Massachusetts… Battleground State Deluxe

I figured as my final article for this week, this topic is the right one to cover. As many of you are now aware, the special election to fill the vacant Senate seat that was once held by Senator Ted Kennedy is being held on Tuesday. It is a pivotal election, as a GOP win would drop the Democrats majority to only 59 in the Senate, meaning that they would be unable to stop a Republican filibuster on health care or any other illegitimate legislation that they are attempting to ram through Congress with 1:00am votes and limited debate allowances. The seat is being held temporarily by Paul Kirk, a Kennedy family friend and former Democratic National Committee Chairman. The Massachusetts legislature allowed Governor Deval Patrick to appoint Kirk as the interim Senator back in September. Kirk’s vote has been a pivotal one over the stretch of time since then.

Another Step Towards Senate Madness

Here it is 2:20 am and I am just beginning to write for tonight. It lends itself, as many of you know, to my offering my opinions on something rather than a well researched article. Tonight will be no exception. I ate up over an hour of the night watching the health care debates in the Senate on CSPAN, and then watching them pass a cloture vote 60-40 to end debate on the additions to the health care bill from Senator Reid. Then I spent an hours discussing health care on facebook with a few of Rani’s friends, while simultaneously being insulted by another friend of hers. It was quite comical as he continued to spout that I was stupid, ignorant, uninformed, and talking out my ass. He accused me of being a Republican, perhaps the biggest insult of the night, and summed up my invitation to the other two to come and debate here by saying that any asshole can write a blog. What he never did was offer a single fact for debate. Not one. The entirety of his argument was that I was a stupid Republican and my writing a blog doesn’t mean anything (the one point that I agree with). I don’t imagine he will attempt to come here and engage any of us here. But I certainly hope that he does…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for August 25, 2009

Well, I have to say that the article on “the Greater Good” yesterday certainly drew some interesting responses. To be honest I found myself sitting and reading the responses from Mathius and Chris, thinking, “This has to be some kind of joke. No person is really this clueless to the moral ramifications of what they are espousing.” I honestly thought they were joking at first in order to get a rise out of folks. It appears that is not the case. So topic number one will be dedicated to some continuation of that topic. I realize of course there will still be discussions continuing on yesterday’s article as well. There is certainly plenty of big news out there to discuss. I want to reiterate what some new readers may not realize. Open Mic is the chance for everyone else to offer topics that they want to discuss. It helps cut down on “hi-jacking” on other days. So if there is something you want to discuss, start a thread and discuss it!

Uh Oh… Souter Retires, Liberals Get Giddy

The news broke this morning and I immediately fell to my knees and screamed to the heavens “Nooooo”. OK that didn’t really happen, because I saw this coming, as the rumors had been swirling for a while now. Justice David Souter has announced that when the summer session ends he will step down as a Supreme Court Justice after 20 years on the nation’s highest bench. This means that the “Progressive President” will have his first opportunity to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court. I know that many of you are already starting to panic. You are afraid that the ultra-liberal agenda of the current administration means that the Supreme Court is going to drastically change, moving far to the left, and the world as we know it is going to crash down around us. I can already hear some of you grinding your teeth and packing up your belongings so that you can make a quick exit from the country. To everyone I say… 

Heir to the Throne… America’s Royalty?

We have been hearing a lot lately about Hillary Clinton’s soon to be vacated New York Senate seat. We have also seen a lot of discussion around the Roland Burris appointment in Illinois. I am going to focus on New York here, but my conclusion will apply to both situations. It looks more each day like Caroline Kennedy will be appointed to the Senate. To me this is a bit agonizing. Can’t the Kennedy’s just go away?

Chicago Stinks… and We aren’t talkin about the Cubs

I initially told myself that I wasn’t going to write about this subject. “Too much of a layup” I said. “Too easy to take a shot at this” I told my friends. But see that is the beauty for a guy like me, who spent most of his youth getting rejected by basketball players far better than I. A layup is an awfully inviting thing. I mean it is a slam dunk in the box score, right? So I am taking the shot, and letting myself vent on not only sleazy Illinois Governor Blagojevich, but the entire Chicago machine, which I think once or twice has given us a national figure…..