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December 29, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
Time's running out. New Jersey's election is in 20 days, and even though Democratic hopeful Jon Corzine utterly destroyed Doug Forrester in their third debate (see Blogger Commentary: NJ-Gov: Liveblogging the Radio Debate), we can't let up. The Republican machine has thrown a lot of money at Forrester's campaign, so it's up to us to fight back. How? Volunteer! Send emails! Make phone calls! Or head out to New Jersey on Saturday, October 22, and take part in the push to get out to the voters. Information can be found here, on Jon Corzine's website. You've got all those weekend minutes and free long distance on your cell phone: Now's the time to put them to use!
News
SBA Said to be Probed on Katrina Help. This is utterly ridiculous. As of October 12th, the Small Business Administration had received 53,948 loan applications from victims of Katrina. As of October 12th, 1,049 loans had been approved. And, as of October 12th, 58 checks had been mailed. And let's not forget that, up until last week, the SBA demanded tax records for the last three years for all loan requests; most of those drowned in the hurricane. This isn't the only time that the SBA has been under fire, either. A few weeks ago, the SBA came under tremendous scrutiny for allowing the defaulting of several billion dollars in loans from 9/11 (most of which weren't valid in the first place). It seems like we can't have it both ways, but we certainly expect to. At least Hector Barreto, a Bush appointee that now heads the SBA, has the background. Now he just needs to ensure that the job gets done. So far, he's failed.
Harper's Index for September 2005. Ok, we admit it; we're suckers for statistics. They say that numbers don't lie, and they're right, but of course it's really easy to lie with numbers. However, sometimes pure statistics can provide insight into issues that all the commentary in the world can't quite muster. So, for example, when you look at the data and see that the world contributed 23 times as much money to postwar Kosovo than postwar Afghanistan, it's tough to reconcile that with all of the rhetoric about rebuilding Afghanistan. Or, when you see that on average, 79 percent of students in majority-white school districts in New York State graduate in four years, while majority-black or majority-Latino districts only average 40 percent, it kind of bring some perspective to how many children we're really leaving behind. Sure, Harper's cherry-picks statistics to make their points, but it seems to us they're important points that need to be made by someone.
DeLay hustles to replenish his voter pool. You know what we like about Tom DeLay? Ok, you got us: Nothing. But you know what's amazing about Tom DeLay? The guy never stops trying to do evil. Oh, you can knock him for a loop, but he'll come back, more diabolical than ever. We see DeLay, trying to stay below the radar, hustling for votes in the Houston-exurban district that he represents. What's sad is that he still even has a chance to win. Democrat Nick Lampson (one of the victims of DeLay's dastardly redistricting plan) is running against him in 2006, and if he can't remove DeLay from office, then there's something really wrong with the system. But there DeLay is, glad-handing and pretending that he's the victim in all this. Honestly, we shouldn't expect any less from this pathetic excuse for a Congressman, which is exactly why he needs to get the boot.
Editorials
The Liberal Moderates. Everyone's heard the stats before, and here they are again from E.J. Dionne via Paul Waldman: "According to the network exit polls, 21 percent of the voters who cast ballots in 2004 called themselves liberal, 34 percent said they were conservative and 45 percent called themselves moderate." Oooh...scary. Just when Democrats were starting to think they have an edge, this stat is supposed to bring them back to reality, and make them think that our country is shifting right, to give the Republicans a 13-point advantage. The problem is that "liberal" and "conservative" doesn't mean the same to pollsters and pundits that it means to ordinary people. The "average" voter "is pro-choice, wants to increase the minimum wage, favors strong environmental protections, likes gun control, thinks corporations have too much power and that the rich get away with not paying their fair share in taxes, believes the Iraq War was a mistake, wants a foreign policy centered on diplomacy and strong alliances, and favors civil unions for gays and lesbians." Those people consider themselves "moderate" - but it sounds pretty liberal to us. Of course one reason that Joe American doesn't consider themselves liberal is because conservatives have been using it as an epithet for years and years - Maha elaborates on that topic here.
