hardcore rational politics

kerry

2006-03-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

conan = finnish president

2006-02-13T20:24:00.000-05:00

conan p'brien went to finland to meet with newly re-elected president tarja halonen in hopes of acquiring a cabinet post.

for those of you who don't know the backstory, he's been endorsing her on his show and talking about the election not in hopes of influencing finnish policy, but because they look alike. it's frightening. check it out:

source: http://www.katu.com/news/images/story2006/060116_conan_prez_422.jpg

what's funny is that the running joke actually really helped her campaign.

a rant

2006-02-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

registrar, is there ANY VALID REASON you don't have all my grades up after 22 days?

no. there isn't.

it's been a while!

2006-02-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while, but life has been busy...

with regards to the state of the union: parts of it were frightening, parts of it were pleasing to hear. bush's focus on alternative energy sources is extremely encouraging, and he's right about america's addiction to oil. we'll get pissed if gas prices are raised or if gasoline is taxed, even though every other comparable nation in the world has higher gas prices than we do, and even though it's probably necessary to decrease our consumption. I wish people didn't think cheap gas was an entitlement.

I didn't like his staunch defense of wiretapping. I don't know the ins and outs of national security and its necessities, so I don't want to judge too much, but I don't feel like sneaking around the american public in surveillance is very effective.

I particularly didn't like his cutting of "non-security discretionary spending." this means we'll cut after school programs and education in favor of bulking up the military and fighting unnecessary wars. why do I feel like America's becoming more like Sparta?

here's to hoping Congress becomes a little more politically balanced so things like pbs won't get cut...

pumpkins, halloween, etc.

2005-10-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

every year (well, since last year) I try to carve a pumpkin of a famous person or historical figure. this year richard nixon won. here he is!

dear democrats:

2005-10-27T12:36:00.000-05:00

dear democrats,
please take this time to form a coherent message and plan for the country. you have an opportunity here. people will join you if you give them a reason to.

signed,
america

"the tip of the ice berg"

2005-10-23T03:07:00.000-05:00

from The Nation:

"The leak issue is only the tip of the iceberg," Congressman Jerry Nadler told me when I ran into him on the street near our offices on Friday afternoon. He was quick to tell me of a call led by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Nadler, along with 39 of their House colleagues--for Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation to be expanded to examine whether the White House--President, Vice-President, and members of the WH's War Group--conspired to deliberately deceive Congress into authorizing the war. And, as Nadler reminded me, lying to Congress is a crime under several federal statutes.
This is the first call by members of Congress for an expansion of Fitzgerald's probe, amid mounting evidence that there was a well-orchestrated effort by what former State Department aide Larry Wilkerson dubbed last week, "the Cheney-Rumsfeld axis" to hijack US foreign policy and knowingly mislead the Congress in order to get its support for an unlawful war.

"We are no longer just talking about a Republican culture of corruption and cronyism," Nadler says. "We now have reason to believe that high crimes may have been committed at the highest level, wrongdoing that may have led us to war and imperiled our national security."

watergate, anyone?

with support for the iraq situation as weak as it is, this is not good news for bush. it'd be one thing if there was a success story over there for the american people, but it's a double whammy now that a) we've committed troops to a losing battle and americans are dying overseas, and b) there wasn't a real need for the whole debacle, and the president knew it.

a sign-off as I go to bed --

2005-10-20T23:47:00.000-05:00

bedtime after this.

people are saying 'oh, republicans are so corrupt, blah blah blah, look at everyone who's getting indicted for things' but I'm wondering about corruption in democrats. how much is corruption related to party affiliation? how much is it related to being a politician in general? I'm sure there's sketchy things going on on both sides of the aisle. just so happens there's a crackdown on GOP corruption since the plame thing and delay's issues. now frist and gov. fletcher of kentucky have issues. same with randy "duke" cunningham and other congressmen.

this can't be exclusively a GOP problem though. or is it?

plamegate again...

2005-10-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

the latest, from AP:

"The evidence prosecutors have assembled in the CIA leak case suggests Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff sought out reporters in the weeks before an undercover operative's identity was compromised in the news media, casting doubt on one of the White House's main lines of defense."[...]

"At most, the aides passed on information about her that entered the White House from reporters, the supporters argued.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald now knows that Libby met three times with a New York Times reporter before the leak of Plame's identity, initiated a call to NBC's Tim Russert and was a confirming source about Wilson's wife for a Time magazine reporter.

And in a new twist, presidential political adviser Karl Rove has testified that it's possible Libby was his source before Rove talked to two reporters about the CIA operative." [...]

"While Libby maintains that he didn't know Plame's name until it was published in the news media, the now-public evidence suggests Libby at least was aware that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and that he spread the information." [...]

"As new evidence accumulates on the public record, Libby's original source of information and how he passed the information on are becoming crucial unanswered questions. The public still doesn't know much about what the vice president and his top aide talked about, either."

the sweater is unraveling, fitzgerald just has to keep pulling the yarn.

delay booked!

2005-10-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

his warrant and his mug shot.

the dems don't have any incriminating, awful looking photos of delay holding a placard with his info on it to use in campaign ads now. he looks so happy!

anti-bacterial soap sucks and corruption.

2005-10-20T10:36:00.000-05:00

first:

experts are saying that anti-bacterial soap is no more effective at killing bacteria than regular soap and may contribute to antibiotic resistance.

I've been saying this since before high school. I'm not saying they took my idea of course. but it just goes to show you that this issue is pretty important -- who wants to be dealing with really powerful colds and infections? I mean, stop buying anti-bacterial cleaners. they don't make a difference...

second:

rove has revealed that libby may have been his source on the whole plame thing.

will both rove and libby go down, then? will neither? will just libby or just rove? is cheney involved? does this stink of watergate, with the whole administration somehow involved? somehow I doubt it, but man would that be cool.

oh how I wish I lived in 1972 in the golden age of the Washington Post. hardcore investigative journalism doesn't seem to be around anymore, at least not like it used to be.

I want to know who gets indicted and who doesn't... patrick, hurry up!

corruptionwatch.

2005-10-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

so here's what's new in certain corrupt members of the gop (note I do not say the entire party is corrupt, it's just that certain leaders may be):

frist accumulated a lot of money from stocks in a family-founded hospital chain controlled by his brother.

I'm not entirely sure how stock/investment law works so I don't know what is considered a crime in this field. guess we'll see.

delay's lawyers subpoena his prosecutor.

they allege that earle and his cronies had illegal contact w/ the grand juries that indicted tom delay.

bush could lose rove.

prosecutors have told rove they can no longer say he'll escape indictment. that, of course, will mean a lot more time spent in court. will this be done by nov 06? will this affect the congressional election? not to the extent democrats hope -- half the country doesn't even know who karl rove is.

"not just politics as usual": george magazine 10th anniversary.

2005-10-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

well, against my better judgment and because of a horrid case of cabin fever, I braved the elements for two hours to go see a pretty cool iop forum. I decided that I'd either be able to take pictures or take notes, not both (too much for the brain to handle! I still have a mild fever) so I took some photos. I'll watch the forum video later on and figure out what was said... though Arnold said something about it being judgment day for someone.

new supreme court pick?

