Congressional

AT&T Whistleblower: Spy Bill Creates 'Infrastructure for a Police State' By Ryan Singel June 27, 2008 Mark Klein, the retired AT&T engineer who stepped forward with the technical documents at the heart of the anti-wiretapping case against AT&T, is furious at the Senate's vote on Wednesday night to hold a vote on a bill intended to put an end to that lawsuit and more than 30

According the the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average, Democrats are enjoying a 11.5% lead in the Generic Congressional Vote polling being done. In other words, people are polled across the country asking how they intend to vote in their Congressional elections based on party affiliation only. These really aren’t accurate because every Congressional [...]

ASAP! Help Get Marta Jorgensen, the Democratic Nominee for the 24th CD in CA Get elected In November!  The Congressional Campaign of Jorgensen For Congress in CA 24th CD (Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties) seeks an experienced person to do fundraising and also handle some PR work. www.jorgensenforcongress.com jorgensenforcongress08@gmail.com please email resume to above email address.     

The Dallas Morning News reports that Scott McClellan has told Congress that he is "not sure" if any administration officials committed a crime by revealing Valerie Plame's identity to journalists. And the former White House press secretary is "not sure" if there was a cover-up. Perhaps he has just not had enough time to think it over, or he is trying to develop some inside contacts to the highest

Click the here to rock out! See almost the entire concert! OMG! Macavine Hayes, Captain Luke, Albert White, Sara Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, Mudcat, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Big Ron Harper, Elvin Bishop, Big Ron Hunter and Albert White, The Robert Cray Band. Click the #5 button to see the most awesome Mudcat! The band that saved my life when my son was about three or four. Another story for ano

The prototype Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) enhances the high fuel economy and ultra-low emissions of the popular Toyota Prius production hybrid model with an expanded Nickel-Metal-Hydride battery pack that can be charged by plugging into a standard household electrical outlet.Read more...

According to a survey with an unfortunately low sample size, 74% of Congressional Republicans don’t believe in global warming while 95% of Democrats do. features.csmonitor.com Tags: democrats, global warming, iron Related Posts John Coleman: Global Warming Causes High Gas Prices (0) How Gore Made Global Warming a Mainstream Crisis (0) Republican Golfers “Stupid” on G

Three Congressmen report that their computers have been hacked, with the attacks originating from IP addresses assigned to China; one of them suggests that files on Chinese dissidents were the target. China denies the charges, saying that it's not capable because it's "still a developing country." Right.read more | digg story

Congressman Chet Edwards announced that Justin Hsu, a senior at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, has won the District 17 Congressional Art Competition. Hsu’s piece, “Tree”, is now on display in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC, where it will be seen by hundreds of people each day for the

I’m in DC today and it seems like everyone is talking about how McCain is trying to distance himself not just from Bush, but from the congressional Republicans as well. Look at that headline: “McCain snubs President Bush’s fundraising dinner.” And that June 18 event is one of the biggest Republican fundraising events of the [...]

Sign Rep. Eric Cantor's Petition Against High Gas Prices!A Gas Tax HolidayQuick Quiz: What do these three things have in common?A four-leaf clover, a winning lottery ticket and a US Congressman who's in touch with economic reality.Give up?Name three things that are rarely encountered. We're not sure about the probability of the first two, butCongressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) is organizing a protest a

Once again, in response to constituent outcry over gasoline prices, Oil Company executives have been hauled before Congress to get their posteriors ripped into by self-serving grandstanding Senators. Senator Leahy went so far as to question the salary of the execs – as if this was in some way relevant. But these self-appointed watchdogs are

Ignore at your peril the enemies in our midst. I first learned of this petition while listening in to the May 14 ‘08 segment of Conservative Political Pistachio Radio at Blog talk Radio. It was mentioned and listeners were directed to A NEWT ONE to learn more. I had nearly forgotten about it till I [...]

Congressional Republicans Respond to House Vote on Iraq Supplemental - FULL STREAMING VIDEO. House Minority. Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other House Republicans conduct a press conference to respond to a vote in the House defeating legislation that would have provided an additional $162.5 Billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Press Release: From the Office of the House Republi

by Dave MindemanWhen assessing your prospects for a November election, you probably don't want the words "shellshocked" or "real disaster" to be bantied about, but that is exactly the phrasing being used by the leadership of the Republican Congressional caucus.Minority Leader Boehner and NRCC Committee Chairman Tom Cole had nothing but dire assessments to give their colleagues.As one member put it:“There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are all these different factions out there, everyone is sniping at each other, and we have no real plan. We have a lot of people fighting to be the captain of the lifeboat instead of everybody pulling together.”The recent special election lo

I consider myself fairly well read and informed about the issues of the day. But I missed this story last week and only caught it through the satirical website Ironic Times. It appears that John Conyers has threatened to subpoena members of Dick Cheney's office to testify about their deliberations over the torture issue. The lawyer for one of Cheney's aides, David Addington, claims that Congress lacks the authority to question members of the vice president's staff, in an apparent nod to Cheney's earlier argument that the vice president's office is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch. I guess that amidst all the stories about Obama's flag pin, Rev. Wright, Clinton's "testicular fortitude" and the gas tax, such a vital showdown over the very nature of

