Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Walking Dead Finale Liveblog

OK, we've had about five weeks of build up.  Better be worth it.

They've been running the previous seasons all week, and it really looks like Season Three is just amazingly better than the earlier ones.  Hope they can pull off an amazing ending.
***
Oh, Milton...You aren't likely cut out for this.

Nice speech from the Governor about the intent of evil.

Yup, Milton was not cut out for this...

Wow, they're giving some good lines to the Governor...
***
The new talking version of Michonne could be on her way to being Team Grimes Co-Captain.

Well, that's one way to ring the doorbell.

If Team Grimes is smart, they'll be hitting Woodbury right now.
***
Now, someone pretty much has to die tonight, right?  I mean we killed T-Dog and Lori, who dies tonight?

Aside from Milton, obviously.

Shut up and get the handcuffs off, Andrea.

They can hit Walkers in the head from 150 meters, but they can't hit regular people center mass from in close.

Damn, Carl...
***
Once again, Team Grimes has the tactical sense of a newt.

Well... that evens the odds a bit.

If the theme of season three is "no one survives alone" and the Governor stands apart from that, then his downfall is pre-ordained.

Yoga: It can save your life in the zombie apocalypse.
***
So far this episode has been less bloody than an NCAA basketball game.  Not sure where the last 15 minutes go.

After the slaughter of his own people, I don't think they can extend the Governor to next season.  I think that story has run its course.

Carl will be running for Governor soon.  Damn.

Hey, Beth finally got to kill someone!

Is that supposed to be a cliffhanger?
***
Ah, it goes to 10:05.

I think we need to see some Tyrese/Governor combat.  I just feel like Tyrese will be the agent of justice.  Giving it to someone on Team Grimes - like Daryl - who may deserve it more seems too pat.

OK, they lock Andrea and the Governor in a room together after she turns.

Hmmm. moving Woodbury to the prison.  That's an unusual choice.

Not sure what to think of the ending.  Not quite the pay-off I thought it would be.

So the Governor is still out there with Martinez and Shumpert.  Carl is getting harder than diamonds.  A bunch of worthless old people in the prison.  And why didn't they move to Woodbury?

Rush Finally Gets The Memo

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/limbaugh-on-petition-against-carson-were-losing-country?ref=fpa

By next Easter, we'll see more same sex marriage and maybe the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.

The coming freakout will be epic.  But then the conservative seems to enjoy it most when they are a "besieged minority".

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Forget Drones

To the barricades!  Comfortably!

http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid-182449463.html

The "War on Drugs" has been a spectacular failure.  But, like Iraq, it doesn't mean we don't get "surges" once in awhile.

If we assume a change in cultural attitudes similar to what we are seeing with gay marriage, I think we can see a gradual decriminalization of marijuana in certain states over the next few years.

Significantly, my own position is that the buying and selling of marijuana should remain illegal.  I don't want to see the RJR Reynolds of pot come into being.  But growing for personal consumption or growing for medicinal purposes regulated by the state seems fine to me.  If I have a libertarian streak, it applies to social issues like this.

Anyway, the family targeted in this raid were wronged, and it goes to the militarization and surveillance state aspects of the drug war that are much more troublesome than hypothetical drones over American cities.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Game Of Thrones Countdown


Yes, I think this sums it up nicely:

Escapist art can be as revealing as engaged art, in a way. What escapism shows is what we want to escape from and what we want to escape into. Game of Thrones is so pleasurable exactly because it saves us from the complications of our own moment. The trick is in the title. It turns power into a game, and not just through the court intrigue. Some have claimed to find sexism and racism in the show, but they're really missing the point that the sex and race in the show are deliberately outlandish. I don't think that Game of Thrones' viewers wish they lived in such a world. They want to escape momentarily into a world that is crude but is also grand because everything in the real world is cheaply made and disposable, and complicated.

Read more: Game of Thrones Season 3 Review - Just Watch Game of Thrones - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/game-of-thrones-season-3#ixzz2OvuQ9M4T

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Crazy Regime Is Crazy

North Korea threatens to unleash nerds upon us.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/n-korea-puts-artillery-forces-at-top-combat-posture-in-latest-threat-to-us.php

It's tough to figure out how this ends.  Kim needs to prove he's tough, but it has to be more than just talk.

