Exceeding the "Do Nothing Congress"
Apr 24, 02:28 PM | Harry Reid
I spent the recess traveling Nevada.
I visited cities and towns with names like Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Searchlight, Pahrump, Reno, Fernley, Fallon, Yerington, and Hawthorne.
These places are all very different, but not once in any of these cities did someone talk to me about eliminating the estate tax, or flag burning, or gay marriage. Instead, throughout Nevada, I was constantly asked about skyrocketing gas prices, the intractable war in Iraq, taxes, immigration, education, health care, and homeland security.
Mr. President, I share this report of my recess because I am concerned about the Senate schedule in the coming months.
All of us in the Senate Democrats and Republicans spent the last two weeks listening to Americans talk about the issues they care about, but now that we’re back in Washington, when we look for these issues on the Senate Calendar, too many of them are no where to be found.
According to what I have read, the Majority Leader is clearing time on the Senate schedule for the “pet” issues of the right wing, issues like a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration, a constitutional amendment to establish a federal definition of marriage, and the Estate Tax reduction.
Each of these controversial issues has merit. But do they trump gas prices? Homeland Security? And the Iraq war—which in a few short months will have taken longer than World War II and has already cost America significantly more?
Do these issues have precedence over public education, over our polluted skies, or the country’s shaky economy?
Does a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage have a higher priority than a debate on high gas prices? No.
Does a constitutional amendment on flag burning have more precedence than immigration? No.
We have only about 15 very short Senate weeks left. Regardless of your position on the Majority Leader’s constitutional amendments and they are serious issues of importance to millions surely we can all agree they are not among the most pressing problems facing America today, and that the Senate’s attention is best focused on the needs of the American people in these few remaining weeks.
This morning in a letter I asked the Majority Leader to drop his plan to bring partisan issues before the Senate and to commit to bringing the people’s priorities to the floor instead. This afternoon, I repeat that request. Democrats are committed to working with the Republicans in a bipartisan way, if only they will work with us to tackle the real, urgent issues facing our country.
Mr. President, Americans are frustrated with the direction America is headed, and they are equally frustrated with the performance of the Bush White House and this Bush Republican Congress.
With just a few months remaining before we adjourn, the 109th Congress is going into the history books as the country’s least productive Congress in more than two centuries. In fact, the 109th Congress is on track to exceed the infamous “Do-Nothing Congress” of 1948.
This Congress, we have worked on Class Action and Bankruptcy legislation that benefits Big Business. But done nothing to help you the American people.
The Senate thanks to Democrats did pass lobbying and ethics reform legislation, known as the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. But we’ve not yet heard a word from the House on this issue. And passing important legislation like the Honest Government Act has proved to be the exception, not the rule.
Congress hasn’t passed a budget. We haven’t even completed last year’s budget. And, I might add again, the ethics legislation we passed in the Senate has yet to be considered by the House.
America can do better.
This week, the supplemental appropriations bill is on the floor. It is important legislation especially since President Bush refuses to put the costs of the War in Iraq or the costs of helping Katrina’s victims his budget, so he can hide the costs and his horrible fiscal record.
In spite of the President’s budget gimmicks, Democrats look forward to the debate on the supplemental. We have a number of tough and smart amendments that we will offer to protect the American people, address the situation in Iraq, and provide relief from the energy crisis at home.
When the Senate is finished with the supplemental, Democrats will insist the Majority Leader put his partisan agenda on the back burner and continue to focus the Senate on issues of urgent national importance. We owe it to the American people to focus on their needs, and not waste a single day focusing on partisan needs. That means setting aside an issue like the marriage amendment, and tackling the issue of gas prices instead.
The price of gas has increased 100 percent in the last five years. 35 cents in the last month. And 10 cents over the weekend.
Families are paying over three dollars a gallon in many states, and prices are expected to increase another 25 cents before the summer is over.
Today, families are paying 100 dollars a week to fill their tanks with fuel, only to drive to work or pick up their children from school.
These prices are taking an enormous toll on the pocketbooks of hardworking Americans. And they are even more difficult for families to swallow given the headlines about how Exxon sent their CEO into retirement with a 400 million dollar golden parachute—that’s nearly a half a billion dollars to retire!
There’s nothing wrong with corporate profits and I’m all for Americans having retirement security, but does anyone think it is fair to have consumers pay 100 dollars a week to fill their fuel tanks, while the Big Energy bosses fill their bank tanks with hundreds of millions of dollars?
