mantle

With the resignation of Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) today, that leaves a question of who could end up replacing him on the ballot this November. Most are predicting that Bob Thomas will pick up the mantle, especially given the close defeat Thomas saw in his primary challenge to Souder a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t know much about Thomas, but from a read of his campaign website, he sure seems to be freshly picked from wingnut fields. There are two issues that really stick out at me. First is his position on Israel:

Most of us in this country are Christians, myself included, and as such we share a direct heritage with Israel. In addition, Israel has been one of only a few consistent friends of the United States, and our only reliable ally in the near east. We must never let our support of Israel waiver. Israel is being constantly harassed by the Syrians and the Iranians and until somebody does something about that there will never be any peace in the region and Israel will be a consistent target of terrorism.

That’s highlighted on his front page, but directly contradicts another one of his beliefs. Go to this page and scroll to the last video. It is entitled “Foreign Aid Is Wasteful”.  Can Thomas tell us who the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid is? Let me answer it for him. The biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid just so happens to be Israel.

So does Thomas’ support for Israel also means stripping them of foreign aid? I am giddy with anticipation to here how he explains that one.

There’s a lot of outrage right now in the blogosphere over Rick Warren being tapped to give the invocation at Inauguration Day. Most of the blame seems to be lying on Obama, so I think it is time to look into some not so well known facts. The actual Inauguration events are held on the west lawn of the U.S. Capital. This means that Congress is in charge of the inauguration – specifically the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. This committee has been handling the organization of inaugural events since 1901, but Congress has pretty much always had the mantle, since the Constitution does say that Congress picks when and where the inauguration happens.

This year’s JCCIC is chaired by Diane Feinstein. The other members are; Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, John Boehner and Bob Bennett. They were the ones who picked out the lineup for the inauguration. Here is a link to the press release they issued on it.