Friday, October 16, 2009

Some Good News Amongst the Bad

There are just a couple items of good news that remind us of what politics would look like if the Democrats would give it half a try. Amongst all the bad stuff, like the recent appointment of a 29-year old Goldman Sachs exec to the investigative branch of the SEC.

The first is the loveable Al Franken's amendment to deny defense contracts to companies that ask employees to sign away the right to sue over things like the gang rape of Jamie Leigh Jones. This has totally exposed the 30 Repuke senators who voted against the amendment as the corporate puppets they are. Here's hoping this is used in future campaigns to unseat the hypocrites.


(Canadians, click here)


In a very similar vein is a bill introduced by Patrick Leahy to remove the exemption to the Anti-trust Act that health care providers have had since just after WWII. Again, this is a perfect opportunity for Republicans and Blue Dogs alike to show their true colors to the nation. After all the whining and posturing they've been doing about letting the market (and the oh-so-trustworthy corporations) take care of every possible problem under the sun in an open competitive market, I can't see how they can credibly argue for a measure that shields the health-care parasites from that very competitive environment. Again, a good move from Democrats both intrinsically for the good of the American people and politically in the fact that it shows something more than the razor-thin space between the parties that we've been seeing lately.

OK, that second bit of good news isn't really that new - the Leahy website announced the intention on September 17. So I'm a month behind. I'm also about a month behind in announcing this other good news - Station Agent is back to blogging at Ice Station Tango. I only found out when I opened up the Blogger editor and saw a recent post had been made there. Pay him a visit, he's always got good topical stuff.

Ice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: From The Rachel Maddow Show, we have this clip demonstrating that a vote against the Franken Amendment may well have been a career-ender for at least some of the 30 Repugnicant Senators who voted against it. Again, this is going to make future campaigns against these asshats a slam-dunk for the Democrats when they come up for re-election. If the Democrats can only put somebody in their places who is actually better is another question.

UPDATE II: Somebody has done a very good thing, starting a website called Republicans For Rape, specifically to target this issue. Check out the page listing those senators who voted against the Franken Amendment - complete with pictures of each. Nothing like a proper rogues' gallery, I always say.

TAGS: , ,