2005-10-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

so bush picked harriet miers for the SC.

a few issues:

she has donated to pete sessions (r), phil gramm (r), kay bailey hutchison (r), gwb, other republicans, committees, etc. etc. she has also donated to al gore (d), the dnc, and lloyd bentsen (d). will this mean anything? is she a stealth souter once again?

she has less of a paper trail than john roberts. this is dangerous for both parties, so I guess we'll see what happens.

and check this out:

Public Advocate President Eugene Delgaudio has issued the following statement following the appointment of Harriet Miers to serve on the Supreme Court.

"The President's nomination of Miers is a betrayal of the conservative, pro-family voters whose support put Bush in the White House in both the 2000 and 2004 elections and who were promised Supreme Court appointments in the mold of Thomas and Scalia. Instead we were given 'stealth nominees,' who have never ruled on controversial issues, more in the mold of the disastrous choice of David Souter by this President's father.

"When there are so many proven judges in the mix, it is unacceptable this President has appointed a political crony with no conservative credentials. This attempt at 'Bush Packing' the Supreme Court must not be allowed to pass the Senate and we will forcefully oppose this nomination."

well, at the very least, it'll be interesting to find out what miers is all about...

harvard beauty.

2005-09-29T23:43:00.000-05:00

well, the sun was interesting-looking after the storm this afternoon, so the roomies and I went out to the river to take some pictures. take a gander:

(not political, I know, but yeah)

delay indicted!

2005-09-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

tom delay and two of his associates were indicted on charges of conspiracy.

here's what ap had to say:

"'The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code,' says the four-page indictment. 'The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election.'"

and

"The grand jury action is expected to have immediate consequences in the House, where DeLay is largely responsible for winning passage of the Republican legislative program. House Republican Party rules require leaders who are indicted to temporarily step aside from their leadership posts."

such a charge, too: conspiracy. perhaps it's because I just read all the president's men, but this is strikingly similar to the initial charges in the entire watergate scandal. first it was the break-in, then the FBI linked the break-in to Nixon's reelection campaign, former Nixon aides were indicted, top staffers resigned, and it all went to hell. here we have a committee accused of wrongdoing, the head of the committee having been previously admonished for possible ethics violations, and now he himself has been indicted for conspiracy. granted, the scope of the scandal is perhaps not nearly to the scale that watergate was, but wouldn't it be something if the RNC was deeply involved? if rove was? mehlman? how do we know for sure that it stops at delay?

nooooooooo!!

2005-09-21T12:34:00.000-05:00

no more kobe beef!

booo.

new things, etc., etc.

2005-09-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

so. I've been at school for about a week and a half now though it's seemed like a lifetime, in a good way of course. it's sort of weird getting back in the swing of things because last year was very routine-like and this year is, well, very different, but it's great to be in the bubble once again.

classes. I'm branching out a little more. sophomore government tutorial is pretty standard (political philosophy and US history). intro to health care policy seems like it will be fascinating and the reading looks spectacular, and is step 1 in my certificate in health policy track, assuming I like it enough to pursue it. spanish art and politics is a good class, though after having taken a 2-3 year hiatus from spanish speaking and writing, it's been sort of a shock back into things. not hugely difficult yet, however. finally, shakespearean genres. the professor is extremely theatric and I'm looking forward to reading a bunch of plays, because I feel like I haven't gotten enough exposure to shakespearean theater. so there'll be a fair amount of variation and such.

iop. first meeting of the political review is tonight; we're picking the covers topic and thinking of articles and such. I really enjoy political writing so I look foward to it. iop open house is on thursday, where I will reaffirm my commitment to various committees, and perhaps (gasp) join civics. if I'm not too busy, that is. there have been a few forums that I have unfortunately been unable to attend due to classwork, but after some catchup this weekend I should be more able to go to things. look forward to many interesting speakers and study groups, even when I'm swamped in work, which I expect to be.

lastly, I applied for a research assistant position with my TF from gov 1360 in fall 04. he's doing a paper on blogs and the sorts of information they give, and it pays pretty well. we'll see if that pans out. if not, there will be other opportunities to make some cash and research, I'm sure.

I'd make some commentary on current events and such but I have gov tutorial in two hours and I should probably do the reading. fed #10 and the intro to democracy in america (not democracy for america, as I've probably made the mistake of saying multiple times). we'll see how it goes, I guess...

adios!

2005-09-09T06:40:00.000-05:00

bye, chicago!

brooks on katrina in the nyt, and more thoughts...

2005-09-08T14:35:00.000-05:00

david brooks has a really good column in the nyt today.

it seems a little condescending but he raises a lot of good points. he certainly lacks a rosy vision of new orleans pre-katrina -- he doesn't refute the fact that poverty was rampant and we sort of bungled in our previous aid to them. he also admits that the federal government has the opportunity to make a difference and rebuild the city not as it was, but as what it should have been. anyway, good article.

this whole mess presents a textbook case of the liberal vs. conservative ideology. neither side doubts that the response of the federal government has been, well, less than perfect (the left claims catastrophe, of course), but their interpretations of why things went wrong are very interesting. the right -- at least some of them -- will argue that this is what happens when the feds have too much power. national government is necessarily inefficient and such tasks like disaster response and aid to newly impoverished families are best left to private or state organizations. the left, on the other hand, blames the bush administration for their budget cuts to fema, claiming that a larger and more organized federal government would have provided the necessary response to the victims of katrina.

this raises a few very important questions. which would have worked better -- privatized assistance, or greater public involvement? was the failure because of a large, inefficient government, or because the federal government is irrefutably large and needs sufficient funds to operate? are we better off with the former or the latter?

if one could answer that I think he or she would be set for life.

katrina poll numbers and commentary.

2005-09-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

from my time at gwu, I get daily polling reports from the national journal online, and their info on katrina is pretty interesting.

56% think new orleans will never fully recover.
42% think the government's done a "bad or terrible" job in handling the disaster, 20% deeming the response neither good nor bad, and 35% calling it great or good.
there's a lot of anger towards gas companies -- almost 80% accuse them of price gouging.

ultimately, I don't think this incident is going to hurt the gop too much. the democrats will seem shrill for pointing fingers while we should be concentrating on helping people. they can blame high oil prices on the hurricane, rather than conflicts with venezuela and the middle east. however bungled the federal government's response has been (perhaps because troops are overseas instead of in louisiana), perhaps this is an indication that privatized organizations and agencies would have been more efficient. bob putnam contends that times of disaster increase personal civic engagement and generosity (and social capital), at least in the short term, so perhaps we should focus more on increasing personal commitment to others rather than simply funneling money into an endless abyss of bureaucracy.

this is funny

2005-08-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

hiatus.

2005-08-24T18:33:00.000-05:00

this is on hiatus until I get back to school, but some food for thought:

"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to
be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in
body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a
foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet
to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed
our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These
strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the
administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear
mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . I didn't think we
had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often
easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson
right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots
of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered.
There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no
legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission
creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our
over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national
interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President
started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to
us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

---

discussion about iraq? no. these quotes are from gop opposition to clinton's commitment of troops to bosnia. difference being that we won that war without a single man or woman killed in action.

last in dc!

