Photo of the Day

Viktor Yushchenko, the would-be next president of Ukrainian was poisoned with Dioxin, most likley by an the head of Ukranian Security Gen. Ihor P. Smeshko on September 5th. His wife smelled something funny on his breath (like medicine) after kissing him that night.

Nanny Problem

When I learned that Bernard Kerik has removed his name (AKA asked to drop out) from the nomination of homeland security director, I was happy. That is, until I learned why: did not pay taxes on his nanny.

How many presidential nominees have been sunk in recent years because they either (1) hired an illegal alien to be their kid's nanny, or (2) failed to pay taxes for them or (3) both? I can think of at least two Clinton nominees and now two Bush nominees. Is it that hard to find good legal help these days? Or is it a symptom of something worse and bigger?

It's the latter. Instead of sinking these nominees on the merits like they should be, political hacks are delving deep into people's private lies to catch them in an error, which just so happens these days to be with nannies. I don't think this is an appropriate way of "advise and consent" the present dear Senate. This is why we end up with the Kerik's in the first place, because truely gifted would-be public servants don't want people combing through their trash and dirty laundry. That, and the pay stinks.

Now some will say that this nanny-gate stuff shows that these nominees have no respect for the law which is really bad when you are appointed to be the attorney general like Zoe Baird was. Or you have no respect for labor laws, which it also bad if you are nominated to be Secretary of Labor, like Linda Chavez was. Or you have no respect for immigration laws, assuming Kerik's nanny was an illegal, when your department oversees the INS like Homeland Security does. Nonetheless, why can't be shoot these people down on the merits?

Kerik did a terrible job in the few months he was in Iraq. And no one explained ever why he left so appruptly. The man's only qualification was his loyalty to Rudy G. This was a patronage job, plain and simple. Rudy called in a favor from George W. Bush. Why can't his resume and past performance be the reason the senate votes him down?

I am just so tired of this gotcha culture in Washington. The "politics of personal destruction" is why we have power hungery men like Tom DeLay who manage to keep their nose clean enough avoid the axe. Congressmen lose power for saying dumb and racist things and yet ones who flaunt the law and commit real crimes (AKA not minor tax evasion) get promoted. There is something wrong with this picture.

From Bad to Worse

Usually I am pretty biased about Utah Democrats, after all, I am one of them. But when you have to step down because you where caught shoplifting and then many years later, you try to run over your son-in-law with your car you are out of my favor, to say the least.

[ex-State Rep.] Dionne Halverson, 57, faces a Dec. 30 arraignment for felony aggravated assault.

Deputy Weber County Attorney Dean Saunders ... alleges the incident happened Nov. 16 at the Plain City home of Alex Williams, a Utah Highway Patrol Trooper who is married to Halverson's daughter. He was not injured.

Halverson resigned in 1991 from her second term as a Democratic Utah House member from Ogden after she was arrested for shoplifting nearly $200 worth of clothing.

A security guard at Mervyn's Department Store in Ogden stopped her leaving the store around Christmas with a bag of unpaid clothing. She first denied guilt, then pleaded no contest to a class A misdemeanor, and was fined $350.

A House ethics committee voted to expel her, but passage by the whole House failed by two votes. Instead, she was censured and subsequently resigned.

Thank goodness she lost in the primary/convention in her attempt to come back in 1998.

Reporter fed Q to soldier: So?

The "dramatic town-hall encounter between" Secretart of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Specialist Thomas Wilson, "an Iraq-bound soldier who worried about his unit's safety took a new twist" 12/9 when Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts said he "helped the soldier devise the question" according to Bandler for the Wall Street Journal. "Since mid-November," Pitts "has been 'embedded' with a unit" of the TN National Guard. His "role came to light after an e-mail he sent to a colleague was forwarded" 12/9 "to a Web site produced by the Poynter Institute. In the e-mail, Pitts wrote that he and two soldiers 'worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have." Pitts "wrote that he 'found the (sergeant) in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd." Pitts added it was "one of my best days as a journalist." I'll bet.

Pitts' editor, Tom Griscom, "'was asked' to include an account of his actions" in 12/9's story, "but it didn't get included, and (the omission) didn't get caught in the editoring." Griscom "said he would publish a letter to readers on the front page of today's newspaper explaining Pitts' role in the event" according to Memmott of USA Today.

Griscom defended Pitts' actions saying "the soldier asked the question" and "could have rejected Pitts' idea." Griscom: "Because someone's in the media who's embedded with them, does that mean they don't have the same opportunity to at least make a suggestion of something that might be asked? Is that what makes it wrong, because a journalist did it? That response from the troops was a clear indication that this is an issue on their minds" (Thanks Howie, you Media Whore)

Of course, Rush Limbaugh is deeply offended, equating Pitts' actions with those of Dan Rather. I am sure RedState.org or other conservative blogs are going Ape about this "news" because it supposidely validates their "liberal" media conspiracy theory.

In reality, the soldier trusted this guy, and knew him to be good with words, which presumably he was not, otherwise he wouldn't have asked for Pitts' help crafting the question. Maybe the soldier was just not confident, and Pitts helped him find his strength to stand up to Rumsfeld. There were other questions asked that wheren't "prompted" by a reporter, which were along similar critical lines, are they disingenious?

Bush and almost all politicans these days have speech writers, does that mean those politicans don't believe what they are saying and it is just put in their mouths? Maybe for some, but I bet most of them believe what they say but just couldn't craft their words and thoughts as elequently as these writers could. That's why you hire them.

Of course, this begs the question: Should a reporter be a speechwriter? I say, if this is the only way these questions are going to be answered by folks like Rumsfeld, the media should try everything they can to get their questioned answered. The soldier wasn't his puppet, but his willing and likeminded conduit.

I love how people like Howard Kurtz get into a huff about this, but never about folks like Judith Miller who just parroting some dubious unnamed sources with dubious motives. Or the political reporters of the New York Times, who care about nothing but process and internal leaks of disgruntled staffers, who take their disagreements out into the press when they cannot convince their candidate/elected official to go their way. This is interesting, but not nearly as important as the underlying fact that there isn't enough armor. This is a classic media distraction, manufactured by the Right/Bush Administration to get them off topic into their own navel gazing instead of pounding the real story for another couple weeks.

NBC's Miklaszewski: "as of today, only about one third of the military's 20,000 Humvees in Iraq are fully armored. When American troops first took Baghdad, only US military police had the fully armored Humvees. But when insurgents turned up their attacks with roadside bombs, Americans started taking heavy casualties, and Congress came up with additional funds to turn up production of the heavily armored vehicles" ABC's Moran: "The army revealed today that of 30,000 military vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 8,000 are still waiting for armor. ANd the Army's schedule does not call for all Humvees in Iraq to be armored until next March" Operation Truth founder Lt. Paul Rieckhoff, asked if the shortage of armor was a well-known problem: "Absolutely, sir. I spent just under a year in Iraq in central Baghdad, and commanded 38 soldiers on the ground who were poorly equipped. We did not have armored humvees; we were reduced to duct taping old flak jackets to the side of our Humvees to provide protection. We put sandbags in the floors of our vehicles. ... it cost soldiers their lives and it wounded soldiers as a result, and it was absolutely inadequate" Now that is the news, that is the story. Press, I beg of you, run with that.

Cpl. Hassoun charged with desertion

The Salt Lake Tribune has the scoop: Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been charged with desertion by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Cpl. Hassoun is from West Jordan, UT and has been the subject of a five-month investigation into his June disappearance from a U.S. military camp near Fallujah, Iraq.

The whole dissipearance, being on Al-Jeziera and reappearance in his native Lebenon thing made the Marines pretty suspecious, especially when they wound Hassoun's things in a raid on insurgence in Fallujah. His Utah family were shocked by the news of the dissertion charge.

Here's your quickie on military law:

If found guilty of desertion, Hassoun could face a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and allowances, and five years confinement for each specification.

Hassoun will be assigned military defense counsel to represent him, and has the right to be represented by a civilian attorney of his choice at no expense to the United States.

Now I know what the fuss is about

So I finally read the questions and answers to Sec. Rumsfeld’s visit with the soldiers in Kuwait and I have a feeling that he won't do that again.

The Times has a good account of the questions, mostly related to the lack of armor for vehicles and personal when they are in a drawn out guerilla war, the back door draft for would-be retired servicemen and women, and the full-time work part-time pay of National Guard Reservists (two weekends a month my Butt!)

Needless to say, most people paying attention have know this problems for a long time, but the fact that media wasn't aware, didn't believe it, and the E-Ring folks basically ignored it is now quite apparent. All of a sudden, reports are trickling in about how new armored Humvees are being made for our troops...good work Pentagon Media Relations! The reality is that we have been in Iraq for two years now starting in next spring and they didn't plan properly to protect the grunt soldiers. It looks like they don't care, and Rumsfeld’s answer show he has about as much respect for them as he does the press corps, that is next to nothing.

