Ridiculous.

Media

The media’s coverage of the stimulus proposal has been terrible. Conservatives have been allowed to dominate the debate; every piece of “pork” that appears on Matt Drudge’s The Drudge Report seems to make its way onto Cable News, where the anchors angrily deride it as a “spending” plan. Really?!

The pork the GOP keeps blasting and news anchors keep highlighting is LESS THAN 1% of the TOTAL bill. I don’t think this is the perfect bill…neither does President Obama. But the debate over this bill has been outrageous, with focus on small parts of the bill and the “need” for Obama to get 80+ votes on the stimulus. Screw that. Get the 5 or 6 moderate Republican votes and pass a bill with more infrastracture spending that can create more jobs and have impact now. Stop trying to compromise with conservative Senators….they are all with Rush Limbaugh in oppoising this one (no matter what). The bill in the House had 1/3 tax cuts, and still not one Republican voted for it. The supposedly liberal media is way off on this bill. They keep talking about people’s growing outrage because of the spending.

The Revitalized GOP? In a Sense…

After the last two election cycles in which they lost control of Congress and the White House, calls came from various Republicans for a need to reform the party. One would expect, after the public’s distaste with the policies of the Republican Congress and Bush White House that there would be some sort of ideological or political shift. Naaaaaah. Instead, there was a change taken that was much more unprecedented and entertaining. The RNC has elected its first black chairman Republican Party named Michael Steele an irrelevant chairman while Rush Limbaugh has assumed the reigns of the party as it standard bearer. 

Congratulations, Rush!

This has been a long time coming. Former President Reagan once sent a note to Limbaugh that basically told Rush he was to be the future leader of conservatives in America; Congressional Republicans later gave Rush credit for their takeover of the House and Senate in 1994. The right-wing base that runs today’s GOP is Rush Limbaugh’s audience of his top-rated talk radio show. As their leader and voice to the public, he is now the de facto top guy for the Republican Party. Fox News noted that “the minority whip appears to be someone who has ever won an election” as the GOP House membership lined up unanimously against the stimulus package after Rush asserted that, with regards to President Obama, “I hope he fails!”

The Conflict Over Gentrification.

 

Gentrification in cities such as Chicago and New York has had a little success, but overall it has been a large failure. Neighborhoods that have been ignored for generations are being given much needed facelifts, but in order to do this cities have resorted to “reverse White flight”. That is it’s largest failure, ignored neighborhoods are being refurbished by people who ignore history.

A Worthy Idea

Senator Russ Feingold has struck gold. Yesterday the Wisconsin Democrat introduced a law the 28th amendment that would call for special elections to fill vacant senate seats in every state; not gubernatorial appointees. This would be an excellent amendment to the U.S. constitution in light of recent events, and, well, common sense.

The idea of Governors appointing Senate replacements comes from the same outdated thinking that denied citizens the right to choose their U.S. Senators until 1913. It is smells of nepotism, elitism, paternalism, and an undemocratic, condescending view that ordinary citizens aren’t educated or worthy enough to choose their Senators. There is no reason for a Governor to choose a replacement Senator. The people chose their Senator. If he or she is gone, be it by an unfortunate death, a scandal, or a political appointment elsewhere, that means the people’s chosen representative has vacated the seat. Hence, as in the House of Representatives, the people should elect a new Senator in a fair and free election. This is not a partisan issue—both Democrats and Republicans have vacated Senate seats in the past and will again in the future. The Governor has no inherent right or wisdom to choose a new Senator. We elect governors to lead the executive branch of the state and deal with state legislatures, not to have influence in choosing national lawmakers. The case of Blago illustrates the danger of the appointment process and the political favors it could entail. In addition, appointments in NY, CO, and Delaware made were each selections that probably would not have happened had the people chosen their new Senator. In NY, blue dog Kristen Gillibrand was chosen as the Senator from a liberal state. In Delaware, VP Joe Biden’s old chief of staff was selected as placeholder….for his son. 

James Madison wrote that, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.”

Optimism? Why?

I am a supporter of Israel, but I am not a supporter of bad planning. This war had to happen, but maybe not so soon. Israel has absolutely no way to end this, now and most likely ever , so every two years or so the country is going to have to fight a group of radicals whether it is Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Gaza. They set a precedent they will have be forced to keep.

