JK up on CSPAN-2. 8:40amCT. Talking about taking retirement

[babylonsister]

pensions away from political crooks, RE: Ney, Cunningham. An issue near and dear to my heart!

[MBS]

1. Kerry amendment passed 87-0 n/t

[globalvillage]

2. Just saw that.

Yay!

[babylonsister]

4. Yahoo! This makes my day! It irked me that these guys, sitting in jail,

were getting paid for it with our tax dollars.

[JanusAscending]

12. Only one problem tho' sister,

it's not retroactive! Only for future criminals. Like maybe bush, cheney,libby and rove? I understand that the house is going to bring up a similar bill that WOULD take the pensions away from those already convicted. I think I saw it was coming to the floor next week!! If that passes, then don't the 2 body's get together to reconcile the rules???

[Democrafty]

8. Oh, great! This has been a long time coming. n/t

[MBS]

13. Wonder who did NOT vote for this?

With the vote 87 aye, 0 nay, I got curious about the missing 13 snators . .so I looked up the records on Roll Call. Remember, "not voting" includes people who might have been sick, or out of town for some reason, and the senators in question had good reason to believe that the measure would pass even without them. Nevertheless, the list is , shall we say, interesting. I've marked possible/probable/declared presidential candidates in bold:

Not Voting - 13
Allard (R-CO)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brownback (R-KS)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Domenici (R-NM)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)

[rox63]

14. Of that group, Brownback (R-Nutbag) is also running for Prez. n/t

[MBS]

15. thanks, I fixed it n/t

[Mass]

16. Bayh and Clinton were in iraq...

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. BIDEN), the Senator from California (Mrs. BOXER), the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. DODD), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. HARKIN), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. INOUYE), and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. JOHNSON) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. BAYH) and the Senator from New York (Mrs. CLINTON) are absent on official business.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Bayh), the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton), and the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin) would each vote ``yea.''

Mr. LOTT. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the Senator from Colorado (Mr. ALLARD), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. BROWNBACK), the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. COLEMAN), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. DOMENICI), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. HAGEL).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Colorado (Mr. ALLARD) and the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. COLEMAN) would have voted ``aye.''

I wonder where the others were though.

[MBS]

17. and Sen. Johnson is definittely ill, alas

thanks for the info on the other absent senators, Mass

[karynnj]

18. Doesn't mean anything

They were likely told that the vote would pass with no opposition. Bayh and Clinton were leaving on a ME trip. The others likely left to campaign.

[wisteria]

3. Great. Lou Dobb brought this subject up the other day on his program,

as usual he said no one was doing anything about it, so I will be curious to see if he mentions this at all.
I think I will e-mail him about Kerry's legislation on this matter. I certainly isn't new. Kerry tired to get this to pass last year.

[europegirl4jfk]

5. Email Anderson Cooper too

He talked about it TWICE in the last days without really mentioning Kerry.

[wisteria]

6. Thanks. n/t

[europegirl4jfk]

10. Well, finally tonight on AC 360 they talked about it and showed Kerry n/t

[wisteria]

21. Oh, I wrote him. I wonder if my communication had an impact?

Thanks for letting me know. I was busy last night!

[ginnyinWI]

7. Dobbsy doesn't like Kerry.

After enduring several choice insults directed at JK, I stopped watching his show. Besides that, his show is an endless loop of "we-must-protect-our-borders" and "the-attack-on-the-middle-class" over and over.

[wisteria]

9. I know, I have endured them too. But, I am going to let him know that he isn't

telling the whole truth on his shows. He always tends to bash politicians as not being for the people, well he is going to hear other wise from me.

[wildflowergardener]

11. Whew

You worried me when I saw that headline.

Good news.

Meg

[Inuca]

19. Same reaction here :-) nt

[wisteria]

20. LOL, I almost panicked when I read it the other day. n/t