Benjamin Franklin once wrote
“Fish and visitors stink after three days.”
Based on Franklin’s assessment, the United States Capitol must surely reek with the number of politicians who have unprecedented length of tenure.
This past week, the Senate celebrated a milestone with the marking of the longest serving Senator in U.S. history – Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.V.). At 92 years old, Byrd has served in the U.S. Congress for 57 consecutive years: six years as a U.S. Congressman representing West Virginia’s 6th District, and 51 years as a West Virginia Senator.
I had the unique opportunity to meet Senator Byrd when I literally ran into him in a hallway at the Capitol Building. In my defense, I didn’t see him at first because he was seated in his wheel chair. And, in my natural state of rushing around, I almost tripped over his chair as we met at the corner of the hallway! (Okay, I hear some of you laughing as you read this, I’ll admit that I may be a bit clumsy at times…but back to Byrd.)
The second time I saw Sen. Byrd was again in the Capitol, this time he was 
using a walker and was accompanied by an assistant and a personal nurse. It struck me that this man was too infirmed to be serving in the Senate. With all the important legislation being discussed and debated, which included the outrageous Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act that I helped to defeat in 2007, this elderly man did not seem to me to be well enough or alert enough to grasp the technicalities or the ramifications of this one bill. So, I wondered…why was he elected over and over?
Age and illness has never stopped Senator Byrd from being an effective voice for the citizens of West Virginia. In fact, Sen. Byrd is considered West Virginia’s largest industry, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars per 
year in Federal funds. According to Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), Byrd managed to funnel $326 Million of pork-barrel projects to his home state in FY2008 alone. How did Byrd achieve this? Simple, he has served on appropriations (funding) committees since 1959 – that is 50 years as of this year!
With this kind of clout, it’s not hard to see why the citizens of West Virginia keep voting this man into office, term after term. They have even awarded his efforts at acquiring this disproportionate allocation of federal funds to their state by naming 30 public works projects after Sen. Byrd.
Lengthy tenure in Washington politics is not limited to Byrd; there are currently 10 members of Congress (House and Senate) that have served more than 36 years! They are:
John Dingell of Michigan – 54 years;
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii – 50 years;
John Conyers of Michigan – 44 years;
Dave Obey of Wisconsin – 40 years;
Charles Rangel of New York – 38 years;
Bill Young of Florida – 38 years;
Thad Cochran of Mississippi – 36 years;
Pete Stark of California – 36 years;
Don Young of Alaska – 36 years.
While some people may think that a long tenure in Congress is admirable, many, like me, think it is deplorable.
By continuing to elect the same person to office for multiple terms, voters are perpetuating the opportunity for corruption.
Long term connections between career politicians create situations where favors are returned with more favors. Thus, the explanation of why so much pork spending is actually approved. A newcomer to the Senate or House would have little to no clout with fellow members and fewer favors to return. With term limits, this type of situation could be, at least, curbed.
Like most of our Founding Fathers, there are politicians who believe in the Citizen Legislator – the concept that legislators should leave their primary job temporarily to serve their country, somewhat like the practice of the National Guard. George Washington was the prime example of this idea, as he chose to limit his term of President to only 2 terms, rather than continue indefinitely.
Early this month, Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), along with U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and Sam Brownback (R-KS), introduced an amendment to the Constitution that would limit the number of terms that a member of Congress may serve; three terms in the House, and two terms in the Senate.
“As long as members have the chance to spend their lives in Washington, their interests will always skew toward spending taxpayer dollars to buy off special interests, covering over corruption in the bureaucracy, fundraising, relationship building among lobbyists, and trading favors for pork – in short, amassing their own power,” said Sen. DeMint to The Washington Times.
The Democratic majority’s second-highest ranking leader, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois doesn’t hold much hope that DeMint’s proposal will even get a vote on the Senate floor. “It’s a great issue to talk about, but it’s not going to happen,” he says.
Obviously, not all politicians are corrupt. I would even venture to guess that most enter politics to make a positive change for their communities. However, human nature combined with intense pressure from others often follows the path of least resistance, leading to favors that ignite a cycle of corruption. Let’s hope that more members of Congress will take this issue more seriously and allow debate on the subject.
If not, we are sure to see unapologetic politicians, like Senator Byrd who has said,
“They call me ‘The Pork King,’ they don’t know how much I enjoy it.”
And that is…Why It Matters.
It seems that alienation is Obama’s middle name. Well, right after the monikers of unsophisticated, rude, egotistical, embarrassing, unpatriotic and apologetic – but who’s counting.
For his first state dinner, the President is hosting India’s President Singh with a large soiree at the White House tonight. However, it doesn’t appear to be a true American event…only a Democratic and payback-to-donors event. read more…
To date, we have seen both houses of Congress put forth health care reform bills that are nothing more than a license to steal. The latest travesty occurred this past Saturday evening when the Senate voted to continue discussions on the Democrats’ (no bipartisan input allowed) proposed health care bill.
