According to Jason Spitalnik, the House is planning 30 minutes of debate before passing the Bankruptcy Bill tomorrow. 30 minutes! I spend more than 30 minutes picking out movies at Blockbuster. I spend more than 30 minutes deciding on takeout with my friends. I spend more than 30 minutes on the treadmill. You're telling me I spend more time on the treadmill than the Senate spends debating major legislation?
Jason calls this fundamentally anti-Democratic. True 'nuff. But it's also a basic affront to the idea of deliberative democracy. Good government is laying in the mud with the Republican Leadership's foot digging into its throat. and I'm sure it'd appreciate it if the press noticed, or if media populists like O'Reilly found a mere 30 minutes of debate on an anti-family bill half as deserving of airtime as some elementary school teacher saying a naughty thing about Bush. But we've reached a point in this country where the major offenses are too toweringly repugnant to wrap our minds around so we occupy ourselves with more comprehendible irritants. We sleep better that way.
Update: Whoops, it's actually a full hour of debate, with no amendments allowed. Yippity-doo-dah!
