Free Republic

I'd bet most people wouldn't know what the most common type of legislation approved in Congress is. It is naming a post office after a former elected official or local person of renown. And usually it's so typical that it barely gains notice. Until this week. For possibly the first time ever, and most assuredly the only time in the last three U.S. congressional delegations, a bill to name a post office after someone has been rejected. A proposal by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, to rename the main Berkeley post office after Maudelle Shirek, a longtime Berkeley city councilwoman and...

National panel sends out political attack to districts where it hopes to make gains. A political dustup over congressional efforts to name a Berkeley post office for a longtime councilwoman and left-wing activist intensified Wednesday when Republican leaders accused Maudelle Shirek's supporters of being soft on communism. "Cardoza votes for naming U.S. post office after reputed communist,'' blared the headline of a release sent out late Wednesday afternoon by the National Republican Congressional Committee. The attack was aimed at Rep. Dennis Cardoza of Atwater (Merced County), Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove (Orange County) and 43 other Democrats in districts...