Archive for December, 2009
Who’s Next?
Now that Joe Lieberman seems to have finished having his way with the healthcare reform bill, the natural question is: who goes next? If the rumors circulating last night are true, and Medicare expansion has indeed been pulled from the bill to mollify Lieberman, there are now 59 votes for cloture. So now Harry Reid [...]
Idiots in Charge
House Democrats discard larger debt limit – WaPo (12/14/09) House Democratic leaders, bowing to their party’s deficit hawks, will move the year’s final must-pass piece of legislation without a long-term increase to the national debt and without a large boost in infrastructure funding that was aimed at creating jobs. It’s like Democrats want to end [...]
Earning It
Taibbi: First of all, we should get one thing out of the way — it’s not any citizen’s job to give a politician credit for his political calculations. In fact, that should rightly be part of the calculus of any political calculation; a politician should have to weigh the benefits of making, say, an unsavory [...]
Only A Deep And Abiding Thirst
The tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is literally fighting for its survival. Unfortunately, its survival depends on drastic action to fight global warming. In fact, it seems to depend on a worldwide agreement on target carbon dioxide levels (350 ppm) that neither developed nor developing countries are willing to agree to. Ian Fry, the [...]
What I’m Glad I Don’t Want For Christmas This Year
The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Can there be any doubt that if these rights were not already enshrined in our body politic, if they were being proposed for the first time by President Obama, there is no way that the Republicans (and Joe Lieberman, in all probability) would allow them [...]
Taibbi
Obama’s Big Sellout: Rolling Stone Barack Obama ran for president as a man of the people, standing up to Wall Street as the global economy melted down in that fateful fall of 2008. He pushed a tax plan to soak the rich, ripped NAFTA for hurting the middle class and tore into John McCain for [...]
What I Want For Christmas This Year (Part 1)
A coupon redeemable for the party of No Can Do to finally win a big one over the party of No Effing Way. Lou Dobbs to be summarily deported. John Yoo to develop big purple warts all over his face and his thingie. Rush Limbaugh to wake up on Christmas morning to find himself in [...]
WTF?
Public Policy Polling reports: A new Public Policy Polling survey concludes that “liberal unhappiness with Barack Obama is still largely anecdotal and not very widespread” after finding that 95% of liberal Democrats approve of the president and 3% disapprove. I find that literally unbelievable. I cannot believe that 95% of all Democrats approve of the [...]
Alberto Opens His Mouth And Removes All Doubt
(1) Ever since Alberto “Buttercheeks” Gonzales started to disgrace the office of the Attorney General of the United States — preening himself every time someone called him General Gonzales — there has been active speculation exactly how stupid the man really is. Buttercheeks, it seems, finally tired of the debate, and decided to settle the [...]
Near/Far, Part 2
On the whole, I think I approve of this speed-dating version of legislative negotiation. The Gang of Ten negotiations beat the misconceived pointlessness of Max Baucus‘s months-long committee negotiations hands down. Here’s the early report (all rumors, really, since lips are officially sealed). The public option has not been euthanized, it has been cryogenically preserved. [...]