The post below was a celebration of IDS'15th anniversary and a thank you to all the human rights activists who have donated their time and ideas generously over the years. It also carried my thoughts on my 60th birthday. Since it was written on another computer, I guess it got scrambled by the National Security Agency. The long and short of it is that I now should be called by the Swahili honorific Mzee. So from now on , Mzee McColm if you please. No more Senor Bruce.
A follow-up note about Karl Rove's appearance at Oberlin. Rove has very strict clauses in his speaking contracts that any who might disrupt his speeches must be removed or he personally will leave and you have to pay. So one person sought to make a citizens' arrest and was himself arrested. Protestors were disrupted beforehand based not on the First Amendment but Karl's contract. He basically forces his host to break the law. Anyone remember what used to happen if someone in a George W. Bush audience asked him a hostile question, even politely. They were bodily removed and arrested. That's Karl's signature.
I was planning to attend the One Nation Rally at the Lincoln Memorial this Saturday at noon. But, should I? Glenn Beck has gone all chalkboard on this one showing that the organizers are all devotees of V.I. Lenin and want to takeover America for Marxism. Since Organizing for America is urging people to attend, Beck wants Obama to denounce socialism and Marxism once and for all. Apparently, Beck didn't hear President Obama in his Wisconsin speak address this criticism of his policies. I haven't been accused of being a Marxist or Socialist for decades so to bring things full circle I'm going and hope everyone who is able can.
But there is an alternative for this year's mid-terms. The nation has a chance to vote for a unique type of candidate this year--the thoroughly criminal. Forget that corporations are pouring anonymous millions into front organizations, forget that the Koch Brothers are trying to buy whole states, including California, forget that the GOP now has a 6-1 funding advantage in terms of advertising. This is your chance to vote for a criminal. And they are everywhere. The criminal profile allows a certain authenticity, a roughness that shows the person isn't a slick politician. With teabagger types, the public can sympathize with their financial difficulties because they are just like you and I, except we would be in jail. We have the run-of-the-mill grifter type like Christine O'Donnell and Joe Miller. We have the Northeast quasi-mobster like Carl Paladino and we have the amazing corporate criminal type like Florida's Rich Scott. The array this year is truly amazing.
Carl Paladino has made Youtube fame with his beef with New York Post veteran, Albany editor Fred Dicker, where he threatens to take Fred out. Fred may have been out of bounds because he went to interview Paladino's "love child", whom Paladino openly accepts and even campaigns with. Paladino has a superstar staff. One senior official is a woman who was forced to quick her government job because she was siphoning off public funds to private businesses. Another was Michael Boomberg's manager for a $1,000,000 GOTV effort the first election and just walked off and bought a house with the money. Another just got out of prison for a DUI accident. But Carl is going to "clean up Albany". Carl received notoriety with his racist e-mails photoshopping President Obama as a pimp and First Lady Michelle Obama as his prostitute. But his more egregious e-mails were discovered by reporters in Buffalo--hard core porn streams to business colleagues and political cronies.
Rick Scott in Florida is also one for the record books. When he beat Bill McCollum in the Republican primary, Bill would not endorse him, saying "I don't know why he isn't in jail." Scott, the CEO of a hospital chain, had to be removed--of course with about a $20 million golden parachute--after federal authorities caught his company in the largest Medicare fraud case in history. The company was forced to pay over $1.1 billion in fines for the crime. But, the kicker is that the criminal part of the case continued all the way until about one month before the elections. Scott in secret testimony is alleged to have invoked the 5th Amendment over 100 times. Then the man has the chutzpah to declare his candidacy for Governor a few weeks later.
Ron Johnson, who is against all government subsidies for business except for his own, testified in Wisconsin against a bipartisan child abuse bill, which would have extended the statute of limitations on pedophilia. He testified as a business man and community leader concerned that law suits would put constraints on many good organizations. Missing was that he was sitting on the Catholic Diocese Board, which was concerned with a rash of cases emerging against priests involved in child abuse. Apparently, this did not involve just one priest, who eventually went to jail, but a bunch through the Green Bay Diocese. He's running against Russ Feingold as the non-politician.
Joe Miller from Alaska first started his grifter act in Kansas where he received farm subsidies. Then he moved to Alaska and applied and received hunting and fishing licenses for the indigent. These are meant for people who must fish and hunt for their daily food and might be excluded because of the limited number of regular licenses. Joe at the time was a lawyer making $70,000 a year. Joe is mandated by law to file with the Federal Elections Commission a statement of his personal income or face upwards of $70,000 in fines. He was supposed to have done this last year but so far he hasn't. Joe also wants to eliminate Social Security. His father survives on Social Security. But you can say Joe knows how to game the system. I personally think he doesn't believe a word he says.
Christine O'Connell makes my own higher education look pretty bad. She's amazing--she has a master's from Princeton, went to Oxford and studied constitutional law at Claremont. And this was all before she even received her B.A. a few weeks ago. I wonder if she's for Sharia Law. Unfortunately, all said institutions issued strong denials of her educational prowess. Apparently she went to none of the above except Farleigh Dickinson. But this makes her more authentic--we all want such an education but we can't afford it. So just make it up. Apparently, she also made up a multi-year law suit on sex discrimination against a conservative organization. This eventually got John Fund to condemn her for lying to him. But John had no problem with her using campaign funds to pay her rent, her mother, her bowling games and her personal gas. "I have no problem with that," John said, invoking the new high standards of conservatives. Now, Christine's own pseudo-Christian non-profit is in jeipardy of losing its legal status because it failed to submit the usual legal papers to the state--and that's a very lax state. But remember Glenn Beck says Chris Coons, the Democrat, is a Marxist.
Meg Whitman has joined the criminal class--probably years before. At her losin debate effort against Jerry Brown, she opined that the law should crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. The next morning her former housekeeper filed suit for damages saying that Queen Meg knew she was illegal for over nine years. Whitman fired her just before she announced she was running for Governor. This all has made the Whitman campaign go Glub,Glub, Glub.
Sharron Angle, who already has made record books for her John Birch views, wants to eliminate government healthcare programs. One slight problem, she is covered by her husband's healthcare plan he got as a government employee. In fact Sharron's main source of income is her husband's goverment pension. Also her father gets both Medicare and VA benefits.
Rand Paul with his bogus medical credentials had a little problem at Dairy Queen the other day. He was supposed to answer questions from local voters but was startled when he saw they were local union guys. He bolted to the car and refused to answer questions. What they wanted to know was how he could suggest a $2,000 deduction for Medicare, when everyone in that neck of the words depended on social security and Medicare.
