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Should Congress Be Larger?
The thought of making government any bigger sickens me, but Jonah makes some interesting points.
Video: Shepard Smith Calls Out Congress For Their Phony AIG Outrage
(hat tip Chickaboomer)
First Vietnamese-American Elected To Congress
The first Vietnamese-American has been elected to Congress. Although, it’s doubtful you’ll be hearing much about it since he’s a republican.
Anh “Joseph” Cao defeated William “Cold Cash” Jefferson in Louisiana. If you recall, Jefferson was the democrat who had $100,000 in bribe money in his freezer when the feds raided his home. Jefferson represented one of the last great vestiges of institutionalized corruption in Louisiana politics.
Don’t expect to hear much in the media about Cao’s victory. Even though he’s the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to congress — it doesn’t actually count since he’s a republican. Racial firsts only matter if you’re a democrat.
President Bush hired the first African-American national security adviser and the first African-American secretary of state, but neither the media or the black community took much notice. I didn’t see Jesse Jackson on TV with tears streaming down his face at the appointment of Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell — because being black and being republican means you’re an “Uncle Tom.”
The only African-American to get officially recognized by the mainstream media as having accomplished anything was of course The One AKA The Messiah AKA Hope&Change AKA Barry AKA Barack Obama.
So you can expect similar treatment by the media of Mr. Cao. He should have run as a democrat if he wanted to be offically recognized. After watching Mr. Cao Rep. Cao campaign however, I really don’t think he’s very concerned about all that.
-Chris Jones
(hat tip NewsBusters)
Joe Lieberman Keeps His Senate Chairmanship
As expected, Senator Joe Lieberman will keep his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. Some democrats could almost taste the revenge in the air, but president-elect Obama took took the wind out of their sails early on. Telling them to do whatever it takes to keep Lieberman who represents Connecticut. So the dems stripped him of a lesser subcommittee chairmanship, which amounts to a slap on the wrist. Think of it this way, Barack Obama was chairman of the subcommittee related to the war in Afghanistan but never held a single meeting — ever.
There was a very good chance that Lieberman would have become a republican had he been stripped of his chairmanship. While it’s certainly funny that liberal democrats couldn’t get their revenge, it’s a shame he won’t be joining the GOP. Lieberman’s a good man who cares about protecting this country more than adhering to a loony, liberal ideology.
-Chris Jones
Congress Approves Bailout, Bush Promises To Sign
Believe it or not, Congress took the unusual step of putting aside their hatred for one another and actually passed the damn bailout bill!
With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.
The final vote, 263-171 in the House, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than it garnered on Monday. The vote capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.
Immediately after the vote President Bush pledged to quickly sign the $700 billion dollar package into law.
President Bush said Friday he would quickly sign into law a far-reaching $700 billion bill to bailout the nation’s tottering financial industry and thanked Congress for acting in a bipartisan and decisive fashion.
“There were moments this week when some thought that the federal government could not rise to the challenge. But thanks to the hard work of members of both parties, in both houses, and the spirit of cooperation between Capitol Hill and my administration, we completed this bill in a timely manner,” Bush said in remarks in the Rose Garden.
Now that the feds have their obscene bailout package lets see if they can right the ship and get this country going again.
Video: Newt Gingrich Joins The Energy Debate On Capital Hill
Revolt On The Hill: Republicans Refusing To Leave House Chamber, Members In Shorts And Sandals
The Democrats decided to leave for a five week vacation today without passing a single appropriations bill or allowing a vote on domestic drilling. The Democrats have decided that America’s natural resources should remain in the ground instead of being used to fuel cars, and power homes.
Nancy Pelosi turned out the lights and cut the microphones in the House chamber, but Republicans are refusing to leave. They have opened the house to not only members, but constituents, staffers, and anyone else concerned about the Democrats obstruction on energy.
