FBI and IRS agents are searching the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, the FBI tells CNN

[SoFlaJDM]

Originally Posted by hsmith

lol @ thinking democrats are any less corrupt

the numbers don't lie

[hsmith]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

the numbers don't lie

please tell me you are kidding

[SoFlaJDM]

Originally Posted by hsmith

please tell me you are kidding

i thought you could tell from the

[SoFlaJDM]

UPDATE

Republicans’ gall knows no limits
By: Steve Benen @ 9:50 AM - PDT
Congressional Republicans picked a bad time for a new series of corruption scandals. This happens to be the week in which both chambers are considering major new ethics reform measures.
The good news is, the House passed its measure today by a wide margin. The bad news is, there’s at least one Senate Republican for whom chutzpah has no meaning.

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, whose home back in Alaska was raided by federal investigators Monday in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, has threatened to place a hold on the Democratic-drafted ethics legislation just passed by the House and expected on the Senate floor by week’s end.
The senator told a closed session of fellow Republicans today, including Vice President Dick Cheney, that he was upset that the measure would interfere with his travel to and from Alaska — and vowed to block it.

The same guy who’s likely to be busted for taking bribes is blocking the Senate from voting on an ethics reform bill?
I often feel sorry for satirists; Republicans must make it tough for writers to exaggerate for comedic effect.

[SoFlaJDM]

blocking an ethics reform bill

fucking pathetic

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

blocking an ethics reform bill

fucking pathetic

*Blocking an ethics reform bill so you can spend more time defending yourself against corruption charges.

[SoFlaJDM]

i'm really starting to take the "democrats are as corrupt as republicans" line with a huge grain of salt now

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

blocking an ethics reform bill

fucking pathetic

Blocking an ethics reform bill that actual removed current ethic reforms that have recently been in place. One step forward two steps back isn't progress.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Blocking an ethics reform bill that actual removed current ethic reforms that have recently been in place. One step forward two steps back isn't the way to reform ethics.

You know you keep talking about this big move Democrats made to try and pass an ethics reform bill recently that was totally toothless, and beides some watchdog website that made 1 post, and then a bunch off right-wing sites building off that...I don't see any proof...and even the right-wing sites have stopped talking about...which brings doubt to how true the story is

The only facts we know for sure is that Democrats passed reform legislation months ago that everyone applauded but a few said it didn't go far enough, they tried to take it to conference, the GOP blocked it...there was never any changing of the bill in conference since THE CONFERENCE NEVER HAPPENED and you can't just "guess" what would happen in conference, its a battle between the house and senate...all signs are that the GOP simply wanted to waste the Dems time

So, to get around the GOP simply blocking for the sake of blocking (again, it hadn't reached conference so the passed bill couldn't have been changed) the Democrats passed a bill that will be mirrored in the Senate, and no conference will be neccesary...from what I see it includes all the things you were initially worried about...and there is no "change" from any bill that I can see...this is simply what they wanted done in January of 2007

So, from what the facts appear to be, you should be tipping your hat to the Democrats and waggings your finger at the GOP

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

The only facts we know for sure is that Democrats passed reform legislation months ago that everyone applauded but a few said it didn't go far enough, they tried to take it to conference, the GOP blocked it...there was never any changing of the bill in conference since THE CONFERENCE NEVER HAPPENED and you can't just "guess" what would happen in conference, its a battle between the house and senate...

There's the key right there. While I don't know the specifics of why they wanted to prevent it from going to conference and don't agree with that tactic, but it was probably because they knew it wouldn't get very far in their favor. The idea is that the bill opens more loopholes and purposely removes key ethics reforms that were recently initiated. Why would they purposely remove such reforms? This bill should be blocked, and voting for an ethics reform bill simply because not doing so makes you look "unethical" isn't exactly something I applaud. Look at the bill for its content and decide whether it's a worthy step forward or not.

all signs are that the GOP simply wanted to waste the Dems time

They're the minority party, that's what they're supposed to do. They can't pass any legislation on their own, so it's their patriotic duty to obstruct every bill the Dems present... Sounds familiar.