The avoid questions m.o. makes sense. If you only have to report to the major corporations, why should you have to answer questions from a bunch of voters or , worse, journalists. This is the beauty of the Roberts Court decision on Citizens United. You don't have to disclose the source of your donations and you really don't have to campaign. Just buy alot of air time and make up all your credentials. Want to go to Oxford or Cambridge. Why not? The corporations don't really care what you say. There is a beauty to this.
David Plouffe was on NPR today explaining the real stakes in this election. He did a superb job. But I think the Obama people are making a mistake about Republicans wanting to turn back the clock to the last administration. They want to turn the clock back to the 1890s.
Read another analysis of the House races by a NYU poli sci professor who ran all his computer scenarios and came up with the Democrats keeping the House.
The polling data shows that all the races except in the headline contests in California are tightening up. That good news for Democrats in some places and bad news elsewhere. The Senate will be touch and go throughout the evening.
I am mortified that I got one question wrong on the Pew Survey on Religion. Top scorers were atheists, agnostics, Jews, Mormons, mainstream protestants, then the less knowledgeable evangelicals and Catholics. Catholics were the least savvy in terms of the quiz, even getting their own doctrines wrong. This survey drew all sorts of dismay from pundits. But as someone this morning wrote--the Surveys shows that Americans are more knowledgeable about religion than history or science. Scary.
My wife's note on my birthday card was that she was amazed that she has known me since the age of 21. I find it incredible also but then we are really people of Traditional Family Values instead of the phonies who don't know their own religion.
For the record, I may embrace my inner Teabagger and declare that I am Dr. R. Bruce McColm, expert in Neuroscience. I always liked neuroscience and believe it will yield amazing discoveries in the near future. So why not get ahead of the curve. If Glenn Beck can be a Doctor of Humanities and he lacks all semblence to the humane, why not.
Showing posts with label Christine O'Donnell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christine O'Donnell. Show all posts
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Unfinished Business
DADT--Despite Lady Gaga's valiant effort in Portland, Maine, it looks like the GOP will filibuster the entire Defense Appropriations bill to block the repeal of the gay ban. Leading the charge will be Country Last John McCain, who had said during the presidential campaign he would drop DADT if the military agreed--which, with the except of the new Marine Corps commander, they have. The situation is rich in ironies. The allegedly strong defenders of national security would basically de-fund both wars over an issue the federal court has already ruled unconstitutional and the House has already passed its repeal. Then again, with the momentary blip in the Washington media about how friendly to gays the GOP has become, it has to be noted that the court case, which finally doomed DADT, was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, who are honoring Senator John Cornyn of Texas with their Barry Goldwater Award.
In the end, Barack Obama may have to do a Harry Truman and revoke DADT through executive order as Truman did with racial discrimination in the military.
The Prop 8 Case. Here the the poor 9th Circuit Court is rummaging around for anyone with standing to defend Prop 8 after Vaughn Walker ruled it unconstitutional. Rumors have one town in California trying to recruit a religious Right group to argue the case. Frankly, I don't know whether that would pass the smell test of "having standing."
Sharia Law--Eugene Robinson did an excellent job in blasting Newt Gingrich's speech at AEI, where Leroy raised the new Red Scare of a leftwing conspiracy to get Sharia Law accepted in the United States. In defense of Leroy McPherson, he was coming off a chest-pounding speech at the Value-Less Summit, where the grifters of the religious right eat this up. But Gene put this away in today's column with a calm, eloquence. There existed only one case in recent memory in America where a local judge sided with a Muslim husband over the issue of forced sex with his wife. But on appeal this ruling was over-turned. That is the extent of the threat to America. It's sort of like "terror babies" or "death panels".
Roger Cohen also had an excellent op-ed in today's Washington Post, which simply says that given the GOP candidates this year Republicans are simply not fit to govern. Full stop. You don't need to read the piece.
If you sense that Democrats seem to be a nicer breed of candidate and grounded in reality, you might want to thank Howard Dean's work as DNC chair when he created the 50-state strategy, which believed that no seat was unwinnable. Last night, Howard Dean appeared on the Rachel Maddow show and said calmly that the Democrats would keep both the Senate and the House. He said that President Obama was key and has to keep on the campaign trail. He went on to say that what we are seeing now are the last gasps of the extreme right. He said that the younger American is not homophobic, racist or anti-immigrant and that they will be around in 2012. While you can write off Dean's comments as a good soldier for the party, I was surprised by his calm assurance. He claimed the reason for holding both the House and the Senate was that the Democrats had better candidates and that the average American still knows who got them in the mess.
For a counter opinion, Michael Gerson writes today that the Republican tide is growing as for example the bad fate of Democrat Ellsworth in Indiana and sinking polls in Pennsylvania. Frankly, I'm reading very different polls from Pennsylvania, which actually show the Democrats having a shot at the state house, which I had written off, and winning swing seats, which Republicans need to win to capture the House.
Howard Dean mentioned something else. He said that the Health Reform Bill puts Republicans in a bind. For example, they must tell their base they will repeal. But on Thursday, key provisions of Healthcare kick in--no more rescissions, no more lifetime caps on payouts, no more prohibiting insuring children with pre-existing conditions, and parents can keep covering their children until 26. If President Obama spells out these changes in everyday language, the pressure tightens the bind on the GOP. Howard is right on this.
The Washington Post wrote a front page piece today on how the Tea Party was now a movement raising millions and going to field get out the vote efforts. I even received a call from the DNC about this. The actual problem appears to be a massive effort by the Tea Party and the GOP at voter suppression. This has become clear in Wisconsin, for example. There the Tea Party wants to act as election monitors and challenge voters. Because of the nature of state laws, the GOP and the Tea Party people can actually challenge voters who mail in votes,etc. This is a tactic called "caging voters" and preventing their votes to be counted. As to real Get Out The Vote efforts, it is true the religious Right and the Tea Baggers have purchased very expensive IT systems but their problem is that their average constituent is over 55 and appears at this time to be severely limited technically. In other words, it looks like a very expensive waste of money. Also, the Tea Baggers were to hold a national convention in Las Vegas, but had to cancel.
