Posts for September 26, 2007
We should start a drinking game and take a shot every time Klobuchar mentions she was a prosecutor
I seriously don't know what the fuck Reid is thinking sometimes. He lets the Republicans get away with too much shit.
Welcome to the Senate. I promise Republicans were saying the same thing about Frist last year.
Sen. Lionel Hutz
Hahaha. That's a perfect description.
Sen. Lionel Hutz
I seriously don't know what the fuck Reid is thinking sometimes. He lets the Republicans get away with too much shit.
Special conditions placed on Vick after positive marijuana test
Good old Mike Vick
Well, he objected to particular language in the earlier version of the amendment, and once it was removed, he allowed for it to come up for a vote.
Last night Reid was saying there would be no vote on the Iran AUMF -- is anyone in a position to comment on what exactly played out today to change this?
The entire Senate has gone insane!
You know, it's the House that's supposed to pass the meaningless political only-of-the-moment garbage. And then the Senate doesn't do anything and it dies. But we're living in opposite land, where people wear shoes on their heads and hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people. Here's a new slogan for the Senate: Appropriations, no! Horseshit, yes!
Many Cap Police in 4th floor Rayburn hall...anyone know what's up?
The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn the liberal
advocacy group MoveOn.org for a recent advertisement attacking the top
U.S. general in Iraq.
By a 341-79 vote, the House passed a
resolution praising the patriotism Gen. David Petraeus, the commander
of U.S. forces in Iraq, and condemning a MoveOn.org ad that referred to
Petraeus as "General Betray Us."
Sen. Larry Craig won't resign from the Senate while awaiting a judge's
ruling on his effort to get a guilty plea withdrawn in a restroom sex
sting, a source said Wednesday.
yeah, that kyl amendment is a disgrace.
We're all complicit in this now. Ds and Rs alike, we're all going to burn in hell. And we deserve to. On to Tehran!!!
No coffee mugs either
- Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45
"You are an American," he said again, smiling. "I will explain. There I was, in 1935, a perfect example of the kind of person who, with all his advantages in birth, in education, and in position, rules (or might easily rule) in any country. If I had refused to take the oath in 1935, it would have meant that thousands and thousands like me, all over Germany, were refusing to take it. Their refusal would have heartened millions. Thus the regime would have been overthrown, or, indeed, would never have come to power in the first place. The fact that I was not prepared to resist, in 1935, meant that all the thousands, hundreds of thousands, like me in Germany were also unprepared, and each one of these hundreds of thousands was, like me, a man of great influence or of great potential influence. Thus the world was lost."
"You are serious?" I said.
"Completely," he said. "These hundred lives I saved--or a thousand or ten as you will--what do they represent? A little something out of the whole terrible evil, when, if my faith had been strong enough in 1935, I could have prevented the whole evil."
"For the sake of argument," he said, "I will agree that I saved many lives later on. Yes."
"Which you could not have done if you had refused to take the oath in 1935."
"Yes."
"And you still think that you should not have taken the oath."
"Yes."
"I don't understand," I said.
"Perhaps not," he said, "but you must not forget that you are an American. I mean that, really. Americans have never known anything like this this experience--in its entirety, all the way to the end. That is the point."
"You must explain," I said.
"Of course I must explain. First of all, there is the problem of the lesser evil. Taking the oath was not so evil as being unable to help my friends later on would have been. But the evil of the oath was certain and immediate, and the helping of my friends was in the future and therefore uncertain. I had to commit a positive evil, there and then, in the hope of a possible good later on. The good outweighed the evil; but the good was only a hope, the evil was a fact."
One day, when we had become very friendly, I said to him, "Tell me now--how was the world lost?"
"That," he said, "is easy to tell, much easier than you may suppose. The world was lost one day in 1935, here in Germany. It was I who lost it, and I will tell you how.
"I was employed in a defense plant (a war plant, of course, but they were always called defense plants). That was the year of the National Defense Law, the law of 'total conscription.' Under the law I was required to take the oath of fidelity. I said I would not; I opposed it in conscience. I was given twenty-four hours to 'think it over.' In those twenty-four hours I lost the world."
