Well, it’s Saturday. Happy July everybody! The night’s are getting longer (except for egotils and our other friends south of the equator, of course), and summer will be over before you know it.

I haven’t had a chance to look at much in the news, except I noticed a story they were all hot over at DU, about how polls show Americans want the Democrats to be in control of Congress. That would be great if that was how we elected Congress, but of course it isn’t. Between the gerrymandering and the parade of pork, incumbents are harder to get rid of than a chicken on your ventile (hey, look it up). Then again, we only need 15 seats in the house, and that’s a lot less than the Republican “revolution” of 1994. And if you think the Democrats are no better (and I find it difficult to put up too much of an argument there, to be honest), conisder how far things have degraded since 1994, how much worse they’ve gotten since 2000, and how terribly wrong things have gone since 2003, when Republicans assumed control of the Senate (and that’s not even counting Zell Miller and Joe Leberman), paving the way for Republican control of all three branches of government.

We may not get the judicial branch back in my lifetime (if you think it’s only about the Supremes, you’re wrong; in fact, the US Courts of Appeals, US District Courts, and US Bankruptcy Courts handle thousands – tens of thousands, even – of cases every year that affect how we live our lives, who we live them with, and how we die. Only a handful make it to the Supreme Court, and these lower courts are loaded with Republican minions). And dubya has had lots of vacancies to fill, since the hypocritcal Republican swine blocked over half (42 of 81) of Clinton’s judicial nominees, and refused to confirm even moderate nominees – especially to the appeals courts, where only 8 Clinton nominees were confirmed.

Republicans also refused to create new judgeships, in spite of a burgeoning population and caseload. As a comparison, consider that under Reagan and Bush I, 85 federal judgeships were created (each). Under Clinton? Nine. By the time dubya slunk into office, 8 of the 13 federal appeals courts were dominated by Republican judges, and only the Sixth Circuit had a slight majority of Democratic appointees (but with four vacancies left for dubya to fill).

So, anyhow, enjoy your Saturday. Let’s make this weekend last a while, shall we? It’s already going too damn fast.