We on a bipartisan basis need to work to provide consumers relief at the pump. It is much more important than a symbolic constitutional amendment.
We ask, on behalf of America, that the Majority move to legislation to allow us to pass a Federal law with the teeth and the resources to go after price gougers, profiteers and energy market speculators.
We ask the Republican majority to debate a windfall profits tax. With a windfall profits tax, we can take Big Oil’s excess profits and give them right back to consumers in rebates, or use them to build alternative and renewable fuel facilities. If the greedy oil companies won’t invest their billions in profit in delivering affordable domestic fuels for America, then maybe America needs to take some of those windfall profits and put them to better use.
We also ask the Republican Majority to bring before the Senate legislation that will secure America’s energy future, so we can put an end to the cycle of higher and higher gas prices. If the Majority so moved, the Senate could develop a more aggressive national energy policy that would deliver affordable, clean energy from domestic sources now, not in thirty years or whenever the oil company CEOs decide the time is right.
It is terrible to think that American consumers are sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to pay for oil and some of that money may be getting into the hands of violent anti-U.S. groups.
Which leads us to national security another issue that deserves considerable time on the Floor in the remaining months.
I am confident we’ll ultimately pass the supplemental, and the Majority has pledged to bring the Defense Authorization bill to the Floor. But when? Do we want to wait as we did last year until the Fall leaving our troops, our veterans and their families without the resources they need?
Unlike last year, I hope the Defense Authorization bill will not be pushed aside for other less important business.
I also hope we can pass last year’s Intelligence Authorization bill. Right now, we’re in danger of not passing that important bill for the first time in 28 years, because Republicans have been unwilling to hold the Bush White House accountable for its conduct in Iraq and the War on Terror.
We also need to tackle the problem of health care this year. Surely we can agree the health care problems of our country are far more important than a handful of amendments to please the right wing?
We need a real health care debate not a two or three day mini-debate. The Majority Leader said he will bring to the Senate Floor one health care bill the Enzi Bill.
The Enzi bill threatens existing coverage for everyone who has state-regulated health insurance. It’s touted as a cure for the problems small businesses have in providing coverage to their employees, but it would actually expose small businesses to fraud and leave self-employed individuals with the same problems they have now.
We all agree that small businesses need health care relief, but the Enzi approach is not the way to move forward. I understand that Senator Durbin has a bill in committee that would provide small businesses with the same kind of options Senators have. Why don’t we bring this bill to the Floor as well?
With the Enzi and the Durbin bills, we can have a real debate about health care. And we can also consider other problems facing our health care system, like lowering drug prices and health care costs, expanding coverage, and fixing the President’s botched Medicare drug program.
And if we’re going to talk about health care, isn’t it about time we got to stem cell legislation? We’re approaching May 24th the one year anniversary of when the House passed their stem cell bill and we still haven’t seen it here in the Senate.
Ask any of the Nevadans I visited if they are more interested in seeing the Senate spend its time on the issues of stem cells—an issue that offers hope to millions of Americans suffering from heart disease, Parkison’s, ALS, and Alzheimer’s or if they would rather see the Senate spend its remaining days debating same sex marriage, the estate tax reduction and flag desecration.
The answer is obvious. I would hope the Majority Leader who said he supports stem cell research would allow us to move forward with the House Bill. Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans, and the Senate must not stand in its way.
And let’s not forget immigration.
President Bush likes to play the blame game on immigration and many other issues. Isn’t it about time we moved beyond that? Isn’t it about time that we passed comprehensive immigration reform that will secure our borders and secure our country?
Before we left, we had a bipartisan immigration deal that was blocked by a handful of Republican Senators. That deal would have sealed our porous borders, given 12 million undocumented workers a reason to come out of the shadows, and provided personnel to enforce our laws, so existing “employer sanctions” would be more than just two words.
The Senate can move forward on immigration if President Bush and the Majority Leader will stand up to those Republicans who are filibustering reform, and tell them to quit standing in the way of America’s security.
Let’s agree on a reasonable process for moving forward and get immigration reform done. Democrats are ready and waiting.
Finally, if we’re going to do taxes, let’s do something that will make a difference for those who need it. Talk to any economist and they will tell you that in America today, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is getting squeezed.
Why don’t we do something to provide tax relief for the middle-class?
We can start by fixing the AMT. The AMT was originally established to ensure that millionaires paid their fair share. But because AMT income levels were not indexed for inflation, it has essentially become a tax increase for millions of middle-class families. This was never the AMT’s purpose, and we should fix it this month.
