Open Thread – An Elite Poll
I’ve been thinking about Alaska Republicans, and the strange counterintuitive tendency to look down on people who are perceived as elite. That whole process sort of defies logic right there. “I’m better than you because you think you’re better than me.”
I’ve also noticed that there are several Alaskan Republicans of varying degrees of note who, ironically, have some really elitist sounding names. And I’m not picking on any of them. Well, I’m not picking on them because of their names. I like a good name. I knew a guy in high school named Richard Curtis Washburn III. Great name. And I was just writing about Iditarod musher Aliy Zirkle. Also a great name.
But back to our friends affiliated with the Alaska GOP in one way or another. I thought we’d have a little poll and choose the most pretentious sounding name of my four favorite great names:
Tuckerman Babcock – Republican strategist
McHugh Pierre – Dept. of Military & Veterans Affairs Spokesman
Scheaffer Cox – Founder of Fairbanks 2nd Amendment Task Force, former candidate, recently arrested
Denby Lloyd – Palin appointee, Commissioner of the Dept. of Fish & Game
I know. It’s a tough decision, so snuggle down into that leather wing chair, have a nice snifter of brandy, stroke the head of your Irish Setter, fill your pipe with some sort of imported tobacco, and give it a good think. You may choose two awesome names.
Loading ...
For those who are trying to keep up with the ” Sullied Mayor ” of Anchorage…
I would suggest reading Henkimaa’s most recent post that I just read.
There were a couple of late revelations/Updates posted in the ADN and Mel Green ( on her blog )works them in and shows a nice time-line sequence of the facts and some emails.
Fairly easy to understand, common-sense and most people would understand.
Most people… EXCEPT SULLY.
http://www.henkimaa.com/
Once upon a time, there was a mommy and a daddy and a little baby without a name. What’s in a name? McGeorge vs. Joshua vs. Cody, for example. Freakonomics covers the importance of names.
I chose Denby Lloyd because not only does it sound elite, it also sounds English.
For names NOT to chose (and a good laugh) visit bad baby names:
http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/
Just a common crow here…who missed the chance to make littlebird “elite.” She could have been a Raven if not for my short-sightedness 20 years ago. Hope she won’t need therapy…I don’t think school district health insurance covers that!
Thunderstorms and rain here today, but that’s OK. It’s the last day of The Test, so tomorrow we can get back to our regularly scheduled Learning.
Any Florida mudpups and friends of education here on the ‘flats: Please take a look at Florida Senate Bill #6. Public educators now have a big fat target on our backs, and collective bargaining is in jeopardy. This union agitator, er, Activist, would appreciate any and all assistance as we push back against this travesty. Toda raba.
Quayana. Thank you.
Here’s hoping your day is pleasant and productive.
L’Shalom.
I would add “That whole process sort of defies logic right there. “I’m better than you because I THINK you think you’re better than me.”
I’M HAVING FUN FOLLOWING THE IDITAROD! All nine of the teams I’m following are still in the running.
First teams have made it ito the halfway point!
I went with Babcock because I adore Auntie Mame’s withering look when Mr. Babcock corrects her on his name.
I voted for Pierre, for that added Frenchy sounding last name.
Art exhibit made out of skate decks. Of course the favorite would be #6.
http://graffart.eu/blog/2010/02/harvest-by-haroshi-%E2%80%9Cskate-destroy%E2%80%9D-exhibition/
I’m originally from Alabama, and each of those names would be believable for “the elite” there too. And notice that you can transpose the first and last names for each to get just as believable a name? Ok, maybe Cox doesn’t work as well for a first name.
Hmmm … tough choice.
Denby Lloyd … Lloyd George …
McHugh Pierre … French … anything with “Hugh” …
But I went with Tuckerman Babcock. Babcock definitely sounds elitist and adding an extra syllable to “Tucker” seems … a bit poncy as well.
Poor Cox … didn’t stand a chance with me.
Talk about difficult choices!
Thanks for the heads up, thatcrowwoman@4.
Is this the bill you are referring to?
