Latest Answers

Latest Answers http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/latest/%2A/1/%2A/%2A a view of answers sorted by date en Poe: “Myself and Congressman Delahunt from Massachusetts are the two congressional representatives to the UN. And the times we’ve been up there we have met with numerous people about Darfur. Trying to motivate people to do anything other than talk about it. Its been a tough struggle. But we keep the heat on as much as we can. And I just met with numerous ambassadors from other countries and UN officials. The UN mission statement would be first and foremost that we help the Darfurians. But nothing really substantial has occurred.” Reporter: “Why do you think that is?” Poe: “I don’t know why it hasn’t. I question the UN on many things, why they haven’t taken action on other issues around the world. Motivating the UN to do something is very difficult. They try to operate with a consensus, and that is almost impossible in our day and time to get the UN to have a consensus on any issue. But you’d think Darfur would be one, but unfortunately not much has occurred at all.” Reporter: “Do you think maybe this might be an instance where the US, with some other nations, should act outside of the UN?” Poe: “Well I think the African Coalition, should take the lead. It’s their continent. Backed up with the Europeans, and maybe the US as well, but we should all do this through the UN, and that is occurring. But we have to figure out something else to do to stop the genocide in Darfur, because people die everyday there and the world doesn’t pay much attention to it.” Reporter: “Do you see another option?” Poe: “Well, other than the UN, I think, like I said, I would hope the African countries would support the end to genocide on their continent, and the Europeans have historical ties to that country. So the two entities, with US support, we need to move forward. It’s been talked about enough over the last few years, but millions have died in the mean time.” http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/poe%3A-%E2%80%9Cmyself-and-congressman-delahunt-massachusetts-are-two-congressional-representatives-un Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:58:50 -0600 Whitney J 1815 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org That's a great question. I don't know the answer but I'd like to find out myself. That's a great question. The thing is he may have just been spewing poison and bitterness but it would be interesting to know what he had to say. If he had any remorse for all the people that had been killed and raped and maimed and tortured on his watch. But that would be a good question and I'll try to find that out. That's a good question. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3B%2526%2523039%3Bs-great-question.-i-don%2526%2523039%3Bt-know-answer-i%2526%2523039%3Bd-find-out-myself.-%2526%2523039%3Bs- http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3B%2526%2523039%3Bs-great-question.-i-don%2526%2523039%3Bt-know-answer-i%2526%2523039%3Bd-find-out-myself.-%2526%2523039%3Bs-#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:18:19 -0500 amukherjee 1544 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org They produce a lot of potatoes over there, I know that. There is very little their soil is actually conducive for agriculture. They do have some irrigated ground down in the south around Basra but, you know, most of that was drained or flooded by Saddam Hussein. I don’t know if they’ve ever gotten that infrastructure back yet. Not a whole lot of agriculture takes place in Iraq. There’s a lot of desert there, so they don’t have the water infrastructure either, is the problem. I mean I couldn’t…I’m just not sure. I think they have the starch they have a lot of starch the only thing would be potatoes that I know of at least at this point but they certainly don’t do any corn or soybeans or anything like that or wheat which would be our traditional crops. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%2526lt%3Bp%2526gt%3Bthey-produce-lot-potatoes-over-there%2C-i-know-.-there-very-little-their-soil-actuall Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:14:58 -0500 Robin Wright 1386 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org The discussion about whether we hit peak oil I think drives some of the discussion about whether or how quickly we move away from oil as the major use of our energy. It’s kind of like global warming was a few years ago. People talk about peak oil, but there’s no evidence that we’ve hit peak oil, some people think it’s right now. So it’s part of their discussions. I think we’re going to hit peak oil soon and I’d rather have our plan in place to move away from fossil fuels to energize our economy and transportation, as opposed to waiting until you hit peak oil and then all the sudden your back’s against the wall. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/discussion-about-whether-we-hit-peak-oil-i-think-drives-some-discussion-about-whether-or-how Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:13:08 -0500 Todd Zwillich 1249 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org Geothermal will play a greater role. The question is how much and how soon? We are dramatically shifting investment over the next three years into renewable energy supplies for the future and geothermal is nearly inexhaustible. And is one where there are more applications than people think and it needs to be a part of a diverse portfolio.” Reporter: “Is funding an issue?” Blumenauer: “Funding will be less of an issue in the next Congress, because we will shift away, there is no question in my mind, from subsidizing the mature sources of the past. We are in the process of shifting subsidy from the mature sources of that are part of our energy past and redirecting it for things that are part of our energy future that aren’t yet mature and for whom this subsidy makes all the difference in the world. I think there will be more money over the next three years and it will be targeted in ways that will magnify its impact. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/geothermal-will-play-greater-role.-question-how-much-and-how-soon%3F-we-are-dramatically-shift Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:04:00 -0500 Matt Laslo 1216 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org Well, I think that we do need to reduce the influence of lobbyist on the electoral process and on the hill, in terms of increasing transparency, prohibiting lobbyist from winning and dining members of Congress, reducing travel. Common Cause, Public Interest, other groups, other public watch dog groups, hailed it as a landmark piece of legislation. It dramatically limits the influence of lobbyist in terms of their winning and dining of legislators, no traveling with lobbyist. It sets up some very important firewalls in the process. I do believe that we need to go farther with respect to campaign finance reform. And I believe we should have a system where there is much more of a public funding component to reduce the influence of money generally. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/well%2C-i-think-we-do-need-reduce-influence-lobbyist-electoral-process-and-hill%2C-terms-increas Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:57:00 -0600 1077 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org We desperately need to get funding to the military such that they don’t lose a step. Because they are succeeding in the goals laid down militarily, not politically, but that’s not their responsibility. – excuse me let me finish. So we don’t want them to lose a step, but clearly the future course of this operation in Iraq we have to revisit where the political structure is or is not. http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/we-desperately-need-get-funding-military-such-they-don%E2%80%99t-lose-step.-because-they-are-succeed Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:52:07 -0600 988 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org “I came from the kitchen to the Congress. I came as a Mom wanting to make sure that public policy did whatever it could do that parents couldn’t do to protect its children and the trust that parents across the country would like to have in the federal government is completely unjustified when we see how lax the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been with its acting chairperson saying we don’t need any more resources and we don’t need any more authority.” http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/answers/%E2%80%9Ci-came-kitchen-congress.-i-came-mom-wanting-make-sure-public-policy-did-whatever-it-could-d Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:38:03 -0600 mhowe 879 at http://www.askyourlawmaker.org