US House Of Representatives

House Republicans And Attorney General Eric Holder: A Travesty of Justice And A “Lynching” Of Our First African American Attorney General!

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It is shocking beyond belief that our first African American Attorney General Eric Holder, under our first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama, is facing a contempt of Congress vote on Thursday, the same day the Supreme Court issues its judgment of Obama Health Care legislation!

What has Eric Holder done wrong? He has refused to release internal documents regarding the failed, so called, “Fast and Furious” Mexican Drug Running setup begun by the Bush Administration, which sadly ended in the death of a border agent. Holder had held numerous meetings with the committee headed by California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, and given documents, and Issa well knows that nothing corrupt has occurred, but is still on a rampage to destroy Holder’s reputation!

Holder, by withholding some sensitive documents, is doing nothing different than any Attorney General in the past, and many Attorneys General, including those under Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, have been involved in controversial activities, that never led to a move to cite for contempt of Congress.

Rather than deal with the jobs issue, the Republican House under Speaker John Boehner is running amuck, making for the most disgraceful Congress in many decades, and helping to cause the lowest public opinion rating for Congress in history, since polls began!

Even if Holder is cited for contempt of Congress, that will simply make him a victim of his race, and the prejudice against Barack Obama.

Holder has been an excellent Attorney General, fighting against the discriminatory immigration laws of Arizona and Alabama; battling against the attempt in Florida and elsewhere to cut people from the voting rolls; and taking other stands that conservatives and Republicans hate!

If Speaker John Boehner has any sense, he will work to prevent such a contempt citation, and push Darrell Issa to stop his bullying, but sadly it is unlikely to happen, but will reverberate on the Republicans in November!

The “Lynching” Of Attorney General Eric Holder: Racism And Political Revenge Against Principled Cabinet Member And Barack Obama!

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In American history, we have had Attorneys General in several Presidential administrations that have proved to be involved in criminal activities–Harry Daugherty in the Warren G. Harding Presidency and John Mitchell in the Richard Nixon Presidency, most notably.

But never have we had a Congressional committee do what was done today to Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, citing him for contempt of Congress, in a dispute over the withholding of internal Justice Department documents in an investigation of a botched gun trafficking investigation called “Fast and Furious”, begun by Attorney General Michael Mukasey under President George W. Bush, and ended under Attorney General Holder.

This action by the House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, headed by publicity seeker Congressman Darrell Issa of California is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and the House of Representatives, and was accomplished by a straight party line vote.

This action, which may lead to a full House of Representatives vote next week, could in theory lead to Speaker John Boehner disgracing the House if he allows such a vote, and could lead to Holder, in theory, being put into a jail cell that exists in the chamber, something unprecedented in American history!

And why is this occurring? Is Eric Holder such a lawbreaker, such a criminal, that it is proper to disgrace him in this manner?

NO, it is simple RACISM and POLITICAL REVENGE against the principles and policies of the Obama Presidency!

Do not forget that Eric Holder is African American, and President Barack Obama is African American! This would NOT be happening if they were white, simple to say!

Eric Holder has angered many Republicans because he is having the Justice Department fight the racist immigration laws of Arizona and Alabama!

Eric Holder has angered many Republicans because he is fighting the voter suppression laws of Florida and other states, designed to stop the African American, Hispanic and Latino vote in many states that would vote for the Democrats this November!

Eric Holder is pursuing justice, fairness, equity in civil rights and civil liberties cases that give the average American a fair shake, rather than favoring the elite and the powerful!

Eric Holder has done an excellent job as Attorney General, and for that, and being black, he is being “lynched”!

What a disgrace the Republican Party has become, an embarrassment to Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush!

Lack Of Respect For President Obama Escalates In Dangerous Manner!

Ronald 3 Comments

President Barack Obama has been subjected to more character assassination and signs of disrespect than any President in history!

Sure, there have been strong attacks against many other Presidents, without a doubt!

But the level of disrespect is reaching fever pitch recently!