I have a couple of posts I'm working on for this weekend, but in the meantime, Kyle recommended that I repost a comment I left at CFLF.Anyways, the context of this is as follows: Kyle, justifiably outraged at the collective yawn that occured in the wake of the revelations that President Bush personally approved torture, sent his local (Republican) congresswoman a letter in connection with an ACLU letter-writing campaign. He was shocked when he received a response back, apparently bearing the signature of the congresswoman herself. Then he read the letter, which not surprisingly amounted to a non-responsive response. Then he fact-checked some of the claims in the letter. Somewhat surprisingly, he found that the underlying facts for the claims in the Congresswoman's letter were, uhh, inc

Last year the Democratic Leadership in Congress determined that they did not want to give the Pentagon their full $196.4 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan operations, so they appropriated $88.3 billion instead, expecting that as the public grew more tired with Iraq, and in an election year, a Spring debate would put the Republicans on the defensive and possibly mean more scrutiny of Pentagon activities and spending. It is now Spring and it is clear that this strategy has failed. This is the Democrats' plan for the Iraq-Afghanistan supplemental they will be putting together this month: First, give the Pentagon all of the remaining funds that they had requested for this fiscal year ($108.1 billion).  Second, give them another $70 billion for the next fiscal year and call it a "Bridge

This report from The Hill comes as no surprise considering that I agree with Bruce Bartlett’s predictions with regards to taxes as quoted here. Bartlett predicted that we will not see major tax increases. One consequence is that we are also unlikely to see a universal health plan pass Congress. The Hill reports: Congressional Democrats are [...]

Tony Zirkle is seeking the Republican nomination in a congressional district in Indiana was invited to speak at the American National Socialist Workers Party in Chicago on Sunday.The problem was that the gathering was to celebrate the birth of Hitler. Zirkle can be seen above standing in front of painting of Hitler with people on the dais wearing swastika armbands. Zirkle's response was this: "I'll speak before any group that invites me."Sadly enough, I believe this is the type of logic that makes him suitable to serve in the current Congress. Why exhibit good sense and head out the door once you see you're speaking at a Nazi gathering? Nope, just hold on to the ideology of speaking before anyone who invites you.Tony Zirkle will be speaking at the NAMBLA convention happening in Wisconsin n

Dr. Deborah Honeycutt means business! In looking around for candidates for Huck PAC to support I am very happy to have stumbled upon her. Dr. Deborah Honeycutt is running for Congress in Georgia's 13th Congressional District (South and West of Atlanta). She is a strong candidate for small business and health-care issues and an advocate for the family and life. She attended the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Services at Ebeneezer Baptist Church with Governor Huckabee this past January, endorsed him for President afterwards (along with a group of conservative leaders in the African-American community) and served as a Meetup organizer for the 2008 Mike Huckabee campaign. Dr. Honeycutt is also a strong advocate for the FairTax (the most important issue to me personally). For more inform

(As promised yesterday here is the first of two endorsements I will be making today. They may not carry a lot of weight but I have taken great care in these decisions. I feel these people are right for the jobs they are seeking)Georgia was home to the two districts that almost gave the GOP a pickup in the House during the disaster of 2006. One of those districts was the 12th District down in East-Central Georgia. In looking for candidates to submit to HuckPAC for possible support I found Ray McKinney. He was one of minor GOP candidates for President, but ended his campaign to run for Congress. I can see no better fit for HuckPAC than Ray McKinney. I see some of the same qualities in him that I saw in Governor Huckabee. It also does not hurt that he also is a staunch supporter of th

Hey everyone- Just an update, our two GOP candidates for VA’s 8th district will be debating at George Mason University tonight.  After the debate, I’ll blog about here, and post a few quotes from the debate.

According to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office, all these proposed bailout plans would reduce the number of foreclosures but won’t do much to prevent home prices declines to continue. Read the whole report here. The housing markets and financial markets are both in the midst of severe adjustments. House prices are falling rapidly, [...]

This has been building for some time now. The old guard is almost at an end on both sides of the aisle. Veterans of the War On Terror are seeking spots in government in record numbers from the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Federal officials at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday said the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will be very difficult to attempt to enforce because of its vague wording. Representatives from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve were among some of the officials who testified at a hearing held by the House of Representatives International [...]

The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2008 Pig Book identified 11,610 projects at a cost of $17.2 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2008. A "pork" project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumventread more | digg storyLiberty Central- Conservatism's Blog of Choice

Image from WikipediaHillary fired for lies, unethical behavior from Congressional job: former bossExcerpt:"Dan Calabrese’s new column on Hillary Clinton’s past may bring the curtain down on her political future. Calabrese interviewed Jerry Zeifman, the man who served as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, has tried to tell the story of his former staffer’s behavior during those proceedings for years. Zeifman claims he fired Hillary for unethical behavior and that she conspired to deny Richard Nixon counsel during the hearings:"Related articlesAnti-Clinton Video Draws Web Audience [via Zemanta]

Image from WikipediaHillary fired for lies, unethical behavior from Congressional job: former bossExcerpt:"Dan Calabrese’s new column on Hillary Clinton’s past may bring the curtain down on her political future. Calabrese interviewed Jerry Zeifman, the man who served as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, has tried to tell the story of his former staffer’s behavior during those proceedings for years. Zeifman claims he fired Hillary for unethical behavior and that she conspired to deny Richard Nixon counsel during the hearings:"Related articlesAnti-Clinton Video Draws Web Audience [via Zemanta]

Today Congress held its first hearing on virtual worlds . I don’t have much to add to the summary already provided by Virtually Blind . Discussion did at one point turn to the use of Second Life by terrorists with Representative Jane Harman (D-California) reading from a very lazy article by the UK Sunday Times (owner News Corporation ) published last August, which was a re-working of a horrendous hack job on the subject by The Australian the week before (owner News Corporation)! Sadly these...(read more)

The Politicians in Congress were dropped on their heads as children. This is especially true for Rep. Edward Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts. There is no other explanation for why Big Oil executives were called into Congress to testify as to why they are making a profit. I provided my two cents below. Please vote it 5 stars on YouTube. Enjoy! Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.

