Should now be the insights of a 28 year old, liberal white guy

Today's my birthday. Also, I'll be getting out of the Army in a couple weeks. And I'll be changing my bar status to inactive.

The times they are a changing. But Norm Coleman's recount still goes on.

Extra, Extra, John Edwards is scuzzy!

Politico has a quick run down on the whole John Edwards thing.

Edwards denied the affair, but Scher and other loyalists from his 2004 campaign doubted his word, made excuses and stayed out of the 2008 presidential race when Edwards launched his campaign after Christmas.

A few days later, Edwards made a partial confession to his wife, Elizabeth, of a single, regrettable encounter with Hunter. Like Scher, she asked him to drop his bid, to “protect our family from this woman, from his act,” she writes in her book.

But Edwards went ahead with the campaign — and his wife put her reluctance aside to drive his campaign forward.

John Edwards’ decision to keep running turned an ordinary, private drama into a public spectacle that consumed a presidential campaign, destroyed Edwards’ political career and dragged hundreds of staffers and thousands of supporters down in its bitter undertow.

I don't claim any particular insight, but I'm glad I listened to my gut and didn't support this guy even though he was arguably the most progressive of the serious candidates in 2008.

California Republicans Remain among the worst

Today, Republicans have started a recall petition against Assemblyman Anthony Adams.

Assemblyman Adams was one of the three Republicans in the Assembly who was willing to put state before party and vote on the budget compromise. I'm not happy with the compromise, but it did show us which Republicans are actually willing to keep California in business.

On another note, during my last year at McGeorge, I took a seminar regarding legislation and politics. Assemblyman Adams was one of our speakers, and I found him the most candid and honest of the people we spoke to. For example, He spoke about his wife and his decision to not have children while he pursued a political career. They believed he would be asking his children to give up too much.

While I strongly disagree with his political stances, I believe he went into politics for the right reasons. And I think that integrity was demonstrated when he voted for the compromise budget.

If the California GOP won't have these kind of guys in their party, they deserve to remain a useless rump.

Gay marriage will cause extinction!

Via Daily Kos, this hilarious editorial against gay marriage in New Hampshire

"The human race,'' Murchison writes, "understands marriage as a compact reinforcing social survival and protection. It has always been so. It will always be so, even if every state Supreme Court pretended to declare that what isn't suddenly is. Life does not work in this manner.''

Gov. Lynch is correct when he says the civil-unions law passed last year guarantees the rights of homosexual couples. This issue is not about establishing "equal rights'' for a minority. It is about protecting the human species by recognizing and honoring that special compact.

Yes, I'm sure straight couples are going to stop having sex if gays are allowed to get married!

Hilarious comment I read today

A Sinking Ship: “Yay! We’re rat free! We have no more rats! Not a single rat on boa…glub! Glub! Glub! sputter! Glub! Glub! gasp! Not one single ra… glub! Glub! GLUB! Gurgle… gurgle….

glub…”

[an eerie silence, as the waters close and become still]

Well, if nothing else...

I'm enjoying the hell out of watching Republicans crow about how losing a Senator is good for them!

Welcome to the Democrats, Arlen. Now someone Primary him

Well, it'll be good of Obama's agenda that Specter has joined the Democrats. However, in light of the fact he'll be a conservative Democrat (who can't be bothered to support unions) I hope he still gets a credible primary challenger.

Why settle for half a loaf, when we can get a real Democrat?

Bye-bye, Texas!

Hey, fuck you, Italy!

Here's a fun court decision from Italy

World: Europe

Women in jeans 'cannot be raped'



Italy's highest court has ruled that a woman wearing jeans cannot be raped.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rome on Wednesday overturned a rape conviction, saying that the supposed victim must have agreed to sex because her jeans could not have been removed without her consent.



Rome Correspondent David Willey: "Ground-breaker in Italian legal annals"
A court in the southern town of Potenza had convicted a driving instructor of raping his 18-year-old pupil.

The instructor, aged 45 and identified only as Carmine, had been sentenced to 34 months' jail.