Tax fairness should be the Senate’s focus, not immoral, unfair tax breaks that will benefit a privileged few.
Mr. President, in the weeks ahead, Democrats are ready to work with the Majority on the real issues facing our country. From high gas prices to immigration to improving our national security, we want to put politics aside and take up the real work facing our country.
With the right priorities and the right commitment from the Majority, we can move America in a new direction and give the American people the real solutions they deserve.
America can do better. And we can do it together.
Comment
- “President Bush likes to play the blame game on immigration and many other issues. Isn?t it about time we moved beyond that? Isn?t it about time that we passed comprehensive immigration reform that will secure our borders and secure our country?
Before we left, we had a bipartisan immigration deal that was blocked by a handful of Republican Senators. ”
Who actually believes this? Listen to Harry talk about all of this through his teeth…
— chris Apr 24, 03:44 PM # - Here’s the biggest lie:
“Mr. President, in the weeks ahead, Democrats are ready to work with the Majority on the real issues facing our country.”
Reid has done next to nothing about working with anybody about anything. He blocked judicial nominations; helped stop Social Security reform, even without getting the Dims to put through an alternative; blocked the Patriot Act renewal before flip-flopping on it; he says he wants some kind of fair tax, but only wants to change the AMT instead of reforming the tax code; and the list goes on.
Why nothing on leaks by CIA leakers who’ve turned out to be Dim Party donators? Why nothing on repealing all fuel taxes (which will lower prices automatically), instead of raising all taxes, which a windfall profits tax will do (and only feeds the government coffers)? Why nothing on America’s efforts to stop terrorism? Why nothing on getting Israel recognized by other Mideast nations (which would probably significantly reduce the price of oil)?
Here’s the second biggest lie:
“The answer is obvious. I would hope the Majority Leader who said he supports stem cell research would allow us to move forward with the House Bill. Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans, and the Senate must not stand in its way.”
Clue to Reid, the government puts in money for adult and umbilical stem cell research. These have actually helped people and don’t harvest embryos. If the hidden meaning is for embryonic stem cell research, then Reid should have mentioned it openly instead of stealthily hiding behind his usually crappy verbiage.
This whole thing is a pointless waste of time. I believe Reid owes America millions for not doing any kind of job as a Senator.
— Steve Apr 24, 05:17 PM # - I believe that and everything else Reid says. You squirming pachyderms are so used to spinning things that you’ve come to ONLY accept things that are spun to your tune. Any real straight talk is held suspect ‘cause you don’t recognize such anymore!
It’s no wonder the GOP’s on the defensive and on the run at this point. How long DID you think that the public could be fed the Bullshit that the Right’s come to be recognized for and not see penalty flags tossed in the air???
Even corporate America’s starting to jump ship from the cruise liner they’d paid to inhabit. They’re beginning to realize their own company images are being tarnished by the corrosive spray that the vessel’s been piloted into.
I could hope the USS GOP would bump into an iceberg and sink. Alas, the global warming that doesn’t exist has melted all the icebergs that could effect the public service event!
— BobK Apr 24, 05:26 PM # - Mr. Reid,
Why were you afraid to answer questions from the community when you were in NV? Why only pre-screened ones from far left publications?
Would have loved to ask you a few, like when are you going to get back to doing things for Nevada as well as what’s right for America.
Why are you afraid to get on the Bill Manders show on KKOH out of Reno.
Just keep avoiding the questions, the good folks of NV will show you just how happy they are with you.
— GTB Nevada Voter Apr 24, 06:15 PM # - Oh man, the 32 percenters are ramping it up I see.
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 06:19 PM # - We have eight generals! Do I hear nine?
Fox News is reporting an eighth general has called for Rumsfeld’s resignation. Ret. Marine General Paul Van Riper said he constantly talks with many active duty and retired senior officers who share his feelings that Secretary Rumsfeld has not fought the Iraq war competently. He told Fox that Rumsfeld has run the Pentagon through intimidation and that a change in leadership is needed.
Continued…
www.democraticunderground.com
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 06:22 PM # - #3
“I believe that and everything else Reid says. You squirming pachyderms are so used to spinning things that you’ve come to ONLY accept things that are spun to your tune. Any real straight talk is held suspect ‘cause you don’t recognize such anymore!”
Straight talk? From Reid? Gaylord Perry’s spitball was straighter than anything Reid spews.
