That’ll do it for this specific blog - but I’m far from finished.
Check out my new blog, “the Public Interest,” which continues the conversation, but under a name that’s not anachronistic, here.
(& remember to update your bookmark!)
The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08
Dedicated to Advancing the Idea That the Other Side May Have a Point
ONE YEAR OLD
January 23rd, 2009, 7:08 pm by Dan Lehr
[above: my 1st birthday cake, November 17th, 1970]
I started this blog a year ago today.
That’s the good news.
The bad news (sort of) is this blog is about to die, & be reborn.
Thanks for being a part of this blog in the past year.
I certainly don’t intend to stop anytime soon.
I’m just going to be doing it at a new site, that will still cover politics, but will have a bigger umbrella of topics.
Stay tuned for details & info on changing your bookmark.
GAGGLE, INDEED
January 22nd, 2009, 6:24 pm by Dan Lehr
Above: a montage of a chorus of “Roberts” from the White House press corps at Spokesman Gibb’s first presser today.
Below: a bird store in Chicago.
Please play both clips at once.
A GITMO-ECTOMY, CTD
January 22nd, 2009, 4:46 pm by Dan Lehr
[above: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas]
Are all American communities in a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) mentality when it comes to housing detainees who are now in Guantanamo?
Not hardly.
The city leaders of Fort Leavenworth have rejected the idea of having them come there. But click on this story about it & see the comments from local readers, most of whom are retired military or connected to same, which include:
“What a bunch of SPINELESS GUTLESS so called ‘Leaders’ we have in this town. … [M]ost of us who are former military in town are behind the [transfer], BECAUSE we know the capabilities of the USDB [prison] Staff to handle the situation.”
“Incarcerating them in Gitmo without due process is one of the many reasons that the US is hated in the Middle East. The only way to change our image is to resolve those issues. We are a prison city, that’s what we do.”
“I’d be very proud of my city for actually playing a role in the war. [It's] not just in DC or NY. … We should rename it the ‘Global (minus Leavenworth) War on Terror.’”
(h/t Andrew Sullivan.)
Those readers certainly have a patriotic perspective on keeping the country safe that we would be wise not to ignore.
They “get” what’s at stake.
Why can’t the rest of us?
ANACHRONISM ABOLITION ANTICIPATED
January 22nd, 2009, 2:32 pm by Dan Lehr
Just as it makes no sense to have cavemen & dinosaurs cavorting together, it also makes no sense to operate a blog with “Vote08″ as a title, as no one at the moment is “voting,” & it is no longer “08.”
So stand by for a link to my new blog, which (hopefully, pending approval) will be up & running in the next few days.
I do want to assure you that the content you’ve come to expect at this site will be virtually the same - a sprinkling of politics, plus whatever else catches my fancy. I do hope to expand the umbrella of what I write about, though.
Again, stay tuned.
UPDATE: Go here.
DON’T REPEAT, HISTORY! DON’T REPEAT!
January 22nd, 2009, 12:02 pm by Dan Lehr
Ross Douthat warns the members of the left-leaning media trying to find its footing in an Obama-dominated world:
“It would be absurd for a ideologically-motivated publication to turn down a shot at political influence to preserve its sense of purity…. But it’s still worth noting that this is roughly how the Bush Administration treated the conservative media - rolling out scoops to partisan outlets, wooing right-wing media types with Presidential face-time, bypassing mainstream outlets in favor of talk radio and Fox News, and so forth. And in the long run, it was good for neither the Bushies nor for conservatism. ”
So far, from what I’ve seen, I don’t expect the President to follow his predecessor’s (all-too-easy) media path.
Watch a discussion expanding on this topic between Douthat & Matthew Yglesias (across ideological lines, if you’re not familiar with them) here.
Earlier on this blog: Another warning to the media on the perils of complacemency.
LET IT IN
January 22nd, 2009, 9:06 am by Dan Lehr
[Above: Sunrise, Worth County, Missouri, August, 1975. Photo by my father.]
“The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known.”
This is fantastic news, & should be celebrated by anyone in favor of accountability in all levels of government.
This new tone set by the highest office-holder in the land will hopefully trickle down to the level where NewsChannel 9 reporters & producers live, & will end the end help make our jobs - keeping our government officials honest about what they do in your name - easier.
But it’s not just we journalists who benefit. You, the citizen, do as well.