After two long years in Iraq, we have next to nothing to show for it but thousands of dead soldiers and a broken country. Sure we have Saddam in some jail, but we could have done that other ways. Ways that would have not left the target on these soldiers with no return ticket and no armor.

Their families shouldn't have to hold bake sales to buy them armored vests when the Pentagon are spending billions on new submarines and stealth bombers (don't forget the hundreds of millions for no-bid Halliburton contracts even while they overcharge the government). Folks, we are in a long-term occupation of a poor, desert country, those things are useless. Body and vehicle armor, however, is vital.

We should be treating these fighting men and women with the respect they deserve by telling them honestly what is happening. And call me crazy, but I just don't get that impression from Rummy.

One down...

Well I finished by Civil Procedure test today at noon and have thus far taken the afternoon off, having a leasurely lunch at Big Ed's (a hole-in-the-wall greesy spoon near campus) with some classmates and then shooting around University field house.

Now I am kicking it in my exercise gear. I think I will take off the rest of the day to clear my head before I dive into Torts over the weekend (8 hour take home starting at 8:00am on Monday).

Sorry for the lack of discussion of the days events. I have no idea what happened today. Except that stupid Scott Peterson case.

I will tell you, I am conflicted about the death penalty and would love to hear people's arguments for it. On the one hand, that NY Times article really summs up my problems with the death penalty: the administration. Those folks in Texas seem determined to kill, the facts be damned. Illinois had similar problems, but they are doing something about it, instead of thumbing their nose at the supreme court like the 5th circuit did. A 8-1 decision, and they copy and paste the one dissenting opinion (by none other than Clarance Thomas)in theirs? Terrible.

But I really have no problem killing Peterson, from all that I have read, he did a horrible crime and its a person who cannot be rehabilitated. In California, they spend more money per a prisoner than they spend per a college student in the UC system. Our country has its priorities all messed up.

Video Game of the Day

I am out studying for Civil Procedure, which is tomorrow at 8:30AM for 3.5 hours (after that, I have two 8 hour take home finals, the last of which is really much more than that since we have had half the semester to do 2 of the 4 questions...Top that Michelle!)

In the meantime, please enjoy the clip from this old video game made by Japanese programmers in the late 80s who obviously didn't pay enough attention in English class:


Courtesy of PlanetTribes.com, via Kos

Website of the day

Today's website of the day (and blog of the day) is the grouchy but brutally honest Unemployed Kerry Staffer. Money quote: "Ran into somebody today who still has a job. ... I found myself wishing I could push her down and kick her"

So far I have taken the 2000 and 2003 CivPro exams writen by my teacher and I always manage to miss one thing that I should have gotten. But then again, I am short changing myself about an hour each time because I get too bored. Wish me luck (test is on Thursday)

The most unsurprising news of the year

NY AG Eliot Spitzer: "I have decided I will run for governor in 2006," the New York Democrat said. "The state is at a point of crisis," he said. "The state is in dire need of leadership that will address budget issues, tax issues. We are bleeding jobs. We need reform in the process of government." His announcement comes just two days before the campaign committee stages a $1,000-a-person fund-raising lunch in Manhattan aimed at raising more than $2 million to add to its $5.5 million coffers.

And Eliot is the man to do it. A pro-business New Democrat who has gone after corporate crime when Bush's SEC looked the other way, Spitzer has been a headline whore for 4 years now and shouldn't have a name recognition problem. As NY Governor George Pataki's spokeswoman Lisa DeWald Stoll once said, "We all know that A.G. stands for aspiring governor."

Equally good for him, someone (maybe it was him) talked Chuck Shumer into staying in the Senate and taking over the DSCC job. I guess the idea is that Hillary might come begging to Chuck for money, but really, it will be the other way around.

The Journal reports of a Zogby poll which has Spitzer leading Gov. Pataki 44% to 41% of likely voters, with ex-NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, topping Spitzer, 52% to 36%. However, "Giuliani hasn't shown any interest in the governor's race." Psst, that's because he is planning on running for President, and a governor's race will just complicate things and force him to run to the center (away from his new found conservatism).

For what it is worth, The Third Avenue proudly endorses Spitzer for NY Governor. He's our kind of Democrat.

Waging war over the war, 2 years later

I wish someone could explain to me why liberals love fighting the same battles over and over, like Bill Murry in Groundhog Day. The purfect example is once liberal icon Ralph Nader, who thought it would be fun to fight for the New Deal again by making such a fuss in 2000 (and 2004).

The big bloggers are currently having a meta-debate over the Iraq War. Atrios believes that those who didn't support the invasion of Afghanistan weren't necessarily against war in general while CalPundit and Matthew Yglesias take the opposite position. All three were against the Iraq war and all want to talk about why the Michael Moore's of the party get shamed while the Bruce Reed's stay in prominance. [see BOPNews' summarization and discussions]

It all makes me feel like Punxsutawney Phil. There is definately something to what Kevin Drum and his camp is saying, that is, many of the people that opposed the invasion of Afghanistan are pacifist-leaning. Of couse, not all of them are. I am still very tired of refighting the war about the war.

There's no doubt in my mind that our generation will be talking about Iraq the way my parents talk about Vietnam. And my kids will be like who cares? I guess the reason for the constant refighting is to remind ourselves that the Baby Boomers finally came completely full circle. In the 80s and 90s they succomed to greed and in the 00's they gave into military might over right. They are now the people they were railing against in the 60s and 70s. Ironic isn't it? Of course, this is another generalization that doesn't fit all. But I am sure polls will back me up on the Baby boomers being at least marginally (52% or something) in favor of the war at the time and for most of it.

All this rediscussion makes me understand why my conservative friends get so exaspirated with liberals. You never see such hand-ringing and re-navel gazing amoung conservatives. Everything is honky dory when you are winning. We will see if they have a bout of re-examination if they lose big time in 2008. But I doubt it will be as bad as the ones Democrats and other progressives have been doing for 4 straight years now.

Anyway, I should get back to Civil Procedure. Enjoy folks.

The Nuclear Option

Since I took a Civil Procedure practice exam yesterday (the reason there was no posting on Saturday), I thought I would share this nugget of scary knowledge I gained from learning about Article III of the Constitution: Congress has the power to create, and hence get rid of, the District Courts and Appellate Courts of the Federal Court system.

If in 2006 the GOP win enough seats to have a 60-40 majority in the Senate (unlikely but possible) or they get rid of the filibuster rule altogether right now, they could pass a bill to remove these two lower federal courts only to recreate them the next day and George W. Bush would get to appoint the entire judiciary save the Supreme Court (which it looks like he will get to appoint at least one now that Rehnquist can't even talk).

Now my CivPro teacher assured me that such a move, while technically possible, is politically untenable. That might be true because even many hard-line GOPers would freak out about such court packing and seeding such power to one president. After all, these new Judges would be there for life.

Still, the GOP has such discipline and force to drag its members of Congress further and further to the right with fealty oaths to the party's dogma and the will of George W. Bush. All I am saying is, I doubt Karl Rove hasn't had a wet dream about this one. If they could do it, I think they would try.

After all, Bush et al doesn't seem to care about how he is perceived or how many people he alienates, as long as his people stay in power. Happy nightmares everyone.

Kerik's Legacy

via The Onion

Emptying the cabinet

So now Tommy Thompson is out too, and ex-Senator and UN Ambassador John Danforth as well (because he didn't get the secretary of state job, the baby). I wonder if Tommy will try for governor of WI again or if he too will try for President in 2008.

According to the rumormill, Bush wanted Giulliani to be his Homeland Security Director, but Rudy turned it down (he doesn't want to be under Bush's thumb in the race for 2008), so Rudy suggested the guy who held Pataki's coat during 9/11: Benard Kerik, the ex-NYPD chief. Kerik's done a great job training the Iraqi army hasn't he? Boy, they are just whipping out the insurgents and with no help at all from the US/"Coalition" [hopefully you could tell the last bit was scarastic]!

I am assuming that Bush will be the kingmaker in 2008, but I wonder if there will be Bush-fatiuge amoung even conservatives by then. I was tired with him on January 20, 2001 12:00:000000001. Didn't like the way he walzed up to the podium.

Ukraine gets a second chance at Democracy

Good news. In Kiev, the Supreme Court declared the results of the disputed presidential runoff election invalid and that the runoff should be repeated on December 26, just what Yushchencko wanted. Look for every Western country and the UN to send observers to make sure there is no funny business this time.

Ukraine up until now had had the best democratic government, in terms of free elections, in the former USSR. I am pleased that they will continue down the old road and not on the Putin/Bush/DeLay ends justify the means route.