I get the sense the Nate Silver is pondering his predictions this morning with his comments on recent polls coming from swing seats, which show Democrats in comfortable leads. He is raising questions about how useful the generic vote polling is to determining the final election. He appears to be watching some of the polling I have been watching. For example, there are a handful of House seats in New York,where the constituency is historically Republican but which in 2008 went Democrat. They appear to be staying that way for now. Likewise, three seats in Iowa show Democrats holding them, when the mood in the state has tilted Republican. Chris Van Hollen continues to release internal polls on so-called contested House races, which show Democrats with surprising strength. That 43 number looks very daunting from a Republican perspective. Yesterday's Gallup poll shows Democrats with a 1% edge on Republicans in the generic poll. Normally not great news, this marks another indicator that the Democratic Party may be coming out its summer slump.
If you want to follow Christine O'Donnell's silliness, I recommend Think Progress' piece "The Old Adventures of New Christine", which documents her obsession with sex, gays, God, religion and popular culture. To her credit, she knows that Sarah Palin become a millionaire grifter by advocating these nutty things so she really has made a great career move. However, the recent poll on the Delaware race puts Coons in a commanding position and shows that only 33% of those in the state believe she is qualified for public office.
Barbara Boxer appears to be following her past pattern--bad polling in the beginning of the campaign and widening the distance at the end. She has hit 50% against Carly Fiorina. However, Governor Moonbeam has been running a below the radar campaign. I guess he figures that Meg Whitman's incessant ads will turn everyone off in the end. Queen Meg has obtained the Guinness Book of Records for personal spending on her campaign--surpassing the $120 million mark.
Republicans will be releasing their new Contract with America on Thursday, the same distance from election as their 1994 effort. So far, it's unclear how they are going to deal with the whole tax and deficit issue. President Obama in the last few days has hammered how irresponsible keeping these tax cuts are. Vast majority of Americans in poll after poll after poll agree with the President and are against the tax cuts for the rich. And how are the Republicans going to reconcile their repeal of Healthcare with their "pretend" concern with the national debt. Any tinkering with the Healthcare issue will vastly increase the national debt as several CBO reports maintain.
Then we come back to the social conservatives and the Religious Right. Rachel Maddow did a good service by pointing out that the tea baggers are almost all culture warriors being absolutist against women's choice, anti-gay, against immigrants and anti-anything but Christians. On real economic and political issues, they basically subsume corporate agendas and whatever the Koch brothers funnel to their front organizations. But they simply don't believe any of these things. Their real goal is parallel with the ambitions of the Religious Right. Even Rand Paul, Mr. Libertarian, has been campaigning hard among the Christian Right as opposed to his real anti-government constituency. Since the Christian Right were allowed under Bush-Rove to gain a strangehold on the Republican Party,it is inconceivable for me to believe they can abandon their base. In fact, there has been backlash against Mitch Daniels and others suggesting the GOP abandon these issues in a time of economic hardship.
Ann Coulter was right when she criticized Tan Man Boehner for claiming earlier this summer how large a Republican victory would be, saying that anything less would be considered a loss. I agree. The media narrative has been set--this is a tsunami election and if the Republicans don't win then heads should roll. In fact, people are aleady starting this mantra among House Republicans, who view Boehner as lazy and someone who should not allowed to speak after 3pm.
I'm currentlyagnostic about how much the media really affects our elections. I didn't believe they did in 2008 and I'm beginnning to believe we are going to see the same non-effect this year. One dirty secret among the networks is that all of them were in terrible financial shape until the 2008 primaries and the elections generated revenues to keep them afloat. So they stayed with their winning formula. Then CNN tried to poach the FOX audience by hiring more conservative types to report on politics. This hasn't quite played out as well for them. But it's all business. Unfortunately, I believe they have played an unhealthy role in giving the Teabaggers the media attention they so desire. These people are American Idol wannabes. Politics is nothing but television anyway.
In the end, this year's election comes down to the rational reality-based candidate against the paranoids,psychopaths, meglomaniacs. Forget liberal or conservative. The conservatives vanished into the swamp of lunacy.
Finally, if you are concerned about the deficit, then let's have all the tax breaks expire. This morning's Washington Post shows that if they did expire, our deficit would essentially evaporate.
In the end, Barack Obama may have to do a Harry Truman and revoke DADT through executive order as Truman did with racial discrimination in the military.
The Prop 8 Case. Here the the poor 9th Circuit Court is rummaging around for anyone with standing to defend Prop 8 after Vaughn Walker ruled it unconstitutional. Rumors have one town in California trying to recruit a religious Right group to argue the case. Frankly, I don't know whether that would pass the smell test of "having standing."
Sharia Law--Eugene Robinson did an excellent job in blasting Newt Gingrich's speech at AEI, where Leroy raised the new Red Scare of a leftwing conspiracy to get Sharia Law accepted in the United States. In defense of Leroy McPherson, he was coming off a chest-pounding speech at the Value-Less Summit, where the grifters of the religious right eat this up. But Gene put this away in today's column with a calm, eloquence. There existed only one case in recent memory in America where a local judge sided with a Muslim husband over the issue of forced sex with his wife. But on appeal this ruling was over-turned. That is the extent of the threat to America. It's sort of like "terror babies" or "death panels".
Roger Cohen also had an excellent op-ed in today's Washington Post, which simply says that given the GOP candidates this year Republicans are simply not fit to govern. Full stop. You don't need to read the piece.
If you sense that Democrats seem to be a nicer breed of candidate and grounded in reality, you might want to thank Howard Dean's work as DNC chair when he created the 50-state strategy, which believed that no seat was unwinnable. Last night, Howard Dean appeared on the Rachel Maddow show and said calmly that the Democrats would keep both the Senate and the House. He said that President Obama was key and has to keep on the campaign trail. He went on to say that what we are seeing now are the last gasps of the extreme right. He said that the younger American is not homophobic, racist or anti-immigrant and that they will be around in 2012. While you can write off Dean's comments as a good soldier for the party, I was surprised by his calm assurance. He claimed the reason for holding both the House and the Senate was that the Democrats had better candidates and that the average American still knows who got them in the mess.
For a counter opinion, Michael Gerson writes today that the Republican tide is growing as for example the bad fate of Democrat Ellsworth in Indiana and sinking polls in Pennsylvania. Frankly, I'm reading very different polls from Pennsylvania, which actually show the Democrats having a shot at the state house, which I had written off, and winning swing seats, which Republicans need to win to capture the House.
Howard Dean mentioned something else. He said that the Health Reform Bill puts Republicans in a bind. For example, they must tell their base they will repeal. But on Thursday, key provisions of Healthcare kick in--no more rescissions, no more lifetime caps on payouts, no more prohibiting insuring children with pre-existing conditions, and parents can keep covering their children until 26. If President Obama spells out these changes in everyday language, the pressure tightens the bind on the GOP. Howard is right on this.
