As most of you probably know by now, Democratic Representative from New York, Eric Massa, has resigned his post, which he has held only since 2009.

The official House of Representatives website of the former congressman resolves into one, where Office of the Clerk informs that:

“Office of the Twenty-Ninth Congressional District of New York
Formerly the Office of Representative Eric J. J. Massa

The Washington, D.C. office and the district of the Honorable Eric J. J. Massa will continue to serve the people of the Twenty-Ninth Congressional District of New York under the supervision of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Representative Massa resigned on March 8, 2010. The vacancy became effective March 9, 2010.”

And what was the reason for the resignation? That’s all very unclear at this point.

The Atlantic’s Josh Green reports that Massa was “notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates” during his 20-year Naval career.

Massa, who is married and has four children, was never formally accused of inappropriate behavior. Asked by CNN’s Larry King if he is gay, he declined to answer the question and deemed it offensive.

The day before Massa told Fox News’ Glenn Beck that he had groped one of his staffers, though he said it had been non-sexual. He had previously said he told a male aide he should be “frakking” him while at a wedding.

Reports surfaced earlier in the day that Massa had been under investigation for allegedly groping multiple male staffers and behaving inappropriately with interns.

Eric Massa announced his resignation last week after it came to light that the House ethics committee was investigating him on sexual harassment charges. Massa said he had been pushed out because of his opposition to the health care reform bill, a charge the White House and top Democrats deemed ridiculous.

Massa has cited his battle with cancer as the primary reason he is leaving office.

As the Ides of March approach, we might all reflect on the age-old question: To grope, or not to grope?

Technorati Tags: cancer, congress, democrats, Eric Massa, groping, health care bill, resignation

In public, Toyota is running apologetic TV ads, vowing to win back customer trust. Behind the scenes, the Japanese carmaker is trying to learn all it can about congressional investigations, maybe even steer them along if it can.

It is all a part of an all-out drive by the world’s biggest automaker to redeem its once unassailable brand – under siege now as Toyota’s global recall expanded to some 8.5 million cars and trucks. The recall of 440,000 of its flagship and very trendy Prius and other hybrids, plus a Tokyo news conference where the company’s president read a statement in English pledging to “regain the confidence of our customers,” underscored a determination to keep buyers’ faith from sinking to depths from which it might not be able to recover again.

Facing U.S. congressional inquiries and government investigations, Toyota through its army of lawyers and lobbyists is working full-tilt to salvage its reputation. The confidential strategy – as Toyota will say little publicly about it – includes efforts to sway upcoming hearings on Capitol Hill and is based on experiences by companies that have survived similar consumer and political crises – and those that haven’t.

It was recently revealed that State Farm, the largest U.S. auto insurer, said it had informed federal regulators late in 2007 about growing reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyotas. That raised new questions about whether the government missed clues about the problems.

Federal safety officials said they were examining complaints from Toyota Corolla owners about steering problems.

Some say that the best strategy for Toyota would be apology, openness, details about a specific fix – plus a little help from friends on Capitol Hill.

Friendly legislators can limit the duration of congressional hearings and ask convenient questions that would give Toyota officials a chance to tell their side of the story. The goal would to limit unfavorable news stories about the hearings to as few days as possible, while making sure the company avoids being confrontational.

The Toyota recalls are the highest-profile congressional probe of the auto industry since a series of deadly accidents prompted the Firestone tire recall in 2000. Most of the tires were on popular Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles. Although the tires might have been defective, few other vehicles besides the Ford Explorer rolled when the Firestones blew out. Funny that Firestone seemed to take most of the blame for these design and manufacturing defects.

Both companies suffered damage to their reputations, but both bounced back. Ford was proactive, briefing officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress and stressing that the safety of their customers was paramount. Firestone offered to replace its tires for free. Everything was pretty much forgotten and neatly swept under the carpet. We wonder if Toyota will manage to come out of this smelling like a rose…

Technorati Tags: accelerators, brakes, congress, hybrids, lobbying, recalls, reputation, steering, Toyota

We finally have the first, concrete step in the direction of closing the now infamous Guantanamo Bay prison.

The news reports say, “President Barack Obama has ordered the federal government to acquire an underused state prison”, the Thomson Correctional Center in rural Illinois.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ website, Thomson is not so much “underused”, as empty.

According to a letter to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair Thomson will be upgraded and transformed into a facility that exceeds “supermax standards.”

The real question is whether the Guantanamo inmates will actually be charged with crimes and whether they will be properly tried, according to our law, or will Thomson simply become an extension of Gitmo, this time on U.S. territory?

