When the hell did I become a politics junkie?

[apocalypsos]

I had to pull myself away from the ONTD_P live post on the health care bill because I'd already wasted an hour on it. Well, not wasted. Whatever, I was supposed to be writing and instead I was banging my head off things because "OMG 2000 PAGES IS REALLY HEAVY, YOU GUYS!" is not actually an argument against a health care bill. Against when a pamphlet might be too large to pass out on street corners, yes. Against phone books and encyclopedias being thrown into a crowd at a sporting event on Here, Read This When You Get Bored Night, definitely. Against complex health care reform legislation? Not so much.

I'm writing now, though. I had to go replace my cheap headphones with the wireless ones that ... well, they're also cheap, but they're huge and I don't like wearing them all the time, except now I have to because the other ones are starting to fuck up on one side. But now that I have headphones to use to zone out everything, I can focus on writing. WOOHOO!

In other news, last night at the game my dad was telling me about how when my mom was pregnant with me, they went to a Queen concert (which I already knew) and were on the floor of Madison Square Garden surrounded by people smoking pot and getting a contact high as a result. That explains a lot about how I turned out, actually. (It's also kind of hilarious that my dad's reaction to me saying I really do have to smoke once one of these days just to try it was to warn me about doing it when I might get drug-tested. I love my parents. :D)

And then in the car:

Dad: *flips through channels on the satellite radio, gets to the rap station, leaves it on for a full minute while solemnly bobbing his head*
Me: *stares at him*
Dad: "You know what? This song either needs to be turned up all the way, or turned off as violently as possible."

Heeeeeeeee.

Comments

[doqz.livejournal.com]

I am unfamiliar with the specific comment you are referencing, of course, but broadly speaking the size of the bill is discussed in connection with the the idea that not enough time has been allotted for the discussion of the bill, that many of the Congressmen voting on it have not read it and the Speaker has reneged on her promise to make it available to the public 72 hours prior to taking to the floor.

[mylenn.livejournal.com]

Your dad is AWESOME. Mine can be cool, but not nearly as cool as that.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

many of the Congressmen voting on it have not read it

See, I hate that argument.

By word count, it's the length of two Harry Potter books. Congress has had a week, and it's their job. They keep making it sound like it's SO HUGE, but teenage girls plow through the entire Twilight series in less time, and they're neither getting paid for it or have the American public's health and welfare in their hands.

If they haven't read it yet, or gotten a few interns to read it for them and give them an outline, that's their fault. If my boss gives me a huge report and says, "Read this and get familiar with it in a week," I read it and get familiar. If I piss and moan for a week about having to read it and then show up and say, "It was too long," I get fired. I don't understand how much more time they need to read something most of the people I've seen online who are reading it on either side of the aisle are getting through it in ten hours.

her promise to make it available to the public 72 hours prior to taking to the floor.

Am I wrong or has the current version not been on the House website for the past few days?

[doqz.livejournal.com]

http://ifawebnews.com/2009/11/06/house-health-bill-will-be-delayed-pelosi-backs-off-72-hour-promise/

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

I know from unfortunate experience that reading legislation is no fun, and a project that often requires a ton of cross-referencing and attention to detail. But that's why members of Congress are blessed with many, many ambitious interns who would be more than happy to write a brief on the bill for them. So seriously, no excuses there.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I fucking haaaaaate the "I didn't get to read it" excuse no matter who gives it for exactly the reasons you give. Hell, pay me a couple hundred thousand dollars a year and I will be more than willing to read these bills myself in a few short days.

[mike-smith.livejournal.com]

By word count, it's the length of two Harry Potter books.

Also, better written, I'd wager.

This does put the matter into perspective though. Comparative length aside, a bill's not like a novel where you have to read it in a linear fashion to understand it. You can skim parts you already understand, split it up into sections and have aides go over it, etc.

Besides, knowing the House of Representatives, I'm guessing most of them just scan bills for terms like "abortion", "gay", "trillion", "illegal immigrants" and "evolution" so they can formulate shitty talking points. "This bill would give illegal immigrants the right to have gay abortions, costing the American taxpayer trillions in evolution."

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

"This bill would give illegal immigrants the right to have gay abortions, costing the American taxpayer trillions in evolution."

I've never seen the Republican talking points crammed into quite such a perfect sentence before.

[doqz.livejournal.com]

Well, when you read a bill you need to crossreference it with other legislature, among other things and decipher the implications for the existing structures.

There's also a problem that the bill is being constantly updated and changed as Amendments are proposed and the language is changed. The Stupak Amendment was voted on today, hours before the bill comes to the floor.

There has been no time allotted for the Congress to read the bill in its finished, final form before voting on it.

[fyrdrakken]

It was while I was in college that my sister and I went to a ren faire with Dad and a female friend of his who was dating a guy who was working there that season, and at the end of the day we went to the campsite to hang out for a bit. The sharpest memory I have of that entire day is of Dad offering me a hit when someone pulled out a joint and started passing it around. (Which I did not take, because smoking is smoking and I grew up always knowing what room of the house Dad was in by listening for the coughing, but. At some point I should try some pot brownies or something.) Anyway. That memory has given me a great deal of private amusement whenever I run across an ad telling parents to talk to their children about drugs.