US 2010 Midterm Election Results

This is a congressional district map of the United States since the 2008 elections. All the districts in blue have a Democratic representative and all those in red have a Republican representative. Before the election Tuesday, there were 255 Democratic seats, 178 Republican seats, and 2 vacant seats.

Here’s the new map for the House of Representatives starting in January 2011 when the new Congress is sworn in.

Here are the results as they stand now. The votes for two Senate seats (Washington and Alaska) are still being counted. There are 10 House seats being recounted because the races are very close.

Prior to Tuesday, there were 59 Democratic seats (including 2 Independent) and 41 Republican seats in the Senate.

Vocabulary in the News : The Wall Street Journal (Front Page from 3 November 2010)

Let’s look at some of the vocabulary found in the article titles. If you want to read each article on The Wall Street Journal webpage, click on the each title.

GOP Claims House in Huge Swing, Tea-Party Wave Creates New Dynamic in Washington and the States; Democrats to Retain Senate Despite Drubbing

• A swing is seat that hangs from ropes or chains and moves back and forth which is usually used by children. So you can imagine the illusion here of a swing. In politics, we this word to describe when one ruling party has been replaced by a new one. The term can be used to describe any change in emotion, idea, condition, etc, to another. For example, Spain was a very conservative and Catholic country but there was a swing away from traditional family values when the country allowed same-sex marriage. In Amsterdam, there is a swing in the government position on legalized marijuana which may cause coffee shops to close down in the future.

• A change in political parties in power at a national level can also be described as a wave or even a tidal wave. A wave of course is a raised line of water you find in the ocean or other body of water. Last night a Republican wave swept (past irregular form of ‘to sweep’ – balayer) across the country pushing Democrats out of power.
• The Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite the drubbing the Democrats received by the Republicans last night, surprisingly won his reelection in Nevada. If you received a drubbing, this means that you were severely beaten. This word is believed to have been possibly derived from the Arabic word darb which means a beating, particularly by a stick.

Unaligned Voters Tilt Rightward In Droves

• Voters who don’t identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats tilted rightward in this election. In other words, they favored the particular program or opinion of those running as Republicans. Literally, to tilt means to incline or to cause to slope to one side. For example, these slashes ‘///////’ all tilt to the right.  If these unaligned (or nonaligned) voters had favored the Democrats, we would have said that they tilted leftward. In any case, the election is over and the United States must now move forward and not backward.
• The headline also said that these independent voters favored the political right in droves. If people do something in droves, it means they do it in very large numbers.

How the Rout Was Won : Careful Plans, Timely Wave

• A rout is a term to describe the complete defeat of your opponent in a battle, competition or an election. The word is also a verb. For example, Spain won the FIFA World Cup after having routed the Netherlands.
• If something happens in a timely manner, it happens at the most suitable or proper time.
   

Vocabulary In the News : US Midterm Elections

On 2 November, Americans will vote in national midterm elections to elect the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. National elections take place every two years in the United States. This year’s elections are called midterm elections because they fall fall in the middle of a president’s 4-year term in office. This Election Day, all 435 seats of the House of Representatives, whose members only have a 2-year term, are up for election. In the Senate, one-third of Senate seats out of 100 are up for election. Members of that body have 6-year terms.

Currently there are 253 Democrat seats, 178 Republican seats and 6 empty seats in the House of Representatives. The Representative from California’s 8th congressional district, Nancy Pelosi is the current Speaker of the House. She is the 60th and first female to preside over the chamber. The Speaker of the House is probably the closest thing that the United States has to a prime minister. The Speaker is the second in line to the presidency after the Vice President and is in a leadership position of the majority party. He or she also works to set the political agenda for their party giving the Speaker a great deal of power. It is the second most powerful position in the US Government.

All polls in the US project a Republican sweep in the elections. This means that the party will pick up seats in a very large number retaking control of that chamber. The polls currently predict that the Republicans will win 212 seats with Democrats maintaining 183 seats. Forty seats are considered tossups. If pollsters say a seat is a tossup, they are indicating that they can’t predict which candidate will win because poll numbers are too close. If Republicans are swept into office in November, the current Minority Leader John Boehner will probably become the 61st Speaker of the House. Mr. Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th congressional district. To be a member of the House, the Constitution requires that the representative to be a minimum of 25 years of age when he is sworn into office.

