Interesting link from the NYT Week in Review. By no means would anyone expect to the GOP to kowtow to Obama, just out of principle. However, what I find disturbing is the ideological ability to quick shift on any legislation of merit, going from the constructors of certain ideas to quickly opposing anything even resembling the plan. This is, of course, to strike back against the other party, especially when it controls the White House, but you have to wonder what kind of long term effects that has on a political party.
For one, they have to go back and forth so quickly, they often have by example painted themselves as not just obstructionists, but obstructionists without principle. This may be fine in a vacuum, but for constituents who may indeed reap benefits from legislation you oppose mainly for theatrical reasons, how does this help? How can one have any solid ground from which to legislate, if your only party plank is to stay in power?
-Dack
I predicted Schwarzenegger would fail as the governor of California. I have been proven up to this point totally wrong. While not a gleaming success, his moderate views have allowed him huge leeway among the citizens of the state. He then capitalizes on what he wants when he puts them into action with an impressive speed.
Another way in which he succeeds is his practical nature. Take for example the link above, he breaks with the ideologue (and presidentially minded) governors from the GOP and shows he a.) knows the stimulus is in essence a good idea b.) knows that his state needs to money to help stabilization efforts. Good government from the unlikeliest of places.
-Dack
I link to the salon article because I’d rather die than link to fauxnews.
Sarah Palin is stunningly shameless in her hunger for the spotlight as she inserts herself into her daughter’s first interview as an adult. Creepy is really the right word for the vibe you get from watching this. Bristol was being your typical 18 year old and asserting some independence by doing her own interview, barely giving her mom any notice, and claiming that her reproductive choices were her own. Then mommy pops in to get as much face time with the camera as she can while steering the conversation toward politics. Lame.
And the line she entered with: “Do you want this joy?” Is it just me or did that sound like The Stepford Wives to anyone else?
-Cyranicles
Where to begin, first a lot of these GOP governors are in states that already have had significant stagnation even before the economy started to turn downwards. Perhaps the key quote:
“‘My concern is there’s going to be commitments attached to it that are a mile long,’said Texas Gov. Rick Perry”
Cause who wants money with conditions for success and specifically earmarked for actually useful purposes.
-Dack
I guess they wont be buying one another friendship necklaces. Libby deserved to go to jail, the fact he’ll have to be be supported by his well connected group of friends(like Cheney and the rest of Old Guard GOP), will be punishment enough I guess. Once again, however, this only shows more of Cheney treating the executive like it was his, and his alone, to do as he pleased without regard to law, country, or citizens.
-Dack
If you read this via RSS, it’s fair to get you up to speed, and if you read this on the site, you can look to the bottom left of our posts and see a comments link. That’s right, after almost a year, some debate, and a few technological advances with respect to tumblr, we’ve decided to let you comment straight away on our work. Let us know what you think.
-Dack
Obviously, this title is not entirely accurate, for the folks that have lost their jobs, the reason being given usually is the recession, and that is surely a tragic consequence. I wonder though, as I read about these layoffs, about the state of these companies if the economy wasn’t “tanking”. The auto industry, which has been particularly hard hit, were already having trouble selling cars in a car saturated market, before people started banging the drum about this financial “crisis”. As for other layoffs? Well I ask you to examine what happened to companies that performed them, how many are still operating, how many are still paying large bonuses to the boardroom? The answer is many, they took an excuse and used it to raise profit margins higher. The question is why? This recession apparently only demands stopping non-essential work(of which the question what is non-essential has become akin to the poli-centric questions of war, abortion, and global warming), not making hard decisions across the corporate landscape. Really, how much of a recession is it?
My point is thus, we are in a recession that is unlike anything approaching the great *depression*, the recession of 1987 through 1992, or other times when the US markets have “crashed.” Not because it it worse, but because our lack of perspective has placed it in company that neither deserve. To use the Dow Jones index, which is admittedly, a simplistic and error prone measurement, as of this last Friday, February, 13, 2009, the Dow stood at ~7,850. Black Monday of 1987, which is what some people compare this to, lost 500 points to close at 1739. Think about that, our index is about 4.5 times larger(and the loss over time while larger, about ~40% since August, has not had a day near where it lost 22% in ‘87, which would in my estimation be considered catastrophic), 20 years later, and this environment perpetuates fear, that this economy is worse than 1987. How about another metric, one that impacts the every day worker. Unemployment is at 7.6 for the month of January 2009. Is this high? Yes, it is, but no higher really than 1992, when the value peaked at 7.8%. My point? Unemployment is very high, but for that same period, the Index was around ~3,280, certainly something is different, and it isn’t just inflation of 17 years.
