I'm lagging behind on posting--the last week has been brutal--but I want to make one quick point before I gather myself to actually post something substantial.

I've always felt like the filibuster is a suspect device. If you don't like a bill, simply stymie it by talking it to death.

In the midst of all of this debate over the filibuster I'd like to point out that over the last 40 years, aside from Robert Byrd's occasional self-important meanderings, there has been only one time that the filibuster was put to significant use. Care to guess?

It was when the so-called Dixiecrats (southern Democrats), led by Senator Al Gore, Sr., filibustered for 74 days in order to try and kill the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yep--the last real use of the filibuster was when Democrats tried to keep blacks down.