The Dude's blog

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:45:44 -0700

Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

Good Idea

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Monk knows the score...

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:12:30 -0800

Good advice from Thelonius Monk

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Fair pay for equal work... we got it!

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:41:05 -0800

This is just one small indication of how elections have consequences, and things really are changing...

LEDBETTER ACT PASSES....Good news on the pay discrimination front:
The Senate approved landmark worker rights legislation on Thursday that will make it easier for those who think they've endured pay discrimination to seek legal help. The vote was 61-36.

....The legislation overrides a May 2007 Supreme Court ruling that [Lilly] Ledbetter, a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company employee in Gadsden, Ala., couldn't sue her employer for pay discrimination because she didn't file suit within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act.
McClatchy, naturally, doesn't bother to tell its readers the party breakdown of the vote, but it's actually an interesting one: all 56 voting Democrats supported the bill, and five Republicans joined in. Which ones? Arlen Specter plus all four of the women in the GOP caucus. Imagine that.
(From Kevin Drum/Mother Jones)

So here you have the Democrats, not a few days in from inauguration... passing a law which says that women have the right to sue on the basis of discrimination if they are paid less for the same job as a man. Now, this had actually been the law of the land, until Bush's two Supreme Court Justices took the bench. When they overturned the reading of the law, Bush refused to sign a new law outlawing pay discrimination.

Needless to say, the republicans still have not gotten the message. Most of them in the Senate voted against the bill. These are the small details that most people don't know. Details that really would make a difference in the way people vote. Keep that in mind in four years.

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The Worst

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:18:46 -0800

Obama's poll numbers are up to 79/18 approve/disapprove, prompting CNN's Bill Schneider to quip: "That's the sort of rating you see when the public rallies around a leader after a national disaster. To many Americans, the Bush Administration was a national disaster.

Amen to that...

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Help me out here...

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:26:16 -0800

Pushing Daisies

I'm kind of sad... one of my favorite TV shows, Pushing Daisies, appears to be in danger of getting canceled.

I suppose that I can't say I'm all that surprised. From the first episode, I thought that this show was so awesome, so quirky, that I predicted that it wouldn't last more than a few episodes before it got the axe. I felt the same way when I first saw the first episode of Arrested Development. Of course, somehow Arrested Development somehow was able to scrape by for a few glorious seasons. I kind of don't think that Pushing Daisies will make it that far though...

So help me out here... start watching Pushing Daisies!!! Thanks.

-UPDATE-
Shit... I guess I'm too late... I just read that ABC pulled the plug on it. That just sucks. I can only hope that they can make a movie of it. I'm not holding my breath. I'm super bummed. This is a show that just should have been on HBO, not ABC. It is too good. Too well written. Too sophisticated. DANG IT!

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Bush to Planet - Once again, drop dead...

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:08 -0800

The question answers itself...

Still Prestident Bush has a few parting shots in his arsenal... It will never cease to amaze me how much the Bush people just hate the planet. I don't know if I will ever understand this conservative orthodoxy. Scary.

George Bush is working at a breakneck pace to dismantle at least 10 major environmental safeguards protecting America's wildlife, national parks and rivers before he leaves office in January.
With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste.
In the latest such move this week, Bush opened up some 800,000 hectares (2m acres) of land in Rocky Mountain states for the development of oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The law goes into effect on January 17, three days before Obama takes office.
The timing is crucial. Most regulations take effect 60 days after publication, and Bush wants the new rules in place before he leaves the White House on January 20. That will make it more difficult for Obama to undo them.
The flurry of new rules - known as midnight regulations - is part of a broader campaign by the Bush administration to leave a lasting imprint on environmental policy. Some of the actions have provoked widespread protests such as the Bureau of Land Management's plans to auction off 20,000 hectares of oil and gas parcels within sight of Utah's Delicate Arch natural bridge.
Other presidents have worked up to the final moments of their presidency to impose their legacy on history. But Bush has been particularly organised in his campaign to roll back years of protections - not only on the environment, but workplace safety and employee rights.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration cut short the timeframe for public comment. In one instance, officials claimed to have reviewed 300,000 comments about changes to wildlife protection within the space of a week.
The new regulations include a provision that would free industrial-scale pig and cattle farms from complying with the Clean Water Act so long as they declare they are not dumping animal waste in lakes and rivers. The rule was finalised on October 31. Mountain-top mining operations will also be exempt from the Clean Water Act, allowing them to dump debris in rivers and lakes. The rule is still under review at the OMB. Coal-fired power plants will no longer be required to install pollution controls or clean up soot and smog pollution.
Yet another of the new rules, which has generated publicity, would allow the Pentagon and other government agencies to embark on new projects without first undertaking studies on the potential dangers to wildlife.
Announcements of further rule changes are expected in the next few days including one that would weaken regulation of perchlorate, a toxin in rocket fuel that can affect brain development in children, in drinking water.

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Good news for the planet

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:46:00 -0800

Earth

The planet earth scored another major political victory today when Henry Waxman (D-CA) won the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He wrested control from John Dingell (D-General Motors), who has been blocking any meaningful climate change legislation in the House because he thought it would be bad for the Big Three. Of course, we know how well that has worked out for them...

This is great. We know that Obama has said repeatedly that one of his top agenda items is going to be carbon emissions reduction. With Waxman at the head of the key committee in the House, Obama's job just got a heck of a lot easier.

