Dear Readers,

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 2, 2003

Byline: Paul M. Rodriguez, INSIGHT

Dear Readers,

The old saying has it that too many chefs in the kitchen ruins a good stew. The same can be said about the ofttimes gritty and messy version of public policy cooked up by our competing political and bureaucratic chefs. As in any good kitchen, ultimately there can be only one head chef - the president of the United States. The rest of the hands need to respect his leadership, do their own jobs and fill the people's orders.

What brings this to mind are the stories dished up in this issue - the cover story by John Berlau and the policy article by J. Michael Waller to name but two. What binds these together are the basic ingredients: policy debated, policy enacted and policy employed. If any of these ingredients isn't dished up properly then the result can be bitter. Consider the issue of going after mostly high-school and college kids who download or share music files obtained via the Internet or through buddy systems, much the same way we did in another time with 8-track tapes and cassettes. The recording industry is using a terrorism law to swamp the courts with thousands of subpoenas that raise troubling issues pitting privacy rights against property rights. The tactic has attracted the attention of some powerful Republicans, and you might be surprised to know that they don't like what's going on. Maybe the president will have to step in to balance the competitive interests!

Waller's story about a little-known but extremely powerful State Department group hasn't hit the headlines - yet. But it soon will if only because the person recently put in charge of the Policy Planning Staff was a major supporter of Clinton-era policy toward North Korea and, until recently, not much in sync with his new boss's views on this leg of the Axis of Evil. And we're not talking about Colin Powell but the president of the United States. Somehow folks over at Foggy Bottom (an apropos name for the location of the State Department headquarters) ain't singing from the sheet music put out by the leader of the band. Check it out.

Also pay close attention to Timothy W. Maier's article involving the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and one of its affiliates. A series of investigative stories by Insight has followed numerous allegations of mismanagement, abuse and corruption at the bank, and Congress has taken notice. So has the senate in Italy which, like the U.S. House and Senate, has launched probes and may impose stiff cutbacks on taxpayer funding of the IDB, et al. This is not to say that multinational banks such as the IDB are a bad idea. Rather, between Insight's investigations and those by congressional and criminal panels, it appears that good intentions sometimes need good oversight, especially when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars.

Also, the past is prologue, so make a point of reading Stephen Goode's excellent review of two new books, about Napoleon and the Soviet Gulag, that give perspective on how dictatorships thrive and unleash evil upon the world. Articles such as this one are important if only because in our fast-paced world people sometimes fail to see the consequences of their deeds. It helps to pause and read some history - even modern history - that gives context to what we do. Also read Vanessa Pierce's story on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and trips paid for by industry lobbyists. It's not that "we're" picking only on the FCC in providing details of a controversy little-noticed by many press outlets. Rather, focusing attention on the FCC should help legislators and regulators throughout the government think about what they are doing while in our collective employment.

There's so much more your Insight team has assembled for you. Rather than review it all in this space, I commend you to sample the array of dishes we've prepared. You'll be delighted with the outcome. But let me know what you think - I'm just a short e-mail away: editor@insightmag.com.

From Washington, I'm your newsman in the nation's capital. God bless.