What does the Senate going nuclear mean to us?
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set off a nuclear bomb (per se) today. He led the Senate in changing the rules on the "advise and consent" process for confirmation of presidential appointees. Previously the minority party in the Senate (currently the pissed off Republicans) could stop an appointee's confirmation by a filibuster. For those 2.3 people who don't know what a filibuster is, it's a procedural tactic where Senators who don't want a nomination (or piece of legislation) to come to a vote, so they filibuster it by speaking continuously on the subject. Under the old rules, it took a vote of 60-40 to invoke cloture, which was the way to shut off the discussion and force a vote.
Today's action by Senator Reid and the other 51 senators who voted with him changed that rule. Now, on presidential nominees only, cloture can be achieved with a simple majority vote. Nomination of justices to the U.S. Supreme Court are not subject to this rule change, and to invoke cloture to stop a nominee's confirmation to the USSC would take 60 votes.
What does this all mean? Let's look first at the federal judge issue. There are 179 Federal Court of Appeals Judge positions. 18 of those positions are currently vacant and there are 10 nominees to fill some of the vacant positions. There are 678 Federal District Court Judge positions. At present, 75 of those positions are vacant and there are 41 nominees pending. I won't get into the Bankruptcy Court Judge positions.
Senator Reid says that in the history of the U.S., there have been 168 filibusters of presidential nominations to the federal bench and over half of those occurred during the last 4.5 years. I question the accuracy of this claim. On the other hand, his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell said that the Republicans have allowed confirmation to go forward on 99% of President Obama's judicial nominees. It is a specious claim at best. There were still three filibusters in progress to stall the appointment of judicial nominees and other nominations weren't allowed to leave the Senate Judiciary Committee to come to the floor for a confirmation vote. They are both being dishonest. Then again, what's newsworthy about that?
I happen to agree with the choice of the Senate Democrats to initiate this change to the filibuster rule. If they'd eliminated it altogether, that would not have been good. That would have been wrong. But for too long now, there has been a disconnect with the process of confirming presidential appointees, both to the judiciary and to positions within the various agencies and cabinet departments of the federal government.
The role of the Senate is to provide advise and consent, not to obfuscate the process simply because of partisan issues. Republicans claim one reason they've been so obstinate is that President Obama made recess appointments in an effort to avoid the confirmation process. In fact, if they had allowed his nominees to face an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate, there would have been no need for him to make those recess appointments. The bottom line here is that the President should have the people he or she wants serving in his or her administration. That includes on the bench. The argument has been advanced by Democrats that a Republican president will fill the vacancies with conservative judges. The argument the Republicans have been making of late is that President Obama will fill all vacancies with liberal judges.
I'd much rather see the growing list of judicial vacancies shrink in size rather than be held hostage over partisan politics. Our history tells us one party will never have a protracted stranglehold on the presidency. Eventually there will be another Republican president and that president will be able to make the appointments they want to make. Then if the Democrats whine that they can't filibuster that president's appointments, they can be spoon-fed their own commentaries on why this was a good move.
It was the right move. Government needs to function, not grind to a screaming halt.
* * *
Why is former teen sensation Aaron Carter filing for bankruptcy at the age of 25, with more than $2 million in debt (most of it a $1.3 million tax bill owed to the IRS) and less than $10,000 in assets? Because only four states (California, New York, Louisiana and New Mexico) have so-called "Coogan Laws" in effect. These laws are named for Jackie Coogan, who earned millions as a child star from 1917 until he turned 21 in 1935, but saw very little of the money. His mother and step-father squandered it on themselves. He sued and ended up receiving $126,000 of the $250,000 that remained, in 1938.
In 1939, the California Legislature passed the Coogan Act, but the original version had enough loopholes to use as a template for Swiss cheese. It took decades, but by the year 2000 the overwhelming majority of them were finally closed. It took that long for the lawmakers in CA to determine that the earnings of a minor were the property of the minor and not the minor's parents. Even so, the law is still imperfect in that the parents are only required to deposit 15% of the minor's earnings into a Coogan Trust Account, in CA.
Aaron Carter wasn't a resident of any of the four states with such laws when he was a minor. He had no legal protection. His parents were his managers and they were so bad at the job that he owes that tax debt from the year 2003. He was only 16 at the time. If the legal system made any sense, his parents would be the ones liable for this debt.
Yes, he had substance abuse problems but they weren't the major cause of his current financial woes. He didn't earn the hundreds of millions of dollars he has claimed in news stories about his bankruptcy, but his parents did waste an awful lot of money that should have been put in trust to take care of him for the rest of his life.
