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15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Presidential Appointme... · 0 replies · +1 points

I know Gillespie was head of the RNC at one point, so I'm guessing that Counsel is legal, but Counselor is political?

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - When will Clinton Resign? · 0 replies · +1 points

The quirky rules of the Senate mean that Clinton would be better serving the people of New York by resigning sooner. The only reason she'd have to hang on to the seat until after January 6 would be if she thought her confirmation might not go through. But I don't think there's any doubt about that.

Resigning now means that whoever Paterson names to replace her would have a bit of extra seniority over the incoming class of '08, and would get first dibs on committees, etc.

If she does what Bentsen did, and resigns after January 6, then the new New York Senator would be the lowliest member of the Senate (aside from Ted Kaufman, probably).

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Small Donor Myth? · 0 replies · +1 points

Oh, come on. That sort of argument is about as intellectually honest as Norm Coleman's campaign challenging McCain/Franken ballots. Just because it may be hard for *you* to imagine, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

According to the Obama campaign, 212,000 small-amount repeat-donors gave enough to cross the $200 threshold, and only 13,000 crossed the $1000 mark. Considering there are 300 million people in this country, is it really so hard to imagine that 13 thousand of them might have had the means to donate $100 or $150 eight or ten times over the last year to 18 months?

If it is hard to imagine, I suggest you get out more - there are lots stranger things going on in this world than people giving a damn about where this country is headed.

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Shopping Note · 1 reply · +1 points

"Black Friday. So called because, historically, that was the day that stores went from operating in the red, to operating in the black."

According to Wikipedia, you've fallen for the pro-business interpretation of the term. That august site says that the term actually originated with the Philadelphia Police Department in the '60s, referring to the difficulties that they encountered due to the vast amounts of traffic and stress of the shoppers.

But businesses didn't like that, especially the implied connection to Black Tuesday, so they cooked up the "going from the red to the black" explanation (since the term itself wasn't just gonna vanish). Nice explanation, except most retailers earn profits year-round. True, Q4 is typically the largest, but they're certainly not in the red for the first 10 1/2 months of the year!

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - FEMA · 0 replies · +1 points

What would you rename it to? Offhand, I'd suggest maybe "Department of Public Security" or something, but I'm curious if you have anything in particular in mind.

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Senator Clinton? · 0 replies · +1 points

Briefly, it is, IMHO, perfectly accurate to say that Johnson was elected to the Senate. Senators were chosen differently in those days. See my lengthy comment below.

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Senator Clinton? · 0 replies · +1 points

Definitely not correct. Coolidge never served in the U.S. House (either before or after his Presidency). He did serve in the Massachusetts House (well before being President), but that's rather different.

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Senator Clinton? · 1 reply · +1 points

Only if by "normally" you mean "since 1913". Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, Senators were chosen - or elected, if you will - by the legislatures of their states. The original intent of the two branches of Congress was that the House would represent the interests of the people and the Senate would represent the interests of their respective States (since, at the founding of the Republic, it was viewed much more as a federation than we see it today). Thus, the State - or the legislature thereof - did the choosing of who their Senators would be. I don't think it's wrong to call this an election.

Nevertheless, regardless of the meaning of "elected", Duncan is right - when you wrote "Is there any Constitutional reason that Bill could not be a Senator? No. It hasn't happened before, but one ex-President became a member of the House of Representatives," it's wrong to say it hasn't happened before. An ex-President did serve in the Senate, although his term was quite short (cut off by his death).

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - Pelosi to Light Capito... · 0 replies · +1 points

For the most part, thinning as Peter says, does the trick - it mimics burning (getting rid of all the old cruft) without any of the actual flamey goodness. But there are some species of trees, like the Giant Sequoia, that require burning to propagate. Their cones burst open in the heat of the blaze and spread the seeds then, so as to have maximum advantage in the post-fire growing time. Granted, it's not impossible to spread their seeds without fire, but it is an example of how fire is nature's way.

15 years ago @ DemConWatch - A Message from Rahm Em... · 1 reply · +1 points

No, that's English mangling of German pronunciation. German pronunciation of "Boehner" would be like "Berner", except go very light on the initial 'r'. Better, leave that 'r' out but don't change how you pronounce the 'e' before it. Kinda somewhere between "Berner" and "Buhner".

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