Hadn’t heard this song in forever, and anyway, any day’s a good day for some Stevie Ray.
I was in Austin the day he died – seemed like the whole city ground to a halt…
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Absence Makes The Brain Grow Emptier
I’ve been loath to say much about the Ben-Ghazi circus because in my opinion it’s just another BS-slinging exercise by Faux Newz and the NeoConfederates for the entertainment of their reality-challenged base. For example, if you’re going to grill someone about what they knew about it, and that person was a sitting Senator at the time JUST LIKE YOU, you may have wanted to show up for work every now and again. You know, when the important business was being discussed. Looking at you, Ron Johnson:
Now he wasn’t the only one to have missed out on this briefing – Johnny Yells-At-Clouds was absent too (but hey, why get the facts when you can get in front of a camera and complain about not getting the facts WHILE THE FACTS ARE BEING GIVEN?). But it seems that something this important would have commanded enough of their attention to, well, be in attendance.
Idiocracy, New Mexico Edition
No words could possibly do this justice:
Should a recently introduced bill in New Mexico become law, rape victims will be required to carry their pregnancies to term during their sexual assault trials or face charges of “tampering with evidence.”
Under HB 206, if a woman ended her pregnancy after being raped, both she and her doctor would be charged with a felony punishable by up to 3 years in state prison:
Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime.
SERIOUSLY?
Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory?
News emerged last night that the senate is about to reach a bipartisan (read watered down) agreement on “filibuster reform.” The agreement appears to follow the guidelines of a plan put forth by Grandpa Walnuts and Carl Levin (D? – MI) that, while introducing an expedited process for certain nominations, does not come close to installing the talking filibuster that most were hoping for:
The deal, which is not yet final, makes very modest changes. It would permit the majority to bypass a filibuster on the motion to proceed to debate — if a group of senators on each side agree or if there’s a guarantee that both sides will get to offer amendments, the sources said Wednesday evening.
I’m not sure exactly what Levin’s problem is, but this deal smells funny; it gives the NeoConfederates too much wiggle room to make mischief, and affords them a comity that they do NOT deserve. Apparently, I’m not alone:
It’s also more modest than Reid’s middle-path proposal to McConnell, which would have shifted the burden from a majority seeking to advance legislation and nominations to a minority seeking to block them.
The major proponents of reform believe the Reid-McConnell deal under discussion would not make it easier to pass legislation, and believe the only meaningful upside is that it may speed up the confirmation of some judicial nominations.
Why do we get saddled with Democrats that can’t remember they ARE Democrats?
Across The Years
The past builds toward the present, and through it, the future.
Hence, a look back from whence we came.
“Honor those who came before.”
My Ready Room 