Al Franken wins U.S. Senate seat, Dems are Super Majority

Finally, it's over! Al Franken will be the U.S. Senator from Minnesota... giving the Democratic Party a filibuster-proof margin of 60 Senate seats.
For more on this, click on the story in Jim's Shared Items... irwin65/Al Franken wins, Norm Coleman conceeds (VIDEO).

RANDOM POLITICAL THOUGHTS

Here we are at the end of June 2009, six months into the year and nearly eight months removed from the 2008 political elections.
So tell me, why is Al Franken STILL WAITING to be seated in the U.S. Senate?
Imagine if this had been taking place following the controversial 2000 Presidential election when the United States Supreme Court stepped in to stop the recount in Florida after roughly one month.
Point is this has been ongoing in Minnesota for eight months and Norm Coleman has shown little or no class after Franken was declared the winner in the recount.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (2012 GOP Presidential candidate?) has said very little regarding the matter. Of course, he is a Republican as is Coleman and the quicker Franken is seated in the U.S. Senate, the quicker the Democratic party will have 60 seats in the Senate.
Can you say filibuster proof?
How about the stall tactics taking place regarding the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor?
What's the deal there? It seems to me that when George W. Bush nominated current Chief Justice John Roberts, there was not that long of a delay for the hearings to commence and he was eventually confirmed.
And just today, the current sitting Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the New Haven, CT firefighters in a discrimination case, thus overturning a decision that Sotomayor was a part of with two other judges.
So now, we can probably expect more stalling from the GOP as they and their cronies (Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, etc.) ramp up the smear campaign against her.
In fact, Limbaugh made up his own numbers just today and said the decision was a unanimous one.
No, it wasn't!
Let the mudslinging continue Master Rush.
By the way, is the GOP still around?
Seems they are in the midst of an identity crisis as they search for a true leader.
One might say the elephant is irrelevant.
However...
How 'bout them Democrats?
They have a 59-40 (perhaps a 60-40 margin pending Al Franken being seated) majority in the Senate and an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives, so why are they still living in fear of a party that should be irrelevant at this point? After all, the Republicans (remember Bill Frist and Tom DeLay) ran roughshod on the Democratic party during their "glory days" with Bush and Cheney in the White House.
Speaking of DeLay, just when is the former pest control man and House Majority Whip from Texas going to have to answer in court about all the allegations brought against him over three years ago?
Here in Illinois, we impeached Blago (former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich) just six weeks after his arrest in early December.
Will the Senate and House pass Health Care reform this session?
Let's see, the schedule for the 111th Congress (first session) is currently off for the Fourth of July holiday. They will have approximately 28 days to hammer something out or else it will have to wait because as of August 3 and continuing until September 7th, the 111th Congress will be in recess.
Once they return in September, who knows what the priority will be?
Point is if nothing gets done by the end of the year, forget about it. That's because 2010 is a mid-term election year and we all know what that means.
Let the mudslinging, oh I mean campaigning, begin.
What about the Employee Free Choice Act?
Calling President Barack Obama.
The President has been very mum on this one since taking office. Perhaps the voters who supported him need to remind him about this one. Labor has been under attack for nearly forty years in this country, and it was warp speed attacking the past eight years with Dubya and Darth leading the way.
It's time to say the hell with the global economy and start taking care of the citizens of the United States again. There is nothing free for America about the so-called free trade agreements. Just look at the state of our economy.
Just recently, China ensured their own economic situation by demanding that products be made and bought in China only and they are sticking by that measure. Unfortunately, here in the USA, our legislators caved to the corporations and lobbyists and took out the buy American clause in the economic bill.
Shame, shame, shame.
And finally, kudos to Texas representative Ron Paul (Republican from the 14th District) for having the tenacity to introduce a bill which has since gathered at least 243 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives that would allow an audit of the Federal Reserve, which is long overdue.
Paul's Audit the Fed Bill (H.R. 1207) has gathered much needed steam and the Fed would like to see it fail of course because this would be a landmark bill that would provide much needed transparency of the privately-owned Federal Reserve.
Surprisingly, the Democratic party has approximately 182 House members who have NOT signed in support of the Audit the Fed Bill, according to Christopher Petherick of American Free Press (more information is available at AmericanFreePress.net).
President Obama talked about the need for there to be more transparency in Washington, D.C. so why not start with the Fed.
Would Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke mind this?
Hopefully, we the people will get to find out.
Stay tuned.

Margaret's health care story

Margaret's health care story

Dear Mr. President,

The main reason I decided to remain in Germany after serving and completing my enlistment in the USAF was the excellent health care system here. Sad and pitiful, isn't it...that I would CHOOSE to stay in a foreign country and obtain a German residency/working permit rather than return to my own country because of the lack of health care services and astronomical costs of medical insurance. I have a son who is diagnosed with hydrocephalus, CP, and has various physical and mental disabilities... so for me, this decision was a no-brainer.

PLEASE PLEASE fix the US health care system! While the German social health care system is far from perfect, it is ten-fold better than the current US model. I would love to return home to the US one day and not have to worry about whether or not I can afford medical coverage for my child. Until that happens though, I will remain here in Germany.

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