Most recently, a conservative journalist rudely interrupted the President’s announcement of a change in policy on undocumented immigrant youths under 30, and the journalist would not stop his bitter attack on what Obama was saying! Obama was much too nice to this excuse for a journalist, and the man should be barred from future news events at the White House as a result, but probably will not suffer such treatment!

Now, an exhibit at the Montana State Republican convention shows a building said to be the Obama Presidential Library, with a bullet hole through the structure, a very disturbing event that should be repudiated by all Republicans everywhere, but assuredly will not be condemned, and will be ignored by major Republican leaders entirely!

Earlier such events included Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina interrupting President Obama as he gave a State of the Union Address; and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer pointing a finger at Obama as she met him in the Phoenix airport!

All of this behavior is totally unacceptable, and degrades the sense of respect for the office of the Presidency, and since there will be Republicans in the Oval Office in the future, there is a need to stop such behavior immediately and condemn it wholeheartedly when it occurs!

The Wisconsin Disaster And What It May Portend

Ronald 2 Comments

The failure last Tuesday to remove Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker from office by recall is a major blow to the labor movement and to progressivism.

It is a warning sign that workers, whether union or non union, whether public service workers or those employed by private employers, can expect that many of the hard won reforms of the 20th century could be taken away by Republican Governors, a Republican controlled Congress and a Republican President in the future.

It is a sign also of the power of wealthy corporate interests to destroy our political system, with the assistance of the right wing Supreme Court which allowed the Citizens United decision in 2010, which has now led to the right wing takeover in many states, in the House of Representatives, and was able to help Scott Walker survive, despite the abuse of power by him and his Republican colleagues in the state legislature. The ability of wealthy individuals to contribute large amounts of money without limit distorted the whole political process!

The fact that Mitt Romney was able to raise more money last month than Barack Obama for the first time is another danger sign that everything progressives and liberals have fought for could be going down the drain!

It is hard not to be very pessimistic about the short term and long term future, but those who believe in the rights of workers, women, minorities, children, the elderly, and wish to promote education, health care and the environment, cannot sit back and mope over the results!

If the forces for democracy decide to give up, instead of mobilizing for the upcoming campaign, and if they do not convince citizens how important it is to vote for their own futures, then indeed the country will be moving closer to a form of corporate fascism that will destroy the great progress made over a long period of generations of hard fought struggles!

Barack Obama And Mitt Romney Have Similarities In Many Ways!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is certainly odd, but it is reality that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have many things in common.

Among them are the following:

Both were born to families that had polygamy in their family history–Obama’s father being a Muslim, and Romney coming from Mormon background.

Both have graduate degrees from Harvard University–Obama with a law degree, and Romney with a law and a business degree.

Both Obama and Romney served in their prominent position for only four years–Obama in the US Senate from Illinois, and Romney as Governor of Massachusetts.

Both Obama and Romney are very bright and knowledgeable, but people find both of them are somewhat aloof and difficult to know on a personal level.

Both Obama and Romney have wives who are very popular, more than they are, and their wives are major assets to their careers and candidacy.

Both Obama and Romney saw health care as a primary issue, with Romney promoting a program in many ways adopted by Obama nationally, although now Romney repudiates his health care program in Massachusetts as a model for a national plan, and endorses the end of the Obama Health Care legislation.

In their careers, both were more liberal than most members of their parties, but both became more moderate in office as time went by.

Both have an element of shyness, and are considered analytical introverts, as compared., say, to Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. In this way, they are more like Jimmy Carter or Richard Nixon.

Both are suspicious of the news media, but then most politicians are that way!

Both love Star Trek, which shows an interest in science fiction and imagination.

Both Obama and Romney have had their religious heritage from their fathers (Muslim and Mormon respectively) seen as suspect, particularly with the fact that their fathers were born in foreign countries (Obama, Kenya and Romney, Mexico).

Both Obama and Romney had strong mothers, not uncommon, and in fact, very common among recent Presidents (including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush).

Both Obama and Romney lost an earlier race of significance, Obama for the House of Representatives in 2000, and Romney for the US Senate in 1994.