2005-08-05T22:50:00.000-05:00

this is my last night in dc. it's certainly been fun.

nothing really substantive to say, except I'm looking forward to a month at home before heading off to hahvahd again.

ashcroft, eminent domain.

2005-08-03T19:22:00.000-05:00

harvard interns had about an hour meeting w/ john ashcroft this afternoon. I'm not sure how much of it was off the record, but he said some fairly interesting things, like how he believed liberty was God-given, the patriot act enhances liberty (and does not inhibit it), how he prayed for guidance after 9/11, how he believed incarceration was better for criminals than letting them free (as to prevent them from committing another crime), stuff like that. I hadn't heard arguments like that before so it was fairly compelling. and no, he didn't sing for us.

also, seems that states are creating laws to prevent the supreme court's ruling in the kelo case from affecting people in a negative way. it's good to see the system working -- whenever one branch does something out of line with the majority, other branches/legal entities move to counter it. good show!

oh-2 special election.

2005-08-02T19:17:00.000-05:00

will be putting up results from the 0h-2 special election (schmidt v. hackett) as they come.

update, 11:02pm
753 out of 753 precincts reporting
jean schmidt 57974 52% (w)
paul hackett 54401 48%

update, 9:54pm
662 out of 753 precincts reporting
jean schmidt 49681 50%
paul hackett 48811 50%

update, 9:31pm
580 out of 753 precincts reporting
jean schmidt 45134 52%
paul hackett 42342 48%

update, 9:12pm
305 out of 753 precincts reporting
paul hackett 23957 51%
jean schmidt 22846 49%

update, 8:50pm
175 out of 753 precincts reporting
paul hackett 13512 51%
jean schmidt 12802 49%

update, 8:32pm
56 out of 753 precincts reporting
paul hackett 6562 51%
jean schmidt 6276 49%

end of the session!

2005-07-29T23:39:00.000-05:00

well, it's the end of the legislative session, which means lots of cramming (they never grow out of it, it seems). two points of interest for me:

1) medical malpractice bill. this caps pain and suffering damages at $250k, punitive damages (in many cases) at $250k, yet economic compensatory damages remain untouched. I happen to support this measure -- don't tell the dems. I guess I just don't feel that doctors should be penalized for mistakes made; health care costs are skyrocketing because they're forced into ordering extra tests and the like to prevent malpractice lawsuits. and malpractice insurance for doctors now? it's made me rethink medical school because it's so much bureaucratic garbage to deal with. I say good move on the bill.

2) gun liability bill. this prevents, or at least makes more difficult, suing of gun manufacturers if someone shoots someone else and causes damage. I think it's a great move. why blame he who creates the object if another man is the one who misuses it? same thing with tobacco companies. the consumer's the idiot, not the producer. let's learn how to act responsibly before placing blame on someone who's just out to make a profit.

I realize this distances me from the party line stance of the Democratic party. oh well, can't win 'em all.

kildeer, by the numbers...

2005-07-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

this is from wikipedia/the census:

As of the census² of 2000, there are 3,460 people, 1,077 households, and 1,001 families residing in the village. The population density is 385.0/km² (996.6/mi²). There are 1,095 housing units at an average density of 121.8/km² (315.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the village is 93.82% White, 0.92% African American, 0.00% Native American, 4.28% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.38% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. 2.31% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 1,077 households out of which 51.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 88.0% are married couples living together, 3.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 7.0% are non-families. 5.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 1.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.21 and the average family size is 3.34.

In the village the population is spread out with 32.5% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 30.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 96.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village is $137,498, and the median income for a family is $140,270. Males have a median income of $0 versus $41,607 for females. The per capita income for the village is $51,973. 0.5% of the population and 0.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 0.0% of those under the age of 18 and 1.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

in review --

2005-07-27T20:28:00.000-05:00

a lot's happened recently. here are a few highlights:

sunday afternoon pool party with RFK's speechwriter and adviser/JFK's counsel, press secretary for RFK and now TK, and harvard/IOP folk
photo ops with senators clinton and obama
meeting with peter clement, associate deputy director of intelligence for CIA
dinner with former governor jeanne shaheen (and now IOP director!)
and, of course, spending time with my oh-so-political friends

I'll be glad to be home next week, but I'll definitely miss the capital!

this is old, but pretty classic:

2005-07-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

"I was going to say he's a piece of work, but that might not translate too well. Is that all right, if I call you a 'piece of work'?"—Bush, to Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, Washington, D.C., June 20, 2005

john c. roberts jr.

2005-07-19T18:58:00.000-05:00

well, at least he went to harvard. lived in straus and later leverett.

I don't really want to draw any conclusions yet. he's a hardline prolifer but doesn't have a huge legal record. maybe that's what bush wanted. oh, if only rehnquist had retired, we may have gotten a moderate...

in other news, check out bush (these are from AP), he looks pretty goofy:

doug feith in the news?

2005-07-15T01:13:00.000-05:00

the bush administration overdid the wmd rationale, feith says.

this isn't news, he said that at harvard a few months ago.

the party of corruption?

2005-07-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

now, I try to be as accepting of both parties as possible, but I feel like power has gotten to the right's head. I'd be pissed if the dems did this sort of stuff too, mind you, so this isn't solely a partisan observation.

randy "duke" cunningham is not seeking office because of the scandal he's involved with.

and y'all know about rovegate already. I'm loath to draw hardcore conclusions about the situation before the investigation's over with, but the way things are going (and the way the bush administration's reacting) indicates to me that rove's in deep trouble. will he get fired? who knows. bush values personal loyalty above anything. we'll see what happens.

campus progress conference.

2005-07-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

today was the campus progress conference (campus progress is the new student wing of center for american progress) and it was pretty cool. the first panel had, among others, thomas frank and paul begala. I really, really like begala -- he said some crazy things:

"I think of Paris Hilton sitting on her bony slutty ass- why should she inherit 25 million dollars tax free and the waitress who brings her a double frappuchino pays tax on every nickel she earns?"

to Democrats: "Show some damn cojones!"

in telling the story of Cain and Abel: "Cain asked God, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' I'm on God's side on this one. God said, 'You bet your ass!'"

on Bush's response to 9/11: "Bush pissed his pants and hid in the side of a mountain."

on the GOP's national security policy: "They've done a piss poor job of defending us. Bullshit national defense."

though Begala was certainly the most fiery, the other panelists were really interesting. they also all brought up historical references: mckinley v. bryan, goldwater, etc. I guess studying history really is important.

then, of course, there was bill clinton. I'd never heard him speak so it was quite the experience. he outlined some progressive ideals and told us how to win elections. one particularly important comment was about talking to red America. he brought up the example of a man in louisiana who voted for bush even though he disagreed with pretty much every policy choice he had made. clinton asked, "well, why did you vote for Bush then?" and the man replied, "since you, Bill, no one's been here to talk to us."

Clinton also recommended we watch a movie called "Advise and Consent," which he said "just came out on VCR." Podesta soon corrected him and said, "DVD, Mr. President."

the breakout sessions were also good (I went to one on journalism and one on religion and progressive values).

the closing plenary was the founder of democracy matters and congressman john lewis. the latter was an extraordinary speaker and talked about his role in the civil rights act (he worked with martin luther king). pretty crazy.

that's about all from the conference -- pictures coming.

kentucky, karl rove, and saddam hussein.

