World Affairs - Politics & Opinions

Since taking office, Obama has refused to approve any major Israeli requests for U.S. weapons platforms or advanced systems. Officials said this included proposed Israeli procurement of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, refueling systems, advanced munitions and data on a stealth variant of the F-15E.

"All signs indicate that this will continue in 2010," a congressional source familiar with the Israeli military requests said. "This is really an embargo, but nobody talks about it publicly."

March 18, 2010 - The economy is terrible. Even with the supposed recovery that elected officials keep talking about, there is little evidence of new jobs. This combined with other monumental issues that include healthcare reform, border control and talk of global warming are putting fire in the blood of average citizens. Citizens who have never seriously thought about running for public office. Citizens who have little or nothing in the way of campaign funds but who have the heart to believe that they can make a difference. Citizens who are fed up with the idea that Washington should be legislating everything from which doctor you use to how much sugar you should consume. People are angry and it is beginning to show. Dave Corsi is one of them.

If you have never heard of Dave Corsi, you can be forgiven. He is running for Congress on the Republican ticket for the New Jersey's 12^th District. He says that he leans more towards Libertarian views. In most years, he wouldn't stand a chance. There are certain states in which conservatives have been hunted to near extinction. New Jersey is one of them. But within the past few months and against all odds the state did elect a Republican governor. Like I said before. People are angry.

Corsi is the underdog in his race. In his own words, "I'm not the favorite son." He doesn't have the big funding of some of his rivals but he's running a grassroots campaign that he can be proud of.

There is a huge controversy brewing over the potential use of a House voting technique called "Deem and Pass", or as conservative opponents call it, "Demon Pass".

Time for some "Deem and Pass" education.

1. Deem and Pass is hardly unprecedented having been used by both parties at one time or another. The first known instance was in 1933.

2. The reason in 1933 as now was that the House needed to make a tough vote and Deem and Pass allowed them to make the vote without appearing to really have made the vote.

Let’s hit the current situation. The House doesn’t like all the compromises in the Senate bill and there are a number of Representatives who would vote the Senate bill down but vote for the reconciled bill which corrects the compromises (i.e. side deals like Cornhusker Kickback). So, a rule on voting for the reconciled bill is put forth and voted by the entire House. The rule deems the Senate bill (pre-reconciliation) passed for the purposes of voting on the reconciled bill.

Any Representative who does not like the Senate bill and thinks their vote for the “rule” would be viewed as voting for the Senate bill, will vote the rule down.