Why nothing on the traitor who leaks classified information to the press? This wasn’t any kind of elected official doing it. And it wasn’t anything like Bush declassifying information for release. That’s one of his jobs as an ELECTED OFFICIAL. McCarthy was nothing more than hired bureaucrat who was willing to destroy her country rather than quit her job. WHY DOESN’T REID MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT THIS? Did she fund his campaign too, like she funded Kerry’s?
— Steve Apr 24, 06:23 PM # - #6
bill, why don’t you quote from Mary McCarthy. I have a feeling traiterous bureaucrats are more your style.
— Steve Apr 24, 06:24 PM # - Reid wants quick work on defense bill(Frist wants theocracy bills first)
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1727427.php
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 06:28 PM # - Weak there stevieboy, very weak!
As expected from you though.
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 06:29 PM # - “Impeach Bush!” cries California
A bill calling for Dubya’s impeachment (and Cheney’s!) has been introduced in the California State Legislature. If it passes, my fair state will be the second—after Illinois—to explore the option outlined in Section 603 of Jefferson’s Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives. (Scroll down for the scoop on Illinois.)
Why is this a good, necessary and even tactically wise move, even though the partisan makeup of our current House makes impeachment politically impossible? Because debate over impeachment supercedes all other business. Keep the Republicans talking about this issue—keep them spinning away the many crimes of Fearless Leader—and they will have little time to do mischief elsewhere.
More than that. The world should know that America does not support this atrocious administration. An impeachment debate—an ongoing, seemingly endless series of impeachment debates—will make that message clear.
www.cannonfire.blogspot.com
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 06:37 PM # - When no weapons of mass destruction surfaced in Iraq, President Bush insisted that all those WMD claims before the war were the result of faulty intelligence. But a former top CIA official, Tyler Drumheller — a 26-year veteran of the agency — has decided to do something CIA officials at his level almost never do: Speak out.
He tells correspondent Ed Bradley the real failure was not in the intelligence community but in the White House. He says he saw how the Bush administration, time and again, welcomed intelligence that fit the president’s determination to go to war and turned a blind eye to intelligence that did not.
“The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy.”
Tyler Drumheller
“The idea of going after Iraq was U.S. policy. It was going to happen one way or the other,” says Drumheller.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60minutes/main1527749.shtml
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 07:00 PM # - Meanwhile, the CIA had made a major intelligence breakthrough on Iraq’s nuclear program. Naji Sabri, Iraq’s foreign minister, had made a deal to reveal Iraq’s military secrets to the CIA. Drumheller was in charge of the operation.
“This was a very high inner circle of Saddam Hussein. Someone who would know what he was talking about,” Drumheller says.
“You knew you could trust this guy?” Bradley asked.
“We continued to validate him the whole way through,” Drumheller replied.
...
According to Drumheller, CIA Director George Tenet delivered the news about the Iraqi foreign minister at a high-level meeting at the White House, including the president, the vice president and Secretary of State Rice.
At that meeting, Drumheller says, “They were enthusiastic because they said, they were excited that we had a high-level penetration of Iraqis.”
What did this high-level source tell him?
“He told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program,” says Drumheller.
...
But he says he was taken aback by what happened. “The group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they’re no longer interested,” Drumheller recalls. “And we said, ‘Well, what about the intel?’ And they said, ‘Well, this isn’t about intel anymore. This is about regime change.’”
IMPEACH! IMPEACH! IMPEACH!
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 07:10 PM # - AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers’ phone calls, and shunted its customers’ internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against the company.
Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF’s lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 07:19 PM # - #12
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 07:00 PM #
“There is no doubt that … Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.”
– Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,)
and others, December 5, 2001
“We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.”
– Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
– Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in
power.” – Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
– Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
“The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons…”
– Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force—if necessary—to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
“There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the
next five years … We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.”
– Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002
“He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his
chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do” Rep.
– Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002
“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members .. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
– Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
“We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.” – Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002
“Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime … He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation … And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction … So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real
...”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003
— joro Apr 24, 07:35 PM # - Reid, the reason the Senate has done nothing is because of your obstruction and filibustering. Whine all you want but stop playing politics and allow votes. You bragged you
“killed the Patriot Act” putting all American lives at risk, the President brought the nations attention to the fact that you are now responsible for 12 million illegals in our country, and the world knows you and your Democrat pals are 100% responsible for our gasoline prices.
