The 62 Project!

The 62 Project!

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Yes, it still exists, although it's been in limbo for awhile. For those of you who were too young and/or didn't read this blog religiously or atheistically at the time, the 62 Project is/was designed to rank all of the legislators based on their effectiveness, accomplishments, and progressive principles. These are/were career rankings, not simply snapshots of a given period. Clearly, those with longer careers have more of a track record, for better or for worse, and are less subject to major changes in the rankings. I now realize that there's no way that I can continue to write the type of extensive profiles I've been doing, and complete this project by (my newest deadline) the September primaries. So, I will write shorter profiles that I hope capture the reason for each legislator's ranking. Let's first recap those I've already ranked.....
Is a demographic solution to American gun mayhem inevitable?

Is a demographic solution to American gun mayhem inevitable?

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Twenty years ago it would have been hard to imagine the our country's present acceptance gay marriage. In 1994, the year in which The American Medical Association first opposed treatments intended to cure homosexuality, if you had predicted that homosexuals would be a protected class and that it would be illegal to fire a person for being gay in 2014, you would have sounded like a crazy person. But times have changed. Old, angry a-holes die off by the day and they are replaced by younger people with, by and large, a more mature and less terror-filled world view. So it is fitting to wonder what might our gun mayhem situation be like 20 years from now.
What happens when you’re in a Twitter ‘spat’ with Chip Flowers and don’t even know it?

What happens when you’re in a Twitter ‘spat’ with Chip Flowers and don’t even know it?

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According to Jonathan Starkey over at the News Journal, I was in a Twitter spat with Chip Flowers over a tweet I sent on Sunday about one of his challengers, Sean Barney, getting a choice spot on msnbc while the network scrambled to cover President Obama's surprise visit to Afghanistan. Apparently, Flowers wasn't too keen on my innocent joke that he was "pissed" at Barney's free airtime (or, in true Flowers fashion, one of his employees was pissed, since he blamed the now-deleted tweet on an unnamed staffer). According to Flowers, Memorial Day is "above politics."
Congressman John Carney’s Fraudulent Fiscal Conservatism

Congressman John Carney’s Fraudulent Fiscal Conservatism

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On Friday, Congressman Carney took to Facebook to burnish his cred in the Fiscal Austerity Games, to tell us all that he was named as one of the "Fiscal Heros" of the front group Fix the Debt (Senators Carper and Coons are in this group, too):
I’m humbled to have been named one of Fix the Debt’s Fiscal Heroes, but there is much more work to be done. For far too long, both Democrats and Republicans have spent trillions of dollars the nation didn't have. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make the tough decisions necessary to put the country on better fiscal footing.
Unfortunately, Congressman Carney just voted YES to authorize the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization bill -- a bill that specifically INCREASES the budget for the DoD. Increases DOD programs over the objections of the DoD:
Once and for all…Is Congressman John Carney Stupid or Cynical?

Once and for all…Is Congressman John Carney Stupid or Cynical?

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It is a question that keep coming around and I used to think that he was simply not very with it. But when I keep hearing that he is being used like a two dollar whore by Peter G. Peterson (and he seems happy about it) I have to assume that he knows about Peterson's half a billion dollars applied to advocating for cuts to social safety net programs - and just doesn't give a fuck.
I’m humbled to have been named one of Fix the Debt’s Fiscal Heroes, but there is much more work to be done. For far too long, both Democrats and Republicans have spent trillions of dollars the nation didn't have. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make the tough decisions necessary to put the country on better fiscal footing.