In Defense of Congress

It seems as though everywhere you turn some Beltway observer is complaining that the 113th Congress did not do anything. It’s true that up until their last day in session they had passed fewer bills than any in history. Then in a flurry of activity they voted on just enough legislation to surpass the 112th Congress, barely.

But those who consider this a “do-nothing” Congress, weren’t watching C-SPAN at the right time.

“We’re totally outraged by this legislative deal, which was done in the middle of the night.”

Congress Says It Has to Cut Pensions to Save Them
Bloomberg BusinessWeek

“[The bill was] released in the middle of the night,” Slaughter said at the beginning of the hearing.

Boehner Ally Admits Omnibus Bill Was Crafted in Literal Cigar Smoke-Filled Back Room
Breitbart.com

That’s why Democrats had to use a parliamentary maneuver in the middle of the night to pass it.

Obamacare & the Gruber Democrats
Real Clear Politics

Remember in 2009 when the Democrats controlled the House and Senate and passed Obamacare in the middle of the night without anyone reading the thousands of pages of the law and over the vehement objections of the American people.

Obama: President or King-Dictator?
al.com

The vote was moved up two weeks in the middle of the night …

Messy Fight for Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Slot
Rollcall.com

If they bring it up in the middle of the night and there are only Democrats there, it is ratified.

Gun Rights Activists Are Worried Obama Could Use Executive Action On United Nations Treaty Limiting Gun Rights  
Westernjournalism.com

“The fact that we have made it legal now…in the middle of the night, days before Christmas…”

Blanche Lincoln Segment on Mike Huckabee Show Full of Nonsense
USPoker.com

“These kinds of backroom deals and changing of the rules in the middle of the night is exactly why Congress has a lower approval rating than cockroaches and traffic jams,” he said.

Nancy Pelosi Says Decision to Delete Reporting Requirement for Free Trips ‘Must Be Reversed’
National Journal

Unlike the criticism Congress received following the passage of UIGEA (which was attached to the Safe Ports Act of 2006 literally in the middle of the night)…

House Judiciary Committee May Hold iGaming Hearing During Lame Duck
NJPokerOnline.net

Apparently Congress worked a lot, but waited until after dark to do it. It also seems the work they did at night was on legislation that no one liked and may have actually been harmful.

The solution seems simple. The halls of Congress should close at the same time as the Georgetown bars.

Rain

This is serious. You may not think so, sitting in your comfortable little cocoon wherever you are, but this is serious.  It’s raining in San Diego.  It is not supposed to rain in San Diego in November.

The television stations are forced to use last year’s StormWatch graphics.  And that’s not all.  The rain is causing traffic accidents.  It’s inconveniencing peoples’ lives.  It will be dripping on people who weren’t expecting it.

San Diego expects rain January and February.  A bit.  Not on weekends of course. But now and then.  Certainly not in November.  Why is this happening?  Who would do this?  There’s a time and place for rain, but in these economic times, this is not the time.  We need to balance the need for rain against the economic needs of society.

Rain washes dirt and trash downstream, until it finds its way to the ocean.  And it makes the water unfit for swimming for three days.  The entire weekend.  Not that most of us want to go in the water in November anyway.  We know it’s too cold.  But there are people here vacationing from places like Nebraska and Indiana and they long to sit on our beaches and frolic in our ocean water.  The rain and runoff (the Chamber of Commerce has taught us not to say pollution) prevent them from enjoying the bounty of our land and spending their hand-delivered stimulus money.  Not that the stimulus was a good idea, but once the money was available, they may as well take it.

We understand there’s a need for a little rain.  Rain should fall between three o’clock and five o’clock in the morning.  Some mornings.  Not all.  And not hard rain.  No thunder.  Not any rain loud enough to wake hard working Americans from their well-deserved sleep in their comfortable beds.  Socialists will say this early morning rain will harm the homeless and a few truckers making early deliveries, and let them complain.  We know that argument won’t really hold water, so to speak.  It will gain little sympathy.  And the overnight rain will screw with those annoying Occupy people and that’s as it should be.

Overnight rain will be enough to keep the grass green and the plants alive.  And that’s all we need.  When the sun rises in the east it should rise over a cloudless sky, beaming bright, beautiful, radiant, warm, carcinogenic sunlight.  That’s the sort of weather that creates jobs, promotes wholesome outdoor activity and keeps people happy.

No one smiles in the rain.

It’s raining and there are outdoor weddings planned.  Festivals, farmers’ markets, soccer games and golf. It’s Beer Week in San Diego.  Craft brewers from all over the country are here to pour beer. Beer gardens, beer tents, beer events – most of them planned outdoors, because this is, after all, San Diego — and now it is all sabotaged by rain.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars of hotel and restaurant revenue lost to the rain.  It’s big business. Waiters and waitresses idled, jobs lost, temporary workers turned away.  Too much rain.  It’s costing us jobs.  In this economy we cannot have rain.  It’s just that simple. This is unconscionable.

Fucking Democrats.