C-Span is unable to film when the House is not in session so the cameras are off. We are only able to get updates on the unprecedented protest by reading The Politico or using the social network Twitter. Some GOP house members are live blogging the event on their blackberries directly to Twitter. Nancy Pelosi’s cell phone number was even given out on Twitter with the encouragement to call her and tell her to come back to Capital Hill.
There are reports that people are standing on chairs and cub scouts are sitting in the seats usually occupied by members. Wild cheering, hugs, and soaring speeches are just some of the things taking place. Republicans are sending out an SOS for all members to return to Capital Hill and join the protest.
The truth is that Democrats like high gas prices and want them to go even higher, because they worship at the alter of Al Gore and his fraudulent junk science.
UPDATE:
Michelle has more coverage of Twittering The House Revolt!
UPDATE #2:
Rep. John Culberson is streaming live from his blackberry
Fairness Doctrine Talk — Again
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today that he’s joining with Nancy Pelosi to strongly support the reactivation of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” Hoyer says he’s interested in “ensuring the availability of fair and balanced information to the American public.”
That’s a pretty laughable statement coming from a left-winger. What he wants to ensure is that liberals control every facet of the media. Liberals can’t stand the fact that conservatives dominate talk radio even though liberals dominate network news, print news, and most of the Internet.
No one is preventing liberals from being on the radio. If they’re able to attract listeners they’re as welcome as anyone else on the air. The problem is that the vast majority of liberal radio shows fail, because they can’t get an audience and therefore can’t get advertisers. The market dictates who has a radio program and who doesn’t. Hoyer wants to force people to listen to left-wing radio even if they don’t want to, and it’s downright un-American.
Hoyer said it’s unlikely that anything relating to the Fairness Doctrine would reach the House floor this year.
Attorney General Asks Congress For Official War Declaration
Attorney General Michael Mukasey is urging Congress to officially declare war on Al-Qaeda so that the United States can hold terror suspects for as long the conflict lasts.
Mukasey recommended the official war declaration be made part of a package of legislative proposols currently working there way through Congress that will establish a legal process for prosecuting detainees.
“Any legislation should acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us,” Mukasey said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.
“Congress should reaffirm that for the duration of the conflict the United States may detain as enemy combatants those who have engaged in hostilities or purposefully supported al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations,” he said.
New legislation should also prohibit courts from ordering a detainee to be released within the United States. It should protect secrets in court hearings, ensure that soldiers are not taken from the battlefield to testify and prevent challenges from delaying detainee trials, he said.
As usual, Democrats balked at the idea and said such measures would “avert legal oversight” and “stack the deck” in favor of the administration.
The reaction by Democrats is par for the course in the war on terror. They don’t look at any piece of legislation in terms of whether it might help defeat Al-Qaeda, but whether or not it helps George Bush. Even if not acting weakens our ability to protect America, that’s okay with Democrats as long as it sticks W. in the eye.
Not only is that kind of attitude petty and despicable, but it’s also incredibly dangerous. “Stack the deck?” I guess that’s supposed to mean that Democrats want to give the terrorists every opportunity to go free, and make it as difficult as possible for the U.S. to hold them.
I think Democrats have forgotten who’s side they’re on, or at least supposed to be on.
Ashcroft Says Waterboarding Not Torture, Democrats Cry
Another dog and pony show took place today on Capital Hill as John Ashcroft was brought before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about detainee treatment. The purpose of these hearings is not about finding out information, but rather to provide a forum for Democrats to grandstand during an election year, and hopefully cause the Bush Administration some embarrassment.
I pretty well lost count on the number of hearings that have been held to discuss waterboarding. Even though waterboarding was only used on 3 occasions in the last seven years, Democrats have felt the need to hold hundreds of hours of hearings.
John Ashcroft was unshakable as he explained to the committee that enhanced interrogation techniques were incredibly valuable and that, “…the value of that information exceeded the value of information that was received from all other sources.”
