Olivia and I are very excited about primary night. The TV, the laptop, and the bowl of popcorn. Olivia doesn't care all that much about the returns (she's smart for a dog, and politically active (for a dog), but doesn't really get it) but when I throw popcorn at the TV, she's on the hunt...
The Green Mountain Daily ran a poll on the Democratic candidates for Governor. Results:
Deb Markowitz - 32.5% Matt Dunne - 23.6% Doug Racine - 23.6% Peter Shumlin - 20.4% Susan Bartlett - 1.8%
Here's the interesting part from their write up:
Online polls are notoriously sketchy on the one hand, but on the other hand, this is little Vermont, and if the primary turns out 50,000 voters, these 724 respondents represent nearly 1.5% of voters!
The last head-to-head I could find was Rasmussen in June, which had Markowitz at 40% and Republican Dubie at 47%.
Quinnipiac runs generally good polls. Political polls. So I'm stymied by their poll on "Jersey Shore." First, because I'm unclear what it is besides a TV show, and second because I don't understand why someone would poll on a TV show. But here it is:
While 35 percent of New Jersey voters agree with Gov. Christopher Christie that the people on the "Jersey Shore" reality show act badly because they're New Yorkers, 19 percent agree with New York Gov. David Paterson that the Jersey Shore environment causes people to act badly, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 46 percent are undecided.
I'm still not going to watch it.
We all know Jeff Greene has spent $23 million, but did you know this about the Florida Republican Gubernatorial primary?
Most recent campaign finance reports show that the race between Scott and McCollum has been the state's most expensive governor's contest. Scott, who has a reported net worth of $218 million, has lent his campaign $49.9 million. McCollum has raised and spent about $21 million.
Almost 18 million people in Florida (about 10% of the population) were on food stamps as of 2009. That number has certainly risen this year. Think about the proportion of those people on food stamps who are kids going to bed hungry...why do some of the rich have so much money for vanity and so little for charity?
UPDATE: Since posting, John Boehner has called for President Obama to fire Tim Geithner and company. This would be a lot like you asking the CEO of your company to fire the head of a wholly-owned subsidiary. What a maroon.
It's been so long that you've probably heard it all already, but that won't stop me. On a personal note, I'm pleased to announce that Olivia and I were able to come home yesterday. I am typing at my desk, in my den, with my contented puppy resting happily under the desk. Downstairs, the team is putting the final touches on everything. Side note to anyone who has as much construction as I have: when they pull out all the lighting on one floor, it's difficult after the sun sets...still, we were happy to be home, me to sleep in my bed, Olivia to sleep in front of the front door, making sure all was safe. In the photo, the furniture is still all moved to the center of the living room, and vent covers and switches still need to be installed: but check that blue! Blue is the colour of peace, the colour of healing, the colour of the Democratic Party. And yes, it's custom-blended.
Happily, Prop 8 was declared unconstitutional, and when it gets to the Supremes, Elena Kagan will be there. Of note the decision was long, and contained not only findings of law, but many findings of fact. A lot of the fact findings were from previous writings of Justice Kennedy. Keep that in the back of your mind as the case progresses. Full decision here.
Another case progressing is the "overturn health care" case. This was a procedural decision in Virginia, issued by a judge with tons of financial ties to the health care industry. No worries, in the end, the health care law will stand. This despite the best efforts of the Republican primary voters in Missouri on Tuesday (they dwarfed the Democrats). The referendum to prevent implementation of the part of the legislation mandating people have insurance passed 71%-29%. It's a Pyrrhic victory, since the state law will not trump Federal law.
