Directory of [US] Representatives

Directory of Representatives

Also referred to as a congressman or congresswoman, each representative is elected to a two-year term serving the people of a specific congressional district. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states. Currently, there are five delegates representing the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A resident commissioner represents Puerto Rico. Learn more about representatives at The House Explained.

Key to Room Codes

• CHOB: Cannon House Office Building
• LHOB: Longworth House Office Building
• RHOB: Rayburn House Office Building
• View the campus map
• A Note About Room Numbering

• By State and District
• By Last Name

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

Alabama

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Byrne,Bradley	R	119 CHOB	202-225-4931	Armed Services Education and the Workforce Natural Resources
2	Roby, Martha	R	442 CHOB	202-225-2901	Appropriations Select Committee on Benghazi
3	Rogers, Mike	R	324 CHOB	202-225-3261	Agriculture Armed Services Homeland Security
4	Aderholt, Robert	R	235 CHOB	202-225-4876	Appropriations
5	Brooks, Mo	R	1230 LHOB	202-225-4801	Armed Services Foreign Affairs Science, Space, and Technology
6	Palmer, Gary	R	206 CHOB	202-225-4921	Oversight and Government Science, Space, and Technology the Budget
7	Sewell, Terri A.	D	1133 LHOB	202-225-2665	Financial Services Intelligence (Permanent)

Alaska

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Young, Don	R	2314 RHOB	202-225-5765	Natural Resources Transportation

American Samoa

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Radewagen, Amata	R	1339 LHOB	202-225-8577	Natural Resources Small Business Veterans' Affairs

Arizona

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Kirkpatrick, Ann	D	201 CHOB	202-225-3361	Agriculture Transportation
2	McSally, Martha	R	1029 LHOB	202-225-2542	Armed Services Homeland Security
3	Grijalva, Raul	D	1511 LHOB	202-225-2435	Education and the Workforce Natural Resources
4	Gosar, Paul A.	R	504 CHOB	202-225-2315	Natural Resources Oversight and Government
5	Salmon, Matt	R	2349 RHOB	202-225-2635	Education and the Workforce Foreign Affairs
6	Schweikert, David	R	409 CHOB	202-225-2190	Financial Services
7	Gallego, Ruben	D	1218 LHOB	202-225-4065	Armed Services Natural Resources
8	Franks, Trent	R	2435 RHOB	202-225-4576	Armed Services the Judiciary
9	Sinema, Kyrsten	D	1530 LHOB	202-225-9888	Financial Services

Arkansas

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Crawford, Rick	R	1711 LHOB	202-225-4076	Agriculture Transportation
2	Hill, French	R	1229 LHOB	202-225-2506	Financial Services
3	Womack, Steve	R	1119 LHOB	202-225-4301	Appropriations the Budget
4	Westerman, Bruce	R	130 CHOB	202-225-3772	Natural Resources Science, Space, and Technology the Budget

California

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	LaMalfa, Doug	R	322 CHOB	202-225-3076	Agriculture Natural Resources
2	Huffman, Jared	D	1630 LHOB	202-225-5161	Natural Resources Transportation
3	Garamendi, John	D	2438 RHOB	202-225-1880	Armed Services Transportation
4	McClintock, Tom	R	2331 RHOB	202-225-2511	Natural Resources the Budget
5	Thompson, Mike	D	231 CHOB	202-225-3311	Ways and Means
6	Matsui, Doris O.	D	2311 RHOB	202-225-7163	Energy and Commerce
7	Bera, Ami	D	1535 LHOB	202-225-5716	Foreign Affairs Science, Space, and Technology
8	Cook, Paul	R	1222 LHOB	202-225-5861	Armed Services Foreign Affairs Natural Resources
9	McNerney, Jerry	D	2265 RHOB	202-225-1947	Energy and Commerce Veterans' Affairs
10	Denham, Jeff	R	1730 LHOB	202-225-4540	Agriculture Natural Resources Transportation
11	DeSaulnier, Mark	D	327 CHOB	202-225-2095	Education and the Workforce Oversight and Government
12	Pelosi, Nancy	D	233 CHOB	202-225-4965
13	Lee, Barbara	D	2267 RHOB	202-225-2661	Appropriations the Budget
14	Speier, Jackie	D	2465 RHOB	202-225-3531	Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent)
15	Swalwell, Eric	D	129 CHOB	202-225-5065	Intelligence (Permanent) Science, Space, and Technology
16	Costa, Jim	D	1314 LHOB	202-225-3341	Agriculture Natural Resources
17	Honda, Mike	D	1713 LHOB	202-225-2631	Appropriations
18	Eshoo, Anna G.	D	241 CHOB	202-225-8104	Energy and Commerce
19	Lofgren, Zoe	D	1401 LHOB	202-225-3072	House Administration Science, Space, and Technology the Judiciary
20	Farr, Sam	D	1126 LHOB	202-225-2861	Appropriations
21	Valadao, David	R	1004 LHOB	202-225-4695	Appropriations
22	Nunes, Devin	R	1013 LHOB	202-225-2523	Intelligence (Permanent) Ways and Means
23	McCarthy, Kevin	R	2421 RHOB	202-225-2915
24	Capps, Lois	D	2231 RHOB	202-225-3601	Energy and Commerce Natural Resources
25	Knight, Steve	R	1023 LHOB	202-225-1956	Armed Services Science, Space, and Technology Small Business
26	Brownley, Julia	D	1019 LHOB	202-225-5811	Transportation Veterans' Affairs
27	Chu, Judy	D	2423 RHOB	202-225-5464	Small Business the Judiciary
28	Schiff, Adam	D	2411 RHOB	202-225-4176	Appropriations Intelligence (Permanent) Select Committee on Benghazi
29	Cárdenas, Tony	D	1510 LHOB	202-225-6131	Energy and Commerce
30	Sherman, Brad	D	2242 RHOB	202-225-5911	Financial Services Foreign Affairs
31	Aguilar, Pete	D	1223 LHOB	202-225-3201	Agriculture Armed Services
32	Napolitano, Grace	D	1610 LHOB	202-225-5256	Natural Resources Transportation
33	Lieu, Ted	D	415 CHOB	202-225-3976	Oversight and Government the Budget
34	Becerra, Xavier	D	1226 LHOB	202-225-6235	Ways and Means
35	Torres, Norma	D	516 CHOB	202-225-6161	Homeland Security Natural Resources
36	Ruiz, Raul	D	1319 LHOB	202-225-5330	Natural Resources Veterans' Affairs
37	Bass, Karen	D	408 CHOB	202-225-7084	Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
38	Sánchez, Linda	D	2329 RHOB	202-225-6676	Ethics Select Committee on Benghazi Ways and Means
39	Royce, Ed	R	2310 RHOB	202-225-4111	Financial Services Foreign Affairs
40	Roybal-Allard, Lucille	D	2330 RHOB	202-225-1766	Appropriations
41	Takano, Mark	D	1507 LHOB	202-225-2305	Education and the Workforce Science, Space, and Technology Veterans' Affairs
42	Calvert, Ken	R	2205 RHOB	202-225-1986	Appropriations
43	Waters, Maxine	D	2221 RHOB	202-225-2201	Financial Services
44	Hahn, Janice	D	404 CHOB	202-225-8220	Small Business Transportation
45	Walters, Mimi	R	236 CHOB	202-225-5611	the Judiciary Transportation
46	Sanchez, Loretta	D	1211 LHOB	202-225-2965	Armed Services Homeland Security
47	Lowenthal, Alan	D	108 CHOB	202-225-7924	Foreign Affairs Natural Resources
48	Rohrabacher, Dana	R	2300 RHOB	202-225-2415	Foreign Affairs Science, Space, and Technology
49	Issa, Darrell	R	2269 RHOB	202-225-3906	Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
50	Hunter, Duncan D.	R	2429 RHOB	202-225-5672	Armed Services Education and the Workforce Transportation
51	Vargas, Juan	D	1605 LHOB	202-225-8045	Financial Services House Administration
52	Peters, Scott	D	1122 LHOB	202-225-0508	Armed Services the Judiciary
53	Davis, Susan	D	1214 LHOB	202-225-2040	Armed Services Education and the Workforce

Colorado

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	DeGette, Diana	D	2368 RHOB	202-225-4431	Energy and Commerce
2	Polis, Jared	D	1433 LHOB	202-225-2161	Education and the Workforce Natural Resources Rules
3	Tipton, Scott	R	218 CHOB	202-225-4761	Financial Services
4	Buck, Ken	R	416 CHOB	202-225-4676	Oversight and Government the Judiciary
5	Lamborn, Doug	R	2402 RHOB	202-225-4422	Armed Services Natural Resources Veterans' Affairs
6	Coffman, Mike	R	2443 RHOB	202-225-7882	Armed Services Veterans' Affairs
7	Perlmutter, Ed	D	1410 LHOB	202-225-2645	Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology

Connecticut

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Larson, John B.	D	1501 LHOB	202-225-2265	Ethics Ways and Means
2	Courtney, Joe	D	2348 RHOB	202-225-2076	Armed Services Education and the Workforce
3	DeLauro, Rosa L.	D	2413 RHOB	202-225-3661	Appropriations
4	Himes, Jim	D	1227 LHOB	202-225-5541	Financial Services Intelligence (Permanent)
5	Esty, Elizabeth	D	405 CHOB	202-225-4476	Science, Space, and Technology Transportation

Delaware

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Carney, John	D	1406 LHOB	202-225-4165	Financial Services

District of Columbia

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Norton, Eleanor Holmes	D	2136 RHOB	202-225-8050	Oversight and Government Transportation

