Weekend Open Thread
I hope you’re enjoying a weather-event free weekend. We can leave the house this time! I am in Philadelphia, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, previewing the Picasso exhibit. Let’s get rolling. I declare this thread open.
The birth of a political dynasty?
Dan Quayle’s son is running for Congress.
Ben Quayle announced Friday that he will seek the Arizona House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. John Shadegg.
“My generation is going to have to clean up the mess made by the politicians in Washington,” Quayle said in a statement. “The reckless spending and crushing debt burden must be stopped.”
Of course, Dan Quayle is still a moran:
Former Vice President Dan Quayle appeared on Fox News this afternoon to chip in his two cents on the health care debate. Namely, he warned that using the reconciliation process would set a “very bad precedent” because a simple majority is just unconstitutional.
“They’re gonna go to budget reconciliation, which I believe would set a very bad precedent, because essentially — if they could do it, and I don’t know if they can do it, but if they could do it — what you have done, effectively, is to take away the filibuster in the United States Senate,” Quayle said. “So, therefore, you have 51 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate. That is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. That is not the constitutional process.”
There are, of course, no rules in the Constitution about super-majority requirements in the Senate. There is also no provision for direct election of Senators, either.
Coincidentally, Skeptical Science has just become available today as an iPhone or iPod app. The app lets you use an iPhone or iPod to view the entire list of skeptic arguments as well as (more importantly) what the science says on each argument. To download the app, go to http://itunes.com/apps/skepticalscience
How it happened was a few months ago, I was contacted by Shine Technologies, a software development company from Melbourne, Australia. The owners of the company are passionate about climate change and were interested in getting the science from Skeptical Science onto mobile phones. This is a good idea for two reasons. Firstly, because now more than ever it’s imperative that the climate debate focuses on science so the more readily available the science, the better. Secondly, well, an iPhone app is pretty cool.
So for the last few months, the boffins at Shine have been developing the app with Apple approving it today. How does it work? You browse arguments via the Top 10 most used arguments as well as 3 main categories (“It’s not happening”, “It’s not us”, “It’s not bad”):
Best of all: it’s free! I’ve already downloaded it to my iTouch.
Tags: Open Thread
I’m trying to remember where Dan Quayle was from…Kansas? Missouri? Political trivia enthusiasts?
Indiana, i believe
Thank you John Kowalko for your continuing record of constituent service to ALL Delawareans!!!
I worked at the mega-Picasso show at MOMA-NYC in the summer of 1980… it was awesome to stand and gaze as long as I wanted at the original Guernica or Les Demoiselles d’Avignon or the portrait of Gertrude Stein.
Everything was there. The scope of the exhibit was so huge they actually had some Cezannes, Seurats,and even I think a big Monet water lily in the first galleries just to show influence. And there were enough Picasso works they had entire rooms that showed development of a single theme through early sketches all the way through to early works and later mature paintings. Some of my favorites were actually the lesser-known works that I would never have known without spending time in that huge exhibit.
When did 51 constitute a majority in the House? Quayle proves once again that it’s better for people to think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it.
So much common sense, brain power, and moxie among the liberal netroots:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/02/the_endless_disappointment.php?ref=fpblg
…so little of any of that among elected Democrats. It is tiresome.
I agree Jason, it’s extremely frustrating watching Democrats do all the wrong things and completely ignore good advice. It’s like the Republicans listen to the rightwing nuts and so do the Democrats.
Shami: ‘Whites don’t want to work in factories’
WFAA-TV ^ | 2/12/2010 | BRAD WATSON
Race became an issue in the Texas Democratic primary for governor today.
Democrat Farouk Shami, the millionaire hair care products maker who’s running, said he doesn’t find many white people willing to work, so he says he hires Hispanics and blacks instead.
He made the comments responding to a question about whether the state should crack down on employers hiring illegal immigrants.
Climategate U-turn: Astonishment as scientist at centre of global warming email row admits vital…
dailymail.co.uk ^ | 13th February 2010 | Jonathan Petre
Astonishment as scientist at centre of global warming email row admits vital data was not well organised
The academic at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.
Colleagues say that the reason Professor Phil Jones has refused Freedom of Information requests is that he may have actually lost the relevant papers. (the dog ate his homework?)
Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.
The data is crucial to the famous ‘hockey stick graph’ used by climate change advocates to support the theory.
Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.
And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming.
The admissions will be seized on by sceptics as fresh evidence that there are serious flaws at the heart of the science of climate change and the orthodoxy that recent rises in temperature are largely man-made.
