Another Priority of Gus Bilirakis

Don't have healthcare? You lost your job? On your 3rd tour to Iraq because George Bush lied us into war? House in foreclosure?

Don't worry. Gus Bilirakis is looking out for your interests. He has his priorities in order. He is going to make sure the statue of Che Guevara in New York's Central Park comes down ASAP!!

From Bloomberg (via Deseret News)

"Che Guevara's likeness shouldn't stand at an entrance to New York's Central Park, say 10 Republican U.S. lawmakers who urged Mayor Michael Bloomberg to immediately remove the artwork they say honors the Marxist revolutionary.
...

The Argentine-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara — who has been depicted in films, posters and books — abandoned a medical career and middle-class upbringing to join the Fidel Castro-led revolution that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 (uncle of Mario Diaz-Balart).
...
A letter sent today by U.S. Representative Dan Burton (R-Watermelon) of Indiana and co-signed by nine members of Congress, including four from Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban emigres reside, describes Guevara as "an outspoken enemy of the United States" who embraced "the totalitarian, repressive policies of the Soviet Union" and once threatened to fire nuclear weapons on New York. Bloomberg News obtained a copy of the letter from Burton's office.
...
The statue is one of three artworks that "are not monuments to historical figures, but rather combine real and imaginary characteristics," inspired by Barcelona street performers who imitate real people, Fisher said. The city, which gave permission for the display, contributed no public funds for the exhibit, she said.

"The purpose of public art is to create dialog," Fisher said.

Public Art, which joined the city in sponsoring the widely acclaimed "Waterfalls" exhibit by artist Olafur Eliasson in the East River in October, has been hailed by Bloomberg for attracting visitors to New York and for giving residents fresh ways of experiencing and viewing their environment. The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

"It is not a statue of 'Che'; it is a statue of a street performer acting as if he were 'Che,'" said Jason Post, a spokesman for the mayor.

...

Burton and other U.S. lawmakers heard about the statue last week, when a group of Cuban-Americans met with them to discuss human rights issues in Cuba, Burton spokesman John Donnelly said.

...

In addition to Burton, the Republican lawmakers signing the letter are: Joe Wilson of South Carolina; Ted Poe of Texas; Thaddeus McCotter, Michigan; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gus Bilirakis, Connie Mack and Mario Diaz-Balart, all of Florida, and from California, Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce."

The brain trust of the Republican party.

Gus Bilirakis Has Priorities

Got sleep apnea? Then Gus Bilirakis is YOUR representative!

As the sister-in-law of a man with severe sleep apnea, I'm very sympathetic to this serious health issue, but wouldn't Congressman Bilirakis' time be better spent making sure that people are actually able to see a doctor, no matter what the problem? We have 45 million Americans for whom routine healthcare is not available. THAT should be the priority, and not some pointless resolution.

Is This Stupid or What???

I haven't posted here for quite sometime because I thought I could be more effective doing other things, however, THIS couldn't pass without being documented at GusWatch:

Lawmakers Introduce Bill Naming 'Incitive' Satellite Broadcasters as 'Terrorists'
May 18, 2009
Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fl) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) have introduced a bill to U.S. Congress, which would label satellite operators who broadcast “encitive stations” as associates of terrorists, according to a May 15 report in The Jerusalem Post.

The bipartisan bill asserts that certain satellite television stations were helping foreign terrorist organizations in their objectives, including recruiting fighters, collecting funds and disseminating propaganda.

The bill says that U.S. policy should implement legal and punitive measures against satellite providers that transmit terror-related channels.

In 2007, Arab broadcast stateion A-Zawra was taken off the air by both NileSat and ArabSat. In a statement, NileSat officials explained the move was necessary because of technical problems. In response, A-Zawra claimed the move was politically motivated by U.S. pressure on the Egyptian government.

I deplore terrorism as much as the next person, but WTF? Is this worthwhile? Is it feasible to do it? Or, as usual for Gus, is it a merely a gesture aimed at making him seem like a serious legislator?