Another attempt at overturning something? Mitch McConnell and company want to repeal the 14th Amendment. The racist slime IIE dislikes all of it, but really hates the first of the five sections, which reads:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
This eviscerated the Dred Scott decision, which said that slaves and their descendants could never be American citizens. While Mitch and cronies mean this to prevent anchor babies, a side effect would be that every African American descended of slaves would lose their citizenship. Whether you view this as an unintended consequence or the result of the fact that the IIE really is comprised of racists is a personal decision. Because of the way Scott v Sandford was structured, African Americans who came here after the end of slavery and their descendants would be able to keep their citizenship. From my perspective, no matter how you look at it, repeal of the 14th Amendment is a bad idea. If they have to repeal an amendment, they might as well pick the 27th. If that one takes as long to repeal as it did to become ratified, no one will need to deal with it until at least 2212.
Finally, a few medical notes from your doctor:
There are commercials now saying that "all sugar is the same". Don't believe it. Fruit is good for you. Cane and beet sugar (especially the organic vegetarian kind) won't hurt you in moderation. However, high fructose corn syrup is serious poison. A team at UCLA fed both glucose and fructose to pancreatic cancer cells. With fructose, the cells grew and proliferated.
The fructose information reminded me to remind you that aspartame is also a killer. Think brain tumors and blindness.
Finally, if you work out at a gym (and you should work out somewhere) remember to clean your equipment and take a shower as soon as you're done, as the NY Timespoints out.
Apologies - the Georgia primaries were yesterday, but I was on the construction site that used to be my house yesterday, and got very behind. You can see the results here. Roy Barnes avoided a run-off and will be on the November ballot. Good deal.
It looks like the 3 million Americans who prematurely lost extended unemployment benefits will be getting them back as the filibuster was overcome yesterday thanks to the West Virginia vote. It appears that Joe Manchin will be running in November -- I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. And still miffed as he could have announced this weeks ago, filled Byrd's seat with the placeholder, and 3 million Americans would have gotten their retroactive checks sooner.
Judiciary passed forward Elena Kagan's nomination, 13 - 6 with Lindsay Graham voting with the Democrats. Senator, your party has abandoned you, and it may be time for you to be the Arlen Specter of 2010.
Then, there is the strange case of Shirley Sherrod. Upland Poet first posted about this yesterday, and others chimed in with details but I couldn't use the links nor see the video on my phone, so didn't real get this situation until this morning. Use the link to see the full video. It seems that back in 1986 Ms. Sherrod learned that racism was bad, overcame her prejudice, and moved on to a righteous career helping farmers. The right cherry-picked a 1986 video to make the case that she was a racist, neither Tom Vilsack nor the White House checked the full video, and she was fired. Jeez. Have we become that lazy? And 1986? Personally, that year I thought huge hair was gorgeous and leg warmers were a good look. Times change. We all learn. Strom Thurmond was forgiven. Seriously - the idea that the Democratic administration would take Andrew Breitbart and Fox News seriously as SOURCES is offensive and terribly disappointing.
Who is Lindsey Lohan, and how does a drunk driving charge make the news? Don't tell me, I'm sure she's either a sports star or an actress. They seem to put this on the news. CONTINUALLY. It's moving the oil spill off the headlines. Is it just me?
Finally, I have scant time before getting back to the job site (today! Sliders!) so I'm going to answer to some comments that people have made that requested responses.
Here are a few things I've been thinking about, but have not had a chance to write about this week. Please feel free to use the comments to respond to any of them, or whatever else is on your mind. After the jump: what's been occupying my time.
Tom Corbett: this gubernatorial candidate said that there are plenty of jobs, the unemployed just prefer collecting their check and sitting on their sofas. Idiot, and it will cost him the election. Yes, really.
Charlie Melancon: He's starting to gain some traction, plus Vitter has a primary challenger in Chet Traylor, and a less serious challenge from Nick Accardo. It's a late primary (28 August) with a potential October runoff. It will be time and political capital Vitter will have to spend now, and not have for the general. Melancon has been on the news close to daily, talking about the oil spill, and his efforts as a Congressman to get aid and hold BP truly accountable. And that's the national news, likely he's even more of a media fixture in Louisiana. I've had it at Republican-Lean before that was popular (Cook just moved it this week) - and will be moving the race to a toss-up at the next update.
