The Texas 18th District Blog

Breaking News: An Exhaustive Search of NASA Archives Reveals Missing Photo of the American Flag Planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969

An exhaustive search of the NASA image database has revealed a long lost image that Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) asked for during a visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories in late 2005. Here it is; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting the American Flag on Mars in 1969 during the Apollo 11 Mars Mission to the Red Planet:

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LOL (Laughing Out Loud) - Here’s the story in case you missed it:

“The Congressional bonehead award goes to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) who, on a visit to JPL, asked if Mars Pathfinder had taken an image of the flag planted there in 1969 by Neil Armstrong! Quipped Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) to the Washington Times: “We just don’t teach enough science.” Worse, Jackson Lee, who represents Houston, is a member of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. Perhaps some committee reassignments are in order…”

Read the original story

Read some of the comments on this issue at FreeRepublic.com
Leaving sad satire behind:

Houston we have a problem here!

We have a Congressional Representative that doesn’t have a technical bone in her body “representing” leading world class engineering & technical industries engaged in Oil & Gas, Energy, Space Travel and Medicine.

Many bloggers have blogged on this particular issue, scoffing at Houston Congressional Representative; Sheila Jackson Lee. Let’s leave the “Bone Head Awards” behind and look at this problem in a more serious light. This is a multifaceted issue that needs to be dealt with in more depth:

First of all Sheila Jackson Lee sets on several Congressional Committees and Subcommittees:

Sheila Jackson-Lee sits on the following committees:

• Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Member, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
• Member, Subcommittee on The Middle East and South Asia
• Member, House Committee on Homeland Security
• Member, Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counter terrorism
• Chair, Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection
• Member, House Committee on the Judiciary
• Member, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
• Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
• Member, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law

If Sheila is performing so poorly that she committed these atrocities against her technical constituency in Houston.. Then we need to have a real serious look at how she is performing in her other Committee and Sub-Committee Congressional Positions on other important issues such as Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, Immigration and the Judiciary. You can bet we are going to be reviewing her voting history on these issues since she sets on these important committees!

Yes we played a political satire here in response to the most mal informed question in history by a U.S. congressperson concerning NASA to illustrate this point, so let’s take it down the road and clear out other issues:

Not long ago we had a conspirators movement claiming that the U.S. never landed on the moon. A big part of their argument was that the flag shouldn’t have been extended, blowing in a breeze that couldn’t have been there. Let’s step back for a moment and have a close-up look at “The Flag on the Moon” (not Mars, Sheila) set in 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin (from the NASA Archives):

Here’s the original Moon Flag Image from Nasa Archives in High Resolution

All those; “We didn’t Land on the Moon Conspirators’” had to do to disprove their own rhetoric was to go take a close-up look at the flag and see that it had a horizontal “curtain rod” deployed by NASA in anticipation of no wind on the moon’s surface (close-up view):

Stick with me, it gets funnier yet!

NASA is recorded in history as saying:

“The Apollo 11 flag did not stand long. It was blown over during takeoff by the LM (Lunar Module) ascent engine’s exhaust plume.”

That’s right folks, there’s not an American Flag standing on Mars… There’s not even one standing on the Moon any more!

And then we have Sheila Jackson Lee back at it again, campaigning in 08 attempting to use NASA on her campaign trail:

I think fantasycongress.com expressed it well!

Our Congress is sidetracked with getting elected again, instead of dealing with the extreme issues our country is facing right now, and Sheila Jackson Lee is one of the worst culprits on the campaign trail.

Let’s go on to the next issue this mess dredges up:

Sheila being raised in Queens, New York should have some idea of how parents feel about sending their kids to waning inner-city public schools. You would think she would support school vouchers to help those inner-city parents who want to send their kids to better schools. You can bet we are going to cover that issue too, so hang tight and stay tuned right here!

Houston, We Have a Problem Here! - It’s Sheila Jackson Lee

We need a Congressional Repesentative that supports us all (Houston) here. Every which way I look, I can’t find support from Sheila Jackson Lee for her constituency in the Texas 18th Congressional District or the Greater Houston area.

Have a look at John Faulk’s Platform views on NASA. Let’s elect someone dedicated to supporting all of Houston this year. Let’s elect John Faulk for Congress and send Sheila Jackson Lee back to New York.

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress in November, today.

Engineer2

Houston should take a hard look at what we are paying for as taxpayers voting Sheila Jackson Lee back into office as our Congressional Representative:

Houston Representative Jackson-Lee has one of the most dismal, if not the Worst Bill Sponsorship Record in Congress:

“Statistics: Sheila Jackson-Lee has sponsored 217 bills since Jan 4, 1995, of which 199 haven’t made it out of committee (Very Poor) and 1 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Jackson-Lee has co-sponsored 4023 bills during the same time period (Very Many, relative to peers).”
Source: GovTrack.us (ref link above)

Our elective Congress people are payed well to represent us. Sheila’s one single bill that was successfully enacted cost the taxpayers well in excess of a million dollars.

