(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.

Drawing by Ted McCagg.

A lot of people feel pretty burned by what happened in Massachusetts yesterday, myself included.

Andrew Sullivan does a fantastic job explaining why many feel so shafted after last night’s special election.

The glee with which the GOP is greeting the end of any access too health insurance for millions of the working poor, even as they propose nothing in its stead to help them or to restrain soaring costs for everyone else, is instructive. This really is a game to them. But to the sincere progressives who backed this moderate bill as the best they could get, this is, simply, tragic. And to those of us who wanted politics to become something more than a game, given the accelerating decline of this country on all fronts, it’s a body blow.

Seriously! The sky above San Francisco just decided to open up. My Twitter timeline was, let’s say “flooded”, with thoughts about the storm.

The next time I’m down in LA, I totally want to visit Galco’s Soda Pop Shop. He knows his soda!

Via Jon Ursenbach.

Recently, I downloaded a game for the iPhone called “Words with Friends.” It’s very similar to Scrabble, with a different board and slightly different letter values (one would assume to avoid Scrabble’s IP lawyers).

Many of my family and friends are playing the game and we’re all having fun trying to best each other’s scores. I like to think I have a good vocabulary, but apparently I don’t know how to effectively play for points, as evidenced above by the 60-point bomb that Kerry dropped on me, two moves into the game!

No matter though. I’ll just have to brush up on the following video, “Fighting dirty in Scrabble.”

This weekend, we saw one of my favorite bands, State Radio, play at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco. It was my first time seeing them, and it was fantastic.

Here’s the music video for their song, “Gang of Thieves.”

Lately, I’ve been considering picking up a new cast iron skillet for cooking. There’s a few reasons that have made me interested in owning one. Their durability, versatility, and even potential health benefits (source of iron!). I stumbled across an article on Lifehacker recently, talking about properly seasoning your skillet. This made me even more interested!

Earlier today, we stopped by a local hardware store and picked up a 12″ skillet.

Of course, we had to immediately break it in! So we cooked a 5-spice apple stir fry. It was a complete success.

Here’s to even more cooking adventures with our new cooking tool. I’m excited to try and make a deep dish pizza with it!

Photo via the United Nations photo stream on flickr.

The latest news and the images coming out of Haiti are absolutely tragic and indescribable. My heart goes out to those affected by the earthquake. I wish there was more that we could do. For now the best thing to do is donate toward the relief and recovery efforts. Google also has a pretty comprehensive page for Haitian disaster relief.

You can see some of the latest images from Port-au-Prince here (via flickr).

Photo via U.S. Department of Defense on flickr.

Photo via U.S. Air Force on flickr.

The Canon PowerShot S90 is by far the most versatile and impressive point and shoot digital camera that I’ve ever used. From manual controls, to impressive image and build quality, this consumer camera has all the bases covered. It’s not without a few minor issues, but it definitely offers many features that are not yet standard on similarly priced point and shoot cameras.

What do you get when you open up the box for the S90? A pocket-size camera with built-in image stabilization, macro mode, ability to shoot VGA video, a 3.8x zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0, the ability to shoot images in RAW format, support for SDHC cards, maximum ISO of 3200 (and ISO 12800 in a special mode), and a large 3-inch screen.

You can also read this entire review on gdgt.
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