Aderholt, whose office confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it had been contacted by ethics investigators, told the Wall Street Journal that he doesn't know if he kept any excess travel money because he does not keep receipts.
No receipts for travel expenses? Nice gig if you can get it. Apparently when these Congressmen arrive in a foreign country, someone hands them an envelope containing their travel expense allowance (varies from country to country) in the local currency. They buy meals, etc. and then convert whatever is left back to dollars and take it with them back home. Or buy gifts and what nots to take home. Problem is, that's taxpayer money getting "taken back home." I don't blame Aderholt for not keeping receipts. The last thing he wants is a paper trail when enriching himself at taxpayer expense.
From the more in-depth WSJ report, we are reminded of just who is trying to clean up the cesspool in Washington:
In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implemented some changes to House travel rules, in part by making it explicit that lawmakers must return excess travel funds. She also said that if lawmakers requested the additional $50 for their per diem, they must retain receipts to justify the additional cost.
Go Nancy! Somebody needs to straighten these guys out.
1. REPEAL THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM)
2. PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY OR PHASE IT OUT ALTOGETHER
3. END MEDICARE AS IT PRESENTLY EXISTS
4. EXTEND THE BUSH TAX BREAKS FOR THE WEALTHY AND BIG OIL
5. REPEAL WALL STREET REFORM
6. PROTECT THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OIL SPILL AND FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHES
7. ABOLISH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
8. ABOLISH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
9. ABOLISH THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
10. REPEAL THE 17th AMENDMENT
End Medicare and Social Security, let the banksters run roughshod over working people, end direct election of Senators and shelter BP and their cohorts from lawsuits -- do you think voters in Aderholt's district know what the Tea Party really stands for?
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R, AL-04) and Zach Wamp (R, TN) plead to have funding restored for abstinence only sex education programs.
Aderholt:... I think this would be unfair to the grantees ... It would be a better way that we could try to educate as far as what the sexually transmitted diseases would do to our youth ...
Wamp:... This is a mainstream kind of a request. ... It works. Parents prefer it 2 to 1 over other sex education type programs ... This works. It works. It ought to be a piece of the solution. You may think we went too far on it, but it works. If you're going to pull it back, don't kill it, don't cut it completely off.
In theory, abstinence from any and all sexual activity is the best way to prevent STIs and unwanted pregnancies. Also, in theory, barricading yourself in the library for all four years of college is your best chance to get good grades.
Neither is realistic or likely. We've had nine years of abstinence only education. All we have to show for it is a rising teen pregnancy rate. Kudos to the folks in Washington for cutting off funding for this colossal waste of federal tax dollars. It's time to stop using our kids for a social experiment -- abstinence only doesn't work. Fund something that does. Give teenagers accurate, useful information on sexual activity, not dogma.
Head-in-the-sanders like Aderholt and Wamp should go barricade themselves back in their echo chamber until they grow up enough to face reality.
Whatever happened to "a vote against the Supplemental is a vote to withhold vital support from our troops in the field?" Apparently Alabama Republicans no longer care about funding for troops in the field since they all voted against the $80 billion in emergency war spending this week.
Alabama's congressional delegation voted along party lines when the House narrowly approved an emergency war-spending bill that provides $80 billion to maintain defense and intelligence activities in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of the year.
...
In the Alabama delegation, Democrats Rep. Artur Davis of Birmingham, Bobby Bright of Montgomery and Parker Griffith of Huntsville voted for the emergency spending bill. Votine "no" were Republicans Spencer Bachus of Birmingham, Robert Aderholt of Haleyville, Jo Bonner of Mobile and Mike Rogers of Saks.
This just proves once again that you can't spell hypocrisy without G-O-P. Trust me, the "G" is hiding in there somewhere. From The Hill:
For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as matters of national security and accused Democrats who voted against them of voting against the troops.
In 2005, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) went so far as to say sending troops into battle and not paying for it would be an “immoral thing to do.” And just last year, more House Republicans voted for the war supplemental bill than did Democrats, who opposed the legislation because it did little to wind down the military effort in Iraq.
So Alabama Republicans are now doing immoral things -- or things that were immoral just a couple of years ago. Why am I not surprised? It's all about political expediency.
Alabama State Courthouse 300 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104 (334) 242-4590
OverallThoughts: There are apparently seven statewide judicial positions up for election in 2010 (as far as I can tell, and all the incumbents appear to be Republicans). As I understand it, there will be two positions on each appellate courts – Criminal Appeals and Civil Appeals – and three positions on the Supreme Court. It represents a peach opportunity for Alabama progressives to take a position.