No one else in Houston would still have a job with that poor a performance.

Why does her constituency keep electing her into office with this 14 year running history of poor performance now?

Houston, Texas 18th District… She supported Hillary Clinton against many of your wishes in 08, with a powerful “Superdelegate Vote“.

She doesn’t even support the local Oil & Gas Industry and subsequent immediate job creation here as she should! Immediate job creation in the Oil, Gas and Energy Industries will ripple throughout Houston’s Economy, including support for the Port of Houston. America has got to stop these Congressional “Nay-Sayers” blocking all out energy development. It’s unfathonable that Houston hasn’t already stood up together and sent Sheila Jackson Lee back to New York. 

Surely we are not going to torture and embarass ourselves, our neighbors, Houston, Texas and the Nation by voting her back into office again this year!

Engineer2

Freedmen’s Town Community Event - Save the Bricks of Mt. Carmel
Missionary Baptist Chruch

August 2nd and 9th, Saturdays 7:00 AM

Where: 1407 Valentine at Ruthhven between W. Gray and W. Dallas in Houston’s Freedmen’s Town

What: This historic African-American church was demolished by the City of Houston after a structural failure. If the church does not clear the property the City of Houston could place a lien on the property and sell it at public auction. Many community and civic groups are going to help. Come join in, meet new friends and help remember the historic importance of Freedmen’s Town.

Please contact us  or respond here and let us know how many of your friends are coming to help show what can be accomplished when we stop waiting for Sheila Jackson Lee to do her job. Let us know what kind of equipment, drinks (non alcaholic) etc you can provide.

Related Articles:

Houston preservationists fight to save Freedmen’s Town
Urban chic development encroaches on neighborhood of freed slaves.

Hitting the Bricks

Ken

John Faulk Campaign Fundraiser 8/31/08 - Meet John Faulk at The CorkScrew Wine Bar

July 31, 2008 - Meet John Faulk Fund Raiser

Enjoy a wine tasting at The Corkscrew wine bar and meet John Faulk, discuss your thoughts, and bring your questions.

All ticket proceeds will go towards defeating Sheila Jackson Lee in November.

Suggested donation is $50 or $100 maximum $2,300. Complimentary wine tickets with donation.

When: Thursday, July 31, 2008, 6:30 PM – 8 PM CST

Where: The Corkscrew, 1919 Washington Ave. Houston, TX 77007 Phone: 713 864-WINE

Directions

Ken

Foreign Affairs

Afghanistan: Congresswoman Jackson Lee believes that Afghanistan is the first front in the war on global terrorism, and she is concerned that we have allowed the war in Iraq to distract us from the ongoing instability in Afghanistan. She co-chairs the U.S.-Afghanistan caucus, and she has recently visited the country, where she was particularly moved by the conditions faced by women and children. Congresswoman Jackson Lee recently successfully amended the Afghanistan Freedom and Security Support Act of 2007, which recently passed the House, to encourage funding for efforts to protect Afghanistan’s female legislators.

NATO in Afghanistan

NATO is a key component of the international community’s engagement in Afghanistan, assisting the Afghan authorities in providing security and stability, paving the way for reconstruction and effective governance.

“This is one of the most challenging tasks NATO has ever taken on, but it is a critical contribution to international security” - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The Alliance’s aim is to help establish the conditions in which Afghanistan can enjoy – after decades of conflict, destruction and poverty – a representative government and self-sustaining peace and security.

NATO’s role is a key part of the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year plan between the government of Afghanistan and the international community, which sets goals relating to the security, governance and economic development of the country.

NATO’s engagement is three-fold:

• through leadership of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an international force of some 52,700 troops (including National Support Elements) that assists the Afghan authorities in extending and exercising its authority and influence across the country, creating the conditions for stabilisation and reconstruction;
• a Senior Civilian Representative, responsible for advancing the political-military aspects of the Alliance’s commitment to the country, who works closely with ISAF, liaises with the Afghan government and other international organisations, and maintains contacts with neighbouring countries.
• a substantial programme of cooperation with Afghanistan, concentrating on defence reform, defence institution-building and the military aspects of security sector reform.

The United States is a member of NATO and as such is participating in Afghanistan operations.

Which Is ‘The Real War’?

Detailed analysis from The Washington Post. 

Every spring there is a big Taliban offensive beause they cannot operate in winter.

No One Should Live in Poverty

4. H.CON.RES.19 :
Affirming the sense of Congress regarding the obligation of the United States to improve the lives of the 36,950,000 Americans living in poverty and the 15,928,000 of those who live in extreme poverty. Sponsor: Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9]
(introduced 1/9/2007)

Cosponsors (25)
Committees: House Oversight and Government Reform

Latest Major Action: 1/9/2007 Referred to House committee. Status:
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

But Do They Have Food?