His defence had argued that the young woman - identified as Rosa - had consented to sex, a version of events which the woman strongly denied.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to remove a pair of jeans "without the collaboration of the person wearing them", and that the young woman must therefore have consented to sex.

In a judgement likely to anger women's rights organisations, the rape conviction was reversed.

Driving instructors in Italy have a reputation, deserved or undeserved, for molesting young female pupils, and the case appeared at first to be a familiar story of sexual assault on a lonely country road.

All this torture talk reminds me

That it's always fuck Don Rumsfeld O'Clock

Coleman's razor

Via Daily Kos

Whenever there are two or more possible explanations for the behavior of a Republican in 2009, the least honorable of the alternatives represents the truth.

Happy Easter!

I'm not a religious man, but I do like that religion provides an excuse for extended families to get together.

So, to my secular and religious friends, enjoy!

Go Vermont!

I have to say, even though I had nothing to do with it, I'm proud to be from Vermont today. First legislature to pass marriage equality, with enough votes to override Gov. shithead's veto!

Another good day for marriage equality

Iowa's supreme court found that a gay marriage ban violated the state's equal protection clause, and it's now legal for homosexuals to marry in the heartland.

Vermont's legislature has passed a bill legalizing gay marriage by wide margins. However, Gov. Douglas plans to veto it, so supports will need 5 more votes in the house of representatives to override. Hopefully they can find them, or Jim Douglas needs to be beat in 2010.

Bill Kirstol seems happy with Obama

Which, unfortunately, means Obama's foreign policy is doomed to bloody failure.

30 Republicans willing to fight against non-existent threats!

Rep. Michellle Bachmann, the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts, has found 30 co-sponsers for a consitutional amendment to prevent the US from signing on to any sort of global currency.

Not that there is, or has there ever, been a threat of us doing so, but that's not stopping these intrepid warriors for Liberty from wasting their lives.

Yes, of course Rep. Ron Paul is a co-sponser. If there is a phanton threat that plays into the fears of sexually inadequate, frustrated, white men, Dr. Gold Standard is there to slay it!

Oh, so is my fine Congressman, Tom McClintock!

The problem with the financial services industry

The big issue I'm having right now with our economic system is that we've tied up too much money, and given too much reward to a sector that really doesn't produce much.

Financial services are critically important, but their purposes to to direct captial to projects that will invest it. i.e. Direct money to help fund a startup business so they can produce or sell somethings.

It seems in the last few years, espically with the deregulation of the late 90s and early 2000s, they lost sight of that goal. The financial services industry became about who can game the system best to show that money was being made. And the employees of the industry were paid disproportionate to their economic worth.

Now, thanks to those skewed priorities, good sectors of the economy that need capital can't get it.

I'm hoping that one lesson of this economic crisis is that just because a area is very economically profitable, it does not make it worthwhile or right. America worships too much at the altar of capitalism for capitalism's sake, without realizing an economic system is only as worthwhile as the way it benefits society as a whole.

I think capitalism is the best system for that, but we need to approach it with a more social viewpoint.

Vermont State Senate to Pass Gay Marriage legalization

Vermont, the first state to have civil unions for same sex couples, is looking to pass a gay marriage bill.

The state Senate judiciary committee passed the bill onto the full Senate, which meets today to vote. With strong liberal majorities in the legislature, it's pretty sure to end up on the Republican Gov. Jim Douglas's desk.

Whether he's willing to take the political risk of vetoing it in a state, where aiding the religious right doesn't get you too far, is an open question. I think a lot of it will depend on if he ever wants to replace Sen. Leahy or Sanders in the Senate. If he does, I think he'll sign it.

We'll see. I hope he does the right thing, and make Vermont the first state to make same-sex marriage legal through the law-making process rather than through the courts. It'll be good to show that not all Americans have to be forced to recognize the rights of others.

Isreal's situation is a good argument against PR

I'll probably write up a longer post when I get motivated to do so.

Proportional Representation, where a party earns seats in the legislature in relation to their proportion of the votes, is a pretty common system in parliamentary Democracies that aren't former British Colonies.

Real Basic Example: There is a 10 seat legislature, and the voters vote 40% Democrat 30% Republican, 20% Green and 10% Libertarian. The breakdown of seats would be 4 Democrats, 3 Republicans, 2 Greens and 1 Libertarian.

