The View from the Docks
Go over and say hi and add him to your blogroll.
Fetch more...
Showing newest 47 of 149 posts from January 2009. Show older posts
Showing newest 47 of 149 posts from January 2009. Show older posts
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Welcome Aboard!
Boatboy, who is a frequent commenter at Bark Bark Woof Woof, has started his own adventure in bloggy goodness:
The View from the Docks
Go over and say hi and add him to your blogroll.
Fetch more...
The View from the Docks
Go over and say hi and add him to your blogroll.
Fetch more...
Stop That Noise!
Short Takes
Tom's Tax Troubles -- HHS Secretary nominee and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle learns tax laws the hard way.
Steele to Run RNC -- After six ballots, the GOP picks former MD Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as its first African-American chairman. Some interesting facts about him are here.
Speak Out -- Florida Speaker of the House Ted Samson steps aside pending a criminal investigation.
The Rich Get Richer ... and paid lower taxes.
Ah, Technology -- The Google Bombs that plagued President Bush for years don't work any more on President Obama.
Dress for Success -- RuPaul's new show may bring back the glory days of drag queens.
Speaking of costuming...
Fetch more...
Steele to Run RNC -- After six ballots, the GOP picks former MD Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as its first African-American chairman. Some interesting facts about him are here.
Speak Out -- Florida Speaker of the House Ted Samson steps aside pending a criminal investigation.
The Rich Get Richer ... and paid lower taxes.
Ah, Technology -- The Google Bombs that plagued President Bush for years don't work any more on President Obama.
Dress for Success -- RuPaul's new show may bring back the glory days of drag queens.
Speaking of costuming...
Fetch more...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Take A Moment
For those of you buried under ice and snow...
Sombrero Beach, Marathon, Florida
(click pic to embiggen)
Relax and imagine yourself basking in the sun or enjoying the warm breeze in the shade for a few moments before going back to work or braving the cold.
PS: I also put this up as a commemoration of the first anniversary of the production of Can't Live Without You at Manhattan Rep in New York. This picture was used as the publicity poster.
Fetch more...
(click pic to embiggen)
Relax and imagine yourself basking in the sun or enjoying the warm breeze in the shade for a few moments before going back to work or braving the cold.
PS: I also put this up as a commemoration of the first anniversary of the production of Can't Live Without You at Manhattan Rep in New York. This picture was used as the publicity poster.
Fetch more...
Gregg for Commerce?
Via TPM, The Hill is reporting that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) is being considered for the position of Secretary of Commerce to replace New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson who withdrew his name earlier this month.
That would accomplish a few things: it would complete the Obama cabinet, it would put another Republican in there to show more "team of rivals" spirit, and it would mean that Mr. Gregg's replacement would be appointed by Gov. John Lynch, who is a Democrat. Chances are he would appoint a Democrat to the post, and -- oh, by the way -- it would increase the number of Democrats in the Senate to 60, if you count Al Franken of Minnesota.
I'm sure that last thought never occurred to anyone.
Fetch more...
That would accomplish a few things: it would complete the Obama cabinet, it would put another Republican in there to show more "team of rivals" spirit, and it would mean that Mr. Gregg's replacement would be appointed by Gov. John Lynch, who is a Democrat. Chances are he would appoint a Democrat to the post, and -- oh, by the way -- it would increase the number of Democrats in the Senate to 60, if you count Al Franken of Minnesota.
I'm sure that last thought never occurred to anyone.
Fetch more...
Chip Shot
Chip Saltzman, the Republican who tried to win the hearts and minds of his fellow GOP'ers by demonstrating spectacular stupidity, is out of the running for chair of the RNC.
Fetch more...
Saltsman's campaign was upended when he sent a gift CD to committee members by Paul Shanklin, a right-wing comedian who plays parody songs on the Rush Limbaugh show. This CD contained a track called "Barack The Magic Negro," in which Shanklin did an Amos & Andy-style impersonation of Al Sharpton ridiculing white liberals who support Barack Obama. Saltsman blamed the flap on the media.Either he's too over the top for the Republicans... or not enough.
A survey of committee members by NBC News, published yesterday morning, showed Saltsman with the declared support of only one out of the 168 members.
Fetch more...
Welcome to Reality
David Brooks is apparently mystified that the stimulus bill that emerged from the House was not what was initially proposed.
There are 535 men and women who have a say in this stimulus package. Some of them are opposed to the bill in its entirety without even reading it because they are members of a political party that is taking its marching orders from a disembodied voice that comes from a box. Then there are those who are most assuredly in favor of the bill as long as it makes them look good to the people who elected them, and the temptation to slap something onto it is very powerful. There are trade-offs, compromises, deals, promises, and strong-armed lobbying in the process. It's how our system works.
I realize this must be an alien concept to Mr. Brooks. He got so accustomed to the rubber-stamp era of the whoop-through Republicans and pushover Democrats under President Bush that he's shocked, shocked to learn that in a reality-based world, legislation never comes out the way it goes in. It's messy and it's not perfect by any means, but apparently it's what the voters want because they are the ones who elected these people.
Fetch more...
Throughout 2008, Larry Summers, the Harvard economist, built the case for a big but surgical stimulus package. Summers warned that a “poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease that is to be cured.” So his proposal had three clear guidelines.Mr. Brooks has some suggestions: cut it back before it takes over the world.
First, the stimulus should be timely. The money should go out “almost immediately.” Second, it should be targeted. It should help low- and middle-income people. Third, it should be temporary. Stimulus measures should not raise the deficits “beyond a short horizon of a year or at most two.”
Summers was proposing bold action, but his concept came with safeguards: focus on the task at hand, prevent the usual Washington splurge and limit long-term fiscal damage.
Now Barack Obama is president, and Summers has become a top economic adviser. Yet the stimulus approach that has emerged on Capitol Hill abandoned the Summers parameters.
In a fateful decision, Democratic leaders merged the temporary stimulus measure with their permanent domestic agenda — including big increases for Pell Grants, alternative energy subsidies and health and entitlement spending. The resulting package is part temporary and part permanent, part timely and part untimely, part targeted and part untargeted.
This recession is scary and complicated. It’s insane to try to tackle it and dozens of other complicated problems, all in one piece of legislation. Leadership involves prioritizing. Those who try to do everything at once will end up with a sprawling, lobbyist-driven mess that does nothing well.Well, we all agree that it would be nice if that happened, but there's one small detail that Mr. Brooks is forgetting: Congress.
There are 535 men and women who have a say in this stimulus package. Some of them are opposed to the bill in its entirety without even reading it because they are members of a political party that is taking its marching orders from a disembodied voice that comes from a box. Then there are those who are most assuredly in favor of the bill as long as it makes them look good to the people who elected them, and the temptation to slap something onto it is very powerful. There are trade-offs, compromises, deals, promises, and strong-armed lobbying in the process. It's how our system works.
I realize this must be an alien concept to Mr. Brooks. He got so accustomed to the rubber-stamp era of the whoop-through Republicans and pushover Democrats under President Bush that he's shocked, shocked to learn that in a reality-based world, legislation never comes out the way it goes in. It's messy and it's not perfect by any means, but apparently it's what the voters want because they are the ones who elected these people.
Fetch more...
Friday Blogaround
The House passes a massive stimulus bill, Rod Blagojevich is out of work -- along with several thousand other people -- and the GOP grovels to the dulcet tones of a flaming gasbag. Oh, the humanity.
Fetch more...
- A Blog Around The Clock links to a post about the sicker sex.Meanwhile, there's some sort of sporting event going on over in Tampa on Sunday. Whatever.
- archy: Part I of some mammoth research.
- Bark Bark Woof Woof: Mayor Sam Adams doesn't help gay equality.
- Bloggg: need a job?
- Dohiyi Mir: NTodd likes the new Illinois governor.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: inside the sex trade.
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: ammo to counter right-wing spin.
- Iddybud Journal tears down the myth of Reagan.
- Left Is Right: bits and pieces for the week.
- Musing's musings on fixing what isn't broken.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web finds a bad day at work is relative.
- Rook's Rant: dominoes...
- rubber hose: trouble in film-festival land.
- Scrutiny Hooligans: Heath Schuler, one of the few.
- Speedkill: Overly optimistic?
- Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat, offers the president some advice.
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation: Are we post-racial yet?
- The Invisible Library: a fine point.
- WTF Is It Now?? snarks Karl Rove.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
Patrick Quinn starts his new job as governor of Illinois.
SCHIP, the childrens health care bill vetoed twice by President Bush, passes the Senate 66-32.
The first bill signed by President Obama is the Lily Ledbetter Fair Play Act, guaranteeing people the right to sue for equal pay for equal work.
"Shameful" is what President Obama called bonuses for Wall Street execs last year that amounted to over $18 billion at the same time they were begging for a bailout. I'd call it "chutzpah."
True Test -- Iraqi elections this weekend will be a sign of the future.
Army suicides are on the rise.
No-Man's Land -- Nate Silver looks at the method and madness behind the Republicans' recalcitrance.
"Comeback!" -- Meanwhile, the RNC thinks everything's groovy as they plan to rebuild their party.
Quick Chill -- South Florida braces for another night or two in the 40's.
Fetch more...
SCHIP, the childrens health care bill vetoed twice by President Bush, passes the Senate 66-32.
The first bill signed by President Obama is the Lily Ledbetter Fair Play Act, guaranteeing people the right to sue for equal pay for equal work.
