The Seventeenth Summary 01-31-2011 AM

Pro-Israel activists decry GOP senator's call to cut aid
Jerusalem Post
Republican and Democratic pro- Israel political players alike jumped on a new GOP senator and Tea Party favorite for calling for US aid to ...

Senator Murray named to new seat
KGMI
Washington Democrat Patty Murray says she will be watching republicans "like a hawk" to ensure veterans get their financial due. ...

Rand Paul, Tea Party Senator, gets serious about tackling the debt
California Independent Voter Network
Kentucky's newly-seated Junior Senator, Rand Paul, who kicked off his general election campaign by saying "I have a message from the Tea Party... we've come ...

Jamie Radtke: Tea Party 'Wouldn't Exist Today If Republicans Hadn't Failed ...
Huffington Post
Jamie Radtke, the leader of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots who recently announced she will run for US Senate in the state's 2012 match-up, delivered a blow ...

McConnell could chart new course in Senate
Washington Post
When McConnell and his united GOP troops couldn't stop things from getting through the Senate, they made sure the Democrats paid a heavy price for winning. ...

Comment: If past actions are any indicator of future, then this is highly doubtful.

US Senate to revive Internet 'kill switch' legislation
Malaysia Sun
...the full Senate did not act on the measure. Despite what may appear to be bad timing, based on the actions of Egypt, it appears the bill is set to ...

Comment: More fear of that pesky 1^st amendment!

Mark Ganzer's Blog: Roses & Thistles: Transparency in U.S. Senate ...
By Mark Ganzer
Tom Harkin for their efforts to make the United States Senate more transparent and effective. Harkin was among the minority who tried to curb abuse of the filibuster rule. Alas, the effort was defeated last week. Instead, Senate leaders ...

Sen. Schumer Nullifies Judicial Branch
By Pat_S
Schumer, like most of these career politicians, has no clue what's in the US Constitution AND obviously has no idea about the delineations of our government. He is a brilliant argument for repeal of the 17th Amendment! ...

Sen. Schumer Can't Name 3 Branches Of Govt

He describes how a government shutdown would impact all three branches of government. But he seems a little confused about what constitutes a branch of government. This is serious Constitutional ignorance:



We all remember how bad the last government shutdown was. There was anarchy and rioting in the streets!

Oh, wait. No, there wasn't. In fact, things continued as before, just without a legislature daily passing new laws undermining freedom.

Hat tip: The Blaze

Cut Regulations, Too!

Cut Regulations, Too! InsiderOnline

Last year, the federal government passed 43 new major regulations, and those regulations will cost in excess of $26.5 billion annually, according to the Government Accountability Office. In total, regulations now cost the U.S. economy $1.75 trillion annually. ...

Read the rest here.

Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Legislation Back in Play

Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Legislation Back in Play; Wired

Legislation granting the president internet-killing powers is to be re-introduced soon to a Senate committee, the proposal’s chief sponsor told Wired.com on Friday.


The resurgence of the so-called “kill switch” legislation came the same day Egyptians faced an internet blackout designed to counter massive demonstrations in that country.

The bill, which has bipartisan support, is being floated by Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican ranking member on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The proposed legislation, which Collins said would not give the president the same power Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak is exercising to quell dissent, sailed through the Homeland Security Committee in December but expired with the new Congress weeks later.

The bill is designed to protect against “significant” cyber threats before they cause damage, Collins said.
“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency,” Collins said in an e-mail Friday. “It would give our nation the best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat.”

The timing of when the legislation would be re-introduced was not immediately clear, as kinks to it are being worked out.


An aide to the Homeland Security committee described the bill as one that does not mandate the shuttering of the entire internet. Instead, it would authorize the president to demand turning off access to so-called “critical infrastructure” where necessary.

Read the rest here. 

Comment: What is Collins trying to protect us from; freedom of speech?

The Seventeenth Summary 01-29-2011 PM

Freshmen set to mix up Senate Energy debate
Politico
Both Mike Lee (left) and Rand Paul joined the Senate Energy Committee ...

New Senate Veterans Affairs chairman promises to monitor GOP spending for vets ...
Los Angeles Times
His newly appointed counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray, said she will be watching Republicans "like a hawk" to ensure veterans get their financial ...

Former Freddie Mac Lobbyist to Get Top Senate Banking Committee Job
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Tim Johnson (D., SD) has officially been named chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he is expected to name Dwight Fettig as his committee staff ...

Conrad joins Senate Intelligence Committee
Grand Forks Herald
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has agreed to serve on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he announced Friday. ...

Graham lands seat on powerful Senate Appropriations Committee
MiamiHerald.com
Lindsey Graham on Thursday nabbed a prized seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, a post that will make him the South Carolina congressional ...

Senate Tea Party Caucus Meets - Washington Post Mocks | RedState
By Brian Darling
The first ever meeting of the Senate Tea Party Caucus was convened yesterday on Capitol Hill and it was a great success. The left wing media is doing.

Tea party-backed senator favors cutting foreign aid, including money for Israel
Los Angeles Times
A new Republican senator is calling for deep cuts in foreign aid, including eliminating US money for Israel, a proposal that has ...

