In a recent post about Rep. Yvette Clarke, I came clean on my crush. Well, there was one person who accused Yvette Clarke of being stupid (anonymously no less). This offended me for obvious reasons. No evidence was offered for their accusation, only immature commentary. So when I saw her interviewed on NY1 last week, I thought it would be great if I posted it up here.

Unfortunately, the only video clip I could find was on NY1's website, and it is not embeddable. But please check it out here.

I am curious to see what everyone on Room Eight thought about last night's speech?

Personally, I thought President Obama hit it out of the park. BUT, I wonder if it was an overly ambitious speech as well. 

Call me crazy, but after a big speech, I generally search for official statements made by our local representatives. I am always interested to see what their take on it was. The only one I have found so far is from Rep. Towns. He released an official statement last night, and I was honestly impressed. I will spare you the entire statement, but check this out:

A new day is here, and in the words of our President, ‘that day of reckoning has arrived.’ We have a lot of work to do.  I join President Obama in believing that if we work together our nation can restore the American promise.

“For all of the TySheoma Bethea’s in communities all across America, we are not quitters.”

I need to come clean, I have had a crush on Congresswoman Yvette Clarke for some time. Another confession I should make, is I sometimes watch C-SPAN, but we will save that for another time. Anyway, it's not a creepy thing, I swear. I just think Rep. Clarke is smart, sexy, and charismatic.

Why come clean right now? Well I saw a couple of articles today that reinforced my feelings and I felt now was as good as a time than any to share with the world....

'Call Me Jackie Bauer'

Our very own Congressman Ed Towns kicked off the 111th Congress today with the House passing two of his Bills. Not the most interesting of legislation, but still a good step towards reversing the Bush Administration's war on transparency.

From the AP:

Future donations to presidential libraries would have to be publicly disclosed, the House decided Wednesday.

The library vote and a separate one making it more difficult for former presidents to prevent documents from entering the public domain kicked off a new session of Congress. Majority Democrats have joined with President-elect Barack Obama in promising to make government operations more transparent. Both bills now go to the Senate.

I need to vent.

Now that Caroline Kennedy has "staffed up" in an attempt to get the nod from Paterson, I find myself thinking more and more...How much is she paying these people? I sure hope that it is not much, because frankly, her rollout could have been so much better.

These past couple of days, traditional media has been blasting the Camelot theme...The daughter of JFK, how he hoped she would serve before she was born, every family member possible doing an interview...over and over, and over again. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Camelot theme...but since someone doing publicity for Sweet Caroline decided to package her tightly around it, the question of entitlement has come up. People are asking, what has she done? Is she just getting all this hype because she is a Kennedy??? And you know what? They have every right to ask these questions. Because that is all they are talking about on TV.

For some of you caught up in "Blagogate", you may have missed that Congressman Towns will have a new job in the 111th Congress:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday was elected to succeed Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, according to sources.

“I am humbled and honored by my colleagues’ support and confidence," Towns said in a statement. "There is a great deal of work to be done to ensure a smooth transition, and I look forward to working with both my Democratic and Republican colleagues in concert with the Obama Administration to ensure the federal government is transparent, responsive and efficient.”

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share with everyone what scares me most.

1. Bloomberg serving a 3rd term

It's not that I think he is a bad Mayor, but more he cannot be allowed to serve a third term. Also, he is destroying his legacy in his quest for more power. It's time for new leadership.

2. If Kevin Powell had beaten Ed Towns

I know, you all thought we wouldn't have to hear about Kevin Powell for awhile...but given the current state of the union, can you blame me? I've said it before, and I will say it again, I don't agree with Congressman Towns on 100% of his votes, but Kevin Powell would have been disastrous for Brooklyn.

When I first heard Kevin Powell speak, I thought to myself that here was a charismatic individual who has some good points about my Congressman not doing enough for the citizens of his district. However, I like to research, and as I found out more about who Kevin Powell really was and what he stood for, I felt just like I hope sensible Republicans (if there are any left) will feel in a couple of weeks – manipulated. You see, people like Kevin fall into what I call the “prophet mold,” the person who tells them with passion what their problems are and that solution is in front of them.