Jonathan Tasini holds the line on EFCA on CNBC

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Thursday March 12, 2009 · 1:19 PM PDT

2009/03/12 · 13:19

I can't get the embed to work, but head over to CNBC.com to watch this three-against-one dogpile where Tasini, a labor advocate, stands strong and conducts himself well. Tt was good to see.

Btw, those CNBC folks are starting to look almost as hysterical and shrill as Tucker Carlson was before Crossfire got cancelled. A boy can dream.

I found out about the interview listening to Kris Welch's Living Room on KPFA this afternoon. She interviewed Tasini, which is worth listening to as well.

Gingrich Revolution Redux, Found a new Party?

humanadverb

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Monday March 02, 2009 · 3:58 PM PST

2009/03/02 · 15:58

Two ideas just came together in my mind: Republicans are actively studying what Newt did in 1994, in an effort to duplicate it. Limbaugh today referred to the "sad-sack state" of the Republican Party.

What if the Republic Party never finds its way out of the wilderness? Could Limbaugh's ditto heads raise a new party, based on elements of the Ginrich strategy, that will eventually eclipse the dying Republican party?

Check my thinking...

humanadverb

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Tuesday February 03, 2009 · 4:26 PM PST

2009/02/03 · 16:26

Rentier states are states where control of a valuable resource provides the state with entirely sufficient amounts of money to operate without a tax base. It is hypothesized that political change in such states will be slow or nonexistent because 1) citizens have little stake in a government that demands nothing of them and 2) the state has resources to co-opt or coerce compliance from its population. Like Saudi Arabia.

Israel is being increasingly described as an Apartheid state because it effectively holds sovereignty over Palestine. I am a proponent of this perspective because, after forty years of occupation in different forms, any model that sees the two sides as warring (or even colonizing) neighbors becomes insufficient.

Add to that, however, the qualities of a rentier state which the state of Israel derives from its "special relationship" with the United States, and you have a very grim prognosis. I would strongly suggest adding this model to the way we think of Israel, to explain Israeli arrogance, stagnation in the peace process, and the role of the United States in perpetuating the system.

humanadverb

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Tuesday December 16, 2008 · 4:06 PM PST

2008/12/16 · 16:06

Amanda Marcotte just posted a link to a petition to start a petition to place Proposition 8-corrected initiative on the ballot. Using the Google to look for an actual, formal proposition that might get the job done, the top hits were all for petitions similar to this one.

My question: why?

It costs millions of dollars to qualify a ballot initiative, only because it requires so very many signatures (a percentage of the total electorate) that the only way to do it is by paying people to stand in front of grocery stores. We have all of this wonderful online organization, and we can't put a serious dent in that signature-gathering threshold before the paid gathers even have to hit the streets?

Why isn't something like that already in the works?

This feels a lot like back, before the election, when I was wandering around pulling Yes on 8 signs off of public property, wanting to do more, but unsure of where to go. There seems to have been a lot of that going around, and the result was that we were all blindsided by the result.

Anyone?

humanadverb

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Sunday August 17, 2008 · 8:04 AM PDT

2008/08/17 · 08:04

I went to bed last night pretty much agreeing with Kristina40 about McCain not actually doing much to help himself at Saddleback. This morning, I was heartened to see this impression coming to Andrew Sullivan's readers, too.

Still, I'm worried that the media narrative is going to be a "media win for McCain," like Jessie Taylor articulates pretty clearly. I don't have a very high opinion of journalists, and I don't think they really know what folks are talking about most of the time. The look to the audience for a cue, see wild applause and lots of it, and give McCain a good news cycle. And I think the McCain camp really believes they need it. (Pat Buchanan actually said this was his best showing of the campaign on MSNBC last night, which I agree with.)

So, it is mid-August, and McCain's campaign strategy seems to be 1) shoring up the base and 2) fighting the image that the candidate is Frankenstein.

Poll

252 votes Show Results

Morning after, advantage:

252 votes Vote Now!

Morning after, advantage:

Obama?

128 votes

McCain?

72 votes

Evangelicals?

29 votes

America!

23 votes

McCain's Misappropriation of Military Rank

humanadverb

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Thursday July 31, 2008 · 7:32 AM PDT

2008/07/31 · 07:32

Check out the star insignia for Rear Admiral, Lower Half. The star is, of course, repeated as insignia for all general and flag officers in all branches of the service.

Take a look at the star in McCain's campaign logo. Or a closer look.

McCain, of course, is not and was never an admiral, topping out with the rank of captain. (Captains get a little eagle.) His campaign website bio neglects to mention his rank at any point.

Is that ridiculously petty of me to point out?

People Love Batman because He Reminds them of Dear Leader

humanadverb

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Friday July 25, 2008 · 10:42 AM PDT

2008/07/25 · 10:42

Atrios just linked to a take on the politics of Dark Knight in the WSJ. This is pretty funny:

Why is it then that left-wingers feel free to make their films direct and realistic, whereas Hollywood conservatives have to put on a mask in order to speak what they know to be the truth? Why is it, indeed, that the conservative values that power our defense -- values like morality, faith, self-sacrifice and the nobility of fighting for the right -- only appear in fantasy or comic-inspired films like "300," "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia," "Spiderman 3" and now "The Dark Knight"?