Hopefully it doesn't get too hot, because war, you know, sucks.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Chait Vs Ryan

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/03/paul-ryan-un-re-branding-begins.html

Despite Chait's lame mini-culpa over Iraq, he remains an invaluable voice when it comes to the massive fraudster that is Paul Ryan.

If Chait has one insight - which appears in this piece - it is that the modern GOP cares truly about one thing: reducing taxes on the wealthy.  As they move slowly towards same sex marriage and immigration reform, they will fight to the last man to make sure that the wealthy are not inconvenienced by the commonwealth.


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Walking Dead Liveblog


If I can tear myself away from Florida Gulf Coast.  I have them in my bracket.

I don't actually have a bracket.
***
And now the preamble to the final episode.  Hopefully something - you know - actually happens tonight.

Oh, no.  You're not really going to believe the Governor on this Michonne swap thing, are you?  How can Rick be both childishly naive and also a hard ass?

Merle: Voice of Reason.  Glimpse into the mind of insanity.  Good thing they have an actor who can pull both off.
***
Carol is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters.

Daryl's hair cut now makes him look like Adam Lambert.

Daryl gets to deliver the point of season three: You can't do anything without other people anymore.

Herschel and Rick reach the right point together.  And now Merle takes things into his own hands, which makes him a good guy in his mind but a bad guy in the mind of the group. Brilliant.
***
Could be Daryl's big moment with Merle.

Glenn and Maggie are the lone light of normality.  Yeah, that's doomed.

Car alarms really are a pain...
***
Michonne digs the knife in pretty well.

Mathematically speaking, where do all the Walkers come from?

Nice Glenn.  Very romantic.

Merle is going Governor hunting.  I don't think that will end well.
***
Merle is indeed a sick puppy.

The Governor is a Biter...
***
Now, will Daryl go Hulk on the Governor?

Glenn needs a new form of courage now.

Rick admitting he was wrong seems like the end of the Ricktatorship.

Yup.

Oh, man.  The Governor takes the cake in sickness.

One doesn't usually say "Poor Daryl" because Daryl is such a badass, but... poor Daryl.
***
Really impressive performance from Michael Rooker.  He did a whole lot tonight.  Wish they had given him more moments like that before they killed him.

Also, from the preview, looks like the group is going to run.  My guess is it won't be that easy.

The Rich Are Different From You And Me...


...they are assholes.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/why-the-rich-dont-give/309254/

You know, when I dream about winning the Powerball, I dream about giving to the school I work at to fund financial aide for low income students.  I'm not sure where that fits into the critique of the rich not giving to charities that help the poor, but it does give me pause.

Home

After 16 straight hours in the car, it's good to be home.

As always the Things had a great time on the farm, and Atlanta continues to amaze.

UPDATE:  And this is awesome:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/22/1196307/-Mea-Culpa

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Mea Culpas

There have been a few mea culpas about the Iraq war.

Jon Chait's was especially poor.

John Cole's was especially good.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

10th Anniversary Of V-T Day



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/19/1195114/-Cheers-and-Jeers-Tuesday

Today is the 10th anniversary of the V-T Day, or the victory over the truth day.  Ten years ago, we began bombing the crap out of Iraq because the Cheney Administration scared the American people and Congress with tales of mushroom clouds.

Iraq is among the most disastrous foreign policy follies in American history, perhaps world history.

To this day we don't really know how many Iraqis died, how many lost their homes, their livelihoods.  We will probably never get an accurate picture of how any American dollars were lost to corruption and theft.  We will struggle to put a price tag on the generation of soldiers who were maimed physically and psychologically by that war.

So when people call George W. Bush the worst president in history, they aren't making a partisan point, but rather an historical one.

UPDATE: Booman makes a good point: the blogosphere arose in response to the Iraq war and the media's credulous swallowing of the casus belli.  I think the same thing COULD have happened over the Clinton impeachment, but the Internet hadn't penetrated far enough.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Cruz Control


http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/sen-cruz-objects-to-multiple-sclerosis-resolution?ref=fpb

Yeah, why would someone support a resolution about MS?

Ted Cruz is quickly becoming the Ur Teatard of the Senate.  He's left poor Rand Paul in the dust and Ron Johnson choking on his fumes.

Cruz is - by all accounts - "intelligent".  Of course they said that about Newt Gingrich, and I have been saying for years that Newt Gingrich is not actually a smart man.  He is an attention deficit concern troll who filters other people's good ideas through his enormous melon and occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of gold.