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&Tab=session&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&BillNum=0006&Chamber=Senate&Year=2010&Title=%2D%3EBill%2520Info%3AS%25200006%2D%3ESession%25202010
I see 2 and 4 are also education-related and wonder if they are not being dealt with as a ‘package’.
I also notice that one of the most (IMO) reactionary senators, Ronda Storms, co-sponsored these bills. That woman tried to push one of those bogus “Academic Freedom” bills (i.e., freedom to teach Intelligent Design aka Creationism in Science classrooms) on our State a few years back. As far as I’m concerned, anything with her name and stamp of approval on it in the realm of education should immediately be voted against.
The future of the Republic is at stake-the whole shmazzole
(Countdown Beck/Massa recap)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35807074
8 austintx Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 5:44 AM
Art exhibit made out of skate decks. Of course the favorite would be #6.
http://graffart.eu/blog/2010/02/harvest-by-haroshi-%E2%80%9Cskate-destroy%E2%80%9D-exhibition/
________________________
those are amazing , thanks for the link
Throughout history rebellion against the bourgeoisie and the elites have shown violent and brutal aggression from those that did not consider themselves so.
Think the Bolshevik Revolution where the Tsar’s heir, four daughters, wife, maid and doctor were shot by (wait for it) Palin’s favorite new word, the “Extraordinary” Commission.
Think Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China where he alleged that “liberal bourgeois” elements were permeating the party and society at large and that they wanted to restore capitalism as the ideal society in which to live under. Millions of people were beaten, tortured, plundered or murdered under The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. It was characterized by political zealotry, purges of intellectuals, and social and economic chaos. Iconic Images not deemed Mao-worthy were destroyed, a great familial and historical gap exists because of such traditional and memorabilia destruction.
They often employ violence, intimidation and terror tactics. If we eliminate the Elites, we are all equal, cause no one is going to be better than me, Joe-Six-Pack or Sally-Church-Song. Where is Free Market and capitalism any more of an equalizer or better than government in watching out for the public interest? When he dollar is the bottom line, the thousands or the millions who get hurt or affected by capitalist oversight would go unchecked if it weren’t for government. Think the Wall Street Financial Meltdown. Think the MatMaid disaster with Palin’s power of the Governor’s office in appointing her equally unqualified Valley friends and throwing public money at a losing business. Ironic. She knows the word, but not in context to her record.
Think the Taliban in blowing up ancient Bhuddist statues : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1326063/After-1700-years-Buddhas-fall-to-Taliban-dynamite.html
The root of anti-elitism is a criticism of privilege and the policies perceived to breed privilege. Think Big Government via the Tea Party folks.
I’m no historian, but I did read books and did my homework in school and college, I read newspapers, press releases and watch the news. I note disturbing historical phenomena knowing that is not uncommon and reoccurring despite that famous saying by philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Here’s to the likes of Palin and McCain who pooh-pooh our memory for their purposes and stir the flames of anti-Elite rhetoric that inevitably leads to violence and destruction.
Please let Hollis French know that you feel the current AG is an unacceptable choice. Just the delivery of the 77,000 Alaskan names and social security numbers into the “public” domain somehow which occurred on his watch is reason enough. This and the Kalskag case among everything else this cadre has done to date does not really represent the best interests of Alaska. I think we need to be very careful about who the next AG will be and we need to start over.
I find myself in the majority yet again! Tuckerman rules! Just for giggles, put the old appendage to each name… you all remember the fun with our renamings to the clan, mine was Wrangler Tractor Palin. Just add ‘Palin’ at the end of each name. Three out of four of the above listed come out pretty good as Palin family members. Scheaffer, poor fellow however… well I’m too much the gentleman to even go there! It’s like adding ‘in bed’ to the end of every fortune cookie wisdom… once you’ve done it, you can’t stop!
Tuckerman was the winner for me too.
Can we get a post on the local Anchorage elections soon? There are some scary people running for School Board. Their main goal is to provide tax credits for people who send their kids to private schools. Now, who pays taxes in Anchorage? Only property owners. I guess renters aren’t really welcome in those private schools anyway. Too many of them have funny foreign names.
