Explosive Expressions

If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a bit of news occurring in Iran right now. The Iranian people, or at least some of them, are protesting against the recent election. As a result, there has been a bit of violence in Iran, including a number of deaths such as that of Neda Soltan. The video below, though disturbing, shows Neda’s final moments.

Neda has become something of an unofficial martyr for the cause. The video of her final moments has been shown around the world on news shows, computers, and sent from phone to phone. Her death has become a rallying cry as protesters gather and try to fight what they call a dictatorship. Her death has come to be a thorn in the side of the Iranian government as they try to stop family members from putting up mourning posters.

Here in the US, there has been an outcry from the conservative side of the fence. They criticize Obama’s current stance on Iran, which seems to be “wait and see.” They seem to want the US to get involved with what’s going on in Iran, possibly invading, but at the very least, stating that we stand behind the protestors.

Obama has, to date, stood his ground. As the case of Neda has proven, there are human rights issues at stake. However, as history has proven, getting involved may prove detrimental in the end. Before the Iranian revolution, the US enjoyed good relations with Iran. However, the revolution of 1979 resulted in the pro-American shah to be ejected. Since that time, Iran has been distrustful of the US. The Bush administration didn’t help much, marking Iran as part of the so-called “Axis of Evil.”

By standing aside and letting events run their course, Obama allows the people of Iran to decide what will happen. This is an internal issue for the people of Iran, but make no mistake, it will affect world relations. But, if the US, Britain, or some other country forces their way in, without the consent of the Iranian population, it will sour any possible hope for good relations. The Iranian people need to do this on their own. They need to achieve their own freedom, in their own way.

All that said, please support those in Iran. We fought our own revolution, long ago, and we are a stronger nation for it. Now it’s Iran’s turn.

 

Today saw more violence and protesting across Iran. Reports pour in from various sources about more arrests, beatings, and deaths. Watching the twitter posts fly by is incredible. If you are at all interested in this, I urge you to check out Twitter and follow some of the folks I mentioned in my previous post.

From what I’m able to put together thus far, it sounds like the opposition leader, Mir Hossein Moussavi, has been a huge favorite in Iran. Polls done by CNN and others indicated that Moussavi seemed to have greater support than the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to a recent tweet by Raymond Jahan, the opposition leader had actually won, but the results were modified.

“CONFIRMED again: Mousavi got call election night, was told he won, next day they switch results 2 Ahmadi’s favor #gr88”

There are also rumors, likely true, that government workers were ordered to vote for Ahmadinejad or risk losing their jobs, imprisonment, etc. As was seen in Russia and other areas in the past, this is a great motivator and often results in the oppressive government remaining in power.

My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in Iran and I hope they are able to bring some sort of peaceful end to this. Ultimately, though, my gut tells me that if the people in Iran truly want peace and freedom, there’s a long, bloody revolution ahead.

There is some pretty insane shit happening in the middle east right now. Iran held elections for president on Friday, claiming a democratic process. As it turns out, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election. There has been a general outcry of disbelief and many claims of vote tampering. There are reports of rioting, demonstrating, and many reports of abuse, including shots at one demonstration. It seems, however, that there is also a lot of censorship going on as the Iranian government strives to put down the riots and demonstrations while downplaying the whole event to the rest of the world.

Twitter and the internet at large seems to be playing a big part in this, however, as various people in Iran use whatever means possible to get the news out. Twitter in particular is being used to pass around open proxies, usable by those in Iran to get unfiltered access to the Internet at large. Other users are using Twitter as a means to report on the current happenings inside of Iran. Two users I’ve come across are Change For Iran and persiankiwi. Of the two, persiankiwi seems to be the one most up to date at the moment. Change for Iran mentioned going to a rally a few hours ago and that there was a danger in doing so. They have yet to update since then, so I’m a bit concerned about their safety.

