I don't know what the Senate will do without him? Anyone else would gladly give up the job.

I believe if DC is to have its own Representation, but, prefers to regulate gun control, it is a matter of extending a 'State's Rights' provision, in that, it should have the self determination power of any other 'entity' that has federal representation.  

There should not be an elected federal authority for DC that is controlled easily by legislative pressures.  There would be no other federal elected official within the voting body that would have dictates upon them by federal regulation.  It is a prejudice that should not hold up to judicial scrutiny.

Or/Also, once there was an elected official from DC in a federal legislative body, that person could add an amendment to reverse the previous 'gun bias.'  Either way, it is still risky business until authority were returned to DC as if it were a State.

...The Senate took up legislation early in Mr. Obama's presidency that would expand the House of Representatives to 437 members. One member would represent Washington, D.C., and the other would represent Utah -- bringing that state's number of representatives from three to four. This move brought some bipartisan support to the bill since members expected D.C to elect a Democrat and Utah to elect a Republican.

The bill changed dramatically when the Senate added an amendment to its D.C. Voting Rights bill sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) that would force the District of Columbia to weaken its gun control laws. It stated that the District of Columbia could not "unduly burden" residents from owning guns. That amendment passed 62 to 36 in February 26, 2009, and the entire bill passed the Senate that same day.

Adding that language stalled efforts in the House to bring the voting bill to the floor. The move outraged the Washington City Council, the mayor and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (the city's non-voting delegate in the House).

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has been asked repeatedly by local press since that time when the House would take up the measure. He was forced time after time to give the same answer that they were working on a compromise, but no deal was imminent.

Anti-gun Democrats, including Norton herself, now accept that November elections are coming fast and this may be the last chance for some time to pass the bill. "There is nothing left to do but make the hard decision," Norton said in a statement. "I believe residents would not want us to pass up this once-in-a-life-time opportunity for the vote they have sought for more than two centuries."...

Nevada casino winnings jump 14 percent in February

Harry Reid (b. 1939) is an influential United States Senator from Nevada and former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Born in Searchlight, Nevada, Reid attended high school in Henderson before getting a bachelor's degree from Utah State University. After graduating from George Washington University law school, Reid worked as an attorney before embarking on a career in politics. Serving as a state assemblyman in the late 1960s, Reid was catapulted onto a larger state with his 1970s election as lieutenant governor.

Reid, a Democrat, was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1977 to 1982, when he was elected to the House of Representatives. Four years later, he moved to the Senate, where he held a succession of leadership position, culminating in his 2006 elevation as Majority Leader of the Senate.

Throughout his public life, Reid has been a voice in Nevada and on Capitol Hill for the hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs are supported by gaming entertainment, and for communities where gaming entertainment provides a strong economic foundation.

2008 - House makes progress, Senate a bust

The House of Representatives in 2008
proved to be a true ally to liberals,
passing an extraordinary amount of good
legislation only to be stymied by a small
band of Republican obstructionists in the
Senate....

2007 - Even before there was Obama, Harry Reid was seeking to bring the military home from Iraq.

Posted: Thursday, September 06, 2007 3:29 PM by Mark Murray

Senate leaders are likely to move a defense measure on the week of the 17th that essentially calls for a withdrawal to begin later this year, but drops language that would require completion by April 30, 2008. "We are not backing off anything," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters today, while adding in the next breath that "we need 60 votes" -- a threshold that they have been repeatedly unable to meet this year on war votes. "There is nothing off the table on Iraq," he said.


The sixty vote threshold has been an issue.  It inhibited the 2006 Democratic majority and it is a problem yet today.  The health care vote brought focus to it, but, it was there as an issue the entire time.

Prevention First Act - Was to stop unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number seeking abortions.

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced this bill in the Senate in January 2007 and it was reffered to committee. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced this bill in the House in February 2007 and it was referred to committee. It is expected to be reintroduced in the 111th Congress.

New poll bad news for Sen. Harry Reid

...Almost half, 47 percent, of those surveyed by the Mason-Dixon poll said they would vote for former Republican state Chairwoman Sue Lowden, while 37 percent would vote for Reid, The Hill reported. The poll is the first since the Easter-Passover break, which Reid used to travel around Nevada touting his achievements as senator and majority leader.

The poll, done for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, found the Tea Party movement would have little impact on the race. Only 2 percent of those polled said they would pick Scott Ashjian, a Tea Party candidate, while 3 percent would vote for Tim Fasano of the Independent American Party....