To Kill a Mockingbird: last week was the 50th anniversary of the publication date. Harper Lee never published again, and still lives quietly mostly in Monroeville, AL, the town used as the model for the novel. It is one of the best books of all time. If you've never read it, you should. While the movie adaptation was one of the best book captures in the history of film, the book is still worthwhile. Unless, of course, you live where this Pulitzer-winning book is banned. (Yup, really.) If you want to get the gist of the current racism of the teabaggers, To Kill a Mockingbird will help you see the world as they do.
Tim Geithner: There should be a special ring in hell for him, if only for opposing Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Board, if not his part in the decimation of the American economy.
Haiti: It's been 6 months since the earthquake. If you've seen CNN in the past week, they're cycling between Haiti relief and the Gulf. It appears that despite millions of dollars of promised aid from governments around the world $0 has been actually delivered. Lots of private money has been donated to many NGOs, who work at cross purposes as their is no legitimate, functional government to set out rules and offer guidance.
Gay Rights: It's up and down. Kudos for Martha Coakley for bringing the case, and to Joseph Tauro, the judge who said that gay married couples are entitled to the same rights (think tax returns) as straight couples. But, the Pentagon DADT survey is bad, bad, bad, and will likely be used between the time the surveys are returned and DADT is overturned in reality, to oust any gay person who fills one out. SHAME. This was always the problem with the swiss cheese legislation passed a few months ago.
I strive to understand things. But some things just remain a mystery to me.
Sometimes, it's stuff that other people accept without question. As in: this morning I was at a stop sign. My car was stopped. I was waiting for the line of 3 cars coming down the road to go past me, and then my plan was to look to the left, look to the right, and look to the left one more time, and then make my left turn. The first car in the string screeched to a halt, and was starting to motion me to go when the guy behind him hit him. SOMEONE, I'm sure, understands why you stop short when there's no stop sign. But not me.
Jon Kyl has explained that extending the Shrub tax cuts, without new revenues or offsets makes sense, but extending unemployment benefits without new revenues or offsets is unacceptable. I understand why he says things like that. But I don't understand why a single person believes him. I am truly clueless. (And a special screw you to Ben Nelson.)
There are two primaries today: the Ohio CD-3 special Democratic primary because the winner of the regular May primary withdrew. Also six run-off races in Alabama. I don't know why I don't actually care more. Battle fatigue? The fact that it's been so hot here that you can cook a frozen pizza on the sidewalk? Don't know.
Yesterday, BP put a different kind of cap thing on the oil gusher. From what I can gather, this thing was easily constructed from available parts. I don't understand why they didn't try this months ago. It's neither new technology, nor dependent on a manufacturing/construction project that would take more than a few days. Don't they want the oil to cease gushing?
And finally, after the police came and I gave my witness statement about the idiot driver (luckily no one was hurt) I continued on to the supermarket. I needed exactly two items, but I had to traverse the whole front of the store, which meant I passed displays. One was for "Disney Pixar Cereal". Huh? Whatever happened to things named for what they ARE: like corn flakes or puffed wheat?
If there are things you don't understand, or can explain any of mine to me, the floor is open...consider it an open invitation for pet peeves, too.
Last week Blizzard, owner of World of Warcraft and other MMORPG games, announced that in their chat forums, players would be required to use their real names. Three days later, after receiving 50,000 comments, mostly negative, they backed down and said people could continue to chat under their screen names.
It brings up the issue of real names vs aliases in blogging, especially political blogging. Earlier this year, Kos started requiring their front pagers to own up to their real identities. On Huffington Post, most people use their real names. Even Atrios has come out of the shadows. There are some who say that everyone, including blog commenters, should always use their full names. Others say that would stifle published opinion, the primary reason being "I don't want my boss to know what I'm saying."
