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

Category: Congress sucks

  • Frank wanted his dollar discount

    The other day we discussed John Kerry and his tax avoidance. By the way, it looks like public pressure has forced him to pay the taxes he owes on his boat. Today it’s Barney Franks causing a scene enroute to Fire Island over his senior discount on the ferry (did I spell that right?);

    Barney Frank caused a scene when he demanded a $1 senior discount on his ferry fare to Fire Island’s popular gay haunt, The Pines, last Friday. Frank was turned down by ticket clerks at the dock in Sayville because he didn’t have the required Suffolk County Senior Citizens ID. A witness reports, “Frank made such a drama over the senior rate that I contemplated offering him the dollar to cool down the situation.”

    I just think that’s so silly that he’d cause a scene over a damn dollar. Why? Because it’s his dollar? What about the thousands of my one dollars that get sent to the IRS every year? I’d rather my dollars go to a private business than a government.

  • CT’s Joe Courtney sucks canal water

    TSO forwarded this letter to me which was forwarded to him about a POW/MIA’s widow who got stiffed by Connecticut Congressman Joseph “Joe” Courtney. I’ll let her tell the story;

    I am Margarete Holm, the widow of Cpt.Arnold E. Holm, Jr [Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)] case file # 1874. My sister-in –law, Margret-Ann Brewster and I just returned from spending 3 days in Washington DC for the Annual Family Up-date for missing or killed service members.

    My husband’s friends and family in the Waterford, CT area are well acquainted with his case since the search for his remains has been going on for quite some time.

    Several weeks ago I received a phone call from the DPMO telling me that the POW/MIA medal that my husband should have received 38 years ago, was finally available.

    This POW/MIA medal is one that was issued and authorized by Congress and is presented to the families of POW/MIA’s by Congress only. Following this I left several messages for Congressman Courtney, CT at his office and did not receive a reply until shortly before I left for Washington. I was assured by his aide that the Congressman would be happy to present the medal to Cpt. Holm’s family and that transportation to the Congressional Building would be arranged. Mr. McKierney promised to stay in contact to finalize the arrangement.

    Finally, 1-2 hours before the presentation was to be held, I called Congressman Courtney’s office again and was told that after all, the Congressman would not be able to find the time to make the presentation of the POW/MIA medal issued by Congress. No substitute official was offered and it was left at that.

    Army Officers from DPMO were also told that the Congressman was too busy to make the presentation.

    To spare Cpt. Holm’s family any further embarrassment, arrangements were made within the services to donate a room for a short period and a number of officers in dress uniform attended the ceremony to honor the memory and sacrifice of one of their own.

    I, Margarete Holm, on behalf of the family of Cpt.Arnold E. Holm, thank the DPMO and all servicemen and women that took the initiative to go outside their purview to give comfort and solace to the family of one of their own.

    Courtney was “too busy” for a POW’s widow? How long does it take to hand the family a medal and snap a picture? Of course this dingus, Courtney has no military service however his biography says that he “has distinguished himself as a tireless advocate for both our nation’s veterans and our men and women in uniform. ” Really? It’s “distinguished” to blow off a POW’s widow and her family to award a medal after he promised he would?

    His bio also says that Courtney was born in 1953. That makes him two years older than me, but those must’ve been a rough two years because in his official photo, he looks to be about 15 years older then me.

    His bio also says he was a graduate of Tufts University, so I guess that’s why he didn’t have military experience as he must’ve gone to college and got a few deferments – not that there’s anything wrong with that. He was on summer break from Tufts when Captain Holm went missing on June 11, 1972. And he still couldn’t bring himself to be available for Ms. Holm 38 years later.

    Anyway, first thing yesterday morning, I called his staff to find out what the Congressman could have been doing last week that was so important. Of course the ditz working the phones didn’t know and when I asked to speak to this Mr. McKierney. I waited four hours or so and didn’t get a call back. So when I tried again, the receptionist told me that McKierney was the wrong person with whom I should talk. I should talk to the Communications Director, Josh.

    So Josh called me a few hours later and gave me an off-the-record response. So I asked him for an on-the-record response. I’m still waiting for that response – I noticed that Josh had time to scroll through TAH, though – I love My Clicky.

