ARTICLES and ANSWERS I

By Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath

The massive earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter scale struck Japan on March 11, 2011 and was followed by a gigantic tsunami causing untold damage resulting in the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

Cleaning up the mess required thousands and thousands of people which provided work for those who lost their jobs because of the earthquake, but these jobs did not add to GDP. They simply restored what had already been there (that is generally what happens when any natural disaster strikes. There’s more work to clean up the mess, but it does not add anything to GDP).

Surprisingly, Japan’s unemployment rate rose only slightly, but the real effect is in its revised GDP estimates.

The Daiwa Institute of Research Report dated June 1, 2011 downgrades Japan’s estimated GDP for 2011 from +0.8 percent to -0.3 percent due to what is now known as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”. GDP is being revised downward due to reduced production due to both impaired supply chains and power shortages as well as reduced personal spending due to lower consumer confidence.

The Federal Reserve estimated on June 22, 2011 that US GDP will only rise 2.7% to 2.9% in 2011, down from an April estimate of an increase of 3.1% to 3.3%. The two major concerns for the anticipated decrease in U.S. growth are the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake and rising energy costs.

Fortunately the United States has not experienced anything that could remotely compare to what Japan experienced on March 11, but we have our own share of incidents.

The list of potential disasters in this country is extensive and could be caused by any of the following: Dam failures, earthquakes, fire or wildfires, floods, hazardous materials, heat, hurricanes, landslides, nuclear power plant emergencies, terrorism attacks, thunderstorms, tornados, tsunamis, volcano’s, or winter storms.

Historically, economic damage cost-to-date in the US is around $6 billion dollars from a combination of winter storms, crop losses, spring flooding and severe weather. According to NCDC at NOAA, the economic damage costs for the period from January 1, 2011 through May 2011 are already $32 billion dollars, representing an increase of over 533 percent.

In 2011 we’ve already had a total of eight disasters costing over a billion dollars each as follows:

· Blizzard in central, eastern and northeastern states on January 29 – February 3, 2011. Estimated cost $3.9 billion; 36 deaths.

· Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes April 4-5. Total losses over $2.0 billion; 9 deaths.

· Southeast/Midwest Tornadoes April 8-11. Total losses over $2.2 billion; -0- deaths.

· Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes April 14-16. Total losses over 2.0 billion; 38 deaths.

· Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest Tornadoes April 25-30. Tornadoes over central and southern states. Total losses approaching 10 billion; 320 deaths.

· Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes May 22-27. Total losses may exceed $7.0 billion; 172 deaths.

· Texas Drought & Wildfires Spring-Summer 2011. Ongoing – Firefighting costs approximately $1 million/day, loss to agriculture and cattle $1.5-$3.0 billion.

· Mississippi River flooding Spring-Summer 2011. Ongoing - Preliminary losses $2.0 - $4.0 billion dollars.

NOAA has an interesting chart indicating billion dollars losses from 1980 through 2010 and may be viewed at the following link http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/reports/billion/disasters2010.pdf

During the first six months of 2011, the United States experienced an exceptional number of “Major Disasters” [a ‘major disaster’ is declared after the following criteria have been met.]

We haven’t even passed the half-way point in calendar year 2011, and 45 major disasters have already been declared. This compares to an average of only 60 per year during the 10-year period from 2001 through 2010. In addition, eight emergency declarations have been made along with 71 fire management assistance declarations since the beginning of the year.

In total 39 of our 50 states have experienced some sort of disaster during the first six months of 2011, as listed below. The map at the end of this article will give you a graphic view of the massive amount of area in this country that has been affected by these disasters. States experiencing disasters are indicated in green.

You may view the details on any of these 2011 Federal Disaster Declarations as the following FEMA link: http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema

The eleven states that have not declared a disaster are: Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming. These states are indicated in yellow on the following map.

© 2011 Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath

Opinion by Patricia L Johnson

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is once again in the news, this time for failing to properly report the employment of his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas on his “Nomination Financial Disclosure Report”. Justice Thomas subsequently sent seven letters to the Committee on Financial Disclosure, dated January 21, 2011, requesting an amendment to Part III B of these reports to indicate the following employment data for his wife.

U.S. Department of Labor – January 1989 to January 1993

U.S. House, House Republican Conference (Rep. Dick Armey) – January 1993 to January 1995

U.S. House, House Majority Leader (Rep. Dick Armey) – January 1995 to January 1998

The Heritage Foundation – December 1998 to December 2003

The Heritage Foundation – 2004 – 2007 – no dates provided

The Heritage Foundation – January 2008 to October 2008

Hillsdale College – October 2008 to December 2008

Hillsdale College – 2009 – no dates provided

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires all presidential nominees to indicate where their spouse works. Some news outlets are reporting this story as a failure of Justice Thomas to report his wife’s $700,000 income, but this particular form does not require data on earnings. The sole purpose of the disclosure is to ensure there is no ‘conflict of interest’.