From the reports I’ve been hearing, it seems that most of the violence is due to the government forces in the street trying to stop the demonstrations. I’m sure there’s rioting as well, which should be brought to an end, but peaceful demonstrations are being broken up by police in riot gear tossing tear gas and beating citizens with batons. In some situations, the demonstrators are fighting back, in others they are trying to stop the fighting peacefully. Overall, it seems to be a bad situation and I hope some sense of sanity can be restored soon.

For more pictures of the what’s going on, check out The Big Picture.

 

Here we go again… The associated press is reporting that a US Airways employee helped a passenger, who was apparently his friend, smuggle an unloaded handgun onto a plane. You can go read one of the articles yourself, but it basically boils down to this. The passenger was moving and asked his friend about transporting his handgun. His buddy, who was a TSA employee, apparently decided it was easier to just carry the bag through the employee entrance, rather than have it screened or checked. Before boarding, the TSA employee gives the bag back, is spotted by a watchful passenger, reported, and all hell breaks loose. They tear apart the plane, find the gun, and find a missed boxcutter in the process too..

So, stupid decisions by both, but it brings to light, again, the fact that security at the airport is nothing but a show put on by the powers that be to make it look like we’re safe. In reality, though, the only thing that this insanity provides is headaches.

I wonder if people realize how incredibly easy it is to smuggle things onto planes. Let’s look at liquids, since liquid explosives are apparently so easy to mix on a plane. Bruce Schneier posted a story about a lady who decided to test the TSA by going through security with the ingredients to make homemade gunpowder. She clearly labeled all of the ingredients, printed up a fake boarding pass, and waltzed through security. They scanned her fake boarding pass with no problem. She was questioned about the bamboo reeds she had in her carry on luggage. However, after inspecting them, and even running what was apparently an explosives test, she was allowed to pass through security. How’s that for secure? They TESTED for explosives, yet found none.

Here’s another, marginally less exciting, but concerning nonetheless. A gentlemen buys some salad dressing for his wife, puts it in his luggage and forgets it’s there. At security, he goes through the motions and the dressing is found. After talking to the TSA employee he finds out that they have to discard the dressing, but is told exactly where they’ll be throwing it. After they throw it away, he wanders over to the garbage can, in full view, grabs it back, and flies it home to his wife. All in front of the TSA.

So tell me, is this security? How about we deal with the terrorists before they get to the airport. If they’ve made it far enough to get into the airport, we’re already too late.

Ok, pop quiz.. What’s this?