I have very mixed feelings about it. I can easily see both sides: when someone uses their full name, it becomes relatively easy to find out about them, which is both good and bad. Atrios, for example, turns out to be an economics professor, which (to some people) gives more weight to his analyses than if he were a 14 year old hacker. However, if you read his body of work, you know that he honestly knows his stuff independent of age or profession. Nate Silver's work is what it is, not appreciably different from when he was "Poblano."
On the other hand, blogging can be dangerous: people can, and do, send you nastygrams. Every time I receive one, I'm glad that the people sending them don't know where I live.
I think about this as regards BFBarbie and CasablancaPA, the two tweeters who Tom Corbett tried to find via Twitter subpoenas. It's very bad when Attorneys General, or other law enforcement officials, try to go after people simply because they don't like being called out.
On yet another hand, I think about the signing of petitions using one's real name, and then having that name disseminated. I see that as something different: when you sign a petition you are asking to be counted, especially when the names need to be vetted for a count, as is the case with ballot initiatives. Can it be dangerous? Sure. But I remember the original American petition-signers. 56 men who faced the possibility of death by hanging for treason. Yup, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Sam Adams and the less famous Founding Fathers.
It all rolls up into Freedom of Speech and privacy issues. While Freedom of Speech is a constitutional guarantee, "privacy" means something very different now than it did even 10 years ago, before Facebook and all the other related 'places'. People have been fired for Facebook posts. Stupid people on Facebook do stupid things like listing their real addresses and phone numbers, and then post that they're going out of town for two weeks. They're then surprised when they come home to find their houses robbed.
Here at DCW, we allow people as much privacy as they want. We don't require real names to register, and we have no intention of ever changing that. We believe that the right to state an opinion (albeit not ad hominem attacks, which we delete) is far more important than a real name. Bear that in mind when answering the poll - it's just about generalities.
Someone set me a video of a 12 year old girl speaking to the UN Environmental Meeting in Rio in 1992. It's grainy, but you may find it interesting.
Her overall point relates to the environmental destruction of the world, and pleads with the audience of grown-ups to do something to preserve the world of her generation. She spoke as eloquently as any 12 year old I've ever heard. Her points were well-founded and valid: both then and now.
There is a line which asks the delegates what their world was like when they were 12. It stopped me cold. The man who sent me the video is someone I knew when I was 12. The last recollection I have of him was in 10th grade physics class: I was smart, he was smarter. I don't remember having seen him since, but in his Facebook photo, he is completely recognizable as the boy I knew when all the 5-year-old boys in the old neighborhood used to chase all of us 5-year-old girls with worms. (No, I don't know why, and they all claim they didn't do it.)
When we were 12, there was a war on. That year, as it happens, was the year of Tet. A year before Woodstock. The voting age was 21. Abortion was illegal. Stonewall was a few years in the future. Planning for the first Earth Day had not yet started. We didn't recycle per se - milk was still delivered in bottles, and that one soda a year was returnable for the nickel deposit. Disposable diapers were available, but most people still used cloth diapers and a diaper service. Newspapers were cut up and articles saved or mailed to others, leftovers were used to paper train puppies or line bird cages. There were no cell phones, personal computers, microwave ovens, answering machines, game boys, VCRs, DVDs, BluRays. It was a different world.
But some things have not changed, not one iota. More after the jump.
A couple weeks ago, my computer overheated and shut down. The laptop keyboard was hot to the touch. It was still under warranty, and I give a lot of credit to the Toshiba repair department for being communicative and reasonably quick in sending a box so it could ship to the for free, calling every evening to tell me that they had received my machine, assigned it to a technician, were working on it, and then that they'd sent it back, along with a tracking number. It arrived yesterday afternoon, and seems to be working fine.
