Republican Obstruction: Will it ever end?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 6th, 2013
Good morning!
Unprecedented
Jun 4, 2013 | By ThinkProgress War Room
New Battle Against Senate GOP Obstruction
The Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit is the second most powerful court in the nation after the Supreme Court. It often gets the last word on a wide variety of regulations, including those on Wall Street and polluters like oil companies and utilities, as well as on labor and national security matters. It doesn’t matter if we pass Obamacare or Dodd-Frank or unions work hard to win new protections for workers if the D.C. Circuit simply strikes down our accomplishments later.
Despite its evident importance, more than a quarter of the seats on the D.C. Circuit are sitting empty today – one since 2005. Today, President Obama set about fixing that. He nominated three highly-qualified individuals to fill the remaining three vacancies. These are vacancies the president noted that the Constitution compels him to fill — and vacancies which were filled during the Bush administration when the court had its full 11 members.
Senate Republicans have something else in mind: simply abolishing these seats altogether in order to prevent the president from filling them in order to give this important court more balance. (The D.C. Circuit’s main judges are currently split 4-4 in terms of whether they were appointed by a Democratic or Republican president; however, semi-retired judges who still hear cases were overwhelmingly appointed by Republicans and give the court overall a strongly conservative bent.)
Never mind the fact that the the U.S. Judicial Conference (headed by Chief Justice Roberts) has suggested additional judgeships – not fewer – for courts nationwide, and just two months ago said that the D.C. Circuit needs all 11 seats.
As the president said today, this partisan plan to shrink the D.C. Circuit “makes no sense” and is a “blatant political move” by Senate Republicans.
What’s more, Senate Republicans are also currently holding up other important nominees, including those to head the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
It’s looking as if July is setting up to be an important showdown over whether Republicans are allowed to continue with their unprecedented level of partisan obstruction or whether Senate Majority Leader Reid invokes the so-called “nuclear options,” the elimination of the filibuster for some or all nominations (but not legislation).
Here’s the facts:
- President Obama’s judges have waited, on average three times as long as Bush’s judges to get confirmation votes, only to eventually be confirmed – most of them unanimously.
- One academic measure of obstruction and delay finds the level for Obama’s appeals court nominees to be “the highest that’s ever been recorded.“
- “President Obama is the only one of the five most recent Presidents for whom, during his first term, both the average and median waiting time from nomination to confirmation for circuit and district court nominees was greater than half a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days).”
- Both Presidents Bush and Clinton managed to significantly decrease the number of judicial vacancies during their first terms — by nearly 2/3 in the case of Bush. By contrast, vacancies have increased by almost 50 percent under President Obama, partly due to direct obstruction and partly due to senatorial foot-dragging in terms of helping the administration select federal district court nominees from their home states.
- President Obama is the only president since Woodrow Wilson to go a full four year term without getting a single judge confirmed to the D.C. Circuit.
We could go on, but you get the picture. (You can find more HERE.) Things are much, much worse when it comes obstruction under President Obama than they have ever been before. And we haven’t even talked about the new normal in which the GOP requires 60 votes to pass almost any legislation in the Senate, a threshold never envisioned in the Constitution.
Senate Republicans already held up one of the president’s previous well-qualified D.C. Circuit nominees for a three-year period, filibustering her twice before she finally asked the president to withdraw her nomination.
BOTTOM LINE: Enough is enough, it’s time for Senate Republicans to drop their unprecedented efforts to block the president’s nominees to important positions and the courts. If they don’t step aside, it’s time for Senate Democrats to consider making changes so the Senate can do its job again.
******
Readers: Once again, Obama and his administration have their work cut out for them. Is there never a break from the ruthless republican obstruction? Nope. The plan is for Obama to fail in all areas. Even if the country goes down with him.
BOTTOM LINE: The republicans won’t drop their efforts and they won’t step aside. That is a joke to even consider that an option. The one thing you can expect the republicans will never do, is give up on their agenda. The Democrats can’t wait on something that is never going to happen. Since when do republicans “step aside?” Senate Democrats don’t need to consider making changes – Enough thinking – they know they need to make changes – step up and do something now.
Thoughts? Blog me.
Harry: Yep. It shows us just how much they could care less about them when they won’t even support their own.
Thank you, Sara. Yes, can’t believe it. The time does fly.