Jose Canseco's new book, Vindicated, claims Alex Rodriguez tried to bed his wife and that Jose introduced A-Rod to a steroids dealer. The Yankees slugger has no reason to worry. The last thing Congress is going to do is hold hearings on adultery in baseball.

Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government. Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, some published now for the first time, show Al-Hanooti photographed with dignitaries ranging from First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1996 and Vice President Al Gore along with significant members of Congress. For never before published photos of al-Hanooti's...(read more)

On Wednesday the unsealed Justice Department indictment against Muthanna Al-Hanooti-a top official for a Detroit based Muslim charity called Life for Relief-reflects that Saddam Hussein’s principal foreign intelligence paid for a 2002 widely criticized visit to Iraq by three House Democrats.Al-Hanooti is charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Iraqi government, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by illegally obtaining the Iraqi oil contract, and three counts of making false statements to FBI agents.Al-Hanooti, who was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Tuesday night after returning from a trip to the Middle East is said to have planned and organized the trip of House Democrats Jim McDermott of Washington State, Mike Thompson of California and the no

Petition for Congressional investigation A petition to stop the crescent memorial is now being circulated on the ground in western Pennsylvania . As a complement to this old fashioned canvassing effort, an electronic petition has also been created at ipetitions.com. Please circulate far and wide! The petitions highlight four cases of apparent Islamic symbolism in the memorial [...]

A petition to stop the crescent memorial is now being circulated on the ground in western Pennsylvania. As a complement to this old fashioned canvassing effort, an electronic petition has also been created at ipetitions.com. Please circulate far and wide!...

Last month, I traveled from Islamabad to Peshawar and then headed north to Kashmir. To understand where Pakistan is today and where it is heading, I presented the following briefing to the U.S. Congress. Today, there is cautious level of enthusiasm and hope in the country, made evident by the February 18th election results which confirmed the popularity of the country's two main centrist parties. It would be an understatement to say that the Pakistani public desires change, and hope that the new...(read more)

Ben Affleck displayed a talented range of emotions today while shooting a scene for his upcoming political thriller State of Play outside Washington D.C.’s Environmental Protection Agency. The 39-year-old has been shuttling back and forth between his L.A.-based wife Jennifer Garner and daughter Violet to the D.C. shoots where he stars as a U.S. Congressman [...]

Yesterday, the AFL-CIO and Drum Major Institute released a pair of Congressional “scorecards” ranking members of Congress on various issues. For the AFL-CIO, it was mainly labor issues; for DMI, it was mainly issues related to the welfare of the middle class. Over the past several weeks, a number of other groups have released their Congressional “scorecards” as well. However, in all of the uproar of the presidential race, many of those got missed. So, this morning, we’re going to bring you not only the DMI and AFL-CIO scorecard results but also those of the ACLU, League Of Conservation Voters, Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, SEIU, and the Secular Coalition for America. Let’s start with the Texas Congressional Delegation’s performance

Having finally recovered to some degree from election night, it’s time to take a look at the statewide election results through a microscope and see how things went. We’ll start with GOP results in contested congressional and state legislative races. In Congressional District 3, Sam Johnson beat back both of his primary opponents–as expected. However, given there was supposedly significant disharmony in the Plano business community with Johnson, I’m surprised that he won nearly 87 percent of the vote, and that challenger Wayne Avellanet only got 4.96 percent of the vote: Wayne Avellanet: 4.69% Sam Johnson - Incumbent: 86.95% Harry Pierce: 8.34% In Congressional District 4, it’s no surprise that Ralph Hall won the GOP Primary without a runoff, but, in light of

Over the course of the past few weeks, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has hauled out Brian McNamee, a trainer, Andy Pettitte, pitcher, and Roger Clemens, also a pitcher, to testify on steriod use. McNamee told baseball investigator George Mitchell that he injected Clemens at least 16 times with steroids and [...]

As everyone has probably heard by now, the 800 superdelegates play a major role in who will be the Democratic Presidential nominee. Well, we have the Congressional Black Caucus who's throwing a major monkey wrench into this situation because many of them plan to vote against who their districts voted for, which is Barack Obama. ColorofChange.org which was very instrumental in bringing Jena 6 to national attention, has sent out the email I copied and pasted below. Please have a look:Dear Friend,Voters in places like Atlanta, Brooklyn, St. Louis, and Inglewood have made clear their choice for president: Barack Obama. So why are some members of the Congressional Black Caucus threatening to use their power as "superdelegates" to undermine those votes and nominate Hillary Clinton?Voters sh

Independent Country has crafted a great hypothetical response for Roger Clemens to use when he appears before the congressional hearing(aka, inquisition, witch hunt, etc.) about steroid use. Mr. Chairman, I have read the Constitution and it does not grant you authority to ask the question or hold this hearing on my alleged steroid use. Therefore, I [...]

