Monthly Archives: April 2010

Monday Open Thread

Welcome to dull, dreary Monday after a dull, dreary Sunday. I guess we’re going to be getting rain for the first half of the week. Not the way I want to start my week. It’s time for an open thread, so let the sunshine in!

Republicans don’t care about governing and Americans are starting to notice:

It’s clear that Democrats genuinely believe they are in a strong position in the standoff over financial regulatory reform. To explain why, a Democrat points me to the internals of the new Economist poll, which show that less than a fourth of respondents think Republicans are providing constructive policy alternatives in dealing with Dems:

In your opinion, do the Republicans in Congress…

Mostly provide constructive policy alternatives 24%
Mostly just oppose the other party 52%
Not sure 24%

It also finds that barely more than a fourth think Republicans are providing construtive policy alternatives in dealing with Obama:

In dealing with President Obama, do you think the Republicans in Congress…

Mostly provide constructive policy alternatives 27%
Mostly just oppose the President 50%
Not sure 23%

We will see in November if Democrats have made their case. I think we need to see a bigger economic recovery before Democrats start breathing easier.

This post at Balloon Juice by DougJ is interesting:

But to pretend that this doesn’t happen, in some form, every day on every show on television is absurdly naive, even for an adult Tolkien reader. You’ve heard it before but here’s a partial list of people who lost their jobs for not being sufficiently psyched about Operation Iraqi Freedom: Bill Maher, Ashleigh Banfield, Phil Donahue. NBC wouldn’t rebroadcast the clip of Sinead O’Connor tearing up a picture of the pope. (And her reasons for doing so were so crazy, in retrospect, weren’t they?) I’ll stop now, but I could go on.

When it happens because of right-wing American complaints, it’s called family values or patriotism. When it happens because of Muslim complaints, it’s called censorship.

Censorship is an American tradition. Yes, it’s been a bit strange to see the right wing get up in a froth about Mohammed cartoons when they threw parties to destroy Dixie Chicks CDs.

City of Wilmington Mayoral Race Cattle Call — Spring 2010 Edition

Adam Taylor of the News Journal does the work of rounding up the declared and the rumored, so I can do this without appearing to betray any confidences.  This list fairly humorous, especially if looking a this field in its entirety.  But many kudos to Adam for doing this and for having this story picked up everywhere — I first heard it this AM on WHYY.  Al Mascitti has been talking about this this AM too.  But keep in mind — the City of Wilmington Mayor’s race doesn’t happen until 2012.

The City of Wilmington is a Blue City, by a huge margin — and Republicans elected to City government are elected as a result of an affirmative action program that requires one of the at-large seats go to the minority party.  So the current Republican in City Council — Mike Brown — was a long time Democrat who switched parties to take advantage of one of the few bits of affirmative action that Republicans will actually endorse.  So here’s the list:

Rep. Dennis P. Williams, State Representative

Rev. Derrick Johnson, pastor of Joshua Harvest Church

Steve Martelli, City Councilman

Kevin Kelley, City Councilman

Hanifa Shabazz, City Councilwoman

Norman Griffiths, City Council President

Charles “Bud” Freel, At-Large City Councilman

Bill Montgomery, Mayor Baker’s Chief of Staff

Ted Blunt, former City Council President

Senator Bob Marshall, State Senator

Paul Calistro, Director of West End House

Mike Brown, At-Large City Councilman

Tyler Nixon, Perpetual Candidate

Robert Bovell, Bailbondsman and Perpetual Candidate

John Rago, Mayor Baker’s Communications Director

I placed Rago and Bovell in the purple category — Rago is an Independent (according to Taylor’s article) and Bovell has run as both a Democrat and a Republican since I’ve lived in the City and it is not clear to me which party he is claiming now. Right now, I would think that Williams has done alot of the work — he has been fundraising like crazy and has worked at being everyplace — but I would not say that there is anyone here who is yet a prohibitive favorite. This field is huge, and you can expect that there are alot of folks here doing positioning for other stuff (including a stronger voice in City Council). Some of these names are head-scratchers — how do Rago and Montgomery disown the Baker baggage? And Ted Blunt has been known to have some serious health issues (which may be cured now) and I don’t think that anyone sees Bob Marshall in the City anymore. Hanifa Shabazz is punching WAY above her weight class here, and Norm Griffiths has been a weak City Council President — which is why I think so many hats are possibly in the ring.