Texans are bound to elect someone from Texas, so they are pretty much screwed.
Oh, but Jason, it isn’t Obomba’s fault. Nothing is Obomba’s fault. Ask cassandra_m.
Business that have anything to do with science, computing, or even clear thinking rationality should bug out of Texas.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1266149557-dQXXlc58/7ID7YNY54tBsA
Maybe Jack Markell can start recruiting these business under a “Your science is welcome in Delaware” PR effort?
I just finished reading that article, Jason – it was worth every minute of my time. I have blogged about Texas and textbooks in the past, and it’s frightening how a small group of people, completely uneducated in the field they are shaping, will impact the textbook market.
Speaking of textbooks, a group of activists in California is trying to get the legislature to pass a law banning textbooks from Texas.
A similar “Higher Standards for Delaware Education Act” would be a great idea. A law mandating that anything acceptable to the Texas BOE and it’s anti-factual religious zealots would be rejected out of hand in Delaware would be a great statement in support of high quality secondary education.
“it’s frightening how a small group of people, completely uneducated in the field they are shaping”
Kind of like our General Assembly and DSTP? Just saying. 🙂
I wonder if there are any legislators in Delaware willing to support such an act?
Jones joins race in PA 8th
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
The Intelligencer
February 14, 2010 03:34 AM
Calling it “a historical moment,” a black man from rural Arkansas raised as a sharecropper officially entered the 8th District congressional race for the Republican nomination Saturday.
“This is Black History month,” James Jones told a group of family and friends. “What better time to stand in front of you?”
Describing himself as a “Tea Party guy,” Jones, who fought in two wars with the Navy and also served in the Middle East, spoke out against government spending, deceitful politicians and the “killing” of the U.S. military’s morale.
Jones, 54, lives in Langhorne with his wife Sharone. They have five adult children and eight grandchildren.
He contends that his background with the military and as a small business owner has given him the unique ability to expand the Republican base.
“It is time we unify rather than splinter and divide America,” Jones said. “That’s what I’m here to do, take the grassroots message, the crossover voters’ message, and carry it forward.”
Indeed, one man not usually seen at Republican events, John Jordan, president of the Bucks County NAACP, showed up at the Middletown Municipal Building to support his friend.
“It’s a big day for Bucks County politics,” said Jordan, who is giving up his position next week with the intention to run for the state’s 6th District Senate seat. “I know how important it is for young black men to see people like James stand up for them in this community.
Oh God. Stupid teabaggers are going to save the execrable Harry Reid.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/feb/13/report-tea-party-field-candidate-battle-harry-reid/
I wish the Delaware Teabaggers would get off their asses and get “Joe the Plumber” to come to Delaware.
http://firedoglake.com/2010/02/14/personification-of-patriotic-pro-america-areas-no-longer-supporting-sarah-palin/
CPAC starts Thursday. Remember, last year that was the one where Rush said he wants Obama to fail, and also:
“Confirmed Speakers Include:
Hon. Dick Armey, Hon. John Ashcroft, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Amb. John Bolton, Andrew Breitbart, Herman Cain, Tucker Carlson, Liz Cheney, Ann Coulter, Sen. Jim DeMint, Hon. Newt Gingrich, David Keene, Wayne LaPierre, Rep. Ron Paul, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Mike Pence, Hon. Mitt Romney, Hon. Marco Rubio, Hon. Rick Santorum, Hon. J.C. Watts, George F. Will and many more!”
I’m really surprised you gys aren’t talking about this story:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100214/NEWS01/2140385/Dropped-cases-bring-Biden-scrutiny
Maybe it explains his decision not to run for Senate.
Why? The AG’s race isn’t very interesting right now.
The bigger scandal is with the expectation that every suspect is guilty, and every prosecution has to end in a conviction. If Beau is suddenly dropping or losing cases, I assume that before Beau, Delaware was accustomed to railroading through weak cases.
Breaking now: Evan Bayh (D-IN) is retiring. This is curious considering his opponent, Dan Coats, was very much behind in the polling.
hooooo boy! Bayh is gone…that means the progressive pressure is doing some good. The lefty blogosphere has exposed him for his terrible conflicts. He must have gotten an offer a la Trent Lott (has anyone figured out who is going to hire Chris Dodd?)
Now at least there is time for a real DEM to run. Coats is a defacto lobbyist for god’s sake.
Looks like another GOP pickup in the Senate.