The Daily Whim
My Site, My Whims, Your Consternation
Thu. May 12, 2005
McKinney MIA in GA
So. For a few days I try to stay away from the political rhetoric, maybe tell a few jokes, but in the words of Michael Corleone, “Just when I thought that I was out … they pull me back in.“
Want another joke? Cynthia McKinney’s commenting on Project Prometheus as detailed on Space.Com
“Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, representing the 4th District of Georgia, is spearheading an effort to find like-minded lawmakers to question the building and deployment of ‘a nuclear propulsion rocket’ — and to protect the public ‘from the potential of a catastrophic nuclear accident posed by the Prometheus Project.’”
Isn’t it nice to have her looking out for us on technological issues?
Well, I guess somebody has to. But I find it odd for other reasons.
It appears, if all goes well with research, development, and funding (Ha!), the first Prometheus mission would be in 2015.
It’s good that McKinney has had such voluminous statements about pressing current matters (Social Security, judicial nominations, the elusive budget, etc.) that she’s able to now look a decade ahead.
I went to her official House web site to see what kind of press releases and statements she’d offered on those pressing matters, and not only did I not find a single statement, I found the House equivalent of an “Under Construction / Coming Soon” page.
Welcome to my Web Site … This Web page has been set up to provide my constituents with an immediate Internet address for my newly elected office. Stay tuned for my full featured Web site in the first session of the 109th Congress.
So I go to her election web site. Nothing added there since the text of her victory speech last November.
OK, if McKinney has let over 20% of her elective term pass without any web update whatsoever, let’s check in with the 800 Pound Gorilla. When Google added customization to their news, I set up about a half dozen “searches” that I check each day, to see where those terms turned up in the news. One of them was for the phrase “Cynthia McKinney.”
If you’re seeking actual words from the Representative, it’s been a pretty dead feed.
You find a few things like “Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) said the legislation amounted to ‘discrimination’ barring women from ‘serving in the battlefield.’”
Then there’s McKinney on her own redistricting: “How McKinney feels about the proposed changes is unknown. Efforts to contact the congresswoman by e-mail and telephone were unsuccessful.”
You see a lot of that locally. We also see that she “addressed the closing of the National Election Reform Conference Saturday, April 9th in Nashville.” This page has a photo of McKinney in Berkeley, California for a speech on Friday, April 22 at the opening event for “Attica to Abu Ghraib.”
On April 28th she spoke on the floor of the House in support of conscientious objector Sgt. Keith Benderman. The AJC reports that when the $82 billion spending bill for operations in Iraq recently passed by 368-58 in the House, McKinney was one of the 58 who voted against it. One could assume that she did so because of the RealID “rider” attached to the bill, but it would be a complete assumption, because she’s posted no statement or explanation.
So, she speaks in Tennessee, at Berkeley, and on the Hill about a range of worldly subjects … but what about her constituents in the 4th District, and the issues that affect them?
We find that black farmers in south Georgia that are angry with the feds and seeking help from Congress have gotten a slight nod: “McKinney’s spokesman, Richard Searcy, confirmed her involvement but said she has not determined how to make the farmers’ case to other members of Congress.”
And we see that her gay constituents feel they’re getting the brush off: “Where is U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney? [...] Always among the House’s most vocal civil rights advocates, McKinney has been noticeably silent on one of the most important pieces of legislation in our community’s history.”
But otherwise, McKinney is pretty much a Stealth Representative in her own district. She clearly has done nothing of note that she feels is worth publicizing to her constituents via her web sites. And over 20% of her elected term has passed. No published schedule of meetings when back home from DC on break, no “town hall” meetings publicized by her office … nothing.
If she wants to stand up for the working poor, if/when she visits her Buford Highway office, she should take a hard look around. It is part of a stretch of a seven lane highway over a mile long that has no crosswalks, and very few sidewalks. Yet thousands of working class poor live in the dozen or so apartment complexes along that stretch of highway. Many of them lack cars and use mass transit to get around. And their feet. Yet they face a dangerously inhospitable environment for pedestrians, where simply getting to the bus stop means navigating the treacherous edges of a seven lane highway where rock strewn human-worn paths perhaps a foot wide substitute for “sidewalks,” and which has no crosswalks whatsoever for over a mile.
When you watch families forced to stand in the suicide lane waiting for three lanes of fast moving traffic to clear (after having made across the first three), just so they can get to the bus stop, you have to wonder about our society’s most basic priorities.
