Senator Byrd Urges Senate to Get Back to People’s Business- excerpts

[Rose Siding]

From his address yesterday at the Center for American Progress...

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_newsroom/byrd_news_april/byrd_news_rls_04_25_2005.html

"The current uproar over judicial nominations serves only to underscore the mounting number of problems not being addressed by this government"...

"More than 45 million Americans -- including 275,000 West Virginians -- cannot afford health care insurance. Our infant mortality rate is the second highest of the major industrialized countries of the world. Poverty in these United States is rising, with 34 million people living below the poverty line. Our veterans lack adequate medical care after they have risked life and limb for all of us. Our education system produces 8th graders ranked 19th out of 38 countries in the world in math, and 12th graders ranked 19th out of 21 countries in both math and science"...

"Yet, we debate and seek solutions to none of these critical problems, and instead focus all energy on the frenzy over the selection of judges, and seek as an antidote to our frustration, the preposterous solution of permanently crippling freedom of speech and debate and the right of a minority to dissent in the United States Senate"

"Our best leaders search for ways to avert such crises, not ways to accelerate the plunge towards the brink. Overheated partisan rhetoric is always available, although these days it seems to come especially cheap, but the great majority of our people want a healthy two-party system and leaders who know how to work together, despite serious differences"

"Yet, incredibly, today we stand right on the brink, maybe only days away, from destroying the checks and balances of our Constitution. What has happened to the quality of leadership in this country that would allow us to even consider provoking a Constitutional crisis of such major proportions? Where is the gentle art of compromise?"

"When the nation becomes this divided, when the spin becomes this mean, the destruction of basic principles which have been our guide for more than two centuries looms straight ahead. Moreover, the trashing and trampling of comity leaves ugly scars sure to fester and linger"

http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_newsroom/byrd_news_april/byrd_news_rls_04_25_2005.html

[Roland99]

1. Don't you know about the Byrd well everybody knows that the Byrd is a word

Byrd Byrd Byrd, Byrd is the word Byrd Byrd Byrd, Byrd is the word

[Marnieworld]

2. I'd donate a kidney to Senator Byrd if he asked

Just to keep him speaking. We need more like him. America needs more Byrds.

[Rose Siding]

3. LOL -That's so sweet and I know what you mean.

When I call his office -I like to let them know we're listening- maybe I'll mention that someone said that.

[Marnieworld]

4. Feel free to mention it

I cherish every word out of his mouth for the past 4 years. He has often given me hope and comfort when he so eloquently fights for the country that is in the constitution, the country I hope we keep. I actually plan on naming a parrot Senator after him. Honestly.