Friday Mashup (11/11/11)

I realize that a Friday without wingnuttia from Christine Flowers would be – well, it would be a hell of a lot more pleasant, but we are where we are.

And today (here), she tells us that “the shame is ours” (huh?) concerning the Penn State scandal, and that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment on Joe Paterno.

I agree, actually (on the "rush to judgment" part), even though it looks bad. My problem with Flowers, as usual, is that she seems to have no trouble calling for judicial retribution when it suits her, even though it isn't warranted (calling abortion a "capital crime" here - unbelievable language for a lawyer, but such is her stock in trade).

Next, Mikey The Beloved tells us that he recently visited our military in Iraq and Afghanistan here, adding the following also (in an opinion column timed for Veterans Day today)…

I challenge the Congress and the administration to live up to the promises made long ago and to meet the advice given by Gen. Washington and President Lincoln regarding obligations to those who served. Whether it is the vigorous pursuit of an undetermined VA claim, breaking through the bureaucracy on behalf of the family of a currently deployed soldier, or the gentle advice and care for a homeless veteran referred to my office, I and my staff stand always prepared to do our best to honor veteran service through diligent and compassionate service in return.

As far as “challenging the administration” is concerned, Politifact tells us here that President Obama has kept his promise to fight veteran homelessness. However, if Fitzpatrick is looking to blame anyone in Congress for exacerbating this problem, he should look towards the other side of the Capitol where Crazy Tom Coburn resides in “the world’s greatest deliberative body” (here...more here).

Oh, and on the subject of looking after our veterans, let it be noted that our PA-08 U.S. House rep voted against a combat pay raise here and voted against a bill guaranteeing pay to our military in the event of a government shut down here.

Update 11/12/11: Another important vet-related note here...

And that’s probably a good transition into last week’s Area Votes in Congress writeup as published in the Philadelphia Inquirer here (not much to say about it, but here it is for the record)…

House

Securities deregulation. Voting 407-17, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 2930) allowing start-ups and other companies to conduct public stock sales of up to $2 million per year without first registering the securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Companies now can bypass SEC registration only if the offering is private or does not cross state lines, among other exceptions.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

All Philadelphia-area representatives voted yes.

Private stock offerings. Voting 413-11, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 2940) allowing start-ups and other companies to advertise private stock offerings to the general public, such as over the Internet. Firms now can publicize these tightly controlled offerings only to a limited number of "accredited," or wealthy, investors. The bill gives the non-wealthy an opportunity to also take the risk of buying into start-up ventures, while putting a $10,000 limit on an individual's stock purchases.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

All Philadelphia-area representatives voted yes.

"In God We Trust." Voting 396-9, the House on Tuesday passed a nonbinding resolution (H Con Res 13) restating that "In God We Trust" is by law the official U.S. motto. Republican sponsors called the measure a timely reminder that America is a nation under God; Democrats said the House would better spend its time debating jobs bills.

A yes vote backed the resolution.

Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), John Carney (D., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Pat Meehan (R., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Not voting: Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.).

By the way, I posted about this utter waste of time here - third bullet.

Senate

Obama jobs bill. By a vote of 51-49, the Senate on Thursday failed to reach 60 votes for advancing a bill (S 1769) to spend $60 billion over 10 years for projects to rebuild public works, stimulate the economy, and create jobs for unemployed construction workers. The vote sustained a GOP filibuster and effectively killed the bill, which is one part of a $447 billion jobs plan offered by President Obama.

A yes vote supported the bill.

Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Chris Coons (D., Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Voting no: Pat Toomey (R., Pa.).

Toomey continues to be utterly awful (once more, take a bow, all you methane dispensers who voted for him).

Republican jobs plan. Voting 47-53, the Senate on Thursday blocked a Republican alternative to Obama's jobs bill (above). In part, the GOP bill (S 1786) would extend existing transportation programs for two years at a cost of $40 billion, to be offset by unspecified cuts in other federal programs, and impose a one-year freeze on new environmental regulations.

A yes vote supported the bill.

Voting yes: Toomey.

Voting no: Carper, Casey, Coons, Lautenberg, and Menendez.

Even when the Repugs actually try, somewhat, to pass jobs legislation, they screw it up (here).

