This Isn´t Much of a Limb I´m Going Out On

Allow me to make a prediction here. No matter how the election turns out, but especially if Obama wins, New Jersey Governor Christie will be anathematized by Republicans for his completely non-partisan efforts to cooperate with the President in dealing with the results of the hurricane...or put another way, for caring more for the citizens of his state than he hates Obama.

Emergency Management

Guess what! Mitt Romney no longer wants to abolish FEMA....but he still thinks the states can do a better job.

I guess people no longer have to take responsibility for their bad choices, like living on the East Coast.

National Popular Vote Interstate Project

Shirley, I'm not the only one to whom it has occurred that this could once again be an election in which the winner of the popular vote is not the winner of the electoral college. And I can see about an equal chance for each candidate to be in either position.

Ok, so we all know that the electoral college is a ridiculous, out-dated institution (as if it were ever in-dated). But our fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers knew that too, and it is never going to be changed. That's another thing that everybody knows.

I am surprised by the lack of coverage of the National Popular Vote Interstate Project, at least as I see coverage from my vantage point in Brasil. I apologize if everyone else is way ahead of me on this. In essence, this project involves a legislative measure which has been, and is being, introduced in state legislatures around the country. The measure is a compact among the states which says that when the measure has been enacted and signed into law in enough states (when enough states have joined the compact) to represent a majority in the electoral college, then the participating states will cast their electoral votes for the popular vote winner in the country overall, irrespective of who won the popular vote in their state. Until enough states to represent a majority in the electoral college have joined the compact, participating states would continue to allocate their electoral votes as they do currently.

The measure has already been passed in nine states which represent 132 electoral votes, 49% of the 270 needed to elect a president.  It has been introduced in several other states, and no doubt will continue to be introduced session after session for as long as it takes.

Of course there are arguments for and against from both a policy and a constitutional perspective, which arguments you can read for yourself, but I think the measure has the best on all counts. All of the policy arguments against it eventually run up against the fact that all the measure does is promote an equality of value among voters. It is hard to oppose that forever, just as equal rights for all seems pretty basic in other policy areas. To be fair, there are some valid arguments against it, but I don't think they should prevail.

One of the strongest arguments in favor of this bill, after the obvious one that it would prevent the election of a president who didn't win the popular vote, is that is would bring all fifty states back into the presidential campaign process. I suppose some people might be happy to live in a state which is not "in play," thereby escaping the barrage of media ads and telephone calls etc. Just as I feel fortunate to be out of reach of U.S. television here in Brasil. But if you're a blue voter in a red state, or vice versa, it must be pretty discouraging to go to the polls knowing your vote for president is worthless.

It is interesting to me that I first became aware of this measure a few months ago when I read a story about a false charge on an important DC blog, "The Hill," that "Al Gore Calls For an End to Electoral College." Actually, he did nothing of the sort; he said in an interview that he supports this measure which does not change the electoral college at all. Apparently the media's tendency to misreport Gore's statements didn't end with the bogus quote about creating the internet.

Although the measure itself is clearly non-partisan, has no clear long-term benefit to either party, and is backed by members of both parties, it is curious to me that the principle opposition seems to be coming from Republicans. Their current party platform includes a plank opposing this measure. Republican governors in California and Hawaii vetoed the measure, only to have it passed again by the legislatues and subsequently signed by their Democratic successors.

There really is no reason this should be a partisan issue.

I Hope This Pessimism Is Just Some Bad Feijoada I Ate

How about this? The Salt Lake City Tribune has endorsed Obama. Thanks to Fred Schultz for sending this to me.

Not that it means anything. In our screwed up electoral system, Utah isn't even "in play," and I doubt that newspaper endorsements actually sway voters anyway, even if it were.

The scary news is that, while all the other polls are showing a neck and neck race, the Gallup poll shows Romney with a 6% lead.  If we were all to take a page from the opposing playbook, we would accuse the Gallup poll of having a bias toward Republican candidates. Instead I will just scratch my head and hope to hell Gallup (which has a record of 16-3 in presidential elections, going back to 1936) has got it wrong.

Hey, the Yankees got swept in four straight; it can happen.

This comes on top of a NY Times headline that asks the question, "After Romney Gains, Should Obama Concede Florida?"

We've always known it was going to be a close election but, frankly, I'm more worried at the moment than I have ever been. It is nearly impossible for me to believe that people would vote for the same ideological outlook that got us into this mess, but apparently they might.  I can't believe that people haven't realized en masse that the Republicans always have the same program of cutting taxes on the wealthiest and cutting services to the neediest regardless of what is happening, whether we are in good economic times or bad. Whatever the problem, they have the same solution. And if they haven't realized it, the Democrats deserve the blame for not pointing it out more forcefully.

