Former Hill Staffer's Anonymous

A deal was struck...but Bolton is being held up

2005-05-25T10:34:00.000-04:00

The big news of today is that Bolton is coming to the floor but Senator Thune has decided to block the arrangement of a time agreement until he gets a promise to have a vote on his BRAC amendment. This is HUGE. Senator Thune owes Senator Frist, the President and the rest of the Republican aparatus more than any new Senator. But one of his promises to his constituents is that he would be able to save the South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base from being shut down on the BRAC list. Unfortunately, the BRAC is not something one or even several Senators can control and the Air Force base is on the list. S. 1075, Senator Thune's bill, would postpone the BRAC. To have a new Senator stop the Majority Leader and buck the President when he owes them so much is really quite unheard of. He will probably get smacked down. It will be fun to hear more about this.

Regardless of which of President Bush's appellate court nominees gets confirmed or denied, in the short term my clients won't go lacking for movement on legislation representing their interests. After reading a number of websites, it is pretty apparent that both the extreme left and right are pretty upset about the whole thing. I'd paste in some quotes but they are everywhere already.

Here is the text of the Judicial filibuster thanks to the New York Times:

We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by majority leader Frist and Democratic leader Reid. This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon mutual trust and confidence, related to pending and future judicial nominations in the 109th Congress.

This memorandum is in two parts. Part I relates to the currently pending judicial nominees; Part II relates to the subsequent individual nominations to be made by the president and to be acted upon by the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

We have agreed to the following:

Part I: Commitments on Pending Judicial Nominations

A. Votes for Certain Nominees. We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (District of Columbia Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit) and Priscilla Owen (Fifth Circuit).

B. Status of Other Nominees. Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (Ninth Circuit) and Henry Saad (Sixth Circuit).

Part II: Commitments for Future Nominations:

A. Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the advice and consent clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.

B. Rules Changes. In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the rules of the Senate that would force a vote on judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII.

We believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word "advice" speaks to consultation between the Senate and the president with regard to the use of the president's power to make nominations. We encourage the executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.

Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate.

We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate that we as senators seek to uphold.

Find just what you're after with the new, more precise MSN Search - try it now!

Comity in the Senate

2005-05-20T22:51:00.000-04:00

Well, its official. I had a meeting that went bad with a Dem staffer today. It regarded an issue that will likely be delayed for sometime, don't ask me how long, because of the nuclear option on the filibuster. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

One of the biggest complaints in the Senate debate over filibusters that I have heard, when I have been watching the Senate floor off and on over the past two days, is the complaint that there is a lack of comity in the Senate any more. I find that an interesting comment, particularly since the two Senators I saw saying it was Senator Boxer and Kennedy. It makes good theater but neither of them have really been making any attempts (that I have seen) at finding common ground with the Republicans on any issues. Senator Boxer was the leader in attacking Condoleeza Rice's nomination and Senator Kennedy is the godfather for all actions Democrat, especially blocking the President's judicial nominations. (See an intersting Novak piece here on how the Dems are preparing for a prospective Supreme Court nomination fight).

But I think that even if these distinguished Senators were acting more like pussycats, I think the comity that is heralded by certain members of the minority party as oozing from the chamber is no longer possible. Of course, I think (and this is off the cuff so no-one try to hold me to this) that the campaign finance laws dilute the power of the party in fundraising efforts and give more power to outside interests groups -- especially those who can muster voters (i.e. moveon.org and the family research council) and pony up the camapign dough. Additionally, I do think there is something to the idea that the migration of House members to the Senate, especially in recent years, has had an effect. I've figured that there are at least 17 new Republican Senators since 2000 and 4 or 5 new Dems. Senator Schumer, who is the most vociferous of the Democrats and the point man for all things on nominations, came over from the House in 1998. That has had an affect. I also think that the use of televsion cameras is an issue. One of the most interesting moments during this whole thing was at the beginning when Senator Reid suggested that the Senate go to the Old Senate Chamber and sequester themselves until they could work out a deal. The important aspect to all of that would be that the session would be private, without cameras and they could be more candid with each other. I find it intersting that most of the work in the Senate comes off the floor during quorum calls--those boring moments when noone seems to be doing anything. While television is good, to some extent, it shifts the focus of Senatorial debate away from generally trying to persuade other Senators to come to a position, rather, they are trying to get in good licks for the t.v. news stations back home. The audience has essentially changed.

I could be wrong, and likely am on this but I think those three changes in Senate practices have played significant roles in the dramatic changes in how the Senate operates.

Filibuster Debate Starts in Ernest

2005-05-18T05:26:00.000-04:00

I feel happy to say that I was mostly right about the outcome of the Bolton nomination in Committee. We'll see how it works on the floor of the Senate. The environment is going to be very different after next week, or whenever the "nuclear option" happens. My understanding is that Majority Leader Frist will dedicate several days of debate to federal judicial nominees. During this time period, he will offer cloture petitions for Patricia Owens, Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor. These petitions will fail to get 60 votes but will garner 50 plus Senators in their favor.

After several days of debate and several test votes, Vice President Cheney will be strolling by the Capital and decided to sit in the Chair. At that time, The Hill reports, "Frist eventually will raise a point of order that the Senate should debate the nomination of an appeals-court nomination for a certain number of hours. Vice President Dick Cheney, who would be in the chair, would rule in favor. Democrats would appeal, and the Senate would vote on tabling that appeal." 51 votes in favor of tabeling the appeal would effectively change the rule on judicial filibusters.

Unlike what Senator Harry Reid has said that Republicans are coming out of the woodwork in private opposition to the plan and that he and they are "praying" for a solution to this (who is using religion on their behalf to win here?) without ridding the Senate of the filibuster. What I have learned from Republican staffers around the Senate is that they generally think that this is a good idea on principle, however, strategically it could be a bad move for the Republican party.

This makes some sense. Senator Reid has been calling up legislation to be put on the legislative calender for the past couple of weeks that the Dems support. If they are determined to gum up the works on Republican initiatives, they will get to appear reasonable by offering their own legislation on issues they care about (minimum wage, health care, environment, etc). The fear by many staffers is that Frist is not prepared to dead with this sitution, either by having substitute bills ready to go or employing some other strategy to hold off the Dems.

In almost every situation, however, the Republicans by engaging in the nuclear option will have ceded control of the floor to the Democrats for the near future. The big maybe in all this, I think, may be the just passed Highway spending bill. The legislation defied President Bush's veto threat and is in conference. If Republicans are smart, they will get the bill to the President quickly and he will veto it quickly. The bill will kick back to the Congress which will work together in a bipartisan manner to overturn that veto, perhaps killing the momentum that the Dems will get in a nuclear age.

We'll see. It will be interesting to watch. I'm sure there are lots of Legislative Assistants and Legislative Directors who are going to be sick and tired of hearing Senator Schumer and everyone else speak over the next couple of days.

Bolton languishes in the Foreign Relations Committee because of bad staffwork

2005-04-19T23:21:00.000-04:00

The staff of Senator. Voinovich, specifically, needs to be called out for not being at the Foreign Relations Committee's Executive meeting to vote on John Bolton's nomination. I heard a rumor that earlier in the day, his office had been called to confirm that they had the Senator's vote on the nomination. However, when push came to shove, with no staff at the meeting to reassure the Senator that he was voting the right way*, the vote was not taken and the nomination stalled. You could practically see Senator Chaffee wanting to liberate himself from the pressure that is being put on him and vote no on the nomination.

