No big deal. I just have never seen that in other political forums.

So I can do this and it is a commonly acceptable practice here?

fixed it for you! ;)

Wow...a very strange way to debate, discuss, dispute ..but hey, its not my house. I'm just a guest here.

For the record, I wont ever this do this again!

Yup - thats about how it goes.

SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday
by Connie Hair

In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.

“[i] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said.


“The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference. “Every member of Congress -- Republicans and Democrats -- voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.”

Actually -- as of 5:15 pm, the Democrats had broken their word. The stimulus bill -- which we still haven’t seen -- will be released late tonight and will be brought up on the House floor at 9 am tomorrow.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=30697

Money for mice is not in the bill. It looks like the Washington Times was a bit more careful than some who picked up on the story by couching it in "intends to spend" and "among other things".

According to this blog (YMMV), the story came from a GOP staffer who is claiming that an unnamed official from an unnamed federal agency said that if unsaid agency gets stimulus money, they will put $30 million into wetlands restoration in the area that includes the mouse's habitat.

So, even if the source is correct, the money is for wetlands restoration in the SF Bay Area, a much bigger issue than mice. If the source is incorrect, the money is for wetlands restoration in all of the US (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that the bill at least mentions wetlands), a MUCH bigger issue than mice, and may not affect the mice at all:

Good. Thanks.

I guess I would do my utmost to say it wasn't true if I was her, or her staff. But since NO ONE can see the details of what is in the compromise bill we will not know until it is passed.

LOL.....A GOP staffer makes an unsubstantiated claim that an unnamed official from an unnamed federal agency....

That says it all to me!

The conference committee report is on the House Rules Committee website.

I hope that GOP staffer (or Merc) can find that provision now and share it with the rest of us!

I cant help but laugh at all this whining from Republicans about not being able to see the bill or participate in the conference committee or offer amendments.

How soon they forget their own rules when they were in the majority.

Personally, I would like to see Pelosi be a little more accommodating with the rules in the spirit of openness and bi-partisanship, but given that her rules are no where near as restrictive as the House rules under Hastert and DeLay for six years, I dont have much empathy for the whiners.

I think I pointed out in another discussion that if Pelosi's rules were as strict as her predecessors, in which by one rule, a bill would not be considered unless it had the support of the majority of the majority party, Bush would never have gotten his last two Iraq war funding bills. A majority of Democrats never supported those bills.

The Republicans didnt whine as much in 07-08 because they knew they had the wild card in the White House who could veto any Democratic bill. Now that they lost that edge, they act, and obviously have convinced some, as if Pelosi is setting new standards of exclusion.

If only the facts supported the whining!

And this from a person who has done nothing but whine about transparency or lack of it in the Bush era. Laughable.

As stated earlier. Pelosi bullshited the public and didnot post the information for a period of 48hours before the vote. Sorry my friend but for the single biggest piece of legislation that will have your childrens childrens children be in debt to the government that doesn cut it.

So it was on the internet in a non-searchable form for 12 hours. It was over 1000 pages and was distributed for review last night. Good job there Dems. Well done.

Democratic Senator Predicts None of His Colleagues 'Will Have the Chance' to Read Final Stimulus Bill Before Vote
Friday, February 13, 2009
By Ryan Byrnes and Edwin Mora




Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D.-N.J.)(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted on Thursday that none of his Senate colleagues would "have the chance" to read the entire final version of the $790-billion stimulus bill before the bill comes up for a final vote in Congress.

“No, I don’t think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill],” Lautenberg told CNSNews.com

http://cnsnews.com/public/content/ar...x?RsrcID=43478

HURRY, FELLAS, LET'S VOTE, I AM OFF TO ROME!
Fri Feb 13 2009 09:18:52 ET

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe!

Culberson made the charge on Houston's KSEV radio.

Pelosi is hoping to lead a delegation to Europe; there's a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group.

Calls to Pelosi's spokesman went unreturned.

In the rushing, Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted that none of his Senate colleagues would 'have the chance' to read the entire final version of the 1,071-page bill before it comes up for a final vote.

SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday
by Connie Hair (more by this author)
Posted 02/12/2009 ET
Updated 02/13/2009 ET


In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.

“[i] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said.

“The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference. “Every member of Congress -- Republicans and Democrats -- voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.”

Actually -- as of 5:15 pm, the Democrats had broken their word. The stimulus bill -- which we still haven’t seen -- will be released late tonight and will be brought up on the House floor at 9 am tomorrow.

The following statement was released by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at 4:57 p.m.:

"The House is scheduled to meet at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow and is expected to proceed directly to consideration of the American Recovery and Reinvestment conference report. The conference report text will be filed this evening, giving members enough time to review the conference report before voting on it tomorrow afternoon."

Meanwhile, at an earlier presser Thursday, Pelosi -- while talking about legislation regarding school construction funds -- said it was vital to see the language of a bill before making decisions. ReadtheStimulus.org had the following quote:

“With all of this you have to see the language. You said this --- I said that --- I understood it to be this way --- you know, we wanted to see it in writing and when we did that then we were able to go forward."

"Around here language means a lot. Words weigh a ton and one person's understanding of a spoken description might vary from another's. We wanted to see it. And not only just I had to see it, I had to show it to my colleagues and my caucus. We wanted to take all the time that was necessary to make sure it was right."

Congressional members are also exchanging barbs via the popular social network Twitter. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) twittered, "Don't know when we're going to vote. Will the no votes delay vote just because they can? Speed is important. They know that."

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) twittered back, “Those in favor of speed over commonsense may just be afraid of letting the People know what they are ramming through.”

UPDATE: The Democrats finally made the bill's language available around 11 p.m. Thursday, approximately 10 hours before members meet Friday to consider the bill and 38 hours short of the time promised Americans to review the bill.


http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=30697

Merc...such is life when you are the minority party.

If you dont get an equal voice at the table, you bitch and whine, ignore your own hypocrisy from when you had the power, then spread bullshit like the above and hope it sticks.

IMO, it may play to your base but it is not a winning strategy to attract swing voters in the future.

The partisan's only hope is for Obama to be completely ineffective, it will be total Limbaugh propaganda 24-7. Party before country.

Merc and his buddies can take solace in the fact that if this doesn't work, they can tell everyone else in the bread line "I told you so."

A charming victory for the most patriotic among us. :neutral: