Senate Environment And Public Works Committee

Cory Booker And Kamala Harris Appointments To Senate Judiciary Committee A Boost To Their Predicted Presidential Candidacies In 2020

The appointment of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and California Senator Kamala Harris to the Senate Judiciary Committee is a boost to both legislators, both considered likely Presidential candidates a year from now.

Booker is African American, and Harris is mixed race with a parent born in Jamaica and a parent born in India.

Both have exceptional credentials, with Booker having bachelors degree in political science and masters degree in Sociology from Stanford; a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he earned an honors degree in American history; and a law degree from Yale Law School. He served on the Newark City Council from 1998-2002; as Newark Mayor from 2006-2013, and has been in the US Senate since 2013. He has also served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Environment and Public Works Committee. He is an impressive orator and highly intelligent and qualified.

Kamala Harris graduated Howard University in Washington, DC, and Hasting Law School of the University of California. She worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office and the City Attorney’s Office, and then was elected and served as San Francisco District Attorney from 2004-2011, followed by election and service as California Attorney General from 2011-2017, and was elected to the Senate to serve beginning in 2017. She serves on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs; Budget Committee; and Intelligence Committee; as well as her recant appointment to the Judiciary Committee. She is highly regarded for her oratory and intellectual brilliance.

Having had the excellent experience of Barack Obama in the Presidency, we now have the possibility of another person who is not white being a future President, and very possibly over time, both of them, with Harris being 56 and Booker 51 in 2020, so the long range potential is clearly present, if not in 2020, for a future President Booker or President Harris or both over time!

Climate Change And Republican Influence On Congressional Committees: James Inhofe And Louie Gohmert!

The battle for the control of both houses of Congress in 2014 is more than just an issue of which party, and which politicians, win.

It is a battle for the future of the reaction to climate change as well!

In the US Senate, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, heads the Republican minority on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and has been the biggest denier of climate change, ridiculing former Vice President Al Gore and others, who have warned of the dangers of global warming and climate change. Were the Republicans to win the majority of the Senate, his influence would grow, just as he becomes age 80 by the end of the year. Do we really want a scenario where a man who has a short life span, based on his age, determines our future on climate change?

In the House of Representatives, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, a Tea Party member, and considered one of the most moronic members of the Republican Party, on the level of Steve King of Iowa and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, is third in seniority on the Natural Resources Committee, but due to retirement of the chair of the committee, is due to take over as Chair IF the GOP wins the majority of the House again, which is seen as likely.

Imagine these two climate deniers, both infuriating in so many ways, standing in the way of dealing with our environmental problems?

This is one of the most important issues to consider when analyzing the upcoming midterm elections, as it represents an “ostrich with its head in the sand,” refusing to deal with reality, in a way that can harm America and the world long term!