Republicans in the Senate are determined to steamroll over any opposing or minority voice - there can be no dissent! They resort to using their power and threats to "get their way", or else....
Reacting to a Democratic offer in the fight over filibusters, Republican leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he isn't interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush's judicial nominees....
Frist would not talk about specifics on Tuesday, but said he would not advocate the withdrawal of any judicial nominee and would continue to insist they all get confirmation votes. "That would mean people in the past as well as the future," Frist said....
Republicans have threatened to use their majority to change long-standing senatorial rules that Democrats used to block 10 of Bush's first-term appeals court nominations. They fear a Democratic blockade could affect a Supreme Court vacancy if a high court seat opens in Bush's second term.Democrats argue that the nominees are too conservative to warrant lifetime appointments to the nation's highest courts. They have threatened to block the seven nominees that Bush sent back after winning re-election, and any others they consider out of the mainstream of judicial temperament.
» No compromise in filibuster fight
Bad news for Kerry supporters in the telecom field: they won't be allowed to come play at The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission. ... According to Time magazine, four of the US delegates to the Commission were bumped by the White House for supporting the presidential campaign of John Kerry. One of those barred from attending, an engineer who did not want to be named, gave $250 to the Democratic Party.
» Bush Mixes Politics And Telecom Standards
Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa. has introduced a bill which would block federal weather information services from competing with the paid or advertiser-supported services of corporations such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel.
Santorum ... "said expanded federal services threaten the livelihoods of private weather companies.""It is not an easy prospect for a business to attract advertisers, subscribers or investors when the government is providing similar products and services for free," Santorum said.