The House is currently in recess for the October District Work Period and will reconvene on November 13, 2006.

No One’s Laughing, Senator

Speaking to a group of college kids at Pasadena City College last Monday, Senator John Kerry made his now infamous comment, “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't you get stuck in Iraq.” For obvious reasons, this comment incensed the vast majority of Americans who vehemently disagree with the Senator. Despite the fact that Senator Kerry had once again looked down his nose and insulted the rest of the country by calling our troops stupid he refused to apologize. That is until even his rich liberal friends like Senator Hilary Clinton said he probably should. Even today, Kerry refuses to apologize on camera in the same manner that his tasteless (and not funny) “joke” was made and has instead simply written an apology on a website.

Contrary to Senator Kerry’s mistaken views, the United States Military is an exceptionally qualified force comprised of men and women who capably and professionally serve our nation. Of the men and women deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, over 97 percent have a high school diploma or more. In fact, more than 213,000 of the 1.4 million who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan hold bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D. degrees. The individuals who volunteer to serve our country stem from the upper standings of high school graduates and routinely score above average on qualifying tests. Nearly two-thirds of today’s recruits are drawn from the top half of America in math and verbal aptitudes. There’s no question that the Americans serving today in our military are qualified, dedicated, professional, and educated. As a United States Senator, John Kerry should know better than to malign the quality and caliber of our troops.

Crucial Votes

An article buried in yesterday’s The Washington Post cited recent remarks from the head of the FBI’s New York field office that said a group of alleged terrorists arrested in London last August planned to blow up airliners over U.S. cities to maximize casualties, rather than over the Atlantic Ocean as many intelligence officials originally thought. This makes it pretty clear that Islamic extremists remain focused on attacking U.S. cities. Just because there have been no attacks on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001, doesn’t mean the terrorists have given up. In fact, it’s been reported that since 9/11, at least 16 terror plots have been thwarted. Now is not the time to get complacent. Republicans are working hard to give intelligence officials the tools they need to continue thwarting terrorist plots and bringing criminal masterminds to justice. Unfortunately, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is not as convinced that bold, resolute steps are necessary. Last September, she led 177 other members of her party in voting no on authorizing the President’s terrorist surveillance program to allow American intelligence officials to intercept phone calls made by overseas al Qaeda operatives to their cohorts in the U.S. Leader Pelosi also led 131 other members of her party in voting no on constructing a fence to help gain control of America’s borders, jeopardizing the efforts to prevent terrorists from illegally entering the United States. And last year, she led 152 other members of her party in voting no on the REAL ID Act, which works to prevent terrorists from obtaining driver’s licenses or state ID cards and traveling freely throughout the U.S. The Washington Post article should serve as a warning that these are crucial times and crucial votes. Now is the time to remain resolved in our commitment to bolstering intelligence and fighting terror. To become complacent would be to play into the deadly hands of our enemy.

General Benedict Arnold

“Military service does not confer lifetime immunity from criticism for what you do afterwards. Benedict Arnold was a military hero during the Revolutionary War. But General Arnold changed his mind on that war, just as Senator Kerry has changed his mind on the war in Iraq — and no one has claimed that Benedict Arnold’s earlier military service made him exempt from criticism.” – National Review columnist Thomas Sowell, 11/2/06.