The Washington Post wrote a front page piece today on how the Tea Party was now a movement raising millions and going to field get out the vote efforts. I even received a call from the DNC about this. The actual problem appears to be a massive effort by the Tea Party and the GOP at voter suppression. This has become clear in Wisconsin, for example. There the Tea Party wants to act as election monitors and challenge voters. Because of the nature of state laws, the GOP and the Tea Party people can actually challenge voters who mail in votes,etc. This is a tactic called "caging voters" and preventing their votes to be counted. As to real Get Out The Vote efforts, it is true the religious Right and the Tea Baggers have purchased very expensive IT systems but their problem is that their average constituent is over 55 and appears at this time to be severely limited technically. In other words, it looks like a very expensive waste of money. Also, the Tea Baggers were to hold a national convention in Las Vegas, but had to cancel.
I get the sense the Nate Silver is pondering his predictions this morning with his comments on recent polls coming from swing seats, which show Democrats in comfortable leads. He is raising questions about how useful the generic vote polling is to determining the final election. He appears to be watching some of the polling I have been watching. For example, there are a handful of House seats in New York,where the constituency is historically Republican but which in 2008 went Democrat. They appear to be staying that way for now. Likewise, three seats in Iowa show Democrats holding them, when the mood in the state has tilted Republican. Chris Van Hollen continues to release internal polls on so-called contested House races, which show Democrats with surprising strength. That 43 number looks very daunting from a Republican perspective. Yesterday's Gallup poll shows Democrats with a 1% edge on Republicans in the generic poll. Normally not great news, this marks another indicator that the Democratic Party may be coming out its summer slump.
If you want to follow Christine O'Donnell's silliness, I recommend Think Progress' piece "The Old Adventures of New Christine", which documents her obsession with sex, gays, God, religion and popular culture. To her credit, she knows that Sarah Palin become a millionaire grifter by advocating these nutty things so she really has made a great career move. However, the recent poll on the Delaware race puts Coons in a commanding position and shows that only 33% of those in the state believe she is qualified for public office.
Barbara Boxer appears to be following her past pattern--bad polling in the beginning of the campaign and widening the distance at the end. She has hit 50% against Carly Fiorina. However, Governor Moonbeam has been running a below the radar campaign. I guess he figures that Meg Whitman's incessant ads will turn everyone off in the end. Queen Meg has obtained the Guinness Book of Records for personal spending on her campaign--surpassing the $120 million mark.
Republicans will be releasing their new Contract with America on Thursday, the same distance from election as their 1994 effort. So far, it's unclear how they are going to deal with the whole tax and deficit issue. President Obama in the last few days has hammered how irresponsible keeping these tax cuts are. Vast majority of Americans in poll after poll after poll agree with the President and are against the tax cuts for the rich. And how are the Republicans going to reconcile their repeal of Healthcare with their "pretend" concern with the national debt. Any tinkering with the Healthcare issue will vastly increase the national debt as several CBO reports maintain.
Then we come back to the social conservatives and the Religious Right. Rachel Maddow did a good service by pointing out that the tea baggers are almost all culture warriors being absolutist against women's choice, anti-gay, against immigrants and anti-anything but Christians. On real economic and political issues, they basically subsume corporate agendas and whatever the Koch brothers funnel to their front organizations. But they simply don't believe any of these things. Their real goal is parallel with the ambitions of the Religious Right. Even Rand Paul, Mr. Libertarian, has been campaigning hard among the Christian Right as opposed to his real anti-government constituency. Since the Christian Right were allowed under Bush-Rove to gain a strangehold on the Republican Party,it is inconceivable for me to believe they can abandon their base. In fact, there has been backlash against Mitch Daniels and others suggesting the GOP abandon these issues in a time of economic hardship.
Ann Coulter was right when she criticized Tan Man Boehner for claiming earlier this summer how large a Republican victory would be, saying that anything less would be considered a loss. I agree. The media narrative has been set--this is a tsunami election and if the Republicans don't win then heads should roll. In fact, people are aleady starting this mantra among House Republicans, who view Boehner as lazy and someone who should not allowed to speak after 3pm.
I'm currentlyagnostic about how much the media really affects our elections. I didn't believe they did in 2008 and I'm beginnning to believe we are going to see the same non-effect this year. One dirty secret among the networks is that all of them were in terrible financial shape until the 2008 primaries and the elections generated revenues to keep them afloat. So they stayed with their winning formula. Then CNN tried to poach the FOX audience by hiring more conservative types to report on politics. This hasn't quite played out as well for them. But it's all business. Unfortunately, I believe they have played an unhealthy role in giving the Teabaggers the media attention they so desire. These people are American Idol wannabes. Politics is nothing but television anyway.
In the end, this year's election comes down to the rational reality-based candidate against the paranoids,psychopaths, meglomaniacs. Forget liberal or conservative. The conservatives vanished into the swamp of lunacy.
Finally, if you are concerned about the deficit, then let's have all the tax breaks expire. This morning's Washington Post shows that if they did expire, our deficit would essentially evaporate.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Back from Away
Only two hours away from the United States and America looked ridiculous. From abroad, we look like a bad reality show with the sans culottes running around. Tea parties are for little girls with imaginary friends. Apparenty, there seem to be alot around. The victory of Christine O'Donnell in Delware is like randomly picking a neighbor to be a nominee for the U.S. Senate. Imagine my surprise when from afar I saw Karl Rove actually accuse a Republican of waging a dirty campaign. After all he is the architect. But he soon came back to support her. The question is whether her victory will solidify the larger story of the Republican Party simply going mad.
I came back to E.J. Dionne wakening from a deep sleep to discover moderates are gone from the Republican Party, something anyone breathing could tell you after the last 18 months. Olympia Snowe, who was a long-time friend of Mike Castle from their days in the House, lamented the diminishing number of moderate conservatives left in both chambers. In her home state of Maine, where she won re-election with over 70% of the vote, the tea baggers have taken over the Republican Party and now 68% of them want a more conservative nominee than Snowe the next time around. The role of Senator deMint in fostering runs against incumbent Republicans is beginning to tick Republicans off. Charles Cook, who had predicted a Republican takeover of both houses of Congress has backed off, saying that the O'Donnell win ends the GOP's chances for a victory in the Senate.
How bad is Christine O'Donnell? Besides the various appearances on Bill Maher's comedy shows, she has been sued by a Farleigh Dickinson University for failure to pay outstanding debts, she accepted a graduate scholarship at Claremont even though she didn't graduate from college until this year, and she paid her rent and personal expenses from campaign funds from the last campaign against Joe Biden. She says she is being followed everywhere and must check her bushes. She keeps her home residence private because bill collectors are after her. And she hasn't had a real job in years. She sounds like Allan Keyes without the minimal qualifications.
