Support Hilda Solis

The Republicans has been holding up the nomination of Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor, because, well because she has experience with labor from the inside. Kos has the details. This morning I used the link provided from Daily Kos to send my senators an email to vote for cloture, and then to give Solis an up or down vote. When I got back from lunch I saw that the senate had in fact voted on cloture and will be giving a final confirmation vote at 4:30 this afternoon.

Since Snow and Collins both voted for cloture I can only say that my name on the email must have carried some clout. I've always wanted to be a behind the scenes power broker.

More Heinus Fuckery from my senator

Maine is a poor state, and the winters are cold, and a lot of people need some extra help to keep their homes heated. So where was my senator when the removed provisions for home heating assistance?

The most infuriating thing is that she'll be praised by the local papers for her 'moderation' tomorrow.

Absolutely Outrageous

The 'moderate' senator Susan Collins was instrumental in killing a clause in the stimulus package that would have provided protections for Federal workers who who blew the whistle on misused funds in the package. This is appalling especially given that Collins is also the ranking Republican for the Senate Oversight Committee.

This shouldn't come as any surprise given that when the Republicans controlled congress, she was the chair of that committee and was near legendary in her ability to look the other way while billions in tax payer money was shipped to Iraq and handed over to contractors with little or no accountability.

Collins is a disgrace and as a resident of Maine I'm especially galled that this crook won reelection last year against Tom Allen, who has a reputation for being scrupulously honest. I don't mind using the people's money in a time of crisis to try to fix that crisis, but I want to make damned sure it is going to boost the economy, and not line some dishonest assholes pocket.