dilemmanade
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
 
AP after GWB military records...Posted by C

Via Atrios

It's about time, eh?

It just may be that reporters, in general, are no smarter than anyone else, in general. And it's taking most people a long time to realize what a menace GWB is.

He isn't like other presidents that lean a little this way or that way. He's the idiot son of a former president-- and that is the only reason he is president-- who thinks he's been annointed by God.

Monarchies are familiar with this problem, but it's never happened here before. We've had presidents who were arguably bad for one reason or another. But never a president with such a sense of entitlement and so little sense of any other kind.

 
 
Smoggy enough for you?...Posted by C

It's just despicable that the Supremes (and I guess there's no reason to be surprised by anything they do at this point) ruled that because of NAFTA California can't apply to Mexican trucks the same air pollution standards that apply to American trucks. If we can't regulate all trucks, then why can we regulate any trucks?

State Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) has introduced legislation to require that the Mexican trucks meet federal standards. And the Supremes may knock that down, too. But let's hope not.

 
 
Legislators Unite to Derail Primary Measure...Posted by C

So says a headline in today's L.A. Times.

You just gotta be suspicious when Republicans and Democrats get together on an issue.
[The Voter Choice Open Primary Act] initiative would replace the current system of party primaries with one primary election open to all candidates and voters. The two candidates who won the most votes would then fight it out in the general election. Presidential elections as well as those for political party posts would be exempted.
Clearly this would be a blow to the established parties: They wouldn't be guaranteed a place in the general election, and (heh heh) two candidates from the same party might be battling in the general election in those districts so gerrymandered that one party will have won the first and second places in the primary.

That's good.

In Los Angeles, we have "non-partisan" elections for City and County offices. That reform from the early part of the last century was intended to break the stranglehold of the established parties, but it didn't work. That was, however, largely because contenders for public office are not allowed to put their party affiliation on the ballot. And the districts are so big that the Democratic and Republican parties can still field their candidates with great big bankrolls that minor party candidates or non-affiliated candidates can't overcome. Elections in Los Angeles are usually just name-recognition contests.

The VCOPA allows party affiliation to be printed on the ballot, and many districts-- congressional, state legislative...-- are much smaller than the city and county districst in Los Angeles.

So I think it's worth a try.

Those slimy Republicans and Democrats will field an initiative in the same election in an attempt to undermine the VCOPA. They hope that their initiative will get more votes, partly by including a provision-- thoroughly unrelated to elections-- to earmark monies from the sale of state surplus property to debt management, and so nullify the VCOPA in the event that it wins.

 
Thursday, June 17, 2004
 
The Press is now out to get Bush...Posted by C

There are headlines all over the place about there being no ties between Iraq and Al Queda.

The reporters already knew this.

The editors already knew this.

It's not even news. Why make headlines about it?

Because they also know that the American people don't know this. And they want them to know.

And I'm happy about this.

 
Friday, June 11, 2004
 
Bush is toast...Posted by C

As each day goes by, I am more convinced that this is so. I won't make a list of everything he's done to alienate constituencies and undermine his credibility. What's new is: he's starting to look like a loser. Americans don't elect or re-elect losers.

There's more shit that's gonna hit the fan before November (Plame, more on torture, etc.), and about zero chance he'll be able to make the Iraq adventure look good before then.

The fat lady is warming up off-stage.

 
 
Dark enough for ya?...Posted by C

(From the Houston Chronicle):
[H]undreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950s to the early '90s, or 2 to 3 percent per decade. In some areas like Asia, the United States and Europe, the drop was even steeper. Hong Kong saw a 37 percent decrease in its sunlight.
Evidently due to pollution.

It just keeps getting better every day.

 
When life gives you dilemmas, make dilemmanade.

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