Many government institutions - state, county, city, & school - have often taken advantage of your ignorance of your rights.
Here’s a link (PDF file) to what your rights are in regards to open records in Tennessee.
& here’s a link (PDF file) to what your rights are in regards to open records in Georgia.
This site has plenty of tools for you to take your own action - not just wait for us to do so.
This development marks a hopeful day for the country.
PAWLENTY ON THE FUTURE (2)
January 21st, 2009, 5:46 pm by Dan Lehr
The Minnesota governor, in a recent interview with Marc Ambinder:
“…we can’t be so in love with the past that we miss the future. And the world is changing very rapidly, and there’s a lot of technological change, demographic change, cultural change, and it’s all approaching us at a very rapid speed. And I think the Republican Party fondly remembers Ronald Reagan, and we should. He’s going to go down in history as one of the great presidents. Our challenge is to have the solutions of the 1980s not be the solutions that we have in 2008s. .. A lot has happened since the 1980s. There’s been a lot of change. We can be true to those values and principles, but half of the country doesn’t remember Ronald Reagan very well. If you’re under 40, 35 years old, Ronald Reagan is kind of a foggy notion. All I’m saying is, yes, let’s celebrate that, let’s learn from that, let’s build on it, but let’s talk about new ideas, new leaders, for the future.
I’ll give you two actual examples that we should have seen coming instead of dragging behind on it. One is environment and conservation. This was an issue that, in many Republican quarters, conservative quarters, was dismissed as recently as a few years ago, much less in the 1990s. …. A second one would be health care. It wasn’t that long ago that quietly, confidentially, Republican consultants would say, “health care, we can never win that. It’s too ddifficult. It’s a morass. We shouldn’t be involved in that as a leading issue.” Well, nonsense. That’s one of the main concerns of everyday, average Americans, and to say, we’re out of th egame on that? We should have been pushing and leading with our own solutions to that and showing progress.”
See my earlier post, “Pawlenty on the Future” here, filed just a week after the election.
(SHRUG)
January 21st, 2009, 3:23 pm by Dan Lehr
Chattanooga blogger the Tennessee Federalist Student (scroll down for a perma-link on my blogroll) cracks open Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged:
“I’m…particularly drawn to Rand’s use of the word “adequately,” which she repeats over and over. Businesses and workers do not believe that they have to be the best, or even good, only “adequate.” They do not believe that they should have to compete as long as their performance is “adequate.” It’s similar to the adage about how most workers work only hard enough to not get fired, and most businesses pay only enough to keep the workers from quitting.”
I (embarassingly) confess I’ve not read it yet, though I hope to soon.
NO, HE CAN’T
January 21st, 2009, 1:17 pm by Dan Lehr
Politico’s Jim Vandehei & John Harris outline 7 reasons why you should be skeptical the new president will get anything accomplished, including this depressing one:
“7. The watchdogs are dozing.
The big media companies that once invested in serious accountability journalism are shells of their former selves. The Tribune Co. — in other words, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune — has slashed its Washington staff by more than half. Newspaper chains such as Cox are fleeing D.C. altogether.
The end result: There are few reporters in this country doing the kind of investigative reporting that hold government officials’ feet to the fire. Think back eight years to the pre-Iraq war reporting and consider the words of Scott McClellan in his otherwise humdrum book.
“The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise,” McClellan wrote. “In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.”
Rigorous reporting is even more important when you have one-party rule in Washington. Democrats, like Republicans, are simply less likely to scrutinize a president of their own. The end result here: Don’t expect the Democratic Congress to investigate the Obama administration or hold a bunch of tough oversight hearings. That means the only real check on Obama is the same one it’s always been — the voters.”
George W. Bush’s was (in part) a failed presidency because of enablers in the media & (particularly) his own party.
This is one mistake we should never repeat.
WHO WAS HE?
January 21st, 2009, 12:54 pm by Dan Lehr
Take a look at this picture, particularly the figure in the lower left corner.
This person appears to be a man.
All we know about him is that some time in 1838 or early 1839, he was on this Paris street.
He appears to be shining his shoes.
& because of that - unbenownst to him - he is the first human being ever to be captured in a photograph. This image took 10 minutes to take, & the man shining his shoes was surrounded by traffic, which was moving too fast for the Daguerrotype to record.
