The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: politics

  • A well-deserved smack-down on trials of terrorists

    Adam Serwer at TAPPED has a nice response to Richard Cohen’s latest hyperventilating bed-wetting over the upcoming trial of several terrorists.  I’m disappointed that NYC has successfully lobbied to have the trials held elsewhere, though I’m glad that the main reason seems to be that the extra security would be overly disruptive to city life and not that we are afraid the city would be attacked.  (As if Al Qaeda needs another reason…)

    But I simply cannot abide the weak-kneed wimps who think that “the paramount civil liberty is a sense of security”.  How absolutely bat-crazy stupid do you have to be to write something like that?  Note that it’s not even that the ultimate right is actual security — it’s only that we have a sense of security.  So apparently, in order that Richard Cohen can sleep at night without worrying about the monsters under his bed, we should sacrifice legal standards, integrity, freedom itself.  It turns out I wrote my rebuttal of his argument about two and a half years before he even wrote his article, and I stand by it:

    We are stronger than that.

    We are smarter than that.

    We are better than that.

  • Another Democrat making sense

    So why isn’t any of the so-called leadership — in the Capitol or in the Oval Office — listening?

    On the Huffington Post, Paul Begala offers his own, lucid take on the choice facing Democrats:  Pass the Senate bill, or collapse completely come November.  It’s worth the time to read.

    Now, here’s hoping the Democrats in charge get their acts together, get their courage on, and get moving.  Pass.  The.  Damn.  Bill.

  • Finally, a Democrat starts making sense.

    David Plouffe, campaign adviser to the Obama campaign and author of Audacity to Win, has written a much-needed op-ed in the Washington Post.  In it, he outlines the shape of a legislative strategy that would allow the Democrats to survive the coming midterm elections.  It’s worth a full read but the bullet-point summary is

    • Pass a meaningful health insurance reform package without delay
    • We need to show that we not just are focused on jobs but also create them.
    • Make sure voters understand what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did for the economy.
    • Don’t accept any lectures on spending.
    • “Change” is not just about policies.
    • Run great campaigns.
    • No bed-wetting.

    Good advice from a guy who’s shown he knows how to win.  Let’s hope someone in Washington is listening.

  • We Are All Californians Now

    This is the day.
    This is the moment that some clever historian — not the first to consider this sweep of time, but rather someone turning over the leaves looking for a more subtle causation — will draw a slash on the timeline of history and write: Here began the fall of the American republic.

    (more…)

  • What the heck is reconciliation?

    (a) The rite in the Catholic Church formerly known as penace.

    (b) A process whereby congressional resolutions are harmonized with the budget.  Under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, it provides a procedure to consider (certain types of) bills without allowing a fillibuster in the Senate.  As such it’s suddenly become the hot topic legislatively.  I would explain further but I’d muck it up.  Instead, read this by Sarah Binder over at the Monkey Cage.  It’s very lucid.

  • The Democratic playbook

    in convenient cartoon form.

    by Tom Toles
    by Tom Toles

    I got this via Ezra Klein’s fantastic blog, but apparently it’s by Tom Toles.

  • My congressional lobbying

    I haven’t really gotten involved in haranguing my elected representatives before, but the possibility of health care reform is so tantalizingly close — and the apparent drift of the Democratic so-called “leadership” is so grindingly predictable and frustrating — that I’ve felt compelled to contact my representative several times.  Below the fold is the email I’ve sent.

    UPDATE: I claim no particular credit, but according to Talking Points Memo, Rep. Holt has in fact come out in support of (what I feel to be) the correct option, passing the Senate bill.  (I am indifferent as to whether it needs to be done straight up or with amendments via reconciliation.)

    (more…)

  • What the Democrats Should Do Now

    Pass health care reform.

    Pass the frakking Senate bill as is and have the President sign it before the State of the Union. Heck, have him sign it at the State of the Union. Yes, it will enrage the Republicans but in case you haven’t noticed, the Republicans are already the party of incohate rage. Nothing is going to mollify them. (more…)

  • 9/11 not a terror attack (according to Guliani)

    Apparently, Rudy Guliani is even more of a hack than I had suspected.  Despite being the mayor of New York City during attacks that killed 3000 people, Guliani apparently doesn’t think they count.  After all, how else can he explain going on Good Morning America and saying, “We had no domestic attacks under Bush”?

    By the way, since Guliani also apparently can’t read a calendar, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he thinks the deaths of 3000 Americans is not an “attack”.  We’ll leave aside the shoe bomber or the anthrax mails, too.

    Can you believe this guy was once considered a serious contender for the nomination for President?

  • Health Care basics

    With the health care bill finally moving forward in both houses of Congress, it’s a good time to take stock, take a breath, and take a look at what’s inside.  Below are some links to useful summaries and commentaries.

    More as I come across them.