>But the point is that by the time the final vote comes, all the
>fucking over has already happened. Laws are rarely won or lost on
>the final vote -- it's points of order, cloture and other procedural
>votes that are the key points of decision-making.
In the case of the bankruptcy "reform," the final vote sure didn't count. What counted was the vote for cloture, on which 13 Democrats joined Republicans in the Senate -- that's when the fate of bankruptcy was sealed:
<blockquote>the party missed a big opportunity to make its case against increasing families' risk by acquiescing to the credit card industry's demand for harsher bankruptcy laws.
As it happens, Mr. [Joe] Lieberman stated clearly what was wrong with the bankruptcy bill: "It failed to close troubling loopholes that protect wealthy debtors, and yet it deals harshly with average Americans facing unforeseen medical expenses or a sudden military deployment," making it unfair to "working Americans who find themselves in dire financial straits through no fault of their own." A stand against the bill would have merged populism with patriotism, highlighting Democrats' differences with Republicans' vision of America.
But many Democrats chose not to take that stand. And Mr. Lieberman was among them: his vote against the bill was an empty gesture. On the only vote that opponents of the bill had a chance of winning -- a motion to cut off further discussion -- he sided with the credit card companies. To be fair, so did 13 other Democrats. But none of the others tried to have it both ways. (Paul Krugman, "The $600 Billion Man," <em>New York Times</em>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html">March 15, 2005</a>)</blockquote>
>I have never seen so many volunteers not only walking door-to-door,
>but volunteering weekends or more to go to other states UNPAID to do
>this work.
Those unpaid volunteers simply worked for paid volunteers, so whatever work they did ended up in the Democratic Party's and allied "non-profits'" databases, not their own. That's what I would call a waste of time. Judging by Justin's report on his volunteering experience (at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-November/025727.html>), party hacks drawing big paychecks didn't make good use of paid and unpaid volunteers either. That's like a double whammy.
Working for Democrats isn't a strategy -- they don't even win, let alone bring the troops home. People should refuse to work for the Democratic Party unless they are handsomely remunerated. If you have to support the Iraq War, at least make them pay through the nose for your soul. :->
Thomas wrote:
>I saw those pictures from the Columbus march and I thought...hide
>those pictures
It is true that Ewan and Connie are no photographers. I edited the pictures nicely and posted them to Cbus and Cleveland Indymedia: Columbus and Cleveland Indymedia websites: <http://cbusimc.org/?q=node/16>, <http://cbusimc.org/?q=node/17>, <http://cbusimc.org/?q=node/18>, <http://cbusimc.org/?q=node/19>, and <http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/15207.php>. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>