What Monumental Pissants

Douchebags and Dickwads playing who's got the bigger schlong on the floor of the United States Senate.

Republicans stuck together in blocking this bill not because they
oppose all of the programs, but because they have decided to block
everything small and large this week until they get votes on stalled
energy legislation.

The vote sent Reid into one of his trademark tirades on the Senate
floor, as he basically accused Republicans of voting against people
with strokes, people in wheelchairs and those suffering from Lou
Gehrig's disease.

"You go home and explain to your folks [voters] about stroke
legislation," Reid said. "You go home and tell people ... in a
wheelchair you voted against moving forward on something that could get
them out of their wheelchair."

"You're going to have to go home and explain to the poor, the disabled and the elderly," Reid continued.

McConnell held his ground, saying the Republicans were launching
blockade of everything not related to oil prices. The two sides are
actually negotiating on energy amendments, but there was no
breakthrough yet.

These assholes are playing games while the rest of us are getting flushed down the sewer. They know damn well that the oil barons aren't even drilling where they're allowed to right now. There are people that can be helped right now, today, if the Democrats are allowed to bring these measures to the floor -- but not with this filibuster happy minority party.

No, not until they once again cater to the energy cartels so that ten years down the road they can buy their way out of ruining the the North Slope and the entire Gulf Coast while never once considering any real effort to reduce the $15.00/gallon cost of gas -- and all the while never building a single refinery which is the real choke-hold on the oil spigot. And again we'll be talking about alternate/renewable/clean energy sources someday, down the road.

This is blackmail mixed with disaster capitalism at it's worst. While doing the bidding of their corporate masters, Congress yet again manages to hold the weakest among us hostage against all the rest who are firmly at the mercy of the Kleptocrats. And as we hear the chants of Drill! Drill! Drill! nobody will give a shit that we're making thing Worse! Worse! Worse!

Again.

And when the Democrats capitulate, again, who wants to take the bet that none of their proposals see the light of day anyway. I guess the real reason this sticks in everyone's craw is we watched the the Democrats allow BushCo ram so much down our throats when they could have jammed things up like the GOP does every damn day.

Terry Schaivo

Military Commissions Act

War Funding, and Funding and Funding and Funding

Authorization to Use Military Force In Iraq

Justice Roberts

Justice Alito

Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales

FISA revamp with Telecom Immunity

Medicare givaway to Big Pharma

Impeachment and any kind of accountability, "Off The Table."

Yeah, they stopped the GOP from destroying Social Security, ANBAR (so far) and confirming John Bolton to the UN. I'll take it, but the legacy of Congressional Democrats in the minority makes their tenure as the majority party a bitter pill to swallow.

OK, This Frivolous Law Suit Thing Has Gone Too Far

Via: U.S. House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices.

That's right, we're bringing out the big guns and suing Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela for violating American antitrust laws. Cartels and other such price-fixing monopolies are just unAmerican! If those bastards can't play by our rules, we'll bury them in litigation.

Problem solved! I expect gas to drop to pre-Bush $1.60/gallon levels any day now.

Did The House Of Representatives Just End The War?

Not quite, but this is certainly movement in the right direction.

Today, about 100 House Republicans refused to vote for more war funding, voting 'present'. They are trying to hand off the war to the Democrats, but even Democrats were able to increase their 'no' vote number on funding from 141 to 149; the bill failed. In a separate bill, Republicans also voted against timelines, for torture, and accountability for military contractors, including various elements of a Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. This bill passed with 227 votes; last year, it passed with only 218 votes, for a gain of 9.

Finally the GI bill passed with overwhelming margin of 256 votes in the House, including 32 Republicans. It included a war surtax of one half of one percent on people making over $500k a year to pay for the GI bill, at the behest of Blue Dogs. This might actually be the most remarkable piece of the votes today; conservative Democrats agreeing to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for educational benefits for veterans.

It's nice to know that Congress has finally discovered it controls the
purse-strings, even if it hasn't figured out how they're supposed to
use them.



We've been assured by Matt Stoller that the Senate will put money for Baghdad bullets back in the bill and give the C+ Augustus enough cash to pay for more mayhem in Mesopotamia. I'm not sure how that works since the Constitution states that all revenue bills must originate in the House, not the Senate. But who pays attention to that quaint old document anymore.

All of this is begging another veto by the time it gets to the White House. And of course, that's all part of the game I guess. The sad reality is that this game costs lives every single day it plays out.

Mississippi: A Blue State?

3 out of 4 House seats are now in the Democratic Party's hands!

With 89% of the precincts reporting Democrat Travis Childers won Mississippi's 1st District 52% to 48% in this traditional GOP stronghold. This is the third Republican district to embrace the Democrats in as many months, Robo-calls by the President and Laura Bush or John McCain couldn't save it, a surprise appearance by Dick Cheney couldn't save it.

Not even race baiting comparisons to Barack Obama worked there, unlike what seems to have happened in West By God -- which evidently still prides itself on it's bigotry despite owing its very existence to a rejection of the break-away slave-owning Confederacy.

If I were an aid to a Republican politician, one thing I'd set aside time to do this summer is updating my resume. It's going to be bleak for these folks.

Bottom Line On Spending Bills

The War Funding Bill

"However, President Bush has announced his opposition to any bill that contains veterans' benefits and unemployment insurance in addition to the war funds."

The Farm Bill

"House and Senate negotiators yesterday reached final agreement on a new farm bill that will spend close to $300 billion on nutrition, conservation, energy and farm subsidy programs over the next five years, but administration officials immediately announced that President Bush will veto it."

What perplexes me is not that the C+ Augustus in the White House hates anything rational or that helps anyone on a personal level -- like tuition in exchange for years spent in a combat zone or increasing nutritional programs for poor kids, or funding alternative fuel programs so someday we won't have to send our emaciated children to fight for oil.

No, what perplexes me is that our so-called representatives would go along with someone 71% of the nation can no longer stand and not laugh at his puny veto threats -- even those dastardly "Blue-Dogs" are still doing Bush's his bidding.

Ugh!

Horse Sense In A One-Horse Town

As we mark the beginning of Year Six of Mission Accomplishing, fondly remembering Banners and a tabloid mentality that still infects the Washington Village punditry and plutocracy that joyously waved the bloody red shirt of war, some movement in the halls of Congress reminds us of another uniquely banal episode in the run-up to McBush's Hundred Years of war in Iraq.

Remember that Hero of the Homeland, Paul Wolfowitz told us that this "cakewalk" of a war would pay for itself in Iraqi oil instead of American and civilian blood? Ahh, good times!

Turns out that the Senate is moving (at long last) to get the Iraqis themselves to pony up some dough to fix and police their own country -- and Nancy Pelosi thinks her little gang of malcontents on the other side of the Capital Building might be inclined to the same.

Surely Bush, Boehner, Brownback and company will figure out some transparently vile way to stop something that makes sense and would be exceedingly popular everywhere, here and abroad, and try to make out like it's the Democrats' fault. But it's nice to see somebody working on something besides polishing up their flag-pins in that stupid little town.