Finally, a REAL filibuster!

Apparently, trying to get those much needed changes to the financial regulation bill aren't that important. After threatening to literally hold votes throughout the night, Republican leadership just announced that they would agree to let the bill come to the floor for debate. Senators got to get some sleep.

Let's hope the Republicans didn't succeed at getting rid of the $50B resolution authority, paid for by special taxes on big banks. They call it a "bailout fund" when it really allows the Feds to purchase the failed bank, own it for a couple of hours to a day or two and then sell the assets to another more stable banking institution (most likely at a loss) hence the need for the fund.

But again, let's say Bank of Ernie goes under. The entire board of directors gets fired, the shareholders and their investments are wiped out, all of the staff are fired -- unless the bank that's purchasing my bank wants to keep them. The $50b in the fund goes to protect the depositors who are insured under FDIC and goes to soften the debts to counterparties that would be of systemic risk to the U.S. economy as a whole. Then Bank of Ernie ceases to exist.  See? No bailout here, just a "selling a bankrupt bank probably isn't going to garner a profit" fund.

Freedom!!!!

It's time to stand up to those douchebags at www.revolutionmuslim.com who threatened Trey Parker and Matt Stone for sort of drawing the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him).

“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

FYI, Dutch artist and filmmaker Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death by Muslim extremists on the street. Everyone who has a blog should post this clip because it's time to stand up for OUR values and saying whatever we want is the most important value that this nation holds dear. We respect all religions by not letting one off the hook from any social commentary.

And by the way, the non-depiction of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) was designed by Muhammed himself to follow the original Moses commandment of "Thou shall not worship false idols".  With this practice, Muhammed wanted to make clear that he was only a messenger of G-d (Jewish respect there!) and not divine in any way.  However, this restriction on his depiction has developed in such a way that has produced the exact OPPOSITE of the Prophet's intention as he has been deified by the Muslim community and his humanity (an important theological point for the Prophet (pbuh)) has decayed throughout history.

Just sayin'.

Here's another cartoon to calm down to...

Are you kidding me?!?

This afternoon, all 41 Republican Senators and Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted to stop cloture which would have begun the debate on Financial Reform.

This stall tactic is just an excuse to further water down the bill until a suitable "compromise" is reached, which will happen which will then allow Republicans to maneuver politically and say that they really fought to end "Too big to fail," when in reality what they're doing is trying to weaken the independent consumer protection agency and stronger regulations aimed at PayDay loans which charge exorbitant interest rates -- as much as 400% -- for advances on pay.

To be fair, some Republican senators like Bob Corker of Tennessee have been negotiating with Chairman Chris Dodd in good faith and are working on some fair compromises while trying to achieve real reform.

Let me be clear, I do not want a political win here for the Democrats.  If they craft the perfect bill with no compromises it will fail on a party-line vote and there will be NO financial reform which this country so badly needs.  This November Democrats are headed for historically consistent losses, and then some, due to the weak economic environment.  A party-line vote for solid financial reform would give them a strong narrative to paint themselves as fighting the titans of Wall Street and the Republicans who chose to defend them instead of the people they represent (How NYC Dems will vote will be an interesting thing to watch as Wall Street is their constituency!).

However, unlike the John McCain of 2010, I put my Country First and a moderate, bi-partisan financial reform bill passing sooner rather than later is better for the country.

Dissent of the Day

"Ernie Crossing the Line:
A space to openly discuss the politics of the day, music, and comedy."

Looks like this blog focuses on patting them dem's on the back more than ever talking about music or comedy - my friend Adam, April 20, 2010

My buddy's kind of got a point here.  Lately this blog has focused on the political and has not had much music or comedy, although I have posted a Eugene Mirman comedy bit and a Guster clip where Adam stars, but I guess that's not enough.  So I'll try to abstain from political posting for a little bit and I'm even thinking about porting over the political commentary over to a blog that Chris Carlozzi has aptly named "Ernesto's Manifesto", so we'll see.

Anywho, here's a really nice performance by Steve Martin, supported by Bela Fleck and others. Enjoy

I'm sorry future Americans!

"The Porn Stashing Agency will store all pornographic materials underneath piles of old camping equipment and put in boxes with the word Canada written on it. That way when future historians find the porn we can just say we were holding on to it for Canada."