The spring of 1980 is still vivid in my memory. It was the year of my high school graduation, and hometown hero Bruce Roberts of Chateauguay, Quebec, would be going to Moscow for the Olympics for the 800 meters. I would have loved to see him battle it out with Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe. I would have loved to see Tony Sandoval (not the same Tony Sandoval coach at Cal Berkeley) in the marathon. His winning time of 2:10:19 was a USA Trials record until Ryan Hall smashed it. I could go on. But we all know know what happened. He stayed home, just like I did, and watched the limited coverage on TV. This week, the 1980 USA Olympians officially got their gold medalists in this article from Sports Illustrated. The 1980 U.S. Olympians who never had a chance to compete at the Moscow Games can finally say it: They are officially gold medalists. But these aren’t Olympic medals. Rather, they’re Congressional Gold Medals that were awarded to the 461 Olympic athletes during the Ca

An American Crisis In Congressional ConfidenceA new poll suggests approval ratings for Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress have fallen to new lows.The USA Today/Gallup Poll of 1,011 U.S. adults, conducted via telephone Dec. 14-16, found only 30 percent of respondents voiced approval for the job being performed by congressional Democrats, and only 26 percent approved of Republicans in Congress, USA Today reported Tuesday.Sixty-four percent of those polled disapprove of the Democrats' job performance, and 68 percent said the same of the Republicans.Read Article...Do you approve or disapprove of the waythe following are handling their job?A. The Republicans in Congress - Dec 14-16 2007:Approve 26 Disapprove 68 No opinion 5B. The Democrats in Congress - Dec 14-16 2007:Approve 30 Disapprove 64 No opinion 5 Visit USA Today/Gallup Poll Congress Republican Democrat Government

Came across this earlier today: In an unprecedented early show of confidence in a candidate for the race for U.S. Senator from Texas, Democratic members of the Texas Delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives today endorsed Texas State Representative Rick Noriega in his quest to win the Democratic nomination in March, and the General Election in November, 2008. The following U.S. House members endorsed Rep. Noriega in the U.S. Senate race: Reps. Al Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Silvestre Reyes, Chet Edwards, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Charlie Gonzalez, Nick Lampson, Ciro Rodriguez, Lloyd Doggett, Solomon P. Ortiz, Gene Green, and Eddie Bernice Johnson. “Rick Noriega is the candidate in this race whose entire life represents his commitment to profound service to our nation, military service and public service,” said the members of the Texas Delegation. “From the halls of the University of Houston under an ROTC scholarship, to the halls of Harvard, to the Texas National G

American prosperity is under attack folks. Make no mistake about it. Last night Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways And Means Committee, outlined his tax plan for the country. Though Rangel wrote the bill, he has long been Clinton inc's point man on such issues; he always takes marching orders from team Clinton (last week they sent him out to attack Rudy Giuliani's multiple marriages). So... Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.

Interview with Steve Beren (R), candidate for Congressional District 7 Washington - Part # 5 Part # 1 Part # 2 Part # 3 Part # 4 Part # 5 Some people have said that Republican fundamentalist Christians are as radical and extreme as the members of Democrat groups such as MoveOn.org, Democratic Underground and DailyKos. Please explain why you see them as similar or different. Steve Beren: Completely different.  MoveOn.org, DailyKos, and much of the rest of the far left don’t have a victory strategy in the war against Islamic fascism.  They don’t support our troops, and they don’t support their mission.  The policies advocated by such far left groups, and accepted by many Democratic Party politicians and candidates, would lead to a disaster for our nation and the world.Liberals struggle with the question of “moral values” and “faith voters,” but they really have no clue.  The liberal elite has this stereotype of people who vote on the basis of moral values.  Their stereotype

CNN.com reported that Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and exiled Tibetan religious leader, accepted the Congressional Gold Medal from U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday during a ceremony in Washington , DC. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award which may be bestowed by the United States Congress. The decoration is awarded to any individual who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States. Past honorees include Mother Teresa, former South African President Nelson Mandela, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson.                                                                                                                                                      According to wikipedi

Interview with Steve Beren (R), candidate for Congressional District 7 Washington - Part # 4 Part # 1 Part # 2 Part # 3 Part # 4 Part # 5 You are very outspoken in your articles about the need for us to win in Iraq. What would be the consequences if we cut and run from Iraq, as the Democrats seem to want us to do? Steve Beren: If we allow the pro-terrorist forces a victory in Iraq, there may well be a massive slaughter of pro-democracy Iraqis, just as there was a massive slaughter in Southeast Asia after the U.S. completed the withdrawal of its forces in 1975.  Also, defeat in Iraq will strengthen and encourage the pro-terrorist forces in Iran and Syria, and their proxies in Hezbollah and Hamas.  Defeat in Iraq would make it much more difficult to block the war drive of the Iranian dictatorship.  The defeatist, pro-surrender, “blame America” approach of the Democratic Party is the main reason the American people should elect a Republican President and Republican Congress in 2008

“World Peace Must Develop From Inner Peace, Peace Is Not The Absence Of Violence Peace Is The Manifestation Of Human Compassion” The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama was in Washington DC to receive the highest civilian honour given by the US government: The Congressional Gold Medal (see image below). In a ceremony attended by Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi and representatives of Congress, President Bush became the first sitting US president to meet publicly with the leader to present him with the medal. The Medal is designed and struck individually to honor each specific recipient. Past honorees have included the first recipient: George Washington, Pope John Paul II, Rosa Parks, Winston Churchill, Jackie Robinson and John Wayne, the actor. The Dalai Lama has been in a long political struggle with China over the status of Tibet, his homeland, since he fled the country for India in 1959 to escape capture and probable imprisonmen

