From Stark
Sen. Patty Murray, a longtime defender of federal social spending, might seem to be an unlikely choice for the new “super committee” in charge of finding more ways to cut the federal debt.
As soon as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Murraay as one of his three nominees to the committee, GOP groups fired off press releases saying that Murray’s selection showed the Dems were not serious about tackling the challenges of curbing spending on Medicare and Medicaid.
But one could just as easily argue that having Murray on board as a co-author will help Reid sell what is likely to be a painful budgetary package to other Senate Democrats whose views align with Murray’s.
The super committee was one of the features of the deadline debt ceiling compromise between President Obama and Congressional Republicans. I’m still trying to figure out why anyone thought that the creation of another budgetary doomsday machine would be a good idea, but that’s exactly what this is. The Seattle Times calls it a “poison pill:”
“It has to agree on an unprecedented $1.5 trillion plan to reduce the deficit, through cuts, tax increases or both. Otherwise, automatic spending cuts to defense, Medicare and other programs will kick in — triggering a kind of a mutual fiscal poison pill for Democrats and Republicans.”
So we’ve reached a point where leaders in both political parties have to take the federal government (and the citizen taxpayers it is supposed to serve) hostage in order to motivate themselves to do what they are being paid to do.
This seems to be the perfect way to produce still more budgetary policy pigs wearing the lipstick of compromise. But what do I know?
“I’ve always found Democrat Sen. Patty Murray slow on the uptake. I’ll never forget interviewing her many years ago when I worked for the Seattle Times editorial board. We were talking about federal entitlement spending. I asked her about FICA taxes. She didn’t know what I was talking about; when I said “payroll taxes,” she still had a frozen blank look on her face….
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/15/sen-patty-murrays-worthless-stimulus-earmark/
Our problems are solved!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
You really still believe they’re trying to solve our problems?
They still have most of the country caught up in the struggle between Tweedledee and Tweedledum, while they quietly run things themselves.
Get a perspective. The only difference between Obama and Romney (or whoever) will be a letter behind their name.
Here’s me opinion; if the R’s get another chance at fixing this mess and they pull another W, there will be no more R’s.
AFY!!theheelotsheelotsheepdog!!!
When I look at who Obama appointed to the Supreme Court… I see a substantial difference between him and any GOP candidate.
But that’s just me.
Agree Aman, that was an area that W did do a lot better than O!
Most everywhere else they both stinks equally!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Your point is well taken, Shane.
One has still to ask, are those appointments of such value we should excuse his selling out minorities, immigrants, the working class, while violating the constitution, suspending habeas corpus, starting and continuing pointless and unauthorized wars and …..?
In light of the damage done by the Citizens United case… yes.
But what about the improvements in jobs and the economy!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
We are doomed!
Patty Murray: the senator with an I.Q. lower than her (tennis) shoe size….
Maybe she will double up on the socks.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
An awful decision, true. But keeping the power elite from propagandizing is likely a futile effort.
Rather than putting so much effort into stopping the speakers, it’s time to turn our attention to helping the listeners.
For me, Obama is a distraction, and an agent of disinformation. Even if the Rs took the presidency, clearing the stage for an honest message in opposition would be an improvement over the current state of affairs.
Oh, back on point…
Is there a Dem Senate appointment the RW wasn’t going to have a problem with?
They’d probably preferred that pseudo dem, Joe Lieberman.
They did get Max Baucus. Lieberman would have been redundant.
Does anyone here think the ‘super-committee’ is constitutional?
@onceProud…
its a committee, dude.
The House and Senate have formed many joint committees before this without provoking any Constitutional crisis.
Could you please site anywhere in the Constitution where there is a conflict here? Or the nature of the crisis?
I am making a tshirt with what AFY just said :
“if the R’s get another chance at fixing this mess and they pull another W, there will be no more R’s”
What’s a budgetary pig?
I know pork barrels,
bringing home the bacon
and feeding at the trough.
But how does one produce a budgetary pig within an elite commission?
It seems like the structure itself precludes them.
@Apexnerd- It takes away the rights of the people we voted for to debate and make amendments.
