Almost 100 years after the vote amendment . . .

Since 1917 Representative Jeannette Rankin (R MT, 1917- 1919)  "A total of 313 women have been elected or appointed to Congress, 202 Democrats and 111 Republicans. Of these women, 267 (173 Democrats, 94 Republicans) have been elected only to the House of Representatives; 35 (21 Democrats, 14 Republicans) have been elected or appointed only to the Senate; and 11 (8 Democrats, 3 Republicans) have served in both houses. These figures include six non-voting Delegates, one each fro...m Guam, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, and two from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of the 46 women who have been elected or appointed to the Senate, 14 were first appointed and 5 were first elected to fill unexpired terms. A total of 38 African American women have served in Congress (1 in the Senate, 37 in the House), including 20 serving in the 114th Congress. Eleven Hispanic women have been elected to the House; nine serve in the 114th Congress. Ten Asian Pacific American women have served in Congress (nine in the House, one in both the House and Senate), including seven in the 114th Congress.” 

I'm a little math challenged, but it appears that based on population, minority women are doing better than majority women in Congress. Should we expect the minorities to do less, or the majority to do more? You know, to ease the gap in achievement.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30261.pdf 

 

Heroin trafficking by Mexican drug dealers

Heroin Trafficking in the United States, Congressional Research Service, Aug. 23, 2016. "While there are at least eight major Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating in the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel is the most active. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) notes that Mexican criminal networks “transport the bulk of their goods over the Southwest Border through ports of entry (POEs) using passenger
vehicles or tractor trailers.” In passenger vehicles, the drugs may be held in secret compartments; while in tractor trailers, the drugs are often comingled with other legitimate goods." 

How is this different than what Donald Trump has claimed about our border and about Mexican criminals infiltrating legitimate businesses and been criticized as a racist for reporting the problem?  Yet it is the research of the U.S. Congress division. What is the plan of the "regular" GOP to stop this? Chat across the aisle a few more years with Democrats while Hillary is President? http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44599.pdf

The Food Stamp King

The 1996 Welfare Reform was working. More people had jobs; the government got more taxes; families had more hope. BUT. That made fewer people depending on the government, and for Obama that was bad, so he changed the definition of work. The Congressional Research Service, not Fox News, not Rush Limbaugh, found that the number of able-bodied Americans on food stamps exploded following changes to the work requirement by the Obama administration.

Thank you, Mitt Romney, for drawing attention to the culture of dependency. Romney's 47% comments offended some conservatives because those on Social Security and Medicare have already paid for those benefits, but the fact remains, the direction we're going is unsustainable.

Today's new word--GONGO

It's been awhile since I found a new word interesting enough to write about. I'm currently reading The Professor and the Madman which is about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, so words are more interesting again. Anyway, in Kerry Dumbaugh's very interesting lecture and films this week about the social and economic problems facing China, she mentioned GONGO. She briefly noted the role of non-governmental organizations in China, and then told us about the GONGO, "Chinese government organized nongovernmental organizations" which have been viewed by most China scholars and international agencies simply as extended organs of the government. And I immediately thought of ACORN, the association of community organizers for reform NOW which through the election of Barack Obama, have become an arm of the President, as he railroads through his reforms NOW with no one reading the legislation EVER or having any thought of unintended consequences. They continue to screw up the housing market with government grants and organizational pressure, and I'm sure that won't end.