So, I’ve been up way past my bedtime putting together a quick run-down on the debate from last night. It was a good time, and there was a lot of interest to watch from the candidates, but honestly, Spitzer kicked butt. We knew that would happen, but it’s nice to see it. I see that RT is getting into the race, and my friend (whom I’ve never met) ByThePeople seems to be on the fence-post about his decision. To me, any Governor is going to be distracted by NYC enough to piss us off upstate, but I at least want someone who appears to have a clue what he wants to do, and Spitzer’s the only guy that convinced me of that last night.
Besides, he’s the only one that’s even come close to supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections, and that’s a point in his favour.
The 2006 New York State Governor’s Debate ~ DragonFlyEye.Net
Last night, Wednesday, August 30th, my wife and I had the pleasure of being at Nathaniel?s Pub with a few hundred Elliot Spitzer supporters to watch the ?town hall meeting? face-off between Democrat Elliot Spitzer, Republican John Faso and long-shot Democratic challenger Tom Suozzi. I was called about a week in advance of this event and asked if I would like to reserve a place at the event. I didn?t even know I was on their mailing list, but of course, I could not say no and consider myself doing a fair job at this website.
Technorati Tags: New York State, Governor, 2006, Elliot Spitzer, John Faso, Tom Suozzi
powered by performancing firefox
This is another one of those not-to-be-missed rants. Check it out on CrooksAndLiars.com. Mr. Olbermann is definitely channeling his hero, Edward R. Murrow, both in his content and his diction as he rifles from one point to the next with military precision.? He absolutely takes Rumsfeld apart, bit by bit, right down to the end.
He compares the Bush Administration to the Chamberlin Administration of Britan prior to WWII, an administration that is largely seen by history as cowards and fools, and perhaps in ways it is the single most offensive comparison to make, in the minds of the Bushies.? At the same time, he implies that the fascists this time are not the Germans but the Coward Administration itself, another striking blow for a television personality to make even if he is Keith Olbermann.
Watch it
Here’s the best performance on the floor of the House of Representatives I’ve seen in a long time. Finally, someone is willing to speak up and tell a little bit of the truth in a way the rest of us can appreciate.
root.cellar
Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan from Ohio kicks the Bush Administration ass. He was responding to why young people think the Administration will institute a draft despite their denials.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, National, Congress
powered by performancing firefox
Amazon has begun offering something they call “AStores,” which are basically just collections of products they offer that come recommended by their associates like me. I got the email this morning and setup a store right away, since this was the first thing I wished for when I got the Amazon Associates account.
Mind you, I’ve barely made anything off of this type of advertisement. Still, this is a better option in that I can advertise for the things that I want to and which are most relevant to my site. They’ve still got a ways to go with this new pilot program, but the store itself is quite nice and easily-customizable. It would be nice to have banner and badge links all ready to go, but they haven’t gotten those ready, so I’ll have to create my own. On the other hand, they do offer the option to create an HTML iframe version of your store, allowing your recommended links to appear right in the middle of your page. I’m still playing around with my options, but for now, have a quick peek at the new store and tell me what you think!
The DragonFlyEye.Net Amazon Store
powered by performancing firefox
Oh, boy. Despite the fact that Cardinal Ratzenberger wrote the opinion of John Paul that declares the Theory of Evolution compatible with church doctrine, the Cardinal now turned Pope Benedict is toying with the idea of endorsing Intelligent Design:
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Pope prepares to embrace theory of intelligent design
Philosophers, scientists and other intellectuals close to Pope Benedict will gather at his summer palace outside Rome this week for intensive discussions that could herald a fundamental shift in the Vatican’s view of evolution.
Ethically, this is something of a disappointment. I had thought at least Pope Benedict would keep this issue off the table. Mechanically, this should be interesting, because reversing the “infalible word of God” that comes from the previous pope is no easy matter in the Catholic Church. Believe it or not, the Church has many machinations governing the actions of the pope and lower pontifs which constitute what in other settings might be considered a legal structure. Anyway, they’re going on a retreat to discuss the issue, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting the outcome.
I’m not a Catholic myself, but I do play in a Catholic church band, and I can’t help thinking that this decision will affect my continued involvement. Intelligent Design is intellectual poison designed (intelligently, I grant you) to illegitimize hard science and muddy the waters of acedemia, paving the way for theocracy. It is not a thing I take lightly, nor would I so easily be able to ignore the pope’s collusion with such a thing.
powered by performancing firefox
Here’s an interesting take on the whole Leiberman third-party gimmic, simply and honestly: a third party is supposed to have it’s own platform, and should not be an excuse for a politician to refuse to accept the will of his constituency:
courant.com | Lieberman’s Third Party An Election Year Sham
Mr. Lieberman may have violated Section 9-368c “Misrepresentation of Contents of a Petition.” He claimed to the secretary of the state’s office that he wanted to start a new political party called “Connecticut for Lieberman” within 12 hours after losing a Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. . . . He is trying to undermine our state laws about the creation of legitimate third parties by forming this fraudulent association. He has no party rules. He nominated, seconded and accepted his own nomination. He has no third party platform so his association cannot be about any new ideas. He is just trying to contest and challenge the results of a fair election on Aug. 8, 2006, on the grounds that he lost.
This might actually be one of those watershed moments when legislatures all across the country are pushed to change laws to prevent this kind of thing. After all, the author of this article does have an excellent point, possibly even on a legal standing: a person should not be allowed to bypass the will of his consituency (albeit the portion of the constituency contained within his party) by submitting a petition to become a third-party candidate. On the less-idiological and far more opportunistic side of things, parties aren’t going to want their legitimacy questioned or undermined by maverick politicians who go outside the party when the urge strikes them.