She must be bad news. The night she beat Mike Castle, his campaign manager walked across the street to the Coons headquarters and picked up lawn signs for Coons. Christine O'Donnell also has imaginary friends--she claims to have been backed by a Catholic group that simply doesn't exist.
What observers have not mentioned about the five tea bagger candidates for the Senate is that all of them are extreme Christian right-wingers, even Marco Rubio in Florida, who is more of an opportunist. Christine O'Donnell is the most visible extreme Christian after Christian reconstructionist Sharron Angle. Joining Ken Buck, they are absolutists against abortion, even though they proclaim to be small government conservatives. Throw in Mike Lee from Utah and Joe Miller from Alaska and you have candidates that have no ideas about the economy whatsoever.
Another characteristic is that almost all, with the exception of Rubio, avoid debates and the press. This is a deliberate strategy because they want to avoid expsoure to the average voter. Joe Miller on Fox News was a astonishing in his economic illiteracy. He claims unemployment insurance is unconstitutional--something the Supreme Court has actually ruled on. And he claims we are going to face almost $140 trillion in a national debt in a short time--that's ten times the amount we have now. He wants to end Social Security and Medicare. This seems to be a tea bagger perennial.
A Canadian said to me that these people don't care, they've given up. In a way, he is right. They have given up on self-government. That's why there are no standards by which they observe. Lisa Murkowski commented how the tea baggers pumped $600,000 into Alaska to run a campiagn against her totally based on lies. If you check comments out of Ms. O'Donnell's mouth you'll also notice that she is a habitual liar. The same applies to Sharron Angle and the other tea baggers. In their worldview, this simply doesn't matter.
SO AFTER A WEEK, how do the mid-terms look? Nate the Great still has the Republicans taking the house by 223 to 211 but he has blinked somewhat upping the odds of the Democrats retaining control to 37%. The Republicans are now campaigning on de-funding everything that passed in the last Congress--which ups the stakes for Democrats. And if you care about the national debt, keeping the Bush tax cuts for the rich will add another 3.8trillion to the national debt. Interestingly, all the teabaggers are for keeping the tax cuts for the wealthy. Paul Krugman had a wonderful op-ed about the selfish rich today.
But what still makes me hesitate is the massive unpopularity of the Republicans as compared to the 1994 wave election. For example, a CBS/NYTimes poll conducted September 15 has Republican approval at 20%. In a Washington Post poll on who deserves to be re-elected, Democrats top Republicans 34 to 31%. But what is most astonishing is that the GOP net favorable is now a negative 25, which means they have fallen by three times since July. And now President Obama is in the campaign mode and Organizing For America has ramped up their operations even more since I left. Remember President Obama has about a 48% approval rating, while campaigning against people with a 20% approval rating. The AFL-CIO just sent out their largest mailing in years to solidfy the Democratic base. Even though there is little more than 40 days left to the election, I think only a small percentage of Obama surge voters can turn the tide. I also have noticed that even the disgruntled Left is getting its act together because they understand the stakes.
President Obama did himself and the rest of us a service by appointing Elizabeth Warren special adviser with the task of creating the new Consumer Protection Agency. But I have a question? What in Elizabeth Warren's speeches make her a "progressive"? I know she appeared at Netroots Nation and frequently on the Rachel Maddow Show. But when is defending the middle class the sole property of "progressives"? The whining from the Republicans about her should tell you how far that party has grown away from the middle class. But nothing Elizabeth Warren has said or written is anything but clear-headed and commonsensical. I read in the Washington Post that her appointment was popular but polarizing. After watching countless interviews and Youtubes of her lectures, I can not think of a less polarizing figure. I think any fair-minded person would see her as a straight-talking person of intelligence and commonsense. Already we have the Wall Street Journal raising doubts about whether she can really create the Consumer Protection Agency because of legal restrictions and other hoo-haa. This reminds me of the constant challenge on anything President Obama does.
For election junkies, Steve Singiser had an interesting post at the Daily Kos "Likely Voters, Unlikely Voters" about the accuracy of polls based on registered voters versus those of likely voters. The conventional wisdom is that likely voter polls favor Republicans, particularly in low-turn out mid-terms. But what Singiser's analysis shows is that likely voter polls generally favor the front-runner. But at the end of the day, his analysis of polls from 2006 and 2008 indicate that polls based on registered voters won 32, polls on likely voters 21 and three were ties. For a full analysis, his post is worth reading because it's conclusion is counter-intuitive to how ,at least, I've been taught to think.
And file this away--I just came across my notes on Hans-Herman Hoppe, who is a favorite of libertarians. When thinking of the tea-baggers, remember Hoppe advocated something called "anarcho-fascism". He wrote "Democracy: the God That Failed". Through in a dab of Christian theocracy and you basically have tea-baggism.
I came back to E.J. Dionne wakening from a deep sleep to discover moderates are gone from the Republican Party, something anyone breathing could tell you after the last 18 months. Olympia Snowe, who was a long-time friend of Mike Castle from their days in the House, lamented the diminishing number of moderate conservatives left in both chambers. In her home state of Maine, where she won re-election with over 70% of the vote, the tea baggers have taken over the Republican Party and now 68% of them want a more conservative nominee than Snowe the next time around. The role of Senator deMint in fostering runs against incumbent Republicans is beginning to tick Republicans off. Charles Cook, who had predicted a Republican takeover of both houses of Congress has backed off, saying that the O'Donnell win ends the GOP's chances for a victory in the Senate.
How bad is Christine O'Donnell? Besides the various appearances on Bill Maher's comedy shows, she has been sued by a Farleigh Dickinson University for failure to pay outstanding debts, she accepted a graduate scholarship at Claremont even though she didn't graduate from college until this year, and she paid her rent and personal expenses from campaign funds from the last campaign against Joe Biden. She says she is being followed everywhere and must check her bushes. She keeps her home residence private because bill collectors are after her. And she hasn't had a real job in years. She sounds like Allan Keyes without the minimal qualifications.
She must be bad news. The night she beat Mike Castle, his campaign manager walked across the street to the Coons headquarters and picked up lawn signs for Coons. Christine O'Donnell also has imaginary friends--she claims to have been backed by a Catholic group that simply doesn't exist.