Kim: I have no faith in FOX. It is the number of viewers that keep them where they’re at. That is the scary thing.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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June 6th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Extend and Improve Your Life With These Exercises
by Dr. David Williams
I know you’re constantly hearing about the benefits of exercise—how it improves cardiovascular function, increases your metabolic function, reduces excess body fat, builds bones, and improves mood. But there’s a more subtle benefit that’s often overlooked.
The right kinds of exercise strengthen “stabilizer” muscles–various muscles throughout the body that allow you to perform simple movements with more ease. The ability to perform these movements has been found to be a strong predictor of mortality.
Research indicates that people who are better at simple physical tasks, such as gripping, walking, rising from a chair, and balancing on one leg, are more likely to live longer.
There’s a saying about the human body: “Use it or lose it.” When we’re younger, this doesn’t seem to be an issue—but as we age, we develop routines and habits that over time can rob us of our ability to perform even the most simple of tasks. This is exacerbated by conditions like arthritis.
When I was growing up, one week kids rode their bikes and then played baseball. The next week they shot hoops, went swimming, or rode a skateboard. The wide variety of activities developed different muscle groups and improved neurological pathways. Without even trying, children naturally were the ultimate cross-trainers.
Nowadays things have changed somewhat. Children who seem to be better in one sport or activity are often pushed and encouraged to concentrate on that one activity. Their bodies become less adaptable and not as “well-rounded.” As a consequence we’re also seeing more and more repetitive-type sports injuries in children. As we age, we fall into similar routines and patterns that eventually begin to limit our mobility and abilities.
Variety is not just the spice of life; it is the key to life.
If you want to live longer and remain independent longer, change your routine constantly.
Ideally, we should all participate in a variety of different types of exercise and activities. If you have an exercise routine, keep varying it. Try different types of exercises.
If you do nothing else, at least start walking. But rather than continuing on the same route every day, change the routine so you’re walking on inclines. Get off the path and walk on irregular, rougher ground. Walk up the hill and back down. Walk up and down the stairwells. Change your pace. Walk faster. Walk slower. Walk barefooted in the sand. Change shoes.
Switch hands doing chores like washing the car or doing the dishes or shaving. To your body, it’s like learning a new skill and a challenge to both the nervous system and your coordination. Start opening doors with your left hand instead of your right. Unload the dishwasher from the other side.
Hold onto the counter and practice standing on one foot and then the other, to help improve your overall balance. Start stretching in the morning. Change the chair you sit in when you watch TV.
Every day, every joint in the body needs to be put through its full range of motion. Spend a few minutes each day moving each and every joint. Try these range of motion exercises, which also keep arthritic joints mobile and well lubricated.
Now it’s your turn: How do you change up your routine to keep your activities varied?
June 6th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Hi. I have to share this *egregious* article I just read.
A Texas jury acquitted a man for the murder of a woman he hired as an escort, after his lawyers claimed he was authorized to use deadly force because she refused sex.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/06/2117161/jury-acquits-texas-man-for-murder-of-escort-who-refused-sex/?mobile=nc
I’m almost speechless.
/SB
June 6th, 2013 at 4:33 pm
SB, I was going to address the topic of the day first, but wow, what the hell? Speechless is right…that’s insane…
Mischa, this is part of the master plan, the US was going to hell in a handbasket and Bush made it look horrific for the GOP, now they can hand over the blame of the collapse of the American empire on a democrat, better yet, a black democrat, got to admit it’s a plan only white male rethugs would come up with…
Joe, ‘Question – Why is it that in the context of divorce, women claim that it is the best interests of the child that they have sole physical custody of the children since they are better able to care for them day to day…but when it comes to issue of jobs outside the home, they say that their lack of presence in the home for 10 hours a day is not all that important in terms of raising healthy well adjusted children?’
Answer: I would say that like everything, there’s a myriad of variables here but here are a few general ones: raising children in a ‘joint custody’ situation has had a legacy of being great for parents and their schedules but hellish on kids (uh-oh they’ve left their favorite shirt/school book/what-have-you at other parents’ house, not having a real place to just kick it before being moved again in a day or 2, creates a limbo feeling for the child) – also, generally dad’s don’t really want FT custody bc they don’t want to cut back on job hours and some actually don’t know what to do with kids at certain ages so they feel oddly disconnected form their own kids (part of that moral bankruptcy I spoke of, parking your son with an xbox for hours on end playing violent games is not parenting – need i go on?