This was a victory also for Yushchenko, the so-called Ukrainian Al Gore in this election (only that his proof of a stolen election was much more complete than Gore's), who didn't want a new election altogether. His yellow-wearing supporters contended that Yushchenko had won the run off [got over 50%] despite the results touting a plurality win for him. Current president Kuchma and his party have been so embarrassed they have been trying to drop their candidate Yanukovych like a rock, despite Putin congratulated Yanukovych on his victory three times.

In news more related to the US but still Ukrainian themed the Wall Street Journal reported, "the Ukrainian Parliament, which earlier this week passed a no-confidence vote in Mr. Kuchma's government, raised its pressure on him, calling in a nonbinding vote for a withdrawal of the nation's 1,600 peacekeepers from Iraq, where they make up the fourth-largest contingent."

"'Due to the sharp deterioration of the situation in Iraq, the Parliament addresses the president with the proposal on withdrawal of [Ukrainian] troops from Iraq,' the resolution said. The chamber voted 257-0 in support of the proposal. Forty deputies who were present did not take part in the vote."

"Most Ukrainians want the troops brought home, and the deployment has been a rare topic of agreement between the two rivals vying for the presidency. Both Mr. Yushchenko and Mr. Yanukovych support a pullout."

So who's number 3? Poland or Australia? How is this a coalition? I still chuckle with sadness when the Pentagon or the press say "coalition forces." I still can't believe 53 million Americans think Bush has the best handle on fixing the mess he created by choice. "It's your bed, lay in it."

Absurdity has a new name

It's mandatory minimums. The idea behind taking the sentencing phase for drug related crimes was to create uniformity and more importantly, for politicians to claim (in the Nelson Rockefeller mold) that they are "tough on crime,"

The Wall Street Journal reports, "when it comes to measuring the weight of drugs, procedures around the country are anything but standard. The amount of cocaine or marijuana in the defendant's possession is just the start: What really matters is how much a person intended to procure or produce. That question leads the justice system into a speculative realm where botanists, chemists and forensic scientists imagine what might have happened if the defendant had had more time or skill."

"... Prosecutors and defense lawyers have debated, for example, whether a man who hoarded bags of Chinese tea could have made a significant quantity of speed from it were he an expert chemist -- which he wasn't. Another man was caught growing thousands of baby marijuana plants. Had they grown up, how much marijuana would they have yielded? The answers to such questions can mean the difference of a decade or more in a prison sentence."

"The Supreme Court is now weighing whether the federal sentencing guidelines are constitutional. " I hope they say no. The whole thing is idiotic, that someone who caught with a couple bags of weed should do more time than someone who tries to blow up a plane.

We should make sure the judges in our city, county, state, and country are compassionate but fair and tough on crime and drugs. The legislature has no business taking away the judge's gavel on these issues, in my opinion. The arbitrariness of sentencing when it comes to predicting how much drugs they would have made is even more silly.

Donnie Fowler for DNC

I know I said good things about Dean, and good things about Simon Rosenburg, and bad things about Terry, but now my mind is made up ex-Clark Campaign Manager Donnie Fowler is my pick. I also know that he was the fall guy (and maybe partly to blame) for Clark's stumble out of the gate that probabbly cost him the nomination and maybe the presidency. But I am a forgiving guy and Fowler's rhetoric is right where I stand:

The Democratic National Committee

Embracing the New Politics and Perfecting the Old
Donnie Fowler, Candidate for DNC Chairman / November 2004

In a time where America's progressive movement and the Democratic Party feel the pain of defeat, Democrats must reaffirm our soul and commit ourselves to the new politics while perfecting the old. Today's Democratic Party is the legacy of our nation's greatest accomplishments - the American Revolution, abolition of slavery, giving women the vote, the right to organize, winning two world wars, and the civil rights movement. Standing up for this tradition is the charge of the DNC and progressives everywhere.

Democrats must stand up for our beliefs and take risks. Democrats must be defiant in defeat. When we lie down, we get run over.

Democrats must cross the values threshold. Democrats love issues, but we must remind voters we have a soul before we convince them that our policies make sense.

Democrats must find new voters. To return to power, Democrats must maintain the loyalty of traditional Democrats and recognize that huge parts of the electorate have arrived, changed, or shifted in our country over the last forty years.

Democrats must remember that voters don't live in Washington. Conventional wisdom and an aristocracy of consultants have created a national party that has lost the handle on what is truly important to voters and what is really happening in their lives. Local people know better. Let them lead.

The Democratic Party must increase its communications capability. Democrats must communicate year round with voters where they live, through their local news outlets, and by using trusted local opinion leaders. Regional political and communications offices plus a true understanding of new media and new technologies are essential.

We must form a shadow government. The DNC should coordinate the Party's leadership, not just our congressional members but also our governors, party chairs, DNC members, and leading thinkers. The Democratic Party needs a single entity, acting as a clearinghouse, so that the resources and message of the progressive movement do not duplicate each other or directly conflict.

We must raise money. Continued fundraising success requires a message that attracts donations and proof that the money produces real results.

We must measure what we do, hold ourselves accountable, and review our progress. The DNC must perform more like a business by setting measurable goals, quantifying its progress, holding staff accountable, and reviewing its activities on a semi-annual basis.
- - -


Donnie Fowler has achieved a leading role in political and high technology circles through his work in Silicon Valley and at the Federal Communications Commission, service in the Clinton White House, and work on six presidential campaigns. He has advised dozens of companies, policymakers, public advocacy groups, and political campaigns on how to manage their media, policy, business development, & technology agendas.

Six Presidential Campaigns / Four Presidential Cycles
o Gephardt '87-'88, Jackson '88, Clinton/Gore '96, Gore/Lieberman '00 (National Field Director), Wesley Clark '03 (Campaign Manager), and Kerry/Edwards '04 (Michigan State Director)

Political and Campaign Work in Fourteen States on the Ground
o S.Carolina, Iowa, New Hampshire, Connecticut, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wyoming, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Virginia

Technology & Telecommunications Background
o Federal Communications Commission ('97-'99)
o TechNet, Silicon Valley ('01-'03)

Courtesy of MyDD and DailyKos

Another one bites the dust

The latest resignee is Tom Ridge former governor of PA and one time Presidential-Candidate-Only-in-Corridors-of-Washington. By the way, he was head of the Department of so-called "Homeland Security" which really strikes me as a Nationalistic term along the lines of "Mother Russia" of USSR and "Das Vaterland" of Nazi Germany. Our country was founded by immigrants; the only people who can truely consider this their "homeland" are the Native Americans and if you really want to get into semmantics our only true homeland is Africa's Rift Valley where Homo Habilis first walked.

[By the way, I just love those WSJ sketches of people, don't you?]

According to the Journal, "Mr. Ridge told the president that he will remain in office at least until Feb. 1, but would like to leave his position for a more lucrative job in the private sector to help pay for two daughters in college. Those around Mr. Ridge, however, have said that his exit plan is part of his own political strategy to build a base so he can be a Republican presidential contender in 2008." These are his lackies doing a whispering campaign. I am sorry, but the guy who came up with the dumbest color-coding system in the history of mankind shouldn't be president. We have a system of two colors (orange and yellow)with 3 other colors (red, green and blue) as distractors.

Back in the rumor mill, reporter Robert Black culls a list from GOPers calling him up trying to get their boss' name dropped. "One name that has frequently surfaced as a contender is that of Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security. Officials inside the department say that Mr. Hutchinson has been lobbying intensely for the secretary's job, but in an interview with reporters from his home state of Arkansas, he said he was considering whether to remain in his current post or explore other jobs in the public and private sectors. Mr. Hutchinson has developed tense relationships inside the department, particularly with the Deputy Secretary Admiral James Loy, who is widely liked and respected by both the White House and Capitol Hill. Some senior respected figures in the department have been saying that they will resign should Mr. Hutchinson take the reins.

Other names that have surfaced as possible Ridge replacements include: White House homeland security adviser Frances Townsend; New York Governor George Pataki; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik; Rep. Chris Cox (R., Calif.); Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; and former Utah governor and current EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt."

OK, here's my take on reality: Asa maybe, Townsesnd would follow the pattern of placing WH operatives into the various departments for ultimate control, Giuliani and Pataki and Romney are running for President, Kerik I doubt it, Cox is too powerful where he is in the House, Leavitt might want this to "move up" to a higher-profile but equally thankless job.

If Kerry had won, I think he would have put Gary Hart up for the post, or another buddy ex-Senator Warren Rudman, who is a GOPer of the old school and more like the current Kerry.