In the Senate, one-third of that body’s seats are up for election. There are currently 57 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats. If a member caucuses with a certain party, this means they meet with and vote with that party. In effect, this gives the Democrats 59 seats but one vote short of an absolute majority of 60 votes. Sixty votes are need to stop a filibuster by the minority party and to proceed to a vote. In the Senate, there are no time limits to how long a senator may speak on the floor. To stop or delay a proposal known as a bill, a senator can filibuster till the end of debate. In other words, he talks the bill to death. The only way to stop a filibuster, is to have 60 senators willing to vote for cloture.

The Vice President of the United States is also the President of the Senate as written in the US Constitution. Vice President Joseph Biden is the current President. Today, modern vice presidents rarely preside over the Senate except for the swearing in of new members, joint sessions of Congress and to cast a tie-breaking (or “casting”) vote if there is a 50/50 vote. Other than this exception, the President of the Senate cannot vote nor participate in debate. In the absence of the vice president, the Senate chooses a president pro tempore to preside who is usually the highest-ranking senator. The President pro tempore is also third in line to the presidency after the Speaker of the House.

If polls hold true, Republicans will also gain seats in the Senate. The current projection is 49 Democrats, 46 Republican and 5 tossups. If the Senate is divided 50/50, then the President of the Senate’s party retains control. In this case, the Democrats would still have control but with neither party having a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority. According to the Constitution, a senator must be a minimum of 30 years old when he takes office.

In these elections, Americans are not only voting for Congress, they are also going to the polls to vote for over a million different offices at the state and local level including governors, lieutenant governors, members of state assemblies, local and state judges, local education boards, sheriffs, etc…. Most states will also have referendums and state constitutional amendments on the ballot. Republicans are expected to hold the majority of governorships. Of the 50 states, polls predict 14 Democrat governors, 26 Republican and 10 seats are still a tossup.

This election has been described as an anti-incumbent election because many Americans are tired of the same old politics by what has come to be called the political establishment or the ruling class. This negative term is used to describe that elite group of politicians that have power or authority. In many cases, they have held elected position for a long time. An incumbent is the term used for any outgoing politician who is running for reelection. The anti-incumbent movement has not only targeted Democrats but has also targeted establishment Republicans, many of whom lost in state primaries to a more conservative Republican. If an incumbent is not running for reelection, then the candidates are running for an open seat.

For further election news and to track election poll numbers as they change, go to http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

American Cuisine : U.S. Senate Bean Soup

Bean soup is on the menu in the Senate's restaurant every day. There are several stories about the origin of that mandate, but none has been corroborated. 

According to one story, the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th-century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho.  Another story attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903.

The recipe attributed to Dubois includes mashed potatoes and makes a 5-gallon batch.  The recipe served in the Senate today does not include mashed potatoes, but does include a braised onion.  Both Senate recipes are below.

The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe

2 pounds dried navy beans

four quarts hot water

1 1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.

Bean Soup Recipe (for five gallons)

3 pounds dried navy beans

2 pounds of ham and a ham bone

1 quart mashed potatoes

5 onions, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

four cloves garlic, chopped

half a bunch of parsley, chopped

Clean the beans, then cook them dry.  Add ham, bone and water and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes and mix thoroughly.  Add chopped vegetables and bring to a boil.  Simmer for one hour before serving.

Taken from http://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/bean_soup.htm

Cartoon : Saying a Lot Without Saying Anything At All!

By Rick McKee from the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, Georgia on 02 July 2010.

It is a sheer pleasure teaching English to someone who really wants to learn it! This adjective is used to give emphasis to a noun to give it a greater amount of degree. It has the meaning of ‘extreme.’

Later on, the caricature of Kagan asks Larry King, the interviewer, to grant her a point of personal privilege. If you grant something, like a request, you accord or allow them something.

‘A point of personal privilege’ is a very formal, parliamentary expression usually asked for when a member what to speak out to defend his personal rights, reputation or conduct.

US Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy (1932 – 2009)

On August 25th of this week, America’s third-longest serving senator succumbed to brain cancer and passed away. Ted Kennedy, a controversial figure, was first elected to the US Senate as a Democrat for the state of Massachusetts in 1962 where he served until his death. He was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated. He was known as the “Lion of the Senate.” To read more about this important American political figure, go to the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy

http://kennedy.senate.gov/

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000105

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=edward-m-kennedy&pid=131914365

February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009

Vocabulary In the News: House impeaches Texas judge accused of sex crimes

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/19/U.S.impeachment.judge/index.html?eref=rss_politics

June 19, 2009

(CNN) -- The House of Representatives voted Friday to impeach a federal judge convicted of obstruction of justice while in office

U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Texas pleaded guilty in February, admitting he lied to investigators about nonconsensual sexual contact with two employees in his courthouse. As part of a plea agreement, other counts alleging sexual misconduct were dropped.