GUESTS: Sen. Harry Reid (D - NV)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we are back with the new leader of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada.

Welcome. 

SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV):  Thank you very much. 

MR. RUSSERT:  In 1994, when the Republicans seized control of both houses of Congress, this is what Senator Harry Reid said.  "We all have to swallow a little bit of our pride and go toward the middle."

Is that still your advice to the Democrats? 

SEN. REID:  I think there's no question about it.  You know, we don't accomplish anything on the far right and the far left.  Things are accomplished in the middle.  We have to work toward the middle.  And I think that that's clear.  I feel no differently than I did 10 years ago. 

MR. RUSSERT:  There were a lot of eyebrows raised across the town when the Las Vegas Review- Journal and The Hill newspaper reported this.  "Harry Reid, the incoming Senate minority leader, said he is forming a communications `war room' to promote Democratic messages and respond to Republican criticism."

Is creating a war room the prescription to try to solve the partisan problems we face right now? 

SEN. REID:  Well, I think war room designation is something that comes from inside Washington.  What I've created is a communications center where we're going to take some of the resources that are already there and make sure that when someone comes to the Senate floor to give a speech, that talk radio stations know what that person had to say.  We're going to communicate with the American people to make sure that they understand the Democrats are in tune with millions of Americans across the country.  In fact, we represent the people of this country, and this communications center that we have will certainly be an indication of how we feel. 

MR. RUSSERT:  So you're not going to war with Republicans the first week on your job? 

SEN. REID:  No.  I hope we don't have to go to war.  As I said, Tim, I'd rather dance than fight.  But people have to understand that the president controls the White House, of course.  The House of Representatives, the Senate--if he wants to get something done, he has to come to us.  We are constitutionally empowered by the Constitution to have certain powers that are inherent in this body, and we want to work with the president.  But they can't jam things down our throats.  The American people wouldn't want us to do that. 

MR. RUSSERT:  You're a former boxer.  If you're punched, you'll punch back?

SEN. REID:  Sure will...

The Gender Gap of 2008 - Play to your strengths Harry. Take control of the dialogue and don't let go of it.

Lost in the recount backwash last November was a little noted statistic. 

According to exit polls, incumbent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. John Ensign, R-Las Vegas, equally split the female vote.
 

The issue of abortion never came up in the vicious senate campaign, but women somehow found out that when it came to their keystone issue, there was no choice between two anti-choice men.

[UPDATE: A reverse perception was actually the case. Since neither Reid nor Ensign made an issue of abortion, polls showed that women assumed they were both pro-choice. The result was the same — a push.]

Del Papa will open 2000 with a gender gap which will grow to Grand Canyon proportions, perhaps 15 to 20 percentage points, by November.

That alone will make Ensign unelectable.

How a pro-gun, anti-abortion Nevadan leads the Senate’s Democrats.

...“Precedent is so important to me in the law,” Reid told him. Roberts, Reid recalled, said, “ ‘Oh, on the Supreme Court you can change precedent only if there’s this and this,’ and he was rattling them off. I hope I didn’t act surprised, but I’d never heard anything like that before.” Roberts, in Reid’s view, left no doubt that he would be very reluctant to overturn precedents....

Biography

...Since he came to the Senate in 1986, Harry Reid has built a strong record of accomplishments for the people of Nevada. As the fastest growing state in the nation, Nevada has needs no other state has and Reid is using his leadership position to meet them.

Sen. Reid is is leading the way on solutions to keep Nevadans in their homes and end the foreclosure crisis, which is weakening our state’s economy. He is a leader on reducing the cost of health care, while increasing the number of Nevadans who have medical insurance. And he is working to create thousands of good-paying Nevada jobs by making the state the leader in renewable energy.

Reid has brought hundreds of millions of dollars to make Nevada safer. That money puts more police on the street, ensures Nevada’s military bases have everything they need, and is being used to build the long overdue the Southern Nevada Veterans Hospital.

As an avid sportsman, Reid has long been a champion of Nevada’s outdoors. He created Great Basin National Park, Nevada’s only national park. He created the Lake Tahoe Summit, which brings leaders of all political stripes together to preserve Lake Tahoe’s clarity. He is also working to preserve Nevada’s outdoors by developing Nevada’s solar, wind, and geothermal energy industries....

There are 'snapshots' of Harry Reid's character that cannot be ignored. Kind, gentle and committed. That is hard for an electorate to give up.