Bush's Growing Credibility Gap. Mark Shields writes about Bush's lagging credibility. For months, we've talked about how Bush refuses to ask the country to sacrifice anything. Shields compares Bush's ridiculous stance with that of FDR. Remember FDR, when he "summoned American civilians to do without leather, rubber, wool, nylon, new shoes and new cars, and to accept the severe rationing of gasoline, fresh meat, butter, cheese and canned goods." Bush has merely asked us to "have resolve." How easy it must be for him, when 1,979 American soldiers have died in Iraq, with an additional 14,755 wounded. Maybe Bush doesn't understand that we would gladly provide, if it meant our troops would be safer. Then again, they couldn't be more safe than if they were back here, eh?
Blogger Commentary
Miers: Don't Believe The Hype. It's tempting to revel in the right's uproar over Miers. But Joseph Hughes at "Hughes for America" cautions us not to buy into the hype. He believes (justifiably) that Miers is really everything that the far right wants, just not quite in the bombastic package they were expecting. As Hughes writes: "They wanted someone with a long, documented history of far-right views. They wanted a fire-breathing, abortion-hating, gay-bashing corporatist who rose to the nomination on the backs of the little people." It's a mistake to "misunderestimate" Bush just because of all of the scandals that have been plaguing him. It's possible that this was all a calculated plan that might be backfiring a little. But let's not assume that Bush wouldn't nominate someone exactly like he described during his campaign: Another Scalia or Thomas. Sure, she may not have a paper-trail, but as Hughes says: "...one thing I do trust him with is picking friends and ideologues for important offices." She's not another O'Connor, but she may be the best we can reasonably hope for. Still, that's nothing to get excited about.
Video Game Politics. "The Final Showdown." The ultimate battle between good and ev-err, Democrats and Republicans. Is that where the GOP is heading? Via Harriet Miers, will we be seeing the last scene of a video game? After all, if Mark Kilmer is to be believed (as quoted by Mark Schmitt), "The Final Showdown" is the next new thing. Of course, the GOP would like to see themselves as the four "Light Warriors," while the Democrats would be portrayed as, simply, "Chaos." However, Miers' nomination arguments won't simply end up as "You Win" or "Game Over." Rather, it might lead to the nuclear option, which points directly to a country even more bitterly divided. Like Schmitt, we'd rather continue the war. All of life, including politics, is a struggle. We'll take Miers' nomination in due course, and hope our elected Democrats do what's right.
|
December 29, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
Time's running out. New Jersey's election is in 20 days, and even though Democratic hopeful Jon Corzine utterly destroyed Doug Forrester in their third debate (see Blogger Commentary: NJ-Gov: Liveblogging the Radio Debate), we can't let up. The Republican machine has thrown a lot of money at Forrester's campaign, so it's up to us to fight back. How? Volunteer! Send emails! Make phone calls! Or head out to New Jersey on Saturday, October 22, and take part in the push to get out to the voters. Information can be found here, on Jon Corzine's website. You've got all those weekend minutes and free long distance on your cell phone: Now's the time to put them to use!
News
SBA Said to be Probed on Katrina Help. This is utterly ridiculous. As of October 12th, the Small Business Administration had received 53,948 loan applications from victims of Katrina. As of October 12th, 1,049 loans had been approved. And, as of October 12th, 58 checks had been mailed. And let's not forget that, up until last week, the SBA demanded tax records for the last three years for all loan requests; most of those drowned in the hurricane. This isn't the only time that the SBA has been under fire, either. A few weeks ago, the SBA came under tremendous scrutiny for allowing the defaulting of several billion dollars in loans from 9/11 (most of which weren't valid in the first place). It seems like we can't have it both ways, but we certainly expect to. At least Hector Barreto, a Bush appointee that now heads the SBA, has the background. Now he just needs to ensure that the job gets done. So far, he's failed.
