Month: March 2007

The D.C. Voting Bill has been pulled by Democrats after Republicans added a motion that would repeal the gun ban for the district.

The move is a clear signal that Democrats have lost control of House floor after minority Republicans presented the Democratic majority with a politically unpalatable motion that their conservative members would be forced to support for fear of angering the gun rights community.

Fifty-two Democrats voted with Republicans on a similar measure to repeal the gun ban in 2004. That would be more than enough support for Republicans to add a repeal to the voting rights bill – something a majority of Democrats would vehemently oppose.

Republicans have taken great pride in offering motions to recommit during their time in the minority, an often over-looked legislative procedure that has allowed them to amend various bills on the House floor.

Attaching unrelated motions to bill is an act mastered by both sides of the aisle, so this move by the GOP isn’t the exception, it’s the rule. Like it or not, it’s how Government works (or doesn’t work) today.

I gotta admit – it’s fun to watch.

According to Drudge, FOXNEWS reports all charges may be dropped as early as tomorrow in Duke Lacrosse rape case. There are predictions of a dismissal in the coming days.

Contrary to earlier reports, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will not suspend his campaign, and likely drop his bid altogether to care for even though his wife has had a recurrence of cancer.

No matter how much I disagree with this guy politically, he’s got his priorities straight. Family first.

Godspeed Elizabeth. 

MORE: Getting it wrong.

STILL MORE: From Time…

Edwards said nothing would change; his campaign would continue and Elizabeth would be by his side on the road. Elizabeth spoke about the importance of her husband’s campaign, how the country needs him to be president. Both said there was never a debate yesterday, as they were receiving the news about her condition, about whether he should drop out of the race. John said that when the two of them were alone, Elizabeth was concerned about everyone but herself—her children, her husband and her country, in that order, but not herself.

He clearly meant it to be inspiring, but there is also something discomfiting about that statement. Even more discomfiting was Edwards’ claim that by soldiering on while his wife has incurable cancer, he would be proving that he could deal with the pressures of being president. I wonder how voters will react to that sentiment.

Finding fake issues and feeding them to the news machines is not what we elected our senators and members of Congress to do.

Mary Laney, Chicago Sun-Times.

Nevermind.

North Korea stayed away from six-nation talks on its nuclear program Tuesday in a dispute over $25 million of its funds, dimming prospects for progress on getting the communist regime to disarm. But Christopher Hill, the chief American envoy to the negotiations, met with Kim Kye Gwan, his North Korean counterpart, and later downplayed concerns that efforts to meet goals outlined in a landmark Feb. 13 disarmament agreement were in vain.

Spin, spin and more spin. The fact remains – the North Koreans cannot be trusted.

Ahem.

The White House offered on Tuesday to make President George W. Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and other officials available to congressional investigators to give unsworn testimony in the firings of U.S. attorneys. In a letter to relevant members of Congress, White House counsel Fred Fielding made clear he was not offering them to give sworn testimony as they have requested.

So, this is the post-November 2006 election White House. Gradual cave-in after cave-in.

Lame duck indeed.

I’ve been ‘under the weather’ the past couple of days, lest you think I went and “Brad Delp’d” myself.

No worries. I’ll be back when I’m feeling better.

UPDATE: It’s been 4 days and I’m just now feeling a (little) better. Cripes, I haven’t had a cold like this in years. Most of them come and go within a couple of days. I don’t know what’s worse – heavin’ in a toilet for 24 hours or living with congestion and a naggin’ cough for 4 days. At this point, I’d have takin’ the 24 hour thingy.

By the way, I don’t get this Twitter thing, do you? I think it’s my age, but I can’t figure out what you’re supposed to do with it.

I saw this yesterday, did you? Someone hit the nail on the head.

Maybe by tomorrow I’ll have enough energy to get back to proper blogging. I dunno.

Why isn’t this story the headline everywhere today?

Some progress may mean hope for Baghdad

Bomb deaths have gone down 30 percent in Baghdad since the U.S.-led security crackdown began a month ago. Execution-style slayings are down by nearly half. The once frequent sound of weapons has been reduced to episodic, and downtown shoppers have returned to outdoor markets — favored targets of car bombers.

There are signs of progress in the campaign to restore order in
Iraq, starting with its capital city.

Instead, everyone is talking about 8 ineffective lawyers who were rightly fired by the Justice Department.

What a world.

Via The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) began the presidential race as a frontrunner with a well-known personal story and a unique style. But in recent weeks his past has provoked some potentially harmful early opposition stemming from those same qualities.

Is it possible that widespread support for McCain is just an illusion created by the MSM?

Yep.

According to The New York Observer, Rudy Giuliani has the GOP nomination sewn up. In fact, he’s so golden that he’ll flip some of those purple states to solid red and effectively deny the Democrats the electoral votes they’ll need to win the White House.

Let’s see, Rudy has advocated public funding for abortion. He’s weak on border control and that means he’s got a national defense problem. He points leftward on gun control and he’s partial to liberal judges.

Sewn up huh?