But Cruz went to Harvard and stuff, so he must be "bright".  Of course, you can be "bright" and a huge, flaming sociopathic asshole.

And that's kind of Cruz's schtick.  He basically seems to bask in being a huge dick.

The Senate as an institution likes to talk about "comity" and the traditions of the Senate.  But Cruz - if he serves any positive purpose - will destroy what's left of that.  Cruz will be the guy who gets Dianne Feinstein to support filibuster reform.  Cruz will be the guy who gets Harry Reid to stop trusting Mitch McConnell.

Of course, the other positive purpose of Ted Cruz would be to win the 2016 GOP nomination.

That would be AWESOME!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Walking Dead Liveblog


So... war.

Mo' Michonne!
**
Trying to explain the Walking Dead to my dad during commercial breaks.

Turn Milton and you win Woodbury.

Andrea... what a wuss...

Uh., Andrea.. Milton's gay...

Andrea-centric episodes tend to suck.  Just saying.
***
C'mon Tyrese.  Stay away from the dark side.

Hey, Tyrese.  Ditch the assholes.

Andrea sucks at killing Walkers.  Too histrionic.
***
Nice scene.  Tyrese's decency becomes his central defining characteristic.

Rule #1 of Zombieland: cardio.
***
Is this Morgan World?

Or Governorama?

Some nice visual compositions, but Andrea episodes...

Well, I had Michonne in the most zombie kills pool.  Guess I lost.

Two can play the zombie bomb game.
***
Oh, if the Governor is dead, that gets the Coen Brothers "No Country..." award for biggest off screen kill.  Of course, he ain't dead.  And I'm guessing Milton flamed the new zombie bomb at the pits.

Nice.  Nothing like violence against women by the Governor.
***
Andrea-centric episodes...

Putting The "Dick" In Dick Nixon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768668

It's an article of faith among many historians that Nixon scuttled Lyndon Johnson's 1968 "October Surprise" of a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam War.  Nixon knew that if Johnson ended the war, Humphrey would win.  Nixon's entire campaign was based on his foreign policy chops and his "secret plan to end the war".

Now we know that Nixon blew up the talks by reaching out to the Saigon regime.

And thousands more people died.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Oy Vey

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/15/1194459/-CPAC-2013-The-racism-at-CPAC?showAll=yes

Wow...

David Brooks said "The future of the Republican party is not at CPAC."  In a general sense that has to be true.

But the present sure seems to be there.

Friday, March 15, 2013

No Sh!t Sherlock


http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/sequestration-nimbyism-grips-gop.php?ref=fpb

The GOP is undergoing a sort of slow motion intellectual collapse these days.  The epistemological closure has been pierced by the election, which proves that all those polls saying that GOP positions are unpopular were not really skewed after all.

The problem is the modern GOP really only has one priority, as Jon Chait in particular has documented: they want to cut taxes on the rich.

Really everything else is window dressing.

This is not to say that there aren't true social conservatives or neo-cons still running around.  But the central animus in the party right now is the Grover Norquist camp.

This is why the GOP has been universally disastrous for the national debt whenever they've been in charge.  They don't care about balanced budgets, they care about slashing revenue.  If slashing revenue results in cuts in programs for the poor or middle class, well that's fine because all government spending is de facto evil and wrong.

So really it's the Norquist-Ayn Rand political philosophy in charge.

The problem is that government spending is woven into our national economy in so many important ways.  The Randians can complain about waste all they want, but government spending has declined in the last few years as a percentage of GDP.  And the sequester has simply taken a meat cleaver to what's left.

And they are once again forced to match their philosophy to empirical observation.

As government spending continues to dry up in their districts, even some of the most rabid Randian House members may see the problem in the sequester.

Just repeal the damned thing...

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Cardinals Name A New Manager

The nuns have a different selection process for Pope.

So, we got a Jesuit pope!

I wanted the Filipino, but he was way too liberal for the Cardinals.

My only hope is that we finally have a Pope who stops the constant sexual moralizing towards the laity, starts to look at the Church's many sins within its own ranks and finally does something to help the freaking poor.

And a Jesuit should be a decent bet to address the last one.

Of course, if he really tries to reform the Vatican, they'll just kill him.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Oh, Mahmoud


Ahmadinejad is under fire for hugging Hugo Chavez's mom.