This anonymous gentleman lived the rest of his days not knowing his image was to be captured for all time.
Further reading: this image is #3 on a list of “Top 10 Incredible Early Firsts in Photography.” Go check it out to be amazed at what years we saw the 1st color photograph & 1st color landscape photograph.
A NEW FEATURE: 100 DAYS (1933) vs 100 DAYS (2009)/DAY 1
January 21st, 2009, 11:42 am by Dan Lehr
(image by Matt Brunson)
Why not pit these 1st 100 days against the grandaddy “100 Days” of them all?
I hope I can follow through & do all 100.
What I plan is this:
Each literal day of the Obama administration will be compared to the corresponding day of FDR’s 1st term. I don’t have exact data for each of the 1933 days but I’m sure it’s out there somewhere on the internets.
I will (try to) post on the day after the ‘day’ in question.
Meaning, yesterday, for both candidates, was Day 1:
NEW WHITE HOUSE BLOG UP & RUNNING
January 21st, 2009, 11:22 am by Dan Lehr
PHEASANT CONVERSATION
January 21st, 2009, 10:18 am by Dan Lehr
From the website Pheasants Forever (h/t News Channel9’s webmaster & outdoors enthusiast Richard Simms):
“Pheasants Forever (PF) has learned the new President of the United States, Barack Obama, will dine on pheasant today at the inaugural luncheon. The President will be joined by new Vice President Joe Biden, both families, the Supreme Court, as well as the incoming Cabinet and Congress.
“I’m not a guy that believes in signs, but I am pleased to learn our new President has a taste for pheasant; our favorite bird,” said Dave Nomsen, PF’s Vice President of Government Affairs. In an unprecedented show of support for conservation, Obama’s transition team held three meetings with Nomsen and other conservation leaders since his November election victory. Those meetings have focused on the country’s top conservation issues, including the future of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and global climate change.”
More details on yesterday’s lunch menu here.
[Pictured in this post: the pheasant hunters of my family. Top: my late father-in-law & two brothers-in-law, January 1982. Bottom: my father, October, 1970.]
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A GITMO-ECTOMY
January 22nd, 2009, 1:00 pm by Dan LehrAbove: President Obama removes one of terrorism’s biggest recruiting tools.
Read about it here, & a discussion about whether it’s the right thing here.
Today I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio call this move a “political” one.
To which I say: well, duh.
But not ‘political’ in the way Rush is meaning (appeasing the left).
For too long we have failed to capitalize on the United States of America’s greatest weapon: the idea behind this country & the ideals it champions.
Some discussion on Talk 102.3 this morning brought to mind an analogy. Styles, et al were discussing what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners - & how we can’t have them mingle with the “normal” prison population, because they wouldn’t last longer than 2 seconds. They noted that America-bombers & child rapists are subject to the prisoners’ “own form of justice.”
That’s a perfect way of looking at the mindset behind the creation of Guantanamo.
The problem with the system is that it doesn’t leave room for justice. It keeps terrorist suspects off the streets .. but because we’ve thrown them down a legal rabbit hole, one that’s in my view ultimately self-defeating, many of the legitimate terror cases will never be given true justice.
Closing Guantanamo takes away a terrorist recruitment tool, & joins the battle where it really should be fought, & ultimately will be won - not in a physical location, but rather inside the minds of everyone around the world.
& there’s nothing that says we can’t hold a suspect extra-legally. But those cases should be both temporary & reserved for the very few, ones which we have clear-cut evidence on, & not just people picked up off the battlefield, or arrested in cases of mistaken identities who have languished in Gitmo hell for years.
We as a people are far smarter than that, & it’s a breath of fresh air to have someone in charge who realizes this.
(I should also note that I have the utmost confidence we are perfectly capable of housing these prisoners on U.S. soil. The fears of “well, what if we have a prison break?” can be dispelled if you think through logically the scenario about exactly how much damage a person in handcuffs & an orange jumpsuit could really do while on the run).
We need to have faith in our country, & the multitude of legal precedents of our criminal justice system.
We should not be afraid to try these cases based on evidence & the rule of law, & the rights that our Founding Fathers believed to be inalienable - not just to American citizens, but to the entire human race.
I, for one, would rather die while upholding my great country’s ideals than give those ideals up in the name of security.
FURTHER READING:
Read the rest of this entry »
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