FP is not as sexy as they think it is

it is irritating that "opinionators" seem to only want to opine about foreign policy...somehow it's sexy, or something. domestic policy or critical analysis about american culture is blase. when i read about beinart's title i was hoping for an examination of how america as a society found itself in a situation, as a whole, where "success breeds disaster," which is how he summarizes his argument. instead it is some analytical claptrap about how foreign policy thinkers rationalize their respective courses of action.

counteracting declining circulation, with drivel

the mainstream media isn't so much liberal in content, as conservatives might claim. rather, the greater threat is the continual pandering to general interest, casual readers with content that focuses on the quirky and irrelevant "human interest" aspects of stories rather than relevant and important facts.

take this piece in the washington post. it discusses the phenomenon of "seat hogs" and how people are becoming irritated by it (bogus trend alert: were they not irritated before?).

the real story it would seem is that "the transit agency would need 320 more rail cars to keep congestion manageable, but the current capital spending plan does not include funds for those." This is buried in paragraphs 19-22, close to the end of the article. isn't this the real story? that Metro ridership is projected to result in "highly congested" or "unmanageable" commutes by 2020?

for the writer and the WaPo, this is all ancillary to the human drama of Metro "seat hogs." instead of writing a series of articles focusing on the lack of foresight, funding, etc. on the part of Metro in planning for the future, and how that will likely negatively impact future ridership, road congestion, etc., the Post decides that it will sell more papers, at the cost of the greater good, but writing about this type of ephemera.

harold ford, bite me

uh, no. verizon in a broadband coalition? color me beyond skeptical. dubious, even.

again....why??????

remind me why the daily show is again the only one saying this to dems?

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could not resist - maddening and saddening

sedition

how are people allowed to get away with saying this? and why are the democrats not leveraging this? i know why fox news and the other sensationalist outlets are not covering it, but why not others?

essentially calling for a military coup to solve the "Obama problem" is not something that should be allowed.

it didn't sink in until today

i had always heard about Nixon's anti-semitism, paranoia, and underhanded political machinations. but i don't think it ever was clear until i read analysis and transcripts dealing with his theory of a "Jewish cabal" designed to damage him politically. frankly, the man was a monster, and why anyone would idealize him is beyond me. we'll put aside his liberal social agenda; negative income tax, health care reform, anyone?

choice quotes:

President Nixon: All right. I want a look at any sensitive areas around where Jews are involved, Bob. See, the Jews are all through the government, and we have got to get in those areas. We’ve got to get a man in charge who is not Jewish to control the Jewish . . . do you understand?

President Nixon: Second, most Jews are disloyal. You know what I mean? You have a—you have a [White House Consultant Leonard] Garment and a [National Security Adviser Henry A.] Kissinger and, frankly, a [White House Speechwriter William L.] Safire, and, by God, they’re exceptions. But, Bob, generally speaking, you can’t trust the bastards. They turn on you. Correct? Am I wrong or right?

glenn beck doesn't do coincidences

could the noticeable uptick in vitriol and demagoguery, breaking news and frenzied rants, emanating from glenn beck have anything to do with his new book, to be published on Tuesday? no, of course not. surely it has to be a coincidence.

if the product description on amazon wasn't laughable enough as it is, enjoy this gem: "Idiots...can be found only by looking for people who hide behind stereotypes, embrace partisanship, and believe that bumper sticker slogans are a substitute for common sense."

sound familiar?

#44 historical lesson #1 - post-partisanship doesn't work

lesson #1 from obama's administration: post-partisanship does not work in the current political environment, or it at least requires a firmly defined and achievable set of specific policy priorities. attempting to split the difference (triangulate, as it may be) on policy issues results in your base begin upset and the opposition continuing to oppose your initiatives, in essence irregardless of content. and if you are going to try to claim the middle ground, you need to lay out a specific set of legislative proposals, rather than let congress tackle the brunt of crafting the proposals. this latter insight applies mainly to the health care debate, but is certainly applicable in other areas as well.

further proof that a well-organized and effective campaign does not necessarily translate into productive and effective governance.

these are our leaders

the intersection of politics and new media has produced some interesting results, as TPM has documented. but grassley takes the cake. his tweets aren't merely akin to a 13-year old...it's like a 13-year old hybridized with a senile senator, who is excited like a puppy dog about this new fangled technology. a sample below, but read the whole bit.

Yesterday, Grassley told President Obama via Twitter that "you got nerve" for telling Congress to deliver on health care, while Obama himself was "sightseeing in Paris:"

Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us"time to deliver" on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.

the inauguration

i would be remiss if i did not briefly comment on the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President. It was not until I heard Obama take the oath of office and deliver an excellent inaugural address did it finally sink in that George W. Bush was no longer our president, and that we were entering an administration that seems to be defined by intelligence and integrity rather than ineptness and moral bankruptcy.

standing on the mall, with the sun emerging from behind the washington monument moments before Obama took the oath of office, seemed an apt metaphor for the day.

too perfect

i don't think you could script a more apt metaphor for palin's ineptness and complete vacuity.



