Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Seventeenth Summary 04-12-2011 PM

US Senate takes a look at "fracking" in MD
Baltimore Sun (blog)
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on the public health and environmental impacts of the controversial drilling technique. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, is joining Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California ...

Senate vote to defund Planned Parenthood scheduled for Thursday ...
By Ed Morrissey
It's not the first time that an effort to defund Planned Parenthood has come to the Senate floor. Louisiana's David Vitter tried in 2007 to strip funding to the nation's largest abortion provider, but lost on a 41-52 vote. ...

Senate Armed Services GOP gets on Twitter - The Hill's Twitter Room
By jordan.fabian@thehill.com (Jordan Fabian)
The Senate's most popular tweeter is getting his committee on Twitter. The Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans, led Ranking Member John McCain ( Ariz.
Comment: John McCain makes war fun through Twitter boys and girls!

US Senator: Belarus Shouldn't Host World Hockey
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Senator Dick Durbin, assistant leader of the Senate's majority Democrats, says in a letter to the International Ice Hockey Federation that the 2014 championship should not be held in Minsk until Lukashenka "releases all the country's political ...

Comment: Durbin is one of 100 reasons to repeal the 17th Amendment!

Senator Gillibrand talks budget crisis
CU Columbia Spectator
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called on students get involved in public policy to fix problems like the ones currently facing state budgets in a speech on campus Monday. By Jackie Carrero Just days after a national government shutdown was averted, ...

Senator Schumer Pushes for Tougher Prescription Pill Laws
WKBW-TV
Today, at Tile Pharmacy in Cheektowaga, US Senator Charles Schumer announced his plan to crack down on prescription drug theft that is fueling an unprecedented spike in drug abuse in Buffalo and Western NY. ...

Comment: I predict even more federal law enforcement activity within the state and local law enforcement purview under the guise of this abhorrent “war on drugs.”

Senate Republicans Threatening To Make Harry Reid And Dems Go It Alone On ...
Huffington Post
But a little is not none: Senate Republicans could threaten to withhold support for raising it and force Democrats to pass it on a straight party line vote. One member of the Senate GOP leadership signaled this is the way the party might go. ...

Did Senate GOP doom EPA riders?
Politico
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may have played a starring role in ensuring a last-minute spending deal didn't include controversial environmental riders. By insisting on a Senate floor ...

Lugar raises $1M in 3 months for Senate campaign
Indianapolis Star
22 Senate candidates are required to mail their campaign disclosure reports for the first quarter to the Federal Election Commission by Friday. Lugar reported raising $973853 and having $3 million in the bank at the end of March, according to the ...

NRA-ILA :: Grassley says emails suggest BATFE blocking Senate gun ...
Grassley says emails suggest BATFE blocking Senate gun probe. In a letter Friday to ATF Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson, Sen. Charles E. Grassley said emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act "appear to contain proposed ...

Schumer: Senate Will 'Never, Never, Never' Defund Planned ...
Schumer vowed yesterday that the provision to defund Planned Parenthood that passed the House earlier this year is “never, never, never going to pass the Senate ...
www.infowars.com/schumer-senate-will-‘never-never-never’-...

McCotter: Don't blame Boehner, blame the intransigent Democrats ...
By The Right Scoop
If we are serious about changing and fixing the culture of corruption, political party bickering, tax and spend attitude that brought us this unbalanced budget crisis in DC just repeal the 17th Amendment and put the power of the Senate ...

1 comment:

danq said...

You raise an interesting idea about the fracking. They are doing it in PA just west of me too.

The federal government gave oil companies complete immunity from all lawsuits regarding this practice - all states can do about exploding tap water and visible methane fog is require the drilling companies (who provide quick fixes but refuse to admit the visible phenomena are real or even buy themselves a think tank study) to deliver clean drinking water to the towns they damage.

I don't know enough about this issue to give a podcast, but it might be a good idea to find someone. The idea that the states cannot protect their own land or citizens due to complete federal immunity for the oil companies' actions is a great example of why we need to give the Senate back to the states.