Justice Thomas indicates in his seven letters to the Committee that the data was “inadvertently omitted due a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.” Was his omission simply an error, or intentional?

Justice Thomas, in his original filings and subsequent amendments, has forgotten to add one tiny little fact, the fact that his wife is Founder and CEO of Liberty Central. For those of you that are not familiar with Liberty Central you can learn all about them by reading one sentence quoting Ginni Thomas from their September 10, 2010 Press Release as follows:

“Liberty Central is proud to be a part of the March on DC events this week and it’s an honor to personally welcome all these patriots who are voicing their opposition to the Obama, Pelosi, and Reid agenda,” said Thomas”

Justice Thomas was one of the five justices voting to reverse prior limits applied to corporations and unions Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court decision now allows unlimited corporate and union support of candidates and causes.

According to a UPI article, Virginia Thomas started Liberty Central with a $550,000 investment from two undisclosed donors; this was after the Supreme Court decision had been made.

By Bridget Johnson - 11/24/10 07:14 PM ET

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was found guilty Wednesday on money laundering and conspiracy charges.

DeLay was indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiracy to violate election laws by illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate money to candidates in 2002. He subsequently stepped down as majority leader.

DeLay, who blasted the indictments as "political retribution," now faces up to life in prison on the conviction. Sentencing is set for Dec. 20.

Click here to Read the full story.

An opinion by Patricia L Johnson

They’re not in the majority yet, but already the word ‘impeachment’ comes to mind. House Republicans are making decisions that will affect the safety and long term security of the United States and should resign.

The original START [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] between the United States and USSR [Union of Socialist Republics] was signed on July 31, 1991 by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. START 1, as it’s been renamed, called for reductions in nuclear arsenals of both countries. This treaty became effective December 5, 1994 and expired on December 5, 2009. Click the following link for summary of START 1 http://www.dod.mil/acq/acic/treaties/start1/execsum.htm

The new treaty, START II was signed by President Barrack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 8, 2010, but will not go into effect until the treaty is ratified by both countries. START II must be ratified by Congress and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) stated, November 16, 2010, he would block a vote during the lame duck session of Congress.

What that means is the treaty cannot be ratified until after the 112^th session of Congress begins on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 [S.J.RES.40] and will require a total of 67 votes to pass.

The list of those “in the know” that want the treaty passed is extensive. These people realize the consequences to both the U.S. and the rest of the world of playing political games with nuclear weapons. Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, called the treaty “essential to our future security”.

The Republicans have two goals for the 112^th Congress – tax cuts for the rich and ensuring President Obama does not serve a second term as President of the United States. When the security of the United States becomes secondary, it’s time for them to go. When they’re too ‘busy’ to meet with the President of the United States, it’s time for them to go.  When they think banning $16.5 billion in earmarks is more important than ratifying a nuclear treaty, it’s time for them to go.  And the list goes on and on.

Members of the U.S. Congress are put in office to pass legislation – not to see how many ways they can come up with to put our country on hold. If our legislators do not want to do what they’re paid to do, then they need to resign.

© 2010 Patricia L Johnson

By Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath

President Obama’s Executive Order of February 18, 2010 established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform whose mission includes:

identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. Specifically, the Commission shall propose recommendations designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015. This result is projected to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio at an acceptable level once the economy recovers. The magnitude and timing of the policy measures necessary to achieve this goal are subject to considerable uncertainty and will depend on the evolution of the economy. In addition, the Commission shall propose recommendations that meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook, including changes to address the growth of entitlement spending and the gap between the projected revenues and expenditures of the Federal Government.”

The Commission is required to prepare a final report by December 1, 2010 containing recommendations approved by no less than 14 of the 18 members.  The Co-Chairs, Sen. Alan Simpson, Former Republican Senator from Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, Chief of Staff to President Clinton, released their draft on November 10, 2010, which included a significant number of proposals. 

 

The Commission welcomes your input as we seek out creative solutions to our nation’s mid- and long-term fiscal challenges. Anyone can submit comments, ideas, and suggestions at anytime via email by contacting commission@fc.eop.gov. All comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public record. Due to the volume of comments we receive, we are not able to respond to each submission.

Email comments tocommission@fc.eop.gov.

The Commission draft released on November 10, 2010 contained many proposals dealing with tax cuts.  The problems with tax cuts, is they put us further in debt.

