For the past several years I have been compiling a database of year by year historical information on our US Congress. (See the link for the actual file in the "Other Resources" box on this site). The file is a work in progress- as history occurs and, as data is researched and verified, it will be added and the database will be updated to reflect the additions. The file has been set up to open "read only", so when the message box pops up and asks for a password, click the "read only" box to view it.
The database is broken down by political party control of both houses and notes major legislative actions that occurred during each year. In years where one party controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, you will see the color line carry all the way across to the national debt figures. It is a work in progress and will continue to be for some time to come. I am posting the database below and welcome all comments and would greatly welcome ANY help with making the visual bigger or more expandable.
The project began primarily to insure my children would have a source for verified and consistent historical information, unaltered by changing ideologies or moral standards. I wanted them to be able to base their political choices and decisions on fact- not the half-truths and misrepresentations of media outlets, politicians and special interest groups. I wanted them to have quick access to the "numbers" - the only really objective record- that would show them what really happens when the people are not vigilant in guarding their rights.
Rather than expand on what I "see" in the numbers, I would hope that each person who views it, will comment on what they "see" and why, since it is the American voters' "collective view" that determines which direction our country inevitably heads in. The database is posted for your review and I welcome all comments, as long as they are earnestly given and respectful language is used.
Americans striving to preserve American Exceptionalism
Saturday, November 11
Tuesday, April 17
On the Subject of Unity (Tea Party memories from 2012)
I had the pleasure of attending the Tax Day Tea Party in Watkins Glen, NY this past Sunday and was really pleased to see that the other local Tea Parties are alive and well (I regularly attend the Corning Tea Party meetings)! To any of you who were there as well, thank you for joining the rest of us who care enough about our country to spend a Sunday afternoon staying informed, sharing information and making a statement. It was great to see folks from all age groups and walks of life joined together for a laudable purpose and I know we are making a difference and will continue to as long as we stay united!
The subject of unity resonated with several speakers and I believe it was the most important message we heard. I remember the first Tea Party event I attended in 2009 with my 11 year-old son, in Corning, NY. I was amazed and proud at the diversity of the crowd- young families, senior citizens, small business owners, union members, business execs – a real cross-section of our local population. We were united in frustration, outrage even, over the irresponsible actions taken by an overreaching government and the impact those actions were having (and have continued to have) on the financial health of our country, our states, our individual lives, and our local communities. Most amazing was how one issue, uniquely affecting each of us, could create such a spontaneous uprising (albeit peaceful) across the entire country. Americans, everywhere, had a real commonality and that commonality made us a threat to the bureaucrats in Washington, DC and Albany, as many found out at election time.
Regardless of our path in life, the financial meltdown of America impacted us all, in one way or another and so many, who would not normally join together for other reasons, found common ground and united; we became a force to be reckoned with. Tea Party folks realized that the irresponsible behavior of the power guys helped create the mess we are in. We clearly scared the daylights out of the establishment politicians in both parties and they have expended great amounts of money, effort and media assistance to try and marginalize the Tea Party, and use individual issues to “divide and conquer” us. Together, we have the power, we always have, but we need to focus on uniting to protect the inalienable rights that make us real Americans.
Each of us, each person, each family, each community, each county, each state is unique with its own set of needs and wants. We all want our world to be a better place- even the power guys. The problem lies in defining what a “better place” is. That conundrum is right up there with trying to define “fairness” or "happiness". What qualifies as better or fairer is completely dependent on who is defining the term. There is no "one size fits all" definition and our government should not be legislating ANYTHING that doesn't provide a equal benefit for all Americans, rather than pitting one group against the other. They certainly should not be engaged in taking from some and giving to others without their consent.
The reality is that we are a generous, caring people. If we weren’t wasting so much money supporting bloated out of control bureaucracies and government programs loaded with fraud and waste, at costs hundreds, even thousands of times more costly than we could run them locally, we would not only have the funds to address our local challenges, with local money, tailored to meet local needs, in a far more efficient and transparent manner, we would actually be able to keep more of our own hard earned money in our own communities and pockets, strengthening our communities and pursuing our own happiness.
Instead we continue to allow the taxation machine to take our money and beat us over the head with it, while we wait for them to throw some scraps back to our communities, expecting us to be beholden for the crumbs, when they took the "food" from our plates in the first place. The attempt to impose one ideal “Utopia” is not only utterly foolish, it is tyrannical and untenable in a free society.
If we are to remain strong, we must focus on the issues that unite us and not on those issues that potentially could divide us. We need to keep our eye on the real enemy –those who would take away our innate, God given rights to religious choice, to voice our opinions, to own guns, to limit the control of our government. Each of us defines happiness differently and place different values on different things. Is it right to try and force your neighbor to act or believe a certain way because you somehow feel your way is better? Should individual communities be forced to spend money on services they don’t need or want? Should we be forced to fund business sectors or social issues we don’t support? That is exactly what our government is forcing us to do - every day, using our own hard earned money to do it.