Egypt needs 'free, democratic' 2011 vote: US senator (Kerry ...
US Senator John Kerry on Friday urged President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to quiet violent unrest there by promising that September elections will reflect "a free and open democratic process." "In the final analysis, ...

Comment: Mini-president Kerry perpetuating US imperialism…

Fix the Senate? Not Yet
Huffington Post (blog)
Senate reformers, led by Tom Harkin, Tom Udall, and Jeff Merkley, fought an indecisive first round on fixing the Senate rules this week. ...

Comment: Senate reformers…what a joke; Harkin and Udall are two of the central oligarchs in the US Senate. Does anyone in their right mind think the oligarchs are going to do anything remotely close to a reform? Only the repeal of the 17th Amendment will reform the US Senate.

Charlie Cook: GOP Could Regain Senate in 2012
NewsMax.com
With 23 seats to defend next year versus 10 for the opposition, Democrats will not find it easy to preserve their shrinking Senate ...

Sen. Rob Portman named to Senate energy committee
Chillicothe Gazette
Senate committee assignments were handed out Thursday, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, got the main one he was seeking: the Budget Committee. ...

Manchin, Rockefeller help change Senate rules
Parkersburg News
Senate Resolution 28, which passed the Senate 92-4, would require senators to publicly disclose if they placed a hold on legislation. ...

Sen. Ron Johnson declines Tea Party Caucus
Green Bay Press Gazette
When members of the Senate's newly formed Tea Party Caucus met for the first time this week, Sen. Ron Johnson was not among them. ...

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Bogus Report

Comment: Until the states reassert themselves into their rightful place within the Federal Government, Americans will continue to watch as their hard earned tax dollars continue to be transferred into the hands of special interest groups like Goldman Sachs, or for that matter AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GE, Lockheed Martin, Dyna-Corp, Blackwater, Monsanto, Environmental Defense Fund, to name a very small number of groups that make up the vast special interest draining our country of its wealth.

The Senate was expressly created to prevent the sought of nefarious situation involving the financial industry, yet Americans are led to believe that somehow having the silly right to vote for a Senator is worth the trouble we have today: madness I say.

We must repeal the 17th Amendment before it is too late...and know this, TOO LATE is right around the corner.

Renewing the Patriot Act While America Sleeps

Renewing the Patriot Act While America Sleeps; by John W. Whitehead; LewRockwell.com

Of course, there is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country that allowed the police to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to hold people in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, then the government would no doubt discover and arrest more terrorists. But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live. And that would not be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that would not be America."

~ Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), voicing his concerns over Congress’ passage of the USA Patriot Act (Oct. 25, 2001)


Russ Feingold, a staunch defender of the rule of law and the only senator to vote against the ominous USA Patriot Act, recently lost his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate to a Tea Party-backed Republican. From the start, Feingold warned that the massive 342-page piece of legislation would open the door to graver dangers than terrorism – namely, America becoming a police state. He was right.


The Patriot Act drove a stake through the heart of the Bill of Rights, violating at least six of the ten original amendments – the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments – and possibly the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well. The Patriot Act also redefined terrorism so broadly that many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience were considered potential terrorist acts, thereby rendering anyone desiring to engage in protected First Amendment expressive activities as suspects of the surveillance state.


The Patriot Act justified broader domestic surveillance, the logic being that if government agents knew more about each American, they could distinguish the terrorists from law-abiding citizens – no doubt an earnest impulse shared by small-town police and federal agents alike. According to Washington Post reporter Robert O’Harrow, Jr., this was a fantasy that had "been brewing in the law enforcement world for a long time." And 9/11 provided the government with the perfect excuse for conducting far-reaching surveillance and collecting mountains of information on even the most law-abiding citizen.

Read the whole article here.

Repeal the 17th Amendment Weblog on Twitter

We are on Twitter now (@17thRepeal) trying to get the word about the 17th Amendment and the disastrous consequences it has had on our government and nation; check us out. Much of what we'll post centers on the 17th Amendment, the US Senate and limited government.

Nullification, the Media, and Idaho: Message from Tom Woods

The Seventeenth Summary 01-28-2011 AM

Sen. Orrin Hatch sponsors balanced-budget amendment for 17th time
Deseret News
Orrin Hatch is rolling out a constitutional balanced-budget amendment. "We're $14 trillion in national debt, and it's going up every day," Hatch said during ...

A look at states' rights lost
Lansdale Reporter
Unfortunately the 17th Amendment has changed this delicate balance of powers devised by the founders by establishing direct elections for senators. ...

Committe kills repeal of 17th amendment bill : Cowboy State Free Press
By bill.mccarthy
CHEYENNE – The House Judiciary Committee killed a House resolution Wednesday night calling for repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. House Joint Resolution 4 sought a return to state legislatures choosing U.S. senators ...

Eric Cantor backing the Destruction of the Constitution...really ...
According to TPM, one of the main goals of the Repeal Amendment is to overturn the 17th Amendment, which allows for the popular election of senators. This is an objective both the Tea Party and Antonin Scalia share, as BuzzFlash pointed ...

Senate moves toward ending secret 'holds'
USA Today
By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY The US Senate is close to eliminating secret "holds," a tactic that allows lawmakers to anonymously block legislation and ...

Senate to vote on secret 'holds', other changes
Washington Post
By JIM ABRAMS AP WASHINGTON -- The Senate appears ready to make it harder for individual senators to surreptitiously hold up legislation, but is balking at ...

