Time to give thanks and stick one's head up one's arse... 


Yep, it's that time of the year when supermarkets offer points and discounts on chemically enhanced frankenturkeys, and the administration tries to slide one past the voters and Congress.  

So another Thanksgiving approaches as we watch the Republican party implode and begin to feed on their own, but not so fast. Even though the Administration appears to have royally fucked things up over the last few months (more than usual I mean), including their recent inability to push through a spending package that would gut medicaid, student loans and a whole host of social programs, I wouldn't start savoring victory just yet.

Why?

Thanksgiving.

A time when congress members like to get a break from their mistresses and spend some quality time with family and contributors. As we have seen in recent years, their desire to get out of Dodge (or DC) has had pretty drastic consequences for our country. The last two years the "praise god/use god" Repugs (take your pick) have attached the following whoppers to the omnibus spending bills just before the the Thanksgiving break:


2003: Repeal of overtime as we know it. Further relaxation of Media Ownership Rules (even though it was soundly rejected by Congress)

2004: Domestic gag rule on Abortion, and a cut of financial aid to 100,000 students.

...just for example.


So while the Democrats and the interest groups are busy throwing their backs out patting themselves on their collective backs, you can bet that the Administration and the Congressional leadership are preparing to hold Congress hostage to get what it wants. If the Democrats had a bone in their spine and a brain in their head they would launch a very public strategy to prevent this. But if past performance is any indicator I suspect we'll be spending Thanksgiving with the very un-American neo-con cult busy carving another notch in their belt. 

Posted: Fri - November 11, 2005 at 08:08 AM          

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