1 atggatgtca atccgactct acttttccta aaaattccag cgcaaaatgc cataagcacc
61 acattccctt atactggaga tcctccatac agccatggaa caggaacagg atacaccatg
121 gacacagtaa acagaacaca ccaatactca gaaaagggaa agtggacgac aaacacagag
181 actggtgcac cccagctcaa cccgattgat ggaccactac ctgaggataa tgaaccaagt
241 gggtatgcac aaacagactg tgttctagag gctatggctt tccttgaaga atcccaccca
301 ggaatatttg agaattcatg ccttgaaaca atggaagttg ttcaacaaac aagggtagat
361 aaactaactc aaggtcgcca gacttatgat tggacattaa acagaaatca accggcagca
421 actgcattgg ccaacaccat agaagtcttc agatcgaatg gcctaacagc taatgagtca
481 ggaaggctaa tagatttctt aaaggatgta atggaatcaa tgaacaaaga ggaaatagag
541 ataacaaccc actttcaaag aaaaaggaga gtaagagaca acatgaccaa gaagatggtc
601 acgcaaagaa caatagggaa gaaaaaacaa agactgaata agagaggcta tctaataaga
661 gcactgacat taaatacgat gaccaaagat gcagagagag gcaagttaaa aagaagggct
721 atcgcaacac ctgggatgca gattagaggt ttcgtatact ttgttgaaac tttagctagg
781 agcatttgcg aaaagcttga acagtctggg ctcccagtag ggggcaatga aaagaaggcc
841 aaactggcaa atgttgtgag aaagatgatg actaattcac aagacacaga gatttctttc
901 acaatcactg gggacaacac taagtggaat gaaaatcaaa atcctcgaat gttcctggcg
961 atgattacat atatcaccag aaatcaaccc gagtggttca gaaacatcct gagcatggca
1021 cccataatgt tctcaaacaa aatggcaaga ctagggaaag ggtacatgtt cgagagtaaa
1081 agaatgaaga ttcgaacaca aataccagca gaaatgctag caagcattga cctgaagtac
1141 ttcaatgaat caacaaagaa gaaaattgag aaaataaggc ctcttctaat agatggcaca
1201 gcatcactga gtcctgggat gatgatgggc atgttcaaca tgctaagtac ggtcttggga
1261 gtctcgatac tgaatcttgg acaaaagaaa tacaccaaga caatatactg gtgggatggg
1321 ctccaatcat ccgacgattt tgctctcata gtgaatgcac caaaccatga gggaatacaa
1381 gcaggagtgg acagattcta caggacctgc aagttagtgg gaatcaacat gagcaaaaag
1441 aagtcctata taaataagac agggacattt gaattcacaa gcttttttta tcgctatgga
1501 tttgtggcta attttagcat ggagctaccc agctttggag tgtctggagt aaatgaatca
1561 gctgacatga gtattggagt aacagtgata aagaacaaca tgataaacaa tgaccttgga
1621 cctgcaacgg cccagatggc tcttcaattg ttcatcaaag actacagata cacatatagg
1681 tgccataggg gagacacaca aattcagacg agaagatcat ttgagttaaa gaagctgtgg
1741 gatcaaaccc aatcaaaggt agggctatta gtatcagatg gaggaccaaa cttatacaat
1801 atacggaatc ttcacattcc tgaagtctgc ttaaaatggg agctaatgga tgatgattat
1861 cggggaagac tttgtaatcc cctgaatccc tttgtcagtc ataaagagat tgattctgta
1921 aacaatgctg tggtaatgcc agcccatggt ccagccaaaa gcatggaata tgatgccgtt
1981 gcaactacac attcctggat tcccaagagg aatcgttcta ttctcaacac aagccaaagg
2041 ggaattcttg aggatgaaca gatgtaccag aagtgctgca atctattcga gaaatttttc
2101 cctagcagtt catataggag accggttgga atttctagca tggtggaggc catggtgtct
2161 agggcccgga ttgatgccag ggtcgacttc gagtctggac ggatcaagaa agaagagttc
2221 tctgagatca tgaagatctg ttccaccatt gaagaactca gacggcaaaa ataa

No idea? Hrm.. ok, how about this?

Still nothing? How about we add a little color…

Oh, come on.. Seriously? This has been ALL OVER THE NEWS!

Yep, that’s right. It’s Swine Flu. In lieu of playing stupid political correctness games, I’ll just refer to it as H1N1, thanks.

Anyway, the media has been up in arms over this major outbreak. If you follow the news, you’ll know that the world is in chaos as tens and hundreds of people have tested positive for this new influenza strain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting that as of 11am EST today, there are 403 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the United States. That’s .0001325% of the population of the United States! At this rate, the US will be overrun in no time. Better pack up the kids, head up the mountain, and start suckin’ down the kool-aid..

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that H1N1 can no longer be contained. They even raised their threat level to level 4! That’s like 3 levels above 1! It’s level 2, SQUARED! Their latest update, as of 1600 GMT today, reports 1490 confirmed cases of H1N1 across the globe with 30 confirmed deaths. That’s about .0000747% of the world population being infected.

Alright, let’s get serious about this. First, any loss of human life is unfortunate. It sucks to hear that the first confirmed death in the United States was that of a 23 month old child. Fine, he wasn’t a US citizen. Hope you feel better now. Still, it’s a child. Seeing anyone sick is bad enough, but a child is downright horrid. I have kids, I hate when they get sick, it’s such a helpless feeling.