Thirty-four percent of Americans say they belong to the “have-nots.” Twenty years ago, only 17 percent of Americans defined themselves this way. What happened? …Take a look at the lot of the “have-nots.” By virtually any criterion, Americans, even poor ones, live considerably better lives than they did even a decade or two ago. In 1995, 66 percent of poor households had air conditioning. Just 10 years later, in 2005, 80 percent of the poor had air conditioning at home. In 1995, 70 percent of poor households owned a car, and 27 percent owned two or more cars. By 2005, almost 75 percent owned cars, and 31 percent owned two or more. About 25 percent of the poor owned an automatic dishwasher in 1995. In 2005, more than 33 percent have a dishwasher. Microwave ownership jumped from 64 percent in 1995 to 89 percent by 2005.

The lowest-income one-fifth of households spend, per person, as much today as the median American household in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation writes, “Most of America’s ‘poor’ live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or well-off just a few generations ago.”

Poverty by Household

Another wild card in income statistics is that many such statistics are about households or families — whose sizes vary over time, vary between one racial or ethnic group and another, and vary between one income bracket and another.

That is why household or family income can remain virtually unchanged for decades while per capita income is going up by very large amounts. The number of people per household and per family is declining.

Differences in the number of people per household from one ethnic group to another is why Hispanics have higher household incomes than blacks, while blacks have higher individual incomes than Hispanics.

Here it is, straight from the New York Times:

“To some, the reason for the silence is clear: money. Ms. Jackson-Lee owes her political career to Mr. Lay, who supported her, despite her liberal views, to help beat her predecessor. In Congress, she and another Democratic Houston representative, Ken Bentsen, are among the biggest recipients of Enron campaign money. Along with Gene Green, a third Democratic representative from Houston, they have returned at least some of their campaign contributions from Enron. But others who had their campaign coffers enriched by Enron have used more direct means of distancing themselves from the company. Representative Billy Tauzin, Republican of Louisiana, has even suggested that ”maybe somebody ought to go to the pokey for this.”

Ms. Jackson-Lee received the bulk of her Enron money for the 1994 election, when she won her seat. In recent years, contributions have been smaller for both Ms. Jackson-Lee and Mr. Bentsen — Mr. Lay even opposed Mr. Bentsen in one election. And Ms. Jackson-Lee, in particular, is not politically vulnerable. Given the racial and political makeup of her district, it would be almost impossible for her to lose her seat, said Richard Murray, a political science professor at the University of Houston.”

Read it for yourself straight from the New York Times:

“ENRON’S MANY STRANDS: LAWMAKERS; Some Quiet Political Voices in Enron’s Backyard”

Dirty is dirty folks, even when a liberal publication says it is!

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap:

Hopefully you are going back to New York Sheila.

You cast a dark shadow on Houston, perched in Ken Lay’s pocket.

You’ve worn out your welcome in Houston!

We just don’t want you here any more.

Engineer2

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress in November, today.

The Nation Blog July 25, 2008

As the House Judiciary Committee took up the question of how best to address what its chairman described as “the Imperial Presidency of George W. Bush,” it was one of the ranking Republicans in the room, Iowa Congressman Steve King, who observed that, “We are here having impeachment hearings before the Judiciary Committee.”

“These are impeachment hearings before the United States Congress,” King continued. “I never imagined I would ever be sitting on this side when something like this happened.”

King was not happy about the circumstance.

A resolute defender of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the congressman was objecting to the very mention of the “I” word.

As it happened, impeachment was mentioned dozens of times during the hearing, often in significant detail and frequently as a necessary response to lawless actions of the president and vice president.

King’s statement addressed the uncertain character of Friday morning’s attempt by the relevant committee of the chamber empowered by the founders to impose accountability on presidents and vice presidents to tackle what Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, D-Michigan, referred to as “numerous credible allegations of serious misconduct by officials in the Bush Administration.”

Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee, held up a copy of the Constitution and announced, “There is a real question of whether this Constitution is being protected.”

Read the whole thing at The Nation blogsite.

A Different Point of View (Townhall.com)

Call it the un-impeachment hearing.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday it insisted was not about removing President Bush from office. But critics of Bush’s policies couldn’t pass up the chance to charge the president with a long list of impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Leading the way was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the former Democratic presidential candidate who has brought repeated impeachment resolutions on the House floor against Bush and Vice President Cheney…

More Light on the Subject

Angry leftists are so hysterical that they cannot distinguish between government agents eavesdropping on a president’s political enemies, and the data mining of international phone calls in an earnest effort to thwart another Sept. 11 terrorist attack. They don’t see that Bush, rather then trying to hide his role in the effort, signed off on the program more than 30 times.

