Jim Bunning flips the bird to America
If you haven't been following Bunning's hold on the emergency bill to extend unemployment benefits McClatchy has a good overview today, along with a map showing the "Bunning Effect." One new wrinkle that I hadn't seen before is "as many as 2 million families could lose access to local television because a copyright law expired overnight."
You have to wonder why the Congress consistently puts off dealing with expiring provisions on anything until the very last minute. But that aside, I've already done three long posts at DetNews, here and here and here so I'll just remind the bloggers who read this and might be posting not to forget this isn't really about paying for the bill; it's about the GOP blackmailing the Senate into passing a $138 billion tax cut for estate taxes on the wealthy.
Also, in case you missed it, Bunning apparently isn't holding up well as the most hated man in America. He flipped off the press when they chased him down the hall and Chuck Todd said on Twitter last night that it appears the man is becoming hysterical. I'd add the guy is 78 years old. Not to get ageist about it, but not everybody maintains their faculties into old age.
As I watch this country being destroyed by degrees by old men who have been entrenched inside the Beltway for far too many years to have any grasp of real life outside, I wonder if we shouldn't have some kind of competency test after a certain age. They do this for driver's licenses to maintain safety on the road. It seems to me, these guys should have to prove their minds are still firing on all cynlinders before we allow them to make decisions that have such far ranging impact on all Americans.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
You have to wonder why the Congress consistently puts off dealing with expiring provisions on anything until the very last minute. But that aside, I've already done three long posts at DetNews, here and here and here so I'll just remind the bloggers who read this and might be posting not to forget this isn't really about paying for the bill; it's about the GOP blackmailing the Senate into passing a $138 billion tax cut for estate taxes on the wealthy.
Also, in case you missed it, Bunning apparently isn't holding up well as the most hated man in America. He flipped off the press when they chased him down the hall and Chuck Todd said on Twitter last night that it appears the man is becoming hysterical. I'd add the guy is 78 years old. Not to get ageist about it, but not everybody maintains their faculties into old age.
As I watch this country being destroyed by degrees by old men who have been entrenched inside the Beltway for far too many years to have any grasp of real life outside, I wonder if we shouldn't have some kind of competency test after a certain age. They do this for driver's licenses to maintain safety on the road. It seems to me, these guys should have to prove their minds are still firing on all cynlinders before we allow them to make decisions that have such far ranging impact on all Americans.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
Labels: Congress, dangerous idiots, Senate
posted by Libby Spencer at 1:21 PM
4 Comments:
Libby, from your keyboard to the ears of the election gods - and please start with my representative, Ralph Hall, the oldest one, a devoted tool of big oil. Seriously; in 2008, he announced that if we didn't get offshore drilling, we'd have to go to war against some other countries.
I hadn't actually expected a postive response to that idea Ruth. But it's true, there's so many really old folks making decisions that will resonate far beyond their lifetimes. It would seem prudent to make sure they're fully functional.
I was thinking of Byrd when I wrote this. From what I hear the man is barely conscious at any given moment and surely he no longer is able to grasp the complexity of life in the internet age.
Byrd's following in the footsteps of Strom Thurmond...trying to break a record, or some such nonsense.
Strom is another classic example. Wasn't he being practically being wheeled into the chambers on a stretcher by the end?
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