From the Weekly Standard’s “Scrapbook,” March 21: “A January 1, 1995, [New York] Times editorial on proposals to restrict the use of Senate filibusters:
In the last session of Congress, the Republican minority invoked an endless string of filibusters to frustrate the will of the majority. This relentless abuse of a time-honored Senate tradition so disgusted Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, that he is now willing to forgo easy retribution and drastically limit the filibuster. Hooray for him. . . . Once a rarely used tactic reserved for issues on which senators held passionate views, the filibuster has become the tool of the sore loser, . . . an archaic rule that frustrates democracy and serves no useful purpose.
”A March 6, 2005, Times editorial on the same subject:”
The Republicans are claiming that 51 votes should be enough to win confirmation of the White House’s judicial nominees. This flies in the face of Senate history. . . . To block the nominees, the Democrats’ weapon of choice has been the filibuster, a time-honored Senate procedure that prevents a bare majority of senators from running roughshod. . . . The Bush administration likes to call itself “conservative,” but there is nothing conservative about endangering one of the great institutions of American democracy, the United States Senate, for the sake of an ideological crusade.
Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds… (or something like that)
:spongg:
Turing: “party”, as in what I will throw when Republicans win that supermajority next year.
FILIBUSTER:
“The term comes from the early 19th century Spanish and Portuguese pirates, “filibusteros”, who held ships hostage for ransom. ”
So what are they saying, that ”one of the great institutions of American democracy” is a minority holding the congress for ransom ?
Time for new institutions…
J/H
Nah it’s just a sign of intellignence…you know two opposing thoughts at the same time. Well 10 years apart so perhaps they were just kids when Clinton was King but they’re all growed up now. Super Secret Turing Word “ran” What you did when someone yelled RUN!
Screw rhe rule change. I wanna see Bobbie Byrd forced to talk for 36 hours. Maybe the old bastard will croak. We can hope, anyway…
Spambuster: why
Jake/H?????
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…
Bring back the baboon!!!!!
spamword: chance…as in, is there a chance the Alpha Baboon will make cameo appearances?
The baboon is loved by all.
Simian justice for all!
I found the baboon a touch overwrought – almost forced. But I see I’m in the minority. Can I filibuster? Because it’s all about the hypocrisy. Except, of course, when it’s not.
Remember how the democrats loved the idea of independent counsels, until the republicans took over congress, and then independent counsels were bad, until the dems lost the white house and gained back the senate and suddenly the dems were upright enough to admit their error and demand the return of independent counsels? Remember, only the evil commit sins – saints only make honest mistakes, like investing money with the McDougals or refreshing your memory by asking your secretary things like, “Monica and I were never alone, right? You could see and hear everything, right?”
Someone clearly hasn’t been doing their Doublethink exercises. BAD Jeff! Room 101 for you.
Screw rhe rule change. I wanna see Bobbie Byrd forced to talk for 36 hours.
Some filibusters will still be “legal” under the rule changes I’m hearing about. So I hope the leadership adds a rule that requires exactly what Mojo’s talking about: You gonna filibuster, you gotta stand there and talk. The instant you stop talking, we vote.
Well naturally when they say “time-honored”, they mean “time-honored for the past 7 years or so”. Apparently filibusters became “one of the great institutions of American democracy” around 1998 or so. Ah, 1998: Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run, the motion picture “Antz” delighted audiences, and the filibuster became one of the great institutions of American democracy. Those were the days.
Consistency really must be the hobgoblin of small minds.
Or so or so or so. I need to “preview” these thins more often. And the “” key on my keyboard just stopped workin. Can you uess which one?
Haven’t ot a clue…
Dorkafork…
It’s quite obvious it’s the ‘x’ key. Maybe the ‘z’ key. How about something more challenging next time.
Kyle.. I’m with you.. overwrought.. forced.. and really… REALLY needs to learn that
Brevity is the Soul of Wit. A little pithiness goes a long way but you know what they say about teaching an old Baboon new tricks..
He’s working on it..
..and yes I’ll let him out of his cage to make the occasional guest appearance.. He digs the BEAT threads..
J/H
By the way guys, thanks.. I didnt even realize that anyone noticed The Baboon..youre making me all verklempt ..
