Speaker Boehner may reduce “shovel ready” jobs with Highway bill

First, they whine about no “shovel-ready” bills.

Now, they have one.

And what do they do?

Is it time to get those klowns out of office, or is it time to get those clowns out of office?

Boehner could scale back highway bill amid Republican opposition

By Russell Berman – 02/23/12 05:53 PM ET

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) might significantly scale back his signature transportation bill in the face of opposition from conservative and centrist members of his own party.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Thursday that GOP leaders were mulling “a revamped approach” that would shorten the length of the highway reauthorization bill from five years and scrap a proposal to remove transit funding from the highway trust fund.

The move would be seen as a dramatic retreat for the Speaker, who has trumpeted the $260 billion legislation as a jobs priority but was forced to postpone floor consideration last week amid resistance from Republicans and complete opposition from Democrats. A central element of Boehner’s proposal would, for the first time, use royalties from an expansion of domestic energy production to finance infrastructure improvements. Yet critics of the bill pointed out that

John Edwards, and How to Indict the Ham Sandwich

John Edwards, U.S. Senator, North Carolina (D), official portrait

In legal circles – in which I do not travel – there is a common saying (one which can be found on Wikipedia – the so-called “fount of all knowledge” – please excuse me while I find the vomitorium) – which says  “A good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.^” 

It is that aphorism – an aphorism, which by the way, is defined as “a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation” – upon which I begin this entry.

John Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, Democrat, and former presidential candidate, was discovered to have fathered a child out of wedlock while he was married to his now-late former wife Elizabeth, whom was also an attorney, and whom died of a recurrence of cancer.

Fearing public censure, “handlers” for former Senator Edwards’ presidential campaign sought to

Prediction: Obama will be re-elected

Does history repeat itself?

If history is any indicator, then President Obama will be re-elected.

The astute political observer will note that political events are playing out much like they did during President Clinton‘s first term. There is an angry Republican party whipped up by a vitriolic Speaker of the House, a government shutdown, allegations of a federal government that is too large, a domestic debt that is unmanageable, foreign turmoil, involvement in international armed conflict in the Middle East, anger by Republicans over health care reform, and a mid-term loss to Republicans… it’s uncanny.

Previously, I had written in an entry entitled “House Republicans move to repeal Obama health insurance reforms” that

AL Lawmaker tells Republicans to “empty the clip” on illegal immigrants

A Republican Alabama State Senator, referring to illegal immigrants, recently encouraged a Cullman County Republican Party audience to “empty the clip, and do what has to be done.”

Scott Beason spoke Saturday, February 5 to a breakfast meeting of the CCRP and focused his remarks on illegal immigration.

Alabama State Senator Scott Beason, R-17th District

Beason represents

AL GOP Rep Mo Brooks, 5th, confesses incompetence

You’d never have imagined hearing the radical Madison county Republican cozying up to his favorite pork projects in North Alabama. But hey, any job is a good job in this economy, eh, Mo? And you sure as Hell don’t want to put folks out of work… now DO you, Mo? Seems like you’re caught between the proverbial “rock and a hard place,” old man.

Those “pork barrels” sure do look different when they belong to you, don’t they? (I think they’re called “JOBS” and they belong to those class of people you call your “constituents.”)

Let’s buy more waterproof coffee pots, HSNDDs, and HSBLDs – hard steel nail driving devices, and highly specialized bullet launching devices.

Instead, why don’t we spend some money to  improve (translation: INVEST in improving) our national infrastructure – roads, electrical power grid, waterways, schools and parks? Surely you remember GOP President, former 5 Star General Dwight David Eisenhower‘s warning about the “military industrial complex,” don’t you?

 

Congress will cut defense, Congressman Mo Brooks says, possibly programs in Huntsville

Published: Thursday, February 03, 2011, 5:30 AM     Updated: Thursday, February 03, 2011, 6:12 AM

HUNTSVILLE, AL – U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, said here Wednesday that Congress will “probably” cut defense spending next year, possibly including R&D programs based in Huntsville, but, if he gets his way, it will boost

AZ Congresswoman Giffords (D) Shot in Tucson – Was Palin “Target”

AZ Democrat, Congresswoman Giffords Shot in Tucson

Was SarahPAC “target”

“Don’t retreat, reload.”
– Sarah Palin (R), Twitter post

TUCSON — Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 17 others were shot here on Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents for a “Congress on Your Corner” event.

Ms. Giffords, 40, was described as being in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons. One of the surgeons said that she had been shot once in the head, “through and through,” with the bullet going through her brain.

“I can tell you at this time, I am very optimistic about her recovery,” he said in a news conference. “We cannot tell what kind of recovery but I’m as optimistic as it can get in this kind of situation.”

An official with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that six people had