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Today's Tweets!
Mar. 8th, 2009 12:06 am- 07:40 @velveteenrabbi ... with good friends you can't lose, this could become a habit... opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it.... #
Today's Tweets!
Feb. 26th, 2009 12:07 am- 08:36 @chicagowench -- Y'mean *I* don't have a snuggybrain? Coulda fooled me! #
- 14:22 I'm giving notice. #
Today's Tweets!
Feb. 6th, 2009 12:30 am- 11:28 I've been a bad twitterer 'cause all my tweets would look the same: wft wtf wtfuckityf? #
- 11:29 @chicagowench ...now in my head: the startling image of Rhino on epi and several haikus that begin "Rhino on epi." #
- 12:32 @chicagowench Haiku: "Rhino on epi/ sings in the Kalahari/ Nights in white satin" #
- 13:29 @chicagowench What Albany needs:/ Protest mobs angrier than/ Rhinos on epi. #
Brace yourself for a Supreme Court vacancy
Feb. 5th, 2009 01:37 pmUS Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had surgery today for pancreatic cancer. Odds are that she either will retire or die in the near future, which would be a great loss to the nation. If so, then Obama will appoint his first Supreme Court justice to replace her. That appointment will say much about Obama, the Senate Democrats and the Senate Republicans.
I say this now: if Senate Republicans filibuster Obama's nomination -- meaning that if every single GOP member of the Senate refuses to vote (because all of them must concur to defeat a cloture motion) -- then the Democrats henceforth should literally ignore the GOP. For all Obama's talk of post-partisanship, for all of his GOP appointments to his Cabinet, for all of his significant legislative concessions despite his commanding congressional majorities, the GOP has done nothing to reciprocate. To date, the House GOP gave Obama zero votes, the GOP derided Obama from his first day in office, and now the Senate GOP would filibuster a Supreme Court nominee when they themselves threatened to eliminate the filibuster when a larger Democratic minority lined up against Roberts and Alito.
If such hypocrisy comes, and if it doesn't prompt Democrats to make light of GOP obstructionism and take steps to end it, then the Democrats are pansies and primaries are certain to follow.
The wise move now would be for Democrats to start using their commanding majorities in both Houses to show the GOP that neither the Administration nor the Congress will let the GOP roll them anymore. They badly lost the election and yet the Democrats have accorded them far greater authority and influence than the GOP's electoral numbers command. If the Dems keep rolling over and playing dead, they'll roll over and over and over until the nation falls off a cliff.
I say this now: if Senate Republicans filibuster Obama's nomination -- meaning that if every single GOP member of the Senate refuses to vote (because all of them must concur to defeat a cloture motion) -- then the Democrats henceforth should literally ignore the GOP. For all Obama's talk of post-partisanship, for all of his GOP appointments to his Cabinet, for all of his significant legislative concessions despite his commanding congressional majorities, the GOP has done nothing to reciprocate. To date, the House GOP gave Obama zero votes, the GOP derided Obama from his first day in office, and now the Senate GOP would filibuster a Supreme Court nominee when they themselves threatened to eliminate the filibuster when a larger Democratic minority lined up against Roberts and Alito.
If such hypocrisy comes, and if it doesn't prompt Democrats to make light of GOP obstructionism and take steps to end it, then the Democrats are pansies and primaries are certain to follow.
The wise move now would be for Democrats to start using their commanding majorities in both Houses to show the GOP that neither the Administration nor the Congress will let the GOP roll them anymore. They badly lost the election and yet the Democrats have accorded them far greater authority and influence than the GOP's electoral numbers command. If the Dems keep rolling over and playing dead, they'll roll over and over and over until the nation falls off a cliff.
The permanent Democratic majority
Feb. 2nd, 2009 10:54 amPrediction: If Team Obama doesn't screw up badly, the nation will be mainly Democratic for the next decade if not far longer.
As of now, only five states nationwide are solidly GOP, and those states (AK, ID, NE, UT, WY) account for only 20 electoral votes. Granted that this snapshot is valid only for two minutes and that polls tighten before most elections, but it's almost shocking how far the nation is jolted in the last year. Thus, assuming that the 2009 and 2010 elections continue to have Democrats in charge of at least one of the two houses of the respective state legislatures (other than NE, which has a unicameral legislature), congressional redistricting in 2010-2011 will yield solid Democratic majorities for many years to come because only Republican gerrymandering in 2000-2001 kept vast swaths of the Midwest and South from going solid blue. But GOP gerrymandering couldn't hold back the flood of demographic trends and Bush's shittacular presidency, so now the GOP is out and likely to stay out for a long time.
