The vote was 60-37, with only 7 Republicans voting in favor of it. You would think that the Republicans would jump on board with a successful and popular program, but I guess they think scoring points by voting against Democrats and Obama is more important. That's OK, we'll take those votes.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
More Cash For Clunkers!
In a move that surprised absolutely no one, the Senate passed a bill for additional funding for the "cash for clunkers" program. Way to go, Harry Reid.
Sotomayor is confirmed!
Say hello to the new Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor.
She got some Republican votes, but that's another battle in the culture wars that the conservatives just lost. Get used to it, guys, there's a lot more where that came from. This graphic from the NY Times shows how polarized the vote was.
She got some Republican votes, but that's another battle in the culture wars that the conservatives just lost. Get used to it, guys, there's a lot more where that came from. This graphic from the NY Times shows how polarized the vote was.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Bill's Excellent Adventure
Talk about a sight for sore eyes. Lisa Ling, one of the journalists freed by our ex-President:
Suddenly you remember what it is like to be a citizen of the most powerful country in the world. Sometimes we get things right.
It's great to remember that Bill Clinton, for all his faults, still knows how to use power for doing good, and that that's what a President of the United States is supposed to be there for.
Once upon a time I believed very strongly in Bill Clinton, and I know that I wasn't wrong, but every now and then it's nice to get a reminder of just what I believed in.
"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton."Bill Clinton in North Korea. That must have been a great sight. It's not an American diplomat, it's not Bill Richardson, it's not Jesse Jackson, it's not even Hillary Clinton. Seeing Bill Clinton standing there would have been the strongest possible signal that they were being released. American power has reached into the hermit kingdom and is taking care of you.
Suddenly you remember what it is like to be a citizen of the most powerful country in the world. Sometimes we get things right.
It's great to remember that Bill Clinton, for all his faults, still knows how to use power for doing good, and that that's what a President of the United States is supposed to be there for.
Once upon a time I believed very strongly in Bill Clinton, and I know that I wasn't wrong, but every now and then it's nice to get a reminder of just what I believed in.
Were YOU Born In Kenya?!?!
You may have heard that there is allegedly a birth certificate for Barack Obama showing that he was born in Kenya. You may have heard that there are some serious questions about that birth certificate. But now you can generate your very own Kenyan birth certificate, so you can be just like Barack Obama!
Seriously. Go here: http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com/
Seriously. Go here: http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com/
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Happy Birthday!
A number of years ago, I was hanging out with grandfather, when he said that he was finally ready to admit that he was "over the hill." He was finally admitting that he was an old man.
One very nice birthday present came from the spouse of the President's Secretary of State. That would be ex-President Clinton, who negotiated the release of two American women reporters who were imprisoned in North Korea. This accomplished several good things: it gave Bill Clinton a bit of the spotlight, reminding the world that his North Korea policy was more successful than that of Bush's, and it made Obama look good, without doing much himself. Always nice to have those minor diplomatic victories.
No word on what Michelle got for the president, but I bet it was something very nice.
He was 89.
Why am I telling that story? Because that is the age that Helen Thomas, famous denizen of the White House press room, turned today. She shares her birthday with a more recent occupant of the White House press room, President Obama, who turned 48 today. They both had cupcakes:
One very nice birthday present came from the spouse of the President's Secretary of State. That would be ex-President Clinton, who negotiated the release of two American women reporters who were imprisoned in North Korea. This accomplished several good things: it gave Bill Clinton a bit of the spotlight, reminding the world that his North Korea policy was more successful than that of Bush's, and it made Obama look good, without doing much himself. Always nice to have those minor diplomatic victories.
No word on what Michelle got for the president, but I bet it was something very nice.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Birthers: Waiting for George Will
The birther insanity seems to be reaching some kind of fever pitch. MSNBC invited Orly Taitz, one of the key people behind the madness, to give her opinion. David Shuster and his co-host (sorry, I don't know her name, but she seems good) just took her apart. I forced myself to watch all 6:57 of it, because I am a firm believer in reading/watching everything that I link to, but I had to pause it and walk away from the computer. I'm linking to it instead of embedding it because I sure as hell ain't putting that on my blog. Have to admit, I kind of wish Shuster and his co-host would have let Orly go a little longer, I'm sure her fans now see her as a little more persecuted. If I were a mainstream Republican, I would be cringing at the thot that this fruitcake is showing up on national television. As a Democrat I'm thrilled, because just watching her shreds her credibility. She's like a cross between Zsa Zsa Gabor and Lyndon LaRouche. Is that an incredibly painful combination to even contemplate? Exactly.
So far Ann Coulter has denounced the birthers (really not linking to that). Doesn't seem to have done much good, as the video from MSNBC shows.