It has the advantage of ensuring that people don't "waste" their vote by voting for a compromise candidate, and that a wider variety of voices are heard in government. There are a number of different systems that change the specifics, but that's the basic rundown.

I'm a big believer in it, as opposed to our winner-take-all, single member districts. In the above example, the Democrat would win and have the only voice. I think that it's undemocratic and unfair.

However, the recent elections in Israel show the danger in that system. While the inconclusive election results did democratically reflect the growing political disenchantment with politics in Israel, it's created a lot of uncertainty in a county that has a lot of problems facing it.

I think there is a solution, but I'll talk more about that later.

Seriously, cable news is the worst

If you enjoy the creepiness of Bill O'Rielly's stalking of people who criticize him, then you'll love this blog post.

Short version: Writer criticizes the choice of O'Rielly as a speaker for a rape survivor support group, considering he has had non-nice things to say about them in the past.

Now Moore, Jennifer Moore, 18, on her way to college. She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at two in the morning. She’s walking by herself on the West Side Highway, and she gets picked up by a thug. All right. Now she’s out of her mind, drunk.

So O'Rielly sends his producer out to harass this 20-something blogger in her home town.

Between this stuff and the Limbaugh apologies, I'm starting to wonder when being a pundit ends and being a Lyndon LaRouche-like political cult leader begins.

South Carolina is just America's villian

Gov. Mark Sanford is trying real hard to ensure that South Carolina continues to elect the most reprehensible politicians that America has.

Go Galt already

Seriously, if some worthless sack of crap thinks that raising his marginal tax rate on income of $250,000 or more by about 4% is an unfathomable assault on his liberty, we'd probably all be better off if he left.

The Free Market will find someone less bitchy to replace you.

Newsflash to Republicans

No one cares that much about earmarks. At least not enough to elect you guys on it.

The Social world of the Vaccine/Autism Debate

Today the New Republic has posted an article on the Vaccine/Autism debate, that does a good job, in it's words of "Why it's dangerous to believe that vaccines cause autism--and why those who understand that should guard against smugness."

A couple parts:

One of my first forays in the internet badlands was a February 2008 HuffPo column titled "No, Vaccines aren't behind the rise in autism." That column harshly criticized the otherwise-enjoyable ABC series, "Eli Stone" for airing a thinly-disguised and quite misleading account of the thimerisol controversy. I'm still getting hostile emails for that one, but I stand behind what I wrote: Vaccines must be carefully regulated. Some vaccines have harmed specific children. Yet the alleged link between vaccines and the rising prevalence of diagnosed autism has been thoroughly debunked. There is simply no scientific debate here.

The author goes on to discuss why the debate continues in spite of that certainty.

On one side, the vaccine-autism controversy features heart-wrenching testimony from parents such as Jenny McCarthy who faithfully took their child in for shots, only to witness the onset of autism following close behind. On the other side, the debate features.... Big Pharma. Need I say more?

Why it is important to keep people informed, for all our sakes

We don't have to vaccinate everyone to protect ourselves against an infectious disease. We must merely vaccinate enough people to reach what epidemiologists call "herd immunity," in which we cross a critical threshold sufficient to prevent outbreaks from taking hold. When herd immunity is achieved, local outbreaks may occur, but they cannot become self-sustaining.

Without most everyone opting into vaccinations, we put everyone at risk of bringing back horrible diseases that it took a miracle scientific breakthrough to get rid of in the first place. But it won't be easy to convince people.

Parents believe that vaccines cause autism because they do not trust medical authorities and pharmaceutical companies. Thus they do not believe claims that vaccines are safe. Such distrust runs deep, and is hardly confined to vaccination issues. It is impossible to understand the popularity of complementary and alternative medications, for example, without acknowledging their appeal in offering patients an escape from traditional medicine.

The whole article is worth reading. If you want to read another take on it, Salon also posted an article today.

Roland Burris Should resign

I was a supporter of Roland Burris's appointment to the Senate, because I don't believe there was any legal basis to deny him his seat.