There is no question, Obama is putting all the pieces in place for some major legislative accomplishments. All of the key people he is appointing to his staff are folks with deep understanding of how the legislative process works in Washington. With large majorities in the House and Senate, and some powerful allies on the relevant committees, the chess pieces are set. I feel fairly certain that he's going to get major health care reform and major global warming legislation passed within the first six months of his presidency. And that, my friends, is change we can believe in!

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Bailing out Detroit

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:12:26 -0800

Dude, where's my Prius?

There has been a lot of talk recently about a possible bail-out of the big three Detroit automakers. There are a lot of reasons for and against helping them out, but I'd have to say, it sure seems like the pro-bailout argument wins.

First, I'm actually glad that the republicans and still-president Bush are blocking a bailout right now. It seems to me that the CEO's of the big three are really pushing to get a deal now because they think that they'll be able to get an easier time from the republicans. It sure seems that way. Though Bush is standing on his lame free-market orthodoxy in public, I think a lot of the reasons why the republicans are against this is based on politics. They hate unions. Practically the only powerful union left in the country is the UAW. If the big three go under, well then, the union is dead. So these guys would rather watch a million jobs go down the tubes for their political gain, than do something to help. That, my friends, is the Rove way. Can you say "Katrina"? I knew you could.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, I don't mind that the republicans are blocking this right now. I'd be fairly surprised if GM goes under in the next two months. By February, we'll have Obama (can it be true???) as the President, and a Democratic congress. They will actually pass some legislation to help Detroit. It honestly doesn't make much sense not to. If Detroit goes under, all those jobs die. Not only the people who work directly for them, but all of the suppliers of parts. What little is left of our manufacturing base in this country will die with them. Sure, Toyota and Honda have US factories... but they are in the South, with no unions, low pay, and little benefits. They use some US parts, but have a lot more imported parts in their cars.

Just for the record, I do not own an American car. I'm not crazy. Let's just say that Detroit made its own bed here. They have made crappy cars that pale in comparison to the Japanese for about 30 years. I've had my share of American disappointments - mostly Fords.

However, I think that with the right leadership, this is a golden opportunity. I'm sure Obama's team is working on the details right now. How about predicating any bailout on Detroit getting its house in order? Forcing them to give up fighting against fuel economy standards? Forcing them to give up fighting against a national health care plan? Essentially forcing them to give up their stances that, while in line with their executives' political predilictions, were disasterous for their companies.

Let's face it, one of the big problems that Detroit has faced is that they have huge "legacy costs". That is, they have to pay tons of money out for the retirement benefits for their retired employees. They fought against the Clinton health plan. How much would passage of that 15 years ago have saved them in health insurance costs? Detroit has also fought tooth and nail against raising fuel economy standards so they could focus on building huge SUV's. How's that worked out for them? They made huge profits on those dinosaurs, but what did they do with the money? This was a huge failure of leadership. While Toyota plowed a billion dollars into development of the Prius... GM dumped a billion into development of the Hummer brand. Explain to me why the GM executives still have jobs...

So basically, Obama will have a choice. Spend billions to prop up the big three, or spend more billions in unemployment benefits, social services, and support for the great lakes states which will implode if Detroit goes under. It is kind of a no-brainer. However, with Detroit on the ropes, it will be the prime time to strike a tough bargain. They get US help, if they give us something in return. What will Obama ask for? We'll see in two months!

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When did you know?

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:57:32 -0800

I can tell you that I knew the exact second that the news networks called the election for Obama... In Berkeley, a spontaneous cheer went out from virtually every house. It was pretty crazy. I've never heard anything like it. I could hear the noise of people cheering from INSIDE my house. I opened the door, and you could just hear this collective yelling in the air, it was a droning background noise that echoed around. And then closer in, from the houses on my street, you could make out the laughing and singing. It was really something amazing. Almost like New Years Eve, but louder and more sustained. A little later, some of the people on my block made an impromptu parade. They were singing and banging pots together and generally making a ruckus.

Oh man, it has really been a long time since election night felt so good... I can vividly remember '92 when Clinton won, and what a party we had. This was so much better...

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Victory!!

nobody@vox.com(The Dude) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:50:46 -0800

Finally, our long national nightmare can begin to come to an end... I can only hope that President Obama (man, I love the sound of that!) can end the politics of fear and divisiveness that Bush/Cheney/Rove have foisted upon this country. I feel like yesterday was a national catharsis on many levels. We have not only repudiated baseless fear mongering, but have also begun to move on from a whole cultural era - the era of the backlash against the social revolution of the 60's. With the loss of McCain, we can finally put the Vietnam era cultural battles behind us, and look forward to the world we live in today. No, rascism isn't gone, not by a long shot - nor is bigotry, fear, and hatred... but I feel like this country has finally woken up from being in the throes of those emotions, and decided that enough was enough. We are better than that.

I am really looking forward to having a President that can inspire us. One that treasures competence. One that has an intellect, and uses it. A President that does not instintively opt for the easy, low road. Our problems are too great. The solutions too hard. We, as a nation were at a crossroads, and we chose the correct path.

The only dark side to yesterday is the knowledge that proposition 8 has likely passed, taking away the right of gays to marry in California. It is disheartening to see that even in the midst of the optimism, something like this can pass... It only shows us that we have to work harder. Obama begins the turning of a page in our history. Away from the last 30 years of politics... but prop 8 is an indication that the forces of fear and divisive "wege issues" are not not totally defeated. I feel confident that when this comes up for a vote again, and it will, we'll win this battle too. Civil rights struggles are long and hard, but last night is evidence that we'll get there.

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