Open Thread: "May We Somehow Recapture the Vision"

Metrics (4.00 / 2)

I've found in my journey, that a measure of a person is not in their mistakes, but in how they learn from them.

Also, the cynics, that prefer to yoke someone with the errors in their life, are normally incapable or unwilling to account for growth. Imo, frequently these cynics are frauds. They are shysters, portraying themselves as those that have grown. No. They are the ones that give safe harbor to darkness in their hearts.

If an afterlife exists in the sense that many believe, we should send Mr. Byrd off to meet his maker with the best wishes that we can muster.

Thank you for your service, Sir.

RIP

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 07:33:17 AM CDT

Yes. (4.00 / 1)

NYT

"Gaius Julius Caesar did not seize power in Rome," he said. Rather, he said, "the Roman Senate thrust power on Caesar deliberately, with forethought, with surrender, with intent to escape from responsibility."

This is a bit one-sided.  But it's a side, a legitimate one, few notice unless they dig deep into Classical history.

And it has profound implications on US Presidentialism.  

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 07:39:56 AM CDT

The Best Argument Against Term Limits (4.00 / 1)

Was Robert Byrd.

The people chose him to serve again and again, and why should they have not had that right?

An all too rare politician, who has the courage to learn and grow and change.

A great legacy of service.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 08:28:35 AM CDT

and Ted Kennedy (0.00 / 0)

Best argument for term limits: Judd Gregg

2012 starts today.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 11:41:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

and Sarah Palin (0.00 / 0)

Best argument against term limits: Sarah Palin (who never even finished one term as Governor of Alaska, let alone two or more.)

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Thanks for all the fish


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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 12:17:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

a rare Byrd n/t (0.00 / 0)

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 09:23:22 AM CDT

Byrd and the Senate (4.00 / 3)

Ezra Klein on the post-Byrd Senate:

"If the Senate rules are being abused," [Byrd] wrote, "it does not necessarily follow that the solution is to change the rules. Senators are obliged to exercise their best judgment when invoking their right to extended debate." In other words, the Senate needed to reestablish its norms, not change its rules.

But the situation is too far gone for all that. The Senate is now a place of blanket holds and routine filibusters and anonymous obstruction and party-line votes. The thing about norms is that once broken, they're generally dead forever...

Byrd came from a time when mastery of the Senate came from understanding the rules and norms that made the Senate work. The body's next set of legends, however, will be the legislators who reform the rules and set the norms that make the body work again. Byrd wrote volumes one through four of the institution's story, but there are more volumes yet to be written.

"Politics ain't beanbag" - Finley Peter Dunne

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by: William Tucker @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 14:24:05 PM CDT

With Senator Byrd's passing, Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii becomes President pro tempore of the Senate (0.00 / 0)

That makes him third in the line of succession to the Presidency, after Vice President Biden and Speaker Pelosi, and immediately before Secretary Clinton.  Has a Medal of Honor recipient ever been that high in the line?

Also, ten points to anyone who knows which of New Hampshire's signatories to the US Constitution served as the first United States Senate President Pro Tempore.

--
@DougLindner

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 20:36:00 PM CDT

Stee-riiiiiike (0.00 / 0)

As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters.

The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier -- the USS Harry S Truman -- has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010.

Reports of mass movements of Israeli and US naval warships have been circulating through the media for weeks. On June 19, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that 12 US and Israeli warships were seen moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 20:51:57 PM CDT