PUBLIC LIVES  (click title to entry - thank you)

PUBLIC LIVES; From a Miner's Shack to the Senate, Guided by a Light

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: May 28, 2001

...Mr. Reid, 61, who grew up poor in a Nevada mining camp, was heretofore relatively anonymous. But he earned a place in history last week as the person who defied Washington convention and gave up an expected chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee so that Mr. Jeffords would have a prestigious landing as he bailed out of the Republican fold....

Five Reasons Harry Reid Can Win Reelection

1. The polls are not fully accurate because while they test Reid versus any of the Republicans running, they don't also include third party and other candidates expected to be on the ballot. Up to eight candidates are expected on the ballot.

2. Third party candidates can be very influential and take votes from candidates. Getting over 10 percent of the vote isn't unheard of and in an anti-incumbent, anti-Democratic year, those voters might steal votes away from the Republican competing against other conservative or Tea Party activists.

3. Nevada allows a "None of these candidates" vote which might also attract anti-incumbent protest votes while Reid's core remains dedicated to the Democrat.

4. With so much competition, Reid doesn't need to win 50 percent of the vote, especially if the "none" and Tea Party options collect some 20 percent of the vote.

5. Reid allies think that Nevada voters who take independence from Washington seriously might stage a backlash against outsiders like Sarah Palin who've come in to rally against Reid.

The 2010 Elections are about incumbents. Changes in Mid-term does not guarantee business in DC will change.

If the electorate of 2010 simply wants to vote against incumbents does that speak to the intelligence of the decisions being made or simply a surrender to other forces that make 'life decisions simple?'

...The survey of 500 Arizona voters on March 16 found:

53 percent favor Proposition 100 (a three-year, 1-point increase to the state’s 5.6 percent sales tax). Thirty-six percent oppose the tax hike aimed at helping close multi-billion dollar state budget deficit. Eleven percent are undecided.

71 percent said the country would be better if most congressional incumbents were defeated. That could bode well for Republican hopes to regain Arizona congressional seats held by U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell of Tempe, Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson and Ann Kirkpatrick of Flagstaff.

As for the economy, 44 percent said the U.S. economy will be weaker while 35 percent said it would be stronger. Another 13 percent in the Arizona Rasmussen poll said it would be the same....

  It's Saturday Night.

"Ingratitude" by Aereogramme

It is dangerous
To put this into words
But I'm alright
Close to fulfilment
I miss you
I miss you

And anyway
I just wanted to show you
I'm yours now
Empty and cynical
Lost
In gratitude
In gratitude

It is dangerous
To put into words
But I know in time
We'll get out of this mess
We'll get out of this mess

And anyway
I just wanted to show you
Some happiness
I wanted to show you the stars
I want to show you the stars
And we go

Just hit the ground running
Just hit the ground running, I know
Just hit the ground running
And don't look back

Just hit the ground running
Just hit the ground running
Just hit the ground running
And don't look back

Just hit the ground running
Just hit the ground running, I know
Just hit the ground running
And don't look back

Avatar director lauds ruling on Brazilian dam

Director James Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver march in Brasilia during a protest against a proposed dam in the Amazon. Photo: AP

...He said more time was needed to examine claims from Brazil's attorney general that there are not sufficient environmental protections in place at the site.

The decision can be appealed by the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who strongly supports construction of the Belo Monte dam, arguing it will help Brazil meet its ever-growing energy needs.

"It's a small victory for us, but I don't expect the battle is over," Cameron told The Associated Press by telephone from the small Amazon city of Altamira, where he was lending support to project opponents....

EU ban and lack of ice hit Canada's seal hunt

...A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada's Atlantic coast this month.

Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea last month increased by 50,000 the allowable catch of harp seals this season to 330,000, in defiance of a ban on seal products by the European Union.

But most of Canada's 6000 sealers stayed home, unable to find buyers for their catch or stymied by a lack of ice floes for the first time in 60 years on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which usually host hordes of seals birthing pups....

Photos  ::  http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/conservation/seal-hunt-crying-shame/20100409-rxz7.html?selectedImage=0 

Tzvetkoff charged in US with laundering $540m

Accused ... Daniel Tzvetkoff. 

April 17, 2010 - 12:42PM

...In a case unsealed in New York, prosecutors accused Mr Tzvetkoff, 27, of processing gambling proceeds and making them appear legal to banks, starting in early 2008.

