Del.icio.us Links

links for 2009-09-15

  • California is home to four of the most corrupt members of Congress, according to an annual report released today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

    It's a bipartisan distinction in California. The list includes Democrats Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson and Republicans Ken Calvert and Jerry Lewis.
    Here's the list:

    Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
    Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
    Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
    Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
    Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
    Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
    Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
    Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV)
    Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)
    Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
    Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
    Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN)
    Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
    Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

    (tags: Congress)
  • No reaction to tonight’s latest bombshell from ACORN thus far, and no further word from the House GOP about pushing to defund the organization. It’s awfully quiet out there.
    (tags: ACORN)
  • House Democrats dealt South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson a formal rebuke Wednesday, taking the rare step of passing a resolution of disapproval for his famous “You lie!” outburst last week in the House chamber.

    The vote was 240-179, falling almost exclusively along party lines.

    While Democrats said they were defending the rules of the House and enforcing the traditional decorum of the chamber, Republicans mounted a fierce attack on the resolution, saying it was a waste of time after Wilson had duly apologized to President Barack Obama for his outburst during a joint address to Congress. While a resolution of disapproval is little more than a slap on the wrist, a formal roll call vote like this — permanently entered into the Congressional Record — is extremely rare.
    +++++++\
    A waste of time and taxpayer's money.

  • The Rev. Floyd Rose called for Valdosta City School Superintendent Dr. Bill Cason’s resignation Monday night.
    During the regular Board of Education meeting Rose, president of the Valdosta/Lowndes County Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, spoke to the board about the superintendent’s decision not to air President Barack Obama’s speech on education during school hours.

    Rose and hundreds of others converged on the BOE office demanding answers for why the speech was not shown in a school system that is predominately black.

    (tags: barack_obama)
  • A weakened United States could start retreating from the world stage without help from its allies abroad, an international strategic affairs think tank said Tuesday.

    The respected London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said President Barack Obama will increasingly have to turn to others for help dealing with the world's problems — in part because he has no alternative.

    "Domestically Obama may have campaigned on the theme 'yes we can'; internationally he may increasingly have to argue 'no we can't'," the institute said in its annual review of world affairs.

    The report said the U.S. struggles against insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan had exposed the limits of the country's military muscle, while the near-collapse of the world financial markets sapped the economic base on which that muscle relied.

    (tags: barack_obama)
  • Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:

    • refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
    • refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
    • refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
    • refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”

    Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:
    • call the President a “liar.”
    • call the President a “hypocrite.”
    • describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
    • charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
    • refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
    • refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”

  • So is Fiorina self-funding? Yes and no, it seems. Her camp says she's going to contribute "an undetermined amount" to her campaign, but won't self-finance like GOP gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner.

    Interestingly, it seems that the Democrats are preparing for Boxer to take on Fiorina, and expecting her to self-finance: "Without mentioning the leading potential GOP challenger by name, Biden suggested that Carly Fiorina could pose a threat to the Democratic incumbent with the huge personal fortune she built as Hewlett Packard's chief executive."
    +++++++
    Even if Carly contributes a little of her personal cash stash, she will be ahead of any other GOP candidate.

  • Events are fast pushing Israel toward a pre-emptive military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, probably by next spring. That strike could well fail. Or it could succeed at the price of oil at $300 a barrel, a Middle East war, and American servicemen caught in between. So why is the Obama administration doing everything it can to speed the war process along?

    At July's G-8 summit in Italy, Iran was given a September deadline to start negotiations over its nuclear programs. Last week, Iran gave its answer: No.

    Instead, what Tehran offered was a five-page document that was the diplomatic equivalent of a giant kiss-off