5 Weeks Away From Major Decision

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Well, the Congress bugged out yesterday until after the elections in 5 plus weeks and as I listened to various news reports yesterday and personal pontificating by the so-called Inside Beltway experts my ears did perk at one interesting tidbit given as fact. I haven't confirmed this so thus the "given as fact" remark but according to one news source and I think it was Lou Dobbs on CNN, the Congress so far this year has only been in session a total of 93 working days. If my math is correct, today is the 273rd day of the year and theses clowns have only worked a 3rd of it so far and by the time the year is out that worked day fraction will actually shrink even further. I know, I should shut up when I think of the even more damage they could do if they worked more!

Our country faces many important and serious issues and granted my politics would have the Congress not work 10 days a year but with the current system, it's structure and situation that is not a reality. Many of the serious problems we face are in fact such because this very august body created them in the first place only to require ever continuing maintenance and thus propelling their own need and their own position of manipulation for elective effect. Thus the old adage, "Tax Tax Tax! Spend Spend Spend! Elect Elect Elect!" Thanks to the late Larry McDonald for that insight and the quote.

12 years ago in 1994' we saw a major political shift in this country concerning the Congress when the Republicans gained control of that body after sitting on the outside looking in for what seemed like forever or to hear them tell it, it was. I think the major reason for the shift at that time was if you look back it seemed like the democrats were being rocked by scandal after scandal from Speaker Wright to Rostenkowski and the House post office scandal. There were others in minor scale but these 2 were very high profile. Now those in the democratic camp would holler political foul and they would assert this all done under a witch hunt and they have a point but this ain't Sunday School boys and girls, this is grown up hardball. It you ain't willing to run with the big dogs, don't come off the porch. The 94' elections swept in the republicans in a house cleaning attitude of the American electorate to remove what they percieved as scandal riddled lowlifes who were unwilling to listen to their voters.

Now fast forward to the fall of 2006' and 12 years of republican Congressional control and for the last 6 years Republican control of the 2 major branches of gov't and some would argue all 3 because of SCOTUS seatings but we'll only focus for now on the primary 2 branches that set law and public policy. Over the last several years it now seems the republicans, not one to be outdone by democrats for Pete's sake, have also had their fairshare of scandals, from obvious monetary profitteering, to consolidation of personal power through backdoor manipulation to the news of yesterday and the Rep. Foley and inapproapiate underage sexual misbehavoriors as it relates to a male Congressional Page and how large it is only time will tell. Will it involve others? I'm even scared to answer that question as a result of what my gut feeling tells me.

In other words folks, Washington DC has just flat become a cesspool IMO and they are totally absorbed with themselves. The democrats help majority power for a time to only be corrupted by that power and the voters finally reacted in some fashion. Now the republicans enter the majority seat and like the democrats in that position over time they have their own corruption and scandals. See a trend here folks?

They only are concerned with us when it comes time to enter the ballot box and here is where I'm headed but not in ways you might think. Most Americans as polls will show tend to find much fault with someone else's Congressman or Senator but rarely with their own. I guess you just tend to get use to a certain brand of bacon! We no longer have the luxury IMO of select targeting the bad apples hoping to change the system as a whole. It just hasn't worked.

On election day, just vote against any incumbent period. Are there some folks going down with this method that I don't want to see go down? Absolutely, like Rep. Ron Paul of Texas who IMO although a Republican by party is a top solid Libertarian and a former Libertarian Party Presidental candidate. But I would gladly unseat him if in the process it meant overturning ever seat up for election in this country. Would this mean the republicans would lose control of the Congress? Yep! Haven't looked at the number since only 1/3 of the senate is up so depending on the numbers the same could be true of the Senate. Another real boost to the entire process would be if you could elect ANY 3rd party candidate and whatever party makes no difference at this point. In fact the best possible sceanrio would be that no single party holds majority power because in any of the above suggested exercise the idea is to finally force Washington into a reality check.