Maybe someone can use this to pass a Carter law and fix this so history doesn't keep repeating itself. Maybe Jackie Coogan would rest easier, knowing all child entertainers would be protected.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
That Norma Patricia Esparza was raped is horrific. But if she did participate in her former boyfriend's plot to murder her rapist, she does belong in jail. You can't just dismiss charges involving the death of another human being because that human committed a heinous act against you. Vigilante justice doesn't work.
Fifty years ago tomorrow (I'm writing this on Thursday evening), the nation lost a beloved President. The adoration for JFK has done nothing but grow since he was killed in Dallas. But was he that effective a President? A question to be explored further after the commemorations of his murder have passed.
What we can conclude now is then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle really screwed the pooch 50 years ago this coming Sunday. He ordered the games scheduled for that day, just two days after we'd lost a President, go on. It was a bad decision. I don't care if White House press secretary Pierre Salinger told Rozelle that "Jack would have wanted you to play the games," just as when 9/11 took place, sporting events should be cancelled.
Lining up 11 days prior to Black Friday makes less sense than lining up months in advance to see a new Star Wars movie released, as people did in 1999.
San Rafael, CA's ban on smoking in dwellings that share a wall with another dwelling seems fair when it comes to renters, but denying an owner (condo, triplex, co-op) that right seems too harsh.
The $105,000 spent by Frisco on Batkid's wish was well worth every penny. Especially since the Make-A-Wish people plan to try to fundraise to repay the city's expenditures.
If I had the opportunity, investing in the new venture of CPK founders Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax is probably the safest investment bet in anything food related that's on the horizon.
Is Kendall Jenner wondering about whether or not Taylor Swift will skewer her in song, now that she's apparently dating one of Swift's ex-boyfriends?
If the Marine Corps put women through infantry training, not assigning them to infantry units is a colossal error.
The Speaker of the House did not sit down and sign himself up for Obamacare. He had one of his minions do it.
Dwight Howard's propensity to be a "crybaby" on the court makes me happy he's no longer a Laker.
* * *
November 22nd in History (I'm skipping the 21st to try and get back on schedule):
498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.
845 – The first King of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon.
1307 – Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.
1574 – Discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.
1635 – Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island.
1718 – Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
1812 – War of 1812: 17 Indiana Rangers are killed at the Battle of Wild Cat Creek.
1837 – Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against the United Kingdom in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution.
1858 – Denver, Colorado is founded.
1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.
1869 – In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched – one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today.
1908 – The Congress of Manastir establishes the Albanian alphabet.
1928 – The premier performance of Ravel's Boléro takes place in Paris.
1935 – The China Clipper, the first transpacific mail and passenger service, takes off from Alameda, California for its first commercial flight. It reaches its destination, Manila, a week later.
1940 – World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattack into Italian-occupied Albania and capture Korytsa.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Stalingrad – General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
1943 – World War II: War in the Pacific – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan (see Cairo Conference).
1943 – Lebanon gains independence from France.
1954 – The Humane Society of the United States is founded.
1963 – In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is later captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald is shot two days later by Jack Ruby while in police custody.
1967 – UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement.
1973 – The Italian Fascist organization Ordine Nuovo is disbanded.
1974 – The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
1975 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.
1976 – Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
1986 – Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history.
1987 – Two Chicago television stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom.
1988 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
1989 – In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership.
1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
1997 – In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
2003 – 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident, shortly after takeoff the left wing is hit by a surface-to-air missile and is forced to land.
2004 – The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.
Famous Folk Born on November 22nd:
Abigail Adams
Thomas Cook
John Nance Garner
Wiley Post
Louis Neel
Gardnar Malloy
Peter Townsend (the pilot, not the rock star)
Claiborne Pell
Rodney Dangerfield (http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2013-11-17_1534218342679325/movies/caddyshack/good_on_you_y.wav)
Eugene Stoner
Geraldine Page
Arthur Jones
Robert Vaughn (last surviving member of the Magnificent Seven)
Terry Gilliam
Terry Stafford
Tom Conti
Peter Adair
Yvan Cournoyer
Billie Jean King
Richard Carmona
Steven Van Zandt
Jamie Lee Curtis
Mariel Hemmingway
Scoop Jackson
Brian Robbins
Boris Becker
Mark Ruffalo
Scarlett Johansson
Candice Glover
For those who believe in the theory of the deaths of famous people coming in threes, it is worth noting that two very famous writers died on November 22, 1963 in addition to JFK (a Pulitzer Prize winning author himself). C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley both died on that date.
Movie quotes today come from 2011's very funny "Crazy, Stupid, Love." for no other reason than I happened to be looking at its IMDB page:
Hannah: Will you take off your shirt... fuck! Seriously? It's like you're Photoshopped!
#2
Jacob: The war between the sexes is over. We won the second women started doing pole dancing for exercise.
#3
Cal: How about we say what we want on three? One, two, three.
