OK, so Arlen Specter. This is a bit like Chamberlain giving Poland to Hitler and declaring victory. Dead Man Walking Specter was about to lost to a wingnut in the Republican primary, paving the way for a Democrat to take the seat in the general election. So the Democrats “win” by promising Specter the support of the leadership (and no primary), in exchange for, um, well, in exchange for nothing. <\/p>\n
Specter will continue to be a right-wing champion and vote against things like the rights of working folks to organize, and the Democrats get a mythical filibuster-proof majority on everything but the important votes, when traitors like Joe Lieberman, Arlen Specter, Claire McCaskill, Jane Harman, Dianne Feinstein, etc., will prove what “moderates” they are by caving in to the Republican talking points du jour. <\/p>\n
Oh, not all of them at the same time and over the same issues, but under the limp-wristed “leadership” of Harry Reid, they all know they can act as they please (and against the will of those they claim to represent). Still, it’s fun to see all the wingnuts freak out over this.<\/p>\n
Back to more normal temperatures today, thank goodness. It was 85 at lunch time yesterday, and down into the 50’s by the time I got the boys out to the park (and a slightly chilly 37 right now). I very much prefer the cooler temperatures for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it keeps the goddamn bugs down.<\/p>\n
Speaking of bugs, the swine flu bug is now blamed for the death if a Texas toddler<\/a>. A shame, of course, but one has to wonder why we don’t get this kind of media attention for each of the 35,000 annual US flu deaths every year. I guess pigs are just scarier (though not as scary as birds, of course).<\/p>\n