Florida

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Miller, Jeff	R	336 CHOB	202-225-4136	Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent) Veterans' Affairs
2	Graham, Gwen	D	1213 LHOB	202-225-5235	Agriculture Armed Services
3	Yoho, Ted	R	511 CHOB	202-225-5744	Agriculture Foreign Affairs
4	Crenshaw, Ander	R	2161 RHOB	202-225-2501	Appropriations
5	Brown, Corrine	D	2111 RHOB	202-225-0123	Transportation Veterans' Affairs
6	DeSantis, Ron	R	308 CHOB	202-225-2706	Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government the Judiciary
7	Mica, John	R	2187 RHOB	202-225-4035	Oversight and Government Transportation
8	Posey, Bill	R	120 CHOB	202-225-3671	Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology
9	Grayson, Alan	D	303 CHOB	202-225-9889	Foreign Affairs Science, Space, and Technology
10	Webster, Daniel	R	1039 LHOB	202-225-2176	Transportation
11	Nugent, Richard	R	1727 LHOB	202-225-1002	Armed Services House Administration
12	Bilirakis, Gus M.	R	2112 RHOB	202-225-5755	Energy and Commerce Veterans' Affairs
13	Jolly, David	R	1728 LHOB	202-225-5961	Appropriations
14	Castor, Kathy	D	205 CHOB	202-225-3376	Energy and Commerce the Budget
15	Ross, Dennis	R	229 CHOB	202-225-1252	Financial Services
16	Buchanan, Vern	R	2104 RHOB	202-225-5015	Ways and Means
17	Rooney, Tom	R	2160 RHOB	202-225-5792	Appropriations Intelligence (Permanent)
18	Murphy, Patrick	D	211 CHOB	202-225-3026	Financial Services Intelligence (Permanent)
19	Clawson,Curt	R	228 CHOB	202-225-2536	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security
20	Hastings, Alcee L.	D	2353 RHOB	202-225-1313	Rules
21	Deutch, Ted	D	2447 RHOB	202-225-3001	Ethics Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
22	Frankel, Lois	D	1037 LHOB	202-225-9890	Foreign Affairs Transportation
23	Wasserman Schultz, Debbie	D	1114 LHOB	202-225-7931	Appropriations
24	Wilson, Frederica	D	208 CHOB	202-225-4506	Education and the Workforce
25	Diaz-Balart, Mario	R	440 CHOB	202-225-4211	Appropriations the Budget
26	Curbelo, Carlos	R	1429 LHOB	202-225-2778	Education and the Workforce Small Business Transportation
27	Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana	R	2206 RHOB	202-225-3931	Foreign Affairs Intelligence (Permanent)

Georgia

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Carter, Buddy	R	432 CHOB	202-225-5831	Education and the Workforce Homeland Security Oversight and Government
2	Bishop Jr., Sanford D.	D	2407 RHOB	202-225-3631	Appropriations
3	Westmoreland, Lynn A.	R	2202 RHOB	202-225-5901	Financial Services Intelligence (Permanent) Select Committee on Benghazi
4	Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" Jr.	D	2240 RHOB	202-225-1605	Armed Services the Judiciary
5	Lewis, John	D	343 CHOB	202-225-3801	Ways and Means
6	Price, Tom	R	100 CHOB	202-225-4501	the Budget Ways and Means
7	Woodall, Robert	R	1724 LHOB	202-225-4272	Rules the Budget Transportation
8	Scott, Austin	R	2417 RHOB	202-225-6531	Agriculture Armed Services
9	Collins, Doug	R	1504 LHOB	202-225-9893	Rules the Judiciary
10	Hice, Jody	R	1516 LHOB	202-225-4101	Natural Resources Oversight and Government
11	Loudermilk, Barry	R	238 CHOB	202-225-2931	Homeland Security Science, Space, and Technology
12	Allen, Rick	R	513 CHOB	202-225-2823	Agriculture Education and the Workforce
13	Scott, David	D	225 CHOB	202-225-2939	Agriculture Financial Services
14	Graves, Tom	R	2442 RHOB	202-225-5211	Appropriations

Guam

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Bordallo, Madeleine	D	2441 RHOB	202-225-1188	Armed Services Natural Resources

Hawaii

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Takai, Mark	D	422 CHOB	202-225-2726	Armed Services Natural Resources
2	Gabbard, Tulsi	D	1609 LHOB	202-225-4906	Armed Services Foreign Affairs

Idaho

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Labrador, Raul R.	R	1523 LHOB	202-225-6611	Natural Resources the Judiciary
2	Simpson, Mike	R	2312 RHOB	202-225-5531	Appropriations

Illinois

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Rush, Bobby L.	D	2188 RHOB	202-225-4372	Energy and Commerce
2	Kelly, Robin	D	1239 LHOB	202-225-0773	Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government
3	Lipinski, Daniel	D	2346 RHOB	202-225-5701	Science, Space, and Technology Transportation
4	Gutierrez, Luis	D	2408 RHOB	202-225-8203	Intelligence (Permanent) the Judiciary
5	Quigley, Mike	D	2458 RHOB	202-225-4061	Appropriations Intelligence (Permanent)
6	Roskam, Peter J.	R	2246 RHOB	202-225-4561	Select Committee on Benghazi Ways and Means
7	Davis, Danny K.	D	2159 RHOB	202-225-5006	Ways and Means
8	Duckworth, Tammy	D	104 CHOB	202-225-3711	Armed Services Oversight and Government Select Committee on Benghazi
9	Schakowsky, Jan	D	2367 RHOB	202-225-2111	Energy and Commerce
10	Dold, Bob	R	221 CHOB	202-225-4835	Financial Services
11	Foster, Bill	D	1224 LHOB	202-225-3515	Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology
12	Bost, Mike	R	1440 LHOB	202-225-5661	Agriculture Small Business Veterans' Affairs
13	Davis, Rodney	R	1740 LHOB	202-225-2371	Agriculture House Administration Transportation
14	Hultgren, Randy	R	2455 RHOB	202-225-2976	Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology
15	Shimkus, John	R	2217 RHOB	202-225-5271	Energy and Commerce
16	Kinzinger, Adam	R	1221 LHOB	202-225-3635	Energy and Commerce
17	Bustos, Cheri	D	1009 LHOB	202-225-5905	Agriculture Transportation
18	Schock, Aaron	R	2464 RHOB	202-225-6201	House Administration the Budget Ways and Means

Indiana

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Visclosky, Peter	D	2328 RHOB	202-225-2461	Appropriations
2	Walorski, Jackie	R	419 CHOB	202-225-3915	Agriculture Armed Services Veterans' Affairs
3	Stutzman, Marlin	R	2418 RHOB	202-225-4436	Financial Services the Budget
4	Rokita, Todd	R	1717 LHOB	202-225-5037	Education and the Workforce the Budget Transportation
5	Brooks, Susan W.	R	1505 LHOB	202-225-2276	Energy and Commerce Ethics Select Committee on Benghazi
6	Messer, Luke	R	508 CHOB	202-225-3021	Education and the Workforce Financial Services
7	Carson, André	D	2453 RHOB	202-225-4011	Intelligence (Permanent) Transportation
8	Bucshon, Larry	R	1005 LHOB	202-225-4636	Energy and Commerce
9	Young, Todd	R	1007 LHOB	202-225-5315	Ways and Means

Iowa

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Blum, Rod	R	213 CHOB	202-225-2911	Oversight and Government the Budget
2	Loebsack, David	D	1527 LHOB	202-225-6576	Energy and Commerce
3	Young, David	R	515 CHOB	202-225-5476	Appropriations
4	King, Steve	R	2210 RHOB	202-225-4426	Agriculture Small Business the Judiciary

Kansas

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Huelskamp, Tim	R	1110 LHOB	202-225-2715	Small Business Veterans' Affairs
2	Jenkins, Lynn	R	1526 LHOB	202-225-6601	Ways and Means
3	Yoder, Kevin	R	215 CHOB	202-225-2865	Appropriations
4	Pompeo, Mike	R	436 CHOB	202-225-6216	Energy and Commerce Intelligence (Permanent) Select Committee on Benghazi

Kentucky

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Whitfield, Ed	R	2184 RHOB	202-225-3115	Energy and Commerce
2	Guthrie, S. Brett	R	2434 RHOB	202-225-3501	Education and the Workforce Energy and Commerce
3	Yarmuth, John A.	D	403 CHOB	202-225-5401	Energy and Commerce the Budget
4	Massie, Thomas	R	314 CHOB	202-225-3465	Oversight and Government Science, Space, and Technology Transportation
5	Rogers, Harold	R	2406 RHOB	202-225-4601	Appropriations
6	Barr, Andy	R	1432 LHOB	202-225-4706	Financial Services

Louisiana

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Scalise, Steve	R	2338 RHOB	202-225-3015	Energy and Commerce
2	Richmond, Cedric	D	240 CHOB	202-225-6636	Homeland Security the Judiciary
3	Boustany Jr., Charles W.	R	1431 LHOB	202-225-2031	Ways and Means
4	Fleming, John	R	2182 RHOB	202-225-2777	Armed Services Natural Resources
5	Abraham, Ralph	R	417 CHOB	202-225-8490	Agriculture Veterans' Affairs
6	Graves, Garret	R	204 CHOB	202-225-3901	Natural Resources Transportation

Maine

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Pingree, Chellie	D	2162 RHOB	202-225-6116	Appropriations
2	Poliquin, Bruce	R	426 CHOB	202-225-6306	Financial Services

Maryland

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Harris, Andy	R	1533 LHOB	202-225-5311	Appropriations
2	Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch	D	2416 RHOB	202-225-3061	Appropriations
3	Sarbanes, John P.	D	2444 RHOB	202-225-4016	Energy and Commerce
4	Edwards, Donna F.	D	2445 RHOB	202-225-8699	Science, Space, and Technology Transportation
5	Hoyer, Steny H.	D	1705 LHOB	202-225-4131
6	Delaney, John	D	1632 LHOB	202-225-2721	Financial Services
7	Cummings, Elijah	D	2230 RHOB	202-225-4741	Oversight and Government Select Committee on Benghazi Transportation
8	Van Hollen, Chris	D	1707 LHOB	202-225-5341	the Budget

Massachusetts

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Neal, Richard E.	D	341 CHOB	202-225-5601	Ways and Means
2	McGovern, James	D	438 CHOB	202-225-6101	Agriculture Rules
3	Tsongas, Niki	D	1714 LHOB	202-225-3411	Armed Services Natural Resources
4	Kennedy III, Joseph P.	D	306 CHOB	202-225-5931	Energy and Commerce
5	Clark, Katherine	D	1721 LHOB	202-225-2836	Education and the Workforce Science, Space, and Technology
6	Moulton, Seth	D	1408 LHOB	202-225-8020	Armed Services the Budget
7	Capuano, Michael E.	D	1414 LHOB	202-225-5111	Ethics Financial Services Transportation
8	Lynch, Stephen F.	D	2369 RHOB	202-225-8273	Financial Services Oversight and Government
9	Keating, William	D	315 CHOB	202-225-3111	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security

Michigan

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Benishek, Dan	R	514 CHOB	202-225-4735	Agriculture Natural Resources Veterans' Affairs
2	Huizenga, Bill	R	1217 LHOB	202-225-4401	Financial Services
3	Amash, Justin	R	114 CHOB	202-225-3831	Oversight and Government
4	Moolenaar, John	R	117 CHOB	202-225-3561	Agriculture Science, Space, and Technology the Budget
5	Kildee, Daniel	D	227 CHOB	202-225-3611	Financial Services
6	Upton, Fred	R	2183 RHOB	202-225-3761	Energy and Commerce
7	Walberg, Tim	R	2436 RHOB	202-225-6276	Education and the Workforce Oversight and Government
8	Bishop, Mike	R	428 CHOB	202-225-4872	Education and the Workforce the Judiciary
9	Levin, Sander	D	1236 LHOB	202-225-4961	Joint Taxation Ways and Means
10	Miller, Candice	R	320 CHOB	202-225-2106	Homeland Security House Administration Transportation
11	Trott, Dave	R	1722 LHOB	202-225-8171	Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
12	Dingell, Debbie	D	116 CHOB	202-225-4071	Natural Resources the Budget
13	Conyers Jr., John	D	2426 RHOB	202-225-5126	the Judiciary
14	Lawrence, Brenda	D	1237 LHOB	202-225-5802	Oversight and Government Small Business

Minnesota

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Walz, Timothy J.	D	1034 LHOB	202-225-2472	Agriculture Armed Services Veterans' Affairs
2	Kline, John	R	2439 RHOB	202-225-2271	Armed Services Education and the Workforce
3	Paulsen, Erik	R	127 CHOB	202-225-2871	Ways and Means
4	McCollum, Betty	D	2256 RHOB	202-225-6631	Appropriations
5	Ellison, Keith	D	2263 RHOB	202-225-4755	Financial Services
6	Emmer, Tom	R	503 CHOB	202-225-2331	Agriculture Foreign Affairs
7	Peterson, Collin C.	D	2204 RHOB	202-225-2165	Agriculture
8	Nolan, Rick	D	2366 RHOB	202-225-6211	Agriculture Transportation

Mississippi

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Nunnelee, Alan -- Vacancy	R	1427 LHOB	202-225-4306
2	Thompson, Bennie G.	D	2466 RHOB	202-225-5876	Homeland Security
3	Harper, Gregg	R	307 CHOB	202-225-5031	Energy and Commerce House Administration
4	Palazzo, Steven	R	331 CHOB	202-225-5772	Armed Services Homeland Security Science, Space, and Technology

Missouri

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Clay Jr., William "Lacy"	D	2428 RHOB	202-225-2406	Financial Services Oversight and Government
2	Wagner, Ann	R	435 CHOB	202-225-1621	Financial Services
3	Luetkemeyer, Blaine	R	2440 RHOB	202-225-2956	Financial Services Small Business
4	Hartzler, Vicky	R	2235 RHOB	202-225-2876	Agriculture Armed Services the Budget
5	Cleaver, Emanuel	D	2335 RHOB	202-225-4535	Financial Services
6	Graves, Sam	R	1415 LHOB	202-225-7041	Armed Services Transportation
7	Long, Billy	R	1541 LHOB	202-225-6536	Energy and Commerce
8	Smith, Jason	R	1118 LHOB	202-225-4404	Ways and Means

Montana

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Zinke, Ryan	R	113 CHOB	202-225-3211	Armed Services Natural Resources

Nebraska

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Fortenberry, Jeff	R	1514 LHOB	202-225-4806	Appropriations
2	Ashford, Brad	D	107 CHOB	202-225-4155	Agriculture Armed Services
3	Smith, Adrian	R	2241 RHOB	202-225-6435	Ways and Means

Nevada

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Titus, Dina	D	401 CHOB	202-225-5965	Transportation Veterans' Affairs
2	Amodei, Mark	R	332 CHOB	202-225-6155	Appropriations
3	Heck, Joe	R	132 CHOB	202-225-3252	Armed Services Education and the Workforce Intelligence (Permanent)
4	Hardy, Cresent	R	430 CHOB	202-225-9894	Natural Resources Small Business Transportation

New Hampshire

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Guinta, Frank	R	326 CHOB	202-225-5456	Financial Services
2	Kuster, Ann	D	137 CHOB	202-225-5206	Agriculture Veterans' Affairs

New Jersey

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Norcross, Donald	D	1531 LHOB	202-225-6501	Armed Services the Budget
2	LoBiondo, Frank	R	2427 RHOB	202-225-6572	Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent) Transportation
3	MacArthur, Tom	R	506 CHOB	202-225-4765	Armed Services Natural Resources
4	Smith, Chris	R	2373 RHOB	202-225-3765	Foreign Affairs
5	Garrett, Scott	R	2232 RHOB	202-225-4465	Financial Services the Budget
6	Pallone Jr., Frank	D	237 CHOB	202-225-4671	Energy and Commerce
7	Lance, Leonard	R	2352 RHOB	202-225-5361	Energy and Commerce
8	Sires, Albio	D	2342 RHOB	202-225-7919	Foreign Affairs Transportation
9	Pascrell Jr., Bill	D	2370 RHOB	202-225-5751	the Budget Ways and Means
10	Payne Jr., Donald	D	103 CHOB	202-225-3436	Homeland Security Small Business
11	Frelinghuysen, Rodney	R	2306 RHOB	202-225-5034	Appropriations
12	Watson Coleman, Bonnie	D	126 CHOB	202-225-5801	Homeland Security Oversight and Government

New Mexico

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Lujan Grisham, Michelle	D	214 CHOB	202-225-6316	Agriculture Oversight and Government the Budget
2	Pearce, Steve	R	2432 RHOB	202-225-2365	Financial Services
3	Lujan, Ben R.	D	2446 RHOB	202-225-6190	Energy and Commerce

New York

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Zeldin, Lee	R	1517 LHOB	202-225-3826	Foreign Affairs Transportation Veterans' Affairs
2	King, Pete	R	339 CHOB	202-225-7896	Financial Services Homeland Security Intelligence (Permanent)
3	Israel, Steve	D	2457 RHOB	202-225-3335	Appropriations
4	Rice, Kathleen	D	1508 LHOB	202-225-5516	Homeland Security Veterans' Affairs
5	Meeks, Gregory W.	D	2234 RHOB	202-225-3461	Financial Services Foreign Affairs
6	Meng, Grace	D	1317 LHOB	202-225-2601	Foreign Affairs Small Business
7	Velázquez, Nydia M.	D	2302 RHOB	202-225-2361	Financial Services Small Business
8	Jeffries, Hakeem	D	1607 LHOB	202-225-5936	Education and the Workforce the Judiciary
9	Clarke, Yvette D.	D	2351 RHOB	202-225-6231	Energy and Commerce Ethics Small Business
10	Nadler, Jerrold	D	2109 RHOB	202-225-5635	the Judiciary Transportation
11	Grimm, Michael -- Vacancy	R	1725 LHOB	202-225-3371
12	Maloney, Carolyn	D	2308 RHOB	202-225-7944	Financial Services Oversight and Government
13	Rangel, Charles B.	D	2354 RHOB	202-225-4365	Joint Taxation Ways and Means
14	Crowley, Joseph	D	1436 LHOB	202-225-3965	Ways and Means
15	Serrano, José E.	D	2227 RHOB	202-225-4361	Appropriations
16	Engel, Eliot	D	2462 RHOB	202-225-2464	Energy and Commerce Foreign Affairs
17	Lowey, Nita	D	2365 RHOB	202-225-6506	Appropriations
18	Maloney, Sean Patrick	D	1529 LHOB	202-225-5441	Agriculture Transportation
19	Gibson, Chris	R	1708 LHOB	202-225-5614	Agriculture Armed Services Small Business
20	Tonko, Paul D.	D	2463 RHOB	202-225-5076	Energy and Commerce Science, Space, and Technology
21	Stefanik, Elise	R	512 CHOB	202-225-4611	Armed Services Education and the Workforce
22	Hanna, Richard	R	319 CHOB	202-225-3665	Small Business Transportation
23	Reed, Tom	R	2437 RHOB	202-225-3161	Ways and Means
24	Katko, John	R	1123 LHOB	202-225-3701	Homeland Security Transportation
25	Slaughter, Louise	D	2469 RHOB	202-225-3615	Rules
26	Higgins, Brian	D	2459 RHOB	202-225-3306	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security
27	Collins, Chris	R	1117 LHOB	202-225-5265	Energy and Commerce

