Politics

As you may have heard, last week the Obama campaign announced that they would be announcing his VP choice via text message. Individuals can sign up for the text message here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/firsttoknow It is, of course, a novel new way to reach out with their campaign message, but one thing I wondered about it is whether we're going to see a sudden spate of fake Obama VP announcements, transmitted to famous but not-too-computer-savvy political analysts and reporters, perhaps from their very-tech-savvy friends. Could get interesting. I think it's a pretty clever campaign move. What do you all think?

So the Dems finally made a decision on the most important issue facing Americans today: Whether to give Bill or Hillary the most prominent speaking positions at the convention. Hillary was given the less prestigious 2nd-night spotlight, and Bill gets the third-night spotlight, ahead of the vice presidential nominee. Neither is likely to get more than mere excerpt coverage by the networks, who will likely only live-broadcast Obama's acceptance speech on the 4th night. Now perhaps Dems will press on to more urgent matters, like how to convince the president to release a little more oil from the national reserve which we all know will instantly cut $3.99/gallon off t…

I decided to bring this up after it was (jokingly, I realize) suggested by ParanoiA in another thread that democracy be put aside in favor of drafting our leaders from the "super intelligent," much like jury duty. I thought this was funny, since I have some experience in that area, and was already considering commenting on it here. Even though it was a joke and obviously won't happen, it's still worth talking about in a theoretical way, since it's an idea that in various forms has been proposed since the very beginning of political arguments that didn't involve hitting one another over the head with clubs. Even Plato proposed it in The Republic, which even though I pe…

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/world/middleeast/06surplus.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Now if only America had that... but unfortunately Iraq for us means bigger budget deficits... Maybe they should pay us to be there! Oh right, they want us out.

Columbian president Alvaro Uribe put on a freaking clinic on democracy in action this week, showing every other nation on this planet how it is bloody well done. What an amazing story. That hostage rescue was just a great story all by itself, but it's fitting into a larger picture of Columbian success against Farc that's really impressive. I think it actually makes me jealous -- I wish my own government and intelligent services could pull off this kind of stuff. The dramatic helicopter rescue of the hostages, all accomplished without a single shot being fired, is already seen as an amazing intelligence operation. All pulled off by a Latin American intellige…

...However, McCain far surpasses this, and the same study has shown that 1 out of every 3 McCain ads have a negative spin. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hDUFPuTNWTC7-8NapQmch4BNZ40AD9290DS80 Angry candidates don't win elections. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton won by running as sunny optimists — one promised John Winthrop's "shining city upon a hill" and the other was the "man from Hope." But McCain wants the presidential campaign to be about Barack Obama — that's why he talks about him so much. To that end, McCain is helping frame a not-so-flattering portrait of Obama for voters. His ads have become increasingly tough; a third of his commercials…

Now this is a debate we're probably having about 20 years too soon, as we don't know what's finally going to become of Iraq, nor can the indications we've seen so far tell us much definitively. As far as I can tell, and I'm limited not only by how little anyone can know but also by the fact that I know much less still, Iraq stands the best chance of all of them of shaping up into something like Lebanon with a stronger economy. But this is an inevitable debate, because it has immediate ramifications to US policy in the now. So, what should the Iraq experience mean to us? Should we take away from Iraq a general condemnation of interventionism principally in the name of …

In an op-ed today in the New York Times (here, Tom Friedman criticizes the short-term gas tax holiday proposed by both Clinton and McCain as deeply cynical and destructive in the long term for the economy, national security, and the environment, and applauds Obama for being the "bad guy" and calling them both out on it. All of this I agree with. What he proposes, however, and what he implies all the candidates secretly know is the best solution, is to actually keep gas prices high intentionally, noting that the current prices, for all the short-term individual woes they've caused, have also forced the market to respond in a very positive way. People drive less, energy…

This from the Washington Post: McCain is calling for across the board tax cuts with an emphasis on decreasing taxes for the rich. Obama wants tax cuts for 99% of Americans and a sharp increase for the richest 1%. I guess it's clear: Democrats like progressive taxation, and Republicans want the tax structure to be flatter. My question: how does McCain plan on addressing the budget deficit, which is presently the worst in history and quickly driving us towards breaking $10,000,000,000,000 in debt? Obama's plan certainly seems fine to me. But I guess I'm just a hippie liberal who doesn't mind a soak-the-rich approach to taxation.

Obama changed his position on offshore drilling today, saying that he would support limited offshore drilling. He did this in support of a new bipartisan bill from a group of ten senators intended to increase domestic oil production. The bill would expand drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of four southeastern states (if they permit it). http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0140632620080802?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10112 He's right, IMO. That's exactly the way to do it. Follow the science, listen to all the arguments, and make a decision that makes sense, while recognizing its limitations. That's exactly how …

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=5369090 President Bush will lift the executive branch's ban on drilling on the outer continental shelf this afternoon. But congress has its own ban so drilling can't begin without that being lifted as well. However, given Congress' nine percent approval rating and the overwhelming popular opinion on high gas prices, it could be difficult for them to say no. Plus they can approve it while keeping ANWR secure, which gives them something to placate environmentalists. Given the apparent safety of offshore drilling, and the need for interim solutions while we adopt alternative energy sources, I think this makes sense, …

It's easy to criticize the dialogue surrounding the election as substance-free and lacking merit, but this takes the cake: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121755336096303089.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today What happened to the Wall Street Journal? (oh right, Rupert Murdoch purchased them)