How about a little concrete and white paint, Representative McKinney? For the poor workin’ home folks.
I’d e-mail this to her … but she doesn’t have an e-mail address advertised on her site, either. Maybe I should print it out and deliver it to her Buford Highway office. But my time allotment for acts of futility is pretty low right now.
Previous: «« Design Jokery ««
Next: »» Deadly Anonymous »»
Peanut Gallery
ELSEWHERE:
facebook, twitter, flickr, del.icio.us
FEEDS:
One Big Feed, Text Only, Photos Only, and on twitter @dailywhimOLD ARCHIVES:
Articles, Photos, Links, Quotes, Road Trips, Downloads, 1996 Olympics, Dad, FujiPossibly Related
Recent Comments
- Reid (I'd like my old well-worn & familiar internet back, please.)
- Paul Scheele (I'd like my old well-worn & familiar internet back, please.)
- Reid (I'd like my old well-worn & familiar internet back, please.)
- Paul Scheele (I'd like my old well-worn & familiar internet back, please.)
- Janis Gore (Halloween Princess Cecily)
- Reid (Brain Matters: My First BrainDay)
ReidStott.com
by Reid Stott
A decade of web design experience. Two decades of photography experience. All available to you, and your project. View my portfolio online, then let's talk about your needs.ReidStott.com
Great post. Check out my ranting and raving about McKinney on my blog at atlantapublicaffairs.blogspot.com
But don’t worry, I have good news — Denise Majette might run [again]!
Oy, what I wouldn’t do for a serious congressman for a change ...
I hear Cathy Woolard is still available.
(I am this close to running myself. Except that I don’t have any money and nobody knows my real name.)
Greg: “But don’t worry, I have good news — Denise Majette might run [again]!”
My commenters are all troublemakers lately. I’ll merely … calmly … send you to the FAQ on that topic.
Plus, rumor is that she has enough sense to maybe start over in the 12th. And frankly, I’m not so sure I’m in the 4th, come 2006. Every map I’ve seen of the redistricting is too coarse for me to tell for sure, but I may have been moved to the 5th.
Sir Fleshy: “I am this close to running myself.”
Those thoughts went through my head in late 2001-early 2002. For about ten seconds. The guy who ran goodbyecynthia.com is supposedly thinking about running, too, though likely as a Republican.
But that’s part of the problem with the 4th. Regardless of “current tenor,” the Democratic primary determines who will get the seat, as no Republican is likely to take this district. In addition, at this point I simply can’t consider the idea of adding another Republican to the majority mess they’re stirring up right now (and given Congress’ 35% approval ratings, I’m far from alone on that).
I hope there’s a couple of good solid Democratic candidates willing to take on McKinney in 2006. Not three, not four, not five. A couple. The vote was far too fragmented last time.
You talk about McKinney being MIA as if that’s a bad thing. If we had a few more incompetent lawmakers doing what she is, we might get through this.
Geez, when you said she was MIA I thought maybe, possibly, literally, the woman had turned up missing. You almost made my day!
Seriously, not that I wish the woman any physical harm, at all. But she should feel free to take a bus trip to Vegas and Albuqurque, IMO.
Of course, I’m sure she would be happy to go there, since these places aren’t in her home district.
Perhaps McKinney is also responsible for the garbage not being picked up. Isn’t sidewalks and traffic control a LOCAL issue not a FEDERAL one?
If memory serves me well, Congresswoman McKinney won an overwhelming victory against 4 politicians with long records in the 4th district, and she did it without a single vote from the whiners on this site. McKinney is loved by the constituents who sent her back to Congress and who will, again, go to the polls in massive numbers to support her.
Black Farmers not your issue? It is to a great number of the black voters in her district.
You want to see the government fund Project Prometheus? You should be a Republican .. and probably are.
Gays feel their getting the “brush off”? McKinney has been one of the strongest supporters of gay issues in Congress, even against the black community which does not champion gay issues. She has been educating the black community on its incorrect position on gays all of her political life. She has a 100% voting record on gay issues by the Human Rights Commission. YET, gays didn’t support her either against Majette or Wollard.
McKinney was correct about Agent Orange, correct about depleted uranium, and correct about 9/11. She is the most fiscally responsible politician in Georgia, as confirmed by the independant Concord Coalition, and one of the strongest voices for veteran issues. She has a 100% voting record on the environment, which has been true all of her political life.