The power guys are very effective at turning one side against the other by shifting the focus away from their own actions and onto our individual differences. Each of us has a unique approach to and outlook on life, based on all of the factors that have and will affect our individual consciousness. None of us will deal with an issue or problem exactly the same way because of that. Even within our own psyche, we tend to make different judgments about different people despite common behaviors, based on our individual knowledge of the people we judge. The power guys know that we will not always agree on specifics and they use that knowledge like an axe, to divide us.
The real issue isn’t whether - a) you believe in God or are an atheist, b) own guns or despise them,
c) support right to life or right to choose, or any myriad of other topics. The real problem is our government taking away our rights and forcing us to pay for the life choices of other people. The real issue issue is -how do we protect our individual rights and limit our imposition on each other?
We are all impacted by excessive government intrusion in our daily lives -excessive government takes the fruits of our labors in the form of onerous taxes and regulatory fees which, in turn, impedes and erodes our individual ability to pursue happiness. Excessive government continues to find new ways to take away our money and property and limit nearly all aspects of our individual rights. The usurpation of our individual rights is the enemy, not the woman who has an abortion or the gay couple who live in your neighborhood. The enemy is a government that forces you to pay for the abortion or finance the lifestyle that you don't agree with, by taking your hardearned money and deciding who should benefit from it, instead of you.
Consequences are the direct result of the individual choices we make. Other people's choices don't impact our quality of life unless we are being forced to pay for them, they commit crimes against us or we choose to let their choices pick away at our brain. Your hard earned money is your power- it is your voice, just as your vote is. Allowing a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington and Albany to take more and more of our power from us to buy the things THEY want, and support the issues THEY want, and reward the people THEY want, severely limits our own individual ability to pursue happiness.
We have no more right to impose our belief systems on each other, than the government has to force us to accept and fund other's belief systems. Our greatest right is the right to live free of those impositions and to limit our government’s ability to “impose” as much as is reasonably possible, while maintaining reasonable social order to protect our lives, our liberty and our property.
There are forces at work (and have been since the signing of the Declaration of Independence), trying to unravel the efforts of the original Tea Party patriots. Those forces have been quite effective in twisting the truth, shifting the focus off the real issues and using hot button issues to distract and divide the masses. Remember what brought us all together in the first place - government oppression- and focus your talents on unifying our efforts. We have the ability to make a real difference in the future of our country for our children and grand children to come, but we have to set aside personal differences and focus on the real task at hand.
The subject of unity resonated with several speakers and I believe it was the most important message we heard. I remember the first Tea Party event I attended in 2009 with my 11 year-old son, in Corning, NY. I was amazed and proud at the diversity of the crowd- young families, senior citizens, small business owners, union members, business execs – a real cross-section of our local population. We were united in frustration, outrage even, over the irresponsible actions taken by an overreaching government and the impact those actions were having (and have continued to have) on the financial health of our country, our states, our individual lives, and our local communities. Most amazing was how one issue, uniquely affecting each of us, could create such a spontaneous uprising (albeit peaceful) across the entire country. Americans, everywhere, had a real commonality and that commonality made us a threat to the bureaucrats in Washington, DC and Albany, as many found out at election time.
Regardless of our path in life, the financial meltdown of America impacted us all, in one way or another and so many, who would not normally join together for other reasons, found common ground and united; we became a force to be reckoned with. Tea Party folks realized that the irresponsible behavior of the power guys helped create the mess we are in. We clearly scared the daylights out of the establishment politicians in both parties and they have expended great amounts of money, effort and media assistance to try and marginalize the Tea Party, and use individual issues to “divide and conquer” us. Together, we have the power, we always have, but we need to focus on uniting to protect the inalienable rights that make us real Americans.
Each of us, each person, each family, each community, each county, each state is unique with its own set of needs and wants. We all want our world to be a better place- even the power guys. The problem lies in defining what a “better place” is. That conundrum is right up there with trying to define “fairness” or "happiness". What qualifies as better or fairer is completely dependent on who is defining the term. There is no "one size fits all" definition and our government should not be legislating ANYTHING that doesn't provide a equal benefit for all Americans, rather than pitting one group against the other. They certainly should not be engaged in taking from some and giving to others without their consent.
The reality is that we are a generous, caring people. If we weren’t wasting so much money supporting bloated out of control bureaucracies and government programs loaded with fraud and waste, at costs hundreds, even thousands of times more costly than we could run them locally, we would not only have the funds to address our local challenges, with local money, tailored to meet local needs, in a far more efficient and transparent manner, we would actually be able to keep more of our own hard earned money in our own communities and pockets, strengthening our communities and pursuing our own happiness.
