Thursday, November 21, 2013

Sarah Palin and the Filibuster

Just covering two topics in one post, they aren't connected...and it's my blog, after all (he whined). This may not be my most well-received post, BTW. Note: there is a third topic!

Sarah Palin and some jerk on MSNBC

The comment that someone should "defecate in her mouth" was out of line, the apology from the person who said it seemed sincere, but it says so much that is wrong about the news:

  1. I can find no coverage on the typical sources that you would think might cover it, like NBC News on-line. Apparently, NBC News has said (to the AP?) that they are trying to distance themselves from the "liberal-leaning" network that is owned by the same entity.
  2. The comment has received no acknowledgement from the people off-camera who, it would seem, edited the story. This was not an off-the-cuff statement, but a well-developed sequence that was read off a teleprompter. Editors, and senior editors customarily "edit" this stuff. That is why they are called "editors?" But no one is criticizing them?
  3. I would assume that Fox is covering it, but Yahoo! and CNN are having a field day, calling for this guy's head on a platter, talking about the "culture" of "vile and malicious" comments. As if they were not guilty??
  4. It signifies the lack of real news--first, Sarah Palin's comments need not be covered in detail, it just feeds on itself. Second, covering the "story" of the comment and the apology is just blatant self-aggrandizement. Sort of like the Academy Awards.
  5. Wish there were a place to go where we could just get news. But I'm too lazy to read "The Economist" any more. Ah, the old days, when I did.
  6. The increase in "vile and disgusting" is, well, vile and disgusting. Almost makes you yearn for the days when the motto was "If it bleeds, it leads." And now we have Miley Cyrus as "news."
OK, now the filibuster.

The vote apparently passed that the filibuster cannot be used when considering appointments by the President. This was particularly aimed at ending the Republican filibuster of attempts to bring judicial appointments to a vote in the Senate during the Obama presidency. As a point of reference, there have been 168 filibusters in the Senate on appointments, about half during the Obama years.

I am going to go on record as approving the action. Not that it matters, but I am casting my meager vote out there on the wind. The old joke, "I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is Congress knows what the problem is. The bad news? They are going to do something about it," has been the only platform of the Republicans recently. They need to adopt a different approach, perhaps representing some of us in the middle?

Now, here is a surprise! The AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club have come out in favor of this action, as well. Scary, but I'm going to stick with my thought that the filibuster is a useful tool if used sparingly. The current Republican philosophy is akin to the little boy with a hammer--everything looks like a nail.

Heed my words on this, however: the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club and the Democrats will rue this day when, as Senator McConnell observed, "when the political tides change." Supreme Court nominees would be exempted, thank goodness!!

As with so many things, both sides deserve criticism here. Unfortunately, neither side deserves applaud. The Republicans overused the useful tool; the Democrats are comfortable with the use of blunt force. Folks, we need a big-time housecleaning.

Third, unplanned, topic

I was just about to hit the button to post this when the power went off. We live in an area that has underground service, so power outages are rare. Then I look out my window and see that my neighbor is putting up Christmas decorations. Am I living inside the movie, "Christmas Vacation?"
My neighbor, who I don't know, may very well be named Clark W. Griswold.

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