Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
David Safier touched upon this in an earlier post The Right keeps doing it, because it works, but Sen. Obstruction, Jon Kyl, has really outdone himself of late in his obstruction of the people's business in the U.S. Senate.
Now he is asserting that making senators work between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day is disrespecting the institution of the Senate and — wait for it — disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and their families.
No, really. This privileged asshole actually had the gall to play the annual Faux News "War on Christmas" card to obstruct the people's business (as for disrespecting the institution of the Senate, Jon Kyl's shameful record as a senator speaks for itself). Kyl: Reid Disrespecting Christians By Suggesting Post-Christmas Senate Votes:
To Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's suggestion that the Senate come back the week after Christmas isn't just a way to complete a busy lame duck agenda — but an attack on people of the Christian faith.
"It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out," Kyl said today, "frankly, without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just the senators themselves but all of the staff."
To be clear, Reid was suggesting the Senate come back for votes after Christmas and before this Congress ends on Jan. 4.
First of all, there are many Christian Americans who have to work on Christmas Day and New Years Day, unlike the privileged millionaire's club of the U.S. Senate. For example, the men and women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces; police and fire fighters; emergency care and hospital employees; transportation, hotel and restaurant employees; and increasingly retail and grocery store employees.
Secondly, I don't know of anyone, unless they are on vacation that week, who does not have to go to their job between the holidays. Apparently Jon Kyl believes the millionaire's club of the U.S. Senate is exempt and entitled to special treatment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had had quite enough of Kyl's sanctimonious B.S. Harry Reid to GOP Senators: "Quit Whining and Get to Work":
In just a few minutes we're going to proceed to the START treaty. I'm told the Republicans are going to make us read the entire treaty in an effort to stall us from passing it. Isn't that wonderful? [scarcasm] That piece of — that treaty has been here since April or May
{14:10:49} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } of this year. Plenty of time to read it. These are additional days of wasted time we could be using to pass legislation to get home for the holidays. Yet some of my Republican colleagues have the nerve to whine about having to stay and actually do the work of the American people. We make large salaries, madam president. We could work as most Americans do during the holidays. Perhaps Senators Kyl and DeMint have been in
{14:11:22} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } Washington too long because in my state, Nevadans employed in casinos and hotels and throughout the state of Nevada and on ranches, basically every place have to work hard on holidays, including Christmas, to support their families. The mines don't shut down in Nevada on Christmas. People work. They get paid double time a lot of times when they have good contracts, but they work on Christmas holidays. Most people don't get two weeks off on any time, let alone Christmas week. And these
{14:11:54} (Mr. Reid { not an official transcript } people who are lucky enough to have a job in these trying times need to work extra hours to make ends meet. So it's offensive to me and millions of working Americans across this country for any senator to suggest that working through the Christmas holidays is somehow sacrilegious. They decide to work with us, we can all have a
{14:12:30} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } happy holiday. If they don't, we're going to continue until we finish the people's business. Madam President, i move to proceed to executive session to calendar number 7, the START treaty. I ask for the yeas and nays.
Shortly thereafter, it was announced that a full reading of the START treaty would not be necessary.
I agree with Jim Nintzel at the Tucson Weekly who writes in the Weekly's annual Get out of town! feature: "We call bullshit on this. Jon Kyl, get out of town—and take John McCain with you."
BTW: Someone should inform Sen. Obstruction about the history of Christmas and the U.S. Congress. "Congress met on Christmas Day every year from 1789 to 1855, with only three exceptions," Bruce David Forbes, "Christmas Was Not Always Like This: A Brief History," Word and World vol. 27 (2007), p. 403.
It was not until June 1870 that the U.S. Congress made Christmas into an official national holiday.
Congress has met on Christmas Eve and the week during the holidays on numerous occasions (most recently on Christmas Eve last year).
So on historical grounds, Sen. Obstruction is full of sh*t.
UPDATE: As for Kyl's "holiest of holidays" comment, you can learn more about the history of Christmas in America in this post Kyl's concept of Christmas.
UPDATE: Via Daily Kos: Fellow Tucsonan Brig. Gen. John Adams, has this to say about working on Christmas:
We have one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand US warriors doing their job over Christmas and the New Year, the U.S. Senate should do its job[.]