So, like Frank Zappa delivering four remixed versions of the same album to Warner Brothers at the same time to get out of his contract, this is one of those moments that will permenantly seal up the loophole that created it. I would say off-hand that this is one more way in which Joe’s actions can be taken as selfish and destructive. There are plenty of other reasons why changing from major party to third party might be appropriate, but depending on how laws get changed (which will undoubtably be a state-by-state change), this may not be possible thanks to Joe.
Technorati Tags: Leiberman, Democracy
powered by performancing firefox
For those of you who would like a quick portrait of what Big Money looks like in New York State, take a gander at the latest from the D&C:
‘Soft money’ often hard cash in N.Y. | Democrat & Chronicle: Local News
A loophole known as “soft money” donations has allowed wealthy individuals, unions and businesses to donate $53 million to political parties since 1999, according to Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign contributions. Almost one-third of the contributions came in amounts larger than $50,000, the report said.
Yes, yes, yes! Watch the money roll right in! The article goes on to say that as much as 49% of Republican and 44% of Democratic money comes through just these types of channels, so really, no one’s clean in all of this.
Think about the stones it took for Elliot Spitzer to come out on the record supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York! Mind you, we haven’t heard anything about it since, and it remains to be seen how dedicated he is to the concept, but you have to give some credit to him for saying anything at all.
But now you know what those of us who are proponents of CMCE are up against: some of the most monied interests in the country throwing an awful lot of money around and happy to have thier way with New York law. So long as campaign contribution law does not get a serious challenge, this loophole will continue to hemmorage money and pollute our system. Still, good articles like these might go a long way towards pushing the dialogue in the right direction.
Technorati Tags: Clean Money, CMCE, New York, Campaign Finance, Campaign Reform
powered by performancing firefox
For those of you who would like a quick portrait of what Big Money looks like in New York State, take a gander at the latest from the D&C:
‘Soft money’ often hard cash in N.Y. | Democrat & Chronicle: Local News
A loophole known as “soft money” donations has allowed wealthy individuals, unions and businesses to donate $53 million to political parties since 1999, according to Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign contributions. Almost one-third of the contributions came in amounts larger than $50,000, the report said.
Yes, yes, yes! Watch the money roll right in! The article goes on to say that as much as 49% of Republican and 44% of Democratic money comes through just these types of channels, so really, no one’s clean in all of this.
Think about the stones it took for Elliot Spitzer to come out on the record supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York! Mind you, we haven’t heard anything about it since, and it remains to be seen how dedicated he is to the concept, but you have to give some credit to him for saying anything at all.
But now you know what those of us who are proponents of CMCE are up against: some of the most monied interests in the country throwing an awful lot of money around and happy to have thier way with New York law. So long as campaign contribution law does not get a serious challenge, this loophole will continue to hemmorage money and pollute our system. Still, good articles like these might go a long way towards pushing the dialogue in the right direction.
Technorati Tags: Clean Money, CMCE, New York, Campaign Finance, Campaign Reform
powered by performancing firefox
For those of you who would like a quick portrait of what Big Money looks like in New York State, take a gander at the latest from the D&C:
‘Soft money’ often hard cash in N.Y. | Democrat & Chronicle: Local News
A loophole known as “soft money” donations has allowed wealthy individuals, unions and businesses to donate $53 million to political parties since 1999, according to Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign contributions. Almost one-third of the contributions came in amounts larger than $50,000, the report said.
Yes, yes, yes! Watch the money roll right in! The article goes on to say that as much as 49% of Republican and 44% of Democratic money comes through just these types of channels, so really, no one’s clean in all of this.
Think about the stones it took for Elliot Spitzer to come out on the record supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York! Mind you, we haven’t heard anything about it since, and it remains to be seen how dedicated he is to the concept, but you have to give some credit to him for saying anything at all.
But now you know what those of us who are proponents of CMCE are up against: some of the most monied interests in the country throwing an awful lot of money around and happy to have thier way with New York law. So long as campaign contribution law does not get a serious challenge, this loophole will continue to hemmorage money and pollute our system. Still, good articles like these might go a long way towards pushing the dialogue in the right direction.
Technorati Tags: Clean Money, CMCE, New York, Campaign Finance, Campaign Reform
powered by performancing firefox
For those of you who would like a quick portrait of what Big Money looks like in New York State, take a gander at the latest from the D&C:
‘Soft money’ often hard cash in N.Y. | Democrat & Chronicle: Local News
A loophole known as “soft money” donations has allowed wealthy individuals, unions and businesses to donate $53 million to political parties since 1999, according to Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign contributions. Almost one-third of the contributions came in amounts larger than $50,000, the report said.
Yes, yes, yes! Watch the money roll right in! The article goes on to say that as much as 49% of Republican and 44% of Democratic money comes through just these types of channels, so really, no one’s clean in all of this.
Think about the stones it took for Elliot Spitzer to come out on the record supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York! Mind you, we haven’t heard anything about it since, and it remains to be seen how dedicated he is to the concept, but you have to give some credit to him for saying anything at all.
But now you know what those of us who are proponents of CMCE are up against: some of the most monied interests in the country throwing an awful lot of money around and happy to have thier way with New York law. So long as campaign contribution law does not get a serious challenge, this loophole will continue to hemmorage money and pollute our system. Still, good articles like these might go a long way towards pushing the dialogue in the right direction.
Technorati Tags: Clean Money, CMCE, New York, Campaign Finance, Campaign Reform
powered by performancing firefox
