S.J.RES.14

A joint resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people.

Thank you Democrats, Republicans and Independent for voting YES on S.J.RES.14, Good Job.

Not Voting, Obama, and you want to be President? You can’t do your job now.

Not Voting – 7

Biden (D-DE)
Brownback (R-KS)
Coburn (R-OK)
Dodd (D-CT)
Johnson (D-SD)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL)

Republicans voting yes on S.J.RES.14, Coleman, Collins, Hagel, Smith, Snowe, Specter, Sununu and Sanders.
Thank You

YEAs ---53

Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Hagel (R-NE)

Smith (R-OR)

Snowe (R-ME)

Specter (R-PA)

Sununu (R-NH)
Sanders (I-VT)

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Independent voting No, Lieberman
Lieberman, you are not an Independent, you are a Republican. Find another job.

NAYs ---38

Lieberman (ID-CT)

READ THE FULL STORY

Vietnam War: Gore and Bush.

Vietnam War: Gore
Although opposed to the Vietnam War, on August 7, 1969, Gore enlisted in the United States Army in order to participate in the war. After basic training at Fort Dix, Gore was assigned as a military journalist writing for The Army Flier, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker. With seven months remaining in his enlistment, he was shipped to Vietnam, arriving January 2, 1971. He served for four months with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and for another month at the Army Engineer Command in Long Binh. As his unit was standing down, he applied for and received a non-essential personnel discharge two months early in order to attend divinity school at Vanderbilt University.

The chronology of Gore's military service is:

August 1969: Enlisted at the Newark, New Jersey recruiting office.

August to October 1969: Eight weeks of basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Late October 1969 to December 1970: writer for the Army Flier newspaper at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

January 2, 1971 to May 22, 1971: field reporter in Vietnam, part of the 20th Engineer Brigade, stationed primarily at Bien Hoa Air Base northeast of Saigon.

May 24, 1971: Given an honorable discharge, after his early discharge request was granted. Gore opposed the Vietnam War, but chose to volunteer anyway though he could have avoided serving in Vietnam in a number of ways. A friend of the Gore family reserved a spot for him in the National Guard, which he turned down. Gore has stated that his sense of civic duty compelled him to serve.


Vietnam War: Bush
In May 1968, at the height of the ongoing Vietnam War, Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard. After training, he was assigned to duty in Houston, flying Convair F-102s out of Ellington Air Force Base. Critics have alleged that Bush was favorably treated during his time of service due to his father's political standing, and that he was irregular in attendance. Bush took a transfer to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972 to work on a Republican senate campaign, and in 1974 he obtained permission to end his six-year service obligation six months early to attend Harvard Business School, receiving an honorable discharge.

There are a number of accounts of substance abuse and otherwise disorderly conduct by Bush from this time. Bush has admitted to drinking "too much" in those years and described this period of his life as his "nomadic" period of "irresponsible youth". On September 4, 1976, at the age of 30, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He pleaded guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver's license suspended until 1978 in Maine.

The Decline of Public Discourse

Freedom of speech is not what it may seem. Recently, the Public Discourse in this country has been stunted and manipulated in order to advance political agendas.

