Politics

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22445.html A member of the Republican National Committee told me Tuesday that when the RNC meets in an extraordinary special session next week, it will approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party.” An idea I thought was rather poignant, offered this evening by Colbert, is that the best way to get people to dislike Democrats and the Democratic party would be to instead just brand them as "Republicans." That's a poo-stinky you can't just clear up with Febreeze (it turns out that Republican support is down among EVERY major demographic group, largest among the college educated).

Interesting op/ed piece in yesterday's Washington Post by noted health policy expert and Brown political science professor James Morone, suggesting that pulling back on some aspects of health care may be a costly political mistake for Democrats. He seems to have a good point there. It feels presumptuous to add my own opinion here, but I do remember what it was like in 1994 and it does feel very similar at the moment. I think that's unfortunate because, as has been pointed out here already, so much of it is driven by misinformation and demagoguery. Why can't we make a choice based on intelligent analysis and good, hard common sense? At any rate, the pol…

My despair regarding the US populace only deepens. Here's yet another depressing story regarding the sorry state of American thought: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/obama.schools/index.html?iref=mpstoryview The White House found itself on the defensive Friday over what would ordinarily be considered the most uncontroversial of events: a back-to-school speech to the nation's children. <...> "Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK." "As the father of four…

There is an active campaign right now to make it look like there is greater opposition to US Healthcare reform than there truly is. More on that below. However, if you look at actual polling data, roughly 70% of Americans want healthcare reform. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1913426,00.html Forty-six percent of respondents said it was "very important" that Congress and the President pass major health reform in the next few months, and an additional 23% said it was "somewhat important." Only 28% found the immediate effort either not very or not at all important. In a separate question, more Americans said it would be better to pass "major re…

Newscientist has a nice set of articles on how we could make the world a better place. Perhaps the most significant is the suggestion that policies should be evidence-based rather than based on "common-sense" or mis-guided popularity. In my opinion, evidence-based policy and increased international cooperation are key to making the world a better place. What suggestions do you have?

The website, http://capitolwords.org/ seems to have a database of all the words spoken by our politicians, allowing you to search who speaks what word the most, and a graph of when. Also for specific candidates, what word they use the most. The word counts don't say whether they are speaking favorably or unfavorable about said word. For example, it seems democrats like to talk about limbaugh (though republicans win with the word/name "rush"). Republicans like to mention Democrats, and Democrats like to mention Republicans. Well, I'll leave you all to it. Who can find the most interesting one?

My opinion: People want change, and they're not seeing it. They wanted it in 2008 and they are still going to want it in 2010. http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/washington-whispers/2009/09/02/poll-lowest-congressional-approval-in-two-decades.html Of course the news is no better for Republicans (and arguably even worse), but it's not as if people suddenly decided that they loved Democrats in 2008 -- they voted Republicans out, they didn't vote Democrats in. This poll shows that that sentiment continues. What do you think?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6145785/Scouts-to-no-longer-bring-penknives-on-camping-trips.html Apparently knife crime in the UK is such that a knife vendor who trains scouts on knife safety is recommending scouts not be allowed to take knives camping. Crazy. Sounds like there are quite a few people who support the scouts having knives. It seems pretty nuts to me that scouts not be allowed penknives or swiss army knives.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/09/director-michael-moore-now-wants-nothing-less-than-the-complete-overthrow-of-the-modern-capitalist-system--from-reuters-in.html Kind of an obvious contradiction, isn't it? Capitalism is very democratic in nature. I haven't seen it yet, but if these indications pan out as reported I think Moore may lose a lot of his moderate-liberal support on this one. He has a lot of support from left-leaning libertarians who like to watch "Sicko" and then blog to all their friends about the incredibly travesties they've just discovered in the health care system (as anybody with more than a dozen Facebook friends can tell …

xWL-pfCao-U Some expert sleuthing by America's most misunderstood political commentator Glenn Beck exposes one of America's quintessential "Robber Barons" as, in fact, being a communist. Many courtesies to Mr. Beck for his investigative services.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7548715.stm This portends to be a large scale conflict in Georgia. The Russian separatists in Ossetia are being supported by Russian military with the Georgian military trying to regain control over the region. The situation is tricky because of accusations of ethnic cleansing in Ossetia (I guess by Georgian government?). According to that BBC link, the US has spoken on the side of a unified Georgia... surprising if the accusations of ethnic cleansing are true. It seems like a similar scenario as the Serbia/Kosovo conflict. Any thoughts from those with more insight than I have?