Harper's Index for September 2005. Ok, we admit it; we're suckers for statistics. They say that numbers don't lie, and they're right, but of course it's really easy to lie with numbers. However, sometimes pure statistics can provide insight into issues that all the commentary in the world can't quite muster. So, for example, when you look at the data and see that the world contributed 23 times as much money to postwar Kosovo than postwar Afghanistan, it's tough to reconcile that with all of the rhetoric about rebuilding Afghanistan. Or, when you see that on average, 79 percent of students in majority-white school districts in New York State graduate in four years, while majority-black or majority-Latino districts only average 40 percent, it kind of bring some perspective to how many children we're really leaving behind. Sure, Harper's cherry-picks statistics to make their points, but it seems to us they're important points that need to be made by someone.
DeLay hustles to replenish his voter pool. You know what we like about Tom DeLay? Ok, you got us: Nothing. But you know what's amazing about Tom DeLay? The guy never stops trying to do evil. Oh, you can knock him for a loop, but he'll come back, more diabolical than ever. We see DeLay, trying to stay below the radar, hustling for votes in the Houston-exurban district that he represents. What's sad is that he still even has a chance to win. Democrat Nick Lampson (one of the victims of DeLay's dastardly redistricting plan) is running against him in 2006, and if he can't remove DeLay from office, then there's something really wrong with the system. But there DeLay is, glad-handing and pretending that he's the victim in all this. Honestly, we shouldn't expect any less from this pathetic excuse for a Congressman, which is exactly why he needs to get the boot.
Editorials
The Liberal Moderates. Everyone's heard the stats before, and here they are again from E.J. Dionne via Paul Waldman: "According to the network exit polls, 21 percent of the voters who cast ballots in 2004 called themselves liberal, 34 percent said they were conservative and 45 percent called themselves moderate." Oooh...scary. Just when Democrats were starting to think they have an edge, this stat is supposed to bring them back to reality, and make them think that our country is shifting right, to give the Republicans a 13-point advantage. The problem is that "liberal" and "conservative" doesn't mean the same to pollsters and pundits that it means to ordinary people. The "average" voter "is pro-choice, wants to increase the minimum wage, favors strong environmental protections, likes gun control, thinks corporations have too much power and that the rich get away with not paying their fair share in taxes, believes the Iraq War was a mistake, wants a foreign policy centered on diplomacy and strong alliances, and favors civil unions for gays and lesbians." Those people consider themselves "moderate" - but it sounds pretty liberal to us. Of course one reason that Joe American doesn't consider themselves liberal is because conservatives have been using it as an epithet for years and years - Maha elaborates on that topic here.
Bush's Growing Credibility Gap. Mark Shields writes about Bush's lagging credibility. For months, we've talked about how Bush refuses to ask the country to sacrifice anything. Shields compares Bush's ridiculous stance with that of FDR. Remember FDR, when he "summoned American civilians to do without leather, rubber, wool, nylon, new shoes and new cars, and to accept the severe rationing of gasoline, fresh meat, butter, cheese and canned goods." Bush has merely asked us to "have resolve." How easy it must be for him, when 1,979 American soldiers have died in Iraq, with an additional 14,755 wounded. Maybe Bush doesn't understand that we would gladly provide, if it meant our troops would be safer. Then again, they couldn't be more safe than if they were back here, eh?