However, his half-truths and changing stories over the course of the last couple days have demonstrated that Burris is nothing but an bozo who hoped to slide into the Senate without answering any uncomfortable questions.

The man's only been in the Senate a couple of weeks, and he already can't be trusted. Democrats should hold themselves to a higher standard, and Ried should call on Burris to resign.

Fuck Blago.

Utah Gov. Comes out in Favor of Civil Unions

Recently, the Mormon, Republican governor of Utah decided to come out publicly in favor of Civil Unions for non-married couples. He was ridiculously popular, and appears to have only taken a minor hit to become still really, damn popular with voters.

While I think Civil Unions are at best a half measure, on the way to true equality for all married couples, I'm glad to see Gov. Huntsman step out like this. If we can bring conservatives to the "moderate" position of Civil Unions, I think it'll be easier to bring the public as a whole to the just position of marriage equality.

It will help that Gov. Huntsman is moving in that direction. Hopefully we'll see a better future for everyone.

Court Rules in Favor of Science and Public Health

Today, the federal Court of Claims ruled against parents who have autistic children, finding that there is no link between vaccines and autism. I sympathize with the parents, autism is awful and frightening, and raising an autistic child can be exhausting. However, blaming vaccines is the wrong way to try and make sense of the condition.

This is an example of when conspiracy theories can cause a great deal of harm to those who follow them. Vaccines remain one of the most important developments in medicine of all time, one of the best ways to ensure that you and your children don't suffer serious but easily preventable diseases.

However, due to the fictitious link between vaccinations and autism, more parents are opting out. Because vaccines work best when there is not a large, unvaccinated population for the disease to survive and mutate in, this trend of opting out is putting everyone at risk.

The court demonstrated here that there is no link between vaccines and autism, the main proponent of the link has been shown to be falsifying his data, and all science points against the link. Hopefully today's ruling will ensure that parents continue to get their child vaccinated. There is just no excuse.

Leave Michael Phelps alone!

Seriously, he smoked pot, who cares?

I've spent my adult life in the military and other positions that ensure that I don't smoke pot. And that's fine, if the job requirements are no weed, that's the requirements, I have no regrets.

Maybe it is a moral failing on Micheal Phelps' part to use. But it's such a minor freaking thing. It's not like he put anyone in danger. And I have a tough time believing that his use will influence teenagers to smoke who would not have smoked otherwise.

I guess I'm just bothered by all the "family values" hysterics that surround this kind of nonsense. Yes, he broke the law, but that doesn't make him a terrible person.

End the power of governors to appoint Senators

The appointment of Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) to the position of Commerce Secretary has given Gov. Lynch (D-NH) the opportunity to pick a Senator to fill out the rest of Sen. Gregg's term. He wisely, I think, chose a Republican, respecting the voters who reelected Gregg in 2004.

However, this appointment marks the 5th senate appointment since the new congress began. (The others are Colorado (Salazar), Illinois (Obama) , New York (Clinton), and Delaware (Bid
en)). 5 states are now represented by Senators that the people of the state never voted on.

It's undemocratic enough that the Senate provides states with tiny populations the same representation as states with large populations. But now there are a significant amount of Senators who have not had to face to will of their state's voters before gaining power.

Russ Feingold (D-WI) is proposing a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate the power of governors to appoint Senators, instead providing for special elections. While I don't have a whole lot of hope for it passing, because Constitutional Amendments are nearly impossible to get ratified, I really think it's a reform that both parties could get on board with. I sincerely hope it passes.

Bad news for Mid-east peace

Bad poll news

It looks like the right and the far right in Israel are going win the next election. This, more so than anything domestic, will test Obama's ability to work with foreign policy hawks. Because these folks are not going to be interested in finding much common ground for peace.

With Hamas in charge of Palestine and Likud in charge of Israel, we're in for some more shooting wars, I think.

Giving him a chance

A pretty common thing I'm hearing from a lot of pundits and friends who didn't vote for Obama is that they're going to give him a chance for 6 months to a years or so.

Please don't.

After all, what does giving him a chance mean? That you'll fairly evaluate his proposals? Or not instinctively disbelieve everything he says? Why would that end after six months? Should you start being unfair and petty at that point?

