142. The United States Senate makes it a Hat Trick.

The Fairness Doctrine calls for equal time. I hit on the Metro Council and the Kentucky Legislature. I will add the shananigans of the United States Senate, where I am represented by 1) an allegedly 117 year old former professional baseball player from Cincinnati and 2) a former Jefferson County Judge Executive whose first wife and children haven't been heard from since he entered politics back in the 1970s. His second wife, Elaine Chou, has served in President Bush's Cabinet longer than any other member.

In the Senate, we all read about the Pizza Party the Democrats threw the other night to bring some attention to the President's War in Iraq - as if it is some little-know public matter hiding in a closet in the Pentagon. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader, pulled a stunt that didn't work. In the end, the Senate could only muster 52 (of the necessary 60) votes to call for a vote. So, as far as the President is concerned, the War goes on, the Cause endures, and the Dream refuses to die. (With a nod of apology to the Senior Senator from Massachusetts).

So, it seems childish games are de rigeur amongst legislators. And so it goes.

At some point, all of these legislative bodies need to get back to the task of governing, as opposed to collecting paychecks (or unconstitutionally trying not to) while simultaneously offering no real work. January 20, 2009 can not come soon enough. A more important date will be January 3, 2009, seventeen days earlier. That will be the day the new Congress is sworn in, including, God-willing and voters-voting, a new and bigger majority of Democrats, one that exceeds concerns about whether Mr. Liebermann is a D or an R, and needn't worry about counting Mr. Sanders in the Democratic Caucus, and one which can afford untimely and unfortunate health problems such as that of Mr. Johnson. We probably can't get to 60, but we can add here and there. One place to start would be in our own backyard. It is time for the Senior Senator from Kentucky to take a job on K Street in Washington or Main Street in Louisville. While his lone voice on First Amendment rights is important, he has become, like his disciple Anne Northup before him, a handmaiden of the President. He is carrying Bush's message and that must end. Don't be surprised when come September and General Petraus asks for more time and personnel, Kentucky's McConnell will start yelling. He is feeling the pressure. But, be not fooled. His shouts will be as wolves' cries and crocodiles' tears. They will be as Secretary of State John Hay said of his new boss, President Theodore Roosevelt, "Pure theater."

Especially at the federal level, there simply must be change. There must be a restoration of the ideals of the New Deal, the social support structure of the Great Society, and even Nixon's New Federalism. Ted Kennedy said it best. "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."