This was the first time in almost 25 years that I'd been involuntarily without a working computer. Normally, I have at least 2, more likely 3, computers. But due to a confluence of things, this was the only working computer I had on hand (and yes, I'm now going to get the other two I own fixed and operational.)
I learned something in the 12 days I spent without a computer of my own. Mostly, in this regard, I thought a lot about Alvin Greene. The Senate candidate who uses a library computer. And all the other people who are dependent on library and school computers. It is, I learned, a WHOLE different experience from having a computer of one's own.
My computer, like yours, has a lot of personal knowledge built into it that you probably take for granted. I know I did. The embedded passwords. The location of the programs, and the programs themselves. The browser that "knows what you mean." The documents, pictures and music. While checking email is easy on any computer, keeping track of spreadsheets, and reference data, and everything else one uses on a regular basis is impossible. Yes, I have a back-up hard drive, but... I was lucky in that I had friends and family who let me use their computers - but my hard drive wouldn't play nice with the Mac, and it was too advanced for another loaner -- and therefore, there was a lot of information I couldn't easily access. A simple example: James Traficant was released from prison last September, and is trying to run as an independent for his old House seat. I "own" this knowledge. His petitions were denied as not having enough signatures by the Ohio SoS office. He'll be appealing. In the reference section of my computer is a list of all the charges on which he was convicted, plus some other snark. It's a click away on my hard drive, but a couple hours of research on any other machine.
How hard it must be to run for the Senate without easy access to phone numbers, donor lists, VoteBuilder, and all the other necessary data a real candidate needs.
How impossible for a high school student trying to research and write term papers. Yes, I know when people my age went to school, this was all done on index cards, but I'm pleased with the computerized part of research. It is now a huge competitive disadvantage to not have a computer of one's own.
Today I'll be putting all of my documents, pictures and research back on my hard drive. Double checking that everything ends up where it is supposed to be. And then I'll be back with the topics I've been keeping a list of on a yellow pad: the new health care site launched by HHS; the nitrogen dead zone in the Gulf that is actually worse than the oil spill; frames of the sparse July primaries and what I'm looking forward to in the August batch; a number of polls I've wanted to get up.
I leave you, for now, with this little tidbit off the front page of the USA Today from last week: they did a poll and found out that 65% of Americans over the age of 18 cannot name A SINGLE Supreme Court justice. Not ONE. It seems it's even worse that I thought....
A politician thinks of the next election - a statesman of the next generation - James Freeman Clarke
I've been thinking a lot recently about businesspeople who go into politics. It started with Ross Perot, and then Mike Bloomberg and Jon Corzine, and now we've got Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman and Jeff Greene.
Here's my frame: US Senator is not an entry level position. Neither is Governor. Nor President. I grudgingly give a pass to Congressmen since it's hard for one person out of 435 voting members to much damage on his/her own. But my belief is that "government" like everything else SHOULD BE a career, where one pays one's dues, learns and works one's way up the ladder. My preferred path is row officer, county leader, state rep, and then on to the majors. Like ball players. (Did y'all notice: a sports analogy!) Seriously, when the mailroom boy becomes the CEO, it wasn't a straight line, he worked his way up. I accept that there are certain other career paths that can get one to politics: the military, for example. There are 41 doctors running for the House and Senate this year: again, even with the likes of Tom Coburn, I can live with it.
But businesspeople are different, and have no place jumping into national politics. They are worse than the politicos who, as Clarke says, only think of the next election. Businesspeople are fundamentally incongruous with the idea of service. There are rare exceptions, but this is overall thought.
Democratic government exists to serve the people. That's the deal: decision making that affects hundreds of millions of people. Government has a mission. In the miltary, there is also a mission, never a profit motive. There is leadership, structure, and a dedication to working towards an end. Likewise in medicine, there is a commitment to service, to juggling multiple requirements at once, all for the good of the patient.
