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Submitted by Ogre Mage on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 11:57pm.
Snip of article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
» http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/292366_murray15.html WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats on Tuesday selected Patty Murray as their fourth-ranking leader, giving the Washington state lawmaker major influence over the issues and priorities that the Senate will confront next year. Murray was elected secretary of the Democratic caucus by secret ballot as Democrats began organizing themselves for taking over power in January. Murray will join Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., caucus vice chairman. The four senators will serve as a de facto board of directors. And in another significant assignment, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was given a seat on the Finance Committee. That committee, which sets tax policy and oversees everything from Medicare and welfare to Social Security and trade, is one of the most powerful in Congress. (more ...) While she was not on the ballot, Sen. Patty Murray may have been the biggest winner this year. With her election as Secretary of the Democratic Caucus and Democrats now in the majority, her position as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee is strengthened. Serving on the Appropriations Committee is one of the most desired positions in Congress because the committee decides how and where federal funds are allocated. Even in 2005 while in the minority, Murray secured $516 million for transportation projects in Washington, including $220 million to replace the Alaska Way Viaduct in Seattle. Now she will chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, giving her even greater power to allocate federal money for the state, though she will be hamstrung to some degree by the cost of the Iraq War and the massive federal deficit which built up during 6 years of Republican control in D.C. Murray isn't the first Washington Senator to serve on Appropriations. The late, great six-term Senator Warren Magnuson did also. In fact, during his final term he was the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the ultimate power positions in the Federal Government. Murray is only 56 and already into her third term, one wonders if she too will someday have enough seniority to chair the Committee. Newly reelected Sen. Maria Cantwell just earned a slot on the other highly desired committee in the Senate, the Finance Committee, which oversees tax and trade policies, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Cantwell said she plans to use her new position to push for tax policies which will benefit both Washington state and the middle class, such as a $4000 tax deduction for college tuition, the state sales tax deduction and a Research & Development tax credit. She also has worked to increase Medicare reimbursement rates to help improve access for seniors and to increase the Pell Grant award. With Murray in the leadership and our senators on arguably the two most powerful committees in the Senate, things look good for our federal delegation. We are far more likely to see progress on Washington state priorities such as the establishment of the Wild Sky Wilderness in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and clean-up of Hanford and Puget Sound. Frank Hill, a DC insider, wrote an article on the importance of seniority within the U.S. Senate. This is a snippet: http://www.capstrat.com/cs/insight/articles/ussenate.cfm And in the US Senate, seniority is what counts, rating something close to total devotion. Seniority leads to plum committee assignments and influence that far exceeds the reach of even the most powerful House members. The rules of the Senate, the comity and relationships necessary to build a consensus almost demands that a state send and keep their senators there over a long period of time to ensure maximum effectiveness for the state.
Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 11:12pm.
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Submitted by emmettoconnell on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 8:37pm.
The Powerline Blog, a conservative blog, has nominated our very own Olympian as the worst newspaper in the country. At first I thought it was funny, because, who across the country would vote for the Olympian as the worst when there were much larger and more notorious newspapers like the Boston Globe, Washington Post and LA Times to vote for.
» But, the reasons for the Zero being on the list ticked me off: The Olympian (Olympia, Washington): MHJ: “From their editorial about how good it is that the Governor is going to direct the employees of the State Department of Transportation to cooperate with the State Auditor on taxpayer-directed performance audits, to their choice of letters to the editor, the Olympian begs for an editorial staff with common sense and analytical skills.”Sigh. For all the reasons to not like the Olympian, these really aren't them. So, lets vote for the Palm Beach Post as a sort of anti-Olympian. And, by the way, the Olympian is our newspaper. Only we can make fun of our newspaper. Vote here, down on the right hand side.
Submitted by Norm on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 6:59pm.
Well, specifically their damn dog. What are my options here? I got home an hour ago and this thing has been barking, almost, non-stop since then. This is a pretty small apartment building, but I'm two doors down and it's buggin the shit out of me. Thoughts?
» Norm
Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 6:08pm.
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Submitted by V-ster on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 5:45pm.
Per email:
Submitted by Don on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 5:25pm.
Published on Monday, November 20, 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle
» 'My Stomach is Touching My Back' by Paul Ash The federal government has decided to drop the word "hunger" from its vocabulary, according to a new report released by the USDA. The reason? USDA sociologist Mark Nord, the author of the report, claims that the term "hungry" is "not a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured in the food security survey. We don't have a measure of that condition." The USDA will now use the term "very low food security" to describe people who used to be considered "food insecure with hunger." Statistically speaking, hunger will no longer exist in America. The release of the report, however, follows five straight years of increases in the number of Americans unable to afford the food they need. Nord and the USDA may feel comfortable saying there is no hunger in America, simply because they can't find a precise scientific measure to describe it. It is not so difficult. In fact, it's so easy a child could do it. A young boy at a San Francisco food pantry knows exactly how to describe hunger. He says, "My stomach is touching my back." To be fair, the USDA's point is not that hunger doesn't exist, but that this particular survey, the annual "Household Food Security in the United States," is designed to measure food security -- an economic and social condition related to limited or uncertain access to food. Hunger is a physiological condition. Because the USDA doesn't ask survey participants about their physiological symptoms, it can't claim that the study measures "hunger." Unfortunately, no national government survey exists that does measure hunger in a more precisely defined way, and there are no plans to start one. In the meantime, the "Household Food Security" study is our federal government's principal gauge of -- forgive my use of the term -- hunger in America.
Submitted by OperaGirl on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 5:11pm.
It was 10:00 at night when, after a three-hour delay, Emily Gillette and her family gratefully boarded flight 6160 from Burlington, Vermont to New York's La Guardia. Heading to the city to rendezvous with relatives from abroad, Emily took her window seat in the eighth row of a nine-row plane, next to her husband. She began to discreetly breastfeed her baby before takeoff, aware that nursing helps babies regulate air travel's pressure changes. Within moments, she was asked by the sole flight attendant to cover up with a blanket. Citing her right to nurse, Gillette calmly and politely declined. The flight attendant then told Gillette, "You are offending me," and proceeded to have a ticket agent board the aircraft to remove Emily and her family. The Gillettes quietly gathered their belongings and left, after unsuccessfully appealing to the pilot and co-pilot for help. Read the rest of the story here (scroll down to the bottom) and if you are a nursing mother consider joining the National Nurse In taking place in airports across the country.
Submitted by Rick on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 3:14pm.
From Tinfoil Man: Many years ago there was a man in our town who we would see walking the streets. He was always wearing an aluminum foil hat and foil on his shoulders. We called him the Tinfoil Man and just assumed he was a bit loopy. Flash forward several decades, and at a garage sale I discovered some of his belongings were being sold, since he had passed on. Inside a small box I discovered a portion of a hand written diary. I have tried to transcribe this as best I can, retaining the odd phrasing and punctuation. I find it to be a fascinating glimpse into his mind. The numbers in bold are the original page numbers. There is much in here that is hard to interpret, but I think it gives a real glimpse into the mind of the Tinfoil Man.
Submitted by Norm on Mon, 11/20/2006 - 2:02pm.
Read more here.
Anyone care to make bets on the age group of the offenders? If they are ever caught that is. |
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