Day: April 7, 2011
Senators Spend a Third of Their Time Taunting Each Other
27%
Amount of their time senators spend just taunting each other, according to a computer analysis by Harvard University professor Gary King, the Washington Post reports. He also found that taunting was most common in members from safe districts.
Emanuel Disdains ‘Emperor’ Appellation
My family is very clear that I do not look good in a toga.
— Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, quoted by the Chicago Sun Times, rejecting the claim that Chicago will go from “King Richard” Daley to “Emperor Emanuel.”
House Defeats Bill Acknowledging Human-Caused Climate Change, Members Return to Their Caves
Congress accepts the scientific findings of the Environmental Protection Agency that climate changes is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.
— Wording of an amendment to a bill that “would have put the chamber on record backing the widely held scientific view that global warming is occurring and humans are a major cause,” reports The Hill, which was soundly defeated by the House of Representatives by a near party-line vote of 184 to 240. The only Republican to vote for the amendment was Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), while three Democrats voted against it.
Palin Slides Into Irrelevance
53%
Of Americans now view Sarah Palin negatively, compared with just 25% who view her positively, according to the latest WSJ/NBC News poll.
Who to Blame for Government Shutdown? Nobody Has Chanted ‘Cut It or Shut It’ and ‘Shut It Down’ But the Tea Party
We’re on another countdown to a government shutdown, and, as usual, the question is who will the public blame for the late checks, closed parks and many other inconveniences.
At this point, polls show the public is divided on whom to blame. A Pew poll released April 4 found 39 percent blaming Republicans versus 36 percent who blame the White House, with 16 percent blaming both sides and 9 percent undecided. The NBC News/Wall St.Journal poll on April 6 found that 37 percent blamed Republicans, while 20 percent blamed the White House and 20 percent blamed Democrats in Congress.
If the shutdown happens, however, things will start to look differently, especially if it causes major disruptions or, as some experts suggest, triggers a double-dip recession. At that point, nuances of the back and forth going on now will be reduced to video clips and soundbites that will be replayed on a continuous loop as the controversy sorts itself out.
In Florida We Don’t Have Recourse to Recall
Part of the series, Assault on Florida.
Down here in Florida we gaze wistfully northward to Wisconsin. We really, really wish we had what those cheeseheads have — the legal mechanism to recall our governor. Folks in Wisconsin got fed up with Gov. Scott Walker’s antics, so they have initiated steps to kick him out of office — because they can.
Down here, we watch in horror as Gov. Rick Scott eviscerates education, coddles corporations and cocks up everything else from insurance to collective bargaining to assistance to the disabled, drug-addled and disenfranchised. But there’s hope on the horizon!
Rick Kriseman, a Democrat representative from St. Petersburg has introduced House Bill 787, which would provide a mechanism to recall the governor, lieutenant governor, cabinet members and legislators:
Recall: Provides that Governor, Lieutenant Governor, member of Cabinet, or legislator may be recalled from office; requires that proponents of recall register as political committee; prescribes methods & timeframes for initiating & conducting recall; provides ballot language; provides that removal of Governor from office includes removal of Lieutenant Governor; authorizes adoption of rules.
Effective Date: on the effective date of an amendment to the State Constitution approved by the electors at the general election to be held in November 2012 which authorizes, or removes impediment to, enactment by the Legislature of the provisions of this act.
There’s only a couple of things wrong with this noble but inevitably doomed effort:
- It wouldn’t even come up for a referendum until 2012, by which time Florida will have sunk past South Carolina as the asshole of America.
- All 10 of its co-sponsors are Democrats, which means it has a majority of Democrats in the state House, which is like spit on a hot sidewalk.
- It has to make it out of committee, be passed by the Republican-dominated House and Senate and be signed into law by our Tea-Bagger-In-Chief, Florida CEO Rick Scott.
In other words, HB 787 has as much chance as a snowball on South Beach of passing. But we applaud the effort, guys, and we’re behind you 100 percent. Now, let’s revisit that impeachment gambit …
Paul’s Ventura Highway
Jesse Ventura said he’d run as veep with Ron Paul,
Only not as a Republican, that’s all.
He said, “We’d run as independents,
In pink boas, resplendent,
And I’d protect the little feller in a brawl.”
