Julia Rietmulder-Stone's blog | ramblings about poetry, politics, & Harrisburg
It should come as no surprise that Bush’s approval ratings continue to drop. However, the fact that Americans are apparently aware enough to disapprove is just about the only bit of good news to be found in this.
That is, of course, very encouraging. For 2008. I can’t believe we have three years to go.
Apparently the PA state legislature is listening to its constituents. Kind of.
After months of angry talk show hosts and voters expressing their, well, anger with the pay raise the PA legislature gave themselves over the summer, both houses have passed bills to repeal it. It ain’t over yet, but it’s a step.
Here are the relevant stats (in my opinion):
Pre-raise, the base pay for a legislator was $69,647; top leaders made $108,722.
Post-raise base pay was $81,050; top leaders made $145,533.
According to the Patriot, the raises made PA legislators the second best paid in the nation.
But wait, you might be thinking, how can they give themselves immediate raises mid-term?
The raises weren’t in the form of actual raises because, you’re right, that would be illegal. Instead, they authorized monthly “unvouchered expenses.” That is, every month a legislator can say, “I spent a bunch of money, you need to reimburse me,” but doesn’t have to provide any kind of proof of that. It’s understood that they don’t actually have to spend any money.
So whether or not the PA legislators deserve raises, this was not a cool way to go about giving them to themselves.
Okay, so the Democrats forced the Senate into a closed session to discuss pre-war intelligence failures. I can’t really not comment. But while it is exciting to see the Dems do something, I’m not sure that they, well, did anything — other than piss off Bill Frist. Not that there’s no satisfaction there.
On the other hand, it is understandable that he would be upset, since he didn’t realize that anyone had been concerned until yesterday.
“Really, I think it was not a good thing to do. … I think we’d have been a lot better off if Democratic Leader Reid had just walked down the hall to Senator Frist’s office and said he had a concern instead of going through that shenanigan yesterday,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions , R-Ala.
Bush is expected to announce his nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court at 8 AM today. Alito is currently an appellate judge for the 3rd Circuit, but was not among the judges who ruled on The Circle School v. Pappert.
The Washington Post portrays him as conservative, but not inexorably so, and has this to say about comparisons to the dear Scalia, “His opinions and dissents tend to be dryly analytical rather than slashing.”
I guess we’ll see.
This is cute.
In a televised speech to the nation last night, President George W. Bush praised the Federal government for responding swiftly to Hurricane Rita with well-crafted, high-quality photo opportunities showing him looking concerned.
Bush Happy with Rita Photo Ops
(Thanks, Marty!)
My earliest memories of Arlen Specter relate to my mother’s despise for him. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I learned her biggest problem with him was his conduct toward Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings. Since I’m too young to remember the specific atrocities he committed, I’m finding lately that I think I actually like Specter.
Today, he kinda made me proud to be a Pennsylvanian.
I’ve been watching the “reruns” of the opening statements of the Roberts confirmation hearings and I’ve been totally struck by the Republican senators’ constant harping on this “judicial activism” thing. “Our courts are legislating from the bench!” they’re saying. “This is not what the Founders had in mind!”
I’m sorry, boys, but I don’t think the Founders imagined that you all would get so creative with the commerce clause. The Supreme Court hears cases about which there is a Constitutional question. If you stopped overstepping your authority maybe they wouldn’t have to overturn your legislation so often.
The California Supreme Court passed down three rulings yesterday upholding the legal status of gay non-biological parents. Or, “lesbians who agree to raise children borne by their partners can be considered legal parents after their relationship ends with the biological motherâ€.
I feel a little weird talking about this being a good thing, because it doesn’t seem so much like this was positive action, but that instead it would have been ludicrous and completely backasswards for them to have decided otherwise. But then there’s this guy:
“Today’s ruling defies logic and common sense,†said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, which intervened in the state Supreme Court cases. “By saying that children can have two moms, the court has undermined the family.â€
WHAT??? First off, I don’t think you’re allowed to keep the name “Liberty Counsel†if you’re going to talk like that; second, is he seriously saying that it’s better for “the family†for children of gay couples (or former couples) to have only one parent?
I can’t make it, but apparently tonight there’s a nationwide movement of solidarity vigils for Cindy Sheehan, the mother who’s been protesting near Bush’s ranch.
There are two in this area, in Harrisburg and York, and it looks like the registered spots are filling up fast.
I noticed that many, but not all, flags around here have been flying at half staff for the last few days. In case you’re curious too, it turns out Governor Rendell ordered that “Pennsylvania state flags be flown at half staff through Sept. 11 in honor of the seven National Guardsmen killed this week, and all 92 Pennsylvanians who have lost their lives fighting the war on terror.â€
I don’t really see that many state flags being flown at all, so I guess some people have opted to fly their American flags at half staff instead.