The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: law

  • Another Democrat making sense

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    mongreldogs
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    So why isn’t any of the so-called leadership — in the Capitol or in the Oval Office — listening? On the Huffington Post, Paul Begala offers his own, lucid take on the choice facing Democrats:  Pass the Senate bill, or collapse completely come November.  It’s worth the time to read. Now, here’s hoping the Democrats…

  • What the heck is reconciliation?

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    mongreldogs
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    (a) The rite in the Catholic Church formerly known as penace. (b) A process whereby congressional resolutions are harmonized with the budget.  Under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, it provides a procedure to consider (certain types of) bills without allowing a fillibuster in the Senate.  As such it’s suddenly become the hot topic legislatively. …

  • The Democratic playbook

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    mongreldogs
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    in convenient cartoon form. I got this via Ezra Klein’s fantastic blog, but apparently it’s by Tom Toles.

  • My congressional lobbying

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    mongreldogs
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    I haven’t really gotten involved in haranguing my elected representatives before, but the possibility of health care reform is so tantalizingly close — and the apparent drift of the Democratic so-called “leadership” is so grindingly predictable and frustrating — that I’ve felt compelled to contact my representative several times.  Below the fold is the email…

  • Me-tooing a clever description

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    mongreldogs
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    One of the unsung heros of the health care debate is the Congressional Budget Office, an agency that few really understand and fewer appreciate.  Ezra Klein has a tidbit on them, including a description so pithy I can’t help but steal it: If the role of the Federal Reserve is to take away the punchbowl…

  • “We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it.”

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    mongreldogs
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    In general, I’m not overly impressed with the Presidential Saturday radio address (now of course really a YouTube address).  But I liked today‘s, probably because it resonates with something I’ve said before (twice, even). Happy Birthday, America.

  • The rising South?

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    mongreldogs
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    Reading through Lawyers, Guns, and Money today, I was eventually directed to the US Army site on the service of African-Americans throughout history. The lead line of the section on the Civil War really raised my hackles: “When Federal troops invaded Southern states….” This bothered me so much I was motivated to actually write the…

  • My two cents

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    mongreldogs
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    I suspect I will write more on this, eventually, but for now, here’s what I’ve sent to the Obama campaign regarding the Senator’s disappointing collapse on FISA: I have contributed over $500 to the Senator’s campaign, more than all my previous contributions in my life. I had intended to donate all the way to the…

  • Another disturbing slip

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    mongreldogs
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    On 2008 May 22, John McCain attacked his presumed opponent Barack Obama (and of course, that’s just politics, so it’s fine), saying But I am running for the office of Commander-in-Chief. Here’s the problem. McCain is wrong. He’s not running for the office of Commander-in-Chief. In case it’s slipped his mind, he’s running for the…

  • Civics Lesson

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    mongreldogs
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    I’m sure that this is going get me marked as a rabid Obama supporter (which I am not). But I can’t help but gush over his impressive response on the issue of church and state. In an interview with BeliefNet, he was asked, “You wrote in The Audacity of Hope about the role that faith…