Now let’s look at this overall. We know of roughly 1500 confirmed cases of H1N1. According to Wikipedia, there are between 3 and 5 million cases of severe Influenza per year, with roughly 500,000 deaths. The WHO agrees, putting the deaths at between 300,000 and 500,000. The CDC, a US organization, estimates that 5%-20% of US residents contract Influenza each year with roughly 36,000 deaths.

So if you compare the so-called “pandemic outbreak” of H1N1 with the “normal” flu that sweeps across the world year after year, we have something that is barely worth talking about. The current H1N1 deaths are primarily connected to young children, people with pre-existing medical conditions, or people with poor medical care. This is not a virus that is killing your typical healthy human.

So can we please stop playing scare games and spreading nonsense about this situation? It’s not nearly as bad as the media is making it out to be. This is not the end of the world, so please stop acting like it is.

 

100 Days. That’s all, just 100 days. Why is it that the first 100 days is so important? It’s only slightly less than 7% of the overall time a president spends in office for his first term. It is often said that the first 100 days of a new presidency sets the tone for the rest of the time spent in office. While this may be the typical case, I’m not sure it’s such a good metric. I think there’s a lot more to a presidency than the first 100 days. Hell, look at Bush… 9/11 happened long after Bush’s first 100, even 200 days. There’s no telling what would have happened had 9/11 been averted.

Regardless, let’s take a quick look at what Obama has done:

• Ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay
• Declared an end to the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”
• Facilitated the passing of a stimulus plan
• Set a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq
• Lifted travel restrictions for Cuban Americans
• Brought America back to the world stage
• Allowed funding for embryonic stem-cell research

And he continues to do more. These are just a few of the “high visibility” changes he has made, but there’s much more to this presidency.

How about his approach to diplomacy? Shaking hands, bowing, etc. In other words, showing proper respect to other world leaders. It’s pretty much common sense that if you show respect to someone else, they’re much more likely to show respect to you.

What about hope? Obama ran on a campaign of hope and change and he’s bringing both, in force. For the first time in years I’m happy to be an American. I’m eager to see what Obama does and how we can move forward as a country. He has inspired me to do more, get involved, and speak my mind. He welcomes differing opinions, without belittling or outright ignoring people.

And leadership! Let’s not forget leadership! He is truly leading this country, rather than playing a game of let’s hide the truth. He’s acting like a real leader should, making decisions when he needs to, but keeping an open mind and asking for advice when he needs it. It’s amazing to finally see a president who can admit that he doesn’t know something and is reluctant to speak about it until he learns more.

So how has he done in his first 100 days? A hell of a lot better than some of his predecessors, and that’s all that counts. No grade needed, I just want him to keep it up!

Initially, I found this teabagging thing to be pretty funny. I mean, far be it from me to say you don’t have the right to protest. Hell, if you want to get out there and protest wearing white socks, or jump up and down about having to obey gravity, then by all means, don’t let me stop you. So while I may ridicule the movement, I definitely believe in their right to have an opinion.

I did no, however, expect to drive home this afternoon and see them throwing one of these tea parties, right here in my town. Though, after thinking about it, maybe it isn’t quite as surprising. Let me explain.

I live in a relatively small town. It’s a nice area, moderately decent housing, low crime, and decent proximity to local markets. We even have a Walmart, go us. However, I wouldn’t exactly categorize the area as high class. Middle class, maybe, definitely leaning towards lower middle class. Incomes are on the low end, with many residents on welfare and receiving food stamps. While some of the people in this area are educated, I’d wager that less than 50% have a college education. Overall, it’s a typical small town in rural America.

After looking at what kind of town I live in, you may also find yourself amazed that people are out there protesting raised taxes. The only taxes raised at this point are taxes on those making $250,000 or more per year. And those aren’t tax raises, but rather an expiration of the tax cuts that Bush put in place. There are very few people around here who can claim to have been able to take advantage of those cuts, and I doubt very much that they’ll be out there protesting, especially in the rain. In fact, if you look out across the country at all of the protestors, the only ones who are possibly making that much will be the news people covering the news, and even then, only if they’re the high powered anchors. So why are these people out protesting?

