From new PA Senator Bob Casey,
(woohoo)

Ready to concentrate on the important decisions he knows are ahead,

Mr. Casey won’t learn his formal office assignment for another several weeks.

In the meantime, his staffers share a windowless space in the basement of a Senate office building with other freshman senators.

“We thought windows would be a distraction,” he said with a smirk.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07004/751162-84.stm

Links corrected.  Microsoft Office strikes again with look-alike
  ” > ” .

Violet,

Great post.

I found it particularly enlightening to hear about Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Mn), swearing in on the Koran and Congresswoman Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), being sworn in on no book at all.

For some historical background from the December 8, 2006, Sun Herald:

“In 1825, John Quincy Adams took the presidential oath using a law volume instead of a Bible, and in 1853, Franklin Pierce affirmed the oath rather than swearing it. Herbert Hoover, citing his Quaker beliefs, also affirmed his oath in 1929 but did use a Bible, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Theodore Roosevelt used no Bible in taking his first oath of office in 1901, but did in 1905.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., took her oath in 2005 on a Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, she borrowed from Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., after learning a few hours before that the speaker of the House didn’t have any Jewish holy books.”

While Representative Virgil Goode (R-VA), might not approve of anyone using anything except the Christian Bible to swear into office, this exercise of diversity affirms our nation’s respect for 1st Amendment guaranteed rights of religious freedom and the prohibition of religious tests from holding office.

I found Congressman Ellison’s actions and the controversy it ignited most revealing about the level of understanding of many Americans regarding the need to fight for the protection of religious freedom.

Bob

Violet,

The Republicans are willing to play politics with soldiers’ lives.

Let me explain.

President Bush is aware of the public’s sentiment against the war and the fact that the Democrats have thin majorities in Congress.  He is also aware that there isn’t any good solution to the mess that he has created.  So he has to create a fantasy that if we had just followed his plan, we could have been successful, but alas, once again the Democrats have stolen failure out of the jaws of victory.  And they should take the blame on the Iraq fiasco.

So he proposes a surge.  The Democrats get their act together, are able to obstruct this troop escalation, still leaving Iraq a fiasco, and the Republicans point their fingers across the aisle and say, “alas, if only you had followed our plans…”

Democrats still need to avoid implementation of any unwise policy vis a vis Iraq.  We need to hold this President accountable through appropriate investigations and utilizing the power of subpoena.  We cannot rule out impeachment until we have the information that can let us decide the appropriate course of action.

But realize that Karl Rove and company are not completely asleep at the wheel.  That all of the twists and turns are not yet revealed. 

And by all means, let us campaign and promote a President who understands the world situation a bit more wisely than our current Texan. 

Bob

A detailed and painfully honest assessment of what really has to happen if the so-called surge in troop levels is to have even a snowball’s chance of success in Iraq can be found here:

Troop Surge Not Enough To Save Iraq

Another woo-hoo here, especially for my new Congressman, Joe Sestak!

Sestak assumes the helm as 7th District congressman

WASHINGTON—When Joe Sestak announced in February that he would take on U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, he had no campaign headquarters, no telephone and a staff of one—his brother Richard. But when the former Navy admiral arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday, he was joined by an ecstatic crowd of more than 1,000 supporters and two Bill Clintons—the 42nd president of the United States and the Upper Providence councilman.

They packed the foyer of the Rayburn Building to watch the 7th District’s new Democratic congressman take the oath of office on closed-circuit TV two months after he ended Weldon’s political career with more than 33,000 votes to spare.

...

A Springfield native and Cardinal O’Hara High School graduate, Sestak attended the Naval Academy on a scholarship and rose to the three-star rank of vice admiral during a 31-year career. He later served as a defense adviser in the Clinton administration and first director of the Navy’s “Deep Blue” antiterrorism program.

He is now a freshman congressman in the 435-member House, but his national security credentials have landed him a spot on the Armed Services Committee, where he hopes to promote his plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

...

As the 7th District’s first Democratic congressman since Bob Edgar, Sestak has pledged to support an increase in the minimum wage, increased federal funding for stem-cell research and legislation to expand health-care accessibility.

I was part of that crowd (except I missed the part where Bill Clinton stopped by), and it was incredible. We really took over that part of the first floor of the Rayburn building. I don’t think anyone trying to walk by that area missed that someone named Joe Sestak had come to town!