"Shameful" is what President Obama called bonuses for Wall Street execs last year that amounted to over $18 billion at the same time they were begging for a bailout. I'd call it "chutzpah."
True Test -- Iraqi elections this weekend will be a sign of the future.
Army suicides are on the rise.
No-Man's Land -- Nate Silver looks at the method and madness behind the Republicans' recalcitrance.
"Comeback!" -- Meanwhile, the RNC thinks everything's groovy as they plan to rebuild their party.
Quick Chill -- South Florida braces for another night or two in the 40's.
Fetch more...
Friday Catblogging
Snowball sends copies of the play off to some interested theatres...
"Right if you get work..."
Fetch more...
Fetch more...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Blagojevich Convicted
From the Chicago Tribune:
Fetch more...
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate voted to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office Thursday, marking the first time in the state's long history of political corruption that a chief executive has been impeached and convicted.To use a theatre metaphor, sometimes it's an act of mercy when a show closes before its time.
The 59-0 vote followed several hours of public deliberation in which senator after senator stood up to blast Blagojevich, whose tenure lasted six years. And it came after a four-day impeachment trial on allegations that Blagojevich abused his power and sold his office for personal and political benefit.
The conviction on a sweeping article of impeachment means the governor was immediately removed from office. The Senate also unanimously voted to impose the "political death penalty" on Blagojevich, banning him from ever again holding office in Illinois.
Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, Blagojevich's two-time running mate, has become the state's 41st governor.
Fetch more...
The Joy of Ownership
There's an upside to having Republicans like Rep. Phil Gingery (GA) and Mike Pence (IN) grovel and snivel at the feet of Rush Limbaugh. As DougJ at Balloon Juice notes,
To put it in the pithy argot of the street: Hey, GOP, Rush owns your ass; title, taxes, and license plate included.
Fetch more...
The mistake the Republicans are making here is a basic one: now they’ve admitted that they take orders from Rush, they’re on the hook for all the crazy ass things he says on the show. And that’s not a good place to be.True. So every time Rush Limbaugh comes out with one of his whoppers, like "I hope Obama fails," or "we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward whichever, because his father was black, because he’s the first black president," or plays "Barack the Magic Negro," we should all turn to the Republican leadership in the House, the Senate, and the RNC and say, "And your thoughts on this are...?"
To put it in the pithy argot of the street: Hey, GOP, Rush owns your ass; title, taxes, and license plate included.
Fetch more...
Where Are They?
The smackdown last night between Joan Walsh of Salon.com and Former Rep. Dick Armey got me to thinking about the number of Democrats who are showing up on TV to defend the president's stimulus bill... or the lack thereof. I'm not the only one who's wondering where they all are.
Apparently the mindset goes something like this: when the Republicans are in charge, we need to hear from them because they're the majority and they're setting the agenda. Then when the Democrats are in charge, we need to hear from the Republicans because they're the loyal opposition and it's good for bipartisanship to hear what the other side is saying. Sheesh.
Update: Read Ms. Walsh's excellent post on her encounter with Mr. Armey here.
Update II: Driving home from work I listened to NPR's All Things Considered. The lead-off story at 4:00 ET covered the stimulus vote and its future in the Senate. They interviewed a bunch of Republicans from the House, and Tom Davis, who isn't even a member of Congress any more, about how this won't hurt the Republicans. Then they moved on to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) about the bill's future in the Senate and how it would be impossible to pass the bill without 60 votes because of the threat of a filibuster. Sen. Grassley seemed downright cheerful about that prospect. No Democrats were heard from.
When they finished the interview, they moved on to a story about a dead body frozen in ice in an abandoned warehouse in Detroit.
HT to Digby.
Fetch more...
As Media Matters has documented, during the Bush administration, the media consistently allowed conservatives to dominate their shows, booking them as guests far more often than progressives. The rationale was that Republicans were “in power.”Even MSNBC, supposedly the new voice of liberalism, is overflowing with Republicans. Maybe that's because they're up there so Chris Matthews can slap them down? (Yeah, right.)
It appears that old habits die hard. Even though President Obama and his team are in control of the executive branch and Democrats are in the majority in Congress, the cable networks are still turning more often to Republicans and allowing them to set the agenda on major issues, most recently on the debate over the economic recovery package.
On Sunday, conservatives began an all-out assault on President Obama’s economic recovery plan, with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) both announcing that they would vote against the plan as it stood. Despite Obama’s efforts at good faith outreach, congressional conservatives have continued to attack the stimulus plan with a series of false and disingenuous arguments.
The media have been aiding their efforts. In a new analysis, ThinkProgress has found that the five cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC — have hosted more Republican lawmakers to discuss the plan than Democrats by a 2 to 1 ratio this week:
Apparently the mindset goes something like this: when the Republicans are in charge, we need to hear from them because they're the majority and they're setting the agenda. Then when the Democrats are in charge, we need to hear from the Republicans because they're the loyal opposition and it's good for bipartisanship to hear what the other side is saying. Sheesh.
Update: Read Ms. Walsh's excellent post on her encounter with Mr. Armey here.
Update II: Driving home from work I listened to NPR's All Things Considered. The lead-off story at 4:00 ET covered the stimulus vote and its future in the Senate. They interviewed a bunch of Republicans from the House, and Tom Davis, who isn't even a member of Congress any more, about how this won't hurt the Republicans. Then they moved on to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) about the bill's future in the Senate and how it would be impossible to pass the bill without 60 votes because of the threat of a filibuster. Sen. Grassley seemed downright cheerful about that prospect. No Democrats were heard from.
When they finished the interview, they moved on to a story about a dead body frozen in ice in an abandoned warehouse in Detroit.
HT to Digby.
Fetch more...
On Track
One of the last-minute amendments to the stimulus package passed in the House last night was an additional $3 billion on top of the $10 billion already allocated for mass transit.
Fetch more...
This brings the infrastructure portion of the stimulus a large step closer to the level of investment that has a genuine chance of expanding the nation's green transportation options. Amtrak, Metro, and subway riders, rejoice.Think any of it will get down here to Miami so they can actually finish the Metrorail?
Fetch more...
Not Helping
Sam Adams is the openly gay mayor of Portland, Oregon. He's considered a rising star in the political world in the Pacific Northwest. Or he was until it was revealed that he had been dating an 18-year-old kid who was an intern in his office.
At first he denied it, then last week he fessed up.
What Mr. Adams did was stupid and possibly criminal -- for the lying, at least -- but he shouldn't be banned for life from the political arena any more than if he had been straight and been sleeping with an intern who was of legal age and was female. If a straight man does it, he's a pig. If a gay man does it, all queers are pedophiles.
I'm not saying Mr. Adams should be given a free pass, but he shouldn't be banished, either, unless the same punishment is meted out to every man or woman in political life who does the same thing; i.e. Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich. But what he did doesn't help the cause of gay equality. I doubt he was thinking about that at the time, but when you've made your mark as the mayor of the largest city in America with an openly gay man at its helm, it's time to learn to think with the right head.
HT to Timothy Egan.
Fetch more...
At first he denied it, then last week he fessed up.
We all know that people, regardless of their sexual orientation, do stupid things. The fact that Mr. Adams is gay doesn't make him a monster because he had sex with an 18-year-old; it makes him an idiot who thought with the wrong head. And while I don't condone for an instant what happened between Mr. Adams and Mr. Breedlove, it isn't because of Teh Gay; it's because Mr. Adams was his boss and it's thoroughly unprofessional to fool around with subordinates. No, I'm pissed at both of them -- Mr. Breedlove is in on this too -- for once again reinforcing the stereotype that all gay men are predators on teenage boys -- thank you, Mark Foley -- and that we are somehow held to a different standard in terms of our political prospects because of it.The mayor admitted that he had lied about the affair, had smeared his accuser, and had urged the boy — a kid with the improbable name of Beau Breedlove — to lie as well. He did it all to get elected, he said.
“I want to apologize to the gay community for embarrassing them,” the 45-year-old mayor, now contrite, told his city last week. Three newspapers — including a popular gay paper — called on him to resign.
Sam Adams was the Great Gay hope. Mayor today. Senator tomorrow. And beyond?
“I personally gave Sam Adams my vote, my support, my friendship and my money,” wrote Marty Davis, publisher of Just Out, the city’s gay newspaper. “In return, he took my trust.”
So now, instead of breaking barriers, Sam Adams has stirred old hatreds. Daily, people have gathered outside City Hall to shout at one another and wave placards.
“Pedophile!”
“Bigot!”
This week, after seven days of soul-searching, the mayor said he would stay on the job, though he faces a criminal investigation by the Oregon Attorney General.
“I know I have let you down,” the mayor said in a videotape message to the city. “And I ask your forgiveness.”
What Mr. Adams did was stupid and possibly criminal -- for the lying, at least -- but he shouldn't be banned for life from the political arena any more than if he had been straight and been sleeping with an intern who was of legal age and was female. If a straight man does it, he's a pig. If a gay man does it, all queers are pedophiles.
I'm not saying Mr. Adams should be given a free pass, but he shouldn't be banished, either, unless the same punishment is meted out to every man or woman in political life who does the same thing; i.e. Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich. But what he did doesn't help the cause of gay equality. I doubt he was thinking about that at the time, but when you've made your mark as the mayor of the largest city in America with an openly gay man at its helm, it's time to learn to think with the right head.