Of course, the ultimate blame for the debacle falls upon the Senator's themselves: Lugar for not being forceful enough to get the dog gone clerk to actually start reading the names for the roll call vote earlier before people had time to fully allow their doubts to take over and Voinovich for being so clueless as to not be aware of what was going on when this is a major vote that he knew was coming (its been in the papers!). I wonder if Voinovich even has someone who does Foreign Relations Committee work full time? I would think that he did, however, when I was a staffer, if your boss was on the committee your place of business was in the committee room so at the very least you could allow the chairman to vote as a proxy if your boss could not make it. If Senator Voinovich does not have a full time Foreign Relations staffer, then whomever the person is that handles hiring failed to do their job to ensure that the Senator had enough information to vote for Bolton so that you hear the last thing on earth you want to hear, namely: "I don't feel comfortable voting today," Voinovich said (in this article).

What is particularly galling if you are a Republican Senator who deals with people like Senators Biden and Dodd on a regular basis is that he has the naivete to say the following after the meeting: "The passion on the other side on this, I don't think is political," Voinovich told reporters. "I think they raised some legitimate issues. I think we ought to find out what they are. I think we ought to get the information, get a chance to have (the allegations) rebutted." Voinovich should know better after spending six years in the Senate with Senator Biden to know, as just about anyone in the Senate knows, that the man will say just about anything to get his way. Senator Biden actually had the audacity to suggest that if a staffer was dishonest with him in his organization, that he would not want that staffer to work for him. The problem is that in Senator Biden's operation, it is not the staffers that are the problem (many of them are quite good at what they do) it is the Senator himself who has trouble knowing what's going on and telling the truth. Last year during the asbestos bill mark up (which I'll write more about on another day) he got a throw away amendment from Senator Leahy and he talked and talked and talked until Senator Hatch took the amendment and said that the committee would work out the differences between the committee and the floor. The Amendment was dubbed the Biden Sunset Amendment and has been a major sticking point ever since then because it will kill the proposed trust fund. Anyway, Senator Biden did not know anything about the fund, the amendment or really about asbestos issues. He just rolled in, threw a bomb, and walked away.

So, together with the vehemence of Senators Dodd, Kerry and Boxer, Senator Biden was able to foist a deal upon Senator Lugar that buys the Dems more time. My guess is that the next executive meeting to consider the nomination will happen around May 10th. Senator Lugar was not well served today by even some of the more "stalwart" Republicans on the panel like Senator Allen, who asked the stupid question of what happens if the nomination goes out on a 9-9 vote? That is not the question you ask the Chairman out loud on such a critical nomination as this.**

What is the end result of this meeting? Depending on his relationship with his Chief of Staff, Voinovich will get a chewing out by his Chief of Staff, or will at least have a conversation with him about what happened. Senator Lugar and maybe Frist and other leadership people will inform Senator Voinovich that he needs to get on the ball and seek to reinforce Senator Chaffee's and Hagel's votes. Bolton will spend an hour or so with the Senator, after which Voinovich will repent of his misgivings and declare the man fit to serve. Committee staffers (probably Lugar and Biden folks) will spend many, many extra hours away from their families searching down potential victims of Mr. Bolton's aggression. In the end, I predict that Lugar will prevail in Committee and the battle will be renewed on the Senate floor. Happy day.

*On this nomination, the right way is yes if you are Republican and no if you are a Democrat.
** For the sake of this post, a "critical nomination" is any that the opposing party, in this case the Dems, have determined to close ranks and vociferously fight against for the silly reason when they "merely haven't had enough time to consider [i.e. find someone willing to help them kill] the nomination."

John Edwards quotes on a bunch of stuff but tort reform in particular

2005-04-12T01:33:00.000-04:00

Ernstwhile Democratic 2008 candidate, John Edwards says this in this article about tort reform:

The easy passage of tort reform? “People have attacked my [trial lawyer] career ever since I’ve been involved in politics. But the attacks never stick. I think people fundamentally believe that those who have been wronged by powerful interests should be able to hold them accountable.”

Botht he quesiton and the answer are misleading. The easy passage was a bill that made it more diffiuclt for class action specialists who do a particular form of class action case, certain consumer type cases, to go about there business. The legislation, of course, doesn't shut down the process either. So in a sense it doesn't reform tort law. Instead the legislation gives federal jurisdiction to nationwide consuemr class actions that seem to be, well nationwide, insead of allowing these cases sit in some backwater county court in Illinois. Futher, it seeks to protect the interests of class members who, after all, are the alleged victims of the case, from the natural ambition that comes from righting wrongs against a competitor with deep pockets. This bill was originally introduced in the 104th Congress, so this really didn't happen all that quickly.

Other than that what major tort reform legislaiton has passed, unless you think that the Bankruptcy bill is tort reform. It isn't, unless you count the provision requiring that bankruptcy attorneys sign the filings they present on behalf of those seeking bankrtupcy protection (which I'm unsure was in the final version of the bill but it was previously).

If you want real tort reform, Congress would do more than it has. But tort reform is not going to happen on the national level except for those exceptional areas where it is truly nationwide, like class action and maybe, maybe, asbestos. Med malpractice won't get solved on a Congressional level, aint gonna happen. Nor will any bread and butter trial lawyer issue. It has to be absured or extraordinary.

I'm thinking about changing my blog

2005-04-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

the whole "on my mind" thing doesn't seem to be working for me anymore. After all, there are bunches of things that are on my mind that have nothign to do about politics. For instance, its after 1 am and I still haven't gotten the garbage out to the curb. What do I need to get done tomorrow? Why is my son sounding like he is trying to wake up at this hour? Are the Mariner's going to have a strong season or will their pitching blow it? Will Mariano Rivera shake his early season troubles and start pitching well enough so that I don't get blown out in the two different fantasy baseball leagues I'm in?

The point is that most of the stuff I write about--well opine on-- are generally politically related. More specifically, they generally fall within the parameter of what Congress, and more specifically the Senate, is doing at any given time. Its frankly what I've known in my career here in D.C. and thus is one of the few things that I think is interesting enough that others would want to read.

So I'm probably going to change the name and continue focusing on the politics of Congress with an emphasis on the Senate. Perhaps try and point out the role of staff more and see if I can learn the behind the scenes stuff that happens on a day to day basis from the people I know in Hart, Dirksen and Russell buildings who tend to be more privy to these sorts of things that I am. Plus, I like the ability to get paid for getting the dish on hill talk. Makes my life so much more interesting than it really is.

Bush's IPOD: Apple marketing or clever story?

2005-04-12T01:13:00.000-04:00

This article could be a ploy for more market share by Apple, but who knows?

Ms win their first

2005-04-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

In their first game of the 2005 season, Richie Sexon hit two home runs off of Brad Radke, driving in the 5 runs the M's needed to beat the Twins today (recap). I know that the crudgemonly baseballcrank has the M's finishing in 3rd, but lets hope to prove him wrong.

baseball starts this weekend

2005-03-30T23:38:00.000-05:00

I did my first fantasy draft for the season. I think I did okay. We'll see. I picked up:

Carlos Beltran
Jason Schmidt
David Ortiz
Mariano Rivera
K-Rod
Jim Thome
I-Rod
Jose Reyes
Aramis Ramirez
Carlos Guillen
Matt Clement
John Lieber
Jose Guillen
Brandon Looper
Aaron Rowand
John Thompson
Eric Milton
Dontrelle Willis
Pedro Feliz
Jeromy Burnitz
Torii Hunter
Kazau Matsui
U. Urbina

A pretty good line up. Some of the other fellows have pretty solid line ups too. We'll see how it all works out.

The problem with treaties

2005-03-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

...so far, I'll admit I don't know much about this area of law. But I'm learning more about internaitonal law and we are learning about how treaties are developed, ratified, enforced, etc. It seems that treaties assumes international behavior is somehow virtuous, or we can pressure each of the other states to do things because we all agree that we will? I think in practice that international treaties creates oligarchial type behavior: there are incentives to cheat. This makes me think that in the post WWII era, left the big multi lateral treaty area and the "market" for international relations forced us to have to big players in the "market" for international relations until the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving the United States with a monopoly in international power, i.e. the lone superpower.