However, this last time around, we ran four people – one for the Supreme Court, two for criminal appeals and one for civil appeals – and we got four damned goose eggs for our trouble. Granted, Paseur came the closest, but close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not elections.
Next time we are going to have to do something different.
The Republican campaign was both well funded and well organized. In 2010, we need to have our campaign one or the other. Well organized seems more accessible than being well funded.
Next time we need to have our judicial races coordinated, where they and their staff members work together in terms of campaign appearances, getting the word out, capitalizing on advantages and the like. Also, it seems likely the Republican’s will again organize a bus tour for their candidates. We don’t have to do that, but next time lets have some of ours go out and heckle them at some of their appearances.
Specifics and Speculations… (Continued) Congressional District 1:Jo Bonner (GOP) Josiah Robins (Jo) Bonner, Jr. (born November 19, 1959), has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003. He was unopposed in the 2008 race.
Alabama’s First Congressional District includes Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, Monroe, Escambia and parts of Drake counties. Traditionally the area and the district has been one of the most GOP-supportive areas in the country. He is not likely to be challenged during the Primary.
Thoughts: If we can arrange to get Vivian Figures to run for this seat – her home district – and then get great heaping gobs of campaign money, the race would cause ripples and get attention, which would force the Republicans to spend money. But the race will not be won by us. Is it probably not worth the time and effort to get the Republicans to spend their resources here. It is just an option. However, investing in the legal (i.e. eligible to vote) Latino population of Alabama (and many area in the Mobile Bay area) is probably a good idea.
Congressional District 2: Bobby Bright (Dem.) Bobby Neal Bright (born July 7, 1952) is the mayor of Montgomery and Congressman-elect. Bright received 143,997 votes to Love's 142,231 votes – a margin of 1,766 votes, or just over 0.6 percentage points.
Alabama’s Second Congressional District includes Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Pike and parts of Montgomery Counties. The congressional redistricting of 1990 did much to change the nature of this district and now the voting power of the Black Belt is outweighed by the population of the Wiregrass area.
Thoughts: Bright narrowly won – we need to remember that. In 2010 the Republicans will focus most of their attention on the Wiregrass areas as a means of attacking Bright. We can hold this seat, but we will have to fight to do that.
Congressional District 3:Mike Rogers (GOP): Michael Dennis (Mike) Rogers (born July 16, 1958), has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003. Knowlegis, a nonpartisan lobbying information firm, dropped Rogers from being ranked as the 138th most influential Representative to being 402nd in that category in 2006.
Alabama’s Third Congressional District includes Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, Talladega, Tallapoosa and parts of Montgomery and Coosa Counties. Politically, this was once home to populist white Democrats. However, Republicans took the seat over in 1997.
Thoughts: Rogers should have lost the 2008 election because he is an incompetent prick. Rogers was a recipient of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Rogers has not offered to return any of the $30,000 he received. Rogers said that DeLay is innocent until proven guilty, and that he would not return the money "while the judicial process runs its course.” If we are lucky, DeLay will be in jail and we can attack Rogers over this connection.This is one we can take, so let’s keep that in mind.
Congressional District 4: Robert Aderholt (GOP): Robert Brown Aderholt (born July 22, 1965) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997. In 2008, Aderholt theoretically ran against Nick Sparks in a race that was hypothetically contentious and totally not a waist of everyone’s time.
Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District includes Franklin, Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Walker, Winston, Cullman, Blount, Marshall, Etowah, DeKalb and parts of Morgan, Pickens Counties, as well as parts of the Decatur Metropolitan Area, and the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. While Democrats have a substantial majority in voter registration, most of them tend to be quite conservative on social issues.
Thoughts: If a progressive who is serious, and not entering the race on a damn lark, makes the run, then this one is doable. Aderholt voted in favor of CAFTA, which did tremendous damage to manufacturing industry within the district. If we attack him on that, then this one is possible.
Congressional District 5: Parker Griffith (Dem.) Dr. Parker Griffith (born August 6, 1942, in Shreveport, Louisiana) is a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 7th District since 2006 and the congressman-elect. He received his medical degree from the Louisiana State University Medical School. Griffith carried all but one of the district's seven counties, but only narrowly won Madison County, home to Huntsville.
Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District includes Colbert (Stephen tells me the "T" is silent), Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Jackson and parts of Morgan County. Liberal politics have become an increasingly hard sell, and the region has increasingly voted for Republican presidential candidates since the defeat of Jimmy Carter.
Thoughts: In 2010 the Republicans will do the same thing to Dr. Griffith they did in the 2008 race, just meaner and with more money in 2010. We can hold this seat too, but we will have to fight to do that.
Congressional District 6: Spencer Bachus (GOP): Spencer Thomas Bachus III (born December 28, 1947) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993. His is a difficult man to challenge in political circles because he is supported by the Bacchae.
Alabama's Fifth Congressional District includes Chilton, Bibb, Shelby and parts of St. Clair County, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Coosa counties. It forms a horse-shoe shaped area around Birmingham. A continual process of redistricting by state governments has seen the sixth district increasingly become one of the most Republican districts in the country.
Thoughts: Unless he is found to be a homosexual (in which case the Republicans will quickly abandon him) or a cannibal (in which case the Republicans will reluctantly abandon him), and he chooses to run again, then this will a hell of an uphill battle. Better to spend our resources on battles we have a better chance of winning.
Congressional District 7:Artur Davis (Dem.): Artur Genestre Davis (born October 9, 1967) is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, arts of Jefferson. Davis's name has been mentioned as a possible nominee for Attorney General in President-Elect Barack Obama's administration and as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2010. He was unopposed in the 2008 race.
Alabama's Seventh Congressional District includes Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry, Hale and parts of Jefferson (specifically, the Birmingham metropolitan area), Tuscaloosa, Clarke, and Pickens counties. The 7th district was created as a black-majority district in 1992.
Thoughts: By 2010 Davis will have made up his mind about what he is going to do, and so this seat is likely to become vacant. We need to work to make certain they are a competent and progressive person.
So what's new? This is the conveyer belt from government to industry lobbyist. You get a job in government -- and chief of staff to a Congressman is a government job where you make powerful connections -- then you leave that job and start using those connections to influence those in government. For big bucks.
Washington, D.C. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released its preliminary analysis of the House version of the Fiscal 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act. There are 85 projects for a total of $110 million in this year’s House DHS bill. The top five porkers are Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) with $15 million; Harold “Hal” Rogers (R-Ky.) with $11 million; and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), John Culberson (R-Texas), and Peter King (R-N.Y.) with $6 million each.
I added the emphasis, of course.
Some constituents may look at Aderholt's pork as just more income for the district. In my view, pork is fine on the dinner table, but the Homeland Security budget ought to be about taking care of business, not pork. Aderholt is a disgrace to the state.
Are unemployment and efficient transportation really partisan issues? It's good to watch how our representatives are "representing" us in Washington, and since there's precious little reporting in the press of their actual votes, so we try to highlight some of them here. All too often, the Alabama delegation splits along party lines.
#1: Is extending unemployment benefits really a partisan issue? Just look at the map of unemployment rates in Alabama. You don't see full employment in Republican districts and high unemployment only in Democratic ones. Today House Democrats are trying to pass an extension of unemployment benefits.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time filings for unemployment benefits spiked upward in the latest week, hitting the highest level since late March, as the number of continuing jobless claims reached the highest level since early 2004.
The unemployment bill failed by three votes yesterday, in the face of Republican opposition. All Alabama Republicans except Mike Rogers (R, AL-03) voted against it. After yesterday's vote, DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen released the following statement:
"House Republican efforts to defend the status quo and protect George Bush's and John McCain's failed economic polices have reached a new low. Less than one week after the largest one-month jump in America's unemployment rate in two decades, House Republicans blocked passage of a bill to extend unemployment insurance to workers, who are struggling to find a new job in this slowing economy.
"This is a firm reminder that Republicans are absolutely comfortable with the status quo and are completely out of touch with the harsh economic realities facing American workers."
There is higher than average unemployment in Jo Bonner's district and in Terry Everett's and they voted "NO," so it isn't just a case of looking out for their own district and ignoring everyone else. What are they thinking?
Reducing demand for fossil fuels is a key part of reducing our dependence on imported oil. These guys need to know more about energy independence than just "let's drill in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge."
Call to action: If you are "represented" by one of these Repubs, please give him a call or email and ask him to really REPRESENT your views.
The Anniston Star had an excellent editorial this week -- as they often do --offering some advice for Alabama's incumbent Republicans before they face the voters in November:
Put aside your rigid ideology/party loyalty and promote a more progressive future for your state and the nation.