People are suited to careers based on a lot of things: it's rare to find an introverted sales person, for example. It's hard to find a teacher who disdains knowledge. Businesspeople are committed to the profit motive. No matter who it hurts. No matter the damage. Normally their greed and ego supercede all else. Meg Whitman spent $71 million dollars of her own money to get the IIE gubernatorial nomination, or $80 a vote. Certainly, she can spend her money on anything she wants, it's her money. But $71 million dollars! In California. A place where all services have been cut. Imagine what an influx of $71 million dollars could have meant for the California state university system, the state parks, the hospitals, as a food stamp supplement. Instead, it went to vanity. Maybe others don't find it offensive, but I do.
Carly Fiorina? 19th worst CEO of all time.
Jeff Greene? Might decimate Kendrick Meek by spending $50 million of his own money. And this is a guy who doesn't even vote, and last ran (and lost) as a Republican Congressional candiate. In California, where he actually lives. On a 45 foot boat.
Some may say that I should remember that Mike Bloomberg is doing a great job. And he is. AS MAYOR. I don't care that New York is the largest city in America, it's still a city, and "mayor" is a row officer.
My bottom line is that there are exceptional people who succeed in government despite a lack of preparation. That people who spend their lives destroying others so that a few can get rich off of it should preclude them from running. It's not their fault if they win: most people who vote are idiots.
I'm not saying I've been busy, but I haven't read a newspaper in a week. Not even the headlines. My dead tree subscription is still in the plastic bags, all neatly in a pile.
But there are a few things I want to say:
First, this week marks the 50th anniversary of CPR. CPR is easy to learn. Classes are available for professionals and lay persons alike. You can find a class here. Consider learning something that could help you save the life of someone you love.
Second, I'm appalled at the Obama administration for its Bushie-like attempt at manipulating people running for office, the latest being Andrew Romanoff. They didn't just call him, there's email. I just plain don't understand why the White House would have done this with both Sestak and Romanoff, and I don't understand why Romanoff would have said anything now. I understand why Sestak brought up his offer last summer: it was a way of showing the establishment that he was running anyway, and it helped him in terms of staff, volunteers and money. But Romanoff? At this date? It could easily cost him the primary.
The White House is going to have a lot of trouble fighting for each and every favourite son and daughter. This year, 2,300 people are running in the 471 House and Senate contests. This is the highest number in at least 35 years.
Finally, there's a reason I named the GOP "IIE" - they never cease to find ways to prove their individual and collective idiocy. Jan Brewer? Governor of Arizona? Here's what she said:
"Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lose him when I was 11 because of that...and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced."
The problems? Jan was born in 1944. Her dad died in 1955. He spent the war in Nevada.
The Florida IIE? Former chair indicted for fraud, corruption, etc. Rubio and Crist to follow.
The war in Afghanistan is, as of 7 June, the longest military event in which the United States has ever been involved. It was Vietnam, but that is dwarfed in a week. The politics of that war, and the related incursion into Iraq are topics for another day.
Today, it's all about those boys and girls who gave their lives in service to their country. Be it a wrong war like Iraq or Vietnam, a moral imperative like WW2, or anything in between: these are the people who stood up and said "I will serve my country, no matter what it asks of me."
You may have gone to DC to see the names of friends and family lost in Vietnam, or Iraq, or those you never met who perished in WW2. Perhaps to remember the fallen in Korea, or even someone you were named for, who gave his life in a long-ago war. Personalized heroes.
The picture of the arch is the Revolutionary War Arch in Valley Forge. Sometimes I walk the four miles over there and look out on what is now a peaceful park with, yes, refurbished cabins and buildings and guides in Revolutionary-era dress, telling stories in the tongue of the time. But most of its 3,500 acres seem untouched by war: picnic areas and trails, sledding in the winter, hikers, bicyclists and thousands and thousands of deer.
My hope for this Memorial Day is that we remember those who served. But also a hope that someday all the currently war torn places can look like the peaceful place Valley Forge has returned to: seemingly devoid of conflict.