— joro Apr 24, 07:47 PM # - Harry, I wondered what line of BS you would come up with. WIth all due respect, you are full of crap. You are a do-nothing, sniveling sycophant, apparently overwhelmed by your undeserved self importance. You should be ashamed of yourself every time you collect your paycheck.
— Kee Apr 24, 08:19 PM # - This thread must be what it looks like with talking points gone wild: a bunch of ink but very little communication.
We Americans (left and right) have got to realize that the reasons we went to War in Iraq are now far less important that this simple fact: we are there, right now, and have to deal with that. We can argue all we want to about the “I told you so’s” after our people are home.
This whole post and comment thread originated with Sen. Reid discussing Congress’ misplaced priorities. He couldn’t be more on target.
The war is still issue #1 on the minds of all the folks I talk to. The main issue is not impeachment, not ‘staying the course,’ not Rumsfeld, none of that – but: what are we going to do now that we have this wolf by the ears? I hear a lot of “How can we win?”
Non-constructive criticism from Democrats is falling on deaf ears in my neck of the woods (Georgia) but so is lack of leadership by the Republicans. Our boys and girls who wear the guns are making real progress over there, but everyone knows the price has been astronomical.
Democrats would own this issue if they were to put constant pressure on the President and Rumsfeld to give us clear strategic goals (timetables do not count). Democrats would own this issue if they were to put constant pressure on the Administration to achieve these goals now, now, now. The weak spot in this Administration, according to the folks I talk to, is lack of clear strategic vision. I would like to see the Democrats step up and demand clear strategic vision, or start working towards laying out that strategic vision ourselves.
— Patrick Apr 24, 08:33 PM # - What you don’t seem to realize Patrick, is that these criminals running this country have no intention of pulling out of Iraq anytime soon. And next we may be at war with Iran.
Pressure this administration!? Give me a break!
And are you suggesting they be let off the hook for lying us into war?
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 09:19 PM # - “These places are all very different, but not once in any of these cities did someone talk to me about eliminating the estate tax, or flag burning, or gay marriage. Instead, throughout Nevada, I was constantly asked about skyrocketing gas prices, the intractable war in Iraq, taxes, immigration, education, health care, and homeland security.”
– Mr. Reid, all you did was blame everything on GWB. No ideas, no agenda, just double speak. I didn’t hear anything but pre-arranged softball questions from the left. Why waste our tax dollars coming back to NV when you could have stayed in DC to answer those questions.
The gov’t tax on gasoline is 2 x what the oil companies make. How about taking half of that tax and cut our costs by $.25/Gal. right now? How about allowing us to drill right here at home? Your party has taxed us to death and will not allow drilling in the US.
“We have only about 15 very short Senate weeks left”.:....................and I’m sure you will keep on obstructing and allow nothing to get accomplished. You’re riding on “Bush’s unpopularity”..you have no backbone or ideas of your own, for sakes you couldn’t even come up with your own slogan for this site. I know you say you don’t care about the polls, but the polls here show that the people of NV are through with you. Resign so We the people of Nevada don’t have an embarassing 4 more yrs. of your obstructionism and do nothing.
— lvdrummer Apr 24, 09:51 PM # - .
http://nobravery.cf.huffingtonpost.com
— bill_o_carolina Apr 24, 10:29 PM # - #19
bill, Patrick makes some good points. You refuse to see them due to your hatred. Not that I’m questioning your patriotism, because I can tell you don’t have any.
So, bill, the enemy is George Bush, not those who blow up hotels in Egypt, killing nothing but civilian?
— Steve Apr 24, 10:41 PM # - Well I hope Senator Reid listened to the voters in Nevada about the illegals. NO AMNESTY!
Also bill o carolina why do you want to treat this site as your own personal plateform. Are you even employed?
— Judy Snider Apr 24, 10:41 PM # - Bill O Carolina:
First of all, calling Republicans criminals before an investigation and a conviction is something I find counterproductive. It ignores the reality that they are the majority party because they speak to issues that matter to the voters. And, we will never win in the West or the South without the votes of people who right now consider themselves Republicans.
The Administration may not intend to pull out of Iraq any time soon. But Americans in the South want to win this war so our boys and girls can come home. That is the goal I hear often. People I talk to are growing increasingly frustrated at what seems to be an unclear strategy. Politically, this Administration uses the Democrats’ rhetoric as a curtain for their own lack of a plan.
But this Administration doesn’t have a strategy for Iraq right now, at least not one articulated on the national stage. The reason they don’t is because the opposition party has not adequately called them on it. The opposition party has not effectively used their own bully pulpit to demand, and in turn participate in the creation of, positive strategic goals.
