Congressman Yarmuth (D - KY-3) on the successes of the current Congress

[groovedaddy]

Interesting piece from the Courier Journal by Yarmuth. The response piece posted after Yarmuth's is worth a read too:

A differing view on the work of the 110th Congress by John Yarmuth

Two recent pieces on this page put their spins on the performance of the U.S. Congress in 2007. While they are entitled to their perspectives, there is another perspective that, I believe, represents a more realistic appraisal. When the American people voted to give control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006, they obviously wanted the country to move in a different direction. We have spent the last 12 months providing the change they demanded. In fact, this has been the turnaround Congress; we have stopped the disastrous course of the Bush administration and set our ship of state on a course that will restore the American people's faith in the future.

If we turn back the clock to 2006, we had a Congress that refused to hold the President and the executive branch accountable and sat by while the White House systematically unraveled the Constitution. That Republican-led Congress went on a devastating spending spree with borrowed money; it emptied the federal treasury for the highest corporate bidders; and it ran up more than $3 trillion in new debt in six short years.

People like Jack Abramoff bought legislation for their clients. Laws were passed in the middle of the night to benefit huge industries. Massive tax breaks that mostly benefited the richest Americans were passed in spite of mounting deficits and a costly war in Iraq. That was the Congress the American people wanted to change.

Consider what this 110th House of Representatives has done. We have held the administration accountable for Katrina relief programs, corruption in Iraq reconstruction, unconscionable sweetheart contracts for corporations like Halliburton and Blackwater, the politicization of science surrounding global warming, and the manipulation and suppression of information the public is entitled to know.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/OPINION02/801140339/1018/OPINION

[ixion]

1. yeah, they've done a few little things... however all the big nasties are still right there

-- we're still killing people in Iraq.

-- there is still no more habeus corpus.

-- warrantless wiretapping is still going on

-- the unPATRIOTic act, MCA, NAO, and so on still exist.

-- Airports still resemble concentration camps.


So, yes, some limited progress has been made, but the big nasties are all still there.

[Kolesar]

3. "there is still no more habeus corpus" Gosh, that's news to me!

Does that mean that the police are rounding up Americans off the streets and detaining them?

[ixion]

4. been to an airport lately?

worn an "impeach Bush" tee shirt? Got an "impeach Bush" bumper sticker on your car?

Then you, too, can experience the new 'Murikan democracy.

Don't kid yourself. They're not paying Haliburton billions to build all those concentration camps for nothing.

[Kolesar]

5. For six months at least

I have had an impeach bush bumpersticker on my car.

Where are these concentration camps? Can I find them with Google maps?

[ixion]

6. okay, that's right... keep mocking me

I bet you'll get a big kick out of it when the thought police break your door down.

[Kolesar]

2. John Yarmuth for president!

That editorial reads like a campaign speech. Yarmuth managed to complete that without noting that the Democrats are fighting in an adversarial media environment (save Olbermann, of course).

The Air Force man in the letters was more than a little off base.

[BridgeTheGap]

7. Yarmuth donated his Congressional pay to charities

Obviously, he can afford to do so BUT how many others in Congress who could afford it actually do it?

[caseycoon]

8. Bush VETOED the bigger stuff!

They have done, or TRIED to do a lot more than we give them credit for.
Am I happy with them? Nope!
I want to see impeachment!