"Do you know how to make God laugh? You tell him your plans." Hari Sheldon – Foudation's Fear
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 9th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money Economist’s View: How Close to Deflation are We?. The gist here is that actual inflation is very near to slightly below zero. Using inflation fears as a reason to avoid further stimulus is simply unfounded. Deflation is a much more pressing concern. A more important question is what can [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Mar 28th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money He learns to play some hardball. The GOP has no interest in working in working with the President. They’ve proven it repeatedly. Obama Plays Hardball | Mother Jones. This is pretty fascinating. Years ago, after Republicans filibustered a Carter nominee to the NLRB, the two parties made a deal: [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Mar 26th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money Poor unemployed people don’t need benefits. Yup, I’m sure Jesus would be proud of you. Sen. Tom Coburn R-OK promised that he’d be the next Sen. Jim Bunning R-KY if he had to be. And last night, he made good on his threat. Coburn is blocking unanimous consent on [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Mar 11th, 2010
Ezra Klein – Reid to McConnell: Reconcile this. Read it yourself, Reid puts the GOP on notice that they will in fact use reconciliation to complete health care reform. Let the screaming from the right begin, now! I suppose this means that Harry Reid does in fact have balls.
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 22nd, 2010
Anyone with an interest in what’s wrong with the Senate should read the whole thing. Here’s what’s wrong in one paragraph. most strident partisans must learn to occasionally sacrifice short-term tactical political advantage for the sake of the nation. Otherwise, Congress will remain stuck in an endless cycle of recrimination and revenge. The minority seeks [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 21st, 2010
As a long time supporter of systemic health reform I find this heartening: Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 21st, 2010
Kevin Drum takes on the notion that there are Republican votes to be had for a more conservative approach to HCR: This fantasy that there are Republican votes for a more moderate bill really needs to end. There are no Republican votes for healthcare reform, no matter how moderate or conservative it is. They’re opposed [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 1st, 2009
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 10th, 2009
Lieberman vs. Lieberman | Media Matters Action Network. Opposing funding the troops is only bad if your enemies do it, otherwise it’s a bold expression of patriotism!
Posted in Blog Post on Apr 28th, 2009
via Specter’s switch underscores the GOP’s weakness | McClatchy. Love the Frank Luntz quote here: With Specter’s defection, it’s all but lost the ability to filibuster legislation in the Senate — it will lose it if Democrat Al Franken is seated from Minnesota, as expected — and with it the power to command attention or [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Apr 27th, 2009
Some Guy With a Website by August J. Pollak – xoverboard.com. For those who don’t know, here’s what budget reconciliation is: basically, you can’t filibuster bills in the Senate related to the budget. So if you decide that a piece of legislation is relevant to the budget, it only needs 50 votes to pass. Republicans [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 5th, 2009
Looks like Washington could use a comedian in the Senate: Franken Looks Like a Winner, but Not Quite a Senator – washingtonpost.com. He’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and, gosh darn it, he’s a U.S. senator? Not yet, but recent developments in the unending recount in Minnesota’s Senate race have given entertainer Al Franken (D) [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Dec 22nd, 2008
FiveThirtyEight.com: Politics Done Right: Franken Claims to Have Lead of 35-50 Votes. I didn’t think that Fraken would be able to do it, but it looks like he might pull out a win in Minnesota.
Posted in Blog Post on Dec 12th, 2008
Rachel gets to the heart of what drives the likes of Senators Kyl and Session (aka Foghorn Leghorn): GOP’s Platform is Now to Reduce the Wages of American Workers It appears to me that Senate Republicans are on an ideologically driven union-busting adventure here, that happens to have the prospect of increasing the market share [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 12th, 2008
Senate caves, votes to give telecoms retroactive immunity In an all to common display of craven gutlessness the Senate once again rolled over and gave the White House what it wanted like a prison punk ass bitch. The only hope is that the House finds it’s balls in that other pair of pant in the [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 1st, 2008
Christy over at FDL seems to like it (somewhat): Firedoglake – Firedoglake weblog » FISA: GOP Blinks (Somewhat)…Let’s Get To Work The go to guy on all things FISA, Glenn Greenwald isn’t a fan of it: The whole agreement seems designed to ensure that the GOP gets everything they want — that they are able [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 30th, 2008
TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Mukasey Tongue-Tied on Administration Law Breaking MUKASEY: Torture, as you know, is now unlawful under American law. I can’t contemplate any situation in which this president would assert Article II authority to do something that the law forbids. SPECTER: Well, he did just that in violating the Foreign Intelligence [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 30th, 2008
Can’t he just say something like, “It’s wrong, illegal and diametrically opposed to American values” and be done with it? Mukasey Demurs on Waterboarding – New York Times “Given that waterboarding is not part of the current program and may never be added to the current program, I don’t think it would be appropriate for [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 28th, 2008
There’s a good round up of what happened over at C&L: Crooks and Liars » Jay Rockefeller on FISA: Bush is committing Political terrorism: Cloture vote fails Short story is that the GOP fell well short of their pathological attempt to play a national security issue for political advantage. The cloture vote in the Senate [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jan 26th, 2008
Could it be? Is it possible? Did a member of the democratic leadership show some evidence of a spine? I’ll steal the graphic AmericaBlog used. I want to believe… Reid Issues Ultimatum: More Time Or No Wiretaps – Politics on The Huffington Post At a State of the Union preview speech today at the National [...]
Date: 07/30/2006