Posts Tagged ‘filibuster’
We know you are probably busy with last minute Christmas shopping…so…
To help you keep up with things in the news, we’ve got you a present:
A few last minute ”What’z up’z”
1.The 111th US Senate has made history by breaking more filibusters than any other Senate in history.(rapturous applause)
Quite the feat, which is why Senate Democrats are now unanimously in favor of filibuster reform. While these efforts would not eliminate the filibuster, it would change the rules to place a greater onus on the minority trying to block legislation.
For example, all 40 senators involved in filibustering (editor: or are they “filibusterees’?) would have to physically remain in the Senate chamber throughout the filibuster process, which could take hours or even days.
2. Want to decriminalize pot? So does Pat Robertson (in case you are unfamiliar with him this is the guy who blamed 9/11 on the gays and feminists). He said that arresting people for possession is wasting money and “ruining young people.” When Pat Robertson says weed is ok, the first question that comes to mind is… what has he been smoking?
3. Speaking of pot…remember the 60’s? That was the bad ole days of segregation and racism.
It appears some folks have a nostalgia for those times past (the racism part… not the “pot” part).
Council of Conservative Christians is taking issue Marvel Studios for casting a black actor in the roll of a norse god “Thor” in a new movie to be released in cinemas. They are saying “It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves.” Huh?
We think the CCC should take a chill pill or better yet, share some weed with Pat Robertson.
Courtesy of the New York Times and the AP
In the course of our goofing around, wasting time, eating cake diligent research, we here at USDemocrazy constantly run into the word FILIBUSTER.
At first we thought it was a candy bar, we have since discovered that the filibuster is bitter-sweet. It can be both good and ,well a little annoying.
Basically the filibuster is a tactic used in the Senate to delay or prevent a vote on a particular bill.
Time for a bit of a history lesson… …read more.
We at US Democrazy may not have been working last Saturday night, but our friends on Capital Hill were.
Recently you may recall that there has been a bit of a tussle about health care reform. (Okay.. it wasn’t a tussle, more like a mud wrestling match).
Well, a health care bill has taken its first tentative steps towards life after a close 220-215 vote in the House of Representatives.
What does the bill entail? A lot, it’s over 1000 pages short long. For a more sane, digestible look, here is the official summary.
We here at USDemocrazy ponder politics quite a lot. (That’s why we get paid the big bucks — wait… we haven’t been paid in a while… Gotta go talk to someone about that.)
You know who DOES get paid? Senators… and right now things are really paying off for Democratic Senators.
Yesterday it was announced Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter… is SWITCHING OVER TO THE DEMOCRATS!
That’s gotta make some people (namely, Republicans) unhappy, right? You betcha. (Michael Steele said Specter basically “flipped the bird” to Republican leadership…)
The best explanation for this monumental switch can be heard straight from the horse’s mouth (or do we call him a donkey now?), which you can see in the video above.
Now… this switcheroo is kind of a big deal.
Specter’s addition to the Democrats in the Senate would give them a filibuster-proof majority (it takes 60 votes… they currently have 59). This will allow the Democrats to straitjacket any Republican opposition and bulldoze through their (and President Obama’s) agenda.
This a body blow to an already reeling Republican opposition.
There’s so much news on this subject right now that we’re going to let those people who are WAY smarter than us do the talking. I mean, those journalists get paid too… So they better be doing a good job.
Here goes:
Salon explores “The Specter of a shrinking GOP”
The NYT gives us the deets (that’s hip-talk for details, we’ve been told).
Was this just a career-saving move? Some say yes.
The floor is now open for debate on what will be Specter’s contribution to the Dems.
Can he alter Obama’s financial agenda? Really?
What does this supermajority truly mean?
How’s the GOP taking this? Maybe better than we thought? (But maybe not.)
He was against party-switching before he was for it.
Finally, what does our good ol’ Vice Prez think? As a Democrat, he’s pretty happy. Here’s what he had to say:
I welcome my old friend to the Democratic Party. Senator Arlen Specter is a man of remarkable courage and integrity. I know he will remain a powerful and independent voice for Pennsylvania and the country.
Do you think party-switching should be allowed? How do you feel about Specter’s choice? We know we’re still caught up in the whirl of news stories, so we’d appreciate some opinions…
