Stop Saying "Up Or Down Vote"

The beating of the week will be assigned later than expected, despite an abundance of qualified candidates. Also, sorry that this will be a very short and link-less post and that I haven't written much lately, I have been sans wi-fi and quite busy during Panera's hours of operation.

Though I have used the pervasive "up or down vote" phrase once or twice, it is time for everyone to stop doing it. A confirmation vote is a confirmation vote, and it's one thing if overweight, reactionary, good-old-boy, rural Republicans want to use it to sound more folksy, and for most of the media to eat it up a la "war on terror", but I'm not too fond of hearing Democrats buy into this line. A nominee comes up, he or she is voted upon, the vote is "yea" or "nay". I have not reviewed Senate procedure rules, but I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as an "up or down vote".

In other news, Tony Blair is visiting his boss today, among the topics being discussed is aid for Africa. Mr. Blair wants all nations to contribute more, particularly through complete debt cancellation with wealthy nations picking up the share for unpaid monies. Mr. Bush says the U.S. cannot pledge funds that future Congresses would have to vote on, and he wants debt forgiveness to come at no cost to wealthier nations, but at a cost to borrowers: for every dollar forgiven, one less dollar is loaned. I haven't had time to look into President Bush's first argument, though it seems fishy at first glance. Prime Minister Blair is also pressing Mr. Bush on Kyoto, and I think we all know how that will go. It will be interesting to see how the barely re-elected Blair will fare at home when he returns empty handed to face mounting criticism of his fruitless support for Mr. Bush's unpopular foreign policies.