Some Wins, A Lot of Losses

Sometimes I get surprised, Monday night I got surprised. Fourteen Senators, seven Republican and seven Democrat worked out a compromise over judicial appointments. It was the right thing to do and took a lot of courage on the part of these senators. Just as it looked like the Senate would become just like the House of Representatives, these legislators took control of the process and preserved the right to filibuster and gave the President an up or down vote on most of his appointees and prevented the Senate from being slowed down (as if they need any more slowing). The big winners John McCain and the American public, the big losers Bill Frist and James Dobson. Frist could not hold the party together to invoke the "nuclear option". McCain was able to keep the Senate relevant, it's called "compromise." Maybe the Senate will become more moderate and more productive because of it, or maybe it will slip away into partisan politics as usual, but at least for now, this body is functioning as it should. Bill Frist has now become irrelevant.

Other losers on Monday were Tom Delay and President Bush on embryonic stem cell research, the winners are those patients with debilitating diseases and their families. The American people favor the research and the government should be funding it so standards can be established for the handling of these embryos. Fifty Republican Representatives voted with an overwhelming majority of Democrats to pass this bill. Not enough to override a veto, but enough to make a point.

American consumers again come up losers against Finance Companies. It wasn't enough that the poor consumer can no longer declare bankruptcy and start over, but these corporations have no security over our private information and have been sloppy in protecting our information from falling into the wrong hands. While several bills have been introduced to place controls on our personal information, the Republican-bribed Congress has refused to act. Many of the names sold in the last round of "leaks" were former MCI employees, talk about pouring salt into the wound!

State of Mississippi taxpayers continue their losing streak, the MCI settlement for about ten cents on the dollar and $34 Million (+/-) of that money to pay off the Beef Plant debt. The Special Session cost, $100 Million to a Steel fabricator, and still no budget. Give Haley a win by default of the Legislature. I really don't think any of them should be re-elected.

Victims of severe burns lose. What few beds were available at the Mississippi FireFighter's Burn Center will be lost. It's a shame that this was a once viable alternative for severe burn victims, but that was 30 years ago. The good news is that the county will be able to save the $1 to $2 Million annually that it was having to subsidize. Hopefully, UMC will be able to provide this service, these specialized units are few and far between.

Losers continue to plague Greenville, it seems we can't have a decent public event or have a successful city clean up without losers shining their asses.

Damn! The more I write, the more depressed I get. I guess it's just hitting closer to home. I need to start looking for more winners.