    I emailed with Mrs. Holm last night and told her of the off-the-record response I got from Courtney’s office and she stands by her statement above. Since Josh wants to jerk me around, you only get Mrs. Holm’s side of the story. I think the treatment I got from Courtney’s office on a simple matter is indicative of how much they care about this issue.

    So here’s what you can do – call Courtney’s Washington, DC Office:

    215 Cannon House Office Building
    Washington, DC 20515
    (202) 225-2076
    (202) 225-4977 fax

    Flood his office with faxes. Obviously he doesn’t think that ignoring a POW’s widow is a big deal – let’s make it a big damn deal.

    If Josh gets back to me, I’ll be glad to add Courtney’s response here. But I’m not holding my breath. Their off-the-record statement was pretty weak as it was.

    I’m wondering what’s wrong with Democrats in Connecticut – you’ve got the phony soldier Dick Blumenthal running for the Senate and now this douche in Congress. I wonder how veterans in Connecticut feel they’ll be well-served by these peckerwoods.

  • It’s About #$&*^% Time!

    The house “ethics” Committee voted yesterday to put Charlie Rengal on trial for ethics violations.  Not the speediest of events, the trial will be in about two months.  On the other hand, it’s a lot faster than the decision to try Rangel at all.

    Rangel (D-N.Y.) has been under the House ethics committee’s microscope since early 2008 after it was reported that he may have used his House position to benefit his financial interests. Two of the most serious inquiries have focused on Rangel’s failure to declare $239,000 to $831,000 in assets on his disclosure forms, and on his effort to raise money for a private center named after him at City College of New York using his congressional letterhead.

    So, in 2008 it was widely known that he was using his position in congress for his own gain, but allowed to stay there for two friggin’ years?  Well, at least he wasn’t taking gifts from people with business before congress or in a powerful position where he could inflict damage on the country.  Oh, wait, my bad.

    In March, Rangel reluctantly stepped down as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee — a week after the ethics panel ruled in a separate case that he had broken congressional gift rules by accepting trips to conferences in the Caribbean that were financed by corporate interests. The panel said that, at a minimum, Rangel’s staff knew about the corporate backing for the 2007 and 2008 trips — and that the congressman was therefore responsible.

    My question is why isn’t Rangel facing charges in federal court instead of the house?  Of course, he is in good company.

    It has been eight years since the House last opened such proceedings against a member. That happened when Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) rejected the ethics committee’s findings that he violated rules. He was later expelled by his peers. Before that, the last member expelled was Michael Myers (D-Pa.), removed by his colleagues in 1980 as a result of the Abscam scandal.

    We can only hope that a similar fate awaits Charlie.  At 80, I doubt he can launch a recovery effort like Traficant has.

  • Bush tax cuts haunt Democrats

    According to the Wall Street Journal this morning, the issue of the Bush tax cuts, which expire New year’s Eve, are beginning to divide Democrats. Two more Democrat Senators defected to the side of Republicans seeking to extend the tax cuts at least for taxpayers making less than $250,000/year.

    Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) said in an interview Wednesday that Congress shouldn’t allow taxes on the wealthy to rise until the economy is on a sounder footing.

    Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) said through a spokesman that he also supported extending all the expiring tax cuts for now, adding that he wanted to offset the impact on federal deficits as much as possible.

    They are the second and third Senate Democrats to come out publicly in recent days in favor of extending all the tax breaks for the time being. Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) made similar comments last week.

    Yeah, well, I’ll believe it when I see my pay stub in January. it’s not that I don’t believe Bayh, Nelson and Conrad, it’s just that I don’t believe Harry Reid will ever admit that he was wrong about the Bush tax cuts.

    Here are the current tax rates for a single person;

    And here are the 2000 rates to which your tax rate will return after December;

    Allowing the tax cuts to expire also reduces the $1000/child tax credit to $500, and brings back the marriage penalty. Do Democrats really want to face that discussion in the Fall?

    In addition to Messrs. Conrad, Nelson and Bayh, at least half a dozen House Democrats also have come out publicly in favor of postponing tax increases for higher earners.