North Carolina

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Butterfield, G.K.	D	2305 RHOB	202-225-3101	Energy and Commerce
2	Ellmers, Renee	R	1210 LHOB	202-225-4531	Energy and Commerce
3	Jones, Walter B.	R	2333 RHOB	202-225-3415	Armed Services
4	Price, David	D	2108 RHOB	202-225-1784	Appropriations
5	Foxx, Virginia	R	2350 RHOB	202-225-2071	Education and the Workforce Rules
6	Walker, Mark	R	312 CHOB	202-225-3065	Homeland Security Oversight and Government
7	Rouzer, David	R	424 CHOB	202-225-2731	Agriculture Transportation
8	Hudson, Richard	R	429 CHOB	202-225-3715	Energy and Commerce
9	Pittenger, Robert	R	224 CHOB	202-225-1976	Financial Services
10	McHenry, Patrick T.	R	2334 RHOB	202-225-2576	Financial Services
11	Meadows, Mark	R	1024 LHOB	202-225-6401	Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government Transportation
12	Adams, Alma	D	222 CHOB	202-225-1510	Agriculture Education and the Workforce Small Business
13	Holding, George	R	507 CHOB	202-225-3032	Ways and Means

North Dakota

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Cramer, Kevin	R	1032 LHOB	202-225-2611	Energy and Commerce

Northern Mariana Islands

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Sablan, Gregorio	D	423 CHOB	202-225-2646	Education and the Workforce Natural Resources

Ohio

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Chabot, Steve	R	2371 RHOB	202-225-2216	Foreign Affairs Small Business the Judiciary
2	Wenstrup, Brad	R	1318 LHOB	202-225-3164	Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent) Veterans' Affairs
3	Beatty, Joyce	D	133 CHOB	202-225-4324	Financial Services
4	Jordan, Jim	R	1524 LHOB	202-225-2676	Oversight and Government Select Committee on Benghazi the Judiciary
5	Latta, Robert E.	R	2448 RHOB	202-225-6405	Energy and Commerce
6	Johnson, Bill	R	1710 LHOB	202-225-5705	Energy and Commerce Science, Space, and Technology
7	Gibbs, Bob	R	329 CHOB	202-225-6265	Agriculture Transportation
8	Boehner, John A.	R	1011 LHOB	202-225-6205
9	Kaptur, Marcy	D	2186 RHOB	202-225-4146	Appropriations
10	Turner, Michael	R	2239 RHOB	202-225-6465	Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent) Oversight and Government
11	Fudge, Marcia L.	D	2344 RHOB	202-225-7032	Agriculture Education and the Workforce
12	Tiberi, Pat	R	1203 LHOB	202-225-5355	Ways and Means
13	Ryan, Tim	D	1421 LHOB	202-225-5261	Appropriations the Budget
14	Joyce, David	R	1124 LHOB	202-225-5731	Appropriations
15	Stivers, Steve	R	1022 LHOB	202-225-2015	Financial Services Rules
16	Renacci, Jim	R	328 CHOB	202-225-3876	Ways and Means

Oklahoma

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Bridenstine, Jim	R	216 CHOB	202-225-2211	Armed Services Science, Space, and Technology
2	Mullin, Markwayne	R	1113 LHOB	202-225-2701	Energy and Commerce
3	Lucas, Frank	R	2405 RHOB	202-225-5565	Agriculture Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology
4	Cole, Tom	R	2467 RHOB	202-225-6165	Appropriations Rules the Budget
5	Russell, Steve	R	128 CHOB	202-225-2132	Education and the Workforce Oversight and Government

Oregon

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Bonamici, Suzanne	D	439 CHOB	202-225-0855	Education and the Workforce Science, Space, and Technology
2	Walden, Greg	R	2185 RHOB	202-225-6730	Energy and Commerce
3	Blumenauer, Earl	D	1111 LHOB	202-225-4811	Ways and Means
4	DeFazio, Peter	D	2134 RHOB	202-225-6416	Transportation
5	Schrader, Kurt	D	2431 RHOB	202-225-5711	Energy and Commerce

Pennsylvania

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Brady, Robert	D	102 CHOB	202-225-4731	Armed Services House Administration
2	Fattah, Chaka	D	2301 RHOB	202-225-4001	Appropriations
3	Kelly, Mike	R	1519 LHOB	202-225-5406	Ways and Means
4	Perry, Scott	R	1207 LHOB	202-225-5836	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security Transportation
5	Thompson, Glenn W.	R	124 CHOB	202-225-5121	Agriculture Education and the Workforce Natural Resources
6	Costello, Ryan	R	427 CHOB	202-225-4315	Transportation Veterans' Affairs
7	Meehan, Pat	R	434 CHOB	202-225-2011	Ethics Ways and Means
8	Fitzpatrick, Michael G.	R	2400 RHOB	202-225-4276	Financial Services
9	Shuster, Bill	R	2268 RHOB	202-225-2431	Armed Services Transportation
10	Marino, Tom	R	410 CHOB	202-225-3731	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security the Judiciary
11	Barletta, Lou	R	115 CHOB	202-225-6511	Education and the Workforce Homeland Security Transportation
12	Rothfus, Keith	R	1205 LHOB	202-225-2065	Financial Services
13	Boyle, Brendan	D	118 CHOB	202-225-6111	Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government
14	Doyle, Mike	D	239 CHOB	202-225-2135	Energy and Commerce
15	Dent, Charles W.	R	2211 RHOB	202-225-6411	Appropriations Ethics
16	Pitts, Joseph R.	R	420 CHOB	202-225-2411	Energy and Commerce
17	Cartwright, Matthew	D	1419 LHOB	202-225-5546	Natural Resources Oversight and Government
18	Murphy, Tim	R	2332 RHOB	202-225-2301	Energy and Commerce

Puerto Rico

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Pierluisi, Pedro	D	2410 RHOB	202-225-2615	Natural Resources the Judiciary

Rhode Island

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Cicilline, David	D	2244 RHOB	202-225-4911	Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
2	Langevin, Jim	D	109 CHOB	202-225-2735	Armed Services Homeland Security

South Carolina

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Sanford, Mark	R	2201 RHOB	202-225-3176	the Budget Transportation
2	Wilson, Joe	R	2229 RHOB	202-225-2452	Armed Services Education and the Workforce Foreign Affairs
3	Duncan, Jeff	R	106 CHOB	202-225-5301	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security Natural Resources
4	Gowdy, Trey	R	1404 LHOB	202-225-6030	Ethics Oversight and Government Select Committee on Benghazi the Judiciary
5	Mulvaney, Mick	R	2419 RHOB	202-225-5501	Financial Services Oversight and Government
6	Clyburn, James E.	D	242 CHOB	202-225-3315
7	Rice, Tom	R	223 CHOB	202-225-9895	Small Business the Budget Transportation

South Dakota

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Noem, Kristi	R	2422 RHOB	202-225-2801	Ways and Means

Tennessee

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Roe, Phil	R	407 CHOB	202-225-6356	Education and the Workforce Veterans' Affairs
2	Duncan Jr., John J.	R	2207 RHOB	202-225-5435	Oversight and Government Transportation
3	Fleischmann, Chuck	R	230 CHOB	202-225-3271	Appropriations
4	DesJarlais, Scott	R	413 CHOB	202-225-6831	Agriculture Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government
5	Cooper, Jim	D	1536 LHOB	202-225-4311	Armed Services Oversight and Government
6	Black, Diane	R	1131 LHOB	202-225-4231	the Budget Ways and Means
7	Blackburn, Marsha	R	2266 RHOB	202-225-2811	Energy and Commerce the Budget
8	Fincher, Stephen	R	2452 RHOB	202-225-4714	Financial Services
9	Cohen, Steve	D	2404 RHOB	202-225-3265	the Judiciary Transportation