My first reaction was "Wow, those mullahs be crazy!"  I mean you can't hug a grieving woman?  And Mahoud and Hugo were BFFs.

And then I realized this was about neutering Ahmadinejad before the coming elections.  He can't run, but the clerics have been trying to sideline him for the last few years.  This is just part of the plan.

Great Decisions


Yesterday, I moderated a Great Decisions discussion at a library up the road a ways.  When the retirees walked in, I panicked.  They were a bunch of old white guys with beards.

Tea party!

In fact, it turned into an interesting discussion.  Not sure why I had to be there, but interesting nonetheless.

And they turned out to sound more like #Occupy than Tea Party, but that's Connecticut for you.

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Final Hippie Punch From Clueless Joe

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/joe-lieberman-joining-conservative-think-tank?ref=fpb

Have I mentioned how much I like Chris Murphy?

Yeah, This Is Good

http://thedailybanter.com/2013/03/my-continuing-adventures-in-the-drone-debate/

via Booman

This is a reasonable take on The Drone Wars.  The President is using the powers of the AUMF to kill terrorists with drones.  If you don't like it, repeal the AUMF.  But moral shaming of Obama and those who agree with him is counterproductive and beside the point.

I think his takedown of Greenwald's political libertarianism is spot-on.

Personally, I'd be fine with more transparency of the process to determine who is in Al Qaeda, but if you need to repeal AUMF, do it.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Walking Dead Liveblog


So, Rick and the Governor meet at last.  Nice teaser.
***
Could shoot him, but that's not a very dramatically sound move.

Andrea is like a post-apocalyptic UN.

Still can't get a read on Merle.  Switched sides?  Or still the Governor's man?

Oh, DAMN.  They know each other from before!  Did NOT see that coming!

It's a kill-off!  Way to bond, boys.

More bonding.  I sense a theme...

Well, Governor, have you tried to take phone calls from the dead?  Because Rick has.
***
I can take the gore and splatter of The Walking Dead, but the trailer for Freakshow weirds me out.

Dang, Morgan had some serious arms.

Beth with the exclamation point.  Poor Merle got emasculated a bit there.

Gov wants Michonne.

Great test for Rick.  Peace for the group versus a newcomer he doesn't entirely trust.
***
And Michonne cements her place in the group.

Why is when people are nice to Glenn, I get teary eyed?  Maybe because I came up "Glenn" on the Walking Dead Personality Test.

Uh, oh.  Sexytime in horror situations never works out well.

Alcohol is clearly the Governor's helper.

And Andrea makes another choice.
***
Wow, the Governor is a scumbag.  Who knew?

OK, was Rick seeing through the Governor or setting up Michonne?

Seeing through him.  Kind of.

Go to war, Rick.  It's the only way.
***

Your Papal Cheat Sheets

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2013/03/papal-contenders-bios.php?ref=fpblg

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Oddsmakers-weigh-in-on-papal-candidates-4333560.php

My money is on the guy who is least involved with abusing or covering up the abuse of altar boys.

If they can find one amongst the college of Cardinals, that's my guy.

DST


How much longer, O Lord, must we bear this burden?

Admittedly, it's nice to get that hour of sleep in early November, but giving it back hurts my brain parts.


Saturday, March 9, 2013

Vay-Kay

Did my 2AM drive to JFK and back without killing anyone.  Kept seeing signs reading "Drowsy driving is dangerous.  National Sleep Awareness Week."  That seemed a cruel trick by the universe.

Anyway, it's about 55 degrees here, snow melting in streams, sun is out and warm.

For the first time I'm beginning to feel like spring may come.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Snow Day


Snow Day

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted to hear --

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down. 

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Droning On And On


So the Internets are abuzz with the sound of drones.

Here's my take in toto, since I've been clogging up comment threads trying to make my case.

Despite what the Jehovah's Witnesses say, we live in pretty peaceful times.  Wars and rumors of war are pretty scarce.  State on state violence is declining.  Wars are rarer than at almost any time in human history.  The idea of a "great power" war seems pretty absurd at the moment.

But non-state vs state violence has increased to fill the gap.  Terrorists and criminal enterprises exist and exploit areas where state control is weak.  Max Weber defined the state as an entity with a monopoly of violence over a given area.  This reflects the roots of the state's historical development in violent conflict.  Now, states are learning to live together without war, but those areas where grievances or lack of opportunity run high and state control is low have seen the proliferation of terrorism and crime.

