The current state of affairs is that even with the second-highest majority of Democrats in the Senate -- 59 -- in generations, most Senators, of both parties, especially the leadership, claim that nothing can be passed without a "super-majority" of 60 votes. Anything less than 60, and ZIP! ZING! the auto-filibuster magically goes into effect! THIS IS A LOAD OF CRAP!!

I had such great hope that the awful damage done to the Constitution by the criminal Bush Administration would be undone by Obama. It is clear now that Obama intends to not only perpetuate this damage, but to exacerbate it.

Although the Obama Administration is still young, it is clear what its direction is and will be on civil liberties and the defense of the Constitution.

Read it and weep...

Although this topic may seem to be in the realm of extreme wonkiness, I urge you to educate yourself about it, because it very well may be the case in the near future that progressive activists may find the need to begin demanding the exercise of Inherent Contempt from members of the House and Senate. In the same way that Pelosi preemptively took Impeachment "off the table," I have every reason to believe that she and other "leaders" may do the same with Inherent Contempt.

I hardly know where to begin on this issue. King George W. continues to issue orders that, as conservative Bruce Fein said, "even King George III" wouldn't.

I am going to list King George W.'s latest edict, and then describe what appears to be the only remedy to it. However, I will then argue that Impeachment is an even better solution.

This posting is pretty long, but if you take the time to read it, you will be pretty well informed about (1) how Bush/Cheney is defying all attempts by Congress to obtain testimony from administration officials, and (2) an arcane power of Congress that it may have to utilize in order to compel such testimony.

I'll bet there were long periods in the history of Rome, or the U.S. Confederacy, for that matter, in which you could look at the overall economy and state how "great" it was. /*sarcasm on*/ The fact that those economies were dependent on slavery? PISH, TOSH...WHO CARES? We're talking about the health of the economy here, my friend! If some people weren't chosen by the gods to be born into a privileged class, well, that's not MY problem! /*sarcasm off*/

Two interesting stories came out back-to-back this week in the MSM; put together, they demonstrate the continued Banana-Republicization of the U.S.

Even with the Dems supposedly in the majority in the House and Senate, they still bend over in huge numbers to give Bush what he wants to spy on Americans! To give Bush/Cheney and their minions, especially AND EXPLICITLY Torquemada Gonzales, even MORE spying power! I used to think it was just a rumor that one of the requirements, for Democrats, before assuming a Congressional office was a Ritual Neutering; I now think that rumor is true! Even with poll ratings as low as Bush/Cheney have, even with huge numbers of people wanting them Impeached (a *majority* want Cheney Impeached!), Dems ARE STILL COWERING IN FEAR OF BIG BAD BUSH? WHAT A BUNCH OF WIMPS!

What I'd like to focus on in this post is: WHO SHOWED UP?

"The only knock against Howard Dean is that he's seen as too liberal," [Scott Maddox, Florida Democratic chairman] said. "I'm a gun-owning pickup-truck driver and I have a bulldog named Lockjaw. I am a Southern chairman of a Southern state, and I am perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as D.N.C. chair."

"The Washington Post and other leading American newspapers are up in arms about the legitimacy of a presidential election where exit polls showed the challenger winning but where the incumbent party came out on top, amid complaints about heavy-handed election-day tactics and possibly rigged vote tallies....Of course, the election in question occurred in the Ukraine."

Source: www.consortiumnews.com/2004/112304.html