Texas

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Gohmert, Louie	R	2243 RHOB	202-225-3035	Natural Resources the Judiciary
2	Poe, Ted	R	2412 RHOB	202-225-6565	Foreign Affairs the Judiciary
3	Johnson, Sam	R	2304 RHOB	202-225-4201	Joint Taxation Ways and Means
4	Ratcliffe, John	R	325 CHOB	202-225-6673	Homeland Security the Judiciary
5	Hensarling, Jeb	R	2228 RHOB	202-225-3484	Financial Services
6	Barton, Joe	R	2107 RHOB	202-225-2002	Energy and Commerce
7	Culberson, John	R	2372 RHOB	202-225-2571	Appropriations
8	Brady, Kevin	R	301 CHOB	202-225-4901	Joint Taxation Ways and Means
9	Green, Al	D	2347 RHOB	202-225-7508	Financial Services
10	McCaul, Michael T.	R	131 CHOB	202-225-2401	Foreign Affairs Homeland Security Science, Space, and Technology
11	Conaway, K. Michael	R	2430 RHOB	202-225-3605	Agriculture Armed Services Intelligence (Permanent)
12	Granger, Kay	R	1026 LHOB	202-225-5071	Appropriations
13	Thornberry, Mac	R	2208 RHOB	202-225-3706	Armed Services
14	Weber, Randy	R	510 CHOB	202-225-2831	Foreign Affairs Science, Space, and Technology
15	Hinojosa, Rubén	D	2262 RHOB	202-225-2531	Education and the Workforce Financial Services
16	O'Rourke, Beto	D	1330 LHOB	202-225-4831	Armed Services Veterans' Affairs
17	Flores, Bill	R	1030 LHOB	202-225-6105	Energy and Commerce
18	Jackson Lee, Sheila	D	2252 RHOB	202-225-3816	Homeland Security the Judiciary
19	Neugebauer, Randy	R	1424 LHOB	202-225-4005	Agriculture Financial Services Science, Space, and Technology
20	Castro, Joaquin	D	212 CHOB	202-225-3236	Armed Services Foreign Affairs
21	Smith, Lamar	R	2409 RHOB	202-225-4236	Homeland Security Science, Space, and Technology the Judiciary
22	Olson, Pete	R	2133 RHOB	202-225-5951	Energy and Commerce
23	Hurd, Will	R	317 CHOB	202-225-4511	Homeland Security Oversight and Government Small Business
24	Marchant, Kenny	R	2313 RHOB	202-225-6605	Ethics Ways and Means
25	Williams, Roger	R	1323 LHOB	202-225-9896	Financial Services
26	Burgess, Michael	R	2336 RHOB	202-225-7772	Energy and Commerce Rules
27	Farenthold, Blake	R	1027 LHOB	202-225-7742	Oversight and Government the Judiciary Transportation
28	Cuellar, Henry	D	2209 RHOB	202-225-1640	Appropriations
29	Green, Gene	D	2470 RHOB	202-225-1688	Energy and Commerce
30	Johnson, Eddie Bernice	D	2468 RHOB	202-225-8885	Science, Space, and Technology Transportation
31	Carter, John	R	2110 RHOB	202-225-3864	Appropriations
32	Sessions, Pete	R	2233 RHOB	202-225-2231	Rules
33	Veasey, Marc	D	414 CHOB	202-225-9897	Armed Services Science, Space, and Technology
34	Vela, Filemon	D	437 CHOB	202-225-9901	Agriculture Homeland Security
35	Doggett, Lloyd	D	2307 RHOB	202-225-4865	Ways and Means
36	Babin, Brian	R	316 CHOB	202-225-1555	Science, Space, and Technology Transportation

Utah

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Bishop, Rob	R	123 CHOB	202-225-0453	Armed Services Natural Resources
2	Stewart, Chris	R	323 CHOB	202-225-9730	Appropriations Intelligence (Permanent)
3	Chaffetz, Jason	R	2236 RHOB	202-225-7751	Oversight and Government the Judiciary
4	Love, Mia	R	217 CHOB	202-225-3011	Financial Services

Vermont

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Welch, Peter	D	2303 RHOB	202-225-4115	Energy and Commerce Oversight and Government

Virgin Islands

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Plaskett, Stacey	D	509 CHOB	202-225-1790	Agriculture Oversight and Government

Virginia

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Wittman, Robert J.	R	2454 RHOB	202-225-4261	Armed Services Natural Resources
2	Rigell, Scott	R	418 CHOB	202-225-4215	Appropriations
3	Scott, Robert C.	D	1201 LHOB	202-225-8351	Education and the Workforce
4	Forbes, J. Randy	R	2135 RHOB	202-225-6365	Armed Services the Judiciary
5	Hurt, Robert	R	125 CHOB	202-225-4711	Financial Services
6	Goodlatte, Bob	R	2309 RHOB	202-225-5431	Agriculture the Judiciary
7	Brat, Dave	R	330 CHOB	202-225-2815	Education and the Workforce Small Business the Budget
8	Beyer, Don	D	431 CHOB	202-225-4376	Natural Resources Science, Space, and Technology
9	Griffith, Morgan	R	1108 LHOB	202-225-3861	Energy and Commerce
10	Comstock, Barbara	R	226 CHOB	202-225-5136	House Administration Science, Space, and Technology Transportation
11	Connolly, Gerald E. "Gerry"	D	2238 RHOB	202-225-1492	Foreign Affairs Oversight and Government

Washington

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	DelBene, Suzan	D	318 CHOB	202-225-6311	Agriculture the Judiciary
2	Larsen, Rick	D	2113 RHOB	202-225-2605	Armed Services Transportation
3	Herrera Beutler, Jaime	R	1130 LHOB	202-225-3536	Appropriations
4	Newhouse, Dan	R	1641 LHOB	202-225-5816	Agriculture Natural Resources Science, Space, and Technology
5	McMorris Rodgers, Cathy	R	203 CHOB	202-225-2006	Energy and Commerce
6	Kilmer, Derek	D	1520 LHOB	202-225-5916	Appropriations
7	McDermott, Jim	D	1035 LHOB	202-225-3106	the Budget Ways and Means
8	Reichert, David G.	R	1127 LHOB	202-225-7761	Ways and Means
9	Smith, Adam	D	2264 RHOB	202-225-8901	Armed Services Select Committee on Benghazi
10	Heck, Denny	D	425 CHOB	202-225-9740	Financial Services

West Virginia

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	McKinley, David	R	412 CHOB	202-225-4172	Energy and Commerce
2	Mooney, Alex	R	1232 LHOB	202-225-2711	Natural Resources the Budget
3	Jenkins, Evan	R	502 CHOB	202-225-3452	Appropriations

Wisconsin

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
1	Ryan, Paul	R	1233 LHOB	202-225-3031	Joint Taxation Ways and Means
2	Pocan, Mark	D	313 CHOB	202-225-2906	Education and the Workforce the Budget
3	Kind, Ron	D	1502 LHOB	202-225-5506	Ways and Means
4	Moore, Gwen	D	2245 RHOB	202-225-4572	Financial Services the Budget
5	Sensenbrenner, F. James	R	2449 RHOB	202-225-5101	Science, Space, and Technology the Judiciary
6	Grothman, Glenn	R	501 CHOB	202-225-2476	Education and the Workforce Oversight and Government the Budget
7	Duffy, Sean P.	R	1208 LHOB	202-225-3365	Financial Services
8	Ribble, Reid	R	1513 LHOB	202-225-5665	Foreign Affairs Transportation

Wyoming

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
At Large	Lummis, Cynthia M.	R	2433 RHOB	202-225-2311	Natural Resources Oversight and Government

A Note About Room Numbering

The three primary House office buildings—Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn—share a room numbering system for above-ground rooms that might confuse visitors at first.  The system is fairly straight forward and can be used to identify most member and committee offices merely by knowing the correct room number regardless of building.
All Cannon above-ground rooms are three digits.  As you would expect, the first digit indicates the floor level.  For example, 303 Cannon is on the 3rd floor.
All above-ground Longworth rooms are four digits and start with the number 1.  The second digit from the left indicates the floor.  For example, 1309 is on the third floor of the Longworth building. 
All above-ground Rayburn rooms are also four digits, but start with a 2. The second digit indicates the floor number. For example, 2125 is on the first floor of Rayburn.

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 224-3121
TTY: (202)-225-1904
House Operating Status

• Site Map
• Site Tools
• Contact Webmaster
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

Greece Is Fighting to Save Europe

The Buck Stops Here: Greece Is Fighting to Save Europe

by Mark Weisbrot
Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
Huffington Post
Feb. 27, 2015

Greece has been dragged through a lot of mud in the media over the
past few years because previous governments overborrowed, and that
contributed to the initial crisis that -- we should remember -- Spain,
Portugal, Italy and almost everyone else in the eurozone had to go
through. But the initial crisis could have been resolved relatively
quickly. In the United States, which was hit by the explosion of an
$8-trillion housing bubble, our recession lasted just 18 months. In
Greece it has been six years, with a loss of a quarter of its national
income, and more than 25-percent unemployment (and twice that for
youth).

By now it is clear not only to the majority of economists but to most
people who are paying attention that this long depression was not only
unnecessary but caused directly by bad policies. The Greek government
implemented budget tightening that shrank the economy and worsened the
debt burden -- which has gone from 115 percent of GDP before the
Greeks signed their first agreement with the IMF in 2010 to more than
170 percent today. At the same time, the European Central Bank (ECB),
which could have helped Greece by keeping its borrowing costs down,
allowed Greece's interest rates to soar, provoking a prolonged crisis
not only for Greece but for the eurozone. As a result, the
unemployment rate in the 19-country eurozone is still twice that of
the United States today.

All of this was due more to political motives than to economic ones.
It was not financial markets or even the big banks that drove this
disaster but European officials who prolonged the financial crisis in
2011 and 2012 and used it to try to remake the economies of Greece,
Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy more to their liking. After more
than 20 governments in the eurozone had fallen, the Greek people
elected a government -- led by the Syriza party -- that was committed
to saying no to further austerity, economic damage, and mass
unemployment.

European officials, led by extremists in the German government,
offered "my way or the highway" to the new government of Greece after
it was elected on Jan. 25. On Feb. 4 the ECB cut off the most
important line of financing to the Greek banking system, provoking a
stock market crash and more people taking their bank deposits out of
the country. On Feb. 12 European officials were indicating that Greece
could lose access to emergency liquidity assistance from the ECB,
which would provoke a severe financial crisis and possibly collapse
the Greek banking system. But Syriza did not cave. A week later,
fearing an impasse that could force Greece out of the eurozone,
European officials blinked and agreed to renegotiate the terms of the
so-called "bailout" that previous Greek governments had agreed to,
over the next four months.