So far, we (the Democrats) are still having a debate about wether we should be for the war or not. You know why that sounds out of touch? Because we are at war, right now. So far, we’ve just thrown up our hands and said “but they don’t plan on leaving!” Let them (the Republicans) say that out loud, to the American people – in the face of positive strategic alternatives. Otherwise you’re just putting words in their mouths.
Putting pressure on the Administration, doing things better than the other guys: that’s what an opposition Party is supposed to do.
My $0.02 anyway.
— Patrick Apr 24, 10:45 PM # - Energy Independence – “Follow the Farmers”
I found the following solution posted at AmericanProgress.org:
”...our friends in the environmental community have come a long way in recognizing the potential of biofuels, and we need to build on that progress. There is no better option to decrease petroleum use in the nation’s transportation sector and to do it now.
At the same time, ethanol has been proven to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And at least one recent study demonstrates that we could meet all our transportation fuel needs in 2050 without increasing the amount of land currently in cultivation.
Energy independence is our shared national goal. If we each do our part, we can meet that goal with biofuels from America’s farms—and help the environment, the economy, and our nation’s cherished agricultural tradition in the process.”
Tom Daschle
— REB 84 Apr 24, 10:57 PM # - Sunday, April 23, 2006
Out of Touch in America
Today America is more divided than at any time in the past 30 years.
For the most part this is due to the rigid inflexibility of ideologically driven policies designed and implemented by those who dominate the American power structure.
These policies have greatly enriched the wealthiest at the expense of the middle class and poor.
“We the People” deserve better. James Madison helps point the way.
“It is essential to Liberty that the government in general should have a common interest with the people.”
Will America Lead?
— REB 84 Apr 24, 10:58 PM # - Sunday, April 09, 2006
Immigration, Gay Marriage, & the Bay of Pigs
Today its immigration, last election cycle it was Gay Marriage. It smells like the Republicans are fishing for another wedge issue. However, it looks like the American People ain’t biting this time. Thank God!
Yes, illegal immigration is an issue. It has been an issue for a very long time. Still, there are many far more pressing issues.
It is a question of priorities. America needs to conduct an unbiased national threat analysis and attack threats in an intelligent, methodical manner. We can no longer afford ideologically driven policies to dominate America.
This threat analysis needs to focus on areas of greatest vulnerability. Following are a few examples: massive national debts, dependency on foreign sources of oil, environmental degradation, declining global standing in education, outsourcing, and debt held by foreigners, global warming, violent crime, war, terrorism, lack of protection for whistleblowers, etc. etc. etc.
To help avoid Group Think (Bay of Pigs Syndrome), designing and implementing strategic plans to combat America’s threats must be based on input from a wide range of professionals, outside of standard government agencies. Oversight can be covered via peer review and enforcing complete transparency.
For “We the People” the message to our politicians is this. We will be setting the priorities, Not You! It is time to throw the bums out of office and start over.
Pay Attention
ask question
Speak Up!
QuestionItNow
— REB 84 Apr 24, 10:59 PM # - #20
— lvdrummer Apr 24, 09:51 PM #
Well said. I agree 100%.
— joro Apr 25, 12:15 AM # - #24
— Patrick Apr 24, 10:45 PM #
Reid and the Democrats have a plan for Iraq:
http://www.thereidworld.com/images/cutandrun3.jpg
— joro Apr 25, 12:21 AM # - #25
— REB 84 Apr 24, 10:57 PM #
You may want to read this and many other studies on the production of ethanol:
http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm
— joro Apr 25, 12:28 AM # - #27
For “We the People” the message to our politicians is this. We will be setting the priorities, Not You! It is time to throw the bums out of office and start over.
— REB 84 Apr 24, 10:59 PM #
I basically agree. Reid was whining about things not getting done. All he has to do is stop his filibusters and agree to debate every issue for 5 minutes on each side and VOTE. The idiots talk everything to death saying the same thing over and over. They should make up their minds, get off the pot and VOTE. I wish Reid would resign so things would get done.
— joro Apr 25, 12:35 AM # - #27
“To help avoid Group Think (Bay of Pigs Syndrome), designing and implementing strategic plans to combat America’s threats must be based on input from a wide range of professionals, outside of standard government agencies. Oversight can be covered via peer review and enforcing complete transparency.”
