Yesterday afternoon, Jack took to the House floor to pay tribute to former Congressman Charlie Norwood who passed away earlier this year. Jack authored a bill to name the VA hospital in Augusta the “Charlie Norwood Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.” The bill passed unaimously.
Last night, Jack played in the Longest Yard Football Classic. The charity game was between the Members’ “Mean Machine” and the Capitol Hill Police Officers. The game was expected to raise close to $30,000 for the Capitol Police Memorial Fund; to date, over $100,000 has been raised for the fund.
Jack got some good playing time and made some key defensive plays but the Mean Machine fell 28-0. You can check out pictures HERE.
Last night, Jack spoke on the House floor in favor of H.Res. 716, expressing the sense of Congress with respect to raising awarementss and enhancing the state of cyber security in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Armstrong Atlantic State University just recently opened up the Cyber Security Research Institute. Jack spoke at the opening ceremony of the center which is only one of a few in the nation which focus on cyber security.
Recently, staffers for the Homeland Security Committee were advised by a Democrat official to get immunized before a recent trip. The immunizations were for Hepatitis A, B, tetanus, diptheria and seasonal influenza. Nothing unusual at first glance; staffers often take overseas trips where this is recommended. However, these staffers were not travelling overseas, but rather heading to Talladega Superspeedway and North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
If the Democrats were hoping to win over NASCAR dads for the 08 election; this isn’t the way to go about it.
UPDATE: Jason Pye is on this story with undoubtedly one of the best headlines - Race of the Living Dead - so check it out.
Both over the weekend and today, the Washington Post actually published an article and an editorial detailing success in Iraq.
The title of yesterday’s editorial says it all - “Better Numbers; The evidence of a drop in violence in Iraq is becoming hard to dispute.” The editorial highlights figures such as civilian deaths - down 52 percent from August and 77 percent from September 2006 - and the number of U.s. soldiers killed in action is down 43 percent from August.
The story today focuses on reports that Al Qaeda in Iraq has suffered “irreversible blows” recently. Specifically there has been a sharp drop in suicide bombings from more than 60 in January to around 30 per month since July.
If we seemed a little shocked it’s only because the mainstream press has seemed so intent on publishing the negative that they never seem to mention the positive developments that are occurring in Iraq. Let’s hope this trend continues.
Don’t worry, you’re not having deja vu. This time it’s Iranian students protesting Ahmadinejad’s speech at Tehran University. It seems that while he was willing to speak to plenty of students at Columbia University as well as answer their questions; the same standard doesn’t apply in his own country. Instead, access to his speech was limited to people with invitations; only selected students were allowed in.
Milad Niazi, a student at Tehran Azad University, “criticized the president for avoiding hard questions at home, saying “Supporters of Ahmadinejad praise his appearance at Columbia University as a heroic act, but they don’t dare to let students appear in the speech hall.”
And yes, this is the man who Columbia University invited all in the name of free speech and an open forum.
This week representatives with electric membership corporations (EMCs) in Georgia came to Capitol Hill to show off the latest in fuel technology.
The Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) uses a combination of electricity from the grid and gasoline to get over 100 mpg around town. With less gas burned, there is less pollution which of course helps the environment. Plus you can save money as you fill your tank less often and can recharge at your home for pennies a day.
This technology was made possible through a research project that was spearheaded by Jackson EMC which is headquartered in Jefferson, Georgia and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Cooperative Research Network which is based in Arlington, Virginia.
Jack’s DRIVE Act would expand incentives to produce and purchase such technology of this. You can check out some pictures HERE.
Jack has an op-ed up today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on why he voted against the SCHIP re-authorization.
In other developments, Roll Call (subscription required) is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced Democrats are “not going to compromise” on SCHIP with the President. “If he’s hoping for that, he better hope for something else, like getting our troops home from Iraq,” Reid stated.
So if this is all about “the children” as the Democrats claim; then why postpone a veto override vote? Why refuse to sit down with the President and work something out? Because in reality, it’s about one thing and one thing only: politics. So much for the children.
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Rush Limbaugh’s ‘phony soldier’ comment and how the left-leaning Media Matters has decided to distort it.
Michelle Malkin and others have been following this from the beginning and have a great breakdown. If you read the transcript of the show, it is clear that the ‘phony soldier’ comment was directed to such people as Jesse MacBeth who just recently pled guilty to falsifying claims to the Veterans Affairs. MacBeth posed as a military hero and became a darling of the anti-war groups with appearances at rallies and a YouTube video.
MacBeth’s conviction was part of a year long investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Washington called “Operation Stolen Valor.” ABC News did a story on this days before Rush’s comments and in the story, correspondent Brian Ross used the phrase “phony heroes.”
The left has long targeted conservative talk radio and in particular, Rush Limbaugh. Today, I plan to file a resolution that all Americans serving in the Armed Forces and commending Rush for his efforts to help build and maintain troop morale. Once we are all set, we will post it up.
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