There will be tense negotiations ahead, but one thing is clear: Greece
is fighting for the future of Europe. Citizens of the eurozone
countries didn't know when they formed the monetary union that they
were not only losing their sovereign and democratic rights to control
their most important macroeconomic policies -- monetary, exchange
rate, and then fiscal (spending and taxing) -- for the most vulnerable
countries in recession, when they needed it most. They had also ceded
this power to people with an anti-social-Europe agenda, people who
wanted to shrink the government and cut health care, pensions and
wages.

Now Greece is trying to get some of that democracy back. It is badly
needed if Europe is to escape from this long nightmare.

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/the-buck-stops-here--gree_b_6768838.html>

__.

Over 180 Sr. Security officials say Netanyahu's US speech harms Israel, helps Iran

Senior security officials say Netanyahu's US speech harms Israel, helps Iran

Over 180 former officials from Israel's security establishment have called on Netanyahu to cancel his speech before Congress: 'Instead of working with Obama, Netanyahu is poking him in the eye.'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4632250,00.html

Moran Azulay

“Netanyahu’s speech to Congress and the destruction of the close strategic alliance between the US administration and Israel will bring Iran closer to a nuclear bomb,” over 180 of Israel’s top former military and intelligence officials said Sunday.

'PM's speech helps Iran get closer to bomb' (Photo: Shaul Golan)

Netanyahu took off for the US Sunday morning to give a speech to Congress that has sparked outrage both in Israel and the US, where critics have accused him of using the speech to bolster his own political chances in the March 17 Knesset elections.

Netanyahu takes off for US (Photo: GPO)

The group, known as Commanders for Israel's Security, warned that Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress is a clear and present danger to the strategic alliance between the US and Israel, and actually helps Iran.

Ex-Mossad chief:

'Netanyahu has caused Israel the most strategic damage on Iran'  / Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer

In exclusive interview, Meir Dagan says he agrees with prime minister on threat posed by nuclear Iran, but warns Netanyahu 'is single-handedly motivating the Americans into rushing to reach an agreement.

 At a press conference held Sunday in Tel Aviv, as Netanyahu was taking off for the US, six former generals (some considered legends among Israelis), attempted make the case that far from preventing the Iran from reaching a nuclear bomb through a deal with the world, Netanyahu's speech will actually bring Iran closer to such a goal.

Commanders for Israel's Security (Photo: Shaul Golan)

“When the Israeli prime minister argues that his speech will stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, he is not only misleading Israel – he is actually strengthening Iran,” said Gen. (res.) Amnon Reshef, the former head of Israel’s armored corps and the founder of the group.

Gen. (res) Amiram Levin, the former northern district commander for the IDF who also served as deputy chief of the Mossad, explained that Iran gained from the political divide the speech has caused among Israel supporters in the US.

“The American people see the rift between Israel and the administration. The Israeli public sees it. And more important: the Mulas in Iran see it. Iran wants Netanyahu’s speech – since it understands that it will weaken Israel’s bipartisan bond with the US.

"For Iran, a strategically weak Israel is an asset which will help Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, since they know that it will prevent a viable military option against them," Levin explained.

Gen. (res.) Ran Ronen, a famous pilot and former Israeli console in Los Angles said Netanyahu speech would aleinetie the White House and thus poses a real security threat to Israel.

“The US and its president are not enemies of Israel. They are its closest allies. A policy that alienates them is not only wrong – but also poses a strategic threat to Israel’s security. Pushing Israel to the front of the international effort to foil Iran’s nuclear program will not only cause these efforts to fail, it will also prevent an effective international military action if one will be needed.”

Reshef, the founder of Commanders for Israel’s security, reiterated that the movement is non-partisan and included members from the entire political spectrum in Israel – including Likud.

“We are not telling Israelis who to vote for and are not politically motivated. All we care about is Israel’s security and the policy needed to strengthen it – including a security-diplomatic initiative between Israel and moderate Arab countries,” he said.

Only a few days ago, in an exclusive interview to Ynet's print publication, the former head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, told Ynet that he agrees with prime minister on threat posed by a nuclear Iran, but warned that Netanyahu "is single-handedly motivating the Americans into rushing to reach an agreement."

"Netanyahu," Dagan claimed, "is the person that has caused Israel the most strategic damage when it comes to the Iranian issue is the prime minister."

The 50 weirdest and coolest facts from LGBTI history

The 50 weirdest and coolest facts from LGBTI history

Did you know churches blessed gay marriages in the 'Dark Ages'?

20 February 2015 | By Joe Morgan


Same-sex love was documented in Ancient Egypt.

1. The world's oldest porn, which dates back over 3,000 years, features both male/male, female/female and male/female couples.

2. The oldest ever known chat up line was apparently said between two men. A mythological story from the 20th dynasty of Ancient Egypt is between Horus and Seth, who quarrelled for 80 years on who should rule. Seth attempted to persuade Horus to sleep with him, saying: ‘How lovely are your buttocks! And how muscular your thighs!’ They then have sex.

3. In Egypt, two male royal manicurists named Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were found buried together in a shared tomb similar to the way married couples were often buried. Their epigraph reads: 'Joined in life and joined in death'. Having lived in 2400 BC, they are believed to be history's oldest recorded gay couple.

4. Some historical gay and bi figures have turned their lovers into gods. Alexander the Great wanted to make his boyhood lover Hephaestion a god when he died, but was only allowed to declare him a Divine Hero. The Roman Emperor Hadrian, of wall-building fame, was successful in making his lover, Antinous, a god after he drowned in the Nile.

5. The church sanctified gay marriages in the so-called Dark Ages, with one being the Byzantine Emperor Basil 1 (867-886) and his partner John.

6. In a creation myth by Aristophanes, there were three sexes: those with two male heads (which were descended from the sun), those with two female heads (from the earth) and those with a male and a female head (descended from the moon). Displeased with them, Zeus crippled them by chopping them in half. Since that day, according to the story, we are looking for the other half to create our whole. This is known as the Origin of Love.

7. Mercury represents male and female principles in harmony. In mythology, Mercury fathered Hermaphroditus, who had both male and female sex organs.

8. Ancient Greeks didn’t believe in heterosexual and homosexual. However they did believe in passive and active. The most common form of same-sex relationships were when an older male, the erastes, acted as a mentor and lover to a younger boy, the eromenos. They believed sperm was the source of knowledge and it was able to be ‘passed on’.

9. There was a band of 150 gay couples from Thebes who defeated a Spartan army, and went undefeated for 30 years.

10. In ancient China, homosexuality was referred to as ‘the cut sleeve’ and ‘pleasures of the bitten peach’.

11. Until the late 1400s the word 'girl' just meant a child of either sex. If you had to differentiate between them, male children were referred to as 'knave girls' and females were 'gay girls'.

12. The word drag is apparently an acronym, a stage direction coined by Shakespeare and his contemporaries meaning ‘Dressed Resembling A Girl’.

13. The Virginia Court in 1629 recorded the first gender ambiguity among the American colonists. A servant named Thomas(ine) Hall was officially declared by the governor to be both ‘a man and a woman’. To stop everyone else from being confused, Hall was ordered to wear articles of each sex’s clothing every day.

14. In early 17th century London, there was a gay brothel on the site where Buckingham Palace is today.

15. Nicholas Biddle, an early explorer of America, found in 1806 that among Minitarees (Native American tribe), ‘if a boy shows any symptom of effeminacy or girlish inclinations, he is put among the girls, dressed in their way, brought up with them and sometimes married to men’.

16. Uganda had a gay king. King Mwanga II, who reigned from 1884 to 1888, is widely reported to have had affairs with his male servants.

17. In the 19th century the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostitute and a gay man was a man who slept with a lot of women.

18. Homosexual men in 1900s London made up an entire slang language so they could communicate in public without fear of being arrested - Polari. Some words survived into today's slang, such as 'naff' - meaning lacking style, TBH, standing for 'to be honest' or 'to be had', and tjuz, meaning to primp or improve.

19. Carmilla, a story of a lesbian vampire that preyed on young women, was written 25 years before Dracula.

20. The US has apparently already had a gay president, James Buchanan. He shacked up for 10 years with a future VP, William Rufus King, and was referred to by President Andrew Jackson as ‘Miss Nancy’ and ‘Aunt Fancy’.

21. The modern use of gay comes from gaycat, a slang term among hobos meaning a boy who accomapnies an older, more experienced tramp, with the implication of sexual favors being exchanged for protection.

22. While the monocle might have gone out of use, it had a huge following in the ‘stylish lesbian circles of the earlier 20th century’.

23. The first celebrity to come out as openly gay was Billy Haines, who came out in 1933.

24. The oldest surviving LGBT organization in the world is Netherlands' Center for Culture and Leisure (COC), which was founded in 1946, and used a 'cover name' to mask its taboo purpose.

25. Gay male victims of the Holocaust, who wore the downward-facing pink triangle, were still considered to be criminals when they were freed from concentration camps. They were often sent back to prison to serve out their terms.

26. Mensa, launched in 1946, claims its name was always chosen to mean ‘table’ in Latin to demonstrate the coming together of equals. Really, it was intended to be called ‘Mens’, meaning ‘mind’. They changed it in order to avoid confusion with a men-only magazine. Not so smart.

27. The 1950s saw gay people try to change ‘homosexual’ to ‘homophile’. They hoped an emphasis on same-sex love, instead of sex, would help.

28. Playboy has been loved by straight men for decades, but it was a gay short story that built its reputation. Hugh Hefner was the only one to accept a science fiction story about heterosexuals being the minority against homosexuals in 1955. When letters poured in, he said: ‘If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society, then the reverse was wrong too.’

