Cogitamus

A Couple of Random Thoughts (and Open Thread)

Random thought #1: the GOP is trying to fix their nominating process again.  The deal is, though, that to fix anything, you've got to have a clear idea of what the problem is.

I'd argue that the biggest problem with the nominating processes of our major parties isn't the four or five months of primary and caucus voting; it's the year before the first primary/caucus vote is cast.  During that year, anybody can throw his or her hat into the ring, show up at the interminable cattle-call debates, and be pumped up by one or another segment of the media as the next big thing.  And for that year, there's little to no evidence to the contrary.  In particular, there's no evidence that allows anyone to gradually winnow the field so that there aren't a dozen candidates in every debate, to shut up pundits that are pushing candidates that don't have a chance, and to allow voters to focus on a reasonable number of possibilities.

My solution would be to move the first four caucuses and primaries into 2015.  Iowa's a nice place in June, I'm told (it's one of the few states I've never been to), and I can speak from experience when I say New Hampshire and South Carolina are quite pleasant in September and October, respectively.  And I'll bet the Nevada desert isn't too hot or too cold in November.

There's your primary calendar for 2015.  It would cause vanity candidates to close shop early on when they failed to get any votes, and if they kept going, it would give debate organizers grounds to exclude them.  Heavy hitters, if they wanted, could hold off on declaring their candidacies, and thumb their noses at Iowa and New Hampshire if they desired.  (That would be a Good Thing right there.)  By November 2015, you'd be down to no more than three or four relatively strong candidates in each party (hell, on the Dem side, it might be down to just Hillary) that the voters in the remaining 46 states would have plenty of time to consider.

Random thought #2: the Chris Christie scandals aren't all that important nationally (other than eliminating what small chance he had for the GOP nomination), but damn, Marx nailed this one: this is Watergate, repeated as small-time farce.  (And playing out a good bit faster, too.)  'Watergate' wound up standing for not just a certain "third-rate burglary," but a host of other scandals as well: the burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, the dirty-tricks campaign aimed at the Dem primary field, the almost-firebombing of the Brookings Institution, and of course, the cover-up.  Seems like the same thing is happening here.

Random thought #3 (well, not random to me): five years ago today, in the baby house in Samara, Russia, my wife and I first met our son.  He's now a very lively and intelligent six year old, doing great in first grade, and a lot of fun to be with.  I'm a very lucky guy.

So what's up with anyone else?  If anyone's still reading this blog, feel free to jump in.  And if nobody is, I'll probably keep talking, just because.

It's a Pro-Birth, Not a Pro-Life Movement (But You Knew That)

As usual, at this time of year, the Southern Baptist church across from our neighborhood has a lawn full of little crosses out by the road.

Funny, I don't recall seeing any crosses on their lawn in December to acknowledge the first anniversary of the Newtown massacre.  But those were six year olds, not fetuses.

The point is that here was a specific occasion where a genuinely pro-life group could have publicly mourned the deaths of a group of born children.  And the allegedly pro-life organizations pretty much took a pass on it.

And of course, it's not just Newtown.  The same politicians that vote against abortion rights - who are allegedly pro-life - overwhelmingly vote against food stamps, Medicaid expansion, unemployment insurance - things that would make a big difference in the lives of children who chose the wrong families to be born into.  And these politicians vote that way because large numbers of their constituents feel that way.

The 'pro-life' movement wants conceived children to be born.  But after that, screw 'em, the little moochers and takers.

This is not to say there aren't people who are genuinely pro-life across the board.  There are people like that, and I count some of them among my closest friends.  But they have no political impact; there is no movement that represents their voices.  Certainly the movement that calls itself 'pro-life' doesn't.  That movement is strictly pro-birth.

The Terrorists of Our Plutocrat Class

Yesterday, a pair of workplace catastrophes - one collapsing building in Omaha, Nebraska, and one exploding building in Madill, Oklahoma - killed four American workers, and injured dozens more.

This is immediately in the wake of the chemical leak in West Virginia that had 300,000 people going without water for five days.

And it's also in the wake of episodes last year like the oil spill in Arkansas, and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.

Charles Pierce said it well:

Imagine if there were three terrorist events in two weeks. First, terrorists poison a state's water supply. Then, they rig a building to collapse and rig another one hundreds of miles away to explode. Nervous politicians would be blue-pencilling the Bill of Rights by daybreak. The NSA would throw a parade for itself. Edward Snowden would be hung in effigy, if we couldn't do it in person. Somebody's ass would get droned in Waziristan.

 Instead, it's our homegrown corporate/plutocrat class, so nobody of consequence is going to bat an eye.