CBS cut out his mistake for him, but unfortunately for McCain the original footage was discovered: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/us/politics/24check.html This raises the question of how well McCain actually understood the surge when he voted for it. McCain has been triumphantly trumpeting his approval of the surge in 20/20 hindsight of its outcome, the entire time disparaging Obama for voting against it and instead suggesting an early withdrawal. CBS decided to cut directly to the remarks which disparaged Obama, omitting McCain alluding to the Anbar Awakening which occurred months prior to the surge as one of its successes. This is completely wrong. …

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-he8f7AdVl4IRQAEFnivpPn6HOAD9289GU00 Although it's still unclear if Pelosi will allow a final vote. Rove broke the law... it's about time the House Sergeant at Arms was sent to arrest him. Unfortunately Congress has a reputation for being too spineless to stand up to Bush.

When China won the Olympic games, one of the things it agreed to do was a bit unusual -- it promised not to censor media reporting on anything related to the games, and to allow uncensored Internet access within the Olympic village before and during the games. It's already broken these promises several times, the most recent incident taking place on Friday. Apparently thousands of people were waiting in line to purchase tickets and a fist-fight broke out around 4am. Hours later, in daylight after the incident was over, reporters were turned away from people standing in line whom they wanted to interview. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&si…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/28/2009.deficit/index.html ...which will quite likely be enough to push the national debt over the $10 trillion mark. It appears the neocon "spend more, tax less" approach to fiscal policy has failed miserably. The present national debt represents almost $32,000 for every man, woman, and child in the US. I really hope a new administration will focus on massively reducing budget deficits, hopefully employing a "tax more, spend less" approach to fiscal policy. It'd be good to see the Bush tax cuts rolled back, and hopefully we'll elect a president who can get us out of Iraq and stop the country from profusely bleeding money.

New York Times columnist David Brooks ran a great column yesterday about the debt situation in this country. He talks about the left and the right blaming each other over it, with the right screaming that it's about accountability, and the left screaming about compassion. Then he talks about a "third position". His point is not that people aren't responsible for their actions, but that there is a larger concern here. We've created a society that has forgotten the significance of debt and the value of thrift. As he puts it, we're in a period of "mass luxury", and many institutions that used to warn people about the dangers of profligate spending no long…

Congress passed the housing bill today and the president is expected to sign it immediately. Not that that simple name really explains the 684-page bill very well. - Bailouts for homeowners in trouble - Bailouts for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers - Tax breaks for home builders and companies in the home construction industry - Raises the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion (14 digits) to pay for all this (an increase of $800 bil) And the proverbial partridge in a pair tree (i.e. earmarks galore): This bill basically allows lawmakers to spend about 1.1 trillion dollars, entirely at their discretion. Gee, …

And thus, we see why the true substance driven statesman is dead, only on display at the intellectual museum. No one who is focused on real problem solving, disinterested in partisan babble, committed to the principles of the constitution and honest reverence to the people is going to be "perfect" enough to pass our pedantic social tests. We sure are missing out.

The New York Times has apparently rejected an op/ed piece by Republican candidate John McCain, after running a similar op/ed by Democratic candidate Barack Obama on July 14th. The Obama piece attracted some comment last week over its suggestion of a 16 month timeline for departure from Iraq. The 7/14 Obama piece can be found here. Times editor David Shipley (as quoted in the two articles linked below) says he rejected the piece because it wasn't substantive, saying in part: But renowned media analyst Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, commenting in a blog piece that can be found here calls that a "pretty high bar", and even the widely-seen-as-liberal…

"A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION. I am very concerned about the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan Border." See his comments here: FROM: Amygdala Hint -

Obama made this statement in Israel this afternoon: Two sources posted within the last hour: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/23/obama-incorrectly-claims-membership-of-senate-committee/ http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/23/1218024.aspx Unfortunately Obama is not on the Banking Committee. This one really irks me because it should have passed his internal "stink test". You simply cannot say something like that without realizing it's false. You can't not know what committees you're on. It's just not reasonable. I may be jumping the gun a bit posting this so quickly. Perhaps there's a reasonable explanation. (I want to che…

After the recent run on IndyMac, Wachovia is being raided by security investigators and Merrill Lynch is reporting a $4,900,000,000 loss, their fourth straight quarterly loss with a yearly total comprising some $19,200,000,000. But no, it's not a depression. Clinton, you know, after he left office... that was a depression. This isn't a depression. Nope.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece today about how much things have changed regarding off-shore drilling. Editor Andrew Cline of the New Hampshire Union Leader makes the claim that drilling is largely safe, and supports this with some numbers, and also an interesting turnaround by an anti-offshore drilling environmental group that now supports drilling off the coast of California. The numbers he brings up are intruiging. This next bit is really a sidebar, since it doesn't in itself say anything about the safety of such drilling, I was just stunned by sheer size of these pollution numbers, which the author was misleadingly using t…

Mitt Romney is, IMO, a very credible candidate for the VP spot. He's obviously smart & competent, actually, I now think he was a better candidate than McCain (from the republican side, at least). Apparently, this guy, Bobby Jindal, is a serious candidate. He's pro life with no exceptions (his words), he supports creationism/ID in the classroom, and he supposedly encountered a demon and practiced an exorcism (Jindall, B. 1994. "Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare", New Oxford Review). wow.