You plan on dumping the Constitution? Are these “professionals” going to be elected? If not, who chooses them, another group of “professionals”? The whole point of having elected officials is to have them take the responsibility for picking and choosing who they get their information from, and taking the responsibility for making decisions based on their choices. The responsibility of the people is to determine if we believe in those choices of our elected decision-makers, and to change them at the ballot box if they don’t. That also makes the “professionals, the “elites”, equal with the rest of the American people. That is equality: one person, one vote, regardless of status.
— Steve Apr 25, 06:53 AM # - So far, gay marriage has not had a negative effect on my marriage or my children’s marriages or my income or my life in any way. If banning gay marriage is the best that the Republicans can offer this nation, then they deserve to be voted out of office. The health care system is in crisis in this nation and the Republicans are only concerned with gays getting married. That’s crap and doesn’t have any effect on anyone. I don’t want to hear folks talk about family values etc… it’s the heterosexual families that produce fathers raping their daughters.
— cats are fly fishn Apr 25, 07:41 AM # - How about just IMPEACH George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Attorney General Gonzales, Dept. of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Julie Myers, of ICE, and Karl Rove for high treason for failure to uphold their oath of office to protect and defend the states from invasion by a tidal wave of disease-infected illegal alien criminals from across the mexican border? We Americans are tired of the crime, diseases, gangs, drive-by shootings, extreme racism and bigotry, vicious mistreatment of women [machismo], extreme arrogance and false sense of being entitled to rights, privileges, and benefits of U.S. citizens without any of the duties, and extreme disregard for our laws that these criminals bring with them when they illegally cross our borders in open defiance of our laws by criminals who have absolutely NO respect whatsoever for our laws or for any laws and morals.
We Americans are tired of having our taxes raised to suport these illegal-alien blood-sucking leeches. We want all the illegal aliens deported from OUR country, NO MATTER how long these criminals have been here!!! We want them GONE!!! OUT OF THE U.S.A.!!! It is OUR country NOT theirs!!!
We American taxpayers are tired of being raped, murdered, robbed, and viciously attacked by many-times-deported illegal aliens. For example, the 17-times-deported illegal alien from Mexico who illegally re-entered the
U.S. the 18th time and drove drunk in North Carolina and killed an innocent person, 18-year-old college student Min Soon Chang, or the 2-times-deported illegal alien criminal who illegally re-entered the U.S. the 3rd time and had stolen an American job at $44,000+ a year and had illegally obtained a mortgage and bought a house for
$120,000+ and was charged in North Carolina with being a serial rapist who raped 8 women and they say he also raped a 9th woman. Also the many American cops murdered by many-times-deported illegal aliens especially the ones from Mexico and Central America. Also there have been reports of Border Patrol Agents who have been viciously attacked by illegal aliens from Mexico at the border and I have even heard that some innocent Border Patrol Agents have even been murdered.
We are tired of our tax dollars supporting these blood-sucking leeches. We are tired of paying for their welfare, food stamps, free medical care, subsidized housing, SSI and other free benefits that they never paid a penny into and which they have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO and which are ONLY for U.S. citizens and LEGAL residents. Many legal residents deeply resent these illegal aliens who come over here and live the high life for years and then have the sheer gall to demand driver licenses, green cards and other privileges and rights of U.S. citizens
while the legal immigrants are doing all their immigrating legally and in some cases have to wait many years to get
over here and then they find out that the illegal aliens cut in line ahead of them and demand green cards and driver licenses. Also illegal aliens are bringing all sorts of diseases with them when they cross the border illegally; diseases that were eradicated 50 years ago and are just now reappearing or else diseases common to Mexico, Central and South America but which have never before been seen here in the U.S. are now becoming increasingly common. These illegal aliens need to be deported and kept out permanently.
We also want these anchor babies stopped. We want these illegal-alien anchor babies stripped of their unconstitutional, illegally-acquired, phony, so-called “U.S. citizenship” and deported along with their illegal alien families and permanently barred from this country and FORCIBLY prevented by ANY means necessary, from illegally re-entering this country as long as these criminals live.
For the record, I used to be married to an illegal alien from Mexico who is now legal since the 1986 IRCA amnesty and even he understands all of this. He and I both have seen the crime and massive fraud committed by illegal alien criminals, the majority of them from Mexico and Central America. I divorced Mr. Garcia 2 times for alcoholism, and we have a beautiful 18-year-old daughter who is well-mannered, delightful, and law-abiding.
