Congress...

Republicans have had much to laugh at recently, when it was revealed that a lot of Democrats do not
actually read the bills they vote on to pass or not to pass in the senate committees.

The following is a true story.

Congress works in strange and complicated ways. (I know, that was not a news flash). Before a bill can come through the House or Senate to even be argued about on the floor, debated about, and eventually voted on, it has to go to a smaller committee, where almost everything dies. Even Barak Obama quipped last year that he proposed a toast at a party with congressmen, and it died in committee.

But this is the story of one brave little  68 page bill, which began as an idea in someone’s mind, and finally got turned into a bill, and submitted to congress, where it got sent to that torture room of the inquisition for bills, the committee. The bill was something very easy to get behind- a bill to help end human trafficking in America, something everybody from any party should support.

And, shock of all shocks, it made it  through. If that one did not give you a heart attack, here is something that might. It passed through committee with unanimous support from BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. (I know, I know.)

With such support, it seemed as if the tale was destined to end. The bill was going to pass. The credits were going to roll and the music was going to play, we had reached the last page and saw the words “THE END.” Oh but wait, like in a Captain America movie, with the extra scene,  or just as we are about to get up from our theatre seat before Ferris Bueller yells at us, another scene comes on-and Harry Reid, head of Senate Democrats, with a message-in what he called the most unusual circumstance he can possibly recall, somehow the Republicans had managed to put in the bill that the money that was going to be collected in fines from the traffickers could not be used to fund abortions unless in case of rape, incest, or if the birth of the child endangered the life of the mother.

And so, in an unbelievable turn of events, because a bunch of Democrats were too busy doing other things rather than govern, so they didn’t have time to read the bill-the trafficking bill will probably be scuttled.

And the Democrats are going to blame the Republicans for not telling them what was in a bill that part of their job description is that they would read. The case is unbelievable, and leaves us remembering this simple fact-if the Democrats wanted to be consistent in their protection of minors from trafficking, endangerment and death, they should pass this bill and others like, to outlaw one of the worst crimes our modern society allows-killing a child because it is inconvenient for it to live.

This turn of events is, as even the Huffington Post said, laughable. Unbelievable, in fact. These senators were elected to do a job, and if they want to do it right they should do what any fifth grader is taught to do...your homework. Read the bill. Maybe the Democrats should go on air and say what you have to say after you inevitably lose the hit TV Show, “I am not smarter than a fifth grader.” And then they need to go to the blackboard, and write it out a thousand times.

Andrew C. Abbott

 

If Hillary wants to be president, she will have to learn to live an inconvenient life

"Because only Hillary Clinton controls her personal email account and admitted she deleted many of her emails, no one but Hillary Clinton knows if she handed over every relevant email," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus

In 1959, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was running for President of the United States. After giving a televised speech which he knew his father had watched, he called the senior Kennedy to ask how he had done. A friend of Jack’s later recalled watching Kennedy listen to his father on the phone for about fifteen minutes before hanging up. The friend then asked Jack how he had done. He replied that he had no idea. If, while running for president, he said, in front of all the cameras, he had fallen flat on his face, “Dad would have said ‘boy the way you picked yourself up was great!’” And that is the attitude many seem to be taking towards Hillary Clinton’s most recent scandal.

It began about ten days ago when it turned out Hillary, as Secretary of State, had not had a government email account, (and thus a protected, classified account). The email account, while it apparently did not have classified information going over it, did have “sensitive information” going over it. Information that it would be much easier for foreign nations to hack because the email account was not a government one.

Hillary did not say much about it for over a week, during that time it was discovered that she not only had had a private email account, she had also decided, by herself, which documents, (she has to turn over all work related document) were indeed work related, and which she would keep. She kept more than half.