Both Obama and Romney set a new standard for the Presidency, with Obama being the first African American President, and Romney potentially the first Mormon President.

Both Obama and Romney are excellent family men, with not a hint of personal scandal in either one’s background.

Both Obama and Romney would have to be considered among the most intellectual politicians and Presidential candidates we have ever had in US history.

There is no question that debates coming up in September and October will be fascinating to watch and analyze!

“It’s The Economy, Stupid!”: How Obama Is Helped, Despite Economic Slowdown

Ronald 4 Comments

The latest news on the economy is very disconcerting, as we saw the smallest job growth in eleven months, 69,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate inching up to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent.

According to economists, the Great Recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and we are now into three years of “economic recovery”. After losing 7 million jobs, we have regained 4.2 million of them in the past three years.

Economic statistics can be used to prove or disprove any point. Obviously, the economy is a big problem, and Republican nominee Mitt Romney banks on that, and keeps on hammering it home, and will do that even more with the new economic figures.

But it is also important to realize that the economic recovery, the slowest since World War II, could also be seen in a different perspective, that the Great Recession has never really ended, and that the Republican opposition, by resisting any jobs legislation in the past year and a half, when they have controlled the House of Representatives, has massively contributed to it.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and Barack Obama and the Democrats must share the blame, but to claim that the GOP has no responsibility is ridiculous, and those who would claim that a President McCain would have had a better economic record must be smoking something that promotes delusions!

And the good aspect of the economic problem is that in seven of the ten “swing states” that the Obama Victory Fund contributes funds from sale of merchandise, the unemployment rate is lower, often substantially lower than in the nation at large.

This includes the following:

Iowa 5.1%
New Hampshire 5.0%
Virginia 5.6%
Wisconsin 6.7%
Ohio 7.4%
Pennsylvania 7.4%
Colorado 7.9%

The unemployment rate is higher in:

Florida 8.7%
North Carolina 9.4%
Nevada 11.7%

It should also be pointed out that in 34 states out of 50, two thirds, the unemployment rate is lower than the national average.

So Mitt Romney using the issue of unemployment in seven of the ten”swing states” is not going to ring as genuine, and if Obama wins those seven states, he can lose Florida, North Carolina, and Nevada, and still win a second term handily!

Some Facts And Figures Appropriate For Memorial Day

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As we honor veterans of all of our wars, with survivors from World War II on to the present on Memorial Day, it is worth some time to reflect on what war means.

So therefore, the following statistics gathered about the effects of war on America:

4,488 have died in the Iraq War, and 1, 973 in Afghanistan, for a grand total of 6,461 men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their nation. And about 35,000 veterans of both wars have been wounded, with about 20 percent of this total severely wounded!

24 Presidents have served in the military, out of 43 total, a little less than 60 percent.

29 presently serving US Senators and 21 percent of members of the US House of Representatives (about 92) have served in the military.

Only 3.3 percent of the American population, about 10 million people, have served in the military.

27-30 veterans are interred in Arlington National Cemetery every day.

124, 909 American veterans, both men and women, are interred in foreign soil.

Finally, 67,000 veterans are homeless and on the streets on any given night, and this is the greatest injustice imaginable!

Not one veteran should be homeless or jobless as a result of his service to his country, and much more needs to be done to help these people who gave of themselves to their country, returned, and have not been able to fulfill the American dream!

Republicans Claim To Be Pro Women’s Rights: Really?

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The Republican Party leadership in Congress loves to claim that the Democrats are wrong in calling them anti women, and campaigning against women.

But the facts belie Republican claims as shown as follows:

Both in Washington DC and in the states, Republican leadership is attacking women’s rights, women’s health, and women’s safety.

The House of Representatives passed a bill weakening the Violence Against Women Act two weeks ago.

Virginia passed legislation requiring women undergoing an abortion to undergo medically unnecessary and physically invasive sonograms.

Senate Republicans are blocking a measure to deal with wage discrimination against women.

