Senate Republicans Acting Like Toddlers

Or, Senate Decides its Just Fine to be a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Fortune 500 and Special Interests.

Seriously. The Senate voted 57 to 41 on largely party lines to defeat what Harry Reid called “a bill whose principles both parties once supported and that 9 in 10 Americans want us to pass,” despite the fact that none other than the Supreme Court encouraged Congress to clarify the law on required disclosure of political donations.

Color me disgusted. They are in effect saying “NO! I want candy for dinner and you can’t stop me!”

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the disclosure requirements shouldn’t have loopholes for the NRA or unions. Then again, I honestly think you should have to demonstrate that you can actually legally vote for a candidate to give them money! Still, this act was a lot better than nothing. And as for Senator Snowe’s criticism that it was written too fast? How quickly she forgets how fast the mammoth pile of legislation known as the PATRIOT Act was passed. Where were her objections to swift legislative answers to problems then? Oh yeah, buried under a blanket of largely unfounded fear that the terrorists were going to try to get us again any moment now.

Got a Republican Senator? Remember come November.

In Closing: Goldman shows us where the money went; next time somebody talks about how great it would be to gamble invest Social Security money in the stock market, remember these 10 stock market myths from, of all places, the Wall Street Journal; No, I do not want bacon in my martini!; Susie‘s right again; “The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money.”; employees becoming as mercenary as their bosses (no wonder); housing consolidation; “Document Leak May Hurt Efforts to Build War Support” (no really? D’ya think??); open letter to Lindsay Lohan from the ACLU; Angle Update; health insurance and small business; and a pile of big yellow dinosaurs that won’t die.

Happy Towel Day

Happy Towel Day.

In Closing: “Words of Power” go far beyond framing; Oh, so that’s why they’re anti-tax and anti-government-anything; innocence and stupidity; obligatory gulf oil leak items; Spock’s Obama’s Brain; the text message can wait until you are not moving; it’s hard to stay enthusiastic about a reform for a broken system that will take 4 years to get here; Nevada, this is your Governor; where does the time go?; the Detriments of Eating Low Carb; the truth about hospital emergency room traffic; and Abandoned in Antarctica.

The Shorties Centipede

Ok, for the record, I didn’t make it up, this is a real movie. No, not planning on watching it.

Quickie Economic Stuff: Technically we are out of the Great Recession (assuming you can believe the numbers put out by the government but that’s another story). Nevertheless we are not in a recovery. Bankruptcies are still way too high and jobs are still way too few. We’ve still got too many people who have been unemployed over half a year and too many people who are stuck in part time jobs because a full time job just isn’t available to them no matter how hard they try. Oh, and we haven’t fixed the underlying real estate problem.

Obligatory Oil Spill Stuff: Some meteorologists think the spill might be 5 times worse than reported. Oh, and there might be a lot of unexploded ordinance to complicate the mess. So since the containment dome worked about as well as Jon Stewart predicted (starts around minute 5), now they want to try plugging it up with random junk. Hey, it worked in Futurama. But whatever you do, don’t cry for BP; about 4 days’ profits can cover cleanup.

Really cool computer accessories: Laquered wood mouse starts around $300 American.

No Point Reasoning With Some People: Complain about high taxes all you like, they haven’t been this low since 1950.

Closer than you think: The outrageous thing is that cops are busting down doors and killing pets every day across the nation. It’s just that this one time there’s a videotape.

I don’t get it: So it’s better that violent mental patients should rape a female mental patient than they should assault each other?

Must Read: Prohibition Then and Now.

Dear Fed: Sure, the Senate unanimously voted to have a one time audit of the Fed. However, it’s a watered down thing.

Core Requirements: Susie’s must-have course may be Johnie’s fluff class. How important is it to be a well-rounded student?

Blackbird Flyin’ in the Dead of Night: Take these discarded manuals and learn to fly. All your life, you’ve been waiting for this moment to arrive.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?: More like “Don’t put out and I’ll tell.” We already have an unconscionably high rate of rape in our armed forces. This makes me wonder how many people who are discharged are forced into this, and how many are rape victims with the temerity to stand up to their attackers.

And finally: this lawsuit ain’t over ’till it’s over.