For now, at least, I can take two Johnnie Walkers and feel better in the morning, with hope springing eternally. If Romney wins, my body can't tolerate the amount of Johnnie Walker it would take to make me hopeful.

"And The Dishes I Washed Weren't Even Dirty"

More on Chris Klewe

A few weeks ago I posted a story about the Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe's, vocal support for gay marriage, along with a link to the inspired letter he wrote to a Maryland legislator. He has since, at the urging of his wife, posed shirtless for Out Magazine, and it's a photo spread that will sell a few issues.

 

When I read that letter of his to the legislator, I knew this was not anybody's average dumb jock. It should not come as a surprise that he is a truly fascinating character. The NY Times has a profile of him, if you want to know more.

 There are gay marriage (or ban gay marriage) initiatives on a few state ballots this year, and I've read that human rights supporters have the most reason to be optimistic in Maine. It might well become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by a vote of the people. I believe that the initiatives on the ballot in Maryland and Minnesota are both written so as to ban gay marriage. According to the NY Times article, the polls in Minnesota show the voters to be evenly decided, with only 4% undecided. If we win in Minnesota, and the ballot issue is defeated, it will almost certainly be because of Klewe's influence.

Unfortunate Promotional Placement

I Say, "Let's Mix It Up."

The "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" was an initiative the Southern Poverty Law Center began promoting 11 years ago as a way to break up cliques and stop bullying in schools. It promotes such radical actions for students as hanging out with someone they might not normally speak to.

Thanks to the conservative evangelical group, the American Family Association, this program has been exposed for what it really is, "a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools." They are urging parents with children in the 2500 schools nationwide that participate in the program to keep their children at home on that day.

There is a back story:

The SPLC recently added the American Family Association to its national list of active hate groups, which also includes neo-Nazis, black separatists and Holocaust deniers.

In response, the AFA has charged that the law center is a hate group "for oppressing Christian students and claiming its aim is to shut down groups that oppose homosexuality."

Now, anyone who is familiar with the history of the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the most admirable non-profit organizations in the country, will find it absurd to go to the AFA website and find that the SPLC is described as "a homosexual activist group."

The purpose of the SPLC is accurately described in their on-line mission statement:

The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, we work toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. 

We employ a three-pronged strategy to battle racial and social injustice:

• We track the activities of hate groups and domestic terrorists across America, and we launch innovative lawsuits that seek to destroy networks of radical extremists.

• We use the courts and other forms of advocacy to win systemic reforms on behalf of victims of bigotry and discrimination.

• We provide educators with free resources that teach school children to reject hate, embrace diversity and respect differences.

It would be generous to consider the American Family Association (and similar groups) as well-meaning but misguided. Still, it is hard not to see the people at their head as completely unprincipled opportunists who have found an easy way to earn money from ignorant true believers.

To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, who quite literally became something of a gay rights activist in his last years, I don't understand why these so-called Christian groups get so worked up over homosexuality, when there are so many other sins that don't seem to bother them at all.

Just Trying to Make a Buck Any Way We Can

For everyone who thinks the housing bubble and subsequent crash was caused by irresponsible borrowers, and not predatory lenders, here's another similar story that shows responsible lenders just doing what they do, this time with reverse mortgages, which are a perfectly valid and useful transaction for senior in certain situations.

To be fair, in this case the big players like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and MetLife have got out of the reverse mortgage business, and let's say they all got out for the valid reasons cited by Wells Fargo, i.e. "falling housing prices and difficulty assessing borrowers' ability to repay the loans.". But there is never a shortage of small sleaze bag operators ready to step in and fill the void with misleading and outright false representation of their services, sort of the reverse mortgage equivalent of Countrywide Finance.

A few states on their own are taking action, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (fought tooth and nail by congressional Republicans, it should be pointed out, even to the point of trying to prevent the confirmation of its director) is playing catch up. In the meanwhile elderly people are being screwed out of their homes because of unconscionable predators, who will get away with it, we can be almost certain.

The Countless People He is Annoying Includes Me

I fell behind in these postings, and people (I just know) are disappointed.



The joke "Don't you want to get back with your god?....No, I want to get back with my mistress" reminds me (thank you Bob Peterson) of the Woody Allen line, "I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment."

Day 4

We're getting further off the topic of proselytizing. But Mittens is such a good foil. This reminds me of his praise while in Israel about that country's government-dominated universal healthcare system.

Day Three of Keeping My Promises

We´ve gotten a little bit off the topic of proselytizing, but Republican hawks who avoided the military is always a good theme too.

