When time is tee off?

You have to admit, they do have a fairly small membership group. One hundred members is their maximum capacity. Once you are voted in, many members tend to stay for years and years. Those who do move on, often do so for the purpose of reaching "bigger and better." As of 2003, about 40% of the active members were millionaires. Although many of the 100 members are well into their 60s and 70s - some even in their 80s - retirement from the club has its benefits as well. Most are entitled to pretty hefty pensions, as well as health benefits, of course. Certainly, as with any club, becoming a member is often easier if someone in the applying member's family also was a member of the club. Like other restricted groups, it is not "what you know, but who you know."

OK, OK - you probably got me figured out. I am actually talking about the United States Senate, and not a country club. But, something about recent happenings surrounding the Senate remind me more of a restricted country club than of the upper house of Congress. Maybe it has always been this way - but just take a look at recent happenings. The only African American member of the Senate has recently gone. Roland Burris, who was named by Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to fill Obama's seat, attempted to gain admittance to the Senate on Tuesday, but was turned away because of incomplete paperwork. Burris is African American. Today the Huffington Post reported that the Senate will seat Burris. Blagojevich, as you know, tried to sell a membership, I mean seat, to the highest bidder. Another person trying his hardest to be seated is Al Franken, who is Jewish. Although Minnesota's canvassing board Monday certified the results of a recount that showed Al Franken defeating Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 225 votes, Senate Democrats have decided not to seat Franken until legal challenges are resolved. Lastly is Caroline Kennedy. Caroline's Uncle Ted Kennedy feels that his niece should be granted a membership - after all - her last name is Kennedy. Others tend to disagree. Why? Probably because she has not jumped through enough hoops yet. Hey - they don't want it to look too easy to get in. And aside from that, there is the fact that she is female (as well as that pesky speech pattern she has of saying, y'know).

Lastly, there is Senator Joe Biden. He likes the membership so much, that he doesn't want to leave. This is despite being accepted to an even more swanky group. In looking for the video of Biden recently being sworn into the Senate, I happened to find a video of his first swearing in ceremony. That swearing in was performed at the hospital where his two young sons were patients. It was 1973, and Biden's then wife and young daughter had recently been killed in a car accident (his sons were also hurt in that accident). I am including both videos below. The older video is quite poignant.