On behalf of the DCW team, wishing you a day of peace, remembrance, family and friends. And if you're a vet, we say THANK YOU!
The past two days have been busy, with the DADT repeal votes, the lack of an unemployment extension bill vote, the Joe Sestak imbroglio and the President's speech on the Gulf. I wanted to post, I meant to post, let's just say that while I'd love to blog 24/7, it's just not always possible.
So here are some catch-up thoughts....
Sestak
SUCH a red herring. As the story unfolds, keep this timing in mind. Last year's Netroots Nation was in Pittsburgh in mid-August. Joe Sestak, with campaign staff, pre-printed materials and tee shirts, was there the whole time. He walked around, spoke with people, and personally handed out tee shirts (or at least he gave me mine). He was scheduling events around the state for after the conference. Bill Clinton was there at the end of the conference, as he was the Keynote speaker. Based on the amount of staffers and materials that Joe Sestak had in place, it's obvious that whatever happened between Sestak and Clinton happened well before that, as the campaign was already operational.
Obama and the Oil Spill
If you missed the remarks:
I've been critical of President Obama for what I've seen as a move away from the progressive agenda, and to corporatism, but I don't see anything to hang on him relative to this issue. From what I've read and heard, there are about 20,000 people from government, industry, and academia working around the clock to find ways to rectify the situation. This disaster was man-made: too many decades of oil men in the administration. Too much collusion with the industry (call out to Dick "Prince of Darkness" Cheney), too much restriction due to the 1990 law. While BP is guilty as all get out, and should be forced to make restitution, this was NOT Obama's fault, and he is in no way in collusion with BP. He deserves credit for doing the best possible in an abominable situation.
The fact that BP moved in several hundred temp workers for several hours to make it look like they were really cleaning the shoreline ONLY WHILE the President was there is and absolute indication of their lies and how far they'll go for flash over substance.
And Finally...
Once again the Senate shows its complete and utter lack of understanding of life outside Capitol Hill.
This didn't happen to me the three weeks I did census enumeration, but it happened it other places, and it's appalling. Especially that no one should die.
OpenLeft put together a guide to doing cool things with diaries and comments. Since they use the same platform DCW does, if you're interested, the list is here. You don't need any of it for a diary if you're set up in WYSIWYG (you can change it in your profile), but it works in comments. (They don't have the nice WYSIWYG headers Oreo set up here.)
Andrew Cuomo has announced for New York Governor. This was no surprise, and it will be nice to have a Cuomo back in the mansion. You can watch the announcement here. He proposes a number of interesting things, including that elected members of state government (which are supposedly part time positions) will need to disclose their other income sources. Expect blow back.
If you don't remember it, here's a clip from Mario Cuomo's 1984 Keynote address at the 1984 Democratic Convention. See if you see any parallels to anything else....like today's IIE, especially the C Street contingent. While other speeches (like Ted's "...and the dream will never die") are more liberal rhetoric, this is the ultimate speech against corporatism.
The second tidbit is that when Rand Paul canceled his Meet the Press visit, he was only the third person in history to do so. Use the comments if you know the other two. I'll let you know if you're right around noontime.
Finally, my Saturday began with the weekly jaunt to the dog park, where Olivia got out of the car, threw up, laid down, and could no longer walk. While it looked identical to me like her stroke 3 years ago, it turned out to be an inner ear infection. (Note to dog owners: if there is sudden onset, and the dog has nystagmus, which is the dog's eyes going side to side very quickly, that's 99.9% inner ear infection.) My vet was out of town, but came back to see her. We saw the vet at around 9:30 p.m. after a day you don't want to know about. After a full hour of evaluation, chiropractic adjustment, and the first homeopathic remedy, we carried her out to the car to rest so we could argue politics, while Olivia rested a little before the half hour drive home.
