Kathy, leaping into the fray...How did we stray so far afield from Kat's original post, which I thought posed some pretty interesting questions? I'd like to get back to it! Frank's comment about declaring the square dance the "national folk dance" gets at the meat of what members of Congress periodically try to do.

That said, as a person who actually lives and works in Washington, it's hard for me to become alarmed when a new Senate study committee is formed. The biblical phrase about "sound and fury, signifying nothing" applies in nearly all cases. Study committees are what the Senate and House do to avoid doing their real work: budget appropriations, patients' bill of rights, protecting Medicare and Social Security, etc.

Sam Brownback of Kansas is generally regarded as a fairly inconsequential player in the D.C. power game by folks in this town who care about these things. He's full of conservative rhetoric, generally takes stands that are pro-business and anti-environmental, goes along with the conservative pack (and PAC), and hasn't been credited, that I'm aware of, with getting anything useful done. I ran into him when I was working on national park issues and he was the only member of the Kansas congressional delegation (including other Republicans) to oppose the creation of a Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills -- one of the few remaining bits of unplowed tallgrass ecosystem left in the U.S. His opposition (because "we don't need more parks")to something that everyone else supported made him look ridiculous. And the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve was created anyway.

Enough "inside the Beltway" stuff. But I'd love to see more discussion of Kat's original questions. Kathy