The Washington Post reports that the Senate has managed to pass a bill limiting the amount of influence lobbyists possess on Capitol Hill.  While the bill does not go as far as was promised by Democrats during the election, it is definitely a positive and much-needed step in the right direction.  When lobbyists use money to influence Congressional votes, the word that comes to my mind is “bribery.”

There are two downsides, though.  First, in order to get a vote on this bill, Senate Democrats made it more difficult to pass the minimum-wage hike that is coming from the House.  Republicans in the Senate had attempted to kill the lobbying measure by attaching an amendment to the bill that would give the president a line-item veto on spending bills – this would never have passed through the Congress (or the judiciary, but that’s another story).  The line-item veto amendment will now be considered in conjunction with the minimum-wage increase, casting a shadow over that bill’s fate.

Second, the House also must pass the anti-lobbying bill for it to become law.  There is speculation that the House will not agree to all of the reforms it proposes.  What we can expect is a more watered-down version to finally become law.  Even that would be a step in the right direction, but definitely less than this voter expected to see.

Bush Administration on Democrats: criticism of the government and the president gives aid and comfort to the terrorists.

Maliki on Bush Administration: criticism of the government and the prime minister gives aid and comfort to the terrorists.

So Democrats please stop criticising the Maliki govern– wait a minute…WTF?

First off, good for them.  It’s a start.

From the Republican position, doing anything to make it easier for the poor and middle class to go to college seems to be heresy.  The elitist response from Republicans whenever they cut student loan and student aid programs boggles the mind.  By identifying these investments in the future as the problem, Republicans lose sight of the bigger picture.

 The average master’s students’ debt is $32,500.  For law and medical students, the numbers are nearly triple.  The reason this is important is because lawyers and doctors (to say nothing of social workers, engineers, architects, etc.) who graduate in such conditions of indentured servitude are forced to make choices that affect society as a whole. 

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”  Henry VI, Part 2.

The Shakespearian rollercoaster that is the Bush 43 presidency took a marked turn recently.  While Bush has been decrying “activist judges” for years now, only recently has the administration made a concerted effort to remove the scourge that is the unelected adjudicators of liberty.  The Attorney General’s most recent comments, proclaiming that there are “…inherent limits that make an unelected judiciary inferior to Congress or the president,” are only the latest salvo in the administrations attempt to neutralize the law.

At the same time they are suggesting that their co-equal branch of government is inferior, the administration has also tightened the reins in other areas.  Circumventing Congress to hire and fire US Attorneys at will has also imperiled the judiciary system.  In the same way that intelligence was filtered prior to the Iraq invasion, this administration is attempting to create it’s own reality.

Sen. Barack Obama is in the race for 2008:

“Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can’t tackle the big problems that demand solutions”

Expect Republican “strategists” to remind us all in the coming weeks and months that his middle name is “Hussein” and Obama rhymes with Osama! Not that they’re suggesting anything of course.. *wink* *wink*

Meanwhile for those grounded in reality, this is an exciting announcement for a number of reasons, not least of which is the prospect of an articulate, thoughtful, and balanced person in charge of the country again.

I personally haven’t drank the Obama kool-aid yet and have concerns about his flower blooming too fast, but none the less, a very exciting announcement.

As usual Keith Olbermann says exactly what I’m thinking better than I ever could. If you’ve got nine minutes, I’d recommend watching his “special comment” from last night’s show.

Wisconsin’s lawmakers chime in on the President’s Groundhog Day “strategy”:

Rep. David Obey, a Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said, “From what I’ve seen in the papers, I think this is just a last gasp, Hail Mary pass by the president, which ignores the fact that their policy has essentially produced an incredible disaster in that region of the world that will not be correctable for years to come.”

Sen. Russ Feingold, a long-term critic of the war in Iraq, said the president had it backward.

“We should be bringing our troops out of Iraq, not the other way around,” he said. “The American people’s message at the ballot box was loud and clear, and it is past time that the administration listened.”

Sen. Herb Kohl, a fellow Democrat, was more cautious.

“Because the administration’s execution of the war has been so badly mishandled, I want to hear and analyze the president’s proposal to see whether it will signal a genuinely new strategy instead of more of the same,” he said.

Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat, called the plan “exactly what the American people have said they do not want: a failed policy of ‘more of the same.”‘

Rep. Ron Kind used a football metaphor to describe the plan.

“What we need is a president capable of calling an audible rather than the same play over and over again,” he said. “I will have serious concerns if what the president is proposing is more of the same, only with more troops in harm’s way.”

Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said she strongly opposed the plan.

“In November, voters sent a clear message that they don’t support a war without end,” she said.

Freshman Rep. Steve Kagen, a Democrat, said that without a comprehensive plan, “any proposal to send more of our brave men and women into Iraq is just another example of this administration’s failure to appreciate and respond to reality.”

Republican Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri declined to comment ahead of Bush’s speech, while GOP Rep. Paul Ryan said he was keeping an open mind.

“I want to hear the specifics of the president’s Iraq plan and get more details before drawing conclusions,” Ryan said. “… At minimum, any temporary increase in troop levels should be part of a concrete, achievable plan for stabilizing the area and turning over security to the Iraqis as soon as possible.”

This has been a huge issue in the DNC for the past year… Would the award for the 2008
Democratic convention go to the old standard New York City or to a up and coming Democratic city like Denver?

Word just came over the wires that the DNC selection committee has choosen Denver, and I for one couldn’t be happier about the decision.

Democrats continue to see huge gains in the West and Southwest, and choosing a great city like Denver is an acknowledgment that much of the future of the Democratic Party  is tied to the support and growth of those areas.