He created dozens of so-called shell companies in a scheme that he once wrote was "perfect," prosecutors said.

Mr Tzvetkoff was charged on four counts, including bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to operate and finance an illegal gambling business.

If convicted, he could face up to 75 years in prison....

Obama Steps Up Mine Safety Reviews

I'm not surprised in the least that Don Blankenship, chairman and CEO of Massey Energy Co. in West Virginia, is also an active financial backer of the Republican Party in West Virginia. We've all witnessed on TV his heartfelt responses for the loss of all those pour souls in the mine.

... And people still actually believe Republicans will be look-ing out for the best interests of middle-class workers in America? Caveat emptor.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2010/04/17/mine-tragedy-illuminates.html

Massey mines draw scrutiny

442 citations, orders issued for safety violations in Ky., 2 other states since blast

Saturday, Apr. 17, 2010

By Linda J. Johnson and Bill Estep - ljohnson1@herald-leader.com

Inspectors have cited hundreds of safety violations at Massey Energy coal mines in Kentucky since an April 5 explosion at one of the company's mines in West Virginia killed 29 employees, federal records show.
The 279 citations and orders in Kentucky, more than 80 of them alleging significant and substantial violations, were among a total of 442 issued to Massey underground mines in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia from April 5 through Thursday.
Of those 442, more than half — 222 — were issued to one Massey property in Kentucky, Freedom Energy Mining Co. in Pike County, according to a Herald-Leader analysis of data from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/17/1227159/masseys-kentucky-operations-were.html#ixzz0lMZNadHX

April 16, 2010

Stock-owning trust fund wants Massey held in contempt

By Andrew Clevenger

Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A trust fund that owns 1,000 shares of Massey Energy Co. stock wants a judge to hold the energy giant in contempt unless the company shows it has not violated the terms of a 2008 settlement in which Massey promised to beef up its safety and environmental compliance.

The Manville Personal Injury Trust sued Massey, CEO Don Blankenship and other members of the company's board of directors and several corporate officers in 2007, alleging that mismanagement of the company was hurting shareholders' interests.

That suit was filed in the wake of repeated water pollution violations, large fines relating to the deaths of two miners in the 2006 Aracoma Mine fire, and a nearly $2 million verdict against Massey for firing a worker who complained about safety problems. It was settled in 2008.

As part of the settlement, Massey "agreed to make certain changes to its corporate governance policies and procedures relating to director oversight and conduct regarding environmental compliance and mine worker safety," according to Manville's motion, filed Friday....

Has everyone figured it out yet? The reason. The reason why Democratic economies do better than Republican economies?

No?  No clue or just don't believe it is true?

It is easy to understand.  Why peace is a better economic stimulus than war.  Can't see it yet?  Seriously?  You think perhaps the increased activity of the USA Military Industrial Complex provides a better economy? 

War is all deficit spending.  That's only the beginning.  Haven't got it yet? 

Come on.  This is super easy.  

Clue:  What type of economy did Former President Bill Clinton perfect?

There ya go.  Now, you are getting 'it.'  A service economy, right?

So, realizing that now answer the question Why is peace a better economic stimulus than war?

Because it INVITES foreign trade in the way of 'sharing' interests.  It invites all kinds of meetings and conferences and what else?  

Come on.  I know it isn't what everyone wants to think about, they want to hate, but, what does it bring more than any other aspect of economic strategy?

You can do this.  Oh, yes you can.

It allows for cultural exchange, TOURISM, and an increase in foreign trade, ie: BALANCE OF TRADE.


And?

Optimism, positive energy and increased trust leading to increased investment on all venues.  

Congratulations, you made the 'leap' to Democratic values without even trying very hard.   

Why does seeking peace seem so "W"rong in the year 2010?

Because there has been a culture of hate for eight long, war torn years.  That's why.  What occurred during those years has imperiled the world.  The Axis of Evil has resulted in obtaining nuclear proliferation and has sought to increase the impetus to war.  So, why would the USA seek to bring Non-proliferation to its venues of foreign policy? 

Because when the major powers on the globe resolve to end nuclear threat and annihilation the 'impetus' can be resolved without human tragedy, quality of life increases as economic strategies become stronger. 

War is the ultimate 'act' of protectionism and expansionism.  The USA never sees itself as being defeated. I remind.  During the years 2000-2008 the USA was unilaterally at war while the rest of the nations expanded their economies and grew their quality of life.

The USA is sincerely 'behind the curve' in its economic stability.