I'll spare you the details, but the next time someone says to you that the Arizona boycott is wrong because they are an Article 5 person, point out that California has AS MUCH RIGHT to boycott as Arizona does to enact legislation (which may or may not hold up in actual court.) Trust me, it moves the conversation along.
As the least technical member of the DCW team, I stand in awe of what Matt and Oreo can do to help make DCW accessible. Now, in addition to coming to the site, following us on Twitter, getting us via RSS feed, or delivered straight to your mailbox once a day, you can now also take a look at our Facebook page. Matt put it up this morning, and it's set up to receive a feed of all the main page posts about an hour after they are published to the site.
On behalf of the team, thanks to all of you for reading. We really appreciate the DCW community, your insights, comments and participation. We're looking forward to the rest of primary season, the general, and of course, the conventions in 2012....never to early to plan for the DNC and snark the RNC. (I speak for the team when I say, we hope Mike Steele is still around for 2012....fingers crossed that he actually does insist on fried chicken and potato salad for one of the dinners.)
Think for a moment, and through your mind's eye, create an image of a police officer and a fire fighter. Got it? Can that police office chase a criminal and wrestle him to the ground? Can the fire fighter lift a fire victim overcome by smoke, and take her to safety?
Not so much anymore.
USA Today is reporting (10 May, page 3A) that the lack of physical fitness is really showing amoung both recruits and active public safety officials. In Jackson, MS, for example, more than a third of applicants couldn't pass the initial physical fitness exam. 15% failed one Oklahoma agility test. Most extreme? Last year, the Cambridge Health Alliance, with help from Harvard researchers, looked at fire and EMT workers in Massachusetts and found that 77% were either overweight or obese. Yes, you read that right: 77%.
A large part of the problem is that schools no longer require phys ed. Yup: only five states have a requirement for phys ed in all grades. While other states have some schools with phys ed programs, fully half allow all sorts of student exemptions.
This is a serious problem in a country faced not only with run of the mill crimes and fires, but also terroristic threats. It's horrifying that our overall level of personal fitness has fallen so low that even those who want to serve the public can't run. Or jump. Or carry someone to safety.
While Eisenhower created the President's Council on Physical Fitness in 1956, it was John Kennedy who really got the program going. If you went to grade school in the 1960's, you'll remember "go you chicken fat go!". It was a 45 rpm record played daily in virtually every grade school classroom. It ran 6 minutes and you got up (at least once, and sometimes twice, a day) from your desk and jumped around and touched your toes and did push-ups. All while singing the song and clapping. And that was in addition to regular phys ed: calisthenics, dodge ball, softball, plus the playground with some sort of I-don't-really-recall-what for boys, and hopscotch and playground equipment for girls. Either you remember or you don't:
After the jump: a funny story about JFK's implementation of the Council.
It's been so long that you've probably heard it all already, but that won't stop me. On a personal note, I'm pleased to announce that Olivia and I were able to come home yesterday. I am typing at my desk, in my den, with my contented puppy resting happily under the desk. Downstairs, the team is putting the final touches on everything. Side note to anyone who has as much construction as I have: when they pull out all the lighting on one floor, it's difficult after the sun sets...still, we were happy to be home, me to sleep in my bed, Olivia to sleep in front of the front door, making sure all was safe. In the photo, the furniture is still all moved to the center of the living room, and vent covers and switches still need to be installed: but check that blue! Blue is the colour of peace, the colour of healing, the colour of the Democratic Party. And yes, it's custom-blended. 
The war in Afghanistan is, as of 7 June, the longest military event in which the 
United States has ever been involved. It was Vietnam, but that is dwarfed in a week. The politics of that war, and the related incursion into Iraq are topics for another day.
You may have gone to DC to see the names of friends and family lost in Vietnam, or Iraq, or
those you never met who perished in WW2. Perhaps to remember the fallen in Korea, or even someone you were named for, who gave his life in a long-ago war. Personalized heroes.
