From the You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up file

[BaghdadBob]

:yh_rotfl

Donks looking to nuke the filibuster rule.

At the time, then-Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, the current Democratic leader, said, "The filibuster is the last check we have against the abuse of power in Washington."



And this jewel:

While President Obama’s economic advisor Austin Goolsbee argued Sunday that a refusal by the Senate to increase the government’s debt ceiling (currently $14.3 trillion) would be “catastrophic and a sign of “insanity,

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. ¦ Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

~ Obummer

[LarsMac]

The majority is always whining when the minority uses the filibuster.

Fortunately, there is never a large enough majority to ever get rid of it.

[Scrat]

We need a dictator. Nothing meaningful will ever get done as things are now and the situation is getting worse.

[Ahso!]

As I understand it, nobody is attempting to "nuke" the filibuster, rather the efforts put forth are to review the rules and adopt changes based on the previous climate. The change in the filibuster rule suggestion affects only the 'bringing to the floor' motions, filibusters are more than welcome after that point.

It helps to realize a more rounded view if we attempt to get our information from as much of an unbiased source as possible. I wouldn't dream of suggesting one cease reading obviously slanted views of reality, but I'd only recommend one try to balance it out with differing views.

The following is about as fair an exchange on the subject as I think we'll get. Although Alexander attempts demagoguery in the discussion, he doesn't get all that ridiculous about it.

Transcript and video > Debating Rules of Debate: Is Senate in a 'Constant Filibuster'? | PBS NewsHour | Jan. 4, 2011 | PBS

[Ahso!]

As it turns out, the following is what the dems are offering.

While the four-page resolution would change the way the Senate considers legislation and nominations, 41 determined members of the minority would still have the ability to block Senate action.

The package does, however, include a reform that would tilt the balance of power toward the majority -- those senators must actually be speaking on the Senate floor in order to keep the filibuster alive. If objecting senators finish speaking, the filibuster would end and the blocked bill in question would move to a final vote.

Under the last session's rules, by contrast, 41 senators need only cast a vote in favor of a filibuster in order to effectively kill legislation.


Source; Senate Dems Unveil Rules Reform Proposal, Leave Filibuster Intact

[Ahso!]

Here's a good one

You just have to wonder about the reasoning republican voters waste their vote on people like Rick Scott. This guy oversaw the fraudulent receipts of tax funded Medicare money. The company Scott ran pleaded guilty to 14 counts of felony charges and paid a fine of 2Billion dollars. Now he's governor of Florida.:wah: He even shafted his campaign workers. Campaign Workers Shafted:

It only took a week for Scott to show his shady side, after campaign workers complained that they were paid for their services in gift cards, rather than the hard coin of the realm:

Mark Don Givens told Florida's WTSP News that he was expecting a paycheck after he made phone calls and knocked on doors for the Scott campaign, which made jobs a top issue in the election. Givens said he and other workers were upset after they were told by the campaign that they could not offer them a paycheck and given American Express gift cards instead.

"This would violate both tax laws and labor laws," Melanie Sloan, the Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) told TPMmuckraker in an email. "It looks like the newly elected AG will be investigating the newly elected governor.


I will admit that Rick Scott may actually be a better choice than the guy he ran against in the republican primary, Bill McCollum, who is sniveling liar himself.

How do republican voters square all this?

[Accountable]

Scrat;1349573 wrote: We need a dictator. Nothing meaningful will ever get done as things are now and the situation is getting worse.
We need complete and utter political gridlock in Washington. Nothing meaningful will ever get done as things are now with the federal gov't screwing things up.

As for the filibuster, didn't they change the rules sometime ago so that senators could take breaks and such? If so, that's the rule that needs to be eliminated. If a true "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" filibuster was required, I'm sure it would be used more rarely.