29. The Royal Navy commissioned a class of fast patrol boats during the 1950s which were prefixed with the word ‘gay’. Names included the Gay Bruiser and the Gay Charger.

30. While many know the handkerchief code, it was popular for gay women to wear blue stars on their wrists in the 1950s and the 1970s to identify themselves in clubs.

31. Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay to get out of the army in 1962.

32. A 1969 sci-fi novel accurately predicted the mainstream acceptance of LGBTI people. It also predicted rise of China as a global economy, the EU, TiVO, satellite TV, laser printers and the popularity of marijuana.

33. In the 1960s, the term AC/DC became a popular slang for bisexual. It came from the abbreviations for two types of electrical currents.

34. Barbara Jordan was the first African American to be elected in Texas in 1973. She was also a woman, a Democrat, and gay. She later became the first black woman to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

35. A serial killer, the Doodler, targeted gay men in 1970s San Francisco. He would sketch his victims nude before murdering them. While three victims survived, and a suspect was identified, no one was willing to out themselves in order to convict the suspect.

36. Bruce Banner’s name was changed to David Banner in 1970s show The Incredible Hulk, as ‘Bruce’ was considered a stereotypically gay name.

37. The first openly gay doll, Gay Bob, was launched in 1977. He had a pierced ear and his box was shaped like a closet.

38. Leonard Matlovich was the first gay US service member to come out. When he died, he was buried without a name and known only as Gay Vietnam Veteran. His epitaph reads: ‘When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.’

39. In the early 1980s, a book claims the Naval Investigative Service was investigating homosexuality in Chicago. Having heard gay men refer to themselves as ‘friends of Dorothy’, they went on a futile search for the elusive woman clearly at the center of a homosexual ring.

40. The 1985 film Back To The Future had a deleted scene where Marty tells Doc that he’s worried hitting on his mother could make him gay.

41. Ben Affleck’s 1993 directorial debut was titled: ‘I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney’.

42. The US government considered making a ‘gay bomb’. Scientists figured in 1994 that discharging female sex pheromones over enemy forces would make them sexually attracted to each other.

43. Doctor Who actor John Barrowman nearly got the role of Will in Will and Grace in 1998. But he lost the part when producers thought he was ‘too straight’. Barrowman is gay and Eric McCormack, who got the part, is straight.

44. Peter Tatchell, an Australian gay rights activist living in Britain, attempted a citizen’s arrest on Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in 1999. He walked up to Mugabe, grabbed the dictator by the arm, and said: ‘President Mugabe, you are under arrest for torture'.

45. Founded in 2004, LGBTI activists in Australia created a micronation called the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. The national flag is the LGBT color flag, the official currency is the Euro, and it still exists today.

46. A group from the Greek island of Lesbos requested a legal injunction to ban gay groups from using the word ‘lesbian’ in their names in 2008, claiming it was ‘insulting’ them around the world. It failed.

47. Chinese news agency Xinhua dubiously reported on the apparent existence of a Swedish town in 2009, a town of 25,000 lesbians forbidden to speak to men. Several Swedish tourism sites crashed due to the number of Chinese visitors.

48. In 2010, Microsoft banned a user from Xbox Live for putting Fort Gay as his address. When he tried to tell them that Fort Gay actually exists in West Virginia, it took an appeal from the town’s mayor for it to be corrected.

49. A Hong Kong billionaire offered $65 million to the man that was able to woo and marry his lesbian daughter. It didn’t work.

50. The first gay kiss to be screened in Saudi Arabia was seen in 2012. It was from UK soap Brookside, the first ever televised lesbian kiss in the UK, which originally aired in 1993. It was only thanks to the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/50-weirdest-and-coolest-facts-lgbti-history200215#sthash.FmLLEBlR.dpuf

Bacon’s Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion
by abagond

Bacon's Rebellion (1676) in Virginia was the largest uprising in the Thirteen Colonies before the time of the American Revolution a hundred years later. It was a failed attempt to overthrow the rich landowners who ruled Virginia. After the rebellion, the rich maintained their power by dividing the bottom 99% by race. It became the model for US society.

In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a "Rabble Crew", "an incredible Number of the meanest People", "English and Negroes in Armes", whose "fortunes & Inclinations" were "desperate". They marched on Jamestown, the capital, and burned it to the ground. The governor, William Berkeley, fled, asking the king across the sea to send his soldiers.

Berkeley had long feared this moment. He said of Virginians: "six parts of seaven at least are Poore Endebted Discontented and Armed."

Tobacco was Virginia's big moneymaker. It took huge amounts of land and labour, creating a few big landowners. Virginia could only sell tobacco to British merchants, who kept prices low. In the late 1600s, most indentured servants started to outlive their contracts, creating a large number of free, poor, landless men. Most had guns.

By the 1660s there was the beginnings of the colour line, but it was weak: poor Whites and Blacks were used to working together, living together, running away together, having families together -- and fighting together. Whites did not even call themselves "whites", not till the 1670s.

To keep peace with the Indians (Native Americans), Berkeley built a line of forts to prevent Virginians from taking Native land to the west. Bacon, like many in backcountry Virginia, opposed this.

In 1675, fighting broke out with the Susquehannock Indians. Bacon felt that Berkeley's defence of Virginia was half-hearted, so he raised an army of his own. Berkeley accused Bacon of treason. Bacon's army marched on the capital.

Bacon controlled nearly all of Virginia when, suddenly, he died at age 29 of the bloody flux (dysentery, bloody diarrhoea). The king's men arrived and put down the rebellion.

After the rebellion, the rich maintained their power by creating what, in effect, was a three-race model of society:

Blacks, people of African blood, would provide slave labour. Virginia moved from using Black and White indentured servants and slaves to mainly using Black slaves. The civil rights of even free Blacks became limited. Any child a White person had with a Black person would become a slave -- the One Drop Rule.

Natives would provide land to create White wealth and buy social peace among Whites. Natives were painted as the enemy of Whites.

Whites, people of pure European blood, would enjoy what rich landowners like Washington and Jefferson would later call "liberty" and "equality" -- paid for by Black slave labour and Native land. Blacks and Nativesprovide an Other to bring rich and poor Whites together.

Poor Whites would provide the armed manpower to maintain the social order, by serving in Indian wars and slave patrols. Pushing Blacks to the bottom of society gave poor Whites a stake in the social order.

Sources:

Ronald Takaki, "A Different Mirror" (2008);
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" (2014);
Samuel Eliot Morrison, "The Oxford History of the American People" (1972);
Daniel K. Richter, "Facing East From Indian Country: A Native History of Early America" (2001);
Audrey and Brian D. Smedley, "Race in North America" (2012);
Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the United States" (2003);

Secret Diablo Canyon Report Revealed [incl. link to report]

Secret Diablo Canyon Report Revealed

As aftershocks of the 6.0 Napa earthquake that occurred Sunday in California continued, the Associated Press this week revealed a secret government report pointing to major earthquake vulnerabilities at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plants which are a little more than 200 miles away and sitting amid a webwork of earthquake faults.

It’s apparent to any visitor to the stretch of California where the two Diablo Canyon plants are sited that it is geologically hot. A major tourist feature of the area: hot spas. “Welcome to the Avila Hot Springs,” declares the website of one, noting how “historic Avila Hot Springs” was “discovered in 1907 by at the time unlucky oil drillers and established” as a “popular visitor-serving natural artesian mineral hot springs.” www.avilahotsprings.com

Nevertheless, Pacific Gas & Electric had no problem in 1965 picking the area along the California coast, north of Avila Beach, as a location for two nuclear plants.

It was known that the San Andreas Fault was inland 45 miles away. Then, in 1971, with construction underway, oil company geologists discovered another earthquake fault, the Hosgri Fault, just three miles out in the Pacific from the plant site and linked to the San Andreas Fault.

In 2008 yet another fault was discovered, the Shoreline Fault—but 650 yards from the Diablo Canyon plants.

The Shoreline Fault, and concerns about the vulnerability of nuclear plants to earthquakes in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, are integral to a 42-page report written by Dr. Michael Peck, for five years the lead inspector on-site for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at Diablo Canyon.

Peck’s report was obtained by the Associated Press, which has done excellent journalism in recent years investigating the dangers of nuclear power, and the AP issued a story Monday on the report.

In the report -- http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/5a/8/4821/Diablo_Canyon_Seismic_DPO.pdf --
Peck writes: “The new seismic information resulted in a condition outside of the bounds of the existing Diablo Canyon design basis and safety analysis. Continued reactor operation outside the bounds of the NRC approved safety analyses challenges the presumption of nuclear safety.”

He also states: “The Shoreline [Fault] Scenario results in SSC [acronym in the nuclear field for Structures, Systems and Components] seismic stress beyond the plant SSE [Safe Shutdown Earthquake] qualification basis. Exposure to higher levels of stress results in an increase[d] likelihood of a malfunction of SSCs. The change also increases the likelihood of a malfunction of SSCs important to safety...”

Peck notes that the “prevailing” NRC “staff view” is that “potential ground motions from the Shoreline fault are at or below those levels for which the plant was previously evaluated and demonstrated to have a ‘reasonable assurance of safety.’”

He disagrees and says that the NRC staff “also failed to address the Los Osos and San Luis Bay faults,” faults that the Shoreline Fault are seen as potentially interacting with, and that “new seismic information” concludes that “these faults were also capable of producing ground motions”

Also, he says: “The prevailing staff view that ‘operability’ may be demonstrated independent of existing facility design basis and safety analyses requirements establishes a new industry precedent. Power reactor licensees may apply this precedent to other nonconforming and unanalyzed conditions.”

