Several people have wondered how a guy like this gets on the House Committee on Science; he is hardly alone in being unqualified for such positions. The upshot is that virtually no one is appointed to these committees based on their expertise on a particular subject. Interest and approval from your party is virtually all there is, and in a committee such as science - official title is Science, Space, and Technology - your interest can be narrowed to just outer space, say, but you can end up on the committee regardless. You'll end up with a whole passel of folks on committees who don't know squat about what's there. You might also wonder how many people get on said committees. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has a whopping forty slots available, split this session into 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Concerned that too many Republicans are there? Then let your congressman know you think it is total crap that the Democrats can't even fill those slots assigned to them - there are three vacancies on the Democratic side of the aisle. Seriously, how can one side complain about the membership of the other if they can't fill their own slots? And it isn't as if ti is impossible to block appointments to the committee even after they have been nominated by their party's own committee on committees - there is some interesting procedural stuff on the FAQ page for House Committees here if you've never glanced at it. It isn't as if Akin just recently outed himself as someone with extreme views when it comes to science. All of the committees have cool, overarching websites like the one for Science. Loads of interesting info about the nitty gritty of policy formulation on those pages.
Wow... that's pretty amazing Is that just because of the fact, (if it IS a fact), that the democrats have very little power being in the minority or because they're just too lazy to turn up and do some work? Whatever, that's not good, is it.
There are 25 committees right now staffed by House members - 21 standing committees and 4 joint committees (joint committees being staffed by both the Senate and the House). The process goes more or less like this: 1) proportional representation decided upon by House leadership (usually tied to ratio of House members from the two parties); 2) each party solicits statements of interest from their members - basically a list of committees they're interested in, in order; 3) each party's committee on committees reviews the preferences in light of how many slots they have on each committee and makes recommendations to the House as a whole; 4) the full House votes. Unfilled slots are there because the party could not fill them.
It is because the committee isn't "sexy". There isn't really power in that committee, unless you have an agenda to push.
And lest we forget that there are slightly unhinged people from both parties on these committees, let's go back to 2010 and see what Hank Johnson of the House Committee on Armed Services had to say about the proposed Marine build-up on Guam: That'd be D-Georgia for those of you keeping score at home. Doesn't excuse a word of what Akin said, but the related point people have made expressing surprise at his membership on the Science Committee isn't really germane. Every single committee is staffed with people who know little or nothing about what they're supposedly doing.
Do you think he meant literally? Couldn't this gentleman, (of whom I've been blissfully unaware until this moment), been, y'know... joking?
His staff said he has a terrific deadpan delivery, and in years prior he announced he has Hepatitis C which causes him to lose his train of thought whilst speaking. But the deadpan delivery thing? I don't know . . .
It's not the Hepatitis that makes him lose his train of thought, it's the interferon treatment for it, which supposedly is really awful to go through. And having met the Congressman a couple of times, I'd be surprised if he wasn't being sarcastic in that clip....I could be wrong....but I'd be surprised.
So, basically Akin BAAAAAAAD/AWFUL, excluded from the convention and yet his beliefs/ideas and those who defend every single thing he advocates (yes i'm looking at you Huckabee and to a lesser degree Ryan) WELCOME WITH OPEN ARMS!....not to mention Akin's views are completely part of the GOP platform..... And to think Huckabee is considered as belonging to the sane ones (i thought so as well, who am i kidding)
I don't recall Huck or Ryan saying that women who resisted sex were less likely to get pregnant, or coupling the adjective "legitimate" with rape. They might well share Akin's beliefs but they didn't get caught saying the same things, so to me the cases are quite different.
I have a coworker going through interferon treatment right now but she's on leave because she's way to space-out to work. She's been in a few times to visit and you can tell that she's just not completely there. I can't believe that we have a Congressman actually showing up to work while on that stuff. Edit: Huckabee split his britches with me over creationism and evolution. Just because someone is personally likeable and does well on the Daily Show doesn't mean he doesn't have dangerous ideas.
True... i changed "said" to "advocates" ...far more accurate////thanks.. Huckabee is outraged at how Akin has been thrown under the proverbial bus by his party and is trying to organize fundraisers for the "poor" guy...while now having a primetime spot at the convention.... but yeah your point stands...
you suck at grading. F- my comment was based on Ecclesiastes 9: 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. but I wouldn't expect you to understand or recognize that.