The period when President Reagan was in office is considered, by many, to have been great years for our economy.  The Economic Recovery Act of 1981, or the Reagan reign of tax-cuts for the rich, which reduced the high tax from 70 percent to 50 percent actually had an estimated revenue loss of $39.5 billion, which dramatically increased the national debt.   Source:  CBO “Effects of the 1981 Tax Act on the Distribution of Income and Taxes Paid”,

Historically, the United States has paid for wars by raising taxes.  History shows we’ve managed to get out of the hole even after the huge amounts spent by the government during World War II.  This country didn’t start to really hit the skids until we failed to pay for the war in Vietnam.  Tax-cuts for the rich, enacted during the Bush Administration, and our two wars account for the majority of our current debt and deficit.  We went from having a budget surplus as far as the eye could see, under President Clinton, to not being able to see the light under Republican leadership.

Returns are still coming in, but so far the National Commission headed by Simpson and Bowles is getting almost a 100% thumbs-down for its suggestions.  When you’re lost in the woods, the best way out is usually the same way you got in.  In this case, the bread crumbs clearly mark the trail–War and Tax-cuts for the Rich.

It wasn’t Social Security or Medicare that got us into the fix we’re in.  It wasn’t  "entitlements" unless you mean that the rich think they’re "entitled" to huge tax-cuts. 

As Warren Buffett says, and he should know, there is class warfare going on, and the rich are winning. 

© Patricia L Johnson and Richard E Walrath

Note:  Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway will appear Thanksgiving in an exclusive interview on “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour on ABC.

November 22: General Interest
1963 : John F. Kennedy assassinated

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible.

First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field airport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her husband’s blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.

The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourning for the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson bear Kennedy’s body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued on to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gathered for the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors on a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his widow to forever mark the grave.

Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S. Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and nine days later left for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become a citizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was allowed to return to the United States with his wife and infant daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with a telescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly shot at and missed former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, a figure known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald went to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro organization. In September 1963, he went to Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to secure a visa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned to Dallas and took a job at the Texas School Book Depository Building.

Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas. Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit.

On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered to witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a concealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed that rage at Kennedy’s murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree murder.

Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip joints and dance halls in Dallas and had minor connections to organized crime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination theories, and many believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger conspiracy. In his trial, Ruby denied the allegation and pleaded innocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedy’s murder had caused him to suffer psychomotor epilepsy and shoot Oswald unconsciously. The jury found Ruby guilty of murder with malice and sentenced him to die.

In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision on the grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In January 1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Ruby died of lung cancer in a Dallas hospital.

The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or international, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee’s findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to be widely disputed.

John F. Kennedy assassinated. (2010). The History Channel website. Retrieved 8:39, November 22, 2010, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-f-kennedy-assassinated

An opinion by Patricia L Johnson

How do you balance the safety and security of the citizens of the United States against privacy issues?

You don’t!

No matter how intrusive, uncomfortable or embarrassing airport pat-downs and full body scanners are, they sure as hell beat the alternative of being blown to smithereens.

The people in this country should be thrilled that our government is using every means possible to keep us safe.  What would have happened on 9/11 if the same safety and security measures that are in place now, would have been in place then?  It’s very possible the plane tragedies at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Somerset County, PA would not have happened.

The reality is the United States had enemies before 9/11/2001.  Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the attack on our country and after spending nearly ten years attacking the people of Afghanistan and then Iraq – making hundreds of thousands of new enemies; I can assure you our popularity has not increased.  

We have held suspected ‘terrorists’ in our prisons for years, subjecting them to illegal tortures that are too disgusting to even write about.  We’ve kept them away from their families and friends for all these years and in some cases have not even allowed Red Cross and/or Red Crescent visits.  We’ve held these people for nearly a decade on ‘suspicions’ that have yet to be proven in a court of law, in the name of our safety.  What about their privacy and safety?

Most of the prisoners we are detaining are Muslims who follow the Islam religion that prohibits nudity.  I’m sure many of you remember the nude photos from Abu Ghraib prison, where these prisoners were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse.  The humiliation these people went through at our hands will stay with them for the rest of their lives because these men were not only subjected to nudity, but also the horrors of rape, sodomy and torture.

And we’re whining about airport pat-downs and full body scanners?  Grow up America!

By Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson

The very first year the U.S. began taxing there were 7 tax rates beginning with the minimum tax rate of 1% and a maximum tax rate of 7%. It appears our founding fathers expected the rich to pay seven times more than the poor in taxes. By 1916 - only three years after the beginning of taxation, the rates were changed so there were 14 tax rates.  The minimum tax became 2%, while the maximum tax was increased to 15% or 7.5 times the minimum.

If those percentages were extrapolated across time, what do you think the multiplier would be in 2010?

The highest rate after 1913 occurred in 1918. Then the rates moved downward until 1925 when it reached 25% and stayed there until the market crashed in 1919. Since 1944, the trend has been downward for a period of 66 years.