The thing that I think is really true about the City right now is that it is really ripe for the kind of leadership that has won and been working at transforming government in Newark, NJ or Philadelphia. We need a Cory Booker — someone who will be hugely invested in making the city work and in improving the quality of life. But someone who will dismantle the worst of the dem machine politics to get the flexibility to get those changes. I don’t see any real potential game changers on this list, except for possibly Paul Calistro.

So city residents — what do you think?  Who do you think are good candidates?  As we update this in the coming years, I’ll update the rankings better, but right now, I don’t see alot of great strengths in this field.

Bankrupting Arizona

The new Jose Crow law in Arizona is going to cause a lot of nightmares for the state. Check out this provision in the law:

G. A PERSON MAY BRING AN ACTION IN SUPERIOR COURT TO CHALLENGE ANY OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE THAT ADOPTS OR IMPLEMENTS A POLICY THAT LIMITS OR RESTRICTS THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS TO LESS THAN THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW. IF THERE IS A JUDICIAL FINDING THAT AN ENTITY HAS VIOLATED THIS SECTION, THE COURT SHALL ORDER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. THAT THE PERSON WHO BROUGHT THE ACTION RECOVER COURT COSTS AND ATTORNEY FEES.

2. THAT THE ENTITY PAY A CIVIL PENALTY OF NOT LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS AND NOT MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EACH DAY THAT THE POLICY HAS REMAINED IN EFFECT AFTER THE FILING OF AN ACTION PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION

Yes indeedy you read that right: ANYONE who is upset that this law isn’t being enforced vigorously enough can sue, damn near any agency of the state, and if they prevail, not only are their court costs paid, but the loser is fined at least $1,000 a DAY, not from the time you win , but from the time you FILED SUIT, meaning that if an average lawsuit takes 1 year + from filing to final verdict that’s a MINIMUM fine of $300,000+ every time.

Full PDF of the bill.

So I imagine we’re going to see a huge raft of lawsuits of people who are upset that enough brown people aren’t getting stopped and harassed as well as people upset that not enough white people are being stopped and harassed. I have no idea WTF Arizona was thinking in drafting this provision of the law. To me it seems like the perfect “out” for Gov. Brewer to have vetoed the bill, but profile in courage she ain’t.

Charlie Copeland Thinks We Have No Memory.

Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. Charlie Copeland is once again claiming that help start the Challenge Program:

In 1997 Andrew McKnight & I started the Challenge Program to provide training opportunities for at-risk youth in the Wilmington vicinity. Most of these young people have been adjudicated and/or have no high school diploma. You can check out our wesite here.

The News Journal ran a nice piece on our work with the Children’s Museum, which is just opening and is located on the Wilmington Riverfront in the old Kahunaville spot. My thanks to Challenge Program Board member, Jackie Ivy, for helping make the connection to the Children’s Museum as well as my thanks to the Children’s Museum for working with us. It was a fun project.

Charlie Copeland must think that we have no memory of anything that transpired more than a year ago, and I don’t blame him, since time and again Republicans have invented their own new fantasy reality where President Obama is responsible for the entirety of the national debt, and where it was Obama that caused the financial collapse that occurred on Bush’s watch, and the Fox News audience have bought it, hook, line and sinker.

The problem is, we do have memories. We have old blog posts to refer back to. And let’s go back to an October 20, 2008 post from our wonderful colleague Tommywonk to refresh our memories about Charlie Copeland and the Challenge Program:

The [Challenge] program’s website tells a somewhat different story [or at least it did in 2008, before it was scrubbed no doubt on the instruction of Charlie Copeland–DD]:

The Challenge Program originated by offering small craft workshops to at-risk youth in 1995. Since then over 700 students have built and learned to paddle small boats at our Wilmington boat shop. Once a part of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, the Challenge Program obtained a separate 501(c)3 designation and a dedicated board of directors in 1999.