Congress Announces Plan To Hide Nation's Porn From Future Generations

Why Obama's Gay Rights Strategy Is The Right One

Check out the video below to see liberals heckle President Obama at a fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer (D - California) for his administration's sluggishness on ending the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.



And click the jump below for my ridiculously obscene analogy for why slow and steady progress is the right course of action.  This post beyond the jump is definitely TV-MA.  You have been warned! 

Story of the Day

Now, a whole host of people, including same-sex partners, can designate visitation rights and power of attorney to their partners in case they get sick thanks to an executive order from President Obama.  Read the full story here. Key excerpt below [emphasis mine]:

"Every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides whether in a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged hospital stay," [Obama] wrote.


Affected, he said, are "gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."


Officials said Obama had been moved by the story of a lesbian couple in Florida, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond, who were kept apart when Pond collapsed of a cerebral aneurysm in February 2007, dying hours later at a hospital without her partner and children by her side.


Obama called Langbehn on Thursday evening from Air Force One as he flew to Miami, White House officials said. In an interview, Langbehn praised the president for his actions.


"I kept saying it's not a gay right to hold someone's hand when they die, its a human right," she said, noting that she and Pond had been partners for almost 18 years. "Now to have the president call up and say he agrees with me, it's pretty amazing, and very humbling."


The new rules will not apply only to gays. They also will affect widows and widowers who have been unable to receive visits from a friend or companion. And they would allow members of some religious orders to designate someone other than a family member to make medical decisions.

Hat tip to Dan Savage at the Savage Love Blog or Slog.

Treading water ctd...

Finally, The Cato Institute, a well-respected conservative/libertarian think tank has called Mitt Romney on his bluff that RomneyCare is any different from ObamaCare.

Poppycock!

First of all, we should congratulate anyone who has the confidence to use the word "poppycock" in a public forum and Senator Dodd has our thanks.

But secondly, the logic coming from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is completely ridiculous.  Many experts agree that Dodd's bill does not go far enough to deal with "too big to fail" megabanks, but no one is arguing that the bill either continues it or expands it, like McConnell says.

Yes, Washington was a part of the problem but not because we bailed the banks out.  Washington was a part of the financial collapse because there were no cops on the streets and the cops that were on the streets were paid for by the gangs!  Imagine if we didn't pay for our policemen but drug gangs did?  That's what happened with Wall Street.  There was no incentive to police, even a positive incentive to NOT police those financial crimes.

Anyone who had a 401K was robbed by Lehman, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, CitiGroup and AIG.

As the comedienne Wanda Sykes so eloquently put, "A black man might steal what you have on you today, only the white man will steal your future."

Most reasonable people want more financial cops on the beat and rules to break up big banks the way the Federal Government has authority to break up small banks. If these guys want to play casino they can, but they shouldn't be able do it with taxpayer subsidized dollars.

Nuff said.

It's time for the Republican party to get serious

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I know that this is Fox News and they will never be serious.  But this country needs a strong, smart and intellectually rigorous Republican party if it's going to be governed in a positive and productive manner. The irresponsibility of the Fox News Channel only furthers the misinformation in the conservative movement and the myth of the Reagan, who, in reality, signed both the original START with the Soviet Union, and I might add, the U.N. Convention on Torture.

Politics is entertainment and policy is boring.  The Republican party needs a lot more David Frums and a lot less Sarah Palins.

A Wildcat Retires

Associate Justice, John Paul Stevens, the oldest member of the Supreme Court and the only Supreme Court member to graduate from the Northwestern University School of Law announced that he is retiring at the end of this Court's term.

See his letter to the President here.

Amen

The Onion got this right 8 years ago.

The Long Game

Quote of the Day

"Ask yourself: how many openly gay and adjusted priests have been found to have abused minors? Or ask yourself another question: if straight men were forbidden to marry women, had their sexual and emotional development truncated at the age of 13, and were forced into institutions where they were treated by teenage girls as gods, an given untrammeled private access to them, how much sexual abuse do you think would occur there? Please. This is not that hard to understand." 

Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish in his must read essay. A rebuttal to Catholic League leader Bill Donohue and his take that the endemic and systemic child abuse in the Catholic Church is the fault of homosexuals and not the Church itself.

Mental Health Break

Last night, I rented the movie I Love You Man and it was just as funny as the time I saw it at the movie theater. Here are some outtakes of Peter Klaven's verbal ticks, played by the brilliant Paul Rudd.