Hey, Nancy, how about a light?

[bolverk]

Congress is, by far, the most powerful entity in our government. It is time we recognized this and visit upon them the proper attention it deserves. Congress got us into this war. Congress got us into this housing crisis. Congress got us into our energy crisis.

The only way to get out of these problems is to get them out of office. I don't care what party gets control, I care that they do not continue business as usual, as has been the case for the last 48 years, with the exception of a short period of time under President Clinton. Take way their jobs and the people will begin to earn the respect they deserve.

[subdjoe]

Two excellent posts, Boverk. One exalt, on the rocks.

[harpman1]

That works for me.

Well said, sir.

[The New Guy]

great posts, bolverk.

little do the minions know that the president has limited powers. there isn't much he can do without congressional approval.

congress is where the real action is. or in this case, isn't.

[jgaffney]

Aug 4, 2008 15:26:34 GMT -5 Mink said:

I was even more vocal with my reps. at that time. It's like they just layed down to get trampled on! My comment here is to point out that although Congress' score is historically low, the blame should be given as a whole since the majority is not that significant.

Ya know, it's really convenient that the old PeeDee boards got erased. Otherwise, we could dredge up all of your posts blaming the ills of the country on the Republican Congress.

Pure partisanship.

[The Big Dog]

So back to Bolverk's magnum opus above... what do Reps. Woolsey and Pelosi, as well as Senators Feinstein and Boxer, have in common? The answer would be that they are all products of the Burton machine that still largely runs California Democrat politics and controls California state government to a huge degree.

Let's recap shall we....

Rep. Pelosi occupys the seat of the late Phillip Burton, whose name is attached to the machine today. After his untimely death at an early age, his widow Sala Burton kept the chair warm for two terms until Mr. Burton's protege, Nancy Pelosi, was right, ready and experienced enough as a party operative to jump into the job.

Rep. Woolsey occupies the seat of former Congressman (one time and future Assemblyman and future State Senator) John Burton, the younger and far more acerbic brother of Phil Burton. John Burton first entered politics when he took over his brother Phil's seat in the State Assembly. He, interestingly enough was both preceeded and succeeeded by Phil in the course of re-districting. John gave up the 6th District seat, thanks to a rather severe nose candy issue, to his protege then Marin County Supervisor Barbara Boxer. John went, after getting clean, back into the Assembly, winning machine man Art Agnos's seat after Mr. Agnos won the mayor's office of San Francisco, and later to the State Senate where he became President Pro Tem until he was termed out in 2004. Another of his proteges, Don "Pistol Packing" Perata from Alameda, took over that role until just this year when he wil be termed out himself.

Barbara Boxer, protege of the machine, served five terms in the House and stepped into the seat of machine man Alan Cranston when he retired.

Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco supervisor and became Mayor when machine man George Moscone was gunned down, she is herself largely a product of the machine. She ran unsuccessfully twice for Governor as the voters of California demonstrated that they really didn't want a San Francisco progressive at the helm while another (machine man to the core Willie Brown) was Speaker of the Assembly. She made it to the Senate in 1992 by beating appointee (and stereotypically empty suited) Senator John Seymour.

The bottom line is that San Francisco Democrat machine politics has an amazingly strong grip on both the state Legislature and in the Congress. Save for the few years of Pete Wilson / John Seymour in the Senate, our Senators have sprung from the San Francisco machine for the past three generations.

[Mink]

Aug 4, 2008 22:40:38 GMT -5 @bolverk said:

Congress is, by far, the most powerful entity in our government. It is time we recognized this and visit upon them the proper attention it deserves. Congress got us into this war. Congress got us into this housing crisis. Congress got us into our energy crisis.

The only way to get out of these problems is to get them out of office. I don't care what party gets control, I care that they do not continue business as usual, as has been the case for the last 48 years, with the exception of a short period of time under President Clinton. Take way their jobs and the people will begin to earn the respect they deserve.

Even I agree with your post here bloverk. What we must remember is prior to the 2006 election, there was a Republican majority, with Dick Cheney as the deciding vote. Yes, they got us into a war we have no choice but to stay in due to bad policy.
We must remember, Dick Cheney's "secret" meeting back in 2001 dealing with energy. Then, California was the scapegoat, hence the rolling blackouts, and the Exxon scandal, thank you Ken Lay, Bush's buddy.

Back to the war in Iraq, not only did the Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly support it , but enough of the Democrats did as well.....due to the the 9/11 attack. Remember Colin Powell and his presentation of an aerial view of the trucks/diesels that were mobile, moving the WMD.......

Now, around this time, it is mentioned online how Feinstein's hubby is somehow connected with the oil contractors. Will she ever admit? No! I hold her with deep disdain & responsibility for all 4,000 plus military deaths as much as I do Bush.

Woolsey, is not my rep, however she is one who stood up against the war, as did Obama , Kucinich and others.

I hold the president with the most responsibility because of his seat. He took the job, yet allowed bad intelligence to not only be turned into a unilateral war, allowed the culprit of 9/11 to go free, turned his focus off of the country so now, we are close to a recession (technically), sky high gas/food prices, the country , as a whole is struggling, some way worse than others.

However, back to the topic, Congress is doing bad and it is up to them to "fix it"!

[jgaffney]

Good job on the research, BigDog! After reading Phil Burton's biography, it put a lot of SF politics into focus for me.

[jgaffney]

Aug 5, 2008 20:44:32 GMT -5 Mink said:

I hold the president with the most responsibility because of his seat. He took the job, yet allowed bad intelligence to not only be turned into a unilateral war, allowed the culprit of 9/11 to go free, turned his focus off of the country so now, we are close to a recession (technically), sky high gas/food prices, the country , as a whole is struggling, some way worse than others.

