Don’t Get Me Started

Cancel the August recess

Andy Hefty

By ANDY HEFTY

JACKSONVILLE, FL - It is high time that Congress do something to earn their fat-cat, part-time paychecks. Here we are once again with a do-nothing Congress conducting their best attempt at simply deciding when and where to hold Bush-bashing press conferences, who will keep the Senate chambers open to prevent any recess appointments, and of course when to adjourn.

Jerks!

Pompous, arrogant, self-serving jerks! Every last one of them who decided to go home. At this point, do they not realize that the citizens of this great republic have had it with their emergency spending, threats of taxation, and very little else?

Last Friday, Speaker of the House Nancy the Nanny Pelosi (Democrat-Berkeley, California) allowed for a vote. But it’s not the type of vote you’re thinking they should have held. Instead, she permitted the cowards in the Democratic Party to vote on beginning their August recess. The Republicans actually showed some courage by opposing it. Even some Democrats joined the GOP, realizing that the American voters were tired of Congress merely sitting on its collective thumbs. Either that or their tenure in office may be in danger.

But the resolution passed -- by one, single, solitary, lonely vote. That means that any one Democrat who voted to take a five week (!) vacation could have been the swing vote. For the record, North Florida Democrats Corrine Brown and Allen Boyd voted to skedaddle. Just a handful of Democrats, seventeen to be exact, had the guts to actually do their job. The rest wanted their "much deserved time off."

What a crock of compost!

And what’s with the five weeks at a time? It’s not like this is their only time off all year. And they don’t consider it a part-time job, either. They certainly get paid more than that.

Voters are fed up with the artificially inflated price of gasoline. Voters are sick and tired of having their home energy bills continue their skyrocketing while the Congress who helped generate the problem bolts from their desks faster than a union employee at the 5:00 whistle. And then they dare to call the Republicans "obstructionist."

Nancy the Nanny refused to even allow a vote on the House floor. She wouldn’t even let a little open debate take place. What do her cohorts in the Democrat Party tell us? Inflate your tires. Buy a hybrid. Get more compact fluorescent bulbs. Blame George Bush. Boy, that’s really going to bring the oil prices down, isn’t it?

Get this. When the vote was tallied, and the Republicans objected, vowing to stay in Congress to actually work a plan, Nancy the Nanny shut off the lights in the halls of Congress and ordered the cameras and microphones turned off. How’s that for maturity? She took her toys and went home.

Well, actually, she didn’t go home. She is off jet-setting around the country, hoping people will buy her liberal tripe of a shadow-authored feel-good book. Nancy the Nanny was more eager to pimp her book instead of doing the job Americans elected her to do.

Sounds to me like an incredible dereliction of duty.

So, what to do? I’m so glad you asked!

President Bush, call the Congress back into session. Declare an emergency. I dare you.

Minority Leader John Boehner, keep the Republicans working. Act as if Congress is in full session. Find a way to get the cameras back on so the recess work can be seen by the entire world. Coax the Democrats back to work.

Every Republican should hold video conferences with their voters back home, telling them to witness what real leadership is all about.

Speaker Pelosi, if you have any of those "ethics" you promised us two years ago, why not call them up and cancel the recess? Now!

And as for the Senate, every Republican should show up -- in full force. And when the 20-second session occurs to prevent President Bush’s recess appointments, Republicans should conduct a quorum call.

In other words, show some gumption. Prove that you are worthy of the votes you demand from us every two years.

For crying out loud, earn your paychecks for a change.