Go Frank!

Our congressman, Frank Pallone Jr., (NJ-6th.) and his family will join the Frist Fillibuster at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Keep it Rollin'!

Rob

Your Filibuster Minute

The Trenton Times covered the Princeton filibuster again today, speaking with Congressman Rush Holt about it.

Rob

All Through the Night...

And from the looks of things out my window, through the rain as well. The folks at Princeton filibustering what Josh Marshall calls the Crybaby Option continue to impress, entering their 97th hour as I write this. For the long division-impaired, this means they crossed the four-day mark an hour ago (carry the one...).

I'm filled with awe at these folks. This is a great idea, implemented with panache.

Rob

Holt and Aesop

In his participation in the Fillibuster against Frist this afternoon, Congressman Rush Holt read several of Aesop's fables.

"You might have noticed a theme from the fables," Holt said. "Be
careful what you wish for."

It's a good point, and a canny move on Holt's part. As a Congressman, his voice is more likely to be heard than that of any other individual reading there. And his audience -- Republican congressfolk reading the morning paper -- will know exactly what he's saying. There won't always be a Republican majority in the house or senate. And when the Dems are once again large and in charge -- won't they want a rule protecting their interests?

The filibuster is in everybody's best interest. Without it, our judges would become increasingly ideologically divided, with only the Supreme Court to have the final word on more and more rulings that lean farther and farther to the left or right. And as the Supremes get replaced with the new, ideology-driven judges, their own rulins will become more and more suspect. (Yes, even more so than Bush v. Gore 2000 -- or more often, at least.) In the end, it becomes an unworkable system. It needs moderation -- it needs the filibuster -- to stay afloat in the long term.

Read more about Holt and the filibuster in this Daily Princetonian story by Neir Eshel.

Rob

Princeton Filibuster Schedule

The Princeton Filibuster against Frist now has a new, easy-to-remember url: www.FilibusterFrist.com. At their web site, they’ve got the following schedule posted:

6:00 p.m. North Plainfield Councilman Nathan Rudy

7:00 p.m. Hamilton Councilman and NJ State Assembly Candidate Dan Benson

8:30 p.m. Theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004. Wilczek is one of the people who contributed to the Standard Model of Physics, which connects the Strong Nuclear Force, the Weak Nuclear Force, and Electromagnetism. In other words, he’s one of the people who best understands what holds the universe together. That ain’t no small potatoes.

Thanks to all of these worthies for putting their reputations behind this excellent cause.

More as I learn it.

Rob

Quick Filibuster Update

The Princeton Filibuster against Frist going stronger than ever; it’s just about to enter its 75th hour. Congressman Rush Holt will be speaking in a few minutes, and there’s also going to be a cell phone rally, in which people at the filibuster will call every senator to urge them to reject the nuclear option and save the independent judiciary.

Democracy in action, folks. I love it.

Rob

Go Tigers!

Students (and some faculty) at Princeton University have been staging a filibuster for the past two days outside of Princeton's Frist Center, named after the family of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. They're doing this in protest of the threatened Senate rules change theat Republicans called the "nuclear option" before public opinion polls indicated that most of the country didn't see the term as the veiled threat they meant it as, but an outright display of meanspiritedness and obstinancy. The nuclear option will ban filibustering on judicial nominations -- an eerie thought, if you consider the nutbags and greedheads Bush wants to place on the bench for lifetime appointments.

So the Princetonians have staged a creative protest, reading nonstop from all sorts of material, from the U.S. Constitution to My Pet Goat. Here's a webcam where you can follow their progress.

Go Tigers!

Rob