Aid to small airports. Voting 41-57, the Senate on Tuesday refused to eliminate the $6 million budget for a program to help commercial airports at smaller cities upgrade their operations. The amendment was offered to a $182 billion fiscal 2012 appropriations bill (HR 2112) for several departments that was later passed and sent to conference with the House.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Carper, Coons, and Toomey.

Voting no: Casey, Lautenberg, and Menendez.

This week, the House was in recess. The Senate took up fiscal 2012 appropriations and a bill to repeal IRS withholding requirements on certain government contracts.

Continuing, Kathleen Parker of the WaPo believes that a certain Willard Mitt Romney has been acting “too nice” in the Repug presidential candidates’ beauty pageants (here).

Um, I wonder how “nice” Romney supposedly was when he was helping to wreck companies and destroy jobs when he founded Bain Capital in 1984 and left as its CEO in 1999 (here).

And concerning Parker, I’m keen to ask the question once more; what was that Pulitzer for again?

Finally, this tells us the following…

Two prominent senators want Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to steer talks on an international weapons ban away from a plan they say would harm U.S. defense firms that manufacture cluster weapons.

At issue are efforts to secure a new global pact on cluster munitions that will take place next week in Geneva. Two competing proposals will be in play, but GOP Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Richard Lugar (Ind.) warned Clinton they are concerned efforts to strike a sixth cluster-weapons agreement “may be at an impasse.”

“A widely supported draft protocol has emerged which imposes multilateral controls on the production, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions,” the senators wrote to Clinton in a Nov. 1 letter obtained by The Hill. “However, strong opposition from some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as reservations expressed by a small number of governments could derail the … conference’s efforts to achieve a sixth protocol.”

Basically, Kyl and Lugar oppose the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) for the following reason…

The CCM “fails to address 85 percent of the world’s cluster munitions stockpiles,” and is designed to permit the production, stockpiling and use of cluster weapons, the lawmakers wrote. “As such, it discriminates against U.S. manufacturers instead of promoting solutions that can effectively address the humanitarian issues associated with unexploded ordnance.”

I honestly don’t know how it’s possible for Kyl and Lugar to make that claim, since, as noted here, “The Convention on Cluster Munitions, CCM, prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions.” That sounds pretty darn all-inclusive to me.

And as noted here…

(Beirut, 16 September 2011): The Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions ended in Beirut today with a strong international declaration to rid the world of cluster munitions.

The 90 States Parties and signatories to the Convention at the meeting adopted the Beirut Declaration, which notes the lifesaving gains made already by the ban. It also strongly condemns the use of cluster munitions by any actor, anywhere.

“We acknowledge that the progress made since the First Meeting of States Parties and throughout the Oslo Process is the result of the successful partnership between States, international organizations and civil society,” the Declaration says.

In closing the Declaration says: “Together, we are compelled to do more, for as long as people remain at risk, to accomplish our collective goal – a world free of cluster munitions.”

Oh, and in case anyone thinks all I’m trying to do here is blame Republicans on this issue, I should point out from here that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lectured former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi about the use of cluster bombs against his own citizens, when, as noted here, the U.S. is the largest cluster bomb manufacturer in the world; these instruments of death are being manufactured by BAE Systems, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Israel Military Industries, General Dynamics, Giat Industries, Lockheed Martin, Saab Bofors, and Thomson Dasa Armements (don’t know offhand all the companies on that list with U.S. operations, but more than a few I’m sure).

And as noted here (in a post where Bushco, on its way out the door in December 2008, punted on the issue, handing it off to Number 44), 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.

But for the moment, it looks like Kyl and Lugar are the latest culprits responsible for inaction on this issue, claiming that talks on a sixth cluster-weapons agreement may be “at an impasse” (gosh, the Senate at an impasse on deliberations? I guess, in other “news,” sky is blue and water is wet).

I guess both Repugs should count their blessings that there’s no possibility that cluster weapons (which, of course, will now be “smart,” but probably not “smart” enough to accidentally kill or maim kids) could ever blow up in Phoenix or Fort Wayne. If that were true, my guess is that there would be a whole other degree of urgency from them on this issue that is nowhere to be found at the moment.