While it is true that he serves as the president of the board, the program had already been running for two years at the time Copeland claims to have founded it.

But I don’t have to refer to a couple of websites to refute his claim. I am personally familiar with the creation of the Challenge Program, which was founded in the 1990s by a good friend, and then Winterthur wood conservator, Mike Podmaniczky. I was working in city government at the time, and Mike came to me for advice on how to get started. The program was initially called The Challenge at Fort Christina, and was absorbed into the Kalmar Nyckel organization within a year or so before being once again spun off as a separate non-profit. A master craftsman was brought in to teach boat building as a way to develop carpentry skills.

I am pleased to see that the program has continued with Mike’s original vision of involving city youth in developing the craft of woodworking. They do stunning work, in contrast to the more usual practice of training folks to hang sheetrock.

Charlie Copeland can be commended for supporting the program and serving as board president. That’s what wealthy people should do in our society. But my friend Mike, who is still listed as a board member, deserves the credit as the true founder of the Challenge Program. Even the original logo, the sketch of a wooden boat frame, dates back to his creation of the program.

Charlie Copeland has made his role in the program a centerpiece of his campaign, particularly in the City of Wilmington. If Copeland said he simply led the program, I would not give the matter any thought. But his claim to have founded the Challenge Program doesn’t hold water.

Tommy is right, Copeland deserves a lot of credit for involving himself with the Program and serving as the Board President. But he keeps trying to rewrite history to pretend that the program was his idea, his vision, and his initiative. And that is deceptive, especially when used as a centerpiece of his campaign in 2008 for Lt. Governor to sell himself to Wilmington city residents. Since the Challenge website has been scrubbed of the paragraph that Tommy referred to back in 2008, and since Charlie is once again back to claiming that he founded the program, I guess we should expect to see those Copeland for Governor signs pretty soon.

A Team Of Moderates

The News Journal decides what is and isn’t news. Chris Coons’s 3 county announcement – not news. Michelle Rollins appearing at a Republican event – news. Apparently appearances by Chris Coons or John Carney at Democratic events does not qualify as news either. Not only has the NJ covered two appearances by Rollins at Republican candidate forums, they’ve also declared her a moderate before she’s ever taken one vote in Congress.

Moderate Republican Michele Rollins made one of her first campaign stops for the U.S. House race deep in conservative territory Thursday.

That’s the very first sentence of last Thursday’s article on Michelle Rollins’s appearance in front of a candidate forum hosted by the 9/12 Patriots.

Rollins, 64, already has taken heat for her abortion-rights position, a spot on the board of Wilmington Trust, which accepted TARP funds from the federal government, and a one-time donation to Vice President Joe Biden’scampaign.

So, what positions make you a moderate, in the News Journal‘s eyes?

Opening with a speech about how she decided to enter politics because she was unhappy with health care reform, Rollins railed on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and told the crowd she wants to go to Washington to help dismantle Democrats’ overreaching spending.

A moderate, according to the NJ, is someone who hates health care reform, makes fun of Nancy Pelosi and doesn’t like Democrats. Oh, and she gives lip service to supporting abortion rights for women. The bar is set awful low to be considered a Republican moderate these days. I guess the NJ has decided that Rollins and Castle are a team – a team of moderates.

So, why is the News Journal giving so much coverage to Michelle Rollins and not Glenn Urquhart, Kevin Wade or Rose Izzo? Scott Spencer appeared before the 9/12 Patriot group – why not him? Where is the coverage of John Carney or Chris Coons?

If the News Journal decides they’d like to cover the Democratic candidates, a list of events can be found here.

Sunday Reading

Here’s a few Must Read articles for Sunday:

Have Conservatives Gone Mad? Mark Ambinder weighs in on a conversation started by Julian Sanchez and others about the de-tethering of conservatives from reality.  Ambinder was once part of the cabal at The Note, ground zero of the Beltway Navel Gazing Narrative.  Here you get to see how the dumb narratives get some traction — apparently reporters can’t find anyone else to take seriously.  So the crazies get their platform.  His quick suggestion that the cables may want to stake out a real-fact-checking mission is a good one.