Kent was the first federal judge to be charged with sexual crimes while in office.

He has submitted his resignation, but made it effective June 1, 2010, meaning he would be paid for a year while in prison.

That drew a heated response among some members of Congress, and a House Judiciary Committee task force unanimously approved four articles of impeachment against Kent on the grounds of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and providing false statements to federal investigators.

Before the House vote, Judiciary Committee member Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, said to House members that Kent collecting a salary of about $174,000 while in prison constituted "an attempt to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from the American people."

There were no dissenting votes.

The decision on whether to convict Kent will be made by the Senate. A conviction would mean he would lose his seat on the federal bench and his pension.

Kent, who turns 60 this month, was sentenced in May to 33 months in prison and began serving the sentence Monday. He was ordered to undergo treatment for alcoholism while in prison.

An attempt to reach Kent's attorney for comment was unsuccessful Friday afternoon.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Kent, who took his seat on the bench of the Southern District of Texas on October 1, 1990. Kent is the 14th federal judge to be impeached by the House. The last impeachment -- on charges of lying to a federal grand jury -- was of Mississippi Judge Walter Nixon in 1989.

See the post below to understand the impeachment process in the United States.

Culture Spot: Impeachment in the United States

The US Constitution provides for the removal from office of the president, vice president and other “officers” of the United States (e.g. federal judges, justices of the Supreme Court, etc.). The first step of removal is impeachment.

According to the US Constitution, article of impeachment must first be voted on by the House of Representatives. The sole power to impeach is given to the House and may only be done for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Once the House of Representatives votes and approves articles of impeachment, the accused is officially impeached. However, this is only the first step in removal from office.

Next, the US Senate, functioning like a court, tries the accused. Members of the House who represent the prosecution and present the charges in this trial are called “managers.” The senators function as the jury. The accused will be defended by his own lawyers. Before the senators deliberate, they must take an oath swearing to perform their duties honestly and with due diligence.

After hearing the charges, the Senate will deliberate in private and will vote to either convict or acquit. In order to convict and remove from office, a two-thirds majority is required. If convicted, the judgment is filed with the Secretary of State and the official is immediately removed from office.

During the impeachment process of a president, the US Constitution requires the Chief Justice of the United States (Supreme Court) to preside over the impeachment trial, however in the case of the vice president or other official, the Constitution is silent. In most cases, either the president pro tempore or vice president (constitutionally he is President of the Senate) will preside.

Only two presidents have been impeached: President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and President William Clinton in December of 1998. Both were acquitted and not removed from office.

Only 18 federal officials have been impeached in US history including the recently impeached Judge Samuel B. Kent. Before Kent, President Clinton was the last impeached official. For a complete list of federal officials impeached and results of impeachment, go to the link below.

Impeachment can also occur at a state level according to the rules laid out by the constitutions of the individual states. Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was impeached on charges of corruption and misconduct by the Illinois House of Representatives on January 14, 2009 and the Illinois Senate voted unanimously on January 29, 2009 to remove the governor from office and to bar him from ever running for public office again in the state of Illinois.

For more detail on the Impeachment in the United States, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States

See also: Impeachment of President William Clinton and Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

Photo of the impeachment trial of President William Clinton in 1999 with Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist presiding.

Feel free to leave questions or comments by clicking on the comments link at the end of this post!

Culture Spot: Confirmation Process and the US Senate

Cartoon by Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune published on 04 May 2009

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court in the federal judicial system and is presided by the Chief Justice of the United States and 8 Associate Justices. Justices are nominated by the President and have to be confirmed by the US Senate. Once appointed (désigné), a justice on the federal bench (magistrature) has a life tenure which ends only on his or her death, resignation (démission), retirement or impeachment (procédure de destitution).

The Senate confirmation process for a Supreme Court justice can be grueling (exténuant) and can become quite a political show due to the extreme importance of the position about to be filled. There is one political question that seems to take center stage in every confirmation hearing (audience): abortion (avortement)!

The confirmation process begins in the Senate Judiciary Committee with confirmation hearings where senators on that committee will exam and question the nominee on his interpretation of Constitutional law. Upon conclusion of this examination, the Judiciary Committee votes whether or not to refer the nomination for a confirmation vote on the Senate floor.