Of course, the Star's editors weren't born yesterday and don't actually expect the Republicans to follow their advice and embrace progressivism, no matter how smart that would be:
As they have in the past, Alabama's GOP congressmen will quite likely campaign this fall on their conservative bona fides, bragging on their desire for small government and low taxes.
While an excellent electoral political strategy, it has failed miserably as a method of leading Alabamians.
In a contradiction, these conservative congressmen have overseen the massive growth of the government, with budgets going up and government's power to intrude on the lives of citizens rising as well.
Really, go read this editoral. Do it now. We'll still be here when you get back. The piece lays out the failures of incumbent Republicans in unusual detail:
Rubber-stamped Bush's disastrous Iraq policies
Intervened in a family decision re: Terri Schiavo
Failed to achieve rational immigration reform
Chipped away at Constitutional Rights such as habeas corpus
Supported Bush's warrantless wiretapping program to spy on American citizens
Opposed a new and improved GI Bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.
Resisted improving health care for children in the form of S-CHIP
Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007
Refused to consider equitable tax policies, thereby "heaping a huge financial burden on the shoulders of America's next generation"
Brought back a remarkable $1.71 in federal money for every $1 Alabama pays in federal taxes. Pork, anyone?
Tolerated the botched federal response to hurricane Katrina.
The Anniston Star is not alone in pointing out the failure of conservatism. Recently Newt Gingrich said "The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail"; NRCC chair Tom Cole (R, OK) said the problem is not the Republican campaign strategy, but the party itself; and Rep. Tom Davis (R, VA) said of his party, "if we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf." Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards -- he used to represent my sister's district in Oklahoma and is very conservative -- says Republicans have only themselves to blame:
Republican members of Congress are in trouble because they deserve to be. Because they yawned when a Republican president declared that he was free to disobey the law. Because they walked out of the House chambers rather than vote to enforce congressional subpoenas of administration officials. Because they acted like White House staff rather than as members of a separate and equal branch of government.
Will Alabama Republicans (Jeff Sessions (Sen.), Jo Bonner (AL-01),Mike Rogers (AL-03), Robert Aderholt (AL-04) and Spencer Bachus (AL-06), not to mention the Republican nominees in AL-02 and AL-05) do the smart thing and actually change their conservative spots between now and November? I doubt it. Conservative Republicans specialize in denying reality -- they've been doing it since they got elected. Fortunately, voters seem to have caught on to their scam.
The next post down is a statement from 4th District candidate Greg Warren taking incumbent Robert Aderholt to task for voting against the New GI Bill yesterday.
Representative Aderholt, who has never served a single day in uniform for our country, shows his lack of support for our hardworking military personnel by his vote in opposition of the New GI Bill. This is just another example of Representative Aderholt turning his back on the hardworking citizens of his own district and the nation. As a U. S. Navy veteran, I understand the need to stand behind and support our wonderful men and women in uniform.
Of course, Aderholt was not the only Alabama Republican to vote "NO" on the benefit package for returning veterans. In their usual lockstep fashion, ALL THE ALABAMA REPUBLICANS VOTED AGAINST IT. Although 32 Republicans voted in favor of the measure, Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner, Terry Everett and Mike Rogers joined Robert Aderholt in voting against expanded educational benefits for veterans.
This afternoon, the House of Representatives made history. By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers passed the landmark new GI Bill which will make college affordable to the more than 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
As President Roosevelt said when he signed the original GI Bill for veterans of World War II,
"[The GI Bill] gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down."
The House of Representatives renewed that promise. This is a tremendous and bipartisan commitment to our troops. We've seen enough bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism; today, we saw the real thing.
Bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism ... we've let our Representatives get by with that for too darned long. It's time for a change. Let's send some real patriots to Washington in November, like Greg Warren in AL-04 and his counterparts in Alabama's 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts, too.
* Rieckhoff is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Executive Director and Founder of IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America) -- he knows what real patriotism looks like from the inside.
