US House Of Representatives

Would It Be Better To Have More Females In Political Power? The Answer Is Yes!

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Because of the Anthony Weiner scandal, on top of the scandals involving John Edwards and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chris Lee, and further back to Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, John Ensign, David Vitter, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Foley, and Bill Clinton, and many others, the question arises: Would America be better with more female political leaders?

The answer is YES, as history tells us of very few cases of female political leaders misbehaving, at least in a sexual way, as women are wired differently.

It is not saying that women never become involved in sexual liaisons and scandals, but at least in political terms, it seems not to occur very often, with no outstanding cases that come easily to mind.

Women, of course, are a small part of American political life, although the numbers are growing. According to a Rutgers University Research Center, women hold only one out of every six seats in Congress, about one fourth of all seats in state legislatures, and six governorships and eight mayoralties of the top 100 cities.

Women who run and win office do so, according to research, to accomplish something, while men run to be somebody! According to the research studies, women in the House of Representatives introduce more bills, get more involved in legislative debates, and give more one minute speeches in daily session, in fact double the amount Congressmen give.

The argument is that men in politics are motivated by testosterone induced connections between sex and power, with the thought that powerful men attract women, while powerful women turn off men! Men are more reckless and more likely to feel invincible.

So with the growing role of women in politics, the emphasis should be on them being encouraged to run, and the American people overcoming sexual stereotypes, and start to accept powerful women such as Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn as legitimate figures in the House of Representatives, and to see women Senators and Governors and Mayors as qualified for themselves, not to face discrimination because of their gender.

American politics would be far better with more of a balance between men and women, and get rid of the old myth, that in politics as in business, it is a man’s world!

Donald Trump: The Phony Presidential Candidate Opens Up On The Republican Party!

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Donald Trump was a phony presidential possibility for the Republican Party, someone that anyone who was really paying attention well realized.

But now that Trump has bowed out, he has come clean on his views on the GOP!

Now he criticizes the Paul Ryan budget plan, including Medicare privatization, something that caused grief for Newt Gingrich!

He also attacked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for putting conditions on aid to tornado and flood victims in the South and Midwest, requiring spending cuts to offer such aid.

As horrible and outrageous as Trump is, he at least is ringing some basic truth about the GOP: It is a heartless, anti government party which wishes to govern only for the elite and the powerful, and does not give a damn about ordinary citizens, whether seniors, the young, the poor, single mothers, the disabled, or minorities!

The Contradictions And Blunders Of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor!

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia has really been, symbolically, shooting himself in the foot lately!

Calling for spending cuts, if there was a desire to provide relief to flood and tornado victims in the South and Midwest, made him look totally hardhearted and uncaring!

Calling upon New York Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign because of his sex scandal was hypocritical, since Cantor did not say the same thing about Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, or Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, among others.

His lack of consistency and compassion is a major negative, plus the image created that he is an overly ambitious man who wishes to undermine House Speaker John Boehner due to his own ambitions to take over that position!

Eric Cantor does not exactly come across in a positive way for someone who wishes to become a national leader with consistent views and principles! Instead, he gives the impression of willingness to do or say anything to advance himself!

Evan Bayh: Not His Father, Birch Bayh! The Abandonment Of Principle!

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Former Indiana Senator and Governor Evan Bayh, the son of the highly reputable and liberal Senator Birch Bayh (1963-1981), has demonstrated that he is NOT his dad in any way, shape or form!

Birch Bayh, a close friend of Senator Ted Kennedy and other liberal champions, including Frank Church of Idaho, George McGovern of South Dakota, and Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, was a Senator who the author greatly admired, and wished for the success of his Presidential candidacy in 1976, which unfortunately was a flop!

His son Evan became regarded as his heir in so many ways, and served two successful terms as Indiana Governor at a very young age, followed by two terms in the Senate.

Like his dad, he was considered a possible Presidential candidate, and even was on the short list for Vice President in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

Seen as “principled”, he decided that he did not want to be part of Washington DC politics anymore in 2010, after the Citizens United Case of the Supreme Court, giving corporations free rein to contribute to political campaigns, including the infamous Chambers of Commerce, which proceeded to work actively to elect GOP candidates through raising of inordinate amounts of money. The result was the biggest switch in seats in the House since 1938 for a midterm election.

So Bayh quit the Senate, after having worked to undermine Barack Obama’s agenda in 2009-2010, gaining an image as one of the most conservative Senators in the Democratic Party, as unreliable for his President and party on important votes.

And what has Evan Bayh done since? He has gone over to the “enemy”, the Republicans and the conservative business interests!

First, he joined Fox News Channel as a commentator, raising the eyebrows of many progressives.

Now he has agreed to work for the Chambers of Commerce itself as a lobbyist for big business!

Birch Bayh is still alive at age 83, and one wonders in his heart of hearts, how he feels about what his son, Evan, has done!