HT to Timothy Egan.
Fetch more...
Really Desperate
TPMDC reports that Norm Coleman is so desperate to cling to his Senate seat that he's trolling on the internet for absentee voters.
At first, Mr. Coleman's antics as it dawned on him that he lost the race were amusing. Now they're just... well, sad.
Fetch more...
Meanwhile, Mr. Coleman is going on Fox News to appeal to "good Americans" to contribute to his campaign so he can overcome the evil alien influence of George Soros, who has an accent, and those dirty effing hippies at MoveOn.org.The Coleman camp's Web site has now published in an easily accessible form the names and home counties of every individual who delivered an absentee ballot and who has not yet been counted. In Hennepin County (Minneapolis), which has its municipalities run elections instead of the county, we are also shown the home towns of the people involved.
"Check below to see if you are one of the thousands of Minnesotans the Franken campaign is seeking to disenfranchise," the page says. "And please contact us at info@colemanforsenate.com to express your support for our effort to have your vote counted."
It gets better. By including every last rejected ballot, regardless of backstory or merit, they are including ballots they themselves earlier objected to counting, under the state Supreme Court's controversial decision that gave the candidates a veto power over improperly-rejected absentees -- and they're now saying it's the Franken campaign who is disenfranchising these people.
This list includes everyone from Dennis Peterson, who we'd previously reported had his ballot vetoed and kept out of the count by the Coleman camp themselves, to Douglas Thompson, the friendly Coleman witness who admitted that he obtained his ballot through his girlfriend forging his signature on the application.
And remember, the Coleman campaign's position until the last few weeks was that none of these ballots should ever be counted. It wasn't until some of the ballots that the local officials had decided were improperly rejected the first time around started coming in, that the Coleman camp started actively looking for voters to put into the count.
At first, Mr. Coleman's antics as it dawned on him that he lost the race were amusing. Now they're just... well, sad.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
Eric Holder is confirmed by Senate Judiciary Committee 17-2 to be Attorney General.
CIA Station Chief accused of rape in Algeria.
No more Saturday mail delivery? It might happen.
Iced Up -- Storm closes highways, downs trees, cuts power, kills people.
The Switch is still on -- House kills bill to delay digital switch on February 17. And a lot of people still aren't ready.
Crisis? What Crisis? Wall Street bonuses are all the rage.
Not Such a Good Neighbor -- Homeowners look for new insurance carriers after State Farm announces it's getting out of the business in Florida.
Fetch more...
CIA Station Chief accused of rape in Algeria.
No more Saturday mail delivery? It might happen.
Iced Up -- Storm closes highways, downs trees, cuts power, kills people.
The Switch is still on -- House kills bill to delay digital switch on February 17. And a lot of people still aren't ready.
Crisis? What Crisis? Wall Street bonuses are all the rage.
Not Such a Good Neighbor -- Homeowners look for new insurance carriers after State Farm announces it's getting out of the business in Florida.
Fetch more...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Stimulus Passes
The House passed the Obama stimulus package 244 to 188. Not one Republican voted for it.
Well, so much for "bipartisanship."
Josh Marshall followed the debate and chronicles some really whopping howlers as the GOP railed against the bill, and Steve Benen fact-checks their arguments.
All I can say is that we tried it the GOP way for eight years. It didn't work. Not only did it not work, it gave us the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. So, even in the spirit of bipartisanship, why should we listen to them? Clearly they haven't had a good idea since they voted to repeal Prohibition, so even if they're sincere in trying to get out of this mess without trying to score political points, what's the point?
Meanwhile, President Obama can say that he went the extra mile; gave up things like funds for family planning and to restore the National Mall, took some heat from some of his supporters, and what did he get for it? Bupkus from the Republicans. Well, fine. Now he and the Democrats can go ahead and push through whatever they can come up with, and if the GOP pisses and moans -- which they will, count on it -- he can say, "Hey, you had your chance and you blew it. Dems da berries."
Fetch more...
Well, so much for "bipartisanship."
Josh Marshall followed the debate and chronicles some really whopping howlers as the GOP railed against the bill, and Steve Benen fact-checks their arguments.
All I can say is that we tried it the GOP way for eight years. It didn't work. Not only did it not work, it gave us the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. So, even in the spirit of bipartisanship, why should we listen to them? Clearly they haven't had a good idea since they voted to repeal Prohibition, so even if they're sincere in trying to get out of this mess without trying to score political points, what's the point?
Meanwhile, President Obama can say that he went the extra mile; gave up things like funds for family planning and to restore the National Mall, took some heat from some of his supporters, and what did he get for it? Bupkus from the Republicans. Well, fine. Now he and the Democrats can go ahead and push through whatever they can come up with, and if the GOP pisses and moans -- which they will, count on it -- he can say, "Hey, you had your chance and you blew it. Dems da berries."
Fetch more...
Bless Me, Father
This morning I noted that Rep. Phil Gingery (R-GA) had the guts to tell Rush Limbaugh to back off his criticism of the Republican leadership in Congress. I had a feeling that this streak of temerity wouldn't last long -- a day maybe -- before he came out with the required "my comments were taken out of context" or some other such backtracking.
Right on cue:
HT to Steve Benen.
Fetch more...
Right on cue:
"Because of the high volume of phone calls and correspondence received by my office since the Politico article ran, I wanted to take a moment to speak directly to grassroots conservatives," Gingrey said in a new statement released by his office. "Let me assure you, I am one of you."It's pretty amazing that a major political party is being run by a radio talk-show host, but it's not unprecedented: Rush Limbaugh is the 21st century's Father Coughlin.
"I never told Rush to back off," Gingrey continued. "I regret and apologize for the fact that my comments have offended and upset my fellow conservatives -- that was not my intent ... Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement's conscience."
HT to Steve Benen.
Fetch more...
Small Change
On his first days in office, President Obama laid down some very strict guidelines about lobbying and lobbyists working in his administration. Well, that sounded ambitious, but the cynic in me wondered how long it would be before there would be waivers or exceptions.
A week.
Give me a minute while I recalibrate my Irony Meter.
Fetch more...
A week.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.Actually, it was less than that, because last Friday Secretary of Defense Gates appointed William Lynn, who lobbied for a defense contractor last year, to serve as deputy Defense secretary.
Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of that money.
Give me a minute while I recalibrate my Irony Meter.
Fetch more...
Question of the Day
It's snowy and icy up north and in the Midwest, and they're talking about a cold front coming through here -- South Florida -- by the weekend. So how about something nice and comfy?
Fetch more...
When was the last time you had a nice steaming cup of cocoa?Actually, I had some the other day, and this was the real stuff, not some powdered insta-mix. And I did it right; not too sweet, and without marshmallows.
Fetch more...
Who, Me?
A Republican is telling Rush Limbaugh to stifle himself.
Not that I have a much sympathy for the Republicans right now, especially the leadership of the House and Senate who seem intent on voting against the president's stimulus plan not because it's not perfect -- it's not -- or that it will magically solve all the economic issues -- it won't, by any stretch of the imagination, but because it was proposed by a Democrat, and that detail outweighs everything. But it's also way too easy to sit behind a microphone -- or a computer screen, for that matter -- and rattle the cages just for the purpose of getting a reaction and call attention to yourself. Hucksters like Limbaugh have nothing at stake; they never run for office and they never offer anything constructive. In business, that's called "MBB"; Management By Bitching. But if you can't offer a viable alternative or solution to the problem, the response should be "STFU": Shut The F*ck Up.
Mr. Limbaugh garnered a lot of attention by saying he hopes President Obama fails. Of course he does. It's not that he's anti-American; he's just pro-Rush. He knows that if we change the tone in Washington and put a damper on the food-fight mentality in the interaction between left and right, Mr. Limbaugh and his fellow worm-tongues will be relegated to the ranks of the irrelevant. He'll end up sitting in his big house in Palm Beach listening to the faint echoes of the fading past while he fiddles with the batteries in his hearing aids and wonders why nobody gives a damn what he thinks anymore.
Fetch more...
Responding to President Obama’s recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh’s lead, the conservative talkmeister said on his show that Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."Limbaugh's reply was your basic bully-boy tactic of saying, "Hey, don't blame me! I didn't do anything!"
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., did not take kindly to this assessment in an interview with Politico Tuesday.
“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."
Not that I have a much sympathy for the Republicans right now, especially the leadership of the House and Senate who seem intent on voting against the president's stimulus plan not because it's not perfect -- it's not -- or that it will magically solve all the economic issues -- it won't, by any stretch of the imagination, but because it was proposed by a Democrat, and that detail outweighs everything. But it's also way too easy to sit behind a microphone -- or a computer screen, for that matter -- and rattle the cages just for the purpose of getting a reaction and call attention to yourself. Hucksters like Limbaugh have nothing at stake; they never run for office and they never offer anything constructive. In business, that's called "MBB"; Management By Bitching. But if you can't offer a viable alternative or solution to the problem, the response should be "STFU": Shut The F*ck Up.
Mr. Limbaugh garnered a lot of attention by saying he hopes President Obama fails. Of course he does. It's not that he's anti-American; he's just pro-Rush. He knows that if we change the tone in Washington and put a damper on the food-fight mentality in the interaction between left and right, Mr. Limbaugh and his fellow worm-tongues will be relegated to the ranks of the irrelevant. He'll end up sitting in his big house in Palm Beach listening to the faint echoes of the fading past while he fiddles with the batteries in his hearing aids and wonders why nobody gives a damn what he thinks anymore.
