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Finally, a fellow Dead Head stands up! Kudos mstaggerlee! Kudos! I hope you stick around. Maybe we can make a reunion out of this blog. Don't forget, "No, Our Love Won't Fade Away!"
As far as your idea is concerned, I love it. The filibuster was originally designed as a tool for the minority. Your idea would insure that it is used that way; instead of as a hammer for the Super Minority. Brilliant!
I agree fully chuckle8 I hope to hear much more from WilliamHenryMee. Thanks for the excellent post!
Another reform proposal I've heard, and could get behind, would be to flip the burden to the minority, i.e., rather than requiring the majority to come up with 60 votes to break the filibuster, require the minority to produce 41 votes to maintain it.
No Billionaires Campaign
Hi Thom,
this post has not directly to do with the filibuster reform, but I just wanted to let you know that I was able to place a small www.nobillionaires.com add in our local weekly here in Spokane, WA called the Inlander.
The add is on page 59 in this week's issue. Here the link:
http://npaper-wehaa.com/inlander/2013/01/24#?page=59&dpg=1
It will run in the Inlander every 2 weeks for the next 20 weeks.
The Inlander as far as I know is one of the best read weeklys out there. I think it reaches about 190.000 regular readers a week. I hope it brings some more traffic to the website :-)
Thanks so much Thom for all you do for us and America!
Why not an outright ban on filibustering? Our "leaders" need to stop playing around and do the work we put them there to do. If I "filibustered" on my job, I'd get fired!
There are many good posts, but I rate yours the best.
The thing I like about it the most is that it has a lot of "nuts and bolts" details. Please keep contributing to Thom's blog.
Yeah Palindromedary, "he/she/it" is an interesting description of something that doesn't exist. I hope "he/she/it" doesn't mind.
Interesting movie reference, The Truman Show. Jim found The Truth at the edge of the world. Well, I always knew it was lying around here somewhere. I guess it pays to keep looking for what you need.
Myself, I'm to lazy to look for stuff. If my wife doesn't know where it is, it's lost. When I get up to go buy another one, she always finds it. True story!
By the way, she's about to get home from work. Time to look busy! Gotta go. I'll see you tonight on the next blog.
DAnneMarc: I've got the same problem. Fighting that little male sexist pig on my right shoulder is always harder than taking the advice of the more 'liberated' one on my left. If 'God' didn't want us males to be (fill in the blanks) ....he would have created us without a (fill in the blank)...but I guess he/she/it thought that propagation of the species was more important than political correctness and sensitivities. Because if men got pregnant they'd be less aggressive and reticent?..perhaps more respectful? Oh, that's right...I'm atheist. But, old age takes a lot of that out of many of us (not atheism...sexism and desire). It's just not that important anymore...less driven by the old Devil urges that may have entrapped us when we're young. We're more concerned with dying! My how time flies. If you don't hear from me again...Good morning. Good afternoon. And good night! That was a good movie...The Truman Show with Jim Carey. He got to the edge of the world and discovered the truth.
Wow Palindromedary,
What an experience that must have been. At the risk of sounding like a sexist ethnocentric, I can see punishing women for having long skirts, but short ones has me scratching my head. If I had my way, I'd pass a law saying that the shorter your skirt was the bigger your tax refund would be. But that's just the male chauvinist pig in me talking.
Women wearing pants would be a felony, and bras and panties would be permanently banned.
I got more good ideas where that came from.
BTW You don't want to see where those ideas came from. LOL
Study of the French-Indian war (7 year war) has great impact on the American empire and lead-up to the American and then the French Revolutions. Which led to the creation of our constitution and a standing army.
What they do is redefine the word 'terrorist' to include many other definitions that doesn't fit the original meaning 'someone who tries to injure or murder an indiscriminate number of other people or do damage to property because of a political differences'. The selling point was to protect us against Arab radical Muslim terrorists who hijack planes and/or set off bombs to kill as many people as they can. It morphed into going after people having nothing to do with murdering people. It morphed into a kind of institutional 'Matowa' ..that is an Arabic term for those pious Muslim moral enforcers that go around the streets in Muslim towns swatting the bare legs of women who wear their skirts too short or forcefully cut off the woman's hair if it is too long and exposed. I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years...but I refused to get on the yellow school buses that would take people to the town square where they chopped off heads and hands..or stoned adulterers...mostly women.