GREG WARREN, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR ALABAMA'S FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, DISAPPOINTED BY REPRESENTATIVE ADERHOLT'S VOTE AGAINST THE NEW PROPOSED GI BILL Representative Robert Aderholt of Alabama's Fourth Congressional District voted against providing the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan with an updated and more comprehensive educational benefit in the form of the New GI Bill. Covering books, tuition and fees. The original GI Bill made it possible for about eight million veterans to be able to afford higher education. A 1988 Congressional study found that every dollar spent on education under the original GI Bill added seven dollars to the national economy in terms of productivity, consumer spending and tax revenue. The current benefits offered to veterans are much lower than the original GI Bill. Today, these benefits only cover 60-70% of the average cost of four years at a public college or university. There are also considerable delays in receiving benefits with close to 120 thousand VA claims waiting to be processed. Although 95% pay a nonrefundable $1200 contribution, only about 8% of veterans use their entire benefit and more than 30% of veterans don't use their GI Bill at all. These veterans have paid upwards of $230 million to the national treasury, and have received nothing in return. Instead of lowering recruitment standards and spending billions in bonuses, a renewed GI Bill is the most practical answer. The number one reason civilians join the military is to get money for college. Updating the GI Bill will help bring in the most qualified candidates. Representative Aderholt, who has never served a single day in uniform for our country, shows his lack of support for our hardworking military personnel by his vote in opposition of the New GI Bill. This is just another example of Representative Aderholt turning his back on the hardworking citizens of his own district and the nation. As a U. S. Navy veteran, I understand the need to stand behind and support our wonderful men and women in uniform. Our military men and women put their lives on the line every single day to ensure the safety and security of not only our nation, but also the world. I support programs that provide opportunity for higher educational benefits to our courageous servicemen. They have earned it.
The House Republicans have taken leave of their senses -- and I mean totally lost it. From Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
And how did Alabama's "family values" Republican Congressmen vote? NO. Every single one of them -- Robert Aderholt, Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner, Terry Everett and Mike Rogers -- voted "NO." Humbug on Mother's Day, from the GOP to you.
Let's be absolutely clear, they all initially voted in favor of the Motherhood resolution, but immediately turned around and voted to undo the original vote. That manuever is known as a "flip-flop" when a Democrat does it. It is usually completely ignored when Republicans do it. Partisan feeling is high in Congress these days but something is seriously wrong with Republican priorities when they play political games with a resolution commending mothers and Mother's Day. Will it be baseball and apple pie next?
Happy Mother's Day and many thanks to all the mothers and grandmothers out there from the folks at Left in Alabama and from Congressmen Bud Cramer and Artur Davis who are apparently the only members of Alabama's Congressional delegation with the good sense to appreciate Motherhood.
This is the kind of "rendition" Robert Aderholt voted to support.
The man that is supposed to be representing the issues and ideas of the people of Alabama voted against overriding the insane Bush veto of The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2008 H.R. 2082. This bill would ban interrogation methods like waterboarding and mock executions once and for all.
The photo above is of a suspected insurgent named Manadel al-Jamadi, wrapped in ice. An autopsy revealed he died of "blunt force injuries" and "compromised respiration," (think waterboard) presumably at the hands of a CIA interrogator. Who was the terrorist here? By giving it a stamp of approval Aderholt is just as guilty as the CIA "renditionist".
I wonder what "important" information was gained for the security of America by killing this man. Do the ideas of the Constitution and innocent until proven guilty mean nothing anymore? I know this wasn't an American but aren't those ideas and principles the ones we are supposed to be trying to spread? I always believed that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was universal not a singularly American privilege.
Are you old enough to remember the 1972 Miami Dolphins? Went 17-0 through the regular season, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Did it with a quarterback who threw fewer passes in an average game than the Pope makes during Midnight Mass. I mean a running game of such consistency that nobody could stop them. Score points by the bushel? NOT! Just had a defense so consistent that they didn’t need a bunch of points. CONSISTENCY!
Anybody notice this year’s Dolphins? Consistently awful! Managed to eke out one victory – largely undeserved- against a team almost as pathetic as they were. Awful on offense! Sieve-like on D! Never broke out of their level of incompetence. CONSISTENCY!
Now class,let's learn the names of the Repugnican political stalwarts in office in the State of Alabama. What's that, Johnny? Stalwarts. Yes, of course, it's an easy one to remember. All they do when asked to take action for Alabama's families and children is STALL. Got that part? Fine. And they are about as useful as a bunch of-what? Correct, class, a bunch of WARTS. Well done. Now here we go. How can you ever remember their names and what they stand for?
Let's start with the senators. There are two of them. Johnny, you will have to stop interrupting. Yes, I'm quite sure there are two of them. Of course I realize it's hard to tell them apart; they're Repugnicans, aren't they? Now. let's get down to the hard work.
