Are We Sure Barack Obama Isn't A Jedi?

Seriously -- pulling the country out of an economic tailspin; signing a paradigm-shifting health care reform bill into law; reforming a broken student loan system; nearly instantly improving the perception of America in the eyes of the world; signing a treaty with Russia to reduce nuclear weapons... all in under a year and a half.  Up next on his plate is rolling back the mishandled "No Child Left Behind" law and repealing the unpopular "Don't Ask Don't Tell" discriminatory policy.  Then, blow up the Death Star.

A Running List of Favorite Songs: Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos by Public Enemy

I don't have the right words in my vocabulary to express how important this group was to me.

John Cornyn Likes It, But Doesn't Wanna Pay For It.

Anyone that thinks today's GOP is serious about fiscal conservatism, you might want to hold your hands over your ears and sing, "I can't hearrr youuuu."

In a brief chat with the Huffington Post on Tuesday, National Republican Senatorial Committee chair John Cornyn (R-Tex.) implicitly acknowledged that Republicans are content with allowing some elements of Obama’s reform into law. And they’d generally ignore those elements when taking the fight to their Democrat opponents as November approaches.

“There is non-controversial stuff here like the preexisting conditions exclusion and those sorts of things,” the Texas Republican said. “Now we are not interested in repealing that. And that is frankly a distraction.”

What the GOP will work to repeal, Cornyn explained, are provisions that result in “tax increases on middle class families,” language that forced “an increase in the premium costs for people who have insurance now” and the “cuts to Medicare” included in the legislation.

John Cornyn wants to keep the preexisting conditions exclusion, labeling it "non-controversial."  Of course, that "non-controversial" item is a big chunk of what makes this bill so expensive.  Dismissing it as "a distraction" while talking about eliminating the necessary taxes and spending cuts in order to fund it is complete nonsense.

Of course, big spending combined with tax cuts is the complete nonsense that got us to this point in the first place.  I'm looking right at ya, W.

Via TPM: An Open Letter to Conservatives.

Saw this on Talking Points Memo, thought it was brilliant. Thought I'd pass it along.

Dear Conservative Americans,

The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now.  You've lost me and you've lost most of America.  Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I'd like to give you some advice and an invitation.

First, the invitation:  Come back to us.

Now the advice.  You're going to have to come up with a platform that isn't built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more.  But you have work to do even before you take on that task.

Your party -- the GOP -- and the conservative end of the American political spectrum has become irresponsible and irrational.  Worse, it's tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred.  Let me provide some expamples -- by no means an exhaustive list -- of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

If you're going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you'll have to start by draining this swamp:

Hypocrisy

You can't flip out -- and threaten impeachment - when Dems use a prlimentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that's centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.

Misreading the Anti-HCR Public Sentiment.

Today (and for the past few weeks) the GOP has been screaming from the mountain tops that the American public did not want this bill.  And if this recent CNN Opinion Research Poll is any indication, they're absolutely right:

As you may know, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are trying to pass final legislation that would make major changes in the country’s health care system. Based on what you have read or heard about that legislation, do you generally favor it or generally oppose it?

Mar 19-21 2010

Favor 39%

Oppose 59%

No opinion 2%

I'd say that 59% is pretty telling. Until you read the next question:

(IF OPPOSE) Do you oppose that legislation because you think its approach toward health care is too liberal, or because you think it is not liberal enough?

Mar 19-21 2010

Oppose, too liberal 43%

Oppose, not liberal enough 13%

No opinion 5%

So, if you combine that with the 39% that favor the bill from the previous question, you get something like this.

52% Favor, or oppose because the bill isn't liberal enough

43% Oppose, feel the bill is too liberal

5% No opinion

Maybe you're not as tuned in to the pulse of America as you think you are, GOP.  I'd be willing to wager that if this bill included a Public Option, approval numbers would have been much higher.

Frum Ponders His Party.

David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush and die-hard conservative, ponders the current state of the GOP:

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

Good Job, DC.

I'd like to extend my thanks to the lawmakers in DC who chose to do what was right.  The health care system in America is broken.  This legislation is a step in the right direction toward fixing it.  It really doesn't get any more simple than that.

That is all.

Hello, Black Snake. No Homo.

Spring has arrived in Virginia.  Take a look at the four-foot long Black Racer hanging out in my front yard this morning:

ChatRoulette Stinks. Unless You're This Guy.

Vimeo of the Day: San Francisco's People

Beautiful.


San Francisco's People. Canon 5DmkII 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

McDonnell's Flipped a Bitch On The Whole "Anti-Gay" Thing.

Turnabout's fair play.  In this space, I blasted Virginia governor Bob McDonnell for purposefully excluding homosexuals from protection against discrimination.

Apparently, McDonnell had a "come to Jesus" moment some time since then, because today he issued an executive directive stating, and I quote:

Discrimination based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

So there you have it.  Weird, since just last week he had Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's back on his letter that explicitly allowed for discrimination against homosexuals at state colleges and universities.

Well done, Governor.

McDonnell's full statement after the jump.

The Adam Savage/Rick Deckard Connection.

Those that know me know that I watch a lot of Mythbusters. Others that know me know that Blade Runner is one of my all-time favorite flicks.

So when Mythbusters' Adam Savage decides that he's going to build a replica (replicant?) of Rick Deckard's gun... I get cised.

Passive-Aggressiveness Has Its Own Blog.

And it's a funny one.  My favorite:

When even leaving a note is too direct…you folks with wireless networks still named “linksys” or “trendnet” are clearly missing out on a priceless opportunity to piss off your neighbors.

Godzilla Haiku

A brilliant little tumblr.

A Running List of Favorite Songs: I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates

In honor of T-Bone Wolk, bassist for Hall & Oates, who passed away a few days ago.  One of my favorite bass lines from one of my favorite Hall & Oates tracks.

From 1995: "The Internet? Bah!"

Don't really know who Clifford Stoll is, nor do I have the intellectual curiosity to really care.  But I know a complete whiff when I see one.  And Mr. Stoll whiffed on this whole internet thing, big time.

After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Well played, sir.  Oh, he goes on:

Then there's cyberbusiness. We're promised instant catalog shopping--just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet--which there isn't--the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

I'm no sociologist, but I know that if you're ready my bullshit blog, chances are pretty good think what I think:  salespeople only ruin the shopping experience.

I like my consumerism completely absent of any human interaction, thank you very much.  It's why the Domino's Pizza Tracker is the greatest innovation of the 21st century.