Fetch more...
John Updike -- 1932-2009
I think I was about twelve or so when I first read a short story by John Updike. I think it was in The New Yorker. I don't remember the plot of the story, but I do remember how he told the story; how he used ordinary images -- the graceful curves of the tire tracks of cars backing up in a snow-covered parking lot -- to illustrate and small movements to vividly fill my imagination and bring me into the moment.“Snow fell against the high school all day, wet big-flake snow that did not accumulate well. Sharpening two pencils, William looked down on a parking lot that was a blackboard in reverse; car tires had cut smooth arcs of black into the white, and wherever a school bus had backed around, it had left an autocratic signature of two V’s.”He wrote prolifically -- sixty books, plus hundreds of articles, reviews, essays -- and shamed those of us who aspire to reach readers with one or two. He never overwhelmed; he spoke softly and gently, and in doing so he inspired, enthralled, and gave us pause to stop and enjoy the actual little moments.
Go in peace... and thank you.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
Let's Talk a Little -- President Obama is open to some compromise on the stimulus package, but not the whole thing.
$150 Billion for education is in the stimulus package, which would double the budget for the DOE.
Not Too Stimulated -- South Florida Republicans are among those who are not yet on board with it.
Crist Vetoes Some Budget Cuts -- and ticks off the Republicans in the process. Seems they don't like being made into the bad guys.
The Florida Senate race got another candidate on the Democratic side: State Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach announces he's in, joining Rep. Kendrick Meek in the primary.
Waiting to Exhale -- Secretary of State Clinton says the world can relax now that Bush is gone.
Bombs Mar Ceasefire in Gaza.
Stop Digging -- "Friendly" witnesses sandbag Norm Coleman's case in his lawsuit in Minnesota.
Karl Rove is asking the White House to help him in his plea to dodge a subpoena from Congress.
Fetch more...
$150 Billion for education is in the stimulus package, which would double the budget for the DOE.
Not Too Stimulated -- South Florida Republicans are among those who are not yet on board with it.
Crist Vetoes Some Budget Cuts -- and ticks off the Republicans in the process. Seems they don't like being made into the bad guys.
The Florida Senate race got another candidate on the Democratic side: State Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach announces he's in, joining Rep. Kendrick Meek in the primary.
Waiting to Exhale -- Secretary of State Clinton says the world can relax now that Bush is gone.
Bombs Mar Ceasefire in Gaza.
Stop Digging -- "Friendly" witnesses sandbag Norm Coleman's case in his lawsuit in Minnesota.
Karl Rove is asking the White House to help him in his plea to dodge a subpoena from Congress.
Fetch more...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Go On and Vote No
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is telling his fellow Republicans to vote against President Obama's $825 billion stimulus package.
To have John Boehner carry on about deficit spending, especially after all the years he spent rubber-stamping the Bush administration's budgets, is rich, so to speak. The only reason he's doing it is because he and the rest of the GOP are afraid that if the stimulus works, it will prove that the Democrats were right and there's no reason whatsoever to listen to him anymore.
So let the GOP vote no and let them explain to the voters who are standing in the unemployment lines how they really do care about people who might be out of work: namely them.
Fetch more...
This pre-meeting bluster should dampen the mood for an early afternoon meeting with the president, who is making the trek to hear Republicans’ input on the legislation before Wednesday's vote. Once Obama is done with House Republicans, he will cross the Capitol to join the Senate Republican Conference lunch to pitch them on the stimulus.Fine. Let them vote no. Chances are they didn't plan to vote for it no matter what because in the end, they're more interested in political posturing than anything else. For example, the hue and cry over family planning funds is a manufactured kerfuffle because it's been a part of the budget for generations and was first put in by Republicans...back in the day when family planning wasn't the code word for James Dobson's direct mail deluge.
To have John Boehner carry on about deficit spending, especially after all the years he spent rubber-stamping the Bush administration's budgets, is rich, so to speak. The only reason he's doing it is because he and the rest of the GOP are afraid that if the stimulus works, it will prove that the Democrats were right and there's no reason whatsoever to listen to him anymore.
So let the GOP vote no and let them explain to the voters who are standing in the unemployment lines how they really do care about people who might be out of work: namely them.
Fetch more...
Question of the Day
Apropos of the post below...
Fetch more...
Have you ever bought anything from one of those late-night "Act Now!" TV commercials?My ex did once -- I forget what it was -- and for years after we were inundated with catalogs and junk mail from the vendor and whomever they sold their list to. They lasted far longer than whatever it was he bought.
Fetch more...
Act Now!
Thanks to the economic downturn, loudmouth commercials shilling tchotchkes are hitting prime time TV.
One of the best reasons for Congress to pass the stimulus package would be for the economy to get back on its feet so Vince and Billy can go back to their late-night lairs.
Fetch more...
It won't make most economists' radar screens, but the rise of such ads might be a leading economic indicator. A combination of the traditional post-holidays sales lull and a tanking economy has sent prices for airtime plummeting on local stations and some networks. The result is that peddlers of $19.95 gimcracks ("Act now!") and other 800-number come-ons have become some of TV's most prominent sponsors.Listening to Vince and his screaming counterpart, Billy Mays, gives me a headache and Head-On -- applied directly to the forehead -- doesn't help. By the way, how long did it take you to figure out that you already have a "Snuggie" in your closet? Just put your bathrobe on backwards.
More than a few viewers, for instance, have recently become acquainted with Vince Offer, the headset-wearing huckster for ShamWow, a dishrag that "holds 20 times its weight in liquid." Offer's two-minute spot has been on and off the air for the better part of a year; it's now a classic, with YouTube parodies and untold numbers of fans. But Offer seems as relentless as rain now, and just as inescapable. Morning until night, you can watch him mopping up spills with the confident demeanor and rapid-fire patter of a carnival barker: "Dis is for da house, da car," he says in his distinctive New Yawk accent. "Are you gettin' dis, camera guy?"
Offer and ShamWow are ubiquitous because it's affordable: Ad time on the Super Bowl might still be going for record prices (some 30-second spots have sold for $3 million), but just about everything else has become dirt cheap.
One of the best reasons for Congress to pass the stimulus package would be for the economy to get back on its feet so Vince and Billy can go back to their late-night lairs.
Fetch more...
Questions for Karl Rove
Via TPM, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove.
And remember: it's only a partisan witch-hunt when it's your guy in the dock.
Fetch more...
The subpoena by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., continues a long-running legal battle with ex-President George W. Bush's former White House political director. Rove previously refused to appear before the panel, contending that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress.The Obama administration said they wanted to "look forward," and I agree with them: I look forward to seeing Mr. Rove having to elucidate exactly what his role was in firing the eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons and railroading Gov. Siegelman. If it's true that Former President Bush had nothing to do with it, then executive privilege doesn't apply.
The subpoena commanded Rove to appear for a deposition on Feb. 2 on the firings of U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Conyers also demanded testimony on whether politics played a role in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat.
Bush upheld Rove's legal position, but Conyers said times have changed.
"That 'absolute immunity' position ... has been rejected by U.S. District Judge John Bates and President Obama has previously dismissed the claim as 'completely misguided,'" Conyers said in a statement.
And remember: it's only a partisan witch-hunt when it's your guy in the dock.
Fetch more...
Kristol Lands at the Post
That didn't take long.
The last line of my post yesterday sending William Kristol off from his gig at the New York Times was "Write if you get work." Well, he will soon be writing from his new perch at the Washington Post.
The Post can hire whomever they want, but I think it's a little sad that they're getting the cast-off from their biggest rival and calling him a great catch. With all the people who are out of work and looking for a job, they probably could have found a better writer who actually needed the job; for example, the homeless guy who hit me up for spare change at Walgreen's the other day. Certainly he knows more about what's going on in America than Mr. Kristol does.
Fetch more...
The last line of my post yesterday sending William Kristol off from his gig at the New York Times was "Write if you get work." Well, he will soon be writing from his new perch at the Washington Post.
Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt called Kristol "very smart and very plugged in," saying Kristol would be an influential voice in the coming debate over redefining the Republican Party. "It seems to me there were a lot of Times readers who felt the Times shouldn't hire someone who supported the Iraq war," said Hiatt, adding that he wants "a diverse range of opinions" on his page.As Michael notes over at The Reaction, the Post isn't known for its diversity of views; it tilts right with its stable of columnists such as George F. Will, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, and contributions on occasion by neo-con Robert Kagan. Then there's Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor himself, who was a blatant Bush supporter, although he has been referred to as one of the "25 most influential liberals" by Forbes magazine. (Well, certainly by their standards, he is.)
The Times hired Kristol for a one-year run during the 2008 campaign, and Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal told his paper that the arrangement was ending by "mutual agreement." Rosenthal would not say whether the Times plans to hire another conservative. Kristol, who did not return calls yesterday, told Portfolio.com in November that he was "ambivalent" about continuing, noting that the weekly column was "a lot of work" and "I have a lot of things going on."
Even some journalists sympathetic to Kristol say his Times writing was often predictable and not his best work, and noted that he had to correct three factual errors.
The Post can hire whomever they want, but I think it's a little sad that they're getting the cast-off from their biggest rival and calling him a great catch. With all the people who are out of work and looking for a job, they probably could have found a better writer who actually needed the job; for example, the homeless guy who hit me up for spare change at Walgreen's the other day. Certainly he knows more about what's going on in America than Mr. Kristol does.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
Geithner Sworn In -- Senate votes 60-34 to confirm Treasury secretary.