Blogger Commentary
Miers: Don't Believe The Hype. It's tempting to revel in the right's uproar over Miers. But Joseph Hughes at "Hughes for America" cautions us not to buy into the hype. He believes (justifiably) that Miers is really everything that the far right wants, just not quite in the bombastic package they were expecting. As Hughes writes: "They wanted someone with a long, documented history of far-right views. They wanted a fire-breathing, abortion-hating, gay-bashing corporatist who rose to the nomination on the backs of the little people." It's a mistake to "misunderestimate" Bush just because of all of the scandals that have been plaguing him. It's possible that this was all a calculated plan that might be backfiring a little. But let's not assume that Bush wouldn't nominate someone exactly like he described during his campaign: Another Scalia or Thomas. Sure, she may not have a paper-trail, but as Hughes says: "...one thing I do trust him with is picking friends and ideologues for important offices." She's not another O'Connor, but she may be the best we can reasonably hope for. Still, that's nothing to get excited about.
Video Game Politics. "The Final Showdown." The ultimate battle between good and ev-err, Democrats and Republicans. Is that where the GOP is heading? Via Harriet Miers, will we be seeing the last scene of a video game? After all, if Mark Kilmer is to be believed (as quoted by Mark Schmitt), "The Final Showdown" is the next new thing. Of course, the GOP would like to see themselves as the four "Light Warriors," while the Democrats would be portrayed as, simply, "Chaos." However, Miers' nomination arguments won't simply end up as "You Win" or "Game Over." Rather, it might lead to the nuclear option, which points directly to a country even more bitterly divided. Like Schmitt, we'd rather continue the war. All of life, including politics, is a struggle. We'll take Miers' nomination in due course, and hope our elected Democrats do what's right.
|
December 29, 2005
Time's running out. New Jersey's election is in 20 days, and even though Democratic hopeful Jon Corzine utterly destroyed Doug Forrester in their third debate (see Blogger Commentary: NJ-Gov: Liveblogging the Radio Debate), we can't let up. The Republican machine has thrown a lot of money at Forrester's campaign, so it's up to us to fight back. How? Volunteer! Send emails! Make phone calls! Or head out to New Jersey on Saturday, October 22, and take part in the push to get out to the voters. Information can be found here, on Jon Corzine's website. You've got all those weekend minutes and free long distance on your cell phone: Now's the time to put them to use!
News
SBA Said to be Probed on Katrina Help. This is utterly ridiculous. As of October 12th, the Small Business Administration had received 53,948 loan applications from victims of Katrina. As of October 12th, 1,049 loans had been approved. And, as of October 12th, 58 checks had been mailed. And let's not forget that, up until last week, the SBA demanded tax records for the last three years for all loan requests; most of those drowned in the hurricane. This isn't the only time that the SBA has been under fire, either. A few weeks ago, the SBA came under tremendous scrutiny for allowing the defaulting of several billion dollars in loans from 9/11 (most of which weren't valid in the first place). It seems like we can't have it both ways, but we certainly expect to. At least Hector Barreto, a Bush appointee that now heads the SBA, has the background. Now he just needs to ensure that the job gets done. So far, he's failed.
Harper's Index for September 2005. Ok, we admit it; we're suckers for statistics. They say that numbers don't lie, and they're right, but of course it's really easy to lie with numbers. However, sometimes pure statistics can provide insight into issues that all the commentary in the world can't quite muster. So, for example, when you look at the data and see that the world contributed 23 times as much money to postwar Kosovo than postwar Afghanistan, it's tough to reconcile that with all of the rhetoric about rebuilding Afghanistan. Or, when you see that on average, 79 percent of students in majority-white school districts in New York State graduate in four years, while majority-black or majority-Latino districts only average 40 percent, it kind of bring some perspective to how many children we're really leaving behind. Sure, Harper's cherry-picks statistics to make their points, but it seems to us they're important points that need to be made by someone.
DeLay hustles to replenish his voter pool. You know what we like about Tom DeLay? Ok, you got us: Nothing. But you know what's amazing about Tom DeLay? The guy never stops trying to do evil. Oh, you can knock him for a loop, but he'll come back, more diabolical than ever. We see DeLay, trying to stay below the radar, hustling for votes in the Houston-exurban district that he represents. What's sad is that he still even has a chance to win. Democrat Nick Lampson (one of the victims of DeLay's dastardly redistricting plan) is running against him in 2006, and if he can't remove DeLay from office, then there's something really wrong with the system. But there DeLay is, glad-handing and pretending that he's the victim in all this. Honestly, we shouldn't expect any less from this pathetic excuse for a Congressman, which is exactly why he needs to get the boot.
