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Things were going so well for the Democrats.

Then democracy happened. America has weathered some terrible crises in the past. Maybe it will weather this one, but it won't be by treating voters like peasants and belittling them, or by making deals and bills in back rooms without disclosure or debate from the people. If and when Republicans did it, they got punished. But Congress has put off important business and then tried to push throw even more pork and a treaty no one has even been able to read and discuss with the excuse that time is running out. Well, it's not running out for Republicans. They seem to have listened to the message of November 2. They know that independents and angry conservatives will be watching, and so far they seem to have grown a spine.

I don't know who's to blame for the current sorry spectacle, maybe the dithering White House, maybe the Congressional majorities, maybe both, but if this "hide the ball" strategy was intentional, they deserve to be banned from office until Obama, Pelosi and Reid have gone the way of the dodo. And any Republican who gets too big for his britches will find that he or she can be replaced. There are lots of people who contributed to the financial and housing crash, but the focus now must be on Cutting spending, getting government out of free markets and generally limiting its role to those things only it can do. That means that a lot of people who squandered their opportunities for education and honest work may suffer. If they are truly deserving of help, let it be private help that aims to rescue, rehabilitate, uplift, and show them a better way to live, none of which is government's job nor tasks for which it is equipped.

Babylon on the Potomac and it's outposts in California, Michigan and other states who didn't get the message or are under the control of corrupt unions is going to fall. Will it be a controlled demolition or a catastrophic one is the question before us now. Those who trot out the same old pork and pony show are going to find that the spell is broken.

The Senate has voted for cloture on the repeal of DADT. It seemed inevitable and was.

But I just had a thought. What is some gay recruits became "real men" in the military and changed their "orientation." Not that it's likely to occur, but it would be poetic justice if this big goal for the Gay Rights movement proved that homosexuality can be changed. What would the activists do then?

Peter Wehner points out how attuned E. J. Dionne is to the echo chamber he exists in. I happened to read Dionne's latest column critiquing the "No Labels" proposal by a number of "moderates" who lament the lack of civility now that they're getting the brunt of what they previously were happy to pour on George W. Bush. Dionne claims to be a "moderate" at which point I my eyes rolled and I realized that he was just meeting a deadline with about as much thought as Harry Reid gives to the requirements of his office.

Reid pulls the Omnibus Spending Bill:

Democrats have only themselves to blame for failing to pass any of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the day-to-day operations of the government. At the same time, Republicans contributed mightily to this failure and are going through their own culture war — torn between the Senate’s old-bull pork-barrel ways and the more temperate fiscal gospel of their new tea party allies.

At least one party paid attention to the election.

Housing prices are dropping again. Not enough. The bubble is overinflated. The government is to blame, and the nation's banks are going to take it in the shorts. I don't really care if they do. This past 4 years has been such a streak of mismanagement, hubris and excess that we all ought to demand our money back.

From Mediuptite: Ebenezer Reid "Bah! Humbugs!" his colleagues. He and Pelosi have had two years to pass a budget, but they couldn't be bothered because they were in such a hurry to make Progressive History. Now they've called a Lame Duck session and they're trying to pass 3 months worth of legislation in 3 weeks including another 2000 page monstrosity that nobody has read or discussed. Now he's put out that people have complained about missing their Christmas vacation. Who thought he was a leader?

Charles Krauthammer is convinced that if the government shuts down, the Republicans will be blamed, but I think that after the past two years, most people will know whose fault it is: those who've had an unchallengeable majority in both houses and the White House for 2 years. The GOP should introduce a continuing resolution and if he kills it, whose fault will it be?

Into the Jaws of Hell

Like spiteful tenants who've been served a notice of eviction, Senate Democrats top themselves by presenting a $1.1 Trillion omnibus spending bill. They couldn't pass a budget or cut spending, but they can waste everybody's time on this DOA proposal. It's like they want to punish the country for not voting to raise taxes.

He's just a Majority Leader who can't say no.

Harry Reid There's a battle looming between those who think that the government should spend more to force conservatives to raise taxes, and those who believe that keeping taxes low will force liberals to cut spending. Nov. 2 came down pretty heavy on the latter view. In two years I think the Tea Parties will finish the job.

How do you get better than the Best?

Jame Taranto's column today outdoes itself by skewering Josh Marshall and then slowly roasts him over the twin flames of law professors Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds.

It must be 6 years or more since Marshall was a weekly guest on the Hugh Hewitt's radio show where they debated hammer and tong. I always thought Hugh made mincemeat of Josh and Josh must have thought so to because after a while he declined to appear on the show anymore.

I'm not a debater, nor a law review editor or professor. I can't remember cases to save my soul, but I do have a BS detector and lines like this set it off: "A year ago, no one took seriously the idea that a federal health care mandate was unconstitutional. And the idea that buying health care coverage does not amount to 'economic activity' seems preposterous on its face." First, of all, who does he mean when he says "no one?" Most certainly none of his 'enlightened' fellow scribes. Quite a few state governors and Attorneys General took it seriously enough to sue to strike down the legislation, and yesterday Judge Henry Hudson of the Federal Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional.

Another case on the same issue is due to be argued on Thursday in Florida. Perhaps the Supreme Court will bring it up for review soon, or wait until there has been a ruling in each of the other cases that have been filed. Well, it turns out that there are a good number of smart people who don't take Josh Marshall too seriously themselves.

Michael Moore posted bail for Julian Assange

He doesn't really have to explain this action to anybody whose heard him or seen his films. He's the archetypal America hating leftist paranoid.

Better bloggers than I are all over the David Eptstein incest case. A lot of law blogs are are saying that this shouldn't be a crime, if you follow the reasoning of Lawrence v. Texas which held that "liberty gives substantial protection to adult persons in deciding how to conduct their private lives in matters pertaining to sex.”

I wonder if SCOTUS would dare follow that ruling in this case. If so, we're a lot further down the road to destruction than I thought. I expect that gay marriage will be ruled a constitutional right and then the effort will be to force churches to solemnize such "marriages." Our laws and our society have become two-faced. People can't say "the N word," but every other form of profanity is protected by free speech.