Politics

If you're the Speaker for a sharply divided House of Representatives, how do you get a bill passed if the members vote it down? Simple: You declare that it has passed anyway, and send it to the White House for signature. This is what Nancy Pelosi says she will do if the House's upcoming vote on the Senate's health care bill fails. Which sounds insanely crazy, until you hear that apparently it's happened before. The so-called "Slaughter rule" (some places call it "Solution") is named for Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from New York who sits on the Rules Committee who apparently mentioned the little-known rule to Pelosi. Pelosi explained at a news conference Mo…

The oft-lamented-as-liberal 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco has done an about-face and upheld the use of the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12brfs-PLEDGEOFALLE_BRF.html Of further note: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/court-oks-pledge-of-allegiance-use-of-god-on-money-as-constitutional/1 I agree with this decision. IMO the common expression of religious beliefs is not a violation of the establishment clause. What do you think?

Germans seek asylum in the US I found this interesting. We do take some freedoms for granted.

Senators Lindsay Graham (Republican) and Chuck Schumer (Democrat) met with President Obama on Thursday to discuss a plan to overhaul immigration based around three points: - Tougher border security - New temporary immigrant workers program - Biometric Social Security card - Path to citizenship for current illegal residents Sound thinking, IMO. What do you think? http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-immigration12-2010mar12,0,5784564.story?track=rss

On this past Friday morning the American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion on the history of the filibuster, and it was broadcast on C-SPAN, who has put it on their web site here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/220941 Much of the discussion looks at the existence of evidence that supports various preconceived notions about the filibuster. Perhaps the most interesting part of the discussion is a look at the history of reconciliation featuring former Senate Parliamentarian Robert Dove, who was present at or presided over many of the events related to its history. (He considers it a monster that has been misused by both parties.) Runs ab…

What socialist services does the US government currently provide? It seems we have several: *military *police *firefighters *voting *Medicare *Medicaid *Social Security *healthcare (via emergency room, for people who can't pay) *public libraries *public schools *government college grants, scholarships, and loans *roads (except toll roads) *the FDA *the EPA I'm probably missing some...

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0310/Harkin_Reconciliation_is_a_go.html Reconciliation is a process which limits debate about a bill and prevents filibuster, and therefore favors the majority party. The Democrats intend to use it to pass the healthcare bill. I most certainly hope such a bill will include a public option. With that one caveat, I would support use of reconciliation here. The Democrats attempted bipartisanship and it was an utter failure. A bit of history of reconciliation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_%28United_States_Congress%29#Historical_use

Federal "Performance Radio Tax"...what's next. I realize, this may not pass, is no big deal, if enacted would mean maybe 3-5 B$ coming from 50 States and probably would give a little (half the revenue) to artist, song writers etc, which in turn would pay additional taxes, but my question is where is this going to stop. The bills are listed in the article, which I did read, seeing loop holes for further taxing of 'Terrestrial Radio', assume leaving out Satellite Radio.

I love this story -- it's a great example of why I follow politics. Jim Bunning is a 78-year-old very-conservative Republican Senator from Kentucky who's in his second term (following a lengthy stint in the House and long service in local and state politics). He's currently in the midst of a personal, one-man filibuster stopping a $10 billion bill that would provide a simple 30-day extension to continue previously-signed spending on road improvements, unemployment checks for laid-off federal employees, and I believe a few other odds and ends. His objection is that the bill was never paid for. Democrats in leadership procedurally rejected adding the package to the…

A trillion dollars is ALOT of money.. Where the heck are the health-care overhaul people getting this money? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul I thought we had a deficient? Can someone explain the logic of this? If there is any..

I just love Friday afternoons. They're always a highlight of the week for political hobbyists, because that's when administrations "take out the trash", releasing reports and decisions too late for the Friday network evening news, but too minor to stay in the news cycle for three days to hit the Monday broadcasts. Today's gem has the Obama Justice Department clearing the Bush administration lawyers who wrote the now-infamous "torture memos", justifying the use of waterboarding. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/19/bush.administration.memos/ Of course in these modern times the blogosphere never rests, and it could be an interesting weekend for both …

• A tiny bit of iron in one's diet essential for living, yet half is deadly. • Anger is good occasionally, but half your life full of anger is often worse than being fully content half your life. • Moderate exercise is good, continually half the day isn't. A (fictional) government that's half each of democracy and tryranny isn't balanced, neither is one where religion controls half its officials, nor where corporations dictate half of government. Like in chemistry, the balance exists in universal variables and how functional/stable the resulting lab mixture is. Yet a social culture, of intelligent beings, isn't nearly as predictable as a scientist…

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123758 I realize this is World Net Daily we're talking about here, but even if it's not true, it's still a remarkably good idea. What's next? Banning breasts on long flights? I wouldn't be surprised.

