GRAYSON MUST GO Updated

I am utterly mortified that this man represents my district. He is an absolute embarrassment. This is the same moron who introduced that bill to mandate paid vacation for all businesses with 100+ employees. Because the economic crisis and the raising of the minimum wage (again) hasn't done enough to cripple small businesses, apparently. Don't get me wrong - paid vacation is something my own family enjoys, and I think more people, especially full-timers, should have the same luxury. But is the middle of an economic crisis really the best time to introduce something like this? In my case, our two weeks of paid vacation this year are balanced by two mandatory weeks of unpaid vacation, in an effort to cut costs and retain employees - and this is a very large, international corporation, not a small mom-and-pop. Come on, people, a little common sense, please!

But I digress.

His ridiculous, embarrassing, and just plain wrong tirade on the House floor stoops to a new low. If he actually had a clue, he might have read H.R. 3400, or perhaps S. 1099, or maybe H.R. 2520 or S. 1324. All of those are republican offerings for the health care debate, and all of them are languishing in committee as the democrats rail that the republicans have nothing to offer but 'no'. For a quick overview of the republican bills, click here.

Not a single one of them says 'don't get sick' or 'die quickly'. I'm not really sure where the whole 'die quickly' thing came from - the only thing I can think of is H.R. 3200. They still have not removed the rationing boards (aka 'death panels') from that legislation, so I would assume poor, confused Mr. Grayson came upon section 1233 of H.R. 3200 when he was picking up trash from the floor of the House and thought that such a horrible idea simply must be from republicans.

Calls and emails to his office have no effect, as he smugly assumes anyone who criticizes the democrat ideas are deluded or don't have the facts. Which is really something, considering at his town hall he insisted that he had read the bill (H.R.3200), but was remarkably light on facts about it when challenged.

His town hall meeting in August for health care was stacked with supporters. He held the town hall at a union facility, after a meeting, so that those who had waited outside for hours to get in couldn't because the union members stayed for the town hall. Only 31 people (out of an estimated 1000+) who had been waiting for hours outside were allowed in.

Did I mention he also brought his kids to the town hall and continually used them as a shield when the discussion would get heated - to the point of cutting the meeting short because it was their bedtime?

I am on his email list and the tele-town hall call list. I received an email on Aug. 10th about energy issues (see picture), but not a thing about his then up-coming health care town hall. A few days later, he held a tele-town hall on health care, and, although I have been included in other tele-town halls, I was not included in that one.

I was finally included in a health care related tele-town hall last week, and I found it remarkable that every single caller was pro-reform. Granted, I didn't hear the whole conference call, only the last 45 minutes or so, but, considering the callers were apparently pre-screened before being called on for questions, one would assume if there were differing viewpoints, they would be interspersed with pro-reform questions.

This man is a partisan hack who has no problem lying through his teeth and using any method available to forward his agenda as his ridiculous, childish 'presentation' on the House floor illustrates. The only good he has done so far is his work on auditing the Fed, but that is just not enough. He is more interested in forwarding the far-left agenda of the Obama administration than listening to his constituents. His smug arrogance and patronizing demeanor are offensive, and I for one can't wait to vote him out.

BTW, the cherry on this cake? Mr. Grayson calls himself the "Congressman from ACORN" - they seem to like him, too. That didn't last long, though, because he voted for defunding the organization when the political winds changed. Of course, he is now chasing the 'Bill of Attainder' meme to get out of the vote, stating the defunding was unconstitutional. The jury is still out on this, so I'm sure this will be used as a stall tactic until people lose interest in the story. That way they can say they voted against funding, but, in reality, because the measure never got a presidential signature, no harm was actually done to ACORN. And Mr. Grayson is on the front line of this defense.

Let's make an effort to say good-bye to Mr. Grayson in 2010, shall we?

UPDATE: I'm sure this won't go anywhere, but kudos to Rep. Price (author of H.R. 3400 -The Health Care Freedom Plan) for stepping up. Hopefully in all the hullabalu the details of the republican's real proposals will manage to leak out.


Just a hint - don't hold your breath.

UPDATE II: Oh, this guy has to go. What a putz.

BATTLING THE HYDRA

The ACORN video scandal is picking up speed. Today, the House voted to defund the organization, which is following on the heels of the Senate vote two days ago. Now we need a combined bill that can be sent to the President to sign. I'll be interested in the reaction by ACORN if that happens.

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) scurries like a cockroach from being questioned about his ACORN vote by Fox News. I foresee a lot of scurrying in the coming months! I wonder how many on the Hill are popping Xanax like Tic-Tacs these days....I know these developments have put a major damper on re-election efforts for many democrats. If I had a say in things, I would investigate the 7 senators and 75 congresspeople who voted against defunding, to see how closely they are tied to ACORN. But, considering our 111th Congress won't even launch an investigation into Rangel's well documented misdeeds, I'm pretty sure they won't look into congressional ACORN ties.

CA Governator Schwarzenegger has called for a statewide investigation into ACORN, along with MN Governor Pawlenty. No comment from NY Governor Paterson, but at least his Attorney General, Cuomo, is on the ball. Interesting how there are no calls for investigations in Maryland or D.C., where it all started - well, aside from a call to investigate the journalists.

All of this bruhaha over the housing branch has overshadowed the original investigations on ACORN - the voter registration investigations. There are investigations ongoing in 14 states, but the one to keep an eye on is the one in Nevada. Where, interestingly enough, Harry Reid is tanking in the polls. Huh. What are the odds? Anyway, in Nevada, they are taking the allegations of a '21 Club' very seriously. Their investigation looks to be the first to go to trial, and will be a test case for the others.

But what about the rest? ACORN is closely tied to over 200 other organizations, such as CCI, which is the funnel that pours taxpayer dollars into the money laundering machine that is ACORN. In a report by Republican investigators to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, they state:

""Operationally, ACORN is a shell game played in 120 cities, 43 states and the District of Columbia through a complex structure designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators," the report said. Structurally, it is "a chess game in which senior management is shielded from accountability by multiple layers of volunteers and compensated employees who serve as pawns to take the fall for every bad act.""

ACORN is like the Hydra of Greek mythology. When you cut off one part of the organization, two more step up to take it's place. Cut off funding to one area, and it will draw money from another. Hercules finally defeated the Hydra by cauterizing the stumps after he cut off the heads. That is what we need to do, and our government has taken up the firebrand by voting, in both houses, to cut off funding. The states are starting to fight back, too, but there needs to be a comprehensive attack on all branches of ACORN and all of its affiliates with a combination of investigation and defunding.

ACORN is trying to get out in front of this scandal by implementing their own 'investigation', in hopes that it will keep anyone else from doing it. This must not be allowed to be the only investigation of ACORN. This is a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house.

There are over 200 heads on this hydra, so the job won't be easy or quick, but it must be done.

The beast is wounded; now is the time to finish it off.