I realize that there is a liberal argument that we have created Al Qaeda and the Sinaloa cartel though imperialism and misguided drug laws.  I am not insensitive to those arguments.  They have some merit.

But everybody injures everybody else in some way.  You really become aware of that as a parent when you realize that even your innocuous actions can create problems.  America is the current center of gravity in the world.  What we do has an impact.  That's undeniable.

But to go from there to the justification for bombing a railway station or chopping off heads and leaving their bodies in the Mexican desert as a warning is a jump I'm not prepared to make.

People are violent, and the evidence that violence can be traced to environmental factors like environmental lead is compelling to me.

And if people are violent - to the point of a 9/11 or mass drug killings - then whatever our actions were seem to pale by comparison.  Yes, we prop up the House of Saud and Mubarak.  But is that worth blowing up a London tube station?  Or maybe the aggrieved should change their own countries?  At what point does legitimate political grievance transform into sociopathy?

Whatever, the point is we have enemies.  And those enemies are increasingly non-state actors, or -as much as I hate to use a Friedman-ism - Super Empowered Individuals.

How do you fight a far flung terror network?

The Bush way was to engage in state-on state violence, toppling the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, and then using US troops as a magnet to attract jihadis.  Then kill them.  I don't think this was a very effective, humane or cost-efficient way to run a war against a non-state actor.

Drones also inflict violence, but not on a societal scale the way OIF did.  It's ironic we're having this debate on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, because there are three options as I see it: 1) more Iraqs 2) more drones 3) retreat behind a screen of Homeland Security and play defense.

If - realistically - those are our three options, then #2 wins for me.

Now, counter-terrorism is different from anti-terrorism.  Yes, we need to keep killing and disrupting terrorist networks (counter-terrorism).  But we also need to bring security and stability (and thus opportunity and hope for the future) to places like Egypt.  Mubarak created stability, but the population was not secure from the power of the state, and there was no opportunity.  If we can help bring the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa into the 20th century (forget the 21st for a moment) we can bring more peace and have fewer drones.

Also, there has to be a better process for deciding who we strike with drones.  Especially American citizens.  The framework of the process has to be transparent, though not the actual case-by-case procedure.  I don't give two shits that Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone, anymore that I care when a murderer gets gunned down in a shoot out with police.  But I want to know that - unlike in a shoot out - the cool, rational and thought-out decision to use a drone was made without the same sort of "group think" that led us to believe that Iraq had WMD.  There has to be an adversarial process to determine when a drone is used to strike a target in a sovereign state, especially when that target is an American citizen.

Drones are a tool - a new tool.  But the real issue is that we have not rewritten the old rules about state vs state conflict to accommodate the world of non-state actors.  We still don't know what to do about the guys in Gitmo.  They aren't Prisoners of War, because there was no war because there was no state.  Similarly, how do you attack an enemy that is hiding in the lawless part of a country that is ostensibly an ally of yours?  Spec ops?  Drones?  What happens to the sovereignty of Yemen or Pakistan in that instance?

So, thanks, Rand Paul for showing why a talking filibuster is a good thing.

But the really hard work needs to be done to redefine the rules of warfare in the 21st century.

And I don't see anyone stepping up to do that.

My Only Favorite Rand Paul Moment

http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/paul_makes_the_case_for_reform_the_talking_filibus.php?ref=fpblg

This is why you mend but don't end the filibuster.  Done right it's both a minority right AND a teaching moment from the well of the Senate.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Red Card



After watching the Manchester United-Real Madrid game with the Things, I was impressed that soccer can uniquely teach young people about the unfairness of life.  As Mourinho said in his classy post-game conference: "The better team lost today."  They happened to lose because of a bogus red card, but every soccer game between close teams can usually come down to a play or two, a break or two.

Then I realized that both the Things were rooting for Real Madrid, whereas only I - the Man U supporter - was learning this lesson.

#themoreyouknow

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Pivot


http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/the_awkward_pivot.php?ref=fpblg

The assumption is that the GOP needs to change, because they are facing a demographic crisis.  Young people don't like their fascination with other people's bedroom behavior.  Latinos aren't fond of being called illegal.  Black people? Please.  Asians have a stronger sense of community obligation and don't enjoy being called moochers for that.  And women don't like transvaginal ultrasounds.

