Thursday, January 7, 2010
With this year’s November midterm elections fast approaching, three prominent United States Democrats announced their plans for retirement from public service on Wednesday.
Powerful and influential—yet controversial for his alleged close ties to the financial sector and his handling of last year’s bailout—Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut announced that he would not be seeking a sixth term this year.
In a speech to his supporters in East Haddam, Connecticut, the sixty-five-year-old senior senator—with his family at his side—said, “I have been a Connecticut senator for thirty years. I’m very proud of the job I’ve done and the results delivered. But none of us is irreplaceable. None of us is indispensable.”
He then went on to say, “Over the past twelve months, I’ve managed four major pieces of legislation through the United States Congress, served as chair and acting chair of two major Senate committees, placing me at the center of the two most important issues of our time—health care and reform of financial services.”
In addition to highlighting some personal travails, Dodd alluded to his precarious political situation, “I lost a beloved sister in July, and in August, Ted Kennedy. I battled cancer over the summer, and in the midst of all of this, found myself in the toughest political shape of my career.”
Despite this, Dodd adamantly maintained that none of the above reasons were the causes for his retirement. He said that his reasons were more “personal,” and that his retirement would hopefully give him a much-wanted opportunity to spend more time with his family.
Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota announced that he would not run for re-election this year either.
“Although I still have a passion for public service and enjoy my work in the Senate, I have other interests and I have other things I would like to pursue outside of public life,” said the sixty-seven-year-old, three-term senator who said he came to this decision after discussing his future with his immediate family over Christmas.
Governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter announced that he too would not seek a second term. The fifty-three-year-old freshman governor said that although he felt his race was “absolutely winnable,” after some deep “soul searching,” he realized that he truly wanted to retire from politics nonetheless. This due to the fact that he felt his main priority should be to be a better husband to his wife as well as a better father to their four children.
When asked to comment on Senator Dodd’s retirement on behalf of the Administration, Vice President Joseph Biden said Dodd would “be long recognized as one of the most significant senators of my generation.”
He furthermore stated, “I believe the nation will miss his wisdom, wit and compassion. I count myself lucky because I know he’s not going too far and will always be a source of advice and counsel.”
Biden gave similar comments and expressed like sentiments about the retirement of his other two Democratic colleagues as well.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
At least two people have died and at least eight to ten were injured after two semi trucks collided in a truck tunnel on Interstate 5 (Newhall Pass) between Los Angeles and Santa Clarita California, United States, causing the tunnel to be completely shut down on both north and southbound lanes.
At approximately 11:00 p.m. (pacific time), two semi trucks collided and at least 13 other trucks smashed into the wreckage causing a massive fire. Firefighters are using foam to control the flames, which could take several hours to put out.
Officials say that the debris could take a day or more to remove and that a full inspection will have to be done on the tunnel before it can be used again because officials say that the structure of the tunnel has been compromised.
“It has impacted the structural stability of the tunnel,” said John Tripp the Fire Chief for Los Angeles County who also said that there may be more people trapped in the wreckage.
“We’re going to have to do a very methodical search. There could be unfortunately more people that were not able to escape,” added Tripp.
The tunnel is 200 feet long.