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- We've known for some time that much of the political action (or inaction) in 2009 will be in the Senate. But now it's getting ridiculous. Democrats might physically block Roland Burris from enter the Senate chamber and John Cornyn has reiterated his pledge to refuse to seat Al Franken next week. Meanwhile, David Paterson has rejected appointing a caretaker Senator for Hillary Clinton's seat, renewing frontrunner speculation for Caroline Kennedy. Fortunately, amidst these never-ending shenanigans, Barack Obama will meet with Nancy Pelosi on Monday to discuss the details of the anticipated infrastructure investment/economic stimulus plan and confirmation hearing dates have now been set for Steven Chu, Eric Shinseki, Ken Salazar and Eric Holder.
- The Los Angeles Times gets it right with a good article on the power moderate Republicans will wield in the Senate, The Washington Post states the obvious by observing that "some conservatives" are concerned about Barack Obama's liberal appointees, and Politico starts the new year off with an embarrassingly bad piece on "Obama's paparazzi presidency."
- Chief Justice John Roberts has apparently been putting a lot of energy into pushing for a cost of living adjustment for Supreme Court justices (Roberts currently makes $217,400 per year). "Judges knew what the pay was when they answered the call of public service. But they did not know that Congress would steadily erode that pay in real terms by repeatedly failing over the years to provide even cost-of-living increases," Roberts said. Cry me a river. If Roberts was so concerned about making money, why didn't he just stay in the private sector practicing corporate law instead of insulting us with with his regressive jurisprudence?
- The Illinois House plans to vote on whether to impeach Gov. Rob Blagojevich when it reconvenes January 12 and Ben Joravsky has a good post on "What Blagojevich Owes Burris."
- Obviously, undoing the war on terror's assault on civil liberties and the rule of law are more important priorities than mere symbolic gestures for the incoming Obama administration. That being said, I think there is an important place for symbolic gestures like reopening the State of Liberty to tourists, closed since 9/11. Perhaps also reevaluating the highly restrictive process for touring the White House would demonstrate that America welcomes the world beyond our shores, instead of shutting it out under a cloud of paranoid suspicion.
- Question: Does John Bolton ever think there isn't a good time to bomb Iran?
--Mori Dinauer