I keep on waiting for the Democratic Party to get a clue about this: to say after the latest such disaster, "This is why we regulate, goddamnit - this is why we need the regulations, and why we need enough Federal inspectors out in the field to make sure they're followed.  Because otherwise, they'll poison our food, dump chemicals in our rivers, steal your wages, and make you work in places that could blow up."

Since I expected this moment to happen after the 1991 chicken processing plant fire in Hamlet, NC that killed 25 workers, and was disappointed then, I haven't exactly been expecting it since.  But it's still disappointing when it doesn't happen, when the Dems are too rarely willing to make the global case for regulation, that it protects us from the consequences of corporate rapaciousness.

Pierce, again:

Kendrick Houston [who was working at the Omaha plant] was brave enough to go back into the fire. Yet too many of our politicians, local and national, don't have the simple stones t[o] stand up to a corporate class that has come to represent nothing but death and pillage.

That sums it up.

There's a Simple Solution For That, Reince. But You Aren't Interested.

"They don't want this [unemployment insurance extension] to pass. What they want to do is ... a campaign issue, this sort of rich versus poor, the same old thing they can do, and avoid Obamacare," said Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Reince.  Dude.

You say the Dems don't want this UI extension to pass?  You don't want them to be able to play this 'rich versus poor' card?

I've got an idea.  Why doesn't your party just vote for the UI extension?  If the Dems don't want it to pass, because they'd rather have the campaign issue than to pass the extension, then that'll call their bluff.  They'll be pretty much forced to go along with it.  Issue gone.  Poof!

And if you really want to undercut them on the whole rich v. poor thing, your party could follow that up by voting to restore food stamp funding levels to what they were last summer, and maybe even pass a minimum wage hike as icing on the cake. 

After that, it would be next to impossible for the Dems to frame the next election as being about rich versus poor.  Nothing to it - the easiest slam dunk in the world!

Of course, the real problem is that pretty much the entire GOP would almost rather pour gasoline over themselves and light a match than to lift a finger to help people who are struggling to get by.  So there's zero likelihood that they'll take advantage of this easy opportunity to deny this issue to the Dems.  Which is unfortunate, because the world would be a much better place if they'd do so.

Open thread.

Billionaire Home Depot Founder Says Jesus Is Alienating The Rich

(A too-easy parody of this news item.  All I can figure is they must read the Bible in Latin at this guy's parish, assuming he actually goes to church.)

Billionaire Home Depot founder Ken Langone has a warning for Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Christian Trinity.

A major Republican donor, Langone told CNBC in a story published online Monday that wealthy people such as himself might stop giving to charity if Jesus continues to make statements criticizing rich people and income inequality.

Langone described the Lord's comments about rich people being unlikely to enter the Kingdom of God as "exclusionary" statements that may make some of the rich "incapable of feeling compassion for the poor."

Langone, who is leading an effort to raise money for the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan said he relayed these concerns to Cardinal Timothy Dolan in New York. Specifically, Langone said he told the church leader he spoke to a donor who could give millions of dollars to the cathedral project but was worried about Jesus' "exclusionary" remarks.

"I've told the cardinal, 'Your Eminence, this is one more hurdle I hope we don't have to deal with. Jesus needs to be careful about generalities. Rich people in one country don't act the same as rich people in another country,'" said Langone.  "Maybe over in Palestine, the rich people there would have a harder time entering the kingdom of God than a camel would have to try to get through the eye of a needle.  But applying that to rich people everywhere...Jesus needs to watch what he says."

CNBC also spoke to Dolan, who said he told Langone the unnamed donor's concerns seemed based on "a misunderstanding of the Lord's message."

"Jesus loves poor people. He also loves rich people.' ... So I said, 'Ken, thanks for bringing it to my attention. We've gotta correct to make sure this gentleman understands the Gospel message properly.' And then I think he's gonna say, 'Oh, OK. If that's the case, count me in for St. Patrick's Cathedral,'" Dolan said.

New Year's Day Open Thread

Happy New Year, everyone!  Sorry for my absence in December; it was a bear of a month, both at work and at home.  But with any luck, 2014 should be better.  

We stayed up until about 10:30 with the 6 year old, eating snack food and watching episodes of Gilligan's Island on DVD, then called it a night.  How did you spend your evening?

I am going to do my best to resurrect this blog this month.  It's been hard lately because of the aforementioned work and home demands.  Plus the net-nanny at work still keeps blocking this blog (and only this blog), which makes it hard to keep track of what's going on.  But I'm gonna try, if any of you all are still around and paying attention.  I expect to do a mix of mostly short quick-reaction Atrios-y sort of posts, with some longer ones mixed in.  We'll see if that actually happens.

Anyhow, this is an open thread.  What's up with you folks?