Saoirse9
Saoirse9's JournalC. W. Bill Young, Longtime Florida Congressman, Dies at 82
This is my rep.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/politics/c-w-bill-young-longtime-florida-congressman-dies-at-82.html?_r=0
Representative C. W. Bill Young, Florida’s longest-serving member of Congress and a Republican hawk on military spending during his 43 years in Washington, died Friday in Bethesda, Md. He was 82. His chief of staff, Harry Glenn, said Mr. Young died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized with back problems stemming from a 1970 small plane crash.
On Oct. 9, Mr. Young, who represented a district in the Tampa Bay area, announced from his hospital bed that he would not seek another term in 2014. As one of the strongest military supporters in Congress, Mr. Young made headlines in 2012 when he said that the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, reflecting a growing weariness with the war.
Mr. Young was considered the elder statesman of Florida’s Republican Party and in the House, where he served 22 terms, beginning in 1970. Charles William Young was born Dec. 16, 1930, in Harmarville, Pa., and later moved to Indian Shores, Fla., a Gulf Coast community in Pinellas County. He served in the Army National Guard and was an aide to Representative William Cramer from 1957 to 1960. From 1961 to 1971, he served in the Florida Senate.
He was a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, where he focused on military spending. He and his wife, Beverly, frequently visited ailing service members at hospitals in the Washington area. Mr. Young brought hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks back to the Tampa Bay area, and built up a military contracting industry in the region, creating jobs and lifting the economy.
His district, which covers much of populous Pinellas County, was already expected to be up for grabs in 2014. Republican voters hold a slight edge over Democrats in the district, 37.7 percent to 35.2 percent, the Florida secretary of state’s office said; 23.2 percent are independents. A special election will be held to finish Mr. Young’s term.
President Obama carried the district 52 percent to 46 percent in the 2012 presidential race, while Mr. Young beat the Democratic challenger, Jessica Ehrlich, 58 percent to 42 percent. Ms. Ehrlich has declared her candidacy for 2014. Beverly Young has told the local media that she would run for the seat if Ms. Ehrlich’s name is on the ballot.
Mr. Young was married twice and had three sons.
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more . . .
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/18/microsoft-programmer-turned-democrat-politician-plans-anti-koch-brothers-smartphone-app/
So last night I told my oldest sister not to contact me anymore
During the presidential campaign, we argued over whether the taxpayers pay for Obama's campaign stops. I explained back then that campaign finance laws dictate that an incumbent president reimburse the government for expenses of the campaign (including the use of Air Force One). That this doesn't just apply to Obama; it applied to GW Bush too. I also explained that Obama is the first incumbent president to forgo public financing, so he raised all of his campaign funds on his own. No involuntary taxpayer funds paid for Obama's campaign.
She blocked me on facebook.
Then last week my grand niece was born. Sister sent me an email telling me to check out her granddaughter's pics on facebook. I wrote back a one line email that I couldn't because she blocked me. Back and forth a few times, she came back with the same tired argument that the taxpayers paid for Obama's campaign expenses, vacations, and "boondoggles" whatever that means. That Obama was vacationing too much. And that she couldn't be bothered to unblock me on facebook because she is to busy, and I can check out the pics on her son's facebook.
So I linked her an article comparing presidential vacation days. As we all know * used more days than any president in recent history. I reiterated the campaign finance laws.
Tied into all of this is that she is getting married the week before I am, so I can't go to her wedding. She is angry at me for not clearing my wedding date with her. I explained that my wedding was going to be a private quiet destination wedding, with possibly a public reception on our 1st wedding anniversary. That it had been planned before she got engaged, and that I didn't need her permission set a date to get married. That all of my vacation days were used up for my honeymoon so no matter what I couldn't have attended her wedding anyway.
Then I pulled out the big guns. Keep in mind we are a very large Irish family with ferocious tempers, and I was losing mine fast. I've been fed up with her spouting Fox News crap for a few years now.
I told her that I couldn't think of a good reason she would hate the president so, that I was starting to wonder if she was racist. But since I don't want to believe that of my own sister, I choose to believe she merely likes to create drama. That I don't even know her anymore, I've recently lost respect for her because of this.
She certainly never used to be this type of person. Out of a large noisy Irish family she was always the most mellow, slow moving, apathetic of my siblings. Couldn't be stirred to argue.
Finally, I asked her to leave me off her facebook, and not to contact me anymore.
When I lose my temper it stays lost a long time. I'm not sure I'll speak to her again and it doesn't bother me at all.
Thoughts?
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Florida
Current location: Florida
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