It seems all too often some issue will flare up around here, then it will just disappear a couple of weeks later, never to be heard of again. As much as we decry the media for its minute attention span, we in the blogs are only a little better. I don't know the best way to remedy this, but an improved and more sophisticated search would go a long way, not to mention improved tagging by diarists and integration of the tags with the search. For instance, it would be nice to be able to look for entries that have both tag A and tag B, A or B, A but not B, or even just search for diaries on "similar topics" that searches ranks diaries by how similar the tags are. Then give the user the ability to put searches into their hotlist with, say, updates once per day or per week (defined by a user setting) so that people can maintain their own list of topics to keep an eye on. That list would naturally serve as a reminder to look into things if a topic has gone stale here at DKos.

I digress. Improvements to this site would be fantastic, but they are not the topic of this post. Follow me below the fold for the more immediate topics hinted at in the title

  For far too long we have heard the ridiculous idea that it takes 60 Senators to end the IRAQ war. While you hear it a lot, it couldn't be further from the truth.

  It actually only takes one.

  One U.S. Senator with the integrity to do the right thing, can easily end "The Madness of King George".  

  Here's how...
   

It’s an almost unbelievable irony that a bill called the OPEN Government Act has been sequestered by another secret hold.  

The bill in question is a bipartisan effort to update the seminal Freedom of Information Act to make the government more open and accountable.  It recently overwhelmingly passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The House version of the bill, "Freedom of Information Act of 2007," passed on March 15 by 308 to 117.  More than one hundred organizations and thousands of citizens have expressed support for the bills.

Yet, when Senators Leahy and Cornyn tried to bring the bill to a vote on the floor last Thursday, the vote was blocked by "Senator Anonymous."  Some Republican senator called the Minority Leader’s office and objected to a vote on the bill, but asked for anonymity and did not publicly state the reason for the hold

I live in the district.  Everywhere I go, everyone I meet, I talk about our lack of ability to do anything.  From Police having to go through the US attorney's office for arrests to having NO LEGISLATORS TO SPEAK TO about anything.  But today, I find out that Ben Cardin has a SECRET F*&#ing HOLD on legislation affecting DC schools. (apparently, I should point out that the Senator was confronted about the hold and he then gave up that he had placed the hold on it.  It's no longe a secret, once he was confronted.)

Here, let me explain....

Last week, Sen. Feinstein and I went to the Senate floor to try to get unanimous consent to pass the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, S. 223.  The bill had been reported by the Rules Committee on a voice vote nearly three weeks earlier and has 35 bipartisan cosponsors.  No one expressed opposition to it at either the March 14th Rules Committee hearing on the bill or in the Rules Committee markup when the bill was voted out of committee.  We went to the floor because while Sen. Reid had determined that no Democratic Senator objected to passing the bill, the Republican leadership was not as forthcoming.  As everyone now knows, Sen. Alexander objected "on behalf of a Republican Senator" to our request for unanimous consent to take up and pass the bill.

Like every American I endured weeks of squabbling over Senate filibusters, the nuclear option, the Gang That Couldn't Count to 14, etc...

Why?? What difference does the maneuver known as the filibuster make, and why is it even an issue, if ANY Senator has the option of a solo filibuster merely by imposing a "secret hold" on any Bill or Nomination??

How does crap like the "Patriot" Act get through if any Senator can indefinitely stop any measure??

I'm sure there's something I'm missing (there usually is), so enlighten me.

Senator Stevens has finally acknowledged what many of us already suspected... that Senator Stevens is responsible for placing the secret hold on the Obama-Coburn earmark bill.

Just before the August recess the Senate was ready to vote on a bill introduced by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would create a public, Google-like website with a searchable database of the name and amount of every federal grant, contract or award of $25,000 or more.  It would provide free and immediate access the information that is normally quite difficult to obtain.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed the measure July 27th and it was on its way to full Senate passage when an unknown Senator placed a "secret hold" on the bill. According to Senate rules, the bill will never come to a vote as long as the hold continues.

Holds are an unofficial part of Senate parliamentary tradition that allow a single senator to block a measure anonymously.

Since the Democratic Party likes to wait to take a stand on a issue till there is no possible way they can take political advantage, I would like to point out that the Democratic Caucus should shut the mother fucking Senate the hell down until the Secret Hold on the Pork Barrel Accountability Act is released, and that the Senator responsible be made to pay for his one man filibuster.

And if he is a Democrat, well, get him a spot on the pine with Lieberman because I am tired of this party acting like a knuckleheaded junior varsity squad at a model UN. It has gotten that sad.

Hot and steamy Secret Hold Action after the flip:

Here's a no-brainer, zero-cost, pure people power issue for Democrats to latch onto for November: Get rid of this "secret hold" crap in the Senate:

Senator who put 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records is a secret, too

WASHINGTON - In an ironic twist, legislation that would open up the murky world of government contracting to public scrutiny has been derailed by a secret parliamentary maneuver.

An unidentified senator placed a "secret hold" on legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search.

... Now the bill is in political limbo. Under Senate rules, unless the senator who placed the hold decides to lift it, the bill will not be brought up for a vote.

The measure in question had passed out of committee unanimously and was on the fast track for floor action until the hold was placed. This is an incredible accountability measure, especially for Internet researchers like those who abound here at Daily Kos and other websites. Here's a description of what the mysterious hold is preventing, from Obama's site:

This bill would require the Office of Management and Budget to establish and maintain a single public Web site that lists all entities receiving federal funds, including the name of each entity, the amount of federal funds the entity has received annually by program, and the location of the entity. All federal assistance must be posted within 30 days of such funding being awarded to an organization.

Holds are not uncommon; in fact, they were used to great effect recently by Clinton and Murray, who held up approval on Bush's new FDA nominee until Plan B was okayed. But anonymous holds are nothing more than cowardly attempts at obfuscation, undermining as they do the underlying assumption of representative democracy - that legislators will be held accountable by voters for their actions. Clinton and Murray took that risk. This senator did not.

I'd really like to see the duly elected objector - never mind if it's a Democrat or Republican - stand up and say: I think it's a really, really bad idea to have $300 billion worth of government contracts available for public scrutiny. And then we can hope he or she is facing re-election this cycle.

Update: It looks like Porkbusters has already begun a campaign to have constituents call their senators and deny the secret hold. Join that effort and keep checking in there to see who’s still on the suspect list next week.