A January 1, 1995, Times editorial on proposals to restrict the use of Senate filibusters:Smooth, real smooth.In the last session of Congress, the Republican minority invoked an endless string of filibusters to frustrate the will of the majority. This relentless abuse of a time-honored Senate tradition so disgusted Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, that he is now willing to forgo easy retribution and drastically limit the filibuster. Hooray for him. . . . Once a rarely used tactic reserved for issues on which senators held passionate views, the filibuster has become the tool of the sore loser, . . . an archaic rule that frustrates democracy and serves no useful purpose.A March 6, 2005, Times editorial on the same subject:The Republicans are claiming that 51 votes should be enough to win confirmation of the White House's judicial nominees. This flies in the face of Senate history. . . . To block the nominees, the Democrats' weapon of choice has been the filibuster, a time-honored Senate procedure that prevents a bare majority of senators from running roughshod. . . . The Bush administration likes to call itself "conservative," but there is nothing conservative about endangering one of the great institutions of American democracy, the United States Senate, for the sake of an ideological crusade.
And while you're there, click back to page 1 of the column for the skinny on a deal between Clear Channel Communications and the Chinese Communists to bring Monster Truck Ralles to China!
Or, as Reuters put it: "House sized trucks that shoot fire" while "crushing everything in their path" may "soon have the Chinese gaping in awe."Yeeehawww!
Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.
Incidentally, anybody know where we can get our hands on a couple billion Confederate flag decals?
