Weekend Open Thread
Happy weekend everyone! I hope you’re having a good one. A little birdie told me that liberalgeek is having a birthday today, so everyone wish him a happy birthday. I think he’s turning 29 today. So let’s start this open thread.
As expected, President Obama has made some recess appointments:
The White House has just announced that President Obama has made fifteen recess appointments, including several for hot-button nominees. These are appointees Republicans refused to allow votes on and for which the president’s supporters have been pressing for recess appointees.
Notable on the list are Craig Becker to NLRB and Chai Feldblum to EEOC.
In arguing for the appointments the press release states: “President Bush had made 15 recess appointments by this point in his presidency, but he was not facing the same level of obstruction. At this time in 2002, President Bush had only 5 nominees pending on the floor. By contrast, President Obama has 77 nominees currently pending on the floor, 58 of whom have been waiting for over two weeks and 44 of those have been waiting more than a month.”
If Republicans keep up their temper tantrums, the only way things will get done in Washington is by reconciliation, recess appointments and executive orders. Do Republicans really want to be irrelevant?
Various members of the DNC — including Chairman Tim Kaine, Executive Director Jen O’Malley Dillon and Communications Director Brad Woodhouse — contacted their respective RNC counterparts this week in hopes of getting RNC Chairman Michael Steele to co-sign a document with Kaine that, in part, called for “elected officials of both parties to set an example of the civility we want to see in our citizenry.”
“We also call on all Americans to respect differences of opinion, to refrain from inappropriate forms of intimidation, to reject violence and vandalism, and to scale back rhetoric that might reasonably be misinterpreted by those prone to such behavior,” read the proposed joint statement, which came at the end of a week that saw acts of vandalism and threats of violence directed at members of Congress from both parties, but mostly aimed at Democrats who voted yes on the health care bill.
Republicans see the statement as an attempt to force them to either reject the statement — allowing Democrats to say the RNC finds the incidents acceptable — or to sign on to something that the DNC would later wield against them.
The Republican party doesn’t care if people get hurt, especially if it helps them politically. They should have thought about the political implications of not signing the statement.
Tags: Open Thread
No reaction on this site to the News Journal editorial extolling the virtues (Ha)and common-sense (read political posturing) of Castle in refusing to join in a repeal effort? How magnanimous of the great compromiser. Come on people reality check time for Castle and the NJ’s blatant campaigning on his behalf.
I just read the NJ a few minutes ago. Yeah, the NJ was definitely shilling for Castle, saying he showed common sense. I thought Castle’s statement said that he’d be for repeal if we had a Republican president.
Reading the NJ on the weekend is a task I put just below root canal and just above watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I’d literally do anyhting rather than inflict the News Journal or The Real Housewives of New Jersey on myself.
If anyone knows about uselessness it is Mike Castle.
How strange that the NJ makes the ole “Both sides are wrong” argument central to this BS. Wait…no it’s not strange, it is what they always do. Also – notice how Castle has done NOTHING to turn down the heat? Absolute shameful silence and uselessness is his game plan.
PLEASE News Journal editors show me where Castle said anyhting like that. I’d offer a $million dollar prize to any NJ editor that can show me that, but I don’t have a million dollars. (Thanks a lot Bush economy!!) Actually, Castle said that he would be for repeal if we had a Republican President.
Great advice. The News Journal should follow it and start publishing some reality based editorials.
The latest updates to Barack Obama’s Facebook News Feed — Health Care Edition.
Very funny!
liberalgeek,
I wanted to send you a dozen chicken embryos but I don’t have your address.Happy Birthday!
Turn off your lights at 8:30 pm, it’s Earth Hour.
Anybody caught posting on the internet at that time is clearly a Republican.
Up here in New Castle County, we will have plenty of light from LG’s birthday cake.
This you’ve got to see: Malice in Wonderland: Fox News Through the Looking Glass
Very clever — wonder what they’d do with Mike Castle?
Look who is in trouble with the FEC.
The entire wingnut universe is working at spinning this away today, right?
Another partisan attack on a conservative saint. Re: that Fox link. I love when Fox attempts to find people to demonstrate that Tea Baggers are sane and grounded and the interviewee goes on to demonstrate the exact opposite.
Dear Liberal Geek– HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY–doesn’t it feel great to give that fake ID now, to the next guy in the dorm? Enjoy–and remain safe.
Serious question–then I have to fly…I was thinking..If someone has a disability as recognized by ADA, and health insurance–then they switched to new health insurance, was that disability considered pre-existing, and insurance could be denied under old healthcare laws–or does ADA kick in under discriminatory practices and they can’t be denied? Or did ADA not have reach to benefits conundrum, and only addressed physical properties, and workplace etc. environments?
Thank you to my panel of experts.
Yeah, that I’m not sure of Joanne. Until 2014, adults can still be denied for pre-existing. If they aren’t already covered by some healthcare (aren’t many disabled on Medicaid?) then they’ll go into the high risk insurance pools. I don’t think we have a good idea how those work yet.
joan, general when going from one carrier to another with no break in coverage, pre-existing conditions are not a factor.
If the hr department at work announces that on May 1st the company is switching from Aetna to Blue Cross, your broken arm doesn’t become a pre-existing condition. (hopefully your old doc is in the new network)
P.Schwartz…you comment is moderated. You cannot post whole articles in the comments. It is copyright infringement. Post a segment of the article with a link and discuss it.
that was less than 25% of the original.
Which is still more than could be justified under Fair Use.