Happy Cray-Cray Valentine's Day

Alright.  The crazy has become too much.  I must comment.

5 Things We Could Change to Make Washington Work

There has been a lot of talk lately about Washington and our government being broken, lame, and even that we should throw out the Constitution (for the record, I think this is a ill-conceived idea, but more on that later).  But the thing is, there are simple, structural reasons why Congress in particular is not working well.  If we addressed those reasons, Congress would work better...

SCOTUS Part II - The Justices (End of Year Re-Run)

I know, it's Friday, and you want your Follies.  But we've done a few extra follies lately, and I want to get one more re-run in before we go back to our normal schedule.  This is the second of my SCOTUS background pieces.  This one (from June 6th) is about the current justices, and how this Roberts Court stacks up versus prior Courts...

The Happiest Court Ever

My kids ate my homework.  Okay, no, but boy did they get in the way of me doing any kind of efficient writing in the past two days.  Until the fall I am first a mom at just about all times, and only secondly, well, a person who can do things like write cogent sentences without being interrupted constantly, particularly when my kids are low on sleep and wearing their cranky pants.  But bear with me for one more bit of background, because it really does help in any discussion about the Court to know something about the personalities and histories of the current justices.

First a note about terminology:  There are no liberals on the Court right now,

George HW Bush: Underrated? (End of Year Re-Run)

In the wake of this:

I thought the first post I'd like to re-run in our 2-week break is this one (from May 24th), asking the question...

Party Foul: Top 5 Ways Rs Cheat When They Don't Win

Foul on the Play.  Take a seat.

So it's possible that I'm really, really angry about the way Michigan's government has been behaving itself.  And by "possible," I mean "a virtual certainty."



But I will try my best to stay rational and not rant.  Here's my take on how Republicans deal with  the situation when they lose in our democracy: "how can we undermine democracy so that we win?"




It's not, as saner members of the party might suggest, about "how do we reach out to voters?  How do we make our policy arguments in a better, more convincing way?"  No, no.  It's "how do we change the rules so that we can win."  And let me be clear: by "change the rules" I mean "subvert democracy."

How The Republicans Almost Stole the Election

Well it turns out that the Republican-led Great Voter Suppression Effort of 2012 was a spectacular failure, in every way.  Not only did most of the laws get struck down, but it also fired more minority voters to go out and vote who otherwise would have stayed home.  The schadenfreude is delicious with this one...follow me below the fold....

True North: Objectivity Is Not a Fad

Alec Baldwin: But in your profession, in the political professional class, the punditocracy, whatever you want to call it, now we have a whole network which is very, very tilted in one direction. Did you see that coming?

George Will: You have two – you have two whole networks. Well, look, 30 years ago – CNN was founded in '81, I think – 30 years ago at the dinner hour in this country, 80 percent of all television sets in use were turned to Cronkite, Chancellor, and Peter Jennings. Today we have this cornucopia of news sources. People define journalism on their own terms, get it on their own time.

I was told by an activist in South Carolina during the primary this year that a survey showed that 72 percent of all Republican primary voters in South Carolina get all, not most, all of their news from Fox News. When a Republican candidate buys an ad on Fox News, he's not broadcasting, he's narrowcasting right into Republican voters. 

Now, in a way, this too is a reversion. When the party system developed in the 1790s and early 1800s, American newspapers were largely factional papers. Some of them were paid by the parties.  So we may look back upon the, some would say the pretense of objective journalism or nonpartisan journalism as an episode, a parenthesis in our national history. [Emphasis Mine.]

- Here's the Thing Podcast, September 24, 2012

There are things I like about George Will.  He's an interesting, smart guy.  He often has a different take on political situations than the Republican party line.  And I like smart people who aren't afraid to show their smarts - so in the same way that I have an appreciation for Justice Scalia, I have an appreciation for George Will.  But this statement he made - in a generally good podcast episode - made me seriously upset.

I'll try to explain why.

A Cornucopia of Post-Turkey News

So I only have the time left in a playground outing of the hubby and kids to write, but there are a few stories that bear discussion this week...

1. R.I.P. Warren Rudman - Warren Rudman was a Republican Senator from New Hampshire, one who earnestly sought progress and bipartisan governance.  He resigned from the Senate after two terms because he said it was too partisan and fractious.


He was well-known for his work in Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, which established some bipartisan (Hollings was a Democrat from South Carolina, Gramm a Republican from Texas) budget processes to try to tame budget deficits in the mid-1980s.  Those processes were about... raising the debt limit.  They would have created mandatory sequestrations by the Comptroller General, but they were found unconstitutional (as was the Line Item Veto - which was not in GRH but was also supposedly a method for achieving budget sanity, though at the same time a large grant of presidential power).    Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) also penned budget control measures in the same era.


Rudman later served in a Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President Clinton.  And he helped steer the Iran/Contra Hearings with Senator Inouye (D-HI), producing a bipartisan document that said Reagan officials knowingly violated the law (hence the Bush Pardons).  Rudman supported aid to the Contras, but famously said (and here you will hear echoes of C.J. Roberts from the Affordable Care Act decision - "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices."):

4 Ways Republicans Can Relaunch The Brand: Crystal Pepsi Edition

After every election, the losing party assesses the damage, and thinks of ways they can get the elusive 50.1% of the vote the next time around. In other words, how do political parties relaunch themselves to get a bigger share of the market for the next round of elections?  As the loser of two presidential elections in a row, Republicans are now the ones in re-branding mode. What tried and true marketing techniques can the Republicans perform moving forward to become more appealing to more people?

