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.

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.

Every two years, like clockwork, Marinites return the execrable Lynn Woolsey to Congress.  She’s so bad — by which I mean such a loopy Leftist — that I didn’t vote for her even when I was a Democrat.  I was a moderate; she was, and is, a nut case.  But still she wins, regularly sweeping in about 70% of the vote.

Voters here don’t care what Woolsey is, what she believes or what she offers; they just like that “D” after her name.  I have no doubt but that she’ll win again this year, for precisely the same reason.

If you’re in Florida’s 22nd District, however, you have the opportunity to vote for someone special.  I don’t know what the Republican/Democratic balance is in the 22nd District but, if it’s close, maybe he can win, and maybe there’ll be a true counterweight in Congress to Woolsey and her ilk.  If anyone has the cojones, as a freshman Congressman, to make waves, it’s West.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Maybe she got those Dems to vote yes because she assured them that, at the end of the day, the Senate will vote no.  Or, maybe, we’re screwed:

The US House of Representatives has approved the broadest US health care overhaul in a half-century, handing President Barack Obama a major victory on his top domestic priority.

After hours of bitter debate and an appeal from Obama to “answer the call of history,” lawmakers voted late Saturday 220-215 for a 10-year, trillion-dollar plan to extend health coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now.

The chamber’s Democrats erupted in loud cheers and triumphant applause the moment the bill had the 218 votes needed for passage, about 11:07 pm (0407 GMT), a happy din that grew deafening when a gavel made it official.

The president had paid a rare visit to Congress to lobby for unity among his Democratic allies and reinforced it with a public speech, but 39 still joined 176 of the chamber’s Republicans in opposition to the proposal.

One Republican broke ranks, nominally fulfilling, in the barest terms, Obama’s vow to secure bipartisan support.

That Republican, by the way, would be Representative Timothy Johnson of Illinois. Either the rules for Republicans are different in Illinois, or Johnson was getting ready to retire anyway. I don’t see him riding the train again to Washington.

UPDATED:  Last night’s news story seems to be in error.  The renegade Republican was Joseph Cao from Louisiana.  As for me, I’ve written a very nasty letter to my anything but renegade, tied-in-the-wool wacko liberal representative Lynn Woolsey, much good that will do me.  She got returned by a 75% margin last time around.

After House Vote, Rangel Still Ways and Means Chairman

The 6 Republicans who voted in favor of keeping the tax cheat I bet are not  running for office any time soon.
The two Dems should be rewarded with a medal.
The 246 who thought that keeping him was a good idea are in need of a dictionary and a moral compass.
300 million Americans just got ‘w’rangled.

Lie and cheat and you still get to keep your job.
No wonder Charlie hasn’t been in rush to pay his debts – it enhanced his resume.