"We learned here--I say this freely--to give up trying to make them understand after, oh, the end of 1938, after the night of the synagogue burning and the things that followed it. Even before the war began, men who were teachers, men whose faith in teaching was their whole faith, gave up, seeing that there was no comprehension, no capacity left for comprehension, and the thing must go its course, taking first its victims, then its architects, and then the rest of us to destruction. ..."
"You know," he went on, "when men who understand what is happening--the motion, that is, of history, not the reports of single events or developments--when such men do not object or protest, men who do not understand cannot be expected to. How many men would you say understand--in this sense--in America? And when, as the motion of history accelerates and those who don't understand are crazed by fear, as our people were, and made into a great 'patriotic' mob, will they understand then, when they did not before?
remember, you can recieve a baseball hat as a gift, but pens are out of the question!
It was signed into law a few weeks ago and does carry punitive consequences. You can be fired or go to jail, depending on what has been done.
well, i believe the new ethics rules are law. bush signed them into law at the end of august.
okay, question. ethics rules are established by a resolution. they aren't laws. what punative consequences do they carry? will i go to jail if i go to a non-widely attended event? what if i ask a lobbyist to buy this round of drinks (I'll get the next one).
We cannot go to the reception :( or any of them basically
(6) that the Department of the Treasury should act with all possible expediency to complete the listing of those entities targeted under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747 adopted unanimously on December 23, 2006 and March 24, 2007, respectively.
(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224; and
(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;
(b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate--
* * *
(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;
Like I said, my office is following the rules very closely. Stupid bill.
All those events are widely attended. Do you think they would spend all that money to host a congressional reception in the cannon caucus room if they knew it violated the rules and no one could go?
Anyone work here who is on IRR? I just came off.
Done my time. Enjoy Qom. I hear it's nice.
Clinton = aye on Kyl-Lieberman. Obama = abstain.
Holy sh*t. Kyl-Lieberman passes 76-22. We're now at war with Iran. Only question is when Bush and Cheney decide to pull the trigger.
where is the restaurant association reception?
Does any recall the story about Baucus' wife and "Peace is Patriotic," as mentioned in the assault article?
I just need to know if it is going to be widely attended, etc. My office is really stuck on the lobbying rules. I was told really quickly that we might not be able to go.
They wouldnt host them if they didnt make sure they followed the rules.
That's my general rule of thumb....sure.
all those receptions are widely attended events and on the up and up. They wouldnt host them if they didnt make sure they followed the rules.
tehres also The Darden Restaurants reception tonight.
What can anyone tell me about the National Restaurant Assoc Reception tonight? I went last year, but now we have to deal with that Lobbying bill and I need details to find out if we can go.
Maybe Baucus is on the DC maddame list and he had to tell his wife.
I saw Sen Stabenow leave her office yesterday. She always has a smile on her face and stopped to say good night to the police and then got into her car and drove *herself* home. What an incredible woman! She definitely deserves the 'nicest' awards she wins year after year....
1) Holy shit. I hadn't heard that story before.
2) He has a son named Zeno?
Re: Baucus
Maybe his wife got mad him? She has a history of violence. Just saying, the "I fell" excuse is questionable.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/04/22/news/top/news01.txt
Re Kyl-Lieberman: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/25/durbin-lieb-kyl-amdt/
Kyl-Lieberman passes, 76-22.
http://www.convio.com/site/PageServer?pagename=prod_advocacy
These are the bastards!!!
Though the resolution means nothing, it seems rather significant that three-quarters of the senate believes that iraq should be partitioned. they essentially accept that it's a failed state.
Biden passes, 75-23
Kyl-Lieberman vote up next, after Biden.
"Big fucking deal. Big fucking shock. Republicans again, playing games they can't win. Just keep retiring, assholes."
you are a sad sad person.
The
Supreme Court kicks off its new term on Monday, and those who feel
strongly about the death penalty, the rights of terrorism detainees and
the limits of presidential power -- among the cases the court will hear
this term -- may already have their protest signs ready. Below,
notes of guidance from the regulations that maintain "suitable order
and decorum within the Supreme Court Building and grounds."