It basically makes 12 people in charge of the budget, so the constituents of 523 ‘representatives’ are left without input other than voting Yea or Nay.
“some pigs are more equal than others” Remember when they taught us in school that that was bad?
Ron Paul and Judge Napolitano pointing out why ‘super-committee’ is wrong:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ron+paul+on+the+super+committee&mid=33FE0CB02A4A5EC9B6A433FE0CB02A4A5EC9B6A4&view=detail&FORM=VIRE8
The whole fake crisis about ‘default’ had me thinking about that scene in Blazing Saddles when the new sheriff arrived and the townsfolk realized he was black. When Cleavon Little realized he was about to be shot, he pulls out his pistol and points it at his head and says ‘The next man makes a move, the n**ger gets it…Drop it!’
Congress and this administration played us for the same kind of fools those town’s people were.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvZdVK913I That part starts at 2:29
Tell me it isn’t exactly how America got played… especially the part at 3:50
“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”
- George Orwell, Animal Farm
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
RM, that’s T shirt should be for R’s & ready to wear now, your T shirt should say:
“if the D’s get another chance at fixing this mess and they pull another O, there will be no more D’s”
But you’ll need to wait till 2013 to wear that one!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
This committee was created by both houses of congress. Nothing was taken away. The houses agreed to these terms when they created the committee.
There no need to worry, I am sure this committee’s recommendations will get treated just like those of the O’s, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, don’t ya know.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
The reality of the situation is that the Elites in Congress with seniority, understood that their normal methods of co-opting freshmen legislators won’t work on those who believe a promise is a PROMISE, and who don’t care about getting re-elected so they were forced to create this unconstitutional committee to insure that the will of the American People IS IGNORED.
Only a FOOL or a congress-person, but I repeat myself, thinks living beyond our means is sustainable, or a good practice.
Prepare yourselves for a REVOLUTION at the polls in 2012!!
We were prepared for a Revolution in 2008; I can remember.
I’m through with preparing.
It all seems so real.
We did have a revolution in 2008, we made the revolutionary mistake of electing someone totally unqualified to be president.
Oh, OPA, you resort to plagarism (you stole the reference to Cleavon Little made here a few days ago) and we’re to take you seriously as an original thinker?
ALL a distraction from the fact that Patty is co-sponsor of the senate bill to federally-fund, through stimulus funded grants, GPT and the necessary rail improvements to put a coal dump in our back yard. I hate railing against a dem, but what is going on?
OPA’s basic rant was a veiled attempt to slip in a lot of racism…all rather ignorant and obtuse.
More about veiling the 80% disapproval rate of Republicans and plummiting support for TP than a race thing, me thinks.
For now a “Super Congress” Committee looks Constitutional But it sure does not smell Constitutional Considering the Title. The trigger will be the item that disqualifies this IMO. The fix is in with Baucus. Patty Murray is not a good choice for this Chair because of her lack of firm and aggressive stances on legislation.
Here is a quote I caught recently from a talking head lawyer.
“Members of the Senate and members of the House have the opportunity under the Constitution to debate items that are sent to them and to modify items that are sent to them. To force them to vote just yes or know with no debate, not to follow the rules of the House, which permits amendments, not to follow the rules of the Senate, which permits a filibuster, is such a substantial removal of the authority the Constitution gave them that this legislation is treading in waters that might not be constitutional.”
I agree! I hope they dump this stupid committee. The Democrats especially should not fall into this obvious trap lined with BS.
@beartrap
I hate to even sound like I’m defending this Commission of Ways and Means of Porcine Lipstick Application, but the name “Super Congress” is a title bestowed (ironically) on the commission unofficially by the press. It’s official name is something even more tedious, I imagine.
And neither you, nor I, nor the talking head lawyer are intimately familiar with rules that govern the House and Senate regarding Joint Commissions. I assume the rules are complex and at least partially understood by the Parliamentarians that work for the House and Senate.
While I agree this is unusual, I am not willing to deem it Unconstitutional since the House and Senate are entitled to establish their own procedural rules on this stuff, under general parliamentary law… which itself is entirely compatible with the Constitution.
(Allow me to illustrate. Find the word “filibuster” in the Constitution… I’ll wait….