2005-07-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

first: just got back from a trip to kentucky w/ the company. it was an interesting experience but I can't talk about the goings on.

second: karl rove is looking more and more screwed. everyone's sort of talking about it already so I don't feel the need to comment much further, except to say that I'd be surprised if he was actually fired. bush takes friendship and loyalty very, very seriously, and rove is an old friend. though who knows for sure...

third: I just had a dream that I killed saddam hussein and I thought I'd share that.

tomorrow: writings on the campus progress conference, featuring bill clinton!

non-substantive making fun of bush!

2005-07-06T17:40:00.000-05:00

bush was riding his bike in scotland, crashed into a cop, and injured them both.

I just think it's funny, no ill feelings towards bush, and I hope his hands feel better soon. and I hope the scottish cop involved didn't mess up his ankle too bad.

that's pretty much all.

kelo v. new london, poll data, etc. etc.

2005-06-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

the kelo v. new london decision (that which states that private companies can seize land from individuals if there would be increased benefits, i.e. economic benefits, to the city should they do so) is ridiculous. don't even look at the legality of the case. look at the practical effects. who benefits? a very small portion of society. namely, those who own large businesses, hotels, etc.

for this reason I think it's absolutely hilarious that the ceo of freestar media wants to build a hotel on david souter's property, since it is clear that such a development would generate more tax revenue and benefits for the city government. he says he's entirely serious, but who knows where it'll go.

I won't even talk about the 10 commandments decision in depth. the scotus just complicated the issue by adding layers and exceptions, that's all I'll say.

and some poll data...

bloomberg leads ferrer substantially. the inflated numbers (50 to 37, respectively) make sense because of bloomberg's incumbency, but they still don't bode well for ferrer. he'll have to wager a tough campaign, and I don't really think he'll be able to do it. bloomberg's moderate enough as not to alienate too many democrats. moderacy + incumbency = success for him.

corzine's leading forrester by 10 points. I think corzine'll win this one, definitely. yes, forrester has some name recognition from running previously, but I seriously doubt he'll be victorious. corzine is loaded, after all.

bob casey will win pennsylvania and rick santorum will leave washington. I'm worried about the supposed nelson-harris race -- katherine harris is sketch. I'm sorry to say that I don't think tim roemer stands a chance in indiana against lugar. the maryland race will be extremely interesting and I have no basis on which to make my judgments. same goes for the minnesota race. stabenow will definitely retain her seat. I think the democrats will be victorious in missouri.

more to come?

cnn segment, "christian sex toys."

2005-06-26T15:03:00.000-05:00

we saw this on cnn the other night, the whole segment was pretty ridiculous in a lot of ways. here's the transcript:

LIN: All right, I think it's only fair to say that only on CNN can we find a way to marry sex and the Bible Belt and keep it within the bounds of journalism.

There is an adage that the couple who prays together, stays together. All the more true for a couple who's having great sex.

Well, devout Christians are enhancing their face with shall we say the tools for romance? CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports on a story you'll only see on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born again evangelical Christians Dan and Sybil Bralley solve simple puzzles for their two small kids.

DAN BRALLEY, CHRISTIAN: I think this one goes over here.

HINOJOSA: But they look to Jesus to solve life's larger puzzles, like how to build this solid Christian family in a not so Christian world.

D. BRALLEY: It is very important to expose kids to the love of Christ and raise them in that knowledge that God loves them, you know, and who Jesus was at a very early age.

HINOJOSA: And how to fill their local Sunday school with baby after baby. They're on baby number 3. But like millions of couples, they ran into some sexual stumbling blocks.

And like a growing number of devout Christians, they took the surprising step of turning to Pure Romance, a multi million dollar sex toy company based in Cincinnati.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every married couple needs one of those.

HINOJOSA: Pure Romance markets sex aids and lotions at Tupperware like parties like this one outside of Charlotte, North Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just hold it there for just a second.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All righty.

HINOJOSA: And they're making big profit, selling the sorts of items usually associated with "Sex and the City" to country folks in the Bible Belt. PATTY BRISBEN, PURE ROMANCE CEO: Christian women want to have fun. The success of Pure Romance has been that we have been able to make the Bible Belt women feel very comfortable about their own sexuality.

HINOJOSA: Pure Romance says its profits grew from $1.5 million to more than $50 million, largely from sales in the south.

Sybil invited us and a few friends over for what she calls a toy party.

JODY ZIVERINK, SALESWOMAN, PURE ROMANCE: How many of you guys have ever been to a Pure Romance before?

HINOJOSA: It was hosted by Jody Ziverink, a top sales person at Pure Romance, who specializes in religious clients.

ZIVERINK: It seems to be kind of a myth that if you are a very religious person, that you also cannot be sexual.

HINOJOSA: Jody likes to start with mood creators. I tasted a little bit of Dust Me Pink. Then the toys came out. Or as they call them in the business, relationship enhancers.

ZIVERINK: And it has seven different vibrating speeds. So in addition to like low, medium, high, I also have the pulsating feature.

HINOJOSA: There is uncomfortable laughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Woo, that's good.

HINOJOSA: But just as much straightforward talk.

ZIVERINK: You can also teach yourself to have multiple orgasms. If you've never done it before, it's not any fault of yourself. It's just really hard to do without a toy.

HINOJOSA: Much of what Jody discusses is educational.

ZIVERINK: Antidepressants certainly kind of numb all of everything. And that makes all the stress of your life more tolerable. But they also decrease your sensitivity and impact your ability to reach orgasm.

HINOJOSA: Sybil and her husband believe these products, this is their new swing, have enriched their Christian marriage.

So some people might say, a swing? Oh my God. And you say?

SYBIL BRALLEY, CHRISTIAN: Well, you know, some people have back problems. Some partners may be too heavy to hold.

HINOJOSA: Some people might be pregnant.

S. BRALLEY: Some people might be pregnant.

HINOJOSA: The toys they say have brought them closer together and closer to God.

D. BRALLEY: It's made our marriage very exciting. And I think that just honors God.

HINOJOSA: And most importantly, encourage them to remain monogamous.

S. BRALLEY: The consultant that we have, she was very specific with, you know, it was between a husband and his wife. That was one of the things that, you know, she stressed most is that, you know, these toys that we offer are not for your self-pleasure necessarily. They're for you and your husband to use to become closer.

D. BRALLEY: It was just oh, yes, baby, you know, I can't wait. This is going to be awesome.

HINOJOSA: This is the first sex toy party for Dawn, who's a single mother. And she's a little uncomfortable with the idea.

DAWN, CHRISTIAN: You're not supposed to sleep with people when you're not married, you know. That's a sin.

HINOJOSA: But after hearing Jody's sales pitch...

DAWN: If you have a toy to use, instead of using a man, I mean, I don't think in God's eyes, I don't think it's wrong. I mean, that's just my -- there's nothing in the Bible that says don't, you know, pleasure yourself with a toy.

JACK HOMESLY, PASTOR: It's the thought life that accompany -- if there...

