Congress has lost its mind...

One of the most effective features of the ethic reforms that the Democrats enacted in 2007 (with no Republican support) was the creation of the quasi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).

As a result, for the first time ever, ethics charges could be raised and investigated without having to rely on the Ethics Committee itself to initiate an action, which if one looks back throughout history rarely occurred (most recently, many of the Republicans who were charged with crimes in the Abramoff scandal never faced an Ethics Committee investigation).

What will happen to the OCE, if Boehner were to become Speaker:

The Republican minority leader, John Boehner, said he wants to “take a look” at the office if his party regains majority power — a reminder that his members fiercely opposed the quasi-independent office when it was created two years ago by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Boehner wondered aloud how effective the office really is, ignoring its considerable record for discreetly investigating alleged misbehavior on both sides of the aisle and letting the chips fall where they may.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/opinion/05thu3.html

and

House Republican leaders won’t say whether they will scrap an ethics office if they regain the majority this fall.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2008, has attracted criticism from Republicans and Democrats during the last couple of years. Most GOP lawmakers voted against the creation of the OCE, and many political observers believe the OCE will be disbanded should Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) become Speaker next year.

Pressed for comment, GOP leadership aides declined to directly answer the OCE question, presumably seeking to avoid politically damaging headlines about how Republicans want to strip away a new layer of ethics scrutiny.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/11...-ethics-office

[TheMercenary]

Who cares, as long as the Republickins gain control of either the House or Senate, some one has to stop this run away train of spend, spend, spend, spend.... oppps and then tax.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Who cares, as long as the Republickins gain control of either the House or Senate, some one has to stop this run away train of spend, spend, spend, spend.... oppps and then tax.

Oh, I get it.

WHO CARES about big $100 million donors on the right attempting to influence elections...only Soros matters.

And WHO CARES when the most effective ethics reform initiative ever enacted might be gutted.

After all, you would then need to be more even handed in your outrage.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

Oh, I get it.

WHO CARES about big $100 million donors on the right attempting to influence elections...only Soros matters.

And WHO CARES when the most effective ethics reform initiative ever enacted might be gutted.

After all, you would then need to be more even handed in your outrage.

I only care that the Demoncrats are thrown out all costs, they have completely failed this country in every aspect. They have had 4 years and screwed it up. See you in Nov. My dream is Obama as president and the Repubs own both the House and the Senate. Only then they might have a chance in hell of getting a damm thing done, and even then I am not hopeful. The mantra for the Nov elections are now, Anyone but the Demoncrats!

[Undertoad]

They have had 4 years and screwed it up

A year and nine months sir

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I only care that the Demoncrats are thrown out all costs, they have completely failed this country in every aspect.

Right, because the Republicans did so well by us the previous 8 years.
Oh that's right, they took good care of you wealthy people. Well until the end there, with that little global meltdown and all. But really, the wealthy are bouncing back nicely, even with the hand wringing, they aren't worried about trivial shit like Doctor bills, car payments or food, just about the pudginess of their portfolios.

And who cares about the middle class, they were just a relic from the days when the wealthy needed managers for their mills and factories. But since the wealthy found out they could outsource stuff to countries that make cheap shit, that can't be repaired and must be replaced, they're in clover.

Since the middle class is expendable, we can hardly worry about the rest of the country who are well and truly fucked for many years to come... if not for good.
Yes sir, bring back the rich man's friend, that way the rich man won't have to spend so much on lobbyists, and live happily ever after.

[classicman]

Whats the third option. I don't like either of the first two.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Offshore.

[classicman]

Oh that Island we were gonna buy a few years back... Damn - that still available?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

A year and nine months sir

Not in Congress. Dems have been in control of Congress and the purse strings for 2 years more than that... They own all of the failures since 2006. All of them.... The electorate will show them this Nov...

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Right, because the Republicans did so well by us the previous 8 years.

No not at all. Because they have steam rolled BS through the process and now I hope they get it all shoved down their collective throats through the electoral process. We need to end this two party system of back and forth of pendulum swings and stop the bleeding of the economy while we ask the top 10 percent to pay all the bills and create a system of dependency on big government to solve all of our problems. A minority of the income earners pay all the bills while the rest get a pass with no investment or incentive in their own future, this must stop. This country must bleed before it heals. And everyone must do so to make it happen, not just some narrow few as the Socialist Government of the Obama Administration wants us to do....

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by classicman

You mean minority?

Correct. I miss typed. Thank you.

McConnell unveiled the Senate Republican tax plan today.

It would make permanent all of the Bush tax cuts that were set to expire this year and limit the estate tax to those over $5 million ($10 million/couple).

The CBO hasnt scored it yet, but a somewhat similar proposal scored by the CBO would mean $4 trillion in lost revenue over ten years......four times the projected deficit impact of the health care reform and stimulus bill combined.

Deficits result not only from increased spending, but equally from reducing revenue.

Yet, the Republicans argue with a straight fact that cutting $4 trillion in revenue wont result in significant deficits.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

McConnell unveiled the Senate Republican tax plan today.

It would make permanent all of the Bush tax cuts that were set to expire this year and limit the estate tax to those over $5 million ($10 million/couple).

The CBO hasnt scored it yet, but a somewhat similar proposal scored by the CBO would mean $4 trillion in lost revenue over ten years......four times the projected deficit impact of the health care reform and stimulus bill combined.

Deficits result not only from increased spending, but equally from reducing revenue.

Yet, the Republicans argue with a straight fact that cutting $4 trillion in revenue wont result in significant deficits.

Obama and your party lied to the electorate. See you in Nov.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Obama and your party lied to the electorate. See you in Nov.

Aw. man....I was expecting you to say WHO CARES about $4 trillion in lost revenue (increased debt) over the next ten years.