Now the shouting match has begun, some say laws were broken, some say they were not, I'm not a lawyer, I don’t know. But one thing is clear, the guidelines states she had to have a government account, and she did not. Her response at last was this: She did what she did for convenience. (Watch the video here.) Whatever is in the emails, I doubt there will be some major revelation that will suddenly force all of us to make public apologies to conspiracy theorists and tell them they were right all along.

But Hillary Clinton clearly broke guidelines she was supposed to follow, and her response is oopsey-daisey, oh well, it was more convenient that way. Although she did admit she made a mistake, she clearly has no interest in doing her best to remedy it. Even Democrats are saying she needs to allow a private arbiter to go through them. As one Republican Senator said, you don’t calling holding on yourself in football, and it is not up to her to say what is important evidence on her, and what is not.

Making a mistake as a person in public service is one thing, telling everyone it was better for her that way, she is not going to answer our questions on the rest of the emails, and so, basically, we should all just get lost, is quite another. And the response of many Democrats is that she should now run for president to stop the questions-what a response. Completely unbelievable. I can recall no parallel in history. When you make major mistakes, usually, you either don’t run for president, or you wait a while to prove to us that you are trustworthy, and won’t make the same mistake again. A presidential campaign should never be a stunt to avoid a congressional hearing.

Being president is, I hear, really inconvenient some days. You have to tell the truth even when you goof up. You have to do unpopular things, its not all just flowery beds of ease, and if Hillary Clinton ever wants to be president, she will have to learn that. 

If it is inconvenient for Hillary Clinton to follow the law now, her breaking it as president would be inconvenient for the rest of us.

Andrew C. Abbott

There is no college degree to be president

 

Much has been made in recent weeks of Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin, and his lack of a college degree. (He left college to join the Red Cross.) This apparently was not much of a problem before, but now that he is eyeing the presidency, such newspapers as the Washington Post, are taking it on, as well as the New York Times, although there has been some rather common sense coverage, pointing out that legally the only thing a person needs to be president of this nation is to be a naturally born citizen, have lived here for the last fourteen years, and be at least thirty-five years of age.

Scott Walker is over 35 years of age, he is a natural born American, and he has lived here for  more than the last 14 years. Oh yeah, but he doesn't have a college degree.

While it is a valid point that often times in life college degrees help, in fact they often really, really help, it is not necessary for this job, and it should be pointed out that no college in the world that I am aware of offers a degree in being president. While certain degrees could aid a president is some aspects of the job, there are so many aspects that one would have to go to college for many lifetimes to get a degree in all of them, and then, we are reminded that degree does not always equal brains. 

Besides the legal qualifications for presidency, there are quite a few others. Among them is having a good head on your shoulders, being able to be executive to the world’s greatest nation, being able to manage without interfering too much or making a mess of our economy, being involved in foreign affairs and keeping our place in the world as a respected nation, and keeping all 318,000,000+ Americans as safe as possible. And there are many more. Like I said, there is no college degree for it.

And let’s remember that in 2016, if Walker decides to run, he will be running against others who have college degrees, but some in things like physiology and medicine for Dr. Ben Carson, and Mike Huckabee, who went to Bible College to be a preacher. And even Rand Paul, who is at the top of the pack of potential candidates, is also trained as a doctor. None of these men are in any way disqualified by their degrees, and Walker certainly is not harmed because he did not finish his final semester. There are college degrees that you can get in Greek Philosophy. If Walker had got one, no one would attack him for it. But would it have helped being president? No.

If a little historical background is in order about how good a president can be without a college degree, George Washington didn’t have one either. (That is not to say Scott Walker is the next George Washington, far from it.)

In context of the American people, we have something in statistics we call a normal distribution. When you have a sample of people you are investigation, what is “normal” is described as what is true for 68% of them. How does that hold out here? Well, with our sample as the American people, 68% percent of them, exactly, do not have a college degree. So, yeah, actually, he is a normal person.