Of course, like all monopolies in a "free market" this will last for only a short period of time in history. I'm not saying that the United States will go the way of AT&T, but we can see other countries developing in power and prestige: Russia, China, India, the EU (which is an oligopoly in and of itself) and Brazil.

Gov Schwarzenegger and the future of campaign finance

2005-03-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

A number of recent articles, I don't have any links to them right now, have cited the Govenator's desire to make several big structural changes to how Cali runs, in particular, how it designs legislative districts on the state and Congressional level. The CW is that if he is successful, other states will move on and we could have saner redistricting procedures that will provide more competition for congressional seats.

Here is the dark side in the post campaign finance reform, BCRA, word. More competitive districts will cause more money to be raised, more money to be spent and more advertising to be done by more poeple. This will significantly increase the amount of private money in politics and, according to the campaign reformers like McCain and Feingold, this means more corruption.

I'm all in favor of more competition even if it means more money in politics. But I'll wait for the campaign finance lobby's views when more competition comes, if it ever does.

Imus is a whiner

2005-03-28T07:14:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article alleging that there are some irregularities associated with the money raised and spent on the Imus ranch. If you don't know about the ranch listen to the Imus show and you'll hear about it within 30-45 seconds. I think that to get on the show you have to show your fielty towards the ranch. Anyway, it wasn't totally flattering.

I didn't see any of the show on Friday, but this morning Imus was raging against the WSJ Hatchet job. This story hit Thursday. Noone cares anymore, except for Imus.

I enjoy watching the show because he is a bully to guests. He doesn't buy the lines that politicians give him. The problem is that because he is a bully it is ironic that he'd run to his lawyer the moment someone suggested that his precious ranch was spending money in ways that aren't entirely legit. Like most men with his amount of money it would not suprise me that he is not aware of how all his money works, etc. But I don't think trying to scare the Wall Street Journal with David Boeis is going to work.

USA Today explains why Washington deserves #1 seed

2005-03-17T13:13:00.000-05:00

Today's USA Today has an article about the "surpising pick" as the number 1 seed in this article.

The article provides a number of facts that people like Doug Gottlieb (cited as an ESPN expert in the article) need to pay attention as they continue to cry about this apparent injustice.

Consider that Bob Bowlsby, the selection chairman pointed out that Kentucky was No. 1 until they were routed by Florida and Wake was knocked out of the ACC Tournament in the first round, leaving Washington who has the following strengths for the consideration of those naysayers:

1. Non-conference wins over Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama, NC State and Arizona.

2. Second in the nation in scoring at 86.3 points a game.

3. Second in assists per game 19.

4. Scored at least 100 points five times this season.

5. Five players have scored at least 20 points in a game.

East coasters, especially, can continue to whine about the fact that Louisville should be a higher seed and can continue to lead the masses of the bracket filling public to predict that Louisville will beat the Huskies, or that Wake will beat them, but the fact is this is an awesome team and people who cover from within the Big East or the ACC should get out of the Dickie V bubble (did he cover a game outside of the ACC this year?) and pay attention to the rest of the country.

A-Rod is part of whats wrong with America

2005-03-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

I really admire Alex Rodriguez' skills as a baseball player. The guy takes the game seriously and wants to excel at all aspects. The thing is, he is always so serious all the time and interviews his brow furrowed and says all of the right things.

He is the epitome of a technical master of the game. at the same time, he is a totally joyless player to watch. Perhaps people like me who play fantasy baseball should expect this in our players. He'll be taken in the first round of the league draft, joyless player or not. But I hope he isn't the kind of guy who exemplifies the future of baseball.

I would hope that we can se players who play the game with total joy. Like Vladimir Guererro, Juan Pierre, David Ortiz, etc. Peter Gammons has an article today discussing the types of players who MLB should promote; read it here.

Ideas matter

2005-03-15T20:05:00.000-05:00

I was on a flight this past weekend in which I sitting next to a guy who said that he was very interested in having people get together in Congress and stopping all of the endless bickering that was underway. He essentially pulled the whole, "can't they all get a long?" line with me. What he didn't know was that on a ton of issues that Congress does effectively get the people's will done and passes some pretty good legislation, all in all.

On stuff like social security reform and other big ticket items there are some really huge differences as to what role government should be doing and how to effecitvely better the lives of people around the country. This will lead, unfortunately, to bitter statements from either side about how they are leading the country and the world down to hell. The bigger the issue, the harder the fight. Think about it, if you are a Dem and you've basically controlled social and economic policy since the 1930s, you gotta be pretty upset that since at least 1994, you've been on the sidelines. Additionally, since the 107th Congress when the Dems and Reps had roughly 50-50 control, they've lost a bunch of Senate seats, can't seem to get the House back, and they have lost the White House. Now all the sacred Dem cows are going away, in a steady fashion.

That deserves some discussion and even some angst as the governement becomes restructured and a new wave of policies come into place.

U-Dubb at the dance

2005-03-15T19:56:00.000-05:00

As ESPN reports on the improvements that the team has made over the last few years, it is clear that they deserve the #1 seed they received from the selection committee. Read it here. Also, USA Today runs an article on how the selection committee has modified the RPI for this year and will continue to do so to obtain a better read on which teams are the best, link here.

I wasn't going to write anything about this except for the fact that since the Dawgs have received the #1 seed I've heard nothing but garbage and venom spewed by all the ACC-heads who feel that their team got slighted, especially the Wake Forest guys who think their team is god's gift to basketball.

Do you really want to go head to head on this? You lost in the first round of the ACC tournament. Huskies won the PAC-10 title. The Huskies had the third highest RPI, they beat the most ranked teams during the regular season. These guys aren't slouches. The people who live in ACC-land don't seem to get the fact that there is a basketball world, and a very good one, outside of their fairyland. Of course, they are going to be upset at the prospect that a team that they don't pay attention to received so high a seed, Dickie V didn't tell them they were supposed to.

Jonah Goldberg on Kennedy and the SC

2005-03-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

A really great opinion piece, I think anyway about use of foreign court decisions in our constitutional jurisprudence. Read it here.

The best line:

Justice Stephen Breyer outdoes them all. He's invoked the rulings of the supreme courts of Zimbabwe and India and the Privy Council of Jamaica to support his rulings. "These are human beings called judges who have problems that are similar to our own," he once said, by way of explaining his philosophy. "Why don't I read what he says if it is similar enough?"

Perhaps because what other judges do and say is of no relevance - human beings though they may be. Perhaps because looking abroad for rulings that support your own predilections suggests that you cannot find precedent here at home to support your case? And just maybe citing foreign courts is a slippery slope from which there is no return. Once you start fishing for convenient rulings from the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, it's clear that you will look anywhere and use any rationale to rule as you see fit, regardless of what the law, precedent or the Constitution actually say.

This is the real problem, and the fishing expeditions for friendly decisions abroad is merely a symptom. We have gotten to a point where - on the major issues of the day - liberal elites and their fellow-traveling justices cannot tolerate the idea that a good law can be unconstitutional or that a bad law can actually be constitutional.

And the booming conclusion:

Nonetheless, if the plain meaning of the Constitution can change as Justice Kennedy's mind changes, then the meaning of the Constitution is not to be found in its text or in precedent. It's not even to be found in the opinions of the no doubt Solomonic Jamaican Privy Council. No, the meaning of the Constitution does not exist at all - outside the cranium of whichever justice provides the swing vote. Since what is in Justice Kennedy's mind is unknowable, we're back to the question: How can someone take an oath to defend the Constitution if he doesn't know what the Constitution is? Or are they taking an oath to Justice Kennedy?