I'll dispose of the strawman by pointing out that morality, failth, self-sacrifice and the nobility of fighting for the right are all enshrined in Al Gore's movie about those hard choices we need to make as a society. Moving beyond that...

Could it be that, in the real world, the swarming hoard of The Enemy are real people who have families, emotions, and feel pain. When the horrors and indignity of "whatever it takes" are inflicted on the real world counterparts of Tolkien's orcs, the moral outrage of right wing ideology becomes fully apparent?

humanadverb

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Wednesday July 09, 2008 · 12:20 PM PDT

2008/07/09 · 12:20

Fabian is coming.

The Note is carrying McCain camp noise that he's poised for a comback, complete with "the Bush/Arnold swagger" to carry him across that November finish line.

What strikes me as incredible is that the McCain camp, after convincing the media that Obama is saying stuff he didn't, still need to get a new media narrative going that allows them to regain some traction in the polls. At least, that is my read of it. Other opinions?

Meanwhile, Obama has been handed a perfect opportunity to reiterate his Iraqi withdrawal strategy (in line with public opinion) and general foreign policy (in line with public opinion as well), coincidentally bolstered by the Iraqi government asking us to leave and McCain putting his trust in Iranian smoking.

Who is poised for a bounce?

Taucher's (d, C-10) Facts are Wrong on FISA

humanadverb

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Friday June 20, 2008 · 9:39 AM PDT

2008/06/20 · 09:39

I just got off the phone with an intern from Ellen Taucher's office. I'm one of her constituents and I am concerned about retroactive immunity. (I'm against it.) The intern informed me that the congressman would be voting for the Hoyer bill.

What got me was my conversation with the intern. She had talking points from the office which said the telecoms are only in trouble because they claimed to have gotten a request from the president and they DIDN'T, which is the basis of the retroactive criteria laid out in the bill. I lectured the intern on 5th grade civics, and told her how disappointed I was.

The talking points are factually inaccurate. Find out WHY your congressmen are supporting this bill, and if anything resembling this argument comes up, inform them that you know better. "Supporting this bill is bad enough, but you are departing from the reality-based community on this one. That's a problem for Democcrats." And democrats.

humanadverb

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Sunday June 01, 2008 · 6:51 PM PDT

2008/06/01 · 18:51

I was shocked by the performance of Clinton-supporting RBC members yesterday. That hand-waiving gesture Harold Ickes employed at the end of the meeting, while accusing the party of hijacking democracy itself, was so contemptuous and undignified I couldn't believe it. I expected her supporters on the committee, who will continue to serve their own constituencies and have a roll in the party, would be voices of moderation and reconciliation. Many of them struck me as more angry, divisive, and willfully shrill than any of Clinton's own rhetoric.

I am increasingly convinced that this is less about the Clintons themselves than about the end of their circle's power in the party. Terry McAuliffe, James Carville, Harold Ford, Rahm Emanuel--they and their allies will have forever lost control of the party when Obama secures the nomination. There, we might have motivation for staging a passion play.

After yesterday, I have my doubts that these Democrats will stand in unity with our party in 2008 or ever again. Could our Blue Dog problem be on the verge of getting much worse? Could it turn into an exodus from the party?

humanadverb

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Wednesday May 28, 2008 · 8:01 AM PDT

2008/05/28 · 08:01

TPM is linking to a Boston Globe analysis of Obama's prospects for flipping six red states, except for Colorado all of them in the South or Deep South. The piece is interesting but weak, without getting into any polling data, and basically parallels a conversation I was having yesterday.

What this article leaves out that I was focused on in my own conversation yesterday: will Bob Barr shave enough Republican voters away to put states from Louisiana to Georgia (and up into Virginia) into play? The Boston Globe adds nothing of value by suggesting that a lot of these races will depend on high Democratic turnout and low Republican turnout, a prescription that delivers every state to Obama in sufficient doses. What impact will Barr have, though?

I'm sorry, I'm on my way to work and don't have time to do the research to add much to the conversation.

Does anyone else have any actual numbers on what Barr's impact may be?

Immigration v. Labor (abusers)

humanadverb

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Tuesday May 27, 2008 · 3:17 PM PDT

2008/05/27 · 15:17

I had an idea I wanted to share:

Employers use the easily exploitable community of illegal immigrants to flaunt labor laws, increasing their own efficiency through illegally substandard wages, benefits, and conditions. The government compliments the practice by hunting and deporting illegal immigrants, keeping the population powerless and vulnerable.

So, let's offer green cards (or fast-track immigration applications) for anyone who provides evidence or testimony supporting enforcement of labor law. By creating both an incentive for this group to report labor uses and a safety net for those who come forward, we can turn this exploitable and exploited population against crooked businessmen.

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Jonathan Tasini holds the line on EFCA on CNBC

Gingrich Revolution Redux, Found a new Party?

Israel as Rentier State

Requesting a Real Proposition 8 Petition

Saddleback: Morning After

McCain's Misappropriation of Military Rank

People Love Batman because He Reminds them of Dear Leader

The McCain Comeback...

Taucher's (d, C-10) Facts are Wrong on FISA

"Moderate" Democrats' Exodus?

Does Barr put the South in Play?

Immigration v. Labor (abusers)