A brief bit of background information on her supporter: Workers World Party

Workers World Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“WWP is a communist party in the United States founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy. Marcy and his followers split from the Socialist Workers Party in 1958 over a series of long-standing differences, among them Marcy’s group’s support for Henry A. Wallace’s Progressive Party in 1948, the positive view they held of the Chinese Revolution led by Mao Zedong, and their defense of the 1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary, all of which the SWP opposed.

The WWP describes itself as a party that has, since its founding, “supported the struggles of all oppressed peoples”. It has recognized the right of nations to self-determination, including the nationally oppressed peoples inside the United States…”

Inquiry hears horror tales of injustice
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
Published Jul 24, 2008 11:40 PM

“I’ve been stunned. I’ve been shocked. I’ve been deeply moved by what I have heard today,” said U.S. Congressperson John Conyers after hundreds of people crammed into Houston’s City Hall on July 18 to give testimony at an Inquiry of Crime, Justice and Race in Harris County. Conyers is chair of the House Judiciary Committee…”

The inquiry was hosted by Texas Congressperson Sheila Jackson-Lee and organized by her staff, along with the Coalition for Justice.

(Article from the “Workers World Party” Website)

Blog Admin Note - It’s rare that I would want to step in and try to add to another authors post here, but one of our new authors (Exyankee) with the Texas 18th District Blog has made a significant contribution which I believe everyone needs to read. In a long term secret operation, the U.S. has just completed removing 550 metric tons of high grade preprocessed uranium from IRAQ, which for obvious reasons couldn’t have been revealed before:

Floor Statements
April 9, 2008

HEARING ON “REPORT ON IRAQ TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS”
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I would like to welcome our two distinguished witnesses: General David H. Petraeus, the Commanding General of the Multinational Force in Iraq, and the Honorable Ryan C. Crocker, United States Ambassador to Iraq.  

Representative Jackson-Lee several paragraphs later states:

“In 2002, when I voted against the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, I did so because I believed that this would be a war without end. I believed this resolution would trap us in a conflict that, like the Vietnam war, would consume American resources and lives without tangible yield. Unfortunately for the people of both this country and Iraq, I was right. The 2002 Resolution that provided the authorization for the use of military force in Iraq, and authorized the President to “defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq”, and to “enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.” Specifically, the resolution called for the disarming of any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, removal of the rogue Iraqi regime, the capture of any al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq, as well as the promotion of democracy in Iraq.

Mr. Chairman, our troops have achieved extraordinary military success in Iraq, toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein in only 21 days, assuring the world that Iraq does not possess weapons of mass destruction …”

AP Exclusive: US removes uranium from Iraq
By BRIAN MURPHY – Jul 5, 2008

“The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

What’s now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.

“Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq,” said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject…

When it comes to supporting family values and our kids, Sheila smugly kisses the camera and then she turns around and votes quite differently.
The majority of us in the South are God fearing, church going folk who try and live honorably.

On one hand she stands up in Congress, pretending to be a crusader for children, calling them “our most precious resource”:

But then she turns around and votes against families, children and the unborn in every way imaginable:

• Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Jan 2007)
• Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (Feb 2007)
• Expand contraceptive services for low-income women. (May 2006)
• Rated 0% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-choice stance. (Dec 2006)
• Voted NO on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (Apr 2005)
• Voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)
• Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
• Voted NO on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty. (Apr 2004)
• Voted NO on making permanent an increase in the child tax credit. (May 2004)
• Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
• Rated 7% by the Christian Coalition: an anti-family voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted NO on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. (Apr 2002)
• Voted NO on funding for health providers who don’t provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
• Voted NO on reducing Marriage Tax by $399B over 10 years. (Mar 2001)
• Voted NO on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
• Voted NO on eliminating the Estate Tax (”death tax”). (Apr 2001)
• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
• Voted NO on eliminating the “marriage penalty”. (Jul 2000)
• Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
• Supported funding contraception and UN family planning. (Jul 1999)

That’s quite a resume Sheila!

Is that your form of “Social Engineering” Sheila.. Prevent them or exterminate them before they cost taxpayers in the Socialized Medical Plan you envision?

When I look at the dichotomy expressed between her passionate play at the camera above on the Congressional Floor expressing herself as a “child advocate” and then review her Congressional Voting Record, I just can’t hook them up.

I don’t even know what to think except to say that we all need to stand together and send her packing this election year. All over America this election year there are grassroots organizations preparing to send ineffective Congressional Representatives home and that’s what we intend to do with Sheila Jackson-Lee. She has worn out her welcome in Houston and we are going to send her home this year!

Come join us, she’s heavily entrenched and outspends her competitors by hundreds of thousands of dollars every election year. We need volunteers and contributors.

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress in November, today.

Engineer2