If you are interested...

2005-02-25T12:32:00.000-05:00

in learning where you various elected officials are and what they are doing this weekend, read here.

Favorite Items from today's NOTE

2005-02-25T12:24:00.000-05:00

These were my favorite two lines from today's edition of ABC News' The Note:

"Is there a national Republican plan to use the presence of Howard Dean atop the DNC to hurt the party? (Are we naive to even ask that question?)

[Yes].

Is there a national Democratic plan to counter any Republican plan to use Dean to hurt the Democratic Party he leads? (Are we naive to even think that that could be true?) "

[No].

Social Security Politics

2005-02-21T23:11:00.000-05:00

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes a great inside baseball look at Social Security reform politics and the man who will make it happen, should it happen. Read it The New York Times > Washington > here.

NY Times continues the speculation on Chief Justice Rhenquist

2005-02-21T23:03:00.000-05:00

Nothing in this article is new. However, it does provide a good summary of the whole thing. Read it The New York Times > Washington >here.

Aaahhhh, spring training starts up again

2005-02-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

As Jason Stark writes on ESPN this last week, spring training is here! I can't wait to see how things pan out. Steroid fall out, who gets hot, who doesn't make it as a starter or down in AAA. We'll see.

At the same time, I have to get ready for my fantasy draft. The only guy worth keeping from last time is Jason schmidt. We'll see who else I get.

Kelly Clarkson's new song?

2005-02-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

Hey... Avril Lavigne wants her identity back. The new song, "Since U [sp?] Been Gone" I think sounds just like ol' Avril's music. Also heard the oh so popular song of Green Day right now, "Street of Broken Dreams" and it sounds a bit conspiciously like that which came off of the guitar of Johnny Marr of the Smiths. Sure, Radiohead does the same guitar thing on the Bends, but Green Day is no Radiohead.

Interesting if true report from Drudge on Hillary

2005-02-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

Geffen doesn't think Hillary can win:

Sen. Hillary Clinton should not count on help from Hollywood mogul David Geffen in her possible run for the White House.

Geffen, who was a generous supporter and pal of Bill Clinton when he was president, trashed Hillary's prospects last night during a Q&A at the 92nd St. Y in New York City.

"She can't win, and she's an incredibly polarizing figure," the billionaire Democrat told his audience. "And ambition is just not a good enough reason."

Lloyd Grove reports in fresh editions of the NY DAILY NEWS the audience broke with "hearty applause" over Geffen's comments.

Developing...

Fantasy baseball licensing issues

2005-02-17T17:24:00.000-05:00

MLB and the players union has cut a deal that could change the way in which fantasy baseball works. Neil deMause on Baseball Prospectus writes an article about the deal and its implications here: "The broader implication, though, is for baseball's future marketing overall. As Ambrosius says, when you limit your licensees, 'at that point, you can certainly get the major sponsors to say, this is only one of three or four major commissioner services out there, this is where we can get your image out in front of everybody.' What we're seeing is the dawning realization that companies will pay a premium to be part of a cartel, so it's better to divvy up the spoils among a limited number of partners than to allow all comers a piece of the pie.
Gosh, I wonder where they got that idea? "

I know for a fact that there are enough insane fantasy baseball players among the staffers of powerful Congressmen and women that a legislative remedy could be had on this issue if Congress would act...an antitrust piece, a change in legislation...we'll see what happens.

Romney's 2008 ambitions revealed...

2005-02-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Peter Chanellos from the Boston Globe comments on Gov. Romney's pending 2008 Presidential election, which any monkey could have told you was coming as far back as the day he took the oath of office as Gov, but I digress. He says that Romney's ambitions are typical of Mass politicians and discusses how annoying it is that all these guys think they are Presidential material. Read the whole thing here.

I actually like Romney, he has some interesting qualities. I don't think he'll make it though. He's Mormon and a lot of right wing types think Mormon's are a cult--maybe he's just doing some missionary work? Hes from Mass, a lot of Rs think Mass is akin to Hell. He's not too conservative, etc. etc. We'll see though.

What to the election was stolen conspiracy theorists say to this?

2005-02-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

The Sun Times reports on a Caltech/MIT Voting Tech Project that says that incorporating voting technology through requirements of the Help America Vote Act, increased election integrity by capturing votes that would have been other wise lost. Read it here.

I find this report interesting because one of the biggest complaints on the left is that the machines are unaccountable and will lead to disenfranchisement. I appears that the data concludes that the opposite is true.

Ehrlich and Duncan do the dance

2005-02-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

They were alot nicer to each other than a Baltimore City visit would have been but the rivalry is clearly in the air. Washington Times has the wrap up here.

NATIONAL JOURNAL examines the 2008 wannabes

2005-02-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

In this article from National Journal's Richard E. Cohen, he discusses the likely Senate 2008 Presidential candidates. It doesn't suprise me that so many are gonna make a go of it. At the same time, and I'll repeat this over and over again, the probability is low tha tthey will win and they should probably go do something more substantive, like run a State before they make the move. Of course, I'm not ever gonna run for elected office and it takes a huge leap of confidence in order to t do that. Anyway, the article can be found here.

A bit too negative

2005-02-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

Usually I'd be attributing that to some nefarious politician on the floors of Congress or in the State House in Maryland. I've been away for a while from the D.C. area and I don't know if it is because of the stress of Army training and being away from my family, or whether I am starting to react to the opinions that I hear from those whose political positions I disagree with and react like either a Rush Limbaugh or an Al Franken would do. I would like to raise my bar, even just a little bit. I'm not promising anything but I'm going to try.

Fun Fun in Maryland Politics

2005-02-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post has been closely following the daily political flare ups in Annapolis which would be known to sane people as the precludes in the 3 act drama entitled: the 2006 Maryland Governor's race. In Monday's Post, Mr. John Wagner writes up the political legislation offerred by the state Dems to try to take down Govenor Ehrlich. Of course, Ehrlich hasn't really played nice with the state Dems in this article. I love how several of the legislative pieces don't even pass the laugh test as the Dems try to argue that there is "good policy decisionmaking."

Sunday's Post article highlights, really, the need for these guys who run for state wide race need to get the edge in the electoral process. We are just under 2 years away from the Gov's race and O'Malley, the Baltimore City Mayor who has been chomping at the bit, is coming out swining about "false charges of infidelity" forcing Gov. Ehrlich to go on the defensive and firing the aide who apparently spread the rumores. This was either a brilliant play by one or the other. Or maybe not. O'Malley's campaign is going to focus on a John Edwards like optimism regarding the bouyant return of the Baltimore City, of course given the extraordinarily low level of regard most people have for the management of the City, his campaign can say what they want and show some measure of imrpovement, except for all of those areas where they can't "Ehrlich and his allies probably will continue pounding O'Malley for his stewardship of Baltimore -- where the homicide rate remains higher than the mayor had promised -- and his occasionally questionable rhetoric."

Of course, on the sideline is Mr. O'Malley's real current nemisis, Montgomery County Chief Executive, Douglas Duncan, who comes out unscathed regardless of the truth or falsity of the current O'Malley/Ehrlich dust up. "Others, however, suggested that Duncan could wind up being the biggest beneficiary, as he quietly continues networking among Democratic activists, raising money and building his record. Duncan issued a statement Friday condemning Steffen's actions, but he otherwise steered clear of the matter -- which his supporters said is wise." His biggest claim to fame is his ability to shephard through extremely expensive projects through the county council, like the brand new $100 million Strathmore concert hall, that was way over budget. Let's spend more money in a state that already spends WAY too much money!!!

We'll see how this progresses. But it already looks promising for poltical junkies like me to have something to write about.

Gov. Pawlenty in 2008?

