November 19th, 1863: Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
I am a day late in posting this but as they say, better late than never.
November 19th, 1863: a crowd gathers to witness the dedication of the nation’s first national cemetery. The site is Gettysburg Pennsylvania, where less than five moths earlier the Confederate army led by Robert E Lee made its last incursion into Northern territory before being driven south by the Union army which was commanded by General Meade.
This Union victory is considered the turning point in the Civil War, for up until that point while the Union had managed a few victories they were turned back on many occasions and moral in the North was at an all time low before this battle. Ironically the victorious General Meade was relieved by President Lincoln shortly after this battle because he failed to pursue General Lee’s troops and demolish them while they were on the run.
General Meade was replaced by Ulysses S Grant who led the Union into the battle of the Wilderness, and while that battle was considered a draw, it was what happened next that was of the most import. The Union soldiers expected to either fall back into defensive positions or remain where they were as General Lee escaped once again, but they cheered loudly when General Grant declared that they would pursue General Lee and would not stop until victory was achieved. Lincoln had finally found his general and the rest is history.
Edward Everett–who was considered the “key note” speaker and was the great orator of the time–spoke for over two hours before giving way to President Lincoln, but nobody remembers what Edward Everett said that day because his speech was eclipsed in just over two minutes by the man who gave what is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time.
Edward Everett himself said this of the Gettysburg address in a letter he wrote to President Lincoln the following day: “I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”
During the Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln stated, “the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here.” Oh, how wrong he was about that, history has never forgotten what President Lincoln said on that day.
Here is a video tribute to the Gettysburg Address:
Lame duck Congress to debate controversial new food bill giving Homeland Security authority over the FDA
Late last week the Senate voted for cloture on S 510–the Food Safety Modernization Act–by a margin of 74-25 with little to no fanfare whatsoever. Every Democrat voted in favor of this bill and they were joined by fourteen Republicans, including my retiring Senator, Judd Gregg. On the surface this bill looks benign, after all we all want to make sure that our food sources are safe right? But there are some questions and controversies related to this bill and that is probably why the Senate has moved stealthily on this bill.
This bill would expand the role of both the FDA and Department of Health and Human Services, but even more worrisome is the fact that Section 109 of this bill would place the FDA under the Department of Homeland Security. This bill may not be as benign as it appears.
Barbara Boxer compares the United States to Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan because of the military’s policy on gays
There has been a renewed push on repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays serving in the military in light of the recent California court ruling which stated “don’t ask, don’t tell” was unconstitutional. There is now an effort to push a repeal of DADT through the lame duck session of the Congress.
Barack Obama is pushing for legislative action on this issue and Harry Reid has promised to bring up a vote on the repeal of DADT before the lame duck session is over.
Earlier today Barbara Boxer weighed in on this issue, but she went way over the line while trying to voice her support for the repeal of DADT. Here is what she had to say: Read more…
Charlie Rangel to be censured for ethics violations
Tax Cheat
Earlier this week Charlie Rangel was convicted on 11 out of 13 ethics violations he was charged with. Today the Ethic Committee convened to decide upon his penalty and the committee has decided to censure Charlie Rangel by a vote of 9-1.
Charlie Rangel will have to stand alone on the floor of the House while Nancy Pelosi reads the censure which will be written by his colleagues. He was also ordered to pay back taxes on the thousands of dollars he illegally accepted as gifts while being a United States representative. This is considered a fairly harsh punishment in light of the fact that it was thought that Charlie Rangel would simply be reprimanded by the Ethics Committee.
One member of the Ethics Committee defended the decision this way:
Public office is a public trust,” said Chisam, staff director of the ethics committee. Rangel “violated that trust”
The lame duck Congress may not vote on extending the Bush tax cuts
We have often been told that small businesses are the engine that drive the United States economy, and right now there are no small businesses which are hiring. One of the reasons why small businesses are not hiring if because they are unsure of what the costs of doing business are going to be in the near future–or more specifically, after the first of the year.
Two of the biggest unknowns that are haunting small businesses are healthcare reform and the Bush tax cuts. Before I get to the main topic of this post I would like to touch upon healthcare reform briefly.
While the largest companies in America and many of the unions have received hundreds of waivers that exempt these companies from the ill effects of Barack Obama’s healthcare reform legislation, the small businesses–bereft of lobbyists and unable to afford the representation required to gain a waiver–are left with no waivers and will carry the full weight of Barack Obama’s ill conceived healthcare reform legislation on their backs alone. Read more…
Harry Reid promises to push the DREAM Act through the lame duck Congress
Earlier today Harry Reid reiterated a promise that he made before the midterm election–he is promising to hold a vote on the DREAM Act during the lame duck session of Congress.
Unable to get a comprehensive immigration reform law through the Congress during Barack Obama’s first two years as president, the Democrats tried to pass the DREAM Act by attaching it to a defense funding bill–the plan being to pass comprehensive immigration reform one piece at a time–but the measure still failed. Now, with losing Democrats preparing to head home for good and with nothing left to lose Harry Reid thinks that there is an opportunity to pass one of the most controversial parts of comprehensive immigration reform in the lame duck session.