What is certain is that Evan Bayh is a turncoat to the progressives and liberals who once believed in him and his leadership, as they did with his father Birch 30-50 years ago! This is indeed a sad moment!

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich: “Carpetbagger” In Washington State?

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With reapportionment of seats about to take place in the House Of Representatives, based on the census figures, some states are gaining seats, while others are losing seats.

The Sun Belt is gaining seats, as they have done every decade since the 1950s, while the Frost Belt Northeast and Midwestern states, specifically the large ones, are losing seats.

This leads to some House members being gerrymandered into races against fellow members of the House of the same party, leaving the reality that some will be pushed out of their positions either by primary elections, or by reality setting in that they cannot compete in a primary or election in the new district and have a good chance of victory.

Such a circumstance is now faced by Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the most liberal and most controversial Democrats in Congress.

Kucinich, who was Mayor of Cleveland, acquiring the name “Dennis the Menace”; member of the Cleveland City Council later; and then has been a Congressman from Cleveland for eight terms, is faced with elimination unless he chooses to move somewhere else in another state which is gaining seats.

Kucinich, a national figure because of having competed for the Presidency in 2004 and 2008, was recently in the Seattle area of Washington State, which will gain a seat, trying to measure whether it was a good fit for a Congressional race, with Seattle being a progressive stronghold.

While it is required that a member of the House of Representatives must have a residence in the district he or she represents, in the year of reapportionment, the member can move into the district AFTER he or she has been elected, as often, even for members who keep their congressional seat, the boundaries have changed because of reapportionment, so new housing arrangements must be made, but it can be AFTER being elected to the new district seat.

The question is whether it is proper for Kucinich to do what he plans to do, and the answer is yes!

Why is that? Well, Washington State does not have a residency requirement in the state for someone to run for public office, much like New York State, which has had three non residents or “Carpetbaggers” run for and win a Senate seat–Robert Kennedy in 1964, James Buckley in 1970, and Hillary Clinton in 2000.

While there is no recent case of a “Carpetbagger” Congressman, it is not illegal or a first time situation, and what it all comes down to is that this is based on democracy! What the people of that particular new Congressional district in Seattle want, they are entitled to get. If the case can be made by a native Washingtonian that he or she should be elected over a well known Congressman from Cleveland, Ohio, it will rule the day!

The word “Carpetbagger”, originating as a derogatory term in the Reconstruction South, should not be looked at in such a manner, as even most of the so called “Carpetbaggers” in the Southern states, who were Congressmen, Senators, or Governors, actually performed well in office, and the term is therefore just political propaganda to be ignored as a myth of American history!

House Republicans Hold Back On Disaster Relief And Emergency Preparedness, Insist On Budget Cuts

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The House Republican leadership. led by Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, is insisting that there be budget cuts to match any increase in spending on disaster relief and emergency preparedness.

This outrage is being perpetrated as the Midwest and the South face the most daunting natural disasters we have ever seen in just the past few months!

The onslaught of hundreds of tornadoes in the past two months, including the most disastrous in Alabama and Missouri, along with the flood crisis faced along the Mississippi River all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, is a national emergency of massive proportions!

When a natural disaster occurs, reaction by first responders, police, firefighters, and paramedics should be unlimited without any consideration of budget costs!

If government cannot provide aid to the needy and the desperate in a time of trauma, then what good is government at all? It is NOT the job of government solely to defend the nation from outside attack and internal man made threats to our national security. It is ALSO to come to the aid of the needy, the poor, and the disadvantaged when a natural disaster occurs, without forcing budget cuts to match the disaster’s costs!

The truth is that there is no way around the fact that tax INCREASES will be necessary, whether the American people want them or not. It is government’s job to do what is “necessary and proper”, for the “common defense and general welfare”, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, the “elastic clause”!

The Republican Party is showing its true colors in so many ways, but particularly in “blackmailing” the Democrats to force cuts in the midst of a national emergency! How despicable and disgraceful!

A Sign Of 2012 Reversal Of 2010 Midterm Elections: NY 26 Congressional District Results Show Medicare Is Democratic Weapon Against Republicans!

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In what could be described as an upset, the Democratic nominee for the New York 26th Congressional District seat in the Buffalo area, vacated by Republican Chris Lee (involved in an embarrassing shirtless pic scandal), won in a district which had voted Republican on a regular basis since the Civil War!

The winning Democrat won about 48 percent of the vote, nearly twice the amount of the Democratic nominee against Chris Lee in the 2010 election six and a half months ago, and it was based on the issue of Medicare, where the GOP nominee said she would have supported the Paul Ryan plan to privatize Medicare over a ten year period!

Town Halls and polls have steadily indicated that Americans of ALL ages, not just senior citizens, do NOT want the privatization of Medicare, and there are also strong hints that the whole issue of Health Care reform may be moving in the direction of the Democrats, after they lost more seats (63) in a midterm election than since 1938, and more seats than ever before since 1948.