[SoFlaJDM]

Originally Posted by JaJae

They're the minority party, that's what they're supposed to do.

no, they're not

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

There's the key right there. While I don't know the specifics of why they wanted to prevent it from going to conference and don't agree with that tactic, but it was probably because they knew it wouldn't get very far in their favor. The idea is that the bill opens more loopholes and purposely removes key ethics reforms that were recently initiated. Why would they purposely remove such reforms? This bill should be blocked, and voting for an ethics reform bill simply because not doing so makes you look "unethical" isn't exactly something I applaud. Look at the bill for its content and decide whether it's a worthy step forward or not.


They're the minority party, that's what they're supposed to do. They can't pass any legislation on their own, so it's their patriotic duty to obstruct every bill the Dems present... Sounds familiar.

I'm pretty sure the bills are identical...and the minority party is NOT there to obstruct everything...jees I never saw you on DIAC praising the Democrats when they did block something "well they are doing their duty"

Well, I know I never took that stand, because it's simply not...

A minority party does what it can to advance its goals, and position itself while helping the American people

Obstructionism and filibusters are last ditch efforts when the consequences are so grave and terrible they have no other choice...they do this with judges because they already approve a large number of GOP judges and to try and fill the courts with extreme right wing judges who are bent on trying to overturn 80+ years of law, they believe, would drastically hurt America...and we've seen some of this when judges voted with the Administration on the administration taking away the rights of PoWs or suspected Americans

They also filibuster what they consider incredibly damaging legislation, like privatizing social security...once all that money is in the stock market, and things go bad, you can't just yank it out, SS would be fucked forever and we could lose trillions of dollars (it should be noted that it never went that far as the House defeated the bill)

Something like Universal Healthcare, we could always yank the plug tommorow

If you think it's the job of the GOP to filibuster every Democratic bill, the Democrats when they become the minority to filibuster every Republican bill...

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

If you think it's the job of the GOP to filibuster every Democratic bill, the Democrats when they become the minority to filibuster every Republican bill...

From what you quoted:

While I don't know the specifics of why they wanted to prevent it from going to conference and don't agree with that tactic

The reality though is that before the 06 elections the Democrats were filibustering everything including the weather and half this forum was supporting it as proper conduct.

[SoFlaJDM]

Originally Posted by JaJae

From what you quoted:


The reality though is that before the 06 elections the Democrats were filibustering everything including the weather and half this forum was supporting it as proper conduct.

orly? link to reality?

[Joe_Cool]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

orly? link to reality?

That is the most annoying style of non-argument ever. You don't need a link to know that democrats filibustered like mad when the republicans were in the majority. They were constantly bitching and whining about the republican threat to "use the nuclear option" to force the dems to quit stonewalling.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

orly? link to reality?

Link to reality

[Thorgrim]

Here is a factoid of reality: Major GOP/Bush Laws the Democrats did not obstruct or filibuster to death-

