get your navy bean soup while it lasts

A story in today's Post says that the famed Senate dining room is about to go private contract. While the House's in-house eateries have been contracted out since the 80s, the Senate's facilities have remained within the confines of the government, but are pretty much in the red. What does it mean for the most pampered politicians in all the land, their staffers and interns? It basically means more J Street and less tradition. It also means a decrease in wages for all food service employees who will serve you your overpriced jumbo slices and salad by the pound. My recommendation: who cares-- Firehook is right there!

our thoughts are with you, Senator Kennedy!

As everyone has probably heard, the senior Senator from Massachusetts has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Our thoughts here in govdocs land go out to the Kennedys. Elected in 1962, the younger brother of JFK and RFK cast his 15,000th vote. Here's an expert of Senator Kennedy's speech from the Congressional Record (153 Cong Rec S 110388-- find it in Lexis/Nexis Congressional!) commemorating that occasion:

...I could not take this moment without thinking back about, personally, the service in this Chamber. When I first arrived in this Chamber, I was fortunate to have two brothers, one a President and another an Attorney General. I had the opportunity to work with them on those responsibilities in that regard. Then, to have a brother who served in the Senate was a golden time for me during that period of time.

I have been enormously proud of the work my nephew, Congressman Kennedy, serving in the House of Representatives, and now Patrick, my son, who serves in the House of Representatives and is a leading voice in terms of the mental health issues for our country-I am so proud of all his good work.

We grew up in a family that believed in public service, that elective office can make a difference but also understood that other people make extraordinary differences in advancing the cause of fairness and decency in the Nation. I think of the work of my sisters in that undertaking, all of whom have been involved-whether Special Olympics or Very Special Arts or other programs in which they have all been involved.

We still believe in the importance of public service and the honor, the high honor that one has in elective office. There are many of those who dismiss that concept as an old-fashioned viewpoint, but I think any of us who have read the history of this Nation and who understood its history know there is no higher personal honor than to have that opportunity.

govdocs lite

Not all government publications are serious. While Congress and the Supreme Court are getting down to the end of their sessions, let's take a gander at Senate Document 109-19: A Botanic Garden for the Nation, the United States Botanic Garden. Like most on-line docs, the PDFs can get out of hand, but at least they're nice to look at.

The US Botanic Garden sits in the shadow of the Capitol, 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, and check 'em out on line at www.usbg.gov. Take your next house/dorm guest!

still unprepared

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security has created a web page for items related to their Hurricane Katrina report Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared (yet another in the long line of reports from the White House and House of Reps). This page contains links to documents requested to create the report, as well as additional points of view from some select senators.