Congress
Posted at 4:51pm on Jul. 11, 2008 The pushback against Democrats' attempts to limit online communication continues
By Congressman Mike Conaway
Thank you to the hundreds of you who took time out of your day yesterday to sign my petition, to join my Facebook group, and/or to call Speaker Pelosi's office about Democratic attempts to limit online communication between the American people and their elected representatives. If you haven't yet, I encourage you to do so at your earliest convenience. You can also put a petition widget on your site by copying and pasting the code from the bottom of this post on my blog.
I am grateful to sites like RedState, which are keeping readers informed about this issue while keeping the heat on Congressional leaders. Several of my House Republican colleagues, including John Culberson, Thaddeus McCotter, and Minority Leader John Boehner, have also been working hard to make sure that the truth about this issue is presented to the American people.
Please read on.
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Posted at 2:45pm on Jul. 11, 2008 Rep. Capuano's Newspeak for Censorship
By Erick
As the Obama candidacy gains momentum, we should all become more accustomed to "newspeak." Out is the word "censorship" to be replaced with the phrase "freedom of speech." The former phrase "freedom of speech' will be prohibited except in classical texts until such texts can be reprinted wherein all references to actual free speech will be deleted.
That, of course, seems the natural progression from Rep. Mick Capuano (D-MA), who calls the internet a "necessary evil."
Rep. Capuano is proposing regulations that would prohibit Members of Congress from contributing content to any site that has commercial advertising. Likewise, Rep. Capuano, though he's peddling furiously away from it, has proposed Congressional approval of new technologies that Members of Congress could only embrace after Congress issues a blessing.
The same thing is happening in the Senate, though Senators are being less vocal about Senator Diane Feinstein's similar proposal.
Congressman John Boehner's office has a post up on this subject. His staff points out that under Congressman Capuano's proposal, members of the House of Representatives could be prohibited from having op-eds in newspapers because those op-eds also appear online.
And it's not just Congressman Boehner and his staff. The Sunlight Foundation disagrees with Rep. Capuano's spin, as do other outside groups.
This has very little to do with actually making sure congressmen are not using their office to endorse commercial advertising and everything to do with Democrats being routinely out-gamed by Republicans in floor fights that are highlighted by Republican congressman on blogs and in YouTube mocking the insanity of the Democrats' congressional track record.
America's Mother-in-Law claims Congress has a "responsibility to ensure that Members and the public understand the need to prevent the misuse of public funds, while at the same time ensuring access to emerging online means of communication." Bridges to nowhere are apparently an acceptable use of public funds while connecting with constituents via YouTube has been perverted to be a misuse of public funds.
Get used to newspeak.
Posted in Congress | Franking | Internet Censorship | John Boehner | Massachusetts | Michael Capuano | Nancy Pelosi — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 7:25pm on Jul. 10, 2008 House Republicans Travel to ANWR
By BrianFaughnan
I've commented before that Republicans in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ought to travel to the part of the Coastal Plain where drilling might someday be allowed. Once you get there, you can see that it's not exactly something to write home about:
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Posted at 4:00pm on Jul. 10, 2008 Tell Democrats to Stop Trying to Block Communication Between Representatives and the American People [Updated with Widget]
By Congressman Mike Conaway
[Update: To put this petition widget on your blog or Web site, copy and paste the following code:
Thank you again for your time, concern, and willingness to act to make your voice heard.
-Congressman Mike Conaway]
As reported yesterday here on RedState, Congressional Democratic leaders, who promised in 2006 to create a more "open" government, are now proposing a new rule that would prevent Members of Congress from using the Internet to communicate with the American people unless the Web site they are using has been "approved" by a panel responsible for creating internal House rules.
Millions of Americans, and hundreds of Representatives -- including myself -- use video-sharing Web sites like YouTube, personal blogs, and online community sites like Red State to keep track of what is going on in Congress, to provide constituents with information and insight, and to build and foster communication between elected representatives and the American people.
The Internet and the New Media have made Congress more transparent, sometimes against its will, and have better empowered Americans to hold elected officials accountable for their actions, statements, decisions, and votes. Instead of embracing and working to further this new level of openness and transparency, as they promised when they were candidates for office, Democratic leaders are fighting to close the new lines of communication between politicians and the people that the Internet has opened.
Please read on.
Posted in Congress | Most Ethical Congress | Orwellian tactics | transparent government — Comments (34) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:03pm on Jul. 10, 2008 McCotter in the alley broadcasting a message America's Mother-in-Law doesn't want you to hear
By Erick
Congressman McCotter has a message for you and the Democrats. Of course, he'll have to resort to this method of communication if the Democrats have their way.