WSJ also has a handy score card to keep track of the Bush Administration's revolving door: [sorry, scroll down a ways, I am not good at making tables]

Seat	Current Holder	Future?	Successor?
Justice	John Ashcroft	Resigned	Alberto Gonzales
Defense	Donald Rumsfeld	May stay
State	Colin Powell	Resigned	Condoleezza Rice
Homeland Security	Tom Ridge	Resigned	TBA
Treasury	John Snow	May stay
Agriculture	Ann Veneman	Resigned	TBA
Interior	Gail Norton	No plans
Commerce	Don Evans	Resigned	Carlos Guitierrez
Labor	Elaine Chao	No plans
Education	Rod Paige	Resigned	Margaret Spellings
Energy	Spencer Abraham	Resigned	TBA
Transportation	Norman Mineta	May leave
Health & Human Services	Tommy Thompson	May leave
Veterans Affairs	Anthony Principi	No plans
Housing & Urban Development	Alphonso Jackson	No plans

Source: WSJ.com research

the Legacy of environmental lawsuits

Utahns know, and some out of state environmentalists are well aware of the so-called Legacy Highway. This route is supposed to be an alternative to I-15 from Davis Co. to SL Co. (from the 3rd to 1st populated counties in the state). Folks like the Sierra Club were able to block the highway that was going through wetlands because of an inadaqueate environmental impact statement(made in 1997). Many people were upset that SLC mayor Rocky Anderson intervened in the lawsuit in favor of the environmentalists.

That was 2001. The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "Three years later, with nearly $18 million in delay costs racked up, UDOT is prepared to release the results of that supplemental study, which cost around $3 million."

There's a two fold problem on a more macro level: how do you protect the environment and how do you promote commerce and industry effiecently? Our environmental laws are in a way being abused by the Sierra Clubs of the world by blocking projects on technicalities and not the merits. The environmental lobby effectively is raising the costs of building such bridges and highways to a point where people won't build them via court costs. At the same time, if this highway truely does mow down wetlands when they could have built a light rail system or had the highway get a better route away from such areas, shouldn't there be some mechanism to make them do so?

There has to be a better way.

holiday shopping

Two bits of good news out there on the economic front: This weekend's holiday shopping was near record setting, and even better, Wal-Mart had one of it worst seasons yet.


According to the Wall Street Journal, "Wal-Mart on Saturday took the unusual step of slashing its prediction for November sales growth, citing disappointing holiday sales at its stores. Wal-Mart predicted that November same-store sales in the U.S. would grow by only 0.7% over a year ago, far less than the 2% to 4% rise the retailer had expected."
This from a company that tried to seem labor friendly by allowing Unions...but only in China. I guess it is the least you can do for the people that make all your stuff.

The Nation quotes Andrew Rothman, "a former US diplomat who is now the China country head for CLSA Emerging Markets, an investment bank, says, 'Most multinational companies of any size in China have a union presence, and I've not heard of it causing a problem for anybody.' That's little wonder, because the federation unit at most companies confines itself to such things as organizing outings for workers or, less often, administering workers' health or unemployment insurance payments." Seems like the same old same old, find a way to push the cost of insurance for your workers (health etc) onto the workers or taxpayer, as long as it isn't Wal-Mart's bottom line.

Do you ever notice how the workers at Wal-Mart seem so depressed, even when they are smiling and saying "Welcome to Wal-Mart!"? This is why. For a nice contrast, go to CostCo: all the employees are jolly because they get way higher pay, health insurance, etc. there. And guess what, CostCo is doing great. You don't need to screw your workers to post profits.

But back to the first point: Holiday shopping. According to the Journal: "Historically, the post-Thanksgiving weekend isn't especially strong for online spending because so many people are out in stores. The busiest shopping day on the Web, according to Verisign, is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when consumers get back to their high-speed, broadband Internet connections at the office." American workers are so efficient these days that they can get more work done, and still use the boss' fast internet connection to order gifts for their relatives in Toledo.

Here's a cool chart via the Journal and Visa, on how much more people spent this year just with their Visa over last Thanksgiving Weekend:



Interestingly, the big rush this year was again discounted electronics, but nothing else drew in consumers. There is no talking elmo or anything like that (is elmo considered an electronic?) this year. It seems people want iPods, DVD players, DVDs, and TVs for Christmas and not clothes.

This has another happy effect for me: stores like GAP will do poorly. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend with friends and family, I know I did. Now I just need to get some sleep, refill the barren fridge, and study my brains out until my last final.

Do you enjoy the break?

sorry dear readers, for not writing in so long. I have been busy with family-oriented projects and relaxing, along with reading lots of Glannon's Guide to Civil Procedure. On the plane it will be Examples and Explainations of Contracts. Yipee! Well not really, but I do feel a bit more rested than before.

The only reading a really did other than law school was a cursory glance at the continuing mess in the Ukraine and that there was another spat among the BOP crew. That reminds me that I need to talk to my old college professor who is now at the University of Ottawa as head of the Ukranian Studies department. He must be busy these days.

I think it is interesting that no one that I have seen has directly referenced the strange similarities with the outcome of the Ukranian and American elections. Both had a surprising 3 point victory for the incumbent party, both were "supported" by Moskow (remember how George W. Bush looked into Putin's eyes and said he was a "good man?" ... first of all, he says that about just about everyone, secondly, it makes you wonder about his judge of character and hence his nominees to various posts), both losing sides complained that the exit polls and actual results didn't match up, both losing sides complained of fraud and a stolen election (it seems those in the Ukraine have a better case than liberals like those at BOP).

The people that rule Russia right now and who want to rule Ukraine for another term do not understand democracy. They still are stuck in the Soviet Union mindset of power justifies anything, the rule of law comes second to the their rule. I dare say a less extreme version of this view of might makes right has taken hold of the American Republicans as well, with Tom DeLay demanding special exemptions, Bush's Adminstration justifying torture and all manner of power grabbing under the "War on Terror" Rubric.

Poem of the Day and EBay of the Day

This poem was originally pointed out to me via a Slate article on Dan Rather's retirement (good riddance, looney toons), but I think it applies to the Blogoshere as the Blogger's credo:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

by Emily Dickinson

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---
Success in Cirrcuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind---

And the E-Bay Item of the Day is the other grilled cheese sandwich. Not that Virgin Mary one that went for $28,000 to some online casino, but one of St. Hello of Kitty

It's good to be the groom

So I am here now at my future in-laws after a medium length plane ride and late dinner at a Chinese resturant. After we got back, I did some Contracts but now the course seems even worse than I imagined: there's a hidden math element. I know, adding and subtracting shouldn't be so hard, but they are for me.

Anyway, back to the point...Christina is scrambling to get family to leave in time for her appointment at David's Bridal to look at bride's maid dresses and flower girl dresses for my little cousins. Luckily, per custom I am not allowed to go. Not that I don't care, I just get terribly bored (b/c of ADD) and I have short Achilles tendons so my heals start to hurt if I have to stand around too much. You can see I have all my excuses down pat, including medical rationales.

Unfortunately, I have a two-hour Torts practice test and another 20 pages of contracts plus three restatements to read, but at least I am not standing around for hours looking at dresses I will see out of the corner of my eye for a day.

Tort and Tax "Reform"

These are two GOP ideas whose time has come and gone. The proof is out and it isn't pretty, at least for Tort Reform.

A study was done for western states, looking at medical malpractice insurance costs and cross-tabbing that with states that had caps on "pain and suffering" damages. (see chart). Conclusion: in states with caps, insurers are more likely to charge premiums exceeding the national median than those in states without caps.


As you can see, states with caps still have pretty big increases in insurance cost.

As the Salt Lake Tribune noted, "Even the nation's largest medical malpractice insurer, GE Medical Protective, admitted in a Texas regulatory filing that 'noneconomic damages are a small percentage of total losses paid,' and that capping them would save the company only 1 percent." And of course, such caps hurt only those who need the money to pay for their horrific injuries (because lawyers take a third of the damages in fees).

Now on to lame duck Governor Olene Walker's Tax Reform Package. Walker, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, "on Monday proposed eliminating corporate income taxes. To make up the difference, the state would begin taxing services - including everything from medical care to haircuts - and raising property tax rates. At the same time, every Utahn would pay a lower flat income tax of between 4 percent and 5 percent." Flat tax? Now that's a terrible idea. Walker wants to replace our regressive tax system with an even more regressive system. Flat taxes are always in vougue with Republicans but that's because they favor the rich who make up most of their campaign contributors.

Photo of the Day: Mononi

This great Utes fan dressed up like the Angel Mononi on top of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake and the Angel that, according to the LDS faith, spoke to Joseph Smith and began the whole faith.

Very funny picture, and I didn't get it at first.

US House=Bush's Hit Men

It doesn't surprise me that the Intelligence Reform Bill died. Bush pretended to support it after not supporting it for months. He never tried to push it, he never told his own administration to wholeheartedly support it, including the DoD and CIA, who had the most to lose. DeLay and his Lt.s just went ahead and killed it for Bush so that Bush could do the phony blame game again.

When ever a nasty piece of legislation comes down the pike that Bush wants to get passed or fail, he turns to the hyper-conservative House to do his dirty work, just like a mafia Don and Mob Hit Man.

