BTJ46's Blog

BTJ46 Commented on Labor Group's Radio Ad Hits GOP Leader: Rush Limbaugh by Eric Kleefeld

2009-01-30T16:31:57Z

I got a haircut yesterday. My barber is a typical small business republican, has a rather large shop, and supported McCain in the election.
I haven't argued with him a lot -- sometimes he has a razor at my throat. But yesterday he said: "Some body has got to shut up Rush Limbaugh. If Obama fails, we all go down."
As our President said: "The ground is shifting beneath our feet."

BTJ46 recommended The Progressive Priorities That Made It Into the Stimulus by Elana Schor

2009-01-28T18:16:08Z

BTJ46 recommended The Strange Tale Of Mrs. Schlossberg by Matthew Cooper

2009-01-23T03:50:00Z

BTJ46 recommended For First Time In Eight Years, President Supports Roe On Anniversary by Eric Kleefeld

2009-01-22T20:47:53Z

BTJ46 recommended Obama's Presidential Speech: Words to Notice by coonsey

2009-01-20T18:57:43Z

BTJ46 recommended The Standards of Civility for Democrats by Doctor Cleveland

2009-01-20T21:23:37Z

BTJ46 Commented on Coleman Camp Proposes Month And A Half Long Schedule For Election Lawsuit by Eric Kleefeld

2009-01-14T22:45:42Z

Norm's problem is that he is out of money and out of a job and he is facing some 'legal difficulties' with several corruption cases pending. Not that he ever had any independence or integrity, but now he has to listen to where money might be.

BTJ46 recommended No Complaints Filed Against Schlozman in Kansas by Zachary Roth

2009-01-13T21:13:47Z

BTJ46 recommended Report: Schlozman Broke The Law, Then Tried To Hide It From Senate by Zachary Roth

2009-01-13T15:39:24Z

BTJ46 recommended The Change We Need to Get Used To by The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve

2009-01-11T21:51:30Z

BTJ46 recommended Playing into the hands of Hamas by Sam Bahour

2009-01-09T11:30:08Z

BTJ46 Commented on Coleman's Lawsuit: This Whole Election Stinks -- And I Won by Eric Kleefeld

2009-01-09T01:21:13Z

Drew Pearson clearly pushed off Nate Wright on that 'touchdown' -- it's on the videotape.
On the other hand, the recount process was similarly transparent and there was no pushing off.

BTJ46 recommended Minnesota Canvassing Board Member Fires Back At The Journal by Eric Kleefeld

2009-01-06T23:35:07Z

BTJ46 recommended Rocket Science by Bernard Avishai

2009-01-06T12:46:39Z

BTJ46 recommended Chutzpah Alert by Jon Taplin

2009-01-05T16:56:10Z

BTJ46 Commented on The Ten Young Progressive Intellectuals Who Make Me Hopeful by Andrew Golis

2009-01-01T16:02:47Z

I suppose one could demand a definition of 'intellectual' but some more candidates for your list need to come from the ranks of the activists and community organizers who built the Obama campaign. How about David Plouffe or the guy who was the lead field organizer in Iowa or the Facebook guy who led the design of Obama's online presence.
It may be true as stated above that liberals have always had higher quality intellectuals, but the real step in this past year was in finding ways to communicate and mobilize people around those ideas. That kind of organizing takes ideas, pragmatism and a lot of work.

BTJ46 Commented on Franken Still On A Roll With Vote Challenges by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-18T22:58:45Z

With the end in sight, it seems wrong to call the recount an 'endless' process.
Of course a full recount takes time but for the most part it has been orderly and well mannered. Unlike Florida 2000, we are having a full and fully transparent recount.

BTJ46 Commented on Picking Rick Warren Brilliant Because It Riles Up The Left? by Greg Sargent

2008-12-18T16:48:04Z

Freerider -- I think you are absolutely right. From the right wing reaction reported here, Warren's acceptance of the invitation is not doing much to increase his legitimacy on the right, but may increase some peoples' ability to listen to Obama.
We also need to realize that governing is not only about 'social issues'. There is no reason to believe that either Warren or Obama will change their positions on abortion, gay and lesbian rights, etc. But wouldn't it be a good thing if Pastor Rick spoke out in favor of rolling back the Bush tax cuts, expanding the economic safety net, supporting universal health care, etc. -- all with good backing from the gospels?

BTJ46 Commented on Bill Ayers -- Like The Criminals Who Lied Us Into War -- Gets A Free Ride by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-12-11T21:22:16Z

I knew Bill Ayers and other Weatherman -- from some distance -- in the late sixties and early seventies. And I understand the anger and desperation of many, myself included, in those times.
I didn't know about Ayers' dedication to Sirhan but I do recall Bernadine Dohrn's praising the Manson murderers as somehow revolutionary.
What offends me in Ayers' self-defense is his claim to be a part of the larger anti-war movement. Those claims were not so much as he and his compatriots tore apart the movement by escalating claims of self-righteousness. Some who followed them into the 'underground' didn't have a trust fund to come back to and did not end as well.
The marker for me of the desperation of those years was the murder of Fred Hampton by police and FBI; but Fred Hampton called the weathermen 'custeristic'.
Bill may be doing good work in education at this point and that may be redeeming, but I'm not buying his book.

