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That vine is hilarious! Thank you!

I recommend that no one view this page while simultaneously taking a sip of coffee… gratuitous coughing might ensue.

» Posted By Zeke On November 21, 2014 @ 4:19 am

This is an excerpt of Senator Dick Durbin’s (D–Illinois) speech on the floor of the Senate today regarding immigration:

“When any political party in history has decided to make anti-immigration their standard and their value, they have withered and disappeared, as they should. They are ignoring and turning their back on who we are, what America is all about. I was part of a group two years ago. We set down four democratic Senators and four republican Senators, and we worked for months to write a comprehensive immigration reform bill. I’ll tell you the names of the Senators so you know there was no secret deal here. John McCain led the republicans, former republican candidate for President of the United States. By his side Lindsey Graham, republican from South Carolina, not exactly viewed as a liberal state but in fact a very conservative one. Marco Rubio of Florida, whose father and mother were immigrants to this country, refugees from Cuba. And Jeff Flake of Arizona, a conservative republican by every measure. That was the team on the republican side of the table. On our side of the table, we were led by Chuck Schumer, chairman of the immigration subcommittee of judiciary from the state of New York. I joined him as a member of the judiciary committee and as someone that’s been involved in some of these issues for a long time. And Bob Menendez — the head of the democratic Hispanic caucus, which is a caucus of one at this point, but himself the son of Cuban refugees who came to the United States; And Michael Bennet of Colorado.

The eight of us set down for months, literally for months, hours at a time, sometimes angry and ready to walk out of the room, other times cooperative. We wrote a bill, a 200-page bill to rewrite the immigration laws in America. To fix the broken immigration system. Then we took it to committee and the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee Patrick Leahy, had open hearings and allowed any amendment to be offered that anyone wished. Then we brought it to the floor after it was reported from the committee and we again gave an opportunity for amendments to be offered. Significant amendments were offered. Senator Corker of Tennessee offered an amendment to even strengthen what was a very strong border security section of this bill. The net result of that, of course, was we brought it to a vote. We brought it to a vote and I will tell you, it was an incredible day because on June 27 of 2013, we passed on the floor of the United States Senate comprehensive immigration reform by a vote of 68-32. 14 republicans joined the democrats in a bipartisan effort to fix our broken immigration system.

It was a proud moment. We had the support of the chamber of commerce, we had the support of organized labor, we had every major religious group in America supporting our efforts. We had the ultra-conservative Grover Norquist supporting this, and liberals as well, came together and said finally we’re going to do something about our broken immigration system. But under the law of the land, passing the Senate is not enough. The measure was then sent over to the House of Representatives. June 27, 2013. Today, November 19, 2014, the republican-led House of Representatives has not only failed to have a hearing on this bill, has refused to bring this bill to the floor, has refused to bring any immigration bill to the floor. They refuse to address the obvious. We have a broken immigration system, we need to come up with a fair solution to it, and they refuse to act. It is within their power to call that bill today as it has been every day since June 27, 2013.

But for a year and a half, the house republican leadership has refused to act. Oh, they tempted us, they teased us, time and again we’re thinking about it, we’re going to put out a list of principles that we republicans believe in the House of Representatives, we’re going to tell you that maybe we would support something like the dream act, maybe, we’re going to tell you we want strong border enforcement which of course this bill already has. They’ve said all these things and have done nothing. I’m reminded of President Lincoln saying to General McClellan if you’re not going to use your army, may I borrow it?

The house republicans have refused to address the immigration issue almost entirely with one exception. They did call one immigration matter to the floor. It was one of the most hateful pieces of legislation which I have seen and here’s what it said — before they adjourned in August, the republicans in the House of Representatives passed a measure with only four of their members refusing to vote for it and here’s what it said. We have created an opportunity for about two million children brought to this country who have lived good lives, finished school, have no problems with the law, and want to become part of America, the President has created an executive order giving these children a chance to come forward, register with the government, pay their filing fee, and not be deported. 600,000 of them have taken advantage of that. This is called DACA, the President’s executive order, gives them a chance to live in America, to go to school in America, to get a job in America. To make this a better nation. 600,000 have done it. We believe 1.4 million more are eligible. They have not signed up yet.

So the republican House of Representatives in August before they adjourned passed a measure which said the remaining 1.6 million who may be eligible for this protection cannot be allowed to be part of the DACA program. These 1.6 million young people should be subject to deportation. Deportation! Think about that for a moment. Brought here at the age of two or three as infants, living in the United States their entire lives, standing up in the classrooms across America every morning pledging allegiance to the only flag they’ve ever known and the republicans voted with an overwhelming majority to deport them. To deport them. Madam President, that’s not bad enough. That overwhelming vote that they cast, that hateful vote that they cast, they were so proud of themselves that after voting they stood up and applauded themselves. What a great moment in their minds for the House of Representatives…”

“…Every President of the United States, madam president, every President of the United States since Dwight David Eisenhower has used his executive authority to improve our immigration system by executive order. Every single one of them.”

http://www.c-span.org/video/?322846-1/us-senate-executive-session&live
His speech starts about the 1:53:30 mark.

» Posted By Zeke On November 19, 2014 @ 1:54 pm

Love Bernie Sanders. He just left the floor after his speech and he too was magnificent.

Did you see him on the Colbert Report last night?

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/7vjzxb/bernie-sanders-pt–1

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/67tlr7/bernie-sanders-pt–2

How could anyone NOT like Bernie?

» Posted By Zeke On November 18, 2014 @ 11:52 am

I’ve been watching the ‘Keystone XL Pipeline’ debate in the Senate on CSPAN2. Senator Barbara Boxer has been fantastic in her opposition to the proposed legislation. Just before the break Senator Jeff Merkley had the floor and did an excellent job, especially, in his refutation of the Republican talking points.

Dubbed, “the Xtra Lethal Pipeline” courtesy of Sen. Barbara Boxer.

» Posted By Zeke On November 18, 2014 @ 11:03 am

» Posted By Zeke On June 15, 2014 @ 3:22 am

Happy fathers day. Enjoy:)

» Posted By Zeke On June 15, 2014 @ 3:22 am

Thanks for the link.
You’re right, that was great and worth a watch.

Has there ever been a better “Trolls! Call to arms” speech?

» Posted By Zeke On June 5, 2014 @ 4:34 pm