The reason why Homeland Security passed was not that Bush thought it was a good bill (it wasn't), but that he could use it to beat the Democrats over their heads with union support. This time, there was no boogeyman argument to make and both sides were generally in favor of it, except those in the Intelligence Community that didn't want to lose their control of their turf.

Even the amazing 9/11 widdows couldn't do it. This is the second shameful vote GOPers in the House had to make this week. Dr. Marshall has been documenting who voted for the "DeLay Rule" which allows leadership to be indicted by state courts. Well, I guess Dr. Marshall also found the Istook amendment as well, which allows Committee Chairman to do a sneek-and-peak on Non-Profit groups's taxes...so that makes three embarressing votes.

How can those guys sleep at night?

get out the Tortilla chips...

because the Utes are going to the Fiesta Bowl! Well, most likely, (after all, the official were handing out thousands of sombraros to people in the stands) maybe they will go to the Cotton Bowl, but a BCS bowl for sure. The Liberty Bowl is trying to extort as much money as possible from the Conference and the team because they are contractually supposed to get the Mountian West Champions Utes automatically.

After beating BYU and having a perfect regular season (with no teams coming within 14 points of them) while other teams around them struggled the last two weeks, Utah is locked into the 6th seed and an automatic BCS birth. We're crashing the party and I couldn't be happier for the team and the University...especially since it came at the expense of BYU who had a crappy season and whose coach is going to be canned.

Who cares if Urban leaves next year? We can worry about that later. Let's enjoy tonight Ute fans. Some of my favorite signs: "U bring the salsa, we'll bring the bowl" "Hey [BYU head coach]Crowton, we hear Wall-Mart is hiring" and the all time meanest..."Where Is Your God Now?"

I had a great time tonight with my female 1L friends, what a hoot they are. Maybe I should have camped out in the cold overnight to get tickets to the game, but I am glad I stayed warm and yuked it up with the ladies. Stacy's mom's 7-layer bean dip is slaying me though right now...but it was worth it. Oh and readers don't worry, the future Mrs. was there and enjoyed the revelry with me. GO UTES!

The $15M question

Why did Kerry have so much left over? And what was he saving it for? I doubt another ad in OH or FL would have made any difference, but maybe a few more vans, a few more hired guns to get people to the polls might have. Maybe he could have spent more in ads in AR NV or WV, or again GOTV, which he likes to remind us "doesn't mean Get On TV"

Was he hoping no one noticed the big pile he had left over? Was he planning on using it to get his people installed at DNC and give out the leftovers to ensure a smoother 2008 campaign?

After a few days of tremendous pressure, advisers say that John Kerry will donate a "substantial amount" of the "more than" $15M remaining from his campaign to '05 and '06 Democrats. But what exactly is a substantial amount- $10 million? $5 Million? If you ask me, John Kerry just blew his shot to run for president again.

IA Dem Chair Gordon Fischer, on the Kerry money: "Several million dollars left over -- it seems like that shouldn't happen. It should be much closer to zero." Lots of other Democrats agree.

The party and anti-Bush sympathizers gave him enough much money to tackle Bush. It was amazing that the Democratic nominee was on the same financial footing as a sitting pro-business president. Three billion dollars were raised for federal elections this year, and over half a trillion of that was just the post-primary presidential election. Kerry had large leanway to do whatever it took to dethrone the hated George W. Bush, and he didn't do it. He got more votes than Al Gore, but George W. Bush got a lot more vote than he did, and in key states like OH and FL.

So the 15 million (plus) question is: why did Kerry do it? There were so many close elections in the house and senate that could have made the difference, especially KY maybe NC and certainly SD. What does Kerry expect to do next? If he really wants to be the nominee again, he best lead the oposition and be a vocal critic of the President and not dissipear like Albert Gore, Jr. That poor guy dissipeared so well that he got pulled over for speedinig in Oregon and the cop didn't even know it was him until he saw the driver's license (maybe it was the bead phase or the fat phase too).

The "holidays"

Something about this time of year really gets to people. I never understood until recently, before then I was too naive to notice all things happening around me.

This is the second year in a row that a grade school classmate of mine has committed suicide. Both happened leading up to Thanksgiving. Both were fun guys to hang around with whom I grew further and further apart as time went by, but I still felt like I knew them, or at least the child in them went we both were younger.

Patrick was one of the shortest boys in the class while I was one of the tallest, yet his personality was huge and everyone loved hanging out with and talking to him. I still remember one of our mutual friends, who is about my height, went to the movies together once. The man in the booth said, "Oh isn't that nice, you are taking your little brother out the movies." My tall friend had to correct him saying, "He's isn't my brother, he is my friend"

Colin's death was equally sad and tragic. Colin and I were best friends up until 4th grade. I can't tell you exactly what happened, maybe it was the pursuit of coolness (and trust me, I wasn't it). Colin was an amazing drawer, a brilliant mind, but his lust for fun-loving and popularity made him pass up other schools to go to UVM with his friends; he was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. Soon there after, he realized that he wasn't happy there and went on and off to the U and waited tables at Bacci in downtown Salt Lake. From what I heard he was happy, but clearly I was wrong.

One of his best friend and relative of mine, John, is still shaken up by it. I couldn't bring myself to go to the funeral, and I don't think I was necessarily invited.

Sorry to leave everyone with such a sad, depressing post of the day, but I guess it serves as a reminder that as bad as your family or life in general seems around this time of year where the sun doesn't come out much, there is still much to live for and to keep trying. I haven't always been the happiest of souls, but I never got even close to where Patrick and Colin found themselves. And I am glad for it because I would have never found myself with my fiancee and where I am today. I am surrounded by smart people who care about the issues I care about, although many have different opinions than me, it is still exciting.

As tired and stressed out as I am right now, I am looking forward to the weekends and to next semester and really to my wedding in June. There is so much live out there yet to live. So watch out for yourselves and your friends and family this holiday season; make sure they don't head down the road that Colin and Patrick took.

The best rivalry

ESPN has a live poll asking people to rank the top 15 rivalries in college football. Personally, I think Utah-BYU trumps them all because of the underlying religious battle which defines the whole state. This clearly makes is more important than Florida v. Florida State or the Texas rivalries even though more people watch either of those.

Where you stand on Utah-BYU says a lot about who you are and where you stand politically, or where you live, or what you believe in your gut. The hatred for each other is friendly yet strong. Why else would they call it "The Holy War?"

Obviously, I have always been a Utah Man, even if I never went to school there until law school. The campus was in my neighborhood until 4th grade. As a non-Mormon, I always identified with the Utes even if many of the players had to miss whole seasons because they were off on LDS missions.

I would rank Southern rivalries higher than the Midwestern ones (but Midwestern over Pacific Coast rivalries and certainly higher than New England rivalries) because football is so fundamental to live in many small towns in places like Texas. Just watch "Friday Night Lights" to see that.

As dumb as college football is, I am happy to have a the team I root for to finally be good. Brown really only could beat places like Forham and occationally an fellow Ivy. The whole time they were any good and won a co-Ivy League championship, it turned out the school and the late Dave Zarconi violated the Ivies recruiting and scholarship rules.

Dave by the way was a great man, and treated me to a awesome lobster dinner I will never forget.

Party leaderships and a good idea by a bad GOPer

So the big squabble out in the bloggosphere is who should be the next DNC chair: Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack or ex-VT Governor Howard Dean or NDN head Simon Rosenberg.

Today, the new Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said that Vilsack would be a "real good person" to chair the DNC. Most on the internet are not too hot on Vilsack, and I agree with them, but for other reasons. They think Vilsack is an insider who is opposed to reform which the party needs so badly, and while that may be, you can still be an "insider" or "non-reformer" and not want Tommy.

After all, this is a guy that won Iowa for Gore, but managed to lose it for Kerry. I am all for swing state governors being in positions of power in the party, but not when they blow it like that. Ditto for Richardson, he should have had New Mexico in the bag for Kerry.

Plus, Vilsack's main motivation is to keep him hope state newspaper reporters and homestate legislators in positions of ridiculous power for the inane Iowa Caucuses. I don't care that much that they are first, but it should at least be a real primary.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Dole "says she is confident she will win today's election" for NRSC chair, which is something her and Norm Coleman are fighting over.

And by the way, thank you Chuck Shumer for putting your party ahead of yourself and being DSCC chair instead of a fruitless campaign for governor. Spitzer owes you one.

On to my good idea from a bad GOPer: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) "is trying to prevent Congress from ever again naming things after sitting members of Congress"

Judge Cassell in da House!

