This week is a week for deadlines and high stakes negotiations, with a potential Federal Government shutdown and NFL lockout possible by Friday.
Like any good fight this one is over money. Lots of money.
Just for the record, I'm with Obama and the player's union on this stuff.
February 28, 2011
February 23, 2011
February 22, 2011
The Voyure Thrill of Revolution on My TV
I'll have to admit it, watching people from other Contries throwing some murderous bastard of a leader out on his ass. Joss Weadon's Angel said it best: "Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be." So anytime we see the world getting better it hits us deep in the riotous part of our brains the part that craves progress and freedom.
Plus, its a cost-free thrill. Apart from a little tick up in gas prices we pay no price for the freedom of people in the Middle East. I get to see and feel the cheering of victorious people on the main square without risking my own hide to wooden batons or rubber bullets. And it looks like the Libyans are facing the full horror of a civil war.
Me, I can root for the good guys from the safety of my couch.
Plus, its a cost-free thrill. Apart from a little tick up in gas prices we pay no price for the freedom of people in the Middle East. I get to see and feel the cheering of victorious people on the main square without risking my own hide to wooden batons or rubber bullets. And it looks like the Libyans are facing the full horror of a civil war.
Me, I can root for the good guys from the safety of my couch.
February 14, 2011
The Money is Where the Fight is
Obama is out with his budget for the year. 3.73 trillion, not bad. It cuts in some places, spends more in others. Of course, its not going anywhere in the new GOP controlled House, but the budget has to get down, unlike every other thing we are going to fight about this year. No budget, and the little old ladies in the Tea Party woun't get thier Social Security checks. And we can't have that, can we?
Every other thing that the House, the Senate or the President wants can get killed by the other branches. The Senate makes it so easy to kill policy iniatives that sometimes they kill things by accedent. But the budget is different.
So this is where the fight is.
Every other thing that the House, the Senate or the President wants can get killed by the other branches. The Senate makes it so easy to kill policy iniatives that sometimes they kill things by accedent. But the budget is different.
So this is where the fight is.
February 13, 2011
February 9, 2011
Running Stuff is Hard
Especially when you have no agenda except no.
So the House Republicans failed to pass the Patriot Act yesterday as about 26 GOPers deserted ship. Now this loss reflects more about obscure House procedures than a sudden outbreak of civil libertarianism on the part of the Republicans, but it does reflect the problems of moving from mindless opposition to needing to get things done.
Mindless opposition is easy to do. Just vote no and denounce everything that get proposed as communism. Easy. But getting things done means having to think about the consciouses of what you do, both as policy and politics. Thus we get a few Republicans who suddenly thought that surveillance without limits might be an expansion of government power, and ain't we against that sort of thing?
Keep in mind, this is just for renewing a law that's already in effect, not passing some new program. Is the GOP going to be able to do that?
So the House Republicans failed to pass the Patriot Act yesterday as about 26 GOPers deserted ship. Now this loss reflects more about obscure House procedures than a sudden outbreak of civil libertarianism on the part of the Republicans, but it does reflect the problems of moving from mindless opposition to needing to get things done.
Mindless opposition is easy to do. Just vote no and denounce everything that get proposed as communism. Easy. But getting things done means having to think about the consciouses of what you do, both as policy and politics. Thus we get a few Republicans who suddenly thought that surveillance without limits might be an expansion of government power, and ain't we against that sort of thing?
Keep in mind, this is just for renewing a law that's already in effect, not passing some new program. Is the GOP going to be able to do that?
February 7, 2011
February 3, 2011
How Interesting
I've already gone into detail about my love of The Most Interesting Man in the World. The New Yorker talked to the actor who's The Man and it turns out that he's ...very, very interesting.
January 27, 2011
The Protest Virus
Everybody in the Middle East is out on the street, the successful ousting of Tunisia's leader has triggered moves all across the Middle East. Once you see it done, you know it can be done.
We'll see if other protests manage to throw the bums out, but in a lot of ways getting your head beat in by riot police is the easy part. Trying to build a democracy is tricky, especially with a bad economy and the religious radicals waiting in the wings.
We'll see if other protests manage to throw the bums out, but in a lot of ways getting your head beat in by riot police is the easy part. Trying to build a democracy is tricky, especially with a bad economy and the religious radicals waiting in the wings.
January 24, 2011
The Obama Rebound
Have you seen the polls lately? I mean, they were getting not fun there for a while, but Obama has really turned the old job approval numbers around. Where did this come from? A few thoughts.
1. Maybe people just needed to let off some steam. Apart from the Tea Party hard-core, I think the majority of the population hold two contradictory ideas in their heads: first, the economy sucks eggs and second, they like Obama. They like his personality and they like his program. So how do people deal with these two thoughts? Things are not fixed, but we like the guy trying to fix them. Well, they vote for his opponents in a mid-term election where he isn't on the ballot. Once they get that out of their system, they go back to liking him. Imagine you're a boss who's given a super-hard, vital task to a trusted underling. The job isn't done, but your guy is brilliant and no one could have done better. What can you do? Well, you yell at your underling a bit, but keep him on the job and give him a raise in a few months. That's the midterm results, followed by a big bump in Obama ratings.
2. Theory the second: This is all positive feedback from the lame-duck session of Congress. Obama got a whole slew of great headlines by passing and signing a whole slew of legislation: tax cut deal, ending don't ask don't tell, passing the START treaty and so on. Which means that Republicans were.completely right, tactically speaking, to block as much as they did. Just imagine if Obama had gotten those headline and that bump before the midterms? We might still have Madam Speaker.