Posted in Blogging | Congress | Fairness Doctrine | Michigan | Nancy Pelosi | Thaddeus McCotter — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:54pm on Jul. 10, 2008 Rove Refuses To Testify, Democrats Cry
By Chris Jones
It was hard to keep from laughing this morning when a placard with Karl Rove's name sat in front of an empty chair where the former Presidential aide was supposed to testify. Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to tie Karl Rove to some kind of scandal for the last seven years.
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Posted at 10:35pm on Jul. 9, 2008 The Senate GOP Needs Testicular Fortitude
What do the Senate GOP and Osama Bin Laden have in common? They both cave.
By Erick
The Senate Republicans have a long time pattern: when they are close to victory, they stop advancing.
It has happened again and again. It is not even the fault of the GOP leader. It is a problem that goes through the core of the Senate GOP and has for years.
At a moment when the American public is massively shifting to the position of "Drill Here. Drill Now." the Senate Republicans have ditched a plan to push forward on ANWR.
The Senate GOP should fight on this issue. They can win it. And they should.
But they will not because when Democrats come at them with a punch, the Senate GOP slaps back and then folds. Again and again and again and again.
Perhaps we should add these to the Senate GOP diet. They need a supplement.
Posted in Congress — Comments (81)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:05pm on Jul. 9, 2008 They're winding up FISA now in the Senate.
Took 'em long enough.
By Moe Lane
[UPDATE and bump]: Final vote is 69 Ayes, 28 Nays. A look at the final apostate list in a moment, but I'd just like to note something. There were two Senators who were serious Democratic Presidential candidates, and they both voted on FISA. One of them voted against telecom immunity - a matter of extreme importance to the netroots - all the way down the line (and despite the fact that Democrats in Congress have assessed the public mood, and have clearly decided that the bill must be passed). The other voted against it... except for the final vote, which is the only one that the population will actually care about. In other words, we have a case of actual integrity versus equivocation.
The funny part is that the netroots went with the equivocator. Barack Obama brazenly lied to them about his intent to filibuster FISA, and they support him anyway. And now they have to go give him some more money, so that he can lie to them some more. Funny, I don't recall Hillary Clinton being nearly as bad in that regard this election cycle.
Have a nice day.
-------
Senator Bond is finishing up his commentary, and we'll be seeing the start of the process of watching the amendments go down in flames any minute now. (Ooh, he just kicked the netroots!)
While we're all waiting for the inevitable, check out Jake Tapper's piece on the subject. Especially the bits about Obama's flip-flops on FISA.
[UPDATE]: Below is the approved list of Netroots-Acceptable Democratic Ideological Purity. To stay on it, all the Democratic Senators have to do is vote Aye on all three amendments, and Nay on the vote itself. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
Akaka Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Brown Byrd Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Clinton Conrad Dodd Dorgan Durbin Feingold Feinstein Harkin Inouye Johnson Kennedy* Kerry Klobuchar Kohl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Lincoln McCaskill Menendez Mikulski Murray Nelson Nelson Obama Pryor Reed Reid Rockefeller Salazar Sanders Schumer Stabenow Tester Webb Whitehouse Wyden
*I think that he may not be present. Which would explain why McCain's not there, either.
On Dodd/Feingold: 32 Ayes, 66 Nays. Embarrassingly bad, that.
On Specter: 37 Ayes, 61 Nays. Not quite as bad. Not quite.
On Bingaman: 42 Ayes, 56 Nays. I guess that I got this wrong: the pro-FISA people clearly didn't need much in the way of cover at all.
...And Reid is recessing, in order to let the GOP go have its (delayed by the Helms funeral) lunch. Isn't he just the best, most biddable Democratic Senate Majority Leader that the GOP could wish for?
[UPDATE] Well, we're back, and I believe that this is the cloture vote (yup, it is). Bit garbled, but I heard 26 Nays; it clearly passed. Final vote - finally, the freaking final vote - coming up next.
Posted in Congress | FISA | Kneel Before Zod | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (136)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:00am on Jul. 9, 2008 Nancy Pelosi Wants to Shut Down Member Blogging
Democrats in the House Want Representatives to Only Post to "Approved" Websites
By The Directors
We've had the pleasure to host many Representatives here at RedState, where they've written about issues that interest us all. But that may all be about to change if Nancy Pelosi has her way.