Emily: I want a divorce.
Cal: [at the same time] Creme brulee.
#4
Jacob: Are you the billionaire owner of Apple Computers?
Cal: No.
Jacob: Oh, ok. In that case, you've got no right to wear New Balance sneakers, ever.
Today's action by Senator Reid and the other 51 senators who voted with him changed that rule. Now, on presidential nominees only, cloture can be achieved with a simple majority vote. Nomination of justices to the U.S. Supreme Court are not subject to this rule change, and to invoke cloture to stop a nominee's confirmation to the USSC would take 60 votes.
What does this all mean? Let's look first at the federal judge issue. There are 179 Federal Court of Appeals Judge positions. 18 of those positions are currently vacant and there are 10 nominees to fill some of the vacant positions. There are 678 Federal District Court Judge positions. At present, 75 of those positions are vacant and there are 41 nominees pending. I won't get into the Bankruptcy Court Judge positions.
Senator Reid says that in the history of the U.S., there have been 168 filibusters of presidential nominations to the federal bench and over half of those occurred during the last 4.5 years. I question the accuracy of this claim. On the other hand, his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell said that the Republicans have allowed confirmation to go forward on 99% of President Obama's judicial nominees. It is a specious claim at best. There were still three filibusters in progress to stall the appointment of judicial nominees and other nominations weren't allowed to leave the Senate Judiciary Committee to come to the floor for a confirmation vote. They are both being dishonest. Then again, what's newsworthy about that?
I happen to agree with the choice of the Senate Democrats to initiate this change to the filibuster rule. If they'd eliminated it altogether, that would not have been good. That would have been wrong. But for too long now, there has been a disconnect with the process of confirming presidential appointees, both to the judiciary and to positions within the various agencies and cabinet departments of the federal government.
The role of the Senate is to provide advise and consent, not to obfuscate the process simply because of partisan issues. Republicans claim one reason they've been so obstinate is that President Obama made recess appointments in an effort to avoid the confirmation process. In fact, if they had allowed his nominees to face an up or down vote on the floor of the Senate, there would have been no need for him to make those recess appointments. The bottom line here is that the President should have the people he or she wants serving in his or her administration. That includes on the bench. The argument has been advanced by Democrats that a Republican president will fill the vacancies with conservative judges. The argument the Republicans have been making of late is that President Obama will fill all vacancies with liberal judges.
I'd much rather see the growing list of judicial vacancies shrink in size rather than be held hostage over partisan politics. Our history tells us one party will never have a protracted stranglehold on the presidency. Eventually there will be another Republican president and that president will be able to make the appointments they want to make. Then if the Democrats whine that they can't filibuster that president's appointments, they can be spoon-fed their own commentaries on why this was a good move.
It was the right move. Government needs to function, not grind to a screaming halt.
* * *
Why is former teen sensation Aaron Carter filing for bankruptcy at the age of 25, with more than $2 million in debt (most of it a $1.3 million tax bill owed to the IRS) and less than $10,000 in assets? Because only four states (California, New York, Louisiana and New Mexico) have so-called "Coogan Laws" in effect. These laws are named for Jackie Coogan, who earned millions as a child star from 1917 until he turned 21 in 1935, but saw very little of the money. His mother and step-father squandered it on themselves. He sued and ended up receiving $126,000 of the $250,000 that remained, in 1938.
In 1939, the California Legislature passed the Coogan Act, but the original version had enough loopholes to use as a template for Swiss cheese. It took decades, but by the year 2000 the overwhelming majority of them were finally closed. It took that long for the lawmakers in CA to determine that the earnings of a minor were the property of the minor and not the minor's parents. Even so, the law is still imperfect in that the parents are only required to deposit 15% of the minor's earnings into a Coogan Trust Account, in CA.
Aaron Carter wasn't a resident of any of the four states with such laws when he was a minor. He had no legal protection. His parents were his managers and they were so bad at the job that he owes that tax debt from the year 2003. He was only 16 at the time. If the legal system made any sense, his parents would be the ones liable for this debt.
Yes, he had substance abuse problems but they weren't the major cause of his current financial woes. He didn't earn the hundreds of millions of dollars he has claimed in news stories about his bankruptcy, but his parents did waste an awful lot of money that should have been put in trust to take care of him for the rest of his life.
Maybe someone can use this to pass a Carter law and fix this so history doesn't keep repeating itself. Maybe Jackie Coogan would rest easier, knowing all child entertainers would be protected.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
That Norma Patricia Esparza was raped is horrific. But if she did participate in her former boyfriend's plot to murder her rapist, she does belong in jail. You can't just dismiss charges involving the death of another human being because that human committed a heinous act against you. Vigilante justice doesn't work.
