Christmas comes on the 26th for the 101st Airborne in Bastogne… C-47s drop in supplies — 12/26/1944.
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Thursday Open Thread43 comments to Thursday Open ThreadLeave a Reply |
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As I reported yesterday from my mystery friend absolutely no one aside from Democrats have seen the health bill or will be allowed to see it. Today it is the top headline on Drudge.
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=320943&start=1
Now I’m no parliamentary expert but surely there is some rule regarding a bill’s presentation to all voting members. Anyone know the answer here?
I don’t think there is any requirement until the bill comes to the floor. At which time everyone gets to read it. From my understanding that is quite common, the numerous committes go about crafting something and the full House or Senate gets bits and pieces until its out.
Why does it always seem to snow at Global Warming conferences/summits/speeches?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=a5wStc0K6jhY
My church teaches me to be wary of “signs and wonders.” And yet, when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s annual conference was in session last summer, deliberating on blessing homosexual relationships and ordination, a tornado–completely unpredicted–came barreling down the street in downtown Minneapolis (something that has almost never happened before historically), and slammed into both the convention hall and Minneapolis’ largest Lutheran church, right across the street, knocking the cross off its steeple.
Personally, I think God sometimes sends such signs.
But it’s in the spirit of, “that they shall listen and listen, and not hear, and see and see, but not perceive.” God knows no one will pay attention. He just does it so that at the Last Judgment He can say, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Kind of like a Final Notice sent to somebody you already know is a deadbeat.
It doesn’t work consistently, of course. There’s the song they sang after the San Francisco earthquake (something like this):
“And if it’s true God smote the town,
For being over-frisky,
Why did He burn the churches down
And spare McSweeney’s Whisky?”
But it’s my personal belief that sometimes He does indeed send messages on the wings of the wind. And when He does, it means He’s really mad.
I agree Lars. Its interesting that at an Episcopal Church somewhere on the east coast, the Ghost Hunters were doing an investigation and one of the things they found in the rectory was a foot burned into the floor. Now decades before the house that had once stood there had burned down however this house was the rebuilt one…so why an image of a burned foot mark into the wood floor? ANd it smelled of burned wood. No one knows how it got there. Secondly they had an EVP in the priests office that was totally freaky. She (priest)had had issues in her house since she moved there and the office was a hotbed. When the guys went over the evidence and heard the EVP it would have made a Pope’s face grow pale. It was not a human voice but oh boy it was a voice…..it basically replied to Jason and Grant F*ck You. A very low strange guteral voice.
Now scoff if you want but this stuff is real and if a tornado trashes a church and convention center during a conference over changing the very fabric of christianity and if a so called Priest has issues with what I would consider a Demonic Haunting, (its interesting to note that the guys never showed this woman’s reaction to the F U statement from whatever the hell it was hanging in her office) something is definetly going on.
I would like to ask a few people who want to retard the bible’s message what Roman’s I means…..I always say love the sinner, hate the sin and pray for them. But the idea that the church in any of its forms could go that far off the road that was laid out explicitly by Christ, and the Apostles is unbelievable.
I like to think it is because God doesn’t lack a sense of humor or a sense of irony.
“Hence, the platypus.”
KEVIN SMITH
Ok, here’s a hypothetical question for you folks:
Let’s assume you had a country and had to draw up a federalist government from scratch – what would your constitution be like? No fair saying “Just like the American one” that’s cheating since we all bitch and moan more-or-less constantly about the way it’s interpreted and some glaring oversights in it. You can use that for boilerplate, of course, but you’ve got to go your own way with it.
So what would you do?
Now that is a loaded question and I unfortunately do not have time to do it justice. What I will say though is I would use our Constitution as a template but the core of mine would focus on explicit limitations of government powers. Also I would eliminate the electoral college and go with a straight popular vote and build in mechanisms that would allow all people to vote on members of Congress after their third term to avoid lifers from loony districts like Pelosi.
