exregis's Blog

exregis Commented on "Clintonites Are Everywhere" by Greg Sargent

2008-11-14T16:37:02Z

The press -- especially including this site -- are in withdrawal after one of the most exciting campaigns in years (though they, the press, made it more exciting than it was with their "Why can't he close the deal" crap). Furthermore, the press is much larger than it has ever been in the past, with too many mouths seeking too little sustenance, in their Darwinian battles.

They have to write about anything, their jonesing is so overwhelming, that they are reporting stuff they would have tossed in the circular file years ago. Pity them. Pity us.

exregis Commented on Obama Transition Team Staffs Up Internet Outreach Crew by Greg Sargent

2008-11-13T15:06:35Z

One of the advantages of being a professor is that you learn a lot from those on the cutting technology edge -- your students. Working at the University of Chicago law school must have exposed Obama to lots of possibilities.

exregis Commented on Begich Pulls Ahead of Stevens In Alaska Vote Count by Eric Kleefeld

2008-11-13T14:49:39Z

Alaska law requires a special election to fill an empty Senate seat.

exregis Commented on Fineman: Obama And Durbin Want Lieberman To Stay As Homeland Security Chair by Greg Sargent

2008-11-12T15:44:27Z

Who was the biggest victim of Lieberman's Zelling? I would say Barack Obama. Consequently, I also think Obama has earned first dibs on Lieberman's future in the Democratic caucus.

Slime has its uses. After all, life probably started in, and human intelligence probably evolved from primordial slime.

exregis Commented on The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month by The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve

2008-11-11T23:10:12Z

Why do we have both Veterans' Day and Memorial Day?

exregis Commented on Scott Simon's Obama Problem (and ours)* by flavius

2008-11-10T16:23:04Z

He's certainly been anti-Obama. More than once Simon thought out loud, Wasn't Palin as experienced as Obama? But he really annoyed me when he sanctimoniously reported on an American-Danish woman who wanted children conceived in vitro and arranged to get sperm from some Danish men.

He first played this out as the woman being stupid to pay money for such a parochial concern, but then moved on to accuse the woman of racism and wondered why the woman couldn't have been as noble as Simon and adopted some non-white kids who needed a home.

I couldn't believe my ears. What a jerk.

exregis recommended Scott Simon's Obama Problem (and ours)* by flavius

2008-11-09T18:20:23Z

exregis recommended Palin the fool removes all doubt by debbiedoesnothing

2008-11-08T20:54:45Z

exregis Commented on Emanuel Spokesperson Denies He's Accepted Chief Of Staff ... And Other Transition Notes by Greg Sargent

2008-11-06T00:31:37Z

Patrick Fitzgerald would make the ideal Attorney General, if what we want in the position is someone honest, impartial, talented, experienced, and discreet. Plus he went to the right high school.

exregis Commented on Tell Us Your Voting Stories by Greg Sargent

2008-11-04T17:14:25Z

Tidewater Virginia

I was a college student when John Kennedy ran for office, but I couldn't vote for him because the voting age at that time was 21. I thought to myself, next time.

But someone killed John Kennedy before I could vote for him. In 1968 I really wanted to vote for Bobby Kennedy, but again I couldn't. Finally at age 66, for the first time in my life, I got to vote for someone I really, really wanted to vote for. It was worth the hour long wait here in Newport News, VA.

exregis Commented on Tell Us Your Voting Stories by Greg Sargent

2008-11-04T16:53:28Z

Tidewater Virginia

I was a college student when John Kennedy ran for office, but I couldn't vote for him because the voting age at that time was 21. I thought to myself, next time.

exregis Commented on Tell Us Your Voting Stories by Greg Sargent

2008-11-04T16:52:09Z

Tidewater Virginia

I was a college student when John Kennedy ran for office, but I couldn't vote for him because the voting age at that time was 21. I thought to myself, next time.

exregis Commented on Tell Us Your Voting Stories by Greg Sargent

2008-11-04T16:47:54Z

Tidewater Virginia

I was a college student when John Kennedy ran for office, but I couldn't vote for him because the voting age at that time was 21. I thought to myself, next time.

exregis Commented on McCain Camp Can't Give Example Of Registration Fraud Leading To Voter Fraud ]]> by Zachary Roth

2008-11-02T18:12:52Z

I've always viewed this using Blackstone's "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

Voting is our most basic right. An occasional voting fraud affects nothing really, but denying a citizen the right to vote is damaging to that individual. I hope the new DoJ investigates voter suppression as an illegal conspiracy, as suggested by Jonathan Turley.

exregis Commented on Ba-Ba Ba-BOM! Beethovan's 5th in 4 Days by TheraP

2008-11-01T21:46:20Z

The first three days are the same -- just like the notes. Like a machine gun -- TA TA TA -- staccato. The fourth note, the climax to this bar, is election day -- DOM -- a longer note, starting on the east coast and ending at home in Hawaii.

exregis Commented on Pre-Election Omnibus by DF

2008-11-01T21:25:28Z

1. "Truth and accuracy" ought to be the mantra for the news media. Yet "fairness and balance" reigns supreme, even before Fox adopted that slogan. Giving fair access has devolved into the balancing act we see too often, as silly and uninforming as a clown on a high wire.

2. AARP constantly bombards me with insurance offers to supplement Medicare. I have never been a member. Their slogan, "AARP is a name you can trust" is only true because they say it is. There is no other evidence.