Yes, indeed Palindromedary. You might be right... Especially if my neighbor was a Postal Worker.
I believe in the Golden Rule! Love thy Neighbor. I'm not that interested in the official business of the DHS enough to try to test you're theory. I'm quite certain from my brief experience with the DHS that they are run by incompetent boobs. The same I'm told is true of almost all other federal agencies. I wouldn't waste too much time worrying about them "taking over the country." They seem to have their hands full enough looking busy for their supervisors. They are probably the least productive members of our society and the least talented; which, is why they need a Nanny agency like the DHS to baby sit them.
The only reason we are reasonably safe is because the Terrorist simply aren't that motivated to slaughter a bunch of useless, ignorant US citizens.
DAnneMarc: Nope, I certainly don't feel safer with Homeland Security...I feel threatened because I know they are helping to drain our country of it's economic well being. And they are more out to justify their existence by going after non-terrorists. I believe that they actually set people up to do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do. Not just DHS but FBI and CIA and any other of these organizations...even politicians...federal, state, and local...they're all a bunch of cheesy opportunists that wouldn't think twice about sacrificing someone for their political gains. "Heck of a job, Brownie!"
DAnneMarc: There have been instances of bank employees, bank officers, who have stolen the accounts of people who have died or who were so old and sickly and about to die that they embezzled from those accounts. I read recently of a situation in California..where this happened and something like $800,000 had slowly been embezzled from this old guy who eventually died..leaving nothing to the guy's family. He was caught but the money had been, over the years, squandered on things. I recently had a death in the family, a Vietnam vet, who didn't have much in the bank but it was quite an ordeal trying to deal with it.
I believe Leighmf is so into financial forensics (I guess that's what one would call it) because I believe she believes she was cheated out of a very sizable estate..I don't understand the whole thing and all of her data is just a blur to me.
Anyway, I'm glad you got things sorted out.
"that's rather odd" indeed. That's why I repeated it. That's why I almost fell out of my chair when I heard it. I'll repeat it again:
THEY ONLY INVESTIGATE OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES AND THEIR EMPLOYEES.
That's what I was told. I too still find it hard to believe. If it didn't come out of the mouth of an old, trusted friend I wouldn't have accepted it.
Your hard earned TAX money at work. Do you feel safe? I don't!
DAnneMarc: I keep thinking about what you said that DHS said..."they only investigate other federal agencies and their employees" ...that's rather odd, it seems...perhaps that's their response because you were questioning the activities of a bank? Had you reported that some neighbor was doing something fishy...they probably would have sent in police death squads for downloading porn....a real terrorist activity, that!
Remember the Walmart 'snitch and spy' programs starting back in 2010 that encouraged Walmart shoppers to spy on and snitch on other shoppers for anything suspicious? It's one thing to snitch on one's fellow citizens but another to snitch on a bank's dealings with potential terrorists.
DAnneMarc: Your quite welcome!
Yeah, I don't watch a lot of TV either...I have not seen Team America. But thanks...I'll be looking for it...on TV...on DVDs.
On, that bank you had doubts about...maybe you should ask Leighmf...she seems to have dug deeply into the banking industry. And I believe quite a financial forensics investigator..maybe not professionally but seems very passionate about it.
Most of the banks are drug money launderers and launderers of other illicit money anyway. It wouldn't surprise me if any one of them were part of a terrorist support network. I believe that most of them are financial terrorists anyway.
Maybe people's 'right' to transportation should be contained within mass transportation instead of the dangerous weapons (cars) that kill more people than guns ever did. I'm sure some people would go for this.