…found it yet? …no, you didn’t…. because it isn’t there. The Senate established that parliamentary rule on their own, without amending… or violating… the Constitution. I am unaware of any credible Constitutional challenge to the Senate’s filibuster rule.)
If the House and Senate’s own rules DON’T allow them to form this commission and vest it with this authority, then that is the game, and the Commission’s work is legally invalid, without provoking a Constitutional crisis.
The question is, are they (both Houses of Congress) following their own established rules?
This committee is nothing more than a cover for cowardly Democrats to allow social programs be gutted and say, “I didn’t do it.” The inclusion of Max Baucus is the dead give away.
So let’s see who the administration is supporting. Another bailout for BofA, no real cuts to the engorged military budget, providing cover for its party to duck their responsibility to their constituency ..
And still refusing to prosecute fraud by the banksters. They look like Republicans to me!
“Now Murray, a Democrat and Washington senior senator, is catching flak from liberals, as well. Murray, re-elected to a fourth term last year, had previously been name Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairwoman. That gig involves a lot of fundraising for candidates. However GOPers, and now The Hill reports some Democrats, are saying that role conflicts with her new role on the debt panel.
“It really sends a bad message to the American people when you’re the chief fundraiser trying to come up with this balanced approach to deficit reduction,” said Adam Smith, communications director of Public Campaign. “She’s going to be focused on this committee and also on fundraising? Will she make decisions based on whether it hurts the fundraising ability of the [DSCC]? She should step down or say ‘I’m not going to raise any money,’” Smith said.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/08/10/murray-urged-to-stop-raising-while-she-sits-on-debt-panel/
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Congress has been in session since January and has yet to pass even one single major piece of legislation. Why? Because radical members of the GOP have hijacked the legislative process and are blocking any positive action.
It would appear House republicans have completely forgotten that America is still in the midst of the most devastating economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions are out of work. Millions have lost their homes. Millions are going without adequate medical care. Millions are barely surviving on a pittance of food stamps. And, there is no end in sight. Are you ready for a Japanese-style “lost decade?”
Despite the Great Recession, long-term unemployment, and a huge foreclosure crisis, the GOP is continuing to insist on budget cuts and imposing austerity measures on the poor, so as to maintain tax cuts for the rich. Where are the jobs bills? Where are the infrastructure and clean energy projects politicians promised?
Republican intransigence has amply demonstrated that we do not only have an economic crisis on our hands. We are facing a full-blown political crisis. Along with legislatures all across the country, Congress has been rendered completely dysfunctional by right-wing extremists, ideologues, and demagogues who are willing to hold the country hostage to serve the interests of their corporate masters.
During the past thirty years, the powers that be have succeeded in destroying private unions, private pensions, and high-quality, employer sponsored medical plans. They have held wages down and taken all of the productivity gains for themselves. They have dismantled the industrial sector and shipped many of our best jobs overseas. They have corrupted our media. They have used Congress to deregulate themselves and dramatically slash their own tax rates. They have crippled and undermined the nation’s finances.
They have successfully indebted the entire nation, including taxpayers, homeowners, and consumers. And, once they have us indebted, they come along and jack up the interest rates! If we can’t pay, they destroy our credit ratings and even send the sheriff to take our homes, along with all our equity.
Of course, the ruling corporate elite have used their undue power and influence over our legislative process to make certain that their actions are either legal or inadequately punished. Members of the corporate elite control most of our federal regulatory bureaucracies, and their lobbyists are even writing much of our legislation over on K Street.
When the junior senator from Illinois invites the twelve most powerful bankers in the nation to the White House for tea, he knows full and well who got him elected. He knows who holds all the cards. We should not be surprised that Obama has so often willingly thrown in the towel and conceded to right-wing demands, for the president no longer serves the people.
The president knows who controls our government. He knows that his real masters are working on Wall Street and vacationing in multi-million dollar summer homes in the Hamptons or near Bar Harbor, Maine. Just look how the elite have welcomed the Obama family into their ranks, while Michelle and the girls fly off to lavish shopping junkets in Paris and the other fashion centers of the world.