Confederate History Month: Words of Steele dengre over at Balloon Juice does the world a favor and provides the definitive look at how the GOP came to be the place where racists are a comfortable part of the political coalition.

Fight On, Goldman Sachs! The always remarkable Frank Rich surveys the state of play with financial reform regulation and finds the GOP leadership bluntly working for the Wall Street interests.

10 Things You Don’t Know (or were misinformed) About the Goldman Sachs Case Barry Ritholz surveys the the details with some emphasis on ground truthing some of the media narrative.

Utility Decoupling: Giving Utilities Incentives to Promote Energy Efficiency Interesting article from the Progressive States Network looking at effort to decouple fixed utility costs from the costs of fuel on your bill.

Lewis Black visits the WSJ offices and tells them that he just does not get the Teajihadis (with bonus commentary on the iPad):
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Let us know what you are reading in the comments.

Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to the weekend! Are you having a good one? It’s been another crazy week in politics but I think crazy is the new normal.

Marc Ambinder, the ultimate arbiter of media conventional wisdom, asks if conservatives have gone mad. The answer is yes (simple answers to simple questions).

erious thinkers on the right have finally gotten around to a full and open debate on the epistemic closure problem that’s plaguing the conservative movement. The issue, to put it in terms that even I can understand, because I didn’t study philosophy much in college: has the conservative base gone mad?

This matters to journalists, because I really do want to take Republicans seriously. Mainstream conservative voices are embracing theories that are, to use Julian Sanchez’s phrase, “untethered” to the real world.

Can anyone deny that the most trenchant and effective criticism of President Obama today comes not from the right but from the left? Rachel Maddow’s grilling of administration economic officials. Keith Olbermann’s hectoring of Democratic leaders on the public option. Glenn Greenwald’s criticisms of Elena Kagan. Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn’s keepin’-them-honest perspectives on health care. The civil libertarian left on detainees and Gitmo. The Huffington Post on derivatives.

I want to find Republicans to take seriously, but it is hard. Not because they don’t exist — serious Republicans — but because, as Sanchez and others seem to recognize, they are marginalized, even self-marginalizing, and the base itself seems to have developed a notion that bromides are equivalent to policy-thinking, and that therapy is a substitute for thinking.

I guess it’s getting too hard to do the he said, she said when one side screams Nazis! Tyranny! Death Panels! and the other side talks about things that are really happening like recission and pre-existing condition bans.

There’s a lot of evidence that the Sue Lowden (NV-Sen) “chicken care” plan is making her into a national joke. One of Josh Marshall’s readers shares some anecdotal evidence:

I just went to my doctor’s office for a sinus/ear infection. I had never seen this particular physician before and certainly didn’t bring up politics with him, but as I was about to pay my bill, he volunteered, “We take cash, check, credit or debit card. No chickens.” I’m in Indiana, mind you. I think Sue Lowden is in real trouble if even random doctors in Indiana are mocking her to near-total strangers.

A Nevada newspaper describes what’s happening at the Lowden camp:

Now, most mentions of Lowden in national or local media are accompanied by the word “chicken.” Political opponents have produced mocking videos that are going viral on the Internet.

Angry voters have shown up at Lowden’s offices with frozen chickens.

Worse, Democratic volunteers keep showing up at Lowden’s campaign offices with cages of live chickens.

These are campaign donations.

But many voters aren’t impressed.

“We’re being laughed at,” said Will Brown, a Sparks Democrat. “This is absurd.”

…

“I don’t like Harry as the majority leader,” Brown said. “But before I pull the rug out from under him, I’d want to know we’ve got someone who is not an embarrassment to us.”

That’s bad news for Lowden, and I think it probably hurts other Republicans as well. I’d love to see some polling in this race. Markos says that he’s polling Nevada in the next week and plans to ask the approval of Lowden’s chicken plan.

Where Is The Tea Party Outrage?