Via Congressman John Culberson's (R-TX) twitter feed, we learned today of an incredible threat to Congressional activity on the internet.
johnculberson: Before I could post a Tweet I would have to get approval of the twits that run the House! 25 minutes ago from web
johnculberson: They want to require prior approval of all posts to any public social media/internet/www site by any member of Congress!!! 26 minutes ago from web
johnculberson: Dem "Supreme Soviet" leadership of House would have to approve every Twitter before I could post it!!! 26 minutes ago from web
johnculberson: I just learned the Dems are trying to censor Congressmen's ability to use Twitter Qik YouTube Utterz etc - outrageous and I will fight them about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Culberson and John Boehner have spoken out on the issue already, and Reps. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Tom Price (R-GA) are leading the opposition. Under the rule, any kind of site that involves posting - including miniblogs on Twitter, podcasts, video on Youtube, etc. - would all have to be on sites "approved" by the House Democrat leadership as complying with House regulations. As the release states:
"Under the proposal, the House Administration Committee would develop a list of "approved" websites, and Members of Congress could only post content on such websites."
Whatever intention the Democrats have, this idea is ridiculous. Congressmen should be able to decide for themselves where and how they interact with their constituents and the American people.
Tell Nancy Pelosi and the House Administration Committee to stop trying to block transparency and openness in government. Call them at 202-224-3121.
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Posted at 10:51pm on Jul. 8, 2008 A Politi-ku For Pelosi And Reid
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
We haven't talked much
'Bout the Legislative Branch.
It polls worse than Bush.
Posted in Bad Poll Ratings | Congress | The Democratic Congress — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:11pm on Jul. 8, 2008 Doing the “people’s work” - Democrat led Congress recieves 9% approval rating.
By paulseale
Rasmussen Reports published a report today noting that only 9% of people approve of Congress.
Forty one percent believe that Congress will not do anything to benefit America any time soon. Given Democrat's recent track record on refusing to open up domestic oil exploration, attempting to pass a massive 280 billion dollar tax increase in addition to refusing to fund the troops without massive pork added - I would agree with that sentiment.
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Posted at 2:58pm on Jul. 8, 2008 Thank You for Supporting Our Troops
By Congressman Mike Conaway
Thank you so much to the more than 4,800 of you who responded to the petition drive I started in support of General Petraeus and our troops' effort in Iraq. With your help, we were able to present this American hero with solid, heartfelt evidence of support for him, his troops, and their mission.
General Petraeus genuinely appreciated the gesture, and wrote the following letter of thanks for your heartfelt support:
Read on...
Posted in Congress | General Petraeus | Iraq | Petition | Victory — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:44am on Jul. 8, 2008 Question and answer time: the Senate FISA vote.
I spied something convex?
By Moe Lane
Q. OK, what's going on?
A. Assuming that Jesse Helms' funeral doesn't interfere, FISA passes the Senate today with telecom immunity intact. [UPDATE: The final votes will take place tomorrow, in order to allow Senators to attend Helms' funeral.]
Q. Just like that?
A. Just like that.
Q. Aren't there people in the Senate trying to stop it?
A. Not really, no. There are people in the Senate trying their best to look like they're stopping it, but this was all hashed out last week. What happens tomorrow will be about as spontaneous as Kabuki theater. Or any kind of traditional theater, really.
Read on.
Posted in Barack Obama | Congress | FISA | Obamafiles — Comments (21)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:58pm on Jul. 6, 2008 The Do-Nothing Congress
By ConservativeDemocrat
The US Congress gets nothing done, no matter who governs. Instead of introducing policy bills that would make a DIFFERENCE in our lives, the Congress introduces phony laws and resolutions. Take the the people who represent my home state, Ohio.
Elected in the tidal wave of 2006, Democrat Sherrod Brown has introduced 110 various bills. But wait! These include resolutions honoring and recognizing various people (John Glenn, Bill Willis, etc.), a resolution recognizing the importance of SOIL, and various resolutions reminding us of the plight of various peoples. And to think I almost voted for him.
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Posted at 11:08am on Jul. 4, 2008 Rep. Wm. Jefferson (D-LA): Not Guilty of Bribery, Because He's a Thief
By Vladimir
Or so goes the apparent defense that Jefferson's attorney will mount in his Dec. 2 trial on corruption and bribery charges.
Jefferson will be a Superdelegate at the Democratic national Convention Aug. 25-28 in Denver.
Bribery defense hinges on risky tack
Jefferson has promised an "honorable explanation" will be provided at his trial, which is scheduled for Dec. 2, and has so far declined to elaborate.
Posted in $90000 | Congress | IN HIS FREEZER! | William Jefferson — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »
