National

"It's a little bit like being the head caretaker of the cemetery. There are a lot of people under you, but nobody listens." -- Rep. Hal Rodgers (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, describing House Speaker John Boehner's leadership.

It really is the most sensible - and legal! - way out of the debt ceiling nonsense. Sign the petition. Atrios added that putting Reagan on it would be a hoot.  I whole heartedly agree.

Some people say we should eat vegetables, some say we should eat broken glass. Democrats believe in a balanced diet of veggies and glass. — @drgrist via TweetDeck via dkos

I've pulled out some of my favorite quotes:

"There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims, the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors. We respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. Or at least we did until last night."

Extra points here for saying "Democratic"

Since El Somnambulo will be easing back on his daily pre game / post game reports during the upcoming 2013 Legislative session, we are introducing a new vote tracker to stay on top of legislation in the coming new year. Specifically, we will be tracking legislation that furthers or hinders liberal and progressive policy positions, and recording how our Democratic State Representatives and Senators vote on the legislation. To that end, Delaware Liberal is partnering with the Progressive Democrats for Delaware to track how their endorsed candidates voted in regards to their legislative priorities. I have made an example of how the vote tracker will work inside...

Ross Douthat's column in the NYT last Saturday recommends that we spend some time in 2013 challenging our political selves by regularly reading from at least one source that is not in your partisan political comfort zone. He reasons that since this is not a national election year, we'll be abit safer reading "across the aisle" (apparently the hyper partisanship dies down in off election years) and end up challenging what we think we know or at least understanding better our political opposites.

Pacem in Terris is convening a community meeting to discuss gun violence and what steps we can take on implementing gun control, both nationally and locally. They are having are having the inaugural meeting of the Delaware Campaign for Gun Sanity tonight at 7 pm in the Community Hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pennsylvania Avenue & N. Rodney Street in Wilmington. Parking is behind the church. This will not be a venting session on the NRA and guns. We must get beyond our comfort zone and act.

Wilmington's Skyscraper Canyon: Looking up 11th Street from near Walnut Street in Wilmington.

The House will vote to amend the bill. It will get no Democratic votes, and I wonder if it gets 218 votes at all. If the amendment does not pass, I doubt the bill itself will pass. Eric Cantor, the #2 Republican in the House, and the likely next Speaker (more on that in a moment), has said he opposes the bill. So let's assume that the House amends the bill and passes it. The Senate is gone. It's business is done for the year. The 112th Congress, Senate edition is over. So that's it. The bill dies. We are off and over the cliff. Words cannot express how shocking and yet completely predictable this is. Remember, the House GOP, through Boehner, cut off negotiations with the President two weeks ago, and they planned to pass a "Plan B" bill to raise taxes on only those making over a million dollars. Speaker Boehner led this effort, but a majority of caucus refused to vote for it. Pursuant to a GOP rule called the Hastert Rule, which holds that no legislation shall receive a vote on the floor of the House unless a majority of the GOP caucus supports it, Boehner was forced to pull the bill. In essence, there was a tea party coup against Boehner at that moment, led by his own #2, Eric Cantor. Humiliated and weakened, with his career over, Speaker Boehner then tried to pass the buck to the Senate, saying the House will not vote on another Fiscal Cliff package unless and until the Senate reaches an agreement, passes it, and sends it to the House. Nevermind that this is unconstitutional, since all revenue bills must originate in the House first, the Senate inexplicably complied, and reached a last minute agreement negotiated by Vice President Biden and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and they passed it by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, 89-6. Yes, Boehner demanded that his Senate Republican colleagues go out on a limb and vote for a deal, and surprisingly they did. So the Senate bill is sent to the House, with Boehner lobbying his caucus in favor of passing it, and his caucus, once again under the true leadership of Eric Cantor, revolted again, refusing to vote for it unless it is amended to suit their desires. To call the House GOP petulant temper tantrum throwing children is to insult petulant temper tantrum throwing children. So the deal is dead. Lord knows what happens now. 1 trillion in sequester cuts (half to defense and half to non-SS/Medicare/VA domestic spending) are not in effect. The Clinton tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains are in affect. All 2009 stimulus measures like college tuition tax credits, unemployment insurance and the AMT and Medicare doc fix are rescinded. The Farm Bill extension is dead, which means dairy prices triple. Speaker Boehner is likely to be defeated by Eric Cantor for the Speakership on Thursday. Happy New Year.