The congressional Little Train That Won’t scores one, ties one for the good guys

Surely the House Republicans — words that now rank up there in refuse as “dirty bastards” — are patting themselves on the back. You see, the voted to keep the government open until the end of the fiscal year in September. Finally, they do something, kind of, almost on the order of doing what it is they are supposed to do.

“This a bill to keep the government operating while we debate then how with sequestration,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky. “This is not a sequestration bill.”

Meanwhile, the GOP brethren in the Senate, employed a filibuster to delay naming John Brennan as CIA director. The cause would, ostensibly, be one in need of a good discussion, only in some other forum than a vote for the nation’s top spook. Instead, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and son of the goofy former Republican Rep. Ron Paul, decided he would hold up the CIA nomination over a statement made in a letter by Attorney General Eric Holder opining that drone strikes could be legally carried out on American citizens on American soil.

Granted, that former White House counter terrorism head Brennan had said early in the confirmation process that he could foresee extraordinary circumstances when domestic drone strikes could be carried out. I think such moves should be explained by government officials to the best of their abilities. I mean we’ve all seen movies where the Army or CIA or both come rolling in at just the right time to fight the bad guys. And we just love it! I don’t like the willy-nilly use of drones. I don’t think police should use them. I don’t think private citizens should have them. So it stands to reason I probably wouldn’t want them blasting to pieces some couple who where just making out on Lover’s Leap. Of course, without domestic drones where else would the folks who draw on their Second Amendment rights to own Tomahawk missiles mount the damn things!

Were it not for the likes of those who crave Fox News stardom like Paul and McCarthyite Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a civil discussion on the use of drones in the U.S. of A. would be something worthwhile. But what you have is Paul and Cruz with dreams of the Oval Office and kicking Democrats in mid-air off Air Force One. Plus the fact that these senators are off track holding up confirmation of such an important office with an issue that really has nothing to do with the CIA except perhaps in a consulting role.

I remembering Republicans crying bloody murder when the Democrats blocked confirmation of some federal judges appointed to the bench by Gee Dubya Bush. “This has never happened in history!” was the GOP talking-point heading. But the Republicans do not think twice about holding up anything that can be construed as progress for the Democrats, the President or the United States.

It has been awhile since I read what it would take for the so-called “Nuclear Option,” — the nickname for disposing of the filibuster in Senate rules — to occur. I think maybe the time has come for that option. Just maybe the Republicans would think twice about going off the tracks to interrupt any type of move which might help better our country.

Then again, the Tea Party wing of the GOP wants “their country back.” They want their country “the way it used to be.” You know, where the blacks wouldn’t vote, much less get elected as the nation’s CEO.