HR 888 - rewriting history?

jwr4a

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J
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There is a resolution up before congress which, to my mind is a blatant and egregious attempt to deny and rewrite part of our (USA) history. A couple of lines which I have trouble with:

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Whereas religious faith was not only important in official American life during the periods of discovery, exploration, colonization, and growth but has also been acknowledged and incorporated into all 3 branches of American Federal government from their very beginning;

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Whereas political scientists have documented that the most frequently-cited source in the political period known as The Founding Era was the Bible;

Whereas the first act of America's first Congress in 1774 was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading of 4 chapters of the Bible;

Whereas Congress regularly attended church and Divine service together en masse;


...

Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives----

...

(2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;

(3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources; and

...
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full text: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:5:./temp/~c110j6RlkA::


There are 75 "whereas" clauses, each of which seems to be an outright lie, a mined quote, or something that doesn't mean what the author of the resolution wants it to mean. I plan to write my congressman (for all the good it will do - he's a conservative :( ), and I thought some of you other USAians might also want to.

Here's another commentary on this (with refutations of several of the clauses):

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/1/4/24725/53989


I'll try not to post-and-run, but as you can see from my post count, I'm almost entirely a lurker due to time restraints.

--
jwr
 
(3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms
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That may be the world record for most meaningless vote of Congress in recent history, surpassing the "non-binding resolutions on Bush" that failed even to pass.
 
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You'll note Congress jumped on the non-incandescent bandwagon -- after industry figured out a better solution.

Expect prices in those bulbs to skyrocket, now that they're required by law. Some people will never get a clue.

It would be nice if some reporter investigated whether any Congresscreeps were, coincidently, invested in the non-incandescent bulb industry, and, if so, when do they get executed?
 
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BPSCG said:
Congressional resolutions. Ah, what memories. It seems like only a few weeks ago - well, actually, it was a few weeks ago - that I put up a post linking to all kinds of fun congressional resolutions. My favorite was one stating essentially that Congress was against polio. It was passed in (IIRC) 2005 - about fifty years after the Salk vaccine.
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It's not that I'm concerned that this will have any legal bearing (or any real impact). My concern is that these morons are either woefully undereducated, or have no issue with the blatant untruths listed on this thing.

That and the fact that if it is passed, I'd wager anyone here a beer that it will be pointed to as evidence that the US is a "Christian nation and always has been", which would irk me.
 
jwr4a said:
It's not that I'm concerned that this will have any legal bearing (or any real impact). My concern is that these morons are either woefully undereducated, or have no issue with the blatant untruths listed on this thing.

That and the fact that if it is passed, I'd wager anyone here a beer that it will be pointed to as evidence that the US is a "Christian nation and always has been", which would irk me.
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Will that mean that they will rewrite that Tripoli thing to fix the facts?
 
This just seems to be evidence of the opposite. If there was evidence to support the notion that the US governmental structure was founded on religious faith, there'd be no need for this resolution. They're manufacturing evidence.
 
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jwr4a said:
That and the fact that if it is passed, I'd wager anyone here a beer that it will be pointed to as evidence that the US is a "Christian nation and always has been", which would irk me.
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*Massive shrug.* If that were the stupidest thing Congress did, it would be an improvement. Social Security is going broke and the most important thing congress has on its agenda is to have Roger Clemens come up and testify that he didn't use steroids. These resolutions are written by low-level staffers at the behest of some constitutent back home, and are passed without debate in less time than it takes for you to read the title of the thing. You could probably get a resolution passed in favor of dicking your own potatoes (anyone seen pillory lately?) if you wrote your congressman a nice letter with a bribe campaign contribution enclosed:

Whereas potato dickers serve as role models, advocates, friends, and advisors to young people in need;
Whereas numerous studies document that potato dickers help young people augment social skills, enhance emotional well-being, improve cognitive skills, and plan for the future;
Whereas, for some children, having a caring adult potato dicker to turn to for guidance and encouragement can make the crucial difference between success and failure in life;
Whereas, 17.6 million young people, nearly half the youth population, want or need potato dickers to help them reach their full potential;
Whereas there exists a large 'potato dicking gap' of unmet needs, with only 2.5 million youth in formal potato dicking relationships, leaving 15 million young people still in need of potato dickers;
Whereas the celebration of National Potato Dicking Month will institutionalize the Nation's commitment to potato dicking and raise awareness of potato dicking in its various forms;
Whereas a month-long focus on potato dicking will tap into the vast pool of potential potato dickers and motivate adults to take action to help a young person;
Whereas National Potato Dicking Month will encourage organizations of all kinds, including businesses, faith communities, government agencies, schools, and more, to engage their constituents in potato dicking;
Whereas the celebration of National Potato Dicking Month would above all encourage more people to volunteer as potato dickers, to the benefit of the Nation's children; and
Whereas on January 2, 2003, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation naming January 2003 as National Potato Dicking Month and called upon the people of the United States to recognize the importance of being role models for youth, to look for potato dicking opportunities in their communities, and to celebrate this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs: Now, therefore, be it ​

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commends those who give their time and talents to support potato dicking programs; and
(2) supports efforts to promote greater awareness of the need for youth potato dickers and increased involvement with youth through potato dicking.​
 
Beerina said:
You'll note Congress jumped on the non-incandescent bandwagon -- after industry figured out a better solution.
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They did? What solution was that? I am sincerely asking this question: my impression so far has been criticism has merely been that such regulation may prevent future better solutions that industry would otherwise think of in the future or that flourescent bulbs just suck.
 
I'm lost. Is this sort of resolution similar to an Early Day Motion in the UK?
 
Rat said:
I'm lost. Is this sort of resolution similar to an Early Day Motion in the UK?
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Why don't you tell us colonials what an Early Day Motion is so we can give you an intelligent answer?
 
According to Wikipedia
An early day motion (EDM), in the Westminster system, is a motion tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day". They are only very rarely debated on the floor of the Chamber of the House. EDMs remain open for signature for the duration of the parliamentary session.

EDMs can be tabled on matters ranging from trivial, even funny, topics to those of epoch-making importance. The censure motion by which the Labour Government of James Callaghan was ejected had its origin in an early day motion (no. 351 of 1978–79), put down on 1979-03-22 by Margaret Thatcher.

Examples of trivial issues covered include EDM 1255 in the 2003–04 session of the UK Parliament tabled by Tony Banks, which concerns itself with a disclosure by MI5 that it had proposed using pigeons as flying bombs during World War II. The motion condemned the proposal, describing humans as "obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal", and proposed that the House "looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the Earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again". It was only signed by two other MPs (Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell).
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It's just something politicians do to amuse themselves, or to feel like they're doing something worthwhile, that has no other effect outside the house.
 
Rat said:
According to Wikipedia

It's just something politicians do to amuse themselves, or to feel like they're doing something worthwhile, that has no other effect outside the house.
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Our politicians do interns to amuse themselves.
 
jwr4a said:
There is a resolution up before congress
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Jeezus Shmeezus, is there anything more irrelevant than a congressional resolution?

If you had any idea some of the things that congress has resolved over the years, you'd pack your bags and move back into your mother's womb.
 
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