Judge (and still Utah Law professor) Paul Cassell had on his docket a case he really wished to rule otherwise: a young adult (a few months younger than me) who he sentenced to 55 years (and one day) in prison because of a mandatory minimum (28 USC sec. 924(c)). His fellow law professors and judges filed amicui (more than one amicus, or friend-of-the-court brief) trying to pursuade him to rule that this minimums were an unconstitutional encroachment of the legislative branch on the judicial branch (and the whole Due Process, Equal Protection, and Cruel and Unusual clauses). Instead, Cassell gave the man the smallest sentence allowable and begged President Bush, who just appointed him a couple years ago, to commute the sentence to a more reasonable 18 years.

All seriousness of this person's future aside, I had to laugh a the first paragraph of the facts section, per Cassell:

Weldon Angelos is twenty-four years old. He was born on July 16, 1979, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was raised in the Salt Lake City area by his father, Mr. James B. Angelos, with only minimal contact with his mother. Mr. Angelos has two young children by Ms. Zandrah Uyan: six-year-old Anthony and five-year-old Jessie. Before his arrest Mr. Angelos had achieved some success in the music industry. He started Extravagant Records, a label that produces rap and hip hop music. He had worked with prominent hip hop musicians, including Snoop Dogg, on the "beats" to various songs and was preparing to record his own album.

If you want, you can read the whole decision (via the SL Tribune article) and the rest of Angelos' gun-toting Marijunia-smoking life, but this was the most entertaining part for me. But really, read the case. It really makes a solid case why, mantatory minimums, or at least section 924(c), should be amended or repelled all together.

Traffic spikes and your real job

Stirling pointed me to a NY Times story about a Delta flight attendant named Ellen Simonetti who was fired for having a blog in which she showed a little leg and cleavage. Delta claimed they didn't sanction that kind of picture with THEIR uniform. Of the potential salaciousness of Ms. Simonetti's photographs, Tim Kirkwood, a veteran flight attendant and author on profession, doubt it. "I think this has been blown up out of proportion," he said. "So we saw a little bra strap, big deal. Compared to what the passengers wear, she's overdressed."



This being America, Ms. Simonetti sued for sexual-discrimination "with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and is threatening to sue Delta for $10 million, claiming other employees, primarily men, have their photographs posted on the Web in uniform and are not fired for it."

This article probably represents the second wave of traffic spikes she has gotten on her website. I have a bit of experience in this field, but of course I never got a news article about me, let alone the New York Times. But I too experienced fleeting fame with the Gay Marriage Debate in the Massachusetts State House. And like her, my employer was not happy with what I posted on my blog. I just hope all this traffic doesn't go to her head like it went to mine. My boss was very understanding and reasonable about it and didn't fire me.

Her position is much for defensible than mine however. First of all, the photos aren't anything close to risque, I believe I have seen more in the course of a normal flight than that. Secondly, I betray confidences, all Ms. Simonetti is doing is writing about her personal life and posting some flattering pictures of her. I don't think it even depicts Delta in a bad light.

It even makes being a flight attendant seem glamorous: see the world, meet interesting people, etc. I have a hard time seeing what the fuss is all about.

But the law professor from UVA claims she is pretty screwed as an at-will non-union employee. "I'm pretty darn certain that taking that kind of photograph in the cabin of a plane, there's several policies that that would probably violate," he said.

The article goes on to talk about the airlines and Ms. Simonetti's job used to be sexist, which Ellen helpfully posts on her site:



And while really should be getting to homework for Wednesday, I wanted to share with you my blockquote of the day, from New York Magazine April, 26, 2004 (via Kos):

A pressing issue of dinner-party etiquette is vexing Washington, according to a story now making the D.C. rounds: How should you react when your guest, in this case national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, makes a poignant faux pas? At a recent dinner party hosted by New York Times D.C. bureau chief Philip Taubman and his wife, Times reporter Felicity Barringer, and attended by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Maureen Dowd, Steven Weisman, and Elisabeth Bumiller, Rice was reportedly overheard saying, “As I was telling my husb—” and then stopping herself abruptly, before saying, “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, but a guest says the slip by the unmarried politician, who spends weekends with the president and his wife, seemed more psychologically telling than incriminating. Nobody thinks Bush and Rice are actually an item. A National Security Council spokesman laughed and said, “No comment.” [all emphasis mine]

Our future Secretary of State has no family other than the Bush family and no life really either. She is willing to do just about anything (see 9/11 commission hearings) for her "man" and is a bit emotionally/psychologically unstable. Welcome to the Cult of Bush.

Clean Sweep

Before you starting hummng the tune of that JC song, I will spoil the fun and say it has to do with Bush's cabinet.

The Journal reports that Powell is leaving, probabbly before the Iraqi "elections" in January. Here's my favorite quote of the article: "Iraq has dominated Mr. Powell's attention during his nearly four years as secretary of state. Mr. Powell will perhaps be best remembered for that U.N. Security Council appearance on Feb. 5, 2003, during which he argued that Mr. Hussein must be removed because of Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction. There's no evidence that those claims had any foundation. Mr. Powell has maintained all along that the use of force of by the American coalition in Iraq was justified." Now, that's what I call a legacy. Remembered for the biggest lie on the international stage except Bush and Cheney. How does it feel? Oh and no progress or action on Middle East Peace while in charge, that's pretty bad too.

I don't entirely fault Powell though, afterall, he was "just following orders." After reading books and articles about the Gulf War and Clark's book about Kosovo, he fits in with the late 1980s to 2000 culture of the Pentagon: don't do anything. The whole place would drag their feet on every military action, be as cautious as possible to actually make the wars faught longer, more expensive and dangerous.

Do you really think Clinton said, "No causulties, let's fight this one at 30,000 feet"? No, it was the Secretary of State and all the E-ring brass that didn't want to look bad for losing people.

Now Bush's people just ignore what these people say and have gone full out. And the results of completely ignoring military advice has been equally disasterous.

Meanwhile, AP is reporting that, besides Powell "resignations were confirmed Monday included Agriculture Secretary Ann ["Mad Cow"] Veneman, Education Secretary Rod ["faking the Houston Miracle"] Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer ["I love bunker busters"] Abraham...The resignations announced Monday bring to six — out of 15 — the number of Cabinet members to decide so far to leave."

I wonder just who is going to replace all these clowns. Stay tuned.

I like Gov-elect Huntsman

While I didn't vote for him, today's SL Tribune article really made me glad he is going to be there over other GOPers.

"With moderate public statements in favor of the failed open space initiative, promises to push legislation to guarantee legal rights for unmarried people with shared financial interests and plans to soften the hard edge of Utah's liquor regulations, Huntsman faces a potential political problem."

It goes on to blab about how conservatives voted for him overwhelmingly and Moderates and Liberals overwhelmingly for Matheson (guess who outnumbers whom in Utah).

Huntsman will support school vouchers unfortunately, but hopefully they will be as limited as possible. Despite what the supreme court said in the Cleveland case, I think they are unconstitutional and bad social policy on top of that.

Vouchers were made an issue so that he could get out of the primary, where each ticket tried to out crazy-right wing the other. Smart GOPers knew that Hunstman stood the best chance against Matheson who raised $2M for the race.

a series of unfortunate events

So Today, my fiancee and I decided to go to my parent's house to watch the Utes football game on the big screen. My Mom is out in CA visiting her sister on my Aunt's 60th birthday, so my Dad needed some looking after.

The game was supposed to start at 5pm on ABC. That's right national TV, with the 7th BCS ranked Utes. So we got there at 4:52 and helped him set up the food for some friends of his that were coming too. Then they showed a overtime game (Texas A&M) which is fine, go Aggies, it helps the Utes.

Then it got weird. Somehow the power was out in Wyoming, where the Utes (the name of a Native American groups) were playing the "Cowboys." So no lights, no game? On the day where number 5 Wisconsin (or was it 4) lost and number 6 Texas barely beat an average team Kansas? Coach Urban "I'm the hottest coach in college football" Meyer was pissed.

ABC doesn't know what to do, so they yap for about 30 minutes in a post-game show. Then the local sports anchor comes on and says they are going to show Access Hollywood (whose topic was 70s/early 80s TV shows). Then they start showing last year's National Championship. It scrolls across the screen that the game starts 6:50, nearly 2 hours late.

So ok whatever it took them two hours to get the lights on. Here's the kickoff...And there's snow...Apparently there is not enough power to work the equipment which got short circuited by the power outage. Back to last year's national championship under the local sports guy on ABC comes on and says Harry Potter until we get this working.

Meanwhile, we get no signal at my parents house for the AM radio of the Utes, and somehow pick up Wyoming radio. Later, I manage to find the internet stream of the Utes radio. My Dad's friends go home and call on their cell that their car radio picks up the signal just fine.

At halftime, I go home and listen on the radio. On the radio, the semi-senile Announcer Bill Marcroft, informs listeners that national ABC is now showing the game, but the local station decided to stick with Harry Potter. Then he proceeds to give out the station director's office phone number on the air. 2 minutes later the guy interrupts the commercial during Harry Potter to say it's not our fault and all of ABC is fissed out due the power outage.