U.S. officials said military tribunals for potential detainees would be held at Thomson. They also said that the facility could house detainees whom the president determines must be held indefinitely but can’t be tried.

Thomson will not solve all the administration’s Guantanamo-related problems. There still will be dozens of detainees not relocated to Thomson, myriad legal issues and potential resistance from Congress.

Technorati Tags: congress, guantanamo, military tribunals, obama, Prison, Thompson

Once again, our inbox shuddered with the arrival of still another mailing from the Republican Party.

This time, it appears that the GOP has given up its short-lived Weekly Trunk format and opted for a circus-type scenario, calling for the Democrats to stop the hypocrisy and the sideshow, related to the censure of the now infamous South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson.

We got news for you, guys:  YOU are the sideshow, as the main event now is Senator Max Baucus’ health-care reform proposal and none of you appear to be on board.

Get it together, discuss, join up and finally get something meaningful approved and that includes the climate legislation as well.

Here’s a fragment of the GOP newsletter:

“In another stunning example of hypocrisy, congressional Democrats wasted taxpayers’ time and resources on a legislative measure to censure Congressman Joe Wilson so they don’t have to talk about their exceedingly unpopular health care plan.

If we are going to march Members down to the well of the House to apologize, Joe Wilson is going to have to get in line behind Nancy Pelosi, who attacked the intelligence community who protects us, Charlie Rangel who cheated on his taxes, Jack Murtha – a walking scandal, and we all know how the Democratic leadership tried to protect convicted felon William Jefferson.”

OK, OK, Michael Steele. These might be valid points and hypocrisy is not laudable in any situation. The point is:  you are not on board for legislation which MOST Americans DO want enacted, so stop talking and get to work – if you can put down your Twittering cell phones for a moment, that is.

Technorati Tags: care, congress, gop, Health, hypocrisy, republicans, side show, Wilson

Although Twitter can conceivably be considered a useful invention – for certain specific, as yet unnamed purposes – the Twitter mania in Congress appears to have reached almost epidemic proportions.

This is nothing new, but it was obvious that during President Obama’s health-care reform speech before a joint session of Congress at least some of the more hyperactive congressmen were twittering, instead of listening. We suppose that although twittering is way better than being truly tasteless and screaming accusations out loud like Joe Wilson did, it still isn’t something that these suit-wearing characters, who for some strange reason tend to be called “gentlemen” from wherever, should be doing during such occasions.

Of course, as they say:”there is no accounting for taste”. If cell phones or at least cell phones which are turned on are now banned from most U.S. schools, cannot Congress in its infinite wisdom mandate the same on its own premises?

Another, stupid, little Twitter screw up occurred when ABC’s Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran decided to Twitter his million, or so followers:” Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”

The problem was that this was an off-the-record remark by the president during a CNBC interview, which quickly objected. Moran deleted the tweet, which like most such things can still be seen on-line to this day.

Congratulations on your “scoop” Terry! And congratulations to all the members of Congress, who are on Twitter. This is not to say that all of these elected officials Twitter at inappropriate moments, but here’s the latest list, anyway:

U.S. Senate

1. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
2. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
3. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
4. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
5. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
6. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
7. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
8. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
9. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
10. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
11. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.)
12. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
13. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
14. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
15. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
16. Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
17. Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
18. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
19. Roger Wicker (R-Ms.)

U.S. House of Representatives

1. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
2. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)
3. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.)
4. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
5. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
6. John Boehner (R-Ohio)
7. John Boozman (R-Ark.)
8. Michael Burgess (R-Texas)
9. Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
10. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
11. John Carter (R-Texas)
12. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)
13. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.)
14. John Culberson (R-Texas)
15. Steven Driehaus (D-Ohio)
16. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)
17. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
18. Randy Forbes (R-Va.)
19. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
20. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio)
21. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
22. Mike Honda (D-Calif.)
23. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.)
24. Jay Inslee (D-WA)
25. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
26. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
27. Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.)
28. Tom Latham (R-Iowa)
29. Bob Latta (R-Ohio)
30. Ben Lujan (D-N.M.)
31. Dan Manzullo (R-Ill.)
32. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)
33. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.)
34. Cathy McMorris (R-Wa.)
35. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.)
36. Candice Miller (R-Mich.)
37. George Miller (D-Calif.)
38. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
39. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)
40. George Radanovich (R-Calif.)
41. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.)
42. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)
43. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
44. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
45. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.)
46. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
47. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
48. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)
49. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
50. Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
51. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)

Technorati Tags: ABC, congress, jackass, Kanye West, obama, Terry Moran, twitter