I am honestly curious. How many here have read the entire Reid bill (actually an amendment to S. 627) that was just defeated? I'm still in the process -- and haven't even started to deal with the underlying bill and "substitute for" language.
Have you just accepted the synopses of TM instead? That is like reading a synopsis to a Supreme Court opinion in West Law -- utterly dangerous if you are filing a brief before any court.
Yes, I know that we are being twisted in the wringer of further negotiations -- but, if one hasn't actually read what was being offered -- and read it carefully (make sure you actually click "forward" at the end of each page) then you don't know what the hell has been proffered.
I'm certainly not arguing that the now voted down Reid bill is a good thing -- I'm not finished it yet and I think this whole process is utter bullshite. A clean debt ceiling bill should have been the only thing offered by the Democrats.
That being said, unless you want to slog through the legislation, spend inordinate hours analyzing what the hell each sentence and punctuation means, and insert the substitutions into the underlying bill, you have zero clue what Reid, et al. offered. I still have close to zero clue.
What we are missing here is the ability of sentient and concerned beings in the American populace having the ability to read and digest perhaps the most important legislation in our lifetimes. I don't care if one is a Democrat or Republican. This process is bullshite. Traditional Media, notorious for not careful reading, has become the translators for legislation. Unacceptable.
I don't have the time to really pick through this bill because another one is on the way -- which none of us will have the time to pick through. I will wait for the final act in this unbelievable drama which even Shakespeare couldn't conceive -- and still be left with the fact that I will have no idea what is actually coming up for a vote.
I've spent almost 20 years poring over legislative and regulatory language. I know the pitfalls of overbroad language, and bad punctuation and have taken advantage of it. What I find appalling is not so much what the media is telling me these proposed bills say (which are generally simplistic) it is the fact that we do not have the same opportunity right now as is afforded in regulatory considerations -- notice, 30 day minimum comment period and then an opportunity to appeal a bullshite decision.
My rant ends with -- did you read the effing bill that just went down to defeat? If not, why do you rely on pundits and TM (which you otherwise abhor)?