The World Has Changed

The Democrats are showing hopeful signs of taking their exile from power to heart, and starting their sessions with some positive steps:

• Steny Hoyer will establish a five day congressional work week as standard, in lieu of the three-day backbreaker that recent Republicans favored. Republican ankle-biters complain that this will take a toll on their families and serve to disconnect them from their constituents. Welcome to the Working Week , fellas. It's not like you guys are doing anything important, right?
• Harry Reid has pledged that there will be no Congressional pay raise until the minimum wage is increased. Sounds fair to me. Nice one, Harry.
• Nancy Pelosi, apparently not having heard that the Corporate Media has declared hers a failed Leadership, has taken steps to move quite a few of the Freshman class of Democrats into committees and other positions with some influence, looking for balance with a traditional rigid seniority based system. This is in keeping with the desires of the voters, who overwhelmingly signaled a desire for change and new influences.
• Pelosi is also planning to act to protect pages from further Foley-style abuse, making the pledge board bi-partisan and incorporating parents.

And a predictably small minded move from the outgoing Republican criminal class: the 109th Congress is leaving Washington with the spending bills (which, for those of you unfamiliar with how government works, is how the country keeps operating on a day-to-day basis) incomplete and un-approved, leaving them for the Democrats in a transparent attempt to obstruct and slow down the changes that the new Congress wants to institute.

Side note on how the Democrats have turned this to the good: they will be taking the opportunity to axe a whole complement of earmarked pork from the budgetary items. Ahhh! Fiscal responsibility, I remember this. Feels good.

And a final, negative note. Apparently Rahm Emmanuel, head of the Washington-oriented DCCC and slavish devotee to the Clinton-era 'triangulation' strategy, had some knowledge of Mark Foley's behavior, and possibly knowledge of some of the communications. This is not allowable.

Emmanuel is too entrenched in the standard way of doing 'business' in Washington as it is, milking the lobbying system as well as any Republican ever did. He opposed many populist Democratic candidates in the last election, preferring corporate oriented insiders, Republican Lites, most of whom lost (anyone want to say Harold Ford?). He opposed Dean's 50 state strategy, until after the election when it became obvious that it was successful, then was happy to take the credit.

And now it's discovered that he had knowledge of a sexual predator within Congress, hunting pages; and apparently did nothing about it. Shit, he might as well be Denny Hastert. He's got to go. Hopefully, he will be part of a fuller investigation, and face the consequences of his inaction.

All in all, very promising moves from Them Terrist-Lovin' Democrats. And already miles ahead of the Republican rubber-stamp 109th. Hopefully, they can keep it up and show that us liberals have been right all along.