Month: July 2014

They’re children, Part XXII

by digby

Dday conducted an in-depth interview with progressive Caucus Chair Keith Ellison after Netroots Nation in which Ellison says a lot of interesting things. But I liked this the best:

Raul Grijalva worked with our progressive partners and brought forth a white paper which we adopted that said children first. Children first. And we don’t want anything to do with, in fact I firmly oppose, this hateful idea that we’re going to throw kids who could be victims of trafficking back to the wolves. We won’t do it. We’re going to be aggressive and robust in defending this idea of kids first.

Thank God there’s somebody out there who is taking the only decent and moral position on this.

That’s the starting point: we are not going to throw these kids back to the wolves.  Once you’ve made that obvious decision you can start to look at all the other options to mitigate this problem.

I’m sure these children would rather be with their parents and their parents would rather their kids be with them.  They are human beings, after all. Imagine what it takes to send your kid off on a trek of a thousand miles because you are afraid they are going to be killed if you don’t. Only desperation could drive any parent to do such a thing. Our government needs to deal with that horrific reality.  These kids are refugees.

Oh, and this is about as silly an approach to dealing with it as possible:

That’s Neidermeyer Perry there, posing for another photo-op yesterday in yet another costume.  Those Texas boys do love their get-ups. As he said, it’s all about the “visual.”

I’m sure the kids will all be “deterred” when they the sight of him and will scurry the thousand miles back home as fast as their little legs can carry them.

.

USA! USA! #13! #13!

by David Atkins

The United States is exceptional. Exceptionally poor among industrialized nations, that is, when it comes to energy efficiency:

Germany is #1 in the World for Energy Efficiency, according to the 2014 scorecard released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) today. Sixteen nations were studied. Six of the top 10 were from Europe. Canada was the only North American nation to make the cut, placing 9th.

“Germany is a prime example of a nation that has made energy efficiency a top priority,” ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel said in a press release. “The United States, long considered an innovative and competitive world leader, has progressed slowly and has made limited progress since our last report, even as Germany, Italy, China, and other nations surge ahead.”

We could do this, too, and create millions of green jobs along the way. But we don’t because…well, I don’t need to get into it, do I? You already know the answer why.

We don’t do it because Republicans are exceptionally awful.

.

Pants on the ground

by digby

Freedom:

This week, Ocala Florida City Council approved an ordinance prohibiting anyone on city property from wearing their trousers two inches below their waist, Channel 9’s WFTV reported.

The “sagging pants” regulation is enforceable on sidewalks, streets, parks, sports, recreation and public transportation facilities and parking lots.

Police are expected to issue warnings at first, however failure to comply after being cautioned may lead to a $500 fine or up to six months in jail time.

Does anyone know if this law can be enforced if the reason your pants are falling down is because you’re carrying a heavy gun in your pocket? Because that can happen. I wouldn’t want anyone to have their 2nd Amendment rights violated here.

.

Jonah’s baroque fantasy

by digby

Did Jonah Goldberg just get a new thesaurus or something. Lordy, his latest is just.. well, to borrow one of his brand new words, “baroque.” He’s going on about how political correctness is sort of, maybe, not all bad because it makes people nicer. Or something. And then he explains why liberals are assholes anyway.

I’ll let Edroso take it from here:

The New Conservatives are watching their pressure gauges and tracking the New Mores. Apparently these studies are desperately needed (and possibly eligible for a grant!), because the New Conservatives are locked in a Mores Race with the liberals to see who’s got the best political correctness, and Goldberg wants potentially donors to know that the libs’ sexual Sputnik is still in orbit:

Democrats recognize this, which is why they’ve cynically exploited changes in family structure, female labor participation, and reproductive technology and declared that Republicans have declared war on women

This is like saying “Democrats cynicallye xploited growing tolerance of minority groups to make us look like bigots.” There’s a step missing there, Goldberg, can you guess what it is?