1. Maybe people just needed to let off some steam. Apart from the Tea Party hard-core, I think the majority of the population hold two contradictory ideas in their heads: first, the economy sucks eggs and second, they like Obama. They like his personality and they like his program. So how do people deal with these two thoughts? Things are not fixed, but we like the guy trying to fix them. Well, they vote for his opponents in a mid-term election where he isn't on the ballot. Once they get that out of their system, they go back to liking him. Imagine you're a boss who's given a super-hard, vital task to a trusted underling. The job isn't done, but your guy is brilliant and no one could have done better. What can you do? Well, you yell at your underling a bit, but keep him on the job and give him a raise in a few months. That's the midterm results, followed by a big bump in Obama ratings.
2. Theory the second: This is all positive feedback from the lame-duck session of Congress. Obama got a whole slew of great headlines by passing and signing a whole slew of legislation: tax cut deal, ending don't ask don't tell, passing the START treaty and so on. Which means that Republicans were.completely right, tactically speaking, to block as much as they did. Just imagine if Obama had gotten those headline and that bump before the midterms? We might still have Madam Speaker.
January 19, 2011
Lieberman is Done
Having finally pissed every last American Citizen off, be they left or right, Joe Lieberman saunters off into the sunset, a hero in his own mind.
January 12, 2011
January 11, 2011
Three Years
Tom Delay is going to jail.
My only question is, is he going to white-collar resort prison or to federal POUND ME IN THE ASS prison.
My only question is, is he going to white-collar resort prison or to federal POUND ME IN THE ASS prison.
January 10, 2011
We Swim in Violence
Talk of violence surrounds us. It fills our movies and our TV shows. We use the language of war to talk about sports, business and politics. We fight wars on drugs, terror, litter and poverty.
We surrounded every day by talk of violence and recreations of violence. But we have very little real violence in our live. If you live in certain neighborhoods or are a soldier in one the wars violence may find you, but for most people, including the kind of people who meet with Congresswomen at events, never come close to real violence.
Even now, we are not anywhere near this violence. We watch the coverage, we talk about why, but its never real.
We surrounded every day by talk of violence and recreations of violence. But we have very little real violence in our live. If you live in certain neighborhoods or are a soldier in one the wars violence may find you, but for most people, including the kind of people who meet with Congresswomen at events, never come close to real violence.
Even now, we are not anywhere near this violence. We watch the coverage, we talk about why, but its never real.
January 5, 2011
The Cuts Never Get Here
If the GOP has one talking point that it always goes to its "We must cut government spending." It's their one and only answer to our economic troubles.
But when it comes right down to it, those cuts never show up. Here is the GOP worming its way out of a promised 200 billion dollars in cuts and here is Rep. Paul Ryan dodging the question on specific cuts.
This is a pretty simple game. People like the idea of cutting "government" when you don't name a specific program. They just mentally fill in whatever real or imaginary government spending they don't like. Be it cash money for drug addicts or bombs that kill orphans, everybody has got some form of government they hate.
But in the really real world cutting government means picking which deadly disease doesn't get research funding or picking which FBI agents to fire and everybody hates that.
So the game continues. Promises to cut "spending" and never touch a real program.
But when it comes right down to it, those cuts never show up. Here is the GOP worming its way out of a promised 200 billion dollars in cuts and here is Rep. Paul Ryan dodging the question on specific cuts.
This is a pretty simple game. People like the idea of cutting "government" when you don't name a specific program. They just mentally fill in whatever real or imaginary government spending they don't like. Be it cash money for drug addicts or bombs that kill orphans, everybody has got some form of government they hate.
But in the really real world cutting government means picking which deadly disease doesn't get research funding or picking which FBI agents to fire and everybody hates that.
So the game continues. Promises to cut "spending" and never touch a real program.
January 3, 2011
New Year, New Posting
Sorry about the layoff. Call it a holiday break.
Jerry Brown is now Governor and is starting to dig into the shit sandwitch that is running the State of California. Good luck.
Here we go again.
Jerry Brown is now Governor and is starting to dig into the shit sandwitch that is running the State of California. Good luck.
Here we go again.
December 14, 2010
Blessed Be the Peace Makers
Richard Holbrooke the greatest diplomat of his era, has died. Like the American foreign policy he served all his life, he was arrogant, brave, and did more good than harm.
December 13, 2010
Actavist Judge!
Turns out, conservatives love judge who strike down legislation from the bench, if its legislation they don't want. Evil judges undoing the will of duly election representatives is great, if those representatives were D's.
Now this is not even close to being over, as a couple of judges have already ruled the other way. So look for this to end up with the Supremes sooner or later.
Oh and by the by, striking down the individual mandate won't undo HCR. It could very well undo the private health care sector if the rest of the reforms go forward, but plenty of HCR easily passes Constitutional muster.
Now this is not even close to being over, as a couple of judges have already ruled the other way. So look for this to end up with the Supremes sooner or later.
Oh and by the by, striking down the individual mandate won't undo HCR. It could very well undo the private health care sector if the rest of the reforms go forward, but plenty of HCR easily passes Constitutional muster.
December 8, 2010
Welcome to the Info Wars
Nobody dies, but reputations, finances, and long stretches in prison are all in play. Turns out, despite the hacker credo, some information really doesn't want to be free. Or will result in massive amounts of shit raining down on your head if it gets out.
Of course, for every action there is reaction, and the hacker do what they can to strike back, but in the end, lots of powerful people want their information private and will act to keep it so.
Of course, for every action there is reaction, and the hacker do what they can to strike back, but in the end, lots of powerful people want their information private and will act to keep it so.
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