Latest Posts
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From the Pork Barrel: The League of Extraordinary Losers
* Walter Shapiro highlights the grim future that lies ahead for Joe Biden should he and Obama fall short in November.
* New Bridge to Nowhere discovered in New Hampshire.
* Rush Limbaugh has not shown his face in Chicago since Occupy Wall Streeters started protesting him. This would mean something if he was in Chicago.
* George W. Bush is being coaxed away from his Texas ranch long enough to visit the White House for the first time in two years for the the unveiling of his official portrait and to pick up some old Doobie Brothers records he left behind.
* Rahm Emanuel is "livid." Which, I suppose, counts as a news item.
* Don't forget to download our Election Companion App for iPhone and iPad and follow along as Ilya Gerner liveblogs Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Paul Ryan on this Sunday's Meet the Press.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Tags: Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Joe Biden, Meet the Press, Paul Ryan, Rahm Emanuel, Rush Limbaugh, Senate -
Dick Durbin May Block Religious Freedom Commission's Renewal Until Feds Buy His Favorite Prison
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is one of those obscure federal panels that does yeoman's work with little notoriety and an even smaller budget.Created by Congress in 1998 to advise government officials on the plight of persecuted religious groups, the USCIRF now faces a shutdown unless Congress approves its reauthorization. But with the House having already approved a funding bill, only a few Tea Party zealots stand in the way of the agency's renewal.
And by "Tea Party zealots," I mean "one liberal Democratic Senator with a parochial interest in an Illinois state prison…"
The Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison near the Mississippi River town of Thomson, was built by the Illinois government for about $140 million a decade ago but hardly used because of staffing issues.
[Senator Richard] Durbin, according to advocates for the religious groups that are the commission's most ardent supporters, wants Congress to come up with the money to buy the prison and make it a federal facility, and he has put a hold on the reauthorization bill until that happens. His leverage could be that Rep. Frank R. Wolf , the Virginia Republican who sponsored the legislation creating the commission in 1998, chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that funds federal prisons.
These heartwarming stories of semi-anonymous Senate holds always remind me of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. If only Mr. Smith were a career politician willing to stand up to the influence of corrupt interest groups like "Big Refugee" and "Big Persecuted Minority" in order to advance the economic agenda of his home state.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Tags: Dick Durbin, House of Representatives, Illinois, Prison, Religion, Senate -
Jon Stewart and The Daily Show May Have Saved the 9/11 First Responders Bill
Did you happen to notice how a week ago, when Republicans blocked a Senate bill that would have paid for health care coverage for 9/11 First Responders, there was this deafening sonic boom of complete silence that emanated from the cable and network news offices, and then how, after Jon Stewart dedicated an entire episode of The Daily Show to the bill's defeat and its resulting silence, all of a sudden people started to talk about how maybe this was kind of an important thing that somebody should have told people about?
You did notice that? Well, you're not the only one…
In the wake of Stewart's show, ABC's Jonathan Karl ran a story on World News and the cable nets seem to have woken up to the bill's existence. On Sunday, New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand announced that a revised version of the bill, which reduces the cost from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion — the measure is offset by closing a corporate tax loop hole — had gained at least some GOP support. Indeed, several prominent Republicans have come out in support of the bill with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace calling it a "national shame" that the legislation has yet to be enacted.
Sen. Gillibrand thinks there might even be enough Republican votes to get this piece of crazy liberal legislation passed…
"I believe we now have more than enough votes to pass this legislation. We have been working extremely closely with a number of Republicans and have made a series of changes to the bill. Americans will be watching closely over the next few days and expecting the Senate to do what is right and fulfill our moral obligation to these heroes."
Wow! Who'd have thought that reporting on an issue could actually produce real world results? Seems so counter-intuitive, doesn't it?
In case you missed it, The Daily Show 9/11 first responder episode is after the jump.
The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.
Tags: 9/11, Dick Durbin, First Responders, Health, Health Care, Jon Stewart, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mike Huckabee, Republicans, Senate, The Daily Show -
Jon Stewart Watches Repeal Legislation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Crash, Burn
The gentleman from The Daily Show is correct in calling our Senate a coterie of assholes…
The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.
Tags: DADT, Dick Durbin, Harry Reid, John McCain, Jon Stewart, Lady Gaga, Military, Senate, Susan Collins, The Daily Show, Video -
Obama: "I've Got Dick Durbin"
No wonder he's so intent on passing health care reform.
I had dick durbin back in college; hurt like a bitch when I peed for, like, weeks.
Tags: Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Health Care
