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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skywatcher who wrote (2836)	5/11/2005 9:59:39 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9838

Filibuster debate could change lives (Joe Scarborough) I know this is not going to shock you, but politicians in Washington are hypocrites. If you are one of the 14 people in America that still don't believe that, take a look at the filibuster debate. Filibuster debate. Ugh! The two words bring on sleep faster than mixing Valium and vodka. (Not that I would know!) And while I spend a great deal of time telling you why Washington does not matter as much as Washington thinks it matters, this is one of those rare times when a debate about an archaic rule change could change your life. This debate is not about lower court judges. It is about the two justices George W. Bush will appoint this summer. Those two will decide whether Roe v. Wade and scores of other landmark cases are upheld or overturned. Huge political stakes! But the hypocrisy part of this story comes by looking at the positions of senators operating under a Republican president and comparing those positions to where they stood when Democrat Bill Clinton was in the Oval Office. In the late ‘90s, Democratic senators like Pat Leahy were preaching on the evils of the filibuster. The Senate Judiciary Chairman even declared that the filibuster should never be used to block judicial nominees from getting an up or down vote. Leahy's position was predictably shared by the same Democrats who are now the strongest supporter of the filibuster to block up or down votes. The same Pat Leahy who preached outright prohibition against judicial filibusters now claims the Republicans who are adopting his position are guilty of destroying the Constitution and doing great violence to America's systems of checks and balances. The media has proven itself to be equally inconsistent. The same New York Times that recently claimed Senate Majority Leader Bill First's attempts to do away with the judicial filibuster will establish a U.S. theocracy said this of the filibuster in 1995, again, when Bill Clinton was trying to appoint liberal judges. "The filibuster is an archaic rule that frustrates democracy and serves no useful purpose." Interesting change of opinion, wouldn't you say? Don't get me wrong. I think the nuclear option is no option at all. The U.S. Senate is supposed to be the deliberative body. The Senate I loved in 1993 and 1994 for killing Bill Clinton's most offensive legislation was the same Senate I detested when they did the same thing to the Republican Revolution's offerings in 1995 and 1996. When I cooled down a few years later, I understood the genius of our Founding Fathers. The Senate is a check on majoritarian instincts. Hopefully others in the U.S. Senate will under stand that before the Upper Chamber becomes consumed in an ugly, drawn out political war.

To: Skywatcher who wrote (2836)	5/11/2005 10:00:32 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

The "Clinton Legacy" continues to grow: N. Korea 'boosts nuclear arsenal' CNN International - 1 hour ago SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has finished extracting nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon plant and moved to expand its nuclear arsenal, according to a report on the official KCNA news agency. The country ... N.Korea says completes nuclear fuel extraction Reuters AlertNet China urges restraint from all in N.Korea talks Reuters South Africa