They no longer fear us or even consider us as nothing more than airhead idiots who stand there like leemings every 2 or 4 years and just do the same thing in the voting booth again and again. All they have to do is get in position that they are the only one we listen too when told how to proceed. By showing them that we aren't afraid to turn over the apple cart from time to time, we may just be able in some way to recapture some of the responsible gov't we once had. In my own district, we have no 3rd party candidate for Congress and neither Senator is up for re-election but on election day I'll do what I haven't done since the 1984 election and that is vote for one of the 2 major party candidates to be my Congressman and in this case it will be a democrat and yes I will hold my nose hoping to hold back the gag reflex which would be the same if I were voting for the republican incumbent so there you go!
:laugh:

Think about the reaction if the entire Congressional body was overturned in 1 election. Man, Washington and the so-called experts would be reduced to globs of nothing overnight. Think of the lobbyist on K-Street and all the money spent on folks on their way out instead of back into power for their benefit! Yee-Haww!

We don't have the guts or courage our founding fathers did of dumping tea in a harbor or meetings the empirical forces on our own Lexington Green face to face with guns at the ready but this is about just as good in a civil society. Jefferson once said that revolution from time to time was good and even healthy to a people and nation and I can think of no better way to revolt than to vote against incumbents. Beyond that, I see that we have no hope, the ship will only sink further over time and our children and children's children will pay dearly because of our cowardess. They will curse us and spit on our graves and rightly so!

JMHO
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Say what you want about the Clinton years, the White House sex scandels and the democrats running block for the President but at least with Clinton and Monica it was consenting adults.

Appears this Mark Foley thing has more legs than we previously knew and that the republican Congressional leadership has known that there was a problem. However, in this case it wasn't an issue of consenting adults.

This is not the first time this has happened folks and it appears now that this type of problem is running deeper than first believed. Word is ABC News has been contacted by numerous Pages about other cases involving other Congressmen and the news report I heard make it sound like it's far more than just one lone pervert Congressman.

I'm telling you folks, it's time to send a real clear message to all of Washington and you can do that on election day!

My Way News - Hastert Stands by Handling of Foley Case

The Blotter

The Blotter

The Blotter
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
This scandal sounds the same as the Catholic Priests......

pages = altar boys
politician = priests

The speaker knows = the bishop/cardinal knows
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
This scandal sounds the same as the Catholic Priests......

pages = altar boys
politician = priests

The speaker knows = the bishop/cardinal knows

Good point More! Never even considered that connection. Just another point to how morally corrupt our society's leaders have become.
 

tieguy

Banned
I just never imagined this problem could be as rampant as it appears to be. It seems like dataline can go into any town and catch 50 pervs willing to hop in the car and catch some kid home alone.
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Support for the republicans IMO is really beginning to implode and I mean in a very serious way. Here's just one example from a syndicated radio talkshow host of a conservative/libertarian (more neo-conservative than libertarian IMO) slant.

boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze

Early yesterday afternoon as I got ready for work I knew Rush Limbaugh's show was coming on so out of curiousity I decided to turn on the radio to hear what he had to say on this matter. It didn't take long for me to turn it back off as Rush was defending the Republicans being better than the democrats as they took action and solved the problem.

UH! WHAT! ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME!

Rush and whoever else is under this illusion, the republicans did nothing to rid this man from Congress. The fact is, ABC news undercovered the instant messages this guy was sending and when the fear of exposure was so great, Foley on his own accord immediately resigned and then claimed alcohol abuse and checked into rehab which IMO was nothing more than his way of going somewhere that he could avoid the press and public exposure. I'd not be surprised to learn that republican action was in fact to suggest this (enter rehab)to remove the man from public eye until after the election in order for them to impose some kind of damage control. The facts are coming more and more clear that the republicans knew about this guy and what he was up to and while I'm at it, can you seriously believe in this day of "gotcha politics" that the democrats at best didn't have a whiff of this too? You betcha they knew and sat on it waiting for the moment. Wouldn't surprise me to learn someday that it was a democrat operative would fed ABC news the instant messages. I'm glad they did but they should have done this the moment they learned of them. If you won't protect a young boy or group of young boys from a serious sexual pervert, how much will you really do to protect the safety and security of the nation's people? Oh, that one sure hit's ya where you live!

Like Rome in it's dying days, our National institutions are corrupt from top to bottom and everywhere in between! That day of decision gets closer by the day so what will you do?
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Since the events in 1982' are being discussed in light of the Foley revelations, here is a piece written from someone who was there and how it was handled.