There is also the matter of Romney's 31-months of deferment to serve as a "minister of religion" in France, so it's all of a piece.

The Democrats are such wusses. If the situation was reversed, imagine the Republican approach.

The Past is Also the Present

Day two.

The question has been raised as to the fairness of this. How much of a candidate's past, and how much related to his moral compass is legitimate fodder for consideration?

That is a much bigger topic than what this week's Doonesbury is dealing with.

I think all religions are bogus. If Romney wants to believe Gawd lives on Planet Kolob and overlook the fact that his religion was founded by a convicted con artist, that's not much crazier than what most people believe. I don't know Gary Trudeau's reasons for running this particular series of strips, but my reason for posting them is my detestation of proselytizing religions, proselytizers, and people who support them. And  this isn't just part of Romney's past; his support for a proselytizing religion is part of who is is today.

If my português were better, I´d have lots of opportunities (at home and on the street) to tell some Mormons and others exactly what I think. Actually I am quite capable of telling them that they clearly don´t understand the difference between the verbs "to think" and "to know," but we all know the discussion wouldn't end there, with my having helped clarify their entire belief structure, so I don't even start.

, 

Hugo Chavez and Mitt Romney

Despite all of the U.S. politicians who have allowed themselves to become pointlessly exercised over Hugo Chavez, I have read no suggestion, not even from the opposition candidate, that the elections in Venezuela yesterday were not conducted fairly and honestly.  Whether the U.S., officially or unofficially, thinks he deserved to be re-elected, 54% of Venezuelans thought that he did.

Chavez has one problem of his own making, however. He has to deal with the fact that the people he belittled as "squalid good-for-nothings, little Yankees and fascists," turned out to represent 45% of the electorate. 

Remind anyone of Romney's 47%? Yes, I know he has now said his remarks were "completely wrong," but it is odd how he didn't realize they were completely wrong weeks ago when he merely thought they were "inelegantly" stated. As with so many things, one wonders what he really believes.

FAUX News

There is so much wisdom in cartoons. I assume this has to do with the claim that Obama, or his minions, are faking the employment numbers. The sequence "He shoots his mouth off. We report. You decide." does seem to be the nature of what passes for much of news nowadays...as in "report the controversy."

"Chicago Guys" do seem to be the new bogeymen.

Religious Activism

I hope (and assume) this is the beginning of a week-long series. We have allowed our belief in religious tolerance to be so all inclusive that we can't mention a candidate and his religion in the same breath. However religions that proselytize deserve to be discussed. As Trudeau points out here, the very concept of proselytizing runs counter to the concept of tolerance for the views of others.

So Elder/Bishop/Governor Romney's activities as a missionary (religious activist) in the past need to be considered as part of the present person.

If you're looking for something to read, allow me to suggest this really engrossing book. It tells the story of the assassination of James Garfield and how he would have survived but for the ineptitude of the doctor(s) attending him who didn't accept the idea of invisible germs flying around in the air and of the the antiseptic procedures advocated by the British doctor Joseph Lister. This was obviously before the US had the best healthcare system in the world for anybody who could afford it.

It is also the story of the completely deranged man who shot him (and who was hanged despite the fact that nobody doubted his insanity). His self delusion was so extreme as to make him a fascinating character in his own right.

The cast of characters also includes the Emperor of Brasil, Dom Pedro II (about whom I knew nothing more than his name, which is a subway stop between our house and downtown), Alexander Graham Bell, and some of the other important US political figures of the day.

It is almost surreal to realize that it was an age when the telephone already had been invented, and certain people were dreading the ring of the phone to hear that the President had died, and yet the doctors themselves were still so ignorant as to be responsible for the infection that killed him. The author makes the point that, had Garfield been a derelict in the Bowery who had gone unattended, he probably would have survived. He would have become one more of the many thousands of people after the civil war walking around with a lead ball embedded in some harmless part of their body.

The other principle pleasure of the book was the discovery of what an interesting person Garfield was. I definitely want to read more about him.

Another tidbit that I had read before but forgotten. Robert Todd Lincoln was with Garfield at the time he was shot. Twenty years later he was with McKinley when he was shot.

A few other things I've encountered recently that I appreciated:

Book titles: 

Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?: A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos.
Oh Lord, Help Me Keep My Panties On

From Barry Commoner's obituary in the NY Times, regarding his quixotic presidential campaign in 1980:

He later said his favorite moment from the campaign was when a reporter in Albuquerque asked him "Dr. Commoner, are you a serious candidate, or are you just running on the issues?"

 "There is nothing farther away from Washington than the entire world." ...Arthur Miller