A woman working 10 hours a day is usually out of necessity (bc dad cleverly got out of child support somehow, most men pay a measly $400 a month to make it happen…I have a few friends divorced from trust funders who on paper made themselves look penniless out of spite, who gets the brunt, kid who’s moms are now working 2 gigs while dad plays tennis and sits by the pool and not spending any more time with the child, not saying that happens a lot but you see, it can be very one sided depending on maturity of the parents…an ambitious mom is nothing to scoff at either, many men who man up become the PT worker and it can be very satisfying for everyone, most women put up with male ego winning out though…
So, Joe, does that answer some of that Q, it’s tough to know all the answers and sometimes a judge just has to wing it based on past experience with similar cases. I always urge my friends to think twice before responding to their exes in anger/frustration/etc…bc more often than not it’s your kids who feel that burden, you’re an adult, master your emotions and do the best you can by the child(ren) you brought here.
Bart, thank you and it’s good to have friends in far places : )
Scott, I was surprised by your comment since you said something like – where’s howie and she looks good, too : )
Ok, I’m outta here…
Luv, Zen Lill
June 6th, 2013 at 8:00 pm
Social Butterfly, I couldn’t believe it until I read it twice. The value the white boy puts on life is pathetic.
June 6th, 2013 at 8:00 pm
/SB:
What about the jury? Is it a state with no common sense?
June 6th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Social Butterfly, thanks for the link. My question is why isn’t this all over the MSM? I suppose since it wasn’t a celebrity it wasn’t news worthy.
June 6th, 2013 at 8:15 pm
Birdo, your opinion has been echoed by several jhors. If you are among those doing the experiments, we would like grid coordinates.
June 6th, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Zen Lill, loved the pictures. Looking forward to the follow ups. I fully agree with your post. I have been divorced for 4 years. I could have hidden large sums as my attorney advised me to.
But I love my three kids and I couldn’t see me living high on the hog while they suffered. I was sorely tempted since I caught my wife in bed with her brother and she claims that two of our kids are his.
We were married for 17 years and we have three very lovely children. They are the love of my life. I was advised to get a DNA check, but can you imagine two of my kids discovering that their uncle is their father. I couldn’t do that to them.
The slut moved in with her brother last week and sent a note to the judge to have me pick them up and give me total custody. But for the last three years she has been getting a very generous $4200 a month from me for child support.
She has a personal trust fund that gives her $15,000 a month. Her brother became head of the family trust last month so now they can flaunt their affair without worrying about financial repercussions from their parents.
June 6th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
I worry about activists, regardless of their political stripes, disrespecting Mrs. Obama more than other first ladies.
Unlike Laura Bush or even Nancy Reagan, the popular press in both the U.S. and throughout the world has caricatured Michelle Obama as a beast, as a slave, and, as an angry radical.
I worry about how this cultural context enables and almost encourages this type of disavowal of the first lady.
June 6th, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Nelson there is nothing greater than a sister’s love for her brother. You are just a jealous fool. My brother and I have been lovers for 41 years. We have out lived both our spouses. We have 4 children. I have told them of our love and encouraged them to experiment with their own.
Our family is a God fearing and loving one. Family is the framework of any society. Only blood family is pure. It must be protected at any cost.
June 6th, 2013 at 10:02 pm
Anon9 the black bitch doesn’t deserve any more than that.
June 6th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Holy smokes, I was told this was a crazy web site. Damn it certainly is.
June 6th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
I know this may not be a good time. But I have to say it while I am experiencing this exhilaration. I am feeling so important because I protected something you have equal ownership of.
I met this beautiful woman who thought I was pretty eligible so she flirted with me. Then I thought about your half of our pleasure stick that was in my pants. It brought a smile to my face when I realized I would be trusted to protect your valuable possession.
So I smiled let her buy me a pizza and a beer and I worked into the conversation that I was a mister to a married lady. She said you are a fool. She is probably having sex with her husband right now and you are sitting here with a woman who wants you and you are saving yourself for her.
I listened without saying a word, the pizza was good and I wanted to see if I could get her to buy me another beer. She did and I told her that I was as I see so often on this site. BAPF.
