This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Congress sucks

  • Veteran finally gets burial

    ROS sent us this video about Arthur Johnson, a Korean War veteran who died last year with no family;

    It seems that Johnson’s records were burned in the Records Center fire in 1973 and the nurse who cared for Johnson in the nursing home in Indiana couldn’t get the Records Center to find his records. So last year in November she wrote to Andre` Carson, the district’s congressman and she got no answer.

    So the reporter Cat Anderson shows up to ask the congressman why there was no answer…by the end of the day, they had Johnson’s records, and now he can get the burial he deserves. So the lesson of the story is to get your own reporter so your congress person can get the job done that they’re supposed to do. Otherwise, they’re too busy to respond to a nurse. Too busy sticking their noses in everyone else’s business doing shit they have no business doing.

    I dunno, if I lived in Indiana, I’d be tempted to let Carson’s office know what I think of them and thank them for doing what they should have done without the prodding of a TV news camera.

  • Republicans compared to Nazis on House floor

    ROS sends us a link to Huffington Post which reports on Steven Cohen, Democrat from Tennessee who is just exploding with the new decorum that has been touted since the shooting of a Jewish Democrat congresswoman in Arizona;

    “They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels,” Cohen said, speaking of the notorious Nazi propgandist. “You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing.”

    Cohen continued to compare the GOP to Nazis as his rant went on.

    “The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again. And we’ve heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. Politifact — non-partisan, Pulitzer prize-winning, 2009, St. Petersburg Times — said the biggest lie of 2010 was a government takeover of health care because there is no government takeover,” Cohen said.

    Talk about repeating a lie until it becomes the truth. I suppose the government writing regulations are requiring Americans to purchase something isn’t really government take over. I mean why would 26 States take the Federal government to court over it?

    But anyway, HuffPost readers seem to be torn over the proper reaction, which can be heartening, if most of the commenters weren’t cheering Cohen. A fair and balanced sample, in the interest of the new tone;

  • Congressman drafts bill to carry on floor of Congress

    Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert says his staff working on a bill so that members of Congress can conceal carry weapons everywhere in DC, including inside the Capitol and on the floor of the House;

    Gohmert says he and his colleagues need to be able to protect themselves, in light of the mass shooting in Arizona.

    “It’d be a good thing for members of Congress who want to carry a weapon in the District,” he said. “I know friends that walk home from the Capitol. There’s no security for us,” he said, adding that the measure would deter people from attacking members. “There is some protection in having protection.”

    Hey. What about the rest of us? In light of…well…everything. We’re getting shot and killed, too, in greater numbers than members of Congress. What makes you so special? In fact we’ll need weapons to protect ourselves from Congress on the streets of DC. Can you imagine an armed Joe Biden? Maxine Waters? Al Franken? The galleries will be emptied out everyday.

  • House members want more security

    Tough. I wanted more security and I bought a slew of handguns and a security system. I didn’t go to my boss and tell him he had a responsibility to pay for my new security solutions. I work at home most of the week, so that would justify my employer paying for it, right? But the thought never crossed my mind until now.

    The Washington Examiner says;

    Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Tuesday called for an increase in House budget to allow for augmented security for members. Just last week, the House voted to slash its operating budget by 5 percent, or $35 million, as part of the GOP drive to reduce federal spending the cut the deficit.

    Jackson wants that money restored, plus 10 percent, in order to augment security in the Capitol and in districts, where he said some lawmakers may need to hire security for constituent events and install surveillance cameras in their district offices.

    “After the events of last weekend, it is clear that our district staffs are vulnerable,” Jackson said in an e-mail. “Members should have the resources and the latitude to take appropriate security measures in order to protect themselves and their staffs.”

    Again, tough. You should have thought of that before this weekend when you were spending your money on military aircraft to fly members to their districts and those lavish receptions and goodbyes to lame duck members.