Fifty years ago tomorrow (I'm writing this on Thursday evening), the nation lost a beloved President. The adoration for JFK has done nothing but grow since he was killed in Dallas. But was he that effective a President? A question to be explored further after the commemorations of his murder have passed.
What we can conclude now is then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle really screwed the pooch 50 years ago this coming Sunday. He ordered the games scheduled for that day, just two days after we'd lost a President, go on. It was a bad decision. I don't care if White House press secretary Pierre Salinger told Rozelle that "Jack would have wanted you to play the games," just as when 9/11 took place, sporting events should be cancelled.
Lining up 11 days prior to Black Friday makes less sense than lining up months in advance to see a new Star Wars movie released, as people did in 1999.
San Rafael, CA's ban on smoking in dwellings that share a wall with another dwelling seems fair when it comes to renters, but denying an owner (condo, triplex, co-op) that right seems too harsh.
The $105,000 spent by Frisco on Batkid's wish was well worth every penny. Especially since the Make-A-Wish people plan to try to fundraise to repay the city's expenditures.
If I had the opportunity, investing in the new venture of CPK founders Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax is probably the safest investment bet in anything food related that's on the horizon.
Is Kendall Jenner wondering about whether or not Taylor Swift will skewer her in song, now that she's apparently dating one of Swift's ex-boyfriends?
If the Marine Corps put women through infantry training, not assigning them to infantry units is a colossal error.
The Speaker of the House did not sit down and sign himself up for Obamacare. He had one of his minions do it.
Dwight Howard's propensity to be a "crybaby" on the court makes me happy he's no longer a Laker.
* * *
November 22nd in History (I'm skipping the 21st to try and get back on schedule):
498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.
845 – The first King of all Brittany, Nominoe defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon.
1307 – Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.
1574 – Discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.
1635 – Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island.
1718 – Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
1812 – War of 1812: 17 Indiana Rangers are killed at the Battle of Wild Cat Creek.
1837 – Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against the United Kingdom in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution.
1858 – Denver, Colorado is founded.
1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.
1869 – In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched – one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today.
1908 – The Congress of Manastir establishes the Albanian alphabet.
1928 – The premier performance of Ravel's Boléro takes place in Paris.
1935 – The China Clipper, the first transpacific mail and passenger service, takes off from Alameda, California for its first commercial flight. It reaches its destination, Manila, a week later.
1940 – World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattack into Italian-occupied Albania and capture Korytsa.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Stalingrad – General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
1943 – World War II: War in the Pacific – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan (see Cairo Conference).
1943 – Lebanon gains independence from France.
1954 – The Humane Society of the United States is founded.
1963 – In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is later captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald is shot two days later by Jack Ruby while in police custody.
1967 – UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement.
1973 – The Italian Fascist organization Ordine Nuovo is disbanded.
1974 – The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
1975 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.
1976 – Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
1986 – Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history.
1987 – Two Chicago television stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom.
1988 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
1989 – In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership.
1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
1997 – In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
2003 – 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident, shortly after takeoff the left wing is hit by a surface-to-air missile and is forced to land.
2004 – The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.
Famous Folk Born on November 22nd:
Abigail Adams
Thomas Cook
John Nance Garner
Wiley Post
Louis Neel
Gardnar Malloy
Peter Townsend (the pilot, not the rock star)
Claiborne Pell
Rodney Dangerfield (http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2013-11-17_1534218342679325/movies/caddyshack/good_on_you_y.wav)
Eugene Stoner
Geraldine Page
Arthur Jones
Robert Vaughn (last surviving member of the Magnificent Seven)
Terry Gilliam
Terry Stafford
Tom Conti
Peter Adair
Yvan Cournoyer
Billie Jean King
Richard Carmona
Steven Van Zandt
Jamie Lee Curtis
Mariel Hemmingway
Scoop Jackson
Brian Robbins
Boris Becker
Mark Ruffalo
Scarlett Johansson
Candice Glover
For those who believe in the theory of the deaths of famous people coming in threes, it is worth noting that two very famous writers died on November 22, 1963 in addition to JFK (a Pulitzer Prize winning author himself). C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley both died on that date.
Movie quotes today come from 2011's very funny "Crazy, Stupid, Love." for no other reason than I happened to be looking at its IMDB page:
Hannah: Will you take off your shirt... fuck! Seriously? It's like you're Photoshopped!
#2
Jacob: The war between the sexes is over. We won the second women started doing pole dancing for exercise.
#3
Cal: How about we say what we want on three? One, two, three.
Emily: I want a divorce.
Cal: [at the same time] Creme brulee.
#4
Jacob: Are you the billionaire owner of Apple Computers?
Cal: No.
Jacob: Oh, ok. In that case, you've got no right to wear New Balance sneakers, ever.
posted by me at 2:42 PM
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