BTJ46 Commented on More Ballots In Minnesota?]]> by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-10T18:40:02Z

I understand the frustration expressed by many here, but apart from the issues of lost ballots from a precinct in Minneapolis and some hysteria from the repubs and Coleman the process is actually running smoothly. The process even allows for easy identification of how many ballots were lost and the alternative of counting the original machine tally from that precinct.
Minnesota uses an optical scan technology for ballots that provides a clear paper trail -- that allows an easy recount and identification of anomalies that touch screen voting and other electronic technologies lack.
A complication in this election was the Barkley candidacy that got a significant percentage of votes and probably effectively tightened the margin for the two major candidates. There has been a significant movement in Minnesota to adopt an instant runoff voting system -- Minneapolis has already passed an amendment to allow that. Instant runoff would allow voters to rank candidates by preference and provide a path to a clearer majority in complex elections like this one.

BTJ46 Commented on A Hybrid Vehicle (One Third Bailout, Two-Thirds Chapter 11) for Automakers, But No More TARP for Wall Street by Robert Reich

2008-12-10T00:08:32Z

A question and an idea:
Since "Some $350 billion later, credit markets are still quite frozen," shouldn't we really start to think of the problem as an 'investment strike', a political act to undercut the incoming administration? The methods to deal with that should be political as well as technical economic measures and the key question is 'who benefits' -- "The only obvious beneficiaries of TARP have been the executives, creditors, and shareholders of the big Wall Street banks, who have come out better than they would have had there been no Wall Street bailout."
On the auto industry, a modest proposal and a bit of leverage for healthcare reform. Since the costs of health benefits are frequently cited as one of the challenges facing the US Automakers, and since most current proposals for expanding health insurance call for the creation of a 'public pool', why not move all autoworkers and pensioners into that pool. There should be some significant savings to be negotiated with a larger pool, and adding the autoworkers will give the pool a good start at building volume, efficiencies, and leverage to get the best possible terms of insurance.

BTJ46 recommended A Hybrid Vehicle (One Third Bailout, Two-Thirds Chapter 11) for Automakers, But No More TARP for Wall Street by Robert Reich

2008-12-09T21:37:12Z

BTJ46 recommended "Surprised" Hildebrand Responds To Critics: "I Don't Regret Any Of It" by Greg Sargent

2008-12-08T21:36:43Z

BTJ46 Commented on Trust Obama's Vision by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-12-08T20:21:04Z

I guess I should be encouraged by all the posts here promising to hold Obama accountable for the promise brought by his campaign. But my question to those people is 'where's your organization?'
I don't think Obama will govern based on sampling the opinions of the blogosphere. I do think he will be responsive to those like the UE workers occupying the Republic Windows plant in Chicago today.
The Obama campaign is helping to organize neighborhood meetings this coming weekend to keep the grassroots mobilized. Join us or create your own organization.

BTJ46 recommended Trust Obama's Vision by M.J. Rosenberg

2008-12-08T14:41:29Z

BTJ46 Commented on Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan: Take One by Hugh Bartling

2008-12-08T20:07:31Z

I think it is a mistake to oppose 'roads and bridges' to public transportation. There are a couple of considerations here.
1) The 'roads and bridges' infrastructure has been neglected for some time and poses a threat to current transportation -- even if, as we can hope, we are driving plug-in hybrids sooner than later. We in Minnesota know that the threat is real from the 35W Bridge collapse and many studies of similarly threatened bridges that followed. At the insistence of our mayor, R.T. Rybak, the rebuilt 35W bridge was built to specs to support future incorporation of light rail transit; but in any case, we needed that bridge to support local commerce.
2) A challenge for the stimulus package is to get the spending underway as soon as possible. The best way to get people to work in the largest numbers possible. That means addressing the backlog in planned and useful work is an important first step. Longer term public transportation investment is important but requires serious planning, land acquisition, etc that will be critical moving forward but doesn't speak to the urgency of the immediate stimulus.

BTJ46 Commented on Halperin Discovers Moral Outrage by Todd Gitlin

2008-11-24T20:34:15Z

I'm happy to recall a comment from Al Franken during his campaign against Norm Coleman -- "You say my campaign is negative? My campaign is based on my opponent's record. Therefore it is negative."

The claim of 'bias' in reporting seems to assume that both candidates and both campaigns have an equal quantity of 'negatives' to be reported and that all such negatives are of equal relevance and weight and can be measured in column inches and airtime.

That notion seems highly flawed from my perspective on the presidential campaign.

BTJ46 Commented on That Obama volunteer survey from David Plouffe by boo_lala

2008-11-22T16:38:45Z

Yes, the current Wellstone Action organization was founded by former senate and campaign staff members after Paul's death.
Paul, and many of the same organizers, started an organization after his first election called the Wellstone Alliance that had similar aspirations to the current Obama campaign discussion. The history here is worth studying -- from my perspective at any rate, the Wellstone Alliance didn't sustain a mass independent movement and mostly merged into the state Democratic Farmer-Labor party. As a senator and as part of the DFL, Paul was able to build some stong alliances with groups that most would see as unlikely in a progressive movement, including very strong support from veterans' organizations for example.
Jeff Blodgett was the campaign manager for all of Wellstone's campaigns and currently heads Wellstone Action; he took a leave to manage the Obama campaign in Minnesota -- and I'd bet he was on those community organizer calls.