Sore losers
The U. S. Senate had to pull an all-nighter and while I have no sympathy for either side in the squabble over filibusters and President Obama's nominees, it has to be noted that this is all about the Republican membership of the Senate being really bad losers.
The filibuster rules were changed to require only 51 votes rather than the traditional 60 to end debate on a presidential nominee. In retaliation, the sore loser Republicans are insisting that the rule calling for 30 hours of debate on a nomination be adhered to.
When they could filibuster indefinitely, there was a shred of logic to the process of trying to block a nomination that a political party was opposed to. Once that ended, the Republicans should have just acquiesced and allow the nominations to come to a vote immediately.
Imagine for a moment that the rules of Texas Hold'em were to be changed. Right now, in a two player situation where one player is "all in", even if one of the two players is drawing dead on the flop, the last two cards must be turned over. Suppose that the rules change and once a player is drawing dead, the hand ends without spending more time on it. For the sake of efficiency.
What the Republicans are doing is the equivalent of the player who has zero chance of finding a winning card insisting that the last two cards be dealt out. There's no sense to it. Those last two cards have no chance of changing the outcome. Likewise, the full 30 hours of debate will not alter the outcome of the vote on the nominee. The Democratic majority is going to approve their president's choices.
Besides, this is a lot of crap anyway. The intent of our Founding Fathers in drafting the Constitution was that the Senate would "advise and consent" to a nominee. Unless there are serious objections about the nominee's qualifications, the nominee should be confirmed. A president should be able to select the Cabinet they want, and make the other nominations they want.
The debate over the nomination of the late Robert Bork to the United States Supreme Court is a prime example of a nomination where the advise and consent process worked at it should have. Bork's qualifications and experience as a jurist was not in question. However, his fitness to serve on the Court was questionable based on his positions on issues that involved civil rights, voting rights and favoring the executive branch of our government in terms of how the system of checks and balances should be aligned. In my mind, the fact that President Nixon had promised then Solicitor General Bork the next open seat on the USSC, in return for firing Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; made Bork unsuitable as a USSC associate justice from that point forward.
Bork's nomination went down in flames. As it should have. But the process in 2013 is simply to obstruct every single nomination that President Obama puts forward, on partisan grounds. That's just wrong.
You sore loser Republicans in the Senate should fold your hand in these debates. You're drawing dead.
* * *
In 1982, the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis graduated that year's senior class. They were commissioned as Ensigns in the Navy or as 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Among the graduating class was a woman named Michelle Howard. She was the first African-American woman to achieve three-star rank in the U.S. military. She wasn't the first woman to achieve four-star rank, but she has been nominated to that rank, and something even more of a breakthrough.
When Admiral Howard pins on her fourth star, she will be assuming the position of Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO), the #2 person in the entire Navy. Only the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) outranks her in military rank within the Navy.
Including the incumbent, three of five most recent CNOs served as VCNO before becoming CNO themselves. Odds are good that when Admiral Jonathan Greenert retires, she may become the CNO herself. Or maybe she's destined for an even higher billet. In 2015, President Obama will almost certainly appoint a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Maybe she will become CNO, or maybe someday Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
It isn't completely shattered just yet, but the glass ceiling within the military's command structure is moving beyond a few mere fractures. However, there is a long way to go for any real semblance of equality to exist. Particularly when some of the combat arms billets remain unavailable for women to serve in.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Politifact got it right in naming President Obama's promise that people could keep their health plan if they liked it, Lie of the Year.
It is kind of scary that a recent poll shows that if the 2012 election were held today, Romney would beat Obama, soundly.
Making a man kneel and sit on burning hot asphalt for 30 minutes during a traffic stop is unconscionable. The CIQ (cop in question) not showing up for the arrestee's court date adds insult to injury. I hope he wins his lawsuit against the cops in Albuquerque.