Oh and the Utes scored 31-7 at half time (Wyoming's came on a freaky tipped ball). To me, this whole event reminds me of what happened to Apollo 13 in 1970, except instead of floating around in outer space between the Moon and the Earth, they are in the partial dark in the outer space of Laramie, Wyoming (you know, the place student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death for being gay in 1998).

Now it is 38-14. I wouldn't believe the whole set of events if I wasn't "there" myself.

Tort Reform and DNC chairmanship

After all those funny speaches Bush made on the campaign trail about reforming medical malpractice, I think it is time to set the record straight on what works and what doesn't in terms of reducing the number of lawsuits and malpractice insurance premiums.

AP Reporter Lindsy Tanner notes that "The hospitals in the University of Michigan Health System have been encouraging doctors since 2002 to apologize for mistakes. The system's annual attorney fees have since dropped from $3 million to $1 million, and malpractice lawsuits and notices of intent to sue have fallen from 262 filed in 2001 to about 130 per year..." That's why victim's rights groups have a whole program called "Sorry Works!" The idea for "Sorry Works" came from an honesty policy the Veterans Affairs hospital in Lexington, Ky., adopted in 1987 after two big malpractice cases cost the hospital over $1.5 million.


Another obvious way to avoid being sued is to reduce the number of medical errors. An Institute of Medicine report in 1999 said "mistakes kill as many as 98,000 hospitalized Americans each year." Too me, that sounds like a lot. My sister is a doctor (internal medicine) and she tells me how many near mistakes there are, like misreading Rx's and filling fatal drugs for patients, to misreading charts, to leaving sponges and scicors inside patents. Many of these errors, I believe could be cured by having doctors (especially young doctors) work less hours in a row so that they are fresher.

Every time my sister complains about how long her shifts were, I worried about her patients, as smart as she is.

And now without trasition, here is topic number 2: DNC chairmanship. Dean's name has recently cropped up (along with Vilsack of dung-- thanks for helping with Iowa buddy) as the blogosphere (or at least Deaniacs) choice for DNC. The two DLC bloggers point out that HoDean might not be such a good idea. As Ed Killgore notes:

I strongly suspect that DNC interest in Dean is not about his ideas, or his reformist credentials, or even his grassroots support. I doubt they look at this born-again liberal from the bluest of blue states and see the face that will launch an assault on the Red State Fortress the Republicans have been building. I betcha money they look at Howard Dean and see Green, as in Long Green. [$]

Now I doubt that's the legacy, or the mission, that the Governor wants to identify his movement with going forward. And even more generally, I can't imagine a less suitable vehicle for genuine reform than the DNC, at least as it's currently constituted.

He sneaks in a slam of Dean while still declaring a truce (calling the good Dr. a "born-again liberal" which is pretty true). He also has a nice quote for GOPers in the post-Goldwater era: "Party chairmanships are the fool's gold of American politics." Just ask my dad and he will agree with that one too.

As for Marshall Wittmann (aka BullMooseBlog), he creates a phony secret memo between a Democratic collaporator and Karl Rove, but it drives home the point nonetheless:

"Your next mission is to elect the new Chairman of the Democratic Party. I am looking for someone who is a scream - if you get my message. I need to be discreet here because this missive could get into the wrong hands (or hoofs). Make certain that I can easily caricature the new DNC Chair as a northeastern liberal dove who is out of touch with red state values. I think you get my drift. "

I think Ed's is a little more sensative way of putting it and the way I would tell my Deaniac friends why they shouldn't be so excited about Howard taking over. Marshall represents what the "Democratic Establishment" worries are with Dr. Dean are. Combine that with Stirling's case against NDN head Simon Rosenberg, and you've knocked down at least two (and three if you count my quick dispatch of Vilsack), so who's left?

Donna Brazille has said no. Harold Ickes, head of the 527 "The Media Fund" and Clintonista, is reportedly interested, but there might be built in oposition to any suggestion the Clinton's have, given how well Terry McAweful did in his 4 years (almost as bad as Bush!).

That leaves me with Al Gore. He has nothing better to do and I think it will both raise his profile again and keep him from running for President in 2008, two great things for the party. Plus, I think he would be good at it.

day off

today I had no classes for various reasons and tried my hardest to make something constructive out of it. I worked on long-term assignments, had lunch (Japanese) with my fiancee, and went to the library.

For some reason, I have trouble staying with articles in the New Yorker, but I love the cartoons. So finding a book of just their cartoons was great. Even better was looking at the old ones. I don't get some of them [caption: are you president Cooledge?] But it is really interesting to see social change though time (the period was 1925-75). Now I wish I could compare these to the '75-00 ones. Even better would be to compare the Nixon era cartoons with the Bush era ones.

Both somehow managed to fool the American people twice, and both used wedge issues and the vaunted Southern Strategy to keep their stranglehold on power. Both are in favor of massively increasing executive power, both got themselves intwined into a war based on a lie.

Maybe Bush can go to Palistine like Nixon went to China. Maybe Bush can do something good like Nixon did like banning smoking ads and the EPA. Of course, Nixon had a liberal Democratic congress to deal with, whereas Bush has a GOP congress that just might be more conservative than he is.

Now that's a scary thought. How about something funny, yet sad? Our Quote of the Day:

"Don't answer yes" pleaded British PM Tony Blair, after Bush was asked at today's joint press conference if he viewed Blair as his poodle

And now for something completely different

Some have accused me of having overly (self) important topics on this blog with lots of weighty issues disussed in a few short paragrahs. So here is a fun game I came accross that has nothing to do with Social Security Reform, the next Attorney General, or Middle East Peace.

Remember "Full House?" Sure, you can pretend you never saw it, but let's face it, you did and you secretly liked it at times. Well, now you can play a libelous version of Pac-Man featuring all your favorite (or least favorite) characters from the show.

It's called "Crack-Man" which claims that Mary-Katen Olsen not only that she has an eating disorder but that she has had sex with over 2,000 men since turning 18 and does crack like no body's business (except the Columbian Drug Cartels).

I was never that good at the original version of the game, but all the snorting noises and diet pills, plus the ability to eat Uncle Joey got me to level 4. Beat that with a stick!

After Arafat

Sometime last night, Arafat officially died. I say officially because the second I heard he had been carted off to Paris, I thought I smelled a rat. To me, it seemed like is rivals, as few and as weak as they were, had finally caught him at a weak point. I wonder if he really was in a coma or if the PO folks where just bickering over who would take over while Arafat was brain dead.

His wife was another interesting angle to the story. She had been uninvolved in the struggle for at least a decade and living high off of Arafat's cleptocracy, only to swoop in and take advantage of French law that gave her all kinds of rights over her husband's care and body.

Hopefully, something good will come out of this. This a great chance for the PO to have a real election and have real reforms that will end the corruption and cronyism that has plagued the organization and the peace process. Hopefully, some Israelis will be invited to the funeral, maybe not Sharon but maybe Barak (Rabin would have, maybe his widow will be) and I hope some Israelis show up to pay their respects to a worthy foe.

This is a new beginning for Palestine and its people, they have a choice: more of the same disaster, or real compromises for peace. I hope they won't choose the way 51% of Americans did.

Hopefully as well, George W. Bush will stop making up excuses to deal with the Israel/Palestine problem, which he has essentially ignored for 4 years (with intermittent half efforts) Maybe this will keep Colin Powell on, but Alberto "Abu Graib" Gonzales makes it a tough sell.

Now that he is in there for another 4 years, I hope he will put aside his pro-Israel posturing and get something done. Because nothing will help Iraq more than peace in Israel and vice versa. No battle in the War on Terror will be as decisive as a victory at the negotiations table between the PO and Israelis.

Worse than Ashcroft

I didn't think he could do it, but Bush managed to find a nominee for the AG spot worse than John Ashcroft: WH legal counsel Alberto Gonzales.

Remember Alberto? He's the author of the torture memos which the supreme court unanimously disgreed with (and the American people too). This is a man who will prevert any law or interpretation of the law to further his boss' manicial hold on power. Maybe he will figure out a way so Bush can run in 2008. Just makes me sick.

At least I found another laugh today. One was the tired attempts over at BOP at making my former workplace, the DLC, into the Democratic Party's boogy man that can be blamed of all ills and tell everyone they want to move to the right. Please read the threads and my counter attack (I'm DaveB).

The second good laugh was this site, which wants to be the grassroots site for the centrist-GOP ticket of McCain-Schwarzenegger. Their motto: "We'll sort this sh*t out!" By that, I think they mean the constitutional problems of a foriegn citizen running for Vice President. I am all for changing that part, as is my home state senator Orin Hatch. He wants Arnold, I want MI Gov. Jennifer Granholm. But then again, we can have both.