So... old white men.

But if we've reached a point where Jeb Bush - the Great Mild Hope - has moved to Marco Rubio's right on immigration and GOP governors who are sensibly taking advantage of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion are being attacked by their own legislatures... well, I think we've reached a point where we can do more than speculate about a real schism in the party.

You already have Peter King and Chris Christie threatening anyone who voted against Sandy aid to stay away from the donor base in NYC.  But the idea that the Bush family could move against a sensible immigration party for political advantage means that we have definitely entered a world where all the old rules have changed.

I mean, even Politico is starting to notice the GOP is rambling about talking to itself like a drunk at 2AM.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Obamacare

This will all be a big, big deal going forward. And it recalls Bill Kristol’s famous or infamous memo during the Clinton health care reform debate. At the time that Republicans were inclined to negotiate on health care reform with Clinton, Kristol came forward and said Republicans needed to embrace 100% opposition. No reform at all — just no. In political terms it ended up being fabulously successful. Reform was defeated and the political aftermath was the GOP takeover of Congress the following year. But the key point is what Kristol predicted about the consequences of the success of reform: the public would like it, would never let it get overturnedand it would become the cement of a new Democratic coalition, much as Social Security and other parts of the welfare state were a couple generations before. We may be seeing just that happening to day. 
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/it_led_to_some_snarking.php?ref=fpblg

Remember the number one rule of Fight Club: Bill Kristol is always wrong.

By opposing without offering an alternative, the GOP has set themselves up for political irrelevancy if Obamacare works even half as well as it's planned to.

The Voting Rights Act


So, Antonin Scalia - in Rachel Maddow's memorable phrase - is the troll on the bench.  Saying that voting is some sort of racial entitlement is pretty much a dead giveaway of where the GOP stands on issues of racial equality.  But don't worry, Marco Rubio is a Cuban so it all evens out.

The thing is, I think one aspect of the VRA is wrong.  It shouldn't focus just on the South.

Not because the South isn't still racist and doesn't continue to suppress or dilute the minority vote.

They do.

It's because the GOP in OTHER states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio come to mind) have also embarked upon plans to disenfranchise minorities.

If anything the VRA should apply nationwide, but at the very least it should apply wherever the GOP holds control of the levers of the voting apparatus.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Walking Dead Liveblog


Just watched last week's episode again.  Loved the Tom Waits song.  Loved it.  But I hope they don't do much more of that.  Keep the pop songs to a minimum.

Apparently the big thing that happens after the apocalypse is a lot of leaves get on the road.

Carl is jealous.  Which is sweet.  And Rick gets to be Dad to Carl again.

That backpack dude is having a shitty day.
***
Well, that's a barbeque I could skip.

My guess is a survivalist has made himself a little home.  And Carl went and ruined his day.

Ah ha!  Morgan makes a comeback.  Hope his kid is OK.
***
My bold prediction: Morgan has lost his son and has been driven mad by everything around him.  He becomes a foil for Rick who so close to walking down that road himself.

Oh, Morgan has a rec room.

Told you!

Michonne made a funny.

And now Michonne made a Walker Kabob.

Um... wow...
***
So... Is Morgan redeemable?  And by extension is Rick redeemable?  And will they get all his cool guns?  And a new crossbow for Daryl?

OK, that's awful.  Morgan wins worst story award.

Will Rick be "strong" and end Morgan's misery?  Isn't that what Morgan is telling him?  Asking him?
***
Oh, right.  Carl and Michonne.  Kind of forgot about them with all the awfulness.

Despite all my rage...

Really? A picture?
***
Michonne: Battle Tested, Carl Approved

One more time with backpack guy?

This time they pick him up?

Yeah, or that...

(Great panel on Talking Dead.  Smart for a change.)

Republicans Can't Help Themselves

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/02/this-is-why-obama-cant-make-a-deal-with-republicans/

Pathological.

More and better summary:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/3/3/121641/1947

Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Older I Get The Better I Was

Spent last night with the social reprobates rugby players that shaped my college experience.  I'd forgotten the anarchic sense of fun that culture has.

Still, I left early to be with my kids as they got schooled in ping-pong by a ten year old hustler.

Because while I wouldn't mind going back with the wisdom I have now to squeeze more out of my youth, I have no desire to pretend that I am still young.

Friday, March 1, 2013