Biting Truth

Change can be hard to get used to, at times.

Even as members of Congress swing back to Washington this week for the start of normal business, the political imbalance that existed for the last two years has begun to shift back towards the political center, a change that's already forecast to cause a different kind of congressional dysfunction.

Many state legislative bodies around the nation are going through similar rebalancing, including the Nebraska Unicameral, where some of Nebraska's Republican tea party politicos are already whining like whipped dogs, after last week's committee assignments.

To put it bluntly, the nominally non-partisan Nebraska Legislature doesn't look like it'll be playing the legislative lap-dog to Republican Governor Dave Heineman this session, as it has too often in the recent past. And we're pretty pleased about what kind of good governance that could lead to.

In case you missed it, the 2013 Nebraska Legislature already started its 2013 session last week, with a heavy list of proposed bills including state-level Medicare changes, voter registration, gun safety, criminal sentencing and social media laws.

The Legislature also chose its committee chairs, a task of serious importance that rarely receives the kind of media attention it should.

This year, it appears Nebraska's nominally non-partisan legislature really lived up to it's non-partisan designation, naming eight Democratic chairpersons, seven Republicans, and one independent to head the sixteen major committees. This is even more surprising when you consider that Republicans hold 30 of 49 seats in the Legislature.

It's the kind of balance that would make most sensible Nebraskans proud. For Nebraska's tea party pandering Republican Party "leaders" however, it's the kind of balance that has them lashing out like immature teenagers on their Facebook pages.

It's a good bet most of those politicians good enough to actually be elected to Nebraska's legislature know better than to act so childishly. After all, Sen. Ernie Chambers is back in the legislature, and he's known for having little patience with those of both parties who attempt to promote stupidity through tantrums on the floor of the Unicameral.

Gov. Heineman is not nearly so politically intemperate as Nebraska's other Republican Party leaders. Heineman has already made a very wise move toward Democratic Sen. Heath Mello - the new chairman of the influential Appropriations Committee. The governor has promised he will bargain with Mello in good faith, coming forward with the kind of deference to compromise and good sense that past moderate, sensible, Nebraska Republican political leaders have been known for.

Those unhappy with Gov. Heineman's shift towards the sensible, who think a new tea party leaning Republican is waiting in the wings to replace Heineman, received even more bad news this weekend. Both Attorney General Jon Bruning and University of Nebraska Regent Tim Clare announced they won't be running to replace Heineman in 2014.

In summary, this Legislature doesn't look to be a lap dog this session - for either side of the political aisle.

Let's hope they show everyone, across the nation, how real bipartisanship can work.

Friday Funday: Ready For Anything

While last weekend may have been technically the first weekend of the new year, this weekend celebrates the end of the first full work week of 2013 - as good a time as any to find reasons to celebrate and relax.

We're aware that not all of our readers are feeling well today, as this year's strain of flu seems to be an even more mean and ugly variety than usual. Medical professionals across the nation and at the CDC are heavily recommending the flu vaccine this year, especially with the flu bug waiting around the corner for millions.

If you're feeling up to it, though, we hope you're able to enjoy a few events this weekend.

Once again, one of our staff members is throwing her fantastic annual "Twelfth Night" party this weekend. Yes, we realize the official "Twelfth Night" was last Saturday, but this weekend worked out better for all involved. Regardless of the calendar, the party looks to be a great opportunity to spend time with friends and co-workers.

Another reason to celebrate is that it's our fifth anniversary here at the Daily Felltoon. Feel free to flip through any of our archived issues, or Paul's archived cartoons, whether you're on your smartphone, your computer, or stuck at home in bed with your tablet device.

Even if you're feeling under the weather, you can do a little celebrating this weekend, reading up on your favorite 2013 Oscar nominees, or checking out the newest gadgets from the 2013 Consumer Electronic Show. The bendable glass and flexible display technologies our tech guru forecasted a decade ago for about now finally look to be ready for use.

Imagine; a phone you can stick in your pocket and sit on, without breaking the screen. Or a digitial newspaper you could fold up and stick in your pocket, just like your regular newspaper now.

Yes - we're well aware of the continued and long-overdue debate on gun violence continuing around the country, even as more shootings continue. We're also aware that President Obama has continued to work in Washington, while Congress has yet to return from their holiday vacation. Maybe that's a good thing though, as President Obama is still busily filling his open Cabinet positions, while Vice President Biden is rapidly completing his work with the gun violence task force.

We will continue to monitor all of these news items and others, at least during the day today. After all, we may be getting ready for the weekend, but we're still responsible members of the media.

With a relatively clean new calendar, an optimistic attitude, and the new year mostly in front of us, we're feeling like we're ready for almost anything.

We also hope you're also ready for anything - good or bad - and that your weekend is as enjoyable as possible, whatever your health condition.

Why America Really Hates Congress

As we pointed out briefly in Wednesday's edition, in the latest Congressional approval survey from reliable pollster PPP, Americans made it clear they really don't approve of Congress when they responded by giving our Congresscritters a 9% approval rating.

It's not just that Americans prefer used car salesman, root canals and colonoscopies to those elected officials we send to Washington, DC. Head lice, brussel sprouts, cockroaches, and even the totally incompetent NFL replacement refs from last fall also outrank our members of Congress.

The basic reason for our collective American distain of Congress has been made obvious in poll, after poll, after poll over the last few years. In a nutshell, most Americans from all walks of life do not understand why our members of Congress can't compromise, even on the easiest issues, let alone the difficult ones like immigration, gun violence, climate change, and our national tax and budget priorities.

That list of difficult topics may look familiar, as we noted on Wednesday a similar list that includes nearly all of President Obama's second term priorities.

The reason for our collective national anger goes deeper though than just being fed up with Congress' inability to find compromise. In a hopeful note, we've begun to see many other Americans finally seeing what we've seen for years, even as our nation finally begins to truly have a serious, deep, comprehensive debate about our national gun violence problem.

TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro noticed it too on Tuesday night, in a town hall meeting on gun violence hosted by Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, in his native Northern California district. Thompson's town hall practically overflowed, as people on all sides of the gun violence discussion passionately voiced their opinions. Yet even with all the passion and tension, it appears that people on all sides are - mostly - listening to one another.

Washington Monthly's Ed Kilgore also noticed the town hall phenomenon, and seems to have noticed the same thing we have: When the pieces of a complex issue are unknown or poorly understood - as President Obama's health care bill was back in 2009 - it's easy for those engaged in propaganda to demagogue the issue.

None of the complex issues Americans have to face in the next few years are unknown though. We've been loudly, passionately, and deeply discussing immigration, gun violence, climate change, and our national tax and budget priorities with each other over the last twelve to fifteen years. While we discussed and hashed out these issues in private small groups, both in person and online, our legislators have most often been avoiding debating and finding compromise - and avoiding their public duty to discuss them as we have.

In brief, that's why Americans are angry with Congress; we, the people, have had to do the second hardest part of our Congressperson's jobs for them, for years, while they've cowered behind their desperate chase for the money to get re-elected .

Thankfully, though, there are some signs those debates have matured Americans, to some degree.

As the town hall in the rural Napa Valley showed, unlike the angry shouting matches in 2009, Americans now seem to be able to hold intense discussions, on complex topics, without them turning into free-for-all screamfests.

Maybe that general comity is because Americans have begun to find almost all of our fellow citizens have at least one thing in common.

We all feel the same way about Congress.