Victory for Franken (But Its Not Over)

Today the Minnesota court has rule that only 400 ballots, of the almost 1000 that Coleman and Franken had asked to be recounted, be recounted in the election. Almost ensuring that Franken will maintain his lead and thus be named as the freshman senator from Minnesota.

Does that mean its over for Coleman. Oh, hell no. His lawyer is already shouting appeal:

“If the court does not reverse its decision, it will give us no choice but to appeal that order to the Minnesota Supreme Court.”

Why the long drawn out process. At this point in time Coleman doesn't give a rats ass about the citizens of Minnesota. Its all political for this one. The GOP is better served not having Franken in DC because that means the dems would stay at 58 senators and not 59. 1 shy of the glorious 60 needed to end GOP's fillibustering.

What happens at the end of this long line? Well, some say that once the Minnesota Supreme Court rules, (most likely in Franken's favor), the state could give Franken a certificate and let him temporarily represent Minnesota awaiting any further appeals.

At the end of the day, Coleman sees the writing on the wall. He has a new job and is dealing with his other legal problems. It seems his wife has getting paid by an insurance company to do nothing. Fishy stuff.

Harry Reid is A Moron

Harry Reid, the senate majority leader, is a total and utter moron. He has little to no power in the senate and seems willing to get railroaded by repubs. But his most recent comments take the cake. In Politico, he's quoted as saying:

“Roberts didn’t tell us the truth. At least Alito told us who he was,”

He's bitching that Roberts was not totally honest during the senate confirmation hearings. What in the hell did he expect?  Of course he lied on his responses. He wanted the job.

4 years ago two supreme court seats became available and Bush, ultraconservative, appointed a fairly unknown, Roberts, to the bench as chief justice. With little known about the man, dems asked a series of questions and seemed satisfied with the candidate. (Truth being they should have filibustered to the hilt. A moderate was needed and they got a radical. Pussies!)

Now, 4 years later, Reid is telling us that the candidates Bush appointed were not honest. This is sooooo infuriating. Not because of Roberts lied but because of Reid's ingnorance. Reid knew very well who Bush would appoint.  He knew what was going on. Dems do this all the time. Their desire to actually legislate overrides their common sense. They take it in the ass and then say "whow, what just happened?"

This situation is a perfect example. Dems don't want to appear as if they were obstructing government so they went along. The repubs on the other hand really don't care about government so they put a radical in to move their agenda. At the end of the day, we have a nutter as chief justice and all the dems can do is complain about being lied to. 

Update: Not only is Harry complaining about Roberts. He's asking liberal groups to stop nagging moderate dems to do their job: enacting Obama's agenda. The same Obama that was elected by a large percentage of the population to change our government. 

GOP's Budget Has No Numbers

GOP introduced their new budget yesterday (Thursday) to great media coverage. The only problem was their budget had no numbers. The most embarrassing part was when Minority Leader Boehner, after quoting Obama's line from his press conference "we haven’t seen a budget out of [Republicans]", was asked "where is the budget?" he replied "We'll have that out next week."

Turns out, they have no numbers. Yesterday's fiasco was about the outline. Which royally pissed off the press because they were told on Tuesday night that "Given the President’s comments [Tuesday] night... we wanted to make sure you're all aware that we are introducing our Republican Budget Alternative tomorrow."

The really ironic part is that their real budget is coming out April 1st. AKA: April Fools.

Schwarzenegger Is Out

Looks like Arnold's falling poll numbers have caught up with him. The unpopularity of the budget meltdown. The unpopularity with repubs because of his policies. The unpopularity with dems because, well, he's a repub. This has all led up to having no real option but to quit. That is what the Sacremento Bee is reporting.  He won't beat Feinstein or Boxer for senate. He won't get reelected as the gobernator. 

Does that mean he's done. No. I remember the ballot initiatives several years ago that crashed and burned and yet he came back to win a second term.

Quote of the Day

PoliticalWire had a good find.

"The Republicans are like an arsonist who complains that the fire department is wasting water... Unless and until they do offer an alternative, they really have no right to whine about the president. For now at least, GOP stands for Got 0 Plans."

This comes from Paul Begala at CNN.

Specter To Vote No on EFCA

Senator Arlen Specter of Pa has decided to vote against cloture of the Employee Free Choice Act. This means it probably won't get to be voted on. Basically, killing the bill. (I am tired of journalists writing that it won't get "passed". This is wrong. What the repubs are doing now is filibustering anything they can't win. Which means no one gets to vote on it. 60 votes is needed to "end debate" and not "pass" a bill.)

What does this mean for Arlen? Well, it looks like he has chosen to run as a repub in 2010 and not independent. Why? I have no idea. He already has a strong primary challenger. He also had a gurantee from the labor unions to back his candidacy. (which are strong in Pa.)

At the end of the day. Arlen Specter's history of supporting unions just went out the window. I am afraid he might have secured an end to his career. 

Discouraging News For Education

I hate to pick on states with repub majorities but this is one reason why I, a teacher, don't live in these states.

It turns out that school districts in red states with  already deep cuts don't anticipate the stimulus money. Even with the language in the law expressly saying that school districts in the red get this money, the superintendents aren't holding their breath. From CQ Politics

"The economic stimulus package (PL 111-5) included a $53.6 billion state fiscal stabilization fund intended to be used to shore up the budgets of local school districts. But some Republican governors have rejected the funds outright, prompting concerns that even governors who accept the money might divert it to other uses."

This really chaps my ass. To divert money away from education when it was written in for poorer districts. For a governor, dem or repub, to take money away from students because they have some political agenda is infuriating. 

There is also a nastier side of it. Govs might give them the money now, because of the law and then take away other money later. 

"But even educators in states with governors who are taking stabilization funds say they’re worried that funding may never make it down to the school district level, or that states will make education budget cuts in the future knowing that districts have received the federal money." (emphasis mine.)

Sick!