Nancy Pelosi hangs on and will be the House minority leader
Over the weekend, Heath Shuler announced that he would run against Nancy Pelosi instead of allowing her to run unopposed for the minority leadership position in the next Congress.
“I’ve said all along I’m hoping that Nancy Pelosi will step aside and will allow the leaders that are available, who are ready to go, but because of her being at the very top right now, no one’s willing to throw their hat in the ring,”
His bid was seen as nothing more than a symbolic attempt to unseat Nancy Pelosi, and today it looks as if his bid was just that. The Democrats held a test vote today and Nancy Pelosi beat Heath Shuler by a 150-43 vote margin, all but assuring that when the real vote is held Nancy Pelosi will be victorious.
Charlie Rangel convicted of 11 ethics violations
Tax Cheat
Charlie Rangel has finally been convicted of 11 out of the 13 ethics violations–from tax evasion to accepting illegal gifts–that he had been charged with after what seems like years of investigations into his many dubious actions. Now the Ethics Committee must reconvene to decide what his punishment will be.
More than likely, Charlie Rangel will either be reprimanded or censured–neither of which would require him to step down from his seat in the Congress. It is highly unlikely that the Ethics Committee will recommend his expulsion from the Congress. This leads me to wonder: if a man can commit as many flagrant ethics violations while sitting in the Congress as did Charlie Rangel, and his only punishment will be a slap on the wrist, what does a congressman have to do in order to be expelled?
Charlie Rangel was entrusted by his constituents to act on their behalf and he used this trust for his own benefit, there isn’t a crime that a politician could commit against his constituents that is more serious than that. Yet he faces a minor slap on the wrist, while his constituents get a slap in the face.
If Charlie Rangel is allowed to sit in the Congress, his light sentence will only embolden others to also abuse the system. Charlie Rangel should be used as an example to all of the new incoming congressman to show them what will happen to them if they do not adhere to the ethics rules. But a light sentence will show potential violators that the Congress doesn’t take the issue of ethics seriously. A light sentence will make the payoff worth the gamble if all that the punishment will be–if they are caught–is a slap on the wrist.
Charlie Rangel should do the honorable thing; he should hold a press conference and announce that he let his constituents down and because of this he should announce that he is resigning. If he fails to so this than it is up to Nancy Pelosi to push him into retirement.
Nancy Pelosi assumed the powerful Speaker of the House position with a promise to “drain the swamp” of the corruption in Washington, but as we can see, the swamp only festered under her leadership. Nancy Pelosi is the poster child of the failures in the Democrat party that led to the Republican take over in the House, and Charlie Rangel is the poster boy of everything that is wrong in Washington.
Charlie Rangel still insists that he did nothing wrong, and you know what? Maybe he honestly believes that he did nothing wrong, but even so this does not excuse him from his behavior. He has been in the Congress for so long, and he has been accustomed to getting what he wants, so the line between ethical and unethical behavior has been blurred to the point where he cannot tell right from wrong. Charlie Rangel is part of the “business as usual” Washington DC culture that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi promised to change. It is time for a change, and Charlie Rangel needs to be part of that change.
Cody Alicea returns to school on Monday leading a motorcade of flag waving supporters
I first wrote about Cody Alicea–the boy who was told by his school that he mustn’t fly his American flag on his bike while on school property–on Saturday. Since that time–due in no part to myself–this story had become a huge national issue–much to my surprise. Stories like Cody’s have become all too commonplace in recent years and they never seem to catch the attention of the media in the manner in which I believe they should, so I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of coverage Cody Alicea’s plight has drawn.
There was an outpouring of support for Cody Alicea from all across the nation, and when Cody returned to school on Monday, he proudly led a parade of supporters in a motorcade with flags freely waving in the wind in all of their glory. Cheering supporters also lined the streets, waving American flags, waiting for the procession to make its way past them.
What a wonderful ending to the story this would be, if only it was the end. But it isn’t the end because the show of support didn’t end there.
Federal court upholds New Hampshire law that allows the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited in schools
Here in New Hampshire there is a state law–called the New Hampshire School Patriot Act–that requires all schools to set aside time for the students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This law does not require the students to recite the Pledge mind you, it simply offers them the opportunity to do so during a time that is set aside by the individual schools.
Here is the full text of the New Hampshire law:
I. As a continuation of the policy of teaching our country’s history to the elementary and secondary pupils of this state, this section shall be known as the New Hampshire School Patriot Act.
II. A school district shall authorize a period of time during the school day for the recitation of the pledge of allegiance. Pupil participation in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance shall be voluntary.
III. Pupils not participating in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance may silently stand or remain seated but shall be required to respect the rights of those pupils electing to participate. If this paragraph shall be declared to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remaining paragraphs in this section shall not be affected, and shall continue in full force and effect.
America's Watchtower 