New Orleans needs Presidential leadership
I have been working in Louisiana for the past two months, and the impression down here is certainly that we have been forgotten. We call it "Katrina fatigue." I've witnessed the destruction, both in...
View ArticlePatriot Act extended...now what?
The Senate has just passed a six month extension of the Patriot Act. Now it goes to the House, which is adjourned, until February. It seems implausible that Delay Co. would let them stay out and allow...
View ArticleMore of the same from Bush's New Orleans visit
The President visited New Orleans again this week, his first trip since standing in Jackson Square promising to rebuild. This week, he highlighted tax credit legislation to encourage the private sector...
View ArticleACT NOW to defeat the Bush budget - VOTE TOMORROW
As pointed out brilliantly here by Mark Schmitt, there's a huge vote tomorrow on the budget. The GOP is wounded and leaderless on this vote. It's time for actioin. As hard as we all worked on Alito,...
View ArticleYoung Rs: More conservative; Young Ds: More conservative
If there weren't enough reasons, here's some evidence that we are drifting right, and need places like this to take our party and our nation back:National Journal's Congressional RatingsWhile their...
View ArticleMT-Sen: Burns trails both Dems, fueling dropout rumors
In a newly released Helena Independent Record poll, Senator Conrad Burns trails both Democratic candidates.Morrison has 48 percent to Burns' 43 percent, with 4 percent favoring another candidate and 5...
View ArticleTales from New Orleans: Driving past the cemetery
One of the least-talked about consequence of Hurricane Katrina is the psychological damage many New Orleanians suffered. People who stayed struggle to cope with the memories of the horrific days after...
View ArticleWhy I left Capitol Hill...and why I'm going to Yearlykos
Seven months ago, I left Capitol Hill, in part because I didn't fit in with the culture. I worked in the Senate for a moderate Democrat, a fundamentally good and honest man. There I witnessed firsthand...
View ArticleNOLA votes. Does it matter?
Campaign signs lined my route to work this morning, the New Orleans Mayoral Election is upon us. I think Landrieu will win, and by more than ten percent, but I wonder how much it matters. Because...
View ArticleWhy did he die?
Terry Lisk, 26. Why did he die? The passing of soldiers in Iraq is such a frequent occurrence that it often goes without remark.
View ArticleThe mental health crisis in New Orleans
Several months ago, I wrote:One of the least-talked about consequence of Hurricane Katrina is the psychological damage many New Orleanians suffered....For many victims with whom I've spoken, they...
View ArticleI hate football
The American professional football season begins today. I hate the NFL, both the institution and the sport it pushes. My distaste for the NFL is best expressed in bullet points:To start, the word...
View ArticleFuck
Fuck. I'm sorry for the coarse language, but that's all I can say. Fuck. So apparently this is the week we legalize torture. When I heard we were torturing people, nay, when I suspected it in the weeks...
View ArticleYou want a legislative agenda? Katrina. Katrina. Katrina.
As the discussion turns to what the Democrats will offer as a legislative agenda beyond Pelosi's first 100 hours, this New York Times Story (in a bid for most understated headline...ever:Life Is...
View ArticleNot Al Franken for Senate!
October 25, 2002 was perhaps the worst day of my life. I was waiting for my statistics lab to begin at the Humphrey Institute when another student walked in and said, "on MPR they’re saying Sen....
View ArticleThank you Ann Coulter
Thank you Ann Coulter.After two weeks where Sens. Clinton and Obama seemed to steal all the headlines for the manufactured kerfuffle over David Geffen, Ann Coulter has put John Edwards back onto the...
View ArticleWhy I oppose hate crime legislation
I oppose hate crime legislation. And while the recently passed bill does have a useful provision (increasing funds to help investigate these crimes, particularly for rural communities lacking...
View ArticleLeadership vs. compromise and Obama
Prompted in part by Kos' post this morning about Sen. Obama’s consensus strategy, I’ve been thinking about leadership in the context of the war and all the other issues facing the 44th President.Having...
View ArticleI registered for YearlyKos today
Today I registered for YearlyKos. Why today? Because the rate goes up in a few hours. But more important, why YearlyKos?
View ArticleTo Governor Pawlenty:
Now you want to raise taxes? Now, with after scores of people hurt and several killed, now it's ok to acknowledge that government isn't the devil, that taxes aren't evil?Now it's time to raise taxes?...
View ArticleSen. Klobuchar Responds re: Moveon Ad
Last week, furious with the Senate's decision to waste time "condemning" the Moveon ad, I e-mailed one of my Senators, Amy Klobuchar expressing my disappointment that she was suckered into the trap and...
View Articlefive years ago
Five years ago I was sitting in a computer lab at the Humphrey Institute, waiting for a stats lab to begin. Students trickling into the class mentioned something about a plane crash on MPR. A few...
View ArticleOn shame and hope
I am ashamed of my countryLast night, standing on the balcony I noticed a neighbor flying the American flag. I have a flagpole and have not once considered flying the American flag. For I am ashamed.
View ArticleIn other news...Americans keep shooting each other
So common is this that it no longer registers surprise or shock. Seemingly every day now there is a shooting, be it in a mall or a college or even just at a home. Every day, Americans are killing each...
View ArticleFundraising for injured cats on DailyKos?
Last I checked this site was for politics. It was for supporting team blue, to elect more and better democrats. And it’s also a wonderful community that has done much for many here, from providing...
View ArticleTornadoes, risk & governing with emotion
A recommended diary "Who Is to Blame for the Lack of Storm Shelters" raises some interesting questions about tornado sheltering, building codes, tornado alley and public policy. Rather than try and go...
View Article"You just want it to go away" - GMA, Stephanopoulos and the Culture of Rape
I’m spitting mad. Usually my rage will be reserved for a moronic act by a GOP legislature, or upon learning about a judge who lets rich people get away with murder.Not today.
View ArticleNY Board of Ed Removes Racist Buffalo School Board Member Carl Paladino
Racist Trumper and general piece of human garbage Carl Paladino finally got what’s coming:Carl P. Paladino is out as a member of the Buffalo Board of Education.That's the ruling today from State...
View ArticleNobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has died
Toni Morrison, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist who conjured a black girl longing for blue eyes, a slave mother who kills her child to save her from bondage and other indelible characters who helped...
View ArticlePolice were called to a Planned Parenthood. What happened next is shocking.
Several days ago the West Seneca (NY) police posted a series of cryptic tweets:xWe have been in contact with the Administrative Staff from Planned Parenthood and are conducting a joint investigation...
View ArticleNY Dem Chair compares Dem Nominee, a black woman, to David Duke, a KKK member
Jay Jacobs, NY Democratic Party chair today in an interview compared the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Buffalo to David Duke.Asked why the state party and he had not backed India Walton, a Democrat...
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