Joseph A. Califano Jr. - When the House Could Clean Itself - washingtonpost.com

I dare say we don't have the type of leadership today that they had in Tip O'Neil and Michal in that time period. At least they seemed to respect the intergrity of the institution over the position of the party or the position of individual members! We do not have that today in either of the 2 parties and their leadership IMO.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
When it comes to this Foley situation, the badges that say Republican or Democrat should come off and the focus should be the kids. Protecting the kids from predators.

This Foley guy may not have done anything sexual with these pages, but he was "trolling the waters".
 

any122

adirondack man
Do your homework Foley was a democrap then switched sides.Regardless of party the people of united states need to take a toilet brush to the inside of the beltway and clean out the SH-T!
 

tieguy

Banned
Support for the republicans IMO is really beginning to implode and I mean in a very serious way. Here's just one example from a syndicated radio talkshow host of a conservative/libertarian (more neo-conservative than libertarian IMO) slant.

boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze

A couple of points on this seedy subject.

1) This is the republicans mess to clean up.

2) Looking at the timing of this scandel I would not be surprised to find out there were democrats who knew and were waiting to get a little closer to election time to spill the beans.

3) The argument that the republicans took some action at least holds water as long as Bill Clintons legacy of desecrating the oval office stands up in comparison.

4) This will end up being a congress abusing pages scandel while right now its a Foley scandel.
 

Jones

fILE A GRIEVE!
Staff member
A couple of points on this seedy subject.

1) This is the republicans mess to clean up.

2) Looking at the timing of this scandel I would not be surprised to find out there were democrats who knew and were waiting to get a little closer to election time to spill the beans.

3) The argument that the republicans took some action at least holds water as long as Bill Clintons legacy of desecrating the oval office stands up in comparison.

4) This will end up being a congress abusing pages scandel while right now its a Foley scandel.

I think it's only a republican mess because GOP leadership made it into one by trying to ignore it. Conspiracy theories about those crafty democrat tricksters aside (gimme a break, this bunch? more like the keystone cops), timing would never have been an issue if Hastert had acted 2-3 years ago when he was first informed about Foley's behavior.

I have my doubts about how much more mileage you will be able to get out of comparing Bush to Clinton. For one thing, whatever you may think of his legacy, Clinton is long gone. Bush has been running the show for six years now and it's past time to start judging him on his own performance. He's either doing a good job or he's not.

In addition, when Clinton left office his approval rating was around 65% favorable, and he continues to draw those kind of numbers today. Bush has been stuck down in the 30's all year. It's not the kind of comparison that looks particularly good for the current president.

In my opinion your last point is probably the best case scenario for the GOP, ie, that the public will blame congress as a whole rather than the republicans specifically. I think it's a long shot, but ya never know...
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
With the 1994' Congressional Elections, the Republicans drafted and signed (all but 2 sitting members of Congress) the "Contract With America" which laid out initatives that the republicans promised the American people to push if elected. For whatever reason, a majority of republicans were elected into the House and over the next 6 years for the most part we had a republican lead agenda in the Congress and a democrat controlled agenda with the executive branch.

In 2000', this all changed as the Republican party was literally given the keys to total governace. Oh there were some checks still left, mostly of a political manuevering nature within the legislative branch but for the most part they could set the tone for public policy with literally no opposition. It has been this was for the last 6 years so what do we have to show for it?

Depending on your political stripe will shape your answer I'm sure but as the election looms closer and closer I thought it might be worthwhile to raise the "Contract with America" from the dustbin and do a little comparison as to where we are. Whether you agree of disagree with the points in the "Contract" is not the issue IMO but rather, have they followed through and delivered on which they contractually agreed to do? In light of controlling both houses of the legislative branch, the executive branch and also able to select and fill any vacacies on the SCOTUS with like minded souls if they so desired, it would seem they had the ability to do all that and more if they truly meant and were men and women of their word. Only you can judge that fact for yourself and it would be worthwhile before entering that voting booth to do just such a comparsion.
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Something more to give thought too.

Economic Fascism by Thomas DiLorenzo

It may not be pleasant, I'll agree with that, but if we continue to aviod the subject and pile deeper into something that we don't see it for what it is, then we too could end up becoming something we never had any intentions of becoming.

JMO.
 
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