Jon Stewart used to hang out at Dewey Beach, Delaware with Anthony Weiner back in the day. He says NO WAY to that picture. In fact, he says there’s just a lot more Anthony than Weiner.
Anything advanced by Breitbart has to be suspect. Let us not forget the man with a plan. According to globalgrind.com:
Breitbart was the man responsible for taking Shirley Sharrod’s words out of context and labeling the federal worker a racist, costing the USDA official her job after he spliced and diced her words about helping a racist farmer out despite her past experiences with racism. Breitbart ran to Glenn Beck with doctored “evidence.” The rest, as they say, is history
Rep. Weinerhopefully will call in the FBI and get the entire matter resolved. Guilty or innocent? Hacked or perv? Twittered or Weinered? It sounds to me like Breitbart and company are up to the dirty tricks again.
Many currently in Congress ran on promises to tackle jobs and the budget. Instead, they have taken on NPR and Planned Parenthood. Many experienced Republicans have been frustrated by the newcomers who don’t seem to understand Washington protocol. Republicans have ended up blocking Republicans.
The lack of grown-up behavior is driving Americans to despair. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, only 26 percent said that they were optimistic about the future when “thinking about our system of government and how well it works.” That’s less than half the level of optimism felt in 1974, during Watergate.
The Democrats are only showing themselves to be slightly more adult. The party leaders opposed Dennis Kucinich’s bill to just dump Afghanistan at the end of the year and bring everyone home. Many Democrats felt his plan was foolish and irresponsible and most voted against it.
Indiana Congressman Mike Pence has declared a personal war on Planned Parenthood in hopes of ending abortion. For the past three legislative sessions, he has targeted Planned Parenthood by introducing legislation that would deny Title X funds to any organization providing abortions. According to Politico:
This week, Pence went even further, introducing an amendment to the continuing resolution that would strip Planned Parenthood — and Planned Parenthood alone — of all federal funding.
Pence’s latest maneuver comes at an inopportune time for many in the Republican Party.
Some GOP leaders — including Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels — have urged their party to downplay hot-button social issues in order to win over moderate voters ahead of the 2012 presidential race. Others, like House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), have said House Republicans must focus on creating jobs and cutting spending.
Rep. Pence remains the darling of social conservatives. Many supported him for the presidential race in 2012, despite the fact he has said he will not run. Pence has not ruled out the possibility of running for Indiana governor.
Alert! Update:
Minutes ago, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood from all federal funding for any purpose whatsoever. That means no funding to Planned Parenthood health centers for birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other essential care.
After 2 years of hounding Nancy Peloski and President Obama, the NY Times reports trouble in River City, at least as far as the House Republican majority goes:
Under pressure to make deeper spending cuts and blindsided by embarrassing floor defeats, House Republican leaders are quickly discovering the limits of control over their ideologically driven and independent-minded new majority.
For the second consecutive day, House Republicans on Wednesday lost a floor vote due to a mini-revolt, this time over a plan to demand a repayment from the United Nations. Earlier in the day, members of the party’s conservative bloc used a closed-door party meeting to push the leadership to go well beyond its plans to trim about $40 billion from domestic spending and foreign aid this year, demanding $100 billion or more
On Tuesday the new Republican leadership was forced to pull a trade assistance bill off the floor and the Patriot Act failed to be extended. When asked about all the bumps in the road, House Majority Leader John Boehner responded:
Speaker John A. Boehner conceded that the fledgling majority was encountering turbulence. “We have been in the majority four weeks,” Mr. Boehner said. “We are not going to be perfect every day.”
After all the criticism of the other guys, the Republican Majority needs to get it right. What will the next ‘swing and a miss’ be? These folks are finding out that the easy part of the job is to sit on the sidelines and criticize, ridicule, and bring down others. Those who were called RINOs hopefully are sitting back laughing now, especially those who lost their seats because it looked soooo easy.
