Tag Archives: House of Representatives

House Chickens Out on Libya Funding Cut

24 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, Libya, Politics, Republicans

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Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the United States House of Representatives:

After voting down a bill earlier today which would give Congressional approval to the war that’s not really a war in Libya by a 295-123 margin, our esteemed Congresschickens turned around and rejected another bill which would have cut off funding for the Libyan non-war— 180 were in favor of the funding cut, 238 against. And it wasn’t even a complete de-funding, there were exceptions for search and rescue, aerial refueling, operational planning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

So to re-cap, 295 were against supporting the Libyan operations, but only 180 were in favor of cutting off just a portion of the funding. Chickens.

Here are the two roll call votes. First the bill for support, then the vote on funding.

So this is for all you clucking cowards who voted against the funding cut after voting against support. First, the Republicans. I don’t ever again want to see you waving that copy of the Constitution you so proudly carry in your inside pocket. I don’t ever want to hear you cackle again about the president overstepping his constitutionally prescribed powers. You had your chance to at least take a step in the direction of reining in some of that power today and you didn’t do it. From now on, shut the hell up.

Democrats, the next time a Republican president makes up a reason to go to non-war, and by your acquiescence to King Obama and his convoluted definition of “hostilities” you have made that a guaranteed ‘when’ not a conditional ‘if,’ I don’t want to hear anything from you either. Remember today and shut the hell up.

A pox on both your houses.

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Texas Republicans: Shut the Hell Up!

24 Thursday Jun 2010

Posted by in BP, Congress, Conservatives, Gulf Oil Spill, Politics, Republicans

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If I had a magic lamp with a genie inside, my first (and maybe my only) wish would be that the Texas Republican delegation in Congress shut the hell up. Every time one of these morons opens his mouth the image of my state drops another couple of notches. If it’s not Joe Barton apologizing to BP, it’s Screwy Louie Gohmert making another of the GOP’s endless Obama–Hitler comparisons.

On the floor of the House Tuesday night Gohmert quoted from Thomas Sowell’s ridiculous op-ed in the Jewish World Review in which Sowell wrote that the $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill was akin to dictatorial powers given to Adolf Hitler by the German Reichstag during the Great Depression, and a sign that “American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes.” From Political Correction:

A little analysis, if I may. Louie led off with this:

“There’s a brilliant man named Thomas Sowell.  And, um, I didn’t vote for Barack Obama in 2008, but I sure would have voted for Thomas Sowell.”

Translation: I’d vote for him because he’s one of the good ones, not like that uppity arrogant Obama feller. And after all, some of my best friends are……

Gohmert continued, quoting Sowell:

“…leading up to his [Hitler’s] taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.

Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler’s rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.”

“Useful idiots” was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.”

Hitler wasn’t enough, so we double down with a Lenin reference. And that description, activating “people who did not normally pay much attention to politics?” A “valuable addition” to the “political base?” “Susceptible to rhetoric?” “Unthinking supporters?” Sounds a lot like a typical Tea Partyer to me.

Gohmert went on:

“And this isn’t in the article — this is my comment — but we do have useful idiots today, who are heard to say, “Wow, what we really need is for the president to be a dictator for a little while.” They know not what they say.”

Who the hell is saying the president needs to be a dictator for a little while, Louie? But Rep. Gohmert is right about one thing, we do have useful idiots today. Well, maybe not useful, but glance in the nearest mirror, Lou, you’ll see the other half of that phrase.

A Little Perspective on the National Debt

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in budget, Congress, economy, Politics

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Any time the discussion turns to the national debt, a popular tactic among Democrats is to go back to the origin of exploding debt numbers under President Reagan. They like to point out that when Reagan took office in 1981 the debt was $998 billion and when he left in 1989 it was $2.9 trillion, due mostly to tax cuts and spending increases over that time. That is true, but here’s the rest of the story.

Spending and revenue bills originate in the House of Representatives, and at no time during Reagan’s 8 years did Republicans control the House. In the 4 Congresses during Reagan’s 2 terms, the 97th thru the 100th, the average spread in the House of Representatives was 257 Democrats to 178 Republicans. The Kemp-Roth tax cuts of 1981, for example, passed 323-107 and there were only 191 Republicans in the House at that time. Likewise with spending. Democrats had the numbers to stop any of those proposals but didn’t.

Let’s be honest, when parceling out blame for our massive national debt there’s plenty of blame to go around, and plenty of fingers to be pointed in both directions.