Saturday, March 23, 2013

What Mattered This Week?

You know what mattered, I think? The CR: that is, the decision by the Democrats to pass on an opportunity for a budget showdown. I suppose it's also a decision by the Republicans to pass, too, although it seemed to me that this one would have been a much better playing field for the Democrats. We'll see...the next showdown opportunity will be over the debt limit, with Republicans so far sending mixed signals. After that, the end of the fiscal year.

As far as the budget resolutions...it's nice to see the Senate functioning properly for a change, but other than that I doubt that it matters very much at all.

So that's two budget-related items, but of course there's plenty more going on. What did you notice? What do you think mattered this week?
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12 comments:

  1. longwalkdownlyndaleMarch 23, 2013 at 4:35 PM

    The vast majority of Obama's trip to Israel didn't matter. However, the fact he repaired relations (and largely did this personally) between Israel and its most important regional partner (that is Turkey) certainly does. Also the emergence of that new fellow who styles himself as a sort of conservative Dr. Huxtable I think matters. If only because the new conservative darling has no political experience at all. What ever happened to Paul Ryan?

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    1. longwalkdownlyndaleMarch 23, 2013 at 8:09 PM

      I didn't read the paper until just now but Boris Berezovsky died as well, that matters. Apparently he squandered his vast fortune that he looted from Russia on things like legal bills and Andy Warhol paintings.

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    2. Jonathan BernsteinMarch 24, 2013 at 3:19 PM

      Yeah, the Turkey/Israel thing was the one I was going to go with before I wound up doing the budget stuff.

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  2. mike shuppMarch 23, 2013 at 5:17 PM

    Allegations of spying at NASA and the arrest of a Chinese national named Bo Jiang on a homeward bound aircraft last week. Dunno that this is going to pan out as seriously as some House Repubolican Dick Wolf currently claims, but the public hasn't had a nice juicy communist spy scandal to entertain it for several years.

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  3. ModeratePoliMarch 23, 2013 at 7:33 PM

    The assassination of the head of the Colorado prisons reminded me how rarely assassinations occur in our country.

    Also a scary reminder--the plan to "tax" or actually partially appropriate bank deposits in Cyprus.

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    1. Scott MonjeMarch 23, 2013 at 9:29 PM

      Cyprus could be a big thing if it starts a run on the banks in other marginal European countries. Let's hope it's not Europe's Lehman Brothers.

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    2. CouvesMarch 25, 2013 at 1:22 AM

      Good ones, MP. If you want to really feel good about the state of political comity in the US, the BBC did a fantastic documentary about the breakup of Yugoslavia.

      For a number of reasons, it’s really unlikely that we’d see a Cyprus-style expropriation in the US. Although I could imagine a much more subtle move -- like requiring IRA’s to contain a certain percentage invested in US treasuries (To ensure retirement security, of course!).

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  4. Captain FutureMarch 24, 2013 at 1:18 AM

    President Obama's trip to Israel in total really matters. His speech and its emphathetic words about Palestinians, the applause it received in the room, will reverberate. It doesn't suggest that a two-state deal is at hand, but it is more realistic than for a long time. Further, it must be clear to older leaders in both camps that the younger generation is ready for peace and a two state solution. If the world doesn't totally fall apart in the next decade, this speech and this visit will be remembered.

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  5. nanuteMarch 24, 2013 at 4:38 AM

    Did you see the coverage of the President's trip to Israel on Fox News? Me neither. The Cyprus banking situation has the potential to unravel the EU. Senator Coburn's blocking of NSF funds from being used to research political science mattered.

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  6. Ron E.March 24, 2013 at 5:36 AM

    Harry Reid once again made sounds about filibuster reform in reaction to the latest Republican obstruction. Once again nobody on the planet believed he would actually do anything. In related news Obama withdrew the nomination of Caitlin J. Halligan giving Republicans a complete victory on their filibuster of her nomination and ensuring many more to follow. The country would have been better off if Reid hadn't been re-elected.

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    1. Jonathan BernsteinMarch 24, 2013 at 3:20 PM

      I strongly disagree that Harry Reid is the reason for minimal Senate reform.

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  7. backyardfoundryMarch 24, 2013 at 9:44 PM

    The firing of Adria Richards is interesting. Whether there will be an effective counter-feminist movement in my lifetime is in doubt, but this sure looks like a blip in that direction.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/rachel-sklar-on-adria-richards-and-sendgrid-2013-3

    I suppose it's also a decision by the Republicans to pass, too,

    Is this becoming normal among pundits?

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