The problem with limiting guns to militias is that militias are small groups that can be more easily identified and watched and wiped out by smaller military or police forces than it would be if guns were owned by everyone. They are also politicized and usually have a rather dictatorial belief system, often of a religious bent. And unless you hold the same beliefs you are not welcome. And once one becomes a member of these organizations it would be hard to distance one from any radical decisions some 'leader' makes on behalf of the members. There is often a kind of herd mentality that can get you killed. Any time you 'join' an organization...say like Jim Jones People's Temple...you can expect to 'drink the cool-aid' one day. No, the People's Temple was not a militia but they did have many weapons, men who would use them, and suicide juice.
The uprisings in Libya, Egypt, and elsewhere..including the Occupy Wall Street groups that did not have 'leaders' that the authorities could identify, arrest, and/or control worked much better than a specific group that could be watched, actions anticipated, and controlled. But it is the very 'fear of a well armed people' (and they don't even have to conduct an armed rebellion...just the fear that it could happen if things got so bad) that would influence how our politicians conduct themselves.
Right now, they are using all the propaganda scare tactics...like a "billion rounds of hollow point bullets being distributed to government agencies"...and trying to build up their ability to spy on every citizen. As the wealthy 1%, and their capos, continue to squeeze every last bit of humanity out of everyone else they realize that one day the dam will break and well armed people could revolt against the tyrannous system.
We are starting to see the effects of the tyranny now...increased 'crime' rates...people going nuts...shootings....suicides. It'll get worse! And what will people do to protect themselves... huddle in a corner... under the bed... while the police finally show up and call in the coroner?
Sure, right now it is the military style weapons the authorities are going after but it won't stop there. Remember, guns don't kill people...people kill people. And if they don't have guns, they'll use knives or clubs or other methods to do mass murders. It has happened in China and other countries all by using clubs or knives...killing many school children and teachers. The genocide that killed almost a million people in Rwanda was mostly all done by clubs and knives.
Interesting points WilliamHenryMee. The Department of Homeland Security as I recently found out is a BIG EXPENSIVE JOKE! I actually recently had cause to suspect what may have been nefarious activities in a Bank that had been committed by people with Arab sounding names. (As it turned out it was nothing.) I thought, having a friend in The Department of Homeland Security that this was a matter they should be aware of and we could help each other.
When I called her I was told that the agency only investigates other federal agencies and their employees. Allow me to repeat that! THEY ONLY INVESTIGATE OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES AND THEIR EMPLOYEES!!! She very politely suggested I call my local police department. I almost fell off my chair.
Kudos to the Nachoman and Palindromedary.
I think Ken was right about one thing, we are an ignorant nation. I wouldn't call us "the dumbest kids on the block!" but certainly the most ignorant. If we poured one third of our Defense Budget into Education this might not be the case. I for one would not complain at all for any money spent on Education. I feel that is the greatest investment we can make as a species. There is no greater return on investment available, and the positive impact of that money would have would be felt for decades to come.
Also, I wouldn't blame the domestic victims (US Citizens) living in this country for the current situation with our war machine any more that I'd blame the foreign victims (Collateral Damage) of our war machine. It's the war machine itself, the people who control it and give the orders, and the people who run it who obey the orders. These people make a career out of blaming their victims, I refuse to play that game.
Palindromedary~Again, thanks for an education. I intend to take a good look at those references. You've given me so much food for thought I'm going to have to freeze some of it before I can eat it all or it might go bad. LOL No, I didn't see that commercial yet. I don't watch a lot of TV. However, I did once see a funny movie called, "Team America." I don't know if you've seen it, but Ken's rants remind me of the puppets in that movie. "F........ YEAH!" If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. Sorry Ken but if you could only see yourself from our perspective; I for one will do my best to see myself from your perspective.