2005-02-11T13:01:00.000-05:00

ABC News's Marc Ambinder reports that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty could be a good candidate for President. While he doesn't have President Bush's family name and may not have his contacts, he could be a Bush like Presidential character entering into the primaries for 2008...if he wins again in 2006. It will be interesting to watch him. Read the article here.

Bay Buchannon Fumes on Inside Politics

2005-02-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

CNN released a poll of Republicans showing that Rudy Gulliani is the early horse in the 2o08 primary race, followed by Senator McCain. When asked whether either of them have a shot, she flatly said that there is no way they would make it through the primary's because the two are both too liberal on different issues.

Of course, Bay's political consulting firm won't get the contract for their campaigns and so she has no interest in supporting them either. One of the deep dark secrets that really aren't or shouldn't be is the fact that she and her brother, Pat Buchannon, made tons of money during Pat's runs for the Presidency a couple of times in the 1990s.

Pat runs for President. People send money to Pat to become President. Pat hires a political consulting firm owned by himself and his sister Bay. They get paid lots of money to run what is obviously a losing campaign.

I don't doubt their conservative convictions but they really are terribly transparent in their motives and mechanizations. Of course news organizations like Fox and CNN like to fuel the kind of fire that Pat and Bay start.

Sen. Kennedy lies on CNN

2005-02-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

About 4 pm EST on CNN's Inside Politics Senator Kennedy stated that if the class action reform bill, S. 5, is passed into law people who are harmed by big corporations like Walmart will be unable to sue in the future. He said that the class action device will not be available should this legislation pass. This is clearly wrong. This legislaiton would allow state class action cases continue IF and WHEN at a majority of plaintiffs in a class are in one state. It would also allow state courts to hear class action law suits when all the plaintiffs are in the same state as the defendant. So if a bunch of california citizens sue walmart, the case can be heard in California courts. At the same time, if trial lawyers want to maximize the class size against Walmart, and bring in millions around the country, that case would be moved to federal court (which haven't been all that nice to Walmart) because it is a national case. This makes sense. Too bad Senator Kennedy doesn't.

O'Malley is a thug who protests too much

2005-02-10T16:10:00.000-05:00

Mayor O'Malley is the type of politician who postures way too much, is too easily shocked when people say mean things about him, and is one of the least subtle politicians in the world. This CNN article, link here, highlights some of his recent screaching. I happen to personally know lawyers who were prosecutors back in the day before O'Malley got a speech coach who taught him to speak in proper english. I don't know whether he had an affair or fathered any kids but it wouldn't suprise me if the guy isn't clean on something or another.

Sen. Dayton will not run again in 2006!

2005-02-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

ABCNews/AP report this glorious story about Sen. Dayton's desire not to run again for the Senate. This is glorious, glorious news.

Senator Murray is either evil or stupid but probably both

2005-02-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

Right now Senator Murray is ranting about how moving a limited number of class action cases from state to federal court is tanamount to denying justice to individuals harmed by evil corporations. Apparently corporations play legal games with people's lives in order not to be held liable for their wicked ways. This is true. However, she makes no mention of the fact that there are members of the trial bar (ATLA) who game the system the other way by creating consumer class action litigation cases that have no merit or else create settlements with the offending corporation whereby consumers receive coupons for pennies off of their next purchase of the offending product and the plaintiffs attorneys receive millions for their services.

She is further offended and shocked that the Congress would dare consider a bill that would move these cases to federal court. Of course, the issue here is that the Constitution, which Senator Murray may have heard at one time or another, is the founding legal document in this country and states that federal courts exist to remedy legal issues arising between citizens of different states. The Congress way back when said that this must be complete diversity, i.e. no plaintiff can be in the same state as any defendant. The class action legislation would change the rule so the rule reads that one plaintiff must be from a different state from one defendant.

The reason why this rule needs changing is that modern consumer class action litigation seeks to remedy national problems (because some of these harms are real and need remedying) in state court, using the 1789 federal statute requiring complete diversity. As the federal courts are designed to remedy national situations, it would seem that common sense would dictate that national consumer class action law suits would go into these courts. Plaintiffs lawyers have realized that they can get better results by gaming the judicial system just as expertly as corporations do by forcing a nationwide case into a backwater county court by adding a local merchant who uses or distributes the product being litigated. The class action legislation would change that.

Senator Murray probably doesn't know this because she has an unorganized office and she really doesn't care. Her staffers know, or at least should know, that this is the case. This speach that she gave is more of a sop to the trial lawyers who funded her last campaign for re-election to the Seante. See here.

Her asbestos complaints are really idiotic. We need to hold evil corporate wrong doers responsbile and compensate victims and outlaw asbestos. Republicans actually proffered a remedy that would do this last year but it was rejected because it hurt the trial lawyers too much. Hence the Democrats balked (Read Senators Reid's and Daschle's terrible statements last year that were a result of either ignorance or stupidit) and it failed. I know that the negotiations have continued and the bill is more lawyer friendly. Perhaps it will pass this time. Of course, it would do what Senator Murray would like it to do, as well as provide timely and adequate compensation to victims of corporate wrong doing and outlaw asbestos products. But it will hurt the trial lawyers and, hence, she will oppose it.

2008 Presidential Hopefuls Test Water

2005-02-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

Look how early they are starting to get going for the Presidency. ABC News: 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Test Water

Howard Dean wants to win elections

2005-02-07T22:33:00.000-05:00

ABC's "The Note"reports: "Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has assured party leaders that if he's elected to head the Democratic National Committee next week, he will focus aggressively on raising money and winning elections, party officials, and Dean advisers have told ABC News. "

Does the prospective head of the DNC have any other purpose than to raise money and win elections?

Novak on the declining Senate

2005-02-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

Excellent. Read it here.

Why Evan Bayh won't win in 2008

2005-02-07T13:14:00.000-05:00

In Naomie Emery's article in the Weekly Standard today she writes about the charicature of a Senator that is Sen. Evan Bayh:

3) Evan Bayh joins the jihad.

On the morning of Thursday, January 27, the Washington Times ran across the top of page one pictures of Democrats Boxer, Byrd, Kerry, Kennedy, and the 9 others who voted against confirming Rice. What was wrong with this string of pictures? It was made up of 12 hacks, has-beens, never-weres, and certified losers--and Evan Bayh, one of the four main sponsors of the Iraq war resolution and until Wednesday a real star in his party, one of the few with a shot at being president, because of the trust he had amassed on the right and in the center, and the chance he could have had to peel off some red states. As of Thursday morning, that trust was gone.

"Say it ain't so, Evan," wrote Andrea Neal in the Indianapolis Star a week later. "After six years of building your centrist credentials . . . causing even hard-core skeptics like me to brand you the genuine article, you turn around and vote against a distinguished, conservative nominee for Secretary of State. After backing President Bush in the Iraq war, and presenting persuasive arguments for ousting Saddam Hussein, you take a stand against the only administration official who can seamlessly pick up [President Bush's] foreign policy. . . . After boasting on your web site to be someone who cares more about doing the right thing than the expedient thing, you become one of 13 senators to vote against President Bush's nominee."

Neal quotes a former Bayh backer who calls the senator "self-serving" and says further, "I am appalled." So are the many who formerly saw Bayh as the one Democrat they could possibly vote for, and right now are changing their minds. This is a vote that will not be forgotten: As we speak, some Republican doubtless is running up spots morphing Bayh into Boxer and Teddy. "In 1991, defense-hawk Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga) caught the presidential bug, abandoned his record, and opposed the first Persian Gulf War--a big mistake," writes Morton Kondracke in Roll Call. "Has the same thing happened to Sen. Evan Bayh?" Nunn lost his chance for a place on the national ticket when the Gulf War succeeded; just as Bayh may have lost his gamble when the Iraqi election went well. Would he have done this had he known what would happen? The answer is probably "no."

