House Rules

Postnote January 11 & 12, 2023:  What rages on, beginning yesterday, are the papers found in Biden’s office which were immediately reported and produced to the National Archives.  There is much more to this story, and more to be told.

Personally, I support the established legal process of the Department of Justice.   One of the admittedly aggravating strengths of our justice system, generally, is that it is a slow and deliberative process of establishing fact, etc.  Such a process takes time, which is irritating to the ‘hang ’em high’ crowd and their cheerleaders.  It is easy to jump to conclusions.  In due time we will have more facts to go on.  And newspeople are not the ones who establish the facts or argue the cases….

Today’s mail brought the latest Letter from an American for Jan 10. on the Biden and Brazilian situations.  Civil Discourse by Joyce Vance was issued Jan. 11 also.  Letters from an American Jan. 11; Letters from an American Jan. 12

Postnote January 10:  for the time being, likely through January,  I’ll use the space to include items of interest relating to the 2023 U.S. Congress, and pending issues related to the ex-president.  Check back 0n occasion.

Letters from an American, Jan. 8; The Weekly Sift Jan. 9;  Verdict Justia Jan 9; Weekly Sift Jan 9 (new); The Status Kuo Jan. 10

So far, my choice for worst new committee, sponsored by Jim Jordan, is to include the words “Weaponization of the Federal Government” in its title.  Of course, no one knows what this will mean – the committee has not yet met – but the guess is that the intent is to tar and feather any individual or agency within the government that dares to challenge anything Mr. Jordan’s ‘side’ does.  This would include the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service among others.  Bullies like to take on disabled or weaker adversaries.

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Postnote January 9: Joyce Vance sent a good explanation of what’s ahead, beginning tomorrow, with procedures in the U.S. House of Representatives.  You can read it here.  It is worth your time.

Another from Joyce Vance.  I note an invitation to subscribe to this free service.  This is also true with Heather Cox Richardson, I’m going to subscribe to these, as I do to NYT and WaPo and StarTribune, in recognition of invaluable service.  I’d recommend the same to you, your choice of information, of course.  We need credible sources.

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Sunday, January 8, 2023: I am about as expert on the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives as anyone, which means I know next to nothing about them – a lack of knowledge I share with virtually 100% of us.  They have been established by tradition and in other ways over our entire national history.  Each Congress starts over – every Congressperson is ‘new’ every two years.  One of the tasks tomorrow is to establish the rules….

We are all familiar with rules, petty to profound.  if you have a partner in any sense of that word, there are rules of engagement.

So it goes with society, any society, anywhere.  Some folks would like no rules whatsoever.  But anarchy doesn’t work very well.  ‘FREEdumb’ isn’t very free. shall I say.

Some folks would like to make the rules which everyone else must follow.  Dictators or aspirants are always lurking, but never last.

Most of us live in the in between zone.  We have to live with spouses, with teenagers, with annoying neighbors, on and on and on.

Last week I was in a post office line, a bit longer than usual.  In front of me was a woman who feared ‘dead air’ and was in a one-way conversation with another lady whose lot it had been to be polite, which was perceived as an opening to the person I’m describing.

The polite lady escaped when she had her opportunity to take care of her business, which left me, behind, as the next target for the loquacious person.  I didn’t take the bait – you can do this without being rude.  She tried….

We run into these kinds of dissonances frequently, and we learn to adapt.

I think rules of engagement are essential for any civil society.  There is a need for order.

What will happen in the U.S. House remains to be seen.  Each and every one of us has one member of that Congress.  I think the current ratio is about one Representative for every 700,000 or so citizens.

Best we can do, I think, is learn what we can about the House Rules, and keep close tabs on, and communicate with, our own Congressperson, whether or not of our party.

It is an easy task to identify this person, and easy to communicate to the person provided you live in his or her district (that’s a common rule, which makes sense in this day of mass communications of petitions etc.)

My Congressperson is Betty McCollum.  Who is yours?