And just 'cause I don't like the woman, today reminds me of this great clip: Sarah Palin pardoning a turkey, and then giving an interview right in front of the continuing slaughter. I love the look of the guy behind her..."Um, should I wait? Does she realize how incredibly ironic this is? Well, they aren't paying me to stand around..."
Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm personally thankful for a lot of things...really too numerous to mention...but I think it can all be summed up thusly: I'm thankful for living in this nation, at this point in history, born into a position to help be an element for change.
Wednesday
What My Blog Is All About
Recently there's been some drama as an indirect result of what I do here...and in the course of said drama, it became clear to me my object might not be as clear to the readers as it is to me.
My goal with this blog is to provide information. I strive to keep things fairly balanced, in that I present both sides (as with my post on the casino amendment in recent weeks, for instance). I do this by reading what one side says, then summarizing it on this blog with links. Then, I do the same with the argument against the issue.
Do I put in editorial comments now and then with these summaries? Yes. Yes I do, especially when I feel passionately on a subject. I'm not claiming to be completely unbiased or that I'm presenting a white-washed, edited-by-my-boss product. However, I try to do my best to keep them from clouding the position summary.
After I've done the informational segment, I generally go into detail what I feel on the topic and why. That's just my opinion...I usually work in a line to the effect of "That's my take, now go read up on it yourself." I don't think I've ever presented my little soap box messages as the truth on a subject, nor have I posted ONLY my opinion and passed it off as information.
It's pretty simple. A lot of people do what I do...and really, the professional services do it better (which is why I link to them all the time). But what a lot of the professional news companies can't do so well is present issues with a local perspective, from a living room that probably isn't much different than yours.
That's what this blog is all about.
Tuesday
Senate Votes for Cloture on Health Care
On Saturday night, the US Senate voted on cloture for their version of the healthcare bill, allowing it to move onto a real debate without fear of filibuster.
The concern on a controversial bill like this is once it hits the Senate floor for debate, a Senator opposing the bill filibuster it. This would prevent the bill from even being debated, never mind voted on. All the opposing Senator has to do is speak on and on about whatever occurred to the Senator (once, a Senator filibustered by reading a phone book). No one wanted to bring it to the floor until they had achieved cloture, a procedure where 3/5 of the Senators had voted in the bill should be debated without being filibustered.
They pulled it off though, those crafty Democrats. 60-39. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats voted for cloture after threatening not to. Bernard Sanders of Vermont also sided with the Democrats.
Now onto Step 2: Debating, amending, and passing the bill. This is where you come in!
Write, call, or e-mail your Senators. In Ohio:
George Voinovich, Republican
Washington, DC Office 524 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 | |||||
(202) 224-3353 Central OH 37 West Broad Street Room 310 Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: (614) 469-6697 Fax: (614) 469-7733 Southeast OH 78 West Washington Street P.O. Box 57 Nelsonville, OH 45764 Phone: (740) 441-6410 Fax: (740) 753-3551 Southwest & Dayton Area 36 East 7th Street Room 2615 Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: (513) 684-3265 Northwest OH 420 Madison Avenue Room 1210 Toledo, OH 43604 Phone: (419) 259-3895 Fax: (419) 259-3899 Northeast OH 1240 East 9th Street Room 3061 Cleveland, OH 44199 Phone: (216) 522-7095 Fax: (216) 522-709 Fax: (513) 684-3269 Sherrod Brown, Democrat Web Contact Form Washington, DC Office 713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)