Interview with Steve Beren (R), candidate for Congressional District 7 Washington - Part # 3 Part # 1 Part # 2 Now pick what you think are the top three issues and tell me how you would fix those problems with political considerations aside. And while I realize that could take many hours to explain I’d like to hear just a few nitty gritty details rather than just boilerplate talking points. Steve Beren: I’m no fan of boilerplate talking points myself.  I’m for victory in the war against Islamic terrorism.  That includes doing whatever is necessary to achieve and maintain a fundamental political transformation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and throughout the Middle East.  Also, victory includes stopping the war drive of the Iranian mullahs, preventing them from acquiring nuclear weapons, and helping the Iranian people win the democracy and freedom they deserve.  But, above all, victory means a fundamental political transformation throughout the Middle East.With regard to the broader iss

Interview with Steve Beren (R), candidate for Congressional District 7 Washington - Part # 2 Part # 1 When Nicolas Sarkozy ran against Segolene Royale for the presidency of France, he convinced the voters that voting for him would be a vote for overwhelming change. This he did in spite of Royale being of the opposing party and him being the same party as Jacque Chirac who was seen as responsible for many of Frances economic and racial problems. Can the next Republican presidential candidate convince American voters that they are for change more so than the Democrats are? Steve Beren: Change in and of itself is not inherently either good or bad.  Withdrawal from Iraq would be a change; heavy tax increases would be a change; Hillary Clinton appointing liberal judges to the Supreme Court would be a change.  But all of those changes would be negative changes.  Republicans and conservatives need to campaign on the key issues, not the abstract concept of “change.”  We can win the debat

Interview with Steve Beren candidate for Congress, Washington 7th Congressional District (Part # 1)  First off, Mr. Beren I would like to say thank you for agreeing to this interview. I know you are a busy man and I appreciate you taking this time with a relatively unknown blogger such as myself. I will warn you that I am neither a 'party line' voter nor blogger. So please be forewarned that my questions will bounce around a bit.  I have read quite a bit from your site and elsewhere about you and see that you have a varied political past. You have been an anti war activist, a Socialist, a Democrat and now a Republican. That sounds like quite an interesting journey. Would you like to tell us about it?Steve Beren: I’m a former socialist and former Democrat.  I was an antiwar activist during the Vietnam war.  I joined a socialist youth group in November 1968 while a freshman at City College of New York.  Now, I devote myself to taking political action to make up for what I did. 

After the most recent Congressional non-binding resolution, every Democrat in office needs to be drug tested. In case you missed the news, the Democrats in Congress pushed a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. Then, just as everyone predicted, Turkey recalled its Ambassador to Washington in a stroke of outrage. The people of Turkey are also furious.Did anyone care to notice that Turkey and Israel are our only allies in the Middle East? We use Turkey for strategic purposes in the Iraq War. We also protect the Kurds from Turkey by keeping this relationship strong.Now the moronic Democrats just angered Turkey with this meaningless resolution. Moreover, it could not have come at a worse time. This will lead to one of two things, if not both: 1) Turkey will cut logistical support; or 2) Turkey will attack the Kurds and then when we tell them not to, they will point to this resolution.These Democrats need to be removed from office, drug test

Most Congressional hearing transcripts are available online somewhere between 2 months and 2 years after they take place. As you can imagine, when you want the exact words used during a conversation taking place today on CSPAN, that's a long time to wait.Federal News Network is a service that transcribes government hearings, speeches and press conferences within 24 hours. Although I personally believe that there should be a few full-time government positions doing this as a public service for the American people, in our current reality, this service sounds perfect for a journalist, right?Until you read the fine print. Tell me if this sounds strange to you..."FNS may refuse or deny access to anyone, using only our reasonable discretion.""None of the FNS Content may be copied or otherwise exploited without the prior written consent of a duly authorized representative of FNS, and you may not copy or paste FNS Content into any other web sites.""Use of The Site constitutes consent to FNS t

PROGRAM: The Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program brings talented African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native college seniors and recent graduates to Washington, D.C., where they work in congressional offices and learn about health policy. The application deadline is usually in early January. Check the website for details. PURPOSE: The Kaiser Family Foundation [...]

MEDIA ADVISORY Little Rock, AR – Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee issued the following comment in response to Democrats in Congress condemning statements made by conservative radio talk show... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

From Agence France-Presse: WASHINGTON — The US Senate has called for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to be officially designated a “foreign terrorist organisation,” a day after the House of Representatives passed a similar measure. The Senate on Wednesday voted 76-22 for the non-binding amendment sponsored by Republican Jon Kyl and independent Joseph Lieberman to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Pasdaran, on the US terrorist blacklist. You might expect that I would be happy about this move. This is outrageously ridiculous. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards are to be treated as a separate “terrorist” organization? What does it take to declare war on an Islamic state that has been murdering Americans for decades and threatens to bring the civilized world into chaos ushered in with nuclear holocaust? Don’t act like this is some sort of victory, folks. The very notion that parts of the Iranian government should be separated from the r

After all the terrible news coming out of Washington in the past weeks, it’s nice to get something good. First, the Senate is set to pass a stronger federal hate crimes bill, having mustered the required 60 votes. According to Harry Reid: As we hold ourselves up as a model for the ideals of equality, tolerance, and mutual understanding abroad, we have a special responsibility to combat hate-motivated violence at home.  Our troops are on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere fighting against evil and hate.  We owe it to them to uphold those same principles here at home. This legislation is a welcome step forward. Hopefully it can help prevent racial conflicts such as those in Jena recently. According to the district attorney of LaSalle Parish, Reed Walters, the events that inspired the Jena violence weren’t hate crimes. Whether that’s an accurate interpretation or not, hopefully this new bill will remedy the gross oversight. Secondly, the Senate passed