Someone actually named their child “Tuckerman” ?
Like he never outgrew his childhood nickname.
Gracious, now I know why I was never blessed with children
I would have stunted their careers with John or Alex
However, Tuckerman and Denby got my vote.
I liked McHugh but the French-y last name
didn’t quite fit with the Irish-y first name.
Thank goodness we could vote for two. And, from what I know, Tuckerman (whose sister’s name is Portia I think) and McHugh are as elite-acting as their names might suggest.
The art exhibit is mind-blowing!!!!! How refreshing to see something of beauty for a change.
Thank you for the link #8 Austintx
I adore you….. but occasionally SP chose someone worthwhile. Denby is a good egg and was an exception to all of SP’s hoo ha’s.
Denby isn’t considered a good egg in Western Alaska. Decades of special interest bias and indifference – sure he’s served the State for most of his professional career, and earned the Commissioner of Fish & Game distinction putting in the hours, but when you go beyond a resume and biography into the minutiae of policy decision and influence, there are many dead fish goin with the flow.
He’s a good lookin guy though. Personable enough. Wouldn’t consider him elite.
Austintx@#6 posted a link to an art exhibit in which there are wonderful objects but my favorite would have to be the moose. Brian as art. WOW. just beautiful. i am sending it out to family and friends. thanks Austin.
New development on the ACORN front. Judge says Gov can’t cut funding. Here is a link to the HufPost’s excellent article. As the author mentions, this judgement will not make front page in the MSM, so we all need to get this information out.
Pleeeeeeze pretty pleeeeeze
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-atlas/acorn-wins-another-victor_b_494623.html#postComment
Please open the floor for more nominations. I always thought Talis Colberg said it all.
Oh, how could I have forgotten! AKM
Enjay in E MT @ 18 wrote: “[snip] I liked McHugh but the French-y last name
didn’t quite fit with the Irish-y first name.”
It was precisely for that reason I voted for it…I mean, how much more elite can one get than to have a name that embodies [captures] *2* ‘old world’ cultures in one fell swoop? (And I say this as a woman who once had a student named “Sirloin”… what were his parents thinking? And another, “Descateaux” –pronounced Dakota. Also had, among others, a Leglexton and a Ferlando.) beth.
It was a difficult choice but I went with Tuckerman Babcock. It has more syllables and it screams elegant teas, British boarding schools and fox hunts. McHugh Pierre was a close second, but the Scottish French culture clash didn’t conjure up the same sense of elitism.
Where I come from in Ohio, if your parents saddled you with a name like Tuckerman or Schaeffer or McHugh you got yourself a folksy nickname as soon as you could, like on the first day of kindergarten. So when you grow up and ran for office, you can list yourself as “Tuckerman ‘Joe’ Babcock on the ballot. And all your campaign literature says “Vote for Joe.”
P.G. Wodehouse would have loved these names.
I’m with Villages – I do not think Denby should be in that job. Special interest (pollack and lots more), special interest, special interest! He’s done a very poor job on the issues related to salmon by-catch the the trawling industries.
Clem Kadiddlehopper
The great thing about a great name is when you can’t tell the gender of the owner just by reading it.
@ # 25 99615 Re: Talis Colberg
———————————-
Yep. Definitely a write-in Vote for Talis Codpiece;
–wherein his name is elitist in itself.
–wherein his name evokes images of the elitist gear that “hold their manhoods.”
–wherein Mr. Codpiece demonstrated elitist panache by quoting Shakespeare’s Henry V’s St.
Crispin’s Day speech in the Alaska Dept. of Law Handbook.
–wherein Mr. Codpiece considered himself and those serving under the despotic rule of the Palin administration as the “merry band of brothers”….. while everyone else:
“Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
A rose by any other name smells as elite….
# 31
A Fan From Chicago Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:30 PM
The great thing about a great name is when you can’t tell the gender of the owner just by reading it.
——————————
THAT is completely true. Just think of all of the ‘ mystery ‘ we had when we heard of AKMuckraker.
