BREAKING NEWS: Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) "Seriously Ill"

According to The New York Times, 92-year-old Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) was admitted to an unknown Washington DC hospital Friday with symptoms of heat stroke. It was a routine malady that should have only required a short one or two-day stay in the hospital. However, according to the article, the Senator's condition deteriorated and he is now in Serious Condition at that hospital.

Senator Byrd has been a member of the United States Senate since 1959 and a member of Congress since 1953. His apparent incapacitation at the moment puts the Democrats' passage of the newly-minted conference version of the banking bill in doubt, because apparently 56 or 57 votes in the 100-member Senate doesn't count as a majority anymore.

In all this, Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight pointed out something that I found very interesting. Apparently, West Virginia has a very complex way of replacing United States Senators from that state. The Senate vacancy laws for West Virginia, according to what I read in Silver's entry, say that if a West Virginia Senate seat were to become vacant less than two and a half years before the end of the Senator's term, the Governor may appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of the term. However, as Silver points out, if the vacancy occurs before the two-and-half-year cutoff date, in this case July 3, 2010, the Governor would appoint an interim replacement and special elections would be held each subsequent year before the end of the Senator's term in order to determine who holds the seat in that year (in other words, a special election would be held to elect somebody to hold the seat for 2011 and another special election to elect somebody to hold the seat for 2012). It's really one of the most convoluted vacancy laws I've ever come across, but hopefully, it won't have to be put into effect and Senator Byrd will pull through.

My First Post!

Hello, guys. My name is Tyler and this is my first ever blog posting. I plan to use this blog as best I can to advance liberal and progressive causes in any way I possibly can, and to dispell any right-wing lies I come across, which are plenty nowadays. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my blog and I hope you will comment on my postings!