I'm waiting to hear what George Will has to say about this, because he has to say something. This may be the one occasion I deeply miss William F. Buckley, Jr. I'm sure Will will be dismissed as an elitist who no longer represents conservatism (this despite his ardent support Ronald Reagan). But he just might provide a smidgen of cover for some normal, mainstream Republicans to start taking these people on. This is getting dangerous, because it seriously corrodes faith in the American republic to believe that the president is not a real American. Much as I hated Reagan, I never doubted even his patriotism. Someone needs to contain the assholes and idiots.
I don't know whether or not George Will has addressed this directly; I Googled a simply query and didn't find anything; I checked his recent columns for the Washington Post, nothing. I did come up with this great quote from Eugene Robinson:
Trying to analyze the "birther" phenomenon would mean taking it seriously, and taking it seriously would be like arguing about the color of unicorns.
Accountability lies at the core of democracy, but trying to hold people accountable who are completely nuts is a nightmarish process. I rarely agree with George Will, but he is a superb writer, and I respect him for his commitment to his principles. He has an extraordinarily low tolerance for fools. He's also a great fan of baseball. Please, Mr. Will, this is a moment when even those who disagree with you are asking you to serve your country: you've got to hit this one out of the park.
That's An Email You Don't Get Every Day
This morning, everyone in my office here in Los Angeles got an email from our Office Administrator with this in the subject line:
Yes, It Was An Earthquake
It was down in Baja California, about 360 miles south of the border, or about 500 miles south of LA, but it was a 6.9, which is a good-sized rattling. We're all fine here, and there are no reports yet of injuries or damages.
I feel a certain responsibility to report these things, given the title of this blog.
Yes, It Was An Earthquake
It was down in Baja California, about 360 miles south of the border, or about 500 miles south of LA, but it was a 6.9, which is a good-sized rattling. We're all fine here, and there are no reports yet of injuries or damages.
I feel a certain responsibility to report these things, given the title of this blog.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Let's Talk About Beer
Frank Rich writes today about the Beer Summit, President Obama, Sgt. Crowley, Prof. Gates, and Vice President Biden having some beers together at the White House. I agree with Rich, as I usually do. His main point is that powerful white people can't deal with the fact that this country is becoming increasingly diverse. Right.
But reading it, I realized I had read a great deal of commentary about the "Beer Summit," including some obnoxious defenses of Crowley from some right-wingers on various blog boards. What I hadn't done was read an account of the event itself. So I found the NY Times's live-blogging record of the event. The best quote of the day was from Gates:
What would that narrative look like? It's not that hard to figure out, and Gates again explained it well:
The noise also obscures the fact that the two most powerful men involved in this drama - Gates and Obama - are African-American. This ended peacefully, almost comically. Those facts - that the powerful, elite men are black, and that it ended well - are indications of something good: there has been a great deal of progress on this front. The fact that it was a controversy at all is a positive sign, because it means that people are worried. The white cop really, really does not want to be seen as a racist. That's a good thing. The black man who was arrested was released quickly. That's a good thing. The present is painful because the past is painful. But the present is less painful than the past, and the future will be better because of the present.
But we are already in the future. The arrest took place on July 16, which is now last month. The narrative has already changed.
Naturally, there has been all kinds of discussion about what kind of beer each of them had, and the symbolism of those choices. Ta-Nehisi Coates linked to James Fallows, who linked to another post on The Atlantic Wire, which linked to an article in Slate that examined the history of beer in presidential politics.
None of which had anything to do with racial profiling.
I'm not sure if Obama intended this, but inviting Gates and Crowley to the White House had the great effect of shifting the conversation. Is it just me, or are many people looking for an excuse to talk about beer rather than racial profiling or elitist Harvard professors? Not everybody. Frank Herbert, to his eternal credit, does not let go of these topics. Talking about the beer rather is one way to talk around the history of racial profiling, rather than addressing it directly. But it's also a way to talk about what they Gates and Crowley have in common. At the very least, they both had a beer with the President and Vice President of the United States.
I'm not a big beer drinker, but I have learned a huge amount about it from my best friend from high school, who brews an incredible range of beers at a brewpub in Michigan. One thing I have learned is that there is a huge amount of - oh yeah, I'm going to use this word - diversity in beers, even more so today, with the proliferation of brew pubs and microbrews. Which diversity is appreciated by many, many Americans. Don't think I need to push that line of analysis much farther.
One fact that has been totally overlooked in this brouhaha is that there was a very significant development in this area - much, much more important than what happened in Boston - out here in LA recently. The LAPD had been operating under a consent decree, imposed by a Federal judge, which required the department to reform a number of its practices. The decree was recently lifted, because the judge decided that the LAPD had, in fact, changed for the better. It's not entirely gone; there is still some supervision, particularly on the issue of racial profiling. The ACLU is not completely convinced. But this is clear and concrete evidence that, in the country's second-largest city, the future has begun to arrive. Even without beer.