The Ghost in the Machine says: bed
as in: Well, if it isn’t stinking Billygoat Billyboy in poison. How are thou, thou globby bottle of cheap stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou. -Alex de Large
(ok..so ‘bed’ isnt in that quote..but I just wanted to say it.. what a way with words..)
I’ve been to Room 101 …
And the hypocracy of the Times is even worse than it appears from the quotes…
In context, the earlier citation refers to Republicans using the filibuster to block legislation that is unpopular. The latter citation refers only to a “non-legislative” filibuster, to block nominations.
The non-legislative filibuster has no “long tradition” in the senate, and when the Times shifts their position on filibusters in this way, it spotlights the bias that has rotted away the soul of formerly great news provider.
Just my $.02
DRK
The worst part about it was that I had to refresh the page. My original Turing word was “gurgling”. Damn that thing is good.
I think we all know by now that Jeff’s turing words are magic. A mystical world of words that can discern your writing aura.
Now if he could only make money off of it….
If we had decent parents they would send Jeff money for keeping us occupied.
Wow. Jeff’s words are magic. I’m moving to Iowa in a few weeks and Tom Harkin’s going to be one of my senators. I was just thinking that I need to find out who my House Rep is going to be and my t-word is district. How do you do that, Jeff?
What I want to know is what it looks like from the control tower. All of these commenters and all of these threads. Can you tell where everyone is or not?
Yes, he can. And the odd thing is that, instead of blips, everyone has a teeny-tiny personalized icon.
OK, boys and girls, have at it.
Jeff’s Turing words correctly predicted the Red Sox World Series win and the Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston split. I use them for stock tips. Turing word for this comment: “Cheetah, Leon Spinks and the American taxpayer.”
We used Jeff’s spam words to pick winning lotto numbers and now we can afford a double-wide and a monster truck with three-stage lugs, Detroit lockers, and a Chevy 350 with 1000 hp. We want to do the top-truck challenge but we’ve got to tweek it a little more to make a go of the tank trap.
Where did you learn to talk like that, young lady?
I was kind of hoping everyone would dish on everyone else’s icons. I’ll start. Mine would be a lightning bolt. Make of that what you will.
What the hell would what’s-his-name’s with the multiple personalities be?
Icons, huh?
Winged foot. Unless Phidipedies had an icon.
Alpha/Jake is around here somewhere. He was just talking asparague piss and bums.
Mine would be a skunk. An evil pandimensional skunk bent on world domination through asparagus.
You’re a marathoner Ana?
Indeed. As of January 2004. I ran 26.2 in Phoenix, Arizona. And then I just about fell over.
Y’all come to Nashville and watch me run that half-marathon they got goin’ on at the end of April. Ya hear?
The half is far less brutal.
I am in awe. If I run up a flight of stairs, my arch collapses, my knee goes out, and I have an asthma attack.
You should try those new $250 Adidas running shoes with the computer in them.
What they aren’t thinking about is the fact that most runners go through about four pairs of shoes a year. That’s $1000 in shoes. Who has that kind of money?
Off to save the world!
spam:leave. Yes. Thank you. I think I will. (How do it know?)
I just got a new pair of Asics with a nice arch support for $90. That’s as high as I’ll go, especially since my running shoes are for walking.
– yeh Gail… but what a rack…..
word up: high – “Young lady those are simply too high to possibly be real….”
Wasn’t philly buster in Horse Whisperer?
– JW …. filly buster was the third porn stunt cock on the crosstown bus in “Debbie does Dallas”….
word up: “farm” – On Ophra today – “getting more enjoyment out of your cow tipping parties…”
My icon is (on Yahoo) and would be the mask David Aames wore in Vanilla Sky – Alpha Baboon
Mine too – Jake/H
Make it three.. – Bi(polar)_In_Seattle
I’d say the mask too.. –Bipolar_Man
ya, the mask.. – Jes U.I. Spersonne
oops..you havent met me yet..
Turing word: higher
..higher, and I’m scared that I’m not coming down.
This is the same Byrd that was in the KKK. That filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 hours. Yeah, I say let him filibuster till the pacemaker gives out.