Thank you for detailed article.

what does the zombie president call bipartisanship? 

Brains….more brains….....must have more

Well I am so glad to see that the U.S. House got one thing done today, H.R. 33.

We have another holiday to celebrate in June. We all can celebrate the Free Masons. Such an honor, I thought it was a good start to 2007 to advertise the Freemasons 33 degrees in the H.R.33 title of the bill.

Oh what a christen country we have here in America to honor such a religious organization.

I feel so good now, knowing my masters have finally created a day I can celebrate their existence, and dictatorship over the people.

Thank You Congress and our leader Pelosi.

Another thing that politicians could agree on is the termination of global hunger.  It would only cost a mere $19 billion, according to the Borgen Project.  This in nothing compared to the more that $300 billion spent in Iraq so far.  It’s time we focused on the Millennium Goals, which were agreed on by every nation, and which include putting an end to global poverty.

Praise God and Pass the Ammunition

Since the day Reagan lied middleclass Americans into accepting trickledown Reaganomics as gospel, Republicans have waged a blitzkrieg class war like a campaign by Genghis Khan. They have attacked and slashed middleclass incomes wide, deep and many times. Yet the moment Democrats mention raising the minimum wage, a rinky-dink solution to economic disparity, Republicans scream “Class War!”

When you consider that freshman congressmen start out at 165K a year, four times what the average American earns, it’s clear that our lawmakers are lot closer to the plutocratic class than slobs like you and me. So don’t expect Democrats to mount a fierce counter offensive against the Plutocracy. We have no leaders on our side, and with the exception of FDR, never did.

Other than the suggestion that we burn down the government and start all over again, I can’t offer any solutions for swimming out of our economic quicksand. Our Corporate Masters are outsourcing American jobs and importing illegal aliens faster than you can say laissez-faire equals Economic Cannibalism. Whatever we do, we better do it while we can still afford to buy ammo.

“As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remaines seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of. Change in the air-however slight-least we become unwitting victims of the darkness.” Justice William O. Douglas

As our propaganda media-press continue smoke screening the truth and directing our attention to the middle-east our country is now a fascist state. This Congress is only a tool for fascism controlled by an enemy within.

Just take one example; have we ever taken the time to ask ourselves why our so-called representatives collect the medical, and benefits they get and the rest of us have to explain why through our labor, and god given rights we deserve the same.

I’ll tell you if one looks at the benefits that Congress, and government employees’ receive through our labor, I truly am envious and upset with all of us in this country.

While I am skeptical about just about all of the rhetoric of bipartisanship currently out there, I reserve some of my skepticism for rhetoric about shared goals and problem solving.  While there is no doubting that we are now all in a monstrous POT AU FEU of problems, my skepticism hinges on the premise that, if we are too focused on teleology, we can lose touch with why we are trying to solve those problems in the first place.  Remember, Robert McNamara was a problem solver, PAR EXCELLENCE.  He brought to the White House the best problem-solving methods and skills that the Rand Corporation had to offer;  and much of THE FOG OF WAR had to do the blinders that those methods and skills imposed on his thinking.

So I would like to propose that bipartisanship would be better served, not by shared goals, but by shared NORMS, where the ultimate of those norms is the text of the Constitution.  If we want to sort out all the problems that need to be solved, then we should begin with the extent to which the current Executive Branch has made so much progress in undermining that Constitution (often with the consent, if not collusion, of the Legislative Branch).  If the new Congress can, as a bipartisan body, restore the rights and processes specified in the Constitution, even when its text is open to interpretation, then they will have made great progress in getting this country working again with that blend of unity and diversity of which we once were proud.

If bipartisanship means sharing equally in the corruption of our political system both parties are already there.

Seems to me that our bipartisanship is at its root about two different approaches to problem solving—doctrinaire vs practical.

I believe the day is approaching when this bipartisanship is going to melt away but don’t think it is going to call for a celebration. I think it is going to be because our problems have become so severe that a majority of Republicans are going to see the necessity of joining Democrats in the application of reason (vs doctrine.)

Perhaps global warming is going to be at the forefront of this trend.

JonEden at yahoo

Connecting the Dots: From human behavior to ecosystem collapse   http://StudentsForTheEarth.org