It’s Christmas Eve and I just read Congressman Jo Bonner’s weekly neo-con diatribe. One would think that for Christmas week he could find something worthwhile to say, but not Bush’s puppet in Selma. No he once again suspends any sense of honor or truth he has, and goes on a most un-Christmas-like, and blatantly false rant against the Democratic members of Congress.
If you have been following this guy’s career, you’re probably not surprised to see the lies, distortions and convoluted fictions, as he paints his own version of “This Week in Washington”. Is it a coincidence that "Jo Bonner" rhymes with "No Honor?"
Can anyone in Alabama's 4th Congressional District forget that Robert Aderholt opposed CAFTA -- right up until he cast the deciding vote in favor of it?
CAFTA has resulted in the closing of many hosiery plants in the district and the loss of at least 1200 jobs as the plants move offshore -- often to Honduras. The remedy under consideration is a tariff on sock imports from Honduras to bring the price back in line with what it was before CAFTA and slow the hemmorhaging of U. S. manufacturing jobs.
Aderholt has supported the tariff, and says he will continue to do so, but the sock industry in his district is no longer 100% behind the Honduran tariff. What happened? CAFTA made domestic sock production such a dicey proposition that some local companies were forced to sell out. Since buying V. I. Prewett & Son a few months ago, Canada based Gildan is now a major player in the Ft. Payne sock industry. Gildan is building a huge new plant to manufacture socks in Honduras and sell them in the U. S. Surprise, surprise, Gildan is lobbying against the proposed tariff.
Aderholt still maintains that he will push for the three-year tariff on Honduran socks, but now there is industry in his district lobbying against it. Of course, Gildan is only in his district because of the damage CAFTA did to the American sock industry, and that was only possible because Aderholt changed his mind at the last minute and voted for CAFTA. What's to keep him from changing his mind about the tariff, as well, especially with Gildan managers offering him a fig leaf to cover another change of heart?
George W. Bush's newfound fiscal responsibility hurts, especially if you're one of Alabama's Republican Congressmen and the money you earmarked for a project back home just got vetoed. Alabama pork projects used to sail through the Republican Congress and be approved by Bush, but since the Democrats won control last year Bush has found his veto pen and is using it to pretend he cares about fiscal responsibility:
In vetoing a mammoth federal spending bill last week, President Bush groused that it contained "too many earmarks."
More than half of those special-interest spending items were championed by members of his own party, according to an analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group.
Out of 23 Alabama projects, for example, all but two were sponsored by at least one Republican in the state's nine-man congressional delegation, the analysis shows. With the backing of U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science in Mobile was in line for $145,000 to buy library materials. The Fairhope Center for the Arts in Baldwin County was to get $205,000 for arts education.
Not only did Bush veto the bill containing earmarks for our Republican Congressmen, he then expected them to vote to uphold his veto when Congress attempted to override it. Oh, the pain! Take care of projects at home or be a Rubber Stamp for Bush? Most chose the Rubber Stamp route, as usual.
The tension was evident in the override vote. Among Republicans in Alabama's House delegation, Reps. Robert Aderholt of Haleyville and Spencer Bachus of Birmingham joined Bonner in backing the president. Rep. Terry Everett of Rehobeth did not vote, and Rep. Mike Rogers of Anniston voted to override.
Bush is certain to veto this, but the House of Representatives passed a $50 billion war funding bill with a timeline for troop withdrawal. It was a mostly party line vote with Congressmen Bud Cramer and Artur Davis voting for the bill and all the Republicans in the Alabama delegation voting against it.
The bill states that the primary purpose of the money "should be to transition the mission of United States Armed Forces in Iraq and undertake their redeployment."
It demands that Bush begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within 30 days of passage, with a goal of having American combat troops out of Iraq by December 15, 2008.
The $50 billion "bridge fund" is about a quarter of the nearly $200 billion the Bush administration has requested to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008. Most of the money is slated for Iraq, where the Pentagon estimates the cost of its operations at about $10 billion a month.
"The fact is, we can no longer militarily sustain the deployment in Iraq," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California. "Staying there in the manner we are there is no longer an option."
Update: Rep. Kucinich and 3 other Democrats voted against this bill because it doesn't do enough to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. There will be problems getting it through the Senate.
The legislation must still clear the Senate, which might not happen until after the Thanksgiving recess. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he would force Republicans to filibuster the bill and not pass legislation that includes any supplemental funding this year.
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Just look at the map of unemployment rates in Alabama. You don't see full employment in Republican districts and high unemployment only in Democratic ones. Today 