HINOJOSA: But that notion raises red flags for Pastor Jack Homesly, who preaches at a Southern Baptist Church that Dan and Sybil attend sometimes.

HOMESLY: When I just looked at their Web site, I don't see one mention of Christ. I don't see one mention of anything Christian.

HINOJOSA: Pure Romance is sex aids and toys for partners sound a lot like masturbation and adultery to him.

HOMESLY: The Bible says that sex is great when it does within God's confines. And that is one man, one woman, married for life. And God created sex, you know, for procreation.

HINOJOSA: Dan Bralley reads the Bible a different way.

D. BRALLEY: Your stature is like that of the palm and your breasts like clusters of fruit. I said I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit.

HINOJOSA: So the Bible is saying you can adore each other as physical...

D. BRALLEY: Absolutely. It brings, you know, it shows that God's intention was for us to enjoy each other, the touch, the experience of coming together as husband and wife.

HINOJOSA: And Sybil believes these sex aids are part of God's plan to help her family grow. And for that, she thanks God and Pure Romance.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

congressional baseball game.

2005-06-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

went to the congressional baseball game last night, and it was pretty ridiculously fun. we first sat on the republican side; rick santorum was very close to us when he was warming up (we had first row, first base line). but everyone around us was cheering for the gop. so we moved to the dems side, which was a lot more fun. we sat behind john barrow (d-ga) and he was really, really rowdy, catcalling and hollering and all that. then nancy pelosi walked by and we got a picture with her, she was pretty friendly. saw melissa bean and debbie wasserman-schultz as well, but unfortunately no mark kirk (perhaps he was on the gop side). gop won, 19-10 -- oh well. it was still fun!

click here for video of one of santorum's hits

john mccain.

2005-06-22T20:34:00.000-05:00

not only is he an awesome politician, check out how attractive he used to be:

new template

2005-06-22T20:13:00.000-05:00

what do you think?

you won't respond anyway. meh, I like it.

interesting poll data:

2005-06-19T20:22:00.000-05:00

general election matchup, illinois gubernatorial:

blagojevich (d): 45%
topinka (r): 42%
undecided/other: 13%

does blagojevich deserve reelection?
someone new: 47%
reelection: 40%

***

general election matchup, florida senate:

nelson (d): 48%
harris (r): 42%

***

general election matchup, new york senate:

clinton (d): 53%
giuliani (r): 43%

***

congressional approval rating: 31%
bush approval rating: 42%
economy, positive rating: 39%
say the country is going in the right direction: 35%

losing more and more.

2005-06-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

hagel says the us is losing in iraq!

oh bush, you're even losing republicans. I always knew hagel was a good guy, but this proves it.

and biden's running for president, wahoo.

soldiers = nazis?

2005-06-15T21:19:00.000-05:00

take a look at sen. durbin (il)'s remarks regarding soldiers and abuse, etc.:

"when you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the RECORD, and yet they have to be added to this debate. let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. and I quote from his report.:

on a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. most times they urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. on one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold...on another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. the detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. he had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughoug the night. on another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

if I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. sadly, that is not the case. this was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

I don't think anyone doubts that the treatment of detainees has been awful. in fact, I don't think his comparison of soldiers to nazis or soviets was unfounded, given their behavior. but how will this be taken by the public?

more defiance.

2005-06-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

house voted today to limit the library record provision of the patriot act, inspite of the threat of a veto by president bush.

this is just another example of how bush is losing clout. the push for privatization has left the radar screen; instead, folks are pushing for a higher retirement age -- a vast change from the previous rhetoric of the administration. the stem cell bill also passed the house, even with the threat of a veto. bush's approval rating is declining rapidly with the escalation in violence in iraq (more than 50 people in iraq died today, for example). the nuclear option debate has marginalized the extreme right, frist included, and moderates are regaining clout. not to mention the schiavo ordeal, which made lots of folks wary of congressional intervention and such (even a majority of evangelists rejected the idea of legislation infringing upon state judicial rulings).

I'm hoping that this somewhat lame duck-ish period for bush creates a power vaccuum in which moderate republicans can ascend to replace the extreme right. maybe arlen specter, lincoln chafee, olympia snowe, john mccain, susan collins, mark kirk (!) will step up to the plate and bring sensible politics back to washington.

more on sex...

2005-06-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

so today people have come to this blog searching for "hardcore deep throat" and "rational sex."

tell me, what the hell is rational sex? I thought the point was that it was completely based on the irrational -- the whole instinctual thing.

slate's bushism.

2005-06-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

normally I don't post these, but this one seemed so perfect, I had to. just picture will ferrell saying the following:

"It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of—and the allegations—by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble—that means not tell the truth." —On a report from Amnesty International critical of U.S. detention facilities. Washington, D.C., May 31, 2005

ridiculous... "people who hate america"? honestly!

hardcore porn.

2005-06-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

well, it serves me right for titling this blog "hardcore rational politics" (as many friends have been kind to point out). I have a webstats program coded into the site so I can tell how many hits a day I get, how people get here, where they're located, what search terms are used, and so on. basically stalker info but nothing too informative. anyway, many of the searchterms people use to get here include the term hardcore. only problem is the terms also include sex, porn, etc. so people have been coming here searching for "hardcore in lebanon," "child hardcore sex," "hardcore sex," and so on. you get the idea. of course, now that I've typed all this up, I imagine those searching for hardcore porn and hardcore sex will stumble upon the site even more. but, hey, if it increases traffic...

work in dc.

2005-06-03T17:34:00.000-05:00

figured it was time for a post about my dc job. I work for a political technology/consulting company, and basically do research and editing for employees and the ceo. I work long hours (8 a day, usually) and rarely get away for a long lunch break. we have big name clients and small name clients. neither of which I should divulge for company confidentiality reasons. it's fun but hard and taxing and such. and the whole lack of paycheck thing kinda bites because I'm rationing my food (grocery stores are limited) and walk instead of metro. at least it's a nice walk, good exercise, and goes past the white house...

mark felt = deep throat.

2005-05-31T16:53:00.000-05:00

washington post (woodward) confirmed felt was deep throat.

another mystery solved. and I thought it was rehnquist.

deep throat and america haters...

2005-05-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

this seems like it's right out of an snl skit.

not the allegations of human rights violations, because that's very serious. but the comment that the allegations were made by people who hate america. that's pretty funny. picture will ferrell saying that as gwb and you'll see what I mean...

and deep throat revealed?

what a liar! deep throat was alleged to be very sick and ben bradlee has written the obit. there's no way in hell mark felt is deep throat.

flattering, really.

2005-05-30T19:36:00.000-05:00

check it from ap:

well, one more couldn't hurt.

2005-05-30T00:09:00.000-05:00

last post before going to washington. what to say...

it's always easy to talk about bolton. he seems like more trouble than he's worth, and some republicans are starting to agree. here's some more about how he's a really bad choice for a really important job.

weak post, I know, but it's late.

catholic china?

2005-05-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

(I know, three posts in a day, what the hell)

but man, diplomacy between beijing and the vatican?

when rick warren gave a guest lecture in my government class, he said one of the most important developments in our society would be the direction china goes religion-wise. maybe he was right?

non, merci...