Bayh tried to recoup on This Week by claiming that he was for war, but not this war, a smart war, a sensitive war, a war backed by both France and Belgium that lasted three days at the outside, and in which no one got hurt.

But Kerry tried that line in 2004, to no effect whatsoever, telling Rolling Stone that when he voted for the war (before, of course, voting against it) he had no idea Bush would f--it up as he did. Bayh should have looked hard at both Nunn and Kerry, and, failing that, he should have bided his time. It is now three years to the Iowa caucus, plenty of time to find other ways to make nice with the base. And time, too, to see if Rice--and Iraq--are a failure. If you vote against someone as the architect of a failed foreign policy, it helps if the policy first fails. Bayh better hope now Iraq becomes a disaster: If it succeeds, he will look worse than ever, having thrown away his name and his future to protest a success. Paris may be worth a mass, and the White House may be worth a boot-licking gesture, but a boot-licking gesture that costs you the White House is something quite different. The only thing worse than an obvious opportunist is an inept opportunist with a bad sense of timing. Say good night, Evan. And mark this down as strike three.

Read the whole article here.

George Allen for 2008

2005-02-07T01:20:00.000-05:00

This from the Washington Times Politics Blog

The 2008 presidential campaign has officially begun. Sen. George Allen, a Republican from Dixie whose eye is on the White House, held a press conference this morning to introduce a formal apology on behalf of the U.S. Senate for not passing anti-lynching legislation "during the height of these crimes." Mr. Allen co-authored the bill with Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana. "Allen and Landrieu will be introducing their resolution in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, February 1st, the first day of Black History Month," according to Mr. Allen's office. It was not immediately clear how this unpassed anti-lynching legislation from history might have been more effective than, say, anti-murder laws that were on the books in every state at the time. Possibly, the only way to make a law work in the South is to make it a federal one, as opposed to a state one. Whatever the case, the 2008 presidential campaign is underway.

-- Charles Hurt, national political reporter

Budget for FY06 comes out tomorrow

2005-02-07T01:05:00.000-05:00

This should be interesting. Read it here.

Maryland oh Maryland

2005-02-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post has an editorial on a subject that should receive more attention. Of course, the fact that it shows that Dems in the Legislature are acting like pigs who are going to fight the good government case against Gov. Ehrlich and make him look good is going to be enjoyable to watch. Apparently each Delegate and State Senator is given a pocket full of money in state scholarship funds and can divy it out tho whomever they would like however it would like. Senate President Miller is vowing to kill an effort by Gov. Ehrlich to move the money into state control to give it out according to financial need. This should be fun. Read the article here.

William Saletan didn't like the SOTU

2005-02-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

Saletan, writing at Slate, seems to think that Bush lives in a world of cognitive dissonance. Thats fine. He thinks far differently than a conservative. Read it here.

David Frum's view on the State of the Union

2005-02-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

Is similar to the one that I came away with. I haven't had time to blog much lately but I felt similar to Frum on the State of the Union. David Frum's Diary on National Review Online: "Double or nothing: that was the theme of the president�s dazzling speech. Bold, bold, bold � bold on social security reform, bold on controlling the growth of government, bold on legal and tax reform, bold in daring to mention nuclear energy, bold on social issues including marriage, bold on judges, and bold on foreign policy and the war on terror. Minutes before the beginning of the speech, new National Security Adviser Steve Hadley announced that he had promoted Elliot Abrams as one of his deputies � Abrams being one of the administration�s strongest and most consistent advocates of American strength and the expansion of freedom worldwide."

Sex, Politics and President Hillary

2005-02-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Intersting article by Margaret Carlson. Sex, Politics and President Hillary

Reid's aide should be fired

2005-02-01T10:06:00.000-05:00

I was at the swearing-in, in the green area standing in the back. This guy made a complete disruption of the event. He should be fired. The Hill article on it is right here.

Richardson in 2008?

2005-01-27T08:06:00.000-05:00

This editorial by Gov. Bill Richardson would seem to an indication that he would like to maintain a more national presence and keep 2008 Presidential aspirations open.

William Saletan article on Clinton abortion speech

2005-01-27T08:03:00.000-05:00

Saletan, who writes for Slate.com, wrote this article outlining the significance of Senator Clinton's speech on abortion a few days ago. She is continuing to move herself to the middle for a Presidential run in 2008. This speech, as the article explains, is important because it builds on an idea that the American Prospect discussed shortly after the November election, namely, that abortion is not a good experience and that should be recognized. This is a potentially huge shift in abortion politics. Read it all.

Dem linguistic Cues

2005-01-24T22:15:00.000-05:00

In this/a> article from the New York Times, Democrats discuss their strategy for going against President Bush's nominations and agenda.

What I find interesting is the language used by Senator Reid in describing the President's focus on Social Security: "'This isn't a crisis, so why should we be lurching forward?' asked Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the new Democratic leader." This is only one examnple but it seems that Mr. Reid is intent on using inflamatory language wherever possible to oppose the Republican Agenda. Remember that he said that Justice Thomas wrote awful opinions that were not fitting of a Supreme Court Justice (I'm paraphrasing). The hyperbole continues. Note also the language of Senators Boxer, Durbin and Dorgan, all of whom have taken leading positions in invoking the wildest language castigating Republican plans.

Not to mention the well honed self-flaggelating and screaming that dominates Senator Kennedy's time on the floor on any given topic. First, he starts out normally, then after five minutes the pace of his speech begins to quicken and his voice rises. Then within six or seven minutes Kennedy is yelling at the top of his lungs for as long as he likes. You would think that a man who used to eat a GALLON of pralines and cream ice cream a day would be more conscious of his blood pressure than that but I digress.

Whats interesting is that while the words "bipartisan approach" seems to roll quickly off of the tongues of some Dems, it is very apparent that they want no substantive seat at the table. It is a real shame too because I believe the Dems have something that they can offer if they were willing to constructively participate iwth the Republicans in debating public policy issues. Instead they prefer to scream horrible invectives and instill fear in the hearts of the citizenry.

...oh and another thing

2005-01-23T10:46:00.000-05:00

Senator Hagel: I realize that you are trying to run for President in 2008, but I don't think you are gonna make it. You came off like a Biden wanna-be today on "This Week."

Sunday Morning Observations

2005-01-23T10:32:00.000-05:00

I was watching the several Sunday morning news shows and the following thoughts came to me about several of the participants:

Ambassador Negroponte is pulling a full Ginsburg regarding the Iraqi elections. Probably a smart move as it appears that almost all of the newscasters are seeking for us to pull out on a specific time table and almost are aching for a civil war between the shia and shiites in Iraq.
Ironic though that there is no discussion as to the keeping of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Why no mention of these soldiers in one country and the focus on the other. It smells of grand political scheming.
The more and more I see and hear Senator Biden talk about a number of issues the more I think he is a walking, talking shyster of the first order. His condesension masked by a folksy story telling style. There is a story about how during the last day of a four day mark-up sessions regarding asbestos reform legislation, he strolls in and pushes an amendment given him by Senator Leahy that would kill the bill. He had no previous knowledge of the amendment and was barely involved the asbestos debate, but like he does so often, he lobs a huge grenade and smiles as it explodes. Senator Hatch, inexplicably--well maybe in an effort to get the bill out of the committee--accepted the amendment. Now the "Biden amendment" is one of the major sticking points in negotiations between trial lawyers, labor, business and insurers.

Redistricting proposal in California

2005-01-14T20:41:00.000-05:00

Peter Beinart from the New Republic has an article on Gov. Schwarzeneger's proposal to change the way Congressional redistricting is done in the state. He argues it would benefit the Dems. Perhaps. Regardless, I love the idea and think it would be much better for our country. There article is here.

