Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Your Morning News 7.1.09
Posted by Josh in Al Franken, China, Climate Change, Election 2008, Iraq, Minnesota, Norm Coleman, Porn, Tom Friedman, Your Morning News
The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared Al Franken the winner of the state’s hotly contested 2008 U.S. Senate race. It has been eight months since the November elections and both sides have been locked in legal battles while the state has gone without a second Senator. Republican Norm Coleman officially conceded the election and Franken will be sworn in next week. For those keeping track, Norm Coleman has now lost elections to this guy and this guy.
The end to this election saga means that Democrats will now have a 60-seat majority that should theoretically allow them to block filibusters and pass whatever kinds of crazy commie legislation they want. However, a key stumbling block to this new found electoral dominance is the fact that the Democratic caucus is a bunch of weenies.
Democrats will need all the votes they can get to pass the Waxmen-Markey bill, which is the country’s first set of laws trying to stem the tide of climate change. Tom Friedman has a great column today pointing out that, while the bill kind of stinks and it is absurd we couldn’t do better, it is critical that the Senate pass it and pass it quickly. If reading isn’t really your thing, his key points are that the U.S. government needs to do SOMETHING to prove it is serious about climate change and that this bill is better than nothing.
U.S. troops continue to draw down forces in Iraq. Yesterday Iraqi army and police took over security in cities across Iraq. The handover was greeted with public celebrations across Iraq and is hailed as the first step toward the planned U.S. departure from the country in 2011.
China, which was planning to launch the hilariously named “Green Dam Youth Escort” internet filtering software yesterday, has backed off its plan to begin efforts to stop citizens from viewing pronographic and offensive content. You can take away all the human and political rights you want, but don’t mess with people’s porn.