Chaos in Asia and No American Leader.

In 3 weeks, America is going to swear in a new leader to lead this country during one of its most tumultuous periods. The problem is the current leader, President Bush, is hiding out in Crawford, Texas doing absolutely nothing. I guess this should be no surprise, this is the same person who stared for several minutes during terrorist attacks, the same person who showed complete apathy towards New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina,this is the same person who allowed the economy to spiral down and implode. What a sad period in our history, but if this man truly cared about his legacy, he would do something now.

Christmas…and gifts that shouldn’t be given

 

 

In the spirit of the holidays…Happy Holidays to all. And now, on to all these juicy topics I have gladly ignored for the past two weeks as I caught up on the inexcusable amount of sleep I missed out on the last two months. I begin, of course, with the most outrageous, egregious, and simply insulting gift (this holiday season) of all. I speak of the (now) fairly reasonable chance that Hillary Clinton’s senate seat will go to Caroline Kennedy.

I harbor no ill feeling toward Ms. Kennedy. For all I know, she is an upstanding citizen and proud Democrat (though I don’t pretend to declare that with any confidence). I don’t know if she would be a blue dog Dem, a pro-business dem, a moderate, or a progressive. What I do know is what is pertinent to my opinion. She has never been elected to any public office in her entire life, not to mention her spotty voting record. She has never been appointed to any significant government position. She has been an outstanding education advocate– but that does not qualify her to be a United States Senator. Nor does her endorsement (as happy as it made me) or support of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.  To give her this senate seat would be an great outrageously grand act of nepotism. It would be endorsing the notion of royalty that this democracy rejects, not to mention my own issues with the archaic and irrational process of allowing Governors to appoint senate replacements.

So, to Gov. Paterson: let a caretaker hold Hillary’s seat. She was a Democrat. Appoint a party-line Democrat who has no interest of running for the seat in 2010. Then, allow the people to choose their own senator. If Ms. Kennedy wins, so be it. She will have won in a fair and free democratic election. But do not gift her this seat. She has no more right to it than Mr. Cuomo or any other New York public servant. For this Christmas, Mr. Paterson, I ask you to reject royalty, nepotism, and political favors. Instead, embrace democracy and reject the political pressure to appoint Ms. Kennedy or Mr. Cuomo. I ask you to allow the electorate to determine their voice in Washington, because, otherwise, we are no longer the representative government “of the people and for the people” that we claim to be.

-Sparty

The Land of Corruption

The news of Governor Blagojejerks actions did not shock me, instead I smiled and thought finally this dirty and vile scumbag disguised as a human will be out of office. It has become quite apparent that Illinois needs to change its state government. From top to bottom change needs to happen, most notably the Chicago machine. The real audacity of hope is hoping that Illinois will make change for the better. It is hoping that Chicago will climb out of the shadow of corruption and stand under the light of change. An opportunity is here, Illinois must grasp it.

Quick Break

I told myself I wouldn’t post until after finals…but this morning has just been too great…

BLAGO ARRESTED!

Oh, our proud governors. Charged with corruption; no shocker there. He was trying to sell Obama’s seat for political and financial favors and threatened the Tribune Co. with no state assistance unless they fired editors who were critical of him. Wooow. What a bum.

Good day. I’m am even bigger Patrick Fitzgerald fan than I was yesterday.

-Sparty

It’s Been Awhile…

The issue arising in South Asia deserves a lot more attention than the Middle-East. This is at a population level that is far larger than any regional dispute in the world.

India a country that has a booming economy and nuclear weaponry. Pakistan has a crumbling government, a slow economy, terrorist who “hide” in mountains on its northern border, and nuclear weaponry. This is a situation that requires a sort of independent intervention from a multitude of countries and actors, that is rarely used in regional conflicts. This is a region that has long been ignored by the average American, it is time the politicians speak to the people about the dangers of ignoring these problems. This country cannot take a side, the economy of India is just as important as the alliance with Pakistan. This is a situation that takes many ideologies and religious biases out of the picture, because it is about preventing increased warfare and ensuring that there is absolutely no chance of nuclear warfare or nuclear terrorism. America cannot take this conflict lightly. We must deal with this with soft power, something this country has rarely used.