So WMD means Workings of Micro-Distillery? Boy, good thing they didn’t get caught with a 24-pack of Stella Artois or something.

DNC = Does Nothing Consistently.

The Obama “growth package” is mainly supply-side tax cuts, both for payrolls and for corporations. Tell me again that Democrats haven’t become Republicans.

“In a statement that is shocking many pundits, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) warned the country, “It is clear we must enter an era of austerity; to reduce the deficit through shared sacrifice.” — TPM, 7/25/2011

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/07/25/278696/pelosi-it-is-clear-we-must-enter-an-era-of-austerity/

After the election of 2008 there was a mandate for hope and change. There were historic Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. There was an opportunity to eliminate the filibuster and to actually pass reasonable legislation to get the economy moving again, to get health care reform instead of selling out to the health insurance industry, to pass a New New Deal.

But instead we got bipartisanship and a pivot to the deficit, we got more civil liberties infringements and more wars, and bankers got get-out-of-jail-free cards along with 14 trillion dollars in unmarked bills.

For some reason, people are pissed off.

The filibuster is Constitutional, in that the Constitution gives the Senate the right to adopt its own rules. Aaron Burr convinced the Senate to remove the motion to “move the previous question” in 1806, and since most Senators are by definition idiots, they agreed with him. OTOH, the Senate can just as easily change the rules and abandon it today by majority vote.

“Currently, there seems to be remarkably little media or political acknowledgement that nothing is actually stopping a majority of senators from quickly ending the filibuster right now.” Well, there is the lack of a majority of Senators willing to do it. It’s almost as though they’re … corrupt, or something. Like the media.

DONATE NOW!

I mean, it’s not as though the Obama Administration deliberately watered down Dodd-Frank with assistance from Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Oh, wait.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-wall-street-killed-financial-reform-20120510

Quoting: “With the Quislingian covert assistance of Democrats, both in Congress and in the White House, those bills could pass through the House and the Senate with little or no debate, with simple floor votes – by a process usually reserved for things like the renaming of post offices or a nonbinding resolution celebrating Amelia Earhart’s birthday.”

“significant cuts to health care and welfare programs, reductions of $38 million to the University of California, a 5% cut to state employee compensation (through a reduced work week), and reductions to the corrections system from compliance with a court order to decrease the population in state prisons. If the tax measures put on the November ballot by Brown fail, expect even deeper cuts to schools.”

There Is No Alternative. Austerity slowly or austerity quickly. Third parties? Surely you can’t be serious. It’s not like that’s working in Greece or Germany. Oh, wait.

Chicago should be honored to play host, and the inconveniences that come with it are just part of the democratic process.” — Madeline Albright

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — the First Amendment

So we can haz vote on ENDA now? (H.R. 1397/S. 811)

President Obama supports it. The head of the RNC supports it. Maybe it’s about time we put it to a Congressional vote.

I mean, just adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of things you can’t be discriminated against for, like “race, creed, color or national origin”? Lots of companies have it in their rules already. Time for the biggest one of all to join them.

It’s Bowles-Simpson. Simpson-Bowles always sets me off on this weird tangent where it reminds me of Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Mrs. Prince Charles of England, Duchess of Cornwall.

OTOH, as a reminder that it’s a plan produced by the veddy veddy wealthy to keep the serfs in line, perhaps it is appropriate.

You know who gave us the filibuster? Aaron Burr. This was shortly after he shot Alexander Hamilton and shortly before he tried to set up an independent nation composed of the Midwest, Southwest, and parts of Mexico, resulting in his being tried for (but acquitted of) treason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate

“In 1789, the first U.S. Senate adopted rules allowing the Senate “to move the previous question”, ending debate and proceeding to a vote. Aaron Burr argued that the motion regarding the previous question was redundant, had only been exercised once in the preceding four years, and should be eliminated.[2] In 1806, the Senate agreed, recodifying its rules, and thus the potential for a filibuster sprang into being.”

The executive order would only apply to businesses that contract to do work for the federal government. FDR banned discrimination in the federal workplace based on “race, creed, color or national origin” 70 years ago (Executive Order 8802.) This EO would just add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list.

Lots of private companies already do this. It’s time for the biggest employer of all (the US Government) to follow their lead.

Actually, Democratic campaigners remind me a lot of Tom Friedman and friends during the height of the Iraq War. Sure, things are going tough against the enemy. But our side has the bad guys on the run. Just give us four more years…. Four more years…. And then we’ll deliver to you the ponies that we keep promising.

It’s eleventy-dimensional chess. He wants to wait till Congress passes comprehensive ENDA for all of us LGBT folk. (You know, they’ll get to that on the tenth of never.) Then he’ll put his John Hancock on it. Mission accomplished.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/obama-lgbt-workplace-protections-enda_n_1422041.html

Quoting: “We are not approaching this at this time through executive authority,” Carney said repeatedly. “We are, however … aggressively pursuing passage of ENDA. And that requires working with stakeholders and building a body of persuasive evidence that this is the right thing to do. And that is what we’re committed to doing.”

So DONATE NOW, stakeholder!

Yep. It’s a lot cleaner to alter the filibuster at the start of the session, but as I understand it, the President of the Senate (Biden) can end a filibuster at any time by invoking the “nuclear option”. (I think this is usually called “moving the previous question” in Robert’s Rules.)

From the Nuclear Option wiki: “The nuclear option is a potential response to a filibuster or other dilatory tactic. A senator makes a point of order calling for an immediate vote on the measure before the body, outlining what circumstances allow for this. The presiding officer of the Senate, usually the vice president of the United States or the president pro tempore, makes a parliamentary ruling upholding the senator’s point of order. The Constitution is cited at this point, since otherwise the presiding officer is bound by precedent. A supporter of the filibuster may challenge the ruling by asking, “Is the decision of the Chair to stand as the judgment of the Senate?” This is referred to as “appealing from the Chair.” An opponent of the filibuster will then move to table the appeal. As tabling is non-debatable, a vote is held immediately. A simple majority decides the issue. If the appeal is successfully tabled, then the presiding officer’s ruling that the filibuster is unconstitutional is thereby upheld. Thus a simple majority is able to cut off debate, and the Senate moves to a vote on the substantive issue under consideration. “

Good thing he’s got all those Wall Street guys in his Administration to back him up, then.

And of course he chose to bomb Libya, which is now in chaos. And to ramp up tensions with Iran. And to surge troops in Afghanistan. And to send drones to drop bombs on civilians in Pakistan. And to expand offshore drilling for BP. And to approve part of the pipeline. Wow. Imagine if you were defending him.

Although Obama personally supports legalizing free speech and public assembly, he thinks such decisions should be left up to the states and municipalities. /snark