My hero this week is Congressman Tom Tancredo, who just dropped out of the 2008 race. That's not why he's me hero, though....he's my hero this week because Tanc has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the problems that illegal immigration causes in this country, and I know he will continue to do so.

Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University in Des Moines, said Tancredo forced his GOP rivals to talk about immigration.

"What Tancredo has done is analogous to what a third-party candidate does," Goldford said. "They call attention to and articulate an issue that the other two main parties neglect or don't see" and then after forcing the issue they disappear.

My hacks this week are Congressional Republicans who are still high on pork:

The demise of the bridge to nowhere notwithstanding, Sen. Ted Stevens and other Republicans remain the kings of pork-barrel spending, proving that GOP mastery of "earmarks" can withstand public scorn, a president's rebuke and even a Democratic takeover of Congress.

The Senate's two biggest sponsors of this year's pet spending projects are Republicans Stevens of Alaska and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, according to preliminary reviews of fiscal 2008 spending bills by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group. Two of the House's three biggest claimants of earmarks also are Republicans: Bill Young of Florida and Jerry Lewis of California, the group found.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Congress, Culture of Corruption, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Pork, Tancredo

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:30 AM | Permalink | |

Whoever made the decision for the US to air strike al Qaeda targets in Somalia is my hero this week:
The U.S. is continuing to pound Islamic Courts and al-Qaeda targets in southern Somalia. Reuters reports four towns "in an area close to Ras Kamboni," - Hayo, Garer, Bankajirow and Badmadowe - were struck by U.S. air assets. Ras Kamboni is the location of the al-Qaeda and Islamic Courts comminications and training base. "Bankajirow was the last Islamist holdout. Bankajirow and Badmadowe were hit hardest," according to Reuters' Somali source.

This shows that the US is not forgetting about the larger War On Terror, even with Iraq at the forefront.


Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is my hack this week:

On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.
The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.
One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island's work force. StarKist's parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.

"There's something fishy going on here," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican.

Culture of corruption indeed.

Labels: Congress, Culture of Corruption, Hero/Hack, Pork, Somalia

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:26 PM | Permalink | |