Funk Babblings

Dunno how many have been paying attention to this, but tomorrow was supposed to be the big showdown over whether the U.S. Senate would break its own rules in order to prohibit filibusters of judicial nominations. 12 Senators (six from each party) have spent the past week working out a compromise to avoid the showdown, and we now have a compromise signed by 14 Senators (seven from each party), including Ohio's Mike DeWine (where's the more moderate Voinovich?). Basically the Dems won all they wanted except that the worst of the current nominees don't get blocked (but there's no guarantee that they'll be confirmed either); the precedents set all favor the Democrats' positions on the issue. Here's an analysis.

If we're lucky, this could very well be the beginning of the end of the radical right's stranglehold on Congress.