As Arizona readies to slip into a totalitarian state that would rival Stalin’s Soviet Union, all I hear from the Tea Party is crickets . . . very white crickets. The NY Times writes:

The law . . . would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

Everywhere I’ve read, it boils down to this: white, black, brown or whatever, one will have to carry papers that state they are a citizen of the United States. So next time you go to Arizona, be ready for a cop with a German accent stopping you and asking, “Papers please?”

I Don’t Get This Guy

A doctor who is a Lt. Colonel in the Army is also a birther. He’s so steeped in the birther delusion that he’s willing to ruin his career and go to jail over it.

Formal court martial charges have been brought against Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Army doctor who believes President Obama may not be a natural born citizen, for failing to follow orders, the military said today.

Lakin was charged Thursday “with one specification of a violation of Article 87, Missing Movement and four specifications of a violation of Article 92 (three specifications of Failure to Obey a Lawful Order, and one Specification of Dereliction of Duty),” said Chuck Dasey, spokesman at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where Lakin is assigned.

…

In a press release issued today by the American Patriot Foundation, which is raising money for Lakin’s defense, he waxed heroic:

“I invited my court martial, and today I stand ready to answer these charges. I was prepared to deploy if only the President would authorize the release of the proof of his eligibility. He refused, and now the court will determine the issue, and my fate. The constitution matters. The truth matters,” he said.

I just don’t get this guy. What does he think is going to happen? Does he think he’s going to somehow compel Obama himself to produce a mythical “long form” birth certificate and then get Obama removed from office in some way because he assumes he’s correct? Does he think he’ll be some kind of hero?

I really need some military experts to weigh in on this because my understanding is that these charges are very serious and could result in a long jail term for the Lt. Col. as well as loss of pension and benefits. From what I’ve been reading, the Lt. Col.’s case is quite unprecedented because he’s refusing to obey orders from the Pentagon, these aren’t orders from President Obama. That sounds like it could open a whole can of worms for military procedure if this guy is allowed to be excused for that reason.

Friday Open Thread

Welcome to the TGIF pre-weekend open thread-a-ganza. Post your thoughts, links and haikus below.

Dick Cheney said something I whole-heartedly agree with.

On Dennis Miller’s radio show today, Cheney suggested that his Leahy f-bomb was “the best thing” he had ever done:

MILLER: By the way, my, I also want to thank you, on the list of things I feel I should thank you for, almost kicking Patrick Leahy’s ass. Thank you very much.

CHENEY: Hehehehe.

MILLER: I love that move. One of my favorite stories. Muttering that.

CHENEY: You’d be surprised how many people liked that. That’s sort of the best thing I ever did.

I have to agree with that one. Cheney gave us the Iraq War, no-bid contacts for Halliburton, torture, outing CIA agents working on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, shooting a man in the face, Liz Cheney and all-around dickishness. So I certainly agree that go f*&k yourself is Cheney’s biggest accomplishment.

I’m not sure why the giant oil rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana is not a bigger news story.

The oil rig that exploded, caught fire and then sank 36 hours later could lead to a major oil spill, officials said Thursday, and as a result a remotely operated vehicle is surveying the seas and assets ranging from aircraft to containment booms are ready to be deployed.

At a press conference, the officials also said hope was running out for 11 workers still missing after the blast Tuesday night off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard said its search would probably continue into early Friday.

…

Officials had previously said the environmental damage appeared minimal, but new challenges have arisen now that the platform has sunk.

The well could be spilling up to 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day, the Coast Guard said, and the rig carried 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

Crude from the well had been burning off but when the rig sank earlier Thursday the fire was extinguished. What’s not clear is if the crude is still spewing below the surface.

This serves as a sobering lesson on why “drill baby drill” is not a solution to the energy crisis.

Guest Post: A Eulogy for Chris White

From Representative John Kowalko (D-Newark):

I’ve known Chris White for over four years, working with him intimately over a nine month period to produce the Foreclosure Mediation Program. No one brought more knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication to crafting the successful creation of that program and, simply put, it probably would not exist today without Chris. His energy and perseverance was boundless when it came to working for anyone in need. Affordable Housing, rights of the less fortunate or tirelessly advocating for the manufactured housing community, (one of Chris’ most beloved projects), these bore the mark of Chris White.