On abortion, seven states have made it more difficult to get an abortion, by making the deadline for getting one much earlier, before knowledge of fetal abnormalities or health risks are available, Criminal penalties are also set up to intimidate doctors from performing abortions, making it more difficult to stay in business, and endangering the lives of women who often cannot gain an abortion even at the risk of their own lives.

Planned Parenthood has been systematically attacked, with funds cut for basic health care services for the poor, on the argument that the main activity of the group is abortion, when it is only about 3 percent of the funding of the organization, and is not its primary role in promoting women’s health.

The 1963 Equal Pay Act under President Kennedy is being fought bitterly, with the attempt to update the law to help women gain equality in pay for equal work being opposed by Republicans, and states such as Wisconsin are going backward on women’s rights to equal pay.

Domestic violence legislation is being fought by Republicans, who do not wish to include lesbians, native American women, and undocumented immigrant women who are in danger, and can no longer report abuse to law enforcement authorities, to go after the abusers.

How can anyone say that the GOP is NOT declaring “war” on women? One is judged by one’s actions, not words!

Two Prestigious Scholars Blame The Republican Party For The Stalemate In The 112th Congress

Ronald 5 Comments

Two well known scholars, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, have recently published a book and authored articles criticizing the Republican Party for the stalemate in the 112th Congress.

The Republican Party is blamed for its refusal to hold members of their party in Congress accountable for their wild statements; is seen as totally against compromise; refuses to accept facts, evidence and science; lacks respect for the legitimacy of the opposition party and its members; and is so far outside the mainstream as to be alarming for any hope of accomplishment of any goals or programs!

The two people most responsible for this extremism are former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform. But also the filibuster has been abused in the Senate, and prevented many executive branch appointments from being confirmed, both in the government agencies and in the court system.

The reaction to Roe V. Wade after 1973 mobilized social conservatives, while the tax revolt in California in 1978 mobilized anti tax activists. Also, the South turned conservative Republican after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; and the rise of conservative talk radio, and the growing impact of Fox News on cable, also had a great impact on what has become a growing stalemate and gridlock.

Health care reform, climate change, economic recovery, deficits, and debt issues have become a chasm between the two major political parties. Polarization has become the norm, and is a dangerous trend which may continue, if the voters again send a confusing message of a divided Congress in the 2012 Congressional elections. The Tea Party movement, if it grows, will further create conflict at a time when we need negotiation and compromise!

This assessment is extremely worrisome, as it means that our national government may be totally paralyzed, when we need true statesmen in both parties dealing with our important national agenda!

Grade Level Speaking Ability Of Congressional Members Declining! Sign Of The Deterioration Of Discourse!

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An analysis of the discourse that goes on in Congress reveals that the grade level speaking ability of members of Congress, as an average, has declined since the coming of Tea Party Republicans to the House of Representatives, and dramatically lower than it was seven years ago, in 2005.

In 2005, the average member of Congress was rated 11.5, a junior level in high school, while now it is 10.6, a sophomoric level, one full grade lower!

The ten lowest ranked members of Congress are all Republicans, with eight of them being Tea Party Republicans, including two Tea Party Senators.

Interestingly, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was rated the second lowest Senator in speaking ability, with an 8.6 score, and is a demonstration of what Wisconsin lost in allowing Johnson to win over former Senator Russ Feingold, long considered one of the most brilliant members of the Senate, in the Congressional elections of 2010.

Also, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, also elected in 2010, was the lowest in score of all Senators, with an 8.0, and this guy wants to run for President? This is the same person who is an eye doctor by profession, but not certified by the national organization, but instead formed his own optometric association and certified himself! Give me a break!

Just as a point of information, the two highest ranked Senators in speaking ability were Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka with a score of 14.2, and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe with a score of 14.0. The sad part is that both these Senators are leaving at the end of the year, not seeking re-election!

So the whole point of the Senate, and even the House of Representatives, supposedly being “the best among us”, people who have the distinction to serve as our representatives in both houses of Congress, is under scrutiny, and only adds to the low public opinion rating that Congress has, most recently 13 percent!

Congress has become a disgrace, and particularly so with the Republican Party membership!