The use of signs on the perimeter sidewalks on the Supreme Court grounds is regulated as follows:
1. No signs shall be allowed except those made of cardboard, posterboard, or cloth.
2.
Supports for signs must be entirely made of wood, have dull ends, may
not be hollow, and may not exceed 3/4 inch at their largest point.
There shall be no nails, screws, or bolt-type fastening devices
protruding from the wooden supports.
3. Hand-carried signs are allowed regardless of size.
4. Signs that are not hand-carried are allowed only if they are
(a)
no larger than 4 feet in length, 4 feet in width, and 1/4 inch in
thickness (exclusive of braces that are reasonably required to meet
support and safety requirements, as set forth in section 2 above), and
not elevated so as to exceed a height of 6 feet above the ground at
their highest point;
(b) not used so as to form an enclosure of two or more sides;
(c) attended at all times (attended means that an individual must remain within 3 feet of each sign); and
(d) not arranged in such manner as to create a single sign that exceeds the size limitations in subsection (a).
5. No individual may have more than two non-hand-carried signs at any one time.
Notwithstanding
the above, no person shall carry or place any sign in such a manner as
to impede pedestrian traffic, access to and from the Supreme Court
Plaza or Building, or to cause any safety or security hazard to any
person.
Big fucking deal. Big fucking shock. Republicans again, playing games they can't win. Just keep retiring, assholes.
Enjoy this vote Freshmen.
Rep. Terry Everett will retire at the end of the term, becoming the ninth Republican incumbent to forgo re-election next year.
Nedermine. i found my answer.
The CRS report is kind of interesting, especially when you look at the dramatic increase in salaries over just the last few years. (Don't get me wrong, I generally think members take a pay cut from their private sector jobs to serve)
BUT, it still didn't answer my question. Does the House get paid at midnight tomorrow or Friday this month?
David Shuster is a hack.
No, be he sounds like a total klutz. And I can't believe he ran a 50-mile race when he was 63.
Did anyone see Baucus' shiner today?
'Cause it dates back to the Civil War or sumptin' according to our Clerk. Same with the House being paid monthly.
I don't know why they don't follow the rest of American and make pay day every two weeks.
Well, that should help explain why I keep getting paid late.
Second and Twentieth? It's the Fifth and Twentieth of each month for the Senate unless the day falls on the weekend or a holiday.
Yup, Senate.
Our office typically gets paid on the 2nd and 20th of every month.
Is that a Senate office? I think most House offices get paid on the last day of each month.
Max Baucus came to work Tuesday with a reddish-purple welt under his right eye and several other remnants of a non-legislative fight.
The culprit? An early-morning run along the C&O Canal towpath. Baucus, D-Mont., said he tripped on a rock in the darkness and fell.
The injury-prone 65-year-old shrugged off the scrapes. After all, he's felt worse.
In January 2004, doctors drilled two holes in his skull to relieve pressure caused by a fall during a 50-mile race. Later that year, he was hospitalized after a motorcycle crash in his home state.
MSNBC: Senator Craig says he'll resign at the end of the month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OgEOOgu1EQ
Hey Senate, where's my Rudy $9.11 resolution?
Brews 4 Rudy!
Kegger at John Barnett’s house tonight!
Clear your calendar for National House Party Night — which, apparently, is tonight. Who knew?
And, this being D.C. and all, along with this particular keg comes a webcast from none other than a presidential candidate himself. We’re in awe.
The 75 to 100 partygoers who make their way to the home of a stringent Rudy Giuliani supporter will also be provided with bottled beers to keep them entertained during the live webcast from America’s Mayor.
Sadly, guests are being advised not to crush beer cans on their head, no matter how fanatically they support Giuliani’s bid for the White House.
The National Restaurant Association is also having a reception tonight in the Cannon Caucus Room at 6 p.m.
Our office typically gets paid on the 2nd and 20th of every month.
It's a real invitation---
"Please join us for a House Party for Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday,
September 26 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at John Barnett’s condo and
rooftop at 1701 18th Street NW, #402."
--- Is that a real invitation??
Staff question: Do we get paid tomorrow at midnight, or friday at midnight?