What observers have not mentioned about the five tea bagger candidates for the Senate is that all of them are extreme Christian right-wingers, even Marco Rubio in Florida, who is more of an opportunist. Christine O'Donnell is the most visible extreme Christian after Christian reconstructionist Sharron Angle. Joining Ken Buck, they are absolutists against abortion, even though they proclaim to be small government conservatives. Throw in Mike Lee from Utah and Joe Miller from Alaska and you have candidates that have no ideas about the economy whatsoever.
Another characteristic is that almost all, with the exception of Rubio, avoid debates and the press. This is a deliberate strategy because they want to avoid expsoure to the average voter. Joe Miller on Fox News was a astonishing in his economic illiteracy. He claims unemployment insurance is unconstitutional--something the Supreme Court has actually ruled on. And he claims we are going to face almost $140 trillion in a national debt in a short time--that's ten times the amount we have now. He wants to end Social Security and Medicare. This seems to be a tea bagger perennial.
A Canadian said to me that these people don't care, they've given up. In a way, he is right. They have given up on self-government. That's why there are no standards by which they observe. Lisa Murkowski commented how the tea baggers pumped $600,000 into Alaska to run a campiagn against her totally based on lies. If you check comments out of Ms. O'Donnell's mouth you'll also notice that she is a habitual liar. The same applies to Sharron Angle and the other tea baggers. In their worldview, this simply doesn't matter.
SO AFTER A WEEK, how do the mid-terms look? Nate the Great still has the Republicans taking the house by 223 to 211 but he has blinked somewhat upping the odds of the Democrats retaining control to 37%. The Republicans are now campaigning on de-funding everything that passed in the last Congress--which ups the stakes for Democrats. And if you care about the national debt, keeping the Bush tax cuts for the rich will add another 3.8trillion to the national debt. Interestingly, all the teabaggers are for keeping the tax cuts for the wealthy. Paul Krugman had a wonderful op-ed about the selfish rich today.
But what still makes me hesitate is the massive unpopularity of the Republicans as compared to the 1994 wave election. For example, a CBS/NYTimes poll conducted September 15 has Republican approval at 20%. In a Washington Post poll on who deserves to be re-elected, Democrats top Republicans 34 to 31%. But what is most astonishing is that the GOP net favorable is now a negative 25, which means they have fallen by three times since July. And now President Obama is in the campaign mode and Organizing For America has ramped up their operations even more since I left. Remember President Obama has about a 48% approval rating, while campaigning against people with a 20% approval rating. The AFL-CIO just sent out their largest mailing in years to solidfy the Democratic base. Even though there is little more than 40 days left to the election, I think only a small percentage of Obama surge voters can turn the tide. I also have noticed that even the disgruntled Left is getting its act together because they understand the stakes.
President Obama did himself and the rest of us a service by appointing Elizabeth Warren special adviser with the task of creating the new Consumer Protection Agency. But I have a question? What in Elizabeth Warren's speeches make her a "progressive"? I know she appeared at Netroots Nation and frequently on the Rachel Maddow Show. But when is defending the middle class the sole property of "progressives"? The whining from the Republicans about her should tell you how far that party has grown away from the middle class. But nothing Elizabeth Warren has said or written is anything but clear-headed and commonsensical. I read in the Washington Post that her appointment was popular but polarizing. After watching countless interviews and Youtubes of her lectures, I can not think of a less polarizing figure. I think any fair-minded person would see her as a straight-talking person of intelligence and commonsense. Already we have the Wall Street Journal raising doubts about whether she can really create the Consumer Protection Agency because of legal restrictions and other hoo-haa. This reminds me of the constant challenge on anything President Obama does.
For election junkies, Steve Singiser had an interesting post at the Daily Kos "Likely Voters, Unlikely Voters" about the accuracy of polls based on registered voters versus those of likely voters. The conventional wisdom is that likely voter polls favor Republicans, particularly in low-turn out mid-terms. But what Singiser's analysis shows is that likely voter polls generally favor the front-runner. But at the end of the day, his analysis of polls from 2006 and 2008 indicate that polls based on registered voters won 32, polls on likely voters 21 and three were ties. For a full analysis, his post is worth reading because it's conclusion is counter-intuitive to how ,at least, I've been taught to think.
And file this away--I just came across my notes on Hans-Herman Hoppe, who is a favorite of libertarians. When thinking of the tea-baggers, remember Hoppe advocated something called "anarcho-fascism". He wrote "Democracy: the God That Failed". Through in a dab of Christian theocracy and you basically have tea-baggism.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday Wrap-Up
Nate the Great Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com has finally delivered his House predictions. He puts the odds at 2 out of 3 for Republicans to take back the House. Feeding all the polls, money factors and other odds and ends in his kitchen sink, he comes out with probable gains of between 45 and 50 seats, slightly less than 1994. But remember this is the first time out for his House picks.
I have read two more studies of computer runs that came out identical --the GOP taking the House by one seat. That would be a 40 seat pick-up. Then with about a dozen ethics cases breaking against the GOP, within moments everything would be up in the air again.
Meanwhile, Byron York writing in the Washington Examiner quotes several off-the-record Republicans skeptical about the tidal wave election. Only Vin Weber came forth to be quoted directly. The view was that the intensity gap would start to close as traditional Democratic base groups like Labor ramp up their efforts and Democrats will come back to the fold. Weber also points out the managerial mess at the RNC and the lack of organizational structure in the Republican efforts. Robert Craemer also wrote an article pointing out the same thing that the Democrats at this point have huge cash advantages and better organization. Like Weber, he pointed to the difference with 1994 in that Republicans have a worse approval rating by far than the Democrats and that all their allies like Big Business, the Health Insurance industry, and Banks have far worse approval ratings than even the GOP.
Meanwhile on the campaign trail, Democrats are showing they are holding their own in Swing States. Eastman in Ohio now has edged Rob Portman in the Ohio Senate race; Boxer again leads Fiorina, Marco Rubio only holds a few point lead over Crist, and Democrats are out in front in House seats, which everyone has predicted as goners. In my opinion, there seems to be some solidifying in the Democratic position. However, on the overall House front, it's hard to tell.
Always remember Nate the Great's predictions are his first cut and he keeps updating the model as we come closer to the election. On another front, several pollsters are pointing to the GOP taking 27 state houses and not 30 as Nate predicts.
In any event, aren't you glad Obama got most of the big stuff out of the way first? People criticized him for doing too much too soon but it showed he understood that the honeymoon would be quick as every President knows.
The big news from today's press conference was that President Obama didn't wear his wedding ring. Really. The greatest question was "Do you think you've been a failure because you have captured or killed Bin Laden yet?" And you wonder why Republicans might have a chance? Or maybe that's Obama's October Surprise--wouldn't that be great.
Christine O'Donnell, the teabagger candidate for the Senate in Delaware, went really over the line. She has aired a commercial suggesting that Mike Castle is cheating on his wife with a man. This has been a constant theme for her in the last week suggesting Mike Castle is gay. The producer of the ad said that "We have no proof of this but we thought we would put it out there anyway." Stay classy--that's the motto of the New Conservatives. While Castle claims his own polls show he will win but today hinted he might run as an independent. (FYI--I know many of the GOP who really are gay, many who lead the conservative movement--but I have never heard this about former Governor Castle. Then, of course, so what?)
Lisa Murkowski is trying to get back into the Alaska race and is in negotiations with the Libertarian Party. How this would play out is anyone's guess.
In New Hampshire , the teabagger candidate is gaining ground on the Attorney-General Ayottte and if victorious David Hodes, the Democrat, has a real chance at picking up the seat.
While the President lectured us again about the right of Muslims to worship freely, Newt Gingrich and Calissa have released a new DVD "A Nation At Risk", which argues that the United States is in danger from Muslims because they want world conquest.
It's clear it's no coincidence that Pastor Jones was a high school classmate of Rush Limbaugh. The last we heard from Pastor Jones he gave the Imam of the Park 51 project two hours to agree to move the Islamic Center or he would burn the Quran. The Westboro Baptist Church is hurt that no one saw them burn Qurans in 2008. So now they are going to burn both Qurans and the American Flag. Kudos to the London Telegraph for being the only newspaper to have printed how Pastor Jones uses his congregation as 'slave" labor to support his for-profit business.
A correction from yesterday's post. Some of Obama's tax breaks will be beneficial, particularly the ability of business to write off 100% on capital equipment in one year. I learned this from Ed Schultz, who has several small businesses of his own. And yes David Axelrod had to clarify that President Obama would veto a bill with tax breaks for the richest. Senator Voinovich said that he would back Obama's small business bill, making it 60 Senators. So it should hit the floor next week sometime.
In his press conference, President Obama came very close again to naming Elizabeth Warren as the first head of the Consumer Protection Agency. Just get it over with!
One member of the press asked why with Financial Reform passed two months ago, nothing has changed? One third of the stimulus package hasn't been spent yet so why haven't we seen the final results? Jesus Louise, these guys are amazing.
President Obama is thinking of appointing an envoy for manufacturing. I guess you can't call it a Czar or that would make Glenn Beck's blackboard. President Obama is the biggest advocate for small business since Ronald Reagan and like Ronald Reagan is one of the few Presidents actually to talk about American manufacturing. A point I told a right-winger who called me today to ask,"Are you sorry you voted for Obama yet?" When I pointed these two things out--there were crickets.
The Republicans did win a big victory yesterday. A Federal judge ruled Don't Ask Don't Tell unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, whose members include many gay veterans. Think about it -- the leading conservative lawyer wins the Prop 8 case with a Republican judge ruling; Gay marriage is upheld by a Republican Supreme Court in Iowa. And the DOMA act is ruled unconstitutional by another Republican judge. This all might be an aftermath of the dominance of the conservative movement by the gays in the 1980s. What will the Focus on Your Family crowd think?
The AFL-CIO this week warned Sarah Palin that if she kept up her slander of the labor movement she would join the ranks of people like Joe McCarthy. But she already has. Her adviser is Greta Van Cistern's husband, a leader in the scientology movement, and Greta herself, is the daugher of---get ready for this--Joe McCarthy's campaign manager. Greta should fly down to Nevada to get Sharron Angle to write out her list of the domestic enemies in Congress, something Michelle Bachmann also claims. Then her destiny would be complete.
The Arnold is getting a little snarky. He tweeted while flying to Asia from Alaska he couldn't see Russia from the airport.
Tomorrow Sister Sarah and Glenn Beck will host a boozefest celebrating 9-11. Glenn Beck has already been shamed by the news media to donate his speaking fee to charity. No word from the Sister. Some wag suggested that the two were celebrating the September 11, 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende by Pinochet.
Liz Cheney is running attack ads against Admiral Sestak in Pennsylvania, claiming he was weak on Israel. Whatever that means these days. Her candidate Club for Greed candidate Pat Toomey came out today against the Hate Bill legislation,saying you can't legislate how people think. But you can legislate on how people are physically tortured and killed because of their race or gender preference.
I actually had a conversation today with a conservative Republican who really wants to repeal the 14th Amendment. He also once argued that it was a shame slavery was outlawed because it ruined the South's economy. Am reading now White Cargo: the Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America by Dan Jordan and Michael Walsh. To my horror my fantasy retirement land--Popham Beach in Maine--was the site of a Fort to house White Slaves on the Kennebec River in the 17th century. Maybe the counter to the Christian Revisionist History of the American Revolution is to consider our rebellion against Britain as the first White Slave Revolt.
President Obama's plan for a $50 billion multi-year project to rehabilitate and modernize America's infrastructure is almost two decades overdue. The last time a President addressed this issue was Dwight David Eisenhower with the creation of the interstate highway system, which created a national market for the first time in our history. So I guess it's appropriate that David Eisenhower is about to print a memoir of the last decade of Ike's life at Gettysburg. David had won the pulitzer for his account of his grandfather in war-time. The Eisenhowers, including David and his wife Julie Nixon, backed Barack Obama's bid for the White House. Maybe he felt compelled to re-insert his grandfather into the national debate. After all it was during Ike that the John Birch Society was created, and it was under Obama that the conservative movemment welcomed it back into the fold after decades of exile.
I have read two more studies of computer runs that came out identical --the GOP taking the House by one seat. That would be a 40 seat pick-up. Then with about a dozen ethics cases breaking against the GOP, within moments everything would be up in the air again.
Meanwhile, Byron York writing in the Washington Examiner quotes several off-the-record Republicans skeptical about the tidal wave election. Only Vin Weber came forth to be quoted directly. The view was that the intensity gap would start to close as traditional Democratic base groups like Labor ramp up their efforts and Democrats will come back to the fold. Weber also points out the managerial mess at the RNC and the lack of organizational structure in the Republican efforts. Robert Craemer also wrote an article pointing out the same thing that the Democrats at this point have huge cash advantages and better organization. Like Weber, he pointed to the difference with 1994 in that Republicans have a worse approval rating by far than the Democrats and that all their allies like Big Business, the Health Insurance industry, and Banks have far worse approval ratings than even the GOP.