I’ll hazard a guess as to why. Fear. The economy is in a tailspin, jobs are scarce, and people are looking for someone to blame. Blaming Wall Street has quelled them for a time, but now they want more. Wall Street is more of an abstract idea and it’s tough to stay focused on. Obama, though, is a single person, and in the most powerful office in America. Obviously he has the power to fix things, and since he hasn’t done it already, then he’s obviously planning to make it worse. He’s out to tax everyone to death so that only the rich are left! Obviously!

Seriously, though, taxes suck. They do! I hate taxes. I hate paying taxes over and over and over again. I pay sales tax, local tax, county tax, state tax, federal tax, school tax, school real estate tax, county real estate tax, and there are probably others I’m missing. At the end of the day, I spend more time paying taxes than anything else! I’d much rather keep all my money and spend it the way I want to. However, I’m also well aware that the government needs money to function. They provide the roads I drive my car on, the schools I send my kids to, the protection to live in a country like the USA, and more. To do all this they need staff, who like to get paid too. In short, they need to collect taxes in order to have the money to function.

So what’s with all of this tax talk? Is there a legitimate reason to be upset? Are we missing something that the tea baggers aren’t? Well, yes and no. Obama has a fairly large agenda, detailing healthcare reform, clean energy, tax reform, and more. These things all cost money, and that money has to come from somewhere. So, in a way, these people could be protesting what’s to come, rather than what has already happened. Though, I’m not sure they see it that way.

One thing can be said, though. Times have obviously changed. When, in the last 8 years, have you seen a demonstration of this size, or any real size at all. Especially a demonstration against the government? You can bet that any such demonstration would have been declared illegal, or a threat to security, or some other nonsense. People would be arrested and gatherings would be disbanded. Need examples? How about all those people arrested at the Bush rallies when he was running for re-election? Now, go read Little Brother.. Yeah. That’s where we were headed under Bush. I’m happy Obama’s here, and while I don’t always agree with what he’s doing, overall, I support him. How about we demonstrate against something that actually affects us, rather than being lackies for the upper class.

As the saying goes, there are only two certainties in life. Death, and taxes. There’s not much you can do about the former, but you can fight, somewhat, against the latter. Apparently that’s exactly what the Citizens for a Sound Economy is doing. They’re calling it … er… tea-bagging.. Yes, I said tea-bagging. No, please don’t google it, unless you want to see both graphic and explicit examples.

Graphic and explicit? Yes. Tea-bagging has been a sexual term for a number of years. I’m not entirely sure why a conservative group such as the CSE is using the term. I find it hard to believe that they would willingly associate themselves with a term for a sexual act, so I can only guess it was an accident. What makes it even funnier is that Republicans, who seem to be embracing this movement, are “generally” religious, so I would expect them to find such an act offensive.

While it makes really good fodder for commentary, what’s really going on here? Why is Senator Vitter trying to make this a national holiday? Well, to start, the protest is being compared to that of the Boston Tea Party, which protested taxation without representation. The difference here is that this “tea party” is to protest higher taxes. However, the CSE, while claiming to represent consumers, actually gets most of its funding from major corporations. In fact, it was originally formed by parties associated with Koch Industries, a massive private corporation dealing in oil, fibers, paper products, and more. It appears, at least to me, that the CSE has the corporate interest at heart, rather than the consumer.

But what about the movement itself? What are these guys fighting against? Big spending? Bailouts? High taxes? These are all things worth fighting, and I agree that something needs to be done about them. You have to remember, however, that we are currently going through a unique period in history. Banks are failing, industries are falling, and the world economy is in turmoil. Blame for the current crisis is being bandied about, falling on both the current and former presidents. Personally, I believe that while a lot of the blame falls on our former president, it goes back even further than him. I can’t say there’s a lot of blame for the current situation that should fall on Obama, though. And before you label me a liberal socialist, let me explain.