 Jeb Bradley has already announced he will run for the seat he lost to Carol Shea-Porter in last November’s congressional election, now we have another Republican who also wants the seat. Former NH Health and Human Services commissioner John Stephen today announced he is forming a campaign committee to run for the Republican nomination for the District 1 U.S. Representative seat.   Republicans seem to be lining up to challenge for this seat. Carol Shea-Porter appears to be vulnerable amid dismal approval rating. Of course the media in New Hampshire only talks about how Republican senator John Sununu is vulnerable with no mention of Shea-Porter’s vulnerability.   Some quotes from John Stephen: “Five years ago, I ran for Congress for one reason, to bring New Hampshire values to Washington,” said Stephen. “Since then, what we have seen is a whole bunch of Washington values sent back to New Hampshire.” “It’s time to take the car keys away from this Congress. We n

The good people at The Club for Growth has given it's Repork Card for 2007. Iteresting enough, most of the biggest Porkers were Defeatocrats, but there are many Republican Porkers also. Also it is Friday so it menas it is...

Amazingly, new polls show just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress. That is the lowest rating ever. Nevertheless, yesterday, the Democrats engaged in the most shameful activity in a long time. In order to trick their base into believing they want to pull the troops out of Iraq, they pulled an all-nighter and now they want a pay raise. Yes, Congress thinks that by dragging cots into Congress and then sneaking out at night to go home, they will convince the public they are against the War in Iraq. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Contrary to popular belief, the resolution that Harry Reid claims will end the Iraq war will do no such thing. In fact, it simply seeks to attain meaningless redeployment. Many, if not most, troops will stay in Iraq. Since that is the case, I think I will leave it to the Generals to decide where our troops are deployed over Nancy Pelosi. It is so pathetic that this Democrat Congress has managed to not

By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY It’s hard to imagine Tiger Woods would have to audition for anything connected to golf, but that’s what he did last weekend at the AT&T National. Woods wants to anchor his tournament at Congressional Country Club, the golf home for presidents, congressmen and industrial leaders in Bethesda, Md. “We want to come here,” Woods said Sunday afternoon. “We want to come here every year.” There was determination in his voice, but the issue can be settled only by the more…

By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY BETHESDA, Md. — The AT&T National is Tiger Woods’ personal invitational, similar to PGA Tour events hosted by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. It has a limited field of 120 players. A normal event can have 144 players or 156 if it is played during long summer days. Rich Beem and Brad Faxon expressed concern about adding another limited field event to the schedule when the tournament was announced last winter, but both are playing and both broke par more…

See Original StoryIn a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, the heads of the Senate and House Judiciary committees demanded an explanation in 10 days of why the White House claimed executive privilege on subpoenaed documents and vowed to invoke "the full force of law.""The veil of secrecy you have attempted to pull over the White House by withholding documents and witnesses is unprecedented and damaging to the tradition of open government by and for the people that has been a hallmark of the republic," Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told Fielding.They gave the White House until July 9 to furnish the factual and legal bases for the executive privilege claim and documentation that President Bush personally signed off on it.Whether or not the White House meets the deadline, "we will take the necessary steps to rule on your privilege claims and appropriately enforce our subpoenas backed by the full force of law," Leahy and Conyers wrote.The problems amon

(Columbus) – The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance has compiled a summary of how congressmen voted on a measure introduced in Congress earlier this week that sought to ban polar bear hunting. Congress rejected an amendment in the Interior Appropriations Bill that would have prohibited American hunters from pursuing polar bears from healthy populations in Canada. The vote was 188-242. Seven lawmakers did not vote. Breaking the vote down by party, 165 Democrats supported the amendment, while 68 opposed it. Two did not vote. At the same time, 23 Republicans voted for the amendment while 174 Republicans voted no. Five did not vote. There are 228 members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Forty-four voted to ban polar bear hunting, while 180 voted no. Four members of the caucus did not vote. “It is critical to the future of hunting for sportsmen to know how their legislators vote on key issues like this one,” said U.S. Spor

Today, after months of complaints from retired players, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will hold a hearing to look into the league’s pension and disability plans and the way they have been managed.  Among those testifying will be former Minnesota Vikings guard Brent Boyd, who was turned down countless times despite a head injury that has left him unable to work, and Cyril Smith, the lawyer who helped represent Hall of Fame center Mike Webster’s family in a protracted battle against the plan that they finally won in 2005, three years after Webster’s death. But perhaps more significant to the retirees will be Congress’s interest in their own union, the NFL Players Association, which - as a part manager of the plan - they believe is to blame for their ordeals.  “The way I see it, they’re all tied in together,” Hart Lee Dykes, a former New England Patriots wide receiver and client of John Hogan, a lawyer who

It looks like Congress is getting into the act against the proposed satellite radio merger. A bipartisan group of 72 Congressional leaders sent a letter Monday to the chairpersons of the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, opposing the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio companies, XM (XMSR) and Sirius (SIRI) saying “On its face, we believe that sanctioning the marriage of the only competitors in the satellite radio market... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

A Senior Member of the Congressional Black Caucus seeks a Scheduler/Executive Assistant. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: organizing, and maintaining the Congresswoman’s busy schedule; assisting with personal correspondence, and accompany the Congresswoman to events and receptions. Position requires excellent organization abilities, an attention to detail, and strong written and oral communication skills. Scheduling background and Hill experience preferred but not required. Sense of humor a must. Please send cover letter and resume to democratScheduler@yahoo.com.