It doesn’t matter what Congresswoman McKinney does or does not do, she is representative of real black political power in the south, and the haters/whiners of racist Georgia are never going be satisfied with whatever she does.
Hopefully, for both you and the citizens of the 4th district, you’re no longer in the 4th .. but even if you are, there will be even more of us going to the polls in the next election to ensure continued representation by Congresswoman McKinney.
“Perhaps McKinney is also responsible for the garbage not being picked up. Isn’t sidewalks and traffic control a LOCAL issue not a FEDERAL one?”
Incorrect : “According to specific guidance from the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA), current programs fund ‘Construction of pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation facilities; nonconstruction projects for safe bicycle use; modify public sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Projects do not have to be within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway.”
But, yes, the simplest answer is “not my problem, even though it exists right outside the door of my office in my district.”
“Black Farmers not your issue? It is to a great number of the black voters in her district.”
Did I say it was not my issue? Thank you for putting words in my mouth, but if you’ll read the words I actually wrote, I quoted it as the one instance I could find where McKinney was directly working for Georgians.
“You want to see the government fund Project Prometheus? You should be a Republican .. and probably are.”
Oh, did you run out of argument, and have to resort to what you consider “name calling”? It’s really easy to dismiss someone that way … “he’s not One Of Us, and thus can be easily ignored.” Not that you care, or would believe me, but I’m an Independent, one quite fed up with the Red-Blue wars, and people who dismiss those with a contrary opinion by saying “You should be a Republican … and probably are.”
The political spectrum is not nearly as binary as you seem to wish.
“McKinney was correct about Agent Orange, correct about depleted uranium, and correct about 9/11.”
Great. When will she be correct, or even address, issues and events occurring in DeKalb County? When will her busy speaking schedule in Berkeley and elsewhere make room for a talk or two around here? And if she’s had such talks, why are they such a secret?
“It doesn’t matter what Congresswoman McKinney does or does not do, she is representative of real black political power in the south, and the haters/whiners of racist Georgia are never going be satisfied with whatever she does.”
Ah, you held it until the end … the race card! It’s a quite traditional construct here in the 4th. Anyone who disagrees with McKinney, or who dares to use their Constitutional right to vote for the candidate of their choice other than McKinney, is not engaging in free speech and voting rights guaranteed by the Constitution, they simply must be a “hater/whiner of racist Georgia.”
Or maybe it’s the Jews, J-E-W-S
You see, you should have left that race card in your pocket. It’s unneeded, irrelevant, and causes others to play the one the McKinney’s handed out freely in 2002.
Before you come back with more insults disguised as defense, I’m genuinely glad you are content with McKinney as your elected representative. It’s your right. I hope you’ll go out and campaign for her, and vote for her. And I hope you’ll allow others to do the same for their candidate of choice, and not call them a racist and/or Republican just because they didn’t make the same choice as you.
Because that reflects on you, not them.
Oh, and David, you probably shouldn’t be posting such comments from housegate6.house.gov
That’s tax dollars at work, criticizing taxpayers. I guess it’s legal. Is it ethical? I suppose that’s not for me to decide, but I thought it worth noting that you appear to be “posting from work.”
Black Farmers not your issue? It is to a great number of the black voters in her district.
It is not.
David, anytime you’re in town, I would love a tour of any farm anywhere in the 4th district. If you can find one, that is. Dekalb County is about .6% farmland and has by far the least amount of farm land in the state of Georgia (and, I’d bet, any county between Arlington and Houston). (Compare with Fulton County – 8.3% farmland)
Data found at – http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/ga/st13_2_008_008.pdf
More on point
http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/ga/st13_2_042_042.pdf
Showing that there are exactly THREE black farmers in the entire county, on three farms that cover 192 acres total.
A quick stroll down Candler Road will tell you that public safety, education and small business development are considerably more important in these parts.
Reid, you shouldn’t let political hacks infest your comments section. They’re dorks. David’s thing read like one of those lame-o political ads you see during election time and may have violated some arcane FEC law.
But, Paul, it appears this was actual contact with the office of my elected representative. In Georgia’s 4th District, that is a precious commodity. And I am determined to get some sidewalks for the people outside McKinney’s door. Having a blog means enduring comments from “political hacks,” that’s nothing new. But since my representative has no e-mail address nor a web page updated since she took office, I’m hanging onto every electron I get.