“What’s striking about Peck’s analysis,” says the AP story -- http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NUCLEAR_REACTOR_EARTHQUAKES?SITE=MOCAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT --
“is that it comes from within the NRC itself, and gives a rare look at a dispute within the agency. At issue are whether the plant’s mechanical guts could survive a big jolt, and what yardsticks should be used to measure the ability of the equipment to withstand the potentially strong vibrations that could result.” http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/ap-exclusive-expert-calls-diablo-canyon-shutdown/ng8Tj/

The AP story also says, “Environmentalists have long depicted Diablo Canyon—the state’s last nuclear plant after the 2013 closure of the San Onofre reactors in Southern California—as a nuclear catastrophe in waiting. In many ways, the history of the plant, located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco...and within 50 miles of 500,000 people, has been a costly fight against nature, involving questions and repairs connected to its design and structural strength.”

Calling the Peck report “explosive,” the environmental group Friends of the Earth this week described it as having been “kept secret for a year.”

Said Damon Moglen, senior strategy advisor at Friends of the Earth -- http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2014-07-diablo-canyon-secret-document-details-federal-safety-alarm --
"Inspector Peck is the canary in the coal mine, warning us of a possible catastrophe at Diablo Canyon before it’s too late. We agree with him that Diablo Canyon is vulnerable to earthquakes and must be shut down immediately.”

Moglen said: “Given the overwhelming risk of earthquakes, federal and state authorities would never allow nuclear reactors on this site now. Are PG&E and the NRC putting the industry’s profits before the health and safety of millions of Californians.”

“Rather than the NRC keeping this a secret,” Moglen went on, “there must be a thorough investigation with public hearings to determine whether these reactors can operate safely.”

Peck is still with the NRC, a trainer at its Technical Training Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Michael Mariotte, president of the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, commented Monday --http://safeenergy.org/2014/08/25/former-top-nrc-inspector-says-shut-diablo-canyon/ --
that in “plain English” what Peck’s report acknowledges is: “The NRC does not know whether Diablo Canyon could survive an earthquake, within the realm of the possible, at any of the faults around Diablo Canyon. And the reactors should shut down until the NRC does know one way or the other. Of course, if the reactors cannot survive a postulated earthquake, the obvious conclusion is that they must close permanently. The question is whether the NRC will ever act on Peck’s recommendation or whether the agency will continue to sit on it until after the next earthquake.”

Mariotte also says: “The irony is that this should have been the big news a year ago; Peck wrote his recommendation—in the form of a formal Differing Professional Opionion—in July 2013. And the NRC still hasn’t taken action or even responded to it.”

In his report Peck also states that the NRC is supposed to be committed to a “standard of safety” and “safety means avoiding undue risk or providing reasonable assurance of adequate protection for the public.”

Meanwhile, PG&E has not only been insisting that its Diablo Canyon plants are safe, despite the earthquake threat, but has filed with the NRC to extend the 40 year licenses given for their operations another 20 years—to 2044 for Diablo Canyon 1 and to 2045 for Diablo Canyon 2.

An analysis -- http://www.ccnr.org/crac.html -- done in 1982 by Sandia National Laboratories for the NRC, titled “Calculations for Reactor Accident Consequences 2,” evaluated the impacts of a meltdown with “breach of containment” at every nuclear plant in the U.S.—what happened at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants as a result of an earthquake. For the Diablo Canyon nuclear plants, it projected 10,000 “peak early fatalities” for each of the plants and $155 billion in property damages for Diablo Canyon 1 and $158 billion for Diablo Canyon 2—in 1980 dollars.

Posted by Karl Grossman
http://karlgrossman.blogspot.com/2014/08/secret-diablo-canyon-report-revealed.html

_

Afghan Policewomen Struggle Against Culture

Afghan Policewomen Struggle Against Culture

Parveena almost got away.

She was on her way home from a visit to her parents in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan with her children by her side and a small group of women. Two men, their faces covered by kaffiyehs, pulled up on a motor scooter.

“Who is Parveena, daughter of Sardar?” said one, looking at the group of women, their faces hidden behind blue burqas.

No one answered. One of the men took his Kalashnikov and used the muzzle to lift the burqa of the nearest woman — in conservative Afghan society, a gesture akin to undressing her in public. It was Parveena, who like many Afghans used only one name. She grabbed the muzzle, according to her father and her brother, and said, “Who is asking?”

But the gunmen had seen her face, and they fired 11 bullets into her.

Parveena’s story — she was one of six policewomen killed in 2013 — is an extreme case, but it reflects the dangers and difficulties of Afghan policewomen and the broader Western effort to engineer gender equality in Afghanistan. The plight of women under the Taliban captured the Western imagination, and their liberation became a rallying cry. A flood of money and programs poured into Afghanistan, for girls’ schools and women’s shelters and television shows, all aimed at elevating women’s status.

READ MORE » http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/world/asia/afghan-policewomen-struggle-against-culture.html?emc=edit_na_20150301

Israel asks US for additional $300mn for missile defense

Israel asks US for additional $300mn for missile defense – report

RT | March 1, 2015

Israel reportedly bypassed the White House and asked the US Congress for an extra $317 million to be added to President Barack Obama’s budget for the next fiscal year in order to fund Israeli missile defense programs, Bloomberg reported.
The requested funds would be in addition to the $158 million already proposed by the Pentagon for Israel’s security needs for the fiscal year that will begin on October 1. The new allocation will allegedly finance the ‘David’s Sling’ and ‘Arrow-3′ programs – designed to intercept medium- to long-range missiles – as well as provide an anti-ballistic missile system.
According to Bloomberg’s report on Friday, the director of Israel’s missile defense organization Yair Ramati “visited lawmakers and aides to the congressional defense committees on February 2 and 3 to outline the case for more money and thank them for past assistance.”
Ramati completely bypassed the White House and the Pentagon. The report links the move to the tense relationship between the Obama administration and the Israeli government ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on March 3, which is likely to stress that the White House is pursuing a “bad deal” by negotiating to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
The report revealed that Ramati’s proposal included $250 million to start production of the David’s Sling system, in addition to Obama’s $37 million request for development. Another $35 million Ramati requested for the initial production of Arrow 3, in addition to the $55.7 million the US administration is seeking for development.
During his visit to Capitol Hill, Ramati “distributed one-page sheets naming US contractors that would benefit from production funds for each of the missile defense systems.” According to Bloomberg’s information, the list included Chicago-based Boeing Co.; Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co.; Arlington, Virginia-based Orbital ATK Inc.; and Falls Church, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman Corp.
When contacted by Bloomberg, the Israeli embassy in the US declined to comment on the report.
The US already provides Israel with $3.1 billion a year as “foreign military financing,” which excludes other missile defense funds, according to the report.
For the current fiscal year, Congress has reportedly provided $620 million, including about $347 million for missile defense programs. US Congress has appropriated more than $1.2 billion since 2011 for the Iron Dome, which is designed to intercept and destroy rockets.
In light of the large amounts of distributed funds, US lawmakers have been insisting that Israel use American-based defense contractors when spending the received money.
Last year, the Israeli government agreed to spend more than half the funds provided by the Pentagon for the Iron Dome in the US by this year. Until recently, the missile system was been built solely in Israel by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
Iran nuclear talks have created a significant rift between Israel and the US. Last week, the White House and State Department stated that Israel inaccurately provided information and twisted the official US position in nuclear talks with Iran, and accused Tel Aviv of “selectively” leaking details of sensitive talks.
Washington has also voiced suspicion that Netanyahu’s office directly provided Israeli journalists with the leaked information, including an alleged offer to Iran to keep 6,500 centrifuges for uranium enrichment. A White House spokesman expressed frustration with the “cherry-picked” information released by the Israelis out of context.

Ban suggests Israeli attack on UNIFIL post was deliberate

Ban suggests Israeli attack on UNIFIL post was deliberate

Press TV – February 28, 2015

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has suggested that the Israeli regime deliberately targeted a base of UN peacekeeping forces along Lebanon’s southern border last month, in which a peacekeeper was killed.
“The incident happened at a UNIFIL base which is known perfectly by Israeli forces,” Ban said, using the acronym for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
According to Lebanon’s An-Nahar daily on Saturday, Ban also censured the killing of the Spanish peacekeeper who died in the Israeli shelling of the UNIFIL post in January.
During the Israeli raid on the Lebanese border, the observation tower of a Spanish UNIFIL position in Abbasieh, one kilometer east of Ghajar, was directly struck by an artillery shell, killing Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo.
A report submitted to the UN Security Council on Friday by the UN’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag held the Israeli regime “fully liable for the death of the peacekeeper.”
Israel launched the attack after Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah targeted an Israeli military convoy in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms on January 28, killing two soldiers and wounding several others while destroying at least nine Israeli military vehicles.
The attack by Hezbollah was launched in response to an Israeli airstrike in the town of Qunaitra in Syria’s Golan Heights 10 days earlier, which killed several top members of the Lebanese resistance movement and an Iranian commander.
The Israeli attack on the UNIFIL post in January was not the first of its kind.
Four UN observers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their post in Khiam, southern Lebanon, during the 2006 Israeli war on the Arab country. Then-UN chief Kofi Annan said at the time that the attack appeared to be “deliberate.”
A French UN observer was also killed in 2005 near the Shebaa Farms by Israeli tank shelling.
The most notorious Israeli attack, however, came in April 1996, when artillery shells fired by the regime’s forces struck the Fijian battalion headquarters in Qana, killing 107 civilians who had taken refuge at the compound.