SS reform and SS privatization

This meaty issue was supposedly on Bush's to-do list pre-9/11 but he never got around to pushing for it. Now that he has his "mandate," he's going to push for it.

When he talked about this in 2000, on its face it sounded like a good idea for young workers like myself who pay into the system but seriously doubt we will ever get any money in return. Of course his rate or return arguments aren't so simple: the rate of returns might go up when these funds are in the stock market, but assuredly the rest of the markets returns will go down (excess supply for the same demand), and worse case scenario is that when you need your SS money, the stock market tanks.

More importantly, that wasn't the point of social security. The idea was a social compact between workers of yesterday and today. You work hard now, and you pay into a fund that will pay for those who worked before you and fought wars to protect you/your country in the past. It is a way of paying homage to the elderly and ensuring that society won't let them fall through the cracks with they didn't pick their stock wisely or save for their retirement. You could make the valid responsibility argument that these folks should pay for their irresponsibility and society shouldn't have to pony up for them living the high life while their colleagues socked it away.

But right now, it isn't a fund for the "stupid" but for all workers regardless of income levels. That way, it doesn't feel so socialistic and more "fair." Personally, I don't know if the Bill Gates of the world should really be able to collect social security benefits when they retire, but Democrats lost this battle in the 1980s. Does this battle need to be fought again?

Bush points to the crisis that Social Security will be insolvent in a few decades and proposes we spend a trillion or so in transition costs to move my social security taxes over to the stock market. But the record points out that many times SS was on the brink of disaster and they made it solvent again with minimal changes.

And let's be honest with ourselves: eventually, we have to raise the retirement age (for the Baby Boomer Generation, not The Greatest Generation) and we might have to create income eligibility. Too many people are living longer than the program was designed to handle and many are living well enough to not need government handouts. And if the stock market is more attractive than social security we will still have the incentive to invest rather than depend on the government.

It is true that soon my parent's generation will retire and there will be less workers per retiree than ever before. But keep in mind we used to have a social security surplus, which Bush is currently spending on tax cuts for the rich and Star Wars II (among other things).

I like the compromise idea of giving the surplus and national debt over to the stock market (actually our debt is already in the bond market, never mind) and if it does well, great if not, we haven't lost anything for a couple decades. It creates a quasi -lock box (a la Al Gore, bless his pudgy soul) that free market GOPers and Poverty Advocate Democrats can both get behind. Bush can say he "reformed social security" without creating a give-away for the financial industry like he did for pharmaceuticals with the terrible Rx drug program they passed this spring.

Sure I wish I could opt out of paying those payroll taxes for selfish reasons, but I think it is in the interest of the general welfare of the US to continue this key part of the New Deal.

2 down, more to (hopefully) go

John Ashcroft and Don Evans (Commerce Secretary) "resigned" in the dead of the night in DC. Thank goodness. Evans wasn't on my list, but only because I thought Bush prized his loyalty over his competency.

But Commerce is a plum job and whomever Bush thinks helped him get reelected the most (Mr. Diebold, Matt?) will most likely get it. The best part of being Commerce Secretary is after you step down anyway, where you command huge salaries for your connections.

Back to Ashcroft. In his letter, he praises Bush and himself with lots of phony statistics (in reality crime is actually up, and the prosecution of the War on Terror has been a unmitigated disaster) but here comes the kicker "Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons." What other challenging horizons are you talking about John?

Once upon a time, the Singing Senator who lost to a dead man and the dead man's wife thought he would use the AG spot to run for president in 2008. I think we can safely say that Ashcroft knows that ain't going to happen. Two words: PATRIOT ACT.

courtesy of NYTimes.com

Hopefully, whomever heads the DOJ (which had a rather Orwellian tone to it under Ashcroft's administration) and DOC will be more moderate and less representative of the hyper-conservative religious and ueber-pro-business wings of the GOP. But I am not going to hold my breath.

Just another day in paradise

Greetings from Salt Lake City, where several of ski resorts (there are 6 in this area) 30 minutes from downtown have already opened up. Today it is raining in the valley and undoubtedly snowing up at the higher elevations. If only I could afford a lift pass ($25-30).

I have been having a tough time, as most non-Bush voters have, over the past week. Like many of you, I am burnt out, tired, and despondent. But reading BOPNews lately hasn't helped at all, in fact it is making my blood boil.

The whole point of the website, I thought, was to talk about the transformation in politics and news with the propigation of the internet and Webblogs. Instead, after Kerry lost, they have been reduced to an angry club of tin-hatters in denial. Rather than discuss what went wrong strategy wise like they did with Dean and Clark, the two internet Wunderkinder, BOPsters are collecting every far fetched theory out there as to how the election was stolen by Bush.

If Atrios isn't buying those theories, do you think anyone outside the ueber-liberal bloggosphere will?

BOPster Matt Stoller likes to talk about partisanship and calls me a partisansheep, a person who is too consilatory towards enemies that are fighting dirty. I am all for fighting fire with fire when appropriate but I think in the long term, we all suffer if both sides take the scorched earth approach. There are times when being equally nasty actually backfires and it is better to firmly associate conservatives with nasty tactics.

Voter suppression is a good example. Let the GOP try to scare away black people and let the Democrats point it out and ask for everyone to vote and every vote to be counted. Makes the Republicans look very bad and Democrats look very good. It only looked bad with Gore tried to pick which votes should be counted in 2000.

It is far more constructive at this point for liberals like Matt to figure out how Democrats lost, point out Bush's failures, and help craft a message and candidates that will get the Party back into power in 2006 and then fully in 2008. I would love to have a debate with him and others about which way the party should go: to the left like I suspect he will want, to the right which he thinks I/the DLC wants, or simply to repackage which is what I really want. All the rest is just a big waste of time.

BCS bullhonky

I just read that despite remaining undefeated, Utah actually slipped from number 6 to number 7 in the BCS rankings, meaning they are not guarunteed a BCS bowl spot. As angry as I am, it just reminds me why I think College Football is so dumb.

The whole thing is completely dominated by about 15 or so teams. The only mystery each year is which one will do well and which ones will stink. Everyone else isn't allowed to play in their country club bowls. Each bowl is too greedy and self-important to allow a playoff system, which not only would make them more money in the long run but also create universal excitement for the sport closer to that of their more professional rivals, the NFL.

A school from a less important division doesn't get the chance to play against the big teams and thus have a tougher schedule because the big boys don't want to play a Utah or a Louisville because they are afraid of losing to them. Better to beat up on San Jose State and then have a close match with Texas A&M than try to win against an upstart like Boise State. Part of the problem here is that they have less games than other sports so if you lose more than one game, you will never be in the championship game (even one loss could keep you out).

Utah played this year against teams that are mostly bad but soundly beat two teams that play with the big boys and made some noise: North Carolina beat Floria, and #21 Texas A&M was in it against number 2 Oklahoma until the very end. Utah could not lose a single game this season and still not be allowed to play in a BCS bowl. Shame on them.

I get the biggest laugh when school officials say a playoff system would be bad because these "student-atheletes" would miss too much school. Like they care if these kids learn anything. They get free tutors so they don't fail, their teachers are known to be easy and told not to be too hard on them. In some cases, teachers even took tests for the athletes. Just ask the football jocks who went to Ohio State.

One could rotate the bowls around so that each gets to be the championship game and opening round. The whole thing could be done in 3 weeks. I know having a playoff system would be bad for columnists, who love to argue who really is number 1 like last year or the one before that. If they want it to revolve around polls, then why not go all the way and have it be like gymnasitcs or figure skating were the experts judge each move?

While the football players get free tuition, privileges, health care, etc. I believe they should just end the charade and pay college atheletes. We all know many got money on the side and that they are quasi professionals anyway.

There is big big money in college sports. Schools get millions to appear in bowls. Conferences get billions to sign up their league onto a network. Coaches get millions in salaries and endorsements. Why shouldn't the players who actually play the games and put butts in the seats get a piece of the pie?

The Fellowship of America

At church today, the sermon was about All Saints Day and the fellowship we all had as Christians. I view it as a broader fellowship in a sense. A fellowship between all Americans.

We all live in this country, as as sad and concerned I am about the election results, I am not going to kill myself at Ground Zero like a man from Georgia did or flee to Canada like others have joked about. There is too much to leave, too much to forsake for personal distaste. Too many fights to engage in.

As I quoted Bill Clinton yesterday, we are all in this together. We are all in the fellowship of America. Like the characters of the JRR Tolkien novel, we are united in cause and in values. It doesn't involve a ring or necessarily evil (as bad as I think Cheney is), but in propigating our shared values as Americans: Freedom, Democracy, Responsibility, Hard Work, and the Rule of Law over Rulers or Religion.

Whether you live in the Blue states or the Red States, like I do, we can all get behind these values. How we achieve them is how we differ.