Progressives are steadily dismantling the beautiful cathedrals of traditional manners and customs, arguing that they’re too Baroque, too antiquated. They use the sledgehammer of liberation rhetoric to destroy the old edifices, but their fidelity to liberty is purely rhetorical. In place of the old cathedrals they build supposedly functional, modern, and utilitarian codes of conduct. But these Brutalist codes are not only unlovely, they are often more prudish than traditional approaches…

It’s like he knows us, right? To capture chick votes we smashed the cathedrals of courtly love! Which was awkward, you know, because all those apses and semitransepts are so vaginal, but it was worth it to get rid of that meddling Christ. Then we put up a Government Fucking Center. A bit sterile, but it does the job, especially after you put down the hemp mats.

Goldberg thinks he can do better:

What I would like to see from conservatives is recognition that some of the cathedrals are outdated. But instead of arguing that they should be razed and replaced with Jacobin Temples of Reason with rites and rituals grounded in abstraction, why not argue for some long overdue updating and retrofitting? I guarantee you more women prefer a modified version of the traditional process of wooing, courting, and dating before sex than the “modern” schizophrenic system of getting drunk enough for a same-day hook up but not so inebriated to forget to get a signature on the consent form. Traditional notions of romance and respect are far better tools than the mumbo-jumbo campus feminists have to offer. The problem is that the mumbo-jumbo feminists are fighting largely uncontested.

Ooooh baby, no. “Jacobin Temples of Reason with rites and rituals grounded in abstraction” is so hot! Don’t abandon it. Rub it all over your sweet, dimpled, alabaster bod and give it to us, just like that ….

Alternatively, you could go with Roy’s example:

I look forward to seeing this conservative modified version of the traditional process of wooing, courting, and dating before sex. “I’m here to read you some pastorals.” “OK [continues texting].” Later: “I swear by my life and my love of it I won’t cum in your mouth.”

Turnout problems

by David Atkins

It’s no secret that Democrats have a turnout problem. It’s bad:

The study, from the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, shows turnout in the 25 states that have held statewide primaries for both parties is down by nearly one-fifth from the last midterm, in 2010. While 18.3 percent of eligible voters cast ballots back then, it has been just 14.8 percent so far this year. Similarly, 15 of the 25 states that have held statewide primaries so far have recorded record-low turnout.

Ouch.

This is all the more depressing when you realize that, less than 50 years ago, primary turnout was twice as high.

But, really, this isn’t all that new. As you can see above, turnout has been dropping steadily for years.

What’s perhaps most notable, though, is the partisan difference. Republican primary turnout overtook Democratic turnout for the first time in 2010, and that difference is even bigger this primary season.

Part of this is a cultural problem with the left. When conservatives don’t get what they want, they tend to double down at the ballot box. When progressives don’t get what they want, many of us tend to storm away and fantasize about engaging the system outside of electoral politics somehow. This is part of why conservatives have been successful in moving the country to right.

I’ve brought these points up again and again. Politicians don’t care about people who don’t vote, and the Tea Party gets coddled because they actually vote in primaries and Democrats tend not to.

But, of course, Democratic politicians also bear a lot of the blame. It’s awfully hard to get motivated to vote when you know that not much is going to change regardless of the outcome.

Even so, you can’t lay the entire blame for the problem at the feet of centrist corporate Democrats. The trend toward lower turnout started in 1970, hardly the heyday of the DLC. Yes, Democratic politicians need to do a better job of advancing progressive priorities and building base enthusiasm. But progressive voters also need to come out and actually vote, too.

.

Religious war 2014

by digby

No I’m not talking about the Middle East where they are very busy destroying themselves with it. Right wing watch catches the beginning of a new wave of religious wars right here in the good old US of A — instigate by alleged Christians against Christians:

Flip Benham’s group Operation Save America disrupted the services of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans on Sunday while the congregation was honoring a member who had died. The organization framed their action as simply an effort to “present the truth of the Gospel in this synagogue of Satan” as part of their efforts “to defeat the culture of death.”

At the Unitarian Universalist “church” in New Orleans, Deanna Waller, Jay Rogers, Mary Claire, Ken Scott, Russell Hunter, Toby Harman and others presented the truth of the Gospel in this synagogue of Satan. As God would have it, the “church” was filled with students from a “social justice” training school. According to Rev. Flip Benham, OSA National Director, the team presented a “dynamic witness.”

