Bridges to Somewhere

From THINK PROGRESS ECONOMY:

President Obama’s plan to kickstart the economy and put the American people back to work includes investing in the nation’s rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, which, as studies have shown, is in need of as much as $2 trillion in immediate investment just to bring it up to date. In the past, Republicans have agreed that infrastructure improvements are needed, but in the context of economic stimulus and in their effort to remain opposed to anything Obama offers, they have chosen to ignore the nation’s infrastructure and jobs crises. Unfortunately, that approach doesn’t mean either crisis will go away.

Republican leadership has continually blocked efforts by Obama and Congressional Democrats to invest in infrastructure improvements, and as a result, bridges and roadways in their states are crumbling. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, about 12 percent of the nation’s bridges are considered “structurally deficient,” the same rating given to the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people.

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Name That Toomey

From USA TODAY:

Sen. Pat Toomey voted against the debt-limit compromise last week, partly because he didn’t think the budget-balancing recommendations of the bipartisan committee it created would stick.

A week later, Toomey finds himself serving on the committee he voted against.

The Pennsylvanian was one of six Republican members appointed Wednesday to Congress’ new 12-member “supercommittee.”

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Rethugs are just puppets of Americans for Tax Reform

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

Vice President Joe Biden’s deficit reduction talks imploded today after the only two Republicans involved in the negotiations announced they are halting their participation because of their objections to Democratic demands for “tax increases.”

Democrats meanwhile, suggested Republicans are “playing with fire” by holding up a vote on raising the debt ceiling.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced this morning that he would skip today’s scheduled meeting because “Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases.”

Subsequently, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona announced he was pulling out of the negotiations.

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#NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement About Jon Kyl

Kids, I’m sure by now you heard about Jon Kyl’s claims about Planned Parenthood that he made on the Senate floor:

If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood. And that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.

After he got slapped around by almost everyone who did a little fact-checking (from The Philadelphia Inquirer)…

Abortion constitutes 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood does. More than 90 percent of the organization’s services, 96 percent if you prefer specifics – Kyl, apparently, does not – are for contraception, cancer screening, detection and treatment of sexually transmitted disease, and other health issues.

…the senator’s office issued this statement:

His remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions.

Stephen Colbert and his fans had a bit of fun with that on Twitter, and I thought I’d add a few more things that are not intended to be factual statements that you might not have known about Jon Kyl.  For one thing, Jon Kyl was born a Muslim…

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A Few of My Favorite Zings

To the tune of My Favorite Things (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein):

Health care and midterms and all kinds of fighting,
Rallies and scandals, it was so exciting,
Tea party darlings were at it again,
All this shit happened in 2010.

Nothing but heartache for millions of Haitians,
While dumb old Pat Robertson hurled accusations,
John Roberts’ activist band of Supremes,
Were simply the court of a lobbyist’s dreams.

Harry Reid Has Lunch

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

By a vote of 71-26 this afternoon, the Senate ratified the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), exceeding the two-thirds majority required for passage.

The vote brings to an end a long, winding and at times hostile debate over the arms agreement, which enjoyed broad support among one-time GOP influence peddlers, but was held up for much of the lame-duck session by several Republican senators who raised a series of procedural and policy objections to the treaty.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl led the opposition, and at times appeared to have rounded up the 34 votes he would have needed to block START. Kyl made a name for himself in the GOP in 1999 when he shocked American and international diplomats and handily blocked President Clinton’s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

This time, his efforts fell well short.

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Tweedlejon and Tweedlejohn

From Alex Pareene at Salon:

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl explained on Fox yesterday that allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces ” is not a constitutional right as was the issue of racial segregation,” and he went on to argue that repealing the policy that bars them “could disrupt unit cohesion… and cost lives.”

That’s right: Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” could kill soldiers.

Considering that this may very well kill people, the next Congress should probably repeal the repeal, right? I mean, it’s literally a matter of life and death. We need to re-ban gay people ASAP, right, Senator Kyl?

“I don’t have any plan in place” to repeal the repeal in the next Congress, Kyl said on Fox today.

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Ask and Tell

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who helped shepherd through today’s Senate repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, told reporters after the final vote this afternoon that ending the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers is a big step for LGBT rights.

“To me, it is a step forward to a larger societal acceptance [of gay rights,]” Lieberman said. “This is a civil rights piece of legislation in my opinion.”

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