More of the liberal mantra from one who has perfected it. In spite of the countless times that we have refuted this political theory, Mink still holds on to it rather than admit that it was the right thing to do.

I will not repeat the many quotes that rebut the claim that Bush Lied. You are already familiar with them, even though you refuse to acknowledge them.

Much as you would wish that it would be true, we are not in a recession. The economy is not growing as fast as it was 2 years ago, but we're still in positive territory. Wishing will not make it so. Why is it that the economy is only good when a Democrat is in the White House? Which economic theory holds that you can improve an economy by raising taxes on the rich, then redistributing that money among the lower class?

The Associated press had an interesting article that Rush talked about this morning.

The rich are sharing your financial pain — and contributing to it.

It may have taken longer and it may not be as acute, but there are early hints that the economic slump is crimping the lifestyles of the wealthy.

They are investing more conservatively, spending less on luxury goods and are being more thrifty with their credit cards. Many are asking their personal shoppers and private-jet travel providers to seek the best deals rather than over-the-top extravagances.

That news may produce a shrug from many people who have lost their jobs or homes in this economy. The problem is that when the wealthy get stingy, it trickles down to the rest of us.

......

To be sure, the poor and middle-class are being hurt more, but upper crust thriftiness could reverberate across the rest of the economy.

The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes account for nearly a quarter of all spending, according to data compiled by research firm Moody's Economy.com from a 2006 federal survey.

"That does suggest those folks are important for the spending outlook, and the overall economic outlook," said Scott Hoyt, Moody's director of consumer economics.

Whoa, wait a minute! Stop the bus! Did I just hear the liberal bastion, the AP, admit that "trickle down economics" is a reality? Ronald Reagan must be turning over in his grave!

Another liberal myth disproved.

[jgaffney]

Dragging this topic back on track, Speaker pelosi has made it known that it's OK for members of her team that might be facing a tough re-election fight to go home during the recess and talk up offshore drilling. This is from Politico.com:

California Democrat Nancy Pelosi may be trying to save the planet — but the rank and file in her party increasingly are just trying to save their political hides when it comes to gas prices as Republicans apply more and more rhetorical muscle.

But what looks like intraparty tension on the surface is part of an intentional strategy in which Pelosi takes the heat on energy policy, while behind the scenes she’s encouraging vulnerable Democrats to express their independence if it helps them politically, according to Democratic aides on and off Capitol Hill.

Pelosi’s gambit rests on one big assumption: that Democrats will own Washington after the election and will be able to craft a sweeping energy policy that is heavy on conservation and fuel alternatives while allowing for some new oil drilling. Democrats see no need to make major concessions on energy policy with a party poised to lose seats in both chambers in just three months — even if recess-averse Republicans continue to pound away on the issue.

Well, isn't that cute! Pelosi shuts the House down rather than allow a vote which she already knows she'll lose. Then, when the House is out of session, she tells her members that it's OK to talk up offshore drilling. Let's see what happens when the House reconvenes.

[The Big Dog]

Aug 5, 2008 23:58:07 GMT -5 jgaffney said:

Well, isn't that cute! Pelosi shuts the House down rather than allow a vote which she already knows she'll lose. Then, when the House is out of session, she tells her members that it's OK to talk up offshore drilling. Let's see what happens when the House reconvenes.

It might get very ugly, particularly if something happens out in the world that spikes oil prices back up. Recall that Bush merely rescinding the EO concerning off shore exploration caused a 15% drop in futures prices. Imagine what would happen if some exploration actually started happening.

There a whole slew of Democrats, well those other than Lynn Woolsey, Mike Thompson and Madame Speaker herself, who are getting their butts kicked by their constituents back home right now over oil. If the price spikes, I would expect her own caucus to bring a huge amount of pressure on her to at least allow the vote. While I doubt she caves, if she doesn't she is handing every Republican running for Congress a massive hammer to beat their Democrat opponents over the head with.

The bill before the House would merely rescind the Congressional ban on the outer Continental Shelf and allow the states to decide for themselves what they want to allow. Californina, through it's wool headed, co-opted by the Greens, RINO governor has said "no way". Other coastal states actually seem to grasp the economic impacts (massive and at many levels) and want to move forward.

What Madame Speaker is up to is nothing more than a political game of chicken. And her doe eyed performance on ABC last Sunday where she ducked and dodged hard questions repeatedly from George Stephanopolous (who'd a thought he had it in him). See it here for yourself, shows us all exactly how elitist she is and just how much disdain she has for all of us little people.

She is banking on a Democrat president next January, combined with stronger Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, to further enable to "greening of American energy"... while keeping us in virtual fealty to the OPECers for at least another generation, and at massive peril to our economy and our nation. It is, at it's base, the biggest insult to a people since Marie Antoinette hollered that bit about cake way back when.

It might not backfire on her this election, but it's going to eventually. But then once the Democrats have full power you'll see them massively expanding the voting rolls with things like same day registration, allowing felons to vote, etc. etc. etc. in an attempt to ensure their firm grip on power for generations to come.

[subdjoe]

Big Dog wrote: "But then once the Democrats have full power you'll see them massively expanding the voting rolls with things like same day registration, allowing felons to vote,.."

Re: felons voting. My feeling is that once a person has "paid his debt to society" and is no longer under any supervision or any court mandated disability, full rights should be automatically restored - voting, gun ownership, the works. If a person is still a danger to society, then they should not be out of prison. Or not without supervision.

I know, a bit extreem. But, that is my take on it.