Not only just the name but we even had a chance to read all the stories AKM posted for some other insight and we STILL didn’t know WHO this was.
At least I didn’t. Until Doo Doo Doogan.
Judy5cents–oh, but you should meet him; he just screams elite bast***, from the fake how-could-I-get-any-tanner tan to the haughty, I’m-better-than-you-because-I-know-people attitude.
This just came through in an email.
———————-
This is an urgent action alert…
40 senators — including Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer — promised to vote “yes” on the public option…and more are promising every day.
But Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) just announced that he would tell Democratic senators to OPPOSE all amendments, including a public option amendment, if offered on the Senate floor.
——————————–
WHAT is wrong with Durbin..? Is he holding something ‘ hostage ‘ to get something in return…? That seems to be the PLAN of a LOT of these Dems.
The GOP is not the enemy… they can’t do or contribute anything. The enemy seems to be from within the Party.
Begich finally speaks on the public option!!!
Begich said that he wouldn’t let the health care bill overall “live or die” over the issue of the public option.
The Public Option’s Last Stand: A Matter Of Will, Not Votes
The public option faces its last stand. With more than 40 senators publicly willing to vote for a health care reform reconciliation package that includes the option, the opportunity to reinsert it into the final bill has never been greater, though the battle is nearly over without having been fought.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democrat in charge of rounding up votes for the health care reconciliation bill, said on Thursday that he will whip support for whatever package comes through the House. With 50 Democratic votes, Vice President Joe Biden could then break the tie and send the bill directly to the White House. If any amendments are adopted, it slows the process down by requiring the House to vote once again.
Yet without any whip effort from the Senate or the White House, 41 individual senators have publicly said that they are willing to support a public option through the reconciliation process. The full list is here.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has not taken a position on supporting the public option through reconciliation, but he has previously said he supports it. What’s more, as Finance Committee chairman, he has called this health care reform the most important public policy effort he has ever been involved in. He would be unlikely to kill it over the public option, especially given his state’s support for it.
Rockefeller, Harkin and Baucus make it 44.
HuffPost also spoke to Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) this week. Hagan has previously said that she supports the public option and told HuffPost she’d be open to voting for it through reconciliation, but had to see the details. Begich said that he wouldn’t let the health care bill overall “live or die” over the issue of the public option.
Adding Kohl, Begich and Hagan to the total gets Durbin and the White House to 47.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) told HuffPost she wasn’t sure how she would vote, but she has been a reliable supporter of the president going back to the campaign. She would be the last person to kill health care, Obama’s signature domestic policy priority.
Her vote would give Democrats 48.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has said in the past that he would support a health care bill with a public option.
His vote would bring the number to 49 – one shy.
Sen. Bob Byrd (D-W.Va.) said he would support health care reform done through reconciliation. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), who is retiring, has said he’s open to using reconciliation to pass health care. Either of their votes would put Democrats over the top and both are gettable with an effort from leadership and the White House.
That would allow senators such as Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) to vote no.
And if both Byrd and Bayh refused to support the final bill, there’s always Sen. Ben Nelson. The Nebraska Democrat badly wants to vote to change the “Cornhusker Kickback,” for which he’s been pilloried at home and across the nation. Voting for reconciliation is the only way to do it.
In that case, Ben Nelson makes 50 — or, with Bayh and Byrd, 52.
UPDATE: The news that the Senate parliamentarian told Senate Republicans that the bill must become law before any amendments can be made through reconciliation alters the equation if true. The House, however, could still pass the Senate bill into law and then send the Senate a reconciliation fix with a public option. The Senate could torpedo that legislation without concern that no reform package at all would get passed, giving the Senate added leverage.
The underlying dynamic, however, remains unchanged: In the next few days, as the White House and congressional leaders meet to hash out the way forward, the votes appear to exist to include a public option. It’s only a matter of will.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/the-public-options-last-s_n_495383.html
If anyone has a Hotmail account — change your access password please.
The last 3 or 4 days while sleeping & what-not I apparently sent untold spam emails to everyone in my Hotmail addy book.