Direct Contact -- President Obama gives his first live interview as president to al-Arabiya, a network based in Dubai aimed to an Arab audience.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was everywhere yesterday except at this own impeachment trial.
More than 75,000 jobs cut at places like Home Depot, Sprint/Nextel, Caterpillar.
Don't Touch That Dial -- Senate extends digital TV switchover to June.
White House Loses E-mail -- The West Wing was without its e-mail yesterday for eight hours. Panic ensued.
Another Cold Shot -- South Florida will get another cold weekend with lows in the 40's. Just in time for the Super Bowl in Tampa.
Fetch more...
Direct Contact -- President Obama gives his first live interview as president to al-Arabiya, a network based in Dubai aimed to an Arab audience.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was everywhere yesterday except at this own impeachment trial.
More than 75,000 jobs cut at places like Home Depot, Sprint/Nextel, Caterpillar.
Don't Touch That Dial -- Senate extends digital TV switchover to June.
White House Loses E-mail -- The West Wing was without its e-mail yesterday for eight hours. Panic ensued.
Another Cold Shot -- South Florida will get another cold weekend with lows in the 40's. Just in time for the Super Bowl in Tampa.
Fetch more...
Monday, January 26, 2009
Bunning Is Grounding Out
James R. Carroll of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is having a tough go gearing up for re-election in '10.
If Mr. Bunning quits the race, he would be the sixth GOP senator to drop out, thus making the chances for the GOP winning back a majority in the Senate look like the Detroit Tigers run for the pennant in 2003.
Fetch more...
Sen. Jim Bunning's re-election campaign received relatively few contributions in the final quarter of 2008 and now has less money on hand than it did last fall, according to the latest report filed with the Federal Election Commission.Not to mention the fact that backstage, the RNC is hinting that he should drop out and Kentucky Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo, his challenger from 2004, is warming up in the bullpen. (Baseball metaphors work here; in his previous life, Mr. Bunning was a major league pitcher.)
The two-term Kentucky Republican's future is the focus of intense scrutiny in Kentucky and national political circles, and his financial report is likely to bring into question Bunning's repeated assertions that he intends to run again next year.
According to the report, Bunning raised just $27,357 -- from 26 separate contributions -- in the last three months of 2008, and that sum essentially was consumed by campaign expenses.
Citizens for Bunning, as the senator's campaign committee is known, had $149,991 in cash on hand at the end of last year, down from $175,000 last September.
"That is pathetic," said Jennifer Duffy, Senate analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report. "Not only to not gain ground but to in fact lose ground -- that is not a good sign."
Bunning's office declined comment.
It's understandable that, during the 2008 election season, Bunning wouldn't raise substantial amounts for his 2010 re-election bid, Duffy said.
"But to lose ground really does fuel speculation that this is not somebody focused on putting together a re-election campaign for 2010," she said.
If Mr. Bunning quits the race, he would be the sixth GOP senator to drop out, thus making the chances for the GOP winning back a majority in the Senate look like the Detroit Tigers run for the pennant in 2003.
Fetch more...
Question of the Day
Roll 'em!
Fetch more...
Have you seen any of the films nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?I have not. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit that for the first time in my life, I went an entire year (2008) without going to a movie theatre.
Fetch more...
Gas Price Survey
OPEC finally managed to get their supplies under control, which has stopped the slide in oil prices. Coincidentally, gas prices have gone back up to a nation-wide average of $1.86.I should be so lucky. It's $1.99 at the Shell on the corner of SW 168th Street and Old Cutler Road in suburban Miami this morning, which is three cents more than the Marathon across the street, and four cents more than the Chevron and Mobil on Bird Road and US 1. Still, it's $2.16 cheaper than the most I paid last July, and the Pontiac is getting 21.5 mpg even off the highway. Oddly, the prices for gas in the Keys is anywhere from five to ten cents cheaper down there than it is on the mainland, even in resort places like Islamorada. You would think that with the remote location and captive clientele, the prices would be higher; I remember paying anywhere from ten to fifteen cents more a gallon in resort communities like Petoskey or Santa Fe when I lived there just because they could get away with it.
What's interesting is that purely on an anecdotal basis, people I talk to are still gun-shy about buying gas; they've cut back on travel and are still looking at ways of using less fuel. Or so they say; if the traffic to and from the Keys is any guide, vacationers are not cutting back on travel or boating. But then, those are the people who are still employed or didn't invest with Bernie Madoff.
Fetch more...
Kristol: Exit Stage Right
The New York Times has a brief announcement at the bottom of William Kristol's column today:
This is William Kristol’s last column.
In a way I'm sorry to see him go; he's always been good for a laugh or a shake of the head first thing on a Monday morning, and I appreciated the glimpse into the wonderful world of Neo-Con Cloud Cuckooland where everybody is white and straight and Ronald Reagan is forever the president while the flag snaps in the breeze in that shining city on the hill. And his final opus does not disappoint; it's a paean to the successes of conservatism over the last thirty years:
To his credit, Mr. Kristol does not go off in a huff, as compared to some of the more unhinged of his ilk like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. He gives Mr. Obama credit for realizing the dire straits the country has been left in at the hands of the conservatives and hopes that he will co-opt some of their ideas such as a strong defense and patriotism, things he apparently believes are new concepts to liberals. Well, I suppose when you've spent the last thirty years in the clutches of a culture that embraces mythology over science, theocratic fundamentalism over reason, and a willingness to compromise your core beliefs for the sake of a false sense of security, not to mention the fact that you've been one of the chief proponents of this philosophy, it's a little tough to accept that fact that someone else might have a different approach to achieving the same goals of safety, prosperity, and equality.
So long, Bill. Write if you get work.
Fetch more...
This is William Kristol’s last column.
In a way I'm sorry to see him go; he's always been good for a laugh or a shake of the head first thing on a Monday morning, and I appreciated the glimpse into the wonderful world of Neo-Con Cloud Cuckooland where everybody is white and straight and Ronald Reagan is forever the president while the flag snaps in the breeze in that shining city on the hill. And his final opus does not disappoint; it's a paean to the successes of conservatism over the last thirty years:
Since Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, conservatives of various sorts, and conservatisms of various stripes, have generally been in the ascendancy. And a good thing, too! Conservatives have been right more often than not — and more often than liberals — about most of the important issues of the day: about Communism and jihadism, crime and welfare, education and the family. Conservative policies have on the whole worked — insofar as any set of policies can be said to “work” in the real world. Conservatives of the Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush years have a fair amount to be proud of.Seeing as how they got so much wrong -- Communism in Europe collapsed under its own weight and is still in place in China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba; their response to jihadism resulted in attacking and occupying the wrong country while basically shredding the Bill of Rights here at home and enraging the Muslim world; they trashed the environment and denied climate change; they blew a multi-billion dollar budget surplus; they deregulated the banking industry into fraud and ruin; they created unfunded mandates for education standards while schools crumbled; advocated wholesale deportation of brown-skinned aliens; and for all their weeping and wailing about "family values," the divorce rate rose in the Bible Belt while they railed against same-sex marriage and turned health care reform into a political football -- it's proof that the eternal optimism of finding the pony at the bottom of a pile of manure is still strong with them. Mr. Kristol and his fellow conservatives may, as he says, have a fair amount to be proud of, but the simple fact is that if the conservatives have been right more often than not, then John McCain would be the one in the White House and Mitch McConnell would be the Senate Majority Leader.
To his credit, Mr. Kristol does not go off in a huff, as compared to some of the more unhinged of his ilk like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. He gives Mr. Obama credit for realizing the dire straits the country has been left in at the hands of the conservatives and hopes that he will co-opt some of their ideas such as a strong defense and patriotism, things he apparently believes are new concepts to liberals. Well, I suppose when you've spent the last thirty years in the clutches of a culture that embraces mythology over science, theocratic fundamentalism over reason, and a willingness to compromise your core beliefs for the sake of a false sense of security, not to mention the fact that you've been one of the chief proponents of this philosophy, it's a little tough to accept that fact that someone else might have a different approach to achieving the same goals of safety, prosperity, and equality.
So long, Bill. Write if you get work.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
States Get to Set Clean Air Standards -- President Obama will lift the federal restrictions - implemented by the Bush administration - on states to set their own air standards.
Republicans Resistant to Obama's Stimulus Plan -- because they know if it works it will prove they were wrong, and all they care about is winning. "Country first," huh?
Gitmo Files a Mess -- "President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials -- barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees -- discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them."
Fed Oversight -- Congress is considering granting the Federal Reserve broad oversight powers over financial institutions.
Native Rights Win -- Bolivia gets a new constitution: "President Evo Morales seemed assured of an easy victory in a referendum on Sunday over a sweeping new Constitution aimed at empowering Bolivia’s Indians."
Fetch more...
Republicans Resistant to Obama's Stimulus Plan -- because they know if it works it will prove they were wrong, and all they care about is winning. "Country first," huh?
Gitmo Files a Mess -- "President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials -- barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees -- discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them."
Fed Oversight -- Congress is considering granting the Federal Reserve broad oversight powers over financial institutions.
Native Rights Win -- Bolivia gets a new constitution: "President Evo Morales seemed assured of an easy victory in a referendum on Sunday over a sweeping new Constitution aimed at empowering Bolivia’s Indians."
