I did not know this:
The basic idea of debate under rules is not especially sinister: It is simply a way to control the abject chaos of the People’s House. But it used to be that lots of bills came out under “open rules” wherein any member in the chamber could move to amend at the appropriate time. Nancy Pelosi’s 111th is the first Congress in history that hasn’t brought a single bill out under an open rule.
I don’t find it at all surprising, of course.
They really, really hate us:
They think we are fools. They view our religion as superstition. They label our skepticism as ignorance and our patriotism as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and fattening.
Nothing is worse to a liberal than fat.
The liberal contempt for America is shining through.
President Obama called voters “whiners” in public. Heaven knows what he calls them in private.
Rubes.
…and would be, if the press did its job properly:
Fortunately for Schumer, that article ran on page A3 of a Saturday edition, and did not become a big story. The New York press never seriously examined why a New York senator was so focused on the health of a California bank, why Schumer aired his fearful comments so publicly, or how the collapse of IndyMac aligned with the financial interests of donors to Schumer and the DSCC.
…There’s a great deal of disembodied anger at Wall Street in the public today. It is interesting how little of that anger or scrutiny is directed at the senator closest to Wall Street, whose actions, in this case, were strangely fortuitous to the bottom line of his donors.
Interesting, and infuriating.
The Pueblo apparently weren’t as peaceful as the multi-cultis want us to believe. One of the many annoying things about political correctness is its whitewashing of the brutality of many aboriginal American cultures, and false history of their supposed environmental sensitivity.
Thoughts from Megan McArdle, on philosophical straw men.
Moe Lane apologizes to the KGB and the Mafia:
Recently, I compared Alan Grayson to an ex-KGB agent who was now engaged in a second career as a Mafia pimp. I don’t know what I was thinking: the KGB tried not to hire babbling fools, and neither does the Mafia.
Yes, it really was uncalled for. On the other hand, no apology necessary for this question: is Alan Grayson the most loathesome member of Congress? Could be, though the competition is pretty stiff. Hopefully not for long, though.
[Mid-afternoon update]
Wow. How bad is Grayson? So bad that even MSNBC says that he’s gone too far.
He’s reduced the violent crime rate:
…all violent crime rates dropped in 2009, murder rates by 7.4 percent, robbery rates by 9 percent: His election caused gun sales to skyrocket, and crime rates to plummet.
Not to mention that poverty is up as well, and we all know that it’s a prime cause of crime (not to mention terrorism). Errrr…wait. Gee, that’s two “progressive” myths about crime shattered.
Extend the current tax rates. Actually, they should go further and eliminate the corporate income tax and reduce capital gains rates (plus index them to inflation).
I noticed that on Fox News Sunday yesterday, John Boehner repeatedly said tax rates, not tax cuts. I wish that more people would do this.
Looks to me like Howard Lovy has found himself a sweet new gig. And the next few weeks is one of the most beautiful times of year there. Lot of snow in the winter, though.
Are we better off than we were fifty years ago?
This story got me to thinking. If Nixon had won instead of Kennedy, would we still have done Apollo?
The answer isn’t as obvious as many who believe the Camelot/New-Frontier/Visionary myth might believe.