Health Care is a basic human right, and the issue has been brought to center stage again by what the 26th Congressional District has just done, and it will create many sleepless days and nights for the House majority led by Speaker John Boehner, the Senate minority led by Mitch McConnell, and all of the GOP Presidential candidates competing to replace Barack Obama in the White House!

The Torment Of John Boehner: Tea Party House Caucus Vs. His Catholic Faith

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Speaker of the House John Boehner is playing “hardball” in regards to budget cuts, trying to please the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives.

At the same time, the Catholic practicing Boehner is facing severe, vehement opposition from Catholic scholars and activists, including clergy, who accuse him of working against the poor, the sick, the elderly, and therefore defying Church teachings.

So Boehner is between the proverbial “devil and the deep blue sea”!

No matter what he says or does, he engenders strong, insistent opposition that undermines his leadership. He does not seem to be a “happy camper”, as he attempts to negotiate the minefield of keeping the Republican Party on message, and yet not coming across as mean, nasty, hard hearted, uncaring, as that not only affects his relationship with fellow Catholics, but with the general public, which clearly does not want massive budget cuts in the trillions of dollars, as Boehner is advocating and demanding for a budget deal to avoid a debt limit crisis this summer.

Wisconsin Senate Seat Open With Herb Kohl’s Retirement: Will Russ Feingold Seek The Seat?

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With the announced retirement a week ago of Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, the possibility of the return of former Senator Russ Feingold, who was defeated by Tea Party favorite and businessman Ron Johnson, to the US Senate beckons.

Feingold, who has formed his own Political Action Committee, Progressives United, to fight for progressive causes, has not announced if he will seek the seat, but progressives all over America should insist he run, as his defeat in 2010 was the biggest loss for progressives and liberals, of all the lost members in the Republican tide of 2010.

Rumors had spread that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would seek the seat, but with the outrage expressed nationally and in his home district against his Medicare plan to privatize the system over the next decade, he seems reluctant to give up his prestigious position to run for a junior role in the Senate as a new member.

Instead, former Governor Tommy Thompson, who was also Health and Human Services Secretary under President George W. Bush, is planning to run, making a possible top race between Feingold and Thompson.

The question will be whether Thompson, as former HHS Secretary, will endorse the Ryan plan on Medicare.

If he does, and Feingold runs, it will be a classic battle of progressivism against extreme right wing conservatism and Tea Party influence. It will be a battle for the future of the social safety net of the New Deal and Great Society, and it is unacceptable for Feingold to decide not to run, and to lose the race to Thompson or any other Republican, even if Thompson does not support the Ryan plan.

This is one of the key battles for the future of America!

The War Powers Act Of 1973 And The Libyan Intervention

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It is now 60 days since the Obama Administration decided to intervene in the Libyan Civil War against Moammar Gaddafi in unity with NATO, without using ground troops.

So far, the Libyan intervention has not succeeded, and it is exasperating to many that this nation is now, in some form, involved with three wars at the same time–Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, although the Iraqi intervention is not considered a war situation at this point.

Controversy is now arising over the Obama Administration being involved in Libya, and six extremely right wing senators, including some Tea Party favorites, are now demanding that the administration seek a joint resolution of Congress to measure whether the Congress is willing to back a continued involvement in that North African nation.

The list of six senators includes a “nightmare” list of the worst senators in that chamber–Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (all Tea Party activists)– along with Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Cornyn of Texas.

They claim to understand the War Powers Act of 1973, which was vetoed by President Richard Nixon, and has been opposed in principle by every President since of both parties. But Senator John McCain, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 Presidential election, claims the law is unconstitutional, and that the President cannot be hamstrung by legislation limiting his Commander in Chief powers.

The legislation has never been considered by the Supreme Court, but the understanding of the author is that IF the Congress, by majority vote in both houses, demands a troop withdrawal from a military action begun by the President, that the President then would have a 60-90 day period to withdraw the troops. It is not clear that the President must gain a majority resolution in both houses to CONTINUE the war effort!

The War Powers Act has long been seen as a “paper tiger” that is a feeble attempt to control the President’s war powers. The reality is that in the modern world, the whole concept of interfering with a President’s military powers seems counterproductive, as the President and his advisers have more information about our defense posture and national security, and that senators or congressman who have a political motivation to interfere with smart policy making cannot be allowed to interfere in such a way as to undermine his ability to do his job.

Having said the above, it is clear to the author that the Libyan intervention is questionable as to its purpose, effectiveness, and its righteousness, but to allow a group of right wing senators who, in many cases, either backed, or if they had been in Congress, likely would have supported the Iraq War, to now be so “principled” on Libya, makes one want to laugh heartily, as it is obviously just a political ploy by men who have few principles in reality!