ACORNs Buried, etc.

In two separate votes, the Senate, the other day, voted to forbid the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Department of to do any business with the geniuses at ACORN who have at least four offices which gave advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and her pimp on how to avoid taxes, get a housing loan to start a brothel, and get a child tax credit for 13-year-old Salvadoran girls the couple said they were going to bring into the U.S. for prostitution.

Well. Everyone has a bad day, right?

According to the NY Times:

Republicans added the prohibition to a Democratic bill on college lending by a bipartisan vote of 345-75, showing that Acorn was increasingly seen by Democrats as a political liability.

But, don't bring out the cigars and bongo drums just yet. As Lisa Wright, press secretary to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md) pointed out last night,

There were three votes on three different bills. The House and Senate have to approve the same bill that prohibits funding to send the cut-off to President Obama's desk.

So, watch for the Democrats in the House and Senate to "fix it in Conference." As you know (because you paid close attention in Mr. Mirandi's 11th grade social studies class) both the House and the Senate have to agree on identical language before a bill can be sent to the President for signature.

A Conference Committee is a group of Senators and Representatives appointed to hammer out the differences the versions of a bill passed by the House and Senate. Although the stated rules hold that if a provision is not in either bill, it cannot be added in conference; and if a provision is identical in the House and Senate versions it cannot be deleted; a Conference Committee is free to do what it wants.

House and Senate Republicans will want to keep a close eye on these bills as they go through the Conference system to ensure the provisions forbidding payments to ACORN are not left on the cutting room floor or, as Lisa Wright also suggested, the provisions are re-written to affect only appropriations for 2010 - allowing ACORN to go back to its criminal ways, paid for by you and me, in 2011 and thereafter.

New Topic

This wasn't as big news as two sharks being found off the coast of Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago, but the District of Columbia - your Nation's Capital - has decided to save some money by doing away with safety inspections on private vehicles.

According to the Washington Post:

"Motor vehicles that are not used for commercial purposes will no longer have to prove that they are road-worthy" which will "save $400,000."

Here's the thing. According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, even with inspections "about 35 percent of vehicles fail" and are unsafe to drive.

I don't much care what pieces of junk are being driven on the streets of the District of Columbia. I do care when those same clunkers get on the streets in the Commonwealth of Virginia where they are in danger of spontaneously bursting into flame while parking in front of the Starbucks in Old Town.

On the other hand, maybe the District …

SIDEBAR

Locals don't general refer to the District of Columbia as "DC." We call it "The District." Just a tip, if you want to sound like you live here when your Prius is destroyed by a vehicle with District plates having unaccountably rolled over on top of it.

END SIDEBAR

… maybe the District is onto something. According to the 2009 budget the city can save over $700 million by simply closing the public schools. Parents can drive their kids to schools in Maryland or Virginia - if they don't mind putting their kids into their unsafe rust-buckets.

Last Topic

Mary Travis died Wednesday. She was Mary of "Peter, Paul & Mary" fame. I know they were left-wing peace-niks, but I learned to play the guitar following along on PP&M and Kingston Trio records.

The sophisticated harmonies and intricate guitar riffs produced a sound which was smooth and soothing around lyrics which were often jarring and angry.

Nevertheless, I loved listening to them and, as many of you know, Puff the Magic Dragon lives in my heart.

I'm sorry she's gone.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the stories above including a list of the 75 House Members who voted to keep funding ACORN, a Mullfoto from my mailbox yesterday, and a Catchy Caption of the day.