Let's Rape Someone Else's Neighborhood

It's been awhile since we checked in with mini-Mike. I wonder what Gus is up to...

Accepting an award for being Greek?

Honoring Eagle Scouts?

Feigning interest in elderly veterans (while letting our active duty soldiers boil in the Iraqi sun?)

Inserting chips in seniors citizens so they won't get lost from their caretakers?

Nope. He's headed to ANWR with his GOP brethren to figure out how we can continue to feed our oil habit by drilling in the Arctic Refuge. I suppose he would prefer raping someone else's neighborhood in hopes that he won't have to flip-flop on his Florida off-shore drilling position. (Flip-flopping on that one comes a little easier when the VP spot is being dangled before you as in the case of our newly-enGAYged governor.)

What a loser.

Gus Hates Gay People, Unmarried People, Common Decency

So says his endorsement of the Hate Amendment.

Gus Bilirakis finally makes American News

Oops! My bad. I meant to say "Greek" news and it looks like he was just tagging along with the biggie boys.

AT THE CONGRESS
Kyprianou who arrived in the US capital on Wednesday, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, Joe Biden, Senator Robert Menendez and Congresswoman Olympia Snowe. All members of congress expressed interest over the latest Cyprus developments and offered to help in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

He also met with eleven members of the Hellenic Caucus, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affaires Committee Ileana Ros Lehtinen and European Affaires Subcommittee Chairman Robert Wexler.

Congressman Frank Pallone, a member of the Hellenic Caucus said the US should persuade Turkey to help the Cyprus procedure. Amongst the Hellenic Caucus members were John Sarbanes, Patrick Kennedy, Gus Bilirakis, Donald Payne, Shelley Berkley etc.

http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8383

Gus Hates the Environment

The League of Conservation Voters recently released scorecards for Congress. How did Gus do? Poorly:

Gus Bilirakis (REP), 15%

Not only did all of the Democrats do better than all of the Republicans, With one exception, all of the Democrats did more than twice as good as all the Republicans. And most of the Democrats voted in favor of the environment more than four times as frequently as most of the Republicans.

I wonder how many of these Republicans own property that will be beachfront property when most of Florida is under water because of global warming? I'm just saying...

Gus Bilirakis Supports Torture

Gus supports torture. He voted "NO" on the Intelligence Authorization Act which would have banned "waterboarding, mock executions, and other severe methods of interrogation."

I sure hope he is held accountable for this vote when he runs for re-election next year.

Gus Bilirakis LOVES being dependent on Middle East oil (No wonder he supports the immoral war in Iraq!)

How else to explain Gus' NO vote on H. R. 6 to "Create Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation Act" which would:

"...move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers from price gouging, to increase the energy efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government..."

Be Afraid, Very Afraid....So Says Gus Bilirakis

Predictable fear-mongering from Gus Bilirakis.

In response to the arrest on terror charges of two students from the University of South Florida, Gus wants to further crack down on foreign students by requiring more vigilance on the part of university officials. Just think, pretty soon, if we pander enough to the fraidy-cat Americans, there won't be any brown people coming to our shores to study! Oh, how happy Lou Dobbs will be!! (Or is it only Mexicans that Lou hates? It's so hard to keep up...)

Seriously folks, isn't this getting ridiculous? Every time I go through airport security and have to remove my clogs, I realize how the stupid (and inept) actions of one purported shoe bomber have terribly inconvenienced a multitude of travelers.

It makes me realize that the terrorists have truly won.

Gus on Veterans Day

Armistice Day, The War to End All Wars. That was the original message of Veterans Day. The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month. The end of World War I.

