Well, that’s that, then. Despite some historic raging against the bureaucratic behemoth by Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate passes the Homeland Security Act 90-9. Nice to see Feingold voted against it, at any rate. Well, here’s hoping my extra history degree will find me a place in Information Adjustments (and well away from the careerists in Information Retrieval.) Hmm…speaking of which, I wonder what history books out there might suggest “patterns indicative of terrorist activity.” Guess I better buy them earlier rather than later…and in cash.
Tag: George W. Bush
Homeland (and Corporate) Security.
John McCain joins the Dems in fighting the Homeland Security Bill, mainly because it has swollen 450 pages since election day with ridiculous helpings of GOP pork. Looks like the only entities with security in Dubya’s universe are pharmaceutical companies and the anti-terrorism industry. Update: Despite McCain’s vote, the Dems lose again. (Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Zell Miller voted with the GOP, as did Wellstone’s current replacement, Dean Barkley.)
But I don’t even believe in Jeebus…
“If you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture.” Bill Moyers winces at the events of a week ago.
Suspicion Breeds Confidence.
With full control of Congress, the President declares homeland security his top priority, and will move on the Senate-stymied bill to create the Department of Homeland Security during the lame-duck session. Mmm, security…sounds doubleplussgood. So do I have to get my bar code on the side of my head like 12 Monkeys, or can I put it on the back of my neck or something?
After the Deluge.
As the Dems lick their wounds and begin contemplating their post-Gephardt future, the GOP prepares to implement Dubya’s wish list. A Contract on America? It looks like we’ll find out as soon as next week, in the “lame duck” session of the 107th Congress.
Reaping the Whirlwind.
Suddenly, items that had been bottled up in the Democratic Senate have new life. President Bush has new hopes for action on his conservative slate of judges, his energy plan calling for drilling in Alaska’s wildlife refuge, and the policies he favors on topics such as homeland security, terrorism insurance and prescription drug coverage. With Democrats losing their ability to set the Senate schedule and launch probes of the administration, chances improve for Bush’s hopes to extend last year’s tax cuts, curtail jury awards, cut business regulations and overhaul Medicare. Welcome to the new national order.
If there’s any silver lining to this nightmare, it’s that the Dems may finally be forced to do the extensive soul-searching they should have started two years ago. What does the party stand for? What does it stand against? Where do we go from here? What does it say about the party that the the reform candidate everybody got excited about two years ago was a Republican? All these questions are now begging for answers. As many other pundits are noting this bleak morning (and before), it’s time to clean house. New leadership is needed, but where will it come from? Remember, in 1990, nobody really saw Clinton coming…let’s hope history repeats itself before Dubya irrevocably screws up the judiciary, the economy, the environment, and, of course, the fate of the world. Update: Gephardt’s done…whomever replaces him will make for an interesting start to Democratic reconstruction.
Woo boy.
Oh, man…it’s ugly. You know it’s a bad election night when the highlight is seeing Carville wear a trash can on his head. I guess we Dems should’ve expected this the minute most of the party capitulated to Dubya’s wag-the-dog Iraq vote. If you don’t give the American people a choice, they won’t make one. Sigh…
Too many big words?
Did Dubya really take the time to blast author Gabe Hudson for writing an “unpatriotic” book? Hmmm…I dunno. Sounds like the type of thing that’d be easy to fake. Update: As Scully pointed out in the comments, it was indeed faked.
Be Karl Rove …
and make your own Bush speech. I wonder if this is the same interface they use to program the real Dubyabot.
Misery Index.
For the first time in ten years, crime goes up. Ah, the Dubya era…remember when the Dems were meant to be “soft on crime”? Of course, that was before the GOP allied itself with the gun nuts.