Resorting to the usual “straw man” argument, Rep. Maxine Waters brought treatment of U.S. soldiers into the debate.
Waters asked Ashcroft whether such techniques would be regarded as “totally unacceptable and even criminal” if they were used on American soldiers.
To which Ashcroft swiftly responded:
“Well, my subscription to these memos, and my belief that the law provides the basis for these memos persisted even in the presence of my son serving two tours of duty overseas in the Gulf area as a member of our armed forces,” Ashcroft said.
Ouch, that’s gonna leave a mark.
The fact that Democrats want the CIA to strictly adhere to the Army field manual is not only completely absurd, but extraordinarily dangerous. Our intelligence operatives are supposed to work in the shadows and have the latitude necessary to get information and keep America safe. Democrats don’t know the first thing about keeping America safe, and are either too stupid or too weak to do what’s necessary to win this war.
-Chris Jones
Rove Refuses To Testify, Democrats Cry
It was hard to keep from laughing this morning when a placard with Karl Rove’s name sat in front of an empty chair where the former Presidential aide was supposed to testify. Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to tie Karl Rove to some kind of scandal for the last seven years.
They tried to blame him for the Valerie Plame leak case, the attorney firings, and most recently the Don Siegelman case. For Democrats to suggest that Karl Rove engineered Siegelman’s bribery charge and subsequent conviction just to get him out of the way politically is absurd in the extreme.
It really speaks to the irrational paranoia that exists in the Democratic party. It’s not possible that Alabama just had a corrupt Governor, it had to be part of the legendary “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
So there’s a certain amount of perverse pleasure in watching Rove give Congress the middle digit instead of participating in an election year dog and pony show.
Red faced Democrats stomped their feet and threatened to have Rove arrested if he did not appear, but still his chair remained empty.
The only testimony Democrats received today from Karl Rove was in the form of a letter from his attorney. The letter reminded the Judiciary committee that threatening Mr. Rove won’t clear up the situation any faster. The letter also noted that Rove has a letter from the Justice Department declaring him “constitutionally immune from compelled congressional testimony.” Which roughly translated means the only thing Rove is compelled to give Congress is the middle digit.
The Democrats haven’t said how they plan to get around that little inconvenient fact, which makes all their threats and chest thumping ring all the more hollow.
The President decided long ago that Rove didn’t have to testify, citing executive privilege. The Justice Department agreed, which is how Rove got that letter.
You’d think by now the Democrats would’ve learned that once “The Decider” decides something, it’s decided. Seeing Karl Rove taken away in leg irons is the ultimate fantasy for Democrats, but unfortunately for them it’s going to have to remain just that—a fantasy.
Nutroots Defeated: FISA Passes 69-28
After nearly two years of hysterical letter writing, protests, threats, and a whole lot of over-the-top rhetoric, the far-left has once again been delivered a crushing defeat.
Much to the chagrin of the shrill lefty blogs, the FISA reform legislation finally passed with a vote of 69-28. What really adds insult to injury in liberal land is that the messiah himself, Barack Obama, voted in favor of the legislation.
As with every other anti-terror issue that has been passed, the left is declaring this a very dark day. For liberals, the idea that no one will go to prison for listening to terrorists or suspected terrorists without a warrant is truly horrifying.
The Nutroots are already planning revenge against any Democrat who dared to allow the eavesdropping on terrorists.
It’s really pathetic that some people in America are willing to do almost anything to prevent the government from having all the tools it needs to protect us. I could care less if the feds intercept my email or listen to my cell phone conversations. Of course this bill doesn’t allow any of that, but even if it did I wouldn’t care.
The one part of the FISA bill that really got left-wingers fired up was the “retroactive immunity” provision which protected the telecom companies from the ACLU. Those companies agreed to help the NSA after 9/11 and were told they weren’t breaking the law. It’s only right that the government live up to that promise, and not let far-left thugs sue them into financial ruin.
-Chris Jones
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