Fetch more...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
A Nice Day for a Drive
Bob and I and some friends from a local car club took a drive down to the Keys today. After all, when you have a cool vintage sports car, it needs to be taken out for some exercise.
More below the fold.
So we headed down US-1 to Key Largo,
then on to Islamorada where we took in the sights...
Then to Snapper's for lunch, where we were watched over by one of the locals.
Just another reason why I like living here.
Fetch more...
More below the fold.
So we headed down US-1 to Key Largo,
then on to Islamorada where we took in the sights...
Then to Snapper's for lunch, where we were watched over by one of the locals.
Just another reason why I like living here.
Fetch more...
Sunday Reading
WWRD? -- Former Congressman Mickey Edwards, Republican, assesses his party's state and says that Ronald Reagan would not recognize what's being done or said in his name.
Fetch more...
In my mind's eye, I can see Ronald Reagan, wearing wings and a Stetson, perched on a cloud and watching all the goings-on down here in his old earthly home. Laughing, rolling his eyes and whacking his forehead over the absurdities he sees, he's watching his old political party as it twists itself into ever more complex knots, punctuated only by pauses to invoke the Gipper's name. It's been said that God would be amazed by what his followers ascribe to him; believe me, Reagan would be similarly amazed by what his most fervent admirers cite in their desire to be seen as true-blue Reaganites.
On the premise that simple is best, many Republicans have reduced their operating philosophy to two essentials: First, government is bad (it's "the problem"); second, big government is the worst and small government is better (although because government itself is bad, it may be assumed that small government is only marginally preferable). This is all errant nonsense. It is wrong in every conceivable way and violative of the Constitution, American exceptionalism, freedom, conservatism, Reaganism and common sense.
In America, government is ... us. What is "exceptional" about America is the depth of its commitment to the principle of self-government; we elect the government, we replace it or its members when they displease us, and by our threats or support, we help steer what government does.
A shocker: The Constitution, which we love for the limits it places on government power, not only constrains government, it empowers it. Limited government is not no government. And limited government is not "small" government. Simply building roads, maintaining a military, operating courts, delivering the mail and doing other things specifically mandated by the Constitution for America's 300 million people make it impossible to keep government "small." It is boundaries that protect freedom. Small governments can be oppressive, and large ones can diminish freedoms. It is the boundaries, not the numbers, that matter.
What would Reagan think of this? Wasn't it he who warned that government is the problem? Well, permit me. I directed the joint House-Senate policy advisory committees for the Reagan presidential campaign. I was part of his congressional steering committee. I sat with him in his hotel room in Manchester, N.H., the night he won that state's all-important primary. I knew him before he was governor of California and before I was a member of Congress. Let me introduce you to Ronald Reagan.
Reagan, who spent 16 years in government, actually said this:No Time for Poetry -- Frank Rich on President Obama's speech and the rough road that lies ahead.
"In the present crisis," referring specifically to the high taxes and high levels of federal spending that had marked the Carter administration, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." He then went on to say: "Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work." Government, he said, "must provide opportunity." He was not rejecting government, he was calling -- as Barack Obama did Tuesday -- for better management of government, for wiser decisions.
This is the difference between ideological advocacy and holding public office: Having accepted partial responsibility for the nation's well-being, one assumes an obligation that goes beyond bumper-sticker slogans. Certitude is the enemy of wisdom, and in office, it is wisdom, not certitude, that is required.
How, for example, should conservatives react to stimulus and bailout proposals in the face of an economic meltdown? The wall between government and the private sector is an essential feature of our democracy. At the same time, if there is a dominant identifier of conservatism -- political, social, psychological -- it is prudence.
If proposals seem unworkable or unwise (if they do not contain provisions for taxpayers to recoup their investment; if they do not allow for taxpayers, as de facto shareholders, to insist on sound management practices; if they would allow government officials to make production and pricing decisions), conservatives have a responsibility to resist. But they also have an obligation to propose alternative solutions. It is government's job -- Reagan again -- to provide opportunity and foster productivity. With the nation in financial collapse, nothing is more imprudent -- more antithetical to true conservatism -- than to do nothing.
The Republican Party that is in such disrepute today is not the party of Reagan. It is the party of Rush Limbaugh, of Ann Coulter, of Newt Gingrich, of George W. Bush, of Karl Rove. It is not a conservative party, it is a party built on the blind and narrow pursuit of power.
PRESIDENT Obama did not offer his patented poetry in his Inaugural Address. He did not add to his cache of quotations in Bartlett’s. He did not recreate J.F.K.’s inaugural, or Lincoln’s second, or F.D.R.’s first. The great orator was mainly at his best when taking shots at Bush and Cheney, who, in black hat and wheelchair, looked like the misbegotten spawn of the evil Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the Wicked Witch of the West."Here Lies Our Dreams" -- Parents take their complaints about underfunded education to Tallahassee via YouTube.
Such was the judgment of many Washington drama critics. But there’s a reason that this speech was austere, not pretty. Form followed content. Obama wasn’t just rebuking the outgoing administration. He was delicately but unmistakably calling out the rest of us who went along for the ride as America swerved into the dangerous place we find ourselves now.
Feckless as it was for Bush to ask Americans to go shopping after 9/11, we all too enthusiastically followed his lead, whether we were wealthy, working-class or in between. We spent a decade feasting on easy money, don’t-pay-as-you-go consumerism and a metastasizing celebrity culture. We did so while a supposedly cost-free, off-the-books war, usually out of sight and out of mind, helped break the bank along with our nation’s spirit and reputation.
We can’t keep blaming 43 for everything, especially now that we don’t have him to kick around anymore. On Tuesday the new president pointedly widened his indictment beyond the sins of his predecessor. He spoke of those at the economic pinnacle who embraced greed and irresponsibility as well as the rest of us who collaborated in our “collective failure to make hard choices.” He branded as sub-American those who “prefer leisure over work or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.” And he wasn’t just asking Paris Hilton “to set aside childish things.” As Linda Hirshman astutely pointed out on The New Republic’s Web site, even Obama’s opening salutation — “My fellow citizens,” not “fellow Americans” — invoked the civic responsibilities we’ve misplaced en masse.
These themes are not new for Obama. They were there back on Feb. 10, 2007, when, on another frigid day, he announced his presidential candidacy in Springfield, Ill. Citing “our mounting debts” and “hard choices,” he talked of how “each of us, in our own lives, will have to accept responsibility” and “some measure of sacrifice.” His campaign, he said then, “has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship.” But the press, convinced that Obama was a sideshow to the inevitable Clinton-Giuliani presidential standoff, didn’t parse his words all that carefully, and neither did a public still maxing out on its gluttonous holiday from economic history. However inadvertently, Time magazine had captured the self-indulgent tenor of the times when, weeks earlier, it slapped some reflective Mylar on its cover and declared that the 2006 Person of the Year was “You.”
Mothers from Cutler Bay held a funeral for public education -- and posted the video on YouTube.Doonesbury -- with a twist.
Two others from Doral went on a weeklong hunger strike.
Outraged by statewide cuts in public-school funding, and fearing the loss of clubs, art classes and electives, parents across South Florida and across the state are starting to stir. They are phoning lawmakers, sending out e-mail blasts, assembling at school board meetings and engaging in protests akin to performance art.
Advocates of school funding, including the PTA and lawmakers sympathetic to their cause, hope to harness that anger as they head into a new battle over still more cuts.
''I keep saying: What it's going to take to change the state of education in Florida is angry moms,'' said Colleen Wood, a mother and grass-roots organizer in Central Florida.
It may take more than that. The battle over school funding will define this legislative session the way the hunt for tax relief did last year's.
Economists predict that the tax revenue that runs the state, generated by everything from home sales to retail goods, will be down by $3.5 billion more this spring. That money is the lifeblood of the state general fund, nearly half of which is used for education.
Unlike the federal government, the state cannot run a deficit. So, unless lawmakers raise revenue -- something the Republican-dominated Legislature is actually considering, with talk of increasing the cigarette tax or eliminating corporate-tax loopholes -- they have to scale back spending.
And that almost certainly means school spending.
Members of the state PTA hope to send a strong message when the legislative session starts that education cuts are no longer acceptable, and that new revenue, through taxes and fees, must be found.
''We're insisting that Florida invest in children and invest in public education,'' said Florida PTA President Karin Brown, who is helping to organize a rally March 18.
Florida ranks 47th in the nation in education spending per $1,000 of personal income, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 figures, the latest available.
That was before schools across the state absorbed unprecedented budget cuts. In the past two years, state lawmakers slashed $3.87 billion from the education budget -- a reduction of nearly 16 percent.
The Miami-Dade County district had to reduce its budget by about $300 million in the past year -- a 5.5 percent cut. In Broward County, the cuts totaled $150 million.
It's enough to have riled scores of South Florida parents, said Mindy Gould, president of the Miami-Dade County Council of PTAs/PTSAs.
''For the first time in a very long time, parents feel that together, they can speak with a united voice and actually make things happen,'' Gould said.
Take Stephanie Keime and Lisa Richardson, both of whom have children in the Miami-Dade public-school system.
''When we found out that things were going to get slashed, we thought, 'Gosh, this could be really bad,' '' Keime said. ''We couldn't get to Tallahassee, but we had to do something.''