During an open “meditation” time, Deanna shared the Word of the Lord. When the female “pastor” took issue, Deanna reminded her that, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones” (Luke 17:2). In violation of their “sacred tenants” of peace and tolerance, Deanna and others were summarily escorted out of the service.

Other saints stayed and dialoged until the conclusion of the service. It created no small stir. The “social justice” candidates ran to the Christians and asked them many questions. Our brethren gave them the reason for the hope that lies within them and defended the faith. Seeds of truth were sown. may the Lord water them in Jesus’ name.

Here’s how that looked from other perspective:

Rev. Deanna Vandiver, a guest speaker at Sunday’s service, said in a Facebook post that Benham’s group tried to “terrorize people as they worship.”

“The disturbance took place as the congregation was holding a moment of silence for a member of the church who had died the week before, said the Rev. Deanna Vandiver,” the Uptown Messenger reports. “She then invited the protesters to stay if they could join or observe the worship service respectfully, and if not, to take their protest outside the building. The congregation began to sing, and church leaders then began to lead the most vocal protesters outside, though a few chose to stay quietly through the remainder of the service.”

“I think we were an easy target, because we’re literally just a few blocks down the road from where they’re building this clinic,” Vandiver said. “But we are not interested in being terrorized. Freedom of speech does not trump freedom of religion.”

Actually we have come to believe that freedom of religion now means the freedom to impose your religious belief on others so I don’t think that’s quite true.

And they’re harassing people in their homes too:

In addition to protesting Planned Parenthood sites, Operation Save America is also holding demonstrations outside the homes of providers. A neighbor to one of those homes — who asked that his name be withheld out of concern that the group would target him — said his family has already endured two sessions of protests, with dozens of people holding signs on the sidewalk near his house featuring graphic images that he has done his best to hide from his young children.

“My kids are scared,” the resident said in an interview Monday afternoon. “It’s all these ugly pictures. They’re talking on the loudspeaker. I try to speak to them civilly, and it’s very difficult to do, because they’re looking for a confrontation.”

You know how to stop this I’m sure. It’s simple. Just do as you’re told. Any abused wife can tell you how that works …

.

Courts make decisions. It’s what they do.

by digby

Talk about missing the forest for the trees:

You might be tempted — particularly if you are a Republican — to see today’s D.C. federal appeals court ruling invalidating subsidies for people buying insurance in the federal marketplace under Obamacare as a major moment in the political path of the law. You also might be tempted — particularly if you are Democrat — to see today’s 4th District Court of Appeals decision that the subsidies were ok as a major moment in the political path of the law.

Don’t do it.

While these decisions could have major policy implications for President Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, there is virtually no chance that either one will have any near or even medium term impact on the politics surrounding Obamacare.

Why? Because minds are entirely made up about the law.

Among all Americans, more people disapprove of Obamacare than approve. And, with the occasional blip here or there, those numbers have been steady for the better part of the last three years.

That’s nice. Some people hate the program and others like it. What that has to do with the courts’ decisions this morning I do not know. I actually haven’t seen even one person assert that these decisions are a major moment in the “political path” of the law. What does that even mean in the context of these opinions?

Yes, courts are political animals. But they do make decisions. They even call them that. And at some point the Big Court is probably going to make a Big Decision about this issue. Why anyone thinks that public opinion being divided on this would have any relevance whatsoever to that fact is beyond me. Sure, the Supremes could punt. But as this post indicates, the political stalemate on Obamacare has been in place for some time and the Court certainly didn’t punt on earlier questions. This is what they do.

.

Rick “Neidermeyer” Perry’s latest lunacy

by digby

Those hipster glasses aren’t working:

Now that he’s off drugs and wearing some sharp Warby-Parkers, Perry is making another run at the presidency. And as the Texas Governor (for what seems like the last century) he’s milking the refugee crisis at the border by remembering the Alamo and standing his ground against the hordes of “illegal” children and nursing mothers who are invading his state. He said yesterday that he “will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor”.

It looks like the geek specs haven’t improved his verbal clarity. One can’t be sure who it is he thinks are assaulting the American people but by process of elimination one can only assume it must be the little children. From their squalid detention areas apparently. Suffice to say that whatever this assault is, this must be stopped and the best way to do that in Perry’s estimation is to send in troops. (He’s a Republican — if cutting taxes won’t solve it, starting a war is the only thing left to do.)

