The joke that we call Congress

NY Post ^ | June 12, 2011 | HENRY I. MILLER

[lowbridge]

I myself attended a symposium that Rep. Tom Bliley, then chairman of the powerful House Commerce Committee, addressed via teleconference. Reading a prepared statement, he included the "stage instructions" -- such as "pause for emphasis" -- that his speechwriter had inserted. Where one line had accidentally been duplicated, Bliley read it a second time.

Rep. John Salazar related this anecdote: "You know, when I was debating what became the 2008 Farm Bill, I had a member of the Ag Committee actually ask me if chocolate milk really comes from brown cows. I asked if he was joking, and he assured me he wasn't." A member of the Agriculture Committee?

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee proclaimed on the House floor last July that "victory had been achieved" by the United States in the Vietnam War and that "today, we have two Vietnams: side-by-side, north and south, exchanging and working." In fact, South Vietnam fell three years after Lee graduated from college.

Lee is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

[DeaconRed]

"It was also Lee who asked a NASA scientist whether the Mars Pathfinder probe had photographed the flag that astronaut Neil Armstrong had left behind in 1969."

What a joke.

[Diogenesis]

The docile, treasonous
US Congress is totally 110% COMPLICIT
in the destruction of the USA,
in the attack on the American people,
in the helping of al Qaeda and Ikhwan,
and in the attacks against every US ally.

[NTHockey]

The problem with ridding ourselves of the thieves, perverts, addicts and mentally incompetents is that then they are free to roam the streets. At least now, they are all gathered in one place, where we are free to mock them.

[lowbridge]

We’re doomed.

[FreeMaine]

We’re doomed.

Only if we continue to do nothing. The choices are clear:

Revolt
Secede,
or resign yourself to being a serf.

[sphinx]

I myself attended a symposium that Rep. Tom Bliley, then chairman of the powerful House Commerce Committee, addressed via teleconference. Reading a prepared statement, he included the "stage instructions" -- such as "pause for emphasis" -- that his speechwriter had inserted. Where one line had accidentally been duplicated, Bliley read it a second time.

The other examples cited are sheer ignorance and idiocy. This is a bit different, and is the bane of anyone who has ever dabbled in speechwriting. Too many of our principals refuse to practice. They've been brought up in the era of tv talk shows. They think effective public speaking is easy and spontaneous. Many of them come to believe that they're naturals. And so they drift into the habit of showing up and trying to sight read a text they've never seen before. Reading the stage directions is a dead giveaway.

It makes a world of difference to write for someone who knows he's NOT a natural, and who will do at least minimal preparation. Suddenly one can write real text. There's nothing wrong with compound and complex sentences, even quite involved ones, if the rhythm and pacing are sound and the speaker understands his material. Punctuation is our friend. The voice of experience ....

[nikos1121]

Just for fun today I looked up the mars landers to see what happened?

Spirit stopped after a little over 4 miles, but opportunity is still going.

Opportunity’s traverse map through Sol 2622
As of Sol 2621 (June 8, 2011), Opportunity’s odometry is 30,307.17 meters (30.31 kilometers, or 18.83 miles).

Amazing

[Condor51]

Maybe we should treat dissatisfaction with our representation as a medical, rather than a solely political, issue -- and ask candidates and incumbents to volunteer for periodic intelligence and mental-status testing.

Forget 'asking'. It has to be a requirement. No certified IQ Test with a score of 90 and above and you 'ain't' on the ballot, period!

That's not too much to ask as 90 is the bottom number for 'normal'. And if you're BELOW normal you have no business making any Laws for me to follow, period!

[sauropod]

read

[Texas Fossil]

In fact, South Vietnam fell three years after Lee graduated from college.

I learned something! She graduated from College? On what planet?

[Zakeet]

If you want a good example of a Congressional idiot, sometime check out one of my favorites, this rousing speech by Corrine Brown: Go Gata.

[Girlene]

Stupid things that politicians say:

"every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs." - Nancy Pelosi

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." - John Kerry

"I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill ... What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?'" - John Conyers

"African Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do." - Bill Clinton

"My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize," - Hank Johnson talking about Guam

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened." - Joe Biden

"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate." -

"I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less." - both quotes by Marion Berry

[SMARTY]

Expensive joke

[Wolfie]

It’s about an 85% re-election rate for all of Congress. It’s our joke, and we deserve it.

[PGalt]

DEFUND socialist collectives. Every one of these little prick POS politicians should be PART-TIME with 1/4 PAY and NO BENEFITS and NO PERKS.

[mulligan]

And a very dangerous joke as well.

[FlyVet]

Bill Whittle’s take on the same subject, “The Saddest Figure I Know Of” (11 min video, doesn’t require login).

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=56

[Ro_Thunder]

Most of us that want to do anything about it are too busy protecting our families, working, paying taxes, and trying to install morals into our children to actually do anything about the situation.

I’m tired, Mr. President, of defending my family from my government.

[vette6387]

Or you can dial up Hank Johnson’s little inquiry as to the instability of the Island of Guam if we allowed another 20k worth of folks to live there. This mental midget thinks islands float I guess!