Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Well, he does have two arms. And he used them to put a blanket hold on 70 appointees until he gets over $40 BILLION in earmarks. Patriotism being the last refuge of scoundrels, Shelby used it to defend himself.

On Thursday evening, news broke that the Alabama Republican has taken the extraordinary measure of holding up at least 70 "nominations on the Senate calendar" -- essentially threatening to filibuster the confirmation processes if they came to a vote...

The Senator confirmed that he launched the hold, in part, because he is upset with a tanker contract worth $35 billion that remains unresolved between Northrop Grumman/EADs and Boeing. Shelby favors the Northrop Grummann-EADS bid largely because it would result in tankers being assembled in his home state. The two contractors, in turn, have donated to Shelby's campaign committees, hoping ostensibly to secure favor or at least an audience with the Alabama Republican... The investigative journalism group Center for Public Integrity looked at all political action committees associated with Northrop Grumman and concluded that Shelby has received at least $108,233 in contributions since his first Senate election in 1986.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/05/shelbys-blanket-hold-puts_n_450934.html

This is every bit as bad as Ben Nelson's Cornhusker Kickback scandal we saw around Christmas. This is a gift to the Dems, if they want to use it. I like this:

Democrats now have an easy opportunity to pick a national fight with the Republican party. It may be tough to engage the American public in a conversation about filibuster reform, but it should take little effort to build a national consensus around the basic proposition that a single senator should not hold the federal government hostage in exchange for an earmark. That the national interest should not be jeopardized for the benefit of a single state...

The Democrats should move swiftly to elevate Shelby, defining him as one of the leading voices of the Republican party. That shouldn't be a hard sell; he's the ranking member of the Banking Committee as well as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. President Obama should then address the issue directly, demanding that Sen. Shelby back down. He must refuse to give into Shelby's demands, no matter the circumstances. And he should use the issue to define the dangers of Republican obstruction in a way that is easy for everyday Americans to understand.

But he should do more than just that. President Obama should call out the Republican leadership, as well. A hold in the Senate only has real force because it is presumed to have the support of the minority party. Unless the GOP quickly denounces Shelby's action, it will be fair to assume that every member of the Republican caucus supports it.

The president couldn't have asked for an easier fight to pick. Sen. Shelby is now the symbol of Republican obstruction. He is the symbol of the toxicity that has invaded the Senate and threatened the government's ability to function.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-loewe/the-shelby-opening_b_450484.html

The average person has only the vaguest notion of the actual procedures of how gov't works, nor should they usually. But this looks like a golden opportunity to teach a lesson in governance to the general public while reforming the filibuster rule. It could be a major step in turning around the current system where the GOP obstructs government then benefits at the polling booth by saying gov't doesn't work.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The ransom note has come to light:

Primary sources
A reader got his hands on the note that Richard Shelby delivered to Harry Reid informing him of the blanket hold. You can read it here. Shocking stuff.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/primary_sources.html

[Kuros]

An amusing-bemusing post on this by Yglesias.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Forward Observer]

He's trying to save jobs in his state. No different than what other senators try to do for the jobs in their own state. Not defending him, but I see his logic.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I mentioned this a couple of weeks back. It's good to have my perception confirmed by someone else.

The Senate Becomes A Polish Joke

So, here�s the news from the Senate. Martha Johnson was nominated to head the General Services Administration, and was confirmed by a nearly unanimous vote � but only after having had her nomination held hostage for nine months by Senator Kit Bond, who wanted more pork for Kansas City. And now Senator Richard Shelby has placed a hold on � are you seated � all, all, Obama administration nominees, until he gets some pork for Alabama.

What�s going on? The Senate has rules based on the idea that it was a chamber of gentlemen who would find ways to work together. But now, 41 Senators belong to a party that has no interest in a working government, no desire to work with the majority in good faith.

There�s a precedent for all this. In effect, we�ve now become 17th-century Poland:

� with the rise of power held by Polish magnates, the unanimity principle was reinforced with the institution of the nobility�s right of liberum veto (Latin for �I freely forbid�). If the envoys were unable to reach a unanimous decision within six weeks (the time limit of a single session), deliberations were declared null and void. From the mid-17th century onward, any objection to a Sejm resolution � by either an envoy or a senator � automatically caused the rejection of other, previously approved resolutions. This was because all resolutions passed by a given session of the Sejm formed a whole resolution, and, as such, was published as the annual constitution of the Sejm, e.g., Anno Domini 1667. In the 16th century, no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but, from the second half of the 17th century, the liberum veto was used to virtually paralyze the Sejm, and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse.

�Brink of collapse�: get used to that concept.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/the-senate-becomes-a-polish-joke/

[Fox]

While Senator Shelby is a total hypocrite, the best way to get the system changed is to highlight the abuses. People like Richard Shelby behaving in clearly corrupt, unprincipled fashion and abusing procedural rules to obstruct basic governmental functions like apointments is an excellent way to highlight that.

The Obama Administration has to step up and start loudly attacking this. The Democrats in the Senate aren't going to do it because they want to be able to take advantage of the same rules when they get voted back into the minority. The Senate needs to be shamed into changing its ways. That's pretty much what its come to. These guys are pathetic.

[bacasper]

Obama attacking Shelby may have zero effect; indeed, it may even help him.

If you were a constituent of his, wouldn't you be happy if he were doing whatever he could to get jobs for your state? His re-election now is probably a shoe-in. What a smart politician.

Yes, it is the system that is broken.

[Fox]

[mc_jc]

What I find amazing (and tragic) is that when a Republican is president, people vote in a mostly Democratic congress. But when a Democrat is president, a good amount of people turn to the Republicans.
It happened during the Clinton administration. But unlike Obama, Clinton was still popular among many Americans, especially the rare Southern Democrats.

[Fox]

[Reggie]

Buck Fama

[Ya-ta Boy]

[bucheon bum]