Election Results 2012

President Barack Obama won 332 electoral college votes to Mitt Romney's 206 electors.  The Senate now has 53 democrats and 45 republicans; a gain of two seats for democrats.  Bernie Sanders of Vermont is an independent who caucuses with the democrats, giving the democrats in essence 54 seats.  There is one other independent senator who I will have to do research on and add to this post later.  The House is now 234 republicans and 199 democrats, a loss for the republicans of eight seats.  If my math is correct there are five House seats unknown to me at this time; more research is required.  Anyone who knows is welcome to update this post.

(Source:  various articles in the Virginian Pilot and OnLine via google from this week)
Update:  President Obama's popular vote total is 62,611,250 to Mitt Romney's 59,134,475.  The other independent Senate seat won is in Maine and was won by A. King with 52.8 % of the vote against a republican, democrat and two other independents.  I don't know who he/she will caucus with; more research needed.  I checked the same source I did for the above information and got new numbers for the House makeup.  It is now 233 republican and 195 democrats.  That means there are seven seats unaccounted for.  Please advise if you can identify the remaining seven seats.
(Source:  www.politico.com on 11/18/12).

Modern Filibuster

Democratic Whip Richard Durbin made the following comment sometime in Sept of this year.  "I listened to the statement made on the floor by the republican leader.  It was a statement similar to one that was made yesterday...I am disappointed that this session of Congress has been so unproductive, but I know the reason why.  It isn't for lack of effort...We have consistently run into the same problem over and over.  In the last six years...the republicans have created 382 filibusters" (my emphasis).  To my understanding the modern filibuster doesn't require a senator to take the floor and talk until he drops; it only requires a statement by the minority party that they intend to filibuster and if the majority party can not muster 60 votes to force a vote then the legislation is dead.  Question: could it be true that there were 382 filibusters during President Obama's term?  

(Source:  "Yet another dysfunctional day" by Walter Pincus a columnist for the Washington Post.  Printed in the Virginian Pilot on 9/26/12).

First Amendment Case

A California man-Xavier Alvarez-lied about being a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was charged with violation of the Stolen Valor Act, a California law.  The US Supreme Court this year ruled that the law is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment's free speech right.  The case is United States v. Alvarez (2012) and the decision was a 6 to 3 vote.  The dissenting judges were Alito, Scalia and Thomas; voting to uphold the law.  

(Source:  On line from 11/7/12)

Japanese American Relocation Camps 1940's

We are all familiar with this shameful episode in American History, one sanctioned by one of the most liberal Presidents ever elected to the White House in FDR.  I will not try to recall that but add a few notes I came across while reading a novel about the effects on two families in Seattle during that time.  The Japanese American community-most of which were Americans by birth and spoke only English-in Seattle were sent to a camp in western Idaho called Minidoka.  This source notes that rebellion within the camp, did not occur even thou the inmates vastly outnumbered the guards, because the inmates were "showing their loyalty to the US by their obedience".  I am sure you all know, but I think it worth repeating, that the War Relocation Authority-that ran the camps-wanted all males 17 and older to "sign of oath of loyalty to the US".  That would allow them to be drafted to serve in the US army fighting Germans and Italians.  Many did just that and formed the "Go for Broke" 442nd Regiment becoming one of the most highly decorated American units in the war.  Some did not sign the oath and were considered "resisters" and sent off to another camp.  I wonder what happened to them.

The author notes an incident of a US soldier shooting and killing a Japanese American inmate in the camp who was trying to direct a construction truck from going the wrong way in the camp.  The soldier was not tried or punished.  He was, however, fined for the "unauthorized use of government property"; that being the bullet he used to kill the inmate.

At wars end, some members of this community returned to their former homes to find nothing left of their homes, businesses and personal property.  The author does note that a large collection of personal papers and photos were stored in the basement of the Panama Hotel in that city and was not found to many years after the war.  The Japanese Americans who did return couldn't find homes or apartments to rent and only a few remained.  The American Friends Service Committee is one, if not the only, groups to help them.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009)

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

I came across this bit of information in a novel about the Japanese Relocation period on the west coast of the US in the early days of WWII.  When the above act was passed it created a problem for fishermen on the west coast as they wanted and needed cheap labor (somethings never change).  At that time the Chinese workers worded for less and worked very hard.  So hard that when canning machines were introduced they were referred to as "Iron Chinks".  Local businessmen however, still needed cheap labor so they got around the Exclusion Act by bringing in Japanese workers.  This created harsh feelings between the Japanese and Chinese communities on the west coast.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009