Taking Another Swing...

If you're a Nebraskan, by birth or choice, who's lived for any serious time in Nebraska over the last forty years, you likely know the two words that strike terror into the hearts of virtually every citizen of any political background who's ever been a Nebraska state senator: Ernie Chambers.

We say that humorously and with a great deal of respect for Sen. Chambers. In our combined knowledge of local, state, and federal legislators, we've rarely seen anyone as well-versed, legislatively, as Sen. Chambers and almost never anyone as devoted to his constituents.

The fact is, the words "Senator Ernie Chambers" will once again be uttered in the halls of the Nebraska Unicameral, after the 2012 elections, as Mr. Chambers won back the legislative seat he'd previously held for 38 years. Some media outlets are reporting that a number of Nebraska politicians - including Republican Gov. Dave Heineman - are embracing Chambers' return.

The truth is, there are more than a few less-then-astute Nebraska politicos who would like to take a swing at Sen. Chambers. However, as we've already noted, Chambers' ability to advocate for his constituents is something most legislators can't hold a candle to. His return will be a real wakeup to some, especially political neophytes.

What may be an even bigger wakeup though, is the fact that Nebraska Democrats didn't fare as badly in last week's election as we and others initially thought.

We're all aware that at the national level, the sorrow of Republican political operatives still seems to be everywhere. The losses of the GOP have induced all kinds of crazy actions from threatening secession, to GOP anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist calling Mitt Romney a "poopy-head" on live TV. At the state level though, things are different.

In the immediate wake of the election, we've been concerned about the lack of political representation for Nebraskans who aren't extremist conservative whackjobs. With the loss of Ben Nelson's seat, and the loss by former Sen. Kerrey, moderate Republicans, along with all Nebraska Democrats and Independents really have no federal representatives willing to advocate for their needs with the same fervor Sen. Chambers' constituents enjoy in Omaha.

After looking a bit deeper though, we are not as worried as we once were.

For one thing, while Republicans held onto their overall majority in the Nebraska Legislature, the new balance in the Nebraska Legislature will be 30-17 - meaning Democrats and Democratic-leaning politicos did not lose any seats this year at the state level.

Further, Sen. Brad Ashford - a former Republican who left his party because he could go along with his party's extremist ways - and Sen. Chambers are both technically registered Independents. Both will likely side with Democrats in Nebraska's so-called "non-partisan" legislature far more often than state Republican political leaders wish they would.

Add to that a growing number of moderate Nebraska Republicans who are growing less afraid of the extremists in their party, and you can see the real reason politicians like Gov. Dave Heineman are saying nice things about someone like Ernie Chambers.

We still think the Nebraska Democratic Party is far weaker than it should ever have been allowed to become and those responsible for overseeing it's demise over the last two decades should be ashamed. That said, we are not as distressed about the future for Democrats in Nebraska as extremists at the national level like Mr. Norquist seem to be about the GOP.

Nebraska, like most states, may just be worth keeping in the Union after all.

Every Day Is Veterans Day

If you're planning on heading to a bank, major government office, or even a school in many areas of the United States today, we'd advise you to revise your plans, as Veterans Day is being federally recognized today - even though the official holiday was Sunday.

For nearly a century now, since the end of World War I, the first "war to end all wars", Americans and Europeans have celebrated Veterans Day - previously called "Armistice Day" - on the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year, pausing for a moment of remembrance at the eleventh hour. As we do every year, we're reminding you and all our readers about Veterans Day.

Even with all the commemorations and ceremonies across the nation, too many Americans still seem to see holidays like Veterans Day as just another excuse for government workers to have a Monday off. Today should not ever be thought of in that way. For all those Americans who have ever worn the uniform, and for those who still wear the uniform, most appreciate a note or a word of thanks any day - even though most (including our own webmaster) would never demand that recognition.

For most veterans, every day is Veterans Day, at least a little bit.

Veterans daily remember their friends, family, and co-workers who have served and been damaged - or perhaps never came back. Many veterans are involved in programs every day of the week, run through the VFW or the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America), or other outside programs like Operation Gratitude.

Contrary to what you may have heard, our government has done a lot for veterans over the last few years.

The V.A., while still dealing with a massive backlog of requests dating back at least five years, has made considerable progress in ending homelessness among veterans. President Obama forced the long-awaited overhaul of the military's civilian transition program this summer, and has pushed the Labor Department's program to streamline military to civilian skills certification, which also appears to be in higher gear these days.

There is at least one thing that makes Veterans Day 2012 unique.

As President Obama noted in his remarks on Sunday, after laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, "This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq." Hopefully in 2014 we can say the same thing about Afghanistan.

For now, we'd only ask you today to simply say "Thank you" to a veteran, for his or her willingness to serve.

If you miss your chance to say "Thanks" today?

You can - and should - still thank a veteran any day.

For them, every day is Veterans Day.

Friday Funday: Dinner With Friends

As our regular readers know, we usually enjoy using our commentary to celebrate a bit on Fridays. Today is a fantastic day to celebrate, whether your favored candidates and issues won or lost this week, because it's the first Friday after the election!

For those of us involved deeply in politics or political media, this is the first weekend in months (or, for some, years) when we can sleep in, not pick up the newspaper, leave the computers, tv, and phones off, - and not feel guilty or worried about our disconnecting from the world. We're even having a celebratory dinner tonight with other members of our staff - and we're turning off our cell phones for the night.

That moment of disconnection for us won't mean the world will stop. Already, the inauguration for the President is moving forward, and our plans for the new year are moving ahead with it.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats have their weekend schedules full of both domestic and foreign issues, including work on issues surrounding the "fiscal cliff." Congressional Republicans are getting back to work too - or as the rest of the world calls it, "being obstructionists".

Speaker Boehner is already claiming he's willing to be bipartisan about the fiscal cliff, but his partner in the House Republican leadership, Rep. Eric Cantor, is already threatening to hold the debt ceiling negotiations hostage in January - as Republicans did in the Summer of 2011.

To that kind of conduct, we simply say to Congressional Republicans, "Shut up and eat your peas."

That's the same message, by the way, that the President gave to Congressional Republicans during that summer of 2011, when Mr. Obama first offered the 'Grand Bargain' to Speaker Boehner on the debt ceiling. In case you've forgotten, the 'Grand Bargain' was an agreement that would have allowed for an increase in taxes - especially on the rich and corporations - while still forcing some sharp cuts to government programs.


As the CBO confirmed this week, a tax hike on the wealthy might actually be a positive sign, and it certainly won't kill America's slow but steady economic growth. In fact, if letting taxes on the rich go back up, as they are scheduled to do when the Bush tax cuts end, allows a compromise to be made in Congress, having the wealthy pick up their fiscal responsibility may actually prevent the economy from going over the so-called "fiscal cliff"

It was a lot easier for Republicans to get out of their responsibility to move the nation forward over the last two years when they held many of the political cards. Now, with the sweeping wins by progressive Democrats this week, and with the re-election of President Obama, it's the President and the political left that holds all the cards - and they will likely make those on the right "eat their peas" and take responsibility. That would be much like President Obama and Congressional Democrats did with ObamaCare during his first two years in office.

As we pointed out yesterday, thanks to this week's elections, there are a slew of moderate Republicans who finally seem to no longer to be afraid of stepping up and speaking out, now that so many Republican extremists have been defeated.

We know of more than a few locations this evening where some Republicans who've been afraid to be seen with their Democratic friends over the past few years will be getting together for the first time in a very long while, for dinner, drinks - and maybe even planning some real compromise.

If that's not a reason to celebrate, we don't know what is.