The White House Doubles Down on Donald Berwick
TIME (blog)
The White House formally nominated Berwick last year as well, but installed him via recess appointment to avoid a contentious Senate confirmation hearing. ...

Congress: Once again, focus on the Senate
msnbc.com
The Washington Post: "It is the narrowly divided Democratic-led Senate - not the Republican House - that is most likely to tackle the bipartisan initiatives ...

Senate Judiciary hearing cut short
Washington Times
Senate staffers said final committee assignments will not be announced until later Thursday. Before adjourning, Mr. Leahy pointed out that one of the ...

Senate Tea Party caucus holds first meeting Thursday – CNN ...
By cnnrs
(CNN) -- Tea Party activists from around the country will gather on Capitol Hill Thursday for a question and answer session with three of their favorite senators at the first official gathering of the Senate Tea Party Caucus.

Senator Who Shot Cap-and-Trade Bill in Ad Named to Energy Panel
Bloomberg
The panel, led by Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, plans to draft legislation that sets guidelines for how much electricity comes from sources such as ...

Rand and Ron Paul Introduce Twin Fed-Audit Bills

Rand and Ron Paul Introduce Twin Fed-Audit Bills; Wall Street Journal

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) introduced U.S. Senate legislation Wednesday to audit the Federal Reserve while his father, long-time Fed critic Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), re-introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House.


“We must take a critical look at the Fed’s monetary policy decisions, discount window operations, and a host of other things, with a real audit–and not just pay lip-service to the idea of an audit,” Sen. Paul said in a statement. “It is more crucial than ever that we have real transparency at our own central bank.”

Sen. Paul said the bill would eliminate the current audit restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office and mandate a complete audit of the Federal Reserve by a deadline. ...

Read the rest here.

New CBO Numbers Re-Confirm that Balancing the Budget Is Simple with Modest Fiscal Restraint

New CBO Numbers Re-Confirm that Balancing the Budget Is Simple with Modest Fiscal Restraint; Cato@Liberty

Many of the politicians in Washington, including President Obama during his State of the Union address, piously tell us that there is no way to balance the budget without tax increases. Trying to get rid of red ink without higher taxes, they tell us, would require “savage” and “draconian” budget cuts.
I would like to slash the budget and free up resources for private-sector growth, so that sounds good to me. But what’s the truth?

The Congressional Budget Office has just released its 10-year projections for the budget, so I crunched the numbers to determine what it would take to balance the budget without tax hikes. Much to nobody’s surprise, the politicians are not telling the truth.

The chart below shows that revenues are expected to grow (because of factors such as inflation, more population, and economic expansion) by more than 7 percent each year. Balancing the budget is simple so long as politicians increase spending at a slower rate. If they freeze the budget, we almost balance the budget by 2017. If federal spending is capped so it grows 1 percent each year, the budget is balanced in 2019. And if the crowd in Washington can limit spending growth to about 2 percent each year, red ink almost disappears in just 10 years.

Read the rest of the article here.

Senate Porkers Of The Month

Via Reason TV:



Thanks, General Electric! (GE has a long, sordid history of corruption. Oil For Food, Obama's stimulus, TARP (under Bush), and more.)

The First Ten Bills of the 112th Senate

The first ten bills of the 112th Senate; by Donny Shaw; OpenCongress Blog

This is truly amazing...

The Senate held their first real legislative day of the session yesterday, which means they finally began formally proposing legislation to deal with over the next two years. In total, senators from both parties introduced 201 bills on the first day. Among them were Senate bills 1-10, which are customarily reserved for the Majority Leader to use for laying out the majority’s legislative goals for the session, ordered by priority from highest (S.1) to lowest (S.10). Take a look:

• S.1 – A bill to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the United States.
• S.2 – A bill to help middle class families succeed.
• S.3 – A bill to promote fiscal responsibility and control spending.
• S.4 – A bill to make America the world’s leader in clean energy.
• S.5 – A bill to reform schools and give America’s children the tools they need to succeed.
• S.6 – A bill to reform America’s broken immigration system.
• S.7 – A bill to reform the Federal tax code.
• S.8 – A bill to strengthen America’s national security.
• S.9 – A bill to reform America’s political system and eliminate gridlock that blocks progress.
• S.10 – A bill to ensure equity for women and address rising pressures on American families.

A quick look back at the first ten Senate bills from last session shows that a little less than half of them got signed into law in some form or another.

Read the rest of the OpenCongres post here. 

Note: Blogger added the bold in the quoted post.

The Seventeenth Summary 01-27-2011 AM

Senator Rand Paul seeks $500 billion in federal spending cuts
Louisville Courier-Journal
The senator also takes on what many would consider sacred cows, such as support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and homeland security spending. ...

Conservative measures advance in Virginia House
Bloomberg
No issue is dearer to tea party groups than the "repeal amendment," now before several state legislatures. It seeks an amendment to the US Constitution that ...

Sen. Harry Reid Says Earmarks Will Return, Despite Obama's State of the Union Vow
ABC News
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told ABC News that earmarks will return to Capitol Hill despite President Obama's vow ...