I would note, however, that should this pass into law and start to happen accross the states, campaigns will become more costly and will need to have more money in order to win a contested election. Something to think about especially given the rediculous rules of campaign finance "reform".

GOP list for 2008

2005-01-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

An article in the Kansas City Start today looks at the prospect of Senator Brownback running for President in 2008. It also provides a list of other Republicans considering a run. Read the article here.

They should have added Newt Gingrich to the list.

Political Wire reports HUGE political news:

2005-01-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire reports that Shrum Retires:

Robert Shrum, 'one of the dominant Democratic political strategists and speechwriters of the last three decades,' said that he was 'ending his formal consulting career and moving to New York, where he would write and teach at New York University as a senior fellow,' the New York Times reports.

'He leaves Washington with a mixed record, having served as an adviser on 26 winning Senate campaigns, perhaps more than any other consultant, but also eight losing presidential campaigns, which may also stand as a record.' "

Libertarian indulgence

2005-01-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

I enjoy reading Reason. It indulges my libertarian streak. In this article, Chris Lehmann devours non-believer dreck in a book review of "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the FAilure of Reason," by SAm Harris. Read ithere.

HUGE asebestos hearing today

2005-01-11T22:18:00.000-05:00

Senator Spector held a major hearing on his asbestos trust fund bill. A video of the hearing can be seen on C-SPAN. This is one of the largest sleeper issues in the 109th Congress. If this happens it will be giant. I am not a player on this issue but like everyone else, I have a strong interest in seeing this succeed.

A few thoughts on stuff

2005-01-10T21:34:00.000-05:00

As expected, Barbara Boxer joined the Congressional Black Caucus in objecting to the certification of the Ohio electoral votes, even though they admitted that their challenge wouldn't chane the outcome of things.

As expected the votes in the House and the Senate rejected the assertions (the Senate vote was 75-1). A few thoughts on the debate in the House and Senate on this issue:

1. I may be wrong but the Dems do not seem to believe that states should be able to establish their own standards for voting. They also don't seem to believe that federalism exists.

2. Dems do not believe that an institutional or legal opinion equates to the bundle of ideology.

Regarding the Gonzales:

1. The Dems were trying to beat up on him in som long drawn out Specter-a-thon hearing. As usual, Specter comes off as being against the nominee even as he is seeking to support him. Additionally, the Dem accusation for Gonsalez' cheerleading the cause of torture is silly. He is accused of allowing the U.S. to engage in torture acts when he asked the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice to make legal analysis of a vague law passed by Congress that had not been tested by any court. He receives that opinion, which opines that the vagueness of the law allows the Federal government more leeway in this area that previously thought. He is then accused of supporting torture against terrorists. That doesn't make sense. I would not be suprised if the torture statute wasn't written by Dems.

Both parties playing hardball w/ members

2005-01-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

Despite intonations to the contrary that bipartisanship is to be the key both the Dems and the Republicans are taking signiicant steps to enforce party loyalty aka voting discipline on their members. Look at this article to see what the Dems are doing and this article to see what the House Republicans are doing.

Sen. Boxer to Challenge Bush?

2005-01-05T22:24:00.000-05:00

The Hill reports today that Sen. Boxer may join Rep. Conyers in challenging the electoral votes of the state of Ohio. Link here.

Keep counting till you win election

2005-01-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

The title of this great article in the Seattle PI today on the Dems use of litigation as a method of election. But if you think about it, the Dems have believed that litigation is a legitimate way to make policy since the formation of the New Deal. Litigating democratic elections is just a continuation of litigating social policy.

The Delay ethics rules change doesn't go

2005-01-03T22:50:00.000-05:00

Probably smart politics on the part of House Republicans. Since the House Dems are changing their rules to require leadership officers to step down if they are indicted. Perhaps that was the whole point? Who knows. Maybe the Republicans need a rabid prosceutor in the bay area, or in other places where Dem leadership resides. See the link here.

Gonzales torture memo charges are creating controversy

2005-01-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

So convenient that this scandal is happening now. Left wing groups like People for the American Way have been saying this for months. Oh, I forgot, the Senate is actually going to consider Gonzales soon. Read about it here.

Napolean Dynamite fiasco

2005-01-03T22:08:00.000-05:00

If anyone is actually reading this thing, it will be obvious that I had a total fiasco posting about Napolean Dynamite earlier. I don't have time to erase all of the excess posts right away so I'm not going to worry about it just now and do it slowly over time. I liked the movie but wasn't sure what an actor meant by the "humanity" of the characters. I also saw Hero and Spiderman 2 over the holiday. They were great too. I do think that some could say that Hero could be pro Chinese communist propoganda but that is a bit too conspiracy theorist for me.

The Democratic Wing expects paybacks in WA from Gregroire

2005-01-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

This was to be expected, since they saved her can. link. Of course, with a Dem Senate and House under her control she can do what she wants. You'd think, however, she'd be a little careful, given how close the race was and how unattractive she was to the left and the middle.

I am most concerned about the "election reform" the article mentions. It suggests that the problem was that not enough people voted, and seeks to make it even easier in Washington to vote, without any corresponding increase protections from fraud. The biggest problem from the WA govenor's election race was the fact that the Dems were able to persuade courts and other judicial officials that many of the legal requirements necessary to cast a legal vote were unnecessary. This is a shame.

We'll see what Secretary Reed ends up doing on this (and he's facing his own problems here).

Medical Malpractice debate in Maryland

2004-12-29T23:27:00.000-05:00

Gov. Erlich called a special session on medical malpractice tort reform this week. The legislature has already killed the Govenor's bill and are advancing their own. Instead of a pure tort bill Democratic leadership have incorporated poison pill tax measures designed to kill passage of the bill (lets face facts for what they are). I think that the Gov can actually win this thing, let the rise in rates occur and have Doctors determine to take their practices elsewhere. Let the public put pressure on their state reps to give them a bill that will allow their doctors do their work.

The people who get hurt by a tort reform bill are not patients or doctors. The doctors who make mistakes will still do so at the same rate as they always have with or without a bill. There will be legal recourse with or without a bill by any patient who a trial lawyer finds worthy enough to take on as a client. Passage of tort reform legislation will hurt the plaintiff's bar, though, and take some of their power away. This is what is behind it. For every case that a trial lawyer brings to court, how many are turned away becuase the settlement or trial would produce a judgement that wouldn't garner enough at 33% of the settlement.

Trial lawyers by and large do not make decisions to take a case on the basis of merit or right or wrong. They take cases based on a business decision of potential success and whether the potential is there for them to obtain the necessary financial reward that corresponds to the financial risk exerted in the case.

Condesension and leftwing politics

2004-12-29T22:57:00.000-05:00

My wife started watching "The American President" tonight just before I left for a run. It was a stocking stuffer from my mother in law a few years back. Her politics are pretty right wing but she loves the movie for some reason. Anyway, it is an Aaron Sorkin (sp?) effort that is a crude preview of what would become the show "The West Wing." The point of the whole thing is that a sitting center-left Dem President is facing reelection in just over a year and is getting smeared by the Presumptive Republican challenger -- a Senator who has an eerie resemblence to Bob Dole -- does this sound all so 1996-ish-- who has the temerity to challenge the President on character and family values and patriotism. At the same time, a liberal lobbyist is seeking to pass a very costly environmental bill, there is pressure to impose sweeping restrictions on handguns and assault weapons and a big issue of whether or not the ACLU gets to define what the bill of rights and individual liberties are in our country and how they are to be protected.

