CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America. Article. I. Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House
of Representatives. Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members
chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the
Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for
Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the
Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that
State in which he shall be chosen.
McConnellism At Work: According to some sources Ed. Whitfield is not an inhabitant of Kentucky and was not when he was elected, in 2006. If that is the case then Ed. Whitfield lied when he took his oath of office, to uphold the Constitution Of The United States. If in fact Ed. Whitfield was not an inhabitant of Kentucky when he was elected in 2006, he should not have been allowed to take the oath of office!!!
Does, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen mean that Ed Whitfield has to be an inhabitant of Kentucky only on election night? Who knows, but it’s playing fast and loose with the law to interpret it that way. Of course when a person of power and means like Ed Whitfield wants to play fast and loose with the law anything is possible. It sure would be nice if someone other than bloggers would look into this.
We all know where Ed Whitfield’s opponent, Heather Ryan lives and it’s not in California, Virginia, or West Virginia and she won’t be found taking trips, at the tax payers expense, She’ll be right here in Kentucky fighting for seniors and children. Click here to view Ed Whitfield’s personal finances and here to see who Ed Whitfield really represents.
I was listening Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal this morning on CSPAN as she spewed out a bucketful of phony right-wing talking points. One of them was that the new Democratic Congress was a "do nothing" Congress, because they couldn’t get anything passed. The blame, of course, was on the Democrats, because they were just being too darned partisan and not compromising (i.e., giving in to whatever Republicans want).
Mimikatz at The Next Hurray swats this dishonest talking point into the third row, citing a detailed report by the Senate Democrats and calling out our boy Mitch in the process.
"Many people do not know that it is due to him that the Senate has accomplished virtually nothing, while the House has passed over 400 pieces of legislation. Even bills that have been passed by a majority of both houses cannot become law because Bad Boy McConnell will not allow a vote on sending them to a conference committee. We all know that McConnell would not allow a vote on the Webb-Hagel Amendment, leading Majority Leader Harry Reid to file a cloture motion that needed 60 votes. Since the Dems had only 56 votes, debate could not be closed off and there was no vote on the substance of Webb-Hagel. McConnell promises the same on Levin-Reed and Feingold-Reid."
And let’s take a look at all of the important legislation that the House Democrats have passed, only to be obstructed by "nuclear option filibuster Mitch":
Senate Republicans blocked funding for the intelligence community (National Journal Congress Daily, 4/18/07), …denying our country the tools to fight the war on terror. (DPC Report)
Senate Republicans blocked a vote on reforming the Medicare Prescription Drug plan“ (Boston Globe, 4/19/07) and denied seniors lower prescription drug prices. (DPC Report)
Senate Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage (New York Times, 1/25/07) delaying a much needed raise for hard-working Americans. (DPC Report)
Senate Republicans are blocking the appointment of conferees on the 9/11 Commission Recommendations (DPC Report) leaving the United States vulnerable to terrorist threats. (Washington Times, 3/14/07)
Senate Republicans are blocking the appointment of conferees on ethics reform (DPC Report) halting progress on the “most significant ethics reform since Watergate.” (Washington Post, 1/19/07)
Senate Republicans are blocking a bill to bring transparency to campaign fundraising (The Washington Post, 05/09/07) denying the American people the right to know who funds Senate campaigns. (Washington Post, 5/9/07)
Senate Republicans blocked a vote on holding Attorney General Gonzales accountable (Reuters, 06/11/07) refusing to hold the Attorney General accountable.
Senate Republicans blocked legislation to make forming unions easier (Associated Press, 06/15/07) siding with corporations against average American workers. (DPC Report)
It’s quite clear that McConnell and his Grand Obstructionist Party (like Dewitt) are simply going to try to knock down any legislation that the Democrats and the American public want. Then, after grinding all legislation to a halt, they’ll simply sit back and criticize the Democrats for not getting anything done.
Will the MSM pick up this talking point? I think we all know the answer to that. The Democrats need to stay on the offensive and call out McConnell and his fellow obstructionists for blocking the legislation that America overwhelmingly wants and needs: change in our Iraq policy, lowering prescription drug prices, enacting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, campaign fundraising reform and ethics reform. If the public can realize the nuance of this legislative process and how it is being manipulated by Mitch & Co. (and I’m sure they’re banking on Americans not being smart enough to figure this out), they’ll know that if they want this kind of reform to pass, they’ll just need to give the Democrats a bigger majority.
I’m not really sure how many supporters John Edwards had in Lexington on Friday morning, but I know that he has a lot more now. The line on John Edwards that is making the rounds is that his best asset in the campaign to win the presidency is not his humble Southern background, health-care platform or charm, but his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. After watching her performance during Friday’s Small Change for Big Change event in Lexington, I think that statement isn’t too far off base.
Elizabeth Edwards performed a rather spectacular hour+ Q & A session with over 200 contributors, fans, and potential voters. And due to the online outreach efforts of the Edwards campaign (thanks to Tracy and Amy, via DMKY’s Shawn Dixon) and the southern charm of DMKY’s own Jim Pence, Jim and I were able speak with Elizabeth face to face for roughly 10 minutes before her public Q & A session.
Though the Edwards staff thought we had a decent chance of chatting with her for a couple of minutes, shortly after we entered the venue and set up our cameras (Jim and fellow film guru Erica), we were told that there was no time for an interview. After Jim disappeared for a few minutes to chat up the Edwards folks, he came back saying that she might be doing a short “meet and greet” with some people.
“What’s a meet and greet?”
“I’m not sure”
“I’ve never been to a meet and greet”
“Yea, me neither”
Ten minutes later, Jim pulled me backstage and one of the staff stopped us and asked if we were the guys from DitchMitchKY and told us that we could speak with Mrs. Edwards in a few minutes, but not on camera or on tape. So while all of the slick, dolled up TV reporters waited for Elizabeth to come out for the Q & A, the blogger in ratty Chuck Taylors and ripped pants, and the hillbilly with the Acapulco shirt were whisked upstairs to meet her.
Since the company that I worked for — for over 30 years, I might add — decided to cut my retirement health insurance benefits to near-nothing, I’ve had to use every tool at my disposal to keep the prescription costs for the medications that my wife needs as low as possible.
This year, when my wife entered the Medicare Part D doughnut hole, I started ordering her prescriptions from Canada. That move will save us over $1000 before the end of the year.
Senator Mitch McConnell voted to keep Medicare Part D prescriptions at inflated prices when he voted against negotiations that would have lowered Medicare Part D drug prices.
