The Whole Delivery

While bill weakening isn't leading to the likes of Cosmo Truck Guy Brown to still give it the full support, Russ Feingold has had enough with the Financial Reform Bill dissipating in power. The Wisconsin Senator simply states he cannot support the bill . Wall Street and its allies have been calling the shots in Congress for decades, so they must be glad to see how things are shaping up on financial regulatory reform. Congress is about to vote on a final bill that fails to fix the key flaws in the bills passed by both the House and Senate. At the start of this process I made clear that I had a simple test for financial reform -- will it stop another financial meltdown? This bill fails that test, and I won't support legislation that fails to protect the people of Wisconsin from the pain of another economic disaster. And I don't need to be lectured about this issue by people who supported the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which paved the way for this terrible recession. F...

Seriously good from Feingold and Cantwell : The bill was already weak enough, with the nutcase party blocking amendments all over the place in The House of Lords. Might as well spend time on somehow getting it better than the so-so meager ish that it is now.

In the midst of the disturbing growing tide towards trying Khalid Shelik Mohammed in a military tribunal instead of a civilian court , and continue with this nation's leaders placing senseless politics over the rule of law, Russ Feingold thought it impertinent to voice out his feelings on this. And we that are all rational should be glad that he has down as such . “We have a great track record of successfully trying and convicting terrorists in civilian courts. The military commission system is largely untested, and these cases could easily get bogged down in years of legal challenges. The best way to bring these terrorists to justice swiftly is through our civilian courts.” As usual, only our government can make things so hard for itself. Feingold mentions what we all know and have heard one TRILLION times on this issue. Civilian courts, not military tribunals, are the only way to go. But since President Obama wants to work with President Graham (and his VP #3 behind McF...

Quietly, Tom Harkin joined Jay Rockefeller yesterday is virutally proclaiming the public option as dead. With how neither showed no desire to sign up for Michael Bennet's Letter signing for the PO, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the rational Iowa Senator came out publicly to show no support for a position he was an ardent supporter of for so long. "I hate to say it, but I am not certain we're going to be able to get a public option in this bill," Harkin said with a sigh, in an interview on the eve of President Obama's bipartisan healthcare summit. That phrasing may sound relatively optimistic, but the way Harkin discussed the public option made it clear he didn't see much hope for the plan for now. "That doesn't mean we stop trying... I keep reminding people that this bill is not written in stone, like the Ten Commandments, for ever and ever. This is a law, it's a bill, we change laws all the time around here -- that's what we ...

Leave it to Senators Russ Feingold and Sheldon Whitehouse to show us all the real story today of day one: Not showing how moderate Sonia Sotomayor is, but how radical John Roberts, our nation's Chief Justice, is. Feingold first: "Be weary of a phrase judicial activism." "That term seems to have lost all usefulness." "So many rules of the conservative majority of the Supreme Court could be consider activist in their disregard for precedent in their willingness to ignore or override any intent of Congress. Perhaps the best definition of judicial activist is a judge who decides a case in a way you don't like." Just real. And then Whitehouse "But that point comes when these words come as slogans, not real critiques of your record." "Code words seeing a particular judge." "The umpire analogy is belied by Chief Justice Roberts. Though he cast himself as an umpire. Some umpire." "Serving the interest and the value of the...