Ken Ware~Please accept my deepest apologies for offending you! I realize I may have unintentionally pushed some sensitive buttons. Please be reassured that I do love my country. In the same way I would treat a beloved family member who I saw making what I believe is a tragic mistake, my only intent is to offer the best advice I can in hope that they correct that mistake and not hurt themselves or others. Believe it or not Ken, I say what I say out of love and not hatred. I will be the first to admit that you are right--I am very ignorant! I have no Military experience and do not have the slightest clue as to what it was like. I am grateful to God that is the case. I'm glad I never had opportunity to experience war. I consider myself most fortunate. Please forgive my ignorance. However, you are dearly mistaken if you think I am in anyway "twisted" or "hateful". Those words do not fit me in anyway. I have the highest respect for anyone who served our Country. My greatest wish is that history will also respect them. I'm sorry if I upset you!
NACHOman~I find myself very reluctantly agreeing with everything you say. However, since we have no control over the matter anyway, I hope you will forgive me if I refuse to believe it. No one here knows for sure what's in the heart of President Obama. No one knows to what extent he might be controlled by any wealthy nefarious groups or to what extent he can reasonably resist those influences. No knows to what extent we can guide him by flooding the www.Whitehouse.gov website with our opinions and ideas. Equally, no one knows what his personal agenda will be in the next four years. Finally, no one knows what the future will bring. Personally, I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt, and let his actions dictate my opinions. I've found in my life that by having positive expectations and treating a matter in that way one can actually have a positive influence on the outcome of events. Since there really is no other feasible course of action available, I might suggest we all do the same and keep the President in our highest of hopes and most sincere prayers. There will be plenty of time to condemn his short comings if and when they occur. At the very least, this course of action cannot hurt. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
Please join me in a toast to President Obama's Second Term in Office. May it be everything and more that our highest hopes and expectations we had fell short of realizing in his first term!
So many great posts here that are totally right on. In New Mexico, we have a group called the
Rio Grande Foundation (a right wing Think Tank) and they are featuring “Thirty Days on Regulatory Reform.” So each day they post a regulation which should be rescinded and I post a rebuttal that points out their basic fundamental ignorance of why the regulation was created.
Regulatory Reform is a valid part of continuing government and should be in place permanently. This Rio Grande Foundation project is a valiant effort but in many ways shows a great naivety about both the purpose of government and the functions of government. Disclaimer, I am a retired State of New Mexico employee and have written regulations as well as participated in past government Regulatory Reform efforts. Over the years, in both state and federal governmental efforts, there have been some good attempts and some doomed from the start to fail. But the key to understanding regulations is that they are an attempt to clarify what is not specified in law by Congress or our own N.M. State Legislature. Very often regulations are made by boards and commissions who are political animals of their own making. They are contributors to political campaigns and receive appointments on this basis; not necessarily on how much they know about an industry or how much they care about good government. So their self interest is to protect their own industry to regulate or eliminate competition in the market place by a consensus of those engaging in that business. They do make it harder to break into the industry.
So this is the environment, now let's talk about some past efforts made at the federal government.
Our best national answer to “Regulatory Reform” would have been to elect Al Gore. I know that we elected "the guy we most would likely have a beer with" George W. Bush and we rejected the stiff caricature of an egg-headed Al Gore, a policy wonk. But while Clinton was doing his thing with Monica, he let VP Al Gore have free rein of government. Clinton gave Gore a marching order to “streamline government” and to provide a laboratory for state and local governments to follow (which Gore posted to the Internet---but there is another joke we can laugh at). If we had elected Gore, he would have cut 300,000 more federal employees and $300 billion more dollars to a total of 600,000 and $600 billion. Gore’s streamlining of regulations and tax simplification would have blown all our minds. He expanded the role of VP more than any other President (Until Bush let Cheney run amok). Gore set up programs that I studied as a state government employee because we need to improve our dysfunctional bureaucracy. The Reinvention of Government Initiative, the Trust Initiative, the Plain English requirement for writing regulations, the Performance Review, Streamlining,---just many, many programs. In three years, they cut 300,000 jobs