Congressmen Henry Brown, James Clyburn, Bob Inglis, John Spratt and Joe Wilson voted for the $700 billion financial services bailout legislation and Congressman J. Gresham Barrett voted against it. The measure failed 205-228 and the future is uncertain.
Monday, September 29
Thursday, September 25
Let's Hold "Em Accountable
It is time to pass along the word about how the majority of our Congressmen and Senators in South Carolina do not support active and retired federal employees with their votes. They give us lip service at home and go to Washington and forget us.
In the last Congress five issues were identified by NARFE (National Active and Retired Federal Employees) of interest to these employees and the four Republican congressmen (Henry Brown, Joe Wilson, J. Gresham Barrett and Bob Inglis) voted against all except one (three of them voted to over ride President Bush’s veto of legislation that would prevent a cut in Medicare physician payments and increase payments to physicians). Mr. Barrett even voted against that one, so his NARFE rating is zero. The other three Republicans have a 20% rating having voted for the NARFE position once in five efforts.
The two Democratic congressmen (John Spratt and James Clyburn) voted favorably on all five issues identified by NARFE, 100 percent of the time.
In the U.S. Senate, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham voted against the NARFE position two out of three times and in the third instance did not vote. Republican Senator James DeMint voted against the NARFE position two out of three times and supported it once (a motion to invoke cloture and cut off debate on an amendment.)
All Congressmen and Senator Graham are up for re-election in November and it is time to hold them accountable for their votes…and at a minimum they ought to be asked to explain them when they are campaigning around the State.
More details are at www.narfe.org. Copies of the October NARFE magazine, that contains the details of these votes may be found in local libraries and at meetings of NARFE Chapters in your area.
In the last Congress five issues were identified by NARFE (National Active and Retired Federal Employees) of interest to these employees and the four Republican congressmen (Henry Brown, Joe Wilson, J. Gresham Barrett and Bob Inglis) voted against all except one (three of them voted to over ride President Bush’s veto of legislation that would prevent a cut in Medicare physician payments and increase payments to physicians). Mr. Barrett even voted against that one, so his NARFE rating is zero. The other three Republicans have a 20% rating having voted for the NARFE position once in five efforts.
The two Democratic congressmen (John Spratt and James Clyburn) voted favorably on all five issues identified by NARFE, 100 percent of the time.
In the U.S. Senate, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham voted against the NARFE position two out of three times and in the third instance did not vote. Republican Senator James DeMint voted against the NARFE position two out of three times and supported it once (a motion to invoke cloture and cut off debate on an amendment.)
All Congressmen and Senator Graham are up for re-election in November and it is time to hold them accountable for their votes…and at a minimum they ought to be asked to explain them when they are campaigning around the State.
More details are at www.narfe.org. Copies of the October NARFE magazine, that contains the details of these votes may be found in local libraries and at meetings of NARFE Chapters in your area.
Tuesday, September 9
In Memoriam
During a visit to my local grocery store I learned to my extreme grief from the Assistant Manager that Capt. John Derst raisin bread is dead and gone. The AM said a decision had been made to stop production, no reason given by the Derst man who gave him the news. Me and the AM think this a sad moment, each of us having enjoyed eating the bread for many years. The Derst bakery was founded in Savannah in 1867. Many the nights I sat up late watching a John Wayne cowboy flick, and put a couple of slices of CJD raisin bread in the toaster, lathered each piece with peanut butter and enjoyed the Duke beating the hell out of some bad guy who threatened to kill a young cowboy, rape a maiden or steal a cow. Those were moments to savor. Now such moments have gone the way of five cent cigars and 19 cents gasoline. The Derst bakery business was taken over by Flowers Foods in 2006.
Thursday, September 4
Caught by a bird
(Letter to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Chas. SC, published Sept. 4, 2008)
In his Aug. 28 column, Bryce Donovan said “The prize ornithological catch in the Francis Beidler Forest is what is known as a prothonotary warbler…”
The prothonotary warbler also helped catch a Communist agent in the State Department. In the late 1940s members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities quizzed Whittaker Chambers, a confessed Communist agent, in a closed session about his relationship with Alger Hiss.
Chambers said when Hiss worked at the U.S. State Department he gave classified government information to Chambers to pass on to Moscow.
Chambers told the congressmen several personal things about Hiss in order to convince them of Chambers association with Hiss back in the 1930s. Chambers related Hiss’ excitement one day at having seen a prothonotary warbler in the Washington, D.C. area. This was an extremely rare viewing.
Later when the committee questioned Hiss who steadfastly denied knowing Chambers, one of the congressmen was sitting quietly at the end of the table taking it all in. When it came his time to ask a question he seemed to be more interested in Hiss’ bird watching than associating with a communist agent.
He asked Hiss if he had even seen a prothonotary warbler. Hiss fell into the trap. He related how and when he had seen the bird and how thrilled he was, even to that day, since the warbler was hardly ever seen anywhere except in the Deep South.
In his Aug. 28 column, Bryce Donovan said “The prize ornithological catch in the Francis Beidler Forest is what is known as a prothonotary warbler…”
The prothonotary warbler also helped catch a Communist agent in the State Department. In the late 1940s members of the House Committee on Un-American Activities quizzed Whittaker Chambers, a confessed Communist agent, in a closed session about his relationship with Alger Hiss.
Chambers said when Hiss worked at the U.S. State Department he gave classified government information to Chambers to pass on to Moscow.
Chambers told the congressmen several personal things about Hiss in order to convince them of Chambers association with Hiss back in the 1930s. Chambers related Hiss’ excitement one day at having seen a prothonotary warbler in the Washington, D.C. area. This was an extremely rare viewing.
Later when the committee questioned Hiss who steadfastly denied knowing Chambers, one of the congressmen was sitting quietly at the end of the table taking it all in. When it came his time to ask a question he seemed to be more interested in Hiss’ bird watching than associating with a communist agent.
He asked Hiss if he had even seen a prothonotary warbler. Hiss fell into the trap. He related how and when he had seen the bird and how thrilled he was, even to that day, since the warbler was hardly ever seen anywhere except in the Deep South.
Wednesday, September 3
What we got the last time
The last time a presumptive Republican president chose an unknown state governor for his running mate we got Spiro Agnew. Now we got the Governor of Alaska, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
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