Is Christine O’Donnell serious? Back to school with the lot of you.
“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him.
When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”
My God, this country is fucked.
Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish posted this email from a reader.
In posting that Quote of the Day from Jon Stewart, you showed the optimistic Stewart but missed what I think is the most important quote in the piece:
“Jon has chronicled the death of shame in politics and journalism,” says Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor who is a frequent Daily Show guest. “Many of us on this side of the journalism tracks often wish we were on Jon’s side. I envy his platform to shout from the mountaintop. He’s a necessary branch of government.”
That’s why the country is screwed, on a fundamental level. A “journalist” (attractive man with nice hair) with one of the biggest platforms to report the truth in the country complaining about how he lacks the platform a cable talk show comedian has. NBC Nightly News averaged 7.8 million viewers this past week. The Daily Show averages about 1.8 million. You have a platform, Brian Williams, you just refuse to actually do anything with your platform, in favor of “Well, the Republicans say that Barack Obama is an evil socialist, fascist menace; the White House disagrees.” I exaggerate, but not by much.
It’s a shame too, because I genuinely enjoy Brian Williams, and he’s one of my favorite guests that appear on the Daily Show.
Slowly but surely, we’re moving ever closer to equality for all. There’s still a lot left to do, but it’s encouraging.
Paul Krugman explains how America is going dark.
We must place priority on reducing the deficit, say Republicans and “centrist” Democrats. And then, virtually in the next breath, they declare that we must preserve tax cuts for the very affluent, at a budget cost of $700 billion over the next decade.
In effect, a large part of our political class is showing its priorities: given the choice between asking the richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom, or allowing the nation’s foundations to crumble — literally in the case of roads, figuratively in the case of education — they’re choosing the latter.
Hah (emphasis mine).
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
“She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”
“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”
“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”
The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Republican.”
“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”
“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”
[Via Crooks and Liars via Truthdig]
Image via Getty Images
I love this!
“I think it’s fantastic,” Nash said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think the law is very misguided. I think it’s, unfortunately, to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties. I think it’s very important for us to stand up for things we believe in. As a team and as an organization, we have a lot of love and support for all of our fans. The league is very multicultural. We have players from all over the world, and our Latino community here is very strong and important to us.”
I’d really love to see the San Francisco Giants wear their Los Gigantes jerseys whenever they play in Arizona.
Victory!
The Democrats pass the Senate health care bill and shoot down the Republican motion to recommit.
I share Andrew Sullivan’s elation.
(Photo by Daniel McCullum)
This resolution (H.R. 1018 IH), introduced into the House this week [PDF link], is something I could get behind!
Requesting the Senate to adjust its rules to reflect the intent of the framers of the Constitution by amending the Sen- ate’s filibuster rule, Rule 22, to facilitate the consider- ation of bills and amendments.
Whereas the Constitution requires a super majority in certain circumstances only and, in all other votes, a simple ma- jority was intended to be sufficient;
Whereas the procedural filibuster rule of the Senate effec- tively removes the Vice President’s constitutional right to cast a vote when the Senate is equally divided;
Whereas the Senate’s filibuster rule, Rule 22, extends the power of individual Senators and the minority in the Sen- ate beyond the power intended by the Constitution;
Whereas the Constitution does not contemplate in letter or spirit allowing a single member of Congress in either house, or the party in the minority in either house, to prevent votes from being taken on bills and amendments; and
Whereas the Senate’s filibuster rule prevents the majority from governing and, therefore, distorts the outcome of elections: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives requests the Senate to adjust its rules to reflect the intent of the framers of the Constitution by amending the Senate’s filibuster rule, Rule 22, to facilitate the consideration of bill and amendments.
I like it, and it’s fine and dandy, except for the fact that the Republicans now have a 41% “majority” in the Senate. There’s no way this will ever get passed. Too little, too late.
(Flag via Adbusters)
Daily Kos has more about the Supreme Court’s horrible decision here. Basically, it overturns previous campaign finance laws and allows corporations to pour money into political campaigns
In a stinging dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the ruling “threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.”
President Obama led a chorus of Democrats and public interest groups attacking the decision, saying in a statement that the court “has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics,” and vowing that he will work with congressional leaders “to develop a forceful response.”
“It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans,” the president said. “This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington—while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates.”
It’s been a pretty bad week for progressives.