With their children as actors and a $20 budget, the mothers produced a short film called Florida FundingFuneral. It features a group of somber children placing their soccer balls, musical instruments, sketch books and ballet slippers into a coffin.
The headstone at the grave site reads: ''Here lies our dreams.''
In one week, the video tallied 1,300 hits on YouTube -- not exactly viral, but a start.
Fetch more...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
It's Okay, Ted
Ted Haggard is back in the news.
For those who either don't get it or are still shallow enough to laugh and point -- perhaps too loudly -- the closet and all the baggage that comes with it is a lonely and claustrophobic place to live your life. What's worse, the more you try to stay in there, bolting the door shut against the real world and perhaps holding your family, your wife, or your children hostage with you, the worse it is when you finally come out. Meanwhile you torture yourself with denial and the instruments you use to enable the denial like booze or pills until the pressure becomes too much. It's like trying to compress water -- you can't do it -- or it comes out in catastrophic ways.
I don't know Ted Haggard personally, but I know a lot of people like him, and for a while I was in there with him. Fortunately I had a family that didn't judge me -- even though I was irrationally sure they would -- and I felt strongly enough in my spiritual beliefs that I was able to let go of the community I grew up with and embrace another one that I knew would welcome me. I was fortunate. For whatever reason, real or imagined, Ted Haggard was not. And now he is paying for it. He already has lost something he valued -- his spiritual community -- and he has endured the hatred, scorn, and mockery that came with his public outing. And while I may have been angry with him for his hypocrisy and his inability to accept the fact that being gay is hard-wired at the factory, so to speak, I always knew what he was dealing with.
So let me say this to him, speaking as one gay man who's been out of the closet since he was 22 and who spent the ten years before that very aware I was in it: it's okay, Ted, to come out now. I don't approve or condone your denials or the harm you've caused your family, your children, your church, or those who believed you when you said it was a one-time thing; but then, we've all done that. The thing you need to do is to make amends. Don't apologize for being gay, apologize for your actions. Don't deny what you are, but acknowledge who you are to those who mean the most to you. What you did in the past must be made right with no excuses, and you must shun the false hope of the religious alchemists who say that you can be made straight. There is nothing wrong with being gay, and besides, you can't turn lead into gold if you're gold already.
Ted Haggard has a lot of growing up to do. Being in the closet keeps you in the dark about what it's like to live in the world as a whole person, and once you get out, the light can be disorienting. That's okay, too. He's going to stumble and perhaps try to get back in. But pretty soon, he will discover that once you get used to it, you stop thinking of yourself in the terms of gay, straight, or whatever. You are just you.
And that's okay, too.
Fetch more...
It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before these stories hit the news. I'm not surprised, and I don't think anyone who knows what it is like to be in the closet is surprised either.Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard's former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard — a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.
Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, told The Associated Press that the man came forward to church officials in late 2006 shortly after a Denver male prostitute claimed to have had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with Haggard.
Boyd said an "overwhelming pool of evidence" pointed to an "inappropriate, consensual sexual relationship" that "went on for a long period of time ... it wasn't a one-time act." Boyd said the man was in his early 20s at the time. He said he was certain the man was of legal age when it began.
Reached Friday night, Haggard declined to comment and said all interviews would have to be arranged through a publicist for HBO, which is airing a documentary about him this month.
Boyd said the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly.
For those who either don't get it or are still shallow enough to laugh and point -- perhaps too loudly -- the closet and all the baggage that comes with it is a lonely and claustrophobic place to live your life. What's worse, the more you try to stay in there, bolting the door shut against the real world and perhaps holding your family, your wife, or your children hostage with you, the worse it is when you finally come out. Meanwhile you torture yourself with denial and the instruments you use to enable the denial like booze or pills until the pressure becomes too much. It's like trying to compress water -- you can't do it -- or it comes out in catastrophic ways.
I don't know Ted Haggard personally, but I know a lot of people like him, and for a while I was in there with him. Fortunately I had a family that didn't judge me -- even though I was irrationally sure they would -- and I felt strongly enough in my spiritual beliefs that I was able to let go of the community I grew up with and embrace another one that I knew would welcome me. I was fortunate. For whatever reason, real or imagined, Ted Haggard was not. And now he is paying for it. He already has lost something he valued -- his spiritual community -- and he has endured the hatred, scorn, and mockery that came with his public outing. And while I may have been angry with him for his hypocrisy and his inability to accept the fact that being gay is hard-wired at the factory, so to speak, I always knew what he was dealing with.
So let me say this to him, speaking as one gay man who's been out of the closet since he was 22 and who spent the ten years before that very aware I was in it: it's okay, Ted, to come out now. I don't approve or condone your denials or the harm you've caused your family, your children, your church, or those who believed you when you said it was a one-time thing; but then, we've all done that. The thing you need to do is to make amends. Don't apologize for being gay, apologize for your actions. Don't deny what you are, but acknowledge who you are to those who mean the most to you. What you did in the past must be made right with no excuses, and you must shun the false hope of the religious alchemists who say that you can be made straight. There is nothing wrong with being gay, and besides, you can't turn lead into gold if you're gold already.
Ted Haggard has a lot of growing up to do. Being in the closet keeps you in the dark about what it's like to live in the world as a whole person, and once you get out, the light can be disorienting. That's okay, too. He's going to stumble and perhaps try to get back in. But pretty soon, he will discover that once you get used to it, you stop thinking of yourself in the terms of gay, straight, or whatever. You are just you.
And that's okay, too.
Fetch more...
The Other F-Word
Kate Harding has no apologies to make for her weight.
I admire Kate for the simple act of standing up and saying that she will not be bullied. Brava.
(Full disclosure: Kate was formerly a contributor to Shakesville, and although we have never met in person, we got to know each other through e-mails and solidarity with the many causes we stand for.)
Fetch more...
The human obsession with body image and surface issues such as weight or sexual orientation isn't new. Since time out of mind, fashion has dictated that the young, the beautiful, the well-built, and the straight are the optimum goals for all of us regardless of our age, our looks, our size, or our sexual orientation, and people literally kill themselves to achieve the impossibility of looking like the cover of Vogue or Muscle & Fitness. That sells billions of dollars of everything from cosmetics to industrial equipment, and we have entire shopping malls dedicated to selling stuff that promises to deliver the impossible: looking good enough for our own critical eye in the mirror and the perceived acceptance of other people who have their own issues with their own image. It is a vicious cycle that is fed by our own insecurities and those who exploit that most basic instinct in all of us to gain approval from others.I was once standing on the street talking to a business contact I hoped to impress, when a homeless man came up and asked us for change. The man I hoped to impress said he didn't have any, and the homeless guy spat, "Oh, fine, you just keep talking to the fat girl, then!" Which meant the business contact spent the next five minutes sputtering about how that guy was crazy and I shouldn't think anything of it, while my face flamed and I stammered, "It's ... OK, really, it's ... please ... it's fine." So much for the awesome professional image I was hoping to project.
I may not be as big as some of my friends and family members, and I may not be the size most people mentally associate with the word obese, but I am bloody well fat, and I have been most of the time since college. The homeless man might have been crazy, but he wasn't wrong. The friends who kept insisting "You're not fat!" were the ones out of touch with the truth.
But then the truth was never really the point. Thin women don't tell their fat friends "You're not fat" because they're confused about the dictionary definition of the word, or their eyes are broken, or they were raised on planets where size 24 is the average for women. They don't say it because it's the truth. They say it because fat does not mean just fat in this culture. It can also mean any or all of the following:
Ugly
Unhealthy
Smelly
Lazy
Ignorant
Undisciplined
Unlovable
Burdensome
Embarrassing
Unfashionable
Mean
Angry
Socially inept
Just plain icky
So when they say "You're not fat," what they really mean is "You're not a dozen nasty things I associate with the word fat." The size of your body is not what's in question; a tape measure or a mirror could solve that dispute. What's in question is your goodness, your lovability, your intelligence, your kindness, your attractiveness. And your friends, not surprisingly, are inclined to believe you get high marks in all those categories. Ergo, you couldn't possibly be fat.
But I am. I am cute and healthy and pleasant-smelling (usually) and ambitious and smart and lovable and fun and stylish and friendly and outgoing and categorically not icky. And I am fat -- just like I'm also short, also American, also blonde (with a little chemical assistance). It is just one fucking word that describes me, out of hundreds that could. Those three little letters do not actually cancel out all of my good qualities.
I admire Kate for the simple act of standing up and saying that she will not be bullied. Brava.
(Full disclosure: Kate was formerly a contributor to Shakesville, and although we have never met in person, we got to know each other through e-mails and solidarity with the many causes we stand for.)
Fetch more...
Short Takes
Gag Rule Lifted -- "President Obama yesterday lifted a ban on U.S. funding for international health groups that perform abortions, promote legalizing the procedure or provide counseling about terminating pregnancies."
Get Frank Capra -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich compares himself to an embattled movie hero.
Getting to Know Her -- We are learning who Kirsten Gillibrand, the new Senator from New York, is and what she believes in.
Still Evolving -- Texas state board of education is still trying to figure out a way to keep mythology out of the science books...or shoehorn it in.
That'll Teach 'Em -- George F. Will comes out against SCHIP because it will teach sick children that they can rely on the government to help them when they need it.
Dancing with the Stars -- Miami City Ballet is a hit in the Big Apple.
History Flights -- "A group searching for missing WWII soldiers is raising money with rides in vintage planes." They are based out of the Kendall-Tamiami Airport in Miami.
Saturday Morning Cartoon -- Yakky Doodle
Fetch more...
Get Frank Capra -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich compares himself to an embattled movie hero.
Getting to Know Her -- We are learning who Kirsten Gillibrand, the new Senator from New York, is and what she believes in.
Still Evolving -- Texas state board of education is still trying to figure out a way to keep mythology out of the science books...or shoehorn it in.
That'll Teach 'Em -- George F. Will comes out against SCHIP because it will teach sick children that they can rely on the government to help them when they need it.
Dancing with the Stars -- Miami City Ballet is a hit in the Big Apple.
History Flights -- "A group searching for missing WWII soldiers is raising money with rides in vintage planes." They are based out of the Kendall-Tamiami Airport in Miami.
Saturday Morning Cartoon -- Yakky Doodle
Fetch more...
Friday, January 23, 2009
Quote of the Day
President Obama to the Republicans who are griping about his economic stimulus package:
Fetch more...
I won.
Fetch more...
The Obama Scandals
1. He didn't get the oath right at the inauguration and when they had the do-over in the Map Room, there were no TV cameras and they didn't use a bible.
2. The musicians played along with a recording at the inauguration.
3. Mr. Obama used his left hand to sign all the executive orders reversing the Bush "war on terror" policies. Bill Clinton is also left-handed.
Where is Kenneth Starr now that we really need him?
Fetch more...
2. The musicians played along with a recording at the inauguration.
3. Mr. Obama used his left hand to sign all the executive orders reversing the Bush "war on terror" policies. Bill Clinton is also left-handed.
Where is Kenneth Starr now that we really need him?
Fetch more...
Hasta La Vista
Microsoft is beta-testing Windows 7, the replacement for Vista.
Case in point: I have Vista on my home computer, which is an HP laptop, and XP on my work computer. Last summer when the hard drive crashed on my laptop, I had the back-up on a little external drive so that when I got the laptop fixed, I would be able to restore everything back to where it was before the crash. Well, to make a long story short, it didn't work. Vista couldn't find my back-up even though I had saved it with Vista, and when it finally got around to pulling the old files in, it dumped them all over my hard drive without putting them in folders, and my local drive looked like the bottom of a birdcage. I tried getting Geek Squad to help me, but they were as useful as tits on a snake and charged me $100 for doing nothing. I took the hard drive to the office and within about an hour I was able to use the Search feature on the XP to find all the files all in neat order, and in a series of transfers from that computer to my jump drive, I was able to restore about 99% of my files. To this day, Vista can't find my old files or my Outlook address book on that hard drive, and I spent another $150 to have the good guys at National Tech Express clean up my computer.
The Search feature on Vista is useless. For example, I have a folder of pictures on the old drive called "Fishing Trip." I plugged the old drive into my laptop, opened the Search, and told it to look for anything in the computer labeled "Fishing Trip" or file or folder with that name in it or part of that name. After a few minutes, it came up with "No folders or files match your request." I then took the hard drive to the office, plugged it in, opened the Search (and grinned at the little doggie), told it the exact same request and in less than a minute it found the file. I copied the file on to my jump drive, and then, just to be sure, I took the hard drive back home and tried again. "No folders or files match your request." Sheesh.
Now I am sure there is someone out there who can tell me how to get Vista's Search feature to do exactly what the XP's little search doggie does, but the point is that I shouldn't have to ask. It should just work.
I know; all you Apple fiends out there are chortling at my misery, but I am too deeply invested in MSFT, including a non-Mac version of FileMaker Pro, that prevents me from going over to the Mac side just yet. So whatever they come up with in Redmond to "fix" Vista, they could do a lot worse than going retro.
By the way, I see that Microsoft is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis and is, for the first time in company history, laying people off. Not that I'd wish bad fortune on anyone in particular, but it would be ironic justice if the person or persons responsible for the Vista Search feature were some of those out there looking for a job.
Fetch more...
For an operating system that took five years to create, Windows Vista’s reputation went down in flames amazingly quickly. Not since Microsoft Bob has anything from the software giant drawn so much contempt and derision. Not every company lives to see the day when its customers beg, plead and sign petitions to bring back the previous version of its flagship product.I won't pretend I understand all the inside stuff that goes in writing a new platform, but all I can say is that I wish they would go back to Windows XP.
One thing’s for sure: it won’t take Microsoft five years to produce the next Windows. The company wants to put Vista behind it as soon as possible. In fact, the next version of Windows is almost here already. It’s called Windows 7, and it’s available as a free download, in surprisingly smooth, stable test form, from microsoft.com/springboard (until Saturday).
It looks and works a lot like Vista. In fact, what Microsoft seems to be going for in Windows 7 is “Vista, fixed.”
If you ask the masses what they disliked about Vista (as I did using Twitter last week), you’re likely to get a certain common set of responses. That list of grudges makes as good a framework as any for assessing the prospects of Windows 7, which is expected to arrive within a year.
Case in point: I have Vista on my home computer, which is an HP laptop, and XP on my work computer. Last summer when the hard drive crashed on my laptop, I had the back-up on a little external drive so that when I got the laptop fixed, I would be able to restore everything back to where it was before the crash. Well, to make a long story short, it didn't work. Vista couldn't find my back-up even though I had saved it with Vista, and when it finally got around to pulling the old files in, it dumped them all over my hard drive without putting them in folders, and my local drive looked like the bottom of a birdcage. I tried getting Geek Squad to help me, but they were as useful as tits on a snake and charged me $100 for doing nothing. I took the hard drive to the office and within about an hour I was able to use the Search feature on the XP to find all the files all in neat order, and in a series of transfers from that computer to my jump drive, I was able to restore about 99% of my files. To this day, Vista can't find my old files or my Outlook address book on that hard drive, and I spent another $150 to have the good guys at National Tech Express clean up my computer.
The Search feature on Vista is useless. For example, I have a folder of pictures on the old drive called "Fishing Trip." I plugged the old drive into my laptop, opened the Search, and told it to look for anything in the computer labeled "Fishing Trip" or file or folder with that name in it or part of that name. After a few minutes, it came up with "No folders or files match your request." I then took the hard drive to the office, plugged it in, opened the Search (and grinned at the little doggie), told it the exact same request and in less than a minute it found the file. I copied the file on to my jump drive, and then, just to be sure, I took the hard drive back home and tried again. "No folders or files match your request." Sheesh.
Now I am sure there is someone out there who can tell me how to get Vista's Search feature to do exactly what the XP's little search doggie does, but the point is that I shouldn't have to ask. It should just work.
I know; all you Apple fiends out there are chortling at my misery, but I am too deeply invested in MSFT, including a non-Mac version of FileMaker Pro, that prevents me from going over to the Mac side just yet. So whatever they come up with in Redmond to "fix" Vista, they could do a lot worse than going retro.
By the way, I see that Microsoft is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis and is, for the first time in company history, laying people off. Not that I'd wish bad fortune on anyone in particular, but it would be ironic justice if the person or persons responsible for the Vista Search feature were some of those out there looking for a job.
Fetch more...
Short Takes
The Next Senator from New York is Rep. Kirtsten Gillibrand.
Nine Down, Six to Go: The Senate confirms more of the Obama cabinet.
Still Waiting: The Minnesota Senate seat battle is still in the courts.
The Executive Orders: Hilzoy looks at what the president hath wrought.
Special Envoys: Secretary of State Clinton appoints Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell to international hot spots.
Conflicker infects millions of computers.
Playing Along -- the musicians at the inaugural were accompanied by themselves.
Back to Normal: Temperatures in South Florida should be back to their usual winter warmth -- the 70's -- by the end of the day.
Fetch more...
Nine Down, Six to Go: The Senate confirms more of the Obama cabinet.
Still Waiting: The Minnesota Senate seat battle is still in the courts.
The Executive Orders: Hilzoy looks at what the president hath wrought.
Special Envoys: Secretary of State Clinton appoints Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell to international hot spots.
Conflicker infects millions of computers.
Playing Along -- the musicians at the inaugural were accompanied by themselves.
Back to Normal: Temperatures in South Florida should be back to their usual winter warmth -- the 70's -- by the end of the day.
Fetch more...
Friday Blogaround
The first Friday Blogaround of the Obama administration. Let's see what the LC has to say this week.
Fetch more...
- A Blog Around The Clock: Science Online '09 in pictures.It's been a year to the day since I went to New York to see Can't Live Without You open off-off-Broadway. Where'd the time go?
- archy: the face of the modern conservative movement.
- Bark Bark Woof Woof says goodbye to President Bush.
- Bloggg: in case you missed it, the inauguration was live-blogged.
- Collective Sigh with some thoughts on the change in Washington and in her life.
- Dohiyi Mir: neener, neener.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: ledbettered!
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: Larry Thorson was there.
- Iddybud Journal: remembering Dr. King.
- Left Is Right: this cartoon says it all.
- Musing's musings grades the speech.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web: measure your morality.
- Rook's Rant with the irony of the day.
- rubber hose: too much fairness?
- Scrutiny Hooligans gets a new design.
- SoonerThought signs off. Thanks for everything, ST, and keep us informed.
- Speedkill: random thought.
- Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat: it's about time.
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation: reviews of the speech from the right wing.
- WTF Is It Now?? on how the Republicans can really apologize.
- ...You Are A Tree: resetting the clock.
Fetch more...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