Looking at the Hotmail blogs – tis happening with a number of e-mail accounts.
Have virus scanned several times – without any luck so it appears I was (OMG) hi-jacked. They (Hotmail) suggested changing password –
which I did this afternoon And me – I deleted everyone in my hotmail addy book for now as an extra precaution. Only my 2nd email is listed so I’ll know in a few days if they are still active on my account.
Hanging head in shame that as an IT person — I didn’t change password on a 60-90 day cycle.
35 honestyinGov Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 1:08 PM
??????????????????????????????????????
DICK DURBIN (D-IL):
Durbin Communications Director Joe Shoemaker: “Sen. Durbin has long been a supporter of the public option. I don’t know whether the votes exist in the Senate right now, but if the House version of the public option came up for a vote in reconciliation Sen. Durbin would vote yes.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-green/senate-avalanche-for-the_b_480234.html
From link to post #36:
If the House does move first, the Senate would essentially face an up-or-down vote on whatever Pelosi sends over. Durbin was asked by HuffPost if he would whip a reconciliation package from the House that included a public option. An analysis of past statements and positions taken by members of the Democratic caucus indicates that there could plausibly be 53 votes for a public option and perhaps several more.
Durbin, in response to the question, said at first that it was hypothetical, but then answered, “I think there will come a time when we reach agreement on what the reconciliation package includes, with the understanding that any changes in the House or Senate could slow down or stop the process.”
So whatever comes from the House, that’s what you will whip?
“That’s basically it,” he said. “I hope that what comes from the House is what we agree on going into this debate.”
Story continues below
Has that been agreed to yet?
“Not yet,” said Durbin.
Some progressive supporters of the public option took that as a positive sign. “Dick Durbin just offered Nancy Pelosi a rubber stamp, something that will never happen again — especially in a 50-vote reconciliation environment,” said Adam Green, when told of Durbin’s remark. Green is a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has been pushing for a public option.
Beck: Fox News executive told me ‘you are the key’ to surviving ‘a global economic holocaust.’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/11/fox-exec-beck-key/
Friggin’ Crackhead
Oh BTW , Rachel has Pelosi on tonite.
Thanks to HonestyinGov for the note about the upcoming Wasilla Coffee Party, 10 am Saturday at Metro Cafe on Lucille. I’ll be there, and have sent a few emails inviting others, as well.
Whoo! Sen. Al Franken will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Netroots Conference, wish I was going!
Also, too. Be careful out there in your beautiful wild state
Rest in Peace, Candice
“Wolf may have killed Slippery Rock native in Alaska” @
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10070/1041963-84.stm
oh boodog!! i wish i could go hear him too.
valley independent…… i too was so sorry to hear of the young teacher’s death.
i am wondering though if autopsy was completed before word came out that she was in fact killed by a four footed animal or was this a rush to blame wolves or bears. no matter how it happened, the world has lost a beautiful woman. may we remember her in our thoughts and uphold her family and friends with loving thoughts.
so sorry i meant to reply to SAGE
bubbles, do you have me confused with someone else? I have not commented on the young teacher’s death. Last I heard, they were going to perform an autopsy to determine actual cause of death, and hadn’t decided if wolves were actually responsible for the death.
Sorry – that was convoluted. In any case, I agree it is a tragedy and we should not jump to conclusions about the cause.
appears as if john ‘boner’ has found another hole to crawl through…this time using the massa scandal to lunge in full force with a s***-eatin’ grin on his face…any excuse to go after speaker pelosi. (yawn)
palin & bachmann pair up…what a pair indeed…wonder if their ego’s will get in the way of each other…oh probably…wonder more if they’ll understand each other’s language.