Editorials
The Liberal Moderates. Everyone's heard the stats before, and here they are again from E.J. Dionne via Paul Waldman: "According to the network exit polls, 21 percent of the voters who cast ballots in 2004 called themselves liberal, 34 percent said they were conservative and 45 percent called themselves moderate." Oooh...scary. Just when Democrats were starting to think they have an edge, this stat is supposed to bring them back to reality, and make them think that our country is shifting right, to give the Republicans a 13-point advantage. The problem is that "liberal" and "conservative" doesn't mean the same to pollsters and pundits that it means to ordinary people. The "average" voter "is pro-choice, wants to increase the minimum wage, favors strong environmental protections, likes gun control, thinks corporations have too much power and that the rich get away with not paying their fair share in taxes, believes the Iraq War was a mistake, wants a foreign policy centered on diplomacy and strong alliances, and favors civil unions for gays and lesbians." Those people consider themselves "moderate" - but it sounds pretty liberal to us. Of course one reason that Joe American doesn't consider themselves liberal is because conservatives have been using it as an epithet for years and years - Maha elaborates on that topic here.
Bush's Growing Credibility Gap. Mark Shields writes about Bush's lagging credibility. For months, we've talked about how Bush refuses to ask the country to sacrifice anything. Shields compares Bush's ridiculous stance with that of FDR. Remember FDR, when he "summoned American civilians to do without leather, rubber, wool, nylon, new shoes and new cars, and to accept the severe rationing of gasoline, fresh meat, butter, cheese and canned goods." Bush has merely asked us to "have resolve." How easy it must be for him, when 1,979 American soldiers have died in Iraq, with an additional 14,755 wounded. Maybe Bush doesn't understand that we would gladly provide, if it meant our troops would be safer. Then again, they couldn't be more safe than if they were back here, eh?
Blogger Commentary
Miers: Don't Believe The Hype. It's tempting to revel in the right's uproar over Miers. But Joseph Hughes at "Hughes for America" cautions us not to buy into the hype. He believes (justifiably) that Miers is really everything that the far right wants, just not quite in the bombastic package they were expecting. As Hughes writes: "They wanted someone with a long, documented history of far-right views. They wanted a fire-breathing, abortion-hating, gay-bashing corporatist who rose to the nomination on the backs of the little people." It's a mistake to "misunderestimate" Bush just because of all of the scandals that have been plaguing him. It's possible that this was all a calculated plan that might be backfiring a little. But let's not assume that Bush wouldn't nominate someone exactly like he described during his campaign: Another Scalia or Thomas. Sure, she may not have a paper-trail, but as Hughes says: "...one thing I do trust him with is picking friends and ideologues for important offices." She's not another O'Connor, but she may be the best we can reasonably hope for. Still, that's nothing to get excited about.
Video Game Politics. "The Final Showdown." The ultimate battle between good and ev-err, Democrats and Republicans. Is that where the GOP is heading? Via Harriet Miers, will we be seeing the last scene of a video game? After all, if Mark Kilmer is to be believed (as quoted by Mark Schmitt), "The Final Showdown" is the next new thing. Of course, the GOP would like to see themselves as the four "Light Warriors," while the Democrats would be portrayed as, simply, "Chaos." However, Miers' nomination arguments won't simply end up as "You Win" or "Game Over." Rather, it might lead to the nuclear option, which points directly to a country even more bitterly divided. Like Schmitt, we'd rather continue the war. All of life, including politics, is a struggle. We'll take Miers' nomination in due course, and hope our elected Democrats do what's right.