via TPM

looking downwind and forward

now that the election is over, and the celebrations in DC have died down, it's time to take stock of other things besides the sea change in our executive branch. and maybe look forward a bit to the composition of an obama administration, and the scope and breadth of the policy initiatives he'll pursue.

looking down the ticket, results are encouraging but there are some sore spots. the dems picked up seats in the senate and the house. in the senate, the dems will fall short of a filibuster-proof 60 seats, but not by much, likely by 2 or 3 seats.

however, rep. don young looks poised to hold onto his seat in Alaska, despite being behind in most pre-election polls. who knows how long young will last past the election, however, as he is the subject of several corruption investigations. and it looks like wingnut du jour michele bachmann is holding onto her seat in MN.

as if alaska couldn't get weirder, senator ted stevens looks to also be retaining his seat, despite his recent conviction on seven felony counts. the race at this point, however, is too close to call. not sure what will happen if stevens wins, but his pending appeal may bear on that outcome; it's unlikely that he'll be allowed to stay in the senate if the conviction sticks, and possibly he might be forced to leave earlier than achieving a final resolution in his case. alaska would have a special election within 90 days after he leaves office.

norm coleman holds a small lead over al franken; by minnesota law it has to go for a recount and franken isn't backing down on it. smith-merkley in oregon is one that's hanging right now as well.

there is some mixed news on ballot initiatives. california's proposition 2, requiring humane treatment of laying hens and sows (among others), passed resoundingly. however, voters also approved prop 8, banning same-sex marriages. california also defeated some sane drug policy changes. but overall things there are a little odd, as always. rundown of initiatives, and results. restrictive abortion initiatives in colorado and south dakota failed, and washington became only the second state to legalize assisted suicide. "The marijuana reform movement won two prized victories, with Massachusetts voters decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug and Michigan joining 12 other states in allowing use of pot for medical purposes." and a ward connerly-backed ban on affirmative action in Nebraska passed. rundown here.

ej dionne thinks that the obama election signals the end of wedge politics and the culture wars. the results of the vote on prop 8 and in other areas indicates otherwise, i believe. prop 8 succeeded in large part because it was supported by african-american voters who were drawn to the polls by obama's candidacy. but ej does make some other good points, so there are several grains of truth in his argument.

the politico's harris and vandehei on 5 changes in national politics ushered in by the Obama victory. and marc ambinder runs down some key factors in obama's victory.

it's encouraging that the world community paid a lot of attention to the election and that obama's victory has rekindled hope that america will live up to it's professed ideals on the world stage.

speculation and rumors swirl concerning Obama's cabinet and the ramifications for his future agenda. obama certainly is going to want to start working early, given the financial crisis and the other issues facing the country. not sure that larry summers, currently reported as a top candidate for treasury secretary, is really a good pick though. we shall see how it all shakes out in the coming days and weeks.

on the regulatory front, the fcc should be commended for approving the use of white spaces to expand broadband internet access. the post piece particularly though was terribly written, presenting the issue in a very unflattering light and emphasizing the complaints of preachers, dolly parton, etc., in opposing the change in regulations. i'm not sure how this change isn't an unequivocal win for consumers and the citizenry. the fcc also approved two mergers (verizon and alltel being the one of most import), which i'm not so crazy about, but i think it's a small price to pay for the advantages of white spaces.

it's quite a whirlwind of democracy. despite some setbacks, overall things probably couldn't have turned out any better.

the window is closing, the end is in sight

our long national nightmare that has been the bush presidency has a definitive endpoint of January 20th, 2009. the clean break with the past that this country has so desperately needed will come to pass.

let us hope that obama can continue to be an inspiration to many long after this election is over. if his actions as president can match his words as a candidate, we may finally make some progress as a country.

trials and tribulations

we need to have election day as a national holiday. it took two hours for me to vote today. i'm sure we would decrease wait times and increase participation if we gave people the day off. in other countries voting is mandatory, and while i don't think that should be applied here, i think we need to make it as easy as possible for people to vote.

fixing the news media, the political discourse, and encouraging active knowledge gathering by citizens is another issue; i've found, even after an almost two year long campaign, that people are still staggeringly ignorant about the positions of the two candidates.

related to my post on thursday, i did have to complete a provisional ballot in DC. my name, despite the BOEE's assertion, was not on the voter rolls. i guess i'll find out in a week if my vote counted.

oh, and on top of all that, i flubbed getting a cute girl's number whom i met in the line to vote. a poor showing all around, except for, you know, that whole exercise in democracy thing.

just read

i didn't vote for obama today

tweet! gaffe!

mccain takes the cake, by far.

trying to play the same old game on a different field

corporations and interest groups are extremely vigorous in their attempts to maintain the dominant paradigm and existing system. case in point is the NAB's opposition to freeing up for productive use the "white spaces" that exist between over-the-air broadcast television stations. it seems quite foreign to these actors to embrace change and become a dynamic, innovative entity. maintaining entrenched modes of operating is attractive i guess when you are making lots of money.

timothy karr breaks it all down at the huffington post.

nail on the head?

rick redfern is learning much about the new media landscape

before we begin

i actually watched some of SNL saturday for the first time in ages. and apparently i missed the only funny part: