Slippery Slopes, Camels’ Noses and You
We’ve all heard them, suffered them and thrown them around like so many rhetorical dice landing where they may during arguments heated and hilarious, so without further adieu let’s examine two dog-eared metaphors of argument and their latest outings this past week. Thursday afternoon, Wayne “Slippery Slope” LaPierre appeared somewhat stunned by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s feint toward reporting, when she confronted him with the real possibility that several Sandy Hook students may still be alive today had gun magazine capacities been gently limited over the years. Also in the news, the White House finally revealed its DOA budget…
Do Some U.S. Senators Support Genocide?
A first ever comprehensive international Arms Trade Treaty was approved by UN on April 3rd, 2013. The treaty seeks to regulate the $70 billion (46.2 billion pounds) business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. If the treaty is signed by President Obama, government agencies would review it before the administration decides whether to seek ratification by the Senate. The Arms Trade Treaty is intended to prevent brutal dictators from acquiring conventional weapons including tanks, missiles, warships, artillery, and combat aircraft which they can use on their own people to commit genocide. Passage…
HSBC Settlement Case Raises Legal Hackles
In December, U.S. Federal Authorities stirred controversy for having reached a financial settlement deal with British bank HSBC, allowing the bank to avoid criminal prosecution for taking part in money laundering operations for Latin American drug cartels, suspected terrorist networks and rogue states such as Iran. As a means to avoid prosecution, the bank agreed to pay $1.9 billion in fines, after having reached the arrangement with the Department of Justice. However regardless of their agreement and written arguments by both federal prosecutors and HSBC filed in January arguing in favor of the deal , U.S. District Court Judge John…
Republicans Continue to Suppress the Vote, Even In Iowa
I am an Iowa resident. Recently, our local newspaper reported that Iowa’s Republican Secretary of State wants to purge anyone from voter registration list whose citizenship is questioned. If your name is similar to the name of someone on one of the federal immigration lists or someone whose driver’s license says they are not a citizen, then you have to prove you are a citizen. Of course Democratic legislators, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters and other groups are fighting this, but so far the law is set to go into effect shortly. If you’re wondering just how big…
Our Courts Are In Ruins (And Justice Is For Sale To Highest Bidder)
For the purported most powerful and greatest nation on earth, we should feel shamed by the state of our judicial system. What is happening with our Courts is directly related to our self-absorbed and broken government. Riddle me this: how does a democracy function if two-thirds of its legislative-executive-judicial trifecta fails to function? As related to our Courts, we have a three-pronged problem. (1) Our Senate cannot confirm even pro-forma judicial nominees anymore; it has become that broken and that partisan. I won’t even mention who gets the blame on this (his name starts with Harry and ends with Reid)….
Rand Paul Ends Confirmation Filibuster, White House Responds
Progressive writers and commentators are tripping over themselves today throughout the blogosphere and social media universe, as they try to reconcile their feelings regarding Republican Senator Rand Paul and his nearly record setting filibuster on the Senate floor, in which he sought to block the confirmation of Paul Brennan to the position CIA Director. Citing what he described as grave concerns over the Obama Administration’s unmanned drone program, which has created numerous political firestorms in recent weeks, Paul stated that he planned to speak as long as he could to draw attention to something he found “very disturbing.” “I will…
Sequester On Sanity
“Perhaps no words more accurately and succinctly illustrate the confusion about economics than “Monetary Sovereignty.” It is not a theory or a hypothesis or a philosophy. In its essence, it merely is a description of the way federal financing actually works.” ~Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Back in 2011, the idea of “sequestration,” or the implementing of harsh spending cuts that would automatically go into effect on March 1st, was floated in an effort to force the two political parties to get together and make a deal to work towards decreasing government debt. A telling sign for many of the increasingly broken…
Tick-Tock, Ding-a-Lings
As the clock runs off on the castor oil countdown aka sequestration, we find the White House, GOP leadership and the Washington press corps serving up a marvelous tableau of the entire manufactured chocolate mess; they can’t even agree on the date and time when the cuts actually occur. So then, in order to bring order to the tolling of democracy’s death, whenever that truly is, a brief frolic in the shallow end of the pool is indicated. You May Ask Yourself, Well, How Did I Get Here? While it’s a safe bet the POTUS has uttered David Byrne’s question…
The Race For Tom Harkin’s Senate Seat Begins
My senator, Tom Harkin, has announced that he is retiring from Congress and won’t run for reelection in 2014. As a five term senator, Harkin has been one of the more progressive members of the Senate in recent years. According to some polls, the top choice for Iowa Republicans to run for Harkin’s Senate seat is Congressman Steve King from western Iowa. Yes, the same man who told an Iowa reporter, he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest, in August 2012. Same man who claimed insurance coverage of contraceptives will make us ‘a dying…
Harry Reid: NRA’s Greatest Ally?
Yesterday, This Week With George Stephanopoulos aired an eye-opening interview (conducted just this past Friday) with Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV). I urge every Democrat, across the spectrum – whether you identity as moderate, center-left, liberal or progressive – to watch this interview. Even if you forward through to the discussion on gun proposals. What you will see is an evasive, whip-smart, sly and soft-speaking man (Elaine Benes would have called him a “low talker”) who does not stake out positions on much of anything. A man who single-handedly controls the public debate in this country. A man who…
Dear Harry: Thanks For The Knife In The Back
Look at those two. Happier than cochons in….well, you know. We’ve been bamboozled, people. Hoodwinked. Just two days ago, there was dangled before us a little hope. Hope that our Democratic majority might finally pay off in the form of a functioning, accountable Senate. Filibuster Reform. How quickly things change. Harry Reid, the pugilist. More like Harry Reid, the futilist. Despite crushing pressure (so we were told), a loud, vociferous Left, and the insistence of Unions and sane people everywhere calling for change in the Senate, today, “Majority” “Leader” Harry Reid (D-NV) cut a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell…
Call To Action: FiliBust!
If you think you’re disgusted now……just wait. Here it is, everyone: Without filibuster reform, there is quite likely no gun legislation, or new immigration policy, or meaningful debate on climate change and other crucial environmental issues, or much of anything else, really. Is anyone out there listening? Friday, January 18, 2013 – FiliBust your Senator! Tell Harry Reid to use his majority! Raise your hand if you’ve never, ever called a Senator’s office about issues important to you. Today, I’m asking those of you with your hands in the air, and those of you with your arms at your side,…
Dear Heidi, Please Advise: What Makes You A Democrat?
I feel the need to call a massive FAIL. This past week, newly elected Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) made some pretty terse, disturbing statements – not just for a Democrat – but for a “newly elected” official, regardless of party, speaking in the wake of the murder of 20 children and their teachers. In an interview with This Week’s George Stephanopoulos on January 6th, Heitkamp, a freshman on The Hill, had this to say: “I think you need to put everything on the table, but what I hear from the administration – and if the Washington Post is to be…
Here’s Why Republicans Have an Advantage Over Democrats
To many people it seems that Republicans have the upper hand on political matters even when they are clearly in the minority. During President Obama’s first 2 years in office, with a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, a lot of the bills they tried to pass were stopped by a minority of Senate Republicans using the filibuster rule. Even routine matters like the Transportation bill, the Farm bill or raising the debt ceiling, that are normally passed with majority support from both parties, were blocked or held up by Republicans in order to get concessions on other unrelated…
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