GOP Backlash?

5:03 pm EST March 28th, 2006 | Politics | 21 Comments

My position on this notwithstanding, I wonder if this is the end of the great Republican experiment to get the Hispanic vote into their camp?

“This bill is scaring people in a way they haven’t been scared for a long time and the increasingly sophisticated Latino and immigrant community leadership has been able to effectively channel this into protests,” he said.

The demonstrations have spread way beyond the traditionally Hispanic immigrant communities of Western cities such as Los Angeles to hubs as far away as the northwestern cities of Detroit, Milwaukee and the southern city of Atlanta where tens of thousands of people have been marching since last week.

Don’t Be Dumb, Dems

5:03 pm EST March 28th, 2006 | Democrats | 28 Comments

I can almost hear the consultant’s brains churning into stupidland after seeing this gallup poll saying that healthcare is the top concern for citizens.

We win on healthcare, and it feels safe, but the two top issues this fall and for the forseeable future will be Iraq and Terrorism.

Your campaigns this fall? Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Your superawesome healthcare ideas are a part of your campaign, but Iraq is the centerpiece.

Cult Illustrated

4:03 pm EST March 28th, 2006 | Politics | 6 Comments

Via JD Lasica, this illustration of recent polling and how Republicans are so far out of the mainstream of opinion as seen by Democrats and Independents. (click it to see it full size)

Sexiest Woman In The World?

2:03 am EST March 28th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 21 Comments

FHM folks say it’s Scarlett Johansson. Yes, Ms. Johansson is attractive, but we here at OW.com respectfully disagree with their decision. Our evidence:

Topic: Stupid Things

Unrealistic?

3:03 pm EST March 27th, 2006 | News | 62 Comments

Ezra Klein says that my stance on immigration is not realistic. It isn’t? I understand that there’s a large illegal immigrant population that has essentially become a part of our economy, but on the other hand I think it simply devalues the sacrifices of those who have waited in line to come here if you’re just going to wave a wand and reward those who have broken the rules – no matter how dire their circumstances.

If I’m someone in another country (like, say, Jamaica) who wants to come to America, this just communicates to me – come on over any way you can, never mind the laws, stay here for a while and you’ll be rewarded. It tells those who have the temerity to wait “in line” that they’re playing a suckers game for playing by the rules.

Topic: Immigration

Big & Bold vs. Old & Cold

12:03 am EST March 27th, 2006 | Democrats | 1 Comment

An interesting post on Huffpo, considering my recent thinking on The Big Ideas (more on that coming).

Ehrlich’s Power Failure

12:03 am EST March 27th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Somehow I don’t think siding with power companies and their rate hikes over the citizens is the first step towards re-election for Maryland’s current governor

The furor over rising electricity prices has caught Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. between his loyalty to the state’s business community and an electorate bracing for bloated bills this summer.

As Maryland lawmakers tried to squeeze concessions from the state’s largest electric company last week and utility lobbyists hustled to Annapolis to preserve their interests, the Republican governor declared himself a “neutral broker.”

>> Martin O’Malley’s Letter to Governor Ehrlich on Energy Prices

Topic: 2006 Election

Immigration

10:03 pm EST March 26th, 2006 | Politics | 57 Comments

Where to start? I must admit, I think the majority of conservative posturing on immigration is out and out bigotry, the same mindset that frets about having the culture of latinos and others influencing our collective identity now hiding under the guise of “protecting the border” from terrorists. Of course, the 9/11 terrorists were not illegals and didn’t sneak across the border. They came with passports on an airplane.

I’m a first generation American. My parents both came to America in the early ’70s from Jamaica, married each other then had me. They waited in line for the permission to come to live and work in America, and both retain their Jamaican citizenship (and live in Jamaica). I think America shouldn’t seal itself off, I believe immigration is what has made America great (partly because I’m a product of it , but at the same time I don’t have a lot of tolerance for people “cutting in line”.

Amnesty for illegal immigrants seems like cutting in line to me. It’s rewarding breaking the rules. If people from other countries want to emigrate to America – and I definitely want them to – they need to do so by following the rules. Encouraging otherwise is just wrong.

1,060 Days Since “Mission Accomplished”

7:03 pm EST March 26th, 2006 | News | 134 Comments

At least 69 Iraqis die in Sunday violence

Police found 30 more victims of the sectarian slaughter ravaging Iraq most of them beheaded dumped on a village road north of Baghdad on Sunday. At least 16 other Iraqis were killed in a U.S.-backed raid in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital.

CBS’ Lara Logan

You don’t think that I haven’t been to the U.S. military and the State Department and the embassy and asked them over and over again, let’s see the good stories, show us some of the good things that are going on? Oh, sorry, we can’t take to you that school project, because if you put that on TV, they’re going to be attacked about, the teachers are going to be killed, the children might be victims of attack.

Oh, sorry, we can’t show this reconstruction project because then that’s going to expose it to sabotage. And the last time we had journalists down here, the plant was attacked.

I mean, security dominates every single thing that happens in this country.
Reconstruction funds have been diverted to cover away from reconstruction to — they’ve been diverted to security.

Soldiers, their lives are occupied most of the time with security issues.
Iraqi civilians’ lives are taken up most of the time with security issues.

So how it is that security issues should not then dominate the media coverage coming out of here?

Topic: Iraq

Kids Today Just Don’t Get It

1:03 pm EST March 25th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Back in the day there were movies animated by the top artists at Disney explaining the horrors of venereal disease. And it was good. (via boing boing)

Topic: Humor