Or does it mean that you'll refrain from criticizing him? I suppose you could do that, but I hope you won't. He's the President, his actions affect us all and we should be giving a skeptical look to those in power. Some of the biggest failures of the Bush administration occurred when his approval ratings were sky-high because people didn't want to find fault in what he did.

I'm an Obama supporter, and I'm asking you to treat him like a President. If you disagree with him, criticize him, if you agree, go with that. If you think he's messed the hell up, say so. I plan on doing so.

It's a democracy not a monarchy.

It's on

I know it's irrational, but I really do think President Obama is going to change the way we view government.

I really, really hope the next few years provide the nation with a new shot in the arm. I think we have a chance to make sure America's best days are still ahead of it.

Happy Obama Eve!

http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/yes-we-can-with-lego/13463405/

Obama is Unelectable

Talking Points Memo had a deep thought today, reminding me of all the arguments that said Barack Obama was unelectable.

Foremost among them was Mark Penn, the man who did more to lose Hillary Clinton's campaign than anyone else on her staff. Who she still apparently owes $5.4 million to.

Check out his memo, where he argued that Obama was unelectable because he was fundamentally unamerican.

It's nice to point out how wrong this guy was. And the fact that Clinton chose to keep him employed and pay him huge amounts of money reaffirmed that I picked the right horse in the primary.

But that little bit of gloating is just in fun. I'm just freaking thrilled that in less than 2 days, we will have a real President again.

I Don't Want People to Know I Supported Hate!

From the L.A. Times.

Gay marriage foes want campaign contributions anonymous, citing 'harassment'
5:42 PM, January 8, 2009

Proponents of a ballot measure that banned same sex marriage filed a lawsuit in federal court this week seeking to overturn state campaign finance laws that require that names and personal information of donors to state political campaigns be made public.

They claimed that donors to Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California after one of the most heated campaigns in recent memory, have been the victim of threats and harassment because of their support for ending same-sex marriage was made public.

“This harassment is made possible because of California’s unconstitutional campaign finance disclosure rules as applied to ballot measure committees where even donors of as little as $100 must have their names, home addresses and employers listed on public documents,” Ron Prentice, head of the Protect Marriage Coalition, said in a statement.

Since 1974, state law has required that donors who give more than $100 must have their names disclosed.

The law was intended to prevent money laundering and to provide disclosure of who is making contributions to political campaigns. It has withstood several previous legal challenges. Experts on the 1st Amendment experts said they did not believe the suit stood much of a chance of success.

“This trashes the 1st Amendment and it is a thinly veiled attempt to eliminate transparency as to the role of money in state election campaigns,” said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU of Southern California. The ACLU was a major opponent of Proposition 8

Why is it that all the people who dumped money into passing proposition 8 don't like the idea of people protesting them? You want to play politics, you should expect that people may care about it.

If you don't want to be seen as picking sides, then don't pick sides. Don't whine about the fact that we require disclosure of where funding for propositions come from.

Screw the California budget process!

Another quick one today.

California is the only large American state that requires 2/3rds of the votes in both house of the legislature to pass tax increases. There are many other states with large Democratic majorities in their legislatures that don't suffer any greater tax burden than we do.

Why the hell do we make California's budget process a hostage of the most extreme elements of a party that the voters have chosen to make the minority? Government services are important, and we need to have them function! Roads need to be paved, kids need to be educated, police need to patrol.

California is one of the largest economies in the world, we need to have a functioning government. This 2/3rds voting requirement has effectively rendered it moot. We need to get rid of it!

Seat Burris!

Another quick one, as some exciting things are happening in the world of Ethan Quinn. I'll probably write up some stuff about it when it becomes more solid.

So I'll just make a quick statement:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich should have resigned. Even if the guy hasn't done anything illegal, he's violated the trust of his state, and he no longer has the political capital to be an effective governor.

That being said, he is still the governor. He hasn't been convicted of anything illegal yet, he hasn't been impeached, and no new laws have been passed restricting his power of appointment. I don't think the Senate should being deciding who is going to sit in the senate as long as the appointment is legal. Unless there is something to Illinois law that I don't know about, there is nothing illegal about Burris's appointment.

