First your homework is to read David Waldman and Casual Wednesday.

Sen.Conrad and his legislative staff can see things David's way, but not until leadership tells them to do it. Interesting that today at the gaggle Robert GIbbs said it was the responsibility of the press to educate the citizens on what reconciliation under the Budget Act really is all about. How special.

********
I had put these in a table before and it makes an impressive list. Pain in the arse, just like those painless filibusters.

Take my word for it: there are 89 right now,  pages 5 to 17. Pages 5 to 11 are still the ones that were there before the December recess.

CAL NO	MSG NO	NOMINEE, OFFICE AND PREDECESSOR			REPORTED BY
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
560	852	Terry A. Yonkers, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, vice William Anderson, resigned.			Dec 02, 2009 Reported by Mr. Levin, Committee on Armed Services, without printed report.
563	1127	Frank Kendall III, of Virginia, to be Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. (New Position)			Dec 02, 2009 Reported by Mr. Levin, Committee on Armed Services, without printed report.
564	1159	Erin C. Conaton, of the District of Columbia, to be Under Secretary of the Air Force, vice Ronald M. Sega, resigned.			Dec 02, 2009 Reported by Mr. Levin, Committee on Armed Services, without printed report.

Sen. Shelby says they are not important.

********
Sen. Bunning R-KY objections has some implications beyond unemployment insurance.

But included in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors--and by standing in it's way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today.

Republicans say they support a temporary measure to avoid the cuts, but they have been unable to rein in Bunning, and, as such, the Senate has failed to act on a House bill that staves them off.

Local Washington, DC television news has pointed out another consequences: local highway construction, another on of those rapid multipliers to the economy in a recession.

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

The furloughs meant the $36 million makeover of the Humpback Bridge on the George Washington Parkway ground to a halt Monday. A few workers showed up Monday morning, unaware the funding vein from the federal government has been cut.

With the projects seen as a source of employment in a down economy, Bunning is under fire from Democrats and people who use the Hump Back Bridge.

The senior senator from Kentucky is still, as of 1630 right now, messing with people with concrete trucks. Interesting.

********
My local newspaper had an editorial today taking MSHA, Mine Safety and Health Administration, to task for the backlog I mentioned here.

MSHA officials say they plan to do better in the future. Why, the agency probably will be able to start paring down the backlog in three years, an official told Miller's committee. Three years? That will come as small comfort to miners who worry that the backlog may be endangering them needlessly.

There are no mines in our county. There are no mines in our region. What has been willfully ignore is the increase in court cases that fight the safety fines.

In Kentucky, 80 percent of 536 high-dollar fines for the "significant and substantial" safety violations — the most serious kind — are being contested by the mine operators, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records. Some citations are more than two years old.

In Indiana, 86 percent of 288 fines for the most serious violations are being challenged.

I doubt if that is what is meant by tort reform.

********
DEEP THOUGHT: Do you really think that Speaker Pelosi would put someone on the Rules Committee that she did not trust?