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The great thing about satire is that it often makes you think in ways that you may not have other wise and gives a much needed comedic angle in an otherswise crazy world.
There will be a rather large freshman class in both the House and Senate scheduled to be sworn in January of 2009. 44 People will be leaving or have already left Congress and Senate due to death, retirement, resignment, and in some cases criminal investigations. Some of these known absences have already been filled by special elections, but those filling them will still be considered "freshmen" in 111th Congress which convenes in January. These numbers affect Republican held positions more than Democratic positions and include such political power players as former Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Hastert and former Presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter one resignation, the other as a result of retirement. Both sides will aggressively go after each and everyone of these positions. The Democrats currently hold majorities in both the House and Senate, but neither is by large numbers and they would like nothing better than to put some depth in the bench so to speak. The Democrats are clearly taking this election season seriously and have opened an unprecedented 6 regional offices here in the 6th Congressional District to support their candidate Mr. Sam Rasoul in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte who has run un-challenged for many years. The following list shows the 44 in seats mentioned:
House of Representatives: Alabama: Rep. Bud Cramer (D). Retiring Alabama: Rep. Terry Everett (R). Retiring Arizona: Rep. Rick Renzi (R). Retiring and under federal indictment. Arizona: Rep. John Shadegg (R). NOT Retiring: Convinced by colleagues to reverse earlier decision to not seek re-election California: Rep. John Doolittle (R). Retiring California: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R). Retiring California: Rep. Tom Lantos (D). Died. Rep. Jackie Speier (D) sworn in after winning special election California: Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D). Died. Laura Richardson (D) seated after August 2007 special election Colorado: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R). Retiring Colorado: Rep. Mark Udall (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate Florida: Rep. Dave Weldon (R). Retiring Georgia: Rep. Charlie Norwood (R). Died. Paul Broun (R) seated in July 2007 special election Illinois: Rep. Dennis Hastert (R). Resigned.Bill Foster (D) sworn in after winning March special election Illinois: Rep. Ray Lahood (R). Retiring Illinois: Rep. Jerry Weller (R). Retiring Indiana: Julia Carson (D). Died. Carson's grandson, Andre Carson (D), seated in special election Louisiana: Rep. Richard Baker (R). Resigning.Don Cazayoux (D), wins May special election Louisiana: Rep. Bobby Jindal (R). Elected Governor. Steve Scalise (R) wins May special election Louisiana: Rep. Jim McCrery (R). Retiring Maine: Rep. Tom Allen (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate Maryland: Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R). Defeated in Republican primary UPDATED JUNE 19: Maryland: Rep. Al Wynn (D). Defeated in February Democratic primary by Donna Edwards. Wynn retired before end of term, allowing Edwards to compete in June special election, which she won. Edwards sworn in Massachusetts: Rep. Martin Meehan (D). Resigned. Niki Tsongas (D) seated in October 2007 special election Minnesota: Rep. Jim Ramstad (R). Retiring Mississippi: Rep. Chip Pickering (R). Retiring Mississippi: Rep. Roger Wicker (R). Appointed to Senate.Travis Childers (D) seated after May 2008 special election Missouri: Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R). Vacating seat to run for governor New Jersey: Rep. Mike Ferguson (R). Retiring New Jersey: Rep. Jim Saxton (R). Retiring New Mexico: Rep. Steve Pearce (R). Vacating seat to run for Senate New Mexico: Rep. Tom Udall (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate New Mexico: Rep. Heather Wilson (R). Vacating seat to run for Senate New York: Rep. Vito Fossella (R). Retiring New York: Rep. Mike McNulty (D). Retiring New York: Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R). Retiring New York: Rep. Jim Walsh (R). Retiring Ohio: Rep. Paul Gillmor (R). Died. Robert Latta (R) seated in December 2007 special election Ohio: Rep. David Hobson (R). Retiring Ohio: Rep. Deborah Pryce (R). Retiring Ohio: Rep. Ralph Regula (R). Retiring Oregon: Rep. Darlene Hooley (D). Retiring. Pennsylvania: Rep. John Peterson (R). Retiring Virginia: Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R). Died. Robert Wittman (R) seated after December 2007 special election Virginia: Rep. Tom Davis (R). Retiring Wyoming: Rep. Barbara Cubin (R). Retiring In the Senate ... Those who have left, leaving, or have died, by state: Colorado: Sen. Wayne Allard (R). Retiring Idaho: Sen. Larry Craig (R). Retiring Mississippi: Sen. Trent Lott (R) Retired. Rep. Roger Wicker (R) seated by gubernatorial appointment Nebraska: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R). Retiring New Mexico: Sen. Pete Domenici (R). Retiring Virginia: Sen. John Warner (R). Retiring Wyoming: Sen. Craig Thomas (R). Died. John Barrasso (R) seated by gubernatorial appointment
This list shows that there many important political races going on all throughout America as well as the races many of us follow and are involved in right in VA.