2005-05-29T18:50:00.000-05:00

the french have rejected the first eu constitution.

this creates for an interesting situation in europe. I just think they'll keep voting until the french agree to it. otherwise the constitution's kinda pointless in the first place. not that profess to have great knowledge of the eu goings on, though.

dc in like... 15 hours or something.

2005-05-29T15:52:00.000-05:00

man this summer's going to be quite the experience. two days at home followed by three months in washington, working a 9-5 (or 11...) job, hopefully reading a lot, spending time outside a lot (maybe?), and stalking senators.

most of my summer reading list is modern, apolitical fiction, because I really missed reading that sorta thing during the schoolyear -- it was allllll articles and stuff -- but there's a few political titles on there. specifically freakonomics by steven levitt, the plot against america by philip roth, dreams from my father by barack obama, when presidents lie by eric alterman, god's politics by jim wallis, and assassination vacation by sarah vowell. I seriously doubt I'll get to all of those titles but one can always try.

stem cells, the death penalty, and gwb.

2005-05-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

william saletan has an interesting piece about bush's stem cell and death penalty stances.

to be sure, he brings up a good point about the ostensible hypocrisy of being both anti-stem cell because 'one should not take the life of one to save another,' and pro-death penalty because 'the death penalty saves lives.' yet we should also be careful about this. the right often criticizes the left for the same sort of hypocrisy, only in reverse. I intentionally use inflated language here, but the pro-choice, anti-death penalty left -- the right contends -- stands for slaughtering innocent babies while favoring letting convicted murderers live luxuriously in a maximum security federal prison (they have weight rooms!).

I am pro-choice and against the death penalty and, yes, it is difficult to resolve the ostensible contradiction rhetorically and substantively. at least, to some folks who inflate arguments through language. but that's a story for another day.

party like it's 1994...

2005-05-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

man, things aren't going so well for bush. house just passed the stem cell bill in defiance, the judicial nominee battle ended badly for everyone (though arguably worse for the republicans, at least guys like frist), bush's approval ratings are really, really low, and remember social security? yeah, that's totally out of the spotlight.

wonder what the '06 elections will look like if this keeps up.

filibuster deal reached.

2005-05-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

senate centrists reached a deal regarding the judicial filibuster, nuclear option, etc.

finally, moderates have done something productive. well done, well done, please continue to use your influence to bring back sensible politics to washington.

viva el presidente!

2005-05-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

seems my government professor is running for president of brazil.

pretty cool. though he was probably the most abstract professor of all time. maybe he communicates differently to the masses than he does to a harvard law school class.

roberto mangabeira unger '06?

Boooooooooooooooooo.

2005-05-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

patriot act reincarnate...

remind me of this -- doesn't conservative ideology warn against overbreadth of government policy? don't they favor privatization of, oh, I don't know, everything? where the hell have we gone?

interesting polling data regarding the nuclear option.

2005-05-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

from rasmussen reports:

should every nominee receive an up or down vote?
yes -- 49%
no -- 23%

should the senate rules be changed?
yes -- 57%
no -- 25%

if the rules are changed, should democrats shut down the senate?
yes -- 25%
no -- 55%

who do you trust more on judicial nominations?
president bush -- 41%
democratic senators -- 44%

interesting that more people trust the democratic senators with regards to judicial nominations, but they want the rules changed to force an up or down vote on said nominees, when it is fairly clear that republicans could get the 51 votes they need. of course, it's also true that people dislike deliberative policy-making -- they tend to equate deliberation with not getting anything done. and people want their legislators to act on their behalf. perhaps for the public this is less a question of people wanting liberal or conservative judges on federal courts, and more of an issue of a distaste for "obstructionist" (as the right will claim) or deliberative politics.

my personal view is that inactive or slow politics is not inherently bad. I'd prefer moderate republicans and democrats in judicial positions anyway, and I think the availability of the filibuster could (if the partisan bickering and stubbornness stops, of course) force more moderate appointments for whichever party is in power.

hold up!

2005-05-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

barbara boxer has put a hold on bolton's nomination.

I don't have much to say about this, but man, if republicans are that reluctant to confirm him, this isn't an obstructionist tactic by the opposition -- this is what needs to be done for a bad, bad choice for un ambassador.

bolton nomination.

2005-05-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

bolton's fate is in the hands of a lucky foursome.

I predict voinovich to be the one to vote against him. hagel will be reluctant to do anything that would pit conservative republicans against him, since he's laying the groundwork for a 2008 run. chafee is much more likely because he has a much more liberal constituency which is putting pressure on him to vote against bolton. it could be him. murkowski seems like she doesn't have enough clout yet to take a controversial stance on something like this, since she's been there for what, 3 years?

guess we'll see what happens thursday! any other predictions?

deal reached on the filibuster?

2005-05-09T20:18:00.000-05:00

seems harry reid's extending the olive branch to the republican party.

this is actually good news for the democrats. they won't be painted as the opposition party nearly as much, since they instigated the compromise, and if the republican party doesn't agree with said compromise, they'll seem stubborn and unyielding. not exactly what a party needs if they're pursuing drastic social security reform, which totally fell under the radar and is nearly dead anyway. but that's an entirely different issue.

bush and putin.

2005-05-08T18:09:00.000-05:00

putin on the left, bush on the right. too funny.

clinton '08.

2005-05-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've always been inclined to believe that the only reason hillary is the democratic frontrunner for 2008 is because of her name rec.

she's far too polarizing to garner votes.

a "moderate" treated like a liberal? you can't get much worse than that. except for maybe a moderate treated like a socialist or something maybe. I'd prefer to see the nomination in the hands of someone like bill richardson or tom vilsack or joe biden. sure, they don't have the clinton name, but they're not nearly as polarizing and would have a better chance at getting the exurb vote I imagine.

ugh!

2005-05-05T05:45:00.000-05:00

anyone who says humanities majors don't work hard is severely lying.

I'm still writing.

op-ed to the nyt.

2005-05-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

a while back I wrote a letter to the nyt regarding an article they wrote about oil prices and such. ultimately they didn't publish it so I will.

Re: “Oil Dips Below $50 to Seven – Week Low,” (Business, April 14)

This article paints far too rosy a picture of our oil situation as well as our political situation in the Middle East. Oil prices are up 17% from the beginning of the year, OPEC is running out of spare production capacity, and gas prices show no sign of decline. Yet, interestingly, the Venezuelan oil minister cites "geopolitical tension in the Middle East" as the prime cause of previous record-high oil prices – not diminished production.

Paradoxically, things are seemingly going well, politically, in the Middle East. Democracy seems to be on the march -- the Iraqi elections were successful, the Saudi kingdom recently conducted its first municipal elections in more than forty years, Egyptian leader Murbarak announced that the presidential elections in his country would be multi-candidate, and Syrian troops may soon completely withdraw from Lebanon. It seems like a dream come true for the Bush administration.

But even though democracy in the Middle East is surely positive, it is obscuring the true story. We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that democratic institutions abroad do not necessarily translate into better international relations, as shown by record oil prices. Democracy in the Middle East is not a quick fix for global tension; it is only a single step.

perception at school.

