Friday, January 07, 2011

The Seventeenth Summary 01-07-2011 PM

By Barry Rubin
A primary example of an a failed experiment in “greater democracy” is the 17th amendment. Prior to the 17th Amendment, the legislatures of the various states selected the senators that represented those states. This level of separation ...

By Jon Ponder
The 17th Amendment took away the power of state legislatures to elect U.S. Senators, adding to existing constitutional limits on the states. no separate foreign policies. no state currency, no taxing goods to or from other states and ...

Comment: This is a transcript, with video, of an interview conducted by Keith Olbermann, where he discusses the founding of country with a Yale professor, who obviously hasn’t the slightest idea of what he talking about. Both make the comparison that the founders were “liberal democrats.” Certainly in the lexicon of the day I would agree, but not today. That’s like saying the Democrat Party has commonality with Andrew Jackson.

Rapid City Journal
Sen. Tim Johnson said attempts by House Republicans to repeal the Democratic health care reform law are dead on arrival in the US Senate. ...

89.3 KPCC
California's junior US Senator issued a strong warning to House Republicans: don't handcuff the federal Environmental Protection Agency. And by the way, ...

Washington Post (blog)
By Greg Sargent
As you probably noticed, Senator Ben Nelson has taken a bit of a beating in the last 24 hours because he seemed to tell a local media outlet ...

Sacramento Bee
A US senator has put a $440000 stimulus grant for Gibson Ranch on his list of most wasteful projects in the past year. The grant will pay for energy ...

Clevelander George Voinovich has retired after his second term in the U.S. Senate. …

Comment: Thank Goodness.

New York Times
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, testified before the Senate Budget Committee after an unemployment report was released on Friday. ...
MinnPost.com
Tom Udall, Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken and others who hope to change the Senate's filibuster rules by majority vote in the coming weeks, ...

By Sen. Jon Tester
I am leading a new effort to clean up Congress by boosting transparency and efficiency in the way the U.S. Senate debates legislation. This is the next step in bolstering accountability and cleaning up Washington.

Comment: You have to first laugh when a senator starts out by saying "I am leading a new effort to clean up Congress."

By Mark A. Calabria
With the start of the 112th Congress, Senate Democrats have offered a set of rule changes, most of which are geared toward the filibuster. Some of these changes, such as guaranteeing the minority at least three amendments, ...
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