Courtesy Ezra Klein’s interlude and a Russian videographer, light pong in a forest with a phallic champagne bottle and some awesome 80s guitar rifts. Patrick and Michelle – you should get one of these done.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Malaise, Ain’t it a Bitch
What do you do if you really want to vote non-of-the-above.
First, the Democrats were in power and people voted for a Contract for America. Then the Republicans were in power and the Democrats took Congress. Now the Democrats are in power and here we go again.
Matt Bai in the NY Times this morning argues that the real issues people care about have nothing to do with jobs or healthcare. People are generally going too fast, see too much rudeness, are surrounded by chatting heads and an endless see of technology that does little to improve basic lives.
Fuel that with a destructive media machine whose single goal is to sell talk and inject it with cash flying all over the place from everyone but the little guy and there you have the discontent that has been brewing for a while. The policy neutral independent who just wants a better life for his or her child has a simple voting rubric: antiestablishment.
Nate Silver knows his numbers. And in a blog this week he reinforces this independent malaise by suggesting 2012 may be the year of the third party. Actually, he gives 15 reasons why a third party is a real contender this cycle.
Heading into what will certainly be a disastrous election, as a Democrat I’m buoyed by the fact that the voting has little to do with the mountain of achievements Obama has made in the first two years. And if the trend continues, the electorate will be ready to switch back by 2012. So that’s good. Even if we’re not really solving anything.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Cynicism, the Technocrat, and Solar Panels in the Desert
In a Great Recession, we’re surrounded by cynicism. The market may not rebound. Jobs are lost. We’re doomed to fail to China. Truthfully, these fears and worries were always present, but in a hopeful economy the doubts are suppressed. In a Great Recession, all we have is doubt.
Hold that thought for a minute.
Today the White House announced that it will return solar panels to its roof. This is good right? It reinforces the push for renewable energy. It falls in line with stimulus investments in clean energy and Obama’s mandate that Federal buildings go green. We should be happy.
But then creeps in doubt. Didn’t we already install these things during Jimmy Carter’s presidency? Wasn’t Jimmy Carter a failure? Aren’t Obama’s poll numbers in the bag? Oh God, what if Obama is Jimmy Carter?
What starts out as a nice little technocrat decision to add a solar panel back up to the roof is actually a doubt megaphone. And you can be assured that the cynicism police will be out in force – I can already hear the piercing shrivel of Megyn Kelly.
And this is where Obama is failing us. (No, not that Megyn has a y in it, but yes that’s a problem)
In a Great Recession where all there is is doubt, we need bold confidence. It isn’t enough that the stimulus has good things in it or that we’re making small but good steps, we need to know where we’re going. America goes through the past like Mallory goes through diapers. They crave the future. To quote Michael J Fox in American President “People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.”
Well, all we have right now is sand. Someone tee up a mirage please.
How inspirational COULD it have been if Obama wrote an executive order mandating that every Federal building would have solar panels in 5 years? Now that’s a mirage I could sink my teeth into.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Panis ad multitudinem Circus
Oh Caesar, you’d love the US these days. The masses are as entertained by the lions as they were back then. And money shifts from the Forum to the Magistrates and vice versa as freely as bets before the big Gladiator match.
Ezra Klein describes:
It's hard to wave away the news that special interest groups have increased their spending fivefold since the 2006 election, particularly given that fewer than half of them are disclosing their donors. And yes, that money is going pretty much where you'd expect: Democrats have been outspent 7:1 in recent weeks.
That's a lot of cash. Gamechanger cash, in fact. And it highlights one of the Democrats' odder difficulties going into the election. They've passed a lot of high-profile laws that were about restraining corporate behavior -- but those laws required long negotiations and compromises with the very interests they were attacking. The health-care reform bill, for instance, and financial reform. TARP, of course, was passed by George W. Bush, but most voters blame the Obama administration for it. The GOP has effectively attacked them for this, arguing that the Democrats have sold out to various corporations. At the same time, those same corporations hate those laws, small concessions to them notwithstanding, and are now pumping millions of dollars into the GOP's 2010 campaign.
So the Republicans are simultaneously able to stand against corporate interests and get funded by them, and in the post-Citizens United world, there are few limits, or even disclosure requirements, able to shine light on their play.
In case you’re wondering what this means at the local level, New Hampshire is soaked in cash. The US Chamber of Commerce alone has pumped in $1.3 million to buy its Magistrate. This chart shows the other hordes who have come knocking at New Hampshire’s door.
Even the policies of the Republicans play into our Romanas. Shall we cut the deficit and give tax breaks to everyone while increasing (miraculously through the Roman Gods) silver to fight the Gauls. Hail Caesar! Shall we deny a hard working Carthaginian whose lived in Rome all of his life and whose your parents came here to find work the right to be a Roman. Hail Caesar! Shall we fund the aqueducts and the Apian Way. Let it crumble! The Senate votes No, no, no!
With so much corporate money at play and with the masses feeding at the trough of Fox News, its not surprising Democrats are fleeing Rome. Aqueducts be damned, let bread and circus reign. Pulsat vulgus.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Come on, Bill. Do it for the folks
As many of you know, Bill O’Reilly has a new book out called Pinheads and Patriots. I have to admit that I don’t know much about O’Reilly directly. I am not a fan of The Factor. In fact, to be completely honest, most of what I’ve seen of O’Reilly has been reflected off Colbert. But based on the recent interviews between StewBeef and Papa Bear, I took a look at the free sample of this most recent polemic.
Here’s literally the first page. The last 50 pages is just an old interview with the President, who O’Reilly lovingly refers to as Barak Hussein Obama. Read it all but note the highlighted portions (because i was pretty excited to learn how to use that feature of my “snipping tool”)
That’s right, baby its payback time! Now you’ll get to hear my ridiculous musings on my definition of what America is for …wha?…$28? I thought this was a thank you gift for making you so rich and famous? You’re so grateful to us for making you a big celebrity that even the kindle version of your book costs $13.
That’s kinda bullshit, Bill. I get that publishers take a big cut of the profits but if you are going to start off by thanking people at least make the electronic version of the book free. Is it just that you don’t want to give anything away for free? Would that would make you a conspirator in the socialist takeover of the county our grandparents fought for? Those same grandparents who don’t want Republicans to privatize their social security.
No I did not read the rest of the book. The first 30 pages were so full of venom and spite, I did not feel the need to read any further. Talk about your snipping tools.
Flaming Lips, Education reform and Superheroes? Is it my birthday?
Davis Guggenheim, the other guy behind the Inconvenient movie, has a new documentary out about the state of the US public school system. Its not yet playing in Portland, but I'm sure it will be soon. Trailer below. I'm pretty psyched, despite the lack of capes and heat vision.
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