Topic category:  Government/Politics

Team Obama noticed that calling the Tea Partiers terrorists was counterproductive, so White House spokesman Jay Carney switched back to a call for civility.

Alas, ACORN honoree Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) either didn't get the message or ignored it.

Schumer resorted to violent language in expressing his frustration over the Republicans retaking control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections.

"The FAA is in limbo. Airports are the economic engine of the small communities around the country, and that economic engine is now stuck in neutral," Schumer told reporters. "Under the cover of the debt ceiling crisis, they are holding these aviation workers hostage until they get everything they want...they have taken brinksmanship again one step too far."

Not content with the hostage taker charge, Schumer snarled: "It's as if someone is holding a gun to your head and saying give me your money....," he said. "You can hurt innocent people by not getting your own way."

Republicans say Democrats are responsible for the furloughs and lost revenue because they're insisting on a clean bill without compromise.

As with the debt ceiling increase bill, the House had passed a bill, but the Democrat-controlled Senate chose not to pass it and blame the Republicans for the consequences.

"The only reason 80,000 jobs are at stake is that Senate Democratic Leaders chose to play politics rather than keep their word and pass the House bill," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement Wednesday. "That's indefensible, and they should end this crisis immediately."

Last month, the House passed a bill that would have extended FAA financing through September 16. It would have been the 21st temporary funding measure for the agency in the last four years. It included a provision cutting $14,000,000 in subsidies to commercial airlines service to 16 rural airports that would shutter airports in the states of leading Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Jay Rockefeller, chair of the committee with jurisdiction over the FAA. , has repeatedly objected to the language ending the subsidy, arguing they have no place in what should be a "clean" temporary spending measure.

Also, Democrats object to the Republican effort to undo a recently instituted federal labor regulation promulgated by the National Mediation Board that requires an employee vote on labor representation to be approved by a majority of those voting. The prior rule required a majority of all affected employees, meaning that employees who failed to vote were counted as "no" votes.

Democrats, including Schumer, Reid (NV), Rockefeller, Senator Barbara Boxer of California and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) called on Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to call the House back into active session and pass a "clean" FAA bill by unanimous consent.

Don't count on it, demagogues!

House Republicans know that their role is not to rubberstamp.

Apparently Democrats have not learned the lesson of the debt ceiling battle: President Obama initially called for a "clean" bill increasing the debt, but the function of the Congress is to serve the people, not be servile to President Obama or Senate Democrats.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.