Instead we continue to allow the taxation machine to take our money and beat us over the head with it, while we wait for them to throw some scraps back to our communities, expecting us to be beholden for the crumbs, when they took the "food" from our plates in the first place. The attempt to impose one ideal “Utopia” is not only utterly foolish, it is tyrannical and untenable in a free society.
If we are to remain strong, we must focus on the issues that unite us and not on those issues that potentially could divide us. We need to keep our eye on the real enemy –those who would take away our innate, God given rights to religious choice, to voice our opinions, to own guns, to limit the control of our government. Each of us defines happiness differently and place different values on different things. Is it right to try and force your neighbor to act or believe a certain way because you somehow feel your way is better? Should individual communities be forced to spend money on services they don’t need or want? Should we be forced to fund business sectors or social issues we don’t support? That is exactly what our government is forcing us to do - every day, using our own hard earned money to do it.
The power guys are very effective at turning one side against the other by shifting the focus away from their own actions and onto our individual differences. Each of us has a unique approach to and outlook on life, based on all of the factors that have and will affect our individual consciousness. None of us will deal with an issue or problem exactly the same way because of that. Even within our own psyche, we tend to make different judgments about different people despite common behaviors, based on our individual knowledge of the people we judge. The power guys know that we will not always agree on specifics and they use that knowledge like an axe, to divide us.
The real issue isn’t whether - a) you believe in God or are an atheist, b) own guns or despise them,
c) support right to life or right to choose, or any myriad of other topics. The real problem is our government taking away our rights and forcing us to pay for the life choices of other people. The real issue issue is -how do we protect our individual rights and limit our imposition on each other?
We are all impacted by excessive government intrusion in our daily lives -excessive government takes the fruits of our labors in the form of onerous taxes and regulatory fees which, in turn, impedes and erodes our individual ability to pursue happiness. Excessive government continues to find new ways to take away our money and property and limit nearly all aspects of our individual rights. The usurpation of our individual rights is the enemy, not the woman who has an abortion or the gay couple who live in your neighborhood. The enemy is a government that forces you to pay for the abortion or finance the lifestyle that you don't agree with, by taking your hardearned money and deciding who should benefit from it, instead of you.
Consequences are the direct result of the individual choices we make. Other people's choices don't impact our quality of life unless we are being forced to pay for them, they commit crimes against us or we choose to let their choices pick away at our brain. Your hard earned money is your power- it is your voice, just as your vote is. Allowing a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington and Albany to take more and more of our power from us to buy the things THEY want, and support the issues THEY want, and reward the people THEY want, severely limits our own individual ability to pursue happiness.
We have no more right to impose our belief systems on each other, than the government has to force us to accept and fund other's belief systems. Our greatest right is the right to live free of those impositions and to limit our government’s ability to “impose” as much as is reasonably possible, while maintaining reasonable social order to protect our lives, our liberty and our property.
There are forces at work (and have been since the signing of the Declaration of Independence), trying to unravel the efforts of the original Tea Party patriots. Those forces have been quite effective in twisting the truth, shifting the focus off the real issues and using hot button issues to distract and divide the masses. Remember what brought us all together in the first place - government oppression- and focus your talents on unifying our efforts. We have the ability to make a real difference in the future of our country for our children and grand children to come, but we have to set aside personal differences and focus on the real task at hand.
Saturday, June 6
D-Day and Veterans Remembered
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the turning point in WWII. On that day, thousands of American and allied soldiers lost their lives, and thousands more were wounded, trying to preserve our collective freedoms.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to every American veteran and soldier who has or will lay their lives on the line for the American dream. How can any of those who lack military experience truly understand the personal sacrifice and commitment that it takes to be an American soldier? How can they truly understand the emotional toll that impacts military families while their loved ones are in harm's way??
3 generations after WWII, many Americans have lost sight of what freedom really means or have become squeamish about paying the cost, in terms of personal sacrifice, to continue to insure we retain it. Few understand how fragile the fabric of freedom really is. I am a 7th generation American; my husband is a 2nd generation. At least one person (most times many) in each of those generations, both sides of our family, served America in the military. They valued their freedoms, they fought for their freedoms and they instilled a love of those freedoms in their children and grandchildren.
It seems strangely odd that all 3 world leaders, Obama, Brown and Sarkozy(who are putting on the big media show today) lack military experience. These men all appear to be squeamish about confrontations or war, in general, choosing instead to operate in an environment of hollow niceties and "worldview" diplomacy.