2001 June 7 — Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, Pub.L. 107-16, 115 Stat. 38
2001 September 28 — United States-Jordan Free Trade Area Implementation Act, Pub.L. 107-43, 115 Stat. 243
2001 October 26 — Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism ("USA PATRIOT") Act, Pub.L. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272
2002 January 8 — No Child Left Behind Act, Pub.L. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425
2002 January 11 — Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, Pub.L. 107-118, 115 Stat. 2356
2002 March 9 — Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act, Pub.L. 107-147, 116 Stat. 21
2002 March 27 — Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold), Pub.L. 107-155, 116 Stat. 81
2002 May 13 — Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, Pub.L. 107-171, 116 Stat. 134
2002 July 30 — Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Pub.L. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745
2002 August 6 — Trade Act of 2002, Pub.L. 107-210, 116 Stat. 933
2002 October 16 — Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, Pub.L. 107-243, 116 Stat. 1497
2002 October 21 — Sudan Peace Act, Pub.L. 107-245, 116 Stat. 1504
2002 October 29 — Help America Vote Act, Pub.L. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666, 42 U.S.C. § 15301
2002 November 25 — Homeland Security Act, Pub.L. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135
2002 November 27 — Great Lakes and Lake Champlain Act of 2002, Pub.L. 107-303, 116 Stat. 2355
2002 December 17 — E-Government Act of 2002, Pub.L. 107-347, 116 Stat. 2899, 44 U.S.C. § 101, including Title III:Federal Information Security Management Act, 44 U.S.C. § 3541
March 11, 2003 — Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003, Pub.L. 108-10, 117 Stat. 557
April 30, 2003 — PROTECT (Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today) Act, including Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, Pub.L. 108-21, 117 Stat. 650, 21 U.S.C. § 856
May 28, 2003 — Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, Pub.L. 108-27, 117 Stat. 752
September 4, 2003 — Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, Pub.L. 108-79, 117 Stat. 972, 45 U.S.C. § 15601
October 28, 2003 — Check 21 Act, Pub.L. 108-100, 117 Stat. 1177
November 5, 2003 — Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Pub.L. 108-105, 117 Stat. 1201
December 4, 2003 — Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, Pub.L. 108-159, 117 Stat. 1952
November 25, 2003 — Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, Pub.L. 108-173, 117 Stat. 2066
December 12, 2003 — Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, Pub.L. 108-175, 117 Stat. 2481
December 16, 2003 — Can Spam Act, Pub.L. 108-187, 117 Stat. 2699, 15 U.S.C. § 7701
March 25, 2004 — Unborn Victims of Violence Act (Laci and Conner's Law), Pub.L. 108-212, 118 Stat. 567
June 30, 2004 — Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act, Pub.L. 108-264, 118 Stat. 711
July 7, 2004 — GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, Pub.L. 108-271, 118 Stat. 811
October 16, 2004 — Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, Pub.L. 108-332, 118 Stat. 1282, 22 U.S.C. § 2651
December 17, 2004 — Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, Pub.L. 108-458, 118 Stat. 3637
2005 February 17 — Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-2, 118 Stat. 4
2005 March 21 — Theresa Marie Schiavo's law, Pub.L. 109-3, 119 Stat. 15
2005 April 20 — Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, Pub.L. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23, 11 U.S.C. § 101
2005 April 27 — Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, Pub.L. 109-9, 119 Stat. 218, 17 U.S.C. § 101
2005 July 28 — Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (CAFTA Implementation Act), Pub.L. 109-53, 119 Stat. 462, 19 U.S.C. § 4001
2005 July 29 — Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 594, 42 U.S.C. § 15801
2005 August 10 — Transportation Equity Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-59, 119 Stat. 1144
2005 October 26 — Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, Pub.L. 109-92, 119 Stat. 2095
2005 December 1 — Caribbean National Forest Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-118, 119 Stat. 2527
2005 December 22 — Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-145, 119 Stat. 2664
2005 December 30 — Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006, Pub.L. 109-148, 119 Stat. 2680 (including McCain Detainee Amendment, SA 1977)
2006 May 17 — Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-222, 120 Stat. 345
2006 May 29 — Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, Pub.L. 109-228, 120 Stat. 387
2006 July 27 — Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, Pub.L. 109-248, 120 Stat. 587
2006 September 26 — Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109-282, 120 Stat. 1186
2006 October 13 — Safe Port Act, Pub.L. 109-347, 120 Stat. 1884, including title VIII, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, 31 U.S.C. § 5361-5367
2006 October 17 — Military Commissions Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600, 10 U.S.C. § 948a
2006 October 26 — Secure Fence Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109-367, 120 Stat. 2638
2006 December 20 — Tax Relief and Health Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109-432, 120 Stat. 292

What did Democrats obstruct?
10 of 214 nominations were disputed


Wow, let me tell you, those Democrats...didn't let a thing pass!

[JaJae]

Only 10 were officially announced. If they stated they were going to filibuster it was generally treated as such. That's very misleading.