Duplicate Post - Member is still looking A Senior Member of the Congressional Black Caucus seeks a Chief of Staff. He/she will serve as the Member’s chief legislative and political advisor; act as the Member’s liaison with DC and the district organizations; provide leadership and management to staff in the Washington and district offices; manage and direct the day to day business in a busy Congressional office. Successful Candidate must be a well-established professional with both legislative and managerial experience; possess a keen understanding of national and local politics; and have strong political contacts. Prefer candidates who have been Chief of Staff or other senior position to a Member of Congress. Candidates must be aggressive and innovative, willing to work long hours and under pressure. A law or advanced degree strongly preferred. Sense of humor a must. Please send cover letter and resume to democratCoS@yahoo.com.

Jefferson allegedly accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman — $90,000 of which was later recovered from a freezer in his Louisiana home. What this doesn’t tell you is that it was recovered during the Katrina evacuation. Jefferson ordered a rescue boat to take him to his house so he could remove the freezer from it. When that boat got stuck a second boat came to the rescue. That boat also got stuck and a helicopter had to fly in and get him out. All this was going on while these boats could have been helping victims of Katrina. Now the case heads to court to decide whether is office was raided legally. Evidently you are supposed to be able to hide all your evidence of wrong doing in your congressional office and nobody is supposed to be allowed in there to search for it. Is Jefferson forced to resign as a Republican would be? No, he was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee You can read about the trial here.

Looking for something great to do on the 21st & 22nd of May! Look no further! The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation is holding its annual Congressional Shoot-out and Industry Challenge to raise money! The entry fee is not cheap but this event gives you great access to your congressional leadership and allows you to show off your clay shooting skills!Contact Lilia at:Lilia@sportsmenslink.org or log on to their website and learn all about the good work they are doing keeping our leadership updated on the issues that matter to sportsmen nationwide!Congressional Sportsmen's FoundationHuntinglife.com is a project I am taking on to create a resource to match outfitters and hunters together along with informative knowledge, hunting news, resources and great articles and pictures. Elk, Deer, Turkey, Bear, Antelope, Bison, Buffalo, Moose, Mule Deer, Whitetail, Hogs, fishing, Hunting and all kinds of fun stuff.

Chellie Pingree files for congressional runExcerpt:"A number of Maine Democrats have been eyeing Allen's congressional seat amid speculation the six-term congressman will run for the Senate. In addition to Pingree, they include York County District Attorney Mark Lawrence, former state Sen. Michael Brennan of Portland, and Portland lawyer Adam Cote, a former soldier in Iraq."http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/04/06/chellie_pingree_files_for_congressional_run/Alex

President Bush took advantage of lawmaker’s inability to obstruct his appointments this week, a New York Times article reports. With Congress not in session for Easter break Bush used recess appointments to make Sam Fox the ambassador to Belgium, Andrew G. Biggs the deputy commissioner of Social Security, and Susan E. Dudley the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the office of Management and Budget. Democrats strongly opposed all three candidates during previous hearings. Fox, who contributed to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, was subject to Kerry’s questioning during the hearings. But in bypassing Congress, Bush denied the Senator his revenge against a Swift Boat contributor. Biggs only offense is his views on privatizing Social Security. Democrats, opposed to both allowing Americans the freedom of choice and removing even a little of government from where it has already encroached into citizens lives, shot down Biggs confirmation. Environ

I guess even in the halls of Congress, there are intermarriages, like in Hollywood.This past weekend in Brookings, South Dakota, Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth (D-South Dakota) and former Congressman Man Sandlin (D-Texas) tied the knot.Sandlin served as a Congressman from Northeast Texas representing a district that was based around Texarkana until his defeat in 2004. He was one of the Texas Democrats defeated in Tom DeLay's gerrymandering of Texas.Stephanie Herseth is a member of a political family in South Dakota. She won the seat of Republican Bill Janklow in a special election in 2004 when Janklow was sent to prison, and was reelected in the 2004 election and in 2006.Herseth will now go by the name Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, which should go over well when she runs for Senate (God willing.)

George Will lays out the reasons why allowing a Congressional vote by D.C.'s representative would be clearly unconstitutional. Here's a highlight from the column:But those -- mostly Democrats -- who favor full House membership for the District cite Congress's constitutional power "to exercise exclusive legislation" over "the seat of the government." They say Congress can exercise its "exclusive legislation" power to nullify Article I, Section 2's requirement that House members be chosen by the people "of the several states." But that is preposterous: If Congress's "exclusive legislation" power concerning the District can trump one constitutional provision, it can trump any provision: Congress could establish a religion, stifle free speech or authorize unreasonable searches and seizures in Washington.The Op/Ed goes on to tie this issue to the D.C. gun ban. For that you will have to read the whole thing.

Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas) attacks Al Gore at House Committee testimony on March 21, 2007. Joe Barton represents an area of Texas with strong oil and manufacturing interests. Joe Barton tells Al Gore he is "totally wrong" on certain aspects of global warming. Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) told Al Gore that same day that he believed the debate over global warming had been settled. This was coming from the former leader of the Republican Party in the House. Joe Barton is obviously wrong and science has agreed unanimously that the debate has been settled on global warming. Dennis Hastert even agrees with this. Watch for yourself and see the disrespectful tone and manner that Barton treats the former Vice President.

