A smart article by Barney Frank in Huffington Post regarding Republican’s vague memory of the years they were in power in the 90’s and 00’s - and a certain piece of legislation that would have regulated Fannie and Freddie:

Fortunately, we have tools to aid memory — pencil and paper, word processing, transcripts, newspapers, and the Congressional record. And as described in the most reputable published sources, in 2005 I in fact worked together with my Republican colleague Michael Oxley, then Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, to write a bill to increase regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We passed the bill out of committee with an overwhelming majority — every Democrat voted in favor of the legislation. However, on the House floor the Republican leadership added a poison pill amendment, which would have prevented non-profit institutions with religious affiliations from receiving funds. I voted against the legislation in protest, though I continued to work with Mr. Oxley to encourage the Senate to pass a good bill. But these efforts were defeated because President Bush blocked further consideration of the legislation. In the words of Mr. Oxley, no flaming liberal, the Bush administration gave his efforts ‘the one-finger salute.’

Well, Mr. Frank doesn’t explain what the poison pill of this bill was, but then again, he was one of the people to proposed the legislation, so it’s unlikely his support would wane naturally.

It irritates me to no end the insulting way our Government has (in the past) treated us like children and taken advantage of the least knowledgeable of our masses. Most bills that are presented to the Senate and House and never what they appear to be. While the language of these bills tends to be vagueness complicated with legalize, there’s always been something for everyone on the right and left side of the isle.

It’s was easy, therefore, for the Republicans to manipulate the other side by taking one of their causes and lacing it with a provision that the left couldn’t possibly vote for - then blaming them for voting yes/no on a bill.

The democrats did the same with the Iraq war a few years ago, but their manipulation of these kind of things has been sporadic at best.

Nonetheless, it’s tiring being talked down to - and, as a result, lied to. This revisionist history by the republicans doesn’t seem to be sticking. Hopefully the real story of all this will.

Current News, Politics Financial Services Committee, Michael Oxley, republican blockers, republican cowards

From the Cullman Times:

In front of a packed room, Shelby explained how he was a staunch proponent of fiscal responsibility and that he had opposed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill Obama signed into law earlier this week.

“If we (republicans) were in control, I would have been chairman of the banking committee … and I would have killed some bills,” Shelby said with a laugh.

When Richard Shelby opens his Jack Nicholson-joker-like mouth he spews the kind of garbage typical of someone who’s begrudgingly lost and is absolutely, completely unwilling to get along - or work with - the elected winner. Unfortunately, our financial well-being is in the balance.

I’ve made no secret of my disdain for this narrow-minded, childish partisan asshole. In truth, he’s a real piece of work. A former Bush lapdog, former member of the banking and Senate intelligence committees, Shelby is always on the wrong side of the argument and sometimes the wrong side of the law as well.

Regarding the stimulus bill, he sides against the taxpayers in offering no valid alternatives other than more tax cuts and a suggestion of banking regulations which Obama has already included. Take, for example, this exchange:

After noting that since previous administrations have already placed the country more than $10 trillion in debt, local resident Matthew Glover asked Shelby what would be the problem with another $1 trillion debt from Obama’s stimulus package.

“He said some stuff about dividends … but he never really answered my question,” Glover said.

No. And he never will, Matthew. Because what he also didn’t tell you was that those “previous” administrations included our last one, of which - with the exception of one vote (170: S 1307) he was lockstep all the way with the Bush Administration on all the key votes of the last five years.
What’s more, he still feels the need - at this late date - to keep false rumors alive:

Another local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

This is not a new statement by him, either. He’s been using this line for the last few months.

Also, lets not forget his treasonous act of leaking information about NSA activities:

From Washington Post,
Thursday, August 5, 2004

Federal investigators concluded that Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) divulged classified intercepted messages to the media when he was on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, according to sources familiar with the probe.

He also refused to take a lie detector test.

And, lastly, his well-known support for the Iraq war. It helps when you know the players in that war personally:

From Bob’s Links & Rants:

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), supporting the Iraq war resolution in October, 2002:

That photo is from Joseph Wilson's The Politics of Truth

“I support this resolution because the threat posed by the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is real, immediate, and growing.

The threat is real because Saddam possesses conventional, chemical and biological weapons. He is doing everything in his power to acquire the means to construct and field nuclear weapons.

The threat is real because Saddam has used his conventional and chemical weapons to attack his neighbors and his own people.”

So tell me, Senator, why were you holding hands with Saddam just three months after his chemical attack on Halabja?

Oh, how I wish someone would remove all the toilet paper from the bathroom before this guy takes his next dump.

Current News, Politics, War Bush administration, republican blockers, republican lies, republican losers, Richard Shelby

“Republicans ridicule the jobs bill as a grab bag of pork-barrel projects that would do little to help the economy… Democrats say the extra spending for everything from public works to child immunization is needed to create jobs that have been slow to come out of the sluggish recovery.

The GOP campaign against the bill threatened Democratic plans to get the completed measure before Congress recesses for two weeks. That still could happen - but the start of the break might be delayed beyond its scheduled start tonight.

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, indicated he would force Republicans to vote daily on motions to choke off the debate, perhaps starting as early as today.

Eventually, Democrats contend, some Republicans will cave in because the bill includes money to extend unemployment benefits to many of the nation’s long-term unemployed.”

No. This is not today. This is from a news article in 1993, when Clinton was in office. The situation was similar to our current one, yet not quite as grave. Despite an economy in tatters (courtesy of the first Bush), Republicans STILL felt the need to play their little political games as obstructionists - and Democrats, against good common sense, threw pork at the problem.

What’s going the CHANGE? Who knows. I hate to be cynical. It’s the easy thing to do - and I want younger people to have some hope for their government to start doing some of the things it says it’s going to do. I think if anyone has the moral authority to command this change, it will be Obama - but if he were to learn one thing from Bush (and one thing is about all you can learn), it would be that the strong arm approach is not distasteful.

Lyndon Johnson pushed through alot of good social programs during a short time in office, precisely because he was a tough guy and an arm twister. Carter, on the other hand, accomplished little in office and, although he has redeemed himself post-Presidency, was known as a bit of a wimp while in office. Obama cannot allow himself to follow that path.

In short, I really don’t think the Congress or the Senate has our best interests in mind when they make law and dole out cash. I know this seems like an elementary thing to say, but it really needs to be said and heard: CONGRESS AND SENATE DO NOT HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS IN MIND.

That being a given, we really need to get more involved in our government. Another elementary call-to-action, but no less true.

This past summer I was at a festival in my county and confronted my Senator about having withdrawal guidelines built into that Iraq funding bill. He hemmed and hawed, threw out the party line that “we have to support our troops and not hinder their success” - and this guy was a democrat. I wish I had told him to go fuck himself. At least then he might have realized he was voted into office and not ordained. Nonetheless, there are things we can do to get these people’s attention.

PRWeb.com

For $80 dollars we can send out a press release outlining our expectations from the Congress and Senate regarding this stimulus package. The press release will appear on popular news sites such as Yahoo News, Google, MSN news, PrNewswire and others. I’ve been pondering this solution for a while - considering that a hell of a lot more than $80 is coming out of my pocket for this package anyway. Heck, if enough people are willing to contribute a testimonial and a buck, we could send out a few of these.

Politicians, unfortunately, expect you to have a short memory about all these things. Most of the time they are right. What I would suggest you do is remember this time, this challenge and their response - and be willing to bring it up to them 10 or 15 years from now when they do the same things all over again.

Politics congress, government corruption, Obama, pelosi, republican blockers, stimulus package