Political posterizing.

[Svartalf]

The campaign posters in Sicily were painted on the walls, elections are a national sport there. I got into a confrontation once because I was taking pictures of them. Some of the long fascisti challenged me, thinking I was a Red planning to deface them later. My landlord came by at the right time to defuse the issue.

Interesting case of a custom staying the same aftor more than 2000 years, in spite of some prolonged hiatus time.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The campaign posters in Sicily were painted on the walls, elections are a national sport there. I got into a confrontation once because I was taking pictures of them. Some of the long fascisti challenged me, thinking I was a Red planning to deface them later. My landlord came by at the right time to defuse the issue.

Interesting case of a custom staying the same aftor more than 2000 years, in spite of some prolonged hiatus time.

True. Pompeii is a lovely time capsule for that kind of thing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Coito ergo sum]

On this one, I agree with you. The filibuster/cloture process has become a mess.

Easy solution: Switch back to the pre-1975 procedure. Today, all the minority in the Senate has to do is threaten a filibuster, and the law can't come up for a vote. It's not even a real filibuster anymore.

The traditional way it was handled was that a Senator could invoke a filibuster, but a filibuster was an invocation of the right to unlimited debate on an issue, not shutting down debate. That meant, however, that the Senator trying to filibuster would have to keep talking. If he left to go take a piss, the Senate could act an vote. So, filibusters never generally lasted all that long, and in the rare case they did, they were still over with in RELATIVELY short order -- example - the longest actual filibuster in history was Democrat Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Voting Rights Act and spoke for over 24 straight hours until he was so tired and had nearly lost his voice and he closed his statement. Democrat Huey Long had the next longest filibuster - 17 hours - when he opposed FDR's New Deal - and he couldn't hold his bladder anymore, so he had to leave and go shake hands with the governor, so to speak, and they voted when he was out of the room.

If a filibuster was an actual filibuster, this problem would not be a real problem. It would be a quaint nuisance, harkening back to the first recorded filibuster in history, when Senator Cato filibustered Caesar's bill to make him dictator.

[Tyrannical]

If only more people would have listened to Strom Thurmond we wouldn't have the crime, welfare, education or racism problems that we have today.

[Tero]

...filibuster - 17 hours - when he opposed FDR's New Deal - and he couldn't hold his bladder anymore, so he had to leave and go shake hands with the governor, so to speak, and they voted when he ....


Very impressive. Guys cant hold more than 2-4 hours, wimmin can go 12 hours.

[Tyrannical]

We'd probably not have a national debt if FDR's New Deal was defeated.

[Warren Dew]

On this one, I agree with you. The filibuster/cloture process has become a mess.

Easy solution: Switch back to the pre-1975 procedure. Today, all the minority in the Senate has to do is threaten a filibuster, and the law can't come up for a vote. It's not even a real filibuster anymore.

The traditional way it was handled was that a Senator could invoke a filibuster, but a filibuster was an invocation of the right to unlimited debate on an issue, not shutting down debate. That meant, however, that the Senator trying to filibuster would have to keep talking. If he left to go take a piss, the Senate could act an vote. So, filibusters never generally lasted all that long, and in the rare case they did, they were still over with in RELATIVELY short order -- example - the longest actual filibuster in history was Democrat Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Voting Rights Act and spoke for over 24 straight hours until he was so tired and had nearly lost his voice and he closed his statement. Democrat Huey Long had the next longest filibuster - 17 hours - when he opposed FDR's New Deal - and he couldn't hold his bladder anymore, so he had to leave and go shake hands with the governor, so to speak, and they voted when he was out of the room.

If a filibuster was an actual filibuster, this problem would not be a real problem. It would be a quaint nuisance, harkening back to the first recorded filibuster in history, when Senator Cato filibustered Caesar's bill to make him dictator.

I'm pretty sure 40 senators could still keep a filibuster going forever.

The real change was when they allowed two tracks, so that other business could proceed while one bill was being blocked. Back when a filibuster blocked all pending bills, it provided more incentive to find a compromise.

[Coito ergo sum]

I think most of the Congressmen thought they were voting for a different deal...

[Coito ergo sum]

On this one, I agree with you. The filibuster/cloture process has become a mess.

Easy solution: Switch back to the pre-1975 procedure. Today, all the minority in the Senate has to do is threaten a filibuster, and the law can't come up for a vote. It's not even a real filibuster anymore.

The traditional way it was handled was that a Senator could invoke a filibuster, but a filibuster was an invocation of the right to unlimited debate on an issue, not shutting down debate. That meant, however, that the Senator trying to filibuster would have to keep talking. If he left to go take a piss, the Senate could act an vote. So, filibusters never generally lasted all that long, and in the rare case they did, they were still over with in RELATIVELY short order -- example - the longest actual filibuster in history was Democrat Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Voting Rights Act and spoke for over 24 straight hours until he was so tired and had nearly lost his voice and he closed his statement. Democrat Huey Long had the next longest filibuster - 17 hours - when he opposed FDR's New Deal - and he couldn't hold his bladder anymore, so he had to leave and go shake hands with the governor, so to speak, and they voted when he was out of the room.

If a filibuster was an actual filibuster, this problem would not be a real problem. It would be a quaint nuisance, harkening back to the first recorded filibuster in history, when Senator Cato filibustered Caesar's bill to make him dictator.

I'm pretty sure 40 senators could still keep a filibuster going forever.

The real change was when they allowed two tracks, so that other business could proceed while one bill was being blocked. Back when a filibuster blocked all pending bills, it provided more incentive to find a compromise.

Agreed. But, now with C-SPAN and nearly constant coverage of the goings on in the Senate, if either party was going to start reading out of phone books or reciting Shakespeare as part of their "Debate" they would be skewered by the press and the media. It's not surprising that the elimination of the "you actually have to stay there and talk" rule coincided with the rise in television news coverage and heightened scrutiny of their doings. After 1975, you could actually just announce a filibuster and then walk away. You don't look like nearly the douche you'd look like if you got up like Strom Thurmond spouting nonsense for 24 straight hours....

[Tyrannical]

Alas poor Patton, he never had the chance to rid the Free World of the threat of Socialism.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We'd probably not have a national debt if FDR's New Deal was defeated.

This I gotta hear.

[Warren Dew]

Oh, the irony.

Obviously he doesn't care for his piece of junk car.

[Warren Dew]

Still haz the occasional funny moment.
Plus is rather informative on each side's pet peeves.

I get laughs out of most of them, even when I don't agree with them.

[Ian]

Various ideas on understanding American politics today...