}

Monday, December 14, 2009

Republicans get busy

The US Republican Party is out to prove that it’s not just “the party of ‘no’”, and that they work hard for taxpayers, taking on the huge, truly important issues of the day. Like, Christmas.

House Resolution 951 was introduced December 8 by Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-SC-1) and will, if passed, unleash the power of Congress on those who wage “War on Christmas”. H. Res. 951 will express “the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for use by those who celebrate Christmas”. The resolution says:

“Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and

Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment of the Constitution, in prohibiting the establishment of religion, would not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;

(2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and

(3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.

"These are your hard-earned tax dollars at work: with millions of Americans looking for jobs and the nation's unemployment rate nearing 10 percent… it's unacceptable for Congress to take it easy at a time when out-of-work families struggling to make ends meet are asking 'where are the jobs?'" That was said by the Republican Leader in the US House, John Boehner, six weeks ago. Mind you, the same day Boehner said that, his Republicans were introducing an empty resolution pandering to the teabaggers, so clearly he can’t influence his caucus.

As of today, this resolution is cosponsored by 64 Representatives—all Republicans, of course, and including some of the craziest members of the House of Representatives. The lone Democratic co-sponsor, Danny Davis (D-IL-7) sensibly withdrew as a cosponsor a couple days later.

The point isn’t this resolution—it’s pointless, not evil—but it shows clearly how the Republicans are just like Democrats in pushing pointless resolutions. However, unlike Democrats, Republicans are doing nothing else—apart from shouting “no” to everything Democrats propose and “yes” to empty resolutions that allow Republicans to “take it easy at a time when out-of-work families struggling to make ends meet are asking 'where are the jobs?'”

Tip o' the Hat to StopBeck on Twitter for link to the original story.

2 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

Yet this is the type of the thing the teabaggers will point to as substantial; do NOT underestimate stuff like this.

Arthur Schenck said...

Oh, I know! But it's not important to ordinary voters, particularly those who want Congress to get on with doing what they've been elected to do. It'll play very well to their base, but will be far less effective with Independents.