That’s from my Salon piece this morning. That weird comment is only the beginning …

.

One more time: The Republicans have no incentive to moderate

by digby

So theconservative majority on the D.C. Circuit Court panel seized the opportunity to strike down about half the Obamacare subsidies. Of course they did:

A federal appeals court panel in the District struck down a major part of the 2010 health-care law Tuesday, ruling that the tax subsidies that are central to the program may not be provided in at least half of the states.

The ruling, if upheld, could potentially be more damaging to the law than last month’s Supreme Court decision on contraceptives. The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with plaintiffs who argued that the language of the law barred the government from giving subsidies to people in states that chose not to set up their own insurance marketplaces. Twenty-seven states, most with Republican leaders who oppose the law, decided against setting up marketplaces, and another nine states partially opted out.

This is a purely technical glitch in the drafting language. If we had a normal, functioning government it wouldn’t even have made it to the courts, it would have been fixed with a voice vote and the president would have signed it the minute anyone became aware of it. But we don’t have a normal, functioning government so this issue is working its way through the court system and will end up before the Supremes, where the five man majority could bat their eyes and fatuously declare that this is a problem only the congress can fix, knowing all the while that we have a bunch of terrorists running the House who will never do it.

I don’t know if the Court is that irresponsible, but it looks as though we’re going to find out.

This is why I theorize that the Republicans don’t really need to win the presidency and have little reason to moderate. They don’t even need to win the Senate — it makes little difference if they do. With one gerrymandered House of congress willing to do whatever it takes and a hardcore ideological majority on the Supreme Court they can enact their agenda regardless of what the majority of this country desires. After all, what they really care about is making government dysfunctional. This furthers their political and ideological aims.

And while one might think they would like to have the presidency in order to control the Commander in Chief function, which they love, they don’t really need that either. The Deep State is always in control and neither party is going to do anything to upset it beyond the very outside margins. (Actually, I think the Cheney administration actually did try to change things — for the worse — and it scared them a little.) And anyway, the GOP enjoys carping from the outside, portraying the Democrats as feckless, effeminate fops who are unable to run the world’s only Superpower even as there are almost no real differences among them. It’s all good.

The Republican Party run by the modern conservative movement is the most effective and successful minority party in history. They fully exploit every flaw in our system for their own advantage and then skillfully demonize their opponents if they try to use the same techniques. They are well funded by billionaires with a strong interest in paralyzing democracy and have a bunch of followers whose worldview is organized around discontent and hatred of “the other” which makes a government system full of veto points a perfect vehicle for their agenda. Oh, and they revel in shamelessness which is their way of flexing their power and ensuring that everyone knows who’s really in charge. And everyone does.

.

Making a contrast with a recalcitrant House

by David Atkins

It’s basic Congressional politics in America: if your opponent is insane and wants deeply unpopular things, put out a message bill and back them into a corner with a view toward embarrassing them in the next election. The Democratic Senate hasn’t been doing a very good job of that with the GOP Senate minority or the GOP House.

But the President also has the power of executive orders to make the contrast, and President Obama is increasingly using that power. And it just so happens the Senate made the right call, too:

President Barack Obama on Monday signed an executive order aimed at protecting workers at federal contractors and in the federal government from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“I firmly believe that it’s time to address this injustice for every American,” Obama told a group of LGBT activists gathered in the East Room of the White House. Later, he added, “we’re on the right side of history.”

It’s a move that both answers years of calls for action from LGBT activists and serves as a reminder of the limits of presidential power. While the executive order applies to 30,000 companies employing 28 million workers — one-fifth of the U.S. workforce — it does not reach all employers nationwide.

The administration had held off on the order as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act made progress moving through Congress, including a bipartisan 64-32 vote in the Senate. But after months of inaction from the House, and as Obama responds to midterm pressures, the White House chose to act where it could this summer.

The more of these actions, the better. The best chance Democrats have of doing well in the midterm elections is to do the right things–or at least to try to do them–and then point out to voters just how awful the Republicans are.

It’s not fantastic, but it’s the best accountability America has for this situation.

.