June 6th, 2013 at 11:13 pm
Howie, what’s up with the aliens? They are talking in all kinds of code.
June 7th, 2013 at 12:20 am
If you want to hear strange. My father ran off with another woman he had impregnated when my mother was diagnosed with a heart problem. I was three months old. He deserted her too when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. He lied to her about who he really was so she never knew his real name.
22 years later I married their child my half brother. We went to school together and when we graduated from college, we got married. 11 years and two children later that bastard came back into our lives. He blacked mailed us for three years. And he would still be doing it except Jon lured him to our bayou place. We tied his feet and fed him to the baby alligators that often come up to steal baby chicks.
He took more than a week to die. We fed the rest to the swamp.
June 7th, 2013 at 12:26 am
Social Butterfly, this world is just sick. I have seen so much travesty of justice in this small Texas town. Half the black population is in or has been in jail. When the cops are harassing the blacks, they are terrorizing the wet backs.
White men are gods in this place. And God help the white woman suspected of keeping company with a black or any man who isn’t white. I can’t afford to leave. Life is so hellish here that I am a nervous wreck most of the time.
June 7th, 2013 at 1:00 am
If you’re taking Lipitor, Pravachol, Zocor, Crestor, Lescol, Vytorin…or any of their generic versions…this urgent warning is for you
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Get 1 Free! Just enter coupon code FreeHB at checkout.
Dear Health-Conscious Reader,
If you’re one of the 40% of Americans over the age of 65 who take statin drugs, please heed this urgent warning.
As you probably know, statins are one of the most widely-prescribed medicines in the world.
Five of the top 20 best-selling drugs of all time are statin drugs, and Americans spent more than $23 billion on them last year alone for one very powerful reason: Statins have been proven effective in lowering LDL cholesterol – a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and death.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., and with more than 100 million American adults showing elevated cholesterol levels, according to figures from the American Heart Association, it’s no wonder statin use has grown so quickly.
So if you are taking a statin, the good news is that they do have important benefits in combating high cholesterol.
Here’s the Bad News
At my clinic, The Center for New Medicine, I always try to get to the root of my patient’s problems, rather than treating just the symptoms like high cholesterol.
My mission today isn’t to convince you to stop taking the statin drugs your doctor has prescribed for you. But I do want to make sure that if you are going to take them, that they aren’t doing more harm than good.
And it is very clear from clinical studies that these statins interfere with the natural production of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vitally-important nutrient that is critical for healthy heart function, as well as overall energy and well-being.
It has been acknowledged for more than a decade that statin drugs reduce CoQ10 levels as much as 40%.
As a result, one of the most serious side effects of statins among some users is actual damage to the heart resulting in the condition known as cardiomyopathy. But even the less serious side effects of statins can make your life miserable.
Since CoQ10 is essential for energy production within cells, reducing CoQ10 means reducing your energy levels.
So many patients on statins complain of fatigue, difficulty exercising and muscle aches and pains.
The participants in one study showed that the adverse side effects of statins were so bad—they complained of muscle pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, memory loss, and nerve problems—that they were taken off statins and given supplemental doses of CoQ10 to bring their bodies back into balance.
After a year on CoQ10, most of the adverse side effects cleared up.
This study uncovered an important lesson: Supplemental CoQ10 can be greatly beneficial to patients with high cholesterol who are on statin drugs!
The One Thing Every Statin User Must Do Now Is…
Take CoQ10 Every Day!
At my clinic, I insist that every patient taking a statin drug also supplement with CoQ10.
To be fair, your doctor may have already recommended that you take CoQ10.
But are you following this advice? And are you taking the right CoQ10 for maximum cardiovascular benefit?
Are you taking the right active ingredients that allow your CoQ10 to be absorbed efficiently to give you the energy boost you can feel to live an active and fulfilling lifestyle?
June 7th, 2013 at 9:03 am
Yes, what’s in your pants is a valuable possession to me and so is the man it is attached to. She, nor any other woman will understand the love that we share. It is different than most, and something so special that if left completely up to me, I would never give it up.
I was sad that I had such a challenging day that I neglected to take advantage of yesterday morning. And for that I am sorry. I miss you and so want to be with you today. I called you and I haven’t heard back. I realize that our time may be short so I am hoping that we can make today memorable. I love you. Call me.