six weeks

Boehner Introduces A Meaningless Christmas Resolution

This is something the GOP does every year and despite all the problems the nation faces this year, the Republican leader won’t break from tradition. Here is the resolution:

Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and

Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment of the Constitution, in prohibiting the establishment of religion, would not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;

(2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and

(3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.

How about a resolution honoring Hanukkah? How about Kwanza? Oh wait! The Republicans think Kwanza is some faux holiday.

But the most interesting part of Boehner’s resolution is his apparent hypocrisy:

It was just six weeks ago that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided he was fed up with empty, meaningless congressional resolutions. These largely symbolic measures are taken up all the time -- it's been routine fare for years -- but Boehner decided they're now evidence of Democratic negligence. "These are your hard-earned tax dollars at work," Boehner scoffed.

In the spirit of the season I want to offer John Boehner some free advice that might help him save face on this. Figure up how long it will take for this resolution to pass. To help you out I did a little math:

Money For Nothing

I can't say that this comes as any shock:

In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.

Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.

Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed.

"It's a mess," said Eric M. Thorson, the Treasury Department's inspector general, who has been working to oversee the bailout program until the newly created position of special inspector general is filled. "I don't think anyone understands right now how we're going to do proper oversight of this thing."

Isn't that irony? We got into this mess because of a lack of oversight, a cornerstone of the GOP platform, and now the mess is getting even worse after the government got involved - because of a lack of oversight. If people can be so trusted to do the "right thing" without oversight, then why do we have laws and law enforcement?

So Why Are People Flocking Towards Obama?

Well if you listen to the MSM you would think it was because of the spat between him and Hillary over race. That doesn't seem to be the case though:

`Now I'm voting my heart, with Obama,'' said Cheryl Ewing, a 47-year-old program manager from Philadelphia. Only six weeks ago at a focus group conducted by pollster Peter Hart, Ewing, who is black, said she was in Clinton camp's because America wouldn't vote for a black president. ``Iowa made me change my mind.''

No mention of the Hillary spat there. Of course the MSM thinks we are all tools who will vote for who they want and can't change our minds without them telling us to. That is the big flaw in their logic and why they continue to look like total idiots.

Is The Cover Up Continuing?

Last night I reported about the discrepencies in the story between Hastert and Boehner. Hastert said he was never told of Foley and Boehner said he told Hastert. Now it looks like the story has taken another turn (big ht to Josh Marshall)

From the Washington Post

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

Emphasis mine

It is very interesting that Boehner would have made such a damming claim, only to give a mia culpa. This is has cover up written all over it. This story over took the House yesterday and you can not tell me that the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader did not talk about it. You can only call bullshit on that.

With this single revelation, it shows that outside investigation must be conducted. The Republican leadership does not give a damn about the facts of what happened, only about political futures. They will twist stories and conduct cover ups if it means saving a seat or two. They will twist stories and lie in order to protect themselves. Bush constantly says that we are a "land of laws". Well the laws must be enforced vigilantly on this case.

So Who Is Lying Now?

Via Roll Call (via Hunter):

Chairman of the House Page Board, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) interviewed Foley last year about some of the contacts with the page. The House clerk who is also a member of the Board was also present. Speaker Hastert's office was informed of the interview, but according to leadership sources who spoke to Roll Call, Hastert himself was not informed..

The Washington Post:

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it."

So who is lying - Boehner or Hastert? My guess is both of them are lying about it. This is the Republican leadership. Perhaps they should worry about the victims and be truthful so that any other victims can be found and taken care of. That would be putting people before politics - something the Republicans would never do.

Signs Of The Bad Times In Iraq

Things in Iraq are getting really bad. The LA Times has an article today saying that the civil war is "all but declared", and we now get a Republican Representative, who has been a supporter of the war, saying it is time to get out:

Congressman Gil Gutknecht found the situation in Iraq more bleak than he anticipated during a weekend visit to the war zone, and said a partial withdrawal of some American troops might be wise.

Gutknecht, a strong supporter of the war since it began in March of 2003, told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday that American forces appear to have no operational control of much of Baghdad.

“The condition there is worse than I expected,” he said. “... I have to be perfectly candid: Baghdad is a serious problem.”

The 1st District Republican said he was deeply impressed by the professionalism of American soldiers and gained hope from the more stabile situation in the Kurdish-dominated northern region of Iraq.

But he said the next six weeks could be critical in determining whether stability can eventually come to the rest of the country, and he believes removing some American troops is necessary to send the Iraqi government a message that it can’t rely so heavily on the American military much longer.

His assessment of the problems facing Iraq and the potential value of removing some American troops comes one month after Gutknecht was widely quoted during a debate in the House about the war.

O'Reilly Siding With Dems

Bill O'Reilly wants to "cut and run". He is now siding with Democrats in
calling for a timetable to exit Iraq.

This from

Editor and Publisher:

O'Reilly Column Says U.S. Needs
Timetable to Get Out of Iraq

By E&P Staff

Published: November 22, 2005 1:17 PM ET

NEW YORK Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly writes in his current
column that there needs to be a timetable for the U.S. to leave Iraq.

"Let's win the damn thing," he said in his Creators Syndicate feature.
"But there must be a time limit. Mr. Bush and his crew have to understand
that American blood and treasure are not unlimited. It is not undermining
the war to suggest giving the Iraqis a realistic private timetable to defend
themselves. Basic training for a U.S. soldier is six weeks. We've been
training the Iraqi army for almost two years now. Even Gomer Pyle would be
up to speed."

The Fox News host added that "polls show most Americans have turned
against the war, and who can blame them with the media pounding home a
depressing picture every day? And there are plenty of depressing images to
show. Although most of the country is pacified, Baghdad remains a nightmare.
... But voting is happening, and business is being done. So let's build on
that and give the Iraqis a realistic time frame to fight their own fight.
... We need to get out of there."

Boehner Introduces A Meaningless Christmas Resolution

Money For Nothing

So Why Are People Flocking Towards Obama?

Is The Cover Up Continuing?

So Who Is Lying Now?

Signs Of The Bad Times In Iraq

O'Reilly Siding With Dems

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