Politics & War

Cocksuckers Ball: Let Them Die

This afternoon, the Senate held a cloture vote on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, a $7.4 billion bill to provide healthcare to first responders and others sickened in New York by the 9/11 attacks. It failed, with the final tally at 57 votes for, 42 against. The vote was almost straight along party lines, with only one Democrat (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a legislative maneuver that has no need of being explained here) voting against cloture. In the twisted world of the United States Senate, a fifteen-vote majority was not enough to end debate and send the bill to a floor vote. Yet another instance when the upper house of Congress shows just how broken it is. Continue reading “Cocksuckers Ball: Let Them Die”

Cocksuckers Ball: Jackasses Lose The House

It’s just past 9:30 PM here on the east coast, and both NBC and Fox are calling the House of Representatives for the Republicans. Polls are still open on the west coast, and hundreds of races have yet to be decided, but the counts which are in, combined with exit polling, have been enough for two networks to call it. Predicting the House for the GOP isn’t a reach, however. All indications for months have pointed to a GOP takeover of the House as a foregone conclusion. No surprises from the exit polling like in 2004. Continue reading “Cocksuckers Ball: Jackasses Lose The House”

Adventures in Voting

New York City is trying something new today. After an initial rollout in the primaries, an optical scan voting system has replaced the bulky lever machines used for decades. How well has this transition to newer technology gone? Last week the head of the city’s Board of Elections was fired because of problems with the new system during the primaries. Continue reading “Adventures in Voting”

So the Iraq War Is Over, Right?

Richard Engel was there as the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division (the 4/2 from here on out), poured through the border from Iraq into Kuwait last week. He’d been in and out of Iraq since before the invasion in 2003, and it was fitting that such a public face of the reporting of the war be present as the last combat troops left their theater of operations. The war made his career, and deservedly so. Engel was doing his best to add the proper amount of gravity to what the viewer was seeing on the screen, with ample backup from anchors and retired generals back in the MSNBC studios. The moment of those troops leaving should have been a profound one, but was, per usual, overplayed by the talking heads in the studio. Even Engel was not immune, there on the ground, bearing witness to what could not have been anything less than a true anchor point in his life. He was improvising on the fly, flailing in his attempts to convey to the viewer that what was playing out on screen did indeed have import. But really, it didn’t mean a damn thing. It, like everything else of real consequence in current events, got between the media machine’s efforts to make all stories equally sensational, and a public immune to the gesticulations of an apoplectic, even epileptic, tactic. Continue reading “So the Iraq War Is Over, Right?”

Hot, Boiling, Searing, Sizzling, Sultry, Blistering, Steamy, Torrid, and Sickening

This month has been miserable in the city. Ever since the July 4th weekend, the east coast has been drifting in and out of sultry weather, never feeling more than a few hours respite from the swampy climate. In New York City, the average temperature for the month has been 5 degrees above normal. The humidity has been disgusting, the sun has been scorching, and subway platforms have literally felt like standing in front of an open oven. Continue reading “Hot, Boiling, Searing, Sizzling, Sultry, Blistering, Steamy, Torrid, and Sickening”

Cocksuckers Ball: The Assassin of the Senate

“If you compared it to the alternative, it looks good. If you compare it to the possibilities, it looks sad.” So said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island upon emerging from a closed-door meeting of Democratic Senate leadership on Monday evening, as it became clear that even the compromise plan of allowing Medicare buy-ins by persons aged 55-64 (the replacement for the public option) would not be enough to get healthcare reform to 60 votes. Continue reading “Cocksuckers Ball: The Assassin of the Senate”

Once More Into the Breach

First off, I have to address past opinions expressed on these pages. I was against the Iraq surge. Back in an article from December of 2006, I wrote, in reaction to the report of the Iraq Study Group, which advocated withdrawal from Iraq, that the report “...does not advocate defeat, rather, it recognizes that defeat has already happened. Any attempt to pretend otherwise does nothing but extend our folly.” Continue reading “Once More Into the Breach”

Oval Office Thunderdome: Santorum’s Tough Road

Former Pennsylvania Senator and current hard-right ideologue Rick Santorum will be stopping in Des Moines and Dubuque, Iowa, tomorrow to deliver a pair of speeches to conservative audiences. Iowa being what it is in the presidential nominating process, Santorum appears to have designs on the Republican nomination in 2012, something he and his staffers have only meekly denied. The problem for Rick Santorum is that, despite the GOP’s tendency towards embracing figures as far to the right as he is, capturing the nomination is far easier for candidates considered to be moderates. Continue reading “Oval Office Thunderdome: Santorum’s Tough Road”

Cocksuckers Ball: This Bill Stinks

The Senate Finance Committee continued debate on its healthcare reform bill today, voting down two amendments to add a public plan to the bill. But, that’s okay, because this bill should not be passed anyway. If liberal Democrats manage to find the courage to match their rhetoric, they will not vote for the bill on the floor until not only a public option is added, but also needed revisions are made. Continue reading “Cocksuckers Ball: This Bill Stinks”