And so, really, the whole thing about college here is almost irrelevant. Maybe he will make a good candidate and good president, maybe he won’t, maybe he won’t even run. But either way, Scott Walker’s destiny, and the destiny of the American Nation, should not be hung on a piece of paper, however important in most of life, which is completely unable to show us who would make a good president, and who would not.

 

Andrew C. Abbott

Donald Trump would make a good president-for about 90 days

We have all heard the name. Trump Tower. Trump Card. Trump this, Trump that, and Donald Trump, the man who seems to think that if there was a Mount Rushmore of business men his would be the only face on it, the man whose board game "Trump" states on the box that "It takes brains to make millions, it takes Trump to make Billions" is again eyeing the White House.
At exactly noon on Friday Donald Trump appeared before the Conservatives for Political Action Conference, to announce, as he seemingly has every four years since Bill Clinton was the in-thing, that is considering a White House Run. But there is a catch-this time he says he is serious, telling Sean Hannity of Fox News that on a scale of 100, he was somewhere around "80."

"Trump will realize he can't fire congress."

In his speech at CPAC, and in the days around it, Self Proclaimed Brilliant Billionaire Donald Trump has decided not to renew his contract for another year of Celebrity Apprentice saying he has more important things to do, and has begun hiring staff and possibly raising funds. He has been reminding everyone about what a great negotiator he is, telling them of his exploits in getting buildings like "The Old Post Office Building" a well sought after piece of Real Estate.
Right now, we don't even know if he is running, but here is what I think about a possible candidicey. Of course, a main hurdle for most if not all candidates in the field at the moment is money. That won't be anything like a problem for Trump. According to Celebrity Net Worth, The Donald is worth 4,000,000,000 dollars, (4 billion).
But there are two ways this would effect other people in the race for the GOP Nomination. One is that Trump would be taking donors, because of course, while he could fund his own campaign, if he's smart he won't. Fundraising is a way not only to save your own money, but to prove to others that people like and are willing to give money. So he will be taking even more donors from the already diminishing donor pool. And secondly, his own money will not be going to someone else who will now be his opponent.

Of course, Donald Trump is a business man, and pundits like Howard Kurtz say it will probably not be happening. And again, when Trump toys with the presidency, his name gets out again, we all are reminded who he is, and he has a ton of fun. Which is probably what he wants, not the crushing weight of the American presidency.

But there is one thing to be said for him-despite all his faults-and that is that he is a man who does not know how not to get things done, who does not accept defeat and who doesn't get what you mean when you say "it can't be done." He is like the kind of guy, when you take a job, and you have a "no questions asked firing clause" for the first ninety days, you want him for the ninety days, but that's it.

Trump says he could close the border, build the army, and fix the problems, especially with ISIS. "I would hit them so hard and so fast that they wouldn't know what happened." And at first, he probably could. Look at Obama, a much weaker personality, how he was able to manhandle and pass the now hated Obamacare during the honeymoon.

Trump talks a lot about how he has more business experience then anyone who has ever become president. Which is true, although we are reminded the last time a billionaire ran for president, and his name was Ross Perot, the guy who lost.

But after the honeymoon phase, after everyone wakes up from the hang over from inauguration day, Trump is going to realize that it is The White House, not the Trump House. That America is not a business, he can't fire congress, although under extraordinary circumstances they can fire him.

He has always been most interested in profit, when you make more money than you spend, you are winning. But now the measuring sticks are much more complicated. Its not all about money any more, its about all sorts of things. And I think as he begins to realize that, as he must have every four years for the past decade plus, he will realize he will not want to get out of the real world of business and into gridlocked Washington.

It is not likely Trump will announce his candidacy, but if he does, it will certainly be very interesting show biz. He is unpopular with the country, but we all have to respect him. But he won't become president, certainly.

Trump's best bet is to stay where he is, doing what he is doing. And perhaps he can make a Mount Rushmore of business in some beautiful tourist spot in America, with his face on it, and maybe JP Morgan, Gates, and a couple of others. We would call it Mount Trumpmore.

Andrew C. Abbott