Senate Democrats Forfeit 50-Vote Option For Rules Changes
Huffington Post
The window to change the Senate rules during this session through a simple majority vote ended without action last night as lawmakers in the ...

'Secret spending' may soar if Senate doesn't fix consent rule ...
By Tina Korbe
The frequent use of “unanimous consent” in the Senate is a little-known fact about the upper chamber. It has resulted in a practice of “secret spending” — passing important and expensive bills without debate or even a recorded vote.

Senators Rubio and Nelson Share a Tender Moment During SOTU | The ...
By Javier Manjarres
The 17th Amendment (Progressives in 1913) ended State Legislature selection of US Senators and went to popular election, making it a glorified House of Representatives. Senators should have their seating by their State. ...

Senator Calls for Privacy Protections for Device Location
PC World
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said he will soon introduce a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to get court-ordered warrants to get ...

Sen. Rand Paul gives a State of the Union response

HT: Daily Paul

SOTU: What About the Constitution?

SOTU: What About the Constitution? The Tenth Amendment Center

On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his much anticipated State of the Union Speech. 


But for all of its poetic oratory, political rhetoric and ambitious plans, the speech begs a question. How can any American really evaluate the state of the Union without understanding the foundation upon which that Union rests – the Constitution?

Some people-including the former law instructor who now serves as President of the United States-believe that it is impossible to reconstruct the Constitution’s original meaning. Constitutional scholar Robert G. Natelson demonstrates that this view is little more than a crock.


In his latest book, The Original Constitution – What it Actually Said and Meant, Natelson contends that the meaning and intent of the founding document does not hide in a foggy shroud of mystery. Anyone – even a law professor – can understand the clear meaning of the Constitution with a little effort and study. ...

The Seventeenth Summary 01-26-2011 AM

Senate Dem presses Obama to boost Afghan security

The Associated Press
The Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee says he urged President Barack Obama to approve a plan to boost the size ...

McConnell: 'Virtually All' Senate Republicans Stand Behind Obama On Afghanistan
Huffington Post
Senate Republicans stand behind President Barack Obama's strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Senate Minority Leader Mitch ...

Internet 'Kill Switch' Act Back On Senate's Agenda
TMCnet
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, also known as S. 3480, was a bill introduced in the Senate by Senators Joe Lieberman (Independent ...

Senators look to extend bipartisanship beyond State of the Union
The Hill
“I know there are many of us who would like to find a way for perhaps the entire Senate to lunch together once a month, discuss policy, have a chance to rub ...

Rubio: Why do we need a Senate Tea Party Caucus? « Hot Air
By Allahpundit
Jim DeMint, who backed Rubio's fledgling Senate campaign even as the Republican party backed former Gov. Charlie Crist. They will meet in a Senate office building with leading tea party activists including Campaign for Liberty president ...

Moonbattery: Keith Olbermann for Senate
By Van Helsing
Nothing is too preposterous to be possible, in a country where obnoxious ultra- left comedian Al Franken is already in the Senate (with help from ACORN) and an unqualified adolescent Marxist with enough radical associations to be on an ...

NRA Lobbyist Slams Gun Control, Calls Senate GOP 'Firewall For ...
By Liz Benjamin
Cunnginham called the Senate GOP a “firewall for freedom” that has prevented gun control bills (like, say, the microstamping measure championed by Bloomberg) from becoming law in New York. ...

Repeal the 17th amendment – Senator Zell Miller (2004)
By WizarDave
The 17th amendment was the death of the careful balance between State and Federal Government. As designed by that brilliant and very practical group of Founding Fathers, the two governments would be in competition with each other and ...

Shameful Behavior: U.S. Senate Continues Spending Money in Secret

Shameful Behavior: U.S. Senate Continues Spending Money in Secret; By Warner Todd Huston; Publius Forum

Apparently for at least ten years our U.S. Senators have been creating operating rules that allow them to get out of doing one of their most important jobs: actually voting on legislation. As it happens ninety three percent of the approved measures that have come out of the Senate never got a roll call vote.


This means that the massive spending that the Senate has approved for the last ten years has simply sailed through the so-called most deliberative body in the world without all that annoying deliberating stuff being forced on our busy, busy Senators.

In the Washington Examiner Tina Korbe highlights the Senate’s use of the “unanimous consent” rule that allows bills to flow quickly through the Senate by dispensing with Senators having to actually sit down and hit the “yea” or “nay” button before a bill is passed on to the reconciliation phase of the lawmaking process.

Unanimous consent is a procedural device used to speed up the legislative process — as long as no senator objects. In practice, the Senate arrives at unanimous consent not by debate or by thoughtful consideration of bills, but by the Senate “hotline,” an informal telephoned request asking senators to allow measures to be approved by the Senate without debate or amendment.

Korbe goes on to say that a bill will pass automatically unless any senator calls the majority leader on the phone and asks for a “hold” to be placed on the bill. And if a senator isn’t in his office? Well, if he misses the “unanimous consent” why then his absence is taken as consent to pass the bill.

Read the rest here.

The Seventeenth Summary 01-25-2011 AM

GOP Moves Healthcare Repeal Battle to Senate
U.S. News & World Report
"If Republicans insist on bringing the repeal bill up in the Senate, we will require them to vote up or down on the parts of the law that protect consumers ...