3. McCain has always been conservative, not moderate, except on a few issues. He has moved on campaign ethics mostly because of his association with Keating. He opposed some Republican initiatives in 2001-2002 out of pique, I think, for the way he was treated in the 2000 primaries. His actual votes on things like the environment belie his public statements. He is as backwards as they come on women's issues.

4. The deepest closet these days is reserved for atheists. How many of our representatives are atheists living a lie? How many belong to some nominal church for the same reason that gay members occasionally go out with members of the opposite sex? Maybe there aren't many real atheists denying the existence of God in government, but there surely must be a boatload who think that religion and God are irrelevant to their lives.

5. Obama is not non-white. Instead he's not all-white. I think a large part of his calmness comes from not being demeaned as a non-all-white every single day, in both trivial ways and important ways, during his youth and adolescence. The little, the slight insults, maybe even unintentional, that non-all-whites receive every day must take a toll on one's psyche, one's willingness to see all sides, one's desire to be inclusive.

exregis recommended Pre-Election Omnibus by DF

2008-11-01T00:14:04Z

exregis Commented on HOW WE NEED TO TREAT JOHN MCCAIN AFTER HE LOSES by crazedandconfused

2008-10-31T21:07:40Z

Bill Miller.

Earl Warren.

Sarah Palin.

exregis Commented on Election Central Morning Roundup by Eric Kleefeld

2008-10-30T16:06:40Z

I would prefer an elite pilot, child care provider, or surgeon.

exregis Commented on Stopping GOP Voter Suppression and Election Theft by eades

2008-10-30T13:50:48Z

I recall Robert Turley (sp?) saying that he thought general voter suppression efforts could be a crime if it were a conspiracy, and that a conspiracy could be teased out by common patterns. I would love to see a special investigator appointed by President Obama or Attorney General Fitzgerald to go over the entire election process -- voter registration fraud, voter fraud, voter suppression, voter databases -- so that President Obama can recommend a bill to Congress to clean up this mess.

We have enough evidence that the election process is a mess -- partly because of partisan philosophies, partly because of lobbyists for voting machines, and partly because of legitimate objections from non-sighted voters, states righters, advocates for the homeless, etc. The federal government can certainly constrain and shape federal elections.

Our most fundamental right is the right to vote. We don't have a three-way form of government. We have a fourth branch, by far the most important, which is all of us.

exregis recommended Stopping GOP Voter Suppression and Election Theft by eades

2008-10-29T16:34:06Z

exregis recommended Can we please have an archive update for reader's posts? ANSWER: TPM is aware of the problem and will fix AFTER the Election. by Synchronicity

2008-10-30T02:47:07Z

exregis Commented on Phony Virginia Flier Tells Dems To Vote November 5]]> by Zachary Roth

2008-10-28T13:28:07Z

We can certainly compromise between paper ballots and quick results. Computerized optical scanners are by far the best solution for voting by sighted people.

1. The associated computer can reject ballots that are improperly filled out, and the voter given a fresh ballot (with some instructions to be more careful?). We have this system in some precincts in Virginia (like mine). Computerized checking can be extended to include warnings about incomplete voting.

2. The results are immediately available.

3. What ought to happen is that after results are posted and when there is no time pressure, voting officials ought to count every single ballot as a check on the initial results. Only then should the votes be officially certified. Meanwhile we will know election night how a state voted, with the realization that the results might change.

exregis Commented on Phony Virginia Flier Tells Dems To Vote November 5]]> by Zachary Roth

2008-10-28T13:11:38Z

Anyone on a precinct line at 7 PM in Virginia will be able to vote. The polls will stay open as long as necessary to serve those who came on time.

I do wish Virginia had early voting. We need to be physically unable to vote at our precinct in order to get an absentee ballot.

exregis Commented on The real meaning behind Uncle Barney Frank comments of Palin by alstott

2008-10-27T19:09:18Z

Barney Frank fits in many categories, but most Americans, if they know him, know him as the Democratic face of the government bailout. So we have Barney Frank replacing Uncle Sam as the person responsible for this very unpopular bailout.

Lipstick on a pig is not sexist, but in context suspicious people can see it that way. The same might possibly be true about homophobia and Uncle. I have a gay son and a gay sister (one of those who sued New York State some time ago to advocate for gay marriage), and I have listened to their plaints for decades. I have never heard of Uncle XXX being used to describe a pedophile. That one passed right over my head.

If this smear is so subtle to me, a political junkie, it won't work and, as well, is probably not a smear.

exregis Commented on "I'm Voting for the Ni@@er!" by John Nail

2008-10-25T20:53:33Z

I suspect the deeply offensive language will continue to be used casually, perhaps more than today, because more of those who use such language will have a multiracial man in their lives -- their president.

Where racism will diminish is among those who think they are not racists. One day last week, NPR interviewed prospective voters. One elderly woman said that she was afraid of an Obama presidency, that "they" would want to get "theirs," that whites would have to move across the street when encountering one of "them." Before saying this she prefaced her comments by saying she was not a racist and didn't want to have her words taken wrongly. After a few years of a President Obama, her fears will diminish as will her racism.

exregis recommended The Speaker Outfoxes The Maverick? by Boyd Reed

2008-09-30T20:13:29Z

exregis recommended McCain as A**hole - Iowa Interview by John Nail

2008-10-01T13:50:19Z

exregis recommended Obama take Huge Lead in Michigan by tonnyb

2008-09-25T21:34:31Z

exregis recommended Can You Spare Us A Minute? by Josh Marshall

2008-09-19T19:15:46Z