Category: Politics

— Inside the Beltway — The Washington Times

Who better than Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate’s subcommittee on Public Health, to convene hearings this week on the nation’s “obesity epidemic”?

At least he’s not giving swimming lessons. Next week: the Clinton Commission investigates sexual harassment.

— Andrew Olmsted: Holding on to Federalism

Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura makes a wise request of the Bush Administration regarding welfare reform. Ventura correctly points out that welfare reform is not the job of the federal government (and, in fact, is wholly unconstitutional based on a strict reading of the Constitution).

My litmus test for federal judges: “What do you think about the erosion of federalism since that communist FDR screwed it all up in the ’30s?”

— President holds tough stance on Cuba

President Bush on Monday refused to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba unless Fidel Castro first releases political prisoners, conducts independently monitored elections and accepts a list of tough new U.S. conditions. “Freedom sometimes grows step by step, and we will encourage those steps,” the president said, outlining his new U.S. policy on Cuban Independence Day.

Naked pandering to Miami Cubans. Castro isn’t going along, and he doesn’t want the embargo lifted – the US is more valuable to him as a scapegoat than as a trading partner.

— Responding to our pressure, the legislature is going after Davis’ deal with Novey’s union (Prison Guards’ Labor Pact to Be Examined)

Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco said Wednesday he’ll convene legislative hearings on the lucrative labor pact that Gov. Gray Davis signed with the state prison guards union, one of Davis’ largest campaign contributors.

Don’t mess with the Navel, Gray.

— What’s the lead story in California politics? This article from Rough & Tumble tells all:

Gov.
Gray Davis proposed raising taxes Tuesday on smokers and motorists to help overcome
what has grown into a $23.6-billion budget shortfall, saying there was no other
way to protect schools. The move reversed a promise Davis made in January not
to ask for tax increases. Julie Tamaki and
Miguel Bustillo in the Los
Angeles Times Greg Lucas, Mark Martin, Lynda Gledhill
in the San
Francisco Chronicle Dion Nissenbaum
in the San
Jose Mercury Mitchel Benson in the Wall
Street Journal Barbara Whitaker in the
New York Times
William Booth in the Washington
Post John Hill in the Sacramento
Bee John Howard in the Orange
County Register Andrew LaMar in the
Contra Costa Times
Ed Mendel in the San
Diego Union Will Shuck in the Stockton
Record Steve Geissinger in the Oakland
Tribune Lesli A. Maxwell in the Fresno
Bee Erik N. Nelson in the Los
Angeles Daily News Robert Garrett in
the Riverside
Press Jim Miller in the Modesto
Bee Timm Herdt in the Ventura
Star — 5/15/02

I’ve never seen so many links in one story before, anywhere. In essence, the Gov. proposes to cut all social programs except the most ineffective one, public education, and to raise the taxes on drivers and smokers. So light one up for the People, dude. The Prison Guards just got another 35% raise, in case you were wondering; but it’s cool, they paid for it.

— My buddy Nick Riccardi reports (‘Strong-Arming’ by Davis Decried) that Bill Simon is finally out of his coma and actively campaigning for governor:

“This mixing of policy discussions and campaign contributions is a clear and direct example of the strong-arm, pay-to-play policy discussions that are more apparent in the Davis administration every day,” said Simon, a wealthy investor who largely self-financed his campaign during the GOP primary.

All he has to do to win is go the people every day, tell them what Davis has done lately, and remind us that Simon is not Davis. Suggested campaign slogan: “I’m rich, so I don’t need to steal from you.”

— BBC News reports that the body of Pim Fortuyn will lie in state in the Rotterdam Cathedral the day before his funeral. Could it be that the assassination of Fortuyn will have the same impact on the Dutch that the John Kennedy assassination had on America? Everybody who was conscious at the time can tell you in vivid detail where they were and what they were doing when they heard about JFK, and his ascension into martyrdom cleansed him of all sin and made has agenda an article of faith for America for years to come. I don’t know that Fortuyn had this kind of standing in Holland, but his agenda will clearly outlive him.

The first signs of the martyr effect are already in, according to Adam Curry:

“25,000 expatriates who had already cast their votes and sent them to the Netherlands want to change their vote. Dutch government offices are being flooded by phone calls from Dutch people living elsewhere. This could be an exciting, surprising and mostly unpredictable election, for once.”

I’d like to think this is the beginning of the end of political correctness, in Holland at least, but we’re not quite there yet in the US.

— Glenn Sacks has a nice column on one of my friend Assemblyman Wright’s child support bills, this one aimed at providing relief to child support debtors in prison:

Williams was crushed when he recently learned that he owes $12,000 in child support arrearages to reimburse the state for the benefits paid to his wife and kids while he was in prison. The support arrearages, which he never knew existed, will consume as much as half of Williams’ modest salary, virtually destroying the possibility of the new, stable life that the 42 year-old East Palo Alto resident had dreamed of behind bars.

We’ve tried to pass this kind of bill before, unsuccessfully. Legislators have very little compassion for men in prison, of course.

— The WSJ (link requires subscription) reports:

WASHINGTON — Using strategies dubbed “Death Star,” “Get Shorty,” and “Fat Boy,” Enron Corp.’s energy traders manipulated California’s power system to increase profits during the height of the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis, documents released by federal regulators show.

The internal company documents were the first to provide evidence of what had been suspected through previous inquiries by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — that market manipulation was a major factor in sending wholesale energy prices soaring in six Western states.

Turns out the market was gamed after all, folks. The tactics included shipping power outside the state and then back in to escape price caps, and charging the state for moving power and relieving congestion when they hadn’t moved any power or relieved any congestion. And with all of that, Enron still went out of business, but not until a few bucks went into a few numbered bank accounts, I’ll betcha.

— We’re doing a primer on Electoral Politics over at DailyPundit.com. If you understand the value of pragmatism, check it out.

Update: discussion moved to archives.