In a surprise move, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has announced her resignation, giving her state's citizens three weeks' notice. Palin was elected in 2006, and will have held office for a bit over two and a half years. Her term would have ended in 2010. http://www.freep.com/article/20090704/NEWS07/907040425/Palin+quits++fueling+talk+of+run+in+2012 Some of the articles flying around suggest that this is a move aimed at the presidency, but it seems really odd to me because that's still quite a long ways off. I agree with Newt Gingrich, which is why I linked the article above, who said "This hardly seems like a well thought-out strategy." Still, the drawn-out s…

On Friday Obama signed legislation which both raised the ceiling for the national debt (from $12.4 to $14.3 trillion) and, at Obama's behest, restored pay-as-yo-go legislation which was repealed by Bush and the Republicans in 2002, in preparation for creating the largest entitlement since Medicare. The new paygo legislation requires all new spending bills to be accompanied by legislation which shows how they'll be funded: either through revenue increases, spending decreases, or a combination thereof. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0213/Pay-go-redux-Can-Obama-rein-in-federal-spending Days after presenting a budget that will create a record $1.56 …

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/one-gopers-budget-vision-social-security-and-medicare-benefit-cuts.php I'm no fan of Social Security and I'm not exactly eligable for Medicare so I don't really have a vested personal interest in either program. However I do enjoy myself some schadenfreude and this seems like the Republicans reaching out and grabbing on firmly to the proverbial firm rail. This is what they have to offer in lieu of Obama's bipartisan deficit task force? Oh really... I'm sure their base of old people receiving social security and drugs from the government loves it.

Lots of people seem to opposed to government spending (and economic stimulus), these days ... decisions based on ignorance, most likely. So, I'm wondering.. What would have happened if the government took the republican approach? What was John McCain's proposal to fix the weak economy? (I could not find this on Google) If there was no government stimulus (spending) .... Would the economy be worse off than it is now? Would the DOW be the same? How can the growing national debt negatively effect the USA/economy? Will it? Thanks.

Since a quick search reveals that there has not been a thread devoted to this subject for at least a year, I have decided to open this up after reading Severian's claim of advocation for the death penalty in another thread. My argument comes in two parts: first, that the actions of the justice system are meant as a deterrent for crime, not a punishment. I believe this because of the problem of free will. Sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's work tends to get to the core of the issue. In his books, he illustrates through citation of various social phenomena as well as many classic psychological experiments that people's actions are more heavily influenced by outside sources …

This actually seems like it would be good material for a book. Some definitions in game theory: scoring: although we can "play" with an abstract score, it could also be a significant thing, such as money, years in prison, suffering, happiness, honor, chance of dying, or whatever else the players value, so long as it can be quantified. Dummy: a player who's input cannot affect the outcome is a dummy. Dominant Strategy: a strategy that is always equal to or superior to any other strategy. Nash Equilibrium: a set of strategies, one for each player, such that no player has incentive to unilaterally change her action. Pareto Efficiency: an outcome is more Pareto ef…

I posted about this a few months ago and it was rubbished because the article was printed in the Daily Mail - since then it has appeared in pretty much every newspaper. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/7198329/Labours-secret-plan-to-lure-migrants.html The Labour Govenment have been lying to the public regarding their immigration policy. They worked out that foregners that come to the UK vote labour - so they have had a completely open door policy to anyone wishing to come here, without regard for where they came from, who they were or what they had done in the past or where their allegences lie. Any attempt to discuss this has been shouted down…

Before I start linking articles I want to point out that I in no way endorse the Russian conclusions on the whole incident... but I do think that the Russian response should be a clear lesson to Sec. of State Clinton, and to Obama, that cutesy "reset buttons" simply don't work. Part one of this story is a recent story that is gaining notice internationally (yet not domestically) that a group of CIA funded Afghan militia murdered Afghan school children. Whether this is actually true or not I can't say, but the UN and President Karzai seem convinced that it happened. That alone means it should be news worthy. Now enter the second part of this story... driven by…

I congratulte the BBC for allowing the BNP onto the debate program. And while I don't support the BBC, we live in a country that is based on free speech! They have the same right as everyone for their views to be heard! I wonder how many of the protesters campgaining saying that the BNP is against free speech realise that by protesting they are attempting to remove the BNP's right to free speech!

The administration is coming under fire from fellow Democrats over this one, not just Republicans, but Congress may be as much to blame as the administration. Apparently nobody thought to put in language that ensures that the stimulus money that was slated for "green jobs" be spent on American workers (which was, of course, the whole point). Here are some articles on this: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/wind-power-equal-job-power/story?id=9759949 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/09/foreign-energy-firms-getting-windfall-of-us/ It's not just a matter of big projects needing parts that are only made overseas -- I think people could understand that you might …

We're always being told that government is good and all this, but why should anyone have to accept that? Since no one has an absolute understanding of what morality is, why not just assume everyone is wrong (or right- depending) and have everyone do things their own way? Why should an individual have to do anything anyone else says?

So, our Social Security program seems to be heading full speed toward disaster. From what I hear, actually fixing that is necessarily going to piss a bunch of people off, so that no politician will dare try. As a young person, I am concerned that I will never get back what I am forced to pay into that system. Is there any way that we could fix Social Security? I mean, some way that has a possibility of actually happening? My idea: pass a law requiring that the financial security of Social Security be ensured, within a certain timeframe. This should be popular, as everyone wants S.S. to be secure. A possible way to put teeth into this would be that if they can't fi…