Representative Sanchez CitesDisrespect Of Women Rep. Loretta Sanchez has quit the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accusing the chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, of telling people she's a "whore." Baca denied the charge. In an interview with The Politico Wednesday, Sanchez, a California Democrat as is Baca, also cited concerns about whether Baca was properly elected Hispanic Caucus chairman in November and about his general attitude toward female lawmakers. The caucus represents 21 Hispanic Democrats in Congress. "I'm not going to be a part of the CHC as long as Mr. Baca illegally holds the chair … I told them no. There's a big rift here," Sanchez said. "You treat the women like shit. I have no use for him." Last February, six members withdrew from the group's political action committee after Baca and his allies authorized political contributions to family members who were running for state and local offices. Sanchez was among that group of defectors, which also included her

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) was established in 1978 by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to developing the next generation of Latino leaders. CHCI's educational services are designed to provide Latino students with the tools and resources they need to succeed in attaining a higher education. Its leadership development programs seek to help participants search for and understand, their identity as professionals, Latinos, and leaders. By bringing together individuals who share a commitment to serve their communities, CHCI endeavors to make its vision of an educated and civic-minded Latino community a reality.Scholarship AwardsThis premier scholarship opportunity is afforded to Latino students who have a history of performing public service-oriented activities in their communities and who plan to continue contributing in the future. There is no GPA or major requirement. Students with excel

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo (R) wants to end all race based caucuses. His reason? Tancredo told The Hill: "You should not have any organization, a caucus especially, based solely on race. I mean on issues? You bet. But on race? Why should we be separating ourselves up into these racial divisions?"It would be anathema to me if someone wanted to create a white caucus. A race is something over which we have no control. Everything we are told is we should ignore it, that we should try to eliminate that as a distinction in our society," he added.Here's my official Stalin Malone Bias Alert (or SMBA if you like), I'm no fan of Tancredo. I disagree with most everything he says. But...he's in the right place on this one. I don't think there needs to be official racial caucuses. His reason above is philosophically correct, and he has an ally in me. Apparently, he'll need all the allies he can get. Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, which

President Meets with the Bicameral Congressional Leadership, FULL STREAMING VIDEO, The Cabinet Room, 9:16 A.M. EST. THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the members of Congress -- this is both Houses, both political parties -- for joining me and the Vice President and members of my team. We just had a very constructive conversation.We talked about Iraq. We talked about the need for a new way forward in Iraq. And we talked about the need to work together on this important subject. We also talked about other key issues.I assured the leaders that the White House door will be open when the new Congress shows up. And I think we ought to meet on a regular basis; I believe there's consensus for that. And the reason you meet on a regular basis is so that the American people can know that we're working hard to find common ground. That's what they expect us to do; they expect us to work on big problems and solve them.I want to say something about my two friends here. Senator Frist, we appreciate yo

Two seats KY-03 and IN-09 moved from Democrat to Republican One seat FL-22 moved from Republican to Democrat I now have a projection of 21 seats moving to the Democrats with three more seats within one formula point of moving. There are actually seven seats I list as slight Republican where the formula is five or less. Only one of the slight Democrat seats is under five. So according to my formula... it would not take much of a push to move 21 to 28 or so. House Projections

hopefully daily... at least through weekdays when things are hopping. The hyperlink is available on the 2006 Election page your you can simply book mark the two spreadsheets: http://www.coldheartedtruth.com/senate.html http://www.coldheartedtruth.com/congress.html

Available now is the very first Congressional polling spreadsheet created by Indy Voter. Also available is the Senate polling spreadsheet created by your's truly. I will also add a link to the 2006 Election page sidebar for these spread sheets.

Please help save Mr. Choudhury: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury Advisory Board Member, R&B Islam-Israel Fellowship; Journalist, Columnist, Author & Peace Activist; PEN U.S.A. F.T.W. Award 2005; A.J.C. Moral Courage Award 2006; Editor & Publisher, Weekly Blitz www.weeklyblitz.net Chief Editor, Weekly Jamjamat www.interfaithstrength.comMr. Salah is on trial for his life in Bangladesh. His crime - writing articles favorable toward Christians and Jews.On November 14, 2006, Representatives Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced a Congressional Resolution (House Resolution 1080) urging the Bangladesh government to drop all charges against Muslim journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and cease all other forms of harassment against him.House Resolution 1080 will be voted on before Congress adjourns at the end of this year (before the holidays).Please contact

Randy "Duke" Cunningham's (R-California) acceptance of extravagant gifts in exchange for large defense contracts through earmarks and Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) $233 million dollar bridge to no where has recently drawn a lot of attention to the issue of earmarks.Earmarks, also known as "pork" or "pork barrel spending", is basically defined as a project that a member of congress adds to a bill, that project is never debated on, and there is never a hearing held on the merits of the project. This makes it easy for a member of congress to slip it into a bill without it being noticed. It also usually serves the interest of someone or a special interest.Earmarks have vastly increased in use over the past decade. They went from 4,126 in 1994, to 12,852 in 2006, according to the Congressional Research Service. In 2006, the total value of earmarks to tax payers was $67.1 billion dollars. While there are some projects that are of course good and need to be done there is still a lot of waste and