Inherent Contempt

I've been feeling pretty strained by conditions at large. I'm having trouble meditating, and trying to be objective. I think you'd have to be devoid of emotion not to be stressed by the climate today -- not just the political climate, but the whole "existential" condition of living through these eerily hot summer days, divining the impact of the Homeland Security Secretary's intestinal condition, seeing Michael Moore and Sanjay Gupta duke it out, watching an anti-hero go for Hank Aaron's record, trying to keep track of all the societal upheavals, genocides, and executions. Sometimes, I wonder if the human race is worth my, or anyone's, concern. So, I've been feeling sort of down.

I had AirAmerica on the radio while driving, and heard John Dean on the Randi Rhodes show discussing something called "inherent contempt". For a moment, it sounded like a diagnosis of what I was feeling. Then, I realized he was describing a process whereby a party behaving in contempt of Congress could be charged under the moldy heading of "inherent contempt". Here's the Wikipedia entry. This entry may have been updated very recently. Just my gut feeling, but those things can be important, you know.

When someone is charged with inherent contempt of Congress, they are literally arrested, brought before the Senate, or the House, by the Sergeant at Arms, and immediately tried. This is a little attention-getter that was last used by Congress in 1934 to try a Postmaster General. Ostensibly, this could be used to force testimony from someone such as Harriet Miers, who apparently intends to be flamboyantly in contempt of Congress for tomorrow's scheduled hearing. There is an excellent write-up on this by another blog. The first link (click on "I find this to be a tad bit encouraging") will take you to the web site of the Speaker of The House (Ms. Pelosi), and a copy of the response to Ms. Mier's attorney, specifically noting this option as a potential consequence of refusal to appear.

It's pathetic that it took something like this to brighten my day. But it could be a hopeful sign. At least it indicates that there are ways, if there is sufficient will, to rip through the red tape and get to the heart of the matter with some speed. Ms. Miers can be summarily compelled to appear, without filing standard contempt charges through the Department of Justice, where they would likely languish. The inherent contempt authority of Congress has been thoroughly vetted, and upheld by the Supreme Court. It appears to be a very significant weapon against the obfuscation and stonewalling of this administration.

It's almost 100 degrees in Seattle, for goodness' sake. My concentration sucks, my writing sucks, but things will get better. There are a couple of nice links here for further reading. It's going to be a long haul, I'm afraid, even with potential godsends like inherent contempt to speed things up a little. Watching an Executive Branch disintegrate in slow motion isn't something you should have to get used to as the New Normal. I've been looking at this too hard, and I'm not the only one. This is a pretty uninspired blog entry, and I apologize. But for those looking for a flicker of hope in this surreal landscape, I found something for you.