Well, President Zelaya of Honduras has been forcefully removed from power and removed from the country. A lot of people, including Obama and many major news outlets, are calling it an "illegal coup." But is it one? As I gather it, Zelaya, approaching the end of his term and facing constitutional terms limits, tried to put out a non-binding referendum on whether he be allowed to run for re-election. The problem was that the Honduran constitution apparently forbids even attempting to overturn term limits. (They are very afraid of populist "presidents for life.") The legislature refused to support the referendum, and it went to the supreme court, which ruled against the …

Why admit you're wrong? Cheney continues to defend the use of torture against enemy combatants. It got us all sorts of useful infoz, or something! And guess what, he receives round criticism in the liberal media and blogs: http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2009/08/27/cheneys-torture-memos-do-not-back-his-claim/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog http://www.examiner.com/x-15931-Chicago-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m8d27-Cheney-To-Obama-You-Dont-Know-Dick-About-National-Security http://www.examiner.com/x-5738-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m8d26-Video--Dick-Cheney-continues-to-propagate-lie-that-torture-techniques-helped-keep-us-safe http://www.foreignpolicy.com/…

This is really more of a 'fun' and very irreverent (do not take too seriously!) thread just to throw out your own little "sound bite sized" quip that you think would be fun to throw out at a Town Hall Meeting, addressed to either side. Maybe it's deep and thought provoking, a ludicrous red herring that elegantly derails a debate with the subtly of a wrecking ball glued to a shark tied to the front of a freight train or just an "oh snap" moment. The goal is naturally not to get mired in detailed rebuttals to any given sound bite - if you must respond - do it in a very short counter sound bite. Media attention-span sized snippets. Have fun: To go first: …

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-trial25-2009aug25,0,901567.story The business lobby has pushed the US Chamber of Commerce to hold a trial so as to determine whether the idea of anthropogenically forced climate change has merit. It's a modern day Scopes monkey trial. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out, especially after a verdict is rendered. This may have a lasting impact on US policy for years to come.

Can anyone answer why the Republican Party has reversed the stars on the elephant logo? Stars that point downward are a symbol of black magic, satanism, anti 'mother-nature' etc. Ssshurely just a coincidence (!!), but why on earth did they do it? Have the US Christian groups complained?

LgQj0tL-AjU I've always thought that Lou Dobbs is a bit of a douchebag, but this was a surprisingly positive segment on single-payer healthcare. He notes that Denmark pays half of what the US pays for healthcare (as a percentage of GDP), yet has more doctors per capita than the US, and reports a higher level of satisfaction. It's awesome to see attention being paid in the mainstream media to single-payer systems, especially showing that they don't have to be overly expensive, especially compared to what we're paying now.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-26-ted-kennedy-obit_N.htm Love him, hate him, worry about him accidentally driving off a Marthas Vineyard pier and killing innocent women, the man has been a fixture of the American political system for decades. He will be missed.

I recently wrote a blog article on toobigtobail.com on hr 1207 and the current defence of the Federal Reserve's supposed independence. I was just wondering what people's opinions of it and the issue would be. The article is the most recent entry, written as a response to the previous article on the issue. I was hoping people would like to discuss it.

ROFL! Did this really happen?

Is this for real? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877155,00.html? It's unimaginable. The language in the article is unimaginable. I am simply at a loss for words, is this really what it sounds like?

I am myself a libertarian. I don't claim to have the entire logic of libertarianism fully worked out, but what attracts me to libertarianism is simply the fact that I find freedom, choice, and non-coercion aesthetically pleasing. I am sick of hypocrisy and inconsistency and want a world of peace and happiness. When I see someone being beaten against his will then I don't feel right. However, if that person consented to it, e.g. suppose he competed in a boxing match and consents to being punched by his opponent, then I feel much better. Libertarianism can be summed up in the following statement: "You are free to do whatever you want so long as you don't reduce other pe…

There are many threads discussing the current healthcare reform, yet none of them are specifically geared to discussing the entire bill in question. This has meant many threads have been diverted from their original purpose and spiraled into massive tangents. So here is a thread to discuss HR 3200 in its entirety. HR 3200 PDF Version HR 3200 HTML Version Please try to stick to discussing the issues present by the bill, not slippery slope arguments about "Obama-Care. I apoligize to the moderators if they feel this is a repeat thread and feel that it should be deleted.

So much for that spirit of bipartisan cooperation: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/policy/19repubs.html?_r=4&hp The Democrats seem to be sick of dealing with Republican opposition to healthcare reform, and are set to go it alone. My opinion is: about time! What do you think?

Now, I doubt most of you have ever heard of TennCare, and it's nothing particularly special that you should have heard of. It's a state program in Tennessee to augment Medicaid by contracting with managed care companies that is most famous for going crazy and almost bankrupting the state a few years ago before being pared down considerably. Well, Frank Cagle (former editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel, if that means anything to anyone) wrote in his column in a local weekly about how Tennessee's experience with TennCare might and should reflect on the national health insurance reform proposals currently bobbing about Congress, and I thought I would share. TennCare No…