Taxes were high during World War II and stayed that way until the Kennedy tax-cut which came just as the war in Vietnam was getting under way when taxes should have been raised to pay for the war. As huge as the deficit and national debt had become relative to GDP, both shrank very quickly after the war ended.

In 1964, the tax rate was reduced to 70% from 91%.  This was the famous Kennedy tax-cut proposed by President Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963.  Republicans have been talking about this tax-cut ever since. They liked it so well that they’ve cut it from 70% down to 35%!

What happened after 1964 was the war in Vietnam when the tax-cut was taking effect resulting in loss of revenue at the same time government spending dramatically increased because of the war.

Reagan’s Reign of tax-cuts for the Rich began.  If 7 to 1 was the intent of our founding fathers, we were doing just fine with President Eisenhower when the top rate was 90+%.  We need to follow in the footsteps of our founding fathers who wrote the constitution–7 to 1. 

Reagan’s Reign of Tax-cuts for the Rich was interrupted, briefly, during Clinton’s two terms of office.  Clinton raised them, but Bush more than made up for that.

By 2010 the minimum rate was reduced (through the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts put into place by the Bush administration) to 10%, while the maximum tax rate was reduced to 35%, in other words taxes were reduced from 7.5 times the minimum in 1916 to 3.5 times the minimum under the Bush administration. These are the tax-cuts set to expire on December 31, 2010.

The biggest tax-cuts and the fewest jobs created occurred during the years 2001-2008, followed by the worse recession since the great depression.

The chairmen of the deficit commission, the committee, and the media don’t want their taxes raised. That is what this whole thing about the deficit comes down to–the Republicans, the media; and the deficit commission don’t want their taxes raised.  They’ll do all they can to see that that doesn’t happen. So, they come out with all this garbage to make people think the deficit is the people’s fault.

Contrary to what most people think, the country has done better when tax-rates are high on the highest incomes, not when they are low. Low tax-rates for the rich are worse than kids’ playing with matches in the kitchen–lots of trouble is what you can expect and get.

The rich have had the use of hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars free of charge for many years.  It’s time for them to pay it back – pay it all back.

© 2010 Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson

Today marks the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

The date was November 19, 1863.  The scene was the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, PA.  The battle of Gettysburg had been fought four months earlier and more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, captured or missing.  David Wills, on instructions from Andrew Curtin, the Governor of Pennsylvania, purchased17 acres of land for the purpose of turning the land into a cemetery for the 7,500 killed at Gettysburg.

Wills invited Edward Everett to speak at the dedication and for more than two hours Mr. Everett addressed the crowd.  Just two weeks before the dedication Wills also invited President Lincoln to appear with “a few appropriate remarks”.

President Lincoln’s very short address was initially met with mixed reviews (along partisan lines).  Over time it has become one of the most famous speeches made by any President.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Source:  History.com

The final vote on the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Continuation Act took place at 2:01 pm on November 18, 2010.  The following members, almost all Republicans, voted “Nay” which made it impossible for the bill to pass:

Aderholt Akin Alexander Austria Bachmann Bachus Bartlett Barton (TX) Berry Biggert Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonner Bono Mack Boustany Boyd Brady (TX) Bright Broun (GA) Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Campbell Cantor Cao Capito Carter Cassidy Chaffetz Coffman (CO) Cole Conaway Cooper Crenshaw Culberson Davis (TN) Djou Dreier Emerson Flake Fleming Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Garrett (NJ) Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Granger Graves (GA) Graves (MO) Griffith Guthrie Hall (TX) Harper Hastings (WA) Hensarling Herger Hill Hoekstra Hunter Inglis Issa Jenkins Johnson, Sam Jordan (OH) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kline (MN ) Lamborn Lance Latham Latta Lee (NY ) Lewis (CA) Lucas Luet kemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Marchant McCarthy (CA) McCaul McClintock McHenry McKeon McMorris Rodgers Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller, Gary Minnick Myrick Neugebauer Nunes Nye Olson Paul Paulsen Pence Peterson Petri Pitts Poe (TX) Price (GA) Putnam Rehberg Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY ) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Roskam Royce Ryan (WI) Scalise Schmidt Schock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Smith (NE) Smith (TX) Stearns Stutzman Sullivan Taylor Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Upton Walden Wamp Whitfield Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL)

In addition to those listed above  that voted “Nay” there were 22 Representative that didn’t vote, as follows:

Barrett (SC) Boozman Brown (SC) Brown, Corrine Brown-Waite, Ginny Coble Davis (KY) Delahunt Duncan Fallin Gallegly Kennedy Kirk Linder Lynch McMahon Moran (KS) Moran (VA) Radanovich Space Terry Westmoreland

Extended unemployment benefits for those out of work expire December 1, 2010.  Extended benefits would add $12.5 billion to the deficit, which is a drop in the bucket when compared to the $700 billion the Republicans want to add in extending the Bush tax-cuts.