Follow this link to the article that explains Senator Richard Shelby (R. Ala.) has put a hold on  nominees to be the top Intelligence officers at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security as well as the number three civilian at the Pentagon.

The reason for the hold amounts to extortion on Shelby’s part.  There is a $35 billion defense contract that he wants in his state and he doesn’t seem to care what he has to do to extort it.

I imagine I am not the only one who is starting to wonder why the Senate has to give in to this crap.

The harm that these rules produce probably far out weighs the harm that they prevent.

Follow this link to see what the White house has to say about this.

Follow this link to the facebook page about Melanie Shouse.

Melanie was a tireless activist who fought until losing her battle with cancer on Jan. 30. She was fighting…because she understood that there were others coming behind her. President Obama

The article By Michael Sorkin St. Louis Post-Dispatch clarifies further the significance of Melanie Shouse.

On Thursday night, President Obama cited her case in promising to continue working for health care legislation.

In a speech, Obama spoke of Shouse’s death and her obituary in the Post-Dispatch.

How can I say to her … ‘We’re giving up’? Obama said.

I believe the Obama speech to which the article refers is the one in my post A Conversation With The President

Follow this link for a review in The Daily Beast of the book about John Edwards.

Say this for John Edwards and Andrew Young, the author of a chilling new memoir: they deserved each other.

Previously RichardH had sent me this link to Grifters’ Tale, a comparison of the John Edwards phenomenon to the Sarah Palin phenomenon.

I hope these stories don’t lead to a new cynicism that all politicians are like this.  I figure that when a person has an extraordinary ability to move people with his or her words, they could very easily realize they can use that ability for nefarious purposes.  Almost by definition, a successful politician has this extraordinary ability. Not every person with this ability becomes a con artist.  Some become trial lawyers, beauty queens, or movie stars. Perhaps for beauty queens and movie stars the looks move people and the words don’t matter.  Maybe the looks even work for some trial lawyers.

Of course, some con artists may just realize they can use their skills for political purposes.