But reading it, I realized I had read a great deal of commentary about the "Beer Summit," including some obnoxious defenses of Crowley from some right-wingers on various blog boards. What I hadn't done was read an account of the event itself. So I found the NY Times's live-blogging record of the event. The best quote of the day was from Gates:
“We hit it off right from the very beginning,” Professor Gates said. Laughing, he added, “When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy.”Gates also looked to the future:
“I said we both had been cast as characters in other peoples’ narratives that we couldn’t control,” Professor Gates said. “If we take control of our own stories, we can take control of narrative.”I feel an odd sense of relief reading that, because it's one of the only times in my life that an idea vaguely reminiscent of postmodern literary theory may actually prove to be useful. Gates puts it well, but he doesn't really sound like much of an elitist, Harvard professor when he says it. It's very helpful that he's right.
What would that narrative look like? It's not that hard to figure out, and Gates again explained it well:
“Through an accident of fate this guy and I are linked together,” he said, “and the question is how can he help end racial profiling and how can I help members of my community be sensitive to the concerns of the police? If we can do that, then James Crowley and I will have taken control of our lives and our peculiar experience together and move it out of a Tom Wolfe novel and into a positive impact.”This began as a dispute, two men diametrically opposed, even violently opposed. We have heard a great deal of noise and angst and inflammatory rhetoric and denunciations of the other side (by both sides). All of that obscures a larger truth: both sides really do ultimately want the same thing. Cops, at their best, want to keep society safe. African-Americans, at their best, want to be safe.
The noise also obscures the fact that the two most powerful men involved in this drama - Gates and Obama - are African-American. This ended peacefully, almost comically. Those facts - that the powerful, elite men are black, and that it ended well - are indications of something good: there has been a great deal of progress on this front. The fact that it was a controversy at all is a positive sign, because it means that people are worried. The white cop really, really does not want to be seen as a racist. That's a good thing. The black man who was arrested was released quickly. That's a good thing. The present is painful because the past is painful. But the present is less painful than the past, and the future will be better because of the present.
But we are already in the future. The arrest took place on July 16, which is now last month. The narrative has already changed.
Naturally, there has been all kinds of discussion about what kind of beer each of them had, and the symbolism of those choices. Ta-Nehisi Coates linked to James Fallows, who linked to another post on The Atlantic Wire, which linked to an article in Slate that examined the history of beer in presidential politics.
None of which had anything to do with racial profiling.
I'm not sure if Obama intended this, but inviting Gates and Crowley to the White House had the great effect of shifting the conversation. Is it just me, or are many people looking for an excuse to talk about beer rather than racial profiling or elitist Harvard professors? Not everybody. Frank Herbert, to his eternal credit, does not let go of these topics. Talking about the beer rather is one way to talk around the history of racial profiling, rather than addressing it directly. But it's also a way to talk about what they Gates and Crowley have in common. At the very least, they both had a beer with the President and Vice President of the United States.
I'm not a big beer drinker, but I have learned a huge amount about it from my best friend from high school, who brews an incredible range of beers at a brewpub in Michigan. One thing I have learned is that there is a huge amount of - oh yeah, I'm going to use this word - diversity in beers, even more so today, with the proliferation of brew pubs and microbrews. Which diversity is appreciated by many, many Americans. Don't think I need to push that line of analysis much farther.
One fact that has been totally overlooked in this brouhaha is that there was a very significant development in this area - much, much more important than what happened in Boston - out here in LA recently. The LAPD had been operating under a consent decree, imposed by a Federal judge, which required the department to reform a number of its practices. The decree was recently lifted, because the judge decided that the LAPD had, in fact, changed for the better. It's not entirely gone; there is still some supervision, particularly on the issue of racial profiling. The ACLU is not completely convinced. But this is clear and concrete evidence that, in the country's second-largest city, the future has begun to arrive. Even without beer.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Idiotic Quote Of The Day
The NY Times has a nice, human-interest article about how Malia and Sasha Obama are spending their summers. Pure fluff. Guess what - Barack and Michelle Obama took their girls with them when President Obama went to foreign countries on state visits. This is called a "family vacation." Being the serious people they are, Obamas made sure that the girls got some educational value out of, for example, seeing slave quarters in Ghana. The Obamas will also be going to Martha's Vineyard. The Times, naturally, has to look for balance, so they found a columnist, Jonathan Baer, of The Philadelphia Daily News, who isn't happy with the Obamas' plans to go to Martha's Vineyard, which is a vacation spot fairly close to Washington, DC, and is much closer, and more convenient for a president to visit, than, say, Crawford, Texas. Nonetheless, Mr. Baer tells us that
“Those who view Obama as an elitist will have new ammunition,” Mr. Baer wrote.I have to say that I agree with Mr. Baer that the Obamas are members of the elite. Of course, I happen to think that Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama are members of the elite of our society because Barack Obama is President of the United States of America. That tends to put a person - and their immediate family! - in rarefied company.
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