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Thursday, March 10, 2005
Empty Suit Thursday: Terrorism Tax
Smilin' Norm Did You Know?
Did you know that Smilin' Norm won the Defender of the Constitution award for investigating the United Nations? Did you know that Dick Cheney presented the award? Did you know that the award was presented at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which include a diatribe by NRA head Wayne LaPierre about the UN trying to limit the spread of weapons around the world? Did you know that the US Constitution doesn't say anything about the United Nations? Did you know that the award therefore doesn't make much sense? Did you know that Coleman used his acceptance speech to again call for the removal of Kofi Annan?And...did you know that Coleman still refuses to investigate the massive corruption, fraud, and incompetence that has bled our country and the men and women who defend?
Recent votes
Smilin' Norm passed his smile on to:- Businesses that produce dangerous products, by voting for the the Class Action Fairness Act.
- Credit card companies and predatory lenders by supporting the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005". Coleman did not vote to protect service members. Coleman voted against protecting the elderly, against better disclosures to consumers, against capping interest at 14 %, against victims of identity theft, and against limiting the protections available to the wealthy through asset protection trusts.
- Coleman did vote to increase the minimum wage and against Sen. Santorum's proposal to exempt millions of employees from the minimum wage.
Constituent Contact
It has been 15 days since I first contacted Smilin' Norm to ask why he supports personal accounts and opposes privatization. I still await his response.New!It has been 2 days since I first contacted Smilin' Norm to ask whether he made up his mind on Donald Rumsfeld.
Back in December, 2004, MPR wrote (sorry, link expired):
"The military has come back and said they're doing everything they can. They're moving as fast as they can. I think we have to look into that and question that because our soldiers deserve nothing less. There shouldn't be any doubt that we're providing the highest level protection equipment there is. And if not, someone should be accountable," he said.
Coleman says he needs more information before deciding if Rumsfeld should be held accountable for the lack of armor on military vehicles.
Measured criticism
Smilin' Norm has unleashed a withering blast of criticism on the President's reckless, irresponsible, punish-the-poor, reward-the-rich budget. Well, not really. But, Coleman has called for increased funding for Community Development Block Grants. Coleman also wants to increase Pell Grants by 11%. The increase would mean that Pell Grants pay for approximately 44% of college costs. Pell Grants paid for 69% of college costs in 1980.Smilin' Norm still wants to destroy the Senate
Coleman still thinks it's a good idea to change the filibuster rules so that Bush's most extreme, radical, judges can take the bench. Molly Ivins profiles a few of them here. Coleman says using a backhanded means to change the rules is no big deal: "If we have to do this, life will go on in the Senate."Taxing us to death
I don't know that anyone has ever died from $3 tax increase. On the other hand, I know that thousands of Americans died one pretty Fall day because airline security was piss poor. So, when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff proposed raising the passenger security fee by $3 per ticket, Coleman was admirably phlegmatic and reserved in his comments: "[the airline industry] is in a very precarious situation, and we shouldn't tax them to death."Here's hoping Smilin' Norm realizes his particular legislative genius and proposes a $3 tax on Al Qaeda members. The Bush administration does a lousy job finding these murderous barbarians, but maybe Smilin' Norm can tax them to death.