To state it explicitly, it isn’t to say that the economy isn’t struggling, or that people aren’t affected by this drop, but rather, this recession in another time period, would be considered merely an adjustment. Due to the people however who have gotten burned the most, which are the banks who played with too much risk, and the people who got burned working for the companies that know how to exploit workers to boost margins, we sit with three forces aligning the stars against our favor. The first is the companies themselves(Banks, Auto to the front of the line), who use the pity, the free money, and the excuse of this economy to last long enough to restructure themselves for a stronger position when we pull out of the slump. Second, the politicians, who are beholden to making America stronger, by giving tax cuts, lots of which still went to people who ought to be paying them, as they are “recession” proof, and thus making the government weaker. The weakness derives from the other side of the aisle, as they boost government projects which cost a lot of money, and are inefficiently priced. Finally, the media, whose relentless pursuit of stories without facts, and emotion without rationality, have created ironically, a market for recession. I ask, how much of a market was there in 1932 for a depression, when 23% of the people were unemployed, and those who did, weren’t treated fairly to begin with, thus projecting the universal misery that most people associate with that time. The media thusly, has found their story, and instead of evolving with the people, they will milk their story, until the signs of improvement eradicate the seeming necessity of it all.
This is my introduction to what I hope is a longer series. One where I will begin to describe in more detail, how our country while not strong economically, is really more in a state of “containment”. Just like containment fires, the economy is burning off that which is already set to burn, to keep the valuables(the parts of the market we need) from burning along with the garbage.
-Dack
Here is the letter I wrote to President Obama:
President Obama,
First, if you don’t have time to read this. (likely) Then please look here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/13/132853/662/547/697109
You have a record of supporting age-appropriate sexual education and you work efforts on that front have been admirable. I’m asking you now to take a vital step toward a healthy society that has a real respect for women and their sexual independence. I’m asking you to stop all funding for abstinence only education. This is, first of all, not education. These programs chronically misinform or under-inform America’s youth about the realities of sex but most importantly they perpetuate a dangerous culture that tends to blame the victims of rape because of the unreasonable association between virginity and virtue. This association is taught in many abstinence only programs and I encourage you to review such programs, if necessary, as part of an effort to eliminate their federal funding.
Allow me to explain this connection. When young people are taught that a girl’s virtue is largely dependent on her virginity then it instantly becomes justifiable to look down on her for being or having been sexually active. This scorn has several negative effects on her life but perhaps the most severe is the view, common among many, (please pardon my language here) that a slut can’t be raped.
Rape is not uncommon in this society and the occurrence of rape is only increased when we accept, much less promote, any view which categorically calls into question a woman’s virtue. Our government has no place advocating and funding this barbaric values system. Please put a stop to it.
Sincerely,
Cyranicles
Oh man! Looks like some folks in New Hampshire feel like they missed out the first time and want a second chance at the secessionist shindig. Apparently there’s a small secessionist movement in the granite state. It’s actually a blast to peruse their arguments for secession. They’re trying to be bipartisan but like many desperate movements they have adopted the shotgun approach to persuasion; they’re firing as wide as possible and hoping to get a hit.
The titular link is to a blogger (loon though he is) reporting on a resolution that’s been introduced in the New Hampshire legislature to assert “Jeffersonian principles” which conveniently ignore centuries of Supreme Court decisions as well as that pesky little civil war thing. You can see the actual resolution here but, unless you like reading legislation, it’s a bit dry.
New Hampshire may have an inclination to secession. It was the first state to formally secede from Britain, the first to have its own constitution, hosted 2008’s North American Secessionist Convention and features the motto “Live Free or Die”. Maybe it’s not so surprising then that this proposed legislation has popped up in New Hampshire but talk of Civil War and secession isn’t limited to New Hampshire. Many of the anti-Obama fanatics seem to have boarded the crazy train, destination: Civil War. Here’s a fellow who fancies that imminent mass secessions over the “fact” that Obama didn’t meet eligiblity requirements for the presidency. I know these are the dead end loonies and it’s always risky to jump down the rabbit hole but I think I just might. There’s a members only site that actually screens applications to join the site. I’ll let you know if they let me in ;)
-Cyranicles
Seriously, Obama, you are getting hosed on these picks. Good news though, Sen. Gregg is really nothing more than opportunistic, and like any good Republican politician, conservatism means only having to believe in your values when it means a convenient excuse.
As an aside, methinks the Congressional GOP believes it has Obama where they want him, and now are going to twist the knife. It’s like welcome back to 1998, except without the intern. These guys are going to go for blood. I think they are jumping the gun early, but sadly it will come down to how successful this stimulus looks to the population.
