[ Posted Thursday, March 13th, 2008 – 15:58 UTC ]
...The New York Times has a piece this week on exactly why letting the government powers that stretch the Fourth Amendment beyond recognition is always a bad idea -- because what is introduced as "emergency, extraordinary" powers always devolves in the blink of an eye into just a standard tool for law enforcement (to use for whatever reason they see fit). National Security Letters (or, in the original Louis XVI French, lettres de cachet) are an outright insult to the Constitution and should be stopped. I'm still waiting for a hard promise from either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama that this practice will end, on Day One. Or for that matter, a speech in the Senate right now from either of them. They're running to be leader of our country, so how about showing some leadership when it counts?
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[ Posted Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 – 12:35 UTC ]
So maybe we can get beyond our Puritanical roots when it comes to sex scandals as well. Maybe the next time around, John McCain will be on the front page of the New York Times for a lobbyist scandal, without having to throw sex into it. Maybe we'll all realize that it is simply impossible to describe the relationship between Washington politicians, lobbyists, corporations, and campaign cash -- and still have it come out sounding somehow different than what a prostitute does for a living. Or somehow more moral.
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[ Posted Friday, February 29th, 2008 – 15:52 UTC ]
Happy Leap Day! Because we are given an extra day this year, I would like to spend it in a good old fashioned Bush-bash. Maybe it's because everyone's focused on the election, or maybe the entire country just doesn't want to think about President Bush anymore, but I feel that he hasn't been getting the attention he deserves of late. And what better way to spend the extra day we get this leap year?
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[ Posted Thursday, February 28th, 2008 – 16:38 UTC ]
A strange thing is going on in the flow of money into Washington politicians' coffers these days -- most of it is going to the Democrats. While Democrats and Republicans alike have noticed this effect (to their respective joy and horror), nobody ever points out that the system itself is designed around a fundamentally flawed principle: positive feedback. This may be part of the inherent nature of the system, meaning any proposals to fix it are going to be a radical re-thinking of the whole campaign donation system. But the process itself needs more attention, I think.
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[ Posted Monday, February 25th, 2008 – 14:41 UTC ]
Because watching a televised debate is really the only chance most voters have to see the candidates answer questions and have to think on their feet in a live format. Which means that the more debates that happen, the more people get to see the candidates. And that is indeed a good thing, because it informs the electorate about the candidates to a certain degree.
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[ Posted Friday, February 22nd, 2008 – 17:56 UTC ]
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have, of late, been inserting Populist themes into their speeches, in an effort to (depending on who you listen to) win votes in Ohio and Pennsylvania, or court John Edwards' endorsement. Since this may be the last time I will address talking points to both campaigns, I thought I'd run through a few handy Neo-Populist positions for either Hillary or Barack to insert into their speeches.
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[ Posted Friday, February 15th, 2008 – 15:41 UTC ]
It's been a busy week for Democrats, with a lot to cover. There has been good news and bad, but on a whole I'd have to judge the week a success for Democrats in general. Led by what the Washington Post reports as a "rare uprising" of House Democrats. But before I get to that, I'd like to offer one observation from the campaign trail.
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[ Posted Thursday, February 14th, 2008 – 16:46 UTC ]
Now, while many are holding out hope for a "Dream Ticket" with both their names on it, I personally don't think it's going to happen. Choosing a running mate is just about the only fun thing the candidate gets to do during their entire campaign. And they rarely choose the person everyone expects them to. They also rarely choose former contenders for the nomination, although it does sometimes happen. They usually either choose someone who they are personally comfortable with (think: Dick Cheney), or someone who their campaign managers assure them will "bring them votes" either geographically or otherwise (think: L.B.J.).
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[ Posted Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 – 16:20 UTC ]
All hope is not lost, though. Because the House passed a version of the bill which did not include the retroactive amnesty for lawbreaking telecommunications companies. Because the Senate bill is different, it now goes to conference committee. What gets voted out of committee will be voted on again by both the House and Senate. It's a slim reed to cling to at this point, but hopefully House Democrats will stand firm against Bush and the GOP.
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[ Posted Friday, February 8th, 2008 – 15:57 UTC ]
And one more thing to drive a wedge between McCain and his party -- both Clinton and Obama should begin questioning John McCain's position on torture. This backs him into a corner, because he's (obviously, and with good reason) against it, but his base feels differently about it. Forcing him to talk about it, after the Bush administration this week admitted that it had waterboarded prisoners, is an excellent way to weaken him even further with the GOP base right now.
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