These guys get the same break from me that they offered the other guys. I don’t recall President Obama getting 4 weeks before the criticism began. I think that started on day 2.
Speaker John Boehner said there would be zero tolerance for scandals on his watch. Guess he wasn’t kidding. It only took 4 hours from discovery of a really stupid stunt on the part of Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) until he resigned:
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness. “The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.”
That’s pretty amazing. Most senatorial and congressional indiscretion takes months, sometimes years, to unearth. Of course, Lee was pretty stupid. He sent a picture of himself shirtless to some woman in an ISO on Craig’s List. Additionally, he lied about his age, his marital status and his job.
Though it has been inserted as text into the Congressional Record before, the supreme law of the land has never been read aloud before in the body known as “the People’s House.”
The man responsible for the exercise, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., says it’s more than just a simple civics lesson.
“This is a very symbolic showing to the American people,” said Goodlatte, “and it’s a powerful message to members of Congress. We are a nation of laws, not of men.”
One has to ask, how long will this reading take and who will read it? Will they all take turns? Will only Republicans be allowed to read? This exercise sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry or grass grow. How often will this exercise happen? Ah, here are the answers:
Though it has been inserted as text into the Congressional Record before, the supreme law of the land has never been read aloud before in the body known as “the People’s House.”
The man responsible for the exercise, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., says it’s more than just a simple civics lesson.
“This is a very symbolic showing to the American people,” said Goodlatte, “and it’s a powerful message to members of Congress. We are a nation of laws, not of men.”
It appears that some folks are confusing the Constitution with the Bible. Additional rules have been approved:
The emphasis on the Constitution won’t end with the reading of the document. The House on Wednesday approved a package of rules for the 112th Congress, put forward by Cantor, that includes a provision mandating that all bills cite their constitutional authority.
Now this is beginning to sound like the SOL objectives. It’s going to be a long 2 years before everyone gets sick of all this. I wonder how many of those rascals will being the newspaper and a smart phone to play with? I hope no one gets caught napping.
“Since when does the Republican party make 9/11 first responders stand over in the corner with the gays and the Mexicans?” asks Jon Stewart. What are they thinking? First Responders should be taken care of before anyone. Many are sick. Many are sick after they were assured the air was healthy. This situation is a national disgrace and there are just too many opportunistic hypocrites out there.
Contributor Rez sent me this video on the rules of the Senate. Robert Dove served as the Senate Parliamentarian from 1981 to 1987 when he was dismissed by Senator Robert Byrd. He then went on to work for Senator Robert Dole until he was reappointed Senate Parliamentarian in 1995. According to that great source of misinformation, Wikipedia:
In 2001, he determined that Senate rules allow only one budget bill per year to be immune from filibuster.[3] The Parliamentarian may delete provisions in a budget bill if the provision has only policy implications or if it has no budgetary implications.[4] In 2001, Dove ruled to remove a Republican provision to allocate over $5 billion in the 2002 budget for natural disasters.[3] Following Republican anger about these rulings, he was dismissed by Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott. [5] Both times Dove was dismissed, he was replaced by Alan Frumin.
Upon leaving the United States Senate, he became a professor at The George Washington University, specializing in Congressional issues.[6]
Why is a Parliamentarian even subject to dismissal? Shouldn’t the Parliamentarian be independent of politics? It would seem to me that the American people would be better served if the Parliamentarian were appointed for a term of x years.
The Rules of the Senate
Hearing Mr. Dove speak reminded me of many of the roasts heard during the various services held for the Lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy, upon his death. As I listened to a political opposite like Senator Orrin Hatch speak of his affection for the late Senator Kennedy, I realized how much of both of their lives had been spent on building coalitions and honest to goodness friendships. The senators need to return to the good old days.
Much as been made on talk shows, radio, electronic media and print media of that famous walk across the capitalgrounds by the Congressional leaders, in particular, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. The Capitol balcony had Republican congressmen and women holding signs and leading chants from a sea of people on the lawn, the sidewalks and the roadways were lined with angry people shouting ‘kill the bill’ and other slogans.
The picture below has been circulated all over the Internet. It has been perceived as a victory lap by both parties.
That crowd appeared extremely hostile if one is to assume that angry people are hostile. Depending on who you listen to, the crowds have been described as peaceful but angry and others have called the crowds dangerous, hostile, and that getting through them was very much like running a gauntlet.
Many commentators have criticized Nancy Pelosi and the Congressmen and women for walking on the street. Many have said they could have chosen another route that didn’t fan the flames. Most Fox News commentators vocalized that Nancy Pelosi did not have to go to the Capitol along that route. Glenn Beck took things a step further. He accused her of goading the crowd and ‘asking for it:’
[Note: the date when Pelosi teared up over Harvy Milk was Sept. 2009. Beck conveniently made it look like her speech was a more recent response.]
I have a problem with anyone saying that a person walking on the street is ‘asking for it.’ That is tantamount to saying a rape victim was ‘asking for it’ because of their attire. Should members of congress have to slink away through the underground parking garage? Should the crowd have been allowed to get that close? Should Pelosi et al not walked from one building to the other? The gavel she carried was the one used when Medicare passed.
Have there been other times in history where legislation or election outcomes have been this contentious? Who took their victory laps? Is it tacky to take victory laps? How about the election of 2008? Impeachment hearings, the Civil Rights Act(s)? I can’t see either party apologizing for passing legislation.
House Democrats on Sunday were greeted with a particularly partisan, somewhat juvenile sight when they took their seats inside the chamber.
On several of their chairs were fliers warning them that if they happened to pass health care reform that night — which they did — it would result in a repeat of the 1994 midterm election, which became known as the Republican Revolution.
“IN 1993 THEY VOTED YES. A YOUNG PRESIDENT TOLD THEM ‘DON’T WORRY, IT’LL BE OKAY,'” the flier read, substituting in bold red font for individual words. “34 INCUMBENTS DEFEATED, 54 SEATS LOST.”
Pictured on the flier are the head shots of 25 of those members in a “wanted” style framing — the margin of electoral defeat they suffered in ’94 under their name.
A Democratic aide passed on the literature to the Huffington Post, relaying that Republicans had put them on some seats but “not all.”
This tactic seems to just be more bullying and threats. Time will tell what happens in the mid-term elections. If history repeats itself, there will be some majority party losses. It’s expected. Remember, those same Democrats would be facing the people who sent them there if they didn’t vote the way their base elected them to do.
There is also a good chance that the Republicans will suffer backlash for for perceived hard ball tactics. Time will tell.
Where were the Republicans during the past 8 years? The need for health care reform was obvious to everyone who didn’t in a cave. Our premiums kept going up and up as did our deductible and our services diminished. Need for change was not a news flash.
Speaking of flash, the full screen function on flier works. Use escape key to return to normal screen.
The following letter from Congressman Gerry Connolly should put to rest any fears that Rep. Connolly is soft on crime. He has fought hard for funding for this program and other law enforcement in Prince William, Fairfax and for the state of Virginia. See his letter to the editor printed in the Manassas News & Messenger in its entirety:
The Dec. 30 News & Messenger editorial opposing legislation in Congress to eliminate the federal 287(g) program that trains and deputizes local law enforcement officials to help identify and remove undocumented immigrants who commit crimes is right on the mark.
The current draft legislation would kill the 287(g) program in use in Prince William County and dozens of other jurisdictions across the nation. I will not support any termination of this vital program.
While there have been some excesses in the program, overall communities enrolled in 287(g) have had success in removing criminal aliens from our midst and targeting gangs, drugs and human smuggling. Given these facts, I believe 287(g) should be improved, not eliminated.
Democrats got a punch in the gut on Tuesday when freshman Congressman Parker Griffith (D-AL) announced he would switch parties. Griffith is what is known as a blue dog Democrat, or a Democrat who is more fiscally conservative than the average Democrat. He stated as his reason for switching parties:
[H]e can no longer align himself “with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy and drives us further and further into debt.”
“Unfortunately there are those in the Democratic Leadership that continue to push an agenda focused on massive new spending, tax increases, bailouts and a health care bill that is bad for our healthcare system,” Griffith said in a statement. “I have always considered myself to be an independent voice and I have tried to be that voice in Congress – but after watching this agenda firsthand I now believe that the differences in the two parties could not be more clear and that for me to be true to my core beliefs and values I must align myself with the Republican party and speak out clearly on these issues.
The Tea Party-ers and other like minded folks have death on the brain it appears. Now there is great howling over the Inheritance Tax or ‘Death Tax’ that is racing through Congress. Today the house passed the Estate Tax Bill 225-220 with nearly all Republicans voting against the bill.
What does the Estate Tax do? The bill extends a 45% inheritance tax on estates larger than $3.5 million, and cancels a one-year repeal of the tax set to begin next month. $3.5 million seems like quite a lot money for someone to inherit tax free.
“The bill passed by a 225-200 vote, with all Republicans opposed. Majority Democrats argued that a permanent tax rate makes it easier for families and small business owners to do estate planning, noting that fewer than 1% of all estates are subject to the tax.
In America, it’s not a sin to be rich nor is it a crime to die rich,” said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo. “This bill gives our nation’s wealthiest families the ability to know exactly what their obligation to the nation that fostered their wealth will be, and it is fair and it is just.”
The bill follows the federal budget proposed by President Obama. But many Republicans called for permanent repeal of the estate tax, arguing it hurts families that pass down farms and small businesses to their children.
“The majority claims to be offering certainty to taxpayers and I suppose in a way they are — they are certainly repealing the hope of ever eliminating the death tax,” said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee
Those inheriting over 3.5 million dollars make up less than 1% of all estates. I hardly think that this ‘death’ tax will affect that many people. The middle class certainly won’t be affected by this new law. Yet those are the people I keep hearing talk about the death tax. Are they trying to impress the rest of us or do they just not know what they are talking about?
Time for the more affluent to pony up. The rest of us are tired of doing it. The Senate is deliberating similar legislation currently. Why did that many Republicans vote against the bill? Are they all that wealthy or are they protecting their future campaign contributions? Do people who are that affluent know how to tax shelter their assets better than the middle class?
On Wednesday, the Senate honored Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) for being the longest serving member of Congress. Byrd was elected to Congress in 1952 and 6 years later, was elected to the Senate.
Byrd made the following remarks about his long tenure:
“I look forward to serving you for the next 56 years and 320 days,” Sen. Robert Byrd said in a statement marking the occasion. His only regret, Byrd said, was that his late wife, Erma, was not there with him.
“I know that she is looking down from the heavens smiling at me and saying congratulations, my dear Robert — but don’t let it go to your head,” Byrd said.
The 92 year old senator is known for his earmarks–he has brought home millions to his state, West Virginia, which has a long history of economic depression.
Senator Byrd was quite upset over the illness of Senator Ted Kennedy and his subsequent death. He was part of the large group who waited on the Capitol steps for the hearse bearing Kennedy’s casket to stop for a moment, so that staffers and other friends of the Lion of the Senate, could pay their respects. It was a warm afternoon and Senator Byrd had to be taken inside. He is not in good health himself.
The internet seems filled with stories about Virginia Congressman Gerald Connolly and his staff bullying some tea party woman. Much is being made of the woman being small and not likely to inflict harm.
Protesters targeted Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), a first-term congressman whose Fairfax County district voted for Republican Robert F. McDonnell in this week’s gubernatorial election. Connolly, up for reelection next year, said that he has not decided whether to vote for health-care reform but that the tea-party activists will not influence his vote.
“You try to hear them out respectfully,” Connolly said. “The problem is they’re not here on a mission of dialogue. They’re here on a mission to persuade and discourage.”