Meanwhile on the campaign trail, Democrats are showing they are holding their own in Swing States. Eastman in Ohio now has edged Rob Portman in the Ohio Senate race; Boxer again leads Fiorina, Marco Rubio only holds a few point lead over Crist, and Democrats are out in front in House seats, which everyone has predicted as goners. In my opinion, there seems to be some solidifying in the Democratic position. However, on the overall House front, it's hard to tell.
Always remember Nate the Great's predictions are his first cut and he keeps updating the model as we come closer to the election. On another front, several pollsters are pointing to the GOP taking 27 state houses and not 30 as Nate predicts.
In any event, aren't you glad Obama got most of the big stuff out of the way first? People criticized him for doing too much too soon but it showed he understood that the honeymoon would be quick as every President knows.
The big news from today's press conference was that President Obama didn't wear his wedding ring. Really. The greatest question was "Do you think you've been a failure because you have captured or killed Bin Laden yet?" And you wonder why Republicans might have a chance? Or maybe that's Obama's October Surprise--wouldn't that be great.
Christine O'Donnell, the teabagger candidate for the Senate in Delaware, went really over the line. She has aired a commercial suggesting that Mike Castle is cheating on his wife with a man. This has been a constant theme for her in the last week suggesting Mike Castle is gay. The producer of the ad said that "We have no proof of this but we thought we would put it out there anyway." Stay classy--that's the motto of the New Conservatives. While Castle claims his own polls show he will win but today hinted he might run as an independent. (FYI--I know many of the GOP who really are gay, many who lead the conservative movement--but I have never heard this about former Governor Castle. Then, of course, so what?)
Lisa Murkowski is trying to get back into the Alaska race and is in negotiations with the Libertarian Party. How this would play out is anyone's guess.
In New Hampshire , the teabagger candidate is gaining ground on the Attorney-General Ayottte and if victorious David Hodes, the Democrat, has a real chance at picking up the seat.
While the President lectured us again about the right of Muslims to worship freely, Newt Gingrich and Calissa have released a new DVD "A Nation At Risk", which argues that the United States is in danger from Muslims because they want world conquest.
It's clear it's no coincidence that Pastor Jones was a high school classmate of Rush Limbaugh. The last we heard from Pastor Jones he gave the Imam of the Park 51 project two hours to agree to move the Islamic Center or he would burn the Quran. The Westboro Baptist Church is hurt that no one saw them burn Qurans in 2008. So now they are going to burn both Qurans and the American Flag. Kudos to the London Telegraph for being the only newspaper to have printed how Pastor Jones uses his congregation as 'slave" labor to support his for-profit business.
A correction from yesterday's post. Some of Obama's tax breaks will be beneficial, particularly the ability of business to write off 100% on capital equipment in one year. I learned this from Ed Schultz, who has several small businesses of his own. And yes David Axelrod had to clarify that President Obama would veto a bill with tax breaks for the richest. Senator Voinovich said that he would back Obama's small business bill, making it 60 Senators. So it should hit the floor next week sometime.
In his press conference, President Obama came very close again to naming Elizabeth Warren as the first head of the Consumer Protection Agency. Just get it over with!
One member of the press asked why with Financial Reform passed two months ago, nothing has changed? One third of the stimulus package hasn't been spent yet so why haven't we seen the final results? Jesus Louise, these guys are amazing.
President Obama is thinking of appointing an envoy for manufacturing. I guess you can't call it a Czar or that would make Glenn Beck's blackboard. President Obama is the biggest advocate for small business since Ronald Reagan and like Ronald Reagan is one of the few Presidents actually to talk about American manufacturing. A point I told a right-winger who called me today to ask,"Are you sorry you voted for Obama yet?" When I pointed these two things out--there were crickets.
The Republicans did win a big victory yesterday. A Federal judge ruled Don't Ask Don't Tell unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, whose members include many gay veterans. Think about it -- the leading conservative lawyer wins the Prop 8 case with a Republican judge ruling; Gay marriage is upheld by a Republican Supreme Court in Iowa. And the DOMA act is ruled unconstitutional by another Republican judge. This all might be an aftermath of the dominance of the conservative movement by the gays in the 1980s. What will the Focus on Your Family crowd think?
The AFL-CIO this week warned Sarah Palin that if she kept up her slander of the labor movement she would join the ranks of people like Joe McCarthy. But she already has. Her adviser is Greta Van Cistern's husband, a leader in the scientology movement, and Greta herself, is the daugher of---get ready for this--Joe McCarthy's campaign manager. Greta should fly down to Nevada to get Sharron Angle to write out her list of the domestic enemies in Congress, something Michelle Bachmann also claims. Then her destiny would be complete.
The Arnold is getting a little snarky. He tweeted while flying to Asia from Alaska he couldn't see Russia from the airport.
Tomorrow Sister Sarah and Glenn Beck will host a boozefest celebrating 9-11. Glenn Beck has already been shamed by the news media to donate his speaking fee to charity. No word from the Sister. Some wag suggested that the two were celebrating the September 11, 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende by Pinochet.
Liz Cheney is running attack ads against Admiral Sestak in Pennsylvania, claiming he was weak on Israel. Whatever that means these days. Her candidate Club for Greed candidate Pat Toomey came out today against the Hate Bill legislation,saying you can't legislate how people think. But you can legislate on how people are physically tortured and killed because of their race or gender preference.
I actually had a conversation today with a conservative Republican who really wants to repeal the 14th Amendment. He also once argued that it was a shame slavery was outlawed because it ruined the South's economy. Am reading now White Cargo: the Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America by Dan Jordan and Michael Walsh. To my horror my fantasy retirement land--Popham Beach in Maine--was the site of a Fort to house White Slaves on the Kennebec River in the 17th century. Maybe the counter to the Christian Revisionist History of the American Revolution is to consider our rebellion against Britain as the first White Slave Revolt.
President Obama's plan for a $50 billion multi-year project to rehabilitate and modernize America's infrastructure is almost two decades overdue. The last time a President addressed this issue was Dwight David Eisenhower with the creation of the interstate highway system, which created a national market for the first time in our history. So I guess it's appropriate that David Eisenhower is about to print a memoir of the last decade of Ike's life at Gettysburg. David had won the pulitzer for his account of his grandfather in war-time. The Eisenhowers, including David and his wife Julie Nixon, backed Barack Obama's bid for the White House. Maybe he felt compelled to re-insert his grandfather into the national debate. After all it was during Ike that the John Birch Society was created, and it was under Obama that the conservative movemment welcomed it back into the fold after decades of exile.
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