Conversely, Obama knows that the people are powerless and easily manipulated by highly sophisticated forms of corporate advertising, marketing, public relations, and propaganda. What’s the president to do? What can he do? The president knows that if he were to buck the system, he could be squashed like a bug.
For more than a hundred years, corporate interests have used the federal government, our military, and the State Department to enrich themselves, by forcefully impoverishing the people of third world nations around the globe. Now, it would appear the gloves are off and they are coming after us.
History has a strange way of repeating itself. Don’t be surprised if the current economic and political crisis degenerates into a period of Nazi-like fascistic and authoritarian rule. Many other Western democracies have suffered through a dark period in their modern histories. Now, it may be our turn.
Yet another thoughtful and brilliant, but maddening by its’ truth, comment by Todd2.
Personally methinks a little more detail would have help.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Couple of thoughts Todd. Obama is getting the same rogering that Carter got under similar scenarios by the same money and right wing trickle down interests, and we ended up with Reagan. Are we capable of that level of stupidity again, as we always love to relearn lessons, or has the citizenry gotten better educated, more sophisticated and better informed to overcome their fears and prejudices?
Nazi reference?
That assumes we wouldn’t be at civil war long before anything like that could occur……
Then again, the new crop of Tea Bangers and their gayly attired mob are showing us all that truth and equity are fleeting and open to revision and denial; and anyone that delusional could be persuaded to embrace all sorts of mayhem, especially with the fanatical religious element tossed in.
We have truly lost our way as a nation during the entire reign of this new brand of conservatism and pseudo conservatism that started with Reagan.
We no longer have political opposites who recognize the need to give and take on the social issues for peace and prosperity. We have staunch idealists with radical idealogies who view the political scene as a battlefield to force their religious views and other prejudices on all of society. We have always met tyranny like that with resolve and those tyrannical goals have always been labeled un American and treasonous…until now it seems
Yep republican’s are dirty and evil and the democrat’s are pretty and perfect having never made any mistakes and all of their(demo’s) policies have been nothing but successful.
When the democrats just recently controlled the house and senate with huge majorities and the presidency, you now today can see firsthand how all of their actions have contributed to so many more jobs and a very good economy, don’t ya know.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Shaun,
Gore Vidal calls it “The United States of Amnesia” for good reason. The vast majority is largely ignorant and most have very little sense of their political, economic, or social history. Consequently, many Americans certainly are capable of high levels of stupidity.
As Vidal once quipped, “Americans have absolutely no regard for the truth. After all, they were raised on advertising.”
listen up mutt….I’ll give you that Bush had bigger globules than O man. He had the single minded inclination to support all sorts of Skull and Bones shenanigans in the financial institutions and the certitude of a Christian crusader promoting and executing his tragically misguided wars. All globules and no brains.
If what he and Cheney and others did wasn’t evil it’s only because of the comparison to the most egregious of crimes against humanity. But close enough….
All globiules and no brains…is that the memory lane you want to trip down?
“THE BEST WAY to describe the spate of appointments to the new “supercommittee” on debt reduction is depressingly predictable. Or perhaps predictably depressing. None of the congressional leaders, Democratic or Republican, Senate or House, took much of a risk, if any. They named individuals to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction who for the most part know the substance well but have shown little inclination to move away from entrenched positions of party orthodoxy: no new taxes on the Republican side, no touching benefits on the Democratic side….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/deficit-supercommittee-more-predictable-than-super/2011/08/10/gIQAWWDa9I_story.html
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
AFY: What if Reid and Pelosi had been required to name REPUBLICANS to the panel, while Boehner and McConnell were required to name DEMOCRATS? Then maybe you would have a bipartisan panel.
John you have a thought there but the problem is there are plenty of screwed up D’s and R’s for both sides to pick from where the results would turn out to be the same.
I believe where the solutions can be found is in our constitution and also the arguments of the federalist papers, but not another useless committee.
What is the priority of the federal government and its limits? Have we deviated from either, I say yes; then how do we get back on track, whereas that can be found in Article V.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
This is who I would appoint to this committee!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoS52fVtVQM&feature=related
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
manage to keep selling heroin and opana and oxycontin ? straterra is also frequently dispersed to poison adhd kids maybe we need better government ?