If you believe in the conservative movement, if you believe in Ronald Reagan's vision, if your concerned with our energy crisis, and if your very nervous about Americas future in the hands or people like Sen. Obama, Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi than you must stand and be heard.
Seek out your local Republican Committee and tell them that you want to help support candidates the take Americas future serious and have solutions not platitudes.
I've ruminating on this post for several days because I really try to avoid charactor assination and high BP enducing rants, however I feel if a rant is how this gets said, than so be it.
I don't know where to start but I'm highly irritated with the Speaker of the House Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, so lets start there. This congressperson (godforbid I use a gender specific term and offend her) has MISARABLY FAILED the people she is swown to serve. Speaker Pelosi spends nearly all of her time blaming both President Bush and the Respublicans of both congress and senate (I didn't know Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needed help with that) for everything from global warming to the price of gas and everything inbetween (I would not be surpriced to see her blame them for a run in her hose). News Flash Speaker, you've had some of the lowest approval ratings of any speaker since they started recording such things and at one point only 11% percent of Americans approved of your Congressional leadership. In case you forgot, this is the same Speaker who actually listed changing the names of post offices as a priority for Congress. I could list the utterly questionable things she has done all day long, such as telling the Admiral of the Pacific Fleet Command to move all Navy vessels from the harbor area around San Franciso because of the "visual plight" they create, but don't want carpal tunnel that bad. Lets focus on things everyone knows about like closing congress when key issues had not been dealt with like GAS PRICES. She ordered the lights turned off, microphones turned off, and even C-Span cameras shut off. Why would she do this you might ask, when such important issues are still on the table? She did this because she knows that her completly indefenceable position on oil drilling and getting us away from foriegn oil would likely be the begining of the end for the Pelosi dynasty. Speaker Pelosi knows that if domestic oil exploration and drilling were to get an actual "Up or Down" vote in congress she could no longer hide behind smoke and mirrors. The Speaker has flat out told members of congress that this vote will never happen. She knows that if it does, there are enough Republicans and isle crossing Democrats to pass which then puts those against it on a formal roll call. The Speaker won't do this in such a contentious political season because she knows that Americans who are tired of paying $4.50 per gallon (yes even Prius drivers pay this) for gas will hold members of congress responsible who vote against this.
Since the Speaker shut the doors and turned off the lights she has been intervied several times and has refused to give an honest or straight forward answer to her actions. Oh, but wait, I'm wrong, she has answered this question: WE HAVE A PLANET TO SAVE which she repeats till she is red in the face. Some information on this can be seen here:
As the Speaker has stated and shown in reported interviews she cares more for her and her cronies political survival than she does for the people she is sworn to serve. She goes as far as to admit that Americans don't support her point or view and that it will make them vulnerable in elections.
It drives me nuts that people can't see what these democrats are doing our country and the embarassments we deal with through there leadership (lack there of). If your as ticked off as I am, go here and sign the petition at http://www.callcongressback.com/ to force Speaker Pelosi and the other Democrats back to Congress to do their Jobs.
reSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid while recently on the Fox Business channel went on a rant about how coal, oil, and other fossil fuels makes us sick. Sen. Reid then went on to say that everyone in sick because of all the carbon were putting into the air and that it causing global warming, which by his estimation, you guessed it, makes us sick.
Well Sen. Reid, you want to know what makes me sick? This guy and his buddies ,who we are beholden to for the lions share of our petroleum needs. And thanks to people like you and House Leader Pelosi we are virtuallycrippled from doing anything about it at home. Credible science has shown that substantial oil deposits are located right here at home. There is enough oil in AK alone to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
If you would like to see Sen. Reid's comments first hand you can watch it here.