Ah, okay, I see now. I’ll be quiet and go back to work. Bubbles and Sage, please accept my apologies for butting in.
terpsichore @11, that’s it. Florida Senate Bill 6 (and 2 and 4 also,too) all impact education. I checked this afternoon; looks like all 3 will be referred to committee(s)… as a former science teacher, thank you for the info on bill sponsor Ronda Storms. Creationism in science classes? Oy, vey! The storyteller in me loves a creation story, and the one from Genesis is among the many I’ve collected through the years…
I See Villages from my House @14 said
**I’m no historian, but I did read books and did my homework in school and college, I read newspapers, press releases and watch the news. I note disturbing historical phenomena knowing that is not uncommon and reoccurring despite that famous saying by philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Here’s to the likes of Palin and McCain who pooh-pooh our memory for their purposes and stir the flames of anti-Elite rhetoric that inevitably leads to violence and destruction.**
Well said, and, also, too, fine specific examples supporting your views. (Sorry, folks, The Test concluded today. Shaking it off now.)
austintx, thanks for spreading the Skatedeck Art Joy.
Very cool.
How long til teh kitties join you? We have room for more here, but both of ours are barn cats. Actually the elderly fellow is more a front porch cat anymore…After I scratch their little noggins and brush them, I’ve got to wash right up if I want to keep breathing. No cats inside. I’m allergic.
cats…crows…go figure.
Good heavens. Rove on BBC re: torture. He and father and daughter Cheney are really something. They have no concept of what makes this country great, and no reservations about scaring people into destroying it in the guise of “saving” us.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8563372.stm
Oddly enough, 3 of the 4 quoted have naughty-related names, Cox and Babcock, and Pierre of “Lucky” fame.
Not sure what a “Denby” is though, if anything.
ValleyIndependent I can’t watch rove ever. i already have high blood pressure and firmly believe that rather than punditing all over the globe he should be in prison with a big cellmate named bubba to look after.
Crazy alert. This is just scary: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/sarah-palin-michele-bach_n_495386.html
thatcrowwoman -
Arrrggggghhhhhhhh!!! WHY do people who have no clue about what it’s like in a classroom in 2010 always think they have the magic solution for fixing the public education system????? They base their ‘solutions’ on what education was like around the time Andy Griffith was bringing Opie to the fishing hole. Times have changed and so has life in the classroom. I’m all for accountability, but let’s find a system that’s fair to the students, staff members and administrators, created by people who actually understand what today’s teachers face every time they walk (often through the metal detectors) into their schools.
“Under the plan, at least half of a teacher’s performance evaluation must be based on how well his or her students do on standardized tests.”
Every time I see or hear this kind of statement, I start to twitch and develop a severe case of hives. Two major problems:
1. Teachers don’t get students from a factory, shrink-wrapped in plastic with a money-back guarantee if they don’t work according to package directions. Will anyone want to teach special ed kids or in inner-city, low income schools if this kind of system spreads because their chances of getting raises are slim to none?
2. What happens to allllll those teachers and support staff whose subjects DON’T HAVE standardized tests???
Sheesh!!!
I just saw this. How very sad.
http://www.adn.com/2010/03/11/1179368/teacher-likely-killed-by-wolves.html
InJuneau Says:
Crazy alert. This is just scary.
***************************************
Here is the woman who is hoping to knock off Michele.
http://moneybomb.tarrylclark.com/home/
And for giggles :
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/
@35 honestyinGov: The way it has to work (’cause those are the damn rules) is:
1. The House must pass the current Senate bill (which made it thru filibuster with 60 votes) exactly as is. If there were any changes, it would have to go back to the Senate and likely die in yet another filibuster.
2. Then, the House must pass a “sidecar” bill that is suitable for the budget reconciliation process. Because it’s a budget reconciliation process, the bill can only include things that affect the Federal budget. The House has to originate the bill because the Constitution says so. BTW, there is a very good case that implementing a public option would have a quite positive effect on the Federal budget.
3. The reason Durbin is saying “no amendments” is because if any amendment passes in the Senate, the bill will have to go to conference, and then back to the House and then back to the Senate, ad infinitum. The only Senators who are likely to propose amendements are Republicans, and they have already announced they plan to offer many, many amendments in order to obstruct passage as long as possible.
4. Bear in mind that a Repo Senator could, for example, offer an amendment to add single-payer to the House sidecar bill; but he/she could still happily vote against the amended bill when it came back again from the House.