2005-05-02T16:01:00.000-05:00

I was considering how skewed one's environment can make their perceptions of their own political identity and that of the rest of the world.

people here (cambridge) can be for gay marriage and call themselves moderate. if they think tax raises inhibit economic growth, they're fascists. 'liberal' means socialist. 'very liberal' means they have a huge hatred for the capitalism that probably got them to this fine institution in the first place.

people's republic of cambridge, indeed... makes me crave my 60/40 district back home.

is this the first step?

2005-04-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

in writing my paper for globalization I realize how right wing my economic perspective tends to be. check out some excerpts:

If pharmaceutical companies knew that their drugs could be copied and sold at low prices as generics after they spent “12-15 years” and “$230-500 million” on research for each individual drug, they would be far less inclined to devote time and money for this production (p. 29).

The harmfulness of generic drugs is also apparent; if countries were not prohibited from developing their own cheap generic versions of a highly effective and expensive drug created after years of research and millions of dollars spent, pharmaceutical companies would certainly not spend their resources on generating new drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies are businesses; in order to survive and be successful in a market economy (and, perhaps more importantly, manufacture the drugs millions need), they need to turn a profit. The unfortunate consequence of this economic necessity is that drug companies have to make drugs in correspondence with their consumer; that is, they often devote more resources to manufacturing medicines that affect people who can afford to buy their drugs.

It is undisputed that this discrepancy is certainly detrimental to nations and individuals, but the fact is that pharmaceutical companies are not inclined to manufacture drugs for such diseases if they cannot expect to regain the cost of research and development or even simply turn a profit, else they risk failure in the competitive market or lesser ability to create drugs in the future.

Ultimately, it is clear that generic drug proliferation could be substantially harmful to pharmaceutical companies and, in turn, the rest of the world, since important drugs would be less likely to be created. For this reason, it is crucial that the WTO encourage rules prohibiting generic drug manufacturing, else we would live in a world without new medicinal innovation and important scientific findings.

before you know it I'll be screaming "four more years!"

ethics and tom delay, etc.

2005-04-27T18:06:00.000-05:00

first, I came across this in drudge, and it's so great. it's a good thing when politicians of either side are held accountable for their actions.

second, the youth vote conference was today, and it went really well. I'm really proud of it and glad it was successful. now for the real work -- transcription!

more on the filibuster...

2005-04-25T23:43:00.000-05:00

from a wapo poll:

66% of respondents oppose changing the rules of the senate to prohibit judicial filibusters.

this from a crowd of 30% conservative, 47% moderate, 20% liberal.

frist '08, indeed.

return from dc, nuclear option, etc.

2005-04-21T00:49:00.000-05:00

well, I just got back from washington dc, and it was an amazing time. we met with senators kennedy and pryor, had a discussion with justice breyer, went on a private tour of the west wing, had breakfast with washington area journalists, and basically had a great time bonding with fellow political junkies.

the more I come in contact with political staffers, the more I realize how important networking is. thankfully harvard is a haven for people who know a friend on the hill, etc., etc.

in substantive policy news, I think tom delay is so going to be voted out of office in 2006. that, and this talk about the nuclear option is ridiculous. if you're a republican, and you get rid of the judicial filibuster, it only helps you if you have a republican president. what happens when the democrats regain power of the presidency (historically, these things happen in waves)? complete lack of foresight. it doesn't make sense to do. john mccain said pretty much the same thing, but I said it first (for the record).

here's a good slate article about why it should be kept. not quite relevant to my specific points but thought-provoking nonetheless.

john edwards.

2005-04-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

once again, off the record, can't tell you anything. sorry!

but man. awesome to the core.

more on gay marriage.

2005-04-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

I found this on the 'net a while back, thought it was humorous. not my own work, but I don't know whose it is.

Twelve Reasons Gay Marriage Will Ruin Society

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid becasue they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can't legally get married because the world needs more children.

3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; just like women are property, blacks can't marry whites, and divorce is illegal.

6. Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

10. Children can never suceed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to cars or longer lifespans.

12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name, are better because a "separate but equal" institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

a little polling data.

2005-04-05T00:48:00.000-05:00

as much as I profoundly distrust polls here's some data.

given a race for ny governor between pataki and spitzer: spitzer leads by 18 points.

some presidential matchups:
mccain - 49
clinton - 38

giuliani - 47
clinton - 41

bush (jeb) - 47
clinton - 50

when asked about who folks wanted for the 2008 republican primary:
giuliani - 25
mccain - 21
rice - 14
bush - 7
gingrich - 5
frist - 3
etc. etc. etc.

when asked about who folks wanted for the 2008 democratic primary:
clinton - 39
kerry - 21
edwards - 15
biden - 5
clark - 4
feingold - 2
etc. etc. etc.

it'll be an interesting election, that's for sure.

wolfie in the bank.

2005-03-31T23:04:00.000-05:00

seems that wolfie's got approval for heading the world bank (outside the bush admin, of course).

now, earlier I was skeptical about paul wolfowitz heading up the world bank, but somehow now I'm not hugely worried. sure, it's a neoconservative in a position of power, but it doesn't seem like he'll carry the same foreign policy clout in this role. he'll be working with money, not armies. and his rhetoric doesn't seem unilateralist jacksonian cowboy as I've come to expect. I mean, take what he said in response to the world bank's approval:

"it is humbling to be entrusted with the leadership of this critically important international institution."

comforting words.

pope and schiavo.

2005-03-30T16:07:00.000-05:00

feeding tube for the pope?

in the wake of the schiavo controversy, this is fairly big news. it probably won't develop into the same situation, or even a similar situation, but just imagine a situation in which the pope became mentally incapacitated and could only survive with a feeding tube. there's no way in hell he'd get taken off the feeding tube because he's already spoken out about doing as such being a mortal sin. people would flip: they removed the tube for terri, but they would definitely not for the pope. inconsistency?

now who's the flip flop?

2005-03-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

bush's 1999 futile care law.

"Sec. 166.039. PROCEDURE WHEN PERSON HAS NOT EXECUTED OR ISSUED A DIRECTIVE AND IS INCOMPETENT OR INCAPABLE OF COMMUNICATION. (a) If an adult qualified patient has not executed or issued a directive and is incompetent[,] or otherwise mentally or physically incapable of communication, the attending physician and the patient's legal guardian or an agent under a medical power of attorney may make a treatment decision that may include a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from the patient."

isn't one's spouse their legal guardian?

edit:

zing!

schiavo commentary.

2005-03-21T23:39:00.000-05:00

now, I won't write down any value judgments about whether or not letting terri schiavo die is a good or a bad thing. what I will say is that it's obscene that congressional authorities think they have a legitimate role in this situation. this is nothing more than congressional activism and political pandering; it is simply not the federal government's role to intervene when something like this happens. they should be worrying about other things -- perhaps the budget, health insurance, medicare, iraq, poverty, hunger, globalization, economic policy...

to quote dahlia lithwick, from slate.com:

You can put aside the doctrine of federalism for Terri Schiavo, and the principles of separation of powers, and comity, and of deference to finality and the rule of law. But you'd want to be certain, on the day you do so, that what you're sacrificing them for some concrete legal value that matters a whole lot more. Subordinating a centuries-old culture of law to an amorphous, legally meaningless "culture of life," is not a decision to be taken over a weekend.

absolutely right.

budget issues?