First of all, this crisis started before Obama was elected. Once it started, it gained momentum and the economy continued to crumble after Obama took office. If you remember, Bush really didn’t do much beyond the bailout to help the situation. In fact, it appears that the bailout itself was a joke. Regardless, since Obama has been in office, things have gotten progressively worse, as expected. Since he’s been in office, he has made some missteps, but overall, I think he’s done one hell of a job of getting things under control. There’s still a lot more to be done, but I think we’re generally headed in a positive direction now. The economy will not fix itself overnight, though. We’re in this for the long haul and I don’t expect things to get better for at least another year or two.

In the meantime, we need to keep an eye on what’s happening. Protests are, to be sure, a great way of making lawmakers and citizens aware of the issues. I’m not sure that these “tea parties” are all that useful, though. For starters, the only tax increases I’ve see thus far are on businesses and people who make a lot more money than I do. I don’t make $250,000+ a year, but I’d be willing to pay higher taxes if I did. Of course, I’m sure those that do will be quick to point out that I’m only saying that because I make less. Regardless, I don’t see a problem with higher tax rates for those with a higher income. It only seems fair to me.

So before you start sending tea bags to the white house, or protesting in the street, make sure you know who you’re helping out if you do.

EDIT: Rachel Maddow barely held it together reporting on this.. I have to provide video:

As I’m sure you’ve heard, AIG is handing out bonuses to employees of its Financial Products division. From what I’ve read, the Financial Products Division was responsible for billions in losses, and handled Credit Default Swaps. In short, the Financial Products Division is blamed for much of the current financial heartache at AIG, and possibly the rest of the world.

So, as the story goes, AIG had promised bonuses, via contracts, to a bunch of the employees in the FP division. Total cost? Somewhere around $165 million. That’s a crapload of money. Although, if you compare it to the amount of money AIG has received from the government, *cough*$170 billion*cough*, we find that it’s a mere 0.1% of the total bailout. That’s barely a drop in the bucket.

That’s not to say that it should be ignored, however. In fact, it’s an outrage and has even caught the ire of the President. And while I’m frustrated that these people are getting these bonuses, I believe I understand what’s going on here. Let me explain …

Until relatively recently, I worked for a large telecommunications company. Working for a large corporation, I learned that bonuses were handed out yearly, supposedly based on performance. The definition of performance seemed to change each year, though, just to ensure that we got our bonuses. So for one year, it was based on customer retention, and the following year it was based on the number of lines we had.

In addition to changing the definition of performance, there was a good deal of “cheating” that occurred. Sales numbers were artificially inflated through creative accounting methods such as breaking apart bundled sales and counting them as separate sales. Or, my favorite, giving away “free second lines” and then counting them as both sales and part of the total line count. This way, they met their bonus requirements AND made the company look better to potential buyers. Insanity, in my opinion.

What made all of this worse was how they handed out bonuses. Regular employee bonuses could be anywhere from 0-10% of their base salary. Managers received a flat 10%. VP’s got something like 20% and EVPs got up to 40%. I don’t remember if the EVP rate was variable or not. Regardless, the higher you were on the food chain, the more money you received as a bonus.

I find this entire bonus structure to be both offensive and wasteful. I’ve heard numerous claims that bonuses are essential to obtaining and keeping high quality employees. I cry bullshit. As a potential employee, I would rather have a job with a guaranteed high salary and potential low bonus rather than a low salary and high bonus. Sure, bonuses are nice in that it’s a quick infusion of cash, but it’s by no means guaranteed. In fact, I’d argue that the creative accounting and cheating is a result of offering bonuses like this.