The Senate (made up of 100 senators – 2 per state) then proceeds to vote to confirm the president’s nominee to the nation’s highest court. The nominee may face severe opposition in the Senate.  According to the rules in the US Senate, a senator has the right during debate to speak as long as he wishes on any topic he or she chooses. This privilege is sometimes used to delay a vote and eventually kill the question before the Senate. The procedure of “talking a bill (projet, proposition) to death” is called a filibuster. It is also a verb: to filibuster. The filibustering senator doesn’t even have to talk about the subject in question before the Senate; some have read books or even the Bible out loud in order to keep the floor (parole). However, a filibuster can be halted by a supermajority, that is, 60 senators willing to invoke debate closure (clôture).

The cartoon above concerns the resignation of Justice David Souter at the end of June from the US Supreme Court giving President Obama his first opportunity to name someone to the Court. Even though Justice Souter was nominated by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, he ended up being a moderate to liberal judge on the Court disappointing most Conservatives. President Obama’s nomination is not expected to change the political makeup (composition) of the Supreme Court. He is expected to nominate another woman or minority (or perhaps someone who is both such as an African-American or Hispanic-American woman).

Three years ago, George W. Bush nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court after the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman ever to serve on the court. The Judiciary Committee (then in Republican majority) voted strictly along party lines and sent the nomination to the Senate floor. A movement led by Democrat Senator John Kerry to filibuster the vote on the floor failed and Alito was confirmed. Senator Obama was part of that movement to filibuster confirmation of President Bush’s nominee.

Now that Republicans are in the minority in the Senate, some fear that they too may try to filibuster Obama’s nominee to the Court though it appears Democrats will have a 60 vote supermajority in the Senate once a contested election issue in Minnesota is resolved.

The cartoon below describes the driving issue in every confirmation hearing: abortion! It appears that all other questions are secondary. Ever since the 1973 Supreme Court decision known as Roe v. Wade which overturned (faire annuler) many state and federal laws restricting abortion, the abortion issue has divided the nation into two camps: pro-life and pro-choice. Those in the pro-life camp want to see a conservative majority on the Court that will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade and those in the pro-choice camp want to protect the Roe v. Wade decision.

Cartoon by Chan Lowe of The South Florida Sun Sentinel published 4 May 2009.

Who are the 9 Justices of the United States Supreme Court?

Justice	Year Confirmed	Nominating  President	Judicial Leaning
Chief Justice John Roberts (17th Chief Justice of the United States)	2005	George W. Bush	conservative
Justice John Paul Stevens (some say his advanced age may also give Pres. Obama an opportunity to fill his seat on the bench) (only Associate Justice to serve under three Chief Justices & oldest member of the Court)	1975	Gerald Ford	liberal
Justice Antonin Scalia	1986	Ronald Reagan	conservative
Justice Anthony Kennedy	1988	Ronald Reagan	swing vote
Justice David Souter (retiring end of June 2009, end of the Court’s term. Pres. Obama is expected to announce his nominee to replace soon.)	1990	George H.W. Bush	liberal
Justice Clarence Thomas (second African-American to serve on the Court)	1991	George H.W. Bush	conservative
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (suffering from cancer and is expected to retire soon giving Pres. Obama an opportunity to fill a seat on the bench ) (second woman and first Jewish woman to serve)	1993	Bill Clinton	liberal
Justice Stephen Breyer	1994	Bill Clinton	liberal
Justice Samuel Alito	2006	George W. Bush	conservative

The Current Structure of the United States Senate

President of the Senate: US Vice President Joseph Biden, Jr. (former Democrat senator from Delaware)

The US Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States presides ex officio as President of the Senate. He (or perhaps she one day) can only vote if there is a 50/50 tie. Normally, the Vice President doesn’t preside on a daily basis but only on important occasions or if a vote may be tied.

President pro tempore: Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat - West Virginia).

In absence of the Vice President, the President pro tempore of the Senate is the highest-ranking official and may preside over the Senate. He is elected by his peers and by tradition, he is the most senior senator of the majority party. The President pro tempore is third in line to the presidency after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representative.

Majority Leader: Senator Harry Reid (Democrat – Nevada)

Minority Leader: Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican – Kentucky)

There are currently 59 members in the Democrat Caucus (57 Democrats and 2 Independents) and 40 members in the Republican Caucus. There is one unresolved seat from the state of Minnesota due to contested election results in November 2008.