Senator Byrd’s Death Made Me Think of Klansmen I have Known — by NormanB (“Deviations from the Norm”)

Should Senator Byrd be forgiven for his ties to the KKK and his notorious filibuster of Civil Rights legislation? Does the fact that he repented of his views later in life cleanse his legacy?

How DARE the Belgian police act like the Church was full of bankers?

Well, this was a refreshing bit of candor at the end of the New York Times’ article on the House action Thursday evening to ‘repeal’ DADT.

This is disturbing. Center for American Progress is not only taking credit for what I call the sham ‘repeal’ compromise, they are also crowing about circulating the legislative language two months ago on Capitol Hill — while our primary LGBT national organizations on repeal were still fighting to end discharges right now under a full repeal.

Well, the pro-”repeal” folks seem to have talked Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) into supporting their sham compromise, although they needed to add another step to the process to get his vote: a 60-day post-report review process to ensure Congress is happy with the certification provided by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Exploring the comparison between Senator Byrd’s opposition to use of reconciliation to pass President Clinton’s health reform proposals and the use of reconciliation today.

Are we in Afghanistan to build a nation, to fight Al Qaeda, or for some other, unstated, reason? Sometimes it’s hard to know, listening to contrasting rationales coming from the Obama administration. It doesn’t matter, though, all the official and unofficial reasons are wrong.