    If members of Congress want more security when they go to their districts, they can carry their personal firearm or hire their own protection…or convince their local PDs to patrol their events. They volunteered for their jobs, they can quit at anytime if the kitchen gets too hot for them. Maybe that’ll keep them in Washington more than three days every week.

  • Anti-war back in vogue

    Yesterday, we had Lynne Woolsey call the war in Afghanistan “an epic failure, a national embarrassment and a moral blight on this country”, today Barbara Lee calls the premise that “a military-first strategy that has consistently proven itself ineffective and counterproductive” in response to the announcement of 1400 Marines joining the fight in coming weeks.

    She reaffirms her nine-year opposition to the use of force against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the pages of the Huffington Post;

    …I will be reintroducing my legislation to limit funding in Afghanistan to the safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops and military contractors and will further work with my colleagues to hold the President accountable for a significant July reduction in U.S. military presence.

    I guess Lee feels more comfortable railing against Republican leadership than she did against her own because I can’t remember her being this vocal during the Nancy Pelosi years after President Bush. So judging by these two clowns’ statements we can expect the anti-war crowd to resume their incessant yammering to mirror that which we heard in the opening days of the war when Republicans were in power.

    Of course, she’s playing to the crowd who are like this douch-bag;

    “Thanks, Rep. Lee. I am for stopping both wars. We spend billions on war while we give tax cuts to the rich (including the war contactors­) and send our poor and least educated men and women to fight. Brave sistah!”

    One of those 25% who couldn’t pass his ASVAB.

  • Democrat Giffords proposes Congressional pay cut

    The Hill reports that Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-D) is proposing a bill that would cut Congressional pay and funding by 5%;

    The pay cut would save taxpayers about $4.7 million by freezing the base pay of House and Senate lawmakers at $174,000. Majority and minority leaders each make $193,400 per year, and newly elected Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is to receive an annual salary of $223,500.

    Members of Congress automatically receive a cost-of-living pay adjustment each year unless they vote against it. President Obama signed a bill in May halting Congress’s automatic cost-of-living increase for 2011 after it easily passed both the House and Senate.

    On Fox News, Giffords said her bill would also cut members’ budgets by 5%, too. The Hill calls it a “slash”, but I call it a good start. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to bring their pay down to $100,000-it’s still above the national average and commensurate with their hours and their perks.

    Of course, if they were serious about making cuts, they’d do away with their pension system. They really don’t need it what with the Thrift Savings Plan, the 401k which invests almost 100% of their contributions with only a minuscule reduction for fees. Then they’d term limit themselves, too.

    Regardless of her party, I commend Giffords for this good start.

  • Right Wing News’ 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2010

    Our buddy, John Hawkins sent us a link to his “40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2010“. Here are some samples/my favorites;

    40) My fear is that the whole island (of Guam) will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize. —
    Hank Johnson

    37) Had a powerful meditation just now — caused an earthquake in Southern California. …Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake. Sorry about that. — Deepak Chopra

    31) If you’re blaming Muslims for the attack on 9/11, then you need to change your mind. Did we blame Christians at the first World Trade attack? We didn’t! — Russell Simmons

    27) Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower…. — Barack Obama

    24) I was trying to think about who (Obama) was tonight. It’s interesting: he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. — Chris Matthews

    Go read the rest.

  • Aid and comfort to the enemy

    Old Trooper sent us a video of Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) lending aid and comfort to our enemies by calling the war in Afghanistan “an epic failure, a national embarrassment and a moral blight on this country”.

    I’d remind Ms. Woolsey that the war in Afghanistan has been going on during the last four years under the Democrat Party’s tenure as the majority party in both houses of Congress and two years under the current president. If there’s an epic failure, it’s a failure of her party as well as her opponents.

    And, oh, by the way, your words only bolster the spirit of that Taliban soldier who just this morning was wondering if all of these afflictions are worth his sacrifice. Good job, sweetie.