Senate Democrats and Maine's two Communist Republican ladies voted to give money to the states, hooray! This means that state governments won't have to lay everybody off. Olympia Snowe said that "this should be sort of the final down payment," which means that...the Federal government now owns the states, having bought them on the installment plan? Wait, isn't a "down payment" the first money you put down on something, not the last? We think your metaphors need help, Olympia. Anyway, House members had just assumed that the Senate would never get its act together and pass this, so they had sort of wandered off, and now Nancy Pelosi needs to get them back to vote on it. [WP]- Crafty Judge Vaughn Walker crafted his decision overturning Proposition 8 to make it harder for other judges, especially Anthony Kennedy, to overturn it. This raises a question: why don't judges do this for every decision they write? Are they just lazy? [NYT]
- Chuck Schumer wants to make extra-sure that anyone blowing a whistle for Wikileaks does not accidentally get protected by a new law that will protect whistle-blowers. [Fox]
- One traditionally Republican Colorado county voted Democratic in 2008 because everyone was afraid of total economic collapse. The collapse never came, and this has made them more likely to vote Republican. [NYT]