    “We’re not creating jobs, and raising taxes now would not be a great idea,” Rep. Michael McMahon, a New York Democrat, said this week.

    Democrats aren’t known for recognizing ideas that are not great. I’d rather see the tax cuts extended than to see Republicans running the Congress – I think that’s what’s best for the country.

  • And…it begins

    Senators John Kerry and Richard Luger expressed dounts doubts that this administration has a clear strategy to end the war in Afghanistan according to the Associated Press.

    Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it’s not clear that the administration has a solid strategy for prevailing, and the panel’s ranking Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana, decried “a lack of clarity” about U.S. war goals.

    Their complaints were aired at a hearing in which the administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, acknowledged that the way ahead remains in doubt.

    And we wonder why an enemy who should be broken and bedridden by now is still mounting more ferocious attacks than ever before. It’s because jackasses like Kerry and Luger give them hope. Well, and apparently the Obama Administration isn’t averse to giving them a glimmer now and then, too. We’ve spent almost a year telegraphing our intent to increase the numbers of troops there – something we hope to complete by next month. next month will be a year since McChrystal made his initial request for more troops, by the way.

    We’re using air support 75% less than we were three years ago. And we have a president that’s just looking for any excuse to abandon Afghanistan. Now, John Kerry, who probably has memories of hunting Taliban in Pakistan last Christmas whie George Bush was president seared in his increasingly feeble mind (he’d still be president if he had won in 2004, you know).

    Luger ain’t much better, either. I know some of you predicted withdrawal by November, I’m coming around to that same conclusion. It’d rescue all of the votes from the chanting class which Democrats are slowly losing. And Matthis will declare victory.

  • Megyn Kelly wears out NY Post columnist

    Megyn Kelley tells Kirsten Powers, New York Post columnist, that she’s ignorant about the New Black Panther voting rights case as Powers dances around the actual subject of the discussion, that being Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman claim that he’s “not aware of that case”.

    I only wish they’d been in the same studio and there was a wading pool full of jello which just happened to be near by.

  • Defense funding loaded with pork

    The Democrats are loading up the defense spending bill with pork – so much pork that it it looks like it’ll be the whole budget for government. Stuart Varney puts Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff on the spot making him explain how he can vote for the thing. Of course, Schiff uses the “everyone does it” excuse.

    From a Fox article;

    The House of Representatives OK’d a $60B bill Thursday to pay for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and fund a variety of other programs like education, Pell Grants, natural disaster relief and relief efforts following the earthquake in Haiti.

    Some of the Democrats are are playong games with the idea of ending the war in Afghanistan;

    The House voted down a proposal to strike all funding for the war, 376-26. Twenty-two lawmakers voted “present.”

    In addition, the House also voted against a plan authored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to order a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. That idea failed 321-100.

    The House also defeated an amendment to require the president to present a withdrawal strategy to Congress next year.

    The tally there was 260 nays to 162.

    So the little children in Congress have completely turned the budget process into a political football. They didn’t pass a budget in 2008 and it looks like they won’t get one done this year. Is anyone in charge of government anymore?

  • Republicans block Homeless Vet Bill

    Sometimes I just wonder about people. VetsVoice has a video up of Patty Murray doing her “for the children” line in regards to her bill, the Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans with Children Act (S.1237).

    The title of the video is “Republican Senators Blocks Homeless Veterans Bill” and based on the title, dicksmith goes on a tear – obviously without watching the video.

    I never thought that the Party of No would use homeless Veterans and their children as a political football. Apparently, no matter what we owe to Veterans and their families, nothing is sacred to these disgusting Senate Republicans

    At about :40 into the video, put on YouTube by the DNC, by the way, Mitch McConnel explains why Republicans oppose the bill – they want it paid for up front instead of letting the Democrats make a promise they don’t intend to keep. Is there something wrong with that? Obviously, the Democrats were just making an empty gesture that they plan on reneging upon later if they object to funding it upfront.

    After watching this administration try to make service-connected military members pay for their own health care and leaving thousands of veteran college students hanging out to dry with no benefit checks for an entire semester, I think I’d ask for money upfront for homeless funding, too.