Here are the presidents who have used reconciliation the most: Reagan 6 times, Little Bush 5, Daddy Bush 1, Slick Willy 3. Score: Republicans 12, Democrats 3. You would conclude from the current cries of a pending legislative apocalypse in the Senate that the Democrats invented this "abomination" and will now use it to cram healthcare reform down the throats of all Americans. No, this was Ronnie's way of getting what he wanted. Check out this great piece of reporting in the New York Times on which presidents have used it and why they used it. Be sure to look at the multi-media presentation. If you can get your hands on the actual Sunday's "Week In Review" be sure to do so because it is more impressive seeing the 22 by 12 inch ...
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 The nine months that Congress gave banks last year to clean up their gouging of consumers and usurious rates on interest charges during hard economic times is up. The changes should have gone into effect immediately when the bill was past, but the "poor" banks needed time to find ways around the spirit and language of the law, so the corporate/industrial/political complex gave it to them. Now we can see what they are up to. Like other loopholers such as tax cheaters, Enron accountants, off-shore bank accounts, used car salesmen, corporate lawyers, most customer service manglers, and identity thieves, banks have a never-ending way of finding loopholes that enable them to continue to stick it to their customers, especially the ones who need ...
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You heard that right. I'm down here in Charleston, South Carolina, for a winter break, and I couldn't believe it when I heard the local news talking almost every night about erecting a male Statute of Liberty at Patriot's Point, in the shadow of Fort Sumter, a stone's throw from where I am staying. I'm sure there is no pun intended about "erecting" the counterpart to Lady Liberty in New York Harbor, but who is kidding who? The Atlanta-based National Monument Foundation has proposed the idea to the local bigwigs, along with the absurd idea that somehow these statutes marry-up. Historically, liberty has been depicted as female, but the South wants to change all that and give the male equal billing, this from a part of the country that does ...
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I can't get that great Everly Brothers' classic out of my mind since I heard yesterday that cry-baby, me-first, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, up 20 percent in his re-election bid, is not running for re-election guaranteeing a shitload of unhappiness for Obama's legislative agenda. Not that there was any "happiness" while the Democrats had their short-lived filibuster-proof Senate for a few months this past year, and got little done, but now there surely is going to be a lot of emptiness up on the Hill, that's looking more like a pile than a hill. Now the question is can the Dumbocrats keep a majority and control of the Senate? There are now 57 real Dumbos in the Senate. There are now at least seven seats that could swing Republican, two . ...
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Since 9/11 Military Tribunals have tried (no pun intended) and convicted three terrorists/enemy combatants out of 20 cases brought before these courts. However two of the three are now free and one is back in Yemen. That's a conviction rate of 15 percent. Meanwhile in the Rushpublican maligned Civilian Courts, 523 have been convicted and they are doing, or have done time, some for life. According to a report by the Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law late last year, trials were still pending against 235 of those folks. According to the report, that leaves 593 resolved indictments, of which 523 were convicted of some crime, for a dramatic conviction rate of 88 percent. Most of that was of Bush's doing, yet the noise from the . ...
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Sure you need a good team, a good staff, and good preparation, but when the coach, Shawn Payton, in the intensity of the action, calls plays the way he did at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second half in last night's Super Bowl, then that is another thing altogether. I can't recall a more courageous set of play-calling, both sending an unequivocal message to the team of his confidence in them to execute the plays that he called. I understand that a "snowed-in" Obama had a Super Bowl Party last night at the White House. Hopefully, David Axelrod, Obama's media strategist, has a memo on the president's desk this morning titled: Five Leadership Lessons From The 2010 Super Bowl. 1. It starts with courageous and ...
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A new study says that teaching abstinence works, but what they mean is teaching abstinence, without the moralizing of most abstinence programs, only delays the eventual sexual experience for many. May that will change now, as it should. This federally-funded study, done by the University of Pennsylvania, studied a different kind of abstinence program from the kind we have reported several times on these pages as being ineffective.The Washington Post in reporting on the story today said: [The program that was studied] did not take a moralistic tone, as many abstinence programs do. Most notably, the sessions encouraged children to delay sex until they are ready, not necessarily until married; did not portray sex outside marriage as ...
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There are two important reasons why the Supreme Court attends the SOTU speeches. One is to affirm the equality of the three branches of government. This is the one time a year that all three branches are together in one room. The second reason is to demonstrate their neutrality: This is why they don't stand up, applaud or show any signs of emotion one way or the other. Alito changed all that and brought disrespect on the Supreme Court, the historic and "sacred" traditions of the judicial branch by mouthing "not true" when the president criticized, as we all have, the recent ruling of the Supreme court on corporate funding for campaigns. Let's go to the video tape:
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That was one hell of a candid State of the Union speech, to which my Obama-negative colleagues on these pages will say is "all talk", more of the same. Well this time he did it with lots more humor, if LC and the Financial Time are paying attention--see comment in post below. I like this talk. He managed to get the Rushpublicans out of their uncomfortable seats more often than they had wished. Let's remember that Reagan, for those on these pages and elsewhere who like to "compare" Obama to failed presidents of the past, had lower public approval ratings at this point in time than Obama. Gosh, those nasty facts. Secondly, LC, in an earlier post below cited the Financial Times as saying Obama's "problem" was a lack of a sense of humor, ...
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Obama is bringing his 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, back to try to prevent any furthering hemorrhaging of the ranks of the Democratic Party this November, especially in Congress, but also among governors. But to me it looks like a job for a cat-wrangler. Are Plouffe's skills transferable? Can he get the job done? Will anyone listen? Is having one client the same as having 50 clients? Is running for president the same as running for senator or congressman? I say, no. It's too late. Here's why I don't think Plouffe can make a difference: 1. David Plouffe's biggest skill, just like Karl Rove's, is message strategy and message discipline. The Democrats biggest problem is no message strategy and absolutely no message ...
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