2005-03-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

yesterday the senate nixed the medicare cuts bush proposed in the budget!

very, very close vote. the house and the senate passed two very different versions of the budget (though I'm not sure if the entire budget has gotten through either chamber) with discrepancies in tax cuts, medicare, the whole shebang. this sends a message to bush: people don't like their entitlements getting cut in exchange for crazy excessive defense spending, and the legislators know that. maybe next time he should look at not fighting a bazillion wars and, instead, look at fixing problems at home.

more on larry.

2005-03-17T01:35:00.000-05:00

ny times article about larry.

to the media: please stop reporting about larry. it's old news. and it's not a huge deal. he's not resigning. things will go back to normal. get over it.

anwr drilling.

2005-03-17T01:29:00.000-05:00

the senate voted to allow drilling in anwr.

of course, the headline isn't completely true. they approved the language of anwr in the budget, which means the senate must pass a budget, its budget must be reconciled with the one passed by the house, and then congress must pass a second budget-related measure that includes the drilling in a larger package of provisions.

why is this important, then, you may ask, if the process is so lengthy and highly deliberative? because this means the policy can't be blocked by filibuster. they only need a majority to approve the measure now, and since they had 51-49 to begin with, it's going to take some major lobbying efforts by the democrats to prevent the drilling from happening in the future.

obnoxious system, isn't it?

vote of no confidence.

2005-03-15T18:17:00.000-05:00

today at the faculty meeting, the harvard faculty voted no confidence (218-185) about larry.

ridiculous -- he's a fine president. look at all he's done with the financial aid initiatives, greater professor-undergraduate interaction, encouragement of study abroad. I'd hate to see him go and I hope he doesn't take the professors' pettiness to heart, because short of resignation, the only way he'll be forced to leave is through a vote from the corporation. which won't happen.

oh, those ides of march.

john "human scum" bolton as un ambassador

2005-03-09T19:48:00.000-05:00

my theory about why bolton is a really bad pick for un ambassador:

bush's overly idealistic neoconservatism (in the realm of foreign policy) is self-contradictory since neocons believe in 1) military primacy of the united states and 2) unilateral pressure for democratic values throughout the world. his goal isn't something you can do without international support. pushing away the UN is the last thing bush wants to do because the UN is going to have a huge role in the israeli-palestinian talks, the lebanon-syrian issues, iran nuclear sanctions, north korean nuclear issues, china, sudan, the list goes on. bolton's appointment signifies two things in my eyes: a neocon takeover of american foreign policy and a need for america to be at the forefront of democratization because of bush's crazy idealism and need for a legacy of some sort. but that can't happen without international support. he's digging his own grave with john "human scum" bolton.

bob graham.

2005-03-08T23:26:00.000-05:00

so I was doing some work at the IOP and who do I run into but bob graham! seems he might want to be a fellow next year. small world.

more importantly, it's looking like the dems gala and the iop conference will be the same day in april. somebody stab a fork into my eye because that day is going to be hellishly busy if that's the case. which it looks like it will be.

gross...

john kerry.

2005-03-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

unfortunately I can't talk about the specifics of the event because it's very important that senator kerry's remarks remain off the record.

but holy crap was it amazing.

freakin out a bit...

2005-03-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna meet john kerry in less than 14 hours. 13.75 hours to be exact. this is like meeting a rock star.

what do I do?!

this is adorable:

2005-03-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

clinton slept on the floor of the airplane so daddy bush could have the bed!

that's so cute. nothing substantive to say about it though.

I know this is old news, but...

2005-03-04T14:31:00.000-05:00

the supreme court, in addition to the 10 commandments issue, is also considering interstate wine laws. some states, like michigan, prohibit the interstate transport of wine (is it transport or purchase? I'm not sure). apparently there's question as to whether or not it's constitutional.

does it matter? I'd say not much -- there are ways around the law. our friends in michigan are wine aficionados, so they (in the past, I'm not sure if we do anymore) had their wine sent to our house, and then we sent it to them. no problem. I imagine we weren't the only ones doing this.

supreme court decision...

2005-03-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

supreme court found the juvenile death penalty to be unconstitutional.

which makes sense if you make the assumption that juveniles are not as conscious of the ramifications of their actions as adults are. there's also a greater likelihood of hormonal imbalance, incomplete brain growth, etc., that could influence consciousness and alter someone's state of mind enough to cause a passionate action. in either case said person should be tried for manslaughter, and the death penalty wouldn't be a viable sentence.

scalia wrote a 25 page dissent. not surprising.

2005-02-28T01:59:00.000-05:00

bill clinton thinks his wife would make a good president.

well, gee, he wouldn't dare think otherwise, would he?

though I'd tend to agree with him.

nothing's wrong with self promotion.

2005-02-27T22:27:00.000-05:00

the tribune was at the larry thing last week and he talked to me.

or, more accurately, I overheard that he was from the tribune so I went up to him and said, "hey, you from the chicago tribune? I'm from chicago." and of course they always want a local perspective.

still, it's my first time being quoted in a major newspaper. hopefully not the last.

larry = right?

2005-02-27T15:27:00.000-05:00

experts are saying larry may be correct.

WHAT A THOUGHT.

the pope's condition.

2005-02-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

so the pope is recovering from his emergency surgery, and while he might seem fine now, is this only a quick fix? how much longer does he have? more importantly, what happens if he goes into a coma (all too plausible with the way things have been going for him)? who would be the man to pull the plug, if at all? just food for thought.

also: check the sunday chicago tribune for a quote by yours truly in the larry summers article. booyah.

creepy part II.

2005-02-27T02:15:00.000-05:00

so I photoshopped macauley culkin onto putin's face; the doctored and the real versions are here (respectively):

jfk library.

2005-02-27T01:42:00.000-05:00

today some of the hahvahd dems went to the jfk library (for free, I might add). I didn't used to have an appreciation for history or anything like that, but it was really, really interesting. I don't think I really became interested in history until like... senior year. and even then. but anyway -- amazing memorabilia, and really entertaining movies playing all around. one of the most interesting things was a jfk memo to his personal secretary which consisted of 'remind me to do this' or 'has this bill passed yet' or 'who will be attending this event,' etc. but one thing stuck out: a reminder to discuss an event with a dick goodwin. the name sounded very familiar, so I thought about it for a while, and it turns out I met him at the new members conference. doris kearns goodwin's husband, as well, and he had great stories about the lbj admin especially. he didn't look that old, though, so he must've been a really young guy as a kennedy staffer.

with the 8 bucks I saved from not paying admission to the museum I bought a really great photo of jfk on his boat. it'll be framed eventually. all in all, however, a great way to spend a saturday afternoon.

this is so unnerving:

2005-02-25T00:02:00.000-05:00

my buddy posted a picture of the bush-putin meeting on his blog and there was something that wouldn't settle with me when I saw it. then it hit me:

putin looks EXACTLY like macauley culkin.

the pope's health.

2005-02-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

as y'all probably know, the pope's health is declining rapidly. it's a real shame, particularly because easter is only a month away.

during a happier time, not a month ago: