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December 29, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
The 11th Hour is upon us. MoveOn is collecting signatures to deliver to Congress; signatures that have signed an electronic petition to show solidarity with Democrats, and oppose the "nuclear option." You know what's at stake. Go here to sign MoveOn's petition now. Time is running out!
News
Sure, But Can She Cook? With the vote for the nuclear option getting closer, it's important to know why exactly Democrats don't want these judges approved. Who are they? Why are they bad for the judicial branch? Meet Priscilla Owen, justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Owen has constantly dissented from court opinion in the past, leading her to be labelled as judge who cares less for the citizens of Texas and more the state's corporations. Owen's dissents lead her to create law, not interpret it. Is this the kind of person that we want in a lifetime judicial appointment in an appeals court? We think not.
Four Out Of Thirty Three. The Federal Office of Management and Budget has determined that only four of the thirty-three homeland security programs it examined can be considered "effective." So, what's going wrong? The airport screening budget was raised by over 700%, yet screeners still fail to detect weapons at the same rate as before the increase. Truck screening machines can't distinguish between uranium and common household items. Airport bomb-detection machines have spewed out scores of false alarms. The reason for all of these, and more, according to OMB, was the rush to spend money. We know that the government is notorious for spending money ineffectively. So ineffectively, in fact, that the head of DHS's contracting division can't explain how they spent their $700 million budget, as more than one-third of it was listed under "other." And although this is an extremely important issue, the article raises a secondary, but perhaps more important point. With contractors taking over so much of the government's responsibilities, the margin for error becomes much bigger. Government agencies tend to look, more often than not, to see if a contractor's proposal is written in English, and then go with the contractor with the cheapest budget. There are two problems with this: First, cheaper isn't always better. Second, many times contractors will submit a lower budget, get awarded a contract, and then spend money regardless of the budget, knowing that they government will have to, as they always do, fork over the money owed. There is a growing call for more oversight into contractor work, as there should be - it's your tax dollars being spent.
Going Crazy. There was a huge to-do down in Atlanta yesterday; it was the first day of the American Psyhiatric Association's 2005 Annual Conference, and boy was it a doozy. APA representatives held a voice vote, and approved a statement urging legal recognition of same-sex marriage. This is a huge deal, and, if approved by APA's directors (and there's no reason to think that it won't), it would make the APA the first major medical group to endorse such a thing. Homosexuality, remember, used to be classified as a mental disorder. There's a fascinating interview with Jeffrey Satinover that you can read here, which discusses how homosexuality has "evolved" in terms of disorder-status to civil-rights cause.
Editorials
Bill Moyers Fights Back. Did you read Saturday's Still Fighting Post? What? You didn't? OK, go here and read it...we'll wait. Good. Now, as we wrote about Saturday, the Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, recently made insinuations that public radio (like NPR) and public television (like PBS) have a very sharp liberal bias. Unfortunately, he could only point to Bill Moyers's show, NOW With Bill Moyers, as an example of liberalism. Tomlinson thinks that there needs to be more conservative opinions represented in these media. Moyers has always been outspoken, and in recent comments he lets it fly. Disputing Tomlinson's claim of a liberal bias, he rattled off the number of conservative guests he's had on the show. He produced a letter from Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) praising the show. He also chastised Tomlinson for paying a former White House aide $10,000 to track who was on the show, looking for this liberal bias. Said Moyers, "Gee, Ken, for $2.50 a week you can pick up a copy of TV Guide on the newsstand. A subscription is even cheaper, and I would have sent you a coupon that can save you up to 62 percent! Or for that matter, Ken, all you had to do was watch the show!" It's obvious that conservatives see public radio and television as another medium to exploit, when, in fact, most programming is pretty down the center. Perhaps they'd be slighly more sympathetic to conservative views if conservative views these days, in general, weren't so ridiculous. After all, that's why we have Fox News, isn't it?