What is most striking is that there is this constant explaining of these each of these issues, and more, by the characters that give the impression that you are an idiot if you don't believe the way that liberals do throughout the movie. Its kind of amusing because apparently people don't have any knowledge of these issues from their own experience. It reeks of condesension all the way throughout the movie. This is a charge that has been made against the West Wing and liberal politicians in general. I remember specifically the charges against Gore and Kerry on these things. What I think, however, is that the Dems are cognizant of this fact that they are perceived to be condecending and try really, really, hard to make htemselves not to be that way.

Take, for instance, Gore's constant wordrobe changes and personality changes on the stump. Kinder, gentler and more sensitive man? Or an alpha male? You could see it during this last Presidential campaign with Kerry drinking Bud in some living room with various campaign staff watching the Red Soxs in the playoffs, Kerry windsurfing, biking or chewing out Secret Service for getting in his way on the slopes. Or trying to order an authentic Phillie chesse stake "with or without." (He asked for swiss chesse--see this link). All apparently very normal-ish? The thing is these guys try way to hard to be normal and it comes off as forced. They don't have the personality for it. Clinton did, but niether Gore nor Kerry did.

I don't know what the dems need to do to alleviate the paternalistic condesension that the heap upon those poor rubes who tend to disagree with them but it is an issue that needs addressing and probably won't change until they find someone, like a Clinton, who can actually relate to real people gets into the leadership again.

Happy Christmas Holiday season

2004-12-28T01:41:00.000-05:00

I started taking time off on the 21st of December and haven't been in the office since. I've noticed that I have only posted a couple of times since then. It is ironic to me, a little anyway, that since I've had time to blog and post things on this page that I haven't. This is accounted for in a number of ways. Partly it is because my computer has been difficult to work with (needs more RAM and probably a better ISP), I have been spending quite a bit of time with my wife and kids doing the things that families do during the Christmas holiday season, but mostly, I don't care enough about this project to continue it while I have other things pressing that I view more important.

This has made me rethink, for a few short moments anyway, the purpose and nature of this blog. Because my tendancy is to do everything that I do with a degree of professionalism (okay really its an overwhelming sense of perfectionism) I felt some pressure to do something with this blog that is new an interesting. I report Hill gossip sometimes when I find out interesting things. I try to express my opinions about both sides of the isle that sheds light on certain issues and I sometimes try to provide philosophical explanations for why I think a more conservative view of the world and in public policy makes more sense than the alternatives. All of this, actually, is hard work and there are already a host of people doing similar things around the "blogosphere." You can see earlier posts to read who I think says interesting things. Additionally, the audience for this particular blog appears to be fairly small at this point. While it may be nice to eventually develop a following and to achieve some influence or notoriety fo what is written here, I doubt that such an occurrence will be forth coming. As a result, I have laid aside any pretentions of doing this in a professional way. I still think its important to be competenet but I do this, I realize, because its fun to express my views in a way that is primarily my own (or represents my own view) in a public forum.

Additionally, the anonymity I enjoy from not using my own name, while it remains a bit of a risky proposition, allows me to express views and ideas that I otherwise couldn't because of what I do in the real world.

The wohle point of this rather mindless middle of the night because I can't sleep diatribe is that I haven't felt like writing anything--eventhough there have been quite a few wonderful things to write about and to discuss. Christmas and the days leading up to them were wonderful. I spent a great deal of time wiht my kids, time that I don't normally get to spend with them. I was able to go on a date wiht my wife and just kick it. No deadlines, no getting up early the next day, no need to anything really. It was nice. We were able to attend a Christmas concert, spend time with friends and go caroling. All fun holiday things. Since Christmas it has been blissfully more of the same. That ends later this week when I return to work. Un/fortunatly I won't be returning to my civilian job full time for a few months while I attend an Officer Basic Course at Fort Lee in Virginia starting next week through the middle of April. I will bring my laptop with me and will continue to blog from time to time, probably not often though.

I do hope that I will be joined on this blog by a couple of others. My brother who lives in California and works in film has expressed an interest in joining up as has one of my good friends from college who is in Indiana studying business. Hopefully they will join me and post lots of things and engage in conversations with ourselves and others about what is going on in the world around us. There are a lot of messy things going on and I hope that we can address those that we think are important. Like the upcoming baseball season and my ability to prepare for the fantasy baseball draft my league is going to have on April 2nd.

In all, this has been a fun week plus of no work, lots of sleep and playing with family. I can't wait for the new year to begin.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.164-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. But I guess what they are saying is that you recognize these people for who they are and their normalcy, even though they are a bit odd. Of course, given the dreck on DVD that people pay to have in their home permanently, this would be well worth a couple of bucks to buy.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.163-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small quibble: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I'm sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip (although he is played pretty impressivly by a guy I saw playing a serial killer on the hilarious show Reno 9-11). I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what "humanity" means? Perhaps. In spite of my picky-ness on this one point the movie is well worth the rental price, if not the purchase price of the DVD. Heaven knows that a lot of people spend a lot more money buying movies that are really quite crappy. If you shell money out for some of them, shell it out for this one.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.162-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small quibble: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I'm sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip (although he is played pretty impressivly by a guy I saw playing a serial killer on the hilarious show Reno 9-11). I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what "humanity" means? Perhaps. In spite of my picky-ness on this one point the movie is well worth the rental price, if not the purchase price of the DVD. Heaven knows that a lot of people spend a lot more money buying movies that are really quite crappy. If you shell money out for some of them, shell it out for this one.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.161-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small quibble: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I'm sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip (although he is played pretty impressivly by a guy I saw playing a serial killer on the hilarious show Reno 9-11). I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what "humanity" means? Perhaps. In spite of my picky-ness on this one point the movie is well worth the rental price, if not the purchase price of the DVD. Heaven knows that a lot of people spend a lot more money buying movies that are really quite crappy. If you shell money out for some of them, shell it out for this one.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.160-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small quibble: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I'm sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip (although he is played pretty impressivly by a guy I saw playing a serial killer on the hilarious show Reno 9-11). I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what "humanity" means? Perhaps. In spite of my picky-ness on this one point the movie is well worth the rental price, if not the purchase price of the DVD. Heaven knows that a lot of people spend a lot more money buying movies that are really quite crappy. If you shell money out for some of them, shell it out for this one.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.159-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small quibble: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I'm sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip (although he is played pretty impressivly by a guy I saw playing a serial killer on the hilarious show Reno 9-11). I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what "humanity" means? Perhaps. In spite of my picky-ness on this one point the movie is well worth the rental price, if not the purchase price of the DVD. Heaven knows that a lot of people spend a lot more money buying movies that are really quite crappy. If you shell money out for some of them, shell it out for this one.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.158-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means? Perhaps.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.157-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means? Perhaps.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.156-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means? Perhaps.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.155-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means?

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.154-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means?

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.153-05:00

One thing I did do this Christmas break is see the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Pretty good movie, really fun with a quirky sense of humor. I even enjoyed the commentary that came with the DVD. Highly recommended. One small criticism: There is a scene on the flippin features section of the DVD which does a brief behind the scenes of the making of the final scene involving a wedding. Its pretty good but several of the actors made special mention of the "humanity" of the characters. This is just a personal beef and I"m sure the actors had good reason to use that specific word but I get the felling, at times, that the word doesn't have much of a specific meaning. Maybe it does. It kind of means -- what? -- that you recognize their plight? I don't really recognize Napleon's plight, or his brother Kip. I have known many loser types through the years and have done many of the same sorts of things Napolean does myself. Perhaps because I can't sleep I'm wasting time on this but I think the humanity in the movie is the ability of people to overcome and do what they do in the search for social connection, friendship and love. Maybe that's what humanity means.

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.152-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.151-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.150-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.149-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.148-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.147-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.146-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.145-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.144-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.143-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.142-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.141-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.140-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.139-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.138-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.137-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.136-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.135-05:00

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-12-28T01:15:00.134-05:00