Marco Rubio: Does Senate need Tea Party caucus?
USA Today
Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who got elected with the Tea Party's help, is questioning the need for a Tea Party caucus in the Senate. ...

Comment: First Rubio jetted over to Israel immediately after the election to kow-tow and now he’s jettisoning his ties with the Tea Party. Well I’d say that is strike two in my book. Florida voters need to take notice and start applying pressure to this guy to live up to his election platform. Likewise Tea Party members through out the US need to take notice as well because this has been the historical trend when grassroots groups get involved with main stream parties. It might also be the time to support a third party that does more than talks the talk, but walks the walk.

Va. Politics: Allen officially enters race for US Senate
Washington Post
James Webb (D) in what will probably be one of the most-watched Senate races of 2012. Webb said in December that he would announce a decision on whether ...

Bid launched to draft Olbermann for Senate
USA Today
A bid to draft Keith Olbermann to run for Joe Lieberman's Senate seat in Connecticut has been launched. ...

The Week Ahead: Senate repeal push
The Hill
The effects of that vote will be felt this week: The Senate returns to Washington, and House Republicans will continue to pressure Senate Majority Leader ...

How to stop a runaway federal government

How to stop a runaway federal government; Henry Lamb; Canada Free Press

For the benefit of the Department of Homeland Security, Southern Poverty Law Center, MSNBC, all progressives, socialists and outright communists – this article is not about anti-government organizations. It is about organizations filled with members who love the United States of America and are sick and tired of watching its leaders ignore the Constitution, trample individual freedom and impose near-despotic rule.

The emergence of tea party and 9/12 groups across the country are just the first bubbles in a pot that has begun to boil. Thousands of groups have formed and are now monitoring local governments, conducting regular education sessions for their members, locating, grooming and funding candidates, and preparing to rid the nation's leadership of all officials who display anti-Constitution tendencies.
In Maine, for example, a group has formed called The Fourth Awakening, which says:

Our purpose is to restore the Republic gifted to us in 1776 by our Founding Fathers whose vision we cherish and whose vision we intend to reclaim in full. In essence we reject the ideology of the Marxist progressives, we reject big government; we reject the subversion of our Constitution, our religious and personal rights. …

This group hopes to create a national movement among the states through which each state will create what they call an "Electoral Assembly" which will provide greater participation by citizens in the oversight of candidate selection, elections, lawmaking, rulemaking and the implementation of government.

While many of the ideas expressed by this group may be unrealistic, their passion for a return to the original Republic designed by the founders is quite clear.

The Seventeenth Summary 01-24-2011 AM

Repeal of ObamaCare in the Senate - Part II
RedState
Now that the House has passed HR 2, ObamaCare Repeal, by a 245-189 vote, the fight moves to the Senate. I wrote a few days ago Repeal of ObamaCare in the ...

The Caucus: Murkowski Questions Senate Republicans' Focus on Health Care Repeal
New York Times (blog)
“We're in a situation where there's some messaging going on,” said Ms. Murkowski, during an interview with KTVA-TV, in an apparent reference to the Senate ...

Nevada Sen. John Ensign spends $97000 on legal defense
Reno Gazette Journal
LAS VEGAS (AP) - US Senate records show Nevada Sen. John Ensign has spent at least $97000 since October on attorneys defending him in ethics and criminal ...

Senate Dems Plot Aggressive Strategy To Fight Health Care Repeal ...
By Brian Beutler
Senate Democrats might not let Republicans' health care repeal efforts die quietly after all. A top Democratic aide tells me that leadership staffers are considering ways to make Republicans take tough votes on popular elements of the ...

Days After Senate Leader Called Him "a Dictator," China's Hu on ...

By ABCNews.com

Only days after calling Chinese President Hu Jintao “a dictator” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with the Chinese leader Thursday on Capitol Hill. The two men smiled for the cameras, ...

Senate Democrats push John Boehner on IRS rule — We The People of ...
By Cindy
Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota urged the House speaker to send the Senate a stand-alone measure on the tough reporting rule meant to generate revenue, which is widely unpopular among ...

The pre-17th senate returns briefly
By Polistra
Before it was ruined by the 17th Amendment, the Senate performed this function. Each senator was appointed by the state legislature and thus served as a delegate from the state government. These delegates were mainly meant to analyze , ...

RINO Senator Lisa Murkowski Sides with Democrats, GOP Attempt at ...
By Scared Monkeys
What a shock RINO Alaskan US Senator echos the Democrat party that the Senate does not have the votes to repeal Obamacare. As reported in The Hill, Murkowski ”mimicked a Democratic argument against GOP repeal efforts”; Democrats say ...

The Inquisitr: Senator Franken: Comcast deal bad for consumers and ...
Throughout his tenure as a senator Al Franken has made media consolidation and network neutrality his signature platforms and he definitely isn't happy with the Comcast and NBC deal, which passed through the FCC and DoJ yesterday.

How to stop a runaway federal government
WND.com
The 17th Amendment is the problem. The solution is to repeal the 17th Amendment. There is no need for states to create "Electoral Assemblies. ...

US Senate Hearing on Air Force Tankers Set for January 27
Bloomberg
The Senate Armed Services Committee will convene a hearing Jan. 27 to examine the inadvertent release of ...