When Gus Bilirakis spoke to the assembled veterans and their families at Curlew Cemetary to mark the day, he and fellow Bush enabler, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jerry F. Custin, used the solemn occasion to pimp their immoral war in Iraq on the back of a dead soldier. Nothing like a good Internet tome to stir up and confuse as you appeal to the patriotic feelings of the veterans. These guys are masters at it. Custin shared the story of Army Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, whose essay "Hope Rides Alone" has been circulated on the Internet

The 23-year-old soldier from Alabama addressed the criticism he heard against the Iraq war.
"Even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me," Jeffers wrote. "In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone."
Said Custin: "Unfortunately, Sergeant Jeffers won't get to walk down the streets of America next year. On September 19th, he was killed in Iraq

Nice to know that these war enablers have missed the point of Armistice Day completely, isn't it? Just more of the same from Bush's gang. Offer platitudes to the veterans while supporting policies that continue to put our military in harm's way. And of course, don't bother to take care of our veterans when they return home. God forbid we should raise taxes on the rich to pay for the GOP folly.

Gus Bilirakis - Another Shameful Vote

Veterans and Greeks - Thumbs Up!
Poor Children and Gays - Thumbs Down!

First the S-CHIP bill (NO to healthcare for poor children), and now Gus Bilirakis joins the hateful, homophobic caucus and votes a big NO on H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007.

Something to ponder--
What would Gus say to a gay Greek veteran about government healthcare or employment discrimination?

Hmmm.....

Where's Gus Bilirakis?

From Greek News :

"Accompanied by US Regional Coordinator for SAE Theodore Spyropoulos, Tamvakis also met with US House of Representatives members John Sarbanes, Gus Bilirakis and Zachary Space to discuss the promotion of Greece's national issues in the US Congress and the strengthening of relations between the Greek expatriates and the motherland."

S-CHIP? Healthcare for poor children? Ending the war? Holding the Bush administration accountable for lies and incompetence?

Gus Bilirakis in the News

In order to do our jobs here at GusWatch, we are signed up for "Google Alerts." For those of you not familiar with Google Alerts, they are a way to be notified, via email, whenever a certain name or phrase appears in the news. Google Alerts for Gus Bilirakis usually come into my email box, on average, three days a week. On those days, I may get three or four alerts of the same story when it is published in different media outlets or on blogs.

For the past two weeks, Gus Bilirakis has been in the local news for hosting a couple of workshops on identity theft. Good for him.

But much more common are stories like the one I got today. I would say 60-75% of the coverage of Gus is on Greek-related issues. Here is the link to the latest, along with an excerpt:

"Friday a Kiev issue of the Kommersant daily reported that Denisenko met with Republican Senators George Voinovich and Sam Brownback, and Gus Bilirakis, the head of the support group to the Greek Orthodox Church in the House of Representatives."

A few thoughts came to mind as I read this:

1. "...head of the support group to the Greek Orthodox Church in the House of Representatives." WTF? Support group for a church in Congress? Is this the best use of Gus' time in Washington?
2. If Gus Bilirakis puts that much time and energy into supporting the Greek Orthodox Church in Congress, shouldn't his votes reflect his religious values? If so, then why did he vote against giving more poor children healtchare through the S-CHIP program?
3. Is this another example of Gus pandering to one of his two big constituencies (Greeks and veterans) while ignoring the rest of us?

Gus Bilirakis: No Healthcare for Poor Children

Gus Bilirakis shows his real values again. He'd rather spend American tax dollars on a pointless war in Iraq than on healthcare for poor children in our country. Gus Bilirakis voted "NO" on the bipartisan S-Chip bill when it came up for another vote.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/votes/?votenum=1009&chamber=H&congress=1101&tally=1

Will he have the political courage to change his vote and override a veto this time? Don't count on it.

Gus Bilirakis & GOP family values: Trapped in the men's room

GOP Values:

Don't think of sick children.
We torture but it's okay as long as we say that we don't use or condone torture.
War is patriotic but our kids make other choices.

Bilirakis aide's daughter gets government healthcare

Susan S made a trip to see Gus Bilirakis' aide today,Wed Oct 03, 2007:

Without even seeing that he was proving my point, an aide to Congressman Gus Bilirakis told me this morning that his own daughter gets government healthcare.

