Getting Down To Business

One thing the rubber stamps in Congress did get done yesterday is fighting the greatest threat to this nation, what may shake the republic to its very core... horse slaughtering.

Returning from a five-week summer vacation, GOP lawmakers have much to worry about: war in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism and border problems, high energy prices and health-care costs, and none of the federal government's annual spending bills enacted.

So what did House leaders decide to make the centerpiece of the week? H.R. 503: the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This legislation, passed yesterday, followed Wednesday's action on a full slate of bills including H.R. 2808, the Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Coin Act.

And to think that Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their majority in the House.

Look, I know the cute animals always get protected over the ugly ones, and horses are cute and all, and maybe we shouldn't be slaughtering them and selling them as horsemeat abroad (although, isn't that how the free market works, free-market Republicans?), but really, is this all they've got on the other side of the aisle? The Leadership set the agenda, and they took a look at all the problems in the world and decided... on this? As centerpiece legislation? And did they even give their Majority Leader a vote on it?

Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), meeting privately with colleagues in the morning, referred to the legislation as "the horse [expletive] bill," according to someone present at the meeting.

A horseshit bill for a horseshit Congress.