and $300 billion dollars annually from the budget. Employees were paid bonuses on ideas they had to trim regulations, eliminate red tape and to streaming process. They set up "senior leaders program" where good performers were shuffled into the poorest performing areas and given a bonus if they could "turn-it around." They created citizen-led committees that oversaw government operations and made quality management recommendations. They created government award programs and grant programs that federal agencies could access for personnel bonuses if they achieved cost savings (like 5% of the cost savings could go to you in a one-time bonus if you saved the 100%). Employees who once were "rewarded" for squandering budget hold-over money from year-to-year (say with bigger offices and new furniture that was unnecessary) were turning it in. 250,000 pages of regulations were eliminated. They created parking lots were citizens could park up front instead of one mile away, they create email citizen complaint lines, One Stop Shop, etc., etc. This was all written up in a 350 page report I have somewhere. All undone by George W. Bush who stopped all the programs and hired an estimated 6-7 million more federal employees through privatization and the creation of Homeland Security. Managers were hired like Michael Brown the Arabian Horse Association President who let Katrina happen at his watch at FEMA. The political hacks they put in like Bill Bennett who got a $14.9 million contract to design a "No Child Left Behind" test (at a per test copy of $250 which is part of a kickback to Bennett, the $8 million dollar a year gambler, when the tests could be photocopied at about a $1 price tag. The Bushes ended the nuclear reclamation program in Russia (started by Bush's dad) which allowed 25 nukes to fall into the hands of the Russian Mafia. So we went from competence to lunacy in the name of TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT (yet, the federal government expanded to the largest it has ever been under G.W. Bush---it was only GOP lip service).
The spirit of this Reinvention Program is virtually dead and forgotten. I know of no one talking about it. So electing a Democrat like Obama didn't get us back on track. Bush took down the "First Government" websites and virtually destroyed the library of reports. The War in Iraq consumed our national interest in becoming a more efficient government. Unfortunately, if we had it in place it could of taken us out of the recession and we wouldn't be having this posting/discussion to the Blog Facebook. Alas.....
IMaude: Yes, I see that...and William K. Black is a very frequent contributor...great!!!
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/
Sinauguration. Apparently the "S" is still silent.
I can't sit through these speeches in their entirely anymore, so I only have glimpses and pundit snippets to gauge from, but I have heard no mention that the swearing in ceremony was also the 14,500th day anniversary of when U.S. District Court Judge Byrne quashed all charges against Ellsberg and Russo.
Apparently the speaker is all for Human Rights as long as they don't belong to a whistle-blower or other patriotic American wishing to bring injustices to the attention of the American public or someone with family assets under $25 million or so.
Not sure who thought it would be better to take the big dump on MLK day by having a fake swearing-in and speach on the MLK holiday instead of on the Constitutionally designated date of the 20th of January (it's the 20th Amendment - should be easy to remember even for those not heralded as being Constitutional scholars).
Another characteristic of a Sinauguration is the improper (denotes disrespect of symbol and Country represented thereby) display of the American Flag. If not before now, it seems that four years would be plenty of time for someone in the White House to stumble across United States Code TITLE 36 Chapter 10. I was taught the basic rules in Scouting back in the 60's.
The American Flag is not a marketing or decorating symbol and is not to be used as such. When one is warranted for display - there should be only one and (this part they got right this time) it should be allowed to flow freely (not carefully creased and bound as we see so often these days).
It is not to be a part of merchandising in any manner. The only things that it should be printed on are certain official government items, the rules for which are generally the same as those of cloth flags.
Public displays like people carrying huge ones are totally improper and disrepects not only the country, but also those for whom horizontal usage is appropriate.. The only time a flag should be horizontal is when draped over a coffin.
So it is not surprising that words were offered to form a pleasing sound to the uninformed, but at least by having the speech as part of a fake event - his nonintent to make good on them is more transparent than before.
"Yes, WE can (...fool / con you again)."
I voted yes because I prefer the glass half full vs half empty philosophy. Thoughts are things and if the majority continue to put negative thinking into the collective consciousness, they'll get what they expect, negative consequences. To accept what the GOP is doing as fact that cannot be changed, rather then doing something about it, makes those persons responsible for the outcome. I hope this makes sense.