V…If we had no electoral college, NY, LA, Chicago, and Frisco would elect the Pres. and all those in flyover country would be at the total mercy of the lefty loonies.
More me-me at Front Page, this one on the futility of dealing with China on global warming:
http://frontpagemag.com/2009/12/17/the-china-problem-in-copenhagen-by-rich-trzupek/
(Yes, I am becoming a whore).
(OK, OK – “have become”).
Congratulations. Will you be replacing Lou Dobbs anytime soon?
OK, here goes: Ummmm, Rich, can we book you as a guest on Radio Free Threedonia on 1/6/10? Pretty please?
Oh, Eric! You didn’t just do that! Tell me you didn’t just do that! Oh, the ignominy!
Shhhh, it’s a trap.
Rich I saw this article up on Drudge and it made me think of you I’m assuming because of all the global warming talk.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/putting_our_economy_in_the_hands_of_chavez_fans
I don’t get why everybody’s so down on the Electoral College. I think it works great. It moderates the difference between the huge states and the tiny ones and is a fantastic for the smaller states that no political party or candidate would look at twice, otherwise. If not for the Electoral College, sparsely-populated states like Nebraska and Delaware wouldn’t matter a damn in national elections, and the country’s future could – conceivably – be dictated by a megastate like California.
I’d also point out that our federal representation is directly tied to the Electoral college. I’d probably make one or two changes to how it’s structured and organized, but I think the overall idea and execution works great.
With me it’s because every vote should be equal. Right now a Republican vote in CA and a Democrat vote in Kentucky mean nothing. I think it is partly to blame for our epidemic of low voter turnouts…that and we’re voting for the lesser of two evils.
Veruckt,
I agree with Republibot. It gives the smallers states more of a voice.
Aren’t you concerned that it discourages voters? By in large the popular vote and electoral college have always been in line (except once) but I think the argument about giving a smaller state a voice is a flawed argument. The only states it gives a voice are swing states. How many times did the mesiah stop in TN? How many times in did McCain go to California? Heck how many times did either go to Rhode Island?
It’s not an island, it’s a peninsula!
Look the Electoral college is fine as it is. Perhaps a state like California and New York should have an electoral college or a way to make areas like San Frannutsco and the Inland Empire equal? Thats the problem. Or perhaps the area between just north of San Francisco and LA should be relugated its own state with the rest of California remaining as is? I have seen plans like that and it would work.
Put me down with Bot and Steph. I think the net effect of the Electoral College is to give those larger states that are sparsely populated a marginally bigger voice. Alaska, Wyoming and Montana – for example – are vast repositories of natural resources, but not of people. I like that the system gives those states a slightly louder voice, given their economic importance to the nation. I don’t think that Madison expected it would work out that way, but I like to think the little guy would be happy it did.
Also agree with Kit! (Didn’t mean to dis ya Kit…)
I’d keep the Constitution mostly as was — remove the slavery stuff of course. I’d shitcan the 16th Amendment and 17th Amendment fo-sho… I’d make the Commerce Clause more specific and I’d switch the 3rd and 10th Amendments around because I believe placement is important. 1st Amendment is first for a reason and I think the 10th Amendment — given 20/20 hindsight is a lot more important than originally thought.
I might also put a rule of constitutional construction in Article III similar to the canons of construction found in the UCC and some statute.
I might also add language more specifically laying out Congress’ constitutional role and that it — not the Judiciary or the Executive — is supposed to drive this ship of state. Ultimately of course given the democratic nature of the House — the people would be more responsible.
Floyd, if you’re willing to write this stuff out, I might want to add some of it to my amendments.
The Iron Man 2 teaser is fuh-reaking awesome. It’s worth seeing just for Tony Stark’s awesome response to a politician who wants to take the Iron Man suit away from him:
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/12/as_prophesied_the_iron_man_2_trailer.php
@ Mr. Sid: In the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary, you really can’t be sure I’m NOT Lou Dobbs, now can you?
@ Eric: I’ll have to check with my agent.
