[jeffkrol]

Really, someone needs to get a life.............
JUSTICE -- An Empty Bench
Falling Off a Cliff

There is a simple explanation for the sudden drop-off in confirmation rates—obstructionists in the Senate are using filibusters and holds at an unprecedented rate. And it is nearly impossible to break the filibusters and holds on Obama’s nominees.

Although a supermajority of senators can break a filibuster, once a filibuster is broken Senate rules still permit up to 30 hours of floor debate before taking a vote. Presently, 48 of President Obama’s judicial nominees await confirmation. At 30 hours per nominee, the Senate would have to spend 1,440 hours—60 entire days—to act on each of these nominations.

If Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) were to cancel all recesses on August 1 and require the Senate to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, doing nothing but considering judicial nominees, the last nominee would not be confirmed until well into autumn—and that’s assuming that the Senate passed no bills, confirmed no other nominees, and took up no other matters for this entire period!

The picture is even worse when you factor in executive branch nominees. According to the White House, President Obama presently has 240 unconfirmed nominees. Confirming each of these nominees would require a massive 300 days—10 entire months—of 24 hour work days doing nothing but confirmations.

It is easy to manipulate the Senate rules to create a crisis. If a minority of senators broadly object to the Senate’s entire agenda, then it is literally impossible to confirm more than a fraction of the hundreds of judges, executive branch officials, ambassadors, and other nominees that each president has a responsibility to appoint, even if the Senate shuts down all other legislative business to do so.

If anything, the real surprise is not that President Obama is experiencing unprecedented obstructionism. It’s that, given such dysfunctional Senate rules, it has taken so long for such a confirmation crisis to emerge.

[gokenin]

wait for it whats that smell in the air could it be, I bet it will be. Recess appointments. Washington has been broken for years both sides play the game the only way its going to change is with a radical ousting of all of them, and a demand for term limits

[jeffkrol]

PolitiFact | Lawmaker claims Democrats want to hit small businesses with tax increases

Neugebauer said that "94 percent of small businesses will face higher taxes under the Democrats plan." The statement is problematic in several ways. First, it implicitly assumes that the Democratic plan is to let all of the tax cuts lapse, when, in fact, Democratic officials have consistently said that they intend to raise taxes only for the wealthiest individuals. Second, two independent studies that looked at the impact of the Democratic proposal on small businesses found that only between 2 to 3 percent of tax filers who report having what can be thought of as small business income will be affected. One of those studies came from the very source that Neugebauer incorrectly cited. Finally, reporting business income doesn't equal owning a small business, and data from the Tax Policy Center confirm that in the top tax bracket, only about a third of the tax filers report having at least 50 percent of their income from a business. We looked and looked for a shred of truth and couldn't find one, so we rate this Pants on Fire.

Propaganda 3 Paul Ryan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?_r=3&hp

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has, however, stepped into the breach. Its numbers indicate that the Ryan plan would reduce revenue by almost $4 trillion over the next decade. If you add these revenue losses to the numbers The Post cites, you get a much larger deficit in 2020, roughly $1.3 trillion.

And that’s about the same as the budget office’s estimate of the 2020 deficit under the Obama administration’s plans. That is, Mr. Ryan may speak about the deficit in apocalyptic terms, but even if you believe that his proposed spending cuts are feasible — which you shouldn’t — the Roadmap wouldn’t reduce the deficit. All it would do is cut benefits for the middle class while slashing taxes on the rich.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/ryan-predictions/

[gokenin]

Our children hard at work

Senate gets 'a little weird' - Yahoo! News

[jeffkrol]

Our children hard at work

Senate gets 'a little weird' - Yahoo! News

The rolling eyes thing.. he later apologized... a very liberal thing.

[johnmflores]

Washington has been broken for years both sides play the game the only way its going to change is with a radical ousting of all of them, and a demand for term limits

This is the meta issue that we should all rally around. How can we get term limits? A Constitutional Amendment?

[Parallax]

This is the meta issue that we should all rally around. How can we get term limits? A Constitutional Amendment?

We have term limits, of sorts. 2 years in the House, 6 in the Senate. The Problem is that the majority of voters aren't smart enough to invoke them at the polls.

[Phil1]

'We have term limits, of sorts. 2 years in the House, 6 in the Senate. The Problem is that the majority of voters aren't smart enough to invoke them at the polls.'

How many now seated require a periodic diaper change? Term limits are long overdue

[Parallax]

ow many now seated require a periodic diaper change? Term limits are long overdue

I have long been adamant about one simple philosophy: Don't Vote For Incumbents! At least not for the next complete 6 year cycle. Once we hit the point that ALL members, house and senate, are first term, we can evaluate over the next 6 years whether the potty training was effective.

[JeffJS]

I have long been adamant about one simple philosophy: Don't Vote For Incumbents! At least not for the next complete 6 year cycle. Once we hit the point that ALL members, house and senate, are first term, we can evaluate over the next 6 years whether the potty training was effective.

People will Never get that. How old was Strom Thurmond (sp?) before he finally left? 100? Or did he die while in office? Uncle Teddy? Took brain cancer to get rid of him from the senate (I wouldn't wish that on Anyone btw).

[jeffkrol]

I have long been adamant about one simple philosophy: Don't Vote For Incumbents! At least not for the next complete 6 year cycle. Once we hit the point that ALL members, house and senate, are first term, we can evaluate over the next 6 years whether the potty training was effective.

Problem is most of the non-incumbents are a bunch of loony-toons...... Maybe we should start a list.
I have yet to find a non-incumbent in my state who doesn't raise all sorts of red flags for me.
Voting just on the grounds of "congress virginity" is getting into quite dangerous territory.
I still like my "lottery" idea... anyone that strives for power is unfit for power.. something like that.. Either Plato or Aristotle.... forgot which.

Political power seemed to attract persons who lacked the prerequisite qualities of leadership: intelligence, integrity and selfless concern for the welfare of the governed. Intelligence is central to the Platonic view of leadership.

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots/republic.htm
Fun quotes:
http://danmahony.com/wp_quotes.htm

[Nesster]

The downside of a large bunch of noobs: inevitably, 'new ideas' turn out far worse than anticipated, whatever corruption and inefficiency there was is replaced by greater corruption and inefficiency, often in the very direction the noobs were elected to clean up. Witness the explosion in earmark spending after the Newt revolution, and the disaster of the Democratic party in the McGovern era.

The current constant electioneering and extreme partisanship in Congress is worse than the accommodation and horse trading that went on before. I mean, that Republicans vote down additional relief for 9/11 first responders because a) the program would be paid for by a closure of a tax loophole involving offshore corporations - this is a TAX INCREASE! - and b) that some of the beneficiaries may be illegal aliens - no matter the heroism in the service of America, these illegals are here just to game the system! - seems ridiculous and is a sad indication of how things are these days...

[jeffkrol]

JeffJS,

Btw who's Tody and why is he pissing off Jeffkrol?

It's one of 2 a misspellings........ Today's and propaganda

[Nesster]

It's one of 2 a misspellings........ Today's and propaganda

...well, I liked Tody's proper Panda better

[Peter Zack]

troglodyte, are you for real? The man is dead. I could care less what your politics are or his, have some bloody respect. Would you go say that to his son's face? I think not.

Posts deleted, more of that and....