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.....

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: Sorrow for Katrina victims?

Although some of my best friends are of Greek heritage, I must admit that it seems that Gus Bilirakis represents the citizens of Greece instead of Americans. Of course we care about the fires in Greece but does Gus Bilirakis care about the Americans still suffering in New Orleans? Does he care that the levys are not ready for another hurricane? Does he care that victims are still homeless? Does he remember the people who died in New Orleans?

Maybe Gus Bilirakis should hire me to do his press releases. After all, I have to correct them almost daily now:

"As a member of the House Subcommittee on European Affairs Congress, Congressman Bilirakis expressed his sincere sorrow over the devastation in Greece New Orleans by stating, “My heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to the families and friends who have lost loved ones in this horrific tragedy. I commend condemn myself and the Bush Administration for allowing this tragedy to continue and recognize Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and the Greek government in their that efforts to rebuild the levys and homes, especially in the 9th ward, have been shamefully mismanaged and unevenly funded." get these blazes under control.” Congressman Bilirakis added, "The unity and solidarity of the brave people of Greece New Orleans that has arisen from the ashes of these fires flood waters is representative of the Greek American spirit and pride that so clearly defines this nation."



Will Gus Bilirakis sign the petition?

http://whenthesaints.org/

We, the undersigned, urge the United States Senate to pass Senator Dodd's Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668) to assist the Gulf Coast region in rebuilding the infrastructure lost after the Katrina and Rita disasters.
Passage of this bill is an important step towards returning the Gulf Coast residents to their homes.

Gus Bilirakis Shows Sympathy for Victims! Why are we not happy?

While we here at GusWatch have nothing but sympathy for the Greek citizens who have lost so much during the recent wild fires, we're a little upset over this:

"As a member of the House Subcommittee on European Affairs, Congressman Bilirakis expressed his sincere sorrow over the devastation in Greece by stating, “My heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to the families and friends who have lost loved ones in this horrific tragedy. I commend and recognize Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and the Greek government in their efforts to get these blazes under control.” Congressman Bilirakis added, "The unity and solidarity of the brave people of Greece that has arisen from the ashes of these fires is representative of the Greek spirit and pride that so clearly defines this nation."

Why are we not happy? It was the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Couldn't Gus have mentioned that?

Temporary Permanent Post on Gus' Votes

Till I have time for a more complete post:

On second thought, what more is there to say?

• Gus Bilirakis voted against giving more children healthcare in order to spend Medicare dollars on privatization.
• Gus Bilirakis voted for the FISA bill in order to give George Bush and Alberto Gonzalez more power to spy on American citizens.
• Gus Bilirakis was in the news for sponsoring another bill to keep the veterans' vote (if only he cared about the active duty soldiers who are currently spilling their blood, sweat and tears in Iraq.)
• When Gus Bilirakis isn't pandering to veterans, he's sucking up to the Greek community. He seems to be more concerned with the occupation of Cyprus than he is with the American occupation of Iraq.