Thank You for Saving Me a Blog Post...wait, isn't that what this is?

Thank you, Vermont, for your overriide Governor Jim Douglas' veto of a bill that would legalize gay marriage. 

Thank you, Vermont, for making history by legalizing gay marriage even after a veto. 

Thank you, Vermont for being brave and sparing us all what some despise (Not me--I think Roe was necessary and legislating from the bench is necessary from time to time.  Miranda and Tinker come to mind...).

Thank you, Vermont.

Thank you, Iowa, too.

Thank you both for saving me my ire, bile, vigor and vitriol that would've gone your way save what you've both bravely done, saving said ire, bile, vigor and vitriol for all the other sh%t that pisses me off.

Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator

I hate to delve into politics. Okay, I actually love it. But some stories make me foam at the mouth and load me with venomous hate.

Like this one. Richard Burr (R-NC), supposedly took the oath to Protect and Defend the Constitution. He supposedly has a similar oath, unwritten, unsaid, between himself and his constituents. Now, it's more than likely--okay, it's guaranteed--that at least one of said constituents either is serving or has served this country in time of war. It's also guaranteed that at least one of his constituents needs the services of the Veterans Affairs administration.

Enter double-amputee Iraq veteran Maj. Tammy Duckworth, an Obama appointee for a senior position at the VA. Now, one would think that being the head of the State of Illinois' own Dept. of Veterans Affairs would be enough to get on the short-list. Being the one woman who spearheaded a from-the-ground-up overhaul of the state's system should be enough to put her at least in the top two. But that Illinois' current system, under her watch, is now the model that every other state in the Union is trying to clone, so successful that she's not only the head of the short-list, but the nominee, all of this should be clear she has the resume to sail through the nomination.

Enter Richard Burr. Now, when I say 'supposedly,' I know he took the oath. But did he have his fingers crossed behind his back when he took it? Was it "opposite day?" Was he under duress?

No.

Supposed-Senator Burr is holding up her nomination for "due dilligence" reasons, all-but-putting her on a hold, pulling the breaks such that it'd take everything shy of a unanimous motion in the committee to unglue her nomination so it can go to the Senate entire. All but a hold. As of this minute, it's 'delayed.' Whether it's on hold or not depends on who your news comes from.

That Burr wants "due dilligence" is well and good for him. He gets to look like he's a watchdog to his conservative constituents. But that the nominee he holds up is, if anything, overqualified, no offense, no offense at all, Maj. Duckworth, is unconscionable. It's beyond the pale, beyond cavil, beyond reason.

There is no excuse, 'Senator' Burr. That you would hold up a nominee to the VA, the one part of the government that needs, needs, needs an overhaul the most, that you would use whatever petty notions that run about your head saying "Don't do it! Don't do it!" to hold up the most qualified nominee for this post, that you are listening to your inner devils, that, that, that conduct is unbecoming of any government official. That you, time and again, refuse to even hint at why you have 'delayed' her approval by the Senate entire, that you hold up her nomination for no reason, no reason at all, it would seem, is conduct unbecoming of a Senator.

Mister Burr, resign your seat or let Maj. Duckworth's nomination out of committee and to the floor of the entire Senate for their 'consent' as is per the Constitution. You have toiled too long in the land of unreasonable pettiness and slavish adherence to a pitiful excuse for a set of morals, a set of morals that forces you to do such an untenable act.

Mister Burr, sir, resign your seat or remove what is little else if not a 'hold' on the motion to approve and to send her nomination to the floor.

Mister Burr, if you wish, in good conscience, to continue to 'serve,' if what you have done to and with Maj. Duckworth can be called 'serving,' if you wish to continue to 'serve' your, my, our Country, if your oath means anything to you, remove your hold.

Or resign.

I wish, I truly, truly wish that you could be impeached for your Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator. That said, I do find your 'hold' a crime, a high crime, a high crime against the people, especially the veterans who ever increasingly need Maj. Duckworth's expertise to assist them, a high crime against the people, the veterans, and the good-faith protection and defense of the Constitution. If only you could be impeached for this, sir.

Then again, I, and many others, could call your acts treason, as your choice to allow veterans to suffer does, in its own way, provide aid and comfort to the enemy, rather than the veterans you are supposed, required, sir, required to aid and comfort. You, it seems, it seems clear as a noon day sky, cloudless, it seems Limouges Crystal clear that you would rather aid and comfort terrorists than your own constituents, and that, that sir, is treasonous in spirit, if not in letter of the law.

Mister Burr, sir, let Maj. Duckworth's appointment leave committee, or resign, resign for Conduct Unbecoming of a Senator.