OK: complaints about my blog.

Martins has lodged a formal complaint (get it? formal? cause it's Martins? haha) that my blog is "not funny enough" and therefore I am causing him to "waste his lunch hour" on this shit.

Eliot, although he has not been as vocal recently, has shown in his drop-off of readership frequency, that I am not discussing either running or national politics enough.

To appease one of you: some short political discussions. Eliot, if any of these topics appeals to you, we can continue this discussion further.

1) Supreme Court. How likely is a filibuster? Alito is obviously a very controversial candidate. He needs 51 votes to win confirmation and currently the Republicans lead the Senate with 55 representatives. However, there are about 6 Republican Senators who are pro-choice or at least not anti-choice. We're talking Specter especially, who has been the most vocal about this, but also including Collins & Snowe (ME), and Hutchinson (TX). Since fully half of the Democrats in the Senate voted to confirm Roberts in the last Supreme Court hearings (and 100% of the Republicans) it is worrisome from that side however. Obviously, I don't think that as many Dems will vote for Scalito but still, even if the GOP loses its 6 moderates but gains even 2 Dems, then Alito wins. I think a filibuster will be very hard to achieve because 41 supporters would be needed for that and who knows if that could be achieved, given how close this may be. However, as hearings do not begin until January 9, there is still plenty of time to see how this plays out. Don't forget to call your Senator when the issue comes up.

2) CIA in Eastern Europe: No, we did not discuss this in class today except for a brief after-class conversation with Woodword on the ethics of printing information like this that will undoubtedly hurt the reputation of the USG. I think it is obvious that torture is going on there, given this admin's insistence that it is not illegal (thanks Gonzalez) and their petition to exempt CIA employees (and remember, CIA employees are not necessarily Americans...) from the current legislation prohibiting the "cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoner in U.S. custody." What publicity of this is going to do is...not much, I don't think. Have conditions really changed at Guantanamo as a result of publicity? No, not so much. I know Abu Ghraib was different, but does anyone really think about that anymore? The main thing I can think is that Bush's approval ratings are going to sink even lower (if that is possible) for a short time but hey, once we're out shopping for Christmas do we all really have time to think about that stuff? It's the season of forgiveness and happiness, and who needs forgiveness more than our dear ol' Pres?

3) Finally, this article:
Reluctant Mayor
There is a mayor in Pennsylvania who has been in office for over 10 years and is also the de facto police chief since that office has been empty for over a year and a half. He has sworn that he will resign if elected, but that is a problem because he is the only one on the ballot in this town of about 1,600. A write-in campaign has begun on behalf of a local meter-reader. This pressing news is important because I just wanted to remind everyone to get out and vote tomorrow in the local races. S'all.


And finally, one for Martins:

There are 2 muffins in an oven. One says to the other, "Damn it's hot in here!" The other muffin replies, "Holy Shit! A talking muffin!"

That one was so good, I promise to include another next time.