News Round Up
Ford clashes with Republic
After the publication of our last news story, in which we discussed the imminent failure of the Republic Cabinet Reforms (which incidentally have now officially failed), Presidential hopeful John Ford went on the offensive against the President, apparently trying to highlight the differences over the policy that exist between Republic and the Secretary of Forum Affairs, Q.
Before all the bits where it clearly started getting less about policy and more about just attacking the other guy, there was actually some reasonable substantive debate. Ford has openly questioned why Republic has not had the support of Q in the debate over cabinet reform, and has suggested that Q is being grossly disloyal in not supporting them, perhaps to the point that he needs to "update [his] resume".
Q responded by asserting that Republic was simply granting his cabinet the necessary freedom they need to carry out their jobs, instead of using them as a political tool, and sometimes this means public disagreement.
A Senator sitting in the chamber probably wouldn't agree, however. Imagine being presented with an administration policy - one of the first things you are told is that the relevant Secretary disagrees with the policy. Its not unreasonable to assume that the policy could therefore meet a wall of bureaucratic resistance as soon as it left the chamber, and as the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
The administration has given no word as to whether it intends to re-introduce the policy after the re-write that was widely recommended.
Debates Begin
The Presidential debates have begun. Who cares?
Nobody. This reporter only read them because he had to.
My advice: Don't bother. At least not until Republic declares his intentions at any rate.
Senate Business
The President can finally claim one small victory. The creation of a fifth slot on the Senate debate schedule for forum affairs legislation was completed on Saturday. Hopefully it should allow for electoral reform legislation to be considered before we get too close to the February elections, though from this vantage point, it would appear unlikely.
The TVA privatisation bill furore has quietened down somewhat: It has emerged that the TVA is actually making the federal government money (to the tune of $800m a year). It automatically begs the question: Why the hell would we sell off a money making entity at a time of large budget deficits?
An attempt to amend the Species Act of 2005 to reduce the magnitude of the fines imposed has also reached the Senate floor after claims that they were excessive, perhaps to the degree of violating the Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines.
The Deregistration Bill continues on its merry way in the Senate, having now been unanimously amended to clear up an ambiguous point. Final passage is expected by the end of the week.
The Senate's latest argument, however, is over a supplemental appropriation to alleviate the carnage of Hurricane Katrina. Fiscal conservatives have suggested that the appropriation be made revenue neutral, i.e. savings to pay for it should be found elsewhere. Others have suggested that an informal commitment can be made to find the money in the next Senate session when budgetary matters are due to come under consideration again.
Tomorrow...
Mideast election results: Full Analysis
No news on other Regions' election results: Because we don't live there
National Polling: Senate and Presidential Races
Pacific Senate: Anybody?
After the publication of our last news story, in which we discussed the imminent failure of the Republic Cabinet Reforms (which incidentally have now officially failed), Presidential hopeful John Ford went on the offensive against the President, apparently trying to highlight the differences over the policy that exist between Republic and the Secretary of Forum Affairs, Q.
Before all the bits where it clearly started getting less about policy and more about just attacking the other guy, there was actually some reasonable substantive debate. Ford has openly questioned why Republic has not had the support of Q in the debate over cabinet reform, and has suggested that Q is being grossly disloyal in not supporting them, perhaps to the point that he needs to "update [his] resume".
Q responded by asserting that Republic was simply granting his cabinet the necessary freedom they need to carry out their jobs, instead of using them as a political tool, and sometimes this means public disagreement.
A Senator sitting in the chamber probably wouldn't agree, however. Imagine being presented with an administration policy - one of the first things you are told is that the relevant Secretary disagrees with the policy. Its not unreasonable to assume that the policy could therefore meet a wall of bureaucratic resistance as soon as it left the chamber, and as the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
The administration has given no word as to whether it intends to re-introduce the policy after the re-write that was widely recommended.
Debates Begin
The Presidential debates have begun. Who cares?
Nobody. This reporter only read them because he had to.
My advice: Don't bother. At least not until Republic declares his intentions at any rate.
Senate Business
The President can finally claim one small victory. The creation of a fifth slot on the Senate debate schedule for forum affairs legislation was completed on Saturday. Hopefully it should allow for electoral reform legislation to be considered before we get too close to the February elections, though from this vantage point, it would appear unlikely.
The TVA privatisation bill furore has quietened down somewhat: It has emerged that the TVA is actually making the federal government money (to the tune of $800m a year). It automatically begs the question: Why the hell would we sell off a money making entity at a time of large budget deficits?
An attempt to amend the Species Act of 2005 to reduce the magnitude of the fines imposed has also reached the Senate floor after claims that they were excessive, perhaps to the degree of violating the Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines.
The Deregistration Bill continues on its merry way in the Senate, having now been unanimously amended to clear up an ambiguous point. Final passage is expected by the end of the week.
The Senate's latest argument, however, is over a supplemental appropriation to alleviate the carnage of Hurricane Katrina. Fiscal conservatives have suggested that the appropriation be made revenue neutral, i.e. savings to pay for it should be found elsewhere. Others have suggested that an informal commitment can be made to find the money in the next Senate session when budgetary matters are due to come under consideration again.
Tomorrow...
Mideast election results: Full Analysis
No news on other Regions' election results: Because we don't live there
National Polling: Senate and Presidential Races
Pacific Senate: Anybody?
posted by Peter at 2:15 pm
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