A Democrat by Any Other Name….
By Jeff Fecke | April 10, 2006
One of the fundamental principles of running for a party’s endorsement is that those seeking endorsement agree to abide by the decision of their party. This goes doubly so in primaries–those candidates who seek out and fail to earn their slot on the ballot step aside gracefully, and work for their opponent for the good of the party. Certainly, the step-aside isn’t always grateful, and the work may be no more work than is required to utter the phrase, “And now we’ll all work together to elect Joe Smedly,” but at least officially, candidates who fail in primaries bow to the will of their parties.
They certainly don’t petulantly strike out as independents. If they did that, it would damage their party’s chances to win or retain the seat, and relegate parties to mere brand labels, to be swapped or discarded at a whim.
Yet that is exactly what Joe Lieberman now appears to be contemplating.
It’s unsurprising, yet dispiriting, that Lieberman would put himself above his party. Of course, it’s not the first time he’s done so, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Topics: CT-SEN, Joe 'Bob' Lieberman | 1 Comment »
A Few Minutes With Barack Obama
By Jeff Fecke | April 10, 2006
Flash has his interview up. Obama sounds pleasant and bright, as per usual.
Topics: Election 2006 | 1 Comment »
It Could Be Called a Design Failure
By Jeff Fecke | April 10, 2006
Who’s ultimately to blame for the drowning of New Orleans? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That’s not me talking–that’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:
Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told a Senate committee that the corps neglected to consider the possibility that floodwalls atop the 17th Street Canal levee would lurch away from their footings under significant water pressure and eat away at the earthen barriers below.
“We did not account for that occurring,” Strock said after the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “It could be called a design failure.”
It could be. Or it could be called “gross negligence.” Regardless, if ever there was indication that the federal government has responsibility to help rebuild the city, this is it–since it was a failure of the federal government that caused the disaster in the first place.
It’s almost criminal that this is only being reported by the Times-Picayune. But it’s hard to keep track of stories regarding the destruction of one of America’s great cities. Especially ones that point the finger at us.
Topics: Hurricane Katrina | 1 Comment »
Stop Making Sense
By Jeff Fecke | April 10, 2006
Smartie has 101 issues more important to discuss than Michele Bachmann’s now-failed anti-marriage amendment.
Topics: GLBTQQ Rights | No Comments »
Shorter David Strom
By Jeff Fecke | April 10, 2006
Math is hard.
Topics: The Taxpayers' League | 1 Comment »
Religion and Politics
By Jeff Fecke | April 9, 2006
I have some thoughts on both over at Minvolved.
Topics: Minvolved, Religion | No Comments »
Big Washington Celebrity
By Jeff Fecke | April 8, 2006
It seems a little silly for Kennedy v Everyone to be complaining about Barack Obama’s visit–given that so far Mark Kennedy’s had Cheney and Bush out stumping for him. I’m looking forward to Flash’s interview–heck, he’s already got his picture taken with a future President.
Topics: Amy Klobuchar, Election 2006, Mark Kennedy | 1 Comment »
If the President Does it, It’s Ethical
By Jeff Fecke | April 8, 2006
One of the hazards of putting your time into switching blog templates is that it makes it hard to carve out the time to write. After all, when one only has a finite amount of time to work on a blog, and one has a job and a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter…well, one can write, or one can futz with code, but one can’t do both.
Which is why I’ve thus far failed to comment on the revelation that George W. Bush leaked classified information during wartime for clearly partisan purposes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Bush Administration, L'Affaire Plame, Lawlessness, Mendacity | 1 Comment »
One Last 2005 Hurricane Record
By Jeff Fecke | April 7, 2006
It’s fitting that the record-smashing 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season should have one last hurrah. Five hurricane names–Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan, and Wilma–have been retired. This breaks the previous record of four from 1955, 1995, and 2004.
As Jeff Masters notes, it’s not even as many as could have been retired:
There is one rather amazing and ridiculous omission from the list of retired names for 2005–Hurricane Emily. Emily was the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic basin and the only known hurricane of that strength to occur during the month of July. Emily became a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds and a 929 mb central pressure on July 17 2005, while located 115 miles southwest of Jamaica. The storm weakened somewhat before making landfall on the Mexican coast near Cozumel Island as a Category 4 storm with 135 mph winds and a storm surge of up to 15 feet. Emily went on to cross the Gulf of Mexico and slam ashore on the Mexican coast south of Brownsville, Texas, as a Category 3 hurricane. Emily killed one person on its passage over Grenada as a Category 1 hurricane, and five in Jamaica. Amazingly, no one died in Mexico as a result of Emily’s two strikes as a major hurricane.