A Saxby Chambliss shift to a leadership position on Senate Intelligence Committee
Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
Saxby Chambliss on Friday said he intended to give up his status as ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, swapping it for a similar position ...

Senate Offices Told to Avoid WikiLeaks | Secrecy News
By Steven Aftergood
Do not visit the WikiLeaks site, the Office of Senate Security told Senate employees and contractors in a memorandum (pdf) that was circulated to Senate.

United Tea Party tries to unseat Senator Lugar
Wane.com
Nearly 200 Tea Party members from across Indiana gathered in Tipton, IN Saturday morning at the Heartland Ministries Church.

McCain: Senate Should Vote on Health Care Repeal
CBS News
John McCain on Sunday called for a Senate vote on a bill that would repeal health care reform, arguing it was important to get "everybody on record" ...

Top senators seek deal on rules for nominations
The Associated Press
Senior senators are negotiating to reduce the 1400 presidential appointments subject to time-consuming Senate confirmation, ...

Dick Durbin Admits Senate May Face Health Care Repeal Vote (VIDEO)
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Even though the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" has no chance of passing the Senate and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has repeatedly said he won't be bringing it to the floor for a vote, Sen.

Apollo Hires Senator As Senior Adviser
Emii.com
Most recently, Bayh served as Indiana's junior Senator, where he chaired the banking, housing and urban affairs subcommittee on security and international ...

Time for a rewrite?

Time for a rewrite? Karen Francisco; The Journal Gazette

...Republican lawmakers are jumping into the amendment fray with enthusiasm. HJR 7, sponsored by Reps. Robert Behning and David Frizzell, is another tea party-powered initiative calling for a constitutional convention not to amend the constitution, but to repeal another amendment – the 17th, which provided for direct election of U.S. senators instead of by state legislatures. Repeal proponents argue that Congress has become a pawn of special interests, precisely the charge made of state legislatures when the 17th Amendment was approved in 1913. ...

Read the whole post here.

Should Lieberman Succeed Gates as Sec-Def?

To save some time the short answer is of course unquestionably NO. Lieberman in the course of his career has never been in a position where he had to exhibit managerial and leadership skills. As we have seen through the folly of two former US Senators, Obama and Biden; just because one can pontificate from behind a microphone or from a grandstand doesn’t equate to having an ability to lead, much less manage.

Equally sticky is Lieberman’s long standing relationship with the military defense complex. This is akin to the problematic relationship between Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, Department of Treasury, Timothy Gietner and President Obama; it's amazing Americans have not woken up to this little arrangement. Similarly, Lieberman would open the door for the enlargement of the defense industry, and the questionable and  unconstitutional relationship between the Department of Defense and Homeland Security that is taking place, and would most certainly swell if he was the Secretary of Defense. No, Lieberman should not be considered. Still it is going to be extremely difficult to find a person to lead the Department of Defense that is or has not been part of the military defense complex.

Yet there was a time in this country when a sitting US Senator would leave ones position in Congress and serve in a range of positions in the Executive Branch, and without conflict of interest. However that was before the passage of the 17th Amendment.

Prior to the 17th Amendment there wasn’t the conflict there is today between the US Senate and special interest. Prior to 1913, special interest was clearly prevented from having the ability to shuttle our tax dollars into their pockets because the US Senator represented the state and served as a check against the popular inclinations of the House. Yet today it’s nothing but complete redistribution of our wealth put into the hands special interest. This is precisely why the federal government has grown to the point it has today, and assuredly what would continue to happen if Lieberman became the Secretary of Defense. Again the template for this can clearly be seen with a former Senator who has transitioned over to the Executive Branch, President Obama, and the highly problematic relationship he has with Wall Street and Goldman Sachs.

No, until the states have their rightful place within the Federal Government, and checks and balances are restored, allowing former US senators to serve in the Executive Branch is no different than the fox guarding the hen house.

Updated 24 January 2011

The Seventeenth Summary 01-21-2011 AM

Should Senator Joe Lieberman Be Our Next Secretary of Defense?
Fox News (blog)
Senator Joe Lieberman announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2012. But he's a Man in Full -- at the top of his game -- whose ...

Lanny Davis remembers Joe Lieberman, the "model purple senator"
Salon By Alex Pareene
First of all, Davis calls Lieberman "the model purple senator," which is entirely accurate, if not quite in the sense Davis intends it to be ...

Vt. Sen. Sanders to publish book on filibuster
Washington Post
Bernie Sanders is publishing a book of a Senate filibuster he gave opposing the tax cut deal made by the White House and Congress. On Dec. ...

GOP gearing up for EPA fight in House and Senate
Hot Air
Most Senate Republicans think the sweeping repeal of EPA authority is the best approach, a Senate aide said, and they're confident they can get broad ...

McConnell Anticipates Senate Vote on Health Reform Repeal ...
By senatus
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would "assure" a Senate vote on legislation to undo Democrats' healthcare reform law, despite Senate Democrats' opposition to holding such a vote. ...

Ex-senator ties Obama's race to abortion rights
By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY
Former senator Rick Santorum, who is thinking of running for the White House, invoked President Obama's race in an interview ...

Former Senator Invokes Monica Lewinsky to Rebuke Clinton Support for Rahm Emanuel
ABC News By DEVIN DWYER
Former President Bill Clinton's endorsement Tuesday of former aide Rahm Emanuel for mayor of Chicago has unleashed a fresh wave of criticism ...