— Jean Garcia Apr 25, 03:52 PM # - It doesn’t matter how we got in this war, who supported it, when, or for what reasons. The fact is that we are not at war with a specific group of people, but Terrorism. Terrorism, as in, the tactic. Terrorists don’t follow the rules of warfare, because if they did, they would lose. All that terrorists try to do is create chaos within the borders of their enemies.
Isn’t that already happening? Here we are, intelligent Americans, who can’t find common ground in anything. ‘Reid’s the bad guy’ ‘no, Bush is the bad guy.’ ‘Democrats are responsible for high gas prices’ ‘We should raise gas prices to encourage alternative energy.’ And that’s just on this web site. As a nation, we are more divided than ever, our military is overextended, and the wealth gap is widening. I take this as a sign that the terrorists are winning. They don’t need to attack us at home if they can accomplish the same thing by killing the men and women we send abroad.
We can’t ‘win’ the war if we ‘stay the course’. The only two ways I can see of ending the use of terrorism are to either erase all knowledge of these tactics from the minds of humanity, or to make its use undesireable and ineffective.
Personally, I believe we should concern ourselves with saving the lives of our valiant soldiers, either by using more effective strategies, following through on the strategies we do start to implement, or pulling them out. We should do this before we argue over how many rights an unborn child has, when it is our soldiers who have families, friends, careers, and hopes.
Presidents have been in office during more challenging times, and pulled our country into a stronger union (I’m thinking of Washington, Lincoln, and FDR). Why can’t our president?
— Nate Apr 25, 10:47 PM # - Health care should be on the minds of every American unless they are rich and will never have to worry. I am coming back to the US from Europe and my biggest worry is what will I do for health care and less and less employers are offering health care. All the so called group health coverage through my alumni assoc. etc. does not cover any preexisting condition.
Anyone could wind up in this position; a company closing or taking away benefits, changing jobs. It is scary and there is nothing you can do. A recent poll showed that 40% of people earning 20-40K are doing without insurance.
The most wonderful think about being in Europe was not having to worry about getting sick and what it would do (ruin) my finances. They don’t let the big drug companies run prices up. Research for new drugs according to Public Citizen is mainly paid for by gov not the drug companies like they want us to think. Europe has problems but nothing like being uninsured and not getting treated.
— kath Apr 26, 02:25 AM # - Dear Harry Reid
I am so proud of you…
Keep fighting for the average american.
The GOP is targeting you for their failures…
I know you will stand tall just like you have done in the past…
God bless you…
You are a person that knows right over wrong and I don’t care what regilion you are…
Those who have souls that are touched by the everlasting soul that loves the earth and its people are truly blessed…
Great job and keep believing in how valuable your work is to everyone…
You are here to help all the human beings on the earth and you are doing a great job!
I am proud having you as my senator in these times and god bless you.
Steve in Henderson…
I also attended the senior volunteer awards and saw how you awarded the local volunteers with your letters…
I stand behind you 100 per cent in this tragic days and will back you 100 per cent in these dangerous days…
— Steve Apr 26, 03:39 AM # - Harry,
Will My Vote Count?
Much is being done by the Democrats to support Democratic candidates, but I don’t think the Republicans are really worried; the Republicans are just pretending to be concerned to lull the Democrats to sleep, so action will not be taken to insure the voter’s true ballot will be counted. The Republicans know they have control of the rigged voting systems used by all the states and confident they can change the voter’s ballot to support the Republican candidate.
The Democrats actually won the last two elections, but allowed the Republicans to manipulate the voting process and steal the political positions. Everyone knows how it was done, but not one person with the power to initiate action to prevent it from happening again is doing anything about it.
I think you still have time to do something about the real reason we have these liars and criminals in control of our government.
— Don Brickey Apr 26, 02:07 PM # - #38 Don Brickey
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060426132609990003&ncid=NWS00010000000001
Excerpts:
Updated: 02:16 PM EDT
Congresswoman’s Son Gets Jail for Slashing Tires
By GRETCHEN EHLKE, AP
AP Photo
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., left, walks into court with her son, Sowande Omokunde, on Monday.
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
MILWAUKEE (April 26) – A congresswoman’s son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004.
The state Republican Party had rented more than 100 vehicles to give rides to voters and poll monitors on Nov. 2, 2004. The cars were parked outside a GOP campaign office when the tires were punctured.
My guess is that either Coward Kerry or Harry Reid arranged for this despicable action to prevent Republicans from going to the polls. More Democrats should be jailed.
— joro Apr 26, 08:51 PM #
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