Debate Prep: 9 Questions and 2 Famous "Zingers"

The first debate in this election should by far be the most important, because early voting has already started in over half of the states, and in the last election fully 30 percent of votes occurred before election day - that number should only increase this year.  Technically, Wednesday's debate is supposed to be on domestic policy.  I think that's a problem this year, so I'm including questions on foreign policy, too.

The national polls have the race in almost a dead heat.  But because of the (stupid, antidemocratic) electoral college, that really doesn't matter.  In the swing states, Obama has a pretty clear advantage in the polls... right now.  So everybody is talking about this debate as Romney's Last Stand, his last real chance to lay the foundation for a turn-around in the campaign.  Because of that, I've heard a lot of talk about Romney preparing all manner of "zingers," - presumably under the theory that "zingers" are a way to create a lasting impression that can carry through to the election and even beyond.  And that's fine.  Zingers have their place in politics.  But for one thing, remember that in its time, Dukakis' "Joe Isuzu" line was considered a dramatic zinger...

What's Going On Here?

A bunch of stories lately have got me asking, What's Going On Here?  So I wanted to share them with you...


1. Businesses Fire Pregnant Ladies, Pregnant Ladies Take Aim:

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was introduced last Friday.

Nur Suryani

Chain of Fools

Recent controversy this week revolved around some remarks of Vice President Joe Biden who observed that while Romney was planning on unchaining regulations on Wall Street, the Republicans would in fact be putting the middle-class back in chains if Romney was elected. Biden's exact words were, ""He said in the first hundred days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street.  They're going to put y'all back in chains."

Dog Whistle: Anglo-Saxon Edition

New Romney Campaign Meme: My ancestors could beat up your ancestors.

That which you do to the least of my brethren...

There has been a recent, and, to me, fascinating back and forth between American nuns and Rome about how much Catholics should emphasize care for the poor in the public discourse, as opposed to focusing on being anti-birth control, anti-gay marriage, anti-ordination of women, and anti-abortion.

Now, I'm not Catholic.  So I'm treading oh so lightly here.  But I simply do not get a Pope saying that nuns should focus less on the poor.  That is really, really strange to me.  And because of the history of the Catholic Church with women and with American Catholics, generally... I can't help but wonder if this is a smack down of a group of uppity American women.

Electricity

So my house went without power for a week.

This happened partially because there was a very bad storm in my area, and partially because the reigning utility (PEPCO) is way more invested in its shareholders' happiness than its customers' happiness. That's not really opinion.

Now, it may be that private utilities are more responsive, more efficient, or better for society in some way than public utilities are.

Hold My Earrings for a Second

I find myself really frustrated with the American Voter right now.

SCOTUS Part II - The Justices

The Happiest Court Ever

My kids ate my homework.  Okay, no, but boy did they get in the way of me doing any kind of efficient writing in the past two days.  Until the fall I am first a mom at just about all times, and only secondly, well, a person who can do things like write cogent sentences without being interrupted constantly, particularly when my kids are low on sleep and wearing their cranky pants.  But bear with me for one more bit of background, because it really does help in any discussion about the Court to know something about the personalities and histories of the current justices.

First a note about terminology:  There are no liberals on the Court right now,

Political Correctness Is a Racist, Sexist Pig?

Emily:  I feel like since we were kids there has been a shift, largely due to the concept of political correctness (which, btw, I do not buy as a liberal concept - free speech is the liberal concept), that has made it so that we rarely - as a culture - talk about race or gender in "mixed" or "polite" company.  When people do talk about it, it tends to be in code or euphemisms.  I guess in theory that leads to fewer times that we blatantly offend each other, but it means we lose a big opportunity to understand one another by speaking honestly and forthrightly about these issues.  And I think it fosters the kind of vitriol we see coming out of pressure-geysers like Rush Limbaugh.  So when questions come up that divide us, we are more likely to just sit and stay divided than to try to reach a common ground.  I was listening to the Political Gabfest yesterday, and David Plotz was positing theories about why Washington is so crappy right now.  One of them was on point to this topic - he said maybe we have so self-selected that we don't live near/interact with people who believe differently than we do on any large issue, and therefore we have become more polarized because we don't have to talk to people who disagree with us.


Do you think there is any value in political correctness to our very diverse culture?  Do you think we have self-selected away from useful political discourse?

Bubba Explains It All: Tea Party Edition

A cogent little summary from Bubba:  

“The Republican position that tends to prevail in these primaries as expressed by the gentleman who beat Sen. Lugar, who says, ‘I’m just against compromise, we need to stop it, it’s weak, it’s foolish, our views are irreconcilable, we have to force the American people to choose which one of us is right’ — if that prevails, we’re toast,” Clinton said. “We’ll look like a bush league country.”...   

“[Voters] go around telling everybody how sorry these politicians are but they voted for all of them,” Clinton said to laughter from the audience. “All they’re doing is what they’ve promised to do … it’s not like they didn’t tell everybody what they were going to do.”  
[Emphasis mine]

He excels at cogent little summaries of political situations.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

A riddle for you: Who's got two thumbs and is busily spending millions of dollars in anonymous donations, to promulgate lies about the Obama Administration?

This guy right here.