Instead, how about a new bonus structure. First, offer higher salaries across the board. Make sure your managers can properly manage their employees and trim out anyone who can’t pull their weight. This way you get the best employees without lugging around any dead weight. Next, set up the bonus tiers in such a way that the lowest employees on the totem pole get the highest bonus percentages. Look at it this way; managers and VPs make more money than the average employee to begin with, so a lower percentage generally still results in a higher bonus anyway. Doing it this way still ensures bonuses for the higher ups, while increasing morale for employees because it appears that they get larger bonuses. And, in one way, they do.

Finally, for those employees in VP or higher positions, drop bonuses completely. Instead, offer stock (in reasonable amounts) and tie their “bonus” directly with the company. This way, if they work hard, inspire the employees, and grow the company, their stock increases in value and they make money. Do nothing and the stock drops and they lose money. Thus, their “bonus” becomes directly tied with the health and financial well-being of the company.

Unfortunately, I don’t see any of the current practices changing anytime soon, so I expect to see more of the same. Thankfully, I have escaped from the corporate machine, so I can avoid much of this insanity for the foreseeable future. But for those of you on the inside, I say fight. Fight against the insanity. Those of us on the outside support you.

Washington DC has this little problem, they have no voting rights. That is, they have no representation in the house or the senate, though they have been able to vote for a president since 1961, when the twenty-third amendment passed. Oh, and they get to pay taxes too. I suppose that makes this taxation without representation? Perhaps they should throw a nice Tea Party?

DC has been clamoring for a representative in congress for quite a number of years. They were granted a delegate in 1971, but a delegate cannot cast a full house vote. They can cast a vote as a committee member, but that severely limits their effectiveness.

In 1978, Representative Don Edwards proposed the “District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment,” which would repeal the twenty-third amendment and effectively treat Washington DC as a state. However, the amendment was not ratified by the states and expired in 1985.

In 2007, Representative Tom Davis and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton proposed the “DC Voting Rights Act,” which would grant representation in congress to Washington DC. The bill was approved by the house, and although there were enough votes in the senate to pass it, it was ultimately defeated by a filibuster initiated by Mitch McConnell. The bill expired at the end of 2008.

In 2009, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton again proposed the “DC Voting Rights Act,” with hopes that the new administration would see it passed. On the same day, Senators Joe Lieberman and Orrin Hatch introduced the senate version of the “DC Voting Rights Act.” The senate bill was voted on and passed. In the process, however, the bill was amended to include a provision about DC gun laws. The provision would remove gun registration requirements, limit the city’s ability to restrict firearms, and make semi-automatic weapons legal. The amendment also passed the senate.

And that’s where the matter sits at the moment. The house is reluctant to move forward with the bill because of the included gun amendment. The NRA stated that it might “keep score” when the house votes, and that “score” could possibly be used against the representatives in the future. In short, the NRA could claim that those representatives that voted against the bill are not gun supporters, which may hurt chances for re-election.

So now we have a voting bill tied together with a gun rights bill. And all I have to ask is, what the hell? Other than the two of them being intended for Washington DC, what do they have in common? And why the hell do they keep jamming crap like this together? Seriously, it’s CHEATING THE SYSTEM. If the bill cannot stand on its own, and there is nothing else you can tie it to that is similar in nature, then perhaps that bill shouldn’t pass. This is how pay increases, pet projects, tax breaks, and other unnecessary crap makes it through congress.

That isn’t to say that gun rights is not a legitimate issue, but it should not be tied to a voting bill. And now, because the NRA wants to turn this into a pissing match, it seems likely that Washington DC residents will miss out on gaining a representative, yet again. In fact, John Ensign, the Senator from Nevada, stated that he would rather see the voting rights fail and his gun amendment pass. Thank you Senator, it’s nice to see you’re more interested in allowing people to shoot each other than to let them have proper representation. Oh, and since you’re from Nevada, might I ask why the hell you’re poking your nose in the business of Washington DC?

I hope the DC voting rights are eventually passed. I think they need to have a voice in the house, and eventually in the senate. I definitely don’t think it’s right to tack on additional crap to the bill, though, just because it has a high chance of making it through. Yet again, maybe it’s time for line item veto?