Cowboys and Eggheads. Remember the 2004 election? Of course you do - it's probably one of the reasons why you're reading this. Remember the exit polls, which showed that "79 percent of voters who said terrorism or national security determined their vote chose the chickenhawk over the war hero." Fair enough. But since then, as Eric Altermann writes, are things any better? Osama is still loose, North Korea is about to do a nuclear test, nuclear and water plants remain just as vulnerable to terrorist activity as they did four years ago, and, oh, yes, world public approval of America is so low, it's actually inspiring terrorists from other countries. All of the problems listed are the result of either rejection of a Democratic policy or implementation of the exact opposite of a Democratic policy. The problem is that Kerry never really looked like a strong leader on foreign policy. Bush, wrong as he was/is, gave the impression that he would do whatever it took to ensure America's safety. He was believable (unless you knew he was lying), and most people aren't sure that Democrats have that ability. Image can be everything, and any candidate thinking of running for president on the Democratic ticket in 2008 would be well served to keep this in mind.
War Didn't and Doesn't Bring Democracy. Well, of course it doesn't. What kind of foolish idiot could possibly think that it does? Oh...right. The administration thinks that the recent stirrings of democracy in the middle east are a direct result of what we've done in Iraq. News flash! The only direct result of what we've done in Iraq is the loss of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Wes Clark writes about these stirrings of democracy, and what their real catalysts were. Democracy can certainly thrive in this region, but it's nonsense for the White House to take claim for it all. Then again, as Clark writes, the more you repeat something, the more it sticks in people's minds.
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December 29, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
The 11th Hour is upon us. MoveOn is collecting signatures to deliver to Congress; signatures that have signed an electronic petition to show solidarity with Democrats, and oppose the "nuclear option." You know what's at stake. Go here to sign MoveOn's petition now. Time is running out!
News
Sure, But Can She Cook? With the vote for the nuclear option getting closer, it's important to know why exactly Democrats don't want these judges approved. Who are they? Why are they bad for the judicial branch? Meet Priscilla Owen, justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Owen has constantly dissented from court opinion in the past, leading her to be labelled as judge who cares less for the citizens of Texas and more the state's corporations. Owen's dissents lead her to create law, not interpret it. Is this the kind of person that we want in a lifetime judicial appointment in an appeals court? We think not.
Four Out Of Thirty Three. The Federal Office of Management and Budget has determined that only four of the thirty-three homeland security programs it examined can be considered "effective." So, what's going wrong? The airport screening budget was raised by over 700%, yet screeners still fail to detect weapons at the same rate as before the increase. Truck screening machines can't distinguish between uranium and common household items. Airport bomb-detection machines have spewed out scores of false alarms. The reason for all of these, and more, according to OMB, was the rush to spend money. We know that the government is notorious for spending money ineffectively. So ineffectively, in fact, that the head of DHS's contracting division can't explain how they spent their $700 million budget, as more than one-third of it was listed under "other." And although this is an extremely important issue, the article raises a secondary, but perhaps more important point. With contractors taking over so much of the government's responsibilities, the margin for error becomes much bigger. Government agencies tend to look, more often than not, to see if a contractor's proposal is written in English, and then go with the contractor with the cheapest budget. There are two problems with this: First, cheaper isn't always better. Second, many times contractors will submit a lower budget, get awarded a contract, and then spend money regardless of the budget, knowing that they government will have to, as they always do, fork over the money owed. There is a growing call for more oversight into contractor work, as there should be - it's your tax dollars being spent.
Going Crazy. There was a huge to-do down in Atlanta yesterday; it was the first day of the American Psyhiatric Association's 2005 Annual Conference, and boy was it a doozy. APA representatives held a voice vote, and approved a statement urging legal recognition of same-sex marriage. This is a huge deal, and, if approved by APA's directors (and there's no reason to think that it won't), it would make the APA the first major medical group to endorse such a thing. Homosexuality, remember, used to be classified as a mental disorder. There's a fascinating interview with Jeffrey Satinover that you can read here, which discusses how homosexuality has "evolved" in terms of disorder-status to civil-rights cause.
Editorials
Bill Moyers Fights Back. Did you read Saturday's Still Fighting Post? What? You didn't? OK, go here and read it...we'll wait. Good. Now, as we wrote about Saturday, the Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, recently made insinuations that public radio (like NPR) and public television (like PBS) have a very sharp liberal bias. Unfortunately, he could only point to Bill Moyers's show, NOW With Bill Moyers, as an example of liberalism. Tomlinson thinks that there needs to be more conservative opinions represented in these media. Moyers has always been outspoken, and in recent comments he lets it fly. Disputing Tomlinson's claim of a liberal bias, he rattled off the number of conservative guests he's had on the show. He produced a letter from Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) praising the show. He also chastised Tomlinson for paying a former White House aide $10,000 to track who was on the show, looking for this liberal bias. Said Moyers, "Gee, Ken, for $2.50 a week you can pick up a copy of TV Guide on the newsstand. A subscription is even cheaper, and I would have sent you a coupon that can save you up to 62 percent! Or for that matter, Ken, all you had to do was watch the show!" It's obvious that conservatives see public radio and television as another medium to exploit, when, in fact, most programming is pretty down the center. Perhaps they'd be slighly more sympathetic to conservative views if conservative views these days, in general, weren't so ridiculous. After all, that's why we have Fox News, isn't it?
Cowboys and Eggheads. Remember the 2004 election? Of course you do - it's probably one of the reasons why you're reading this. Remember the exit polls, which showed that "79 percent of voters who said terrorism or national security determined their vote chose the chickenhawk over the war hero." Fair enough. But since then, as Eric Altermann writes, are things any better? Osama is still loose, North Korea is about to do a nuclear test, nuclear and water plants remain just as vulnerable to terrorist activity as they did four years ago, and, oh, yes, world public approval of America is so low, it's actually inspiring terrorists from other countries. All of the problems listed are the result of either rejection of a Democratic policy or implementation of the exact opposite of a Democratic policy. The problem is that Kerry never really looked like a strong leader on foreign policy. Bush, wrong as he was/is, gave the impression that he would do whatever it took to ensure America's safety. He was believable (unless you knew he was lying), and most people aren't sure that Democrats have that ability. Image can be everything, and any candidate thinking of running for president on the Democratic ticket in 2008 would be well served to keep this in mind.
War Didn't and Doesn't Bring Democracy. Well, of course it doesn't. What kind of foolish idiot could possibly think that it does? Oh...right. The administration thinks that the recent stirrings of democracy in the middle east are a direct result of what we've done in Iraq. News flash! The only direct result of what we've done in Iraq is the loss of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Wes Clark writes about these stirrings of democracy, and what their real catalysts were. Democracy can certainly thrive in this region, but it's nonsense for the White House to take claim for it all. Then again, as Clark writes, the more you repeat something, the more it sticks in people's minds.
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December 29, 2005
The 11th Hour is upon us. MoveOn is collecting signatures to deliver to Congress; signatures that have signed an electronic petition to show solidarity with Democrats, and oppose the "nuclear option." You know what's at stake. Go here to sign MoveOn's petition now. Time is running out!
News
Sure, But Can She Cook? With the vote for the nuclear option getting closer, it's important to know why exactly Democrats don't want these judges approved. Who are they? Why are they bad for the judicial branch? Meet Priscilla Owen, justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Owen has constantly dissented from court opinion in the past, leading her to be labelled as judge who cares less for the citizens of Texas and more the state's corporations. Owen's dissents lead her to create law, not interpret it. Is this the kind of person that we want in a lifetime judicial appointment in an appeals court? We think not.
Four Out Of Thirty Three. The Federal Office of Management and Budget has determined that only four of the thirty-three homeland security programs it examined can be considered "effective." So, what's going wrong? The airport screening budget was raised by over 700%, yet screeners still fail to detect weapons at the same rate as before the increase. Truck screening machines can't distinguish between uranium and common household items. Airport bomb-detection machines have spewed out scores of false alarms. The reason for all of these, and more, according to OMB, was the rush to spend money. We know that the government is notorious for spending money ineffectively. So ineffectively, in fact, that the head of DHS's contracting division can't explain how they spent their $700 million budget, as more than one-third of it was listed under "other." And although this is an extremely important issue, the article raises a secondary, but perhaps more important point. With contractors taking over so much of the government's responsibilities, the margin for error becomes much bigger. Government agencies tend to look, more often than not, to see if a contractor's proposal is written in English, and then go with the contractor with the cheapest budget. There are two problems with this: First, cheaper isn't always better. Second, many times contractors will submit a lower budget, get awarded a contract, and then spend money regardless of the budget, knowing that they government will have to, as they always do, fork over the money owed. There is a growing call for more oversight into contractor work, as there should be - it's your tax dollars being spent.
Going Crazy. There was a huge to-do down in Atlanta yesterday; it was the first day of the American Psyhiatric Association's 2005 Annual Conference, and boy was it a doozy. APA representatives held a voice vote, and approved a statement urging legal recognition of same-sex marriage. This is a huge deal, and, if approved by APA's directors (and there's no reason to think that it won't), it would make the APA the first major medical group to endorse such a thing. Homosexuality, remember, used to be classified as a mental disorder. There's a fascinating interview with Jeffrey Satinover that you can read here, which discusses how homosexuality has "evolved" in terms of disorder-status to civil-rights cause.
Editorials
Bill Moyers Fights Back. Did you read Saturday's Still Fighting Post? What? You didn't? OK, go here and read it...we'll wait. Good. Now, as we wrote about Saturday, the Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, recently made insinuations that public radio (like NPR) and public television (like PBS) have a very sharp liberal bias. Unfortunately, he could only point to Bill Moyers's show, NOW With Bill Moyers, as an example of liberalism. Tomlinson thinks that there needs to be more conservative opinions represented in these media. Moyers has always been outspoken, and in recent comments he lets it fly. Disputing Tomlinson's claim of a liberal bias, he rattled off the number of conservative guests he's had on the show. He produced a letter from Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) praising the show. He also chastised Tomlinson for paying a former White House aide $10,000 to track who was on the show, looking for this liberal bias. Said Moyers, "Gee, Ken, for $2.50 a week you can pick up a copy of TV Guide on the newsstand. A subscription is even cheaper, and I would have sent you a coupon that can save you up to 62 percent! Or for that matter, Ken, all you had to do was watch the show!" It's obvious that conservatives see public radio and television as another medium to exploit, when, in fact, most programming is pretty down the center. Perhaps they'd be slighly more sympathetic to conservative views if conservative views these days, in general, weren't so ridiculous. After all, that's why we have Fox News, isn't it?
Cowboys and Eggheads. Remember the 2004 election? Of course you do - it's probably one of the reasons why you're reading this. Remember the exit polls, which showed that "79 percent of voters who said terrorism or national security determined their vote chose the chickenhawk over the war hero." Fair enough. But since then, as Eric Altermann writes, are things any better? Osama is still loose, North Korea is about to do a nuclear test, nuclear and water plants remain just as vulnerable to terrorist activity as they did four years ago, and, oh, yes, world public approval of America is so low, it's actually inspiring terrorists from other countries. All of the problems listed are the result of either rejection of a Democratic policy or implementation of the exact opposite of a Democratic policy. The problem is that Kerry never really looked like a strong leader on foreign policy. Bush, wrong as he was/is, gave the impression that he would do whatever it took to ensure America's safety. He was believable (unless you knew he was lying), and most people aren't sure that Democrats have that ability. Image can be everything, and any candidate thinking of running for president on the Democratic ticket in 2008 would be well served to keep this in mind.
War Didn't and Doesn't Bring Democracy. Well, of course it doesn't. What kind of foolish idiot could possibly think that it does? Oh...right. The administration thinks that the recent stirrings of democracy in the middle east are a direct result of what we've done in Iraq. News flash! The only direct result of what we've done in Iraq is the loss of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Wes Clark writes about these stirrings of democracy, and what their real catalysts were. Democracy can certainly thrive in this region, but it's nonsense for the White House to take claim for it all. Then again, as Clark writes, the more you repeat something, the more it sticks in people's minds.
