Specter leaves GOP

Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) is switching parties today, leaving the GOP and joining the Democratic caucus.

This is big news for a couple of reasons. As soon as Al Franken is seated from Minnesota, this means that the democrats will have a 60-seat majority in the Senate. On party-line votes, this means that they’re filibuster-proof. They won’t have any excuses for not getting their agenda passed now. I hope to see a serious health-care package and better choices on infrastructure, moving us away from highway packages and towards more public transit.

Rumors had been swirling for a while about Specter. He’s facing a primary challenge from the right by Pat Toomey, and his numbers weren’t looking very good. By running as a Dem, he increases his odds of a victory substantially.

He’s always been a moderate anyway, and was a vocal opponent of executive power grabs by the Bush administration. He’s also pro-choice, pro-civil-unions for gays, and favors immigration reform that includes amnesty. As the GOP has shifted right in recent years, all of these positions have put him at odds with his own party. He’s been under increasing fire from the GOP’s right flank after crossing party lines to vote for the stimulus package, one of only three senators to do so.

He’ll still be a moderate as a Dem, and the party won’t be able to count on him for every vote without making concessions, but this is still big news.

Update: part of Specter’s statement:

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

I also forgot to mention that Specter is a cancer survivor and huge advocate for funding the NIH and other science agencies. Another plus for the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania.

Snow

I walked out of work today to find it snowing. To put this in perspective, this is only the second time this decade that it’s snowed in Houston.

And man, was it ever snowing. Big, fat white flakes were dropping – the kind that swirl in the wind and cling to your hair long after you’ve come in from the cold. People were gathered on the steps, laughing and taking pictures. A 6 year old girl was running around trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, almost certainly for the first time ever. It made me sad to think that she’ll never get a snow day, and won’t ever know the childhood joy of making a snow angel.

It made me remember coming in from sledding in the backyard and having hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of a crackling fire. It made me remember how beautiful Truman’s campus is after a fresh snow, and how much fun we had sledding down the hill in Red Barn Park wearing trash bag ponchos. As much as I bitched about the cold then, this snow has me missing it now.

So enjoy your snow, Houston. It’s probably going to be another long while before you see it again.

Justice

Some good news today: Julie Amero is getting a new trial.

Hancock

I can’t say I was surprised by the announcement. Hancock hit a tow truck with it’s flashing lights on, while driving full speed, in the early morning with no traffic around. My first reaction was that he was either drunk, baked, or doing something stupid like looking in the back seat for a CD.

Turns out he was drunk, had weed in the car, and was on his cell phone, so all three predictions are more or less true.

Post-Dispatch Story

For the Hokies

image via The Cheerful Oncologist

Just when things look bleakest. . .

humanity gives you hope

The parents of a Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank have donated his organs for use in Israel, in the hope of promoting peace.

NOLA

I have a lot to say about the situation in New Orleans, here in Houston, and the state of our federal emergency response teams. I’m just too angry and hurt and tired to say it all right now. I’ll let others do the talking:

From an interview with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday:

WWL: Because apparently there’s a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can’t come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that’s going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.

NAGIN: Really? . . . You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.

From the AP:

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn’t get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.

That’s right, fucking PAPERWORK kept them locked in the Superdome, sleeping in their own shit. PAPERWORK kept people trapped in attics and on rooftops. PAPERWORK prevented people’s lives from being saved.

Then, in the midst of a ridiculously incompetent and inadequate response, Bush makes it worse by visiting:

In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, [ Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.] said. And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

And finally, from Defective Yeti:

I’m so outraged I can barely think straight. Bad enough that the White House (again!) ignored repeated warnings of impending disaster and (again!) diverted necessary resources to its wealthy patrons and ideological hobby horses, but the federal response to the catastrophe is like a goddamned cabaret show.

Conservatives often justify the slashing social programs to fund corporate tax cuts by saying, “A rising tide raises all boats.” Well, the tide rose folks, and this is the result.

UPDATE: Two more links worth passing along:
A Timeline outlining FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration
Some pictures of the ongoing crisis

News Flash

Chief Justice Rehnquist has died.

As if one SCOTUS confirmation hearing wasn’t going to be crazy enough…

High Speed Chase

Here’s a video of a crazy sonuvabitch who murdered two women, ran from police, then flipped his car off of the highway in dramatic fashion. (Killing himself in the process).

Notice that the suburban actually ramps up and OVER 4 lanes of Lindbergh Blvd.