Before the June primary, someone told me that he habitually printed out a copy of my endorsements and took it to the poll with him.  With that kind of endorsement, I can't help but try to help some people untangle the nastyness that is the California ballot.  Please note that I gloss over some of the reasons I decided to vote for some of the people ( Read more... )

For those of you unfamiliar with the California ballot, it's a monstrosity that takes ages to unravel. This is mostly because we have to vote on many things that should be the prerogative of the legislature. My anti-proposition rant is better saved for another day, though.

In either case, I get asked frequently how I'm going to vote.  Since it ( Read more... )

You know, it is a good thing that the House doesn't require a 3/5ths majority. Controversial legislation that has a 3/5ths majority in the House would be just as twisty and turny as the Senate's. If both chambers requires a 3/5ths majority, there would be no way that Congress would ever be able to reconcile a House version and a Senate version ( Read more... )

Hm... The NYT says:
[S]enators said the tentative agreement would sideline but not kill the “public option” championed by President Obama and liberal Democrats in Congress ( Read more... )

Al Franken made quite the debut in the Sotomayor hearings. He really raked her over the coals:
FRANKEN: OK. I -- we're going to have a round two, so I'll ask you some more questions there. What was the one case in "Perry Mason" that Berger won?
SOTOMAYOR: There -- I wish I remembered the name of the episode, but I don't. I just was always struck ( Read more... )

I am sitting here listening to Jeff Sessions interrogate Sonia Sotomayor.  He is basically spending all of his time asking a variant on the following question: "You are The Other, a Latina woman, and your heritage and experiences frighten me and my constituents.  What gives you the right to be a Latina Woman sitting here in front of me?"

I mean, ( Read more... )

This:

Officials said they want rules to eliminate conflicts of interest at credit rating agencies that gave top investment grades to the exotic and ultimately shaky financial instruments that have been a source of market turmoil. The core problem, they said, is that the agencies are paid by companies to help them structure financial instruments, ( Read more... )

Vanity Fair has an oral history of the Bush Presidency. Being presented with all the malfeasances and incompetences and infighting at once, in chronological order, from firsthand accounts, is absolutely fascinating. Missed chances to do everything from improving partisan relationships to getting Bin Laden before 9/11 to dealing with Katrina ( ( Read more... )

Possibly because I am in a generally pissy mood these days ( Read more... )

Here is an interesting New York Times article about the etymology of the word "maverick"Apparently, it is a family name. The family is a long line of civil libertarians who made that name by defending atheists, draft dodgers and the targets of red-baiting. As you can imagine, they are rather annoyed whenever they hear McCain and Palin describing ( Read more... )