Seldom has a person been as imbued with the soul of a saint as has Chris. Sometimes we meet a person who not only transcends the ordinary but rises to a new height; a pinnacle that we couldn’t imagine was attainable, and that was Chris. He epitomized a rare combination of intelligence, compassion and selflessness in his work and his work was his pleasure. He was driven to help those who most needed help and give voice to those who struggled to have their voices heard. Chris White was an irreplaceable part of all that makes us human and I will miss him forever.

Mr. White was killed in a hit and run incident on Wednesday in Wilmington.

Resignation Watch

We’ve all been watching the great Republican purge for about one year now. Republicans like Dede Scozzafava and David Frum have been kicked out of being Republicans in good standing for not showing sufficient deference to wingnut orthodoxy. We’ve watched Republican party leaders like Michael Steele and Eric Cantor have to apologize for offending conservative entertainers like Rush Limbaugh. Lately though, there appears to be a bit of a pushback. Neocons are challenging Paulites and big government social conservatives have feuded with glibertarians. Now one NRO columnist, Jim Manzi, dares to take on conservative entertainer Mark Levin’s Libery and Tyranny book.

I started to read Mark Levin’s massive bestseller Liberty and Tyranny a number of months ago as debate swirled around it. I wasn’t expecting a PhD thesis (and in fact had hoped to write a post supporting the book as a well-reasoned case for certain principles that upset academics just because it didn’t employ a bunch of pseudo-intellectual tropes). But when I waded into the first couple of chapters, I found that — while I had a lot of sympathy for many of its basic points — it seemed to all but ignore the most obvious counter-arguments that could be raised to any of its assertions. This sounds to me like a pretty good plain English meaning of epistemic closure. The problem with this, of course, is that unwillingness to confront the strongest evidence or arguments contrary to our own beliefs normally means we fail to learn quickly, and therefore persist in correctable error.

That’s a lot of words to say the book has shoddy scholarship and is one-sided. It sounds like Levin is using the Ann Coulter trick of misrepresenting opponents arguments and having straw men attacks on those arguments. Jim Manzi is surprised by this?

I’m not expert on many topics the book addresses, so I flipped to its treatment of a subject that I’ve spent some time studying — global warming — in order to see how it treated a controversy in which I’m at least familiar with the various viewpoints and some of the technical detail.

It was awful. It was so bad that it was like the proverbial clock that chimes 13 times — not only is it obviously wrong, but it is so wrong that it leads you to question every other piece of information it has ever provided.

Does Manzi not watch Fox News or read his own website? One of his own co-bloggers, Jonah Goldberg, wrote a silly book called Liberal Fascism.

Levin argues that human-caused global warming is nothing to worry about, and merely an excuse for the Enviro-Statists (capitalization in the original) to seize more power. It reads like a bunch of pasted-together quotes and stories based on some quick Google searches by somebody who knows very little about the topic, and can’t be bothered to learn. After pages devoted to talking about prior global cooling fears, and some ridiculous or cynical comments by advocates for emissions restrictions (and one quote from Richard Lindzen, a very serious climate scientist who disputes the estimated magnitude of the greenhouse effect, but not its existence), he gets to the key question on page 184 (eBook edition):

[D]oes carbon dioxide actually affect temperature levels?

Levin does not attempt to answer this question by making a fundamental argument that proceeds from evidence available for common inspection through a defined line of logic to a scientific view. Instead, he argues from authority by citing experts who believe that the answer to this question is pretty much no. Who are they? An associate professor of astrophysics, a geologist, and an astronaut.

Yep. Most wingnut climate change denier writings come down to a massive conspiracy of scientist to steal our precious bodily fluids. Again, I ask, where has Manzi been for the last decade?

I’d like to hope that Manzi’s column would lead to a bit of soul-searching in the conservative intellectual world. As Balloon Juice is starting to document, so far the response has been to kill the messenger. Will Manzi soon announce that he’s taking a leave of absence to spend more time with his family?