Hard to believe, but a California man who paid his $14,000 property tax bill in change, almost all pennies, wasn't doing it to make a statement. His friends had helped out with their "spare change". Oh how I want to tell the people who ask me if I have any spare change, "I've got change, but none to spare."
I still can't grasp why it was okay for a Catholic school teacher to bring his same-sex partner (they had already been joined by civil union) to school functions, but that emailing the head of the school he'd be late because he was obtaining a marriage license, is making his relationship too public.
Does Megyn Kelly realize that if she's wrong and Santa Claus isn't white, she's almost certain to get a big lump of coal in her stocking this year?
Gilbert Arenas saying he's going to train hard next summer and then try an NBA comeback ignores only two things. Reality and common sense.
I'm with Ken Jeong. Fans of a film franchise you're involved with tattooing your face on their body is a bit frightening.
The Domino's franchise owner in New York who fired 25 of his employees for complaining about low wages was smart to re-hire them. You can't make employees who you're paying a "tipped wage" do work that doesn't generate tips beyond a certain point. Delivery drivers shouldn't have to spend their time doing cleaning and prep work if they're being paid less than minimum wage for that work.
I was very surprised to learn that according to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of disability for those in the age group of 15-44 is depression.
* * *
December 14th in History:
I've removed a certain tragedy that took place one year ago today from the following list, in order to respect the wishes of those who lost loved ones:
557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake.
835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled.
1287 – St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scots.
1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded as the first military academy in the world.
1782 – The Montgolfier brothers' first balloon lifts off on its first test flight.
1812 – The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
1814 – War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends.
1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
1900 – Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law.
1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 – The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Isles of Scilly in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
1909 – New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.
1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
1913 – Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.
1914 – Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1918 – Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounces the Finnish throne.
1918 – Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
1941 – World War II: Japan signs a treaty of alliance with Thailand.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York, New York.
1955 – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations.
1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.
1961 – Tanganyika joins the United Nations.
1962 – NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
1963 – The dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir bursts, killing five people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.
1964 – American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.
1981 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the occupied Golan Heights.
1983 – The third Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece starts.
1988 – The ET3 television network is launched in Thessaloniki, Greece.
1992 – War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli – A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.
1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1999 – Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
2003 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.
2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
Famous Folk Born On December 14th:
Tycho Brahe
Daniel Neal
Daniel De Leon
George VI of the United Kingdom
Jimmy Doolittle (a true American hero, early proponent of desegregating the military and a Medal of Honor recipient)
Margaret Chase Smith
Morey Amsterdam
Spike Jones
Dan Dailey
June Taylor
Don Hewitt
Junior J. Spurrier (Medal of Honor recipient who also earned a Distinguished Service Cross)
Sam Jones
Charlie Rich
Lewis Arquette
Lee Remick
Patty Duke
Michael Ovitz
Stan Smith
Joyce Vincent Wilson (one-half of Dawn in Tony Orlando and Dawn)
Dee Wallace
Bill Buckner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18caPNisP2U sad that he had 2700 hits, 400 doubles, 1000+ runs and RBIs and this is what he's best remembered for)
Jan Tinman
James Horan
Ginger Lynn
Alice Ripley
Craig Biggio
Ted Raimi
Natascha McElhone
Tia Texada
Eric Anderson
Miranda Hart
Leland Chapman (one of Dog's sons)
Vanessa Hudgens
In honor of Natascha McElhone's birthday, movie quotes today come from "The Truman Show":
[repeated line]
Truman: Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
#2
Christof: Cue the sun!
#3
[Truman is missing - the Lunar Room studio, everyone nervous]
Network Executive: [hunging up a phone call] The sponsors are threatening to rip up their contracts!
Christof: [pointing at the "Technical fault... Please stand by... " graphic] Why? We're getting higher ratings for this graphic than we've ever had on this show.
#4
Truman Burbank: It was Dad. I swear! Dressed like a homeless man. And you know what else was strange? A business man and a woman with a little dog came out of nowhere and forced him onto a bus.
