Clinton, Obama, and Edwards Identify 46 Least-Favorite States

L.A. Times article on plans by Democratic candidates to play ball with the established early-primary/caucus states. Excerpt: Front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York followed Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina in pledging to abide by the calendar set by the Democratic National Committee last summer. The rules allow four states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- to vote in January. The four "need to be first because in these states ideas count, not just money,*" Edwards said in a written statement. "This tried-and-true nominating system is the only way for voters to judge the field based on the quality of the candidate, not the depth of their war chest."

As I said almost two years ago:

It's absolute bullshit that someone in New Hampshire or Iowa gets to exercise significantly more influence over who the next president is than I do.

*Excessive use of hairspray must count as an idea.

Just a Misunderstanding...

I knew there had to be some logical explanation!

Wiki Legislation Mark-Ups?

Now here's a great idea (via the Wikipedia Blog): Congress should start writing legislation with a Wiki model. Excerpt: These are really thought-provoking suggestions. I was particularly struck by Karl's suggestion of a version control system for Congress. They say you don't want to see either laws or sausages being made, but I think they are wrong. Imagine how much more transparency and accountability our government would have if it were possible to see what changes were made by whom, who inserted extraneous riders into various bills, and generally to track the influence of various interests by the new visibility into their actual control over the knobs and levers of government!

Bill Richardson Feels Left Out

Barely Political:

Here's Obama Girl (blog here) (Update -- Catfight here.):

Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl:

Hott4Hill (Blog here):

Best. Political Ad. EVER.

With Johnny Sack!

Hillary Clinton reprend les Sopranos
Uploaded by exprimeo

Update: She blew her newly found hip status by picking some dumb Celine Dion song as her theme music. Now I am one of the only people in America who has no emotional reaction (+ or -) to Senator Clinton, but how lame! In so doing, she has plain and simple categorized herself as an old person, pop-culturally speaking. (I bet Bill would have pursued other suggestions.)

Welcome, House Surfer

Welcome to NOTM, anonymous House of Representatives surfer. My hope is that you were visiting so that you can better relay my thoughts on civil liberties, free trade, open immigration, decriminalization of pot and prostitution, etc. to your colleagues and/or bosses.

What's interesting is that this person clicked onto the blog from my Wikipedia page. Their I.P. address (shared by many many users) (143.231.249.141) is well known to Wikipedians because it almost assuredly means "beware of edits to politicians' pages." Specifically, scandals associated with their opponents magically appear. Scandals associated with their bosses and allies disappear.

Challenge of the Super-Duper Friends

Looks quite clever. I just wish someone other than Republicans would call out the Dems on their bullshit sometimes. Via Metafilter.

Profiles of Pre-Mayoral Daleys From 1930s and 70s

I was going through some of the interesting old books I have on my shelves and playing with my HP PSC. One of them (not that old) is the 1975-76 Illinois Blue Book (which was actually white that year). The Blue Book is a government publication that contains all sorts of information about Illinois politicians, etc. There were a few of them from different years that I found in a resale shop once for $0.25 each or something like that. Here's the current occupant of the mayor's office.

And here's his dad with some of his pals from the 1939-40 volume of that same publication:

I have some real old books from the late 1800s and early 1900s from which I want to scan some stuff as well, just need to take the time to make sure I don't mess up their spines when I copy them.

Excellent Wikipedia Article on Use of Koran During House Swearing-In

There's a fantastically comprehensive series of Wikipedia articles on the recent controversy(ies) surrounding Congressman Keith Ellison taking his ceremonial oath (i.e., photo-op) on the Koran, Congressman Virgil Goode's letter to his constituents about why we need more immigration restrictions to avoid this happening in the future (even though Ellison was born and raised in the U.S. of A.), and commentator Dennis Prager's strong opinions on the matter.

My whole take on this? Virgil Goode is an asshole. (And I resent him all the more, because the other day at lunch we were watching the voting in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and I told my lunchmates that as of that moment my blogposts would shift from being pejorative towards G.O.P. congressmen to being pejorative to the bleeding-heart pinkos on the other side of the aisle. But, I just couldn't help myself...)

See, if I have an issue with any of this, it's that they use religious symbols at all. Give them all a framed copy of the Constitution to use for their swearing in, and then make them memorize it so that they don't try and pass a bunch of nonsense into law. Prager and others have said that using the Bible is important because of its symbolism in the context of the Judeo-Christian tradition in America. (This nugget of social conservatism seems like it should be tremendously insulting to those who place their faith in biblical teachings, especially considering that the New Testament itself prohibits oath-taking. Another way of stating this position of certain social conservatives is to say that the unique divinity of Jesus Christ is not the most important aspect of the Bible, but the fact that holding it shows you are on the same ball team as the rest of America is.)

However, assuming the religious texts are still going to be used, let 'em use what they want. Prager asked if a white supremicist got elected, would we permit him to use Mein Kampf as a book on which to take an oath. Answer: YES! If somebody ends up getting elected who thinks Mein Kampf is appropriate for such a ceremony, don't we want to know that that person thinks that way?

But in any event, the xenophobic conformism Prager and Goode displayed really pisses me off.

Ellison used the Koran once owned by Goode's fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. (Jeffersonian quotes on freedom of religion here.) I think it'd be fucking hysterical if two years from now, Goode got re-elected and decided to show off by using Jefferson's Bible.

School of Rick

OMFG, you have got to check out this exchange between GOP Senator Rick Santorum and his opponent, Bob Casey Jr.