Essentially, Emily was a victim of a banner year for hurricanes–the moral equivalent of Bert Blyleven’s continuing failure to make the baseball Hall of Fame. Compared to the apocalyptic devastation of Katrina, or the merely awesome devastation of Rita or Wilma, Emily was just ho-hum.
In 2011–the next time these names cycle back around–the new names in use will be Don, Katia, Rena, Sean, and Whitney.
Topics: Global Warming, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricanes | 1 Comment »
So Anyhow…New Digs
By Jeff Fecke | April 7, 2006
You may or may not be interested, but I’m playing around with WordPress, and am in the process of moving the blog.
Calm down, everyone; somehow, we’ll get through this.
At any rate, the excitement will soon be moving over to moderateleft.com. But don’t worry–until the kinks are all worked out, people have updated/purged their blogrolls, and so forth, I’ll be duplicating my efforts by posting on both sites–meaning you won’t miss a thing if you go to the classic site at moderateleft.blogspot.com.
I’m planning to officially “go live” on Monday the 24th, but that could move back; once I do, it’s curtains for the old site (well, not really curtains–it will remain on the web forever in fossilized form. But it won’t be updated anymore). Between now and then I welcome any of the four C’s–complaints, complements, concerns, or questions. As our brave leader might say, bring ‘em on!
Topics: Blog Navel-Gazing | 1 Comment »
Friday Random Ten
By Jeff Fecke | April 7, 2006
I’m Only Kidding
1. “Ice Water,” Cat Power
2. “Hour Glass (Live),” Squeeze
3. “Angels of the Silences,” Counting Crows
4. “Little Plastic Castle,” Ani DiFranco
5. “Cash Cow,” Mike Doughty
6. “The Drugs Not Working,” Ryan Adams
7. “Solisbury Hill,” Peter Gabriel
8. “Blue,” The Jayhawks
9. “Army,” Ben Folds Five
10. “I Want Everyone to Like Me,” Randy Newman
Topics: Friday Random Tens | No Comments »
v 0.1b
By Jeff Fecke | April 6, 2006
You’ve stumbled across a test site. Nothing to see here. Go to my actual site at moderateleft.blogspot.com–I have stuff there.
Topics: Blog Navel-Gazing | 1 Comment »
Hacktackular!
By Jeff Fecke | April 4, 2006
Hindrocket: too bad about that wacky liberal DeLay.
Topics: Hacktackular!, Power Tools | No Comments »
Cowardly Lions
By Jeff Fecke | April 4, 2006
Lance says it well:
As loyal and obedient propagandists for the Bush Administration, Right Wing bloggers have felt a duty to scare the beejeebers out of the rest of us. Now, a lot of them were quaking in their boots themselves and were desperate to prove that their own terror ought to be shared by all of America. And a lot of them have managed to scare themselves, like Cub Scouts telling ghost stories around a camp fire.
But I think all of them, just like the Cub Scouts, enjoy being scared.
They enjoy it because after they’re done giving themselves goose bumps, they get to defy their own fear. They get to be brave….
To live in fear as if the possibility of another terrorist attack is the same as living under the hourly threat of one is a mark of cowardice.
Hehdeedly.
Topics: Frightened Conservatives, Terrorism | No Comments »
Bye Bye Bugman
By Jeff Fecke | April 4, 2006
DeLay and his wife, Christine, said they had been prepared to fight, but that he decided last Wednesday, after months of prayer and contemplation, to spare his suburban Houston district the mudfest to come. “This had become a referendum on me,” he said. “So it’s better for me to step aside and let it be a referendum on ideas, Republican values and what’s important for this district.”
Yep, I’m sure that what DeLay wanted to avoid was a dirty campaign.
I think Kevin Drum is right: there’s more a’comin’. After all, this announcement comes four days after Tony Rudy pled out. I doubt strongly that’s coincidental.
Topics: Crooked Politicians, Tom DeLay | 1 Comment »