Truman's Mother: Well! It's about time they cleaned up the trash downtown before we become just like the rest of the country.
The filibuster rules were changed to require only 51 votes rather than the traditional 60 to end debate on a presidential nominee. In retaliation, the sore loser Republicans are insisting that the rule calling for 30 hours of debate on a nomination be adhered to.
When they could filibuster indefinitely, there was a shred of logic to the process of trying to block a nomination that a political party was opposed to. Once that ended, the Republicans should have just acquiesced and allow the nominations to come to a vote immediately.
Imagine for a moment that the rules of Texas Hold'em were to be changed. Right now, in a two player situation where one player is "all in", even if one of the two players is drawing dead on the flop, the last two cards must be turned over. Suppose that the rules change and once a player is drawing dead, the hand ends without spending more time on it. For the sake of efficiency.
What the Republicans are doing is the equivalent of the player who has zero chance of finding a winning card insisting that the last two cards be dealt out. There's no sense to it. Those last two cards have no chance of changing the outcome. Likewise, the full 30 hours of debate will not alter the outcome of the vote on the nominee. The Democratic majority is going to approve their president's choices.
Besides, this is a lot of crap anyway. The intent of our Founding Fathers in drafting the Constitution was that the Senate would "advise and consent" to a nominee. Unless there are serious objections about the nominee's qualifications, the nominee should be confirmed. A president should be able to select the Cabinet they want, and make the other nominations they want.
The debate over the nomination of the late Robert Bork to the United States Supreme Court is a prime example of a nomination where the advise and consent process worked at it should have. Bork's qualifications and experience as a jurist was not in question. However, his fitness to serve on the Court was questionable based on his positions on issues that involved civil rights, voting rights and favoring the executive branch of our government in terms of how the system of checks and balances should be aligned. In my mind, the fact that President Nixon had promised then Solicitor General Bork the next open seat on the USSC, in return for firing Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; made Bork unsuitable as a USSC associate justice from that point forward.
Bork's nomination went down in flames. As it should have. But the process in 2013 is simply to obstruct every single nomination that President Obama puts forward, on partisan grounds. That's just wrong.
You sore loser Republicans in the Senate should fold your hand in these debates. You're drawing dead.
* * *
In 1982, the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis graduated that year's senior class. They were commissioned as Ensigns in the Navy or as 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Among the graduating class was a woman named Michelle Howard. She was the first African-American woman to achieve three-star rank in the U.S. military. She wasn't the first woman to achieve four-star rank, but she has been nominated to that rank, and something even more of a breakthrough.
When Admiral Howard pins on her fourth star, she will be assuming the position of Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO), the #2 person in the entire Navy. Only the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) outranks her in military rank within the Navy.
Including the incumbent, three of five most recent CNOs served as VCNO before becoming CNO themselves. Odds are good that when Admiral Jonathan Greenert retires, she may become the CNO herself. Or maybe she's destined for an even higher billet. In 2015, President Obama will almost certainly appoint a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Maybe she will become CNO, or maybe someday Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
It isn't completely shattered just yet, but the glass ceiling within the military's command structure is moving beyond a few mere fractures. However, there is a long way to go for any real semblance of equality to exist. Particularly when some of the combat arms billets remain unavailable for women to serve in.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Politifact got it right in naming President Obama's promise that people could keep their health plan if they liked it, Lie of the Year.
It is kind of scary that a recent poll shows that if the 2012 election were held today, Romney would beat Obama, soundly.
Making a man kneel and sit on burning hot asphalt for 30 minutes during a traffic stop is unconscionable. The CIQ (cop in question) not showing up for the arrestee's court date adds insult to injury. I hope he wins his lawsuit against the cops in Albuquerque.
Hard to believe, but a California man who paid his $14,000 property tax bill in change, almost all pennies, wasn't doing it to make a statement. His friends had helped out with their "spare change". Oh how I want to tell the people who ask me if I have any spare change, "I've got change, but none to spare."
