He's very close to getting a number of senators to sponsor legislation requiring that any Bill proposed in the Senate or House must include language that repeals a minimum of two prior laws.  No new law could pass without the simultaneous repeal of two other laws deemed obsolete.

The inspiration for this is the immortal line in Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative:

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.

It's going to be called the Weed Removal Act or the Clearing Brush Act.  As any gardener knows, for the plants to flourish, you've got to remove the weeds.  Or take GW who is always "clearing brush" at his Crawford ranch so the trees can grow.

OK, I can't resist, given that this month – June 18 – saw Paul McCartney's 64^th birthday:  it could be called the When I'm 64 Act, from the line in the song, "Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?" 

It would make a good motto for senators:  You can't have a good garden without removing the weeds.  It's one basic reason why the Federal Government is such a mess.  Its growth is never pruned and its weeds are never dug up.

So come September, I'll be looking forward to being back in DC and working with guys like my neighbor on ideas like this.  But until then, I'm outta here.

I want to wish you all the most pleasant of summers, and want to thank each of you for your support of To The Point.  I'll do my best to have To The Point make your summer more interesting and informative.