Our new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, lays out her plan for the first 100 hours of Democratic control. [It’s really worth the read.]
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one hundred hours
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Rather than simply holding off on congressional pay raises, I think it’s time to set back the clock on congress by forcing debate and action on five programs to help financially rebuild the middle/lower middle classes in America …
. Flat Tax
. Minimum Wage
. Limited public financing of elections, including prohibitions on lobbyist activities that reduce legislative meddling and earmarking of appropriations
. Health care package
. Social Security reform
… and until these issues are dealt with in an electorate-satisfying way, the congress will LOSE $0.01 per minute of pay 24/7.
I’m not convinced on the flat tax. Otherwise Ed’s list looks like a good start. I’d add election reform though. And then, of course, there are the international and security issues. It’s a pretty full plate.
The FIST 100 days? Sounds painful…or is this a reference to the Sly Stallone movie?
Your Spell Checkin’ Bro
The unicorn was really hungry.
I couldn’t be happier that the democrats took back congress. And it is I who harbors thoughts of unicorns and a world where reason and compassion trump obsolete medieval religious beliefs.
Out back, the unicorn frolics happily along the banks of the Huron river–joyfully yucking it up with the squirrels and groundhogs. On the other side of the fence, however, is a world where the democrats have a 51-49 majority that will present no defense to Bush’s veto. And he will learn to love the veto.
Far from the unicorn’s stomping ground, there are still mega churches filled with truly frightening people who will stop at nothing to regulate other people’s lives. We thought we were fighting the 19th century in the middle east, but I’ve seen the 19th century, and it is us.
I would love to believe we have made significant progress in this election, but I think that if the Iraq war was any less of a catastrophe, we would have had our asses kicked.
I fear that we are the slightly geeky kid who tried for months to ask a cute girl to the dance, and now that she’s said yes, we’re going to freak her out with all our talk of compilers and kernels and perl scripts and black holes. She’s going to see us for who we really are, and she’s going to find a football player.
Over night the congress changed, but I’m not sure the country has changed enough for the progress to be sustained.
You’re right – that was worth the read.
Wait a minute, the link I get is about the next 100 hours, not 100 days, and she keeps blabbing about her grandchildren. Maybe I just didn’t make it to the 100 days part….someone please post a low-schmaltz summary of her essay.
Low-schmaltz summary: get over yourself and realize that the grandchildren are a rhetorical device.
But, yeah, “fist 100 days” shows just how much attention Mark was paying to this post…
OK, you can get into the wayback machine and check if you don’t believe me, but when I first posted this, it said “100 hours.” Then, at 6:00 this morning, after 4 hours sleep, I got an email from a reader of the site telling me that I’d read it wrong. I didn’t even think twice. I just assumed that I was wrong and changed it. (“Yeah, how could they do all that in just 100 hours? I sure am gullible. No wonder people think I believe in unicorns.”)
From now on, I will just assume that I’m always right, and we will never have this problem again.
The “fist” thing, however, was my own damned fault.
It has now been fixed.
Notice that not only did the “ultra right religitainment” movement get smacked, but also that no “screaming liberals” were elevated to office. This was a “get back to business, folks” voter mandate from both dem and republican voters.
Perhaps the “definitions” of the middle ground from the past is somewhere in between (Pat Moynahan, et. al. … a conservative being someone who is a realist and works with what is at hand … and a liberal being someone who sees what is and wants something more, perhaps, something even better).
In his early days, Ronald Reagan was quoted as saying something like this: “There is no left or right. There is only DOWN and UP.” He went on to say something about society moving further up and the U.S. aspiring for more, even guiding the world to aspire. I like the rhetoric, although it lends itself too much to hell/heaven, right/wrong, evil doers/good doers.
Let’s prepare ourselves for a national debate on what constitutes good government in the next 100 days … via hearings, wristslaps and lots of vinegar on sponges.
After January … the righting of the ship of state.
Remember, Ypsi, keep a local focus. Our hands are not clean here. But we have a new start. Let’s get busy.
Our own John Dingell will be chairing the Energy and Commerce Committee. In the past he’s been a climate change skeptic, but he now says that the Committee will be “taking a look” at climate change. He’s rightly concerned about the auto industry, but it is now apparent that aggressive action is needed. Does anyone have any insight into Dingell’s thinking on this issue? What action should we be taking to influence him?
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20061106&s=crowley110606
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/8/2/134832/8334
More on Dingell from Thursday’s WaPo:
“In a conference call yesterday, Dingell said he would back measures to promote new energy technologies, diesel fuel and cars, electric vehicles, and conservation in buildings. But before raising automobile fuel-efficiency standards, he said attention should be paid to the ability of the industry to absorb the economic impact of these changes.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802047.html
The powerplant programs at GM are much further along than at Ford. Chrysler is relying on Benz.
But the Japanese are way far ahead on hybrids. New models are coming out again from Toyota.
During the JunkInYourTruck this Fall, sponsored by the Ruiverside Neighborhood Association, a neighbor pulled into the lot with her Prius, paid her seller’s fee, then silently (electric) pulled forward into her spot. It was really fun to watch. In excess of 40mpg city!
Further back in time, my marketing clients included General Electric who made train engines and GM Truck & Bus Group, who made bus diesels. And I remember electric street cars and electric busses in Detroit, growing up.
More recently, my wife boarded the train in Depot Town to commute for her teaching jobs in Detroit.
Hopefully, Dingel, who should have the same memories and more, will get the Transportation Industry to focus on “transport” and not just individual luxury.