I still can't grasp why it was okay for a Catholic school teacher to bring his same-sex partner (they had already been joined by civil union) to school functions, but that emailing the head of the school he'd be late because he was obtaining a marriage license, is making his relationship too public.
Does Megyn Kelly realize that if she's wrong and Santa Claus isn't white, she's almost certain to get a big lump of coal in her stocking this year?
Gilbert Arenas saying he's going to train hard next summer and then try an NBA comeback ignores only two things. Reality and common sense.
I'm with Ken Jeong. Fans of a film franchise you're involved with tattooing your face on their body is a bit frightening.
The Domino's franchise owner in New York who fired 25 of his employees for complaining about low wages was smart to re-hire them. You can't make employees who you're paying a "tipped wage" do work that doesn't generate tips beyond a certain point. Delivery drivers shouldn't have to spend their time doing cleaning and prep work if they're being paid less than minimum wage for that work.
I was very surprised to learn that according to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of disability for those in the age group of 15-44 is depression.
* * *
December 14th in History:
I've removed a certain tragedy that took place one year ago today from the following list, in order to respect the wishes of those who lost loved ones:
557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake.
835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled.
1287 – St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Mary, Queen of Scots.
1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded as the first military academy in the world.
1782 – The Montgolfier brothers' first balloon lifts off on its first test flight.
1812 – The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
1814 – War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends.
1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
1900 – Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law.
1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 – The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Isles of Scilly in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
1909 – New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.
1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
1913 – Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.
1914 – Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1918 – Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounces the Finnish throne.
1918 – Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
1941 – World War II: Japan signs a treaty of alliance with Thailand.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York, New York.
1955 – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations.
1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.
1961 – Tanganyika joins the United Nations.
1962 – NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
1963 – The dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir bursts, killing five people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.
1964 – American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.
1981 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the occupied Golan Heights.
1983 – The third Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece starts.
1988 – The ET3 television network is launched in Thessaloniki, Greece.
1992 – War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli – A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.
1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1999 – Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
2003 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.
2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
Famous Folk Born On December 14th:
Tycho Brahe
Daniel Neal
Daniel De Leon
George VI of the United Kingdom
Jimmy Doolittle (a true American hero, early proponent of desegregating the military and a Medal of Honor recipient)
Margaret Chase Smith
Morey Amsterdam
Spike Jones
Dan Dailey
June Taylor
Don Hewitt
Junior J. Spurrier (Medal of Honor recipient who also earned a Distinguished Service Cross)
Sam Jones
Charlie Rich
Lewis Arquette
Lee Remick
Patty Duke
Michael Ovitz
Stan Smith
Joyce Vincent Wilson (one-half of Dawn in Tony Orlando and Dawn)
Dee Wallace
Bill Buckner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18caPNisP2U sad that he had 2700 hits, 400 doubles, 1000+ runs and RBIs and this is what he's best remembered for)
Jan Tinman
James Horan
Ginger Lynn
Alice Ripley
Craig Biggio
Ted Raimi
Natascha McElhone
Tia Texada
Eric Anderson
Miranda Hart
Leland Chapman (one of Dog's sons)
Vanessa Hudgens
In honor of Natascha McElhone's birthday, movie quotes today come from "The Truman Show":
[repeated line]
Truman: Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
#2
Christof: Cue the sun!
#3
[Truman is missing - the Lunar Room studio, everyone nervous]
Network Executive: [hunging up a phone call] The sponsors are threatening to rip up their contracts!
Christof: [pointing at the "Technical fault... Please stand by... " graphic] Why? We're getting higher ratings for this graphic than we've ever had on this show.
#4
Truman Burbank: It was Dad. I swear! Dressed like a homeless man. And you know what else was strange? A business man and a woman with a little dog came out of nowhere and forced him onto a bus.
Truman's Mother: Well! It's about time they cleaned up the trash downtown before we become just like the rest of the country.
posted by me at 3:39 PM
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