5. Currently, the House — despite the infestation of Blue Dog Ticks — is more liberal than the Senate. Speaker Pelosi is more liberal than President Obama (please trust me on this). The House sidecar will be as good a deal as can be gotten at this time (and it may have a public option, if we get that far). The Democrats in the Senate need to just pass the thing.
6. There is a time element here. Based on history, the Democrats will lose at least some of their House majority in the off-year election in November, and they could lose a couple-three Senate seats. It’s already mid-March. Mitch McTurtle and his marching minions can probably stall a final vote on the House sidecar bill for a couple of months. If they actually got an amendment passed, it could delay things enough to kill the deal, and leave us with an unmodified Senate bill — better than vomit, but not much.
7. Short form for liberal Mudpups (not that you need the short form, just that this won’t resonate with conservative Mudpups): We kind of like the House. We’re dubious about the Senate. Having the Senate Majority Whip say he’s gonna whip exactly whatever the House sends him is good, if we can believe it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100312/us_nm/us_alaska_wolf
Apparently they’re blaming wolves, but aren’t wolves a little shy for this kind of thing. You know they’re going to use this as justification to kill more wolves.
Rabies can be a problem in some rural areas. Just speculating. And the last time wolves killed anyone in AK was in the 1920s. Moose kill more people than wolves do. People kill more people than wolves do. Sheesh. AKM
leenie17 @ 56 ~ the admins with ‘heads waaaay up the nether-end’ continues up to the univ level, too. Once asked for a second secretary to handle the volume of work in my mission-expanding office and instead got…..ta-daa! ~ a new vice president! beth.
[Gotta love the administration's 'wisdom' in giving me a VP instead of a secretary; absolutely clueless about the job needing to get done...
Long story short(ish): I left that job 6-weeks later. When new VP hired a young, just-out-of-college bloke to work in the office without *first* consulting (or even *first* telling!) me, and then 'defended' (to me!) the pay he'd contracted/signed for the (literally) clueless new hire, with: "He has student loans and things - you are a wife and don't need to make the same amount of money as a man does," I figured there was some mighty big, BIG, BIG trouble a'brewing for the office. And, sure enough, that "Say WHAT?" 'explanation' VP had given me, was just the tip of the iceberg. I decided my sanity wasn't worth the constant battle with such Neanderthalic 'thinking' ~ from *both* the VP and the new hire (no disrespect meant to Neanderthals.) I mean, you can only have so many "WTHolyF!?" moments --per day-- before it's just time to say: BASTA! And I did. As events ever-so-beautifully unfolded post my sanity-saving resignation from the job: Wunderkind was quietly 'let go' three months after his hire; the VP was just as quietly relieved of all his VP duties a month after that. Oh, how I love knowing Karma is watching my back! b.]
I always called him F***erman S***cock, after the way he screwed Dems in the past 2 reapportionments of the Legislature when we had Repuke gubernators. F***erman made sure that districts were gerrymandered so that Democratic precincts in Anchorage were concentrated in as few districts as possible. That’s the reason AKM’s district is so oddly shaped, and it’s also the reason that a Tlingit from Angoon is state Senator for folks along the Yukon as well as Southeast outside of Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka.
At least he finally got his ass kicked out of MEA, after screwing over their workers and members for umpteen years.
Wow. I guess can stop picturng him like Mr. Howell on Gilligan’s Island now… AKM
@austintx #58
I think I’ll contribute to Tarryl Clark’s campaign…just because. I’d do anything to help unseat crazy bachmann…and put another mark against palin for helping and putting her two cents where it doesn’t belong.
Sorry, but is this the best you can do? I find this to be petty and small minded. No, I’m not a Republican.
“Never underestimate the power of an interesting name.” Peekabo Street
@ # 65 librarian
Take off your glasses and let down your hair. It’s recess time.
Or you could go back into the stacks and catch up on your filing.
librarian -
Go play here………
http://www.librarian.net/feb01.html
Nice, confirming all previous opinions