"Worldview" diplomacy lacks the intrinsic "teeth" of honest debate and weakens the veracity of America's commitment to guarding our freedoms, in an attempt to avoid losing some "fair weather friends". All 3 leaders lack the "first person" understanding of what "the cost of freedom" really is and what it truly cost to get this far. For that matter, a large portion of our own Congress appears to lack the understanding, as well. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln, "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or be changed!!!" Lucky for many in Congress they weren't serving during Lincoln's terms!
It is not surprising, therefore, that these 3 world leaders purposely omitted Queen Elizabeth II (who served her country in WWII, as did many other women) from the observance. I say purposely because there was adequate public attention to the matter and ample time to correct an honest oversight.
I am not sure if they wanted to avoid the world's comparison of old and new leadership styles, if their egos couldn't deal with their collective lack of military experience, in constrast to a female monarch who was actively involved in WWII, or if it was just a personal snub.
Whatever the case, omitting Queen Elizabeth II appears petty, immature and disingenuous and those are not "qualities" we should seek from our countries' leaders.
I can only hope that Presidents Obama and Sarkozy, and Prime Minister Brown will learn from the experience and gain some insight into the intrinsic qualities and value of men and women who truly, truly love their freedoms and their countries.
Ask yourselves - How many schoolage children really know the history of the wars America has fought in? Do your children?
Why are we teaching children shame rather than pride in America??
How can we show our gratitude to those who believed in America and gave so much of themselves to preserve it??
Recognizing and remembering our veteran's sacrifices is always important. Teach your children and grandchildren the American history our schools fail to, take them to see the battlegrounds and the the museums and the monuments that mark those major events. Help them understand and remember. Show pride in America and they will too.
Visiting VA hospitals, donating to veteran's and military family causes, attending local veteran's events and being an empathetic ear to those who have served and/or are currently serving, are all positive ways we can say thank you.
The most important thank you we can give our fighting men and women- NEVER FORGET!!
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to every American veteran and soldier who has or will lay their lives on the line for the American dream. How can any of those who lack military experience truly understand the personal sacrifice and commitment that it takes to be an American soldier? How can they truly understand the emotional toll that impacts military families while their loved ones are in harm's way??
3 generations after WWII, many Americans have lost sight of what freedom really means or have become squeamish about paying the cost, in terms of personal sacrifice, to continue to insure we retain it. Few understand how fragile the fabric of freedom really is. I am a 7th generation American; my husband is a 2nd generation. At least one person (most times many) in each of those generations, both sides of our family, served America in the military. They valued their freedoms, they fought for their freedoms and they instilled a love of those freedoms in their children and grandchildren.
It seems strangely odd that all 3 world leaders, Obama, Brown and Sarkozy(who are putting on the big media show today) lack military experience. These men all appear to be squeamish about confrontations or war, in general, choosing instead to operate in an environment of hollow niceties and "worldview" diplomacy.
"Worldview" diplomacy lacks the intrinsic "teeth" of honest debate and weakens the veracity of America's commitment to guarding our freedoms, in an attempt to avoid losing some "fair weather friends". All 3 leaders lack the "first person" understanding of what "the cost of freedom" really is and what it truly cost to get this far. For that matter, a large portion of our own Congress appears to lack the understanding, as well. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln, "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or be changed!!!" Lucky for many in Congress they weren't serving during Lincoln's terms!
It is not surprising, therefore, that these 3 world leaders purposely omitted Queen Elizabeth II (who served her country in WWII, as did many other women) from the observance. I say purposely because there was adequate public attention to the matter and ample time to correct an honest oversight.
I am not sure if they wanted to avoid the world's comparison of old and new leadership styles, if their egos couldn't deal with their collective lack of military experience, in constrast to a female monarch who was actively involved in WWII, or if it was just a personal snub.
Whatever the case, omitting Queen Elizabeth II appears petty, immature and disingenuous and those are not "qualities" we should seek from our countries' leaders.
I can only hope that Presidents Obama and Sarkozy, and Prime Minister Brown will learn from the experience and gain some insight into the intrinsic qualities and value of men and women who truly, truly love their freedoms and their countries.
Ask yourselves - How many schoolage children really know the history of the wars America has fought in? Do your children?
Why are we teaching children shame rather than pride in America??
How can we show our gratitude to those who believed in America and gave so much of themselves to preserve it??
Recognizing and remembering our veteran's sacrifices is always important. Teach your children and grandchildren the American history our schools fail to, take them to see the battlegrounds and the the museums and the monuments that mark those major events. Help them understand and remember. Show pride in America and they will too.
Visiting VA hospitals, donating to veteran's and military family causes, attending local veteran's events and being an empathetic ear to those who have served and/or are currently serving, are all positive ways we can say thank you.
The most important thank you we can give our fighting men and women- NEVER FORGET!!
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