Ted Kennedy's son may be eyeing Senator Joseph Lieberman's seat
Irish Central
The late US Senator Edward Kennedy's son, Ted Junior, is now among the names being considered as potential candidates for the Connecticut ...

Federalism Versus Ignorance

Ilya Somin has an utterly brilliant paper discussing how federalism discourages ignorance and promotes rational policy. I highly recommend it.

Global Warming Panic Explained

This would be funny if it wasn't so true.

The Seventeenth Summary 01-19-2011 PM

A run of Senate retirements or business as usual?
Washington Post (blog)
But, how does this flurry of Senate retirements -- Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) called it quits last week -- compare to historic norms? ...

McCain: Hopes Obama considers Lieberman for defense secretary
CNN Political Ticker (blog)
Lieberman, who already had a rocky relationship with Democrats after running for his Senate seat in 2006 as Independent after losing a Democratic primary, ...

Dick Lugar Faces Tea Party Revolt In 2012
Huffington Post
Richard Lugar (R) of Indiana first won election to the US Senate in 1976, and that was the last time he faced an opponent in a Republican primary. ...

Comment: 1976!!!! This man needs to step down now! No need to run Dick...go home; you screwed this country and the Constitution enough!

House Republicans frustrated with Senate for not considering health-care ...
Daily Caller
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, perturbed that the Republican proposal to repeal the health-care law will likely not see any daylight in the Senate, ...

Former GOP Senate Leader Frist Says Keep The Health Bill
Auburn Journal
Former Republican Senate Majority Leader (2003-2007) Dr. Bill Frist of Tennessee says of the new health care reform bill, the PPACA of 2009, that it should be considered the "law of the land" and Congress should move on from there - and NOT repeal it.

Comment: And Americans really think there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans…hell no. Frist is truly representative of the typical Republican Party politician, who are no more than statists at the core.

Lieberman won't seek his 5th term

Senator won't seek his 5th term; Boston Globe

Senator Joseph Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 elections before abandoning the party and endorsing Republican John McCain for president in 2008, will retire and not seek a fifth term, according to an aide.

Comment: Two things: Lieberman will leave this country worse off than when he first came to Congress and that is truly a crime.

Second, any Senator currently serving more than three terms should step down immediately. The Senate has truly brought our country to its knees; they all, no matter the party, bear the true blame for our condition.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. HJ0004 State Of Wyoming

Wyoming lawmakers have published a joint resolution (HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. HJ0004) to repeal the 17th Amendment. This provides another opportunity for folks across the country to read and digest a solid repeal effort, and then get it a local official in your state for review.

Update: The Texas Tea Party also has a resolution that you should check out as well.

Christie Nails the Reality of US Senators

Schumer, Christie in Escalating Battle Over ARC Project; The New York Observer

"I'll say what I said about other senators. Their job is easy. They get to sit in front of microphones and bloviate."

Repeal the Repeal

Repeal the Repeal; The 1798 Project

...Proponents also point out that the Repeal amendment is needed because you can’t rely on the Supreme Court to protect state rights; the Court always rules the way of the feds. This is true. However, if you follow history you find the majority of the rulings against the states have occurred after the passage of the 17th when the Senators were no longer elected by the state legislatures and therefore had no reason to confirm or deny Supreme Court Justices not sympathetic to states rights. Imagine the possibilities here. Again chuck another one up for reversal of the 17th.


In fact I cannot find one advantage the Repeal Amendment has over the Repeal of the 17th, except that some proponents feel it would be easier to pass. Even if this were the case, per my view, degree of difficulty is in no way justification for “dumbing down” the Constitution. The Founders would be appalled at this corruption of principle. ...

Read the whole post here.

The Seventeenth Summary 01-18-2011 PM

Hatch vows to fight for GOP values
St. George Daily Spectrum
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Thursday, offering to lead the charge as the Senate's most senior Republican. Hatch, in Southern Utah for a stint that included ...

Comment: I’m sure he will: that means increased spending and government intrusion in our lives, and more war.

Vicki Kennedy Won't Challenge Brown For Senate
WBUR

Now that Vicki Kennedy has definitively said she won't run for Senate next year, the field is wide open for other ...

Rand Paul announces Senate Tea Party Caucus
Washington Post
Rand Paul on Friday announced the formation of a new Senate Tea Party Caucus, taking a formal step toward uniting members of the movement in the 112th ...

Liberals warn of Democratic schism if Obama endorses Social Security cuts
The Hill
They are still reeling over the deal Obama struck with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in December to extend almost all of the Bush tax ...

Does Ron Paul want to join Rand in the Senate?
Dallas Morning News (blog)
While the congressman hasn't been top-of-mind of most people's lists today, it certainly appears that the idea of running for the Senate has at least piqued ...

Senate Dems indicate willingness to 'break apart,' fix health reform
The Hill (blog)
The repeal will find favor in the Republican-controlled House but isn't expected to pass the Senate. Still, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla. ...

President Pro Tempore of the US Senate: Who Is Daniel Inouye?
AllGov
The President pro tempore (aka President pro tem, Latin meaning “for the time being”) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, ...

