SHOCK & AWE: Senate actually passed legislation.

I have been absent from blogging for a while, but I have maintained a proverbial ear to the proverbial ground as far as what this Lame Duck Senate has been up to as of late. In the past few months I have grown increasingly disillusioned, disappointed, and disgusted with the obstructionist tactics the Republican Minority in Senate has taken to make sure nothing gets done. The idea that Congress is a "Law-making body" seems to cease as soon as anything arrives at Senate, while the House of Representatives has been moving through legislation at least more effectively, though far from perfectly. I had adapted to the idea that Senate was where legislation of any sort went to die, and Senators were not interested in any sort of governing, but rather looking out for their own best interests and those that would screw the populous for the sake of giving the prodigious middle digit to one Moderate Liberal President of a political party some people plain don't like. Imagine my surprise this morning when I read the news that the Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy which keeps non-heterosexual individuals from serving openly, honestly, and with personal integrity (all values touted as paramount by the Armed Forces) out of the military. The Repeal of DADT is a piece of legislation which I keep near and dear to my heart because it affected me personally and made my deployment all that much more difficult to endure. I would have re-enlisted if it were not for DADT. Personal stories aside, In my jaded cynicism with the Senatorial section of the Legislative branch of government, the fact that ANYTHING got done was shocking. I'm happy the repeal got through, and is due to be signed into law. I am surprised that Senate did anything coherent in light of the established pattern of obstructing anything for the sake of political gain and getting nothing substantial accomplished. I think the later fact is far more surprising than the news that the repeal passed.