Free Republic

Are you nuts? Get rid of the filibuster, and then what are we supposed to do if the Dems ever get control the senate?

While you're at it, why not advocate a 3/4 majority rule for all spending, and a 7/8 majority rule for any changes to environmental policy. That'll really protect conservatives in case the liberals get control of the Senate.

The complaint that I have is imposing a supermajority requirement in order to confirm presidential appointments. That stifles the president's power. I haven't heard anybody advocate getting rid of the filibuster for legislative proposals.

Do you think that the Senate Democrats obstruction of (some) judicial nominees is okay? After all, you are intimating that conservatives need to be preserve the ability to pull the same stunt in the future.

I believe this has been disproven since then. Let me see what I can find ...

I'm looking too, just for fun. For what it's worth, the Bar Harbor ferry does not go to Halifax. It transits between Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Bar Harbor, Maine. So, as far as I know, nobody is asserting that any of the 9/11 hijackers came via Halifax.

It's my understanding that none of the 9/11 attackers entered from Canada.

Two of the hijackers apparently came to the United States from Nova Scotia, Canada, crossing the border via a ferry to Bar Harbor, Maine. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol are assisting U.S. law enforcement in retracing these hijackers' steps in Canada.

http://www.ict.org.il/spotlight/det.cfm?id=671 <-- Link

That article is from 2001, and facts since then may support your contention that none of the 9/11 hijackers entered the US via Canada. But in my opinion, the US/Canada border is so porous and heavily traveled that it makes sense that at least some of the hijackers entered the US through this border.

Mohammad Atta came into Maine on a ferry from where? Anyone? Anyone?

Not sure if it was Atta, but did find this ...

Despite that, officials in New England maintain that several of the terrorists crossed into the U.S. from Canada using remote border crossings in Maine.

At least one took a ferry to Maine from Nova Scotia, they say. And at least two of the hijackers crossed the border at Coburn Gore, Me., where a single immigration inspector usually takes care of everything that passes by on the two-lane road outside.

http://billstclair.com/911timeline/2001/torontostar091501.html <-- Link

Nova Scotia to Maine could land at Bar Harbor or Portland. Since Atta and one other drove south into Portland, on September 10 I believe (photographed in and about stores withing 10 miles of the Portland Jetport), I figure they came in from points north.

I think the correct way to interpret Scalia's comment is that given the state of Constitutional Law, as created by a rouge Supreme Court that makes stuff up as it goes along, no state can now make abortion illegal. However, if the Supreme Court hadn't over-reached its power, then a state could make abortion illegal.

That is, the "Constitutionality" of the issue is a reference to the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution, and Scalia thinks the Supreme Court is WRONG. He goes on to note that it is also PROUD, and will not reverse itself, hence the need for a Constitutional Amendment.

Good friend? WTF???

Sean calls Charlie Rangle "good friend." I just assume the courtesy will be extended to anybody who graces the same screen. Could be wrong, but would expect the on-screen relationship between Sean and McAuliff to be cordial, at worst.

Says Sean, "My good friend, Terry McAuliff ... "

I haven't watched H&C in months, but calling on McAuliff just shows that all that matters is ratings.

Where is the current DNC head?

Dang. I hate news like this. My connection with Brookfield, FWIW, was short, and long ago. Went to what was then "Pilgrim Park Junior High School." Lived at the west end of town, not far from Pewaukee.

Prayers for all who have to deal with the ramifications of this.

He hasn't. You may want to ask again in a month or two, and keep the question in your "remind me to ask" file for an indefinite period.

... after they pull her foot out of it!

Those contortions must have damaged Jane's hip.

I missed this on the first go around - you and your family are in my prayers. Go get 'em Tiger!

Good question but my guess is there's a major difference between legislation/etc written by the Congress and a nomination submitted by the President for Consent/Advice.

There sure is. It might be okay to set up a supermajority/debate club rule for legislation and related squabbles, but those shenanigans are totally inappropriate when they undermine the power of a President to appoint judges as the Constitution prescribes.

* bump *

Too bad the GOP can't do this for judicial nominees. Seems an easy enough procedure.

But Les Moonves gives a less than clear statement, that can fairly be read either way:

CBS chief Les Moonves, says that Dan Rather might have stuck around behind the anchor desk for a 25th year, had the newsman not been at the center of "Memogate" last fall.

"Maybe, but he made the choice [to step down]," Moonves told the latest edition of Playboy magazine about the possibility or Rather spending another year at "The CBS Evening News."

"It was important that he do this ahead of the report [of the investigation into the scandal]," says Moonves.

"Yes, he may have announced his retirement a month earlier than he would otherwise have in order to distance the announcement from the report, there's no question about that, but he had already planned to retire."

New Your Post - March 2, 2005

I believe that Rather changed his retirement intentions after getting caught pushing and defending the forged Killian memos. He's been caught in a lie before, so bailing early on this one is out of form with his past conduct. That makes me think he is covering something more important.

Yeah, I mistook month 09 for August, I should have typed "story filed September 23, 2004." Still, note that it puts Rather's retirement in 2006, at a 25 year milstone.

But sources in CBS expect him to be shunted towards retirement rather sooner than his scheduled departure in 2006 - and the beleaguered networks should expect some more conservative crowing when he goes.

From a story by Alec Russell, filed August 23, 2004.

Telegraph | News | Breaking news: CBS is in trouble <-- Mash here

Dan Rather desreves all the taint he gets, and then some.

Yes but do you need it posted over and over to read it and notice it?..... What if every person on the board did that.... What a mess it would look like.

Indeed. It would impact the signal to noise ratio, in favor of the "noise" side ;-)

If the drive is kaput, don't despair. They are cheap (good one is less thna 50 bucks, cheap readers are about 25 bucks), and easy to replace. Still, first thing I would try is cleaning the drive with a drive cleaning disc.

Don't you think Freepers can read? Or must they be led to water with big fonts?

I don't mean to get in the middle of your exchange with Tonk, but I have noticed that being in the hurry that most of us are, sometimes we miss important stuff that is typed in normal fonts, right there on our screens. At least I do. I recall it took quite an effort to disabuse many FReepers of the notion that an IBM Selectric (not Selectric Composer) is capable of making proportional font spacing.

"Ditto" on the bad CD, or dirty CD, or dirty lens on the CD drive. First thing I do is clean the CD (warm water, dish detergent, don't wipe "around" the CD, wipe "out from the center"), and a session with a cleaning disk in the CD-ROM/DVD drive. If that doesn't cure it and you can read other CD's, the CD you can't read is kaput.