The pièce de résistance of this Senate proposal was not the bill per se, but the bribes that were included to obtain key votes and secure reelections.
The critical votes for Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, were those from conservative Democrats who are facing backlash over ultra-liberal policies from the extreme Left of the party. One very important vote was that of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, a conservative Democrat who has been somewhat critical of extreme liberal policies in the past. Recently, Landrieu had voiced her “grave concerns” about the cost of the health care bill. read more…
The most ridiculous report of the year has to be this one from (of course) the United Nations…
If one has to resort to the ridiculous as a point to prove your theory then it begs the validity of that theory. This proves that the climate change people are completely insane.
I was on the Phil Valentine radio talk show today discussing the fallout after the horrible attack at Ft. Hood in Texas. Several good points were brought up and I wanted to bring them to your attention.
- Why has Maj. Hasan (the killer) not been charged with terrorism charges?
The Army has charged him with 13 counts of premeditated murder, but nothing else thus far.
- Why was Hasan NOT charged with treason for his communications with known terrorists and his anti-American web statements [which occurred long before the attack].
The dictionary defines it as: “TREASON – This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance. “
The Constitution of the United States defines treason as:
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
- Why is Hasan referred to as “suspected” or “alleged” shooter?
This is legal BS. Tons of people saw this man do the shooting, are we so sensitive that we can’t call a spade a spade? There is NO question about the shooter’s identity…only of his motives and mind.
- Did Homeland Security kick into gear upon news of the shooting? Were our other military installations put on high alert or lock down? Were the high-profile targets such as dams, power plants, bridges, etc. put on alert?
We should know the answer to these questions. Are we actually safe? Is the whole Homeland Security setup working properly? For all we knew, this event could have been a precursor to other planned attacks.
- Why are our military people not allowed guns on post/base? Do they not deserve the same rights as every other U.S. citizen has through the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution?
This is the epitome of ridiculous. Now that this is known to the world, our military folks are sitting ducks for further assault. Additionally, where are the Constitutional lawyers? When this idiotic rule was initiated, where was the outcry?
These are only a few of the critical questions that the American people need to consider. I urge you to talk about these issues with your friends, neighbors, representatives and senators.
If you have additional questions, please forward them to our readers by adding a comment here.
This is the question that so many Americans are asking in the aftermath of the killing rampage at Ft. Hood this past week. Why? Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has even announced plans for an investigation into the military’s protocol in regard to how and why they “missed the signs” of a man in distress. Why? read more…
And just when you thought you had heard it all…
It appears that our industrious government is more concerned with making nice to the Muslim community rather than trying to root out terror elements. Check out this from Politico.com’s Josh Gerstein:
Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization. [Click here for full article.]
And this from the New York Times by David Johnston and Scott Shane:
Intelligence agencies intercepted communications last year and this year between the military psychiatrist accused of shooting to death 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings. But the federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter… [Click to read full story]
And then ABC reports that not only did the Army know of Hasan’s interest in al Qaeda, but it is most probable that the CIA and/or other U.S. intel services also were tracking Maj. Hasan:
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News. [Click here for story]
Stay tuned…I’m sure there will be more outrageous, yet politically correct, decisions to be uncovered.
In the chaos of the events following the horrific shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, naturally, all of the focus has been on the incident. However, another important question – yet to be asked – is what happened at all of the other military installations and critical infrastructure locales. I am curious whether Homeland Security initiated a red alert for those types of facilities and what else might have been secured. For instance, were facilities such as Hoover Dam, The White House, or nuclear facilities put on lock-down? read more…
A press conference with Lt. Colonel Cone, commander of Ft. Hood, has just completed. At this hour reports are 12 dead and 31 wounded. No word on demographics of wounded.
Killer from Ft. Hood - Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan
The shooter was shot by a female civilian officer but did not die; Major Nidal Malik Hasan – the shooter – is reported out of surgery and is in stable condition. Military sources indicate that this incident was a single shooter action and, probably, not multiple shooters as first reported.
Lt. Col. Cone said that several units had personnel in the building during the shooting, so the investigation will be covered by several agencies in and outside of the military.
After a three-year long trial, an Italian Judge has convicted and sentenced 23 Americans – including the CIA Station Chief in Italy – of the kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric. No word on how the Berlusconi government will react to this conviction. Click here for story.
This action underscores the anti-American sentiment abroad that has been aided by President Obama, Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid. Through their continued war on America’s intelligence agencies, they have diminished the effectiveness of intel operations and placed America in greater danger of terrorists attack.
This also reveals the subtle movement by Socialists throughout the world to undermine governmental operations in order to work toward a single world government.
Let us hope that Obama, Pelosi, Reid and company may personally feel the impact of the naive decisions they are making on behalf of our nation. The American people deserve leaders who believe in America first and are concerned with the safety of her people.
One would expect a rebuke by Obama and Congress leadership of this insane action based on the oaths they swore in taking office. However, we can dismiss any form of patriotism from this crew, especially our inept President, as he has no interest in foreign affairs or the war on terrorism.
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