If Team Obama doesn't screw up badly. Which it might: if Obama's desire for post-partisanship and corresponding empowerment of the dwindling GOP minority in Congress leads to no bailout bill or an insufficient bailout bill, Democrats will learn that the GOP leadership, in its current form, simply cannot be worked with. Some GOP consultants may want that result for 2010 "contrast" purposes (viz., "clean hands"), but the success of that strategy will depend on how bad the economy gets and who gets blamed for it. At this rate, Obama is banking that the GOP will be blamed, and thus the GOP is playing into Obama's hands.
I'm not so sure that Obama's superstar coolness can overcome real economic deprivation as it spreads across the country, as it will. I spoke to a colleague at US Treasury over the weekend, who is predicting pockets of 15-20% unemployment in places that lack sufficient social safety net to catch people when they fall. I can predict that a successful bailout will solidify Democratic gains, but I can't predict how hungry and hurt people will lash out at their government if it fails them. Let's hope, for everyone's sake, that it doesn't.
As of now, only five states nationwide are solidly GOP, and those states (AK, ID, NE, UT, WY) account for only 20 electoral votes. Granted that this snapshot is valid only for two minutes and that polls tighten before most elections, but it's almost shocking how far the nation is jolted in the last year. Thus, assuming that the 2009 and 2010 elections continue to have Democrats in charge of at least one of the two houses of the respective state legislatures (other than NE, which has a unicameral legislature), congressional redistricting in 2010-2011 will yield solid Democratic majorities for many years to come because only Republican gerrymandering in 2000-2001 kept vast swaths of the Midwest and South from going solid blue. But GOP gerrymandering couldn't hold back the flood of demographic trends and Bush's shittacular presidency, so now the GOP is out and likely to stay out for a long time.
If Team Obama doesn't screw up badly. Which it might: if Obama's desire for post-partisanship and corresponding empowerment of the dwindling GOP minority in Congress leads to no bailout bill or an insufficient bailout bill, Democrats will learn that the GOP leadership, in its current form, simply cannot be worked with. Some GOP consultants may want that result for 2010 "contrast" purposes (viz., "clean hands"), but the success of that strategy will depend on how bad the economy gets and who gets blamed for it. At this rate, Obama is banking that the GOP will be blamed, and thus the GOP is playing into Obama's hands.
I'm not so sure that Obama's superstar coolness can overcome real economic deprivation as it spreads across the country, as it will. I spoke to a colleague at US Treasury over the weekend, who is predicting pockets of 15-20% unemployment in places that lack sufficient social safety net to catch people when they fall. I can predict that a successful bailout will solidify Democratic gains, but I can't predict how hungry and hurt people will lash out at their government if it fails them. Let's hope, for everyone's sake, that it doesn't.
Tax the fuckers
Jan. 30th, 2009 08:41 amCongress -- You say that you can't recapture those obscene bonuses paid with our money to bankers who helped ruin our economy? Pshaw: here's a bill that I wrote in five minutes. If I could write it in five minutes, your tax experts can do better in ten. Stop posturing and feining powerlessness, and just pass it.
( Legislation to get our money back. )
( Legislation to get our money back. )
Today's Tweets!
Jan. 26th, 2009 01:56 am- 13:46 i can haz job offer #
- 13:47 @chicagowench Waffles with dijon ketchup? #
Today's Tweets!
Jan. 21st, 2009 02:08 am- 14:57 hopes Ted Kennedy survives his seizure and makes a full recovery. #
- 19:41 Perhaps the Chief Justice will re-read the Constitution now that he flubbed the inaugural oath of office. #
- 20:20 Incredible: Republicans already raising money by running against Secretary-designate Clinton and Senator-elect Franken. #
- 20:21 @cybersattva On first read, I thought you wrote that the Chief Justice is short (and not just the Constitution and presidential oath). Hah! #
Today's Tweets!
Jan. 18th, 2009 01:54 am- 07:02 @chicagowench Hey, one must have one's priorities. #
- 09:49 car doors frozen shut/ need to get to doctor's office/ where are my mush dogs? #