Burris should be the new junior Senator from Illinois.
I don't think Harry Ried or the rest of the Senate is doing the right thing here, though I understand where they are coming from. The Illinois legislature can impeach Blagojevich if they want, and pass a law calling for a special election for the Senate seat, cutting Burris's appointment short. But just not seating him because we don't like the guy who appointed him is not good government.

Burris should be the new junior Senator from Illinois.

Politics Related Scams

Busy day today, so just a quick copy-paste from The New Republic

Gotta love a good politics-related scam:

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 01:01:19 +0200

From: "Internal Revenue Service"

Subject: Please submit your Stimulus Payment online form

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined

that you are eligible to receive a Stimulus Payment.Please submit the Stimulus Payment Online Form in order to process it.A Stimulus Payment can be delayed for a variety of reasons.For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.To submit your Stimulus Payment form, please download the document attached

to your email.Note: If filing or preparation fees were deducted from your 2007 Refund or you received a refund anticipation loan, you will be receiving a check

instead of a direct deposit.Regards, Internal Revenue Service

Eliminate the California Integrated Waste Management Board!

I worked at the CIWMB as a law clerk during my third year of law school. I was impressed by the staff and the mission. I felt like the agency really is on the forefront of the unglamorous but very important world of dealing with waste.

However, the agency is run by a board of part-time, $132,000 a year salary people who play no real role. The Board positions are used to rewarded termed out legislators and formers aides to governors, and they lack any sort of real expertise in their field. There is absolutely no reason why this agency could not be run by a single, appointed head.

However, the reason it probably will not happen is that the legislature will not want to give up it's ability to appoint some of the members. Unlike the federal government, there is no constitutional separation of powers issue when it comes to the legislative branch appointing members of executive agencies. It's not something a Democratic legislature wants to give up in a state that routinely elects Republican governors.

Arnold is proposing getting ride of the CIWMB, and while I'm not one of his biggest fans, I hope he gets his way on this one. That money can be better spent elsewhere.

What the New Deal did wrong

Happy new year, and just 20 days until we have a President with the political capital to actually get things done.

People on the right like to say that the success of the New Deal is largely exaggerated, many arguing that it prolonged the great depression. The is an element of truth to that, but I don't think it's for the reasons they argue.

The New Republic has a nice, short opinion piece on it that I think is worth the read

Here's the part that struck me:

The more important failure of the New Deal, however, was what it did not do. The only way to break the deadlock that paralyzed the U.S. economy in the 1930s was to enormously expand economic activity--quickly and decisively. Instead, the New Deal wavered and equivocated--spending large sums of money with one hand while reducing spending with the other. One of the first acts Congress passed for Roosevelt in 1933 was the Economy Act, which slashed government spending in ways that reduced economic activity. It cut the salaries (and, in some cases, the jobs) of government employees and dramatically reduced payments to World War I veterans, taking $500 million from the economy in a single stroke. The Social Security system, so valuable over the long term, was in the short term a drag on the economy. It began collecting taxes in 1936 but paid out few benefits until the 1940s. In 1937, deluded by a weak economic recovery, Roosevelt (urged on by his Treasury secretary) set out to balance the budget through severe spending cuts. The result was a sudden and dramatic economic downturn--a recession within the Depression that produced some of the highest levels of unemployment and lowest levels of production of the decade.

The reason that stands out is, while I don't think the federal government is going to fall into that same trap, state governments are often constrained by balanced budget laws that prevent them from dealing with economic downturns. My state of California is really hurting because of that.

Between the requirement that our budgets be balanced and the 2/3 voting requirement to pass a budget, California's state government is gradually becoming non-functional. We're going to be laying off state workers, cutting benefits, and stopping infrastructure improvements. All things that are going to work to reduce economic activity in the state, increasing the problem.

Balanced budgets are important in better times, but mostly so the state will have the flexibility to spend during down times to keep the economic engine pumping. But I'm hoping Obama doesn't make the mistake of trying to balance the budget until economic growth returns. Because state governments are effectively useless.