@ Rufus: As Frank Lloyd Wright observed, it’s hard to be humble when you’re great.
@ Veruckt: That was awesome.
@ Floyd: “I might also put a rule of constitutional construction in Article III similar to the canons of construction…”
While I strongly support cannons is most every circumstance, I don’t see how you could actually fit one into the Constitution. Wouldn’t it make more sense to roll up the Constitution and put it in the cannon’s barrel instead?
Sorry, just like “The Spaceman,” we don’t deal with agents. Hear ya on the co-host panel, m’friend.
See what I did there, Rufus?
Game, set and match, Porvaznik.
No offense to Rich, for whom I’m as excited about his new side-gigs as anyone except maybe Mrs. Trooper (hey, Rich, maybe Big Hollywood will give YOU a contributor slot), but as a former Hollywood P.A., I’ve dealt with egos far more out of control than his playful one.
That’s what you think. Rich just backhanded me because the latte I brought him had nutmeg sprinkles ontop of the low-cal, whipped creme when he swears he told me he wanted cinnamon.
How about the 2nd Amendment Floyd?..take out that “well regulated militia” that makes libs misread the intent.
You’re right Scott. forgot about that one. I would also make some more specific definition on privacy (or perhaps my new 3rd Amendment would resolve that) and perhaps a stronger statement on private property in the 5th A. However — as all these things go — 200 hundred years after my new Constitution some evil positivist lawyer would stretch it all out of perspective.
Hey guys…..get this: Ben Nelson is threatening a filibuster of the craptacular HCR bill. Word to Rahm..you do not POO WHERE YOU EAT! And 20 Senators now want a probe if Nelson was threatened with that base closing. Merry Christmas….and the dems dreams are crashing down around their ears….LOVE IT!
Anybody been following the FTC assault on Intel? This is the first shot in the government coming after the rest of industry. They even said they wanted to pursue new methods for anti-trust. Intel is not like IBM and ATT, where there were distinct sub-divisions that might be spun off, like having a manufacturing arm and a services arm. All of Intel’s structure is meant to support the manufacture of complex silicon.
So, if the company can’t be broken up, what would be the goal? Perhaps unionizing on a large scale the only large scale manufacturing arm in the US that isn’t. Perhaps to get government watchdogs on the board. I can think of any number of reasons for the looters and statists in Washington to go forward with this…and they also have the example of the Euro-looters getting 1.5 billion out of Intel. They want their Chicago cut.
These guys are going balls to the wall to take over as much of the industrial base of this country as they can.
Veruckt – in no way does the Electoral College discourage voters. Everyone votes, majority wins the state. Majority of electors wins the country. How is that discouraging anyone? If anything, it encourages voters because it means that Wyoming’s total voting (3) is 1/18th of California’s (55). If it was a direct vote, on the other hand, a vote in Wyoming would only count for 1/23rd of a vote in California, based on population (Because California’s population is 23 times greater than Wyoming.)
My point is that a direct election would actually be LESS equitable than this system.
Unless, of course, you want to get rid of the states themselves, of course, in which case Darth Sideous will call you a “Statist.”
Just finished watching ALFIE (The Sir Michael Caine one). Great movie. One of those “should be required viewing” films.
Am watching THE GOOD WIFE on CBS.com after hearing what Schussel had to say about it featuring a liberal RASCIST judge.
Oh, and having seen only 15 minutes of THE GOOD WIFE, I can say that it does a good job putting a very human face on the people affecting by the Elliot Spitzer-esque scandals.
Of course, I think THE GOOD WIFE is unrealistic, no man with any sort of grasp of reality would ever cheat on his wife if his wife was Julianna Margulies.
DAMN!
Think we just watched Tiger Woods pull something in the blonde vein, Kit. What an assjack. Him, not you.
Good point, Eric.
And Prince Charles cheated on Diana with Camilla Parker-Boyles.
Sort of a lateral move, that one. I never found either of them anything other than hopelessly bland and boring-looking. I guess I’m just not gay enough to understand the subtle magic of a princess…