BREAKING: Senate making progress on meaningless gestures « Olliander
By Olliander
Several Senate Republicans have signed on to the effort, along with a few key House leaders, who have endorsed Democratic Sen. Mark Udall's proposal to head across the aisle – literally – and sit with members of the opposite party ...

Senator proposes policy to stop rejected military enlistees from buying guns
Los Angeles Times
Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner failed an Army drug test. Sen. Charles Schumer urges a new policy that he says would have flagged Loughner in the ...

Sen. McConnell leads trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan
Washington Post
 Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has traveled with six other GOP senators to Afghanistan and Pakistan to meet with American ...

George Allen gears up for another Senate run
Daily Caller
Former Virginia Sen. George Allen will challenge incumbent Jim Webb in next year's election ...

Senator Ron Johnson filled with optimism after trip to Afghanistan
Appleton Post Crescent
US troops are making progress in Afghanistan, but the timetable for withdrawal ...

Obama's Afghan strategy is praised
Detroit Free Press
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the Obama administration Monday for its military strategy in Afghanistan ...

Kent Conrad Will Retire from Senate - NYTimes.com
By By CARL HULSE
Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota on Tuesday became the first Democrat to announce he would not run for re-election in 2012, handing Republicans an early opportunity to pick up a seat.

Indiana Senate: Lugar Committed to Running Again | S E N A T U S
By senatus
As several of his colleagues begin to make their plans known for 2012, Mr. Lugar said that he had not weighed the possibility of retiring from the Senate, even though he conceded that he could face “a competitive situation” in a ...

Plato Oligarchy

How much of what Plato wrote applies to us today? With the elimination of the states place within the federal government, have we become an oligarchy rather than a democratic republic?

eHow Website Attacks 17th Repeal

I find this a little bizarre but the folks at eHow are using the "how to site" to propagandize against the repeal of the 17th Amendment. But I'll chalk it up to the adage, "when you are over the target is where you draw the most fire," so we must be causing some segments within our nation to be concerned.

Subtle political propaganda from eHow.

Socialist U.S. Senator Uses AZ Shooting to Raise Funds for Re-Election

Socialist U.S. Senator Uses AZ Shooting to Raise Funds for Re-Election; Meredith Jessup; The Blaze

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., sent out a fundraising email to supporters Tuesday in which he offered his personal analysis of last weekend’s shooting in Arizona, tying the tragedy to “right-wing reactionaries,” despite offering no evidence that the shooter, Jared Loughner, even followed politics or conservative causes.

The Vermont senator, a self-proclaimed socialist who caucuses with the Democratic Party, cited past acts of vandalism at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords‘ district office after last year’s health care overhaul vote, as well as Sarah Palin’s now-infamous “crosshairs” map.

“In light of all of this violence – both actual and threatened – is Arizona a state in which people who are not Republicans are able to participate freely and fully in the democratic process?” asks Sanders. “Have right-wing reactionaries, through threats and acts of violence, intimidated people with different points of view from expressing their political positions?”

Sanders called Saturday’s Tucson shooting a “horrendous act of violence,“ but suggested that ”nobody can honestly express surprise that such a tragedy finally occurred.”

When pressed about why the senator would use the Arizona tragedy to solicit donations from his political supporters, Sanders’ spokesperson defended the message, claiming that Sanders regularly sends out such letters to his supporters.

Read the rest here.

Heal thyself, Sen. Webb

Heal thyself, Sen. Webb; By Jennifer Rubin; Right Turn; The Washington Post

HT: Instapundit

My home-state senator, Jim Webb (D.-Va.), made a remarkable statement yesterday. The Virginian-Pilot reported on his appearance in Norfolk:

The Obama administration "did a really terrible job handling health care reform," he said, because the president relied on Congress to draft a plan.
"You can't turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congress," he said, adding that the resulting debate led to great public confusion.
"People got scared. People got mad.... We lost an enormous amount of time on health care.... Both sides made bad mistakes."

Wait a second. Didn't he vote for the monstrous bill? Well, sure. He was the 60th Senator -- each Democrat was -- on the critical cloture vote. So is he saying he didn't know how bad the bill was, or is he saying he cast a bad vote? Neither answer is a winner.
It's not clear that he is going to seek re-election, but if so, he better be able to answer those questions.

Completely Bad Taste

I caught parts of this speech on the nightly news and was struck by the fact that US politics has sunk to a new all time low. Have we lost all sense of decorum?

The Seventeenth Summary 01-13-2011 PM

Kay Bailey Hutchison to retire from Senate
USA Today
Hutchison had indicated she would leave office to run full time for governor, but then decided to stay in the Senate. In a letter to supporters, ...

Chairman Leahy calls on the Senate to do better
By Alliance for Justice
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday laid out an agenda for his committee for 2011, and made a special point about the need for a dramatically speedier and less contentious confirmation ...

Brown's first-year Senate stances bounce around

Washington Post 

... Brown has bounced around between which party he supports - sometimes on the same issue - during his first year representing Massachusetts in the Senate. ...

Haridopolos launches bid for US Senate against Nelson

AP Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, right, shakes hands with the Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, in November. ...

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst closer to Senate run

Austin American-Statesman

David Dewhurst is inching closer toward a run for the US Senate. Hours after US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced she would not run for re-election, ...