Some of us thought, “Yay, Barney Fwank is leaving.”  Sure, we know that his constituents will elect someone equally liberal to fill his old seat, but that person will lack Barney Fwank’s seniority.

Sadly, others with Fwank’s seniority remain behind in the House of Representatives.  So it very much looks as if, to fill the Fwankian vacuum on the House Financial Services Committee, the next senior-most member is already in line:  Maxine Waters.  Oh, yeah.  It can always get worse.

If this doesn’t scare the living daylights out of voters, and lead them to turn both Congress and the White House over to the Republicans by very large margins, voters are either dumber or more addicted to risky behavior than I ever expected them to be.

Those in the know are saying that tonight will be bye-bye to someone big in Congress.  This could be interesting.

Apparently the passions that burned in voters’ breasts in 2010 have yet to burn themselves out in 2011.  In a very Jewish district (Jews!  The Democrat stalwarts!) Republican Bob Turner took over Anthony Weiner’s seat (although I hope he disinfects it well before he sits down on it).

This election bodes well for 2012, to which I say Thank God!  Strong though she is, I don’t think that America can handle too much more Progressive governance.

Your opinions, reactions, comments, jokes, whatever, on this election and the big one in 2012 are welcome here.

Weiner was tap-dancing so fast for the last few days he made Fred Astaire look like a piker.  We all knew he was lying.  Today finally saw the denouement:  more photos (some x-rated), more texts, more women, and a full confession.  The only thing missing was the one thing the American people deserved:  a resignation.

The House of Representatives is a symbol for America.  It should have a certain dignity.  We know that it is staffed by imperfect human beings, but they have an obligation to their office and to the American people to hold themselves up to a certain standard.  When they so obviously fail to do so, they shouldn’t continue sully America’s representative body.  But of course, being a Democrat means never having to say “I resign.”  (I would assume, of course, that Weiner had a quick confab with Frank to find out the protocol for riding out an embarrassing sexual scandal.)

Aside from the appearance of propriety that should characterize service in this august public office. Andrew Breitbart has made the valid point that these kind of shenanigans expose government officials to the risk of blackmail.  With that kind of salacious garbage floating around, it would be only too easy for venal people, or even treasonous ones, to take advantage of Weiner’s desire to keep his peccadilloes out of the public eye.

The whole thing is tawdry, disgusting, demeaning, and it reflects badly on the Democrats that they are not doing what Republicans would have done, and demanding that Weiner leave office immediately.

I haven’t been blogging about far Left judicial activist Goodwin Liu, but if you’ve been following the story on your own, you’ll be happy to know that the Senate Republicans successfully filibustered his nomination — a reminder, as if we need one, that the filibuster is an important tool for allowing the minority in Congress to put the brakes on the majority.  (And, if conservatives become a majority again, I hope that I have the good sense and lack of hypocrisy to remember that principle should it arise in a reversed context.)

At it’s most basic level, the War Powers Act of 1973 gives a president sixty days of latitude to start a war.  At that point, he has thirty days to obtain Congressional permission to continue the war.  For purposes of this post, I’m going to assume (correctly, I think) that the United States’ involvement in Libya, even though it’s part of a NATO action, triggers the War Powers Act.

Obama did not go into Libya with Congressional permission.  The 60 days are up in a few days.  In theory, Obama then has to petition Congress for the continued right to engage in military action in Libya.  Interestingly, during the past 60 days, Obama has not made any moves to persuade Congress that the war in Libya is a good and necessary thing for America’s interests.  He’s also not giving any sign that he intends to do so in the future.

Here’s my thinking:  Obama knows that the Democrats will vote yes on this one, because Obama is the one asking.  Obama also knows that the Republicans will vote yes, not necessarily because they support the Libyan action but because the Republican ethos since Vietnam has been that you don’t simply walk away from a war, you first try to win the war.  Since Gaddafi is still gadding about, we haven’t won.

Under the above circumstances, you’d think that Obama would submit a vote to Congress to stay the course (whatever the Hell that course might be) in Libya.  As I noted, though, that’s not the road Obama appears to be taking.  Is it possible, do you think, that Obama is going to ignore the War Powers Act entirely, aggregating to himself the unilateral power to take America to war?  It would be the ultimate war-mongering cowboy thing to do, but I’m willing to bet good money that, should he take that tack, the media will allow his unconstitutional, illegal behavior to pass by, unremarked.

What do you think?

The Bookworm Turns : A Secret Conservative in Liberal Land, available in e-format for $4.99 at Amazon, Smashwords or through your iBook app.

I mentioned last week that House Republicans, in an effort to use social networking better, are running a competition that sees members compete to optimize various social networking media.  My long-time blogfriend Lorie Byrd worked to help Renee Ellmers, a true Tea Partier, get elected, is now working to help her in this contest.

I recognize that this contest has nothing to do with the substantive issues plaguing America and Congress, but there is virtue to having Republicans better able to reach out to voters through new media.  Direct contact with the American voters is just one more way Republican politicians and candidates can by-pass the hostile, old drive-by media.

If you have a Twitter account and would like to help Ellmers, all you need to do is “follow” her here.  She’s currently competing against someone who has almost 5 times as many followers as she does before the contest has even begun, so it would be a fun underdog moment if she could win.

The GOP has recognized that, as much as anything, the next election starts on the new media.  In order to get House GOP members on board with new media, they’ve instituted a contest by which GOP representatives compete for the most YouTube links, twitter friends, etc.  In other words, to win the contest, GOP reps have to get their assistants, employees, friends and followers focused on new media.

My friend Lorie Byrd has worked with Renee Ellmers since the very beginning, so I’m going to ask to check out Renee’s YouTube page.  But really, check out any Rep you want.  The whole point is to facilitate an exciting new media that might get the Grand Old Party back into power.

My well is dry today, as you’ve probably noticed, but I can highly recommend this article about Rep. Eric Cantor.

Hat tip:  Soccer Dad, who isn’t blogging right now, but who is still paying attention.  (Once a political junkie, always a political junkie.)

Years ago, NPR did a story about the disgraceful way in which President Bush used executive orders to circumvent Congress.  Shame on him!  Sadly, I can’t find that story (although, maybe, if I had the time and patience to weed through 8 years of NPR archives I could.)  I just remember the anger about those executive orders.

New president, new rules.  The Left, in order to reverse the effect of Obama’s “shellacking” (a description that became hackneyed within seconds of its first use), is touting the President’s ability to use executive orders to pursue his agenda.  Of course, since this is a super president, they’re touting a super-use of those same executive powers, in a way never before conceived in American politics.

Ed Lasky spells out specific ways that the new Congress — and, more specifically, the new House — can use its own bureaucratic powers to stop the onrushing regulatory nightmare.