Here's the scenario: Democracy for America and the Democrats in NW Hillsborough County, FL, have collected healthcare stories from citizens around the state which we have delivered to our Congressional representatives. The delivery to Rep. Bilirakis' (FL-9) office was delayed because we wanted to give them to an aide during his monthly "Community Outreach" event. This morning, I took the stack of stories to the library where the event was held. The 40-something male aide was browsing the bookshelves when I got there.

We went into the private meeting room and I gave him the stories and asked that the Congressman sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 676 for single-payer healthcare. I also asked him to pass along the word that we would like to see Congressman Bilirakis vote to override George Bush's expected veto of the S-CHIP bill.

He then told me that the Congressman was against the bill because it would be giving healthcare to children whose families earn more than $80,000 dollars per year. I told him that had been taken out of the bill, but that it didn't matter, because ALL children, in fact, all Americans, deserve healthcare.

He then said "...children in this country are not denied healthcare. My own daughter, who is in her twenties and makes minimum wage, gets her healthcare at the County Health Department. So no one has to go without healthcare in this country."

My response was, "So your daughter gets government healthcare." He was a bit flustered.

"No," he said. "She goes to the health department and gets care."

"But that's government healthcare, paid for by the taxpayers."

I'm not sure if it ever registered that his daughter is taking advantage of a program exactly like S-CHIP. (Would you call that hypocrisy or stupidity?)

We talked in circles for awhile longer, but he was having none of it. There's no way that Gus Bilirakis (legacy congressman) will ever override this veto, despite the fact that his own aide's family can't afford healthcare. He follows White House marching orders and in the words of this morning's St. Pete Times editorial, "this is about ideology and politics, not money."

Crossposted on dailykos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/3/121949/040

Gus Bilirakis Puts Politics and Ideology over Children

Today the St. Pete Times weighs in on the SCHIP bill:

This is about ideology and politics, not money. Bush would limit the capacity of a successful program and instead push tax credits to pay for health care, which won't work and has little support in Congress. The low-income families who need SCHIP the most are not going to get their child into the doctor with tax credits.

In the Tampa Bay area, a veteran and a freshman sided with sound policy over partisan politics. Reps. C.W. Bill Young of Indian Rocks Beach and Vern Buchanan of Sarasota were among 45 Republicans who voted for the bill, but that's not enough to help Democrats override a Bush veto. If only Republicans Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor, Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville and Adam Putnam of Bartow had been as open-minded and could see the light.

Gus Under the Radar?

Is Gus Bilirakis doing Bush/Cheney dirty work to help set the stage for war with Iran? Looks like it. Why else would he move out of his veterans' hearing aids/Greek issues-comfort zone to propose the following bill?

On September 25, H.R.3653, sponsored by Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-FL), to hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its human rights record and to support a transition to democracy in Iran, was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The bill makes a direct link "between the state of freedom and democracy within Iran and the efforts of the current regime of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and the long-term success of the global war on terror." Senator Brownback (R-KS) introduced the Senate version of the bill, S. 1534, on May 25, 2007 and it was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Read more on this blog.

Something's not right here folks. Gus Bilirakis can barely pronounce "Iran," let alone come up with an idea like this on his own. It would be laughable if it weren't so deadly serious.

Btw, another laughable thing (pointed out by someone on Daily Kos) is the U.S. having the nerve to criticize someone for human rights abuses. Sadly, we lost all moral authority on that one years ago.

Worth Mentioning Again (and Again and Again)

There is no clearer indication of Republican idiocy and immorality than Tuesday's vote against the SCHIPS bill. How on earth do you vote against health insurance for poor children? If there were ever any doubt about which is more important to Gus Bilirakis and his fellow GOP House members: continuing to follow White House marching orders or thinking about the needs of their constituents, then let's remove that doubt once and for all. Gus and his cronies have followed George Bush over the cliff.

Let's hope that Gus' Democratic opponent hammers him with this every single hour of every single day until November 2008. For this, Gus must pay dearly.

(Several Democrats, including Kathy Castor, also sold us out on this one. If they don't come around and vote to override Bush's promised veto, then let's make sure they suffer the same fate as the Republicans. If we can't count on their support for this, then what good are they?)