Nick von Stein for Congress

Because my congressional representative voted for the bailout, not once but twice, I cannot support him this fall.  I live in House Minority Leader John Boehner's district, which is the 8th district of Ohio.  Because I cannot support him, I must vote for the alternative.  This year a young man named Nick von Stein is running on the Democratic ticket for the 8th district of Ohio.  I thereby throw my support behind this man, if only to spite John Boehner, who is not a true republican.

The only problem is, Nick doesn't seem to be running a very large campaign, so it he will probably lose. :-/

Nick's website

Expand the powers of the Vice President?

Such an act would require a constitutional amendment.

Sarah Palin's idea to expand the governmental powers of the office of the Vice President in yesterday’s debate raised criticism from a variety of sources, I among them.  The office of the Vice President is clearly defined in the constitution as the replacement for the sitting President and as the presiding officer of the Senate.  If the President is unable to perform their duty or dies in office the Vice President becomes the President.  As the President of the Senate all the VP does is preside over debate and voting and to pass a tie breaking vote if the Senate is split.  There is NO OTHER job or authority assigned to the office of the Vice President.  Without an amendment to the constitution, assigning new power to the office would be unconstitutional and thus illegal.

However, this does not mean the President can't use the Vice President as a proxy or representative, which is quite common and does not provide the Vice President any additional powers.

Hey Vegeta, whats the scouter say about their national debt???

ITS OVER $10 TRILLION!

What, $10 trillion?

Yep, our national debt has officially risen above the mark of 10 trillion dollars, no mean feat considering it took from the creation of our nation to right around 2000 to reach 5.6 trillion dollars.  Gee, I wonder what political event happened around 2000?  President Bush and Congress have nearly doubled our national debt over the length of Bush's presidency.

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McCain discovers telephone.

After snubbing Letterman's show in favor of "returning to D.C." to work on the emergency bail out (only to show up across the street for another interview), McCain made an incredible discovery today which allows long distance voice and data communication through a wire. These wires, which sprang up all over the nation over night, allow electronic signals to be carried from a variety of distances, even world wide. So, instead of returning to D.C. to perform whatever work one lone senator can do on such a massive problem, McCain has decided to do all his work by telephone. He could stay home, maybe watch a little of the daily soaps, perhaps check his email every few hours, you know, just in case he might be needed. Then later on he could watch a little Leno.

Think Progress