The LuLac Edition #124, Jan. 6, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: THE VERY FIRST SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FREDERICK MUHLENBERG AND A PHOTO REPRESENTATION OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!

First off, I'm a registered Democrat. I vote for the person, not the party. But the last few years, on a national basis, I have been voting for Democratic Presidential candidates. Although I backed Joe Leonardi for Congress, I still wanted the entire House to go Democratic because I believe there has been a dreadful lack of Congressional oversight of the Bush administration. So I was glad the House went Democratc.
Second, I am a supporter of women everywhere. When I was in college, I ran a series of radio programs on WRKC FM and WVIA FM on the Equal Rights Amendment. All of the women in my life are intelligent, accomplished and first rate. All of them make more money than I do. As a matter of fact, if you stack my lifetime earnings next to all of them combined, you'd see I'm pretty close to the bottom. I have no problem with that. My career choices were mine and I've lived with them and have managed to make a good life for myself out of them.
Third, I understand that this was a historic week for women with the naming of the first female Speaker of the House. Smiles and celebrations should be the norm. But let's not overdo this. Nancy Pelosi, while qualified, is a rich, white, affluent politician who has played the game in her political career and has been rewarded by timing and longevity. She is in the right place at the right time. Her loyalty to John Murtha was commendable, her articulation of issues is dead on accurate as an advocate of the Democratic party. But as Sue Henry said on her radio program Friday, "If she were a rich, white, affulent politician who played the game and was rewarded by timing and longevity" she'd be villafied by some sections of the country. And God forbid if she were a white Republican male, it would be instant hatred and envy. Pelosi has every right to be proud and happy as do the feminists, women and everyone else who support her agenda.
But all that said, points, one, two and three, all that said, let's calm things down. She is a woman, she is the Speaker. Let's applaud pollitely, acknowledge the historical significance but then let's shut up and get to work. Pelosi's daughter Alexis, who I grant has every right to be enthused by her mother's accomplishment put me over the edge with this remark. "If the Founding Fathers were around today and asked to comment on your becoming the first female speaker, they'd all say- YOU GO GIRL!"
UH...............NO! I DON'T THINK SO!
Let's calm down, go to the chiropractor to get your arms fixed from patting each other on the back and get to work.

FREDERICK MUHLENBERG

Pennsylvanian Frederick Muhlenberg was the U.S. House's first Speaker of the House. Here is a little bit about his life.
Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (January 1, 1750 – June 4, 1801), was an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A Delegate and a Representative from Pennsylvania and a Lutheran pastor by trade, Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
Education and ministerial career
He attended the University of Halle, Germany, where he studied theology, and was ordained by the ministerium of Pennsylvania a minister of the Lutheran Church on October 25, 1770. He preached in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania and Lebanon, Pennsylvania from 1770 - 1774, and in New York City from 1774 - 1776. When the British entered New York at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, he felt obliged to leave, and returned to Trappe. He moved to New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania and was pastor there and in Oley and New Goshenhoppen until August, 1779.
Political career
Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the State house of representatives from 1780-1783 and was elected speaker November 3, 1780. He was a delegate to and president of the State constitutional convention in 1787 called to ratify the Federal Constitution.
Elected to the First and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1789–March 4, 1797), Muhlenberg was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for the First Congress (1789-1791) and Third Congress (1793-1795). He did not seek renomination in 1796.
Muhlenberg was also president of the council of censors of Pennsylvania, and was appointed receiver general of the Pennsylvania Land Office on January 8, 1800, and served until his death in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 4, 1801. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery there. After his death, the Township of Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania was named for him.
Family
His father, Henry Muhlenberg, an immigrant from Germany, is considered the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. His brother, Peter, was a General in the Continental Army.
Mühlenberg legend
There is an urban legend that because of Frederick Mühlenberg German didn't become the second official language of the United States. At the heart of this legend is a vote in the United States House of Representatives from 1794, where a group of German immigrants asked for the translation of some laws into German. This petition was rejected by a 42:41 vote and Mühlenberg was later quoted as "the faster the Germans become Americans, the better it will be".