Cronny
Student Journalism
March 16, 2006

Read The Full Story
Document is publicly viewable
Published on February 24, 2007

In the News Today, Friday, January 19, 2007

110th U.S. Congress
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Senate OKs ethics, lobbying reforms
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APPROVAL FULFILLS DEMOCRATS' PROMISE OF RAPID ACTION
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The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed sweeping changes to ethics and lobbying rules, overcoming bipartisan reluctance to ban many of the favors that lobbyists do for lawmakers and to illuminate the shadowy legislative practice of earmarking money for special projects.
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Interpreting the results of the Nov. 7 election as a reaction to corruption scandals when Congress was under Republican control, the Senate has joined the House in adopting broad new rules that go beyond the proposals Republicans introduced last year, or the ones that Democrats campaigned on.
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The measure passed around 9 p.m. by a vote of 96-2.
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Wednesday, Senate Republicans nearly derailed the bill in a dispute over when the Democrats would agree to vote on a Republican proposal, a version of the line-item veto.
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Like the new House rules, the Senate proposal would bar members from accepting gifts, meals or trips from lobbyists or the organizations that employ them. It would end senators' use of borrowed corporate jets at discount rates. It would prohibit departing senators from negotiating with prospective new employers until after their successors had been elected and would restrict them from directly or indirectly lobbying the Senate for two years.
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Also like the House rules, the Senate measure would require disclosure of the sponsors, the purpose and the cost of earmarks, the pet projects that lawmakers have been able to tuck anonymously into complicated spending bills.
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Senate Democrats also have incorporated into the bill a provision to require for the first time that lobbyists disclose the most valuable favors they do for lawmakers: holding campaign fundraisers, soliciting campaign contributions and bundling checks from clients and friends.
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In the House on Thursday, as the new Democratic majority celebrated the completion of its populist 100-hour agenda, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, unveiled the party's next legislative target: an ambitious plan to wean the United States from foreign oil and slow global warming.
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Pelosi said Thursday that she intends to create a panel to help craft the party's environmental agenda and has asked committee chairmen with jurisdiction over the issue to pass legislation ``to truly declare our energy independence'' by July 4.
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The announcement came as Democrats completed their 100-hour agenda with passage of a bill that would repeal oil industry tax breaks and put the estimated $14 billion in revenue over 10 years toward research on energy conservation and alternative fuels.
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The legislation was the last of six bills the Democrats have plowed through the House in two weeks, including measures to increase the minimum wage, expand stem-cell research, implement Sept. 11 commission recommendations, authorize Medicare negotiations for lower drug prices and cut interest rates on student loans.
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Although House Democrats backed the 100-hour agenda almost unanimously, cracks in the caucus might appear as Democrats turn to energy, health care and immigration, among other issues.
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The bill to repeal oil industry tax breaks was approved by a 264-123 vote, but that and the other 100-hour measures still are far from becoming law.
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President Bush has threatened to veto the stem-cell legislation, which would expand funding for research using embryonic stem cells, and the Medicare legislation. Though Democrats also control the Senate, by a 51-49 majority, Republicans can use the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome, to kill House-passed bills.
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Mercury News Wire Services
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109th U.S. Congress
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Republican Ney sentenced to a former Republican congressman linked to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for corruption.
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Bob Ney's sentence was longer than the prosecution had recommended, the judge said, because the former lawmaker had violated the public trust.
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He will be on probation for two years after his term. He must pay a $6,000 (£3,000) fine and undergo counselling.
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Ney had pleaded guilty to trading political favours for money and gifts.
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He also admitted conspiracy and making false statements.
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On Friday, he apologised to his family, friends and former constituents.
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He reiterated his dependence on alcohol, saying he had battled "the demons of addiction".
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First prosecution
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Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said his alcoholism was no excuse.
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She barred him from drinking alcohol during his probation and ordered him to follow an alcohol rehabilitation programme while he serves his sentence in federal prison.
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Ney is the first lawmaker to be prosecuted in connection with the Abramoff scandal, which helped the Democrats seize control of Congress in November.
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He resigned his seat in Congress days before the elections.
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Before the Abramoff scandal erupted, Ney was perhaps best known internationally for his role in renaming French fries "freedom fries" in the Congressional cafeteria due to US anger at Paris's refusal to support the invasion of Iraq.
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BBC News

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Democrats' Delicate Strategy

Majority Democrats face a delicate mission in their first foreign policy clash with President Bush, determined to force an end to the Iraq war but eager to support the troops who are doing the fighting. No strangers to political combat, Republicans don't intend to make it easy on them.
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"What they really want is to cut off funding for the troops," Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Thursday.
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It was a claim that Democrats rebutted in advance.
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"The Congress and the American people will continue to support them and provide them with every resource they need," the top four Democrats in Congress pledged Wednesday night as they attacked President Bush's plans to deploy an additional 21,500 troops.
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"Our military forces deserve a policy commensurate with the sacrifices they have been asked to make. Regrettably, the president has not provided that tonight," added Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.
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For the first time since the war began, Democrats have public opinion on their side _ and know it for sure.
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The midterm elections that swept Republicans from power in both the House and Senate demonstrated that, and comments by one-time Republican supporters of the president's war policy confirm it daily.
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Other Republicans are following.

READ THE FULL STORY

President Bush needs to be 'Plutoed'.

President Bush is not the President to be making plans to stabilize Iraq.

To many mistakes.

To many lies.

President Bush needs to be 'Plutoed'.

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(If you have been "plutoed" you have been demoted or devalued, just as happened to the former planet Pluto when its status was downgraded).

By WestTexasBliss

Some of the best comments I have read.

Some of the best comments I have read in a long time, from one of the worst headlines I have ever red.

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Read some of my favorite comments, click on link below.

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By WestTexasBliss

I saw on TV the other day the Republicans crying about how the 110th Congress is not willing to work in a bipartisan way. This is a lie! The Republicans are already trying to put a spin on the 110th Congress, but they are not going to get away with it. You can see Karl Rove’s finger prints all over it. The Republicans think we Americans are nothing but a bunch of couch potatoes and all they have to do is lie to us and they think they can get away with it. No more! The 110th Congress will do more in one hundred hours then the 109th Congress did in its full term. The 110th Congress is willing to work in a bipartisan way with the Republicans. The Republicans should thank god the Democrats are willing to work in a bipartisan way with them. After what the Republicans did to the Democrats in the 109th Congress. I would not give the Republicans the time of day!

WestTexasBliss

Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits

Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits

Effort to Speed Defense Contracts Wasted Millions

The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7 billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in waste, documents show.

Defense turned to Interior, which manages federal lands and resources, in an effort to speed up its contracting. Interior is one of several government agencies allowed to manage contracts for other agencies in exchange for a fee.

But the arrangement between Interior and Defense "routinely violated rules designed to protect U.S. Government interests," according to draft audit documents obtained by The Washington Post.

More than half of the contracts examined were awarded without competition or without checks to determine that the prices were reasonable, according to the audits by the inspectors general for Defense (DOD) and Interior (DOI). Ninety-two percent of the work reviewed was awarded without verifying that the contractors' cost estimates were accurate; 96 percent was inadequately monitored.

READ THE FULL STORY…